Animal lover or just plain crazy?

I know, I have been a very bad blogger, but I was having such a good time on holiday with all my family that I did not even open my laptop the whole time we were there! Hope everybody's Christmas was as magical as mine. I will be posting a lot of photo's and family stories in the next few days, but while I was editing the holiday photo's I found these and started wondering about this girl.
She is my baby, Anke. The one who starts to cry when she sees roadkill. The one who makes her boyfriend stop on the Highway to save a dog. The one who nursed an almost dead baby bird back to life, taught it to fly and set it free when she was 12 and the vet said that wild birds can not be saved when they had fallen out of the nest.

These photo's were taken the day before we came home from holiday. It was pouring. Hail as big as bird's eggs and lightning (Whats up with that? I thought you do not get lightning in the Cape?!) The people staying accross from us had dogs, lots and lots of dogs! They were running wild, tearing the dustbin bags and being a really big irritation. Their house looked really run down, grass growing up to my knees, fence patched with odd pieces of wood and Ankie discovered behind the wall (she had to look when she heard them cry:) ) a LOT of puppies. She said at least 4 litters of different ages!

When it started raining, we heard the puppies crying and that set Ankie off. Within minutes she was sobbing, worrying about the poor puppies, out in the rain, crying and obviously in distress. Eventually she convinced her boyfriend to run accross the street with her and look to see of they were OK. She looked over the wall and saw some puppies floating in a puddle of water. Then there was no stopping her, she was over that wall in a flash and got the pups out of the rain and to the safety of their kennel. The people inside the house did not even look to see why the dogs were crying like that!

When she finally got back, she (and poor Darryl) were soaked to the bone. She then phoned the SPCA and asked them to please go and rescue the puppies. They did go out the next day, but phoned her and said that the dogs were OK and that they gave the owners a warning about the living conditions of the dogs. This morning her status on Fb is - Hope the puppies are safe!

Now this got me wondering. Is she mad? or just an animal lover in the extreme? I don't know which one it is, I just know I love this girl for caring so much about those that can not fend for themselves.

Have a great week everybody, I might be back a little later with some more holiday stories if you would like to hear them.

WOYWW - Jeffreys Bay here I come!

Good morning everybody! I am on my way to Jeffreys Bay. Leaving on Friday and will only be back on the 29th. I am taking my laptop, so will try to check in every now and then.
Wish me luck, we are going on holiday with the whole family. 15 People in total! First holiday for DH and myself in 15 years. I can't wait! This is what my work area looks like. Disgusting, I know, but its the only little area I could find to work on. There are photo's I printed from the little ones'birthday , stamps, my cutter, my Cuttlebug and I only just discovered from the pic, my glasses.

To my right on the back of DD's couch, some glitter paper and ods and ends. Even DD's microwave is a flat surface to store things. LOL.

These two beautiful children just turned one over the last while. Little Gemma on the 8th of December and Liam on the 29th of November. I might be very biased, but aren't they just too gorgeous for words?

If I don't manage to visit before Christmas, may you all have a blessed, Christ filled Christmas.

Don't forget to visit Julia over at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com.

WOYWW - I am on holiday!!!!

Good morning all of you out there. When I say GOOD morning, I mean it in every sense of the word! It is 6h15 in my house, DH has left for work, DD is fast asleep and all is quiet. I have nowhere to go today, well, nowhere I don't want to go!! Marking? Done! Marks? Submitted. Reports? Done and dusted! School year is officially over for me. Can you all say: YAY!!!
This is the only space I could find to actually do some crafting last week. But, the good news is, I found a little flat surface not covered in DD's junk and if I climb over and sqeeze behind all her furniture, I can actually get to most of my stuff! I made this card for a dear friend and a fellow teacher who had a Matectomy on Monday. They discovered the cancer when she went for her yearly check up! She is one of the most amazing women I know, so strong and so dignified. I think I would be freaking out. I saw a card like this one a while ago on Becca Freeken's blog and knew I had to make one for Cindy. Hope Becca doesn't mind. ( http://amazingpapergrace.com )

Please say a prayer for Cindy for a full and speedy recovery.

