Birthday wish list according to the love languages

I'm such an easy person to buy gifts for, said no-one about me ever :)

I am actually easy if you know me but D says, "ja, right!"

I suppose I know what he means because I either want nothing (like last year) or I can only think of super expensive things :)

But as I always say to him, think about my love languages and you'll do fine!

One of the best presents he EVER got me was for our 10th wedding anniversary.

There was thought and care - a card with beautiful words, my Chicago love songs CD (I still love it!), 10 mini Cadbury's plain dairy milk chocs (this is STILL my favourite chocolate EVER!) and a few other things I can't remember (!) but that I loved at the time.

My love languages are words of affirmation and acts of service so I really like getting nice words in a card, and anything that shows the person took care and thought of me.



So with this 10th anniversary present - lovely words and all the things showed he didn't just scramble at the last minute but planned it and was listening and so on.

Easy, right? :)

One of my best recent presents was a handmade scarf in the PERFECT colour for me (seriously, people always tell me I look great when I wear that shade of blue I'm always wearing ;) knitted by a special friend. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that scarf. Not just because it's really perfect (long so I wrap it around me multiple times) but because she spent her time knitting that thing. I actually can't even imagine because I hate knitting!

L, is your love language acts of service too?

Anyway, I'm writing this post because I need my 2014 wish list in one place for D. Here we go:

• Handmade anything
• Of course, beautiful words
• Home-made fudge, toffee, sugar biscuits, etc. :) Another favourite gift the year I was on maternity leave was a work colleague who made me scones and brought them over so we could have tea. PERFECT. Also her scones are OUT OF THIS WORLD and I'd always rave about them at work.
• Castanet covers (I asked the spanish teacher where I could buy them and she said, "you make them" - oh dear! Then I'm in trouble!)
• New castanets (these cost R800 so will probably be a To Marcia From Marcia gift :)
• Waffle maker - I've been asking for a waffle maker for at least the last 10 years!
• Medium sized pot - this is boring but getting necessary. I had 3 and the middle one burnt so bad (probably me doing rice) that I just eventually threw it out after things just kept sticking in it.
• Personalised anything :) I break my rules when my name or initial is on it because I consider it a sign. One of the most fun presents was from a friend who bought me M notecards years ago (I treated them like gold and people who got them? SUPER special!) 
• Red leather gloves (Woolworths) - I've walked in there at least 3 times, fitted them on, went MMMMM and then I take them off.
• Thick winter cardigan that hits my bum at exactly the right spot (mid-bum, not above or below)
• Any food experience - coffee/ tea and scone date, suppers, etc.
• Massage vouchers - haven't had a massage probably for over a year
• Woolies vouchers, and my absolute no-fail gift...
• Novels from my Amazon wishlist (if you don't have one, you should make a wish list and send me the link! I love buying Kindle books for people - so convenient and just, well... sorted!) - I have only ONE physical book left, about 2 - 3 ready on the Kindle, and then I'm out. A good problem to have though.

Things not on my wishlist

People have asked about bags before and while I love them, maybe because I love them, I'm so particular about what I like and don't like it's just not worth it. Too much bling, too short a strap, my phone would disappear in there, etc. I am a bit fussy about bags.

And I don't bath (!) so if I get bath-y things like foam bath, I use that as body wash in the shower, and I give any bath salts, etc. to my mother when I see her (!).

While I was looking around the house for ideas for this post, I realised there are some things I have too much of probably because I love them so much - mugs, notebooks, pens, photo frames & photo albums, washi tape, non-fiction books, eek!!!

I probably have too many flip flops too... when it gets warm I'll have to declutter some

Now for the fun part.

Tell me what kind of gifts you like. Do they relate to your love languages? Also, what's not on your wish list?

PS I usually see these posts around Christmas because some bloggers do Secret Santa. It's so interesting to read what people like and what they don't like.
PPS You all know that I'm always very grateful for any gifts and the fact that someone thought about me is always appreciated, right? :)

A very welcome gift

I'm back at "home base" every Friday which is in itself an absolute treat - internet, wifi, a beautiful building with gorgeous views, FRIENDS, coffee shop, etc.

The other day when I walked in, I found a parcel on my desk.

Recognised the handwriting and ripped it open to find a birthday gift from Mandy.

Oh, Mandy, you know my heart.

I squealed, put on the snood and I wore it the whole day! And other days since it has been cold enough to wear it.

perfection

gorgeous!

the Miss Marcia always makes me smile

I've been put in charge of organising a farewell gift for my colleague who leaves on Friday. She's an ISTP.

