Around here

Life around here...

* Digging : scrapbooking

* Not digging : a monster workload at the office

* Drinking : lots of water - the Tupperware water bottles are fantastic

* Food : working on eating more whole foods and less processed foods.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, especially when I get home late and I'm shattered tired after a very long day at work

* Listening : to an awesome playlist on my ipod in my car at full blast in the traffic on the way home at night; I looove Pink by Aerosmith!

* Watching : Boer Soek 'n Vrou

* Weather : relieved that the awful heat of a few weeks ago has abated and that we've had some rain; the water tanks in my garden are overflowing

* Busy : packing for the scrapbook retreat and wrapping prezzies

* Wishing :  I was on holiday so that I could read until late at night.  And every morning.  And during the day

 

* Working on : stretching regularly, it really eases the pain in my back.  Seriously - why don't I just do it every day?!

 

* Hating : hot flushes that wake me up at night

 

* Thinking : these Santa bags for my nieces are so cute; I've bought them each a solar torch and a few other goodies to fill the bags

 

* Enjoying : a little bit of home decorating, just freshening up a bit with new towels, pillows and lamps

* Needing : to find a way to support ageing parents who live 2 hours away in another town.  So grateful for my sister-in-law Tonia and brother Robbie who are on hand to support then every day and make the hard decisions - thank you!

* Loving : miss Ruby.  Seriously

Cats

Because cats rock my world

 

 

Because I adore her

 

Because cats fight evil - Belgian authorities have gained one very important ally in their fight against the militants responsible for the attacks in Paris earlier this week - the country's cat population. After the country's federal police requested that citizens avoid posting about the whereabouts of police or military officials on social media accounts, locals responded by diverting the use of the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag to be about their cats.

Scrapbook layouts

Lynn and I had a gentle scrapbooking day on Saturday - it was lovely.  These are the double page layouts that I started at the Scissor Sisters event last weekend, and mostly finished this weekend...

Making those chevrons on the left hand page was hard work but it looks great.  I still need to add photos of the 2 grandfathers to this layout

On the right hand page, I really like this idea of sticking punched strips inside a square

Weekend in review

Our Scrap Addicts group spent the weekend scrapping at the 2-day Scissor Sisters event on the West Rand.  The venue and food were awful but we always enjoy being together and the scrapbook layouts were great, so we ended up having a great time.  We're still settling in to being a group of 4 instead of 5 since Lynette retired to Cape Town recently...we really miss you my friend!!

An owl family lives in one of the courtyards at the school, and baby owl was quite chilled with all the ladies taking photos of him/her; Mom glared at us from a nearby tree

 

Linda had these cool T-shirts made for us which we all wore on Sunday...

Linda

Leonie

Lynn

Family time

After spending a gorgeous weekend at Zaagkuilsdrift, I headed to Mabalingwe to spend a few days with my family.  We swam, we did a few game drives, we braaied, we had afternoon snoozes, we played snap and super-stretchy - all good!

 

Little miss Katy is such a cutie - I wish that we could 'freeze' her at this age!

 

Playing with the sport setting on my new camera - Elizabeth happily obliged with action shots

 

I headed home on Tuesday morning, leaving my family to enjoy the rest of their holiday.  Thanks for inviting me Robbie and Tonia!

 

 

Bird sanctuary

While at Zaagkuilsdrift last weekend, we visited the bird sanctuary on the property. 

 

The birds in the cages have either been injured (hit by cars or have flown into power lines), or have been habituated from being around humans in captivity so they can't live independently in the wild, or they are second-egg babies - when the second egg in a nest is removed to prevent the parents from killing the second hatchling, or they are unwanted pets. 

 

 

 

The sanctuary is under the care of the KZN Wildlife Society, but is privately funded.  They are doing excellent work at the sanctuary to protect and care for wild birds.