1, 2, 3, blog

A thank-you video for Heather

2012-01-28T10:23:00.000+02:00

Disclaimers
Totally unedited, unrehearsed and raw. One take :)

Thanks again, Heather!

Our first Creative Thursday linky for 2012

2012-01-26T21:19:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Ginger reminding me, here is our craft link-up for January. I'm so glad she reminded me because I saw Allison's "pinned it, did it" post yesterday and it said 4, and I thought, "eek! I haven't even done 1 Pinterest project this year.

BUT I've taken a half day off next week solely to finish the editing on the book. I may be being a tad unrealistic but let's see if I need another half day. My head is not there at night - I'm too tired from work and babies and and and.

And after that, I can devote myself to playing a little until I start book 2. Which I think will go quicker as I'm even more passionate about time management than I am organising (if possible).

I'm personally going to do a lot more creative stuff this year but I don't know if I want to do the linky every week or two. Or should I?

I've said it before but you can link up anything you created - baked, cooked, made on the computer, sewed, crafted, etc, etc.The options are wide open.

Just link back here please.

Okay, let's go!!!

I'm linking up two TINY little things I did for Christmas. Together they took me probably less than 20 minutes.

1. Christmas Tree print

I took one of the photo frames I have lying around. And I have plenty.

I used a 1-inch circle punch to punch out some scrapbook paper for the top, made strips with red washi tape and put a tiny strip of green washi tape for the trunk.

It looked much more impressive in person :)

2. Christmas Tree notebook

I had this brilliant idea AFTER all the planning was done. Of course.

But I've since put the notebook in the two ginormous gift bags where I store my Christmas stuff. All I have to do in just 9.5 months (yes!) is print out my spreadsheet, paste it in the book and carry on planning.

Exactly same concept as the print except I didn't want to mess with glue so I washi taped everything. And yes, there are glaring signs of imperfection which I love.

On another note, I'm finding imperfection rather alluring lately. This from a recovering perfectionist.

Please link up anything you've worked on over the last month - recipes are most welcome because I'm bored with the stuff I'm eating!

I promise to come visit every person who links up but I will delete the random nonsense links that don't link to a POST.
Let the games begin :)

Am I alone?

2012-01-26T16:05:00.000+02:00

Thanks for your lovely comments about “cross Marcia”.

Those pics were taken this month but the night I put them up was a night I was cross, sometime around Christmas.

So I am FINE now, thanks for asking.

******************************************

Although… hang in there :)

I read lots of blogs. 110 to be exact.

Yes, I checked earlier today.

I read and comment on a good number of those blogs.

Some people read and comment back on my blog. It’s all lovely – community, I think they call it in the blog world – and happy and rosy.

Except when some people comment on everybody else’s blog but not on mine.

You see, at some point, the thought fleetingly crosses my mind, like “why doesn’t so and so ever comment on my blog?” and then I dismiss the thought by saying, “maybe they just don’t like to comment” but then, dear friends, I go and read other mutual people’s blogs and I find lots of lovely comments by these same non-commenting people. On many subsequent days.

Which makes me feel deflated and realize, “oh, OH, they’re just not into ME”.

It’s terrible.

I know it makes me sound like a teenager but this is how I feel so I’m putting it out there J

It also makes me ask those questions like, “what’s wrong with MY blog?” and sometimes when I feel like being particularly mean to myself, “they're my friends too. They know how important words are to me”

Oh I know I need to grow up.

I just needed to get that out.

But can you relate or not?

PS still one of the favourite pics that I actually took with the point and shoot :)

Wordless Wednesday - I do this when I'm cross

2012-01-25T21:08:00.001+02:00

I know the bottom one is skew

Friend date 1

2012-01-24T22:40:00.000+02:00

Well, I killed two birds with one stone tonight.

I went to see a movie and I saw it with a friend.

I"m quite drained, actually.

D knows me so well - he says to me now, "how was your evening?" and I said, "the movie was great and A was.... A"

He says, "and now you're drained and need a cup of tea!"

YES!

So we went to see I don't know how she does it and it was great.

Obviously not the movie of the year but then again, is it likely to be? I think not.

As an aside, I often wonder at people who say about books or movies, "so disappointing" and "no depth".

What did you expect? There's a picture of a really thin girl on the cover with shopping and handbags.

Hello!

Anyway, moving on.

I really enjoyed the movie. A lot of it was a little too close to home - full-time working mother, rushing, trying to do things "right" for the kids, not enough time with husband, staying up late fixing house, etc.

I read the original book YEARS ago (easily 10 years) and obviously didn't get the full impact of what it meant but I do now.

There were some great lines in the book - one I remember was her telling her husband "doing this is part of what makes me me" - the job, that is.

So yes, I get her. Her passion for her work, her passion for her kids, the struggle to fit it all in.

But back to the friend part.

D told me I need to tell her that while I love spending time with her, I also would like her to ask me about my life.

Maybe I will.

On the other hand, maybe I should just look for conversation and reciprocity from other friends :)

I don't know.

What do you think?

Have you seen this movie? What did you think?

PS I want to see George Clooney in The Descendants next.
PPS The little one and her brother were running around after bedtime. D came up and said, "what are you two doing out of bed?" She got such a fright she burst out crying. And I, mother of the year, burst out laughing. It was hilarious!

Do you need more friends?

2012-01-23T20:47:00.000+02:00

my card and friendship bracelet from Rachel - yes, I squealed like a teenager when I got it :)

I took a really deep beath and had to be really brave when I blogged that I needed friends.

Because nobody ever says, "I really would like more friends" or "I wish I had a special friend".

Until Rachel in MWF Seeking BFF.

When I stumbled upon her blog I was attracted to this well-adjusted girl who was going around OPENLY admitting she didn't have it all figured out in the friend department.

I love that about her.

That she knew this about herself and was brave enough to put it out there.

And if you spend some time on the blog, you'll see lots and lots of women admitting the same thing.

Me included.

And here I thought I was weird and was the only one who felt that way.

In the book she talks about some formula (and I'm way too lazy to go fetch my Kindle and look through the highlights) by which you calculate your "maximum happy number of friends".

Anyway, this number is 150 social connections.

She did the calculation and it showed that she had space for 20 friends.

Interestingly, I work with a guy (we mentor other people) who said on a course we went on that he only has space for 6 friends in his life at any one time so he doesn't even bother trying to be friendly with more people.

Yes, I was horrified!

There's a kernel of truth because imagine if we just hung onto all our friends from primary school (grade school) and kept gathering and gathering people? I would think the relationships could all only ever be at quite a superficial level.

It's like that fact I learned at a networking course in 2010. I feel I need to put the date because it's obviously changed by now, 18 months later. People have on average 64 friends on FB and only connect and talk to 6 of them. That ratio felt right to me then and still does now.

Of course I'm way too lazy to calculate anything except real money :) BUT I do know I have space for friends.

Still.

If you read that post I linked to up at the top, you'll see I took a more passive route to my search for friends early last year (praying and waiting) and then I like to think I ramped it up towards the end of the year by getting off my butt and actually meeting 3 blog friends in person.

It paid off for me because God indeed deepened three friendships, another three got worse (and I don't hurt about them although I should, if that makes any sense) and He brought a wonderful, new friend into my life.

This is besides the blog friends I met in person so all in all a fabulous year, friend-wise.

But over to you.

Have you ever admitted that you need or want more friends?

How many do you think you can handle comfortably?

Remember that sewing machine?

2012-01-22T23:01:00.002+02:00

I know I twittered on and on last year (at least in the first quarter of the year) about getting a sewing machine.

I even priced it, looked at it and then didn't get it.

I had a twinge of something and my personal life rule is "follow the Peace". God's Peace has never led me astray.

Since I didn't have the peace, I just left it.

I think it was a good idea because 1) I don't currently have much space and 2) my environment MUST support me. I can't work if there's too much stuff.

I didn't stop pinning though.

And then a very good friend, one of the 3am variety, mentioned her machine that she's not using and I had a brainwave.

I asked her if I could borrow it for a specified period of time.

She said I could have it but noooooo, I told her I like a deadline to get me moving and I would rather just use it once a year or so. If I get really good (hahaha), I may then buy it from her.

So my list of stuff is piling up and D needs a Kindle cover so I've arranged to collect the machine next weekend.

I know!

But remember my style is very unfussy. Only straight stitches allowed. I have some old denim jeans (mine and the kids) to cut up and some felt.... and a couple of really pretty placemats and tea towels just waiting to be little aprons for K & C.

I can't wait!

What are your "personal rules" and have you ever thought of borrowing something rather than buying it?

PS if you know me and I have something you want to borrow (just not my books! I have issues with books and CDs although Caren, you can borrow anything - she is just as fussy as I am :)), please shout.

I'm so glad I live in Africa

2012-01-21T23:39:00.003+02:00

As you know D is sick so I asked V to come in and help with the kids because I had a million errands to run.

Okay, only 5.

But it took me 2 full hours without kids, so imagine how long it would have taken with them?!

People have asked me why we don't go live in another country and I say, "I wouldn't cope without a nanny... and my once-a-week maid".

The microwave dude didn't pitch by 10:15 (that's not one of the things I'm happy with about Africa) so I sent him a text to basically say, "don't bother. I'll go and buy a microwave".

We are now the owners of a spanking new silver microwave with a mirrored front.

It feels very 80s.

I asked them where the black ones were - I like black kitchen appliances (old micro, kettle, stove, toaster) - and the very young girl told me they don't make black things anymore. It's all stainless steel and silver.

Anyway. function over form.

V and I were both so happy when we plugged it in, pressed the start button and it hummed, beautifully.

How spoilt I am - I didn't survive one day without a microwave.

Anyway, I think I showed a lot of restraint yesterday :)

Nester was also here and happiness is... a clean house and no bundles of laundry lying around.

LOVE it.

Nester tells me Kendra came up to her today and said, "why you cross, Nester?" (OH MY WORD - when did she turn 6?) Apparently she was just concentrating on cleaning whatever it was. She usually smiles all the time so that's why K thought she was cross!

Let's take a quick photo break.

Remember I told you I bribed K with photos for a walk? Right...

she's already perfected the fake smile... at2.5

pretending she doesn't hear me tell her to come back "what? were you saying something?"

the best of the lot - against a lovely red brick wall. Next photo shoot I want some lovely walls to stand against :)

But today while driving around, I was immensely glad I live in Jhb and have DRY HEAT.

I kept thinking (with a little smile on my face), "if I were in Ballito, I'd be sticky and sweaty right now. Instead, I'm DRY!"

Yes, it's the small things in life that make me so very happy.

Which small things made you happy today?

PS I'm thinking of writing up my own Happiness Project. As in the 12 things that make me happy. What do you think? Will you join me if I do? Inspired by a client who is, as part of her 2012 goals, doing the Happiness Project. Isn't that fun?

PPS I need to blog a bit about life goals/ Mondo stuff/ realisations and ahas :)

Five on Friday - life admin

2012-01-20T23:36:00.000+02:00

Well, we were quoted R400 for the microwave. D wants to fix so the dude's coming back tomorrow morning to do that. He's scheduled at 8 am. If he's not here by 10, I'm off to buy a new microwave (which was my vote).

I booked a hair appointment this afternoon and I told her to trim a TINY bit off. Of course she didn't listen and I sincerely hope this hair looks okay even when I do my thing (wash and leave it).

I've booked iPad training for next Sat. Yes. I need training. Tomorrow I need to go buy something called a microsim and data bundles (what the heck?!). Why don't they tell you there's all this admin before selling you stuff???? Nevertheless. I'm holding out for that "you're going to LOVE it" feeling you all told me about... South Africans, where do I get the best value for money as far as data is concerned from the cellular providers? And iPad users, how many MB do you use per month? The girl told me it doesn't carry over so I don't want to waste money.

I've done something very clever (not yet cute) in my study. Let me cutify it and then I'll post pics. I was so inspired by the colour..... BTW, this is distracting me from my main goal which is to declutter and tidy. It keeps getting sorted (after Christmas) and then the party. And then the holiday. And now it just has to get sorted as I'm back to work on Monday.

D is sick. I'm the worst nurse in the world so I'm unsympathetic and horrible as in I leave him to his own devices. I hate myself like this because he's all kinds of fabulous when I'm sick but I can't seem to summon up any sympathy. Although I did buy him a creme brulee at Woolies this afternoon.

How was your Friday and what are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Me? Getting the study sorted and finishing my book!

PS blogger is not letting me comment on blogs. Lea, MandyE, Mandy, Deanna, I tried several times and have now given up. There's a Sophie Kinsella I'm 21% through waiting for me...

And... we're back from our holidays

2012-01-19T23:26:00.000+02:00

Today we drove back from Ballito. We left only 10 minutes later than before but ended up in Jhb a whole hour later. Of course there are reasons (more traffic, uphills, more roadworks, etc.) but I am quite nerdy and I like keeping track of it all.

10 things that were very, very good

I read 5 books. Yes! I took Deanna's and Shayne's suggestions and read up a storm. Strictly speaking I finished number 5 in the car on the way back. Does that still count?
I am up to date with my travel scrapbook. Can't believe it either. Just have to write up today's stuff and print pics (one for each day) and I'm good. I'll take pics when I'm done. If you're travelling anywhere, you MUST do a mini scrapbook. I made mine on night 1 and then I just wrote a little every night. EASY and imperfect but DONE!
The weather. We only had 1 day that was non-beach weather. This was definitely a good time of the year.
Literally having the beach on our doorstep. 100 m and we were on the beach. It was SO easy to take a quick walk before or after supper, no schlep to get in a car, drive somewhere and then get on the beach.
The babies hardly had tantrums. I think we had more tantrums since we arrived this afternoon than we had the entire trip. Yes. It's been a fun afternoon.
They were excellent travellers. I had "moments", you know those moments where you think "this (THIS!) is what I always dreamed of", especially hearing them chatter to one another in the back, singing and just being delightful. The worse thing that happened was Connor saying, "Daddy!!!! Connor no like being in the car" when he needed to stretch his legs. Yes, he's still doing the "Connor" thing. Kendra's new thing is "where's us going?" I just smile and say, "we're going to Jhb/ the beach/ the restaurant" but D corrects.
Kids that slept and napped so well (the sea air?) and that ate up a storm.
Kendra's curls. We LOVE it. Already her curls have subsided now that we're back in (thankfully) non-humid Jhb.
Having 3 dates. That's a goal for January done and dusted. We both were tired the last night but D reminded me that we never get this opportunity at home so off we went.
Taking tons of pics. I don't think my folders have ever bulged like this. I looked at my Jan folder for Picasa last night and there were 1275. And that's only 17 days. You may have guessed but I'm LOVING the camera.

