Take a moment!

Had a pretty bland week of not much. No riveting outings, no large unexpected gifts in the mail, no candlelit dinners with Italian musician....just the ordinary stuff that makes up most of our lives. I have had the kids all week hanging on my eyebrows because of school break and I am ashamed to say that my years of playing office-office sans kiddlets, has had an odd way of seeming appealing once again........but only this week, I promise.
I am such a ninny aren't I....8 days into school break and already I am whining.....I think I need a 'pamper-the-girl-for-sanity's-sake' day.......naaaaa! can't see it happening hahahaha!

Ok...Ok...I have been mindlessly wabbing for long enough now, I'll get to the juicy stuff.
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........I got a mail from CK this morning. They want to publish another one of my L.O's! Yeeeeeehaaa! Now if you were in the room with me you would be privy to my customary **Happy dance of joy** .....here I go.....wiggle, jump....side step....turn, shimmy to the left, shimmy to the right, side splits!

Bwhahahahahaha! had you going there with the splits thing, didn't I? I used to be able to tho'(I danced for years) but now the only splits I can do is of the banana variety as it slides down my throat. So what started out as a mediocre week, now ends a fantastic one.

I serve a very generous God, that's for sure. I am full of 'it' & yet HE still chooses to spoil me.

Thanks DAD!
XXX

Weekend pic's!

Good morning everyone! I know I am a bit late but here are some pic's from the weekend!

"HI! my name is Stitch, I am an alien".....hahaha!

St James beach......the weather was amazing.

Cas tried her hand at pita/pizza bread with onions/garlic & cheese......it was totally YUM!!!

Wall art on the front of our house.

Choc stash!!! (all done and dusted by 6.30am)

Cas trying her hand at baseball........not her forte tho'....after strike 7, opted to swim rather.

Pizza night with Jo & her family. Erin & Cas got a little carried away with the flour LOL!

All in all a very relaxing Easter weekend.
Have a super day!
XX

Ra-Ra!

Just a bit of Ra-Ra! My special friend from Ohio, very kindly scanned & sent me a copy of my L.O currently in the April issue of CK! I am so chuffed! Cool hey??? Somehow it looks so different once in the actual mag! Thanks Martha for sending it to me XXXXXX

Happy Easter!

It has been a crazy week but productive...I managed to complete the projects I had planned & get them off on time. I am sitting at my desk looking out across the Silverberg Mountain behind our home & boy the wind is "hoofing". I am also listening to Virgin Radio over the internet while I blog & the DJ is speaking about this coming weekend being the coldest one in the history of the UK for this time of year. I feel for all those sitting indoors trying to fend off the winter chill, where as here, it is gloriously hot, even if the Cape Doctor is blowing 65 knots ~ (this is the name given to this gale force wind that blows us away each summer).
If I could somehow magically whip you all away to somewhere warm, I would, believe me!

It is officially the end of the school first term today & we say goodbye to a quarter of this year already...YIKES! the time has flown....it also means Maxi is home every day in the mornings, for the next 3 weeks....double YIKES! to keep him occupied is going to be very challenging for me. Play dates are the answer I think.....yip! that's what I'll do hahaha! I mean there is only so much one can do with a 'NON-crafty' type of little boy. One consolation is that his sister, Cas, is with us until next Friday and he ADORES her!

I did manage one little crafty exercise with Max this AM...play-dough. He made (in his words) "purple cats, blue chickens, bears & twinkle-twinkle stars, all for my Gramsie".
Clever thing!...all in neat rows I see.....that's our boy...a line-everything-up type of kid. LOL!

It is almost the most important weekend of the year for all us out there who are Believers. It is a time of
HOPE

FORGIVENESS
SACRIFICE

NEW LIFE

I am sure I speak for 1000's when I say:

"Thank-you! to our Lord for dying & then rising for us!"

So have a FANTASTIC fun filled Easter.....consider your selves * HuggED!* in true KJ style.
XXXXXX

So busy!

Hey guys!
Sorry I have been so quiet...I am just to busy to blog anything but a couple of lines. I just don't have much time at the moment. I will however (hopefully) be able to blog something a little deeper than this in a couple of days...I will keep you posted tho'.

For those interested...I did get x2 mini albums finished this weekend & I am almost finished my 12x12...my list is almost done. Wheeeu! I am bloomin' knackered....what with scrapping late & having to help Maxi get through the nights with his tight chest. He has such a tough time with the high pollen count in Summer. It is such a bugger & Max HATES the nebuliser!!!

Well that's all for now folks....chat soon!
KJ
x

Scrappy day!

Morning gals! I don't have much time to yak right now, so I'll keep it short & sweet! I have what feels like 100's of mini's to finish (gross exaggeration obviously :o) & I have a whole stack of 12 x12's to photograph/scan & get re-sized to send in by Monday. Yikes! I am snowed under...and it is all self inflicted I might add too :o)

This is what my scrap space looks like right now hahahaha! so much for Mrs. Neat! It's what I can creative process....ya right, no-one really believes that??


