National Women's Day

Sunday 9 August was National Women's Day in South Africa.  What better way to celebrate than to spend the day scrapbooking at a gorgeous venue.  I arranged for the Scrap Addicts and a few other scrappers to spend the day at Afrique Boutique Hotel in Ruimsig, Johannesburg and we enjoyed a glorious day together doing what we love.

 

 

 We did a gift swop after morning coffee

 

  

                                 Lynette                                               Linda

  

                               Leonie                                                          Rika

  

                             Arina                                                        Lynn

  

          I got the gift that Leonie brought                 Lynn & her sister Wendy

Lynn and I 

Arina

 

 

Leonie and Linda about to enjoy lunch on the patio

 

 Crème Brulee for dessert - yum!

 

 

The Scrap Addicts Group, established 1998.  Leonie, Lynn, Linda, Lynette and Alison.  This was the last time that we would all scrap together before Lynette retires to Cape Town at the end of the month.  We'll really miss this special lady 

 

It was such a beautiful day together in the winter sunshine.  It's always so interesting to see how people organize themselves for scrapping, what projects they're working on, and what 'stuff' they've got.  It was great to scrap with Rika, Arina and Wendy; we must do this again sometime soon!

Scrapbooking weekend

The Scrap Addicts group spent a weekend at Good Shepherd Retreat in the Magaliesburg during July.  We totally adore this place - it's very basic but the beds are good, the food is basic but fine (we're just happy that someone else cooks the food, serves it to us and then cleans up afterwards!), the thick walls of the convent keep the place warm during winter, the bathrooms are adequate, and best of all - we have the whole convent to ourselves.  The weather was wonderfully warm  and we had an awesome awesome time scrapbooking together.

 

 

Lynn and I confessed that we 'got lost' on the way to the convent, and had to stop somewhere for refreshments.  We don't know why but the other ladies held this against us for most of the weekend...

Lynn spoilt us with lots of goodies including Heat Holders socks 

the sunsets over the dam are stunning, especially if there are clouds about

Every quarter, we each design a kit for the group.  This is Lynn's gorgeous page 

Leonie is the queen of embellishments - such a beautiful layout! 

Linda's awesome layout 

Lynette designed this lovely layout 

...and my layout 

We had 90 minutes of loadshedding on Saturday night.   We are such tough capable South Africans; we simply put our headlamps and camping lamps on and carried on scrapbooking!

I was still on crutches recovering from foot surgery and a bad cold.  The ladies helped me so much with everything, carrying food trays and carrying all my scrapbooking supplies for me - thank you!

The comfort of family

While I was at home for 3 weeks recovering from foot surgery, my brother Robbie, my sister-in-law Tonia and the girls came to visit.  I was starting to suffer from some serious cabin fever, so their visit was well timed.  We went out for a few meals.

 

Lunch at Papachinos (the Clearwater branch) was great - the food was excellent (just very expensive), the service was great, and the children's playground was fantastic.  The girls played non-stop, and there were a few child-minders around to watch the children while we relaxed in the winter sunshine.

 

 

Katy and Elizabeth are crazy about horses at the moment

 

The next morning, we had breakfast at Urban Angel, an outstanding organic café in Boskruin, Johannesburg.  It's a very relaxed venue with good service and great food.  I really try to support small businesses whenever possible. 

Nothing wrong with a chocolate milkshake for breakfast! 

Elizabeth really has my sweet tooth, poor baby

Here is more of the life lesson to us as adults about letting go - letting

Elizabeth pour her own tomato sauce onto her plate.   

 It comforted me to have my family around for a few days, especially as I wasn't feeling great.

 

 

Foot Surgery - Morton's Neuroma

It's done.  3 weeks ago I had surgery to remove a Morton's Neuroma from my right foot, and although I'm still recovering, the surgery appears to have been successful.  God is good and all went well; I'm so blessed to have great support from my family and friends.  A big Thank You to Cathy, Lynn and Andy for taking me to the hospital for Doctor's visits, and to all the people who visited me at home, providing me with wonderful comfort and always yummy treats and flowers!
 