Also, I'm now bribing my kids. True conversation with Kendra who wanted to go for a walk after we'd had supper but before we were ready to leave the restaurant. "Okay, Kendra, I'll take you for a walk but you have to promise me you'll smile and let me take pics". She promised and then after one pic says to me with that pointing finger, "last one!".

the palm trees remind me of Kelle Hampton :)

some arbitrary lovebirds :) I love "eavesdropping" with my camera

I dressed them like twins this day

how sweet is this? Holding hands and running...

date 2 - aren't you impressed at my restraint?! I left a pancake!

this place is called the Milk Cafe. Reminds me of Australia where they call corner cafes (where you buy milk and bread) milk bars.

and 5 things that were not so good

Moments of irritation with my mother and with MIL.
Spending more than double what I'd budgeted for on food. It seemed like we were expected to sponsor the entire holiday. I started getting really resentful earlier this week but then thought I'd just leave it and if there EVER is a crazy thought about doing this again, I would make it our job to clarify expectations upfront. When you go away with other people, what do you do about food? Who pays? Who shops? Who cooks?
Bullfrogs. Seriously. A creek ran through the grounds of our building and those darn bullfrogs woke Kendra on two nights. They started like clockwork at 8 and ended about 11:30.
A full to overflowing car going down and an even fuller car back.
Coming back to a broken microwave. Do you know how difficult (and messy) it is to suddenly warm food on a stove, warm milk in a pot? Cook two-minute noodles in a pan? These are all things I did tonight. Ughhh. I told D to please go buy a microwave tomorrow OR get someone in. Either way, I can't get through the weekend like this.

So, I need to tally up the spending but I'm scared...

Anyway, D and I like to chat about what went well, what didn't , if we'd go back (we won't go back to Dullstroom, but we would go back to Clarens) and Ballito is a place we'd DEFINITELY go back. Me, just for the easy proximity to the beach!

We've already started discussing where and when we'll go away again. It will be April/ May but not sure where....

Where is your next holiday (vacation), and when will you go?

Wordless Wednesday - our day trip yesterday

2012-01-18T20:51:00.000+02:00

So, the children's Tuesday Tidbits

2012-01-17T20:23:00.002+02:00

The kids are sleeping in big beds (each bed is against the wall) without any barriers on the other side and one (K) has only fallen out one night. She has a little scratch on her nose from the fall and showed us where she knocked herself on the edge of the bedside table.

Oh, I always thought their room was too small to position two beds in a parallel formation but this room is smaller and they fit just fine. Hmmm.

Kendra's taken to screaming. Seriously, she runs and just screams. The other day I said to her, "Baby, why are you screaming like that?" You know what she said? "Excited!" - this child kills me!

Connor has been making friends wherever we go, with anybody and everybody. I"m still not sure if that's good or bad... I always say to the kids "say hello to the lady" and so Connor says, "hello lady" or "hello man" :)

We were doing so well with not one high temperature since we got here til yesterday when K's was 37,8 or somewhere around there. Panado fixed it but still.

Then today Connor touched MIL's flat iron (his own fault because he was warned not to touch) but his scream woke me. He is not sporting a huge blister on his "fumb" (thumb - he says fumb and finger) and has been crying on and off the whole day.

Kendra is playing D big time. I can't STAND it! She's acting like a big baby with him. "No, Daddy feed Kendra" and so on. And he does it!!! I have to physically leave the room. Today I put her in time-out because she freaked out because I dared to put her in her car seat and she wanted Daddy. After the time-out she was good as gold for about 7 hours until supper...

Okay, have to go on our THIRD date :)

How was your Tuesday?

PS Keep commenting on the friends post - I love it all and I'm SO inspired to write and write and write some more :)

Do you find it more difficult to make friends the older you get?

2012-01-16T21:12:00.003+02:00

I have so much to blog about MWF Seeking BFF that I really need to start!

I find myself commenting on other blogs and saying "I really need to blog about this" and instead of first making a list of all the stuff I want to talk about, I'm just going to start and hope for the best.

Okay, so friends.

Strangely enough, D, my MIL and I have just been talking about how hard it is to make friends the older you get.

She was saying even for her at 68, it's really difficult.

Apparently she'll ask for the person's number if they click and then she actually phones first and initiates a plan to meet up. And will then follow up.

But the initiation is a topic for another blog post.

D and I were saying some of our best friends are from our university days.

Which leads me to believe that it's getting harder to make friends as you age. Naturally, that is.

Sweets and I have both read the book so we chat behind the blog scenes about friendship.

I love it!

She was telling me how she wants her son to be able to make friends and not be lonely as he's growing up.

I said to her it's so easy when you're young. You have a toy, I want to play with it and we're FRIENDS.

Same kind of thing at early school. You stay in the same suburb, go to the same school and you're FRIENDS.

I even remember making friends with girls at high school whose only common interest with me was that we all did Home Economics. Yes. I was no practical use for years and years but I had all the theory :)

And of course I had ballet friends... and Spanish friends...

These days, it's not good enough that we just work together at the same place, or even in the same team.

There are people on my team who I've worked with for years but I wouldn't call us friends. We're just colleagues.

But others have been working with me for a shorter time (I've mentioned my strict work colleague before) and we LOVE each other (or at least I do her) because we have similar values...

Same with my infertility support group.

Yes, we're all mothers now but there are some girls I'm friends with and others I'm just friendly with.

(also please ignore incorrect grammar, etc. I just want to get this out)

But back to you.

Do you agree it's more difficult to make friends naturally the older you get? Or not? If not, what's been the difference for you?

And not to keep flogging the horse, but have you read the book yet?

PS how cool is it that I just clicked over to check the link and I see Sweets blogged about friendship today too? LOVE IT!
PPS those pics were all taken in Ireland in 2009 on our last pre-babies trip. At the time of the visit, there was only 1 baby between the 3 couples. There are now 6, two sets of twins :)

I've been battling dodgy internet the last 3 hours

2012-01-15T23:32:00.001+02:00

so I'm all out of blog catching-up time BUT...

the good news is I have completely and utterly decluttered & organised my external hard drive (Jan goals :))

I'm quite pleased and this time I didn't fight one bit to curb any perfectionism.

It is all squeaky clean - folders in order, etc :)

Inspired by Claudia's nerdiness :)

*********************************

I also finally finished reading my camera manual on the beach today. Yes. Riveting beach reading.

Did you know you can use landscape setting for night pics? Still wrapping my head around that one but I will practise.

I have TONS of landscape pics here - I don't know how much better they can get (according to my goals) but I will keep practising on the beach here and I'll have to do a walk around my work campus to get some of the Jhb vistas.

Also, this afternoon when I downloaded pics, I saw that I'd taken 733 in the last 3 days.

People, this can not go on.

It's utterly ridiculous.

On the bright side when I saw that scary number I made friends with the delete button and went WILD :)

*********************************************

I've been horrified by what I look like. You know how you fool yourself that it's not that bad.

Well, for me, it is bad.

I've since instructed D to take pics from the waist up. The one above was taken my MIL and cropped by me.

I'm keeping the original which I will print for motivation to get my butt to gym and to Weigh-Less.

*********************************************

And finally, look at this pic of the kids napping at lunch today.

I said to D, "they look like twins!" They look like they belong back in the womb, don't they.

Too sweet!

How was your weekend? What are you looking forward to this week?

PS Julia, we went to church today and the message was titled Unwritten :) I took a pic on the small camera for you (cord at home - you'll have to wait to see it :))

PPS The kids are talking so much I can't believe it. Whole conversations that delight us and make us want to scream. I must start writing some of this down!

Reciprocity

2012-01-14T23:00:00.000+02:00

I recently received gifts from two people.

I also gave gifts to them at the same time but mine were much smaller than theirs.

To tell you the truth, it made me feel a little weird.

I know (in my head) that all gifts don't have to be equal in size or monetary value, and we don't even have to give and receive from the same people.

E.g.
I give to many who don't give to me, but then I get a couple of things from other people who I don't give to.

But still it made me feel really weird.

I also realised I may have issues receiving!

What do you think?

Do you feel bad if someone gives you something and you don't have something in return to give them? Or do you just receive it gladly?

Please share with me :)

I just had my first cup of tea and Five on Friday at the beach

2012-01-13T23:14:00.000+02:00

I don't know why but I haven't felt like having a cup of tea since we arrived here. Until tonight.

Maybe the excruciating heat?

A friend asked today about the weather and I said, "either it's not as hot or I'm handling it better because it doesn't feel as bad as those first two days".

I think I'm handling it better :)

So, let's see - five on Friday!

1. Yesterday the kids touched an orange sponge on the beach and their hands started swelling and breaking out. I know - these weird things only happen to us. They kept crying, "hand sore! hand sore!" so we came back to the apartment where I distracted them with lunch while D went to the pharmacy to get some stuff. They have a cream and two medicines they have to take for at least 48 hours. The hands looked better within an hour or so of the medicine and cream but we're watching them closely.

2. D and I have already had date 1 for January. We went to Crawdaddy's on Wednesday night where we had a delicious meal (yes, I'm going to work my butt off with Kristy on the 23rd) and a more delicious chat about where we are, what we want to do, all the stuff one does at the beginning of a year.

3. We all went out to supper at the Spur tonight and the kids WOLFED down their food. They then went to play (and I told D to pay the childminder when the kids were dropped off - my friend with the twins told me this trick - which he did so they were happily taken care of) and would not leave even when we threatened to leave without them!!!!

4. Speaking of the kids, they're now bathing twice a day - once after the beach (this one is my favourite) and then the normal one at night - and they love it. Poor things are playing with one little plastic container each as bath toys. Just goes to show children can be creative with just about anything.

5. My mother has been getting on my nerves a bit. Not surprising as we are very different and it has been 3 days, which is usually my limit. She's indecisive and I'm, well, super decisive is probably a good description. I had to give myself a talking-to this afternoon and tell myself I'm creating family memories.

On the bright side, she is helping out tons. We are still 100% in charge of the baby stuff but she's been doing all dishes and a lot of the cooking (I have to decide what we're eating, of course :)). Very different to MIL. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change when she arrives tomorrow afternoon. Ta da da dum.

So how has it been going on your side of the world?

PS still have 117 posts in GR. These crafty/ decor ladies sure do post a lot :)

The half-birthday

2012-01-12T19:21:00.000+02:00

Well, let me start off by saying that this was on my 37 things list - to find a fun way of celebrating their half birthday.

I think I found something that works so well for us.

another way to see friends we want to see more than we currently do
more low-key than a real party
a way to use up some of the party ideas I keep pinning :)
another excuse for cupcakes!

I ended up using printables from PaperGlitter again and I can't RAVE enough about this store - she provides OUTstanding value for money.

I used a banner, goodie bag tags, food labels, things for straws and cupcake toppers. I attached toothpicks to both the straws and cupcake toppers.

I ended up serving sausage rolls, yoghurts, fruit, popcorn (the most popular), juice and water, and, of course, the half cupcakes.

The cupcakes ALL came from Pick & Pay - they're my best-kept non-secret. Delicious and about R10 cheaper than Woolies. I only bought a pack of 6 normal sized chocolate ones and another pack of 12 mini (half) vanilla and caramel cupcakes.

I cut the chocolate ones in half and left the other, small ones as is. My little helper handed me the cupcake toppers to stick in the cakes. He was going a little too fast for me but I'm CREATING memories :)

I was going to make sandwiches too but ran out of time and, to be honest, there was still tons of food over.

messy kitchen while preparations were happening

Connor also helped me do the sausage rolls...

And here's what it looked like set up.

this looks much better in person and yes, the wall is that weird colour

The little cutie on the right is D1, Nat's son.

And here's the pics of the little and big guests :)

Louisa and Nicola

My friend with the twins, C

Nat and D2 who is just far too cute!

C's foot - she has such gorgeous feet

the babies even got a present!

Then after the guests left with their little goodie bags (literally a bag of dinosaur jelly sweets - the closest i could get to the colour scheme :)) - and I can't believe I don't have a PIC, I quickly tidied up while the children climbed into their pram.

See the babies down there at the end of the house

Connor climbing out of the pram

And that is our half-birthday celebration!

This was such a success that it is definitely going to be our new tradition :)

Do you like?

Already behind on my reading goals

2012-01-12T15:02:00.001+02:00

I only finished book 1 for January last night.

Time to step it up :)

Please tell me which books you recommend. Quick, easy, beach reads in the style of Sophie Kinsella.

Of course I've read all the Shopaholic books.

Oh, and I don't do vampires and such.... :)

Will blog properly tonight!

How is your week going?

Finally, a chance to blog from the beach

2012-01-10T21:43:00.003+02:00

Well, we're here and tonight, finally, I'm getting a chance to blog.

But let's go back a bit.

On Sunday when I was STILL packing at 12 midnight I really questioned whether a holiday is worthwhile.

I do love everything in its place and a house in order.

As you know a holiday is exactly the opposite - half the time you forget things (yes, even with a list) and no one knows where to put things so there's a bit of mess all the time.

And then at 3:20 am (yes, I had to set my alarm very early) I definitely knew holidays were not worth missing that much sleep.

The idea was to leave at 4 (my friend Natalie scared us with stories of her kids screaming from 10 am....)

D and I got dressed, packed the car, packed a million and one last minute things and got the kids out their beds and into car seats at about 5:20.

We went to fill up with petrol and do all the car checks, and were on the road at 5:40.

And then I was knackered.

I slept for about 2 sessions of 1.5 hours each and so did the babies. K slept more than C but they both slept well.

We stopped for breakfast for a whole hour in Harrismith but that was it. No other stops. Amazing really.

We also had no crying (we did have a bit of nagging - "Daddy, wanna go to the beach!") but yes, I'm also amazed that these were our kids.

I, however, was totally out of it. I felt sleep deprived and slow in the head the entire day.

But we got here in one piece. 7 hours later (6 hours of driving).

the view from our place

The babies are too cute and excited to get on the beach.

We've been twice so far which is a miracle for us. Usually D and I make it on day 5 :)

They've also slept fine for both naps and real sleep (that could be due to the late bed-time - we just can't get it all done on time down here so tonight, 7:40! Yesterday, 8 pm. By the time we go home we should be down to 7 pm!)

And Kendra has an appetite! She keeps asking me, "Mummy, what are we going to eat?" That means, "I'm hungry. What are you going to feed me?" She's caught me out a few times already (as in, I haven't been ready). Today we had lunch at 11:50 and they usually have lunch at 1 pm!

That's the good news about the kids.

This is the good news about the scenery. SO beautiful. I have TONS of pics almost exactly the same so I need to read that manual and get practising.

I have no idea why this one's colour is weird. Maybe I was playing with the settings?

The bad news is I'm not coping with the heat. At all. And the extreme humidity! Oh Jhb dry heat, how I miss you :)

I've had heat headaches both days so am chugging down the Panado.

I even napped with the babies for an hour this afternoon. I thought I was going to vomit before that so best for me is just to sleep.

I woke when the two of them came to jump on the bed (imagine if they'd run out the apartment down to the beach!) and then we played with stacking cups and gave all their little animals juice, milk, tea and water :)

My mother arrived today and is helping out, thank goodness. She occupied them properly (no "go ask Mummy") so D and I could cook, and did the dishes tonight.

And now I need to make my holiday mini-book journal so I can write a little every day.