I'm thinking of either an @Home/ Home, etc voucher (she moves into a new home this weekend) or a wallet & cell phone case, both of which she needs.

Are there any ISTPs reading? 
Which would you prefer?

Gift-giving... just for Julia

Julia wrote a post this morning (I think) about gift-giving, love languages and such.

I commented and said I think gifts might be my 3rd language because I love giving them.

I changed my mind since I wrote my comment - I think it's all part of the acts of service which is my 2nd gift - doing nice things for people is all part of it for me. And the act of wrapping the gift and jazzing it up is just part of the love.

Anyway, the rest of my comment is still true.

I love the wrapping more than the gift and there is nothing I love more than a good session of gift-wrapping.

When I'm on top of life (most of the time) I plan birthdays, get cards and gifts ready ahead of time and make a night of writing out cards, wrapping and posting gifts, etc.

I love it! 

(Who's up for a lovely session of gift-wrapping for Christmas? Hayley?)

I met this guy at work on Monday on a project I'm working on - more on that in the week to come... - we had a meeting where we sat next to each other. Of course I talk and will get to know anyone if they stand still long enough.

It was his son's 10th birthday that day (the 10th) and he said his daughter's about to arrive in the next 10 days or so.

So I decided to get her (the baby girl) a little gift. 

Here is that gift: I can't be bothered to move all the images in the correct order so just "enjoy" my wrapping. Julia, I took all the pics just for you :)

I was saying to Julia that I love ribbon - it just jazzes up anything.


My favourite way to wrap a gift is still the old-fashioned way - gift wrap and ribbon. There's nothing quite like the clean lines of a box or book neatly wrapped. I do realise I'm sounding quite weird but I'm sure there are some of you like me out there.

Yes, I recycle gift wrap if there's enough of it (the pink above was recycled from my kids' baby gifts - I think they got Bibles in that paper because I have blue identical) - I am that person saying, "NOOOOO, don't throw it away" at Christmas time :)


And then I love kraft paper (brown paper on the one side, coloured on the other). I buy mine from Clicks mainly, and recently from Pep, and sometimes I've even got some from Pick and Pay.


I love the simple look - I have silver paper for weddings, gold paper for Christmas with some nice red/ gold ribbon and bows, etc.

I'm not averse to gift bags (and use those a ton since I get so many - what else can you do with all those gift bags?!) but I can't quite figure out how people get the tissue paper to look so nice - mine always looks terrible so I have a new trick.

I staple the gift bag closed :)

It solves three problems - I don't need tissue paper, things don't move around in my car and it looks neater.

Over to you.

What are your gift-wrapping preferences?


PS He BEAMED when I gave him the gift today.

Quick question on wedding gifts

We're going to a wedding on Easter Sunday.

He lives in London and she's currently in South Africa and will obviously move to London with him after the wedding.

They've asked for cash since they don't want to be transporting stuff on the plane but I really don't like giving cash so I was thinking of a gift voucher.....

(they both love photos - he is like me and takes tons of pics of doors and windows :) In fact, I asked for some prints of some of his pics and framed them. They are now on my desk to inspire me - I'm looking at those gorgeous, turquoisey shutters now)

I wanted to give them a gift voucher to this place so they could get a nice framed canvas or metal canvas until I saw it's $45 shipping (same price as the gift voucher I wanted to get!) to the UK.

So now it becomes a bit unreasonable.

Anyway, so do you wise ladies have any good wedding gift ideas along those lines? (I'd want to spend about $50 total - R350)

Christmas 2010, in bullets

First of all, my children (!!!) are 18 months old today. They are walking, talking big kids - I can't believe it.

Look at them at 8 months. First visit to Gillooly's Farm - not very impressed - we're going to take them again later today. Hopefully this time they'll be excited by all the ducks.

So, Christmas, two weeks later.

• D and the kids were up early as is their custom while I slept late.
• They then came to wake me, all dressed, saying "mommy mommy" - too sweet.
  
