A relaxing day finished off with a Prawn Feast!

Got out of bed at 6:00am to let the dogs out and give them their breakfast. Collected the newspaper then got back into bed - very unusual for me!! I have had such a runny nose these last few days and was just feeling yuk. Slept until 8:00am then decided that I needed to get up and do some scrapping.

I had finished off My Family layout yesterday (I still need to take a photo and will send to you Tracy) and then got started on my next challenge which is about our fashion sense through the years. I finished that off and am very pleased at how it turned out. Again, I still need to take a photo and will send it through to Tracy to put on her blog.

Grant asked if we could go to Simply Fish at the Pavilion for Prawns. It costs you R98 per person and you can eat as much as you like. Between Lauren, Grant and I, we finished off 11 pans of Prawns. They were absolutely yummy. We liked the mediteranean sauce which was a bit peri-peri. Dereck had fish and then went off to Exclusive Books, while we carried on eating. even the waiter commented that Dereck had looked bored!!

All in all a nice relaxing day and a wonderful evening. Off to go and read my book.

Prawned out signing off ....

Bosses Day 16 October 2008

Here in South Africa it was Bosses Day today. Paula and I decided that we were going to treat our bosses Campbell and Julian and we also included our office manager - Debbie as well as our professional assistant - Kate.

Being a legal firm, we decided that we needed to invite them in a formal way, so we drafted up a Summons. Paula and I were known as "Da Chef", Campbell and Julian were "Da'Boss", Debbie was "Da'Boss'Boss" Kate was "Da'Boss-in-Training". The summons was formally served on Monday, 13 October 2008 and the date was set. Herewith a copy of what the summons looked like: Paula typed them out onto blue paper and I rolled them up and tied them with a white ribbon.

The start of Boss' Day was tea or coffee served with my home-made lemon merangue pie, which I must say, is really delicious:

"Da' Bosses" were summonsed to appear in our boardroom at 12h55 today, to be served a luncheon prepared by "Da'Chef 1 and 2". We bought a roasted butternut and ricotta quiche. While Paula was out collecting the quiche, I made a green salad, consisting of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper, cucumber, feta cheese and roasted nuts. We also had some coleslaw and wholewheat rolls. We had arranged gifts for each of "Da'Bosses"and these were placed on their plate with a paper bag over them so that they could only see them once we were ready. This is what the table and the food looked like:

Campbell (Da' Boss) and Kate (Da' Boss-in-Training) eagerly awaiting the instruction for them to lift the paper bags off their gifts and tuck into their food!

Julian (Da' Boss) and Debbie (Da' Boss' Boss) also eagerly awaiting the instruction to "lift and eat".

Even though the note said "please do not lift", both Campbell and Julian were bending down and trying to lift without us seeing them do it!!

The quiche above and salad below
This was all set on the table on a white table cloth with some beautiful roses from Paula's garden (they are called South Africa) and smelt beautiful.

Once they had finished this meal, we cleared the table and served them each a bowl of freshly made fruit salad (I made it last night) - problem - unbeknown to us Campbell did not like fruit salad, so did not end up eating his pudding!! This is what the fruit salad looked like and was made up with the following: pawpaw, granadilla, red and green apple, banana, oranges and a pineapple:

Once they had finished eating, they were each given 1 (and only 1) sparkle mint!

When Campbell left this afternoon, he thanked us and stated that "that was the best Bosses day I have ever had. It beats going to a restaurant". Thanks Campbell, it was a pleasure to "serve you".

Well, Michelle, what was under the paper bag, I hear you all asking - it was this:

Campbell and Julian each received their jar with the tag stating "Da' Boss".
This was Debbie's jar - "Da' Boss' Boss".

This was Kate's jar - "Da' Boss-in-Training".

I had some alphabet pins which I used on the top of each jar and this is what they looked like:

Campbell and Julian's jars with "c" and "j"on the top.

This was Debbie and Kate's jars with "d" and "k" on the top.

We finished off the afternoon with chocolate coated crunchies (home-made by Paula and very yummy), but I was so busy eating mine, I forgot to take a picture.

All in all a great day and worth all the effort we put into it.

Da Chef signing off ..........

Some more updates ....

Ok, so I have now finally caught up with my blogging - please read the few posts below this as well!

Last week, Tuesday, Shelley, Rayna, Liane (Rayna's daughter) and I went to the ICC areana to see Smokie (to the youngsters out there, they are a band who made the song "Alice" - living next door to Alice as you might know it, famous. They were brilliant and had us all bopping and jiving in our seats and then eventually standing up. That was certainly food for the soul and it is a long time since I have been out dancing.

Then on Thursday, Dereck's friend Mali who plays at the Heritage Theatre arranged free tickets for us to see The King and Queen - a tribute to Elvis and Freddie Mercury, so Rayna and Shelley joined us and we saw that show. If you haven't gone to see it, you better get booking - brilliant music and a good laugh! They also have the Gee Jays with Bad Moon Rising coming up soon and that should also be really good - we have already booked for this.