How are you doing?

PS
I have 113 in my Google Reader. Yes. I'm also shocked so I'll get to your posts eventually. But is anything major happening around the blogosphere or in your life?

PPS
First trip since having kids where we don't need a trailer (okay the car was VERY full but still)

This is going to be quick!

2012-01-08T23:00:00.000+02:00

I got home verrry late the other day (about 6:30 ish) and it still looked like this - I love summer in Jhb! That tree is in my garden, looking a little the worse for wear because it hasn't rained much at all.

Well, we actually had a lovely day today.

The children have been delightful and I found myself saying to D twice, "this (THIS!) is what I imagined with kids". Almost like that twin romance thing.

Yes, we did have some time-out situations but nothing really bad.

Miracle!

Could it be due to the fact that I made an easy lunch and pancakes for supper? I grated cheese inside the pancakes and they LOVED it. They each had 3 (we make our pancakes like crepes and friends, I do make good pancakes - everybody loves mine!) and then asked for more.

I wasn't prepared to share mine so that was it because I'd run out of flour. That was followed by carrots and grapes. I have to keep veggies til last otherwise that's all they'll want.

But yes, this is going to be a short post.

For once, I did the responsible thing on a Sunday night and first did some work.

Yes, I finally did the design brief (after about two months) and submitted that to the designer.

Yay!!! 3 things done from my Jan list so far.

I better go sleep after I pack my laptop, Kindle and a few craft things - I want to make my mini book (will have to do there as I ran out of time) and journal in the correct place daily. I do this anyway on holiday but all in a normal little book. This will save time because when I'm back, I just have to paste in pics and it's done! I do love the simplicity of these mini books.

* By the way, my "customer" (friend from the blog) who bought a travel journal from me is very happy with how it turned out. Thank heavens for that.

It's terrifying to put yourself out there creatively................... when you don't consider yourself creative!

This weekend was a success as far as goals/ create.

our first Christmas card and it's handmade - LOVE it!

I created good memories of the half-birthday kind yesterday (pics and words to follow sometime this week) which was my intentional thing of the week and today I purposefully relaxed on the bed with children all over me, reading. And then of course, pancakes for supper!

D took about 20 the other morning - this was the only one that was half decent. This boy moves fast!

How are you living out your word of the year?

PS MandyE, I only took 86 pics yesterday and I still need to delete the duds :)

sneak peek of the half birthday celebration :)

Let me tell you some more random stuff and my Jan goals link-up

2012-01-07T20:47:00.000+02:00

Soooo it's Saturday.

I have tons to say but before I forget again, let me accept my blog awards from Heather, Lea and Blackhuff.

After I read these awards posts, I totally forget to post so I'm going to have to try something new this year.

Okay, so I'm supposed to tell you 7 things about me.

Ha! Like i don't share everything already.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see all the word of the year posts out there. I believe the phrase is tickled pink :) The only thing that thrills me more is seeing Jan goals :) I'm going to go make a thing on the sidebar with all the words of the people who follow along here so if you haven't yet linked up, do so :)
This afternoon for the first time I actually got excited about our holiday. Yes. I packed my (very small) bag and when I snapped the locks shut, I got that lovely little feeling of anticipation in my tummy. The children's clothes fit into one bag but they have toys and toiletries, etc in two more bags.
I made a list on Thursday night called "craft things to use this year" and friends, there were two full pages. I wondered if I've gone a bit overboard.At this rate, I'll have to do one a week to get through it all. Something I still need to get are chalkboard markers. I tried to order off Amazon and I kept getting an annoying message "we don't ship this product to your country". If anyone's keen to help out, let me know.
I am still on my friendship kick. I finished MWF Seeking BFF on New Year's Eve and I'm still processing all I read. But I need to start writing soon so we can all get talking. I often feel like I'm the only one thinking the things I do until I read a blog or a book (like this one) and then I go "yes!!!! Exactly!!!", kind of like I did when I used to watch Seinfeld :)
I kind-of accidentally ordered an iPad. Normally I'd be the first one to say "oh rubbish" but it looked like a good deal and I clicked and clicked (and I expected one more screen to say "are you SURE you want to do this?" and instead it said "thank you for your order" and I was like "what?!!!!" Anyway, I decided to leave my order and so they're apparently delivering one to me next week. Should be fun.
I'm going to join Weigh-Less again when I'm back from holiday. I know I have to but I'm dreading eating all those vegetables again. In the same vein, I finally threw out my last 3 pairs of "thin" jeans and I don't even feel sad. I just thought, "yay - space!"
Half of these design trends I see on the blogs I just don't get. Like painting something and then making it look old or worn. Distressing, I think it's called. Can someone tell me why it's so cool??? If I paint something I want it to look brand spanking new :)

Okay, that's enough.

I'm not passing it on (have you seen the state of my study?) - but share something I don't know about you in the comments and let's call it a day!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... my January goals link-up, only a week late!

Please use this button if you link up!

January 2012

No.	What do I want to do this month?	
1	~~Playdate for the babies’ half birthday~~
2	Holiday in ballito
3	Go to gym with kids 3 times
4	Two dates with Dion
5	Join Weigh-Less
6	Work out with Kristy 4 times
7	Go see I don’t know how she does it
8	Read brian tracy’s “Goals” and 4 others
9	~~Make a list of craft projects to do~~
10	Finish up all photo stuff from 2011
11	Make two mini books for me – ballito and 2012 year in review
12	Play with landscape shots and take some cute pics of kids on beach
13	Submit design brief to designer
14	Tidy up study
15	Declutter and organise external hard drive

Closing off the year with my December goals update

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000+02:00

Personal

~~Exercise~~ 8 times ~~this month~~ I managed 6 times
~~Try and get really close to my reading goal for the year (have to read another 8 books!), failing which, read 5 books.~~ I read 5 books, including my favourite book on friendship, MWF seeking BFF
~~Get all Christmas cards done by 8th.~~ They got done... but not by the 8th :)
~~Get all my gifts done~~ - also got done. Not exactly as I would have liked because D had to wrap MIL's gift (more on that later but it was quite the disaster!) since I was in the hospital with Kendra
~~Blog twice on friendship~~ Done here and here
~~Decorate the house~~ - done (this was only done this morning)
Read camera manual - I read about 3 pages :)
~~Figure out how to make a camera bag~~ So I looked around, bought one very boring and ugly one, took it back two days later because I just can't carry around non-cuteness and now I have two receiving blankets protecting my camera inside my gorgeous green leather Jekyll and Hide bag. That will have to do til I can bribe someone to make me this camera bag insert. Also, I saw Kelle Hampton carries around her camera in a scarf inside her normal bag and if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me. Tell me about your camera bag please.

~~Keep praying about ministry next year~~ - done. I just kept feeling unease when I thought about that group so I've got myself out of it. I still want to get involved, I just don't know how.
~~Go see two movies~~ I saw one but not for lack of trying. My friend and I couldn't find anything on so we skipped movies and went to have a lovely Indian supper instead. Yum! D and I went to see New Year's Eve on New Year's Eve. It was perfect! The right amount of inspiration and dreaming for the new year.
~~Do 8 random acts of kindness~~ Yes. Done :)
~~Socials~~ - work Christmas function, C's party, K & B for brunch, another K & B for lunch, - all done. One of those was done earlier this week because the hospital thing threw things out. I even got to make a Pinterest recipe :)
~~Finish November photos~~
~~Do year in review page for November and December~~ and print pics so I can finish my book I've done the pages but I haven't printed again so need to finish that off sometime this month. VERY rewarding project and I'm continuing this year.
~~Make at least two different types of cards~~ - Done. Pics here
~~Make travel journal for D, a friend at work, who flew to Thailand today - totally jealous~~! Done and she loved it
~~Two date nights with D~~ Yes! Done.

Gosh, I only have 1.2 things undone on that list. Yesssss!

Business

~~Post 12 blogs in December and write 3 newsletters~~ - Yes!
Submit design brief not done
Review changes from copywriter not done
Put book in correct format and order proof copy not done
Send to designer to format for Kindle not done
~~Delete one domain~~ Transferred all files to current live website and deleted yesterday
~~Send thank-you cards to all 2011 coaching clients plus gifts to the ones who stayed more than 3 months~~ Yes! Done! Very positive feedback :)
Declutter and organise external hard drive not done yet. hopefully sometime this weekend... but I have sorted out all my financials which is more important, right?
~~Figure out how to keep busy just enough without~~ working myself to the bone (that's the million dollar question, right?!) Still musing but I'm thinking I just need a system. The writing of the newsletter gives me two blog posts and I have articles and I also can post the crafty stuff if it pertains to organising and time management. So still finalising my thinking but 80% there.
~~Have Christmas sale~~ Yessss! Successful and made my best month of 2011
Set 2012 goals Still busy - I know you're getting tired. But this is the beauty of goals - you can set them anytime and you have until day 365 to accomplish them :)

Clearly I need to do the book and then I can move on, right?

How did you do on your goals (or intentions) for December?

The non-party party

2012-01-05T10:13:00.000+02:00

Happy 3rd birthday to A and B, Mandy's baby girls :)

Hope you continue to create fabulousness and delight your mama over the next year!

****************************************

K smiling at D pulling a funny face

Paparazzi mummy!

eyelashes

Remember we discussed half birthdays before?

Well, I knew I loved the idea of a celebration (I use any excuse to celebrate!) - and after all, there are far too many ideas for me to ever get through them with just one party a year (have you seen my Pinterest party board?!) so I decided to have a little something.

Except it's not a party.

It's a playdate.

Just a couple of little friends, no family, very low-key.

Except I've bought printables, some Marcia-approved sweets for a little something to take home, paper plates, straws and paper cups.

By the way, Connor approved the choices - he said, "nice, Mummy!" which is high praise coming from him.

Connor, fresh from a bath

Making a funny face

Love these pics of V and Connor

Quite honestly, I think it's just the thing to completely perk me up and get me excited about life again :)

We're not getting them anything but we will sing and have half cupcakes :)

Of course I will take pics on the fastest shutter speed with so many littles running around. Hopefully there won't be too many tantrums!

What do you feed people for a 10 am snack?

Tutorial - how to quickly add photos to your blogger posts

2012-01-04T14:16:00.000+02:00

Finally, it's here. The tutorial 3 of you have been waiting for :)

How to quickly add loads of pics into your blogger posts. This only makes time sense if you like lots of pics in your posts like I do :)

Some background and things you need to do first:

Download Picasa (free google thing to sort out your pics)
Get an email address so you can post to your blog from email.

Here's how you do number 2 above:

Go to your dashboard
Click on settings and then on mobile and email
Under the email section, choose a word to customise your blogger email address
Save this email address somewhere
Click the little button next to Save emails as draft post
Click save settings

Right, you're sorted.

Moving on.

Here is the brilliant part - when you email pics from Picasa, it automatically compresses them for you. Genius!

I no longer have to use Faststone Resizer (which is also brilliant).

Right click on ANY pic you want to blog, open with, Picasa

Click on Edit in Picasa

Click Back to Library on the top left

All your pics will appear like this - I like to save things in folders...

Either control plus click to highlight all the pics (I like this) or if they're in multiple folders, click the little green pushpin on the bottom left of the screen to hold that selection and then find your other folder, highlight and click the green pushpin again

Then click File and Email

I use Microsoft Outlook so I click that button

This beautiful screen appears with all your pics neatly compressed (my originals were 4 MB each) and it conveniently tells you how many you have - genius! Put in your email address that you saved right in the beginning, I like to put a subject so I'm clear and SEND.

Then in Blogger, all you do is go to your drafts, go find this one, open and type in between the pics or whereever you feel like. You may have to rearrange the order but they're all there.

I LOVE IT!

This tip has sped up my blogging so much. As you can see, I now put many more pics in my posts because it's not such a huge schlep to upload them.

Here's to seeing lots of your pics :)

So how did I do on my first tutorial with screenshots? I feel quite accomplished :)

Are you going to use it?

Asking for help and... pan pizza

2012-01-03T21:11:00.000+02:00

Well, I had my first day back to work today and ... it was quite fabulous.

Okay, 168 emails are not that fabulous but I got through them all - there are about 14 waiting to be actioned in my box, so not bad.

I should be able to finish my two projects plus the other stuff by Friday and even have time to tidy my desk, sort my 2012 calendars, toss junk, etc.

But here's what I actually want to write about - after work, I quickly stayed and finished writing my business newsletter to send to the VA. I had a splitting headache last night (from our unbearable heat - in the 30s) so only got half way.

Nevertheless, I was writing about doing a year-end review and in the writing, I had several aha moments.

I'll only share one with you.

It was challenging for me last year to realise that we actually don't have any support unless we flat-out and blatantly ask for it.

This might not be a problem for some of you but I hate asking for help.

I hate it.

I either do it all myself (D calls me Independent Marsh) or expect people to read my mind and just know.

Obviously that never happens so I have unmet expectations and therein lies the problem.

Like with the Christmas lunch...and I promise you now it's the last time I will mention it because I'm letting it go...

How good are you at asking for help?

Because of the great time I had journalling./ writing (is this weird?), I decided to take stock tonight after supper.

I hauled out my birthday list and updated it.

Have a look at my 37 things list - one of my sections is nearly complete and to be honest, it doesn't surprise me one bit :)

So that feels good.

Now I just have to do my December update, set goals for 2012, and choose some Jan goals.

If you set monthly goals, go sign up here and you'll get a monthly goals sheet every month for 2012.

This is one of the recipes I made in October - pan pizza. It was delicious and SO easy. I also like recipes that use up leftovers...

nice, thick crust

this is actually called a pizza pan

lots of leftover veggies - mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes...

YUM

In other news...

K went back to Dr S today to get more blood tests and some more x-rays. Her x-rays are perfect and he'll phone us when the blood results come back.
I scraped all that fudge back into the microwave bowl, added another cup of chocolate, remelted, and this time it set. Hallelujah! I felt as if I'd appeared on Oprah I was that proud :)
V is back!!! It was like a fantasy walking in this afternoon - kids were sitting nicely in their high chairs, actually eating real food and not just veggies. They told me they were good kids and not naughty. Well, we had a lovely couple of hours together - this is what I've been missing with them. Normal time, not frantic running around cooking and cleaning time.
The house is sparkling - I didn't mention but the cleaning person I got in today is a MAN. I don't know why it made me feel funny but I've met him and he is just delightful. Even the children like him. And he cleans well. So I may get him back on Saturday before we go on holiday on Monday.

And that's me.

Anyone else go back to work today? How was your first day back?

Back to work

2012-01-02T20:21:00.000+02:00

baker's twine

a bit of washi tape at the back

I bought that alphabet set at the same time as the twine - LOVE it

this is the travel journal for D, a work friend who went to Thailand in Dec - I hope she likes it

There's so much swirling around in my head that I don't know where to start.

Some bullets perhaps?

