More Photos....

Well folks ... Christmas is finally upon us .... want to leave you with some shots of the wild and wacky tourists here in Wet SA !!!! O! NO she's not moaning about the bloody weather again .... but at least "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas"

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS .....FROM AFRICA

The muddy faces after the quad biking....

Neeegel!

The mad dutchman !!!

Nanuschka

Alien Jane === ooops mean Panda Eyes !!!!

Some Holiday shots!!!!

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...

After the quad riding !!! or should we say mud sliding !!!

Nan with her new baby - McIan

After a hard days ride...

Look at the colour of those feet .... again after quad riding.

Nice & Clean before we set off.

After a kill....

The White Lions with African Golden Lions

Below: Look at the view

My Favourites ....

A family of Impala a.k.a McDonalds Buck check the M arches on their bums!!!!
The Tourists!!!!!

HARD TO BELIEVE ....

What it's been 12 days since I blogged - how's that for the 12 days of Christmas (PMSL) ... so where do I begin ... at the very beginning I guess !!!

Mum was speechless (first time in her life ...ever) when she got out the car and her friend Bella walked out of June & Irena's ... Irena was shaking from excitement ... Bella ended up crying and mum's first word were "Bloody Nora what the hell are you doing here!!!" After they all eventually calmed down I told mum 'the bad news' she wasn't going up to JHB to visit my brothers ... she was actually relieved cos she hates flying (not relieved that she wasn't seeing the brothers though ... but it's not every day your best friend hops on a plane and travels 6000 miles to see you and she hasn't flown in over 45 years !!!! )

Kelsey & I left the two of them gossiping with a big pot of tea and plenty of fags... we were going to JHB to met dad (Paul) and Jane & Nigel ... they were waiting at the airport for us and off we went on Safari !!!! It was brilliant The Funny Five (as we were aptly named by Nan) in our big white mini van with all the cases... and stuff!!!

J&N had not slept in 2 days and with the heat (yes you read that bit right it was bloody hot in JHB ... not in DBN where we live like!!!) the two of the caught up on 40 winks while the 3 Bells caught up on our gossip around them ... I tried to be the 'professional' guide by pointing out places of interest (once they had woken up) J&N got to experience our 'rush hour' traffic thru Pretoria ... then we were out onto the open road ... along with the odd bit of History here and there ... we eventually arrived at Entabeni (Ben & Nan's place)
(Impala at the main gates...)


And the boys thought I was joking when I told them they were sleeping 'rough' !!! We wanted Nigel to experience safari tru African Style so Ben had organised a tent !!! Paul & Kelsey loved it ... Nigel said nowt !!! But he was a true trooper and didn't complain once ... (I think he enjoyed it) Nan had been rushing about getting everything sorted for our arrival (she is a star!!! a shining one). We ate 'Vetkoek' (a traditional SA dish) with 'buffalo savoury mince (and I mean the meat was really buffalo) Nan & I had decided we wanted J&N to experience as much of Africa as we could organise !!!

We all eventually crashed into bed/tent later that night ... the weather played nicely on the 1st night and day !!! Paul, Kelsey, Jane, Nigel and Russel decided (idiots) that they were going to climb the 'Berg' (mountain) behind Nan's place ... Russel & Kelsey promised us it was an easy climb ... Nan & I knew better so we stayed at home and baked fresh Muffins for breakfast for the climbers when the came down the mountain !!! I have lots & lots of photos to share so please be patient ....
(From the top of the mountain ... yes the boys slept in the blue tent!!!)


(Paul at the top of the mountain)

After the hike and breakfast we set off into town to buy provisions (booze actually) for the weekend, and J&N experienced the time warp of Mokopane ... the nearest town to N&B ...by the time we got back Ben had lit the fire ... we were having the traditional 'Braai' with Buffalo wors too ... (boerewors is a traditional sausage here made with any type of meat) and being on a Game Reserve N&B get to try all types of meat ... needless to say the boys had to get out some of their toys and do a bit of male bonding too .... (Kelsey was loving it all ... I think Nigel did too!!!)

