Monday musings

(I was going to title this 7 on a Sunday... on a Monday... but it felt lame)

Right, how are you all doing?

I don't have a fireplace at my new house and I'm not sure where all our stuff will go :)

 

I'm doing great.

1. I had a wonderful weekend which D and I dissected in the car on the way to work and it's because of these elements:

1. time with kids and D
2. time in my passion (the 5 Love Languages workshop)
3. time spent pottering (Christmas stuff....)
4. time being productive (October photo organising complete!) and intentional (playing with my Shining Year workbook)
5. time relaxing (photos, eating out, reading a whole book)
6. time with friends (love languages and we went out for supper last night)

BLISS!

It's so nice to not be practising Spanish all the time.


2. I have some issues around this Spanish story which I need to talk through and decide what's the best way forward.

You see, many people have asked me why I'm doing Spanish, and why I do exams. And my usual answer (pre-this crazy exam period) was that I enjoy it. But I can't say that I had much joy this time around...

And if that's going to be the way it will be going forward, then quite frankly I can exercise for free at the gym (I joined in 2003 and paid about R600 then, so I pay nothing every month) and put the R600-odd into unit trusts/ paying off bond (things I really value) instead of this.... but I have some thinking to do because I'm also aware that it is the end of the year, this has been a tough period and I need some perspective....



3. The other night I got home just after the rain stopped and so, as you do, I put on my pyjamas and slippers and went prowling around the garden, taking pictures of the flowers with rain drops on them.

It was only about 10 - 15 minutes but it was such a glorious time of playing with my camera.

I'll show you some of those pics when I get to them but I thought I'd do a little photo workshop next year (nothing technical, really just how to "see differently", kind of a Superhero Photo lite) and then obviously we can all prowl around the garden and in the street practising our skills.

That sounds like such fun to me. What do you think?

How was your weekend? What made it a good/ not-so-good one?
Do you take time to do something for yourself daily?

What's going on around here

how I know it's winter - I have to definitely do a load of colours on the weekend

Crikey, how is it nearly the end of June?

Which also means there's one week til the end of Google Reader. Have you picked your new feed reader yet? Have you been using it instead of GR?

As I said before, I'm holding on til the bitter end although I am kind-of in love with my new feed reader.... Feedly!

It's got such a nice, clean interface and moving blogs around between my categories is easy and smooth.

The kids tell me it's not winter yet because some trees still have leaves! This is the one in our garden that goes completely na.ked. I'm sure by this time last year it was totally bare. Actually yes, Elevate was in May/ June and this thing was an often-photographed subject

So, birthday party progress.

The two cake places I contacted before are in the West and I decided tonight - too much schlep to collect.

So I've emailed a few more people (3) - thanks Natasha C - and wait to hear from them. I'm not stressing - if worse comes to worse, I'll go buy 10 bags of cupcakes from Pick and Pay.

elevate the ordinary...otherwise known as messing around :)

I've been baking!

I baked two pans of loveliness this week - during the week I made my first batch of lemon bars. They were gooooooood.

And then last night I made something that was supposed to be no-bake oats, peanut butter and chocolate cookies but I added pretzels to the mix. That salty/ sweet combo? DIVINE. My whole family gave it two thumbs up even though I halved the sugar!

Next up I want to try that cinnamon pull-apart bread (look on my Pinterest baking board for all recipes -------> link in sidebar under my pic)

 

Does it make you feel cold to see pics of yourself in sleeveless or short sleeves?

I feel like I need a pic of me in a warm jersey as my profile pic on FB and similar...

D and I went to see John Cleese yesterday. It was about a 6 out of 10 for me; D gave it a 7 - 8. He gets all the Monty Python references, you see.

I did love hearing all the behind-the-scenes of how he actually got started as a comic.

Have you seen the show?

love bougainvillea... but not when there's too much because sweeping up all the fallen flowers does my head in

This week...

1. I should finish the party favour bags
2. Current and ex-managers decide on my bonus (I told current one "make sure it's big" and I wasn't joking)
3. I go on Visio training
4. We need to decide on a cake vendor
5. We need to meet with the school 
6. If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I really want to get that one last product revised and then all my business goals are done for the year (except the blog makeover)

see the bee?