Friday evening I spent sorting out the gifts for bosses day. I have taken pictures but you will have to wait until after Thursday 16 October 2008 to see what Paula and I did.

On Saturday it was Rayna's birthday and Shelley, Kathy, Rayna, Nikki and I went to the Heritage Retreat for some pampering. I had a full body massage and my pedicure and the others also had massages, pedicures and hot stone massages. When we were finished we sat on the deck and had wonderful fresh muffins and orange juice while we decided where to go for lunch. We decided on Star Anise where we helped ourselves from the buffet menu and you then weigh your plate for the price. A most enjoyable meal. But most of all, a most enjoyable pampering session with great friends. Something we have all decided that we need to do again. If any of you want to go to the Heritage Retreat, I recommend the therapist by the name of Bronwyn - she is brilliant!

Today was a lovely day - really hot and a taste of what summer is going to be all about. Dereck and I went for breakfast at the Mugg and Bean in Pinetown, then went to visit my brother Malcolm and Carol (it was their 17 anniversary on 5 October 2008) and thereafter joined our friends Darryl and Bev for a braai at their place in Glenashley. We got home at about 5pm. I have been updating comments on the various blogs I visit and of course updating my own blog. So now that I am completely up to date and it is now almost 10pm, I think that it is time for me to go to bed.

Up to date signing off ....

BOM Challenge #7 Loves & Hates

This was an interesting challenge and gave me an opportunity to sit and think seriously about some of the things that I love and hate. This was a very time consuming layout, but it turned out exactly as I had envisioned it which is very pleasing for me. Thanks for looking:

The journalling reads as follows:

Things I love (in no particular order):

My brothers & and my sister - Malcolm, Warren & Liesel
Having a good spring clean every once in a while
Chocolate cake, brownies, muffins, lemon meringue pie
Flowers - Gerberas are my favourite, but I enjoy all
Spending time with my friends - they are all so special to me
Spending time with my family - we always have such a laugh!!
At this moment in time, I am really loving going to the Gym
Dancing – this puts me on a high!
Reading - a good book goes down very well
Watching movies - my favourites is Pretty Woman
Organising and helping people organise things
Seafood - calamari and prawns being my best
Music – loud - especially music that you can dance to
Seeing physically challenged people achieve
Really good jokes - I have a great sense of humour!
A really good, but not too hot, curry (especially prawn)
Salads - I have one for lunch every day
Chocolates, especially those which have nuts in them
Going on holidays overseas - seeing different cultures
Spending time away from home, just chilling
The satisfaction of achieving when others said I wouldn't
Watching monkeys, apes, gorillas - really fascinating
My husband, Dereck. We have certainly had a lot of fun
A good party - with the right people I can have lots of fun!
Chocolate ice-cream or chocolate milkshake
Mixing all my food together so that I can just use a fork
Buying & wrapping up presents
The feeling when having completed a walking race
Painting - I have painted most of the inside of our house
A good challenge - I must be interested in it though
Going shopping, especially if for me too!
Decorating and making things nice for a function
My children, Leanne & Grant
A good dare - have bungi jumped & loved it!
Just getting on with things - why wait?
Pork chops or chicken kebabs on a braai
Pasta in any form - meal or salad
My dogs – Zippa, Jemma & Izzy
The smell of freshly cut grass on a hot day
A good massage - legs or whole body
Soaking in a hot bubble bath (don't do this often enough!)
Freshly made fruit salad with granadilla
Waking up and wondering what the day has in store for me
Collecting Beatrix Potter & Swarovski Crystal figurines
Collecting teaspoons from around the world
Scrapbooking - I find this very relaxing and satisfing
Making things - cookies, teddy bears, anything creative
Eating nougat especially with berries and nuts
Drinking berry drinks especially smoothies
Just being accepted for who and what I am
The colour purple (mauve)
Watching ballroom dancing
Watching, diving, gymnastics & athletics
My mom and dad (Laura & Lu)
Spins, Brutul Fruit, Bacardi Breezers
Rose wine and peach champagne

Things I hate: –

Baked beans, beetroot, cooked cabbage, oats, sago pudding (I had sago pudding last week and I now love it, so this will have to come off!!!!)
People who are false & say things they really don't mean
Snakes – actually I am petrified of them!
When things don’t get put back where they belong
* Rude people, and bad service * Inconsiderate people
Eating a meal where you have to pick out the bones
Rainy weather - it's messy and the washing piles up!
Seeing people begging with their children

Ticking signing off .....

A Serious Blog Update ....

Ok, so I have been "blogging slack" and for that I must apologise, but I have been away, scrapping, attending concerts and getting things ready for bosses day - so hopefully I will be excused!