These are the mini's I have in mind for the projects....my mind is a bit boggled as what to do tho'. I have some ideas floating around in the grey matter...now to get it into the albums is the other story. Sorting through what photo's to print is another issue too.....Oh dear! I might be a tad behind schedule don't you think? Oh Hunnie........feel like baby-sitting this weekend?????

:o) :o) I don't have the heart to ask him do it the whole weekend tho'. Best I get a time schedule up and running......any tips Bridget.....? She who is the Maestro of Busy schedules!

Have a super day guys!
XXX

Reveal!

Yaaay! I can now be more specific about my happy scrapper friend I mentioned yesterday, (now that I have her permission that is). Her name is in fact not Michelle (alias) but Bridget Louw and for any SA-ian scrappers out there reading this, and who have in their possession a Silhouette, Wish blade or RoboCraft cutter or the likes; this spunky chick is the lady to take lessons from, on how to get the darn thing to work. If you are anything like me and had it spew nothing but rubbish....then she is the lady to contact. Now the thing is, that she has a SERIOUS day job, but due to the high demand of unhappy scrappers....about ready to kill their machines....she is worth hooking up with for a lesson or two. If you would like her email address or contact details please mail me(it's the envelope icon on the comments bar) & I will forward them to you.

Well I am happy to report, that I got the machine to cut 48 red crosses for a party Jo is going to....even if Bridget created the file for me :o) I still got it to cut......ha...ha good hey??? And after a million pieces of card stock....I actually got it to cut numbers 1-10.....(expensive numbers I might add). My gripe with QuicKutz is that their manual is so ineffectual....it doesn't have nearly enough information & clear instructions on how to use this bloomin' machine. My biggest problem is that the thing is really sensitive to other programs you might be running on your PC in the back ground...like skype, virus software, wireless internet...you know all the usual stuff. It causes the old dear to cough, splutter & hiccup along whilst cutting.....no I am not talking about myself.....

A question to all of you successful DXF girls out there (file name for files created in a vector program like Inkscapes), how did you overcome the software compatibility problem the Silhouette seems to have with any external vector program? Because i can't be the only person with this problem????

Anyway I will stop talking scrap now & love & leave you with a snippet from Maxi....

He asked to watch a 'little' bit of TV yesterday...I said yes. 2 episodes later of Little Einsteins, I hear him say: " Mama, I have had ENOUGH of this TV now! Because too much TV will change me into a fish!" hahahahah! I dunno...maybe that's what he is learning at play school.....TV bad...books good????

Sleep tite you lovely bunch!
I'll blog again tomorrow.
XX

In-love!

I met this other happy scrapper yesterday....I had never been to her house & had therefore never seen her scrap room before. I walked in and was gob-smacked! She had so much stash & so many gadgets that I just stood there with my jaw hangin' open. After mopping up the drool & forced myself to open some of the piles of very organised & labeled boxes that were around. In them was everything a scrappy heart would desire.....I am in love....I saw tools of the trade in the flesh that I had never seen before, other on the internet. Michelle you are my HERO!

I need these...I want these.....

And one of these.....titles & embellishments...a breeze :o)
But one of these would be OK too..... Joscie is the real pro with this darlin'.
And I have discovered that no scrap room is complete without one of these.....Xyron, no more Mono glue & tweezers :o)

Oh hubbie.....

XXX

Ooooo! they feel tight.

These were the words that broke through my AM fog this morning. Maxi had gotten up at some SILLY hour (it was still dark I might add), I told him to go and amuse himself, lest he would have to deal with an ULTRA-'grompy' Mama.

He duly did as he was told and pottered around for about half an hour. When came back to our room & I heard him let himself out into the yard via our sliding door. I assumed he was having a wee. When he came back in I was relieved to see he had wrestled his clothes back on by himself...wheeeu! that meant I could slug in the bed with him for another 10 minutes or so before he started demanding breakfast. He just couldn't keep still tho', he squirmed & turned until I just got up.

All through breakfast he wriggled & complained non stop about the tag on his undies being irritating . I thought he'd eaten too much when he said the undies were too 'flippin' tight (I am ashamed to admit that 'flippin', is my horrid influence on my child...I am trying to remedy it tho') . This is when I thought I'd better see what was going on with those undies......& this is what I found........


Hahahahah! the poor little guy had somehow squeezed himself through one of the legs of the undies & had the waist elastic between his legs. I can't believe he persevered for as long as he did....talk about getting some serious chafe going on.

The joys & pains of growing up hey???
XX

Bunking is good for the soul!

