COLOURFULWORLD

Sunday 25 January 2015

Grow your Blog challenge 2015


For the  third year, Vicky is hosting a "Grow your blog" party, Check out her blog at - 2 Bags full blog, helping us all to get more followers and enabling us to follow other blogs that could be to our liking.

For my new readers I will start by introducing myself:
On the 8th of January, it was 8 years since my husband,  our son and I moved from Portugal to Perth, Australia, where we love to live.

I was born in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, and have since lived in South Africa, Germany and Portugal. 

I work part-time as a Practice Manager in a Medical clinic with 4 other receptionists, and I love my job, although it can be quite intense and stressful at times!



Perth
 I started blogging in June 2011, because I enjoy writing, and as a way to record my travels, crafts, recipes...and also to meet with other bloggers.

I have been gluten intolerant for about 4 years, and try to eat the "Paleo" way, which explains why I follow a few Grain free bloggers.

I am on a quest to be more aware of the environment, use less chemicals on my body and house, so I make my own washing liquid for the washing machine, and use vinegar, baking soda and lemon for cleaning around the house, as well as making my own lovely soap

Try these recipes, they are easy, don't take long and you will feel so proud of yourself .



I enjoy crafts although I must say I am a bit of a procrastinator and haven't done much in way of crafting or painting for a while. 

My other interests are travel - we have our tickets booked for less than a month's time to go to Amsterdam where my daughter and her partner live, and Lisbon where my parents, sister and other extended family live.  We will be having a big 30th celebration for our daughter, with our family and friends in Portugal.




I also enjoy stamp collecting, postcard collecting (I joined Postcrossing last year) and I like to research my family tree.


Postcard collection box


I have 4 cats now, my eldest cat "Mommy" died just under a year ago, and a few weeks ago her daughter "Baby" was diagnosed with cancer, and I'm trying all sorts of natural therapies to see if it she can recover.      

Here she is in this photo sitting inside a small box when she was a bit bigger, she has recently lost half her weight... 







I enjoy doing arts and crafts and a bit of sewing, but unfortunately I have been far too undisciplined to do anything in the last year or so...

At the moment I have 72 followers, some lovely virtual and not so virtual friends spread around the world, but it would be nice to increase my regular readers.


I thank Vicki for her efforts, and you can now hop along to 2Bagsfull -  with about 400 bloggers having registered you will for sure find a couple of blogs to your liking.


And of course I hope you "follow me" too and enjoy reading my blog.

36 comments:

  1. ...and I got three stamps ready for you, two German and a Spanish one :-)

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  2. I wish you comfort and peace as you struggle through this illness with your beloved pet. Bless you for staying with her during this difficult time.

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    1. Hi J, thanks for visiting and for your well wishes for our cat Baby. I've just hopped to your blog and you are a super fun Grandmother.

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  3. Hi Sami! I hope you are enjoying the GYB party. Last year you introduced me to this event and I'm very thankful for that! I'm very sad to hear your cat is ill, and I hope he is not suffering too much. I will of course keep following your blog as I like reading your stories and seeing pictures of your travels.

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    1. Thanks Sara, enjoy reading about your travels too.

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  4. Dear Sami: I'm already a regular follower thanks to last year's GYB party. I always enjoy reading about your travels around Oz and am looking forward to hearing about your travels to Europe as well. You write incredibly well and have a wonderful artistic eye which is obvious in your photos. I don't read every post when you write it but I always look back and read previous posts I have missed. Thank you for sharing your world! Have a great time at the party.

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  5. Hello Sami. I am so happy to get to meet you and hear that you are already a follower of my blog - now I am can follow your blog and read about your adventures and travels in your part of this wide - wide world. I am sorry to read that your cat is not well and hope he gets better.
    Have a wonderful day.
    Blessings, Erin

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    1. Thanks Erin for joining my blog party and for the well wishes for my cat. You have such a wonderful and inspiring blog, I'm sure you'll get plenty more followers.

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  6. Hey Sami, I love to travel too! My mother was born in Switzerland, and I've been fortunate to travel there twice, once for 6 months as an au pair. I've also been to Germany, England, Canada and Mexico. Not bad for a small town gal from Kentucky, eh? :O)

    Love your ideas for DIY home cleaners. My daughter and I are sensitive to strong chemical smells, so use some DIY's already.

    I'm a new subscriber and follower on GFC. I saw your "A to Z of Australia" button in your sidebar and wonder if you've heard of the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge" that happens each April?

    Have a great week!

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    1. Hi Lu-Ann, thanks for becoming a followers. I also try to be as "green" as possible, unfortunately we put far too many chemicals in our body...
      No I don't know about the Blogging from A to Z challenge. Could be fun, I'll investigate.