(Kelsey, Ben & Paul)

Before dinner we took a walk to the perimeter fence and saw the rhino's with their baby ... sweet.

Saturday night after the braai ... and lots of alcohol we crashed into bed to be woken by thunder & lightning ... Jane & I were expecting the boys to come running in at any moment ... they didn't ... next morning the told us of the leaks in the tent but the bravely battled it out in the storm ...

Sunday was a busy day we went to visit a 'working' Crocodile Farm ... I mean they breed crocodiles for their skins and their meat. The tour guide told us that Louis Vitton had just taken 4000 skins from them for handbags. Their biggest export was skins for bags ... they supply LV, Gucci, Prada and a few others (can't remember them all) and they also supply meat to the local butchers. (Did you know ... everything on a Crocodile can be used? the money they were talking about!!! Think I'm in the wrong business!!!)AND the owner says his mating pairs can produce for 120 years !!!!

After that we went for an early lunch at 'Spif' a local Chicken restaurant ... it was incredibly hot and I like this restaurant (yup we went there last time I was there) as it has these cool water sprayers around the place and a nice atmosphere and the kids can run around ... Ouma and Oupi (Nan's mum & dad) joined us for lunch ... it was great, but we couldn't stay too long cos Ben had planned a nice surprise for us all ... we stopped off on our way home at the next door neighbours ... where they breed White Lions AND they have 2 Cheetah too !!! I was in my element and J&N loved it too.... They're also supposed to have Buffalo on their reserve, however we didn't manage to find any but had a nice drive through a section of the bush veld. Boy what another fantastic ... however long day !!!! We were all exhausted ... (remember the sun comes up at 4am and Nan don't have curtains ... not like anyone gonna see us eh?)

Sadly Nan could not get time off work ... well she wanted to save her holidays for her visit to me here next week ... I can't wait!!!, so she had to go into work Monday & Tuesday ... but Ben had time off and we had another fun filled day planned for Monday ... Paul has asked Santa for a Quad Bike (don't think he's listening .... Santa I mean) and so as a bit of compensation Ben had organised for us to go on a Quad Ride through a section of the Reserve ... what fun !!! It was wet & muddy ... we rode dangerously like idiots without helmets etc ... but once we found the mud pits we just couldn't avoid them ... and had to keep going back in case we'd got lost (good excuse eh?) We were covered from head to toe in MUD ... it was great, in fact we enjoyed it sooooo much we booked to go again on Tuesday ... either before or after our game drive... When we got home Nan was in and she wanted to go too ....

Monday night we learnt ho to play Strauss Rummy !!! A lot of fighting and giggling went on (I'm sure Ben was making the rules up as he went along - cheat!!!) And of course the more we played the more alcohol was consumed so maybe that's why we couldn't understand the rules !!!! We all went to bed exhausted but satisfied ... the end to another lovely day ...

Tuesday Nan went off to work, Jane & I made pink muffins (best don't ask) with Nicki!!!! The boys had to go out to collect a game drive vehicle !!! The bad news we had no guide we were stuck with Ben (seriously not a problem there in fact best news ever) the good news we got to keep the vehicle overnight (why ... well we managed an evening game drive AND and early morning drive = BONUS) ... we waited till Nan came home and then we all went out Quad Biking ... got covered in yet more mud ... but this time we planned that !!!! We were filthy but had a fantastically brilliant time ... we also saw the White Lions feeding !!! We dashed back home, cleaned up and then we were off out on a game drive...

We saw Blou Wildebeest, Impala, Warthog, Jackals, Lion, Giraffe, Zebra, Water buck, Spring Hare, etc.etc. and lots of birds and generally a great time was had by all ... then Ben told us we could go out on an early morning drive on Wednesday we were thrilled....

I crashed into bed straight after food ... my eyes were on fire thanks to the Quad biking and all the sand the boys kicked into my face trying to be funny!!!!

