2012, not just one more year

We are all prepared for 2012, Full of positiveness, hopes and of course dressing blue underwear, I also will not forget to come through in the new year with the Right foot, It is this little details that will make the change :)

Justyna will be at home with Olivia, with her two polish friends and doing babysitting to Nikodem. I will be in a Buddhist temple, I really look forward to be again in the monastery, looking for Peace and praying for everything.

In 2012 I was thinking what could be my resolutions, definitely I need to command better the Polish language and of course I will keep doing all the effort to become a healthier person.

French plaits

We had a big plan today, to go to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, We even had already left home prepared to have a day out, But firstly already in the station, we realised that there was not trains to the centre of London, we would need to take an underground replacement, which I am sure it would take us hours to our destiny. Secondly, it was also raining what would not help us to enjoy the day where we were going, with carousels and wheels and lastly because of my back pain. Because of the pain and tiredness I was happy with the two first conditions, and then easier to convince Justyna and Olivia to leave the idea of the Park to another day, and today just go home. Girls were not totally convinced, so they decided to go to the cinema and myself I started my way to home, but after they changed my mind, we thought would be a good idea to go for a tea in Shubhi's house. Fortunately she was at home and the afternoon was a delight. There was no Winter Wonderland but instead there was French Plaits for every one.

Expecting the same

The days are passing and leaving a very pleasant taste, whatever it is behind 2012 does not matter today. I guess the years are all made of the same as everything in the Cosmos, just some of them (years) have more heavy elements than others, So at least we do not need to face the unknown factor, We know everything that we can have it.

I went this afternoon to do shopping in a different supermarket, I was expecting to find better prices there, but no, in the end the Waitrose prices are not so bad as I thought, at least comparing with others. I am happy to see Olivia finding the meaning of friendship, she is very happy with Kalina, easy to share and even she sometimes wants to give things away to her. Of course sometimes also Olivia wants the same yogurt as Kalina.

The birds

The end of 2011 is definitely finishing in good style, today I had another blood tests done and from the Royal Free Hospital I had a phone call telling the date for my next CT Scan, it is 4th January when I will have fresh pictures that tells and draws stories of real Lives.

While me and Justyna went to the Barnet Hospital for the blood tests Olivia stayed with her friend Calina, they played a lot but apparently was not enough, so they came to our home as well to play for the rest of the afternoon. And there is already a promise that tomorrow she will come again. To do not forget, Olivia started to write a list of things that she wants to play tomorrow. It is great to see and even to play with them, but in the evening it is always the same routine, organising and tiding up what was left around, It is a movie that repeats every night :)

Though a busy day, we had some time to finish a piece of Art that was unfinished from the Christmas, Justyna and Olivia done the Birds in a beautiful, Alexander Calder style. It is a new Media in our house and I thing has a lot of future here. Meanwhile, I am also enjoying a CD offered through these days, The mythic Led Zeppelin, strong but good vibration at home :)

Getting calmer

Today we are taking it very slowly. In fact it could be even slower, but it will come the day :)

We have been just staying at home, watching some cartoons with Olivia. Justyna friend's stayed with us overnight, but they already left for their new job that should start tomorrow, hope everything goes as they expect. Later, we had the visit of Nikodem and Aneta, Justyna is his Godmother, She never gets enough of him, He is in fact a very sweet baby and very social, I managed to babysit him for half hour without any problems, something that Olivia would not allow. Until not too long time ago, probably half a year, nobody could stay with her for too long but mother and father. Luckily yesterday we forgot something in Shubhi's house, it was a good excuse to see again Shubhy today when she brought back few branches for Olivia's new piece of Art. Tonight it is Justyna's turn to put Olivia to sleep and I am observing Olivia and thinking that I do not want Olivia to lose her sweetness and tenderness that often happen once they become teenagers and adults, But I guess it is all part of this game.

Boxing Day

Officially, it is now finishing the Christmas, but we hope the same spirit will keep it on for at least more 365 days. We had a great Boxing day in Shubhi's house, I slept again until late and after just laughing and relaxing. We watched a movie that been offered to Olivia - Aristocats, It is an old film but I never have seen, I do enjoy the cartons from the last century, more than this new ones in 3D and very computerized. We had an afternoon full of competitiveness, around the board game Taboo, Time to realise how lack of knowledge my brain is.

