Christmas Morning & Christmas Eve

Grant actually came and woke up Dereck and I at 7h15 so that we could open our presents!! If you know Grant, this is very rare as we battle to get him out of bed every morning!!! Anyway Dereck played Santa and dished out all the presents. His rather large present which was hidden in Leanne's cupboard was brought out just when he thought there were no more presents. Boy was he surprised. Once opened he saw that it was a racing car seat for his playstation racing game. He and Grant set it all up (he already had a steering wheel which was attached to a little table and the feet pedals) and it was quite difficult to get him away!!.

I then proceeded to make a bread and the famous Ramsay Ginger pudding which turned out absolutely divine!!! I had made a tester on the Sunday, to make sure that I got it right. It is so simple and I can't believe that I hae never tried to make it before. I haven't uploaded the photos from Christmas day yet, so will do another post about what we did.

Below are pictures from Christmas Eve. The Engler family get together so that we don't have to rush around on Christmas morning visiting each other before we have lunch. This was a special get together as Malcolm, Carol, Byron and Cassandra are leaving to go to New Zealand in late January 2009, so it was one of the last occasions to get a family shot. I took the opportunity of getting the various families as well as brothers and sisters and the whole family. We then proceeded to have dinner at the table Debbie had set out so nicely - more photos to follow! Dinner consisted of Curry and Rice (made by Malcolm - it is divine), roast chickens (by Debbie) a pasta dish (made by me) and salad. Pudding was trifle (made by my mom - very yummy) and ice-cream and chocolate sauce. Finishing off with Beacon favourite chocolates. All in all a great afternoon/evening and it was great to get such lovely family pictures. I can't wait to do a scrap page! I will also be sending these to Leanne as she wants to enlarge some to put up on her wall, now that she is renting her own place.


Another post to follow.

Happy snapper signing off .....

BOM Challenge #11 - My Man

Our next challenge was to journal about the man in your life. The man in my life is Dereck and here is the layout I did:

(and I don't know why it is loading this way round - I am sooooo irritated as I have tried 4 times and nothing is working!!!) So, sorry you will please just have to tilt your head to see it (he he)

The journalling reads:

Dereck was born on 12 January 1956 and is the eldest of four children. He has 3 sisters, Lesley, Jennifer and Joanne.
During 1979 I went out with a guy called James. He shared a flat with Biddy and Mark and Mark was going out with a friend of mine, Beverley. Dereck was good friends with Biddy and Mark and he and his friend Paul would often come round to the flat after they had finished playing softball, so I used to see him quite often. The first time I ever saw him, I said to myself “if James and I ever broke up, I wouldn’t mind going out with Dereck”. Little did I know that this would happen.
In February 1980 I was invited to my matric class teacher’s wedding and was now in a dilemma as I had no partner. Beverley said that Mark’s friend had just come back from overseas and they would ask him. It was Mark’s birthday at the beginning of February so arrangements were made for me to go to the party so that I could meet their friend, Dereck before the wedding. We met at the party and got on really well. I really liked him a lot. The next week was the wedding and we had a great time. He then phoned me to go out the following week-end. During the week I got a phone call and gradually these calls increased and we ended up going out every week-end. In November 1983 we got engaged and on 16 June 1984 we got married. In June 2009, we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.
Dereck has a lovely open face and that is what initially attracted me to him. He is a very gentle person who doesn’t like confrontations and is pretty easy going (unless something really gets his goat!!). We both enjoy movies and when we first started going out we often went to the movies and back then, the drive-in! Dereck hasn’t really changed much, but I know that I have become more vocal over the years and if I don’t like something or want to do something, I have my say or just do it. I do feel that I have got stronger and have learnt to do a lot on my own and if I want something done, I would rather just get on and do it than wait for someone else to do it. One of Dereck’s faults is that he waits before he does something and often has to be asked to do things, which is often why I get on and do things myself. But, if it is something that he has an interest in, then there is no stopping him!!
Dereck and I are opposites and I feel, compliment each other. He is rather shy, whereas I am very outgoing. I like a whole selection of foods, whereas Dereck is more a meat and potatoes kind of person. Over the years he has got to enjoy some meals that he didn’t like when I first met him. Dereck can get quite heated when there are problems especially when travelling and there is a traffic jam or I can’t read a map and we get lost. He can get into quite a mood, whereas I will just go with the flow as there is nothing you can do, except ask for directions – not too many men do this!!! or just wait for the jam to ease. Dereck can sometimes be quite negative, whereas I try and see the positive in situations.