The care at Linksfield Hopital was good

 This 'cage' kept the weight of the blankets off my foot after surgery

The 'beautiful' medical shoe that I wore for 3 weeks to protect my foot

2 weeks after surgery

3 weeks after surgery

Today

 

I'm still hobbling around a bit and don't fit into any of my regular shoes, so I'm wearing takkies (sneakers) or slippers most of the time. 

* I'm learning a hard lesson about being patient with the healing process, that it will take another 4 to 12 weeks to get properly back up to speed. 
* I've learnt that I can rely on other people to help me when I need it, and that people are mostly very generous and kind. 
* I'm learning to stop saying "I'm fine" when I'm actually not fine.
* I'm learning all the time...


I still don't really know what actually caused the Neuroma in my foot...

 

 

For those of you who may be interested in a bit more information about Morton's Neuroma, here you go...
 

What Is a Neuroma?
A neuroma is a thickening of nerve tissue that may develop in various parts of the body. The most common neuroma in the foot is a Morton’s neuroma, which occurs between the third and fourth toes.
The thickening, or enlargement, of the nerve that defines a neuroma is the result of compression and irritation of the nerve. This compression creates enlargement of the nerve, eventually leading to permanent nerve damage.

Causes
Anything that causes compression or irritation of the nerve can lead to the development of a neuroma. One of the most common offenders is wearing shoes that have a tapered toe box, or high-heeled shoes that cause the toes to be forced into the toe box.
People with certain foot deformities – bunions, hammertoes, flatfeet, or more flexible feet – are at higher risk for developing a neuroma. Other potential causes are activities that involve repetitive irritation to the ball of the foot, such as running or court sports.

Symptoms
If you have a Morton’s neuroma, you may have one or more of these symptoms where the nerve damage is occurring:

• Tingling, burning, or numbness
• Pain
• A feeling that something is inside the ball of the foot
• A feeling that there’s something in the shoe or a sock is bunched up

The progression of a Morton’s neuroma often follows this pattern:

• The symptoms begin gradually. At first they occur only occasionally, when wearing narrow-toed shoes or performing certain aggravating activities.
• The symptoms may go away temporarily by removing the shoe, massaging the foot, or by avoiding aggravating shoes or activities.
• Over time the symptoms progressively worsen and may persist for several days or weeks.
• The symptoms become more intense as the neuroma enlarges and the temporary changes in the nerve become permanent

Foot surgery

By the time you read this, I will already have had foot surgery at Linksfield Clinic to remove a Morton's neuroma from my right foot. 

 

 

It started about 4 years ago while we were hiking at Groenkloof Nature Reserve, and has gotten progressively worse over the years with almost constant pain in my foot.  After walking anything more than about 2km's, my toes go numb, my foot burns and it feels like I have a hot coal in my shoe. 

 

The surgeon did a cortisone injection into my foot before my recent Alaskan adventure; it reduced the pain a bit, but not a lot.  Many days I just pushed myself to keep going while on holiday, and occasionally took pain killers.

 

All the non-surgical treatments no longer work - heat and ice packs, I now wear a bigger size shoe (and I look for wide shoes/boots/sandals so that my foot is not compressed - remember the 'ugly shoe' blog post??), and I've also tried using orthotics.  Nothing really works, so the surgeon is taking the damaged nerve out of my foot. 

 

I'm looking forward to walking regularly in my neighbourhood again, and doing some gentle hikes once my foot has healed.

Scrapbook layouts

The Scrap Addicts got together a few weeks back; here are some of the layouts that I completed (layouts designed by Lara Hanna):

Silly faces

Elizabeth loves posing for photos.  Especially when she can pull funny faces.  And of course she ropes me in to her silliness and nonsense....  She thinks it's hilarious.

 

 

Such a sweetie.  Love you princess!