Babysitting

Robbie and Tonia went to see Metallica on Saturday night - a belated birthday prezzie for Robbie.  I was asked to babysit, and I was rather nervous!  I have never looked after the girls without their parents being around, but I'm pretty self-reliant, so thought I would be fine.  And I was.  Robbie and Tonia left for FNB stadium at 4.30pm on Saturday, and got home at 1.30 the next morning.

the badass parents off to see Metallica

 

I managed to bath, feed and get the girls to sleep without too much hassle.  I even made a spinach strata for breakfast the next morning, and painted my nails.  What I didn't do was have a decent supper (what's wrong with cheesecake for dinner??) or get to the loo until my bladder felt like bursting.  Looking after 2 little people is a hard job, so all honour and respect to mommies and daddies out there!

 

 

Elizabeth is going through a phase where she doesn't want me to take photos of her, so funny!

Weekend in review

The weather has been mild and reasonably warm for Autumn, hope it lasts!  We went to Irene Country Market on Saturday morning, and it was lovely.  We have amazingly talented people in South Africa, and the craft industry (sometimes called the shadow economy) is thriving.  However, there were a lot less vendors at the market than usual, I wonder why?

 

the pretty bunting was so festive, loved it!

Alison, Lynn and Connor

Robbie and I

Elizabeth and Katie were so well behaved

Robbie and Tonia enjoy this light and delicious beer, it's brewed in the Cape

Leonie and I enjoyed the coffee (of course!)

 

 

Some of my purchases at the market - a beautiful berry coloured winter jacket

for just R140-00

Gorgeous salad servers embellished with hand made beads

I love cut glass, so was delighted with this bowl and mini vase

  

 

After the market, we popped in to Scrap-a-doodles for some essential scrapbooking supplies, and then headed home.  My day was far from over, but more on that in the next post!

 

 

Home - a work in progress

I've lived in my (new) home for almost a year now, and it's been a year of hard work and lots of changes.  I'll do a full picture update soon, but here are some of the things that have been happening on the home front...

  

Most windows are covered by awful yellow office blinds (above),

I've had some of the old blinds replaced by wooden blinds.

I still need curtains for many of the windows

 

Patio wall art

 

 

Wall art - I embroidered all these bird pictures myself

most of my photos are up, including 3 canvas prints from our family photo shoot

I still need a lot of wall art, especially for the bedrooms, but I'll wait until I find

(or make) art that I love

I am hugely affected by my environment, so I definitely need a home that is comfortable, peaceful and clutter free.  During the last month, I have donated 3 bags of clothing and a car load of other items to the Randburg SPCA.  Lots more to go, but making progress.  The concept of 'living with less' appeals to me.

Layouts to share

Here are some of the scrapbook pages that I completed last weekend ...

This is a travel page with a circular pop-up book,

which will be stuck to the outside of the page protector

LOVE this page!  The paper is by Simple Stories. 

 

Weekend in review

I spent this very cold and wet weekend scrapbooking with my friend Lynn at Cullinan Diamond Lodge.  Cheryl organised the weekend, and the pages were lovely.  I only got to the Lodge on Saturday morning at 9 (everyone else arrived on Friday afternoon), but I managed to catch up and complete 12 pages.

 

  

The gardens at the Lodge have been renovated, the garden is now gorgeous!

The rest of the Lodge needs an overhaul and lots of maintenance

 



 

The mist was thick outside our bedroom on Saturday morning

 

Lynn's motto is "if it moves, ink it"

 



Autumn

We have a relatively short but usually very cold winter in Johannesburg.  Winter usually lasts 5 months - from April to August, but September can also be quite chilly; we generally don't have any snow or rain, just lots of frost.  The days are warm, but the nights are freezing cold on the highveld.  After the extended icy winter in the northern hemisphere this year, the weather gurus predict a colder than usual winter for South Africa; I really hope they are wrong!

 

Signs of Autumn are everywhere, and we've already had a couple of really cold days, but a few of the plants in my garden are fighting back and insisting on clinging to summer...