Life Experiences

USA holiday 2011

2011-09-10T14:47:00.000+02:00

Am currently on holiday in the USA if you would like to follow me, here is the blog:

ramsayusa2011.blogspot.com

Home Improvements

2011-01-22T16:39:00.000+02:00

Ok, so this blog has been seriously neglected. Apologies. After our wonderful USA holiday, there have been a few things happening in my life. We did some building and landscaping to our front garden. Before we went overseas I had spoken to our landscaper and he sent us through his plans and ideas whilst we were in the USA. Once we got back he got started. Here are some before pictures:

Some "during" pictures:

And the end result:

And the view looking from under the Gazebo:

It really has made such a difference to the front garden and we have had a couple of get togethers under the gazebo (even in the rain).

To lie on the seating under the gazebo on a hot day and read a book is very pleasant and both Dereck and I have done it - he he.

We went today and bought an outside light which will go at the end of the paving after the pool to light up the stepping stones and we got a flourescent light to under the awning to the right of the pool.

I will do another blog post and let you know about our week-end away at Shelley Beach.

Home improver signing off ....

USA Holiday 2010

2010-09-09T11:38:00.000+02:00

Dereck and I are finally packed and ready to leave shortly for a holiday in the USA. We have set up a holiday blog, so while we are away, this blog won't be updated but our holiday one will.

Please pop over to:

http://www.ramsayusa2010.blogspot.com/

and see what we have been up to and leave us some love.

Jetsetter signing off .........

Some cards I made

2010-08-22T19:55:00.000+02:00

After attending a recent card class with Bee, I decided to make these two cards - the first one ia a shirt card, which has a lot of folding and I quite enjoyed the challenge...

The next one is just a tri-fold, but I used my EKSucess edge punch on the outside and the inside and I must say I quite like the effect ....

Off to carry on with a scrapping layout I started this afternoon.

Thanks for looking.

Crafter signing off ....

A very formal dinner

2010-08-15T20:35:00.000+02:00

It was the annual Commodore's Dinner at the Point Yacht Club last night and Dereck and I were invited as my boss is the current Commodore. I was also asked to please make the menu cards to put on the tables, which I must say, I had a lot of fun making. The theme was "twilight sailing" with the colours being black and orange. Dereck hired a tux and I had a black outfit which I wore. Sorry no pictures of us, but here is a picture of the menu cards which I made ... the front ...

and the inside ....

My friend Wayne has a laser cutting machine and he made the cut outs of the yacht and palm tree and then I stuck them all down. I had to make 30 of these cards, so had a bit of a production line going on in my craft room.

It was a great evening and we only left there at midnight.

Midnight dinner guest signing off ....

Card Crafting

2010-08-15T20:29:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday I went to the Hobby Hut in Queensburgh for a card crafting lesson with Bee. Always a lot of fun and very inspirational. These are the cards we made:

This was the shirt card. To open , you pull from under the collar.

You would put your sentiment on the white card on the inside .... To get the sleeves, took a bit of origami type folding - bit tricky but what an effect ....

This was just a simple card, where you double folded the sides inwards ...

This was a pull out card, you pull one side and pullouts come from both sides - a bit of a technique to get this one, but what a lovely effective card ....

Then yesterday, I went to a card class with Bee but at a friend's house. Loads of fun and again very inspirational and this was the first, simple tri-fold card. Also nice to use as an envelope or made into a little handbag ...

Another simple card, but with a lovely corner decoration. We didn't use double sided paper, but merely attached a square of different paper on to the right hand corner which folded over to give the effect.....

An easle card which has its own section holding it up and then balancing against the brown bit in the front - another nice and easy but very effective card.

I have another class with Bee on 26 August in Durban North which makes it 3 this month. Someone at one of the classes called me a "card stalker" - ha ha ha.

So I suppose ... card stalker signing off .....

Canvass Art - 3 July 2010

2010-07-04T15:10:00.000+02:00

Bee held a canvass art lesson at The Hobby Hut at Queensburgh Nursery on Saturday, 3 July 2010 which I attended. Wow, this was an amazing class and I so enjoyed creating my canvass. We used all sorts of bits of tinfoil, embossed paper, leaves, chipboard, flowers, lace and what ever else there was around. We painted the canvass black and then stuck down all the other bits to get a nice textured base. Then we painted over the textured bits black again and then dry brushed the colour we wanted. I decided to do my theme of Dereck and I in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary last year. I really like how this turned out. The colour in the picture is deep purple and I already have it hanging in my craft room .....

I used stickles over the number 25 to give it a bit of a sparkle. With the photo, I cut out a 1cm border all round, sanded the edges and then inked them. I did the same with the cut out bit and then I mounted the cut out bit with double sided tape to give it a bit of a 3d look.

Canvass crafter signing off ....

Cards Made from Card Class in June 2010

2010-07-04T15:01:00.000+02:00

Bee's card class at Durban North on 17 June 2010 was again a funfilled, inspiring class. Here are the cards we made....

This we called the "swing" card as the scolloped circle in the middle hangs from the top and bottom of the circle. A simple, yet effective card.

This card we called the "money slider" card as in order to stick the scolloped quote, we needed to use 5cent pieces so that it moved nicely when the inner tag was pulled out.

This card was called the "spinner" card. Before you close the card you twist the inner circle and then close the card. When the person opens it, it spins around. Very nice card and if you wanted, you could extend the white card inside to go all the way to the edge which would give you more space to write your sentiments.

Always a great evening as Bee is just to inspiring and positive.

Inspired cardmaker signing off ....

Peter Rabbit Tatoo

2010-07-03T22:49:00.000+02:00

When my son Grant had his first tatoo, I jokingly said that he was mad. When he got his second one I jokingly said I should get one. When he got his third one I said that I would get one when I had lost 10kg's. I have now lost 16kg's and was still thinking about it. My niece, Samatha offered on Wednesday this week to come round on Saturday (today) and do it for me. I looked for my picture of Peter Rabbit (I have loved this bunny since I was a little girl and collect the figurines) and I fetched her after my craft class this afternoon. I was rather nervous, but we set up in my craft room and off she went. It really felt wierd and at some times I had to grit my teeth, but it was not a pain that lingered at all. Here are a few pictures of the outline being drawn and then the finished tatoo. Samatha is really very artistic and it was an honour for me to have her do my tatoo.

I am thinking of having a Jemimah Puddleduck done on my left shoulder ...... Grant says I am now one of the tatoo gang!!

Tatoo mom signing off ....

Flower Treats

2010-06-20T22:48:00.000+02:00

For my recent birthday, these are two of the flower arrangements I received. The purple ones from Penny at work and she even wore a purple outfit as she remembered that it is my favourite colour. Then when I got home the rose arrangement was waiting for me from my good friend Desire and I am certainly going to enjoy eating the huge apple in this arrangement!!

I also received a lovely purple pair of soft slippers, a purple check pair of pyjama pants, a sleeveless windbreaker, some scrapping goodies, a chocolate, a Milady's shopping voucher, some money from Dereck and a two foot single slipper (you put both feet in it when you are watching TV or crafting!!)

Flower power birthday girl signing off ....

Durban Beachfront

2010-06-20T22:39:00.000+02:00

Today was such a lovely, sunny day, that we decided to go down to the Durban beachfront to see what it looked like at the Fan Park before one of the soccer games at 1h30. We parked at the Suncoast Casino and then walked along the beachfront to the Fan Park - about 2 km. We really enjoyed the sights and the improvements that have been made to the beachfront and the Fan Park was already very festive and I am sure would have been even more so later on when people got there to watch the soccer game. After looking around, we headed back to the Suncoast Casino where we went to the Circus Circus restaurant and had lunch. Thereafter we headed off home where I made some soup.

Here are some pictures of the beachfront area ...

This is at the Fan Park where there is a huge bit screen and stage where the soccer games are broadcast. There was a lot of entertainment going on in this area.

The MTN entertainment - these guys were quite funny they way the mooved these "men" making them look like they were walking and dancing!!

Jennifer and I waiting for Dereck, but enjoying watching what was going on.

These guys who do the sand art are quite amazing. The picture above is of the Moses Mabida Statium including the arch and flags. The guy sitting in the car below had music playing and he was bopping and bouncing as if he was driving a car - it was quite funny to watch him. Every now and then he would put his hand behind his head and lean back like a real cruiser!!.

Of course the dolphin display at the entrance of the Suncoast Casino Complex had a make over to blend in with the whole World Cup Soccer theme - I must say they do look rather nice and hope that they stay like this after the soccer is over.

Durban fan signing off ....

A bit of painting

2010-06-20T22:26:00.000+02:00

I recently finished this plate, which I painted onto ceramic and then had it glazed. I will be using it in my kitchen as a spoon rest as the traditional spoon rests always seem to break their handles and are a bit small. I had fun painting this fat lady and my teacher - Susan - helped with painting the outline and doing the face features. I had another appointment to go to and knew that I would take a while doing the outline and face. I am quite pleased with the finished product and I know that it is going to be well used ...

Fat Lady painter signing off .....

World Cup Soccer - 16 June 2010 Spain v Switzerland

2010-06-16T20:30:00.000+02:00

Grant and I got the tickets from Dereck to go and see the Spain v Switzerland soccer match at 4pm at the Moses Mabida Statium in Durban. We got a lift to the Pavilion and then caught the shuttle bus to the Workshop and then another bus to NMR Avenue and then had about a 1.2km walk to the stadium. After we went through the South entrance there was a long walk way to the stadium and everyone was in such a festive mood!! These two Swiss guys were bouncing around and some people asked them if they could take a picture of them. I went up to them and squeezed myself between them and Grant took the photo!!

Then we headed on up to the stadium and this picture below is just before we went through the turnstills....

We found our seats easily and there were lots of officials available to assist if needed. We had a lovely view and as you can see we didn't have to squeeze past anyone.

All standing for the national anthems....

A near goal ....

There were 62453 people attending this game. It was a very exciting game with Spain dominating the field by about 83%. They had some many chances to score, but unfortunately the Swiss just held them off. The Swiss on the other hand managed to score a goal early in the second half. The end result 1-0 to Switzerland. Oh, by the way Grant and I were supporting Spain. We were both kitted out in the supporters shirts and Grant had a hoodie flag. We were given a neck warmer and Grant had fun making different outfits for himself ....

After the game, we had a long walk back along NMR Avenue all the way to the Workshop where we caught the bus back to the Pavilion where Dereck came and fetched us. What an amazing experience!!!! The sound in the stadium was awesome and I didn't even need to wear the ear plugs that I had.

The organisers have certainly done a great job as everything was well managed and totally under control. There was a big police presence and they even came to sort out two guys sitting in the row behind us who were horribly drunk and smoking (the statium is non-smoking). Everyone clapped when they took them away!!!

Soccer fan signing off ....

Soccer Friday - 11 June 2010

2010-06-12T16:22:00.000+02:00

All the staff in the office building at 6 Inkonka Road, Kloof took time out at 10:00am to have tea in celebration of the start of the FIFA World Cup Soccer. We all brought something typical of South African and Mexico food - samoosas, milk tart, boerie rolls, vetkoek, natchos, guacamole and of course soccer ball chocolates. Most of the offices closed at about 1pm so that staff could go and watch the opening ceremony at 2pm. Our office also closed and we all went to Julian and Debbie's place to watch. I left the game at half time to go home and watch with Dereck (who is sick with flu) and as I walked into our house, South Africa scored the first goal!!! I even sat and watched the rest of the game and boy was it exciting.

Back to the work functions ... we decided to dress up the statue in the entrance hall ..

Then we made Julian pose with his 'Makaraba" on, next to the statue ....

Me, Gerry and Campbell ...

From L - R - Julian, Paula, Penny, Debbie, Gerry, Campbell and me

It was a really special, festive day and a lot of fun had by all.

Soccer fan signing off ....

More card making

2010-06-12T16:08:00.000+02:00

On 21 May 2010, I went for another card lesson. These lessons are held at the Pigeon Club, in Durban North with Bee and the next one is on 17 June 2010 at 5:30pm. They cost R120-00 and you do three wonderful cards. It is lots of fun and very motivational.

These are the cards we made that evening ...

This is a little box that you could fill with sweets, or a small gift.

A waterfall card. You pull the little pink tab at the bottom and the various tabs flip up revealing your quotes or other decorations you want to put there.

This was a card that had an envelope built into it.

These are the cards I made at the class in April ....

Pull the tab at the top and voila ....

And another cute card.

Card maker signing off ....

My Flower Pot

2010-06-12T15:36:00.000+02:00

I recently finished dry brushing my ceramic flower pot. This is the end result and I must say I had a lot of fun doing it ...

Not too potty, signing off ....

Poor Izzy

2010-06-12T15:35:00.000+02:00

Izzy my little mini sausage dog was attached on Friday morning about two weeks ago by our other sausage dog, Jemma, for no reason whatsoever. Dereck heard them growling in his office but he thought it was Jemma and Zippa playing and when he turned around saw that it was Izzy, but the damage had been done. Dereck got involved and managed to separate them, but in the process stood on his glasses which had fallen off. He managed to get my maid Theresa to phone me and I met him at the vet. Poor Izzy had a huge hole in her rump and under her tummy near her back legs, plus a bit hole in her forehead and a few other gashes on her back. The vet set her up on a drip and gave her some medicine to calm her down and then looked at her wounds. She noticed that she had lost some teeth - top tooth and four bottom teeth, so now she dribbles a bit and her tongue hangs out even more when she relaxes (it looks cute though!). She had to stay there while they monitored her. We were advised that she needed to be operated on to sort out the two big wounds that she had but they could only do that once the swelling had gone down. I went to visit her after work and managed to get her to eat her food. She was so excited to see me and just wanted to climb out the cage to get to me. It was very sad seeing her like that. We went to visit her on the Saturday morning and she was certainly a bit more perky but had lots of bruising on her tummy and had a pressure bandage around her tummy because of all the swelling. On Sunday when we went to visit her we were allowed to take her outside and let her run around on the grass and as she wasn't eating, was told I could bring some of her favourite food, which when I gave to her, she guzzled it down.

On Monday evening we brought her home to sleep with us and she went back to the Vet on Tuesday morning and she came home again on Tuesday night. On Wednesday they operated on her and were pleased that there was not too much damage and then stitched her up. Due to there being so much fluid on the rump injury she had to have a drain put in her and then had to wear a collar to stop her licking or scratching the wound. She did not like that at all, but even the smallest collar did not stop her from being able to reach her sore to lick it. All the licking probably healed it as the next morning, it was not oozing and certainly looked a lot better. The day before she had to go and have the drain removed, she pulled it out herself!!

Here is what she looked like with her collar on and her face shaved where the wound was - definitely not a happy doggie ....

The bandage on her front leg is where the drip had been and the plaster was sticking to her.

She is certainly on the mend and is due to have her stiches taken out on Monday.