I'm back to work tomorrow for a week. I've got two big projects to complete so I can't even totally slack off and relax but I am hoping to get in 3 personal training sessions.
I feel like I'm behind with everything - business stuff, house stuff, holiday stuff, goals stuff, reading stuff. As in, I still haven't set goals for the year!!!
On the bright side, I have someone coming in to clean the house tomorrow. I couldn't take it anymore and when my one friend mentioned that she'd used this person, I got the number and it's on. Can't wait for a sparkling clean house.
I do feel a bit better (not as frazzled) today. I think it's because last night I cooked and baked. These are the things I like to do on holiday - lots of cooking, baking and (just for you, Heather) putzing around the house.
It's a little bit scary though because I'm working this week, the following two weeks we're away and then I have one day to do laundry and I'm back at work proper. I really think I'm going to have to take a few days in Feb to read and do nothing. And finish that book which is hanging over me - can't stand it anymore.
The kids are messing with us, big time. They suddenly don't like things they liked a week ago. Thank goodness they still like peas and carrots. Tonight they had pasta with cheese, peas and grapes.
However their behaviour is a teensy bit better because we've gotten hardcore. There were some glorious tantrums, time-outs and smacks this morning (someone took my purple nail polish - deep in a drawer - and painted my phone and flicked the brush about so my bedside table was a mess, another someone messed with my mascara and pulled out a whole roll of dental floss and still another hit their sibling with a mallet on the head) but overall we had quite a good day (6 - it's been 3s and 4s around here).

But how has your Monday been?

And more importantly, have you decided on your word for the year?

And....my word of the year for 2012

2012-01-01T14:02:00.000+02:00

In case you missed it, here is my year in review post

First, a quick reflection on my 2011 word of the year,courage.

That word served me very well.

I spoke up, stepped out, emailed more, made myselfmore vulnerable, asked for help more (although still not enough), shared moreof myself and found my courage again.

It helped having little reminders like Aimee'sdoodle print, my courage necklace and a card Roz bought me that lived on mylittle table next to my desk for much of this year til the children startedgrabbing at it too much.

Before I go into this year's word, let me sharebriefly why I think everyone should at least have one word for the year:

Even if you don't "do goals", your word will guide you in your decisions and actions
It's easier than a laundry list of to dos
It creates intention for your year.

E.g. when I was tempted to be quiet in meetings (I am not one who talks just for the sake of talking), if I had an idea, I thought of my word and forced myself to act with courage and speak out
I've spoken a lot more personally on my business blog - vulnerability = courage for me
If I was dilly-dallying, I'd say, "what would a person of courage do?" and write the email or go speak to someone or deal with the confrontation. It wasn't always easy but it was always satisfying afterwards.

I make my clients go through this process too. Ithelps them as I can look objectively at their situations and ask them, "isthis going to achieve _____ in your life?" :)

I find that some people know immediately what theirword will be and others need to let it sit for awhile.

Don't rush the process - take your time.

So.... my word is create.

Yes, to Createthings with my hands - pretty things that let me have a creative outlet but also

Createa legacy for my kids, create fun times for us together
Createan awesome marriage (again)
Createa fun and productive work environment
Createmoments of happiness and smiles for friends and people I bump into
create meaningful relationships with friends
create a book... or two
create products in my business again

Basically, I want to go about my days thinking, what will I create today? and what am I creating in this moment?

It's about being purposeful and intentional in every area of my life.

What about you? What is your one word for 2012? Link up!
PS don't worry - I'll go back to the normal font tomorrow - I just felt like using something fun!

The good, the bad and the ugly about 2011

2011-12-31T21:34:00.000+02:00

Thanks for all your wonderfully insightful comments on the terrible 2.5 post.

D said to me, "what have we done wrong?" and I said, "I will blog. The ladies are always wonderfully objective about these things" and you were!

Thank you!

*************************************

I wish I could take another week to blog about each aspect of my life for 2011 but most of you except 3 people would be bored stiff :)

Let's start.

The ugly

1. The back pain that necessitated my gall bladder removal on 11 October (D's and my 19th "going out" anniversary) was the only non-reproductive surgery I've had to have done and in my view, that was quite enough.

It also set me back in my weight loss journey *sigh* as if that isn't hard enough already but I am ready for next week.

2. And then, Kendra's issues this month. It turned out to be a kidney infection which is not all gone yet. We visited the doc again yesterday and she's on a lower grade antibiotic for a full month to totally zap it.

I don't even want to think about all the bills rolling in over the next week. She had 3 scans/ x-rays which come out of the medical savings account and ours was depleted in Aug, 3 blood tests and saw the paed/ GP 3 times, and is going again for a follow-up on Tues. We're probably looking at about R5000 out of pocket :(

3. Something I haven't blogged about - Connor. Connor is totally off me and has told me many times he doesn't like me. This is probably the toddler version of "I hate you". It hurts me deeply and I have even cried. Last night I was clearing out paper in my study and found something I'd printed on the internet, about not worrying too much when your kids say they hate you. I really needed to read it then. Intellectually I know no one's lives are perfect BUT when you read Facebook updates of perfect mothers and perfect children (or at least, my friends' statuses seem to be perfect) it makes you feel even more inadequate.

4. My friend's son was murdered in Feb. I was so shocked and horrified that I did nothing except survive for a month. My diary is completely blank. And that was just me. I still can't think too much because I just want to cry. Thankfully there is justice in this world. The boy that stabbed him to death was sentenced to life without parole (there is no death penalty in their state). My friend said she didn't think anything could be worse than getting the news but there was something worse - sitting through the whole trial and hearing a play-by-play for a whole week. I can't even imagine.

5. My website was hacked 3 times in one month, once again the next month, and a different domain was hacked again in Nov. Not this blog. I deleted that one without even a smidge of anger or anything. This is very bad though - it's dangerous when I become so cold about things. I can't even explain the stress I felt during this time. I really don't care to repeat any of that. Sad thing is my site still doesn't do its thing properly in some people's browser settings. I have just had to let go.

The bad

My wonderful boss leaving me. I'm dealing with it as best as I know how - by blocking it out. I've already put myself in his calendar for a regular catch-up to talk nonsense like we do.
The church group not being as successful as I thought it would be. I really thought this group would take off but it hasn't. I was faithful though and poured my heart and soul into each and every talk, preparing, doing handouts, etc. Not sure if it was just on a bad day but it is what it is. I still haven't heard back from the pastor after my email saying I wouldn't be doing it next year.
Business.............. shocking. I had wonderful clients but overall, not great sales or responses to anything really. Totally disheartening again when I do pour my life into it. Still praying about how to keep it alive but not let it consume me. My coach friend thinks it's just the economy but I don't know. I'm gearing up to do final financials over the next day or two.
Christmas in the hospital. Just very sad. I still cringe at the thought of eating a roll for lunch - and not even a tasty roll. Our friends from yesterday said they just assumed we'd be okay since we didn't ask for help. I hate asking for help. You?
Then, friendship. I had a hard time at the beginning of the year especially. As with my fake family, I also have fake friends. I like to imagine that I'm as important to others as they are to me and we have relationships like Friends. Yes, I like the dream world I live in :) But I'm getting better at learning to accept the form of friendship for what it is.

The good

Deciding to work out with a personal trainer. Except for my times near the end with J, the one before this current trainer, I've loved it. I go because I've paid upfront, I work out and I see results. The only worry is what if I have to work out with someone forever??? I get used to good things very quickly!
Losing 3 kg on Weigh-Less (and putting 2 of them back) - that part's not good but I want a true picture
The kids were a delight until they turned 2 years 4 months. These last two months have been hard with them. Thank goodness there are flashes of cuteness.
I had pieces published in 3 books and wrote my own book. I have not worked through the edits yet though - once everything settles back after our holiday away (notice how positive I am) I'm going to take a day's leave and get stuck in.
Getting regular massages for 8 months this year til my therapist left.
Getting two Brazilian blow-waves - changed my hair life. Those with crazy curly hair will understand.
Following through on my commitment to do the church group. This was a good thing for me because I had to really push through some months.
Doing my first (and only) talk about infertility. I really don't know what God's cooking up but should I still bother to go to She Speaks next year?
Doing the Newtown photo shoot. I really should have done this earlier - I can't believe how happy it makes me to look at those images. They are TOTALLY me and I love, love, LOVE the results. I have frames on my desk at home and at work, in a brag book, in photo books, on my walls at home and I'm still deciding which ones to put on canvas. Best decision ever.
My word of the year, courage, has done me well this year - more on that tomorrow but it helped me to live BIG this year. To step out and take action even when I felt vulnerable.
Paying off our bond. Yes. I haven't blogged about it because I'm coaching people how to do it and that's one of my rules - to not do both. But yes.
While I'm talking about money, I had a good money year at work. A fantastic bonus. It kind-of embarrasses me, it was that good, but then I think I haven't always received good bonuses so it's about time, right? I also had two other free money payments and I also had a good increase.
Of course the reason for all that is that I also had a really good year at work - I'm still working on a fantastic project, one I'm so excited about - I can't WAIT til it launches. Aside from Big Project, I feel like I've come into my own more. I'm very comfortable doing the (secret) stuff I do and it shows in my external and internal relationships at work.
I have truly LOVED working with the people in my work team. We are GREAT together - we disagree nicely, challenge one another, communicate beautifully and work together really well, especially with deadlines. Speaking of which, I have two nice meaty things to do this week at work...
Real life friends - I prayed early this year for God to send people into my life who were right for me. As you know, I crave connection. And so some friendships deepened, some others started and still others have fallen away. I'm trying not to take those (too) personally as maybe they're just not into me as much as I was into them. I've so enjoyed our Fertility Babies suppers, my lunch/ shopping dates with other friends as well as the socials with our couple friends.
Blog friends that became real friends - those I met like Rina, Louisa and Hayley - and those I haven't (yet) met although we might as well, for all the emailing we do behind the scenes like Julia and MandyE.
Received plenty of good mail - much of it from etsy (I checked and I placed 16 etsy orders this year) but also from lots of dear friends all over the world.
Also had the honour of sending good mail to plenty of people. I haven't counted but let's just say I now budget hundreds of rands for postage every month :) I've probably done 100 random acts of kindness this year. It's so satisfying to write, address and mail envelopes and know that people will get them all over the world.
And last but not least, my creative expression. I feel like this year I brought pretty back in a big way. People at work say things like, "you're becoming so creative" and I say, "I've always liked making things pretty - it's just that I'm making the time for it now" and that's 100% true. I've always liked paper and stationery and this is another outlet for me. I did those washi tape binder clips in the hospital with Kendra one day.
My gorgeous new camera. I've had it for exactly 1 month and I have 743 pics in my December folder (still have to download the last few days) compared to 109 in November. Yes. Scary. I am 100% happy with it and I still haven't read the manual.
Moving to the turquoise bank. This might seem trivial but I can't explain how I'm LOVING my new bank, 9 months in. The service is just SO outstanding and I've not had a single complaint; instead they delight me at every turn. I was with the previous red bank for 25 years and while I want to say, "why did I wait so long?" regrets are useless.
Something fun - the kids stopped stripping off their clothes. I am not joking - I used to have na.ked children (completely na.ked) running through the house without their nappies, peeing on the tiles. Not fun!

It's refreshing to see the good still outweighs the bad and ugly because it sure didn't feel like it til I started writing this post. :)

I said to D on our date afternoon, even in the midst of our infertility, I always felt I'd had a good year because the infertility was really the only bad thing in my life.

This year felt like so many areas sucked - medical, business, some personal, we weren't 100% on the same page a lot of the time, s*x, etc.

I am SO glad for this opportunity of a Brand New Year to turn over a clean page.

There's a scripture (Lamentations 3:22 - 23 - I looked it up - I'm not that good :)) I love that goes.. "His mercies are new every morning" and it's true. No matter how bad a particular day or year is, the very next one is always an opportunity to start anew.

That's exactly what I intend to do.

So that's my 2011.

Did anything surprise you?

On a scale of 1 - 10, how was your 2011?

PS I've just finished MWF Seeking BFF - oh, it's so good. I can't wait to start blogging about all the friendship insights I had.

The terrible two and a halfs

2011-12-30T23:40:00.001+02:00

I don't know if it's the fact that we're on holiday with them and they're out of their normal routine, the fact that Kendra's been in hospital or the fact that they're two and a half.

Well, nearly.

But these two are kicking our butt, big time.

Today we had some 3am friends over for lunch - and I asked her to bring half so it wouldn't be too hectic for me.

The babies were sleeping when they arrived so we had about an hour of proper chat.

They then woke up.

Connor came out fairly quickly but was glued to D. It was fine at first because D was sitting.

When D wanted to stand and do something else, C started tantruming like I have NEVER seen before.

All because he wanted D to pick him up and hold him all the time.

Kendra heard the strange voices in the dining area and refused to come out of her bedroom.

A cute moment - she'd had long-sleeved stuff on before sleep and when they woke, it was hot so I wanted to change her.

K (to me) No, only Daddy
Me Too bad, Daddy's busy
K What did you say Mummy? Too bad?
Crazy laughing from K

(I'm glad it was such a big joke but it is too bad she only wanted her father)

Anyway, so then K wouldn't emerge from the bedroom.

When she eventually came out, she was walking with her hands over her eyes because she was so shy.

!

Yes, they were impossible.

I can't explain in words just how loud and annoying and frustrating it all was.

Especially since times of connection are so important to me. And we usually have a fabulous time with this couple since they are SOOO good with the kids.

Eventually we had some good times but the slightest thing would set Connor off and Kendra just attached herself to D like a limpet.

Our friends left, we tried to feed them (C ate okay; K dismal failure), medicate them and put them to bed. The putting to bed was the easiest and best part because then I could have a cup of tea while coaching my favourite client.

I thought about how this current holiday's been such a difference from last year's one.

I am seriously frazzled and scared of our 10 days in Ballito.

I emailed my friend Caren yesterday to find out how her holiday's been going.

Caren is a very special person - she never, ever complains BUT if you ask her pointed and direct questions (as I do), she answers honestly.

So she said, "holiday? what holiday? the kids are being so naughty and the house is a mess"

For which I love her.

Because it instantly made me feel better.

That I am not alone stuff :)

In other news, remember K was discharged on Tuesday. Wednesday her temperature spiked twice - late afternoon and around 9 - 10. And the same thing happened on Thursday.

Today I had the paed paged and he got a script ready for her ......4th batch of antibiotics this month.

Beautiful.

It took me 1.5 very long hours in Clicks to fill the prescription but that's a story for another day.

Back to the 2.5s...

Does something happen around 2.5 or is it just my crazy kids seriously kicking our butts?

PS I'm going to do a post on Sunday (1st) where I'll tell you how my word of the year went for 2011 and my new word of the year. Please play along. You can post before or after and just link up then. Are you in?

I'm going to be so glad to see the back of 2011 :)

2011-12-29T21:34:00.000+02:00

Normally this time of year (especially the week between Christmas and New Year) is my absolute favourite.

It's a time to tie up loose ends and finish the year strong so that the new year is all brand-spanking new.

This is also where my love of the fresh new diary started.

Oh, there is nothing quite like a crisp new diary (planner) with lovely, clean pages and that new book smell.

