Wow what a week...

Is it really Saturday already? I just don't know where this last week has gone?

It was the first full week back at school and just as we're getting back into our routine, Kelsey gets a bug!!!

He ended up having to take 2 days off school this week, (only 2nd time in his life he has been sick!) with some sort of stomach bug, or it may also have been the excess sun he had over the weekend, followed by 2 days (Monday and Tuesday) of extra sports and forgetting his water bottle in class!!! I don't think he gets it... just how hot that sun is and that he can dehydrate very quickly. Boys!!!

Yet the week still seemed to fly past...


The days Kelsey was at school he started with the afterschool clubs, so our weeks are now going to run as follows: Classes as normal all week with Extra English (reading and writing) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, Tuesday and Thursday afterschool Cricket, Wednesday afterschool Tennis! All this as well as min. of 1 hour of homework per day and he also still wants time to swim when he gets home ... I'm exhausted just thinking about it.


On top of all this Aunty J and I have taken up a new HOBBY! It all started on New Years Eve, after a few glasses of the good stuff, some really good music and there we all were dancing on the driveway (the ceiling was a bit crowded!!!) June and I both commented on how much fun it was and how much excercise we'd had, not to mention the way we were 'glowing' (ladies don't sweat) we were sure we had probably lost some weight!!! (something that is needed by both of us!)
So after a bit of investigating June and I have started ... LINE DANCING... (now pick yourselves up off the floor girls). We are now in our second week, I did'nt mention it before in case we did'nt like it and gave up too easily!!! and we are both aching all over... Age and lack of fitness is definately showing, neither of us were prepared for the painful onslaught... You just don't realise what muscles you do use when you're dancing. But we're both having fun. June and I are probably the youngest ones there, it's a little embarrising really when you have these 'mature' ladies dancing 'squares' around you... No I'm not going out and buying the cowboy boots and frilly blouses (yet, can you imagine it?), but I'll keep you updated on our progress...


As per my previous blog, something has started to happen on the land again, except an update after much digging yesterday they have now found a fairly large rock bed and they say they may now have to 'blast'... Can they possibly find anything else to go wrong? Is there anything else that can go wrong?

When we first got here all I could think about was getting started with my business and getting the shop up and running because I was worried I was going to be so bored having nothing to do.... Ha! fat chance, I never have a minute, what with KB and school, stocktaking and re-pricing, all the land issues, all the extra activities, my new hobby as well as cooking dinner for all each evening, I collapse into bed exhausted. I don't have time for a business at the moment... But that doesn't mean I'm not missing it. You'll see I've added to my blog a list of other blogs that I'm following, if you get a moment have a look at some of them, there are some great ideas and products on these sites, Verve Stamps being one of my favourites, and I've been adding lots of new ideas to my 'future classes' book....


I'm even going to make an apology - to all of you who I laughed at for being 'internet /computer addicts', I now know the addiction!!! Apparently I'm addicted to my lap top - according to the others in this house... I don't switch it on first thing in the morning, only after I have taken K to school and I do turn it off now and again, and I haven't yet had sleepless nights because I'm on it, and I don't do chat rooms so it's still only a mild addiction. But ... you can get a lot of info from the net... and you can do some shopping too, especially if you still ave a UK address...

Ok that's enough for now, your thought for today: Life may not always be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here we may as well dance. (yeehaw!)

Finally something is happening!!

8 years in the dreaming, 4 years in the planning, 4 months of more planning, discussing, re-planning and tweeking of plans! we finally had some movement on the land, everything that was on the land was cleared off and here we go again... (Plan Z I think)

And then the rain came !!! For the last 2 days it has rained so hard that the diggers could'nt even move in the mud... I knew a mud spa was a good idea...

But don't give up! the sun is shining today and we have not 1 but 2 diggers on the land... and look they are Bell diggers that says it all...

Year in Review, In a Grid

I decorated these cards using ‘Special Accent Grids’ and stamps that fit into the grids.

I coloured and decorated the background using a rainbow of inks (Kaleidoscope) sponged through the grids and added dimension to the cards with stamping and my favourite 'Got Flowers' and brads.

Do you remeber when we did these? And it was not the date on the photos...

Last Weekend !!!

Kelsey came home from school Friday afternoon and was a little grumpy and down, when I asked him why he said and cos it was another weekend without Dad and nothing to do ! !