Sad doggy mommy signing off ....

A bit of a winning streak

2010-06-12T15:20:00.000+02:00

About three weeks ago I attended the KZN Masters Athletics luncheon held at what used to be called the Pinedene Lodge (sorry, I just can't remember what their new name is.) I had a painting lesson in the morning and went straight from there, so was a bit late - everyone had already finished their starter. It was a great day and was good to see everyone getting recognised for their athletic achievements. Sharon Fuchs was the most improved athlete with her racewalking times. Jeanine le Febour was going round to everyone to get them to buy raffle tickets for two raffles they had which were tog bags filled with goodies. I took four tickets and when they announced that they were going to do the raffle and explained what it was, I looked around and saw one of the bags was grey and purple and my immediate thoughts were "well, maybe I should just go up now to collect". They drew the first name and it was ........ Michelle Ramsay. I could not believe it. Here is a picture of the bag ...

On opening the bag, it was filled with all sorts of goodies ....

Then the following week-end we went to a baseball fundraising evening with wonderful live music and lots of lucky draw prizes and I won a bottle of champagne ..

So all in all a good, profitable 2 week-ends.

Winner signing off ....

A week-end in Strand in Cape Town

2010-05-13T23:06:00.000+02:00

My friend Desire was invited to teach a scrapping class at a Forever Memories Scrapping Convention at the Ocean View Hotel in Strand, Cape Town over the week-end 8 & 9 May 2010. As her Durban scrapday assistant she asked me if I would be able to help her with this class and man the shop, which I happily agreed to. I left Durban from the new King Shaka airport and I must say it is really very nice - lots of space and quite modern. My flight was delayed for an hour due to the delay of an incoming flight, so poor Desire was waiting at Cape Town airport. And to top it all, I was going via Port Elizabeth, so there was a delay there too. When I finally got to Cape Town she had arranged a shuttle service to get us to our hotel, which was the Ocean View in Strand - right on the beach. This is a picture from the beach of our hotel and our room was on the left hand side, the second row from the top (with the curtains open).This was the view looking out of our room, to the left ...
and looking to the right .....
We met up with Sheila Corfe and Debbie van Coppenhagen who flew down later on the Friday. After a couple of Strawberry Daquiries and a few other refreshing drinks we headed off to bed in preparation for our scrapping on Saturday.

We got up early, had breakfast and then went to the conference venue to set up shop. Our classes started at 9:00am and while there were interesting and different things being done, it was not my type of layout and there were one or two that I did not do as I felt my photos were not appropriate. One of the classes was a painting class where we had to paint onto a canvass, incorporating photos as well and this is something that I will do at home with the right photos. Quite a lot like doing decoupage.

During the breaks, sales at the shop went very well and the delegates were quite taken with Desire's layouts as well as the templates. Once she had done her class on the Sunday morning, everyone was commenting on how much they liked her class, the way she had notes to follow and that there was a photo of the finished layout that they could see how it looked. Most of the ladies finished this layout and all were very pleased at having been able to use so many photos.

Sunday was the day we were going to go out and take photos, but it was raining. Because of it being mother's day, the restaurant was booked out so we were privileged to have our lunch in the Presidential Suite on the 6th floor. Wow, this was quite spectacular! We finished our scrapping early and after packing everything up in boxes to be couriered back to Desire in Johannesburg and in other boxes to go into our suitcases, we went downstairs to the pub to wait for Sheila and Debbie. While we were waiting we noticed that it was not raining and decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was rather cool - Desire will say freezing - but fresh. We went on the beach and because I was wearing sandals, I took them off. It is a long while since I went walking on the beach, but it was lovely. We had fun taking the pictures below ....
Notice how my feet are in the water .... yes it was cold and they were getting numb!
Almost reached the top ....

This was all we saw of the sunset, but just enough to get a picture ..
There was lots of this seaweed all over. Haven't seen much of this in Durban on the few times that I have been to the beach. Also, there were lots of lovely shells on the sand as well. I remember as a child collecting loads of shells every time we went to the beach and there was such a selection of them too.
Monday morning we got up a bit later and were collected at 9:00am to be taken back to the airport. My flight was delayed for about 30 minutes and Dereck was waiting to fetch me once I reached Durban.

A really wonderful week-end away with great friends. We had lots of laughs and fun just chilling.

Our next scrapping get-away is in July at Vermaakskraal and I cannot wait for this treat.

Grant leaves tomorrow for a 2 week holiday to visit Leanne in Wales and wanted to go out tonight and I had to take him and fetch him at 12:00am which is why I have had the chance to finally do some updates on my blog while I wait before going to fetch him.

Cape Town visitor signing off ....

Making Cards

2010-05-13T22:30:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone, I am back. I have been busy playing FarmVille on Facebook, much to the annoyance of Dereck as it uses a lot of bandwidth. But.... I have also been busy - painting ceramic vases (which just needs one more coat of varnish, painting boxes in preparation for some folk art painting lessons, been to Cape Town to assist Desire who had been asked by Forever Memories to teach a class, scrapping my USA layouts - I am now on the Las Vegas part of our trip, mosaicing a frame around a mirror that I have and of course making cards. I have been to a couple of lessons with Bee in Durban North and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I was browsing the web recently and found the instructions for the cards I made below. They are really cute and I have used scraps of paper to make them, so it is one way of using up my scraps and creating something nice.

This card below is for Leanne. It is her birthday on 20 May and Grant is leaving tomorrow for a 2 week holiday in Wales with her. I am sure she is going to love it as Winnie the Pooh is her favourite.

This card is for a special friend, Kathy who, as you have guessed, turns 50 and Shelley, Rayna and I will be seeing her on the week-end. I am sure she is going to enjoy getting this cute little card along with her present. She can at least tell me what being 50 is like so that when I get there I will know how to feel - ha ha ha.

Card maker signing off ....

Special Week-end Away

2010-04-03T11:07:00.000+02:00

For the long week-end of the 19 - 22 March, I went up to Johannesburg to help Desire with putting together kits for the scrapbook convention that we are going to in May. Desire has been asked to teach a class and I am going as her assistant. I left home in time to catch the 6h15 flight to Lanseria where Desire and Conroy collected me. We went for breakfast and then headed to their house in Dainfern Ridge Estate. I had been to a card making class the evening before and another one last month, so had all my samples to show Desire. The one she really liked the most was this one which she named the "scaffold" card. I showed her how to make it and we both made one. This was mine.
Then Desire showed me how to do the Iris folding. She makes a lot of these and I have always wondered how they are done. I was sent the templates, but they meant nothing to me at the time. I must say I really had fun making this card, which I will be giving to my dad for his birthday on 7 April 2010.
Then at 4h00 on Saturday morning, we were up and getting ready to leave to go to the Hartebeesport Dam to take part in the 21.1km run and walking race. I was very nervous of doing this race as the furtherest I have walked since May 2008 is 4km and most of the time it is on the treadmill at a maximum of 2.5 km. Desire did say that we had 4 hours to do it in, but that was just not the point. Anyway we eventually got parked and had to rush to collect our entries and get to the start. The adrenalin was pumping as we thought we were late. We walked through quite a number of estates near the dam, there were plenty of watering tables with ice cold water and at some of the later ones there were goodies to eat - my best was the little mini milk tart - it was just needed at that time. Desire and I walked together for most of the race, but then at about 5km to go, she went up a hill and great speed and I could just not catch her although she was always in my sight. By this time my calves and my bum were really tight and I was also now tired of this race and wanted to be finished. I managed to finish in a very respectable time of 2h52:27 which is the same time I did my last race in September 2006 in Durban in. So, I was really pleased at that. The weather was lovely and went overcast which was perfect. My calves were really tight and once Conroy had dropped us off at home, he went off to buy some reparil gel and some enos. By Monday I was fine and would never have said I had just walked 21.1km.

The rest of the week-end we spent getting things together for some of my USA layouts and then stamping, punching and counting brads to get ready for the kits for May in Cape Town.

Tuesday morning came along far too quickly and I was taken to the airport in time to catch the 6h15 flight back to Durban, get home and change and then go off to work.

An awesome week-end away and very fulfilling.

Proud walker and iris folder signing off ....

Meet "Jubilee"

2010-03-14T19:58:00.001+02:00

I posted previously a card I had made for Julie at work in celebration of her 50th birthday (which is today). I found out that she collects teddy bears, so decided to make one for her. The pattern is "Phutu" and is available from Teddy Tech in Florida Road, Durban. It was a nice pattern to sew (yes, all by hand!!) and I have just finished her. I had a little ceramic dragon fly which I attached to her paw. I hope Julie likes her.

Teddy maker signing off ....

50th Card for Julie

2010-03-11T19:00:00.000+02:00

Julie from my work turns 50 on Sunday, 14 March 2010. I was asked to make her a card, seeing as I had just been to a card making workshop. Here is the end result and I must say I had loads of fun putting it together and really like how it came out.
Another scrapping friend at work gave me the little teddy and I remade his bow and added some goggly eyes.

Because there were 12 people to sign the card, I made a little booklet which I only stuck into the card once everyone had signed it thereby protecting the card from being opened and closed all the time. It is the piece on the right hand side with a blue arrow on it. I also added some little square beads with a teddy charm and when the card it open it hangs in the space.

Certainly a card type that I will make more of in the future.

Looking forward to my next card making lesson on 18 March 2010 at the Pigeon Club in Durban North with Bee.

Happy card maker signing off ....

Card Making

2010-02-23T07:04:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday I attended a card making workshop run by Belinda Hellerle (Bee). Boy, what fun. I found it a great way to make use of all the left over scraps of paper from scrapping - and I certainly have plenty. Bee uses lots of inspirational quotes which were also very nice and positive to use.

This card was a bit tricky as you have to cut it and then refold one of the sections. Once you understood what needed to be done it was a breeze and I ended up helping a few of the ladies to grasp the concept. I love how it turned out and I will certainly be making some more of these. The inside of the card where you can see the cutting.

Another three fold card, simple but very effective and I really enjoyed making this one. You could certainly adapt the size and it looks quite smart even though there is not much to it.

This card used a transparency as the base and then the paper etc on top of it. A nice different idea. You just have to be careful that all your sticking is hidden by what you put in the inside of the card.

Lots of fun and full of inspiration.

Thanks for looking.

Card maker signing off ....

Midmar Mile 2010

2010-02-13T20:27:00.000+02:00

After all the months of training, today was the day. Dereck and I left home just after 06h30 and got to Midmar Dam nice and early and managed to get the same spot we had last year. Everyone else arrives shortly thereafter. We had a copule of gazebos which we put up and then sat around chilling while waiting for the time to go and get our lift to the start.

The girls team consisted of Kate, myself, Shannon (Paula's friend) Glynis and Paula. Our team event was at 09h45. We were seeded depending on past races, so Kate was off

first in the red cap batch, I was second in the blue cap batch and then followed Paula, Shannon and Glynis in the next batch of yellow caps.

The weather was stunning - lovely blue skies and sun. The dam certainly looked very calm until you had to swim it!! then you felt the current and waves as boats drove up and down checking on us and the masses of people kicking and swimming into you.

Kate managed an impressive 31 minutes, Paula did 36 minutes, Shannon did 39 minutes, I did 46 minutes and Glynis did about 48 minutes. All very proud of our achievements.

The boys team - The Dark Lords - consisted of Darryl, Dereck and Sven. Darryl did 51 minutes and Sven did 39 minutes (and I am told that he did next to no training, although he is a surfer, so maybe that fitness counted!!) Dereck unfortunately ended up swallowing too much water and got himself into trouble and ended up being rescued and had a leisurely boat ride back to the finish. After the race, we all sat around chilling, some cooking breakfast on the skottle, while others decided to rather buy something to eat.

We ended up leaving there at about 2:30. A really fun day and all looking forward to next year.

Oh, by the way, the girls team were named the "glamourous gliding guppies" and Sven designed a logo for us (he also did the boys one on the shirts they are wearing), but we just did not have the time to get it printed, so next year at least we have our logo and will get shirts printed.

4 down 6 to go (to get my permanent number)

Midmar miler signing off.....

My Love - Izzy

2010-02-12T06:54:00.000+02:00

The challenge over at Scrap A Tale was all about love. So I decided to do this page (based on a sketch) about my sausage dog Izzy.

The journalling is as follows:

On 7 November 2006 whilst driving down our road in 5 o’clock traffic Leanne noticed a little sausage dog darting up the road. I pulled into our drive way and by the time Leanne had got out, the little dog had already gone past our house and had crossed the road (Underwood Rd, which is very busy!). She ran after this little dog and managed to catch up with it. I walked down the road to see what was taking Leanne so long and met her with the cutest little sausage dog that melted my heart. I took her from Leanne and just cuddled her. She was as skinny as anything, her ears had no hair on them and were like leather and she was full of scratches on her tummy. We took her home and fed her and the next day phoned the local Vet and the SPCA. After 2 weeks no-one had claimed her and we decided that as she had already crept into our hearts, we would keep her.

She is my “little black shadow”. She follows me everywhere. She cuddles under the duvet with me at night. She jumps onto my lap when I am in the loo. She sits on my lap while watching TV. She has a pillow on my craft box where she sleeps while I scrap and when she is tired, she climbs under my t/shirt so that she can sleep. She has such a gentle nature and has never ever snatched food from anyone’s hand when they feed her. She loves me unconditionally and holds a special place in my heart.

Thanks for looking.

Doggie lover signing off ....

An update on Biddy

2009-12-26T17:06:00.000+02:00

On 23 December 2009, Biddy ran her first race. It was the second race at Greyville over 1000m. We had arranged a table of 20 at the Durban View Room (where you have a wonderful buffet supper and can watch out the glass windows). There was a delay with the first race as they had a false start. We all went down to the parade ring to watch her being saddled up by Paul Lafferty, her trainer (and also a part owner of her) and then watched her walk around the ring. The jockey came up to us and we all shook hands with him. A very nice little guy called Muzi Yeni. There was a serious storm looming and Paul had received a phone call from a friend of his in Umhlanga advising him that there was hail. There was also quite a bit of lightning. Anway, we then went up to the Durban View Room to watch her go to the start. And then the race began .... she jumped out of the starting pens and then didn't quite know what to do and lost about 2 lengths off the leader. She maintained her pace and got into the group and coming along the straight she was probably second last, but went on to run a fantastic race and deadheated for 3rd. Boy was that exiting. Our whole table was standing up and shouting for her. It was awesome. The report back was that she ran a great race and wanted to run and she should do very well next time out which is possibly on the 10 January 2010.

Today, Dereck and I went to the stables to see her. She really is a lovely horse and just likes to muzzle up to you. She was doing that to me and muzzling my tummy and sniffing my bag. I think I should find out if I can give her sugar cubes and then treat her!!

She has such a gentle nature and is a very special horse to us.

Horse kissed signing off ....