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  7. Hey Sami! You'll zoom over a hundred followers and beyond before you know it.
    Some great photos. You live in a beautiful country. Do you ever travel back to Portugal?
    New follower!

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    1. Thanks for becoming a new follower Alex. Since we've been in Australia, I've been back to Portugal twice. In a month's time it will be the third time.

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  8. I loved reading your post, and I was sorry to hear about the loss of your kitty, and the other diagnosed with cancer. The loss of a pet is totally devastating, I know, I have been through the wringer with mine during my lifetime. I currently have two cats, Romeo and Rose. Both are rescue kitties and both eat 'grain free dry food' I purchase 'Halo' brand. Wet meals for them have no rendered meats and have vegetables. They both do well with the food. I can't say I am grain free. I would like to be however...I maintain that I love being a vegetarian. It is difficult because I cook for my mother that likes meats....I end up eating salads, veg's, and plenty of fruits! Special breads are a bit out of my budget, this year I want to get into making my own grain free breads.

    I crochet, knit and sew...sewing needs to be brought up to par this year however. Have you visited this blog? Be sure to.....http://sarahlizzies.blogspot.com.au/ I just left it and Kim is her name, she is amazing! Wait until you see all of the beautiful items she creates.

    My blog is www.sanderellascrochet.com and if your on FB facebook.com/Sanderellas a lot of free crochet and knitting patterns there.

    You have a new follower! Happy and safe travels,
    Sandy

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    1. HI Sandy, thanks for visiting and becoming a follower. I was just looking on the internet and Halo pet food is not available in Australia. I used to give my cats a Grain free dry food, but have changed it to wet food and raw food - chicken necks, livers, chicken mince...some vegetables, after going to see a Naturopath vet with Baby.
      I'll pop over to your blog now.

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  9. Hi Sami So lovely to meet you through GYB 2015, you are exactly the sort of blog I love to find. I am your latest follower, as along with the things we have in common that you mention in your comment on my post - Gluten is not my friend either and I give the Crazy Poodle homeopathic drops! Fingers crossed it continues to be effective on your cat.
    Happy Australia Day!
    Wrenx

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    1. Hi Wandering Wren, thanks for joining my blog. I hope the homeopathic meds will help with a cure. Thank you.

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  10. I was thrilled to read your blog, and although I am not gluten intolerant, I am more than willing to add recipes that avoid gluten to my repertoire. I love to make my own soap, but can't find lye locally. Seems companies in the US no longer carry it because it is used to make meth (I had NO idea).

    I really enjoyed my visit here,
    http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2015/01/grow-your-blog-blog-hop-event.html

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    1. Thanks for the visit Elizabeth. Your Bluebeard boy is so pretty! Didn't know about the lye, I hope that I can still find it next time I want to make soap!

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  11. Happy Australia Day, from a fellow Aussie (and expat) in sunny south of France. I found your lovely blog through GYB and look forward to finding out more about you and your interests.

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    1. HI Phoebe, what a lovely part of the world you live in. My daughter's partner is French, from Marseille, and before moving to Amsterdam a year ago, they lived in Martigues, near Marseille, where I visited them two years ago.

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  12. Sami, I didnt know you had booked a holiday this year - I always enjoy hearing about your travels. There are so many awesome blogs this year, and i have had fun exploring them all. did you read about the one blogger who was on postcrossing and asked everyone to send her a piece of fabric - she made up the most awesome quilt! I like that idea!

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    1. Hi Gill, no, hadn't heard of that blogger, I love that type of quilt with a story!
      Yes, our holiday was first booked for June last year, but had to be postponed due to my husband's project being late, so we decided then that we would celebrate my daughter's 30th with her and some family and friends in Portugal.

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  13. Hi Sami - what an interesting Blog! Lovely to read about your life and your travels and cats! I hope to catch up again soon. cheers Wendy

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  14. Visiting from St. John's, NL Canada via GYB. I've been a follower for years.

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  15. I enjoyed traveling through your blog and will happily follow your future trips. Your pictures are fantastic

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    1. Hi Karin, thanks for following my blog. I can see you must also like photography as you're holding a camera...Your necklaces are also quite beautiful!

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  16. I'm so sorry that your beautiful fur baby is ill. It's so hard when a beloved family member is under the weather. Take care.

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    1. HI Mary Anne, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a few kind words. You have some lovely quilted pieces.

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  17. Hi Sami.. Hope Baby is responding to your 'natural' treatment' .. Looks like you have some lovely new followers here.

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  18. Hi Grace, yes thanks to GYB I got a lot of new followers. Baby seems to be up and down, better one day, and worse the next, so I don't know how long I will keep this up...

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