Five on Friday

Some really quick updates before I jump into bed.

My hair is finally looking good after about 3 weeks. Yay! This was with the "on-standby" hairdresser as mine is on leave and... she did it better than the usual one. Could I cheat on the existing one? :)

Party planning paid off as I'm really not stressed about this. Full party planning posts to follow but for the moment, etsy rocks. Big time!

The babies had their 2-year appointment with the lovely Dr S today. All good but an in-detail post to follow.

When I unearthed all the hidden party food, I realise I have too much. Oh well, there's always our party in 3 weeks' time. Yes, that's right. I'm having another party for D and me on 30th. Fun times.

I've chosen the winner of the giveaway and it's............... RACHEL!



Rachel, please send me your mailing address so we can get your gorgeous bag to you. But... I see on Mandy's blog that she's got a flooded basement, etc, etc. so it will arrive but is slightly lower priority at the moment :)

Have you guys had a good Friday?

Gosh, I miss talking to you!

The very cute bag you've all been waiting for

Mandy sent me some interim pics of the bag and I am beyond jealous that one of YOU get to have it instead of me!

If you haven't entered the giveaway yet, get in on the cute bag action.


Sorry, no time for a proper blog even though I've had a very productive day because I'm being very strict with myself and I haven't finished my 6 hours of writing for the day yet. Maybe later?

How was your Wed?

Me time and a very cute giveaway - handmade beach tote

So can you believe we're half way through the year?

I know it's crazy.

I wrote on my other blog last night that in terms of me time/ self-care, etc, I'm doing great. This area is the best in my life at the moment after the babies of course.

I'm reading a lot, having massages, hair, personal trainer, etc. The weight is not quite falling off but I look better which was the whole point anyway.

This week I took a sick day (HUGE for me) and didn't go to work out with the personal trainer (this is big for me because I write these things down as goals and I hate not accomplishing goals. yes, I have issues).

I also spoke to the boss about not doing things properly and he admitted he was wrong and apologised profusely.

And tomorrow I'm going shopping with some of the free money :) Don't get too excited - I'm buying paint for outside the house.

Anyhow enough about me.

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Dollimama, MandyE and Andrea are hosting a giveaway thing and since I'm a regular participant to 52 weeks of me, I'm participating.

Now here's where I love blogging.

Mandy who is Suzy Homemaker is a sewing whizz and has offered to make something very cute and gorgeous for a reader of this blog.

We haven't finalised exactly what it will be yet (since she's doing her floors or something Mandy-ish) but It's going to be for you, the woman behind the baby/ies :) and is a FABULOUS beach tote with a wet bag inside!




I'm so jealous I can't get this myself :)

Mandy will be opening an Etsy shop soon and this will be a great way to see her cute stuff.

This giveaway is open to EVERYONE in the whole wide world (I will pay the shipping to wherever you live), mother/ non-mother, everyone! I'll draw the winner on Friday 8th at 7 pm SA time.

So if you'd like to enter the giveaway leave a comment telling me what you'd do with an extra hour a day :), or what you did for yourself this week. Big or small, I'll celebrate them all :)

If you want more entries, follow my blog. You'll have to leave a 2nd comment so that both count.

Giveaway - kitchen organising pack

Thank you so much to all of you for participating.



The 10 winners are

Cat, Julie, Sweets, Heather, OneRadMother, Gina, Shelby, Caren, Tania and Julia (they match up to the numbers above but this list is not ordered the same :))

Congrats, you guys!

Here's to organised kitchens.

Please give me until tomorrow to send you the pack - I want to add one or two extra goodies and make it look pretty :) and I have to upload to my website.

Meanwhile, on a scale of 1 - 10, how happy are you with your kitchen organisation?

I'm an 8 - I need to maximise storage a little bit more...

Today and tomorrow are the last few days to vote for me. You can vote once a day so get clicking... please. Last time I checked I was number 41!

Giveaway time!

So, I hit 100 followers on blogger some time last week.

The Wordpress people don't show up, neither do those in the Google Reader but I love and appreciate all of you reading my crazy ramblings VERY much.

Thank you!

I see on the crafty blogs (which I am addicted to) they keep celebrating each 100 followers so I thought I'd copy this and do something nice for 10 of you. Gosh, I hope 10 of you comment :)

Here are all the details:

Leave a comment on this post and you'll be in the draw for a Kitchen Organising Pack (designed by me, a professional organiser in my other not-so-private life) which has menu planners, grocery lists, project lists, etc, etc. to help you organise your life a little bit better.

If you tweet/ share on your own blog, you get another entry. But you have to come leave another comment otherwise I won't know about it.

This giveaway is open until Sunday 12 pm Eastern (6 pm South Africa time).

Over to you!

By the way, would you like me to showcase some of my favourite blogs now and again?

And the long-awaited winner is....

Remember the giveaway for the $40 gift voucher from CSN stores?

Well, I know I'm a slacker but honestly last night I was SO exhausted from cooking for us, cooking for the babies, writing my newsletter that I couldn't face anything more.

So here we go.

There were 16 comments, 3 of them were outside US and Canada, so 13 left.

Our friend, Random.org picked number 8 which is...........

Jayme!!! who said

Through the years I've learned what you need and what can wait. I had the crib all set up with the gorgeous bedding for my first... my second used his hand me downs... my third did get some new bedding.