The Biddy Filly

2009-11-24T13:54:00.000+02:00

After checking the weather report, we made arrangements to take my mom, dad and Leanne up to see Biddy. I was also able to go as I was given a bit of time off in the morning. I got to the stables after Biddy had been put back into her box, but she still come to whisper in my ear that "she was pleased that I had come to see her and that she had trained well and is looking forward to her first race." It was so funny when she came up to my ear and was sniffing me and then breathing warm air into my ear. I just could not help laugh and I really love this picture that Dereck took. I think that is shows the fun that we had.

Biddy was doing the same thing to Leanne all the time she was touching her. My mom and dad with Biddy after her training session and before she went back into her box.

Biddy is really a lovely horse with a gentle nature. Everytime Dereck goes to see her, she recognises him. She has grown well and is training very well and we are all looking forward to going to see her in her first race which hopefully will be soon.

I was also given the rest of the day off, so am enjoying my time at home with Leanne.

Proud horse owner signing off ....

The Fear Factor Challenge

2009-11-22T21:39:00.000+02:00

So after being educated through the cultural village at Phezulu, followed by the crocodile farm and snake park tours and finishing off with the game drive, we had worked up an appetite. Before the game drive we had gone to the restaurant to buy something to drink and I had seen a "Fear Factor" Challenge on their menu. I told Liesel and Leanne that this was something we were going to do. It means ordering a meal consisting of a crocodile kebab with chips and a salad and then eating it in a pit full of crocodiles. Liesel and Leanne were a bit concerned about doing this but I said we had to!! A guy does stand in the pit with us with a stick and he advised that he stands between us and the crocodiles. We ordered our food and he set up the table. He gave us brief instructions of what to do if a crocodile should come towards us - ha ha ha ha. There were 10 crocodiles in this pit. I must say eating crocodile was very enjoyable. Don't know what the crocs though of us eating one of them in their pit.

There we are enjoying our meal.

And just in case you thought the photo was taken elsewhere, we turned around so that you can see we are all in the pit with the crocodiles.

This is a close up of the one on the water's edge closest to us. He just kept opening his eye and looking at us and then closing it again.

There is our "watcher" with his stick. We were told that when it is cold the crocs just chill in the water and don't move around too much. It is when it is hot that they come out of the water to find shade and often it is under the table we were sitting at. Apparently crocs can jump, so getting on to the table if they came towards you is not an option either!!!

Once we were finished we headed back to the restaurant where we were each presented with a certificate stating that we had survived the "Fear Factor Challenge" and were alive to tell the tale.

Croc fan signing off ....

A day at Phezulu In Botha's Hill

2009-11-22T20:33:00.000+02:00

Last week, Monday 16 November 2009 was my brother Malcolm's birthday - hope you had a great day. It would also have been our good friend Biddy's birthday - rip my friend you were greatly missed.

Anyway, Liesel (my sister) and I took leave and along with Leanne decided to go to Phezulu in Botha's Hill, the Valley of the Thousand hills. The weather was miserable and drizzling and on arriving up there, it was rather chilly. I thankfully had changed my mind and wore jeans as I would have frozen. It really is quite breathtaking to see all these hills and the mist had lifted in order for us to see so clearly. We booked to see the cultural show, followed by the crocodile park and finishing off with the snake park. We enquired about doing a game drive but due to the rain on the previous few days they advised that they would have to check to see if the roads were okay and would let us know. We went in to the cultural village where we were taken through two rondavels and explained what happened in there and the tools and things that were used. It was rather stuffy as there was a very smokey fire on the go. I am not sure how the Africans manage to live in places like that with all the smoke - it was quite a relief to get out into the cold, but fresh air. After the cultural talk we went to watch the cultural courting dance having already been told what the procedure was. These dancers are amazing and have so much rhythm.

Then it was in to the crocodile park. This is the oldest crocodile there, I think about 106 years old and weighed over 400kg's.

We saw a variety of different sized crocodiles but I am not going to post those pictures as they are really all the same.

Next was the snake park - uggggg! Hopefully this is the closest I will ever get to a python!!!

At the end of the crocodile and snake parks there is a gallery where they have skeletons etc of the various different crocs and snakes and off course we could not resist in playing around with this dead, stuffed crocodile!!!

Our wonderful guide - Brian, who was very knowlegable and told us all we wanted to know about the crocodiles and snakes. I could not bring myself to hold or even go close to this snake he was holding, even though he assured us it was totally harmless!

After we came out of the crocodile/snake park we were advised that a game drive was going to take place. I went and booked our tickets and then off we went. It was freezing so our guide got us blankets to put over our legs.

We saw a Wildebeest (known as a Gnu).

Some buck and Zebra's.

Mommy Zebra with her baby and it just stayed by her side all the time. Most of the Zebra females were pregnant.

The baby buck, who were jumping around for us. They were practising their bucking and were jumping and bucking their back legs quite a bit. It was really fun to watch.

There were two giraffe who had names, but I cannot remember them. A male and a female.

After our game drive we headed back to the restaurant for some lunch. That story is in the next post.

Safari parker signing off ....

50 years at Bellevue Tennis Club

2009-11-17T21:39:00.000+02:00

My dad, Lu Engler, is an avid tennis player and was a good one at that too. This year he celebrated 50 years of being a member of the Bellevue Lawn Tennis Club in Glenwood. To honour him for this very fine achievement, they had a lamb on the spit on Saturday, 14 November 2009 at the club. It was great to go back there and it still looks very much the same as what I remember from a little girl going there. There have been some alterations done, of which my dad was the "work party" in getting it done. One of the guys who made a speech. All the speeches made were just so true of my dad. He is never one to sit around. If something needs to be done, he gets on and does it. He maintained the books of the club as well as keeping the bar stocked and apparently he used to tell the barman not to throw away the empties as he would count those against what was left in the fridge to balance against the money received!!

One of the things said in one of the speeches was you wanted a person like my dad on your committee and you just don't get people like that any more. This is a picture that the club had framed and will take pride of place in "The Lu Engler Lounge".

Val Maiden giving a speech. She reminded everyone of the brilliant "falls" my dad had. The "off the fence run" where my dad ended up running up the fence due to the momentum in getting a shot. There was also one where he could not stop and ended up rolling on the ground and then getting up and carrying on playing. Another when he could not stop at the net and ended up going over the top!! I must say I did witness one or two of those and they were spectacular - funny too!!! When I was younger and went to the club I used to play with Val's children who I think went on to play tennis themselves. I played for a short while, but preferred badminton and squash.

Inside the pub looking out onto the lounge my dad built.

The club from the main entrance.

The club from down on the tennis court.

Our family at the club.

My mom and dad.

In 1962,63,67 and 68 my dad won the men's singles competition. In 1961,63 65,66,67,68 and 69 he won the men's doubles competition. In 1963,64 66,67 68,69,70,71,72 and 76 he won the mixed doubles competition.

He also played in the masters championships as well as the grand masters championships. Sadly his knees have been giving him problems and last year he had a knee replacement and needs to have the other knee done as well, so is not able to play much tennis at all.

Well done dad, you are certainly an inspiration to the youth of today and have been a great inspiration to me.

Proud daughter signing 0ff ....

A Day at uShaka

2009-11-08T20:22:00.000+02:00

During the week, Leanne had asked if we could go to uShaka, if the weather was nice. We checked the papers and saw that Sunday was predicted to be about 35 degrees. We went onto the uShaka website just to check the times etc and saw that they were having a competition and if you entered and then referred 4 more people, you received a half price combo ticket. So, I entered and then forwarded on Dereck, Leanne, Grant and Lauren's names and they each went in and entered so we all had half price tickets. Today turned out to be an awesome day and we got ready and headed off down to uShaka arriving there at about 10h15. We found a nice spot under a tree on the grass and close the the rides and set ourselves up. Grant, Lauren and her sister Michaela and Leanne went off first to check out and sample the rides while Dereck and I waited with all our things. It was so nice to just lie around enjoying life and watching the other people around us.

This is one of the rides we went on - yes, even I went down quite a few of them, but this one was hilarious as you go down in a tube and at the bottom there was another tube in my lane and when I hit it, I got knocked out of mine - I was hysterical laughing!!!! and trying to make sure that my costume was still in all the right places - ha ha.

I felt like a kid going on all the rides and then having a good laugh at the end. Each time Dereck and I went on a ride, he would start off first, I would wait a while before going down and ended up catching up with him and pushing him down and then landing on top of him in the pool at the end - we really had so much fun and laughter!!!

At 2:30 we went to the Acquarium and watched the sharks being fed and thereafter headed off to watch the dolphin show. They said they were looking for someone to meet a dolphin and you had to shout or jump around to be noticed and guess what - I was noticed!!!! I was called down and went into the dophin show area and told to sit on the rock above and wait to be called.

Then I went to meet Kelpie an Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin. I stroked his chest. What an amazing feeling - he was so soft.

Then I gave him two pieces of fish and the best was giving him kisses. He just balanced while I gave him quite a few kisses - a memory I will treasure forever. (sorry this picture came out the wrong way).

After that I had to waive to him and he rolled onto his back and waved his fins. It was such an awesome experience.

We watched the rest of the show and then Leanne, Grant and I had our picture taken with a dolphin which happened to be Kelpie again.

After wandering through the shopping mall, we eventually left uShaka at about 4:15. We all had a wonderful, fun filled day. Although I did put sunscreen on me, I did get a bit burnt, but I am not sore, just look nice and healthy.

Lauren made us supper and then her and Grant went out for supper!!

Dolphin lover signing off ....

Over the Top Award

2009-11-07T15:24:00.000+02:00

I received this award from Desire - thank you so much.

The rules are that I need to pass this award on to 5 people, post on their blog that I have left this award and then answer the list of questions. Here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? on top of my bag

2. Your hair? wet

3. Your mother? at home - I think

4. Your father? at home - I think

5. Your favourite food? seafood

6. Your dream last night? can't remember

7. Your dream/goal? to have a lean and healthy body

8. Your favourite drink? Brutal fruit / Hazelnut hot chocolate

9. What room are you in? study

10. Your hobby? crafts, baking, gardening

11. Your fear? being raped

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? where I am now

13. Where were you last night? at home

14. Something that you aren't? a snob

15. Muffins? yes please

16. Wish list item? content with what I have, so nothing in particular

17. Where did you grow up? Yellow-wood Park

18. Last thing you did? swam

19. What are you wearing? costume

20. Your TV? plasma

21. Your pets? 2 sausage dogs and a ridgeback

22. Your friends? lots

23. Your life? I love life

24. Your mood? very positive and happy

25. Missing someone? Normally Leanne, but she is here visiting for a month

26. Your vehicle? Renault Clio III

27. Something your'e not wearing? clothes

28. Your favourite store? Craft shops

29. Your favourite colour? Mauve/purple

30. When was the last time you laughed? about an hour ago

31. When was the last time you cried? probably watching a movie - can't remember

32. Your best friend? I have a couple

33. One place I go to over and over? I have so much I want to see that I don't normally go to the same place twice.

34. Facebook? yes, I am on just about everyday - great keeping up with people

35. Favourite place to eat? Fargo

There are quite a few people that I would like to pass this on to, so instead of going to everyone, if you read my blog please accept this award and post it on to yours and then answer the questions.

Thanks for playing along.

The first week of November 2009

2009-11-07T15:08:00.000+02:00

This has been a very special week for me as Leanne arrived on Monday at 9:00am from Cardiff, to spend a holiday with us until 4 December. It has really been great having her at home. We had a braai on Monday evening and the family came round and surprised them all with gifts from overseas.

Tuesday, Dereck and I went to gym and had a good session.

Wednesday, Dereck and I had our gym session with our trainer Helen aka the Dragon Lady. We (I) had a wonderful session and felt really great afterwards. Wednesday evening was the final of the inter-club Ladies time trial which took place at Forest Hills. I managed a time of 30 minutes for 4km and considering the last time I did this particular time trial was the same time last year where I did a time of 29,5 minutes, I was pretty pleased with myself. Ollie Mundell a Springbok walker congratulated me afterwards on my great walking style and that it was a pleasure seeing a person walking correctly. Well, that just gave me a fantastic confidence boost.

Thursday , I took my lunch break early and left at 3:45, came home and collected Leanne and off we went to the Pavilion to the movies. We saw "The Ugly Truth". What a brilliant movie. It is about a tv show the ugly truth and is a bit of a love story (not all soppy) with loads of humour. I was trying hard not to laugh too loudly!!! There was a problem with the movie in that it kept going blury and we all thought it was our eyes!!. We complained to the manager afterwards and he admitted they had done something wrong when waxing the movie and we all got a free ticket. So it was worth complaining.

Friday, was a really busy day at work and I only got home at 6:00pm. Leanne was going out to a friend's house so I dropped her off and then Grant and Lauren needed a lift to their hang out up the road. I just pottered round the house and sorted out a few things.

Saturday, I had my manicure and Leanne was treated to an Indian Head Massage and a back massage which she really enjoyed. After doing a bit of shopping we came home and then decided to go down to Suncoast beach. Well, it was certainly hotter in Pinetown than it was down in Durban. We stayed for about 90 minutes, bought an ice-cream and then came home and swam. Yes, I had my first swim this year and I must say it was rather pleasant once I was in. Now we are just chilling and while all the children are probably going out tonight, Dereck and I might go to the early movies.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to uShaka. We all entered a competition and referred people so have all managed to get half price tickets. Hope the weather is great!!

Excited signing off ....

The big 50 - kilometers in walking that is ...

2009-10-29T05:44:00.000+02:00

Back a few years ago and being an avid race walker, doing ultra walks was all part and parcel of what I did. The Gaterite was nothing different and for me was just another challenge. What made this one different was you only had to complete 3 in order to obtain your permanent number. The race only started in 2004 and I had done the previous two. It was always held the month before the Ilembe ultra 50km, so was quite a challenge doing two 50km races within a month of each other. Nevertheless I did. This is the layout I did of my final Gaterite 50km race and achieving my permanent number - number 18. The journalling is as follows:

"The Gaterite 50km is a tough, hilly race. It starts in Verulam with a steep climb into the town and then undulating all the way down to Umhlali and along the promenade. We then head up to the old main road and into La Mercy constantly climbing as we go through the residential area. We go under the freeway to the beachside and then cross the freeway again and continue along the bad camber road into Tongaat. From Tongaat we head on back towards Verulam but at Canelands we come off the main road to go through the residential area. By this time people are out shopping and the roads are extremely busy. The last two years' races the weather was boiling hot and this year was no exception! This is the one race where Reg has walked with me the whole way until the end when my "scorpion tail" kicks in and he can't keep up!!! This particular race was a special one for me as when I finished it I would get my permanent number. My finish time for the 50km was 7h22:23 (my best time for this race) and I received permanent number 18. That means I was the 18th person to have done all three of these races so far. Janine and Sharon also did this race but I don't know their times. After a long and hot race like this, ice lollies go down very well!!!!"

