Poor Jessie!

Colin took Jessie to the vet last Friday, as she wasn't walking on her one back leg. The poor thing had a torn tendon and the vet operated yesterday. She came home last night and by this morning the bandage was almost completely of. Colin took her back to the vet. Apparently it is because of the shape of the leg. There is nothing to keep the bandage on. We must try and get her to keep it on for another 2 days, and then it can come of. She has 2 big cuts on her leg as the vet had to take a piece of the sheeth of the tendon out to use on the torn tendon - something like that! She is very sore and has been lying in her basket all day. The painkillers doesn't seem to be working that well.
We went to Wortelgat on a Church camp this past weekend. It is a beautifull place! We had a speaker that spoke to us about the end times and she was excellent!
We went for an early walk after breakfast and I took a photo of the view. Gorgeous isn't it.

After the 2nd session we had the afternoon of, and Colin and I went for a walk. We started down on the "beach" and this is him in child mode climbing on the rocks.

Me in my Captain Morgan advert pose:

After that we decided to leave our campsite to go and look at some of the others at Wortelgat. They have a few different "camps" that can be used by churches or schools. We walked down the road and looked at some of the new houses that are being built and eventually decided to go on the Koppie trail. It was quite steep, but well worth the effort once we got to the top. This is part of the view that we saw:

This cross was also on top of the koppie:

We had a great time. It was good getting to know more of the people from our church and the teaching was also very good. We won't mention the food - there was far too much of that!

I really hope that this will become an annual event! Until Jesus comes again that is .......

My week at a glance

A whole week since I blogged - goodness me! Anyway, I think everybody knows by now that I am not very fond of spending time on the computer. I spent quite a bit of time sorting out my photos today - must be a record!
Chillie getting a bit of love. He is doing well, I just feel sorry for him as his "mother" doesn't give him as much attention as what he should be getting. And my green bird is not happy when I spend time with him.

My sisters daughter is turning 18 on the 22nd of March and wants a kiddies party and the theme has to be pandas. My sister and I sat and made these pandas last week. We must still paint the eyes and noses. They got a bit flatter and fatter after we left them to dry, but I think they will look really good on the cupcakes. The bigger one is supposed to go on top of the cake, but unfortunately it cracked when I put clingwrap over the plates. The big one wasn't dry yet! I am sure we can make another plan!

I saw this cute bird last Friday, and just couldn't resist it! It goes well with the bedding we are using at the moment, but I don't think it will go too well with the new bedding we bought! Anyway, I will make it work. The boys are painting our bedroom this weekend and I am very excited! Will (try) post a before and after photo. My sisters boyfriend and Colin are also going to fix up the kitchen a bit on Sunday. Hopefully they will find the ant nest and destroy the whole thing!
I found this at Cum books last week - I want to put it in my bedroom once the painting is done - will go very nicely with the new colour scheme.

It was quite a busy week for some reason. Don't ask me why as I really don't know, I seem to waste a lot of time. Did the usual scrapping on Tuesday, had breakfast with the mama on Wednesday and have been rather house bound this past two days. My car had to go in for some repairs and couldn't come home last night. Hopefully tonight. It has actually been quite a nice and relaxing day today. As I said I sorted some photos, I also read and went through my new CK magazines for inspiration.

The grandchild still hasn't been born and with the due date that was yesterday, it can happen anytime. I am getting very excited to see what the baby looks like and what sex it is. I am still hoping that it is a girl, even though the 1st scan did show a boy. Time will tell.

We are having a fundraiser at our church tomorrow. A potjie afternoon. I initially thought that it was a potjie kos competition, but apparantly there will be no prizes. Colin is making a potjie and I am making a pudding. I think it is going to be a very pleasant afternoon socialising with the members of the church and our guests. Will take some photos and let you see!

Have a great weekend!

Blogging again

I would actually enjoy doing the "one answer questions" thing, but too lazy to write them down and then type them again.

We took Chillie back to the vet on Tuesday and the poor thing had to have his leg amputated. The leg didn't grow back on at all and his foot was dead. He is managing amazingly well. My sister and I went to the pet shop on Saturday and bought him a new cage. It is actually a hamster cage, but perfect for him at this stage. The bars are much closer together, there is a few platforms for him to sit on and it has a lot of floorspace, but much lower than his old cage. He even climbs to the top of his cage again. He seems very happy. Also using the little stump when he climbs or walks. Last visit to the vet will be in 2 weeks time to remove the bandage. I will be very glad when it is all over.
On the baby front Michael and the mother is not seeing each other any more - just too many issues and arguments between them. Baby is due any day now and I am quite excited to see baby when it comes!