Wednesday mornings drive was phenomenal ... as we were driving across the plain when the King of the Jungle decided he would just saunter in front of our vehicle ... it was amazing ... especially as we had searched all over for them the day before and only seen the lions in the distance !!! Wow, amazing ,brilliant!!! It was a fitting end to a fantastic 5 days ....

Ben, Nan thank you soooo much for organising a week to remember and for being such fantastic people ... I love you both .... very much !!!!

Twice in 1 day !!!

Well just a quickie ... to remind you all I'm going to be internetlessness again for the next 5 days ... we're off to the BUSH again and well there's just soooo much to see and do and not enough time to BLOG!!! (LOL)

No seriously - no internet out there ... makes it all the more peaceful ...

Kelsey & I fly to JHB tomorrow after Year End assembly,(and we get final school report tomorrow, talk about leaving it to the last minute !!!) we meet up with Paul, Jane & Nigel and we all 'trek' up to the reserve (Ben & Nan's place a.k.a Entabeni).

Mum thinks she's going to visit my brother Kevin BUT she does'nt know it yet BUT her friend Bella from the UK flew in today with Paul, and June & I collected her from the airport tonight ... mum who has packed her suitcase like me and is under the impression she is going to JHB is in for a BIG surprise ... Please keep it a secret for her till after 11am our time !!! (you know who I'm talking toooooo!!!) OH I hope she enjoys her surprise !!! (I'll let you know what happened next installment :->) and I'm sure I'll have plenty of other news for you too...

28.5!!!

That's the number of hours we been without electricity in the last 48hrs !!!!!

Tuesday was the typical African Summers Day - stinking hot, muggy and not a breath of air (no complaints there then eh?) Then 5pm the sky darkened and the torrential rain, thunder and lightning struck and I mean literally !!! There was a loud bang towards the top end of the estate and by 6pm we were plunged into darkness !!! (funny how we were just about to start making the tea, and I had actually gone mad and decided to bake some Cinnamon Biscuits !!! experimenting for Christmas, and mum had JUST put the kettle on for a cuppa!!!)

Needless to say we packed everything away ... put on our coats and went out for food ... well we know how slow the electricity department are at fixing things here!!! (understatement of the year!!! It's going to be VERY interesting next year 2010 World Cup Soccer and the incompetence of the services here !!! wonder if FIFA will want a refund PMSL)

We came home after our supper ... knew there was no point in rushing cos it was still pouring with rain and there was no way the electricity would be fixed so soon... so we were all in bed fast asleep by 8.30pm !!!

Usually you get woken about 2am when the electricity is restored and the gate alarm goes off ... this didn't happen we woke up as usual Wednesday morning and STILL no power !!! Wow this had to be a bad one !!! Seems it was ... the lightning blew up a sub-station and half the cables out of the ground !!!

T.G. for Wimpy - stocked mum up with her tea for the morning as I had to go to the Year 6&7 Prize Giving Assembly ... the heat had gone out of the air so it was much cooler ... and I'm told more tolerable than the assembly the day before ... The ceremony was lovely ... the kids did a couple of music ensembles etc ... very nice ... no Carol Singing which meant it didn't feel like Christmas but hey !!! The kids were all very proud of their achievements ... it is so nice to see them being recognised for all their hard work.

Of course when I got home we still had no electricity ... so darn it off out to lunch and more tea for mum (tough life but someones' gotta do it !!!) BUT when we got back at 4pm and there was still NO Power this was getting a bit much !!! (no we don't have such a civilised society that we can claim from the electricity department for the loss of food etc... due to their incompetence, I'm so glad I didn't have too much in the freezer ... well no point stocking up for Christmas just yet as we are going away from Friday for a week!!!)

I phoned June to find out if they had power and thankfully they did, so mum, Kelsey and I packed our dinner in a bag, as well as the cinnamon cookie mix and we spent the evening with June & Irena ... ate dinner together and baked Christmas Cookies ( That's what friends are for eh?) We left their house at 9.30pm and on our drive home which is less than 10mins !!! we hit another THUNDER STORM ... you'd swear it had never rained in a month ... meanwhile it's never stopped and we got home to yet again total darkness .... FINALLY at 10.30pm the electricity came back on = 28.5 hours later ... ONLY IN AFRICA

Well Paul just sent me a text message he and mum's surprise visitor have arrived safely at JHB airport ... I'll tell you more about mum's surprise visitor later ... OOOOO it's sooo exciting !!!!