This was also one of the few where the organising club arranged plates of breyani (an indian rice/curry dish) for all the finishers and it was worth having walked 50km to have some.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Ultra marathoner signing off ....

Been busy crafting

2009-10-26T19:28:00.000+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had gone to the Ceramic Craft Studio in Northdene with my friends, Shelley & Rayna and started painting a plate. Well, I eventually finished it and had it glazed and this is the end result. I am sooooo impressed with myself as I have never seen myself as a painter (even though I copied this). I had fun doing it and I might just surprise myself and do another plate or something else that will be useful.Two weeks ago when we went for another lesson I decided that I wanted to make this welcome plaque to go on the wall next to my front door. This was done using the dry brush method of painting, which I really enjoyed. I finished this on Saturday at our lesson.

I have already reserved a nice big bull frog for my next lesson in December. I won't be going to any lessons during November as Leanne (my daughter) is arriving from Wales next Monday and will be visiting for a month, only going back on 4 December. I can't possibly go crafting when we will have girlie things to do. I am sooo excited to see her and am literally counting the sleeps until she gets here.

Thanks for looking.

Excited painter signing off ....

Another bloom

2009-10-26T19:26:00.000+02:00

This is the other bud on my Clivia that recently opened. Very different colour to the previous ones that bloomed. There is still one more to open, so I wait in anticipation to see what colour it is.

Bloomer signing off ....

JHI Relay scrapped layout

2009-10-20T06:14:00.000+02:00

In November 2006, wWhile I worked at Morrison Murray, we entered 3 running and 3 walking teams in the JHI Relay. Dereck was part of a mixed team which was called the "M & M Flyers". It started raining as I started and this gave me the extra reason to walk fast. We started on the field behind the ABSA stadium, went down NMR Avenue and back onto the field to hand over to the next member. I managed a time of 37 mins 36 secs for 5km. Overall our team finished 50/467 walking teams. We were the 16th mixed team, the 4th mixed team in the Accounting category and the 5th team overall in the Accounting category. Afterwards we met at the gazebo and had drinks and boerewors rolls.

This is the last of all the layouts I have done recently. I still have some more to do and will show you them once they are completed.

Thanks for looking and have a great week.

Relay walker sining off ....

Scrapping Layouts

2009-10-19T20:44:00.000+02:00

I have been really busy these last 2 weeks, just getting on a scrapping photos that I had printed a couple of years ago. This first one is from the Ilembe Ultra walk that I did in 2006. It is a 50km walk starting at a school in Umhlali, then going towards the beach, through a serious dirt road, through sugar cane areas up a really mean hill that just seems to go on forever and then back down, onto the main road and back to the school. This was my 5th one that I had completed and need only 1 more to get my permanent number. I managed a time of 7 hours 29 mins 22 secs and finished in 159th place out of 568 walkers. This next layout was from the Spar Ladies race in June 2006. Reg always dressed up and this year he was a French Maid. Sharon and I had gone to Pietermaritzburg to do the 10km Run/Walk for Wildlife around Scotsville racecourse. I managed at time of 82mins 53 secs. Once we had finished we changed and then drove back to Durban in time to start the Spar ladies 10km. With that warm up, I had a brilliant race and finished the 10km in 78 mins 54 secs. I don't normally like flat courses, but on this one despite the crowds, I flew and really had a great race.

In July 2006 Run/Walk for Life head office decided instead of each region going to JHB for the annual convention, each region would have one in their own region. We had ours at the Westville Country Club and I was awarded a certificate for "Special Service Award". Matthew Grossett is the owner of Run/Walk for Life and is seen here presenting the certificates to each of the deserving managers.

This layout is from the prizegiving of the 1000km challenge for the 2004/2005 year. Walkers have to do 500km for bronze, 807km for silver and 1208 for gold in official races and finishing within the cut off time from the day after comrades of the one year up to and including comrades the following year. No mean feat and it meant racing every week-end and sometimes 2 races over a week-end. Anyway, I managed to complete 832.9km earning a silver medal. This was my 5th challenge completed.

This was the Friends of the Comrades fun run/walk that is normally held over the week-end before Comrades. Sharon and I were chasing mileage and had gone to PMB at about 4am to do the Run/Walk for Wildlife around Scottsville race course. I managed a time of 78mins 42 secs for 10km. When then changed and drove down to Kingsmead cricket stadium in Durban in time to do the 5km Comrades fun walk. I managed a time of 41 mins 21 secs. We then changed again and headed off to Ushaka to take part in the TNT walk for Hunger. This was an 8km from Ushaka up to the Suncoast Casino and back again. I managed a time of 63 mins 47 secs. All in all a most enjoyable day.

Oops, don't know why this is going this way, but this was when Dereck and I celebrated our 20 year anniversary and he took me by surprise down to Plettenberg Bay. One of our outings was to go to Knysna and then also to Monkeyland. I have a fascination for monkeys and really enjoyed watching them here.

Well after seeing all these layouts I am sure you will forgive me for not having updated my blog in a while. I finished off another single page layout last night just as Carte Blanche started, so it was too late to take a picture. So, you will just have to wait for the next update.

Thanks for looking.

Scrapping up a storm signing off.

My Clivia

2009-10-19T20:32:00.000+02:00

When my brother Malcolm and his family moved to New Zealand I asked them what they were going to do with all their lovely pot plants. He said that I could have them if I wanted and one of them was this Clivia. He explained that it flowered once a year (I think that is what I was told). I found a spot on our front verandah and a few weeks ago noticed another stalk emerging. As it grew, I realised that it was going to be a flower. Just as it was due to flower, my dog Zippa knocked it right out of the leaves as she tried to jump against the wall to bark at the dog that gets into the pan handle property next to us. I move the container around and watched the plants flower. They really are lovely plants and I think I need to get some more planted in my garden in groups as they really do make a lovely show.

While these ones that have flowered are slowly dying off, there is still one that needs to flower, so I will still have a bit more pleasure in watching it grace my garden.

Flower power signing off ...

My Poor Car - 17 October 2009

2009-10-19T20:15:00.000+02:00

On Saturday I had taken Dereck down to the rugby. Grant and Lauren were also going, but not as early as Dereck, so they left at about 1pm and took my car as Dereck would have met them after the game to get a lift home, saving me having to go back to fetch him. A few minutes after they left, I got a phone call from Grant saying "mom, I have just crashed your car into a wall down Lesley Drive - I am so sorry". I can't tell you how I felt, as I still don't know how I feel. I had been busy making my lunch and just quickly grabbed my cell, got the keys, locked the dogs inside the house and walked (very fast) down the road to see where they were. I was so relieved to see both Lauren and Grant were okay (just a bit shook up). As he was braking he hit some water on the road and lost control and as he tried to right himself, I think oversteered and went across the road onto some soft, muddy grass and straight into the wall. We helped the owners of the property to put up some blocks to keep their dogs in and then Grant tied up all the parts with string so that we could drive the car home. I made Grant drive home and I walked. All the outside parts except the bonnet are plastic so hopefully it won't be too long before I have my car back again. This is a close up of the inside where you can see how the bumper bent.

The airbags were not released, so it wasn't too bad an impact. I think if this had happened many years ago, I would have been angry, irritated, annoyed, but I am not. My thinking is that accidents happen, the car is a material item which can be fixed with a bit of an inconvenience and the most important thing is that Grant and Lauren were not injured at all. They say most accidents happen close to home - well this was probably 500m away from our home.

It was towed away today directly to the panel beater and we will hear tomorrow what the cost of the repairs is and how long it will take.

No car signing off ....

Izzy and the Hadedas

2009-10-19T20:12:00.000+02:00

Most mornings I crumble old bread and then throw it out for the Hadedas. I have to be careful that our dogs don't see me as they then go out and try and eat the crumbs. Last week Thursday, Izzy saw me and went running out to eat up the bread crumbs. The Hadedas decided that they weren't going to wait for this little dod to go back inside and promptly joined her in eating "their" crumbs. She just ignored them and once she felt she had enough, she just trotted on back into the house. Notice the bird bath, filled with two big Hadedas.

Desire, you will note to the left of the birdbath is where I have planted my Fever tree and another further to the left of it. With all the rain we have had recently, they are both growing nicely and have lots of new green leaves.

Crumbled signing off.

Been busy Scrapping

2009-10-05T20:21:00.000+02:00

This layout was comemorating my completion of a 42.2km walk and achieving my permanent number. I am one of a handful of walkers who have achieved this, so I am really proud of this fact. I got the layout idea from Desire from one of her layouts she did titled "Fun in the Berg". It was a great race and is my absolute favourite even though it is a double lapper. I finished this race with 3 minutes to spare being the last official finisher and received a plaque with the bronze, silver and gold medals on it. There were 7 runners behind me who did not make the cut off time. In February 2007 while I was reading the Runner's World I was dosing off and when I awoke and turned the page, there was my picture advertising the 2007 race to be held in March 2007. What a surprise I got and it was the picture that had been taken of me under the finish banner in 2004!!!! This layout below is one from the my first year as a Run/Walk for Life Manager. The journalling is as follows:

Late November 1999. It was my first year as a Run Walk for Life Manager and Wayne and I decided to have our prizegiving somewhere other than at the club, so we had it at Sherilyn Stevens’ house in Westville. Wayne was due to move into his duplex and Shelley & I made up a survival pack for him, consisting of things like toilet paper, disprins, piece of string, ear buds – to name a few, with comments on what they were to be used for!!! We were hysterical as he read them out. We had a great evening and once all the formalities were over the party goers danced up a storm. Some of the members:
Top L – Steve Beckerling, Auriol Diedricks, Nick Schutte
Middle – Me, Wayne, Shelley
Bottom L – Sean Coleman, Nick Schutte
Top R – Julie Oxenham, Me
Bottom R – Sean Coleman, Nick & Heather Schutte, Me, Shelley and Eddie Goldblatt

This layout is from the Medihelp Relay in which took place at the Yellow-wood Park club. It was a 7km walk through the nature reserve and back to the field. The various Run/Walk for Life branches joined up for this one and we dominated the field as well as the prizes. The day started off well, but by the time the 3 and 4th walkers got onto the road it had started to rain and became very unpleasant. But while the sun was shining a great time was had by all.

This layout is the Wings 15km which is a route on the Bluff. Rather hilly, but an enjoyable race.

This layout shows all the people from my branch who took part in a fundraiser walk to raise money for Choc. The journaling is as follows:

4 November 2006. We each paid R20 and got a set of shoelaces and then at our Run/Walk for Life session we walked 10km in aid of raising money for CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation). Taking part were:
Back: Donna du Toit, Jenny, Me, Jeanine Johnson, Sally Nahman, Ronnie Amm, Reg Groves, George Smith
Middle: Dave Coetzee, Jeanette Smith, Lyn Gonzaga, Nikki Bosman, Charmaine, Sharon Fuchs, Googs Mulder
Front: Eileen White, Saras Naiker, Terry Warren, Ros Schafer, Janine le Febour

Friday night Dereck and I and some of our friends had booked to go and attend night racing at Greyville, but due to all the rain, it was cancelled. So, we ended up going to Waxy O' Connor's for a drink and then something to eat. Most enjoyable as I haven't done that for a while. Got home and did a bit of scrapping.

Saturday morning Rayna fetched me and we went off to the Ceramic Craft Studio for some therapy. Rayna carried on painting her plate and I started painting a "welcome" frog using the dry brush technique. I must say I really enjoyed doing it and will certainly do some more. If you make a mistake, you just paint over it - a very forgiving craft. I haven't finished, but will hopefully finish it in 2 weeks time when we have another lesson. Saturday afternoon I carried on with my scrapping while Dereck watched sport on TV.

Sunday did a bit of shopping and then when Dereck went out to take part in a Blues festival to get into the Guinnes Book of Records for the most number of guitarists together, I went to visit my friend Audrey who had a birthday on Saturday. It was good to see her and catch up with her news. I had lunch with her and got home at about 4:30pm and carried on scrapping. I even managed to pull myself away from my scrapping to watch the Sunday movie on TV!!!

All in all a busy, but relaxing week-end.

Scrapped up a storm signing off ....

General Update

2009-10-01T18:55:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday was a public holiday here in South Africa and I had also been given the Friday off. On Thursday, Dereck and I fetched Lesley and we went up to Summerveld to watch "Biddy" training. She is a lovely looking horse and we have been told that she is training very well. Here she is in action ...

After that we went to Dieters nursery and had a yummy brunch. After dropping off Lesley at home, we came home and I got on with some scrapping. This is a layout from Grant's graduation that I finished.

On Friday I took Grant and Lauren to the Pavilion while Dereck worked and then we fetched him and went to the Spur in Kloof for lunch.

On Saturday Shelley, Rayna and I went crafting where I finished off a plate that I painted. Just needs to get glazed and then I can take a picture to post here. We then went to Knowles to the Nibble and Natter restaurant and had lunch. Bit of a laugh as when the waiter brought Shelley and Rayna's food, he dropped them both on the floor, shattering the plates and food flying everywhere - he he!!! They eventually got another plate of food and we just sat chatting there long after we had finished eating - great company and plenty of time to just catch up.

On Sunday, Dereck and I went to Gateway and saw the movie "The Taking of Pelham 123". Was a great movie with two of my favourite actors - Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Was also nice to see the USA - getting familiar now.

Came home and carried on scrapping - finishing off another layout of when I completed a 42.2km race and received my permanent number. Still need to take a picture of it, so that will be another blog post. Then started on a single page layout which I have almost finished - just need to type out the journalling and stick down the title. Certainly been quite busy and it has been a nice feeling getting these pages done.

Happy scrapper signing off ....

Leanne's 21st collage - framed

2009-09-26T20:12:00.000+02:00

When Dereck and I went over to see Leanne in Wales, in May this year, I had remade her 21st collage for her. I had stuck everything down except the middle photos and once I was in Wales, then I joined everything together. Leanne then took the collage in to a framer and she collected it yesterday. This is how it now looks - framed ....

I must say, they really did a great job and I am sure it looks even better in real life.

For those of you that don't know, for Leanne's 21st I had done scrapbook albums since birth to 21 for Leanne which was a total surprise. About a week before while having lunch she came up with the suggestion that I must make a collage for her. I gave her some lame excuse that I didn't want to cut up all her baby photos and that we would scan them and just print them out on paper and I would make a collage. Little did she know that there were no baby pictures to scan as they had all been scrapped into her surprise album. Once Leanne wasn't around, I gave the albums to Dereck so that he could scan them and then once they were printed, I quickly cut them out so that she couldn't see that they had been scrapped and made the "paper" 21st collage. I must say she was very pleased with the end result and I just felt that I had cheated her a bit and decided to reprint the photos properly and do an original collage and take it to her in Wales. Because of cutting it out properly, I had space and put other pictures in that had not been in the original collage, so that was also a nice surprise for her when she saw it again.