I went to see somebody from church this morning and felt very lonely afterwards. I went and wandered around a local shopping centre and did some shopping. Bought some stickers at Crazy Store, 2 t-shirts (on sale) and a sexy little number (not on sale) from Miladys, Chockies from Clicks and hot cross buns from Checkers. Did phone my mom inbetween all that to invite her to meet me for coffee, but unfortunately she couldn't make it. Feeling better now, retail therapy always does wonders!

I won't say to much about last week as it was a bit stressful, but I am back in bloggie land at least! My mom has now decided when they are going to move. It will be towards the end of March so I must book my plane ticket. Pity that where they are moving to is so far from PE as it would have been nice spending some time with my sister before flying back to Cape Town. Oh well, can't have everything I guess. Oh and I am helping my mom drive her car, that is why I must fly back. I think I will need a lot of prayer for the trip there as I am not crazy about driving.

It is going well on the home front - Richard started working with his dad and will be there for the next 6 - 8 weeks. Very nice experience for him and a regular income, well at least for 2 months! The other kids are well, I just had a revelation about Andrew this morning. I think that he is struggling to learn as he really has a problem with reading. The school offers tape aid, and we are going to speak to them about Andrew trying that out. He basically learns by listening to Colin, so I think it will help him!

Anyway, got to go. Speak again soon .....

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!

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!

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!

Soaking up the sun

As you all know by now, my crazy bird loves the sun. I took her outside with me early this morning when I hung out the washing and she enjoyed climbing around while I was busy. I decided a little while ago to go and "survey the estate" and took her outside again. It is lovely and sunny outside, but also a bit nippy in the shade. She loved being outside and was not impressed at all when I came back inside again. While I am typing this she is climbing around on the burglar bars enjoying some more sun! Crazy bird!

I must agree with her that it is really lovely spending time out in the sun. I was amazed to see how much the plants have grown and how clean and vibrant everything looks. We have really been very blessed with all the rain, even though it is very cold it is still the best thing to make plants grow beautifully! Maybe I should go for a nice walk later ........

My weekend was very busy and we didn't leave home at all except to go to church yesterday morning. It was actually very nice just being at home for a change without feeling the need to rush around in the shopping centres or just visiting people. My mom came for a visit on Saturday afternoon and we had a lovely time just chatting and knitting. Friends came around yesterday afternoon for a braai and we had a wonderful time. And then we had some more friends pop in last night for a cup of coffee. This is what I enjoy - relaxing time with friends and family!

Pink and orange

Robyn got braces today. She had the elastics in for a week and today was the big day. It actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would and was done in no time. Only her top teeth were done today as they have to move or be pulled in or something before the bottom teeth join the top teeth. I watched the whole exercise and it was very interesting. Robyn was surprised that it went so well as she expected it to be a lot more painfull. (Will see how she feels tomorrow!)

After! She chose pink and orange elastics! Will keep you up to date!

Colin and I went to Stodels on Sunday so that I could take some photos for a winter layout. It was supposed to be an Autumn layout, but I didn't get to taking the photos!

Jamie having a "sip" of Colin's tea. She really is quite a character!

I am absolutely exhausted tonight as it was a very busy day, but at least I feel as if I achieved a lot. Even though it was only washing, tidying up, etc .... Just kidding, I also had to prepare for my classes this week and also had to finish making samples for workshops.

Going scrapping tomorrow ..... can't wait!

Double booking

I just got another query for the 24th May. I am already booked, but isn't that great!! The Lord is really blessing us. Colin believes that things started taking off since we decided to do the School of the Supernatural at church. We had our first session last night and it was really awesome! First time ever that I couldn't get enough of watching a DVD teaching - imagine that!! I am very excited about the course.

Thank you for all of you who are concerned about my son. He is much better and started working again yesterday. I just hope that he will now look after himself properly and get his asthma medication from the chemist as soon as he needs it. He slept in the caravan again for the first time last night and thoroughly enjoyed being in his own bed again!

A question for you: Now that the DW isn't here anymore, what am I supposed to do with my dogs when I go out? The poor things are definitely NOT used to be left outside in the cold and the wind! Our kennel is also completely inadequate and we can only get a new one at the end of the month, so I might have to take a chance and lock them inside while I am out.

Brenda's Girls

(You can click on the image to make it bigger).
Well, here it is. I had to take a photo as my scanner works perfectly well, but I can't stitch them together with the program I have. That is also why there is a nice flash on the one photo, but anyway.

I don't have a very eventful day planned today. Going to drop my daughter of at her boy "friend's" house, then of to my mothers house to find some documents that they need while they are away, want to go to The Deckle Edge to buy posts for my album and then back home. I also have to take Richard back to the doctor for a checkup as he says his stomach is still bothering him at times and then I must also see the doctor for new perscriptions. Very boring! Hopefully I can sort out some photos this afternoon for printing for my next layouts. At least that will be a bit more interesting!

