Internetless AGAIN!

Hello again everybody! As you can see from the title of this post, I am internetless again and decided to use hubbies 3G card this evening. I couldn't get the silly thing to upload photos, so I will have to show you another day. The good news is that I think I have finally convinced the hubby to find us another internet provider - the current one really sucks big time!

It was Colin's birthday on Saturday. We had a lovely day! We went to Clifton beach in the morning (I took stunning photos) for a walk and we all had a great time. Our family has now shrunk to only 4 of us going out together! In the afternoon we had a lot of visitors for tea and in the evening Colin and I decided to go out for cocktails. Unfortunately the one restaurant that does serve cocktails had live music and it was far too noisy for us! We then went to good old Spur and had Don Pedro's and shared a platter. All in all I think the man had a good day!

Sunday was very quiet - all we did was go to Stodels to replace some of the plants that my son murdered while we were away! He didn't water them and it was very hot! Anyway we are making him pay for some of the replacement plants!

I went shopping with my sister on Monday as she needs new clothes for her new job that she starts at next Monday. Shopping is always fun! We went to friends in the evening for a games evening and obviously that was also great!

My gorgeous son Richard got his matric results today and yes, he passed! We are very proud of him. Also took a photo, but will show you another day!

We are currently trying to raise a little turtle dove. My friends cat decided to catch the poor thing and he was luckily saved! We brought it home last night to try and feed the little thing. It didn't want to eat much, but I am happy to report that he ate quite nicely this afternoon! (Yet again another photo that couldn't be uploaded)

We are having friends and family around tomorrow night (31st) for a braai and games. It promises to be a lot of fun. We are then leaving for Langebaan on the 1st and will be back again on the 3rd. Doubt it I will get a chance to blog until then, so Happy New Year to all my fans! I pray that 2009 will be a great year for you!

Chow!

Mock crocks

Oh yes, I don't consider the beach as being out in public. What I mean by public is shopping etc! If you look at some of the sights on the beach, the crocks fade in comparison!

More holiday photos

Michael and Allisen came up to spend the las night with us. We went for a last walk on the beach in the evening. A very noisy, crazy bunch of people! The "kids" ran around like lunatics and had great fun.

The sun rising behind the clouds. Colin, Herlien and I went for a very early morning walk (6H00) on her last day there and it was very overcaust. It looked really great!

The sister and I. Still looking half asleep, but walking anyway.

Wearing Robyn's new sunglasses. She insisted on having a red pair of hearshaped glasses. She looks quite cute with them on, don't think it suits me though!

A photo of the rocks and stones.

Andrew and Keagan playing with cars. Andrew was so busy that we took very few photos of him this time round. He thoroughly enjoyed his freedom and we very rarely knew where he was. Sounds scary, but anyway.

Colin made a potjie on the Tuesday night. Absolutely delicious! The man is really good!

We really did have a great time and we were all very relaxed and rested when we got home.

Christmas & Holiday

We decided to put our Christmas tree up before our holiday this year. Colin checked the lights under duress and we ended up having to buy a new set of lights. I think checking the lights is always the worst part! Untangling especially! After that he didn't have a choice but to put the tree up as Andrew nagged him a lot. The kids had great fun putting all the decorations on. This photo was taken on Christmas eve.

I started collecting the Woollies Christmas bears when Andrew gave me one as a gift 3 years ago. I quite like the 2008 one. It is called Mr Chuckles and looks rather different. We will see how big the collection becomes over the coming years! It is fun teddies to have as they only come out at Christmas time!

An action photo I took when we went for a early morning walk during our holiday. I was rather pleased with the result. I love the sea (to look at, not to swim in) and I actually took a lot less photos than what I planned on taking.

My sister took this photo of us. It does look rather like two elderly people relaxing on a bench, but anyway. Check my lovely green "mock" crocks! I hate the shoes, but they are perfect for walking on the beach. I walked in them and then immediately took them of when we got back to the caravan, they are far to ugly to be seen in public with.

Isn't it just stunning! We would like to go for Christmas next year and definitely for longer than just a week. This is the view as you walk back towards the caravan park.

