It's Official ...

As from 4th January I will be back in the land of the employed ... yup you read right ... I'm going back to working for some-one else !!! No longer gonna be 'self employed'... gonna have to learn to take orders again !!! (Oh shit didn't think of that LOL, but just think ... a pay cheque at the end of every month now, that'll be worth it !!!)

Finally all my volunteering, saying yes when they needed helpers etc.etc. and of course my own wonderful personal charm and personality (PMSL) has paid off ... on Thursday the head of the school contacted me and offered me the post of T/A (teaching assistant) at Hillcrest Primary School ... fancy title but actually I'm just going to be a 'gofer', means my days aren't going to be boring, that's for sure and the nicest part about it is I will get all the school holidays off too !!! (feels like the ideal job)

Quite frightening really considering I haven't been in the land of 'employed by an employee' since 2003 !!! And in a way quite sad that I'm all excited about it hahahaha ...

But fear not trusty followers .. this does not mean I will stop being creative ... I'm hoping this is going to mean I will become MORE creative ... I just know that I'm gonna end up having more time to do things !!! I know it doesn't make sense but it has something to do with when your busy you find time to do more things !!!

And talking of busy ... another hectic week has passed .. I will be sooo happy once Kelsey has finished his exams ... this week he has only written 3 exams and he has 2 more to go ... this finishing school at 10.30am is driving me mad ... it feels like I've just got started working then I have to go fetch him ... then it's home ... he wants food ... it's helping him with his studying ... testing him etc.and before I know it it's time to be making the dinner and the night is here ... and my work is taking a back seat ... which considering I have my workshop coming up on Saturday 3rd ... I really really need to get going now ...

I had another workshop with the Thursday Ladies (as I've called them) this week ... introduced them to the world of stamping ... I know seems strange that I should be demonstrating stamping etc. to them (one of the basic starting techniques one learns) but for some unknown reason it seemed to have skipped over this group of ladies ... they absolutely loved it ... now they now want stamps (not a problem as I have loads to sell them) and the disadvantage for me ... inks ... a big problem as I still have not come across that box yet !!! Also another disadvantage is that not too many of the shops in the area (and trust me there are few enough of those) have stamps and inks available ... another one of the joys of living in Africa !!! Makes it a lot harder for me to be teaching specific techniques as I think it's unfair to be teaching people things that they then can't go out and practise !!!

But they left all fired up and ready to go ... and they enjoyed another 'retail therapy' session too ... sadly I had to tell them I would not be able to come and 'teach' them once a month as I have been ... but I did say I would hold classes during the school holidays ... and they were happy with that... (see already planning my school holidays for next year LOL)

Then to add to the rest of the chaos in my life at the moment I still have not finished the Photos for the Wedding Photo shoot I did 3 weeks ago ... I'm doing HPS PROM photos on Friday 2nd... night before my workshop day ... BFF Nan is arriving on the same Friday afternoon ... you know nothing like everything happening on the same weekend !!!

There is just no rest for the wicked !!!

Wet, Wet, Wet ....

Now I know most of you will automatically think of the band with same said name ...

Well I'm not ... what I'm thinking about is the crappy shitty weather .... I bet you won't believe me when I tell you it has NOT stopped raining for over a week !!! Yes you heard right ... I'm thinking I be needing to find old Noah and be booking me & SONshine a space on his Ark ... cos if it carries on like this for much longer I think there's gonna be a flood ...

Mind you if I go back over the blog for last year, and the year before that and even the year before that, I think I'd find the exact same sentiments around about this time ... I'm sitting here wondering why on earth I thought I was ever coming to Africa for HEAT ??? I'm sure as a kid growing up here in SA there was heat ... at some stage ... I mean Hollywood's got it all wrong ... nah ... I think they must've invented the tale that Africa was hot ... no actually I am a bit wrong there ... cos although its rain, rain, rain .... its not exactly cold ... I can wonder around the un-insulated house with it's gaping windows and large gaps under the doors in jeans and a t-shirt ... with flip flops on (what a sight !!!)