Mmmmmm.

I also love entertaining during this week - there's a different vibe somehow. It's easy, go with the flow, entertaining. No pressure, old friends, laughing and comfort.

But here it is, already the 29th and I still feel like it's the 1st.

I don't feel like I've had a Christmas (that's not a bad thing because I do feel closer to Jesus since I had my aha moment in the car listening to O Holy Night) and I certainly don't feel like I'm on holiday.

Matter of fact, I can't WAIT to go back to work next week.

*gasp*

I know you're horrified but these kids are kicking my butt, big-time.

I've hardly looked at my December goals (I will do so after I hit publish) and I certainly don't have any 2012 goals yet.

If Julia hadn't asked me in November (yes, she's early!) what my word of the year was for 2012, I wouldn't even have given that a second thought. Thankfully, I now have my word but that's about it.

Nevertheless, I'm doing what I can to make me feel better:

decluttering clothes (have two bags of kids' clothes ready for the church orphanage)
packing away toys
tidying my study
inviting friends over to connect

When I saw this writing prompt, I thought it was a good time to start my process of reflection.

Here are the top viewed posts.

I always find I enjoyed writing others more, or the ones I think will be popular get 2 comments!

January
Potato lentil curry
Expert vs mother's instinct

February
So what do you call your husband/ wife (1162 pageviews!)
I lost a follower talking about church

March
Blogger just ate my post
Repurposing formula cans (and they are 10 X prettier these days :))

April
No-sew handbag
Phones and massages

May
Teacher appreciation gifts
Of friendship

June
Teaching kids good manners
Rocking my bump
Father's Day ideas

July
Show me your phone (I still have the same phone!)
123 magic... for me
On feeling excluded

August
Cry baby linky
7 easy steps to make a mini scrapbook
Kissing in front of your kids
Issues with Nanny V

September
Easy washi tape crafts
Potty training - part 1

October
Washi tape notebooks
Washi tape therapy
Pinterest ethics debacle
My surgery snag

November
Christmas cards
Wedding gifts
Our disastrous photo shoot
Nanny V update

December
Sweet and savoury snacks for gifts
Kendra - hospital admission
Me time
She's just not that into you

Do any specific trends stand out to you? Anything you think is odd?

Have you done a year in review post? Please feel free to share your link in the comments.

By the way, this is not my proper year in review post - tons happened that's not even reflected in the popular posts :)

Girls and their daddies

2011-12-28T21:43:00.001+02:00

When Kendra's not 100%, she gets extra babyish.

I know the line between nurturing her and not being manipulated.

But D.

Well.

This evening she didn't want to feed herself but wanted Daddy to feed her.

Which is nonsense.

D fed her for a bit and then said she could take it from there.

But she started whining a bit and he carried on.

I said to him, "D, you need to stop because she's working you."

Kendra pipes up, "Kendra working Daddy".

We both burst out laughing but yes, she's working Daddy alright.

To be honest, I think she does a number on me too but certainly no where near D's level.

She still has to take some meds every morning and evening (even though she'd been making a number 2, apparently the scan showed some blockage so he wants her on this stuff for a month).

Yes, a month.

Tonight I said to D, "this (THIS!) is what drives people to drink".

Coaxing, bribing, threatening children to eat/ drink.

And yes, you noticed it.

I am officially bribing my child to drink her juice (meds have to be dissolved in some liquid). I tell her, "do you want me to put the other medicine in your b*m?"

As you can see, I'm very tactful :)

Within minutes, that juice is gone!

But back to you - do you find your girls manipulate their daddies? Or granddaddies?

PS Uh oh, she just woke up again with a temperature of 38.8.................. this is how it all started last time...

Pre-Brazilian hair and 10 Tuesday titbits

2011-12-27T20:10:00.000+02:00

That's my pre-Brazilian photo shoot with D on 30 Nov - I wanted lots of pics of the frizz :)
I finished all the Dec photos last night/ this morning at 12:30 am in the hospital. Go me. I have never been this up to date before. I think I'm scared because I had something like 298 from 23 - 26th so I have to keep up.
The photo frames all over my house were a big hit with everyone - D when he got home from the hospital and the in laws today. I really love the ones right outside the kids' bedroom - the set of pics where they're peeking around the pillar.

I was just telling MandyE that we got the kids some wooden things for Christmas (picture dominoes and counting puzzles). They are so lovely I've played with them more than the kids have! But really, I'm so tactile and the wood has such a lovely heavy feel. Mmmmm.
Speaking of playing with kids, Kendra and I had some lovely crafting time at the hospital. Washi tape was a hit with her too - she pretended they're plasters at first and then started sticking into her book.
It's POURING in Jhb at the moment and yes, I love it. Really, is there anything nicer than having some lovely rain outside? Not much. Of course I don't have to do laundry just yet...
I scheduled two sessions with the personal trainer this week (tomorrow and Friday morning) and I am SO GLAD I did. I feel fat and unhealthy and it's going to be hell for an hour tomorrow but it's going to be worth it. Eventually.
I bought 4 new nail polishes totalling R45 (about $5.50) today. Hot pink, bright blue, a pewter/ grey and another version of the purple I'm looking for, all in the post-Christmas sales. I promised the kids I'd do my finger and toenails tonight.
I can't find my Sony Cybershot's battery charger anywhere. This is very unlike me so I tidied the study the other night (Christmas night) and I still haven't found it. I always put it away but I could have not done so one day. Still, where??? (If you were a battery charger, where would you hide?)
I'm now 71% done with MWF Seeking BFF, and LOVING it. Seriously - I could write a blog post every 5 pages; I have so much to talk about. Who else has/ intends reading it?

And now, I need to get the tea things ready (the food) because our lovely friend is arriving soon. He works at Google - what a charmed life he leads, right?

So are you enjoying the holidays?

Are you lazing? Eating lots?

Or are you gearing up for next year?

(I used to think I was on top of new year planning but I've seen posts all over the blogosphere already about year in review and plans for next year - these people don't waste any time)

Updates

2011-12-27T12:26:00.000+02:00

Kendra's been discharged! It's good to all be together but she is very clingy and will not let go of D. And of course, they're already squabbling. Good times....not!
We are home to a very messy house - I think my entire cupboard is dirty and in the sink. Husbands conveniently can block out messy houses and actually relax whereas I can't. Yes.
MIL and SIL have just arrived and I'm finishing my cup of tea and then about to go run errands.
I know it's not hospitable but I can't be bothered to make small talk when my entire back is in knots. And my kitchen is so messy.
I've cleaned bathrooms, lounge and entranceway, oh, and the babies' room but that kitchen is D's.

Will be back tonight... maybe... with updates.

A very lovely friend is coming over after supper tonight. He is the kind of person I love - so comfortable in himself and in my house. He literally makes himself at home and I love it!

Hope you're having a better day.

While the Christmas stuff will stay up til the 6th...

2011-12-26T20:57:00.000+02:00

Aimee, do you see your print on the left?

I took the chance last night (my night off, i.e. at home) to start sorting out the messy study.

Put all the Christmas cards that were left (about5 or 6) back in the card box
Put all the gift labels backPacked the gift wrap that is reusable away
Got the two little Christmas crafts (very little - don't get too excited) ready to take some pics in better light this morning

The other night I tackled all those photo frames on the bed.

First I lay the prints on the frames to see if they look right - sometimes I have to switch pics around to make it balance visually.

So the other night I put the pics in, dusted frames and walls, used up all my Command Hooks and got those things on the walls.

The house is looking fantastic because there are frames everywhere.

Some of them are slightly skew (tell me if you're twitching) but I let go of perfectionism to just get them up.I even put up the beautiful mosaic cross Cat made me.

In other news:

Two other kids have joined us in paediatrics - a two-week-old baby girl who's not breathing properly and a two-year-old boy who reminds me so much of Connor, but is slightly naughtier. This little guy didn't settle til 9:30 tonight and I'm wondering if they go through this every night. I would be permanently shattered.
I'm turning into the paparazzi. The little boy came running into our section to see what I was taking pics of... :)
I now know it's not just K who screams at the mere sight of the doctor. The little boy did the same thing. However, I do very little talking (she's going to scream anyway; why waste my breath? :)) and I see the other mother gets very agitated and tries to talk the boy into being quiet.
I have a pimple on my chin from the emotional eating. Yes, I'm eating lots of sweets and crappy food.
It's horrible to say this but today when D told me his mother wouldn't be visiting I went "yay" inside. It's not that I don't want her to see K; it's just exhausting having to make conversation days and days on end. Usually we have 3 - 4 weeks between visits and that's how I like it.
K and I had a lovely visit from a 3 am friend on Sat. Our only visit besides MIL. I was so energised after she'd left - it was fantastic.She also brought Happy Feet penguins for the kids which we've since named Penny and Percival :), and some fun food. I need to put up a video of K praying. They both pray for this friend (first person outside family, or sometimes just the first person overall) every night, totally unprompted by us.
Speaking of friends, Connor has a thing for Aunty Roz. There was a period of a couple of months where I/we got lots of things from Roz (kids' birthdays, my birthday, cards, letters, flowers for gall bladder op, etc) and now if I say to D, "guess who gave me/ us ____?" Connor says, "AUNTY ROZ!" Too cute!

Do you know the MINUTE I get home I'll be switching on the kettle for a big mug of decent tea?!

So how was your Boxing Day? (this is what we call the day after Christmas although I think it's been renamed Family Day)

PS This picture-heavy post is brought to you by Louisa. I am eternally grateful to her for showing me a nifty feature that's making blogging with pics a breeze. If you want to know exactly what that is, tell me in the comments - I'll write up something.

So, Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T20:28:00.001+02:00

I'm going to do this quickly in bullets because this is my home night from the hospital and I don't want to take too much time on the computer. After all, I'm 51% through MWF Seeking BFF and I'm keen to get stuck in after I have my shower.

Moving on...

1. I will never for the life of me get how they expect one to HEAL in hospitals when you can't even get a decent night's sleep. Why is it necessary to clean at 9 pm at night and then again at 5 am the next morning. Exactly what has happened in between? Grrr.

2. Something reset my attitude about this hospital thing. I was driving home that first Thursday night and listening to O Holy Night. Really listening to the words. And oh my! At the end of the day, I know God will come through for us with Kendra - He has SO many times before - we may not like the process but we'll be fine. I don't want my daughter in the hospital but He is still King and He is still on the throne. I do like it when I get these revelations in an instant.

3. This morning I asked the doctor if we're going to wait for that CRP count (StrongBlonde, just for you!) to come down all the way to 4 from 169 and she said no but that the trend must be moving down AND K needs to be fever-free for at least a full day. So far we haven't had a fever-free day. This afternoon she was 37.2 which was not high in my books (I give Panado from 37.5 and above) but they think it's high.

We will definitely be in for at least the full 5 days, maybe 7, depends on what our doc says tomorrow.

Thank you Rebecca and Mandy for your mentions in your posts - it made me all teary reading them.

4. So, the family drama. Yesterday my MIL visited K. That's a whole other story because she doesn't care about waking babies and I do. Anyway, she says, "and I'm still waiting to hear from D about tomorrow". We were supposed to have Christmas lunch with her. And then, "I had all these visions about the kids coming over on Christmas, seeing how I decorated the tree, etc".

I kind-of flipped and said, "WE also had visions but unfortunately we've ALL had to let go of our expectations. Kendra is in the HOSPITAL and that is our main concern". I said I felt that C and D should still go to church and then maybe go to her for a quick lunch before coming to us.

When D got to the hospital with Connor last night, he said, "no way, I don't feel right off having fun when K's in here. We'll come back to have lunch with you guys". D phoned both her phones then and left voicemails.

Well, this morning I phoned him and he sounded strange. After I prodded, he said he phoned his mother and she was very upset that he didn't want to come to her house but at the same time, said, "well you must do what you want to do". That kind of thing drives both of us bananas. We are stubborn as mules and don't respond well to the guilt trip. So he said, "exactly" and that was that. But of course not.

5. Our Christmas lunch - two-day-old rolls, the same chicken from Friday and a very sad-looking salad. Very boring and I only had one roll because it wasn't that good. However, I do always have good-looking stuff so we had pretty serviettes, plates, etc. D's mother suddenly pitches at the hospital with all these gifts in tow. I said nothing about the drama but just carried on with Christmas talk. And nicely avoided the "this is the first Christmas I've been so confused about what's going on" because I was not going to go there again. I can get very firm when it appears people aren't hearing and didn't want to mess up things for D...

Exchanged presents, etc. Connor is a gift wrap-tearing expert this year. He ripped off the paper beautifully. He was not having any of the going home to sleep so we gave in and were a family of four again til I brought Connor home to eat, bath and sleep.

Oy - two-year-old boys are busy. And this one does not stop talking for a minute. Literally.

I'm looking forward to some quiet time with him again tomorrow morning.

A few Connor-isms

Mummy, please get ABC (Bible flash cards I keep in my bedside table - they're only allowed to play with them if they're on my bed while I read my Kindle :))
Mummy! Take Daddy's pillows off bed. Connor want Connor's pillow. (suddenly he can't lie down on any pillows but his own)... and the one that breaks my heart...

Mummy, Connor missing Kendra!

My children talk about themselves in the third person. I don't correct them at all because I find it adorable! On the bright side, there's no "mine!" in this house. It's "Connor's mallet!" or "Kendra's stickers!"

Enough about me - how was your Christmas? Did you have a good lunch?

Please tell me what I missed - I love thinking about food :)

Merry Christmas to you!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000+02:00

Merry Christmas to all of you!

PS This is the photo I included with most of my Christmas cards. It is from the Newtown photo shoot and I love it!

Christmas "decor"

2011-12-24T21:27:00.000+02:00

I love this pic!

We're still decorating "up" and we only have this tiny little tree. To be honest, I did look, couldn't find a nice size one easily and by that time I was done with the shops. Imperfection - I love you!

Add caption

I love these hearts I got this year from Mr P Home

same with these silver things - adore, joy, love and hope (you may have seen the love one in my study - it stays up year-round). The beaded decorations are my South African twist and they're simple but lovely.

this thing gets rearranged daily by Connor

my mantel (who knew the mantel was such a big deal til you start reading decor blogs?!) these stockings are just for show - I don't actually do anything with them

this deserves a mention - it's how I display my Christmas cards. I like BOTH strings full of cards. Last time it was full was 2009. Those were the first 3. And then on Friday I got 5 more.

I love these wooden angels - Mr P last year 6 for R50. The other one is in the "button" on the top of this post.

I got these at a church craft day, the night of the Christmas carols. Aren't they cute?

Vase filled with Christmas ornaments (and a little green thing contributed by the babies) with candy canes around the edge

So here's the plan for tomorrow:

Boys and girls eat breakfast separately at hospital and home.
D will bring Connor and the presents here to the hospital.
Open and try and take some pics...
K and I stay, D and Connor go to church.
They will then come back and bring food? I don't quite know from where. There should be some leftover chicken and salad at home with rolls at the very least???
Spend time together, then they'll go home.
Afternoons spent quietly at hospital/ home while kids nap.