What's on your list for this week?

A good weekend... getting back to basics

I had a good weekend for me - lots of relaxing (I finished my Jeffrey Deaver), lots of out stuff (lunch out on Sat, breakfast out on Sun and lunch out again today) and lots of organising at home.

Plus I got a gazillion gorgeous pics - some of which some of you have seen on Facebook and Instagram.

Back to basics...

I love these things. They're actually headbands, not snoods (read my Woolies cash receipt properly yesterday), but fit perfectly and is just the right pop of colour. Have I mentioned I have 4?!

1. I decided tonight that I need to do the same for me as I do for the kids - choose all my clothes for the whole week and set them out in the front of my wardrobe.

Too much?

I wrote about this on the organising blog either last year or the year before that because I did a little survey in the office and we varied from someone who chooses all 5 her outfits WITH bag and accessories on a Sunday night (not me) to someone who jumps out the shower and then looks for something to wear.

I mostly choose my clothes the night before but the last nearly 3 months I haven't done so except on intense meeting days because then I do like to look the part.

And of course the mornings are slightly more chaotic as a result.

So when I'm done here I want to try for this week and see what happens, it being a 3-day clothes week. Fridays are casual.


2. The other thing is I put on weight this week and I canNOT allow that to continue so I'm going to only allow myself to eat a little treat (which I have every single day) AFTER I've had all my water, yoghurt and fruits.

I cooked 6 meals last night so am sorted for this week.



3. I don't think I told you this "funny" story which is not so funny actually.

When I got this job, I told D I think I should change my word for the year because I've got what I wanted. He told me I'm terrible and no, that's a terrible idea :) And look - apparently there was a reason that word is my word for the year, right? :)

Also, you know how once you've decided something you actually can't wait to get on with it? That's me with the job at this point. Pray with me HARD that they see I'm PERFECT for this other thing (I realise I sound very flakey because I probably said the same thing about this job) but this new one is actually suited to an extrovert who likes to get things done. Those of you who want to know can ask me more.

4. I had about 38 emails in my personal mail. That, friends, is totally unacceptable (as I say to the kids) so tonight I replied and cleared out and it feels great. I'm going to force myself to decide and DO instead of waiting for the email muse. Again I realise that for some of you that feels lightweight.... not so for me.

And last, here are my Project Life pics for April and May. I'm so glad I decided on a scaled down version because it's easy to put together when life is crazy (when is it not?!).



 

 

How was your long weekend?

PS Please pray for Mrs FF's family as her FIL died this afternoon.

Seven Sunday Snippets ;)

1. I've just made Kendra a ring and she is over-the-moon delighted with it. Old beads (I'm still decluttering) plus some wire I bought at our plastics shop (similar to Westpack) = 3-year-old happiness.

That was my attempt to bring some happy back. I haven't had the best day in the world. I was already screaming this morning...

2. Thought it would be fine once I got to church but there I heard that one of our pastors' wives died last night. These things are always kind-of glossed over as in "she's with Jesus now" and yes, she is, but I heard NOTHING of the message after that. Nothing.This woman was 36 with two little kids. I don't know what happened but I keep thinking about him and the kids.

Which reminds me - don't wait to do anything. Just do it - we all don't know how much time we have left.

3. I had some fantastic news yesterday though... and I think Connor is kind-of perceptive because he very randomly asked me about this person yesterday morning and then I got a phone call from her about an hour later!

4. My kids flat-out refused my soup yesterday which is very strange - they love soup - so they went to bed hungry (or maybe not since it was after the party).

Today I asked them, "what was wrong with the soup? Why didn't you want it?" Kendra says, "it was too yellow. We only like brown soup" which means the ratio of butternut was too high???

I dumped all the little soup portions into a big pot, added some Worcestershire sauce and a can of tomato and it was brown enough. They both gobbled up a big bowl tonight. Success.
 


5. I'm in a weird place at the moment in that I feel totally caught up with life. Isn't that weird? Usually I can list about 20 things I want to do on the weekends and at the start of this weekend, i battled to think of things beyond the usual errands...