A few of my favourite things...

Oh! boy what a weekend ... Sunshine, Christmas Shopping and putting up the Christmas decorations ... these are a few of my favourite things ...

Yes you read right ... shock horror ... we have seen the light!!! The sun shone yesterday for a few hours ... the washing machine was working it's ass off, of course ... bugger the lie in, and the fact it's Sunday but if the sun is shining on Sunday the machine goes on ...

And Saturday I spent the day with Aunty J Christmas shopping ... apart from the crowds and the queues we had a great time !!! Of course blew the budget ... like we even had one to start off with eh?

Only 4 more days of school and Only 4 sleeps till we see Paul, J&N and visit Nan !!!! Whoopee... Getting excited now ... in fact far too excited to waste time sleeping !!!!

A major question answered...

OK! now I know why the folks here don't do Christmas Cards !!!

I went to the post office today to post my 54 cards !!!! It is going to cost me R18.00 per card that's £1.50 per card to post to UK/USA etc. ... I don't want to buy shares in the damned place ... and I wouldn't mind so much if the postal service actually worked here !!!

So those of you who moan about the Royal Mail ... be grateful at least IT WORKS !!!! and it doesn't cost you a second mortgage to post your Christmas Cards ...

But don't fear I have made a plan ... I have called upon 1 of Santa's little helpers !!!! I put all the cards in a large padded envelope and posted it via parcel post to My Little Elf Friend and I have asked Paul to get a batch of UK postage stamps to her and then very sweetly asked her (well I will ask her after I've finished writing this post) to pop the cards in the post to you all ... I would have asked Paul but he'll be here by the time the parcel arrives UK. Trust me this way it works out cheaper but even more so for me cos Paul has to buy the UK stamps (PMSL!!!:-)

Not a lot else to report ... it's still raining ... chucked it down last night!!! Our garden is flooded again and the next door neighbour said she'd found a turtle (from the pond on the estate) wading it's way through her garden this morning !!! Even the animals are confused ... (OH by the way we live on the other side of the estate to the pond!!!)

Prayers

You know in some countries they say prayers for rain ... well do you think those folks could try praying a little harder cos it seems the rain has got stuck just over KZN again !!! And honestly we really don't need it so I'd gladly package it up for you and send it on ...

We have had rain since Sunday and I mean NON-STOP!!!

So if any of you folks out there know of any prayers for SUN please can you forward them to me ... I know the Indians Rain Dance ... any ideas how to Sun Dance ???

We are now calling for very desperate measures !!! I have visitors arriving in 8 days time ... coming to AFRICA where it's supposed to be hot !!! Whoever wrote that book needs shooting !!! What am I going to do with visitors when it's pissing down with rain all the time ??? There's only SO much shopping one can do !!! (That's the only places that's dry at the moment - the shopping malls)

Some good news though - finally the part that my car needed to get it fixed has found it's way to the garage !!!! So today I am car-less again and hopefully it gets fixed and then I can get out and about ... I mean I have places to go... people to see before the kids break up from school.

So far I've had a tough social week ... breakfast on Monday with 1 group of ladies ... breakfast yesterday with The Mum's Committee, good job I have this wonderful figure I'm looking after... (PMSL) ... and next week the kids finish school at 12h20 everyday so we have a really short week ahead of us ...

This weekend I want to get the house decorated for Christmas ... that's going to be fun ... I'll probably blow myself up trying to connect the damned lights ... that's usually Paul's job ... I'm trying to persuade Kelsey to help but he just gives me that 'you are joking , MUM look !!!