Impressed mom signing off ....

Rak up for grabs

2009-09-20T18:33:00.000+02:00

Hope over to Scrap{a} Tale and see the lovely RAK the Queens of the Castle are giving away. All you have to do to be in line to win all these goodies from "Art from the Heart" is to become a follower of their blog. So hop on over and become a Royal follower ..... Royal follower signing off ....

Some more Scrapping

2009-09-13T21:48:00.000+02:00

After getting back from the Drakensberg Sun on Friday afternoon, I had some inspiration to get another page done from Leanne's 21 album. There are a few pages that still need to be done and I have all the photos and paper waiting. This layout was about the band "Westlife" who I saw in 2001 while Dereck and I were staying at Sun City. While we were waiting for our lift, they came out of the "Palace" hotel. They were one of Leanne's favourite bands (Dereck's name for them was "Waste of Life" as he always said they were "one hit wonders", much to Leanne's annoyance. It was easy to do that page as I had just finished off the one below of Wisconsin in the USA and the photos were the right shape for the same layout. Well, I just have to do a page of journalling and then that is the first week of our USA holiday scrapped. I feel so good about having done this and a huge THANKS has to go to Desire for her layout ideas and paper selection.

Scrapping getting done signing off .....

Drakensberg Sun Getaway 9 - 11 September 2009

2009-09-13T21:19:00.000+02:00

Dereck decided that he would like to go away somewhere and that I would accompany him, so on Wednesday afternoon we headed off to .....We left home at about 1:30pm and arrived here at about 4:00pm. The drive was good, but there were some serious pot holes in places and after our last trip to the Berg and having to replace 2 tyres, he drove with extreme caution!!!
The weather was not very nice, but we had both brought our books along in case of bad weather.
After checking in, we sat in the local pub and had a drink (or two) and then went back to our room to unpack and check what was on offer. We had a nice supper - a buffet - and then after supper just read our books and watched tv in the room.

Thursday morning was really miserable and after a nice breakfase we took a drive to the local shops and just had a look around. When we came back, the weather was a bit drier, so we took a walk around the resort area. This is the view from the pool area looking up towards the hotel.
This is from the hotel looking out over the resort and in the direction of where one would go and do a walk - I was certainly prepared for a walk, but it was too risky in case of rain.
Down by the dam we found this little spot that had this bench overlooking the dam and was surrounded by trees - quite cosy I must say.
A bit further on there was an enclosed pond with probably 4 ducks!!! Last time I was here, there were plenty of them. This one let me get quite close to it, but it kept its eye on me the whole time.
It kept tilting its head when I tried taking its photo - maybe it was posing - he he
Nearer the timeshare cottages we came across a monkey family where this one had found an old loaf of bread and was not letting the others have any of it. He wasn't too impressed when Dereck got a bit closer to take his photo and grabbed the bread and moved onto the road which was nearer me. Everytime I moved to take a picture, he would carry on eating, but watched me the whole time. Really funny.
A lovely little bridge just past the timeshare cottages and behind the bolwing green.
After our walk about, we had lunch and then spent the afternoon in the room - me reading a really great book and Dereck watching tv. Supper again was a buffet.

Friday morning we had breakfast late and then checked out. We left there at about 10:15am and took a leisurely drive along the Midlands Meander and popped into the Linen Loft at Mooi River. I bought two nice bath mats and then we carried on along the Meander to Currys Post, got back onto the freeway and arrived home at about 1:00pm. Dereck had some work to do, so I unpacked and then scrapped a single page for Leanne's album.

All in all a lovely relaxing two days.

Chilled out signing off ....

Scrapping and Mosaicing

2009-09-06T22:04:00.000+02:00

This is a picture frame I mosaiced for my sister Liesel's birthday. I really had a lot of fun making it and the photo I used was one we took at Christmas time. In a previous blog post I mentioned that my brother Malcolm and his family were going to be emmigrating to New Zealand in February 2009, so I had taken along my tripod on Christmas eve and made each of the families pose to get photos and then got the whole family together. This was a good one of all the family, but with Leanne not being here, we had to use a picture that Dereck had taken of her when he went overseas in the September (or thereabouts) and used photoshop to add her in. I love the way the photo came out and for me is certainly a really special one. It was also very special to Liesel, and from her reaction on opening her present, made me realise that this is exactly what I was meant to make for her. Enjoy Liesel and remember that you are very special.Below is another layout from our USA trip that I finished. This was from the boat cruise that we went on.
There is always one picture that won't go the correct way around, no matter what I do!!! So, sorry if you get a stiff neck for having to look sideways! This is a layout of general things in New York. The limosines, at the tube station, the view from the air train, our hotel and Carnegie Hall.
The above layout ideas I got from Desire while I was up visiting her over the long week-end in August. I have one more to finish and then that will be week one completed.

The layout below is one I finished recently of Leanne as a bridesmaid at her aunt's wedding in 1998 when she was 12 years old. I can't believe how time has flown. The stencil I used is a new one (fancy squares) available from Doinglife and for the larger pictures, I extended it to fit.

Yesterday it was my friend Shelley's birthday and she, Rayna and I went to another crafting lesson. Rayna continued with her painting and Shelley and I started with painting a plate each. I must say I had a lot of fun and quite enjoyed it. After that, we came to my place where Kathy met us and we had a yummy lunch of bobotie with rice and vegetables and finished off with the Ramsay ginger pudding, custard and cream. Then we just sat chatting and catching up on news.

Today, Dereck and I took a drive down to the Durban beachfront to see all the alterations and extensions currently taking place. It is quite a mess at the moment and I hope that the City can have it all finished by 2010 soccer. From there we went to Oscars in Essenwood Road and had lunch and then came home and got a few chores done.

I have just finished watching the movie on M-Net - August Rush - what a divine movie. Now ready to do some reading of my book and then get some sleep.

Satisfied crafter signing off .....

Spring Day Picnic at Alexander Cox

2009-09-02T19:12:00.000+02:00

Yesterday marked the first day of Spring here in sunny South Africa and our office as well as the staff in the other 4 or 5 offices decided to have a bring and share picnic in the garden. The weather was very kind to us, although rather hot, and we certainly had a feast laid before us.Julian showed us all how to get the most benefit from someone holding the plate and then tuck in with both hands! This particular dish was a tuna mousse which was really very yummy!!! Needless to say there was nothing left at the end of the picnic.

Some of the ladies and gents from the other offices.
The ladies and Julian from our office and Brian from Hewitt Colenbrander Recruitment.
Starting to feel the effects of the heat and getting relaxed on the blanket.

Stuart ready for his afternoon nap in the garden surrounded by the ladies!

It was a most enjoyable picnic and we all had plenty to eat with a few things left over for tea tomorrow.

After getting home and sorting out the dogs, Dereck and I went off to the Heritage Theater to see the Legends of Rock with Barry Thompson and Mali Sewell and others performing. It was a great show and we met up with Mark and Claire (who are out from England to celebrate their twins' 21st), Errol and Alison, Darryl and Bev, Ian and Jayne, Alex, Lesley, Nicholas and 4 friends of Alex's. It was good chatting to everyone after the show and we only got home at about 12:45am.

Spring picnicer signing off ....

Michelle

Secretaries Day

2009-09-02T12:03:00.000+02:00

Happy Secretaries Day

(or "Slaves Day")

Hope you all get suitably spoilt!!!

Secretary Slave signing off ....

USA scrapbook layouts

2009-08-26T20:06:00.000+02:00

Ok, so for not having blogged for a while, grab your coffee and get comfortable so that you can read and look at all the layouts I have been busy with.

I still need to separate pages of journalling about what we did in New York, but the page below is about some of the sights we saw in New York:This page is about the Empire State Building - boy was this tall. We went up to the 86th floor and it was quite amazing looking down onto New York. It was absolutely freezing too!!
This layout is all about Times Square - this is where everything seems to happen and our hotel was about a 10 minute walk up the road.
This layout is not quite finished as I still need some wording in the top right hand corner and a note or too on the little orange tags (they are not stuck down hence the one being crooked). This is showing Central Park, Bryant Park, Maddison Square Park and the Natural History Museum. The picture with the dinasour is in the entrance area where the film "Night at the Museum" was filmed.
This Mall of America is where I found the best scrapbooking shop!!!!
The journalling is as follows:

Tuesday, 7 April 2009 – my dad’s birthday today. After getting up early and doing our last NY blogpost we headed to the station to get to the airport. Going through customs, we had to take off our shoes, jackets, belts, laptops in a separate container and then put our hand luggage through. Mine got stopped and the customs guy unpacked everything. He even flipped through the books I had! When I asked him what the problem was, his reply was “I don’t know, I just like looking through people’s bags”. While this was going on, our plane was boarding. It was a 2 hour flight from New York to Wisconsin, and we lost another hour, so we were now 7 hours behind SA. Airports in America are different to SA in that guests wait at the luggage carousels and this is where my uncle and aunt, Peter and Liz were waiting for us and it was great to see them.

On our way to Peter and Liz’s house, we stopped at the Great Mall of America, which is the largest mall in the world – not sure if there is one bigger yet. If you walk around the whole mall and up all 3 levels you will have walked 3.2km’s. We had lunch at the Nappa Valley Grill. Dereck and I had cheeseburgers and Peter and Liz had cheeseburger soup. After we finished lunch we wondered around the mall and found a scrapbooking shop called Archivers – What a shop!! After 45 minutes of looking around and only getting through half the shop I was pulled out!!! We wondered round the mall a bit more and on our way back to the car, passed the entertainment area. They have loads of restaurants and take-aways, a movie section and in the middle of the mall is this huge of rollercoaster and big legoland of building blocks. A child’s delight!

Once home we unpacked our bags and then walked around the garden for a bit. Peter took us for a walk up the road and we met his neighbour. Peter had a few errands to run, so we went with him and he left us at the local Dunn Brothers Coffee shop so that we could do a blog update. Once we got home he made us champagne cocktails – very yummy (1tsp Contreau, 1tsp Brandy, maraschino cherries and filled with champagne). Liz made a delicious pork casserole for supper and after chatting and catching up on news and handing out gifts from South Africa, we got to bed at 9:30pm.

This layout below is at my aunt and uncle's house in Wisconsin. The journalling reads as follows:

River Falls, Wisconsin.

My uncle Peter and aunt Liz stay on a 5 acre piece of land. The snow is what we missed a few days before we got there. We watched lots of squirrels and birds eating from the feeders on the veranda. "Nandi" is their sausage dog. Denny's is the diner (just like you see in the movies) where we had breakfast one morning.

Peter and Dereck went to play golf one morning and on their way, these two turkeys were having a bit of "fun"!.

Don't know why this picture came out this way, but anyway, it is about the sights and our trip to a town called "Stockholm". The journalling is as follows:

After a lovely breakfast of poached eggs with an English muffin we headed off to the Kinnickinnic State Park. This is where the Kinnickinnic river joins the St Croix river which eventually joins up with the Mississippi river which is the second longest river in the USA spanning 3730km from its source. There were still a few mounds of snow left from the recent snow fall and I couldn’t resist standing on it! We continued along the scenic route next to the river until we got to a little town called Stockholm. All the towns in the USA have signs stating how many people live there and are updated after a census has been held. There was a pie shop that Peter and Liz said made delicious pies, but it was shut. After chatting to the owner in the art shop next door, he suggested that we go over to Gelly’s pub as they make really nice food. So we did and they were even playing country music. I had a meat loaf with mash and gravy and it was delicious.

While there the owner of the art shop came in to say that his sister (who owns the pie shop) had just popped in and had said that she would make us a pie if we still wanted one. We said that we would like the apple pie and were told it would be ready in 45 minutes time. After our lunch we wondered round a few of the shops and then collected our pie. We headed off to carry along the scenic route of the river, crossed over it and continued on the other side. This river is really huge and very scenic and there are quite a number of places along the route to stop and look at the views. After getting home, Peter cooked some salmon on the braai and we had that with a lovely salad that Liz made and then finished off with the apple pie and ice-cream. One of the best apple pies I have tasted and it was certainly worth the trip!!

Four of these layouts were done over the long week-end when I went up to Johannesburg and spent the time with Desire and Conroy. I also got all the papers and layout ideas for the other layouts as well as another 3 that I still need to complete and once done, that will be the first week of our USA holiday - 4 weeks to go!!!! All credit to Desire for the designs and fantastic colour combinations.

Desire and Conroy are on a healty eating plan and I fitted in with this plan and on my return weighed myself and had lost 1kg. I have never eaten so many vegetables in a week-end as I did then, but boy were they delicious. I have continued with this eating plan and went to see a Dietician when I got home as I am a member of Discovery Vitality and get points for doing this. I have made a chart of what I should be eating and I have had it laminated and put up on my kitchen wall, so that everytime I eat anything, I just cross it off and then I know what I still need to eat. I get weighed next Monday and so far this plan has been really great and I am feeling wonderful.

Two week-ends ago, Rayna and I went to another mosaic/painting class and I started on my mosaic frog who will be named "Padda". I haven't finished it yet, but once finished will post a picture. I must say I am really enjoying the mosaicing and have got a couple of ideas waiting to be mosaiced.

Well, that is all for now.

Scrapped and healthy signing off ....

Update - learning a bit more about me ....

2009-08-26T19:16:00.000+02:00

I know it has been rather a while for an update from me, but I saw this on Helen's blog and decided to do an update starting with this - enjoy learning a bit more about me ....

1. What’s the last thing you put in your mouth?

tomato, onion and a small piece of meat

2. Have you ever kissed anyone named Matthew?

Yes, he kissed me to congratulate me on an award

3. Who was the last person you rode in a car with under the age of 20?

Lauren - Grant's girlfriend

4. Can you play guitar hero?

No, what is that?

5. Last time you walked further than a block?

Does walking through the Pavilion count?

6. How late did you stay up last night and why?

11:30pm because I was checking out facebook, playing a game and then did some scrapping and of course had to read some of my book before I eventually put out the light.

7. If you could move somewhere else, would you?

Not now as I could not leave my dogs behind.

8. Do you believe ex’s can be friends?

Depending on the circumstances of them becoming ex's

9. Do you like calling or texting better?

Depending on how much I have to tell the other person - if a little then texting if a lot then a call. I am not fast with texting.

10. When was the last time you cried really hard?

When a good friend passed away at the beginning of this year.

11. Where are you at right now?

At my computer in the study.

12. What bed did you sleep in last night?

My own.

13. What was the last thing someone bought for you?

Dereck bought me a new little Canon printer.

14. Who took your profile picture?

I can't remember his name, but a lady at a scrapping week-end in Mpumalanga

15. Who was the last person you took a picture of?

Grant and Lauren at the Zoological gardens - but that was a while ago!!

16. Was yesterday better than today?

I enjoyed them both.

