Top Ten Reasons to be Cheerful

I'm so lucky. I made my own dream come true. I wanted to live somewhere warm, somewhere well away from the rat-race, and now I do.

I live in an ancient crumbling cottage in the mountains of Andalucía. Every day I breathe fresh mountain air. Nearly every day, the sky is so blue and vast it looks unreal. It takes me half an hour to hang out my washing on our new roof terrace because I keep stopping to admire the view. But even before the roof terrace was built, I used to enjoy hanging up the washing. The garden was a mess - but I didn't care.

The village is tiny, and the villagers are just enchanting; so friendly, so hospitable. Nobody speaks a word of English and we are the only foreigners in the village.

It took a lot of hard work to save enough to get here. And it took a lot of hard work to make the house comfortable. But we did it, and just being here makes me smile.

Our chickens always make me cheerful. Before we moved to Spain, we had no space or time to look after animals. In Spain we have plenty of both. But if someone had told me that chickens were fascinating - I'd have laughed. But they are!

Chickens are the most comical creatures, honestly! Each has her own personality and quirks. They get so tame that they'll sit in your lap, chattering all the time. When they lay eggs, they sing. Well, not very tunefully - probably from relief.

Ginger was one of our first chickens, and a real favourite. We had an old yellow sofa in our orchard, and if we sat on it, she'd perch on the arm and tell us all the news from the coop. She laid the first egg we'd ever had, and I was so excited I sent emails to all our family and friends saying, 'We are grandparents!' which probably worried everyone.

Things changed when we got Cocky. He was a little monster but a real character. He became the terror of the village, but that's another story...

As well as being so easy to look after, and entertaining, chickens obviously have more to give. Eggs! And fresh eggs are something else! Supermarket eggs usually come from the poor battery hen. Deprived of natural light, space and fed unnatural food, these poor chickens lay pale, gluey eggs. Free range eggs are vibrantly orange and sooooo tasty.

I can't help smiling when I collect warm, just-laid eggs.

I would imagine everybody reading this has been touched by cancer in some way. Both my parents died from it. My dearest friend had breast cancer but thankfully, it was caught in time.

I had the beginnings of cervical cancer 20 years ago. I had treatment and I've been clear ever since. Strangely, my daughter had the same problem, but she's clear now, too.

The photograph shows my daughter Karly with her boyfriend on her 26th birthday last year. She's in Australia and engaged to Cam, another reason to be cheerful as her fiance is perfect, I couldn't have chosen better myself.

My son Shealan is fine, too. He has a lovely girlfriend, Hannah. So it makes me smile that all my family's health is good. Even Joe's blood pressure has dropped dramatically since we moved to Spain.

Yes, yet another reason to be cheerful.

Joe and I live in a tiny village in the mountains so I'm pretty isolated here. When I joined Squidoo less than a month ago, I was astonished how instantly I became part of a massive community.

Squidoo members come from all corners of the earth and all walks of life. And there is always someone online to talk to, and always a new fascinating lens to read.

Then Nan invited me to join RocketMoms. Suddenly I had 130+ new friends, all bursting with ideas and energy. There is always help at hand, even when I nearly gave up because my dial-up internet connection is so slow.

It's true - RocketMoms Rock!

I know I'm always talking about it, but apart from having babies, passing my driving test and moving to Spain, this is the most EXCITING thing that has ever happened to me!

The book just sort of bubbled out of me, even though it took a year to knock into shape. I suppose that's because the characters really exist and the events really happened. (Don't they say 'truth is stranger than fiction?') It was a joy to write and made me chuckle all the time I was typing.

I'd never shown any of my writing efforts to anybody before and I was nervous about revealing 'Chickens' to the world. When I did, the feedback was amazing! Then 'Chickens' got awarded the HarperCollins Gold Star. Wow!