Talking of Christmas I have finally finished writing all my Christmas Cards ... now just to get them to the post office ... they probably won't get to the rest of the world before Christmas now ... but hey! at least I tried !!! No-one here seems to exchange Christmas Cards ... going to have to change that next year when I get the workshops up and running ... I mean I love Christmas and I love making Christmas Cards and all things Christmassy !!!(Boy got my work cut out for me eh? I love a challenge, well that's when I'm not Princess Procrastination of course)

Ok! Waffling again time to go ... ;-0

Someday My Prince will come...

So all this time the fairy tales were a lie ... when you kiss a frog he does NOT turn into a handsome prince ... he just stays a pretty frog!!!!

Check out this little chap ... all day yesterday it rained ... that fine misly pissly kinda rain, but it was warm !!! and then about 2ish the heavy fog settled in and that was it for the day ...

There I was sitting 'bored' (oops I mean beading) and I heard this 'plop' behind me ... at first I thought it was Kelsey mucking about but then it jumped towards me ... and it was a frog... tiny little thing ... no idea where he came from but I picked him up and took him outside and there were loads of his family ... on the walls and the door ... in Indi's water bowl ... it was quite bizarre !!! I had to return 3 to the outside world before the night was out and they climb too ... think they are tree frogs ... but I have no explanation as to why we seemed to have a 'plague' of them last night ... No sign of them this morning ...

But the rain's still here ... but it's not cold !!! :-)

OH well the mysteries of African wildlife ... so only 12 SLEEPS till my Prince will come !!! (PMSL, in fact fall over PMSL)

Oh! Ho! No!

Maybe I spoke too soon (about the Summer thing !!!) temperatures have dropped drastically again today !!! and there's a 60% chance of thunderstorms later today!!!

But we had our summer yesterday ... they (don't know who they are) say that the weather patterns are all changing and so we could be ending up with the North's weather patterns which means 1 day of Summer is normal !!! (PMSL)

Kelsey had a great Summer's day yesterday ... it was their grades Pool Party (that's the North's equivalent to the kids year end Christmas Party!!! Tough eh?) Well he came home looking like a very ripe tomato!!! The kids skin was glowing !!! AND he has dislocated his right thumb !!! (mucking about in the pool, mum !!!) So poor lad had a very restless night - sun burnt back and throbbing thumb !!!

I too am an injured duckling !!! Bruce the Builder very kindly helped me out yesterday by getting a couple of his guys to deliver my pot plants from Aunty June's ... of course I got them to put them where I thought I wanted them ... then after they left ... I decided to move them myself ... pulled a muscle in my back !!! (silly cow)

So the 2 of us are feeling very sorry for ourselves (AGAIN)

My Car !!!! O.I.A again ... seems my tensioner thingy for the cambelt/fan/whatever is 'broken' and NO they don't have one ... so my car was at the garage for 91/2 hours yesterday to finally be returned to me un-fixed and when they have the part I must take it back in for another 91/2 hours !!!!

I've told Kelsey if he wants to make money when he grows up, become a mechanic in Africa !!!!

What a beautiful day ...

Finally, maybe, perhaps ... Summer has arrived ... It is such a pleasure waking up (except the 4.30am goose call !!! ) to a beautiful morning like this :

(oh! the culprits that wake me at 4.30am... I'm told I need to invest in a super duper water pistol ... that'll get rid of them without hurting them!!!)

As I attempted to chase the geese off the roof I looked out over the golf course and the 'castle wall' and there was some of the 'buck' that keep the green short, just standing in the cool morning breeze ... an ideal photo opportunity !!!!

Sorry don't know which type of Buck they are - Nan need your help here !!!!

And this little chap (a weaver) decided to investigate the newly 'hacked' bushes at the bedroom window ... sorry about the blurred photo - this was taken thru the window ... not bad eh?

I'm car-less today waiting for the diagnosis !!! somehow I think this is going to cost me !!! (AGAIN) ... feeling a bit 'trapped'!!! Isn't it strange the car can sit outside on the driveway all day normally but the minute you don't have access to it you suddenly have all these places you have to be ... and things you have to do... TYPICAL!