Here are some layouts that I have recently completed. It has certainly been fun and I am slooowly getting Grant's album done. Still have a bit to do and time is getting less - he turns 21 on 4 January 2009, so now you understand why I need to do lots of scrapping!!!!

This was the morning of Christmas 2006 and was taken of Grant & Lauren before we went to Joanne's place for the day.

This was Christmas eve at Debbie & Warren's place where the children were doing silly things on the trampoline and inside. This kit can be purchased from Doing Life .
This was also taken on Christmas Ever and I had asked the children to pose specifically so that I could send the pictures to Leanne to see. They co-operated very well!! This was a scraplift from one of Desire's designs (the prisoners)
This was taken on Christmas day at our house with all the Ramsay's. It is also a kit that can be bought from Doing life.

A few weeks ago Dereck, myself and 11 other scrappers (including two other men) went to Inkungu Estate in the Berg for 4 days. It was absolutely wonderful and Desire (check out her blog for the full story - I couldn't have told it better!) designed 3 layouts for each of us which we then completed - amongst other scrapping that we had taken with us. Below are my three layouts that I did:This was on the 15 June 2008, the day after the scrap day held at Makaranga. Dereck and I stayed over as it was my birthday and then our anniversary on the 16 June.
This was some of the ladies who attended the scrap day.
This was the Sani Stagger that Dereck took part in - I chose to be a helper and did the scenic route!!

seriously updated signing off ....

Scrapping up a Storm!!

I have been doing quite a bit of scrapping lately and finished off these two layouts recently. This is of Grant's birthday in January 2008 where we had a fish braai and of course a really yummy chocolate cake to finish off with. This is a design from Doing Life which was tweaked when I did it in Leanne's album and got tweaked again for Grant's album!This next layout is also from Doing Life, which was also tweaked to suit my size photos and is of Lauren's birthday in February 2008, when she turned 18:


I am almost finished one of the kids goofing around at Christmas time and will post it as soon as it is done.

I went to see Mamma Mia today. Girls this is the best movie I have seen in a loooong while. If you haven't seen it, please do yourself a favour and get there. It is one of those movies that brings back the girlie things you might have done together, funny, little bit sad, the feel good stuff and the best is that there were ABBA songs in it!!! I felt so good after I had watched it.

Needless to say I put on my Abba CD when I got home and happily scrapped!

Anyway, time now for bed to be fresh for a short week. Dereck and I are going to the Berg on Thursday - only 4 more sleeps!

Abbamaniac signing off ....

BOM Challenge #6 - Habits

This was difficult to try and find out what habits I have that maybe irritate or annoy people. Anyway Grant came up with the one about me falling asleep in front of the TV and Shelley reminded me of a couple of sayings that I have.

Here is my layout and below it is the wording:


GOOD:
I drink at least 8 glasses of water every day

I have a pedicure every month.

I have a great sense of humour and often see the funny side of things. My family think this is not so good as I do find others’ misfortunes hilarious!! But people will send me funny things saying that they knew I would appreciate it!

I don’t wait for things to get done, I get on and do them.

I always finish what I start.

I am reliable & helpful and give 100% effort.

I am loyal and won’t let someone down if I have undertaken to do something.

I have never smoked; not even taken a puff.

I have a good memory and can remember conversations. When doing walking races in particular, I would always take note and remember the roads and landmarks that I walked past and my friend Shelley would just look at me if I ever reminded her of where we had been!

I don’t drink much, but with the right friends, could go overboard. The last time that happened was a few years ago with my friend Shelley and I won’t elaborate!!
I have my hair cut every 6 weeks. If my hair looks good, I feel good.

I am game for a dare or challenge – did 1208km in walking races in a year and swam the midmar mile in 2000 (having not swam since 1979!)


BAD:
I fall asleep while watching TV and then I wake myself because I am snoring and uncomfortable or because my family are really irritated with me and wake me up to tell me not to sleep.

I don’t delegate. I am a strong believer that if I am responsible for something, then I must do it.

If I need help with doing something and ask someone to help me, I expect them to help me then. If they don’t, I just leave them and get on with it.

I bite my lips if they are dry, although I am starting to use Lip-Ice more often.

When I am cross or upset, I tend to mull over things for a while – it is best to just leave me alone to get over it, hehe.

When chatting I sometimes interrupt the person as I have an answer to what they are talking about and don’t want to forget what I want to say.

I can be very stubborn.

UGLY:
I cannot leave a pimple alone – it just has to go!!!!

I pick my nose – I cannot stand when there is something there and it just has to go, but in private!!!

ENDEARING:
If something is nice, I have a saying from the Polyfilla advert that I use – “very, very nice Pieter, now go and fix the crack in the kitchen” with the accent too!!!

If I am cross with someone or something I say “Yus …” when telling the story.

