12 Feb

Together

Written by UrbanVox 8 Comments

Life is so repetitive, but it is our duty to make it FUN

Well at least that makes sense in my head…

I’m a clown in way too many ways and will do almost anything to leave a smile on the face of those I love.

I have no shame…

That is probably one of the reasons I am usually in trouble too… But what can I do??? This is me, and I don’t know how to be any other way…

I am who I am…

Today TB brought back home a Clown nose thing from the supermarket and put it on my nose… Lil’ One LOVED it and started pouting at me every time I took it off and picked it up asking me to put it back… It kept him amused for quite a few minutes….

I love his little smiles and giggles… Yeah… he has me under his fingers… and I probably do end up spoiling him too much at times… I just can’t avoid it… I spend too little time with them…

Memories (32/365)

Written by UrbanVox 0 Comments

Today I sat with my mother as she went through some of the jewels she inherited from Grandma… Going through memories of grand occasions and how she favoured ones over others and the ones she would never part from her body.

We went through the ones that are planned for my sister and to my niece and to my daughter (I know… I have got two sons and a young man I love as my own too… but Grandma was convinced that I am still going to have a daughter when she died)… And mum made her claims to which of HER jewels will go to whom just in case she snuffs it… Yeah… My mum insistes to have some strange conversations at the most strange times ever…

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today anyway…

I think we leave a bit of ourselves in everything we touch… every thing we use… We leave a bit of our essence in everything we own…

So when we came to a couple of battered rings that belonged to my Grandfather, but has always for some strange reason been one of my favourite characters of a VERY intricate family history I more than immediately told her that I would like to keep them…

There is something about things that were owned by member of the oldest and gone genrations… a certain energy… every scratch and every crevice tells a story… and this piece in special has a lot of them… It was my Granddad’s Freemason ring… He never took it off his finger… Imagine all the history it can testify to… from the moment he put it in his finger to the moment he gave his last breath…

I know it sounds strange… But it does brings tears to my eyes… And the presence I can feel in these inanimate objects in some way soothes me…

It makes me certain that we do leave something behind after all… In everything we touch… and everything we change…

So make sure you touch someone today… That is the guarantee that you will live forever.

31 Jan

Bonding (30/354)

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We hit a small bump in the road this weekend. All of a sudden I wan’t one of J’s favourite people in the world anymore… And all because I wouldn’t tell mummy to hurry up and wake up… The biggest puppy eyes ever opened up and tears fell off them and all of a sudden i wasn’t allowed to stay at his house anymore… or get near mummy for all that it’s worth.

Every time I tried he’d beat me to it, or arrange an excuse for mummy to be somewhere else or request attention in some way or form.

I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t hurt me… twice… Once because I thought a little boy that I already love to bits didn’t love me anymore and twice because I didn’t really get to spend much quality time with Hales over the weekend…

Yeah I know… He is a 4 year old and has always had mummy to himself without ever having to share her and now there is another man in her life and learning to share is not the easiest thing for kids… Specially as my parenting stle is quite different to Hayley’s…

I know that… And I have come to terms that something like that might happen… But for some reason I felt hurt nonetheless…

Yesterday we went to watch Tomas & Friends Live at the Apollo in the morning and when we got back mummy went to take a nap… J went with her to watch TV in bed. When I sat alone in the lounge and was considering going out for a walk to clear up my head and maybe snap some pictures I got a text message from Hales telling me he all he needed was a bit of bonding time with me as he hadn’t had a chance to have any for the past couple of weeks and I should invite him to come and build a train track at the lounge. I didn’t agree much that that was the case as I had spent more time with him than with her lately… but I though… WTF… why not give it a try…

He didn’t come immediately but after about 5 minutes he appeared by the sofa.

“Helloooo… I’m here to HELP you building a track then” With a little smug air that sais “I know you can’t build the track without my help”

We spent the rest of the afternoon building tracks and playing with trains and watching Octonauts and other things on TV and cuddling up on the sofa… By the end of the day we were best of pals again… which put a smile on my face.

He also slept all night long in his bed for the first time in ages… which meant me and Hales had a reasonably good night of sleep (apart from some weird alien and monster dreams *internal joke*) and the best first thing in the morning cuddles I’ve had in ages.

Yeah… looks like some bonding time is all we needed…

And mummy still knows best…

08 Jan

Banana and Nutella Topping

Written by UrbanVox 1 Comment

It is good to know that I have passed some of my good tast in food to my sons…

One example of that is one of the Pires Family’s most well kept traditional dishes: The Banana and Chocolate Pizza. Okay… so maybe it’s not such an old tradition… but it is still delicious!!! And there is this pizzeria in Sao Paulo that put it in the menu after we went there every week and asked them to make it specially for us… so yayyyy for chocolate and banana pizza!!

Hey… don’t knock it til you tried it!!!!

And if you want to give it a go… here goes the recipe:

For the dough:

Ingredients:

Self Raising Flour (
Water
MAple Sirup

Toppings:

Bananas
Melted Chocolate (or nutella or chocolate spread)
If you feel adventurous and like to mix savoury with sweet like I do sometimes, add some strong cheese, like catupiry or Cheddar

How to do it:

Mix the Water and the Flour in a bowl (I’m not giving you exact amounts because seriously… I don’t know… I jst mix them til it feels right) and then add a splash of Maple sirup and let it rest for 5 minutes and open the dough in a pizza pan and put it in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 10 minutes or until the base feels like it has baked through.

Now comes the fun bit!!!

Spread the Chocolate spread and add the bananas on top. If you are going to be adventurous, add the cheese on top as well and put it in the oven again for 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Voila!! Instant deliciousness in pizza form!!!

Go on!!! give it a try and let me know what you think of it!!!! I guarantee the kiddos will love it!

So… there it goes… there’s my secret…. how about you???? what is your favorite invented recipe???

17 Nov

Can You Hear Me? Can you See me? Do you Really?

Written by UrbanVox 9 Comments

We live in an age where communication has made so being in touch with those we love so much easier. We can see and hear and communicate with the ones we love no matter if they are just downstairs or on the other side of the world… and we do it

How many of you have Twitted your OH whilst sitting in the same room? I know I have… and I know that it is common place in some households.

But is that really communicating?

Don’t take me wrong… I find it great that my dad who lives in Brazil can see my 10 month old son form the other side of a screen and comment on how much he has grown… And see his face when he smiles and when my eldest shows him his latest trick with a computer or a pencil or his latest gameplay thing.

But is that really communicating?

I had a bit of a breakdown this morning… That’s when I realised that to be able to communicate TO those who love at any time doesn’t necessarily mean that you are communicating WITH those you love.

We are human beings… and the need to commune. It is written in our genetic code. And by commune I don’t mean Skypeing, Texting, Twitting… I mean old fashion time face to face contact.

Technology has brought closer… but it has also taken us apart in ways that we can only imagine.

We broadcast our thoughts and whatever happens to us as things happen in so many ways that when we are finally face to face we have nothing to say… So we rely in even more technology to ensure we spend time together and sit over dinner to watch TV.

And we get stuck in this cycle as we fail to communicate and because we don’t really communicate we fail to really commune.

Communication is the key to everything… I should know that…

Want to do an experiment with me?

Spend a whole day without broadcasting everything you do… The when you get home… when you are with those you love actually spend time telling each other what you did during the day. Put your phone, computer, laptop whatever, away… turn the TV off… Spend time together… REALLY together… (you are excused if you live alone… but you can always make this ONE phone call at the end of the day).

Do it for a week… You will see that you are not as close as you imagine. There is ALWAYS room for improvement.

Is Technology bringing us together? Or taking us Apart?