Car Trouble AGAIN !!!

Started 'Bessy' this morning and WTF!!!

Sounds like someone left a bag full of hammers in the engine ... and there's been no-one near it !!! Those damned Gremlins !!!! Why do they always have to pick on me ...

So this weeks SA challenges:

Keep Kelsey happy and not too sad about loosing his best friend AND find a way to get him to school and back and all the other things he does ... my mum to her shopping etc ... and NO CAR AGAIN !!!

Thanks Juno for coming to my rescue tomorrow ... Bruce the Builder for offering your help too ...

When I don't have my car I feel like I may as well not bother getting up in the mornings!!!

AND bet you can't guess what I'm having for Christmas Dinner - Egyptian Goose when I catch the bugger that keeps waking me at 4am with his 323 single syllable squawks !!!!

WHY did I say I liked birds ????

Haircut 100!!!

Hey guess what the sun shone this weekend !!! I know I can hardly believe it myself ... Saturday all day and Sunday morning ... however it did'nt last, hey this is Africa !!! ... by Sunday afternoon the clouds came in and bam! it's overcast and cold again !!!!

Remember I mentioned last week with all the bad weather I thought I'd got out of 'pruning' the hedge outside my bedroom window ... well I thought maybe I needed to tidy it up a bit ... So I gave the hedge a haircut !!! (More like a scalping !!!)

Don't you just love the string holding the bushes together !!!!

And talking of haircuts ... school had nothing else to moan about last week ... exams are over and so lets pick on the kids for their dress code instead !!! The boys were told they'd all be in detention on Thursday if they did'nt all get a haircut ... well I had promised Kelsey he could have his 'convict 99' hairstyle for the summer (ha! ha! when???) holidays !!! So I took out the razor and szszszszszs ALL GONE !!! He'll probably get into trouble now cos it's too short !!! (remember there's just no pleasing them teachers !!!!) I left him a little kiss curl as a joke ... but he's not like his dad who would have happily gone to school with the whacky haircut ... I had to cut his kiss curl off too!!! Spoil Sport ;-)

We have'nt heard any news about exam results yet !!! I'm hoping no news is good news ... don't know who's more stressed me or him... but he's not the happiest kid in class at the moment ... his best friend since he started at this school (Matthew), came into school today and told us that he is moving ... out of the area !!! So Kelsey is a bit gutted ... they both joined the school at the same time and hit it off like a 'house on fire' (well maybe too much) ... when there was trouble one or other of them was nearby !!!! But they also stuck together through thick and thin ... Matthew's the kid I've been giving a lift home after school or cricket or rugby etc ...

I wonder sometimes !!!! I did happen to mention earlier in the year that maybe putting them in seperate classes next year would be good for both of them ... you know the old saying "be careful what you wish for" now I feel really bad!!!

What do ...

Socks, a 15-Tog Duvet & a Hot Water Bottle have in common ???

They spent the night with me last night .............. It was so freaking cold ... and to make matters worse I could not even hug my new best friend cos our electricity went off at 7.30pm and did'nt come back on till 2.45am this morning ...

SO today I'm going out to buy a GAS FIRE ¬!!!!¬!

It's still raining ... still grey ... still cold ...

Now even I am getting sick of this weather report ... being the Weather Witch is not working here in SA ... in fact I think KZN is in competition with Cumbria for the highest rainfall at the moment !!!! (PMSL)

If any of you want to hear local news on the radio etc. go on line to ECR.co.za and you too can listen to our news !!! And you can hear that I'm not lying to you ...

How sad am I that I have nothing else to tell you about ... only been helping with some collating for school this week ... been beading some more ... nothing too exciting !!!

Don't even have any news or updates on the house cos they can't do anything with all this rain about ... well at least we know the roof does'nt leak and we can see exactly where there are going to be any flooding problems in the future so we can fix them before we finish the garden !!!!

Now only : 21 sleeps before Paul & B arrive, before we go on holidays !!!
AND only 35 sleeps till Christmas !!! (AAAAAAAh!)