It was a lovely holiday. Robyn asked me every morning "Mommy what are we doing today?" My standard answer was "As little as possible." Camping holidays are the best, as you don't have to stress too much about cleaning up - whatever gets spilled in the tent goes right through the groundsheet into the sand - and the food is also very easy to do. Salads, braais, etc. Oh yes, and don't forget the potjie! Will post some more photos tomorrow.

We visited a new church today. It is very small and we know about 75% of the people already. I really felt very comfortable and loved! Because we know the people most of them came and hugged us - it was actually rather emotional for me as we have known some of the people for about 14 years, and haven't seen them for a while. We are difinitely going back again on Sunday!

Merry Christmas to all of you! May the Lord bless you today and in 2009!

Prams and hair?

We decided to go shopping for a pram yesterday for our soon to be born grandchild. Michael and Allisen went with us, but basically left it up to us to decide on which one. (We do have loads of experience I suppose!) We first went to Ackermans baby company and saw the one as shown below, but the dear hubby first wanted to see what there was at the other shops. We walked all the way to the other side of the shooping centre and ended up going back to Ackermans! It came in a box and I told Michael that he had to put the pram together when we got home so that I can take photos! He did! This is what it looked like when he pulled it out of the box, but he kept on standing with his back and bum to me while I took photos.
Completely assembled with the soon to be mom and dad! Oh yes, and Andrew had to get himself in the picture!

I had a hair appointment last week and was very tempted to cut it all of as I am really suffering with the heat, but anyway decided not too and as a compromise decided to put pink highlights in. I was rather dissapointed as I expected the pink to show up more, but you can decide.

Not very pink at all, except when I stand in the sun.

I did workshops at the after care down the road this morning. There were 79 kids and we made the frames with groups of between 7 and 17 kids. I think the kids enjoyed it, but I was exhausted afterwards, the standing kills me! At least now I have a bit of spending money again! I also have workshops on Wednesday and Friday mornings, but with a lot less kids.

Other than that there is not much to report, we are just wilting in the heat. Thank goodness for air conditioners!

Almost holidays!

The layout I finished on Monday. I scraplifted from a Becky Higgins Sketch and used paper that my sister gave me. Thanks Lynette!

Some more of Colin's photos. This one is of a poor half frozen bird! He knew I would like it.

There are Christmas markets all over the city.

He took this one through the window. It is of a giant father christmas made entirely out of chocolate. No, he didn't buy it for me.

I had a great day scrapping yesterday. It was the last class for the year and I think we all enjoyed it. We had our year end breakfast last Friday and that was also very pleasant.

The rest of my day yesterday was a bit "deurmekaar" again, but I survived it and it is a new day! My mom and I are having our last breakfast for the year later this morning and I think we must go somewhere nice. She also has a few other things to do so it will be a busy morning.

The man left very early this morning as he had to be in town by 07H00 this morning and will be late tonight. Fortunately his leave starts on Saturday, so it is the last time this year. So many "last times", I think I must make a scrapbook page, don't you think?

Anyway have a great day, speak soon!

He's back!

Well, the man came home yesterday and it is really great to have him back! He actually took quite a few photos, none with him in it, but he is still learning. Here is a few of his photos:
It was snowing on the first night when he went for supper.

He did some sight-seeing on Sunday and did quite a bit of walking.

We took Michael out for supper for his birthday. Don't worry, he wasn't drunk, just acting!

Richard was holding the straw paper and Michael was cutting it with the steak knife. And they call themselves adults! We had a lovely evening.

Of course the man had to go back to work today, so it was just a normal Monday for me. We had to go to the High School to collect Robyn's text books for next year and then we did a bit of shopping for stickers. I wonder why?

We went to the "Liggieboom" at Andrews school on Saturday evening, but it was raining. They moved the play and carols by candlelight to the hall, but unfortunately their was not enough space for everybody. We had supper and then went home. We did however hear the fire works later on in the evening.

I also had a very good session scrapping with my friend on Saturday. Will show you a layout tomorrow.

Sleep well!

Gorgeous boys!

My eldest son turned 22 yesterday. He had to go to a clients year end function last night - it was a murder mystery dinner and he had to get dressed up as a french dude - the dude does have a name, but I cant remember it! He had a great time and I think it was a perfect way to celebrate his birthday. When Colin is back from Germany we will take him out for a family dinner. Isn't he just too cute though?