The place is dead quiet now as we're the only patient left. The other two little patients (7-8-year-old and a 9-week-old were discharged today).

Had lovely visit with the boys tonight.

Do you know what the worse thing is about being in the hospital? No food or TEA! Maybe I'll lose some weight? There is no canteen here and the one coffee shop is SO expensive and I'm tired of paying R12 for a cup of tea - it's a fair price but when you drink as much as I do.... (remember all these expenses are totally unbudgeted for)

Hope you have fun and no family drama tomorrow :)

My fake family

2011-12-23T23:11:00.000+02:00

So I was feeling fine about Kendra being in the hospital until I got there this afternoon and ... D and his mom are gabbing away. I took one look at Kendra and told the nurse to take her temp. Yes, 39.2. Way too high because she is in HOSPITAL. Then they moved it and put something new in her drip and 40 minutes later, she was looking better. I didn't even feel like I could fight properly with the nurses because D was supposed to be looking after her.

Of course, things went downhill from there. Tense me spoiled the mood. MIL left and Connor was crazy.

Connor had been BEGGING to go to the hospital the whole day (poor thing!) and was SO excited to see Kendra so I brought supper with us so we could all eat together.

Disaster.

Connor was too excited to see Kendra and understandably, wanted to see and touch her and the machines (with one finger!) and we kept having to say, "Connor, be gentle" and Kendra was doing the whining thing, "noooo, Connor, nooo. Only want Daddy" and so on.

And so my nice supper went to pot.

Here's where I need to stop and tell you about my fake family.

You all know my one friend calls me a Pollyanna which I am totally cool about. I do try to always look on the bright side.

Even with this hospital thing, K and I had a lovely day yesterday (as lovely as you can have in a hospital), talking, reading, looking at photos, eating, etc. and then when I got home, Connor said, "Connor MISSED Mummy!" with such passion my heart nearly burst from pure happiness.

So I've been thinking at least the 1:1 time is good.

And tonight I had visions of the four of us at least having a nice supper together, sitting on two beds, talking nicely, laughing together, not messing, saying goodnight and then switching roles - D going home with C and me overnighting with K.

You know, my fake family.

What actually happened was craziness, whining, screaming, 1, 2, 3-ing and not enjoying a single minute of it after the first, "HELLO CONNOR!" from Kendra.

That photo shoot last month was another example of me wanting my fake family to behave beautifully when of course, they've not at their best when it's that close to supper, baths and bedtime.

I saw this term "fake family" on a blog somewhere about 6 weeks ago and filed it away in the depths of my mental drafts folder.

It just describes perfectly the mismatch of my expectations vs reality.

I'm also posting this as a reminder to myself that I don't have a fake family and to have no or low expectations this Christmas weekend.

Really, if I emerge in one piece after all the to-ing and fro-ing which is a logistical nightmare when it's just the two of you plus a sick baby, I'll consider it success :)

I love Connor's funny face

I know this is a bad pic but I love it anyway

don't ask - these hands are a new thing

giving Friday a nice, big hug

Do you also have a fake family?

Kendra

2011-12-22T13:00:00.000+02:00

Last week Dr S took a urine sample which they sent away to cultivate for a few days.

They phoned on Monday to say everything was fine and I said, "she's still got the fever though".

On Wed they phoned again and this time said, if she has another fever to bring her in on Thurs.

She had three.

So in we went yesterday and it was HELL.

He drew blood, sent us for x-rays and scans of her bladder/ kidney area and all that showed was enlarged tubes or something like that.

I get very vague with the details...

We went back to him and he ordered more scans - similar to an HSG where they squirt dye into your body.

This time to squirt dye into Kendra's bladder to see where it went - up into the tubes properly or if it was blocked somewhere.

We just finished that one (another horrible experience for both K and me) when they told us to go straight up to Dr S's rooms.

Uh oh.

Yes. He had the blood results back and it was "not good" (his words, not mine).

3 things were out of whack.

Leucocytes, _____ and _____ :) The last one's normal range is between 1 and 4. Hers was 211.

Yes.

So he had her admitted to the hospital immediately.

We had a chance to go home to fetch her stuff and say good-bye to Connor who told us he "missed Daddy, missed Kendra, missed Mummy".

Of course I've been crying too, imagining the worst, but also just because she is so traumatised when they do anything to her.

And I get it!

I am exactly the same with all these needles, pushing and shoving.

Thank goodness for D.

So K's laying on her bed and I'm squashed into a tiny corner (it's going to be fun when D sleeps here tonight!)

Oh, yes. We both left work before 2 yesterday so we still have a good half a week left before we can go on holiday.

We've had to compromise because someone's got to be here with her at all times.

He's gone in to do everything he needs to so he can be off properly tomorrow, a day early, and I'll do what I can from here (emails and such) but the real work I will have to do tomorrow, at work. I need access to some of our systems.

So that's where we're at.

We're going to be here for 5 long days.

Christmas in hospital!

Who would have thought?!

Especially since I read that post you linked to, Ginger, on Melissa's blog?

Here's another video of Kendra telling me she wants to go in my bag to work. Background - when they're being particularly cute, I say, "K, you're so cute, can I take you to work in my handbag?"

Anyway, all prayers (for her and me!) are very welcome.

Virtual Craft Day linky - Christmas edition

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000+02:00

This month my goal was to make two different projects involving cards.

Let's do the easy one first.

Happy Birthday card

You know how much I love sending cards to people? I've started to rope in the kids so they get trained at a young age.

I got each child to sit on my lap and scribble ("write") in each of the Christmas cards. I did miss a few here and there because those were hectic days in the evenings.

Then we were invited to Nicola's birthday party.

I don't normally do birthday cards for the littles but this time I thought we would, seeing as they were used to doing cards.

As an aside, it is super adorable to see them writing :)

I took an A4 sheet of white project board, folded it in half, pasted a pink strip of paper on the inside and used my Happy Birthday punch for the cover.

I then pasted two, two-inch circles (free printables from somewhere on the internet - I print things regularly and punch them so they're ready to use) on the cover.

I asked V to let them decorate the inside as a craft one day last week (another bonus - keeps them busy for 10 minutes too) and they did a great job of putting their handprints on the inside.

Sorry, no pics - I took these before they did their craft.

And that was that - an easy card that we could all contribute towards.

Next up, mini notecards

I've been making 6 X 6 mini notebooks with binder rings (pics to come soonish).

When I cut out the squares from the A4 project board, there were all these edges left.

I just hate to waste anything (especially paper) so I kept them with a binder clip til inspiration struck.

One day I was looking for something in my craft drawer (hey, I need to show you pics), saw my stash of stickers and inspiration struck.

I folded the card in half, stuck on a sticker and that was that.

I was really tempted to get out the washi tape and go wild but that's when I realised my style is much simpler. If you don't like them so plain (some of you will be getting some of these), have at it and go wild. I will not be offended.

I had 42 cards so I made 7 sets of six notecards each with birds, crowns or dragonflies on them.

I then tied some of my Christmas doodle twine on it and voila, a cute little gift :)

I also made some M ones for me and some more with my Moo stickers (separate post because the Moo stuff deserves lots of words).

Christmas doodle twine

a few sets ready to go - I did these 4 in a meeting :) (the folding and sticking, not the making pretty)

some more Christmas twine

crowns

Bon-bon Doodle twine

I may be biased but I think they're gorgeous. They make me very, very happy when I look at them.

If I got some of these in the mail I would SQUEAL :)))))

What do you think?

And now, link up your Christmas or other stuff - cooking/ baking, cards, crafts, decorations, etc.

Sweet & Savoury Snacks - easy Christmas gifts

2011-12-21T08:30:00.000+02:00

this is what they looked like

This is a long post - get ready with your cup of tea.

Imade two versions: Savoury and Sweet

Here’sthe Savoury version:

9cups of cereal (I used O-Tees, Popped Rice and Corn Flakes –the cheapest house brand version in some cases, otherwise I think it was theBokomo brand)
1 cup nuts (peanuts)
1 cup pretzels
1 cup bagel chips (I usedcream crackers because I had half a packet left – basically anysavoury biscuit will do)

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a hugebowl, one where you can stir the ingredients and they won’t fall out

In another smaller bowl, meltin the microwave and cover the bowl with paper towel to avoid splats:

6 Tablespoons butter (I usedmargarine)
2 Tablespoons Worcestershiresauce
1 ½ teaspoonsflavoured salt (I only use 1 teaspoon since I don’t like very salty things andI did a cheesy version at first and the next time I did a garlic and herb version)
½ teaspoon garlic powder(I used flakes)
½ teaspoon onionpowder

· Anote on the seasonings – do one batch exactly as isand then you’ll know if it’s salty enough for your taste.

When the butter mix ismelted, pour half into your bowl, stir well and then pour the other half andfinish stirring.
Put the bowl in the microwavefor one minute, take out and stir, and then do another minute and stir. Don’tdo two minutes all at once – you don’t want it to burn.My microwave is 1000W so adjust accordingly.
The smell of theWorcestershire sauce is quite strong at this point. Don’t worry, that’s normal.
Empty your mix onto 3 cookie sheets lined with waxpaper to absorb the excess oil and cool down.
I left mine out for about 20 –30 minutes to cool down and then packaged it all up.
While the mix is cooling,prepare the containers.

I used scrapbook paper onclean formula cans. I put the mixes in plastic snack bags inside the cans sopeople could re-use my pretty cans.

Then I made the top pretty,tied a ribbon, a tag and a little ornament and voila – a pretty, frugalgift straight from my heart.

I had a pack of 20 ornamentsand I have about 4 – 5 left.

It’s hard to say how muchthis makes because both D and I snacked before I packed it all AND I kept a tinfor us.

At a guess, I’d say about 6 small formulatins.

Sweet Snack Mix

5cups of cereal (I used 6)
1 cup biscuits (I used Mariebiscuits the first time, Tennis biscuits the next time) The one is a plain, butterybiscuit and the other has coconut in it.
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips (let metell you my trick – you will pay about R20 for asmall bag of choc chips but only R13 – R14 for a large200 g Cadbury’s slab. Get the slab and a big butcher’s knife and have at it. Igo on the diagonal, swivel my chopping board and chop on the diagonal again. It seems to be quicker that way. Withinminutes you’ve got nice chocolate chunks in your favourite chocolate instead ofthe boring choc chips, and you’ve saved R7)
If you don't like raisins or chocolate, add 2 cups of anything - dried fruit, sweet nuts, etc.

Mix the cereal (not the chocor raisins) in a huge bowl.

In another smaller bowl, meltthefollowing in the microwave and cover the bowl with paper towel to avoid splats.

¼ cup butter (Iused margarine) – this is 55 g margarine (I feel all clever but meanwhile I’ve just made a LOT of this stuff)
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon vanillaessence

Pour half into your bowl,stir well and then pour the other half and finish stirring.
Put the bowl in the microwavefor one minute, take out and stir thoroughly.
Add raisins and chocolatesand stir again.
Lay out on wax papered cookiesheets for 20 – 30 minutes, package nicelyand enjoy.

When I handed these out atwork, they were a huge hit.

Now here’s the beauty ofthese snack mixes.

You can adjust the recipeaccording to taste.

I also made a healthy version for thebabies

Cereal
Raisins
Dried fruit, chopped up

(no butter, no sugar)

They eat theirs when we eatours.

The family that snackstogether stays together? :)

These are sweet mixes I keep ready to combine. I forgot to keep the chocolate (and I threw in some Smarties too - candy-coated chocolate buttons) separate so I won't microwave for that extra minute. It will still be fine because I made that mistake once before.

This is another one of my tricks because I hate messing up the kitchen so I do it once, measure dry ingredients for at least 2 more batches and then it's easy to quickly whip up something :)

this one has raisins, smarties and chocolate chunks

and Marie biscuits

I did two cans each for some friends - a savoury and a sweet

And once more...

I hope it was worth the wait.Please let me know if you make it, if you try different ingredients and if your recipients LOVE it like I do :)

What are your quick and easy gift ideas? (not necessarily in the kitchen or handmade)

It happens in threes, right?

2011-12-20T21:11:00.000+02:00

Long story short but I ordered six photo books.

Four copies of one style, and two of another.

After huge problems with the system uploading, I copied two files (one of each) onto a disc and dropped it off more than two weeks ago.

I phoned and phoned because I kept getting messages like they hadn't received my files, and they just don't return my calls.

Finally I get a message that my order has been dispatched, I phone back and ONE photo book has been sent.

After two weeks, mind.

So I phone again. Can't get through.

Finally I go onto their FB page and write some rude things there. I get a response and I emailed to the address given.

No response on the Friday but Monday morning someone phones.

Shame, she asked some really stupid questions and I let her have it.

However, she was great because she fixed my problems (I think) and my photo books should be with me this week.

Just in time for the MIL but not to post to the THREE other addresses for Christmas.

So that's number 1.

Then my medical aid cancels my gym membership because they told me to go 4 times in November and I went 4 times.

When I phone to query they tell me they sent the email on 15th and it meant I had to go 4 MORE times.

My point? Then they should say, "as at 15th, you've only been once and need to go 4 more times" OR "you need to go 5 times in November". Straight forward and to the point.

They tell me "4 times by the end of November means 4 times after the 15th".

Sorry buddies. And the manager person (3rd one I spoke to) was horrendous - I would have fired her.

I flip and tell them you are supposed to be keeping me HEALTHY not increasing my blood pressure. I will have to put this down on hellopeter.com.

I wasn't even joking. I was SO furious.

You know what I can't stand?

Condescending customer service people.

Ugghhhhh - makes me spitting mad.

A guy on the emotional intelligence course I was on described his "spitting mad" like a red mist descending. Mine is like a heavy red thundershower - it's that quick.

Anyway, no reply by the time I left work at 4:10.

That's number two.

Then I've been selling the baby stuff.

My friend very kindly put it on their junk mail list and I had 3 takers. First two no problems.

This one?

She comes today, unpacks everything in our reception area and when I got back from getting her change, shows me a 2cm tear in the cot bumper (stitching came loose, probably from the laundering, nothing 2 minutes with a needle and thread wouldn't fix).

I apologise and when I saw her face, said it is still way less than half for the stuff.

Well, she seemed fine but I got a nasty email from her this afternoon, questioning my personal integrity, etc.

Oy vey! I am soooo cross.

I've only just calmed down - three hours later - and have sent her an email honestly saying that I'm hurt by her questioning my integrity but I do apologise for her frustrations. And if I had seen it I would have fixed the stitching.

If she'd said whatever at the time, I would have given her money back but I don't have time for the whole schlep.

And that, dear friends, is number 3.

What would you have done?

Of course a bonus number 4 is that my Kendra is still not well. Her urine was fine when the doctor's office phoned yesterday but I told them she was still spiking fevers. They phoned today to check on her and we agreed if there were fevers tonight, tomorrow I'll bring her in. Well, 2 fevers so far and it's only 8pm, so we are going back tomorrow. I hope it's nothing serious? Please pray for her.

