Things that are making me super happy

I just checked on the date of my last post and.. it was two weeks ago.

Anyway.....

I'm using the writing of this post as a warm-up for my "real" writing on OrganisingQueen because I have a goal to write 5 posts this week.

1. It's practically a public holiday today

I feel very strongly that when a public holiday is on a Tuesday or Thursday, it's almost a sin to not take the Monday or Friday as leave :)

I always take these days off unless I'm out of leave...

Sadly, D is working but I did have a date with my cuties instead.



2. Book club

Oh my gosh, book club is making me so happy. We've started, we've had two meetings and people are reading!

I'm so enjoying all the bookish talk and really, why did I not do this earlier?!



3. Nanny S is back

Nanny S's sister died last weekend so she was off for the week again (that's three weeks in the last month). That part is not happy at all.

But she was back today. I told the kids if she's back then we can have the date mentioned above but if not, probably we'll be working.....probably doing laundry.

We did work on the kids' rooms because they want to share a room and not have their own rooms.

We'll have to see how this goes because their neatness personalities do not align...

Is anything making you happy today?
Share in the comments!

I'd like you to meet... Bunny

This little guy just begged to come home with me a few weeks ago. I planned him for the kids but I actually love him so much I decided to keep him for me.

I turn him so his head faces out the door... and I told the kids he's watching them to see if they're being naughty in my study :)

Isn't he beautiful? He makes me smile :)

What's making you smile today?

Things making me happy

Remember the crazy quest for leaf pictures?

Well, I took some leaves and brought them home very carefully in a ziploc bag!

I can't tell you how much I love this blue bamboo bowl. It's the perfect colour and size and so versatile. It had paper clips on my desk for the longest time, also some washi tape (when new ones arrive...) and is now holding leaves

perfection!

A few weeks back I went to Asia City to look for party bags. They didn't have what I wanted but I saw some iphone covers that were calling my name.

 

 

Do you know how much I hate that failed message? There is ZERO reception in most parts of my home and definitely at work which is why you'll often get 3 photos posted on a Saturday morning because at Weigh-Less and gym the reception is PERFECT. Makes me so very happy!

I'm also LOVING oranges at the moment, heated for just 10 seconds in the microwave to take off the chill. This is also how I drink water at home. Try it....

yes!

I've been carrying a Snapple bottle of fat-free milk to the client's office. They only provide full cream and I can't drink full cream milk. I'm soo not a fan of creamy anything so I just don't enjoy my tea and throw it out after two sips. Our office provides low-fat and that's okay but my first (milk) love is fat-free.

However, it is a huge schlep so I decided to only drink apple and cinnamon herbal tea at the office. Boring but when I get home and have my first cup of decent tea (Joko or 5 Roses African Blend) with fat-free milk, oh man, the angels sing :)

Okay, that's enough weirdness from me.

What's making you happy these days?

The pink shoes

I had a pair of red suede shoes ages ago.

When I was at university actually.

I loved those red shoes. It had navy blue trim so was perfect to wear with blue jeans.
I remember walking around Grahamstown (Rhodes) with those shoes - they were very special to me.

When I moved up to Jhb my mother posted me a box of stuff I left behind and the red shoes were in this box.

Can you guess what happened?

Yes, the box never arrived.

This was a good 20 years ago when the post office was even more terrible than it is now so even though the box was insured, etc. there just was no resolution to the "case".

And really, since that day I've been on the lookout for another pair of red suede shoes.

However, on Friday night I went to return a TON of clothes to Pick and Pay. D sees things, buys and then when I tell him to return them because we already have whatever, he can't be bothered, the things lose value when the seasons change and so on.....

So I wanted to return all the stuff while I could still get a refund at the correct price.

I went looking at the shoes and saw PINK suede ankle shoes.

They looked nice so I took them.

To be honest, I thought they might make pretty pictures when I take pics of my feet!!!!

(I was right)

But these shoes are so comfortable - I love them.

They might just be my replacement red suede shoes.

However, if you see some red suede shoes somewhere in a size 3, tell me - I would love to get them!

Do you have an item of clothing that's special to you like my red shoes?

PS story of the leaves to follow - it was GREAT!

At the moment I'm loving some randomness

Sometimes I finish off a month's photo organising and there are a lot of pics that are totally random - not enough to make a post from one "event" but I still want to share the pics.

Like this lot. So I thought I'll just talk random nonsense to go with the random pics.

