Silver and pink

Robyn had to go to the orthodontist today and this time she chose silver and pink elastics. She still has 16 months to go! We left Andrew at home while we went as he didn't want to come with us. When we got home he showed us the "muffins" that he had prepared. I switched the oven on and then asked him if he put baking powder in. He didn't so proceeded to put a bit on each muffin and stirring it in. This is what they looked like at the end. The white bits is the baking powder.
He only told me afterwards that he didn't use a recipe. They weren't too disgusting. I told him that if he ever decides to bake again while we are out I will have to force him to go with everytime as I can't trust him to be at home alone.

I spent the morning with my mother and we had quite a pleasant time walking around and looking at stuff. We then went and met my sister for lunch. She works in Rondebosch in the most beautifull old house that has a view of Table Mountain. We went to a coffee shop that is part of a church next door to where she works. The food and service was excellent and we enjoyed it a lot. We decided that we would have to do lunch again before my mother leaves for Kidds Beach.

Colin and I went to a meeting at Andrews school this evening where they introduced a new computer program that can be used by voice recognition. Even people without arms can use it as it responds to your voice. I think it is going to help a lot with the children that battle with reading and writing. The teachers are quite excited about trying the program in the school.

Anyway, let me go and spend some time with the hubby. He has inflamation in his colon and is feeling very sorry for himself.

Interview Me

Lynette had a challenge on her blog to people to allow her to interview them. I agreed and here are my questions:

1. Tell us how you came to follow Christ and tell us a little about your walk with the Lord.

A long time ago I read or heard a story of a man that said that God hounded him until he became a Christian. That is basically how I felt growing up. I always felt God "hounding" me to become His. In Standard 6 the Gideons came to our school and spoke to us, they also gave each person a little Bible. I think that is when I first committed myself to Him. I can't find the Bible, but the date I wrote in the back was August 1977. I committed myself but didn't know what I was supposed to do then. We were all going to the NG Church in Port Elizabeth at the time. We moved to Cape Town the following year and the "hounding" continued. I met a girl at the new school that was a Christian. I admired her a lot and she explained to me what I had to do to become a Christian. I did that, but still felt that something was missing. I finished High School, got married and had Michael. I told Colin that we had to go to Church as Michael had to be baptised and should grow up going to Church. We had him baptised, but never really went back again. We moved to Johannesburg in 1987 and in due course Richard was born. I was again drawn to joining a Church. We did actually join that time, Richard was baptised and we continued going to that Church untill we moved back to Cape Town at the end of 1993. During that time we were also involved in a Bible Study Group. I asked the leader to pray for me one night to become a Christian, but life went on as per normal. Robyn was born in 1994 and we started attending the Methodist Church in Brackenfell and I joined a Ladies Group. The Church offered a "Life in the Spirit" course and I persuaded Colin to go with me. Our lives dramatically changed when we met the Holy Spirit. I then understood that I needed to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit to really be a Christian. I was baptised that same year and things went very well. The leader of the Ladies Group also taught me a lot and helped me with a lot of the issues I had at that time. We went to Church every Sunday and actually could worship the Lord. My first hiccup happened when I found out I was pregnant with Andrew. I was very depressed during my pregnancy and it took me years to find my way back to the Lord. Even today I am struggling a bit as there seems to be a lot of stumble blocks between the Lord and I. I do however still know that He loves me and that He will always be close to me.

2. What is your favourite season and WHY?

I have to say winter as it is lovely and cold. I feel more alive in winter and I have a lot more energy than at other times of the year.

3. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 20 years?

Andrew will be 22 in 10 years time, so I think Colin and I will have a lot more time to spend together. I would like to believe that we will start travelling at that time. In 20 years time I will be 64 and hopefully retired in Langebaan!