"Fixing the crack" signing off ....

8 THINGS THAT MAKE ME SING {HAPPY}

I have been tagged by Desire ...

I sing to music when no-one is listening - I don't think I sing very well!!

But the following is what makes me happy ..

* Being with my friends or family - I always have a great time

* Listening to music - anything lively that you can dance to

* Dancing - I love doing this and don't do it often enough

* Helping people - this makes me feel useful

* Giving to other people - makes me feel good seeing their expression when they receive something that they have been wanting or needed

* Watching monkeys - there is something about them that makes me laugh

* Completing a walking race or lately a good hard session at the gym

* Seeing other people happy, makes me happy.

I would like to tag the following people to find out what makes them happy:

Leanne
Beryldene

Feeling happy signing off ....

On a Winning Streak ....

Tracy came round to my office on Friday and delivered to me my "If" Challenge prize:

There was a sheets of chipboard swirls, thank you sticker sheet, pack of mini paper, 2 little tubs of glitter and 2 rolls of the most divine ribbon.

Then she also gave me the prize for coming out of the draw for leaving comments on her blog. This really was a positive thought that I left on her blog, and I came out a winner. Here is what I received:

A lovely covered chipboard "M"
6 co-ordinating patterned papers and 4 sheets of plain colour and a sheet of tags

A kit to do the layout titled "Defining Moments" which has the instructions, 2 patterned papers and to plain papers and all the embellishments to finish the layout off.

Thank you so much Tracy. I am going to have fun using all my goodies.

Also, it was great to meet you in person. I do remember seeing you at the SATC 2 day crop in May, but we didn't chat.

Prize winner signing off ...

Secretaries Day

This is a bit late, but it was Secretaries Day on Wednesday, 3 September 2008. Paula, Glynis and I at our office were presented with lovely big boquets of flowers. Here is what mine looks like:

Flower power signing off ....

BED HEAD

It was "Casual Day" today in the working environment and Grant's work decided that their theme was a pyjama party. They all had to go to work dressed in their pyjamas. Last night while cooking supper, he came and asked me for my slippers that I was wearing and literally took them off my feet! He found Dereck's dressing gown, got his long sleep shorts and his knitted beanie and that is how he drove himself to work!!!

Well, this is the wording I received in an e-mail later this morning:

"Hey Mom, I won a prize… BED HEAD… the best dressed sleepy look"

Grant received a certificate as well as those eye patches you get on the plane with "Bed Head" printed on it. Can you believe it!!!

Slipperless signing off ....

BOM Challenge # 4 & 5 - My School Days

Ok, I have finally completed the last of this BOM challenge. Check out Tracy's blog for more details if you would like to join us on this rememberance journey.

This was fun and it is amazing how I have changed over the years. I had to scan the pictures, so they are not the best quality but it at least gives one an idea of how I looked!!

The journalling reads as follows:

"From 1966 – 1967 I attended Woodlands Nursery School. From 1968 – 1969 I attended Woodlands Infants Primary School and used to catch a bus there and back every day. During 1969 a school was being built in Yellow-wood Park, where I lived and from 1970 - 1974 I attended this school, which I used to walk to and from every day. I had to walk past the shopping centre and often stopped in to buy chips or an ice-cream to eat on the remainder of my way home – chips 5cents a packet, ice-cream (pop-a-2) 3 cents!! Can you believe it! The high school I attended was Mowat Park High, in Montclair and I was there from 1975 – 1979. I loved school, not for the learning, but for the social as I enjoyed being with my friends. I also enjoyed my sport and drama, so was always participating in something after school. In order to save on bus fare and have more pocket money, I often walked to and from school which was about 4 or 5 km each way. That probably stood me in good stead for my walking career later on in my life!! From school reports I was friendly, polite, well mannered, helpful and always willing to please. Some of the games we played at primary school were, marbles (I was really good at this!) elastics, rounders and kissing catches. At high school we would just meet up at lunch time and find a spot on the field and sit and chat. I was fairly popular amongst my friends and most of the teachers at the primary and high school knew of me".

Off to bed to get some well needed sleep as I only got to bed after 12pm last night!!

Schooled out signing off ....

Blog Award

As a Proudly South African, I was able to accept a blog award over at Desire's (Doing Life) blog. Check it out and accept one for yourself too.

Proudly South African blogger signing off ....

Another Award Received

I received this award from Desire, Jacqui, Libby & Tracy - thanks so much, I feel quite honoured!



The rules are simple: 1. Make a blog post where you pass the award on to seven blogs you like and 2. Post a comment at their blog to tell them about the award!

In no particular order, here are the blogs I have chosen:

Desire, Tracy, Leanne, Berlydene, Libby, Andrea & Tracy S. They are so inspirational and I always look forward to seeing their updates!

Award winner signing off ....