Yes, everything is OK! :)

My dear friends,

It's over, the stress, the fear. Until my next checkup (yes, we all know what that's like even if we try to be rational, rationality has nothing to do with this atavic fear!!)

Everything is in fact OK :) and I'm smiling again and feel like a ton has lifted off from my shoulders!

So here are just a few little flowers... and my THANK YOU for all your positive thoughts (even though I only got to comment moderation after lunch I did read all of your sweet messages before my exam, to fill me up with positive vibes :) )

Have a wonderful week!

XXX

Happy New Year!

Hello my dear friends!

This will most likely be my last post in 2011, as the end creeps up on us so fast (and my holidays sneak away so fast too, *sob*). I will try to show you later on my Christmas presents--just a sneak peek here.

First, and above all, let me tell you how WONDERFUL you have all been cheering me on through bad times and good times, and in a way nursing me back to health. These have been 2 complicated, rough years healthwise and it has been fantastic to read your blogs, visit your gorgeous homes, gasp at your fantastic crafts and ideas and find new friends while sharing the little things I started creating again. Your messages have been truly appreciated and if sometimes I don't reply right away I always try to do so at some time.

I want to THANK EACH and EVERYONE of you for being here for me and hope to have many more wonderful days spent with you in 2012, which definitely will be a good one--no more treatments and total recovery, yeahhhh!!!! Just check-ups every 6 months :-)

This year has brought me new friends.

I was lucky enough to have met personally one of them, Carla of Simply by Carla who is an amazing quilter and patchworker--have to take pictures of the fabulous sewing / crafts bag she gave me for Christmas! It looks like a jigsaw puzzle but she says it's not as difficult as it looks. Right. As if I believed her :-)

Then there's Marjo of Marjo's Cosy Corner, a sister in arms as she had to go through the same ordeal I did this year. From knowing what the other one was going through I believe we were able to give each other some comfort and strength--I know she did / does to me!--and I'm truly glad we met this way. Hopefully we'll be able to meet personally in the near future, as Belgium is not so far away from Portugal!

Even though distance is a bit of a problem for meeting personally, there are other fantastic people who are always here to leave a kind word and share a smile--Meredith, Marilyn, Carol, MemeRose, Crissi, (hmmm... what is it with the M's and C's?!) Valeria, Susan, Jo...among so many others! (Please make sure you visit them too, you'll love their work!)

I wish you all and each one a Happy, Wonderful New Year full of joy and love and above all health--and hope to meet you here again soon :)

You're the best!

XXXXX

48

It's official, I'm 48. 

It's such an odd feeling! 

As a child I thought a 48 year old person was... errhhhh... old... and probably a grandma...

As the years have passed this feeling has been continuosly changing and now I totally understand my 94 year old Grandma when she talked about that "old lady" at the nursing home who was 70... 

Age is definitely in our mind and in our heart, not in the years that have gone by. 

I am not a grandma (thank goodness!!! my son is still too young for that!) and I definitely don't feel or behave old :)

And I am so happy to be 48 and alive and well! 

I am such a lucky person, my health is back, my family is big and we all care for each other, I have a job I like (even though I'll need to relearn when I go back, I've been away for so long) and I appreciate all of life's gifts and beauty... and I have met so many wonderful people here!

So... here's a little gift from me to you, and a big THANK YOU for all your support through rough times these past few months!

It wouldn't be the same without you :)

xxx