4. Tell us your favourite memory raising your children and one from your own childhood.

I think that the time after Robyn was born is my favourite memory. I was so happy to have a little girl that I was extremely happy for about 2 years. She was just so cute and we spent a lot of time together. I think the times we spent in Jeffreys Bay with my cousins must be my favourite childhood memory. We were free to do our own thing there and my Aunt allowed us to have sandwiches with peanut butter and syrup on. (You can see I always loved to eat)

5. First kiss stories can be fun .... tell us yours. Then tell us how you met the love of your life.

My parents and us moved to Cape Town in 1978. There was a boy living down the road from us that I rather liked. We used to run wild and often went and played at the "river" (just a little stream actually) and the one day when we were playing we happened to be on our own and he kissed me. Not one of us knew what we were doing, but it was quite a thrill! The love of my life, well .... My sister came and visited us in Cape Town with her baby when her husband went up to the border. My parents didn't like the guy I was going out with at the time. A little girl from down the road used to come and play at our house and then her brother used to come and fetch her again in the late afternoon. My sister dared me to go and invite him for coffee. I walked down the road with my dog in tow, knocked on the door and invited him for coffee. He actually said yes and the rest is history!!

Anyway that is my answers - enjoy learning a bit more about me!

Gardening and stuff ....

I can't believe that I havent blogged since last Wednesday! Time is really flying. The kids settled back to school very nicely. Andrew actually went to school by bus on the first day - a first for him! Robyn just complained that there are now so many Afrikaans Grade 9's that they had to split up the one english class and add it to the others to make space for another afrikaans class. There is now 40 kids in her class. Sounds like discrimination to me! Fortunately she is a very bright kid and will cope. The biggest problem is that the classes weren't designed to hold so many bodies which makes it very uncomfortable for all.

My life is now supposedly returned to normal, but I reckon it depends on your definition of normal. Hopefully with the hubbies promotion and higher salary we will be able to get a maid in at least twice a week, because I hate cleaning house! As you know Richard went for another gastroscopy 2 weeks ago which showed bile reflux. The medication that the doctor put him on, which I told him wouldn't work - the dr that is, is not working at all. I went onto the internet early this morning and googled bile reflux. It was rather interesting and I discovered a medication that is supposed to make the bile flow faster, but it is very expensive and has quite a lot of negative side effects. On the same site they also mentioned to homeopathic remedies. I googled the herbs and basically they are used for stress and colon cleansing and it also helps the bile flow faster. I will phone the health shop a bit later and speak to them. With all this going on the house is obviously still waiting to be done. I have however watered the garden already and put a load of washing on.

My mom decided to fill in the one flower bed in front of her house as she is going to rent it out and is concerned that the tennants won't check that the water doesn't go against the wall. Anyway, we popped around there yesterday afternoon and Colin and Michael took all the plants out. They are now transplanted into our garden and looks pretty good. I just hope that everything will survive. I think Colin is now getting the point that a flowerbed must be FULL of plants, not just a few scattered around. I actually couldn't believe that my mom had that many plants in such a small flowerbed!

With all the planting going on I didn't really feel like doing to much for supper. I asked Richard to cook some rice and then made us rice pudding for supper. I guess if jelly and custard can be a balanced meal, so can rice pudding! It is made according to my moms recipe and looked just like hers! Wat dink jy suster?
I have to share this little story with you! But don't tell Andrew as he will be very upset. Colin gave him a haircut on the Sunday before school started and it looked quite nice. On Monday evening Andrew came out of the bathroom and showed Colin his head. He carried on about how he didn't know how it happened, but see for yourself:

The silly boy got hold of Robyn's razer and "trimmed" his hair a bit. He was then a bit worried about what the kids at school would say. Anyway, he did it to himself and he had to take responsibility for it. He told the kids that he got bubblegum stuck in his hair. They are now calling him bubblegum head, which is probably better than telling them what really happened! I did remind him that it was a lie though.

The rest of the weekend was quite uneventfull, us girls just went to a tea party on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the birth of my friends gorgeous little girl!

Later ....

Yeh! School has started

The kids, my mom and I went out a bit yesterday. We first went to draw money and then ended up having smoothies (the lovely unhealthy kind with icecream) at the Wimpy. At the particular shopping centre they have a chess set with little water fountains all over it. Andrew was fascinated and got VERY wet. Fortunately the pants dried very quickly otherwise he would have sat at the movies with wet pants on! We watched the movie about the brave little mouse. Know the name just can't remember how to spell it! It was actually quite a nice movie and we enjoyed it very much. My mom dozed of every so often, but she also enjoyed the bits she saw!