I have been telling you that mr. Mojo has been back, but I had no time to share. So here goes, some of the Christmas cards that I made. First one is an image from Mo Manning called Sugarplum Fairy. I just love her! All papers and embellishments are from my scrapbox and from whatever I could get to. Cardstock is Bazzil and all images were coloured with my beloved Copic markers.

The next one is a Magnolia image that was sent to me as part of a RAK about 2 years ago. I just never got round to colouring her. Isn't this little Tilda adorable? She got a liberal Stickle treatment to her wings, halo and stars.

Lastly the wonderful La La Land stamp by Irena Blount. I fell in love with her Marci and Luca stamps at CHA and had to have most of them. LOL This one is so wonderful, because it is so hard to find summery images for Christmas! My son keeps having a hissy fit when I use snowmen or Reindeer on my cards. I get the whole 'for goodness sake mom, we live in Africa, it is 35 degrees out there!' thing from him every year, so finding the Summery Marci and Luca was such a bonus!

Have a great week everybody! I am going clothes shopping with the grandies today. We are leaving for Jeffrey's Bay on the 15th and the all need new costumes ans of course ouma has to take them (because I will buy what their mothers won't AND we always go for lunch afterwards!LOL)
Remember to pop over to Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com for your weekly WOYWW fix.

WOYWW - Are you sure you want to see this?

I don't think I should. I might be arrested for Public Indecency, oh what the heck.... I am going to show you, but don't say I did not warn you OK!
This is what I am busy doing (errr.... this is what is staring at me from the dining room table), marking exam papers. I swear these papers breed during the night, they just seem to get more and more! I hate marking!

And this, is my craftroom at the moment! I want to cry just looking at the photo's. DD has moved back home temporarily (I hope VERY temporarily) and all her stuff had to go somewhere. The craftroom sounded like a good idea to everybody except me. In the corner you can see my die cut area, which I can get to if I try very hard.

This is the view when you look at my ribbon storage area and my sewing cabinet and this is the view when you look at my paper storage. Now tell me thats not a sad sight. Mr. Mojo is here and I can not get to anything. I just hope he sticks around untill DD finds a new place to stay.

Don't get me wrong, I love having her here, its just the stuff that gets to me. LOL

I better get up now and go and finish that marking, because I think I could just shoot myself if I still have marking to do next week this time.

Have a great week everybody, I will be visiting as soon as the marking is done.

WOYWW - Everything but the kitchen sink!

I tell you, mr. Mojo is back with a vengeance! His timing could not be worse - I mean, I am supposed to be marking exam papers, they are lying there, looking at me with a lot of reproach, but what can I do? The fickle mr. Mojo might just decide to leave if I do not listen to him.
So you see, its all his fault that my beautiful desk is not so beautiful any more. I started on my Christmas cards, I am making mini cards for a swap (they are actually all finished) I am making good luck cards for my girls and there is my son's bowling trousers that need shortening ( why is Twiglet and Wipso on the other side of the world when you need them?)

It is so bad that it even spilled over to the lounge - there was no room left to colour on my desk. The images all went on the mini cards. Only fitting to use mini Tildas for mini cards don't you think?

Had to just show you there is still one area in my craftroom that shows some order. My die cut area. I will show you the fruits of my labour next week, but now I really have to go and mark those exam papers, I need my job to feed my obsession!

Don't forget to visit Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ to see what all the WOYWWers are up to. I live in hope to find a messier desk than mine.

Have a great week.