Andrew having breakfast at 06H20 this morning. He has 6 slices of toast with youngberry jam every morning. For now that is, he will get tired of that at some point and then change to something else for the next few months!

Jamie sitting on her little "PSP" on my dressing table. This has become a routine for her when I get finished in the morning - you know the usual, getting dressed, putting on make-up and making up the bed. She shrieks if I dare leave her in the lounge when I get finished in the mornings! She obviously doesn't sit still for very long, but climbs up the curtains and all over the place!

I had a lovely morning yesterday. We went to the South to do some shopping at the wholesalers and ended up having coffee with a friend at a little place called High Tea. What a stunning little place! The coffee was delicious and the cake was beautifull and delicious! We will definitely go there again - thanks ladies!

Today the scrapbooking ladies are having a year end breakfast - also promises to be a good morning and I am looking forward to it. This afternoon I will be at home and this evening Andrew and I will be going to visit a friend. Tomorrow is also a busy day - just the way I like it when Colin is away! I am scrapping with a friend tomorrow afternoon and in the evening a group of us are going to the "Liggieboom" at Andrew's school. It is always very good and ends with a huge fireworks display! And then on Sunday the dear hubby will be home!

2 sleeps to go! Hope you have a great day!

2 down, 2 to go!

Yes, the boy finished his last exam yesterday and is now officially finished with school. He threatened to burn his school books last night, but I don't think he got that far! He will get his results at the end of December. He started working as a waiter today, so out into the cruel world he goes! Lol

And specially for Lynette - Layout of Christmas 1999. Please note that my albums are all in my bedroom so this photo was taken on my bed.

My mom and I went for our normal Wednesday breakfast today and I requested that we go to N1 city so that I could have some photos developed. I suppose I should have gotten the hint when I filled up my flash drive plus more photos on the other one, 180 jumbo's later (including 2 ups and 4 ups) we left the photo shop. I have enough photos for about 12 layouts, plus one for Scruffies album and quite a few for my memory album. I will scrap till it comes out my ears!

We had a very good morning. I am really going to miss my mom when they move away next year, but I think we won't think of that now and make the most of the Wednesdays we have left!

4 sleeps to go!

News from Germany

I got an e-mail from Colin today, complete with photos! I tried to copy and paste, but alas it didn't work! Nice photos of things covered in snow. All is well and he is enjoying the work that he has to do. Does sightseeing at night - freezing!

I went scrapping today - yes, my usual Tuesday morning! I scrapped Christmas 1999, imagine that, really old photos! It is terrible to see how everybody has aged in the past 9 years. It took me the whole 3 hours to finish the layout as I never learn and always have to cut tiny things out!

Other than that it has been a quiet day. Andrew went of to school without any problems and that in itself is enough to make the day good!

3 sleeps down - 5 to go!

Scrapping Friday

My sister and I had a lovely Friday scrapping and chatting. We only did layouts chosen out of magazines and it was a lot of fun!
A glorious mess! Who can scrap neatly anyway?

My sister did 4 single layouts - this was her favourite for the day.

I did one single layout and 2 doubles. Here is 2 examples.

This layout was done with a variety of photos my sister in Australia sent me in 1999. I was rather happy with the result.

As I said in my previous post Colin left on Saturday. So far everything is going well except that Andrew refused to go to school this morning. I gave him a choice of going to school or being grounded from the computer for the whole weekend - he chose not to go to school. Silly child!

We had a lovely day yesterday. Spent some time at home in the morning and then went to my mom for lunch and then of to Stodels. I bought 2 punnets of flowers for the garden and Andrew chose a punnet with mixed herbs. My mom added a chocolate mint to his collection out of her garden and she gave me 3 evening primrose plants. Will take photos when my flowers are in full bloom and show you!

2 down and 6 sleeps to go!

Just another Friday

I am feeling very sad today. Colin is leaving for Germany tomorrow and I already miss him! He will be away for a week to long. I really function a lot better when he is around and I know that he is coming home in the evening.