Of course the Social Life never stops, I confess that I am not complaining, opposite, I liked it, In the evening we went to pick up Gosha and another friend of Justyna that will stay overnight in our house, They came from Poland to try their luck in a job down in London.

Bye Father Christmas and Mother Christmas, see you next year

Sleeping over

I do not remember to wake up so late, all the family woke up around 12.00, I felt guilty of not woke up on time to the church. Finally we took an easier day, after all the busy days before. We decided to give a day free of work to Justyna, I would take over of all the work, but luckily after lunch we had all day out, so I chose a god day to be in charge :)

In the afternoon we spent time with our friends Maria and John, and close to the diner we went to Shubhi's house. It was again a rain of presents, and the meal cooked by Tom was 5 stars.

#Jingle Bells#

Today has been a marathon of opening presents, started in the morning with the last gift inside the Advent Calendar, continued in the evening with Vasco and Guilherme opening the gifts from the Father Christmas bag, and finished almost at midnight, afterhours Olivia wanted to open and then cleaned all the gifts under the Christmas tree. It was a wonderful day, On the table we could found twelve meals, as according to the tradition, plus more sweets and puddings that Linda offered us, Shame that I could not touch them :)

Of course we also miss our close family and friends but makes us happy just to know that all are good and in heart we are always together, passing good energies that are always crossing oceans and continents keeping us tied together. We are wishing everyone a peaceful and happy days.

Bakery of the road

Our house suddenly become a bakery, there is cakes everywhere specially in the living room, Justyna has been working long shifts to finish all the cakes before Christmas. There are almost a cake for each neighbour of our road :) This afternoon we were invited to visit our friends Sue and Dennis, Sue is a lovely friend. Her laugh makes me so good, and her attitude is an inspiration.

Since afternoon I already can guess what will be my gift in the shoe, for a sure a flu that I am feeling coming smoothly. But anyway the moments are not to be waisted, I just love the Christmas.

Winter

Today I had the visit of the brother of our neighbour who is also a friend, The visit was very special as his brother have been fighting for few years the same illness as I am. Me and Richard shared our experiences, Funny that we concluded that our fatality can also be our shiny destiny, We are able to have the time to the family and our personal things, something that most of the people unfortunately cannot have. It is not only us who gain but also our family.

Olivia today was very funny, I saw her clearing out everything under the Christmas tree, essentially the nativity scenery, and I asked why was she taking out everything and she answered me that she would need more space for her gifts.

Later in the day we went to say hello to our friends Jim and Vicky, they are a very nice couple who have always a nice smile and a good word to us. The Christmas is about opening our hearts to other people, friends and not-yet-friends .

Lastly, to send my warm wishes to my friends in Portugal, and for the ones who are having tonight the traditional Christmas dinner, I have been missing the tradition already for a years, but we are together in our friendship independently of distances.

White smile

This year looks like we will not have a white Christmas like last year, the weather is getting slightly warmer killing any chances to see snow during this week :(

The Christmas will not be white but my smile is now whiter, I went today to the dentist for the first time in 5 years, because I had some pain in my teeth two weeks ago, I think the pain was a result of the radiotherapy. The doctor looked around and did not find any big problem in the teeth, but in the end I received a major cleaning and wash of my teeth, They are now definitely less yellow and more white. Years of treatment changed the colour also of the teeth. Next appointment it is to finish this cleaning, more close to the jaws.

Without rest we went to see the cousins of Justyna, to wish them Merry Christmas.

Good conversation

We had this morning the visit of our local priest, we had a good conversation, My faith come reinforced from our tea time, At some point he said to me that the Faith is something that make all of us better, the fact of the unsure about the Religion is necessary to all of Us to build a better World. As Voltaire said, if the Religion did not exist it would be necessary to be invented, to order the Society. I do confess that I look for signs from the divine but probably I should not, It is the mystery of the Faith which bring the beauty in all this. I open my ears and heart for our chat but to be honest I am still confuse in my path.