WOYWW - Good news

Before I show you my desk, I want to say a very big thank you for all of your wonderful comments and special thank you for all the prayers that went up last week for Michael. I am so happy to report that we experienced a small miracle, Michael's skin cancer was removed, but when the dr opened up the area, there was no need to remove the nerve ( that according to the dr, would definately have had to go) and no need for a skin graft. The cancer= as big as the top af a tea cup - was sucessfully removed and he will need no further surgery or chemo! Drs are surprised, but his mom and I are just smiling, because we know, our Father in Heaven is so good to us and we are humbled by this miracle in Mike's life. He is still in a lot of pain, but a very happy young man.
My desk, as you can see, is just getting worse and worse, without actually doing anything. You will see my son's trousers that need shortening. ( It has been pinned and just needs doing!) Better get a move on, he needs it for a bowls game this weekend. There are some coloured images, cut and ready to go on cards - no finished cards yet.

Thought I would also share this pic with you. My DD, the waterpolo coach. Sad, I know, but I love watching her do what she loves doing. Never thought for a minute that it would be just as stressful to watch the team she is coaching as watching her play. Weird that. So nice to see such a young person so passionate about the game and so commited to giving back to the game that she loves so much.

While I was watching the game, my eye caught sight of this beautiful Jacaranda tree, with its distinctive purple flowers. Reminded me that it is time for the final exams soon. Some schools have already started, we start on Monday. The legend here in South Africa says that: if a Jacaranda blossom should fall on your head, it is a sign that you will definately pass your exams.

My best wishes to all scholars and students writing. May you be rewarded for a years hard work. and may the Jacaranda blossoms fall on every head. Happy Wednesday to you all. Remember to pop in at Julia's to snoop at everybody's desk. (http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com )

WOYWW - I have a desk??? and some positive thoughts needed.

I am still in end of year mode at school, so I have kind of forgotten that there is a craftroom in my house that actually has a desk for me to work on. It has kinda changed from being a desk to being a dumping ground. I have just left everything after my last scrapping party and it has steadily grown into piles of unknown origin. Strange that!? I thought I was the only one that ever went in there, but I promise, I can't remember putting half the stuff there. The Copic colour chart was me - I took it out to start coulouring, but never got round to it.
Here are some of my lovely group of leaders. I had the priviledge to take 10 of them to a Leadership training day on Saturday (I know, a Saturday! Now school is even invading my weekends!!!) It was hosted by the Catholic Schools Organisation and was all about how to be servant leader in stead of a dictator. The girls enjoyed every minute of the day (the fact that all other Catholic schools in Gauteng were there and they got to mingle with them , and there were BOYS!!! could have something to do with that,. LOL)

My girls did me and the school very proud, as usual. They were divided into groups with the leaders from the other schools and had work sessions. I am so proud to report that most of the report backs were done by my girls. Quite something if you think that the head prefects from the other schools were in those groups too. Just realising I am sounding like a proud mommy bragging about her children. Plrase forgive me, but they are a very special group of young ladies.

Had to show you the chandelier. Made me and the girls laugh. It is beautiful, just amusing to find four of them high up in the roof at a boys school. Very rugged ceiling and typical school hall and then this.

Now on to a more serious matter. One of my very dear friends, Melanie's son Michael(25) has been diagnosed with a very rare form of skin cancer. He is being operated today. They will be removing a whole flap of skin on the right side of his face and as well as some facial nerves. They will also be taking a nerve from his wrist and try to repair the nerve and do some skin grafts. The cancer is situated on his temple which apparantly makes it even more dangerous. I am asking for some very earnest prayers for this young man and his mommy. I know how the people from WOYWW rally round in support, so I am confidant that a lot of prayer will go up for him and his mom all over the world today.

Have a great week everybody, I will tell you about Michael's progress next week.

I am SOOOOO Late and WNOYWW

No, you are not seeing things, and it is not a typing error, it is 'What is NOT on your Workdesk Wednesday' for me. I am not dead or abducted, it is just silly season at school this time of the year, so there really is very little (other than schoolwork which is so utterly boring, it is scary) on my desk
This is not even my desk. I did a birthday party for a 9 year old girl last Friday and they made little maze books and covered journals. I thought I would show you some of their lovely work. I find these kiddies parties delightful, but VERY tiring and I am being asked to do more and more of them. Kids are so ready to try everything you tell them.