What's getting to me is the moisture ... and the MUD !!!! with 2 dogs in the house ... who have no respect for my furniture at all .... especially the Kleo of the Bells ... who as a smaller 4 legged canine believes that to dry oneself one must rub ones muddy wet paws all over mums lavender & white duvets !!!! ... hence the reason I do not believe I will ever have a clean and pretty house ... who you trying to kid ... with 2 dogs and 2 men in your life .... never !!!(Ok Paul, I know you're not here all the time ... but when you are you just add to the masculine mess !!! LOL )

I mean SON-shine comes home covered in just as much mud ... he's out at rugby practise in this pouring rain ... and he loves it ... you wanna see the colour and state of those boys when they come off the practise field ... visualise those army movies of the soldiers knee deep in mud in the trenches ... now bring that thought forward to today and add teenage boys !!!! That's what it looks like ... and they LOVE it ... I'm sure they BEG coach to do leopard crawling in this weather !!!!

And let me tell you ... moisture and paper just DO NOT MIX ... here I am trying desperately hard this week to get my A into G and pack kits for the Christmas workshop ... and I'm frantically printing instructions and the printer keeps jamming cos the paper is DAMP... I take out papers for the kits ... cut to size and within an hour they are curling their corners up at me ...before I have time to get them sealed comfortably in their zip lock waterproof bags !!! I spent a day 'Cri-Cutting' 200 sets of Christmas words ... (I'm feeling a bit Noel, Love, Peace & Joy 'ed out right now... oh and let me tell you ... it took a whole day to do these !!!) then bagging them up was fun cos they felt all limp and damp !!! and the letters were sticking together ... me is thinking we don't need air conditioning ... we do need heating ... or maybe some sort of climate controlling device to keep the damp out !!!!

I'm not even gonna mention (oops I just did )the PILE of wet towels everywhere (for drying dogs in an attempt to keep some mud off and for walking on to try to save the cream ...stoopid choice carpets ) ... and the baskets full of washing ... Did I tell y'all ... I do have a tumble drier ... lived 8 years in England .... never needed one ... here it's on the go daily from September to December .... no wonder SA has power issues !!!!

And then this week ... SON-shine is writing 2011 final exams so it means he's only at school for the times that he is writing ... talk about feeling like a taxi service !!!! If he doesn't have an exam on a particular day he doesn't have to go into school ... and most days this week he has written papers for 2 hours !!! So as the P of P ... how much work do you think I'm actually able to do in 2 hours .... like um ... NONE !!!! ... especially when 3 hours later he's wanting a lift back to school for pre-pre-season practise !!! .... ;-( ........

I give up ....

even trying to keep up ...

So no more excuses I'll just do brief run down of the last 1o days:

** Took my old car ... the Sante Fe to have the air con replaced (AGAIN)... the one that was already replaced in February this year ... the same one that seized on me again 6 weeks ago !!! Anyway that's been done and although they replaced the compressor no-charge under warranty it still cost Paul a 'BUNDLE' for them to fix the other part that caused the first part to cause the compressor to seize in the 1st place .... are you seeing the picture yet ???

** Spent a morning with Juno at T-Zone ... her new venture ... she is doing fantastically well ... she had a mums pamper morning ... and well I just had to go ... we're talking about starting either a card making group or a scrapbooking group .. to hold regular classes at her place ... she's got the space and well .... I've got the time LOL

** Been doing my Christmas Shopping all year round, but had to spend a morning with a lady who is helping me with some of my pressies but of course I can't say too much as I don't want to spoil the surprise ...