17. Can you live a day without TV?

I could live forever without it.

18. When was the last time you were extremely disappointed?

On Monday afternoon.

19. Are you a bad influence?

Me a bad influence - no ways!!

20. Night out or night in?

I can razzle on the right occassion!

21. Are you more of an individual or an outgoing person?

Outgoing - definitely

22. What items could you not go without during the day?

Lipstick and some water.

23. Would you share a drink with a stranger?

No.

24. Do you think it’s right for straight guys to get their tongue pierced?

If that is what they want to do, then go for it.

25. Have you ever thrown shoes on a telephone wire?

I have thought of it, but didn't have an old pair to throw away at the time.

26. What does the last message in your inbox say?

Hi M ........................... love Linda x (it was rather long and don't want to repeat it all here)

27. How do you feel about your life right now?

I love my life

28. How many times have you been pulled over by the police?

Only when they do routine checks

29. Do you hate anyone?

There are two people who fit that category.

30. Did you have a Valentine this year?

Dereck is always my valentine

31. Last person who phoned you and why?

Dereck to ask me what I wanted for supper.

32. Can you easily tell if someone is fake?

Sometimes by the way they talk, I feel that they are not genuine.

33. How’s your heart?

Fit and healthy.

34. Say you were given a drug test right now, Would you pass?

Without a question of doubt.

35. What song is stuck in your head?

I gotta Feeling...Black Eyed Peas - I love this song.

36. What do you have to do this week?

Work, take minutes, type the minutes, work, filing, work, have my hair coloured and trimmed, scrap go to a 21st party and scrap some more

37. Can you whistle?

Sort of.

38. Do you sleep on your side, stomach, or back?

Side

39. What gets in your way of your sleeping?

Nothing

40. Are your eyes the same colour as your mom’s or dad’s?

I don't think so, otherwise possibly the same as my dad - green. I can't actually remember his eye colour - he he

41. Do you think too much or too little?

I think a fair amount, but I certainly don't ponder on things.

42. Do you smile a lot?

Lots and lots

43. Why was the last missed call on your phone?

Because I was in my scrappy room with the music playing and didn't hear the phone.

44. Are you happy with your life?

Absolutely

45. Can you handle the truth?

Yes, but not too nice if it is very personal. I can't handle lies

46. Do you get 8 hours of sleep everyday?

Most nights

47. What was the last book you read?

What Became of Us - can't remember the author

48. Is there something you always wear?

Watch (and underwear of course)

49. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?

Reading the Highway Mail

50. Who was the last person to tell that they love you?

Leanne, when she phoned home.

51. Are you an emotional person?

Yes

52. What’s something that can always make you feel better?

Listening to music

53. Will this weekend be a good one?

Of course! It is what you make of it.

54. What do you want right now?

To finish updating my blog so that I can carry on scrapping

55. Look behind you, what do you see?

A couch

56. Have you ever worked in a food place?

Besides my kitchen, Pizzaland when it still existed. Did waitressing while I was at Tech - boy that was a long time ago- but lots of fun!!

Now you know something about me signing off ....

The "Biddy" Filly

2009-07-27T21:10:00.000+02:00

Dereck and some of his friends have been talking about buying a race horse and naming it "Biddy" in memory of a great friend who was murdered in May 2008. A good friend, Paul Lafferty is a race horse trainer and he got hold of Dereck recently to let him know that he had this filly currently named Empress Eugenie who was available for sale. Dereck got hold of friends that knew Biddy (Ian Boucher) and there are now 6 of them who are going to be part owners of this horse whose name will be changed to Biddy. She will be 2 years old on 7 November 2009 and will hopefully be ready for racing some time in November. Dereck and I went to the Summerveld stables on Sunday morning to see her and take some photos. I must say she is really a lovely looking horse and I hope she trains well and can win a few races for us. I am certainly looking forward to watching her first race!!

After leaving the stables, we went to Dieter's nursery for a quite bite to eat, then home to make a noodle salad and then off to Ian's place for a braai and then watch the grand prix - my man Lewis Hamilton won - which was great and then we watched the finish of the Tour de France. Awesome racing and I was really pleased that Lance Armstrong made such a come back and finished third - just shows that if your mind can conceive it, the body can achieve it!!

A bit horsey signing off ....

A Wild Week-end!!

2009-07-19T20:23:00.000+02:00

On Thursday evening I woke up quite a few times with terrible stomach cramps, diarhea (sp??) and vomitting. I have not had anything like this in absolute years and have no idea what caused it. Nedless to say when my alarm went of at 6am, there was just no ways I could get up for work. I sms'ed my boss and asked if I could come in at 10 and replied that I should come in after lunch. I went back to sleep and woke up at 12 to shower and go to work. I felt horrific. I stayed at work for an hour and a half and then came home again and went straight back to bed and woke up when Dereck came to say goodbye to me when he went to rugby. I drank lucozade and took a health probiotic, had a roll and went back to sleep. After sweating profusely I awoke on Saturday morning like a new person!

I went with Dereck to Umkomaas Golf Club and walked round the golf course with him – about 8km. He and his partner won the competition that they had played in and it was a most enjoyable walk.

Meanwhile Grant and Lauren had gone to Shongweni Farmers Market to sell charcoal and on their way home they collected Lauren’s step-sister Michaela and her brother Jett to spend the week-end with us!! They took them down to the Umgeni Bird Park for the afternoon and we met up with them once they got home. They are such lovely children and Jett is such a cute 3 year old!!

On Sunday morning we decided to go to the Lion Park near Pietermaritzburg. I remeber going there as a child and then when Dereck and I first met, so it was going to be a treat for us as well. We didn't tell Michaela where we were taking them, so they were rather excited once we got there. The first animal besides some cows was a rhine which one of the rangers brought up close to the car for us. Her name was Sally and she just about stuck her head in the window. Jett got a bit of a fright, but calmed down once he saw that she had moved away.

Next up were some elephants. Again the rangers were with them and said we could get out and stand with them. Grant, Lauren and Michaela did just that while I took the photos and Dereck held onto Jett, who was rather concerned that the elephant was going to come and bite him! After we left the elephants he wanted to touch them!!
Then we hit the Lion's Den!! There were a couple of them lying around eating a stick, a few licking each other and some just watching.
This is what my car looked like (notice the rim around the light missing)........

after this lion who had been lying next to the road, decided to get up, walk towards the car and just quietly pull the cover off, then walk round the car, sit down and promptly start chewing it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and Dereck didn't even try and move the car away!!!! I could not stop laughing as all we could do was sit and watch while she chewed my car part and Jett found this rather funny too that the "Lion had eaten my car!!"

We then headed off the the Zoological Gardens which was just round the corner from the Lion Park. They had quite a number of animals and below are a selection of some of the birds ...
An orangotang whose eyes just said "please cuddle me" and a chimp ....
a few more animals ....
and some more ...
By this time it was about 12pm and we decided that it was time for home to have some lunch rather than stopping somewhere to buy it. We did stop to buy some mince and rolls and once we got home I made some burgers while Dereck and Grant cooked them and Lauren prepared the condiments. Better than Steers and a whole lot cheaper.

Watched the tour de France while others snoozed or watched dvd's.

Wild thing signing off ....

Blogging Updates

2009-07-11T17:43:00.000+02:00

Ok, yes I know that it has been rather a while since I updated my blog – so sorry to those regular readers. So, now that I am going to update, I suggest you grab something to drink and maybe even somthing to eat, sit back and catch up on what I have been doing.

To start off, Helen and Libby have challenged me to share 10 honest facts about myself, so here they are:

1. I have just celebrated 25 years of marriage to my wonderful husband, Dereck

2. I love listening to lively music

3. I am really comfortable with who I am

4. I have great relationships with Leanne and Grant

5. I made soup for the first time ever last week and it was delicious (made another pot today)

6. I love reading and am currently reading Spud – learning to fly

7. I am collecting the Tintin hardcover books – only 2 more to get

8. I am a genuine friend to people

9. I have fun making/creating things

10. I love life

I am not going to tag people as most of the ones I would have tagged have been tagged. If you need inspiration for a blog post, then consider yourself tagged and list 10 things about yourself.

The rest of the posts are listed below – happy reading and thank you for looking.

Updated blogger signing off ….

More Mosaicing with friends

2009-07-11T17:06:00.000+02:00

On 27 June Kathy, Rayna, Shelley and I went for another mosaicing class. I did a gheko, Shelley painted a cutlery holder, Rayna painted a wooden cutlery holder and Kathy mosaiced a number for her house. All came out really nicely, but unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, so don’t have pictures of everyone’s creations. Here is a picture of my gheko, which I just need to grout and then paint. I plan on doing anther bigger one and they will go on the wall outside near our swimming pool. I must say, I have really enjoyed this mosaicing and have a few projects I would like to do for Christmas presents for people.
I still need to finish off with the grouting and painting.

After the lesson we came back to my house where we had lovely home made soup (made by Rayna), and brandy pudding with custard (made by Woolies).

The South African rugby team were playing the British and Irish Lions and Dereck was at Crusaders watching it and I joined him later on - they won, which was great!

Pet friendly signing off ...

Aloe in the garden

2009-07-11T16:57:00.000+02:00

Here is a picture of our lovely aloe that has really taken off and is growing beautifully. This particular plant is really special to me as when our dear friend Jennifer (who passed away earlier this year) did our back garden for us, I has said I would like it to be indigenous and wanted an aloe and this particular one came from her garden and is really thriving now in mine.

Aloe fan signing off ....

Tuesday, 16 June 2009 - Our Silver Wedding Anniversary

2009-07-11T16:52:00.000+02:00

Only got out of bed at about 8:30. Dereck made us toast and scrambled egg. The family were arriving at 9:00 as Malcolm (my brother) was going to skype us from New Zealand. My mom, dad, Liesel, Warren, Debbie, Luke and Rebekkah were all sitting around in front of the TV while we skyped. A bit like the “Simpsons” all sitting on their couch!!!! It was great to see and chat to them and they took us on a tour of their house. After that, we showed my family some of our USA/UK holiday pictures that they hadn’t seen on the blog. Later in the afternoon, I made a savoury tart for supper and one for work and also made a milk tart for work.

This was my speech from last night ....

Hi everybody

Thanks again for joining us to share our 25^th wedding anniversary. Nowadays you just don’t seem to hear of many people staying married for so long, so this is really special for me and I am sure it is for Dereck too.

This time 25 years ago, I was so excited to be getting married the next day. All the plans and preparations had been made and it was now just a matter of hours before the big day. I feel the same excitement now as I wait for the 25^th anniversary of our big day!

The last 25 years have certainly had their fair share of ups and downs but we have grown and certainly have had a great time together. Now that Leanne and Grant are grown up and doing their own thing, we have more time to spend with each other.

I would like to say to Dereck that I love you lots and thank you for being the wonderful person that you are. For being there for me, for your support – both voluntary and involuntary and for giving me the freedom to be able to do the things that have interested me.

Whilst on our recent trip to Las Vegas I wanted to renew our wedding vows, but somehow everytime we saw a chapel, it wasn’t quite the time to make enquiries. So there was nothing to leave in Vegas, but I have some questions for you ....

Dereck,

Will you continue to cook at least twice a week

And feed the dogs every night before six

Will you continue to play poker so that I can scrap

And will you watch TV so that I can take a nap

Will you love me and laugh with me and plan our holidays

Will you please do this for at least another 25 years?

Dereck said yes to all my questions, so I know that I have him for at least another 25 years - lucky me!!

All in all a great celebratory week-end.

Hey ho silver signing off …

Monday, 15 June 2009 the afternoon and evening ...

2009-07-11T16:30:00.000+02:00

Dereck and I then went to the Westville Country Club to check out how everything was going for our party in the evening. Yes, there was a party of note taking place as on 16 June 2009 we would be celebrating our Silver Wedding Anniversary. I can’t believe that we have been married that long and although we have had our ups and downs, the ups far exceeded the downs.

My friend Michele did the flower arrangements for us and they were absolutely stunning.

Shelley made our cake for us and this was also very, very yummy and she iced it in my favourite colour – mauve – thanks so much Shelley – everyone commented to me on the lovely cake.
I had completed two layouts of our wedding, one of which was the layout done by the delegates at the recent Doing Life Scrapaganza and the other one of Doing Life's kits. I borrowed Desire’s frames to put them in and had these set up on the table.

I had also made some pouches (picture) into which I put a chocolate and Lauren and I set these on the table for each guest.

The meal we had was beef curry and rice as well as chicken carbonara with rice and vegetables.For dessert we had malva pudding with ice-cream and custard.

We had a great time and it was good to see everyone to celebrate with us.

We only left there at about 1am and some of the die hards went to some other place to carry on, but I was rather tired and so ended up going home. Also, I wanted to see all our presents we had received. We really got spoilt and got some lovely gifts and quite a bit of money we will enjoy spending. By the time we finished unpacking and opening our presents, we got to bed at 2am!!
Dereck and I had sat together beforehand and compiled a selection of music and everyone complimented us on the selection. Anyone knowing both mine and Dereck's tastes will then realise that this was quite an achievement!!!!

Pooped out signing off ….

Monday, 15 June 2009 - the morning ...

2009-07-11T15:52:00.000+02:00

Today is a special day for me as I am one year older and now closer to turning 50!!

I took a day’s leave and after being spoilt breakfast in bed followed by presents for my birthday from Dereck, Lauren and Grant as well as a lovely bunch of flowers, I got ready to take Lauren to Kloof to work and to fetch Desire and take her to the airport. She spoilt me with some nougat and a voucher for a facial and a pedicure.

Birthday girl signing off ....

Friday 12 and Saturday 13 June 2009

2009-06-23T20:42:00.000+02:00

Yes, it has been rather a while, but I have certainly been busy.

I took the day off on Friday. Check out Desire's blog for the full update of what we did on these two days. It was her Scrapaganza at Makaranga Garden Lodge and I am her official, taxi driver, helper, wrapper, speaker, mail lady etc etc, which I have so much fun doing.

It was an awesome day.

Still busy downloading photos to upload and update my blog - won't be too long now!!!

Jackess of all trades signing of ....

BOM Challenge #15 - Mementos

2009-05-31T20:14:00.000+02:00

I have tried and tried to get this picture to load correctly, but it is not. I have left a question on Blogger help site too.

Here is the layout I did for the BOM Challenge #15 regarding our mementos:

Journalling is as follows:

Left page of layout:
Next to the doll - My Great Aunt Mary made all the clothes for this doll by hand. There is to much detail and all the seams and tucks were hand stitched.

Bottom left next to the earings - these earings were from my Great Aunt Mary. They are special to me because they came from her. Not quite my style though.

Top right - I really like Imbuia ball and claw furniture and I got this cabinet from Dereck's mom.

Bottom right - antique brooch and eternity rign. I got this from my Great Aunt Mary who live in Easbourne in England.