Here are some samples of their maze books. I think they did an absolutely amazing job!

These two were made by the birthday girl's older brother and his friend. Very reluctant in the beginning to do the 'girl stuff', but they loved every minute of it! LOL

Thought I would also show you the wonderful cake my daughter Karin made for her little girl, Hannah's seventh birthday. She has had no formal training in cake decorating and I think she has some real talent. I am seriously considering giving her a cake decorating course as a birthday present. What do you think? A good idea or not?

These last few weeks have been very very busy and very crazy, There has been so many last things to do before exams start next month. Last assembly, last MASS, the Valedictory for our grade 12's who started their exam on Monday and all the goodbyes that go with that. A very sad time for us here at St. Doms. Some of our girls have been at the school for 15 years!

Valedictory is so emotional, it takes me a few days to recover. The girls attend a MASS with all their parents and their teachers. It is a beautiful Mass and the school really tries very hard to make it special for the girls. This year, the hall was lined with the footprints of every girl in the school, from grade 000 till grade 11 - symbolising the grade 12's journey at our school and the footprints that they are leaving behind.

While Mass is going on, the rest of the school forms a guard of honour from the door (starting with grade 000's and ending with grade 11's)right up to the fish pond quad where the girls and their parents enjoy cake and refreshments. When the first girl leaves the hall our big school bells start ringing and the are rung untill the last girl reaches the quad! Goosebump stuff! The girls usually weep when they walk down the guard of honour, they hug every girl they know in the school. Fathers and mothers walk down there with tears in their eyes. It is times like these that I remember just how lucky I am to be part of such a special school!

The girl in the photo is the outgoing president of our SRC. I work very closely with the SRC and it has been my priviledge to work with this very special young lady. I have seen her grow this past year, from a very capable, but very scared little girl, in awe of the responsability the school gave her to a very confident young woman who will go out and qonquer the world. I will miss you Dintshi, you will always have a very special place in my heart and those very big shoes you were so scared to fill are even bigger now!

I know that somebody with such joy in her heart will go far in life! Go well my dear and never ever lose the ability to be joyfull in the face of adversity and thank you so much for the wonderful footprints you have left in my heart and at the school that you love so much!

Enjoy your week everybody and don't forget to visit Julia at: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

I really need a life!

i am sitting at a seminar for teachers listening to a lecture about using a blog in teaching. the lady is clueless!!! wish i could throw something at her.

WOYWW 122 - I thought it would be worse.

A very good morning to all. I am feeling so much better, I broke into song this morning when I woke up singing 'oh, what a beautiful morning'. DH thought I was crazy, but it is a really beautiful Spring morning here.
As you can see, my desk is still relatively tidy. It has been 4 weeks now and they say it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so maybe I am now a neat person. LOL That is so never goimg to happen. I thought my desk and craftroom would look much worse when I walked in this morning. I have been so busy and so tired, I can't even remember cleaning up, how sad is that?
Yesterday was International Teacher appreciation day. We are having an assembly today where the girls are giving each teacher a little gift.
Traditionally these gifts are really very stupid. (One year we got toilet rolls - because our patience is that long?!) Because I am in charge of the leaders, I had to help them and OK what they wanted to do. Surprise, surprise, the decided on bookmarks. I had the stamps and the equipment, so guess who did the colouring? In their defense, the leader of the Public Relations Committee, did the printing. cutting and pasting. She also found the most beautiful prayer for teachers to go on the back of the bookmark. All I had to do was laminate them and add some ribbon.

Here they are... all 44 of them.

Some close ups. A beautiful shoes, for those who are real ladies. (Guess I won't be getting that one LOL)

Some apples, and lastly, some bookworms.

The stamps are all digi's. The shoe and apple are old ones from before I knew to keep the artists name. The bookworm is one from last month's progessive freebie challenge on PCP. I could not show them before today, so I guess I am way too late for the next lot of freebies (bummer)

I have also finally finished those wedding invitations - It only took them 2 months to finally decide on the wording and then, of course, they wanted them within 24 hours!