It's such a hard life to be 11, with the sun shining outside, a beautiful blue pool begging to be swam in, and nothing to do...

I am so pleased to have my brother Lawrence and family living nearby, so whenever Kelsey needs 'man time' my Boet Lawrence is there for him, and his cousins are always there for him too... Thank You guys.

So off Kelsey went to Uncle L for the weekend, he went to a cricket match on Saturday to watch cousin Dayne, and they were all up early Sunday and down to the beach. Kelsey came back 'exhausted and very burnt' but very happy too...

So what did that leave me to do??? Well as I'm not too sure exactly how much of a garden I am going to have by the time they finish this house (that still is not started!!!) and Aunty June wants to try and make a gardener out of me!!! I spent Saturday morning 'planting pots'!!! How exciting is that? BUT on the bright side the weather was overcast and muggy so it was pleasant - till the sun set and then the sunburn hit with a vengeance... Who forgot just how burnt one can get even in overcast weather ???

Needless to say I did not go out in the sun on Sunday!!!

The schools here provide the kids with their exercise books but they all have to be covered!! With paper and plastic, so I took a bit of a trip down memory lane and spent Saturday afternoon wrapping school books... Oh the excitement in my life !!! So that was our weekend.

But I haven't really been sitting around doing nothing girls, through the week I have been working, and I've even had mum working too, much to her disgust. My accountant said I needed to take stock so I had an idea of my opening stock for the business, so I've been killing 2 birds with 1 stone, we're changing the £ prices to R prices and taking stock at the same time. 'The stuff I've got!!!' How did I end up with so much ?

No! maybe none of you should answer that question...

Just a thought for today: I used to have a handle on life, but it broke

Back to School !!!!

Well the day has finally arrived, the alarm went of at 5.30am this morning and I could have thrown it against the wall...

Kelsey was not very happy either when it came to his wake up call... The drive to school this morning was filled with false jokes and silly things to try and not think about the day ahead...

I have to say there was also a lot of self control going on too, to prevent the tears... He really did not want to go back today, or ever again for that matter... But in he went, we had no idea where his new class was but luckily the Headmistress was at the main gates this morning welcoming everyone back and she had a handfull of helpers ready for just this occasion and K was whisked off to his new class with no looking back...

I feel like I have a big hole in my stomach, I can't wait for 1.45pm when I collect him and we can laugh all about how silly we were to fret. Does it ever get any easier? I never felt like this back in St. Joseph's at the beginning of a new year, but then again I guess we were all part of the furnishings..!

Now I suppose I have no excuse, I have got to get my s... together and start crafting, get the builder organised and get this damned house built and my business up and running !!! Those are my goals for this year - what do you think??? All achievable I think. Nothing's gonna get in my way.. Power Talk 101...

But I'll just start with a cuppa first... then...

Your thought for today:
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

But on the Creative Side

One of the things I have been doing while I've been surfing the net is getting some 'ideas' (well borrowing a few from here and there ) I've even been doing some sketching in my 'visual journal' I promise to share the ideas once I've tweaked them...

Well one of these ideas came from another Blog I was reading, also a lady who makes cards etc.. (didn't write down her blog but sure I'll find it again) I think she actually is on a design team for someone or other, well last year she added a card a month to her blog based on 'LAST YEARS' cards she had made... In case some of her regulars had missed them, well here's my adaptation of her idea...

I looked at the 2007 class schedules (I wasn't around for all of 2008) and I have added these cards which we made in January 2007 - class was "Funtastik Papers, Cards and More", this way I can still keep posting cards on my blog and you can all still be reminded of 'my stuff'!!!

Hope you like them???

Oh and something else a little different - a verse for the inside of your card:

A Special Birthday wish
is headed your way,
Hoping you find happiness today and every day.

Happy Birthday!

Bad Weather - Bad Mood

It has always been a bit of a joke in our house that I'm the Weather Witch... I do sometimes wonder how much of it is joke and how much could be true???

For the time that Paul was here and we were all happy and smiley :) the sun maybe didn't shine everyday but it was still warm... Since dad went back home (and I'll have you know he moaned like hell about having to go back to the cold) the weather has gotten colder day by day, and as a matter of fact so has the mood :(. So which comes first the bad mood or the bad weather ???