P.S. Coming up...
I promise tomorrow is recipe day. I'll even do the post now so it's ready to post as my boss is working me til the very last - no time to slack a little at work, something I was quite looking forward to :)

A post about Connor that reminds me very much of those early days...

Parties and party favours...

And then it's practically Christmas.

Do you know I've already posted more than 365 times for the year? No? I was horrified too!

THANK YOU for your comments. She's just not that into me is not about any of you - I'm 95% sure those 3 bloggers don't even read here. But StrongBlonde, yesssssss, let's be blog buddies :)

PPS MFW Seeking BFF is out today! I was 15 mins late to work because I had to start reading once it delivered to my Kindle. I intend to go cozy up and get stuck in shortly :)

A thank-you video for Jess

2011-12-19T15:40:00.001+02:00

Sorry, I don't know how to put them the right way up.

Excuse the big bump on her forehead - she'd just fallen that day :)

I have a love-hate relationship with fudge

2011-12-19T11:32:00.000+02:00

I love it.

It hates me.

I've tried to make fudge over the years and I keep thinking, "this is it. This time it's going to set and be okay" and it's not.

So I was inspired by Dollimama's recipe ...and then I saw links to fudge all over the internet (as you do when your focus is on something).

This one in particular caught my eye.

Source: motherthyme.com via Marcia on Pinterest

It's cinnamon fudge.

Oh my heart :)

I checked all the recipes and they all seemed to ask for 3 standard ingredients - condensed milk, chocolate (2 cups) and butter.

Well, I made this version but I threw in some nuts too.

It didn't set.

Disclaimer

I didn't do mine on the stove - I used the microwave directions.

The other recipes said to cook until all the chocolate melted - I did that.

It tastes delicious BUT it doesn't set. It's like a very gooey toffee at the moment.

So is there any way for me to make it set?

Shall I scrape it all off, put back in the microwave and maybe add another cup of chocolate?

Have you ever rescued fudge successfully?

Also, a PS, what does 1 bag of chocolate chips weigh? Tell me in cups or in grams please!

She's just not that into you

2011-12-18T14:23:00.001+02:00

I've stumbled upon numerous blogs over the years and with some bloggers, I feel an instant connection.

You know what I mean.

It can be over something silly like a love for Seinfeld (seriously, if you love Seinfeld, chances are you and I will be good friends :)) or a really heartfelt post (Claudia writes these all the time so they are too numerous to list, but I do love that one about the islands).

Sometimes it's not even their own blog where we meet but in the comments on another blog.

I remember MandyE commenting here ages ago and saying something like, "I see your name in the comments on a number of blogs we have in common so I thought it's time we met" - I LOVED THAT, and it was true :)

And again with Claudia, I saw a really insightful comment on ONE blog we have in common, went over to meet this cool person, found that we have boy/ girl twins in common, left a comment and that was that.

Anyway, when I feel that connection, I obviously reach out to the person and hope they'll reciprocate.

But what happens when they don't?

Sometimes I leave numerous comments over a week or two but short of saying, "HEY! I think we could be really good blog friends", what can you do when they either ignore you or are saying, "I'm not into you".

I don't really question it too much because I forget, am good at denial and know it's a waste of energy.

I do realise that I've done this to other people too but I promise, it's not from a mean heart. Sometimes a flood of comments arrive on my blog at a really busy time and I just don't have the time to browse, read and leave nice comments back. I do try though.

:)

I can think of at least three bloggers right now who I think will get along really well with me but they're obviously not that into me LOL

What about you?

What do you do when you think you gel with a blogger?

Do they always reciprocate? How do you deal with that?

********************************

Here's how I know I've tipped over the crafty edge.

Behold, watches for my children.

I had to occupy them quickly while I was making washi tape notebooks so I took some ribbon (please note pink and blue), used some double-sided tape and attached 1-inch circles to the watch straps.

They were OVER THE MOON!

Poor things - at least they're flexing their creative muscles, right?

They also think my washi tape serves the same function as a plaster (band aid) and when I'm doing anything washi tape, they want a plaster somewhere on their body. This plaster fixation is since I had the gall bladder op when I had four plasters on my tummy :)

This one is Kendra

and this one is Connor.

I have a funny feeling

2011-12-16T22:57:00.000+02:00

that my holiday is not going to be as wonderful as I imagined.

That's if today was any indication.

Who would think that two two-year-olds could run two mature, intelligent adults as ragged as they do?!

Connor didn't sleep today at all and Kendra only slept about 40 minutes.

So it was "fun" and to think we have another two days of this weekend left.

On the bright side, we're going to a party tomorrow and even though I've been warned we won't know anyone, we're looking forward to getting out and seeing our friends :) The kids even contributed towards the present (all to be blogged next week as the mother reads this blog :)).

**********************************************************

In other news, we're still going to have our virtual craft day this month - I thought we should do it this Thursday so we can catch some last-minute bright ideas.

Sound good?

I'll be sharing my savoury and sweet snack mix recipes and how I presented them - they're looking good - should be because I have made TONS, so much so I'm all out of formula cans (I had 16).

I also did some really, really cute mini gifts for people all over the world. Some of you will be getting them in your mailboxes soon :)

The best part? They're totally repurposed things too.

I don't mean to be mysterious but I will show you everything on Thursday.

And hopefully this week I'll also take some pics of my Christmas decorations and post them.

I've already done my two card crafts for the month and I've also done some mini-book journals which I'm super stoked about. Can you believe someone is PAYING me to make them one? (no? neither can I! but they are turning out beautifully these days)

**********************************************************

This is the present I got at our team year-end lunch.

I love it :)

D got a cr*ppy mug at their team lunch - seriously, an oversized mug - I want it out of the house asap LOL And we put together a really, lovely present for his person.

*sigh*

**********************************************************

Speaking of crafts, I'm finding my style.

I think I felt a bit weird at first that I like a very simple, minimalistic look but I'm over that now. I am HUGELY inspired by Allison's crafts because of the clean, uncluttered look and feel about them.

You'll see what I mean when I post the pics of my mini gifts. I was so tempted to want to do more but actually I like them very simple.

I'm going to do a to make list of all the stuff I want to attempt next year - I have 3 punches I haven't used, lots of mini-book ideas (let me know if you want to buy one - hahaha), and now, twine.

Yes people, I've bought bakers twine. Two lovely fat rolls of divine twine and two small rolls of doodlebug twine. I'm loving it already.

So how has your Friday been?

What are you up to this weekend?

P.S. Notice I'm in total denial about V's four weeks of leave story. D said to me what if she doesn't want to accept our proposal and I said, "I'm not thinking about it". I'm really not because I can't take off four weeks off work. I may have one family day left for this calendar year but that's it.

PPS Mandy, South Africans love holidays. We live for our public holidays and the deputy president is giving us another free holiday on 27th - yay! April and December is crazy with all the holidays - we hardly work :)

Ten on Thursday and the toddlers talking

2011-12-15T23:48:00.001+02:00

although it does feel like Friday because tomorrow is a public holiday in South Africa.

I worked out this morning at the ungodly hour of 9 am. It was terrible as I'm hardly awake then... but felt awesome straight afterwards because I was DONE for the day :)
I have been eyeing a particular lilac-y shade of nail polish (Roz, yours and a colleague's nails) so I bought a similar shade but still not quite right last weekend. Two coats look good enough but I'm still searching for the exact elusive shade :)
My Kendra has been a little bit sick for a week. We took her to our GP's replacement last week and she's been on an antibiotic. However, every night at 12:30 - 1 am she wakes and wants water. That's my cue to 1) get her water 2) check her temperature (always around 38,5) and 3) give her an empaped which she hates so screams D awake. Oy.
I am so knackered from all this night-time drama that I literally fell asleep a couple of times in an afternoon meeting this week.
I phoned the GP yesterday to say that K is still not well and she suggested we now go to the paed. Off we trotted this afternoon where the lovely Dr S was treated to K WAILING (and how!) before he even touched her ears or whatever. She had to be cathed to get a urine sample (unpleasant but very efficient, much better than those annoying bags they want girl babies to pee into) and she has a bladder infection so she is on a better AB and "should be better in 24 hours".
K and I then had some girl time (as we were both fairly traumatised) and went shopping for necessary items like the AB and my birth control, and then for fun things like a Michael Buble Christmas CD. I shocked myself - I also bought Celine Dion (and I'm not into girl voices!) because I like the way she sings O Holy Night. Gives me cold shivers it's so beautiful.
I got the most STUNNING blue glass water bottle from my work colleague (the same one with the nice nail polish) as a present. I love it. So much so I get a little frisson of joy every time I pour water. She laughed today when I told her again how much I LOVE MY GIFT.
This same colleague is an even stricter mother than I am (I want to be her when I grow up!) but is such a P it makes me laugh. She is unstructured and totally spontaneous. It's really nice to see that not only J mothers like me can be strict.
V announced today that she wants to take FOUR weeks leave (she only has 11 days due to her - actually 10.87 if we're being specific) and I flipped. Much like my friend did with her nanny. We don't even have enough leave to take four weeks. I told her D and I will have to discuss as I am not sure what I will do with my children for one of those weeks. I understand she has to sort her son out in Zim with schooling but 4 weeks?! D and I have now discussed it - I drew calendars, different highlights (ideal vs compromise scenarios), etc - and we will discuss with her on Sat.
My study is a mess - I get a bee in my bonnet every December to "beautify the house" so there are 9 photo frames (most with multiple photos) all spread out with photos in position. D's job is to put them into the frames and mine is to use my trusty hammer (yes, the hammer is mine - I seriously love my hammer - so satisfying to pound away at a wall) to put them up on the walls. I'm going to use all the command hooks that are left and then just have at it.... can't wait. This weekend it is all happening.

and one more...

Tonight D went to gym.

Connor runs out of their bedroom and says to me, "Mummy, Connor NEEDs Daddy".

How sweet is that?!

I said, "Connor, we all NEED Daddy but now you NEED to sleep" and marched him back to bed.

His sister was out for the count - I'm sure the day was way too full of excitement for her.

How has your week been?

Don't forget to take a pic of your flip flops and link up. I only have ONE proper link - I don't get these other people who just link to anything... what for?

PS Kendra's just done her nightly wake-up (temp = 38.7) and I changed her nappy. I accidentally stuck the sticky part onto her skin so when I took it off, I ripped it and she said it was sore. So I go, "sorry, Baby, it was an accident". Do you know what she said? "Mummy, be careful!" LOL

Show me your flip flops - a LINKY

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000+02:00

Take a pic of your flip flops, put it on your blog, talk about them if you want and link to this post.

D calls the red ones on the bottom left my Christmas sandals :)
My current favourites are those brown and pink ones right in the middle - sooo comfortable
The brown ones with the blue beads have long been favourites - I love them. Sooo comfortable and the kids also like them because of the beads
I love those yellow ones so much. I bought them on my first trip to Century City in Cape Town (the trip where D and I stayed in the mall so long we paid R20 for parking (I think 8 hours!!!) about 10 years ago. They cost R99. Only thing is the bits are flaking off now but there is nothing wrong with the shoe. Hey! Maybe I should try to cover them with fabric and fabric glue? Jess, any ideas?
Since this pic was taken, I've decluttered the brown and green pair at the end of the top row ... because I bought another pair (cream with pink straps, picked by Kendra)
When we went to Sun City for the work thing, they gave us a pair of Havianas (white in the pic).
There are 3 pairs from Pick and Pay, 2 from Mr Price and 2 from Pep. Can you guess which?

These are my new ones for when we go to the beach :)

Do you like wearing flip flops?How many pairs do you have?

Okay, okay, okay - lots of randomness

2011-12-13T23:54:00.000+02:00

I thought it would be a good idea to write a quick post answering questions from the comments on the last couple of posts.

Hope you enjoy :)

On the necklace

It's not finished!!! I'm waiting for inspiration. Either that or I'll cut up my headband and do it properly because I don't have that colour t-shirt anymore.

On the kissing

No, not everyone kisses!

I will say this - this company is by far the kissiest I've worked at :) And especially for clients/ partners you see a lot - after a couple of meetings they're like friends, right?

But yes, at my previous companies, we'd kiss each other (colleagues) for birthdays, when you go on holiday and when you get back.

E.g. In South Africa, things kind-of shut down over Dec/ Jan. Kind of like the northern hemisphere's summer holidays. Except we only have 3 - 4 weeks whereas you lucky guys take MONTHS off.

When people start going on holidays (the old boss and colleague A left on Friday, another two go this Friday, and then the rest of us go next week. So we all go around kissing each other good-bye.

And then when everyone gets back, you do the same thing in reverse. Go around kissing each other hello and Happy New Year, and so on.

Come on, South Africans, it is surely more common??? Not?

Granted, there are some people who have a clear hands-off policy. In our team that's only one person and she's Muslim.

By the way, I have one week in the office when everyone except one person is on leave and I can't WAIT to use that time to clear out my junk.

On my meeting today

I kissed 1, hugged 3 (!) - initiated by him and said a very friendly "hi, did you find your way okay this morning?" to 2? (he came up yesterday and stayed at a nearby hotel)

You'll be so proud of me - I was verrrry tempted to say something like "should we hug?" to 2 but I remembered TACT and shut my mouth.

We had an AWESOME workshop - I LOVE working with people who know what they're doing and don't make excuses.

On the peppermint bark and baking

It is delicious! I packaged them all in old Purity & Peck's Anchovette jars, stuck a circle on the lid, tied a ribbon and called it a day.

And I polished off a jar all by myself!

Next up - Dollimama's fudge...

I would LOVE to do a cookie exchange thing like you US ladies do - anyone keen in Jhb? To be clear, the way I understand it is you each bake a ton of stuff, take it with you, and you eat and then take some of each of the other baked things. So you get lots of variety all in one evening.

Louisa and I are going to have a baking date next year - I hope you haven't forgotten :)

On the personal trainer

yes, she's still killing me but I'm focussing on the super-awesome abs I'll soon have as long as I stop eating my peppermint bark.

I keep forgetting what a hive of networking activity the gym is at work.

Except... I don't dress cute or even wear make-up when I go so I find myself waving sheepishly at every 2nd person.

Today, I was in a meeting with 5 other people. An hour later THREE of us from that meeting were in the gym together. Too close for my comfort :)

How are you doing? How's your week shaping up thus far?

PS Don't forget to link up your flip flops tomorrow!
PPS only 6 days before this book delivers to my Kindle - I can't WAIT!

How do you know when to kiss?

2011-12-12T21:16:00.000+02:00

I was thinking about something this evening.

I have a long, three-hour workshop tomorrow morning talking about creative stuff on one of my products.

We're working with 3 external people:

a guy who designed the brand look and feel
a guy who's building the website
a copywriter

Let's call them 1, 2 and 3 just to keep things consistent around here :)

We know 1 very well. We've worked together for over a year and we're such good work friends we kiss and hug hello and good-bye after every meeting. It does help that he and I both have two-year-old children (and he loved my Newtown photo shoot).