Have a great day everybody, hopefully I will visit more than 5 of you this week. Thank you to all for your kind comments.

Please remember to visit Julia at: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ and to join in the fun.

WOYWW 121 - Slowly going South

My desk has remained clean for 4 weeks, that must be some kind of record, don't you think? Does that mean that I can be forgiven for the little mess today? Its not too bad. Just going South very slowly, getting worse daily, little by little. The leftovers from previous projects. My heatgun from embossing, the embossing powder, the embossing pad, some papers, some tools and some UFO's.
I have not done a whole lot in terms of crafting, but really love this card. The image is from Michelle Perket. Coloured her with my Copics and glitterified her dress and wings. Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the local Chinese shop.

I recieved my Tag! It is beautiful in real life! Hanging on my craftroom wall and everybody comments on it. Thank you so much!

For some reason Blogger is not allowing me to Publish these next photo's the right way up! I finally got my cardreader to transfer the pics of the tag I made for Frankie's swap to my computer, so if you turn your head, you will see it the right way up.
Used lots of embossing and stamping and the ATC I made for a previous swap. Hope Jane recieves it soon and likes it.

Did not like the boring white envelope, so stamped some birdcages on there too - I had the birdcage stamps on my table, so I had to use them.

I am typing this in class, while my girls are preparing a debate on the death penalty. Young people never cease to amaze me with their wisdom. I am listening to their talk and thinking that I would never have been able to come up with such arguments at 17 and that in a second language!

Please spare a prayer for a fellow teacher who has lost her husband this week. She is in dire financial straights. She had to sell her house to cover her hubby's medical costs and is now forced to live in a low cost shell of a house. No inner walls and no ceiling.

One of my pupils also just told me that they discovered a huge growth in mom's uterus and that she is having tests done today to find out what is wrong.

Makes one grateful for the troubles in your own life.

Have a great day everybody and don't forget to visit Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com

WOYWW 120 - you guys made me!

I am writing this post in my bed. The breathing problems from last week has just progressively gotten worse, and I finally gave in to my DH's plea to go to the dr. It turns out I have a bad case of Bronchitus, bordering on Pneumonia. Dr sent me home with strict instructions not to leave my bed for two days (threatened to put me in hospital if I didn't listen LOL), so here I am, in bed, feeling very sorry for myself and terribly guilty for not being at school.
The card reader decided it would upload my pictures today, so here you have it, my desk is still quite tidy with just a little bit of leftover stash from recent projects. You can see two cards I made with my new La La Land stamps and the black plastic sheet that I use when I am using my glue gun.
The glue gun was used extensively this last week. My granddaughter ordered cup cakes for her Birthday party invitations. They had to look real, be big and pink - those were the requirements. This is what I came up with - Had to make a lot of them and my DD's only comment after she saw them? What are 'we' doing next year mom? Told her I think we just tear some old newspaper and stick it onto toiletrolls. Tie a pink ribbon around it, stick a blom (flower) on and thats that. LOL She was NOT amused.

Here is a close up for you. I was a little bit worried, because Tertia-Lee just stared at them and nodded her head when I asked if she liked them. Thought she did not like them and did not want to hurt my feelings, but she was just overwhelmed I think. She told her dad they are 'Extremely beautiful!" Makes all the hard work worthwhile.

And then, I though I would show you what you MADE me do!

Yes, I did, and it is all your fault, ladies who come and peek at my desk every week! (If you have no clue what I am talking about, go here: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ ) I gave in and made the first Christmas cards for this year!

I fell in love with these elves from Mo Manning and just could not resist them. There are 4 of them and I bought all of them. I could not quite bring myself to do the whole red and green thing yet, so thats why they are not in traditional Christmas colours. I used only cardstock (Bazzil), my Cuttlebug and some bling. Both images were coloured with my beloved Copics.

Here is another one, done in blues.

Don't you think they are just too precious?

Hope you are all well. I am off to visit some desks.