By the time Lili was born, we didn't even bother setting up the crib until she was about 9 or 10 months old- I knew she'd end up in our bed.

For the twins, we bought just one crib and bedding set, I figured when they outgrew sharing we'd get another- and my mom bought the second set for them for Christmas. We still haven't painted, although we finally did buy the paint for the walls recently. They've got an airplane theme, in red and blue for their room.

Congrats, Jayme. The only thing better than winning something myself is giving to others :)

Please send me an email and I'll put you in contact with the guys at CSN.

P.S. His name is also Jamie :)

Something I didn't realise

Connor - 4 months

When I was pregnant, I think one of the biggest things I kept focussing on was the baby cribs. In South Africa, we call them cots.

I was so excited when they arrived and the nice guys assembled it that I remember taking pics with my cell phone and texting all my friends.

Then came the issue of the bedding.

My one friend, Caren, told me that babies don't even use quilts and duvets and that the room is only for us mothers, but I was hell-bent on getting cute neutral stuff for them.

I traipsed up and down the mall looking for suitable bedding with that big belly of mine.

I shudder to think that I spent R300 for ONE baby duvet cover. My word! What was I thinking?

Let's blame it on the hormones.

Interestingly enough, I just got the cots sorted out and then the the babies were born. Literally 24 hours later!

When they were home from NICU, I got what Caren was talking about.

Yes, they had cute cribs but no-one was sleeping in them :)

Now when pregnant women go on and on and on about the baby's cribs, I smile on the inside and think, "you won't even CARE what that crib looks like"

Were you also focussed on the baby's crib?


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Speaking of shopping.... the kind folks at CSN stores are sponsoring a giveaway.

You can win a $40 voucher and use it to buy anything at one of their 200 + online stores. The giveaway will be open for exactly one week and I'll draw the winner next Sunday 9th.

All you have to do to enter is:

1. leave a comment on this post telling me what colour your baby's/ children's room is.
2. for an additional entry, follow my blog and leave a separate comment telling me you follow me.

that's it!

P.S. Since CSN only ships to the US and Canada, this giveaway is only open to people from those countries. (however, I still want to hear about your bedding obsession :))

And the winner is...

Doesn't it sound like the Oscars? LOL



The winner of the Organise your Home ecourse, valued at $47, is comment number 5 -

Donna!

who said...

Hi! I'm a newbie! So nice to "meet" you!

What a COOL prize! My biggest challenge is CLOTHES - we have too much! for me, hubby, the twins, the other grown sons - too much and it's all a clutter!

Donna, send me the email address you want to use for the e-course and I'll sign you up right away.

But wait!

I'm giving all my readers a 20% off discount voucher if you use code WELCOME at the checkout :)

Have fun and happy organising!

Organise your home - giveaway

I am slow, slow, SLOW to the party as I've just figured out that today is GIVEAWAY day at Multiples and More.

I had SUCH fun with 29 gifts and what better way to continue the spirit of giving than to give away a ticket to the Organise your Home ecourse, valued at $47, because we all know with babies, and especially multiples, you need to be organised or else you'll go crazy!


Here's how this will work:

• This is a digital product so the giveaway is open to EVERYONE, bloggers and non-bloggers alike, ANYWHERE in the world.
• Please leave a comment telling me what your biggest organising or time management challenge is with organising your baby/ ies/ children - this part is compulsory :)
• For extra entries, become a follower of this blog. Or tell me that you're already a follower.
• For an additional extra entry, vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs ----> button to the right :)
• You have to leave one comment per entry (so if you do all three things, unfortunately you have to say in 3 comments what you did)

That's it. Easy as pie!

The competition ends on Saturday 8 am EST (which is 2pm South African time) and I'll draw the winning entry sometime over the weekend (I'm vague because we actually have PLANS - aren't I brave?) and post the winner.

All the best to all of you.

And the winner is....

Remember this giveaway for the $45 gift card?

I've just been checking through my reminders in Outlook and I see I forgot to post the winner FOUR DAYS AGO!

Oy!

Let's just say the past couple of days have been hectic...

extreme heat = niggly babies
Kendra has a cold = parents don't sleep
visitors = overstimulation

etc
etc


So without any further ado....

the winner is SHANNON who said...

Considering I have 4 month old twin daughters, anything would be appreciated!!! I really like your idea of the mobile, though, because neither one of mine have one and they are starting to laugh and have fun in their cribs (finally!!!) I also love the ceiling sculptures!!! Good luck with your babies.

Congratulations, Shannon, look out for an email from me!

It's giveaway time

I'm so excited for one of you e because I'm hosting a giveaway on this blog for the next week.

Someone will be winning a $45 gift card from CSN Baby to spend on some gorgeous nursery furniture.

My personal favourite is this beautiful cot mobile. The babies don't have a cot mobile yet and the ones I've seen in South Africa have not really impressed me much. I'm very fussy (no!) and would rather do without if I don't LOVE something. As you know, it's very difficult when you have a boy and a girl in the same room, so you're basically stuck decorating with neutral colours.

You, of course, could pick ANYTHING you like! How exciting is that :)


The rules

1. You have to have a US or Canadian mailing address
2. You don't have to be a blogger!
3. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd get with your gift card - lamp, changing pad, etc. Please make sure you also leave your email address so I can contact you - I don't have time with the twins to hunt around looking for your contact details. Thanks for understanding :)
   
4. Entries close at 12pm EST on Wed 7 October.
   

Let the games begin!