A quick update on Jessie is that she is walking much easier now that the medication has kicked in properly, she also looks a bit thinner around the waist!

School holidays

I enjoy school holidays because I can stay in bed later and I don't have to worry about snacks for school, etc, but I hate school holidays as the kids drive me crazy!!!!!! Took them to see another movie yesterday, The Spiderwick Chronicles - VERY weird, about faries and goblins and stuff. It was relaxing though as you can basically sit back and forget about the world out there for a while.

Had my usual Wednesday morning breakfast with my mom and spent some time at Tygervalley and the beadshop. They have such amazing beads that I actually feel like doing some again! My hubbie is home for 3 days to work on the house. The pool is now scrubbed and ready to pack away until next summer, sounds odd I know, but the plan is to buy a "proper" pool pump during this coming winter and then to set the pool up properly next year as the current pool pump is not very effective and the water stayed murky. Soooo we have a huge piece of ground back again where the pool stood before. He has now gone to buy the "stuff" to do the barge boards.

Had to take Jessie the staffie to the vet on Monday. She was limping badly and the vet wanted to take some x-rays. She has osteo-arthritis in her left front elbow and has to go onto tablets for 3 weeks. She also has to start eating a special diet formulated for joint disease. She also has to loose weight and go back to the vet in 3 weeks time. Poor thing, she loves to eat and is suffering terribly! She is already walking better though, so here's hoping! Colin had the audacity to ask the vet if he could feed me the same food as I also have osteo-arthritis - cheeky creature!

Any ideas of what we can take with this coming weekend for our wedding anniversary celebration? I decided that it is pointless buying a new negligee, but there must be lots of other suggestions.

Scruffy and Co

I took Scruffy to a "new" parlour yesterday as I couldn't get an answer from our regular parlour and being my usual patient self I didn't feel like waiting! Shame, poor thing came back looking like a little rat! The other parlour never cut the hair on his legs this short so it hid his scrawnyness a lot! Think I must go back to the old one.

Jessie, Scruffies long suffering wife!

I will show you the rest of the animal family another day.

Had a good day today. Had breakfast with my mom at Tygervalley and then went looking at make-up. Always fun doing the girlie thing!

Reflections

I decided to water the garden this morning as it is supposed to be a very hot day, and as I was watching the hundreds of cars passing our house with parents dropping off their kids at the school, I couldn't help but realise just how blessed I am to have a husband like Colin. I basically get up in the morning, feed the dogs, get our tablets out, check that Andrews bag is ready for school, make myself a cup of coffee and climb back into bed! Colin gets the kids up, puts Andrews clothes out, makes his breakfast and takes Andrew to the bus. And if Colin is away for some reason, Michael takes Andrew to the bus, and just by the way, he also drops Richard and Robyn off at the high school! I am truly blessed with my husband and my kids!

Of course then I started looking around at the rest of the world and noticed the guinea fowls running around at the top of the field and it made me think of the cartoon "Roadrunner" that used to be on TV long time ago - the guinea fowl were running just at fast.

I had Jamie on my shoulder while watering the garden and she was happily "cheaping" away on my shoulder and then I also noticed the doves and other birds on and over the field. Their life is just as peaceful as mine! I had to watch Scruffy like a hawk though, as he just runs if he sees another dog or cat and with all the cars I really didn't want a dead dog.

Anyway, I start gym today and must admit that I am looking forward to it. Hopefully the first time of many.

My little green monster

I was sitting on the couch this afternoon watching Jamie eating and was again absolutely amazed at how beautifully and wonderfully God created her. The way her claw can take the smallest piece of food and hold it so delicately in order to eat it. All it is is four toes that look like dinosour toes and they work so well! And the balance - absolutely amazing - no trouble with eye hand control there!

She is not a very popular bird though, people are very scared of her, because she bites, not gentle little nibbles, but vicious bites that leave people scarred and bleeding! She came and cuddled on my shoulder and spent the next half hour purring and kissing me and turning herself in all directions so that I could kiss her everywhere and she was just to gorgeous for words. Unfortunately Colin and I are the only people that ever experience that, because by the looks of it she accepts us. People can't understand how it is possible to love such a vicious little thing, but when she is so loving, it is impossible not to love her. I remember her from when she was still a baby and eating porridge, sleeping on my chest with her little claws curled up and stretched out. What is not to love? Anyway, who can even begin to understand the relationship between human beings and their pets? She will continue to be loving and occasionally biting me, and people will continue looking at her with fear, but I look at her and see a gorgeous, unique being, created by God and given to me to look after.