Good evening everyone, 

Just a short update today as I have to be up at 6am tomorrow for my trial shift.... fingers crossed it goes ok, god knows it will be freezing at the time. 

We went to go see my favourite guy Colin today as yet again my car is in need of tlc.... banging noises and the steering wheel shaking is a sign of some needed attention, (another step back as it goes) so my husband will be taking that tomorrow for me after doing the school run as I will be busy on the trial shift. 

so with a field of lemons growing around the house and as they saying goes when life gives you lemons.....well lets make some lemonade and that is exactly what we did this afternoon after arranging for the car to be sorted. Going knee deep into the field thanking the lord it is not snake season as i could not see my feet, we picked the lemons.  There were absolutely loads it broke my wicker basket.

Bring the story to a close and experiment in making home made lemonade by my husband and I have too admit as I do not particularly like lemony things it was really nice. (Pictures are below)

Have a great evening everyone and wrap up where ever you are as the cold season of the blue January is around.

The Optimistic Mummy xx

First of all apologies for not blogging yesterday.... very naughty off me, but it was hectic as some of you will know it was the first day back to school after the Christmas holidays. So early start up at 7am getting the school bag ready .... sounds very simple in fact I was running around like a headless chicken looking for pencil cases, water bottle etc. As a mother you try to be organised, but there are not enough hours in the day and i do like my bed haha. Although the sunrise was beautiful. I have added a picture below, it was stunning. 

After the school run was the normal, tidying the house and putting the washing on, doing the washing up.... basically making the house look it is in some sort of order before starting on the outside.... 

Now where we live is in the camino so in laymans terms the middle off nowhere surrounded by oranges... we don't even have a postbox we are that rural. so the house that we rent resides on 10,000 sqm of land which is full of orange and lemon trees, but we do have our own little plot for our allotment and the chickens and ducks.

So yesterday afternoon mine and my husbands task was to introduce the ducks with the chickens as prior they were in separate pens, so chasing ducks and chickens making a new chicken coop, our cockerel has just realized that he is with 6 females so he is doing his duty... fingers crossed for some chicks..... only taken 6 months. After all this tending to our pack of 5 dogs, 1 we brought over from the UK the rest we rescued in Spain  itself, I will delve in the dog situation in Spain on my blog tomorrow. Meanwhile while all this is happening I am still Job searching (another blog for another day as the trying to get a job in Spain is extremely difficult, it is an employers land,) and picking Alexis up from school.

I think b y the time everything was done I was that tired after the bedtime routine I slumped on the sofa and took a catnap the reason why I did not do my blog yesterday.

On another note I hope you are enjoying reading my blogs, My friend Luke is extremely supportive, he is like a mentor as I am still so new to this. 

Ps, I had a Interview today.... will let you all know what happens

​The optimistic mummy xxx

Sundays are an odd day, whether you are starting work tomorrow, getting the children's things ready to go back to school.... yay!! I do believe Sundays are a family type day to have fun together and relax, this morning here in Orihuela was the day of Reyes which is a celebration of the three kings (the 3 wise men to some) giving presents to Jesus. last night there was festivities in each town, parades and excitement. Very similar to our Christmas morning, the children here wake up to find presents left next to the shoes they put out the evening before, leaving water and nougat out for the wise men to build strength for their continued journey. 

A lovely occasion i do admit, your probably asking why we celebrate when we have Christmas day. Well being in Spain and having our daughter in a Spanish school she learns about these traditions from her friends and of course we do the parental duty so she is not left out and do something similar for her, in my case save 3 presents from Christmas then hide them round the house until she finds them and then she can open them and play that is as far as our celebration went for today,  In the afternoon we watched the film "The Greatest Showman" which was amazing I highly recommend this film. Then now its the rush around making sure Alexis has everything for her first school day tomorrow of 2019 of course.

They say January is the most depressive month of the year, festivities over, going back to work, but a little cheesy quote from the film, be unique be you.
The Optimistic Mummy xx

"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else."— P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), The Greatest Showman

In 2015, Darrell and I moved to Gran Alacant in Spain, where we met the Stewardson family; Katie, Andy and Little Lexi. During testing times, Darrell and I formed a close bond with these special people, who still remain in our life today, despite us leaving Spain six months ago. The Stewardson's are still living their Spanish dream, despite the pitfalls they encounter everyday. With time on her hands Katie has decided to set up her own website called 'Optimistic Mummy,' a tale of life in an unforgiving climate. I am delighted to showcase Katie's work on 'Roaming Brit,' and hope my readers will also enjoy her adventures in a foreign land!