That's good (I lay reading for a couple of hours this afternoon) but it also makes me feel like there's some Big Thing I've forgotten to do. I'm even caught up with photos. About an hour or two on the zoo pics and I'll be totally caught up!

6. I'm noticing a lot of usage of the word "ain't" on the blogs. Now call me a language prude but I cringe a little every time I read it :) What's the deal with "ain't" for the South Africans? Is this part of some twitter speak or some other pop culture I'm not aware of??? :) (I mean no disrespect if you use that word!)



7. OH, I have a soup recipe for you. This is recipe 11 in the 25 recipes in 2013 project.

It's a Weigh-Less one.

The portion size is 80 g sweet potato (1 complex carb), 200 g butternut (2 veg), 45g low fat feta cheese (1.5 proteins)  and whatever soup spices you like.

I put garlic and coriander in everything so that's what I added and I also made enough for about 7 portions (just because that's how the butternut quantities worked out).

I didn't add the cheese to the soup; only just before serving because I want to be sure I get the right amount of protein.

Delicious! I also add some chilli flakes as a garnish - yum!


I have it just like that and D has some bread with his.

How was your Sunday? Better than mine, I hope?

Any new recipes for me? I'm looking for easy chicken recipes and remember I only buy chicken breasts - deboned, no skin, etc :)

PS playing with pics for Superhero Photo

3.5 year old twins + no nap = knackered parents

Don't forget to go link up your faces :)

$This is going to be really quick because I'm sooo tired and yet I still have to pack all my stuff for our holiday.

• Babies - done
• Kitchen - done (guess what the most important things are on my list), including three meals for while we're down there. Yessss.
• D - done 
• Marcia - on computer :) 

I had high hopes of finishing all my photos from Friday but I'm way too tired now. However I got some GREAT ones that I'm really happy with.

Also, Joburg CBD, you are BEAUTIFUL! I stopped working in the CBD 13 years ago and in those days, it wasn't quite as clean and gorgeous as it is now.

start of photowalk in the city on Friday (this is not a great shot, obviously, but I love pointing fingers)

Moving on.

We went to visit this lovely blogger and her family at their home yesterday.

It was so lovely to see her in her natural surroundings (does that make sense?) and meet the husband and kids. I really liked chatting to her and her husband. Her kids were perfectly lovely, and even though there was an age gap, they played beautifully with my two who told me they wanted to sleep over!

My kids couldn't get used to the Afrikaans names so they kept saying, "the girl" and "the boy" :)

Thanks again, M, for your lovely hospitality and tell your kids again thank you for playing so nicely with K and C.

The husband of one set of our Afrikaans friends is very "correct" and I once overheard him saying to another set of Afrikaans friends at the end of the evening, "dankie vir jou gasvryheid" which I LOVE and so D and I say so now and again :) M and her hubs must have been laughing inside at the accent!


The kids weren't naughty today but were in top, three-year-old form. I have to remind myself that it's a GOOD problem to have lively, energetic, talkative kids....even if they refused to go sleep.

So I'm off to pack now.

I'm so looking forward to reading in the car, at the beach, at the apartment, etc. And taking lots of pics.

By the way, that photographer is ignoring my emails. I'm going to phone her up tomorrow and find out once and for all if she can do us or not.

I'm not really keen on anyone else's work that I've seen and I would rather have nothing than those super soft-focus shoots.... (am I fussy?!)

I've packed "blue-ish/ neutral" clothes like this, just in case.

pic taken on New Year's Day at MIL's house

So how's your weekend been?

What are you looking forward to this week?

And that's the weekend... and September!



I love this meta photo taking business :)






Me, Cat, Louisa

 1. Is it me or is the blogosphere quiet? Not that I mind because I got two hours of blogging done and my menu plan is ready for the week.

2. If you're the slightest bit interested in organising, I'll be posting 31 days ... of easy organising solutions for the month of October on this blog. Tonight I wrote 7 posts in 112 minutes. Average 16 minutes per post. Actually slightly off because I also made a button in that time.

I don't know why I'm surprised but I'm always very productive when I've planned beforehand and I just sit down to write.