It's been such fun working with the artist who designed the brilliant cover. I told him I wanted it to convey the heat of Spain, our chickens, the village mule, and our relaxed life-style. I think he did a brilliant job! He even managed to squeeze an Indalo, or Rainbow Man on the front cover.

''Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools' is on sale at Amazon, WH Smith, Waterstones, The Book Depository, Barnes & Noble, etc. Now that's a great reason for me to be cheerful!

Now, for this to make any sense, you must imagine what our garden was like when we moved in. The weeds reached waist height, and the past owners had tied string and wire everywhere. We had to hack a path through from the back door to the garden gate.The walls were crumbling and housed countless wasps' nests.

Now it is finally finished and I have everything I'd ever dreamed about. An outdoor kitchen, with barbecue, sink and taps, tiled work surfaces, plenty of cupboards and a huge table to sit at. All under the shade of a vine that provides not just cool shade, but delicious grapes.

Now I have a woodshed stacked with logs ready for winter. I have a pretty staircase that leads to our new roof terrace. I have flower beds and the most palatial chicken coop in Spain. (It has mezzanines, a water feature, a palm tree, a mirror and is stencilled with orange trees.) I even have an outdoor shower for those blistering days when one needs to cool off quickly.

I didn't order the pink slabs, I wanted cream ones, but Joe said we couldn't expect the delivery lorry to take them back down the mountain. I've got used to them now, and my garden makes me cheerful.

I really enjoy Do-It-Yourself. This is an excerpt from my book which describes it quite well.

I was on my hands and knees laying floor tiles in the kitchen. I love tiling. To begin with, I love making up the tile cement: tipping in the powder, adding water, spinning with the whirly attachment on the drill until the mixture slaps around like a giant bucket of cake mix. I love the satisfying splats as I ladle out large dollops and they hit the floor. Next, the pleasure of spreading it evenly with a serrated trowel that combs patterns like a newly ploughed field. Then laying the tiles, each one straight and true, transforming dusty earth floors to cool, shiny surfaces that invite one to tread them.

Joe returned from collecting eggs in the orchard. "We're really low on grain," he said. "We'll have to go down to the chicken shop and get some more."

"Well, you'll have to go by yourself, I've only just made up all this tile cement."

I was so deeply absorbed with my project that it wasn't until some time later that a thought occurred to me. I had forgotten Joe is the most impulsive shopper I have ever known. Send him out for a carton of milk and he comes back with a crate of milk, beer, chocolate biscuits, a set of glasses and a cuddly toy. He loves buying things, even if we have them already or don't need whatever. It may have been a serious mistake sending him to the chicken shop alone.

I stripped off my rubber gloves quickly and grabbed the mobile phone.

"How r u getting on? Don't buy any more chickens!" I texted.

If you read 'Chickens' you'll find out it was exactly as I feared. Joe came home with MUCH more than just the grain...

Our poor little jeep was brand new when we left England, but after 5 years in Spain, she's become decidedly battered. Hardly surprising considering as we use her to carry cement, chickens, bricks, cast-iron woodburning stoves, etc.

But the jeep is a real reason to be cheerful. Fill her up with petrol, and she's ready to go - any time, anywhere. And in summer we put the roof down, park her on the beach and have a great day.

We moved to Spain to enjoy the warm weather. It came as a bit of a shock when we realised that winters in the Alpujarra mountains are FREEZING! We rely heavily on our wood-burning stoves. We warm the house with them, dry laundry in front of them and cook on them.

So, having a woodshed full of logs is yet another reason to be cheerful.

Actually, I'm not a very good cook, but living in Spain has really given me a real interest in Spanish cooking.

I now own a cazuela and my book has lots of Spanish recipes in it given to me by the villagers.

I didn't cook this Poor Man's Potatoes dish, my neighbour did. The kitchen had no running water or electricity, but Carmen still managed to serve up a fabulous meal for 12.

There's no doubt about it, delicious Spanish cooking is another reason to be cheerful!