Bottom middle - old fashioned engagement ring with 4 small diamonds. Sentimental as I got this from my Great Aunt Anne who lives in Canada.

Right page of layout:

Top left - the complete mini set of Shakspeare books. I got this from my Great Gran, Gagga who I never got to meet. She lived in Scotland.

Top right - pastel tea set is what I got from my Gran Farquharson. She loved her tea and this reminds me so much of her. Too nice to use.

Middle - the desk I got from my Grandpa Farquharson and it has pride of place in my craft room. He always had lots of piles on it, but he always knew where thing were.

Left - Bangles - a fond memory of my Gran Engler was the jingly sound of her bangles. Each grand daughter got one and I had mine melted down to make two.

Bottom - this Moorcroft bowl is a collectors item and is special because it came from my Gran Engler.

Bottom right - the green enamel pot is from Dereck's mom. Not to keep, but to make her famous ginger pudding.

Treasurer signing off ....

New Glasses

2009-05-31T14:02:00.000+02:00

I have been meaning to go to the optician for a while as I was battling with my eyes when doing things close up. My problem was that when I ate supper I could either see what I was eating and the TV would be blurred or I could see the TV but not see what I was eating!! I eventually went to the optician and decided to get multifocal lenses. I have always been told that these are problematic, but was convinced by my optician that this was not the case and was more in the mind.

I was phoned on Friday evening and collected my new glasses yesterday and put them on before leaving the shop - the shop assistant told me I was very brave!!

They are "Levi's" and come with their own denim case. I have been so comfortable with them on and it was a pleasure working in my craft room making pouches without having to take them off to see what I was doing.

I can see clearly now signing off ....

The Bank Account

2009-05-27T09:31:00.000+02:00

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.' 'That doesn't have anything to do with it,' he replied. Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. 'It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away.. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!
Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing. 'Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hatred. 2. Free your mind from worries. 3. Live simply. 4. Give more. 5. Expect less.

I think there is a great lesson to be learnt from this and it is so true.

Life really is what you make of it.

Have a great day.

Banker signing off ....

I'm Back, but having problems

2009-05-26T08:30:00.000+02:00

Yes, Dereck and I are finally back from our wonderful USA and UK holiday. We got back on 9 May 2009 and it has been rather busy since then.

I have been exceptionally busy at work as we have a big court case on at the moment and there has jsut been so much else on the go.

I am not sure if anyone else is experiencing blog problems, but there are some blogs that open and then internet says it can't open and has to abort and some blogs when I try and leave a message it just does not do anything and there is a little note at the bottom on the screen telling me that it took 93ms to process, but still nothing happens. So if I have only left a comment days after your post or no comment at all, that is the reason.

It was my brother, Warren's, 40th birthday get together on Saturday and we had lovely rolled meat over the spit and then soaked in a marinade with potato, noodle and green salad. Very yummy. This was followed by chocolate cake and ice-cream with chocolate sauce (all home made, except the ice-cream).

Busy preparing for our 25th wedding anniversary on 16 June and of course for the Doing Life Scrapaganza on the 13 June, so you can see, I have lots to do.

Anyway, that is all for now, will update again soon when I have taken some photos.

Just me signing off ....

Ready to Leave

2009-04-01T20:53:00.002+02:00

Yes, Dereck and I are ready to leave on our 5 week holiday to the USA and the UK. We leave tomorrow and I won't be doing any posts to this blog while we are away.

If you would like to see what we are up to, please pop into our new blog at:

http://ramsayroute66.blogspot.com

and see what we are up to.

Please don't forget to leave some comments for us.

Easter cards

2009-03-22T16:03:00.002+02:00

I am busy getting things ready for when we are away and one of them is the Easter goodies for the cousins. So, I have made bunnies using a heart punch (these ones below were with the Creative Memories large punch and the slightly smaller one on the same punch). I still need to stick them down onto card stock: This bunny was made using the old coloured heart punch - just cut the arms slightly smaller once I had punched them out and cut them in half. Then I just wrote on the back of the card.

They are so cute (if I say to myself) and although a bit fiddly to make, I had fun and actually had a bit of a production line going. Hope all the recipients enjoy receiving them.

Off to carry on with my BOM challenge #15 which is about 2 weeks late, but I have had other things to make and do which needed priority with us going on holiday in 1.5 weeks time - yee ha, I can't wait.

Bunnied out signing off ........

More Mosaicing Creations

2009-03-20T07:25:00.003+02:00

Kathy, Shelley, Rayna and I went back to the Ceramic Craft Studio for another dose of mosaicing. Kathy and Rayna did bowls, Shelley painted her tortoises that she had finished mosaicing and I made a vase type container to put in my scrap room to store my tools. Here we are hard at work. Note the chocolate brownies we had for tea - they were absolutely yummy!! Here are the almost finished products, but finished enough for you to see what they look like.

We then came back to my house where we had chicken with salad and poppy seed cake. A really wonderful day crafting with special friends.

I finished all my tile setting on the Sunday and just need to grout my container.

Have also been finishing off some scrapy layout kits that I bought from Doing Life which I will photgraph this week-end in the light.

Mosaicer signing off ....

My crafting week-end

2009-03-10T06:43:00.004+02:00

I had a busy crafting week-end which I thouroughly enjoyed and it was thanks to the cricket that I was probably able to get so much done as Dereck was kept occupied watching it which left me to my own devices!!

I bought the tiles on Saturday with a view to making this sometime after we come back from our holiday, but I was just itching to get started and so started and finished it to this point on Sunday morning. I just need to grout it and then put in the photo. I can't say who it is for and the person might read my blog, I will reveal later once it has been given to the recipient. I must say, I really enjoyed making this and will probably end up making some more. Kathy, Rayna, Shelley and I have another mosaicing lesson Saturday - I can't wait as I am making a pen/pencil/tool holder for my desk in my craft room and yes, it will be shades or purple.

I made this pencil holder for a good friend at work as her birthday is while we are in the USA. I just need to put a few more coats of varnish on it and then it is done. She does horse show jumping, so I thought these pictures were quite appropriate: When Leanne turned 21 two years ago, 2 weeks before she announced that she wanted me to make her a collage. We were out and she was asking me where her baby photos were. What could I say, they had all been scrapped into albums that she knew nothing about and would be given to her as a surprise 21st present!!! I made up some story and then gave the albums to Dereck to scan and then print off the pictures just on paper and made a collage. I must say it did look really nice and she loved it. But, for me that was not the real thing. So, with us going to the USA and then visiting her, I decided to reprint all the photos on photo paper and make the formal collage to take over to her and then she can get it framed (I recently had Grant's one framed and it looks great (will still have to take a photos - sorry). I haven't stuck down the middle pictures and will do that once I am in Wales with Leanne as I need to have this as flat as possible while we are travelling the USA. Because I had done this my style and cropped properly, I had a bit more space, so there are a few extra pictures in that weren't in the original one. I must say, I like how it turned out and I am sure that Leanne is going to love it too.

My family came round on Sunday afternoon and I even made spagetti bolognaise for them and after they had left managed to complete a double page scrap layout, but haven't taken a picture as I had some journalling to do first.

Last night I completed another double page layout and again, no picture as I am still putting on some finishing touches. Both these layouts were kits I received from the last scrap day I assisted Desire with in December 2008. Good fun to do and very simple, self explanatory instructions.

Happy crafter signing off ......

In memory of a special friend ... Jennifer Simpson

2009-03-10T06:32:00.003+02:00

Jennifer had been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and had been going for treatment. There seemed to be a question as to whether it was actually Cancer. Jennifer went in for an operation to treat the jaundice she had very badly and when they opened her up they removed the growth, but her liver and kidneys remained in a critical state. Dereck and I got the terrible news just now that she passed away at 5:00am this morning.

To Ian, Tyler, Wade and your family, our thoughts and prayers are with you as you come to terms with the tragic loss of your wife / mom.

Mosaiced Ladybug

2009-03-04T21:18:00.003+02:00

Here she is!! I think I will have to call her Petronella. I think she is really cute and I so enjoyed making her. I just need to paint her little feeler thingies on top of her head and her underneath and then find a spot for her to live on.

Petronella's creator signing off ....

Photo Challenge

2009-03-04T20:53:00.002+02:00

I was challenged by Helen to show the 8th photo from my 8th folder. This is it. It was taken of Dereck and I at the Barnyard Theatre in 2006. I can't remember what show it was, but all I do remember is that it was a great show. I had arranged it with a crown of my Run/Walk for Life members and we had seats at the back. I can't believe how blonde I was, I am now back to my normal dark hair colour.

I challenge the following people to check out their 13th folder for the 13th photo - hopefully it is lucky 13:

Number 8 signing off ....

I am a Winner (again - ag no I hear my family say!!)

2009-03-02T21:11:00.002+02:00

I entered one of the online competitions Shape had and this is what I received in my e-mail today:

"Dear Winner, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have won one of nine Ocean Basket Sushi Meal vouchers valued at R1000 each featured in our February issue of Shape Magazine (page124). Your details will be sent to Ocean Basket who will then distribute your prize to you. Please allow for 6 to 8 weeks delivery time, should your prize not arrive within the designated time, please feel free to contact me directly. Once again congratulations from Shape Magazine, we hope you will enjoy your prize. "

How cool is that!!!! I had completely forgotten that I had entered.

Sushi signing off ......

A Little bit of This and a Touch of That ...

2009-03-01T21:45:00.002+02:00

Had a fairly eventful week-end.

Left work at 5:45pm on Friday and it was just Dereck and I at home as Grant and Lauren had gone out. Watched a movie that Dereck had been watching.

Saturday morning, I got up earliesh, washed and scrubbed the two birdbaths in the garden. The Hadedas love them and often sit in them and have a bath and of course they get really dirty. Then I washed down the windows on the side of the house where the hosepipe could reach. After that I gave Izzy (my black sausage dog) and Jemma (my brown sausage dog) a bath and cleaned their teeth - say cheese!!!!

Then I showered and went to the hairdresser for a colour touchup and a trim. Straight after that I went for my monthly pedicure but before that I managed to do some shopping at Everfresh.

During my pedicure, it started raining and got gradually harder. I waited for my nails to dry and for the rain to lighten and then drove home. What a scarey experience!! It was raining so hard that I could not see in front of me even with the wipers going full ball. The roads were soooo full of water that in some places you felt like you were driving through a river! There was a mini river going down Fields Hill and as the water hit the drains it shot upwards due to the sheer volume. It would normally take me about 15 minutes to get home from Hillcrest and this took me 40 minutes!

Once home, Dereck was watching sport on TV which was my cue to do something crafty. I carried on with my ladybug that I am mosaicing. I managed to do 3/4 of her crown. Then I had to get ready to go to the Heritage Theater to see Aaron McIlroy in "The Golfer" with friends, Darryl and Bev. If you ever get a chance to see it - make sure you do, it was hilarious.

Sunday, I got up early to let the dogs out, collected the paper and climbed back into bed to read it (this was at 6:00am mind you!!) After reading the paper, dozed off and eventualy got out of bed at about 8:30 - yikes that is soo late for me!!!! Had breakfast and while Dereck was sorting out my new laptop, I carried on with my mosaicing. At 12:30 we went to a Paul and Patricia's pub in Queensburgh for lunch, met Jennifer & Ian and her sister there. We had roast pork or chicken with veggies - very yummy, and we stayed there until about 3pm. They had a lady called Tammi playing music and singing and it was my type of music - she was really good and had a lovely voice. I could have listened to her all afternoon.

Came home and while Dereck had a snooze, I finished my ladybug. Just waiting for all the glue to set and then I will grout it tomorrow. She really looks cute and now I just have to decide where to put her.

Regarding my laptop ... I had joked to Dereck that I would like a laptop. No particular reason, just because. Anyway he had been thinking about this and decided to buy me a small Acer Apire (it is only 25cm x 16cm, so is small) with a cordless mouse that we can take with us when we go to the USA next month - yes, we leave on 2 April 2009 - I can't wait - as this will be so much lighter and less cumbersome than his current one. It also has a 3G built into it, so he has set that up as well as Skype. Nearer the time he will load his stuff on it so that he will be able to manage his business while we are away. It is so cute and looks like an A5 diary!!

Anyway, that is about everything I did this week-end. Nothing too strenuos, but got lots done.

Ladybugger signing off ....

Wedding Advent Calendar

2009-02-26T06:55:00.011+02:00

One of the ladies at work's daughter is getting married next moth and is always telling her mom, how many sleeps there are left before she becomes a "Mrs". I was tasked by the "Sexy Summation Sisters" to make a seven day advent calendar (that is how many letters are in her current surname). This is the outside of the calendar: Each day she will open up a little window where there is some advice relating to the letter of her surname. The idea is for her to tear off the flap thereby losing part of her current surname.

This is what the inside of each of the flaps say. The girls in the office who worked with her, wrote these comments, which I must say are really great and something that I could use in the future.

Whilst being rather fiddly to make, I certainly had a lot of fun putting this together and I think it is really pretty and hope that she enjoys the fun of opening it up each day, the week before she gets married. Hopefully no peaking into the other days!!

Advent calendar maker signing off .....

Off the Page Item

2009-02-22T19:06:00.003+02:00

I have been collecting tins for the purpose of making a pen holder or two and today warranted me doing just that. I tidied up my craft table and saw that I had quite a few pens lying around, so quickly decided that I needed to make my pen holder. Last year some time I purchased a Crop-o-Dile from Sophia and today I put it to the test. Wow, this worked really well and putting holes and setting eyelets into the tin were an absolute breeze. Here is the finished product filled up already:

I quite enjoyed making this and thank you for looking.

Crop-o-Diler signing off ....

Another Craft to my CV - Mosaicing

2009-02-22T18:16:00.003+02:00

Kathy, Rayna, Shelley and I decided that instead of going to a restaurant for lunch for our "girl time get together" we would do something interesting. We had seen some mosaicing on display at the last Hobby-X and so it was unanimous that we went and did just that. Here we are with what we managed to achieve in the lesson: Kathy did a bowl and was practically finished at the end of the lesson. I did a ladybug and got halfway, Rayna did a dragon fly and Shelley did a tortoise.

Some progress shots. It is certainly very fiddly and takes time cutting the tiles before you can get started. But ..... loads of fun. I found it really therapeutic and fun to find and make pieces to fit the gaps. I recently had a taste of this when I went up to visit Desire and helped her with the mosaicing of the picture frames she was doing for her in-laws 50th wedding anniversary.

We have all decided that we really enjoyed doing this and will be going for another lesson within the next few weeks. For me the bug has bitten and it is certainly something that I willdo more often, especially to make little gifts for people.

Once the lesson was over, we came back to my place. It was soooo hot that there was no ways we could sit outside and Dereck was in the lounge watching TV, so he very kindly cleared up his table in his office and we set it and had lunch in there with the aircon cooling us. Kathy made 2 divine quiches, I made a mixed green salad, Shelly made a yummy chocolate pudding with self basting sauce and ice-cream and Rayna brought some refreshing fruit juice.

