Silent Sunday

The Gallery: 8pm

This week on The Gallery, the theme is 8pm.  What do you do at 8pm?

In our house generally it is bedtime, not for me, (although sometimes it could be!) but for my two girls.  Although 8pm can also on occasions be dinner time, if we are running late or its the weekend or holidays!     

Come and what others do at 8pm on The Gallery.

Silent sunday

Freelance writer

In the last few months I have started doing some freelance writing.  I do it by picking up jobs from a work board, mostly blogging posts.  So I am not specifically working for one person or type of blog.  It covers all sorts of topics, from relationships, places, technology and many other things.

I started doing it, as I quite enjoy writing, always have but also for some extra cash.  But what has been interesting to me is the range of topics I have covered.  I pick the work by things I know about or interest me  and it is a very wide range, wider than I expected.  I am now enjoying it much more and will do more of it.

I have covered topics on various issues of Internet Marketing, Social Media for Hospitality and other related issues, fashion, travel and various products.  I have also written for International travel blogs and other organisations and publications.

So if you are looking for a freelance writer for your blog to do guest or sponsored posts or just to give you a hand with any writing work, give me a shout.

The Gallery: Breakfast

This week on The Gallery is Breakfast

Breakfast in our house is one of two things if its weekend or holiday time, is usually very late and lazy but if its school time, its rush, eat, eat, eat, lets go!  

Breakfast in our house generally consists of two things, toast and cereal.  Mum eats toast pretty much everyday (i dont like cereal anymore) and the kids vary between toast and cereals.  Their favourite cereal is a portuguese cereal called Cerelac, which is a sweet flour based cereal which you mix with milk or water.  

Pop over and see what else is on The Gallery

The minefield that is starting school in Portugal

Today our oldest daughter starts her first year at Primary school here in Portugal and what a journey it has been, a quite stressful journey too.

Here in Portugal, children start school in the calendar year they turn six, so as our daughter's birthday is in January, she is one of the oldest or latest to start.  School is obviously mandatory from this age but it is up to the parents to register their child and to be aware of these rules.

One of the things which bugs me about living in Portugal is the lack of information and the difficulty in obtaining needed information, such as about schooling.  We knew via friends who have children already in school that we had to go to the central school in the area to register our daughter and that it had to be done by a certain date.  That was fine.  Then in late July, they put up a list in the same school, telling you where your child has got a place, thats fine.

From then the fun starts, trying to know what you need, when it starts, what needs to be paid for and how and when.  After several trips back and forth to the school over the past few weeks we have pretty much got it sorted, we think!!

First comes the question of when they start, we are told they will start in the week between 10th and 14th and that is all.  What books do we need, here in portugal, you buy the school books and supplies etc every year.  After several weeks and asking, we are told there is a list up at the school, so back we go again.  Still no date on starting though, but we are told we will be informed next week (ie the week before school starts!)

So now we have the books, but no starting date, now, what else is needed?  so off we go to the shopping centre where all the relevant shops are full of textbooks, folders, pens, bags and everything you need.  We stand there looking at the multitude of items, trying to figure out what is needed.  How many workbooks, does she need pens, pencils AND crayons, should she have A4 or A5 books?  I feel like im in a nightmare!  So once again we trek up to school to ask and are told that the local council will be providing the first years with the 'kit' they need, so that problem solved and money saved!! Bonus.

So now we just need to know when we start and how to get all the information about timings, dates, lunches etc.  In the previous years, parents would receive a phone call inviting them to a meeting, usually two days before the meeting is held and the weekday before school actually starts!!  But this year, they put it on the school website, the meeting is on the Friday, before they start the school today.  This is only announced the Monday beforehand.  How working people can sort their life, I have no idea with this lack and lateness of information.

So we go off to the meeting, where we are told about the school hours, where to get her school 'kit' and how to pay for lunches.  So then we rush off to pick up these things needed for the following Monday, stand in queues only to be told we dont need to worry about it until the end of the month and this is not the right place to be anyway!!

So it has been a bit of stressful couple of weeks, trying to get everything sorted and finding all the details, but here we are on the First day of school!!  Thank you to my wonderful husband, who without him, I would have been very lost in this situation.

Silent Sunday

The Gallery: Beauty

This week's theme on The Gallery is Beauty.  

There are so many things that can be interpreted as beautiful and it is a very personal thing.  To me there are many things beautiful, the most being:

My children!

Beautiful landscapes and views

Things Mother Nature has given us

There are so many beautiful things in this world, and beauty is truly in the Eye of the beholder!  

Come and what else is Beautiful on The Gallery

Silent Sunday

Saying Goodbye

Through a post on Tots100, I found this great new organisation called Saying Goodbye, who are working with several organisations such as the Miscarriage Association to organise memorial services in the memory of 'the lost ones' - the babies who we never got to meet.  Many, many people have been through this, more than I imagined until it happened to me.

All over the UK, they are organising these services to allow parents and family members to formally remember their lost babies.  What a great idea I think, to give people a chance to share with others who have been in a similiar experience and are there to support each other.

I, unfortunately have had the experience of losing two babies, one in a missed miscarriage and one through an ectopic pregnancy that put me into emergency surgery with serious internal bleeding.  I think of my lost babies often and it annoys me how some people can be so mis-understanding of those who have been through it, and there are many of us.  So for Saying Goodbye to organise these services is wonderful to help those who have been through it.

For more information about the organisation and the services being held, press here

My body is a temple,
Holding this precious gift safe and sound
Like a priceless treasure
Never to be lost, never to be found
(Anonymous)

Cannot find the words

I want to write but cannot find the words.  In the last few weeks, my blog has been a kind of diary for me.  Im not a very open person and do not like to really share my feelings or show myself, but it has been helpful lately.  but now I cannot find the words, my head is foggy and confused, I feel lost, spinning.  My reality of what is possible is mixed with my wants that are out of my reach.  I believe in the almost impossible, always have, maybe that makes me a dreamer, living in the clouds, maybe it just makes me stupid.  I feel I had found a path and now have lost it again, fearing the future, feeling that I know it already.  I feel bound, muted, unable to fight.  maybe there is a greater cause in this, but right now I dont see it, but then you are not supposed to.

Silent Sunday