**Last weekend was Manic ... did a Wedding Photo shoot ... People I've now decided it's not the taking of the photos that's the issue ... it's the hours needed to edit, sort, tweak etc... all week I've been at it and still nowhere near being ready to hand over the disk ... mind you the fact I did a Family Photo shoot on Sunday didn't help ... so for the past week I feel like all I've done is look at pics on the computer ... thankfully the bride & groom are away on their honeymoon so they not in a huge rush ... but the P'of P better get her ass in to gear cos I'm sure they are gonna want their pics soon ... like next week LOL

I know I hear some of you saying .. "well what else do you have to do all day?" ... but I also find that it is better to edit and tweak pics on an evening cos the sunlight (Hahahaha not that we've had much of that) can make the pics look different !!! Oh bull ... I'm just making excuses again !!!
Always have to leave everything to the last minute ... as usual ...

Let me give you an example ... Monday had every intention of working thru the photos ... it was a nice sunny day ... made me a cuppa, washed the pots, put some washing in, then decided to feed the birds, ended up pulling out a few weeds as I was already outside, hung the washing up, made another cuppa, then switched on the computer ... downloaded 166 e-mails... went thru them ... ended up on Facebook ... yada yada yada for half an hour ... had a customer e-mail me about an order she was waiting for ... went into the garage, got out some Christmas papers for her ... half packed her order... found a box with red & green card in ... started playing around with that and the 'IDEA' I had for a mini book ... next minute it's time to go pic up SON-shine ...WTF there goes 6 1/2 hours ... did any of you see anywhere in there 'edited wedding photos' ????

And let me tell you the rest of the week has been just as mad ... Tuesday our temperatures rose to an awesome 38'c ... so of course my excuse is then it's too damned hot to do anything (but I am NOT complaining cos it didn't last very long ... in fact it only lasted a day !!!rest of the week has p'eed with rain, mist, fog, cold ) ... but I also had a call from the Thursday Ladies asking me for some stock so I sorted that out for them and then cos they always have such awesome tea & cakes I volunteered to deliver their stock to them on Thursday ... then one can't go to a craft group and not get caught up in demonstrating something !!! (Aaaaah my creative fix for the week !!!)

** Kelsey is doing PRE-Pre-season fitness every Tuesday and Thursday so I'm running him around like a Taxi Service in the afternoons and then he starts year end exams next week ... so we have a massive study schedule !!! I feel like I'm going through school all over again aaaarrrgh ...

And so endeth my ramblings ... and do you think I have edited any photos yet .... NO ... what the heck ... what are weekends for ?

OH this : SON-shine is off playing Action Cricket tomorrow ... I have a shopping date with June and I have promised her we will be finished early-ish (NOT hahaha) so I guess I will just have to spend Sunday at my computer .... just in time for meeting the bride & groom next week hahahahaha !!!!! (an almost a panicked laugh there)

Only in Africa ... AGAIN

I'm sure that this can only happen in Africa !!! Yesterday at 8.32am our electricity went off ... now that is nothing unusual I hear you all saying ... after all, a week without a power cut is a miracle !!!

Well not only the power on our complex ... I went into Hillcrest yesterday ... well I couldn't exactly do much at home with no power ... (well I could of but being the P of P ... no electricity was a great excuse to be out on the streets !!!) and lo= and behold ... there was NO POWER in the whole of Hillcrest ... went to HPS for coffee ... they had no power ... and apparently the power shortage was all the way from Gillits to Botha's Hill ... for those not in the know ... that's a pretty BIG area ...

Seems there was a fire at our sub-station which caused the problem ... and 14hours later !!! yes 14 hours without power ... we eventually got power restored to our area at 10.35pm last night ... thankfully it wasn't too cold ... and Kelsey & I invited ourselves to Sally's for dinner ... who lives just 2km along the road ... to the left of us and they had power !!! AND Waterfall had power ... which is the funniest thing of all cos usually if any one's going to have a shortage it's them !!!

I was just grateful when I heard the power come on at 10.30pm cos I was stressing about not waking up without my alarm and having to have a cold shower ... and a big kudos to Samsung my washing machine ... when the power came back on it carried on on its original cycle LOL ... that's what woke me up !!!

So the fact that this morning we have both power and sunshine ... the washing machine went back on with its original load and I've done 2 loads since then ... gotta make up for the power I didn't get to use yesterday !!!