3. Anyway, the kids didn't nap yesterday or today and, as a result, had very early bedtimes (asleep shortly after 7 - bliss). I also just want to add that they both only got a star ONE day this week for sleeping nicely. We count it as no jumping around and out of bed at all once they're supposed to be sleeping. Unfortunately today I also lost out because I'd promised them they could bake pumpkin muffins with me IF they slept. So no pumpkin muffins and I have a fabulous recipe that I've actually done.

4. I finished my book which makes it 6 books for September and 999 on Goodreads. I almost feel like I need to choose really carefully for the next book to make number 1000 a good one. But actually I'm in the mood for an Irish chick-lit (have just bought another Sinead Moriarty - Amazon one-click is a beautiful thing) :)

5. We went to a lovely, lovely party yesterday. Beautiful attention to detail but oh so relaxed. We didn't want to go home :) I played photographer which means I got almost nothing of my own kids but some lovely pics of lots of other children.

So that's September. I'll post about my goals tomorrow BUT this time last year it was the great Gallbladder Drama. I'll feel okay again once we pass 11 October.

How was your weekend?

I had a picture post in mind but my words will have to do

Something's wrong with my emailing from Picasa because my pics are not making it to the blog.

I was going to show you a ton of pics from yesterday but I can't very well just write about it so you'll have to wait and see.

Here are my random 7 snippets to capture my weekend:

1. Two friend plans got cancelled this weekend - all valid reasons but still, disappointing. The one friend popped by and put something in our letterbox though and I was all kinds of excited to get it. Real, tangible stuff in the letterbox :) (Maps, metro cards and whatnot for New York :))

2. I saw a friend's blinds in her house and it was one of those things I always thought was more expensive than it actually is. All 3 bathrooms for R1100 - I was all over that and the man came to come measure up my bathroom and my two little windows in the study yesterday morning. Can't wait to get his quote.

3. The little one has upped the cuteness. She now corrects me when I call them by the wrong names. Sometimes I say Connor and it's Kendra and she'll say, "mummy, KENDRA!" or I'll say D, blah blah blah, and she'll say "No Mummy, Connor". I don't know why I find it so cute that I'm being corrected - maybe it's because she's so little :)

4. Well, today at church we had no drama at all! BUT everyone with a crying, screaming kid seemed to come to that service today. We went to the children's church room, saw the chaos and Lizzie (the very calm one) was looking a bit frazzled so I said, "Lizzie, I think we'll take them to the family room today. You two look like you've got enough work here". She smiled gratefully amidst the screaming. You know how the kids seem to transmit the screaming urge??? Yes. Poor things. I needed Panado after just a few minutes, imagine them!

5. I had two really cheap magna doodles in the car for such a time as this. Do you also get super chuffed when your momentary lean towards preparedness actually pays off? Yes?

I sent D back to the car and he brought these cheapo things back. I got them at an Asian discount store for about R10 each. Well. They were a hit. Even other kids wanted to steal these things :) I just heard Connor going, "no, Connor's magnadoodle", whipped my head around and these two little guys were each tugging on this thing so I had to step in.

Also, apparently our kids hadn't heard the word Hallelujah before. The pastor said "hallelujah" and Connor repeated it and gave that cute, big grin. "Connor liked that word" :)

This is one of my favourite pics of the YEAR thus far. And I took it in Mellville yesterday because I knew I needed to get a "sun" pic for Superhero Photo.

6. We came back home after having lunch out with MIL, changed nappies and put them down to sleep. D went to nap too and I grabbed my book. After about 30 mins, I heard a sound, went to check and The Boy was still awake. Of course, he whispers so loud "Mummy, Connor don't want to sleep" that I had to grab him before he woke his sister.

We had some good snuggles and laughs in our bed for a few minutes before D was awake too. I love it. Kids piled into our bed (at non-sleeping times) are what I dreamed of.

7.  My boss is back from leave tomorrow and I have a bright and early (for me) 8:30 meeting so best I pack my stuff and get to bed.

This week I'm looking forward to having a chat with a certain someone at work, getting up to date with my photo organising and continuing to stay organised with the personal life admin (last week I got a bee in my bonnet and started seriously sorting out all these annoying nagging things, like the blinds :))

What are you looking forward to this week?

OH, I'm also looking forward to losing at least a kilo!