WOYWW - One of those days.

Have you ever had one of those days when absolutely NOTHING seems to go right? I am having one of those today. My card reader is refusing to upload photo's to my computer. So sorry girls, no desk today.
I am supposed to be showing you pictures of my desk for WOYWW (go to Julia's blog at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com if you want to know more) no picture of that, but happy to report my desk is still pretty neat, in spite of being super busy creating. I was making my birdcage swap and invitations for a 9 year old who is coming for a scrapbooking party in my studio on the 7th October, still working on those wedding invitations (bride and groom are still having issues about the wording, SIGH!) and I am making invitations for both my granddaughter's parties.

This was the starting point for my bird cage swap. (go to Frankie's blog at http://dragon-dragonsweb.blogspot.com to see more about it.) I took part in an ATC swap a while ago and we were originally supposed to make 20 ATC's. It turned out to be only 10 in the end, so I had this ATC lying around and decided to use it as a starting point. I will post more photo's of the final product as soon as I am able to upload to my computer.

My breathing has also been dreadful. I can hardly walk 10 paces before I am wheezing like somebody at death's door. VERY frustrating. A year ago this time, I was hospitalised with acute pneumonia, so it seems that it could be the amount of dust and pollen in the air at this time of the year that is affecting my lungs. It is windy season here after all and I live in a mining town where the dust from the mine dumps are blown about all the time.

I am also drowning in school work, its nearing the end of the year and there is so much to do. The newly elected leaders at our school are also very busy with 8 functions that they have to attend and organise in the last two weeks of September.

I am, as most of you know, very proudly African (SOUTH AFRICAN) and it really gets my back up when fellow South Africans run the country down. I would so much rather be part of the solution, than part of the nay sayers, but just sometimes, when I read the papers and see the newspaper headlines, I want to hang my head in shame and weep for our beautiful country.

How? HOW? How does somebody ( a taxi driver) run over a woman and drag her 700 meters under his speeding taxi, refusing to stop even though the people in the taxi are begging him to and bystanders are screaming at him? How does the youth leader of the ruling party get told by the court that it is hate speech to sing a song with words like "Kill the Boer" and then want to appeal the ruling?

If you have made it this far, I am sorry, can you tell I am having a bad day? Rant is over, I feeel better now, tomorrow I will be my chirpy positive self again and the card reader will propably work again. If not, I will just get a new one and show you all my finished bird cage.

Untill then have a great time.

WOYWW - 118?

Wednesday again?!! How did that happen? I am glad to be able to tell you that even though I have been incredibly busy in my craftroom, it still looks relatively presentable. OK Maybe not as beautiful as the last three weeks, but still quite clean don't you think?
In the background you will see the pile of wedding invitations I have been working on. To the left is the box of coloured images I found when I was cleaning up. Some I had actually forgotten about! LOL. There is also a tin of fudge (Almost empty!) and then the left overs from the pink Elephant Challenge card I was making and of course my beloved Copics and the new La La Land Crafts stamps I got yesterday in the process of being coloured. I was so excited to finally find summery Christmas images, I forgot that its too early for the C word.
Thought I would show you some more of the awesome La La Land cards I made with my new stamps. The first one is the cheerleader. How cute is she? Papers are from my scrapbox, The cardstock is Bazzil and the doily from my local grocery store. Her dress and poms were glitterified with Stickles.

Seeing that the Rugby World Cup starts on Friday in New Zeeland, I just had to make this little rugby Luka. Coloured him in green and Gold for the Springboks of course! The dp is from a Basic Grey paperstack I have had for ages and the ribbon and button from my stash.

Last but not least, this cute little Luka. Love him! Its so hard to find male images that are not totally depressing and look more like sympathy cards than anything else. The dp is also from my scrapbox. Used a Martha Stewart punch for the border and the ribbon and brad are from my stash.

If you still don't know why I am posting pictures of my desk, go to Julia's blog and join in the fun. ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ )

Have a great week everybody, I am back at school, but will do my best to visit all of you.