While our children were growing up, I did find things rather stressful but after some soul searching realised that life is not always about when and how you want things, but how you fit in with others and that everyone has their way to do things which I needed to accept.
Leanne moved out of home in July 2007 to go and live in England and Grant has a girlfriend (Lauren), so is often out. Dereck and I now have lots of time together and I feel that we are both still young and energetic enough to have a good time on our own again - almost like we are dating, as our time is ours.
Dereck has always been very stable in the working environment, but in 2002 he was retrenched and started up his own computer software business which has gone from strength to strength. Dereck is very conservative and between the two of us, we have managed our finances well.
Dereck has always enjoyed a good game of golf. I, on the other hand did a lot of walking and Dereck eventually joined me and tried his hardest to beat me in races!! Recently we have both taken up gym. We are really enjoying it and we often train together. Our taste in music is quite different, but of his music selection, if I can dance to it, I enjoy it!
Dereck loves watching rugby, British football (he supports Everton), grand prix to name a few sports. Not all these interest me which gives me my time to scrap or do other things. Dereck also loves listening to and watching music, reading (and we have similar tastes in certain books), watching movies, playing the electric guitar, playing poker and the latest is racing cars on the playstation! Dereck gets on well with my friends and some of them have a good laugh at him as he can be quite a moaner sometimes, and they really rag him about that!!
We spoil each other with surprises and we both have a good sense of humour. Do we argue - yes, and I am sure there will be many more arguments, as we can’t always agree with everything, but we do get on well and have a great time together.
So, to Dereck – thanks for the past 28 years and here’s to at least another 28 more. Thanks for being there for me, for your support both voluntary and involuntary, and for giving me the freedom to be able to be me and do the things that have interested me.
I love you!

Happy with my man signing off ....

Some Creativity and a Prize

I have been rather busy lately, scrapping away and here are a few of my layouts I have finished:

I have now tried 5 times to load this layout and it won't load any other way but this. This is Grant in Grade 2 and 3.

This was Grant's 17th birthday when he decided to have a Pizza party. I had a selection of toppings and everyone created their own pizza and then took it to Dereck where he cooked it in the pizza oven. Lots of fun - the pizza, the pool and then the chocolate cake for pudding.

This is a layout of Grant's first year at school. He came home from his first day and when I asked him how it was, he told me he didn't like it and wanted to go back to pre-school. When I asked him why, he said because they did too much work and he wanted to play!!

On another note, I recently entered a competition on the Shape website and won this prize, consisting of a gym ball, a lovely skipping rope and some Nivea Cellulite cream (and my family are all saying "oh no, she always wins things"!!


Creative prize winner signing off ....

Boys and their Toys and some Chicks!

For a while Dereck has been talking about getting a new car. Well, he decided last week that the time was right and went in and ordered his Mazda MX5. On Saturday at 9:00am we went in to collect it.

The car dealer had a sign on the wall congratulating Dereck on his new car and it was on the showroom floor with a black cloth draped over it. Dereck had to pull the cloth off to reveal the car. After all the formalities were over, we drove away and went to show it to my mom, dad and sister (who was at their house visiting). We just missed my dad, but he came round later to see the car.

All I can say is WOW, it is an awesome "little" car and goes very nicely. I haven't had a chance to drive it yet, but just wait until I do!!!!

Here is what it looks like:

My dad's Bantom chickens recently had chicks, one of them being white with black specks. The mom and dad are a golden colour, so not sure where it came from! Here are some of them:

Hot chick signing off ....