Back to school

Well although I have been back at school for over a week, the children started today & our teachers on Monday. All systems were go ....... it was a good start & hopefully we have a good 2009 for all of our schools. Lord knows we need some positivity in SA & our school are certainly one area we still excell. Yes I know there are schools that are below par (try inner city London schools oh horrors !!!) but the majority of our school are good. I am in finances - well my job just gets harder every year as our economy shrinks but again I am being positive & believing in people getting their priorities right.

It was a big day for us today, our baby turned 23 years old - wow where have the years gone ! He will always be the baby to us ( as much as he hates to admit it Steven knows this is the truth !!) and he had a good day & we had a super dinner at Olive & Oil in Glenwood. He is waiting for his new pc which only arrives on Friday - only because he ordered it late & according to him we had no clue what to order. So heres hoping Steven has a wonderful year ahead & all his dreams come true.

Serious blues.

I was reading Andrea's blog(Life in Lindfield) about her dh's wobbly in this space & time & it made me think about being here in SA & missing our extended family spread out all over - like most of us these days.
I seriously miss them & there are times when I really long to just - have a hug from one of them, go for a cup of coffee, glass of wine etc & I am sure that there are many of you who know just what I am feeling.
Its hard sometimes to always be positive & upbeat, although I am grateful for all my blessings & am not in anyway unhappy - I just miss my family - close,extended & extremely spread out !!

Anyway thanks for listening to my whinging. I will leave you with this thought, give your loved ones lots of hugs and kisses, tell them you love them in words & deeds and never stop.

Award

Hi to everyone in cyber space.
My SIL has given me an award for my blog. I am delighted but don't know how to do the links etc - so this weekend my "young adult kids" will show me how. They think its hilarious !!!!

Its the last weekend before we go back to school & I am relaxing, going to take it slow & scrap just for my sanity. Actually I haven't had time these last few weeks & am really looking forward to it.

Have a great weekend & to all my family world wide - we miss ya.

Back from Kruger National Park.

Whew we are back from a wonderful 4 nights in Kruger National Park. Its glorious & green, plenty of water & hot hot hot - temps in the high 30's & 40's. Back to Durban & its a normal 27 degrees we can really enjoy it. We did see some really lovely animals & just enjoyed the time together & had very interesting conversations.
Will post some lovely pics tomorrow, as we have been awake a long time today - too long for me.
We went with Mark our oldest son & his girlfriend Maddie, boy thats an experience but wonderful too as I say wait for the pics. The really good thing about having a son who drives well(yes I am biased) was that Alan & I could relax in the backseat of the X Trail & play with Alans new camera. Unfortunately Mark & Maddie wanted to do the same so I think Alan didn't get to relax too much but he just loves being at Kruger. The only thing is getting up to leave at 4.30am everymorning means the oldies need to nap in the afternoon or wallow in the pool and we did.
We ate too many chocolates,biscuits & drank condensed milk coffee - we will be back to normal as of tomorrow - tonight the family need to fend for themselves.

New Year 2009

To everyone I hope your Christmas was blessed and full of memories.
May 2009 be blessed with God watching over us, peace & full of fantastic fun for all.
I hope its prosperous & fulfilling in everyway.

We had a lovely Christmas, celebrating with friends & family galore, even my Jewish sister in law visiting & having Christmas with us !!! Quite a day.
New Year was quiet with just Alan & I at home celebrating but Alan was the children's dedicated driver, he went out & dropped off & picked up till 3.45am, his last trip taking the merrymakers to have a "roti" at Johnny roti in Durban !!!!

I have these aims for this year.
1. Make more of my time for ME .
2. To scrap more than I did last year.
3. To join a Bible study group.
4. To visit New Zealand or bust in July 2009.

This is a joint family 2009 aim, to make more family time.....

I know everyone starts with great new year's ambitions & resolutions but I have decided to do what I didn't do last year always thinking I had to do something else more important to anyone else but me. So this year 2009 is a ME year.

School ends today

School closes today for the children- oh what a lovely day. I still work next week but its so nice & quiet and there are no interuptions except for our Christmas lunch & then its HOLIDAYS!!!!!

I am so looking forward to sleeping in past 05.45am & just being able to do things for me. Yes I will be so busy catching up on my scrapping and crafts and having fun. I still have a gift voucher from August for our local scrap shop ! yes its incredible but I just haven't had the time to shop & this holidays I will.

Tomorrow Kylie (my wonderful daughter) & I are off to a Scrapaganza in the lovely setting of the Makaranga gardens & lodge at Kloof. We are packed & ready to go & the photos are being printed & cropped as I write this. So I should have something special to display next week or at least I hope so.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend filled with love & laughter.

Yay its the weekend

Oh wonderful weekend - please don't fly by. Sleeping in on Saturday & Sunday is such a wonderful treat these days.
We have 5 more school days with children & then only 4 without the following week. Then its the lazy summer days of the Christmas holidays - actually not - its the "do everything you never get time to do " but still its holidays!!!
I have been inspired by the busy New Zealanders & all their Christmas planning & organisation so will try & put this into practise this weekend, starting with Christmas tins filled with condensed milk biscuits.
Have a great weekend everyone & God bless.