SA Weather report for Thursday....

One of the things on my to do list since we moved in here was to 'trim' the hedges in front of my bedroom window... to let some more light in ... well I have been saved that job !!!

Today's torrential rain and gale force wind blew 2 of the hedges over !!!! I now have a lot of light in my bedroom !!! ;-0

The local gardening committee had sent out a notice to all residents of the estate asking if anyone wanted any trees pruning ... don't have to do that now either !!!

Freaking weird weather is putting the gardeners out of business and the tree fellers in business ... I have decided I think I should move into either the 'drain unblocking business' or 'trees blocking the road moving business' !!!

Both are doing some serious business today ....

And there's even talk of there being SNOW on the BERG ... that's the local range of mountains here that seperate Kwazulu -Natal from Gauteng !!! When there's snow on them it means we're going to have even colder weather .... What the hell is going on ??? I would have been better off staying in the UK for this crappy weather ... I mean just what can I tell folk now when they ask me why I came back ????

Oh how silly of me : So I could live the dream !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 1/2 hours !!!

That's how much sunshine we've had today !!! In fact that's all the sunshine we've had since Friday Night !!! (NO this is not yet another weather report!!!)

Mind you I took every advantage of that 51/2 hours I had the washing machine going 10to the Dozen!!!! SAD very SAD.

Hey Guess What? My DHL parcel finally arrived today ... and all that Christmas stuff I thought I'd ordered turned out to be lots of Disney and Fairies ... who needs Christmas stuff when you got customers asking you for Disney and my sister-in-law wanting any fairy things she can get her hands on ... BUT if she thinks she's getting the Tinkerbell Album she's wrong that one belongs to MRS BELL not Tinker !!!! (PMSL)

Why don't I have a lovely girly girl to make girly girl photo albums of ??? All this Princess stuff and fairy stuff is sooooo cutsy ! ;-)With tons of GLITTER !!! I guess I could borrow a friends daughter or 2 !!! Or I could use a glittery album for Kelsey ... save it for his 21st !!!

The kids at school finally finished their mini albums and I didn't get any photos !!! But here's my album done ... now all I need are some photos ... well not sure what I'm going to use it for ... Probably Kelsey or maybe Indi !!! The colours would suit either of them !!!

So now only : 24 sleeps till we see Paul,B, J&N, only 24 more sleeps till we go on safari again (whooppee!!!) and only 38 more sleeps till Christmas !!! (OMG and I haven't started the shopping yet !!!)

Meet my new Best Friend ....

PMSL but seriously this is my new best friend ... I have spent ALL weekend hugging her ... sitting next to her ... she has kept me company ... OK I can't really lean on her cos I'll get burnt but we're really getting to know each other !!!! ;-0

I had a nightmare last night about frogs ... and when I woke up this morning I had webbed feet but that's OK cos I needed them for wading out to the car through the flooded front garden !!! IT HASN'T STOPPED BLOODY RAINING SINCE FRIDAY NIGHT !!!!! AAAARGH

This is the view from our patio today ... wet, misty, and damned cold ....

I have to say ... I think I have to stop with this weather reporting ... my whole blog has become one big weather report !!!! BUT sorry I have nothing else exciting happening in my life right now ... how sad is that... AND if you knew just how cold it was ... I know Paul told me you guys have all had cold weather too ... but you can all cuddle up in your double glazed houses with the central heating turned up full blast !!! We have gaps !!! in our windows ... for ventilation when it gets hot !!! Like is that going to happen some time this year ???

Can you see just how much it is raining .... look closer ...

This is the view on a normal clear sunshiney day oooh about a month ago!!!

Oh and still no parcel from DHL !!!

Friday 13th !!!

Today's colour Duck Egg Blue !!!!

And a lot cooler ... sleeping was not on the agenda last night ... tooo hot with no breeze ... Indi didn't even want to come in at all last night ... her and I were wandering around the garden at 1am trying to get cool ... but THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT !!! Just a statement of the facts ...

Still no parcel from DHL !!!