• I really don't like lots of gifts as it all just becomes a blur of paper and craziness so we got them 3 small things each and called it a day.
• They also got things from my family on the Sunday before - a joint gift and one each (wooden toys which I love - I think I've found my weakness with toys).
• Also, clothes from my MIL (three weeks early because they were "holiday clothes" that couldn't fit them, but let's move along...) and presents from other people.
• We started with Caren's presents to them which was a big mistake as they were FULLY occupied for 20 minutes (and would have been longer if I didn't say that we needed to get moving), then ours, then another friend's.
• Normal breakfast and nap and then we dressed them like twins (matching, for the fun of it, in denim shorts and white t-shirts) and set off for Pretoria.
• I say this everytime but "how in the Sam Hill (my new thing I picked up somewhere in blogland. I say that with a bad Southern accent!) do people survive in that heat?!" My sister in law says "AIRCONS!" I would die.
• Connor is not interested in doing anything but walking around and my MIL got a bit iffy since he wouldn't come give her a hug and kiss. *sigh*
  
• Kendra on the other hand loves the loving and was quite content to sit with Granny and be loved on. Granny then wanted to feed K and was not amused when K started doing her new thing which is freaking out if you offer her any food she finds offensive. She swipes her hands in front of her (violently, I might add) and screams a bit. It was fun to watch someone else experience the craziness. I'm bad, I know.
• Connor sat next to me and ate mostly everything, roast potatoes, mealies and pumpkin being his favourites.
• Yes, they were in their little seats.
  
• My SIL's in laws are chain smokers (you have never seen anything like it) so one side of the table was the smoking side for her, hubby and his parents, and the other side was the non-smoking side for us and D's mom.
• Connor started coughing and I had to tactfully pull him away from the smoking side where he was walking around. Not fun because they don't realise that the smoke is bad for babies.
• Gifts! SIL never opens gifts in front of people but the rest of us opened ours. Loved them except for the babies' gift. They got a very noisy piano-type thing which they played with there... and then when we got home, it was conveniently misplaced :) No way in the Sam Hill (see, it's fun!) am I having all that noise in my sanctuary.
  
• Other than that, it was a lovely, lovely day but I'm very glad we decided to come home and sleep in our own beds.
  

My thoughts on Father Christmas/ Santa
I grew up with the notion of FC but I always knew he was a fictional character.

I'm sure there's nothing wrong with it/ him but for me, I first of all think he's a bit freaky (which child wouldn't be scared of a gigantic man with a big, white beard?!) and second of all, I want the kids to look to God, their father, for any gifts, not some man in a red suit. Or even us for that matter.

God is the only person who will not disappoint them and quite honestly, I have to trust Him to give me things too (tangible and intangibles); the sooner they learn that's the way it is, the better for them.

I know I sound like scrooge. Leave me be :)

Now for the pics...

Kendra opening Caren's gift. Notice the sandals. She loves these things (gift from MIL) with their oversized flowers and insists on napping in them. Well, I said to her, "I don't care as long as you sleep" and she slept 1 hr 30 so I now call them the magic shoes.

Connor finally got to the present. They LOVE these balls so much. Look at the cute baby hands.

Kendra sees the puppies we bought them. She loves that thing.

Connor loves the puppy too. BTW, these are the only dogs that will be allowed in my house until these kids are about 8 and can take care of animals by themselves.

On our way to Pretoria. Doesn't she look sweet? And first car ride facing forward! Of course, D's idea. I'm happy to keep her rear-facing because she's so tiny.

I really think I need to get this only one gift for each adult going for next year, where everyone's names are thrown in a hat and each person draws a name to buy for. It just takes off the pressure of having to find the perfect gift.

What do you do in your family?

There's nothing quite like a deadline

The TV segment airs probably next Sunday and I gave out my new website during the interview so I am frantically rewriting copy.

I've narrowed my niche a lot more from what I used to do and the website represents me more. It seems to be working as I have tons more clients.

Only thing is I'm having to rewrite most of it.

So I've been emailing clients for testimonials, uploading new pics, checking links, etc, etc.

Dreadfully boring (for me) but I have outsourced everything else possible and now the rest is up to me. Only I can write what I do in a compelling and passionate fashion :)

Or at least at a reasonable cost.

I paid a girl to write some copy for me on one of my sales pages for my bestselling product since I figured I make lots of money off that page anyway and .............. no difference. Also it seemed she just made more subheadings out of my existing copy. I was very cross. I hate wasting money.

So unless I can pay thousands (I can't and won't) I will do it all myself.

Last night I spent about 3.5 hours writing, tweaking, working on the website and am happy to say I finished 6 pages.

I have 2 main pages to go and then there are 4 off of the one. Those will have to wait for tomorrow and Tuesday.

I was FINISHED last night and actually had to take a Norflex because my back was so sore. My eyes were too and I couldn't even read!