The mood is not helped by the fact that the sleep is being disturbed - 5 times last night Indie woke me to go outside ... To do what I hear you ask? - Sit and stare into the night ... Then mum tells me this morning our Monkey neighbours were acting all weird, running up and down the road, backwards and forwards more than once... Their usual routine is down the hill first thing in the morning and back up again at sunset!!! Makes you wonder what's going on ???

Needless to say I'll keep you posted...

K is not a happy chappy either, the start of school and a new year is approaching too fast for his liking, he told me yesterday he wishes he could travel back in time and kill the person who invented schools !!! ( Interesting take on things eh?)

No the diggers did not turn up today - maybe tomorrow, depending on the weather, too wet and muddy, could cause a mud slide!!! Yeah well... O.I.A

I have spent the last 3 consecutive days sitting at my computer, I think I've found me a new addiction... The Internet!!! By the time I find what I'm looking for I've surfed the net for about 4 hours or so, found a ton of stuff I wasn't looking for and then spent even longer reading about the stuff I didn't know I wanted to read about... PLUS I'm now also on Face book... find me there too.

Did you ever stop and wonder.....
Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

So where to from here?

Sorry everyone but as I haven't been doing too much blogging with Paul here you are going to have to suffer with it all in one go!!!

Paul left on Monday and it was not the best scene at the airport, Kelsey and I took a very slow drive back to my brothers, trying not to think about just how bad we felt... but we have already started the countdown to when he's coming back so that's something to look forward to.

We drove back down to Durban on Tuesday, Indie was so happy to see us but she kinda noticed that someone was missing too, I'm sure she keeps looking around for dad...

But we have lots to get sorted now:

K is still off school, he only goes back 21st January. He's going to be continuing in Hillcrest Senior Primary School, we had a long chat about it and after all, he's very happy at that school, even though we thought it wasn't the right school for him, and he's proven that he can work hard if he has to, plus he's now made friends there too... He's going to be in 6G (Mrs Gevers class and although he's not looking forward to going back he's excited about the new year in school) He wants to try out for the cricket team and the rugby team in winter so we have to start getting fitter...

So now I can start making plans for the business, based around the Hillcrest area, I've had my eye on a shop that has been vacant for a while, but I wanted to see what Paul thought about it first... (After all he's gotta find the rent for me for a while till we get sorted...) You know how practical men are - OK so he pointed out all the faults... and now I don't have a shop, well not for the moment. (There was a lot of baggage attached to renting this particular shop too and to be honest that was bugging me a little) So even though I want to put all the blame on Paul for the fact I don't have anywhere yet, deep down I did have my doubts. But I do have a few customers even without a premises, so I can get my stock sorted out now that the storage place is a bit more organised, and I can get mum working on pricing stock up to ZAR prices and who knows something will happen when it's supposed to...

THE HOUSE: well again, this could have been further along had we not been in Africa where the men are only qualified to make a decision.
The 'problem donga' (mini gorge) - I had suggested to the builder previously could we not dig down below the problem area and use the solid land underneath, well that had seemed like not such a good idea then, now after Paul had the chance to actually look at the problem, he came in here, did some calculations, did some drawings and hey presto guess what we're going to dig down below the problem area and build like that....But of course that's not such a far fetched idea now that another man has come up with it eh!what! Man -o- Man.

But Paul made it quite clear to Bruce the Builder that he doesn't need Paul's approval on everything that is done and I am the BOSS. New title 'Project Manager'. The diggers move in on the 19th and the whole property has to be flattened back down to solid ground another 3 metres deep, with a retaining wall against June's property!!! At least this was the cheaper option. So we're starting from scratch but we're led to believe 5 months to completion!!!(weather permitting)

June and I are already planning the rambling roses to be planted along the retaining wall. She is adamant she is going to make a gardener out of me yet! Well it's fun planning and it gives her another project to work on, she loves her gardening, even in the heat... silly woman.

Well girls as you can see I have a very busy couple of months ahead of me, I now also have my work station (sizzix/cricut/cuttlebug etc.) set up at June's place and so I hope to be able to at least get some pages done if not much card making, unfortunately it does'nt look like I'll be over in February for the Trade Show (boo hoo)(Paul says TG as he could'nt afford my spending) So if any of you who read this see the new stuff let me know what it's all about, any info would be greatly received.