I always think of Lynette and Cat when I do these random posts because I so enjoy theirs and they always say they like these too. Thank you, friends :) 

I do love these pillowcases I bought at Mr Price Home. To be honest, I've bought five sets of pillowcases in the last month... it's a bit of a sickness but since I do mostly abide by my one in, one out rule that's how I justify it.

eyelashes

This weekend I bought some nice winter pillowcases - a pair each for K, C and for us. I can't wait to start using them but our little house rule is the winter sheets and pillowcases go on the beds on 1 May. The kids have their own rules though which is climb into things as soon as I get them :)

I also bought a new pair of takkies this weekend. I've been meaning to for months but these are so comfortable and I just plain forget everytime I take off the takkies. But I told my personal trainer I'd treat myself to a pair IF I got the new job. Well, that happened and still I didn't get the takkies but last week when I'd actually started there, I remembered again and so this weekend went to buy some. They're white with purple trim though :)

these ones from Penney's in Dublin

Isn't the afternoon light beautiful on these Project Life cards?

I'm playing more and more with black and white. A trick! If a photo doesn't look good, try making it black and white first and see if it looks better :) This Valentine's wreath is faded a bit on the one side so it got the old BW treatment and now I think the photo looks good.

Guess what? I finally signed up that second World Vision child and I couldn't be happier. The person in charge of sponsorships had left and that's why my emails were unreturned, etc. Nevertheless, the new person is lovely, highly responsive on email (which I love) and since my child in the first project transitioned out of the programme, I chose a girl and boy, both 3 years old. Their names are Promise and Thato. I can't wait to get their cards in the mail and show the kids so we can go buy something for these babies :)

I don't think I told you but a certain someone cut this doll's hair and so the scissors got put in toy jail for a whole two weeks. It was torturous :)

The kids are going through this stage where they keep telling and checking with me which letters certain words start with. K is right 98 % of the time and she has a memory on her so once I corrected her when she said Chief starts with a J (Chief is the security guard at their school) and now she knows all CH words also start with a C like Connor.

Connor is too cute - he gets about half right but guesses with lots of enthusiasm for the rest. Like "pillowcase starts with a.... T". But it's just because he can't quite be bothered to work it all out. So now we have a joke and he first guesses wrong on purpose, we both laugh and then he'll try after that. So cute.

and last but not least, I love love love that Connor is so interested in photography. He is SO bossy - Funso, you will love seeing it in action. "Mummy, you sit there and Daddy, you sit there. Kendra, you go there. Now everybody, I want you to look at me" and then he goes wild taking about 10 in a row. I can't think where he gets this....:)

But in typical boy fashion, he also decided he likes taking pics of b.oo.bs. I have pics of mine that he took after a nice one of me (one of my favourites actually).

Bottom line, Connor took the one above and this one below :)

What do you love at the moment? 
How are you doing with pillowcases? :)

Addicted to cuteness

This is a pic of my ipad.

How cute is it?! I love how the icons fit neatly between the Christmas trees because it kind of bugs me when you can't see your icons because of the wallpaper.

 If you also want your ipad to be decorated for Christmas, google The Crafting Chicks and you'll find the links in a post from a few days ago.

In other (cute) news, I've downloaded all the freebie Seafoam iphone wallpapers from Becky's blog. I currently have the yellow hexagons on my phone... a few days ago I had the brown chevron. And before the old iphone was stolen, I had wallpapers from the turquoise kit.

The cuteness is too much.

That's the technology.

I also have very cute notebooks I use at work. I just can't bear using ugly things so happily buy my own stationery so I'm happy at work.

What makes you happy?

Do you care about cuteness or is stationery just stationery?

Anti-wrinkle cream needed desperately

A big thank you to those of you who have been to pledge Santa Shoeboxes from my blog. MelB, Louisa and Cat, I am BEYOND thrilled!!!

And Lesley, thank you for ALL your lovely comments - I can't find an email address for you to mail you properly.

I know I'm late with the Sept goals but I feel late with everything so therefore nothing is really late, if you know what I mean...

No?

Oh well.

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

I went to a 4.5 hour meeting today and it was a lovely intro back to work after being in bed for most of two days. Nice people, interesting ideas and about 5 minutes from my house :)

I'm still coughing horribly and my voice is terrible so I've put off all the phone calls I'm supposed to make til I sound better.

But honestly, I sound much worse than I feel.

not-so-willing participant

someone doesn't want kisses!

**************************** 

So if I'm around the kids when the light is good in the afternoons, I like to let them run around the back garden and I chase them to get them laughing, and then I go grab my camera and hopefully get some nice pics.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Two Fridays ago when I took the day off to look after the kids, the weather was GLORIOUS.



So we went to play and take pics outside.

I then grabbed the kids (Kendra is my most willing participant) and we did some self-portraits. Friends, when I looked at them a couple of days later, I noticed it - wrinkles.

Under my eyes.

I'm not very vain but I really didn't notice these creeping up on me.

At first I was aghast and then I talked to myself and realised I'm ALIVE! I'm HEALTHY! What do I care about some laugh lines?