You do know by now that I am actually very lazy to do certain things. One of them is sewing. I did sewing at school and I think that put me of for life. Anyway while we were at my moms house after the movie Robyn mentioned that she wanted to shorten her school dress but that I refused. Anyway my mom sort of convinced me that it could be a bit shorter than on her knee, but I made her do it when we got home. I helped her and showed her how to pin the hem and then how to sew it, and she did a great job! I did shorten Andrews pants though. The one actually, the other one is still waiting to be done. Richard asked me how he can shorten his pants this morning, and yes you guessed it! I pinned it and then showed him how to sew it in himself. I am a firm believer that kids must be able to do everything when they are adults. Colin learnt in the army and he is pretty good at sewing as well.

On the work side Colin decided to stay where he is. I am very pleased and believe that he made the right choice. He is getting a nice promotion with all the perks that go with that. Will tell you more once everything is official. His parents and my mom were all very impressed!

The 2 kids went of to school quite nicely today. Forgot to take a photo but will do that tomorrow morning and show you. It will be the first year that Andrew went to school by bus on the first day and I think he deserves a big reward for that, but we don't want to make too much of a fuss over it. And another year starts .....

Other than that I am supposed to clean house today and will probably get stuck in soon, as I want to go out tomorrow morning and then we start scrapping again on Friday. I guess I have to get my priorities straight. House has to look reasonably decent for the weekend.

Boring Monday!

It has been a very quiet day today. I only got up at 9H00 this morning and then took a while drinking my coffee and waking up. Decaf coffee, I can't handle normal coffee very well! I then went outside and watered the part of the garden that Colin didn't get to last night. It is such a peaceful time of the day (a bit later than usual) and I really enjoy looking at the plants and watching them grow. I just get extremely frustrated because some of the plants droop so quickly and are very "demanding" on time. My "shady" garden is also a battle as the silly thing gets more sun than I anticipated!

The hubby now has both offers on the table and has to decide on which job he wants. I think he is really struggling with this one.

The rest of the day consisted of washing, cleaning up and vegging on the couch. Don't feel to great today.

We are going to my mom for supper tonight and I made a pudding (new recipe) that doesn't taste as good as what it does in the book! I am sure the kids will eat it though!

Tomorrow is the last day of the holiday and the kids and I are going to go to the movies with my mom and thereafter going somewhere for milkshakes. I rather fancy going to Stodels as it is always nice to spend some time outside. Anyway, I can't wait for Wednesday!

Enjoy your evening!

Last week

I have been "trying" to post for quite a few days now, and eventually got some time tonight. It has been rather a busy week! I haven't done any scrapping since last year and my friend invited me to play at her house on Thursday. I did 2 double layouts and 1 single page.

My daughter had her first informal lesson in October and this is the layout I did. The horse belongs to my sister and you must see the obsolute joy on her face when she is with her horse! Absolutely incredible! I took a photo of the single page, but it didn't come out very nice.

We took Chilly to the vet on Wednesday and he is happy with the progress. The only problem is that he started chewing on his toes and they were not looking very good. The vet prescribed some ointment that we have to rub in every day. I phoned the vet again yesterday as the one toe looked like a stump and the other toe also didn't look too hot. The vet suggested that we put a plaster over the toes after rubbing the ointment in. The poor thing also became more and more frustrated and eventually didn't want anybody to touch him. I decided to put him into a "portable" bowl on Friday so that we could cart him around all over the house. He is now doing a lot better and has become a lot more mobile. It actually looks quite funny watching him jump around on one leg and climbing up to the top of his cage. He has also started sitting on his old perch again at night when he sleeps. Just 2 more weeks to go!

We went to our local shopping centre today to hand in some entry forms for a competition. The draw takes place on Saturday at 12H00. I am really hoping to win as I desperately need another car! But anyway, we will see what happens.

Colin has to make a life changing decision tomorrow before 12H00. He has been offered a new job and his current bosses will be making him a counter offer tomorrow. Please pray that he makes the right decision.

Oh yes, I also had a haircut this week. I couldn't stand the long hair anymore!

Anyway, between job offers, school holidays and life, I had a very busy week and tonight I will just veg in front of the TV. Have a lovely week!