Don't forget to keep in touch with each other by attending any of the Crafting Days that Sharon and Glenis are still running, for the dates etc. look at previous posts, or e-mail me if you want the details. And keep in touch with me too, I want to know what you're up to...

A thought for today:
Happiness keeps you sweet,
Trials keep you strong,
Sorrows keep you human,
Failures keep you humble,
Success keeps you glowing,
But Family & Friends Keep You Going

The Most Amazing Weekend for Me !!!

As I knew the boys would be off fishing for the weekend I contacted my BFF Nan and made arrangements for me to go and visit her. She lives up in Polokwane (used to be called Potgietesrus - I think my spelling is right). It is about 21/2 hours drive (North I think - into the interior anyway).

When we first got here we had spoken on the phone and only had the chance to grab a cuppa coffee before we 'trekked' down to Durban to get set up, so it was an ideal opportunity for us to spend some time together, catching up, and boy did we do that!!! We talked ourselves Hoarse...

I had a great time with Nan, Ben(Hubby), Russell (Son) and daughter Nicola aka "Princess Lolo!" I also had the pleasure of meeting Nan's Mum and Dad, what a lovely family.

Ben has just accepted a job working on a Private Game Reserve about an hour away from Nan's home town, and I had the honour of being the first visitor to Nan's new house (to be - once it's finished) on the reserve... We took a drive out there on Sunday and WOW! WOW! WOW!, absolutely fantastic, I am so jealous, I turned every shade of green.

The photos are just a few of the neighbours we passed on the road up to Nan's front gate !!!! How amazing is that? The reserve is one of the few private reserves that is home to all the Big Five!!! So yes guys they have lions and leopards as neighbours too... Most houses here in SA have signs on that say Beware of The Dog, Nan's gate has 'Beware of the Lions' on it... (guess she won't have to worry about the crime in her area!!!)

I just can't stop raving about the place, the beauty and the tranquility, Paul and Kelsey were so jealous when I got back... K said I should not have gone without him...

Bet you can guess where we're going next holidays, sorry Nan you're going to have a house full for Easter...Well you didn't think you were going to get to keep all that beauty to yourself did you?

The most amazing weekend - for the boys!!!

The last weekend with dad...

We travelled up to Johannesburg on Thursday so we could spend the weekend with my brother, Kevin. He had organised a fishing trip for the boys to go on (Saturday/Sunday) and stay out overnight fishing!!!

Kelsey was so excited about it he hardly slept the night before. They woke at 5am and the sunrise was beautiful, it looked like they were going to have great time...

They set off and I'm told the weekend was brilliant, other than the rain, and the fact they had to sleep in the cars etc. Kelsey was lucky cos there was one of the wives with her hubby to look after him(great just his luck he said, he wanted a break from the women!!!)

Of course we were told all the stories of the ones that got away and only Kevin caught something, a Barble and Carp... Photos were taken but I don't have them. Kelsey explained in great detail how to kill a crab for bait but that was about it...

Welcome to 2009!

We hope you all had a Peaceful and Happy New Year... Wishing you all the very best wishes for 2009.

We had a great New Year's Eve, my brother and family came round and we had a 'traditional' cold buffet, with the kids swimming, lots of alcohol flowing and eventually 'skinny dipping' Oh a typical New Year in this part of the world.

I know it's already the 7th and I'm only now sitting down and writing to you all!!! I don't know where this first week has gone to, I hope this is not a sign of how the rest of 2009 is going to go, or maybe we want it to fly past quickly so we can get everything done we want to this year?

Well we are back up to Johannesburg tomorrow as Paul flies out back to UK on Monday. (Boo Hoo) K & I are not happy campers at the moment!!! The last 3 weeks have been fantastic having dad around and we've managed to get a lot done too, with the land and the builders !!! in fact that's one of the reasons no entries till now, we have just been so busy.

Hopefully Paul feels a bit rested and we've had a couple of days of sunshine and heat so at least he's had his batteries re-charged for another couple of months... He's not looking forward to returning to minus temperatures!!! Poor man.

Guys I hope you get the chance to pop around and see him or he gets a chance to see you all and he can let you know what we've been up to these past few weeks.

From next week I'll have a lot more time to get blogging and tell you what's happening and when, we're returning from JHB on Tuesday and K still has another week off as he only starts back at school on 21st!!!

More photos next time:::

Your thought for this week: Don’t cry because it’s over; Smile because it happened.