But I still want to slow down those wrinkles.

I happened to have a jar of some fancy expensive cream (received at a workshop I attended last year - I certainly don't pay more than R80/ $10 for moisturiser) which I applied that one night.

The next day I went back to my usual bad skin habits.

When some bloggers do make-up posts with all these lotions and potions, I think HA, if you only knew what I do.

I use facial wash, moisturiser (with sunscreen), and my foundation (usually a mousse - Rimmel). However, I forgot my foundation in Jhb when I went to the USA and I found the MOST divine thing at a CVS called Wet 'n Wild Intuitive Blend Shade Adjusting Foundation + Primer, shade 176. $5,99 (R50).

Well, I love it.

I used it there and since I've been back, I've only used my foundation mousse twice.

In about 32 days.

So don't be surprised if I ask for volunteers to send me some of this stuff soon. It's FABULOUS. Just my style - simple and easy to use.

If only it could take away wrinkles, I'd be in heaven. :)

So what do you use in the way of foundation/ anti-wrinkle cream? Do you use any W&W products?

PS I also bought real foundation (used about twice - nothing comes close to this intuitive blend stuff) and about 6 bottles of nail polish!



Coming up later this week

• A post on goals
• A post on manners
• A five love languages post
• My top ____ (depends how many I think about at the time I write) things about my USA trip
• Sat Snapshots - this week is texture and patterns
• Friendship Friday

PPS This is the one D liked the most - I believe he said it was "interesting".

 

Lovely surprises in the mail!

This post is so long overdue I had yet another happy envelope from MandyE after these two.

I won't show you pics of that one as it contained lots of lovely address labels and I know I shouldn't plaster my address all over the internet :)

Here's the story with the first parcel.

Mandy wrote to me and asked me very nicely if I'd received anything in the mail.

I hadn't.

BTW, if you ever send me something, you only have to wait a few hours (at most) before hearing from me because I will say thank you immediately. I must confess that when Kendra was in the hospital it took me about 2 - 3 days to get through my thank-you emails.

Turns out her girls sent my kids a birthday present last year in June.

It never arrived but instead got back to her about 4 - 5 months later.

We love it - 4 lovely books - and the girls made them cards too.

And then I got another package in the mail. I swear the girls in the office are jealous.

A most gorgeous pic, a holiday card in time for Valentine's Day :) and such a special bookmark.

How cute are my words of the year from last year and this year?! LOVE!!!

Mandy wasn't sure if I still use bookmarks because of the Kindle but YES, I do - I still have 3 shelves of books, 1 of those completely unread :)

I love my bookmark and all our lovely gifts.

When did you last get a lovely surprise in the mail?

PS the kids have been going through this annoying stage where they don't want to "perform" for me anymore - no more entertaining me with the camera (you saw the other pics last week with their hands over their eyes...) or saying nicely "thank you for the books" on video. I'm working on it, Mandy :)

They call it sass in the South

You guys (y'all :)) know how much I love travel and especially how normal, everyday life is so different in the various parts of the world.

I only really got into accents when I went away to university as that was the first time I'd encountered people who spoke differently to me.

Well, apparently my accent was different back then but I got ragged (!) good and solid and so I speak slightly different these days. Actually without even thinking much about it.

But since then, my ear perks up to any linguistical nuances and if I'm feeling silly enough, I will even impersonate people (count yourself lucky if this ever happens as I've only ever done it for about 5 people outside of D and the kids).

By the way, today Julia sent me a text asking if I'd ever visited Kalk Bay in Cape Town because she was there and thought I'd love it. I started typing back but I'm so bad with that darn "querty" keyboard. And Julia, I DO love Kalk Bay.

The parents of very good friends of ours who now live in Aus lived in Kalk Bay for about 20 years. We'd visit whenever we were in Cape Town.

So I read Julia's text out loud to D and then suddenly launched into impersonating this lady. "Matthew, it's Mrs H. Do you have any of those lovely crunchy wholewheat rolls for me? Yes? I'll pop right over".

D thought it was hilarious and so did Kendra. She, especially, loves me doing accents for them, especially my "very correct" British one. So the three of us laughed and laughed. It was a good moment.

Mrs H used to shop at a Pick & Pay in another suburb just for their bread rolls. They were as passionate about their breads as I am, so I totally get it, but D thought it was funny at the time.

Back to the topic.

So again tonight, Julia sent me an email and I said "I must be the only person to say "supper" instead of "dinner" and she confessed that she actually also says "dinner" but just used supper when she wrote her email.

Do you call your evening meal dinner or supper?

And then sass.

I read a reference to "bold" in a book the other day and filed it away in my mental rolodex til today.

