(not so) Blue Monday!

I always feel a little blue on a Monday but for some unspecific reason I feel extremely bright and chirpy today!
We had a great weekend. My sister, her husband and my mom came to visit yesterday. We had great food, great company and just chilled out. I chilled out so much that I totally forgot to take pictures of the renovations as I had planned to. I promise take some photos before dark today and will update this post with pics tonight.

It’s the last week of the school term for the kids this week. I can’t believe the first term has come and gone already! So much has happened but it all went past me way to fast to absorb it all. Marco is in the middle of his first exam. They didn’t write exams in the private school that they attended in the past, so this is yet another adjustment for him. I actually fear for the worst but I guess I’ll have to wait for his report card – which we’ll only get after the holidays.

Michael is going on a rugby tour for the first week of the holidays. I miss him so much and would have loved to have him home for the entire holiday but I know he really wants to go on the tour and I want him to enjoy every moment of it. I’ll take a couple of days off work when he’s at home after the tour to spend with the kids at home.

This week at work I have to finish off my budget for the next financial year. I hate budget time! Everybody is so stressed out and it’s always a big rush to meet all the deadlines. I guess my chirpy mood won’t last long around here but I’m going to give it my best shot in any case!

Hope all of you will have a great and productive (and hopefully more creative than me) week! A little birdie told me that this week's going to be a SUPER one! :D

God bless!
Michelle

Miss Avocado

How sweet is this girls art?
This one is called "Repairs"

Pop over to her Etsy shop to see her other gorgeous creations.

My new kitchen revealed

So here it is ... my dream kitchen!!!!

Ta-da!!!

*** ( insert drumroll here) ***

I love every little detail of it! There's so much space - a place for everything.

I've always wanted a pantry - now I've got one!

Next to the pantry is the laundry. Only big enough for a wash basin, washing machine, tumble drier and a huge cupboard on the other side for my brooms, ironing board, vacuum cleaner as well as a linen cupboard.

Next to the laundry is my scullery with double sink and undercounter dishwasher.

Then it's the main kitchen:

A lot of thought and planning went into this kitchen. It turned out just perfect with everything I need close at hand. I have a tall cupboard for the groceries that I use often (on the far left of the next photo), then the fridge, microwave, roll-top breadbin, stove, workarea and sink - with a dustbin drawer right next to it - all in a small triangle and not more than 2 metres apart.

One of the focus areas in the kitchen is this beauty ...

I'm so in love with this stove. I can't keep myself out of the kitchen. All of sudden cooking and cleaning are not swear words anymore! The hob is gas with an electric hot plate on the side. The ovens are electric - one of them with a thermo-fan. An absolute joy!

At last!

At last! I have my life (and my blog!!!) back!

I couldn’t access my Google account since I cancelled my Telkom ADSL and therefore couldn’t access my old mailbox. I tried to get assistance from Google on various occasions but I guess I just didn’t have the time, energy or patience to carry through the process of changing my details and resetting my account.

This weekend I had a specific urge to blog and decided that today was the day that I was going to sort this thing out, and … wha-la … here I am – back on my blog!

I really missed blogging and I missed my blogging friends terribly.

You won’t believe it but they are still busy building!!!!! Although everything still seems to be chaotic, they are slowly but surely getting closer to finishing up.

The kids and I have now moved out of our house in Sasolburg and we now are fully fledged “Parisians”. I’m falling more and more in love with this little town by the day. I plan to take my camera with me on my next “Paris Rendezvous” and will give you a virtual tour of the town of Parys (that’s the one in the Freestate province of South Africa on the banks of the Vaal River, not the one on the banks of the Seine) one of these days.

My life has been such a whirl wind the past couple of months. I moved house, both my kids started school at new schools, Michael went to boarding school in another town. It has been a time of change and adjustment for us all which was (to put it mildly) not easy at all times.

Marco really experienced a whole lot of problems adjusting to the new school. I guess it was just too many changes at once for one little boy to manage. He had to go to go to a public school for the first time in his life. He was used to having English as his first language in school, now had to adjust to being taught in Afrikaans. He really had a hard time reading Afrikaans – even though it’s his home language. The other major change was that he had to cope with all these changes without the support of his big brother. Michael has always been there for Marco and has obviously provided a huge sense of security. He went through a rough time but now I’m glad to say that he has made lots of new friends and is happy to go to school each day.

I’m also glad to report that Michael is having a ball at boarding school! He thoroughly enjoys high school and didn’t have a single problem in adjusting to boarding school. He’s such an easy going and goofy kid and he fits right into the culture of his new school (Pothefstroom Gimnasium). He has grown up so fast! In a few short weeks he has really grown from my little boy to a full blown teenager!

I also have to announce that I am now the owner of the most beautiful kitchen in the whole wide world! I know that this is a very subjective view but I can honestly say that my dream kitchen has come to life. I know, I know – where’s the pictures?? I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t taken one single photo of my kitchen since it was completed a couple of weeks ago. That is so unlike me not to take pictures but I guess I’ll be back to my old Photo-maniac self in due time.