We went for our normal "date" last night and decided to skip the coffee and go to Milky Lane for icecream. As we walked into Milky Lane I spotted people that we used to go to the Methodist church with 12 years ago. They also decided that they wanted ice cream instead of coffee - how is that for "coincidence"! We joined them and had a lovely evening catching up and yes, had coffee in the end! It is amazing how a person can click with somebody again after so many years.

I am planning to have a very quiet day today and want to do some scrapping. My sister will also be coming around later so it will be nice. See if I can scraplift some of my friends LO's!

Nesting Box

Andrew had to do a project for school - they were making a bird box. As we were off to PE the next day, Michael was nominated to help Andrew with his project. Andrew immediately decided that he was going to use it as a nesting box for the budgies.
Fortunately they are in quite a big cage and the box doesn't take up too much space. So far the budgies are only using it to poop on and they chewed the bamboo on the roof.

Meet Roxie the budgie (blue) and Elvis the show budgie (green). They love each other very much and are forever busy kissing or preening each other.

Here you can see the box in the cage - the budgies still have more than enough space.

I had to take the budgies to the vet a while ago and Andrew went with me. He asked the vet a lot of questions. One of the questions was whether the budgies would mate. The vet replied that it is possible, but that budgies are very silly and lay their eggs just anywhere!

We will have to see what happens!

Sweet thing!

I bought this "nest" for Jamie last year in winter, because they can sleep in it and then obviously be warmer in winter. Anyway, I had to put sunflower seeds into the bag to get her to actually go into it and she never slept in it. It now hangs on the side of her cage and she loves crawling into it. It looks very fun as you sometimes see this little head appearing, or at other times you can see her tail! She has totally destroyed the bottom of the bag, but it is so cute to see her in action that I actually don't mind!

I am going for my normal Wednesday breakfast with my mom and afterwards I want to go to Stodels to go and buy some petunias to give the garden some colour. And then of course look to see what they have on sale! So far most of the plants in the garden is stuff we bought on sale and the garden is coming on nicely.

Later .....

Golf

Colin had his annual golf day yesterday. He teed of at 11H50 and finished at about 18H00. He came home, had a shower and then the 2 of us went back to the golf club for the prize giving and dinner. It is always a lot of fun as the different teams really make fun of each other. The team Colin was in came 7th out of 14 teams. Not too bad! The team that comes in last gets the toilet seat - everybodies biggest fear!! Not really, it is all in the name of fun. We had potjie for dinner - very nice! Now we have to wait a full year for the next one!

Oops, I forgot!

I meant to include a photo of the cake on my previous post, so voila!!
Since I last chatted to you I went and watered the other side of the garden (minus Jamie as the wind is blowing very hard now) and got myself sopping wet in the process. The dear hubby still hasn't cut of the "defective" bit that squirts in all directions! When I phoned him to complain he asked me why I didn't do it myself. Duh, I didn't think of that! I can be so silly sometimes!

Anyway after the cold shower I went and had a hot shower with the result that I so do not feel like cleaning up! Will see how far I get ....

My weekend in photos

It was Colin's year end function on Friday night so we got all dressed up for a lovely evening out. It was a very pleasant evening and we had a lot of fun!

Checking my e-mail after we got home.

Michael just loved the way Scruffy was sitting and just had to take a photo! And of course the Jamie the parrot just happened to be there too!

I hosted a stork party for my friend on Saturday. She was totally surprised and that was great too! This was after we dressed her up. Cute isn't she? Such a lovely big baby!

Her friend came all the way from KZN to be here for her stork party - another huge surprise!For her first forfeit wshe had to drink out of a baby bottle and was totally grossed out about the taste of the formula. We also fed her some purity - the vegetable kind, and that was also extremely disgusting! Did I really feed that stuff to my kids?

Anyway, Jamie helped me water the garden this morning and is now cuddling on my shoulder, but I guess I must now start doing something about my house!

Have a blessed day!

Tagged!

I was tagged by Lynette on 12 November to tell 7 weird things about myself - lets think a bit .....

1) I don't mind having parrot poop on my shoulder.

2) I hate it very much when people "leave" a message on my cellphone and when I check their is nothing.