Later, I had the Reiki session and I was busy to go to two different Post Offices to collect parcels from the Father Christmas. In the evening Justyna is trying to get calmer cooking cakes for Christmas, but apparently she did the wrong choice, it is not helping her to relax

Kings on the table

As much as we are going towards the Christmas as much as the days are getting shorter, Today we woke up in Veena's house and of course the first thing to tell is about the breakfast, which was delicious as usual, We had a wonderful days in Sharma's house, Olivia liked so much the company that she preferred to be there during the time that me and Justyna went to the Hospital, I had an appointment there regarding to the diabetes, It was good to know few more things and to listen that I am doing very well, better it would me very difficult in the doctor words, I am controlling very well the sugar levels, and with less chances to have complications in the future. Of course we were happy to listen all that. But the visit to the hospital was also an excuse to go to an Art shop nearby, I had a voucher, a present from Mike for my birthday last year that I have not managed to used it until today, I treated myself with Watercolours and few brushes, Now I just need to practice.

In the evening we picked up Olivia from Veena's place and went to meet our friends Maria, John and kids, Again a lovely and warm reception. Olivia had more presents to open.

Christmas Eve eve eve...

The Christmas is not only around but we are already soaked in the Christmas Season. It was lovely to be all day with friends, to be with all the guys from Portugal, Vasco, Sergio and Pajo. Shame that Justyna, Linda and kids did not come, but the day was for Men :)

In the evening we had our treat with Veena, Khrisna and Ben, The days in Veena's house are always perfect, the company, the food and the warm atmosphere. I already complained to Veena, because she always does everything so perfect that the standards and my expectations are too high, it will be difficult for her to keep always everything at this level :) We were supposed to exchange the gifts and open it only in the Christmas, but we could not resist until there, so we opened straight away, The Christmas started today.

Carpe diem

The morning started with a disappointment, There was no snow outside as the day before :) But nevertheless the day turned up very bright and colourful. I took Olivia to a dad's day in a child centre, this is something we used to do at Saturdays and now we are promising to go back to the routine. Through the afternoon we've been invited to do a treasury hunt, to filled up a map of the High street, guess the shop by few clues given in the map, I did it alone and collect a lot of few presents for Olivia. Justyna was telling and she was right, I do like this kind of games, and small competitions.

Olivia did not stop her wonderful day, in the afternoon she had the visit of her friend Kalina, It was very sweet to see them playing, reading and laughing together.

The evening was magical, Shubhi offered to Justyna and family tickets for a Carol concert, It was amazing atmosphere and even more surprising to see Olivia go through the Concert, she was in her best mood, She enjoy the first half but knocked down with tiredness in the second half and then missing her favourite song the Jingle Bells.

Cutting endings

Finally we are all in holidays, Justyna with a night completely white managed to finished all her essays and submit to her teacher. She is also a last minute girl, but at least she always finishes and so far with good marks. Because of that me and Olivia have been together and even more close in the last days.
In the first day of holidays we did something that we never done before, to cut the Olivia's hair, just the endings but enough to make it easier to brush her hair. It started to be very painful to do anything in her hair that it is still original from her birth.

Secret folder

Olivia had her last day in school before Christmas, all the kids got together this morning to enjoy the day. It was also an opportunity to bring home all works from Olivia done through this term which we never seen. They are beautiful and even magical for us to see it.

Justyna disappeared during all day, it has been very difficult to see her, She is either in the library or in the College finishing her papers, Today she even had an hour to start a new activity, to teach Polish to a neighbour. With Justyna out I went to search for presents, but I am too bad to shop, whenever inside the shop I fell myself as if I was blind.

With everybody busy, only in the evening we met altogether again, and in the table. Me and Olivia cooked a meal to surprise mother that was very tired for sure, and for the comments everybody was very happy with the Trout.

Angel Olivia

These days are the first day for everything, And the spirits are very high. Morning Olivia rushed to be on time for her first Christmas acting in the school. She was an angel in the scenery. To celebrate we went to the coffee shop, the artists had a baby-chino to relax after the nervous from the stage. Shame that the angel still with headache and a cold.

Parents evening

We had our first parents' evening in our life, In the nursery they called all parents to give feed back about the pupils. It was good to know more things about Olivia, to listen few surprises but more often just to reinforce what we already knew. We came home happy just because she is a good girl and friendly with everybody.