We bunked the whole morning...T & I sneaked off for a morning alone. Well not completely alone, as we were surrounded by people where ever we went but the fact that it was a week day & in the morning made it... 'HOLLIE HOXIE!' ~(loosely translated: Bad! bad!), it felt like we were breaking the rules, like 'cutting' school. I had a to-do list a mile long & was grateful for Tersh's company. We had loads of fun.....we yakked up a storm, joked & horsed around, spoke to strangers & eventually got the list done. Afterward we headed to a 'cheap' restaurant, who served all day breakfasts & we dined on delish meals, surrounded by old couples seated in red vinyl booths. To put you in the picture...this restaurant is one that none of my self respecting buddies would eat at or be seen at. It is cheap & NASTY but the high volume of brekkies (breakfasts) that go through their kitchen everyday, makes for fresh tasty food.

Mumsie & Pops...these pic's are just for you....(it is their old haunt)....

'T' looking very pleased with himself.....
having your own business does have it's perks occasionally.

Yum brekkie....

Caffeine on tap....yippee!

I saw the clocks from around the world
& thought of all my friends & family over the seas.

Don't you just love it when people pay you to scrapbook???? I find the feeling is especially strong when you find one of these little darlin's in the mail box. CK....I luv ya!!


I am about to drop my bod into my delicious pool to try & get away from this horrid creeping heat.
Enjoy your Friday...XXX

Beach time.

We are definitely making the most of the gorgeous SUMMER weather over the last few days & headed to the beach late yesterday arvi. My darling hubbie was SO itching to surf that we could hardly refuse an opportunity to get wet with him. It was a perfect summers evening with a light off shore wind ,which apparently makes for glassy surf conditions (what that all means I have no idea LOL!). Max enjoyed himself thoroughly, which for a little boy who SERIOUSLY doesn't DO sand, was a breakthrough!

We dug....
Built sandcastles.....
Ran around.....
Had first 'dry surf' lesson from Dad.......Tersh with his 'I'm stoked face on!'.....
Wave jumping with Dad.....
The only pic of me.....hahaha!

Hope you guys have a great rest of day!
TFL!
XXXX

'Barb-ie' night!

We had ourselves one of those..... last night. T was out of his office at 5.15pm, so we thought we'd make the most of the windless weather & have a fun family night together.

The boys hit the pool first & swam for at least an hour before we put the meat on the braai. I love watching them frolic...they are so creatively rough together....the more Max 'works T over', the happier he is. I took loads of photo's. Actually I took so many I am embarrassed to tell you how many :o)
I have a husband who braai's....{*barbeque's~ is the translation} , I never thought I'd ever get to say that in my life time. See the intense concentration on his face....he was determined to get the food done to perfection ..& what a great job he did!

We were spoilt with preservative free boerewors {spiced farm sausage~ is the translation}, chicken sausage from Woolies, roasted sweet potatoes, Afrikaans cheese, onion & cheese toasties and curried beans with peaches in a salad. Tersh thought he was in Afrikaans heaven & was transported back to when his Mom was alive & used to make them food like this all the time. Please note the Mrs. Ball's chutney...no South African table is complete without a bottle of this yummy condiment on it.

We had a divine evening worthy of a blog post & most probably a future scrap page. It felt like a 3 day weekend, you should try it sometime. Once again our God is showing off in our very peaceful lives.

I hope your day is as good as mine so far.
*Hugs* to you all.
X

The small things....

This is my post from Friday. I just haven't had 2 minutes free to post it until now. The result of life with kids!!!

Our lives are made up of so much, both big & small and good & bad. Sometimes is hard not to allow the YUK things to overtake & smother the good things, however small. And even tho' I live with the 'hope' that believing in Jesus brings me, I still have times when I question the where & why of things...we all have those days I am sure. It is in these moments that I like to remind myself of the good in my life....the evidence of His tangible presence. It is mostly in picture form....I hope you don't mind?

I love my family...& the small moments that put a smile to my dial.
Maxi had dress up @ school....we didn't have any bought costumes, so we improvised. He was concerned that he didn't have a Captains hat...so he was named "Max the first mate' instead!

As a treat I decided it was time to be promoted from first mate to Captain......we now have a store bought pirate outfit....and so 'Captain Hook' was born. Aaaaarh!

I am so in-love with this guy....he is a fun loving, crazy-nut! I am so grateful to be married to him!

I love the fact that we live so close to nature & can be in it, in minutes!

I love that we are surrounded by so much creativity. This is wooden fire extinguisher mounted on the entrance gate to the forest...it is a warning against the severity of fires. Amazing thought!

I am grateful that I can cook & have the means to appreciate good food.

I am amazed at God's HUGENESS! This is a pic of the comet as it passed by Table Mountain in 2007.
Somehow doing an exercise like this, helps one to jolt out of the fog & realise life is in fact good.
Have a great day!
x