3) I hang my washing up in a specific way and get very upset when somebody else hangs it up and it is not the same as the way I do it! (Simply ridiculous I know)

4) I have my own little routine at night before I go to bed and heaven helps Colin if he comes and interrupts me! That is MY time. (I call him when I am finished)

5) I can't stand it when people paint their finger and toenails and the colours don't match. It can only be different if one of the two is a french manicure.

6) When my hubby and I go away for a weekend the parrot always goes with!

7) The children find it very strange that I don't hear them when they come in late at night but I wake up instantly if somebody comes into the bedroom.

Sjoe, that wasn't too bad.

Red and pink

Can you believe it, a whole month has gone past and it was time again for Robyn to go and have her braces adjusted. The dr tightened the bottom braces again and she chose red and pink elastics. She also told me that she now has 19 months to go - quite a long time me thinks!

I spent my morning pottering around the kitchen and rather enjoyed myself. Now I have to go and do some scrapping - fun!

Internetlessness

Yes, I have been suffering from internetlessness again this past few days! Wireless internet is definitely not what it promised to be! It has been very good being home again, except that I was rather sick on Sunday night and Monday. When I got up on Tuesday I realised how dirty my kids left the house, and was obviously not very impressed as I do not like cleaning house very much. Went scrapping on Tuesday to try and finish the project that I am busy with at the moment. I am making a scrapbook as a gift for a friend. Still have 2 pages to go so I am happy with what I did on Tuesday. I had to take Andrew to the ENT specialist in the afternoon for a checkup and to "vacuum" his ear. The dr was very happy as Andrew's ear is looking very good and has retained it's ability to clean itself! So no vacuuming was necessary! We only need to go back again if he has a problem.

On Wednesday I took my mom to the airport to go and collect her tickets for her trip to Jhb for my brothers 50th birthday and we ended up having breakfast there. Imagine - breakfast at the airport without anybody flying anywhere! Afterwards we dawdled around in town and I spent the afternoon cleaning up my house a bit.

It has been very cold and wet in Cape Town, so after everybody left this morning I went back to bed for a while to escape the cold and only got up again at 8H30. Don't have too many plans for today except to clean up and do some planning for the weekend. Oh yes and Andrew has decided that he wants muffins to take to school so I will have to make some later.

We are going to Colin's year end function tomorrow night, so that is something to look forward to. Will post a photo on Saturday ......

Boring I know, but this is my life!

Trip to PE

Colin asked me to go to PE with him as he had a business meeting. After much deliberation I agreed and it was quite a trip down memory lane for me. We visited all the family and it was really great to reconnect! I realised just how much I missed out with the family living so far away. Here is a few of the photos I took: The mountains looked really gorgeous on our trip back.

The see in PE is actually warm enough to swim in, unlike another place I know ...

The house where we lived 30 years ago. Very run down, but still there!

My sister and her husband with grandchild number 3.

While we were away I realised that PE is not such a bad place to live after all! Maybe one day ....

Pink and green

Robyn went back to the Orthodontist on Wednesday and had her bottom braces fitted. She then chose pink and green elastics for the month of September. I think she looks very cute! Her mouth was sore for the first 24 hours, but now she seems fine again. I am amazed at how "painless" the whole process has been for her - I really expected it to be so much worse!

I went scrapbooking this morning and it was really nice. If I get a chance I will post my layouts tomorrow.

Of to a party .........

Good Friday

Andrew, my gorgeous ADHD son is busy building himself a treehouse. He actually had another ladder that broke so he took a long piece of wood out of the garage, took it to our very patient neighbour who then cut it for him and drilled holes through the ends! And wala - a rope ladder! ADHD children are extremely difficult to live with, but I think their creativity makes up for it. Although, as you can see, our garden looks like a dump because of his creativity! It would actually be very nice if DH would buy some decent wood and help him build a nice strong treehouse.

My lemon tree has blossoms on it! I am very impressed, except that I promised my family that I would make them lemon meringue with the ripe lemons. Fortunately I still have lots of time!

I had a lovely morning scrapbooking and now just want to have a peaceful afternoon! Going shopping with a friend tomorrow and no it is for clothes not scrapping supplies! Drat!