This evening was me taking her to sleep, funny that for the second time she asked me, if I am her friend, even when I am upset with her. I needed to tell her that I love her all the time, even when I am angry with her.

She is very happy because we agree that she will sleep through the Winter in our bedroom. I do not see any reason to not make her happy in that particular, if this is what she wants.

A snake

Justyna had a busy day around her final papers to submit for her counselling course, now ending its Christmas term. Me and Olivia tried to see the doctor because Olivia has been complained about a pain in her ears, but it was impossible to have an appointment. The time that the family get together was in the Art exhibition in Olivia's nursery. She proudly guided us through the gallery and showed her friends' and herself's works. All the works from the kids were very inspirational. Olivia filled up her canvas with a Snake, the snake head is the most important point of the paint. It was easy for her to find buyers for her works than myself. We needed to fight with some investors on the phone, just in the limit we got funds to bring her first canvas to our home.

Dove of the Peace

Still in the hangover from the yesterday filled up with good energies from friends. My sensations and feelings through the day was just a lot of calmness and Peace around me. Only focus in the important stuff, it means almost nothing :)

It is like if such a metaphysical term like Peace could be real, touchable and taste-able as a chocolate bar. Even after the evening mass which I went by my own I experienced a big bath of water from the raining, I almost cried of happiness to be soaked in water as a child.

I thing also with my mind letting me more and more often down, it is already a rule the fact of forgetting everything, my memory is a hard disk with no more than 1 byte ram. With all this qualifications I might be considered untouchable.

Friends day

We had a lovely, a taste of Christmas, just within the warm of friends.

Geese of the Christmas

Today the multimeter showed more energies in the body, at least until evening, this time of the day is when my batteries discharge completely and ask for rest, and I find few little pains everywhere.Even I had a tooth pain, something that I did not know for a years.

But, the morning was great, I went with Olivia to the library and to the ballet class, It is wonderful just to seat down and observe all the kids enjoying.

With all this bad days I was very scare when this afternoon I went to the GP to know about my blood tests results, but there was no reason for that, The levels of white blood cells (Neutrophils) are in the normal range.

To finish, I would like to share one of my first works in the watercolour world, the joy is thousand times greater than the achievement.

Wedding anniversary

It was not a wedding anniversary as we dreamed, a lot of things went wrong today, Olivia has had her grumpiest day for a long time, Myself also even if I managed to go to the Art class, but when I comeback I went to bed, I was with headache and fever, early we dropped the idea of having dinner out. Unluckily even the meal that Justyna cooked for diner and gave her a lot of work did not come as she wanted. But in the end of the day what matters is that we still love each other and there will be much more days to celebrate and enjoy moments with each other, and with Olivia, I almost forgot.

KO

I need to be careful as I am starting to feel ill, bit of fever to copy Olivia and also a lot of sleepless. Olivia was coughing must of the night and I could not rest. Additionally, a busy day make me now completely K.O. I went to the centre to try to help a friend, but unfortunately I could not.

I checked just now and have got fever, so the aim is one paracetamol and switch off :)

Saint Nicholas

Traditionally in Poland today the kids should receive a small gift, in honour to this Saint that liked to give everything away. Olivia had lucky and found a Yo-Yo under her pillow. Plus another chocolate in another sock from her Advent calendar, we can say that she started wonderfully the day. Just there was not much time to taste the gifts atmosphere, it was a busy morning. Watch another school and to Olivia see again the doctor, as she has been with fever and coughing. Regarding to the school, we had now made our mind to which school we would like to enrol her, or put in the first place of the choices, though is not guaranteed the place. Amazing how since very early we faced this choices, what is good and best for the kids, to make them better. I am aware of this at least, it is all what I can do, so far.

My regular afternoon Reiki session become such a good moment for me, It is definitely a nest of positiveness, and it is helping me a lot. Back home I had a great time with Olivia just watching the Pink Panther. So good memories.

Lastly, just to write the outrages decision of this Portuguese government, Without any mercy they arose exponentially the prices for any service provided by the Portuguese National System. I was looking to the prices and I could not believe it, I still think that it must be a joke. all this happens because they know that the rich are not going to this places.