I love the postman!

Yesterday the postman brought me LOTS of goodies! I received my first Scarlet Lime kit (May) with all of these goodies: I also got these pretty postcards that I ordered on Etsy – all the way from Norway:

This is just one of the Anne Julie postcards that I ordered on Etsy as well.

I plan to frame all the postcards to hang in my house and give some away as gifts too.

My house is STILL a mess. The plumbers had to take out all the old pipes as the house is very old and the pipes are “kapoet”. They also had to move the geyser. One more week and I think the bathrooms will be done.

Just the other day I read the following somewhere: “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” I realized that it has been ages since I really tried something new. I thought about it long and hard and decided that the thing I want to to that I’ve never done before (and always wanted to) was to give oil painting a try. So I signed up for art lessons at a local gallery in Parys. My first class is on 2 July and I can’t wait! Because of my work it has to be after hours and I hope I’ll have energy left at the end of the day to give this my best go. I know I’m not very artistic but I also know that this is on my “things I have to do before I die” list. So … watch this space ........................................... (o;

Before and after ...

At last I’m posting a couple of before and after shot of our renovations. I think I just became to fed up with the entire process to appreciate the end results. It’s only now that I look back at the pics that I really see what a big improvement it all is.

The garage and driveway:

The front:

The back:

The flat:

Look what we did with this old water tower. I love my “weather owl”! It still needs a new door and some racks – eventually it will serve as a little garden shed. The inside of the old part of the house is a bit of a mess at the moment as we are busy repainting it all, renovating the old bathrooms and replacing all the light fittings.

The end is in sight! :o)

I’m a lucky girl!

Look what a special gift I got from my special man!

I sampled this perfume when we had dinner at my favourite restaurant last weekend. They have a little table with complimentary perfume outside the toilets and I immediately fell in love with Daisy. I couldn’t stop smelling my wrists all night long! Looks like Leon eventually got the hint ;o) Apparently, he couldn’t find it anywhere in our little “village” so he asked his sister to search for it in Pretoria. He’s such a darling for making such an effort to get it for me – and all behind my unsuspecting back!

You just have to visit their website – it’s soo cute!

Other than feeling happy and smelling like a .. uhm … daisy, I don’t have much news for now. Lots of painting and tiling going on at the house but I’ll tell and show you that next time.

Have a great week!

Hugs
Michelle

I'm looking for my mojo

I did it! I made a layout! I seriously didn’t think I knew how to anymore, but I completed a layout today. I decided to tackle the bull by the horns and I made a layout about my missing mojo.

Translated the journaling goes something like this:
“When did I become so serious? When did I stop looking at the beautiful little things in life and appreciating it? Why did I stop being creative? I really don’t like the cynical person I see in the mirror these days. I’m going to search for my mojo and I’m not going to stop until I have the old Michelle back – the one who loves life!”
I really enjoyed the process and didn't worry to much about getting it perfect or sticking to any plan really. I hope this was just the first of many lo's I will get done in the weeks to come.

Hot-n-Cold

It's been a while since my last post. Seems like I just can't get into some kind of blogging routine!
So what's up in my life? Not much really. I have absolutely no inspiration to start scrapping or even to sort out my scrapping room. I feel so limp and "un-creative". This really makes me depressed and I decided that today is the day that I will force myself to sit down and scrap. I never thought that I would have to "force" myself to scrap! I hope to report back later today to show you what I've done.

Last week I joined the gym and started spinning! Ouch - my poor muscles don't know what has hit them! At this stage it's still punishment to go but I trust that in time it will help to lift my energy levels.

Today in church I got such a powerful message from God that I want to share with the world:

Revelaions 3:15 -17"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless."

I'm ashamed to admit that God it talking about me in this verse! I've been lukewarm for Jesus for too long. Today I renewed my commitment to God and I want to live my life completely for Him!

Now that I've typed this I already feel more energized and motivated! As from NOW, I'm living again - mot merely breathing in and out! Yay! :)

This week ...

* I spent Mothers Day without my kids :(
* I buried a friend who was my doctor for the past 18 years. She was an amazing woman who touched the lives of so many people. Her death leaves a big hole in my heart.
* My PC at home finally packed up. It has served me well over the past 5 years. I only hope some clever IT geek can save my last couple of photo downloads that I didn’t back up.

Sounds horribly depressing, but I still have so much to be grateful for. I’m alive and healthy. I wake up each day with all my senses working. I can hear the birds sing in the big oak tree in our garden. I can see the beautiful colours of autumn changing day by day. I can feel the crisp air on my skin as well as the warmth of fuzzy winter sheets against my skin. I can smell the aroma of the coffee that Leon brings to me in bed most mornings. I can taste the pure joy of honey on my toast.

Best of all – it’s Friday!! .

Every weekend for the past couple of months were filled with:

* packing / unpacking boxes
* moving furniture / boxes from one house to the other and from one room to the next
* shopping for lights/tiles/paint/furniture etc.
* painting furniture that I bought

This weekend I want to spend as much time as possible with my kids. Take lots of photos. And relax!

I hope all of you will also have a beautiful weekend filled with love and peace.

The Convention

The Scrapbook Convention came and went way too fast. Now it feels like I only dreamt it! Luckily I have some photo evidence to proof that I was really there - and that Tim Holtz was really there too! :)
He is such a sweet guy and sooooooo talented. I love his grungy way of scrapping and altering stuff. His products are so innovative – a clever twist on all the old stuff.

This is the mini album that I made in his class.
We also had another class presented by Jayme Shepherd from Making Memories. I love MM products and they were soooo generous. I took home LOTS of stuff to play with.

Best part of the day was that I got to spend it with my bestest friend in the world – Tanya! Unfortunately I don’t have the photo of the two of us on my flash disc at the moment so I will have to add it later.

On the home front things are looking good. They only need to paint the roof and do a little bit here and there – then all the building will be complete.

Thereafter we still need to build the pool and re-do the old bathrooms in the house. Don’t know if I can go through another mess in my house but I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet. I will cross that bridge when I get to it though!

I’ve been reprimanded about the lack of posts on my blog by a couple of people – including a lurker on my blog that I met at the convention (hello Elzanna ;o) I will really try to be a better blogger. I don’t even have time these days to read my favourite blogs but I promise to try to post at least once a week.

In the meantime – whatever you do - have fun!