Just another Monday

I had very good intentions of getting up at the same time as Colin this morning, but alas, didn't work and I only woke up after 8! Then it was watering the garden, doing washing and all those other horrible things that just has to be done on a Monday. I really didn't feel like cleaning house as such, so I roped the kids into helping. My sisters son is really good at cleaning - I think I must adopt him! Mine are not that great, but beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, I want to go and do a few things this afternoon - all by myself - and decided that we will all have omeletes for supper. Kids love it and it is nice and simple. I haven't done any scrapping since the last Tuesday of last term and can't wait to get started again. I want to go and browse in the Scrapping shop down the road for some new goodies. This particular shop offers an incentive that when you buy 6 times for more than R150 at a time, you can choose any layout for free. I am on my last block so can't wait to choose a layout! Also want to see if they have anything new. After that I am going to pop in at a friend to look at a new catalogue for jewellery. And that will be my afternoon.

Richard has to go for another gastroscopy tomorrow - please pray for him. I really hope that the doctors will now find out what is causing his stomach complaint as I am really fed up with it already. It has been a year you know!

Anyway, places to go, people to see .....

So many birthdays!

It was my mothers 70th birthday on 27 November, but they were away at the time. We went out to dinner on Friday night to celebrate a belated birthday. We went to the Cattle Baron and the food was excellent as always. My parents, my sister and her boyfriend and us all went.

My sister, my mom and I.

Richard also celebrated his 19th birthday while we were in Langebaan, so we had a tea and cake afternoon for him yesterday. I think that he thoroughly enjoyed it!

My friends gorgeous new baby. She is so beautifull and so peacefull.

Between the birthdays, cars and cricket it was rather a busy weekend, with very little time to just relax. The older kids are going of to the beach this afternoon for a church get-together and it will just be Colin, Andrew and I at home. Maybe we can do something interesting.

I bought a stick in winter with two tags on that said that it was a hibiscus and could either be lilac or white. Anyway, it is flowering now as you can see and I don't think it is a hibiscus. What do you think? It is very pretty though.

Have a good Sunday!

Quantum of Solace

Colin and I went and watched the movie on Wednesday night. I have heard a lot of negative things about the movie, but we rather enjoyed it! It was a little bit more "real" without all the gadgets and I think James Bond has finally entered the 21st century! I didn't find it at all much to read the few subtitles and the foreign languages added to the story. I also think that leaving Q out was a good idea, as he always managed to make James look a bit dof. It was also good seeing M without all the security and the intolerable Miss Moneypenny. M is a lot more human in this movie.

Welcome to the 21st century Mr Bond!

My word for 2009

My word for 2009 is renew. First of all I want to renew my relationship with God, as I really struggled in 2008. I believe moving to Grace Family Church is a step towards renewing that relationship. There are quite a few people in that church that played a huge role in discipling me in the early days when I became a christian. I believe that I need to renew those relationships again. I am at a point in my life where I need to be nurtured by "old" strong christians again and these friends can be there for me.

There are also relationships within my family that need to be renewed, but that will be more difficult, although anything is possible with God's help.

Back to normal (almost)

Well, the man started working again today so things are slowly getting back to normal in our home. The kids are still on holiday, but that is nice because I still get to sleep a bit longer in the morning. Colin was home for a month, but I was still not ready for him to go back to work, I really enjoy having him around.
Chilly broke his leg when we were away in Langebaan. Michael took him down the road to our local vet, but the poor man has absolutely no experience with birds, but he tried anyway. We took Chilly to our avian vet on Monday and he fixed Chilly up. He needed a pin in his leg and this is what he looks like at the moment. He has to go back next week so that the vet can check the leg and put a new bandage on, after that it is another 4 weeks before the pin is removed and he can move around freely. Poor little thing has always been very active, so this is really hard for him! Does anybody out there know how they remove a pin?

This is my friends timney grey Casper lying on his back playing with a toy. This is the first time ever I have come across a bird that so trusts its owner that it could actually lie still like this! But then, Casper is a very strange bird.

The turtle dove that I fed for a few days. We popped in at the pet shop in Langebaan and they said that they actually feed wild birds and then set them free when they are ready. Needless to say the bird was dropped of there that same day! It was actually quite cute and got so used to me feeding it that he lifted his wings whenever it saw me.

We had a braai and games evening on the 31st. It must have been the best old years eve we had in a very long time! We all stormed out of the house at midnight to watch the fireworks and eventually went to bed after 2. We started of the new year with a champagne breakfast at my sisters house and then went to Langebaan for 2 nights. All in all not a bad start to the new year.

With the hubby back at work I will now have more time to blog. See you soon!