J&N Only 28 more sleeps :-)

Nan Only 28 more sleeps :-)

Paul & B only 27 more sleeps ;-)

And girls enjoy yourselves tomorrow with Paula ... I am soooo jealous and wish I was there too.

Today...

is SUNSHINEY YELLOW and only 32c.... ;->

Still no word from DHL and no parcel ...

If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow,
you have no today to be thankful for.

Todays colour ...

is bright blue ... the sky is clear as a bell and the sun is shining ... the birds are singing (except those damned Egyptian geese ... they need shooting with their 'sqwaking' at 5 am in the morning) Temperatures are expected to rise to around 27c ... so needless to say the washing machine is working it's A. off this morning !!! ;-)

Do you want to hear yet ANOTHER challenge???
When I was visiting the UK in June/July I popped into one of my regular suppliers - Craftime and the Christmas catalogues had just returned from the printers ... SO as I'm a bit of an addict (oooH! ;-0) I just HAD to place an order ... (some of you know just what that's all about ... and I figured as one of these days ;-> I may just get the business up and running and I also want to import some of the lurverly stuffs that you lot have available at your finger tips !!!)

I told Craftime to keep hold of the order till ALL the Christmas stock was in and then send it ... which they did ... it was sent at the beginning of October and landed in JHB 9th October ... guess what I still don't have it !!!! I am definitely naming and shaming DHL for this 1 ... as soon as Craftime gave me the consignment number I contacted DHL and asked what to do next ... gave them my Importers Code (yes I do have 1 of those !!!) and my contact details ... and NOTHING.

I waited a week knowing just how slow it is in Africa and since then I have phoned them daily ... as usual spoke to a different person each time ... apparently my goods were finally 'cleared' thru customs on the 28th October ... and I'm still waiting BUT you want to hear the best bit ... DHL finally contacted me yesterday to say my goods were sitting in the 'States Warehouse' and now I HAVE TO PAY STORAGE FEES BEFORE I CAN GET THEM RELEASED!!!!

You know --- 'ya just gotta love Africa!' and well I kinda gotta take it all in my stride ... I really truly believe that NOTHING can be done here without it being a mission !!!!

I promise you I am not making all of this up ... everything you have read on this blog is the absolute truth ... do you really think I have such a good imagination that I can make all this up ... and keep it going ???

I'll keep you informed of the progress OR NOT of my parcel ....

AAAr...

Sorry to say but today's colour has gone back to wet and washy GREY...

Temperatures have dropped again ... last night there was THICK fog and mist - well it was rain actually ... this is why people are all sick at the moment ... sick of the damned changing weather ...

Kelsey is sitting his final exams this week so we are spending a lot of time studying ... stressing and on bended knee for some guidance ... I have to keep positive for him.

AND on another positive note only 31 sleeps till Paul gets here ... 32 sleeps till J&N get here, 32 sleeps till we go on Safari again ... and 45 sleeps till Christmas... other than buying the decorations for the house I haven't even started the Christmas shopping ... maybe Paul will bring it all in his suitcase LMAO!!!

And for the rest of the weekend ...

Friday we sorted Kelsey's bike out ... got the tyres fixed ... so he decided he's going to become a cross-country cyclist ... that was until he fell off ... he went over sideways and landed quite badly on a rock which injured his back ... hence the bruises ... he also took a bit of skin off his elbow and arm ... well it gave him something else to moan about !!!!

Above: The back ...

Above: The arm ...

Above: The leg ...

Sunday we popped round to June's and then the three of them ... Kelsey, June and Shadow (who let me tell you was petrified of water when June first got him) went swimming ... Shadow just would not stop running around the pool and barking so eventually June persuaded him into the pool ... Kelsey got him his Boogie Board and that was it ... Shadow was worse than a kid ... we couldn't get him out of the pool ...

Bella on the other hand went for a dip only cos she fell in with all the excitement but she wasn't that enamoured with the swimming !!! But she loved digging in the mud after the ants and bugs!!!!

Two exhausted childrens at the end of the day ....