We've worked with 2 for about two months now. We are good work friends (he is outstanding at delivering exactly what I want and most times more, and fast - this always impresses me to no end) but not as good as 1. He's Afrikaans and from Bfn (one of the smaller cities in SA), not that that matters but to talk stereotypes, he is quite conservative.

And then 3.

3 is from CT and has only recently been appointed. He's been up for one meeting and we've chatted on the phone about three times. He's South African but very English. Says "Marcia, that's super!" to me when I phone to chat about various elements.

The word super is not something South Africans typically say on a daily basis and seems to me to be very British.

Right, so there are the 3 people.

Tomorrow they will all be in one place with me and my colleague. She is very kissy and huggy, and calls people Sweetie and Honeybun. Yes, I make fun of her but I really should stop.

I said to D tonight, "what do I do about the kissing?" I can't not kiss 1 because we are all used to it (!).

But if 2 and 3 see all this kissing and hugging going on, will they feel left out? LOL

And how will I know when or if it's safe to progress to the next (business) stage of our relationship with 2 and 3?

In an aside, I once went to visit one of our partners and we were talking rubbish as you do when you're breaking the ice.

He then said, "I don't quite know what to make of people who don't want to hug. I think they must have issues".

Well, of course after I heard that, I've been sure to kiss and hug him EVERY time I see him. Wouldn't want him to think I have issues :)

These things don't just happen at work, of course. D was telling me how uncomfortable he is in these work situations as he is introverted AND a boy :)

So how do you know when to kiss, when to hug, when to do both, when to do neither? Have you ever gone in for a kiss and the person doesn't reciprocate?

Share!

Here is the (ugly) necklace - pics by D. (Robynne, these were taken yesterday - I'm not STILL wearing your t-shirt)

Okay, so you get the idea - obviously there needs to be a bit more to create that lovely full effect.

Have any of you made that necklace yet?

PS On Wednesday, I'm going to post a picture of ALL my flip flops. Get ready............ because there will be a link-up. I want to see them all - one pair, fifty pairs, I want to see :)

Christmas = kitchen time

2011-12-11T21:50:00.001+02:00

I've been thinking about what Christmas means to me, tradition-wise.

Of course, the reason for the season is Jesus.

Aside from that, what makes it feel like Christmas for me?

Cards, music, gifts of FOOD!

I love the idea of baking things in my kitchen and giving them as gifts.

It;s an act of love for me and hopefully, a bit of pleasure for the people receiving it too.

Last year I read on a blog (Sadia's) about peppermint bark and I was hooked - it looked so easy and I had to try it.

Mine flopped big-time.

My chocolate wouldn't melt and I eventually added some milk and the result was better but not great.

Well, let me rephrase - it still TASTED delicious but was not presentable enough to hand out as gifts.

So D and I enjoyed my un-presentable peppermint bark for about two months!

This year I started seeing things again and went out to get chocolate. And I messed up two bars of my favourite chocolate, Cadbury's, before I decided to ask on FB.

A Canadian friend (that's a story for another day - remind me to tell you how we met!) who lives in Jhb told me Cadbury's is not meant to melt. And many others told me about low, low heat and to do it slowly.

Do you guys know me? I don't do things slowly!!! D even said he doesn't think this "peppermint bark suits my style". Very true.

So I went back and got some Beacon and Nestle - those melted perfectly. Amazing to me - in literally one minute both slabs had melted beautifully in the microwave.

But ... I can't let go of my beloved Cadbury's.

I bought a couple of slabs again because I'm a glutton for punishment and I did it exactly as Ginger said to do and it worked. Not as well as the other chocolate, but it worked.

I used some candy canes and some endearmints (I squished them flat with my thumbs and then cut into little squares with my kitchen scissors - worked beautifully) to put on the top.

I used glass jars to package them so now all I have to do is put little labels and tie a ribbon around the rim.

The only problem is... it is summer here and hellishly hot so these things start melting in my hot kitchen.

At the moment I have about 10 glass jars of peppermint bark in my fridge!

By the way, I only used glass jars because I had them. They would also look very pretty in those little cellophane bags with a nice red ribbon.

So far my Christmas baking includes:

peanut butter chocolate oats cookies
oats and raisin cookies
savoury chex mix, South African style
sweet chex mix............ I will post all these recipes - promise. I've even taken the pics so I'm halfway there :)
peppermint bark

What are your favourite things to bake at Christmas?

What are your favourite parts of Christmas?

PS Kendra says her favourite Christmas song is Jingle Bells. They have a baby CD and she asks for Jingle Bells all the time.

In which I get crafty with material!

2011-12-10T23:37:00.001+02:00

You know how you see some things, immediately think you'd like to do them, and you pin them.

And then there are things you think are pretty but don't think you can do and so you don't pin them.

Or at least I don't.

I only pin things I think I can make otherwise it goes on my "if only I could sew" board.

I saw something on OneRadMother's blog a while ago... and while I clicked away at the time without pinning, it kept nagging at my mind.

And so I was just about to throw out a t-shirt because the armpits had got too skanky :) when I had a brainwave.

Jess made a necklace out of a t-shirt and that's what I set out to do but I got sidetracked.

She says to use a size L or XL.

My t-shirts are size medium and fairly form-fitting (see previous post for pictures). I buy all my t-shirts from Mr Price and they're all the exact same style.

So, directions...

Cut off the hem
Start cutting strips across the t-shirt of about 2 cm (nearly an inch).
When they're all done, pull at the t-shirt strips to stretch them.
They curl and become neat spirals.
I'm impatient so I stretched mine after each strip had been cut.
Towards the end I had a bright idea.
There was a 10 cm strip (4 inches) so I took the whole one and stretched it.
I tried it on my head and it looped around twice.
I'm lazy as well as sewing challenged so I didn't make any fancy loops to hide the seam - I just positioned the seam behind my head out of view.
Voila - headband.

The necklace is okay... for me... but I haven't had the courage (!) to wear it out yet.

I will take pictures and blog though :)

Have you repurposed anything recently?

Five on Friday and... I'm back with the PT

2011-12-09T22:21:00.001+02:00

1. I am surrounded by photos, cards and presents in this study and I've had enough! A good batch was done this week and I think I sent off/ handed out about 15 cards and presents. I really have to finish the rest of the cards this weekend so my study can go back to a state of order again.

2. Yesterday we had our work Christmas lunch. I got D to drop me at work, caught a lift there with one colleague and caught a lift back home with another colleague. All this to maximise connections and it was fabulous :) I think I got and received some of the best gifts around the table...I am SOOO not into gag gifts, like stupid drinking games. Last year one of the girls got her person a really thoughtful gift and she got a drinking game gift. One look at her face was enough to know it did not go down well. I bought a beautiful photo frame (distressed and with the word family, just like on the blogs!) and I received a set of 4 vases, fused together with L O V E on the front. Beautiful. At the moment they have a red candy cane in each - looks very pretty.

3. When I got home yesterday I decided to take Connor on a mother-son date (you know why, MandyE) so we went late night shopping (from 5:10 to 6pm). He LOVED IT (my quality time child). He was charming, well-behaved but way too energetic for that time of the day. I even caught a guy saying to his girlfriend, "we'll have a little boy like that one day" LOL We went to print TONS of pics from this photo shoot. Once I made a new folder (Pics Marcia Loves) and focussed on those pics, I started loving the shoot. I particularly love these ones of me and D.

4. We got our increase letters today and I am beyond thrilled. This is the highest of the 7 increases I have ever received at this company. It's been a record money year for me at work. Brilliant bonus, free money and a good increase. Things are looking up and my savings account is looking healthy again. I think I'll get a cleaning lady for a 2nd day a week from next year. On the other hand, it's also been the worst year for my business in about 5 years! There's much more to the story but that's for another post. Maybe on the private blog.

5. I don't think I'm going to go to Sting simply because I can't find anyone who wants to go with me. Normally I'm not a girl who needs anyone with her to do anything (movies, restaurant, shopping, etc - I love being alone) but a concert is not something you go to by yourself, right? L from work booked her tickets in the 2nd row (!) about an hour after they were announced so that's not an option.

On the bright side, Michael Buble will be here in May. The not-so-bright-side is that he's performing at Sun City (2.5 hours away...) so it will have to be a granny babysitting thing... South Africans, are you going?

What did I do for me this week?

Well, I woke up on Tuesday, tired again. Yes, it is that time of year but I'd just had enough.

I know that I always feel better about ... well, everything... when I'm exercising. I make better food choices because I don't want to stuff up my hard work in the gym, I imagine I'm more muscular, have a flatter tummy, etc, sleep better, don't stress so much, and and and...

"Enough of this nonsense!" I said and the minute I got to work I phoned the personal trainer. The one I kind-of fired.

Amazingly the stars aligned and she said she'd resigned but she'd send me the new girl's details.

I contacted her, went to the gym that very afternoon to work out by myself while the new PT and I got acquainted and had an expectations chat.

She emailed me her bank details, I paid her a lot of money and I started with her the next day.

She's tall, blonde, has a beautiful smile and while she's lovely, doesn't put up with any nonsense.

She is KILLING me but when I see results I'm going to love her. Actually, I already do.

I can't believe I've been to the gym THREE times this week (the last time that happened was Feb) and it feels fantastic.

So what did you do for yourself this week?
Are you going away over December?

We're not but I can't wait for the rest of Joburg to leave so I can catch up on my work!

School friends

2011-12-08T15:00:00.000+02:00

I didn't have tons of friends when I was at school.

In fact, only three very good friends.

Who all stayed in PE to study whereas I went to my beloved Rhodes.

There were lots of people I was friendly with but I wouldn't consider all of those people my friends.

Of course now with Facebook, you would consider all those people friends.

When I left school, I tried to keep in touch with those three and I kind-of did with the one, but not the others.

Nothing really happened, we both just didn't bother to really make the effort.

In those days, I was very black and white about things. Much more than I am now (with the callousness of youth), if that's possible.

So if I sent a letter and they didn't write back, I tried once more and that was that.

Written off!

Remember I finished school in the good old days when you had to write letters to communicate or otherwise use a good, old-fashioned landline which was expensive in those days.

It never bugged me, still doesn't, because I used to always be of the opinion that if we REALLY wanted to connect, we could.

So we didn't.

With Facebook, I deliberately kept my maiden name off my profile.

I really don't want everyone to know my business if we haven't even thought about one another for the last 19 years.

Yes, it's been a long time since I matriculated.

But of course, one finds and gets found on Facebook.

And I get messages like, "I wasn't even sure if it was you because I didn't know your surname". Um, yes. Totally intentional on my behalf.

I must say, I wasn't enemies with anyone at school so if anyone friends me, I accept. And some of them have turned into really nice people :)

We all look exactly the same except have got slightly fatter and with more wrinkles :)

I still am not good friends with any of my school friends although I do initiate some FB contact if I'm going to be in PE :)

I actually met up with a girl from primary school last year. We hadn't seen each other for 25 years and it was so funny - when Reception told me she was there to meet me for lunch, I whispered, "what is she wearing? I haven't seen her for 25 years!" but she looked exactly the same as she did at 12.

And I know if we were to get together, we'd have a good time catching up.

I still don't try too hard though because I don't want to be seen as the one that is chasing the friendship.

Gosh, did I just say that?

Does that even make sense?

So, back to you.

Are you still good friends with your school friends? Or did you ditch them as soon as you could?

What was your plan about friending old school friends on FB?

Not so wordless Wednesday - Sun City

2011-12-07T22:13:00.000+02:00

So at the end of September (yes, a whole 10 weeks ago!) our work conference was at Sun City. Yes, we are super spoilt.

We had the Drum Cafe teaching us to make beautiful music together. I love this stuff. I was hot and bothered and hungry but I still got into the whole drumming thing.

BTW, had I taken that job I was offered last year, I would have been working with the guy to the left of me in the pic.

the gorgeous pink bag I bought for my birthday
I am slightly obsessed with taking pics of the contents of my bag

ooh, I love that blur...

Pic from our bedroom the next morning

and me doing self-portraits in the mirror

ready to set off and explore with my camera - bliss...

love signboards

and bridges

and water

beautiful flowers

and isn't the texture of this rope gorgeous?!

what do you call these black things?

isn't it amazing how people still carve their messages into trees?

another self-portrait

Add caption

finally I finished and landed at this beautiful pool where I read my Kindle

this pic was for D - this is what a pool needs to look like, not gross green :)

I am itching to travel properly - to fly away on a plane, hear people talking other languages or at least English with an accent ;)

*sigh*

If I could buy you a plane ticket to anywhere, where would you go?

I'm very good at denial

2011-12-06T22:46:00.001+02:00

I read a post in my Google Reader on the weekend that reminded me of something I forgot to tell you.

Because I'd blocked it out, you see.

When Nanny V leaves for the day, Kendra does this whole song and dance about kissing and hugging her.

Kendra also waits til the last possible minute so basically the person is out the door before she twigs that they're actually leaving NOW.

I don't indulge in this wishy-washy behaviour in the mornings.

I tell them I'm going to work and do they want a kiss and hug.

If they ignore me (tell me my kids are not the only ones who flat-out ignore me) and carry on playing, I say (brightly), "bye! I'm off to work. Have a nice day" and I go.

Of course the next couple of days they don't faff around :)

Anyway, so this particular day, about two weeks ago, V was saying her good-byes.

Connor and I said "bye" and I clicked the remote to open the gate.

Kendra then SHRIEKED at the top of her voice, "V! V! hug! kiss!" and I was momentarily distracted by this drama.

In a flash, Connor was out the door and running down the driveway towards the gate which was WIDE open.

I took off after him shouting, "Connor!" and he thought it was a game/ saw his chance for freedom and kept running down the street.

In a vest and leggings, by the way.

I caught up with him about two houses down the street so those little legs are fast.

I scooped him up, my heart beating so fast from the adrenaline and the thoughts of what could have been whizzing through my head.

Of course I gave him a talking to - that he is not allowed outside without me, D or V because there are cars that can hurt him, etc.

I also told V that that was IT! No more pandering to K's nonsense - if V's out the door, that's it. K will have to cry for her hug and kiss but I'm not having a dead baby.

So that's what we now do and K seems to understand.

But that day, once we were all safe inside, I lay on the couch thinking and thinking some more. And then I started crying. Sobbing really, from relief.

I can't explain the terror I felt at how things could have turned out so badly.

Fortunately D arrived soon after, took one look at me and said, "what's going on?"

Connor said, "Mummy's crying...Mummy's sad".

D and I hugged, prayed and that was that. I totally forgot about it (or more likely, blocked it out) until I read this post from Reanbean.

I so relate to that terror she felt.

Oy!

Have you had any such incidents?

PS today is the triplets' birthday. I can't believe it's been one whole year and I was right last year - they are GORGEOUS!
PPS today is also the 3-year anniversary of the Rod Stewart concert where I triggered :) Incidentally, I cut up the t-shirt I was wearing that night to make a necklace. Pictures to come!