Today I honoured my body and rested.

Took babies to church, did a quick stop off at the Crazy Store for some "aeroplane toys" and then home. It was crazy hot so after lunch we put them down for a nap and you know what? K slept for 2 hours and C slept for 2 hours 10 minutes. Unheard of.

The best thing is D and I also slept for 2 hours. May this be the first of many, many Sunday naps.

When they woke we played "boats" which is where each child sits in a plastic storage container and a parent pulls them around the entrance hall. They love it and I just love their little giggles.

Yesterday afternoon we had our Fertility Babies Christmas Party. We held it at a pre-school (one of the moms owns it) so it was fabulous - toys, sandpit, see-saw, etc, etc.

We got to see all the babies (the oldest kids are a year older than mine so it's nice to see the future, although those kids are SO well behaved) and best of all, meet the husbands. The host is a single mom who used donor sperm. D is very impressed that someone would do this parenting thing alone. So am I. I said to him, "well, think of Eve. Single and with TWINS."

She also did party packs for the kids which I loved, loved, loved. Homemade playdough with a little roller and two cookie cutters and best of all (you know how much I love notes), a note from her child saying something like "I asked my mom to make some for you too and here's the recipe in case your mommy wants to make some for you". D and I both LOVED it!

I've just wrapped 10 Christmas gifts - yay! My study is still a mess as this is the dumping ground for everything we're taking on holiday but it will have to wait til later this week to get tidy.

So, how was your weekend? And what are you looking forward to this week?

This week I'm looking forward to finding out what salary increase they're giving me. I have a feeling it's going to be bad... on the bright side, I'll then be happy to escape and go on HOLIDAY!

Let's talk Christmas presents

On Thursday the photographer dropped off our DVDs at my work presented like this:

I was absolutely delighted and told her that I have to take a pic before opening it. In retrospect, I should have opened in front of her so she could hear my squeals of glee.

Look - a lovely letter from her, beautiful mint-green tissue paper and then the DVDs. Oh, I was in heaven! It made my day - presentation is SO important to me.

Anyway, back to the topic!

I was reading a thread on a forum where they were doing a Secret Santa and the weirdest thing was 95% of the people said they don't like bath goodies - foam bath, shower gels, lotions, etc.

It's strange because that's ALL you see in the shops. And I thought, "I'm sure other women like these things".

I used to be much easier to buy for but these days I like clutter-free or things I will DEFINITELY use so have become "very difficult", as D says. So much so I sometimes prefer nothing.

By the way, I actually call D "D" and the kids have started also calling him "D". Very cute but then I started saying, "he's Daddy to you" :)

Anyway, I pulled a friend's name for our work Secret Santa, someone who is seemingly easy to buy for as she is always very enthusiastic and grateful, but then again, you never really know... So I got her a framed mirror for her house.

At worst, I absolutely love it and will happily take it for me and get her a gift voucher if she doesn't like it.

One of my best gifts ever was a set of prints that have sayings on them like "you are awesome" and "you rock" and "you are more amazing than you know". My friend sent me this set for my birthday last year. She bought it straight from an etsy seller and got it sent directly to me. I loved my stuff but didn't know who to thank for MONTHS. One day she asked, "did you ever get those prints I sent you?" and the mystery was solved. LOL

For another birthday yet another friend bought me a photo frame and wrote me a beautiful card. I love love LOVE the card so I cut it out and put it in that very same frame which has sat on my desk ever since. This is the same friend who took me out for supper for my birthday so we could connect. See, she gets me!

My favourite baby gifts were 1) food from Robynne :) and 2) our friend, Will, came over and cooked a lovely vegetarial meal for us one evening - FANTASTIC!

Meaningful things mean the world to me.

So my love language is 1) acts of service and then 2) words of affirmation.

You'd think my family who are supposed to know me best would know me best but no.... so I dread Christmas gift time because I am Super Bad at pretending to love something I don't love. I don't need much and would rather they not buy than waste money buying more stuff. The things I do buy are hugely unexciting like trips to the hairdresser or massage therapist :)

I love experience gifts, consumable gifts and a really heartfelt note. (That's probably why I write in each Christmas card)

When I was more into "stuff" I hated getting things for the house. I felt like it's MY birthday, I want things for ME! :)

Okay, so back to you.

Do you know your love language? If yes, what is it?

And then what type of gifts do you LOVE LOVE LOVE, and what do you really not like?