Now that I’m back onboard Blogger I’ll be sure to take some snaps and will post them for you before the week is over – I promise!

Now I have to pop over to say hi to all my blogging friends – can’t wait to “see” all of you again!!!!!

I'm still alive ...

I guess I was a little naive believing that the builders would finish on time on 19 December. Now, they're rushing just to finish my kitchen and entertainment area so that we can move back into that part of the house. There's been hick-up after hick-up and we really got a taste of the bad building experiences that people told us about.

But it's not all bad news. They completed installing the kitchen cupboard units in my main kitchen and scullery. It looks absolutely fab - even better than what I imagined! They must still do the wall tiles and paint and one half of the area doesn't even have a roof. Then it's ceilings, doors, windows, plumbing and electricity.

I took a couple of pics of the kitchen but decided that I'm not ready to share it with you just yet. You'll have to wait until it's all done.

In the meantime life is carrying on. Saturday we celebrated Leon's b-day. We couldn't even invite friends for dinner because everything is such a mess. We went out for dinner with the kids instead.

Oh - and I'm glad to say that I've completed my Christmas shopping in between as well. Don't want to see the inside of a shopping mall until next year.

I went to visit my friend Tanya in Pretoria last week and we went on a bit of a scrap shopping spree. I haven't bought stash in months so it really was a great treat. It's all still in the bag - waiting patiently with the rest of my stash for the big day when I move into my new scrap room.

Now I'm off to pay a long overdue visit to some of my friends blogs.

Next time I'll have some pictures for you - I promise!

Quick update

I really miss blogging! I especially miss being part of the daily lives of all my blogging friends. One day I know things will settle down and I will have time again for all of that but in the meantime I'm almost starting to enjoy life on the run! Once your brain gets used to it, it's actually rewarding to be able to do so many things in one day. Every night when I lie in bed before I fall asleep - I try to think of everything that I've accomplished in the day that's gone and try to make a mental list of all I need to do the next day. I'm really starting to enjoy this little "project"!

Now for the update: This are going sort of according to plan. The rain has kept us back a little but when the sun's out the guys really make up for the lost time. We had to vacate one half of the house so that they can literally break out almost every single thing inside. The other half of the house is looking more like a storage site than a house - we hardly have space to sleep. We spend most of the time in the old house now and just pop in to check if everything is built the way we want it - which a lot of the time isn't! Then they need to make corrections and so on.

They will start fitting the new kitchen on 8th December and should complete it by the end of that week. The plan is that all the building and inside finishing must be completed by 19th December. Phase 2 will then start again mid January to complete the outside finishing touches, the swimming pool, paving and the garden.

The other great news is: my old house is sold! It was a rather emotional moment when we had to put up the "for sale" sign at the front gate. When the fist prospective buyers pitched up it was almost like they invaded our privacy. At the same time I was anxious because I was afraid that the house will stay in the market for months / years (like a whole lot of other houses in the neighborhood) and that I would be forced to rent it out in the end. I didn't really want to do that because I've heard so many horror stories about tenants who ruin your house and the rent would only cover about half the installment!

I was blown away when the agent phoned me about an hour after they came to view the house. The couple wanted to buy the house! It's a young newly wed couple and they love my house and wanted to buy it. The very first people who came to view the house! Mixed emotions filled my heart. I was so glad that the house was sold (at the price that I wanted!) but I really feel sentimental about that house! This is the house that I bought after I got divorced. It was the refuge for me and the boys. We made it into the safe and happy home that we all wanted and needed. I realise that now it is time to move on but I know that a couple of tears will flow the day we will have to say goodbye to "our house" permanently! I'm not sure when the move will be. The new owners want to wait for final registration before they move in. Hopefully this will only happen in the new year. At the moment there is just no way that we can move in to the Parys house before the building is completed.

Here are a couple of picture updates of the building in progress. These pics were taken on Wednesday, so they are already outdated but it will give you a general idea of the progress.

My new en-suite bathroom and walk in closet:
The "flat" where the boys will stay:
The patio:
What's left of the old garage on the left and the new garage on the right:The old kitchen after we moved out. By now it's only an empty shell with nothing inside - they broke everything down - even the ceiling!!Gotta run again - on our way to visit some friends for dinner - some kind of French meal with a VERY strange name - can't wait to taste it!

Will try to be back soon!

Buy for now!

I got a surprise in the mail!

I got a note in my mailbox the other day to notify my of a parcel that I have to pick up at the post office - something that is too big for my post box at home. Although I was VERY curios cause I knew that I didn't order anything, I just didn't have time to go there and almost forgot about it. Luckily our post office is inside our grocery store and one day this week when I went to buy groceries I remembered about my note and went to pick up my parcel. What a great surprise! My new blogging friend from Tasmania, Sharmaine Kruijver, sent me a thank-you parcel filled with yummy cookies and sweeties and even more yummy scrappy stuff! (to say thank you for the blog banner that I designed for her - silly girl - it was a RAK - she really didn't have to send me stuff in return but I do appreciate it anyway!)

Thanks so much Sharmaine! You made my day!