It was a great day for getting together with wonderful friends and do some catching up with what has been happening in our lives.

Happy mosaicer signing off ...

BOM CHallenge #14 - 106 Things About Me

2009-02-15T16:14:00.003+02:00

This challenge was listing 101 random facts about ourselves. While I enjoyed thinking about the facts to put down, it is not "scrapping" that I enjoy doing. I certain prefer scrapping pictures and I didn't want to specifically take pictures for this layout.

Anyway, you should get to know me a little better!

The wording reads as follows (and not in the order on my layout):

I can’t watch a movie without eating popcorn
I only wear g-strings
I am still considering having a tattoo
I am a good listener
I love the smell of Jasmin
I always go the extra mile
I don’t wear much make-up
I wear a size 6 shoe
I always wanted only 2 children
At home I often walk around barefoot
I was pushed by a baboon - was trying to save our biscuits that he wanted!
I love chocolate especially with nuts in it
I love cashew nuts
I love the smell of lavender
I have swam the Midmar mile 3 times
I enjoy watching people
I love dancing
My nickname at school was “Frog”
I have known my best friend, Ingrid, since 1970
I finished school in 1979
I have done line dancing
I love wrapping up presents
I have never been a bridesmaid
I organised a formal dinner for 364 people
I have a Computer Secretarial certificate
I enjoy a challenge
I love not wearing a bra – don’t know if the boobs do!!
I normally cut up and mix all my food
I love a chilli seasoning
I make a delicious lemon meringue pie
I know lots of people
I like cats but will never have one of my own
I laugh often
I see the funny side of sometimes serious situations
I love watching monkeys
I can’t skateboard
I have never surfed
I have never ever smoked
I could do the splits
I can still almost do the splits!
I can’t breathe when swimming freestyle
I have never been on a motorbike
When I was 12 I worried that when I became a teenager I would have no clothes!
I once put nail polish on my eyes thinking it would be good eye make-up
I love reading
I have had 6 operations
I used to be a Girl Guide
I have never made a braai
I have hair on my toes!
I am quite lucky
I have ridden an Ostrich
I had a doll called Lucy
I got a lucky bean stuck up my nose
I broke my collar bone doing a 3 legged race the day before school exams
I only had one serious boyfriend before Dereck
I started wearing glasses for reading in 1984
I got married in 1984
I had my first child in 1986
I had my second child in 1988
I h ad to have an emergency Ceasar for my first child
My first dog was a mongrel called Tawny
I used to have hamsters as pets
I also used to have chameleons as pets
I worked as a waitress at Pizzaland (it’s demolished now!!)
Dereck taught me how to drive
I have high arches on my feet – Leanne says they were bound!!
I used to put corks between my big toes to straighten them – ouch!!!
I used to walk about 4km to school to save my bus fare
I went overseas for the first time in February 1982
My first employer was The Standard Bank of SA Limited
My first salary was R300-00 per month
I used to stay in a bachelor flat in Broad Street in town
I have never cut my own hair
I regularly cut Dereck & Grant’s hair
I enjoy baking
I have done the world’s highest bungy jump
I can sew
I can do basic crocheting
I have done embroidery
I can knit
I hand make teddy bears
I can cook
I don’t drink glasses of milk
I enjoy the outdoors
I love shopping
I am generous
Tony Watson (ex rugby player) signed my birthday card
I fell while snow skiing and had to be rescued off the mountain
I love travelling
I love scrapbooking
I enjoy working in the garden
I have ridden a horse
I love my current job
I am never bored
I have been to the top of the Eifel Tower
I walked up to the top of the Campanile in Port Elizabeth
I love listening to music
I used to catch a train with my friends to Kelso Caravan Park
My friends had to teach me to drink coffee!!
In 1982 whilst in London, I walked past Princess Diana
Bruce Fordyce (Comrades runner) autographed his biography for me
I really want to bungy jump off Vic Falls
I loved playing with Barbie dolls
I used to be scared of the dark
At school I loved acting
I can say – supercalafragalisticexpialidocious – can you?
I had fun putting this together – hope you enjoyed reading about me!

"Now that you know me a bit more", signing off ......

Graduated with Distinction!

2009-02-15T16:10:00.004+02:00

This is a page that I have been trying to finish for a few weeks now and yesterday was the perfect opportunity. It is of Grant's graduation. I still have a few more of the "proud parents" that I will probably start on later today.

Proud mom signing off ....

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T15:48:00.003+02:00

Hope you all had a great day and got a little spoilt!!

This is what I received - my favourite Red Door perfume with body cream and shower gel.

This is what I had sent to Dereck via Netflorist - a box full of iced gingerbread letters. Unfortunatley most of them were broken, but they certainly tasted divine!!

Dereck played golf yesterday, so for me it was rather a quiet day. I went to Run/Walk for Life and did 5km and caught up news from my friend Jeanette. Once home I had a shower, put on a load of washing, hung it up did some weeding and then got stuck into some serious scrapping. I had my music playing (loudly) and got quite a bit done.

Dereck got home at about 1:30 (I think) and he sat watching the rugby. Grant and Lauren went out and we braaied and I carried on with my scrapping. You will see the finished product in the next post.

Happy Valentine signing off ....

Early Valentine

2009-02-13T06:55:00.002+02:00

In case you didn't know, or had just forgotten, it is Valentine's Day tomorrow. So, if you are reading this before you got to work, make sure you wear something red or pink.!

My office love any reason to celebrate, so I decided to make these cupcakes. They are chocolate cupcakes with pink, almond flavoured icing with a smartie on top. If I say so myself, they are really yummy (yes, I had to taste one last night to do a quality check!!!)

Cupcake signing off .....

Grant's Wheels

2009-02-13T06:51:00.003+02:00

For Grant's 21st Dereck and I gave him a voucher to have mag wheels fitted to his bakkie. He recently went and had them fitted and this is what they look like.

He says the car even drives better! not sure about that, but maybe they do hold the road better.

Anyway, enjoy them Grant - they look really cool.

Wheelie mom signing off ....

Midmar Update

2009-02-13T06:46:00.002+02:00

Desire left a comment that she wanted to see the medal up close and personal, so here it is.

Thanks for looking.

Proud medaller signing off .....

Jemma on the Pond

2009-02-13T06:45:00.000+02:00

While I was weeding in the front garden on Monday evening (the amount of weeds has been irritating me, so when I have come home in the evenings I have been doing some weeding!) I looked up and this is what greeted me!! Jemma climbing up onto the pond and then proceeded to balance and was dunking her nose under the water to take out the leaves!!!! It was soo funny. By the way, she never fell in and once I went inside, she just climbed off and followed me.

Weeder with a dog signing off ....

Midmar Mile 7 February 2009

2009-02-12T06:58:00.000+02:00

Wow, after all the training I have been doing, the day finally arrived. The weather looked good as we left Pinetown, but started looking a bit ominous when we got to Midmar. The dam looked really full and as the morning progressed the clouds lifted and it turned out to be a really wonderful day.

Kate (from work), her boyfriend, Dave (replacing Paula who cracked her wrist), Dereck, Darryl and I made up a team known as PKMD (the initials of our name - very original I know!!!!)

We were in the non-company team which swam at 11:00. After Kate arriving just after 10:00 (late according to Dereck :-)) we set up the gazebo and then went off to find the taxi bus to take us to the start.

There were thousands of people there and they started in batches depending on the colour of your cap. Kate went first with the red group and we all went last with the white group.

It was a bit of a scramble initially and I found that once I was in the water, I got my space and just swam. Darryl came swimming past me, but at 90 degree angles - not sure where he was going!!!! He told us afterwards that he had actually swam into one of the life boats - I mean really - he he he!

Kate finished in 30:05, I did a time of 43:56, Dave did 45:45, Dereck did 55:26 and Darryl did 55:54. Of course lots has been said about the fact that Dereck beat Darryl, by a mere 23 seconds!!!!!

Once we got back to the gazebo, Dirk (Kate's brother) and Paula had got the skottle going and were busy cooking our boerewors. We had a good time chilling, chatting and chomping boerie rolls.

At about 2pm we decided to pack up and we drove home. Once home I went for a lie down and when I woke up at about 5:30 realised how exhausted I had been.

It was a great day and for me a great sense of achievement. I now have 3 Midmar Mile medals, and would like to consider completing another 7. I must say, I really enjoyed the swimming training and will continue as part of my general training.

Happy swimmer signing off ...

Another Award!

2009-02-06T07:20:00.004+02:00

I received this award from Andrea - thank you so much.

The 'rules' are :
'This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!'This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

My eight are:

Desire - for such an amazing blog of stories and wonderful creations

Libby - for an interesting blog and wonderful quilting creations

Claire - for a wonderful account of day to day life and her creations

Beryldene - for such brilliant writing - there is always something positive and a moral

Candice - for awesome layouts with such great pet "models". Also writes beautifully

Bakerella - for her awesome creations of cakes and other goodies

Leanne - for her day to day account of life in London and now Wales

Sophia - for her wondrful creations and life with her family

There are many others I could have awarded this to, but these decisions one has to make.

Enjoy the award!

Another award signing off .....

A Chinese Evening

2009-02-04T19:57:00.002+02:00

Alex had been talking about getting a dinner club going for a while and on Christmas Day we finally did the necessary and set a date. We decided on 31 January 2009. We drew to see whose house it would take place at, we all gave country names and then drew to see which country we would do and then we drew to see what meal we would each have to make.

Those who attended were:
Lesley, Alec and Nicholas
Dereck, Michelle, Grant & Lauren
Fred, Rhona, Ricky & Damien
Darryl and Bev
Mally and Val

Some dressed up while others wore clothing "made in China"!!

Lesley brought home a chinese lady wig which we all took turns in trying on - what a laugh!!

We had to make a fish dish and a chicken dish. I made a seafood chow mein (without the noodles as someone was tasked to do that) and sweet and sour chicken. We also had spring rolls, batter dipped prawns, coated chicken pieces, onetons in soup, beef kebabs, sweet and sour pork accompanied with chinese rice and noodles. For pudding we had delicious home made fruit salad laced with alcohol and ice-cream and of course a Chinese evening wouldn't be complete without the fortune cookies.

We all had a wonderful evening and agreed that if we had gone out for Chinese dinner, we would never have had the amount of food that we did have - and probably not as tasty!!

We then drew for the next evening which is going to be Argentina and this will happen at Fred & Rhona's place in Hillcrest on 28 February 2009 (Rhona is Alec's sister).

Aaaah soooo signing off ....

RAK Winner

2009-02-04T19:22:00.003+02:00

I recently left a comment on Wilna Furstenburg's blog for a RAK and my name was drawn out. This is the pack that I received. It is an Anna Griffin pack with over 50 pieces of scrapping goodies in it.

I think the colours are suitable to scrap my Christmas pictures. Thanks again Wilna.

RAK winner signing off ...

It's Been Raining Blog Awards!

2009-02-04T19:16:00.003+02:00

This award I received from Desire - thank you so much!

This is another award I received from Desire - again thank you.

Another award from Desire!

This award I received from Desire and Helen.

Thank you ladies, I really appreciate these awards. Please go and check out their blogs - you won't be disappointed!

I have come across so many inspiring blogs that I am not going to pass these on to any specific bloggers. I would like for anyone visiting my blog to please accept one or all of these awards for themselves - they are worthy of them for just having come and visited my blog - BUT ... one condition, please leave me a comment.

Dripping with awards signing off ....

Just an Update

2009-01-29T14:02:00.002+02:00

I have been rather busy of late and if I wasn't doing some scrapping (which layout I have not yet finished!), we had no electricity for almost 2 days, I was leaving comments on blogs or swimming, or was away.

Our electricity went out last Tuesday at 12:45pm and only came back on Wednesday at 9:30pm. A cable blew up and destroyed the cable next to it. Our whole area had no lights. It was so irritating as Dereck would phone the department who would say that they were working on it, but in actual fact we are linked to another phase and the minute electricity is restored, it blows a fuse and us and our neighbour and one other are then without lights and when you try and explain this ..... no-one wants to listen!!

I have been trying to scrap Grant's graduations pictures. It has been rather slow and last night when I thought I would get a bit more done, Shelley and I ended up chatting so much that I managed to stick down two photos on their backing paper and cut them out!! At least there was some progress!!

I must say I enjoy checking out other people's blogs and there are quite a few I follow, so keeping up to date does take a while and then of course I have to visit facebook and do the word challenge - this is sooooo addictive!!!

I have been doing swimming training as Paula and Kate (from work), myself, Dereck and a friend Darryl have entered the non-company event in the Midmar Mile. I have been going fairly regularly to train and can comfortably swim 2km within an hour with a few minutes to spare and still feel good! We have an hour to swim 1.6km. I have done it before - 9 years ago, and am looking forward to the event next Saturday (7 February).

Dereck had to go to JHB this last week-end for a course that he was attending from Monday to Wednesday so he asked me to drive up with him on Saturday morning and then he would fly me back on Sunday evening. We left at 5:00am and after stopping just past Harrismith (I think) for breakfast we got to Joanne's place (his baby sister) at about 11:00am. Her children, Kerin and Ryan were pleased to see us and I had bought gingerbread men for them, which they were quite tickled about. We spent the morning just chatting and chilling and at about 2pm decided that we were hungry, so went to the Broadacres centre (I have been there previously with Desire, so was able to help them with directions!!!) We went to the Mugg and Bean and had a lovely relaxing afternoon. The evening we just sat round chatting again and much later had cheese and biscuits to fill the little gaps. Kerin and Ryan happily let me take some photos of them, which I will post once I have downloaded them off Dereck's camera.

On Sunday morning, Dereck and I left the duplex and went to another mall and then went to visit Desire & Conroy. We got to their place at about 10:00 and it was great to see them again. Saw her lovely new car, discussed scrapping things (how could we not!) and then sat down to a lovely piece of poppy seed cake and something cold to drink. We chatted and listened and watched the birdlife in her garden and at about 12:00 we left to go and meet a friend of Dereck's in Pretoria. Dereck and David have been friends since they were about 3. We met them at their house and then went to the Brooklyn Mall to a Greek restaurant for lunch. We had a wonderful time and a friend of their daughter who joined us had just returned from being in New York for a year, so we were getting some tips from her for our trip. We left there at about 4:30pm, drove back to Joanne's place and then at about 6:30pm, Dereck drove me to the airport.

Had a good flight home and Grant and Lauren came to fetch me. Dereck drove back yesterday (with all that terrible rain) and arrived back safely at 6:30pm. It was good to have him home!

I have been awarded a few blog awards which I still need to copy the pictures and paste them onto my blog - "please be patient, the awards will be posted". I do appreciate getting them, but have just been otherwise occupied.

Updated signing off ....