In Ireland, they call naughty kids "bold". As in, "Connor, stop being so bold" :)

Of course I call it naughty. Or I'd say "stop backchatting".

A friend calls it cheeky.

And I'm 100% sure they call it sass in the South.

What's your word for sassy kids?

Things I'm loving at the moment

1. Bright, happy rainboots. I saw the most gorgeous ones at Pick and Pay a week ago and I was sorely tempted to get a pair, just for cuteness, since it doesn't rain in Jhb in winter. And the summer rains are 20-minute thundershowers.

Lynette's layout reminded me of the boots.

Do you have rainboots?


2. How Cat's husband phoned her and suggested she go to a movie instead of grocery shopping. And more importantly, how she was sitting in the movies 10 minutes later. I love the quick decision-making! I keep laughing every time I think about it.

3. This gorgeous hutch. I told the lovely ladies at LollyJane Boutique I would never see potential in the before version of this hutch...sadly. But I really want one now. It would be perfect in my study.


4. The way Kendra sits and writes so carefully and with such concentration. We both "work" in my study - she is too cute because she tells me she's doing a K and a C :)

5. Rose and raspberry flavoured hardboiled sweets on my desk from Natalie.

6. My new green office chair (it is actually a diningroom chair). I was inspired by all the gorgeous offices I keep seeing and decided that I'm done with ugly things.

7. My electric blanket and my new duvet. It is heaven going to bed at night.

8. Kissing the back of Connor's neck. I kissed him one morning as he was running past and he went, "more, more kiss". Of course I'm happy to oblige!

What are you loving at the moment?

and some pics...

his new favourite thing is to get on my bed and watch TV with me. Notice the car in his hand. Outside the frame of the pic was his beloved teddy, Friday.

BTW is there anything cuter than a child in pj's?

Kendra sleeping in the car - she sleeps anywhere

She loves her daddy

Connor does this when he's tired of the photos :)

Weekend wrap-up

Yesterday morning I determined that I would go to weigh-in no matter what, and I did.

And guess what? I lost a kilo!

I'm not getting too excited though as my knee seems to be messed up (yes, from Tuesday's exercise) and I'm on Voltaren...so I'm taking it easy with exercise if I even get there.

I spoke to the lady about my C problem and she upped my fruit to 3 a day, checked that I was still drinking all my water (I am) and suggested prunes as that 3rd fruit.

She said to me that she hoped I wasn't offended by her text. As if! I told her I LOVED that she called me out on it.

So off I went to Pick and Pay to get a ginormous packet of prunes and when I saw this, I decided that I deserved a (non-food) gift for losing a kilo :)

Isn't it pretty?

D and I had our date - a shopping one for party stuff/ kids' presents, etc. We bought them 6 things each - mostly things they need - but we're hiding most of it away til their birthday.

I got a few stationery items as I normally do (this is my vice).

But best of all, we went for a baked cheesecake slice and coffee to talk and we are finally in agreement on the party theme. My two boring ideas are out and we're going with something more fun but still easy (I think).

I'm not telling you because some of the people reading this blog will be invited and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

And so I've bought stuff already - paper bowls and plates, muffin cups, some balloons, and some things from my beloved etsy (I know it's a sickness :)).

Things are moving and I'm happy.

Let me just take a moment here and say this: it is near impossible to find non-character party themes these days.

For someone like me, that's terrible.

But Ben 10, Hello Kitty, and a whole host of other characters I don't even know (would you believe I have still not seen the famous Barney on TV and neither have my kids?!) or care to know.

Anyway, moving on...

Today we had church in the morning and then a few errands on the way home.

We've just finished a new section of the church building and it's looking stunning - I am SO proud because it is seriously gorgeous.

We took the kids to the family room with us today because we were late and Connor was making friends with bigger boys, other families, etc. The boy has no problems with shyness!

He even sat next to another lady eventually and wrote all over her notebook!!!

Kendra did the same in my notebook with my purple pen. I think she loves that I have a lot of coloured pens so she can choose a fun colour.

MandyE, I don't give her my Pilot 0.7 gel pens. Those are sacred. I know you understand :)

Yesterday my kids slept for 2 hours (yes!) but today they slept on the way home from church and that, it seems, was that.

I let them run free out in the garden so I could clean the kitchen. They love being outside so much and we are SOOOOOOOOOO blessed in Jhb to have absolutely the best winter weather in the world.

In my unbiased opinion, of course.

So they were out like a light tonight.

I tidied my study on Friday but there are lists everywhere, yesterday's shopping "hiding out" here and I need to restore some order.

Remind me to talk about scrapbooking paper sometime - maybe it's a good thing I only found out about its goodness this year :)

My vices are paper, notebooks, pens (all stationery actually), mugs and handbags.

What are yours?

And how was your weekend?