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.

Doing the happy dance, a card and an award.

Had quite a day at school today. Not a bad one, just a very busy one and I was dead tired when I got home. Poured myself a colddrink and sat behind the computer to read my e-mails. Guess what? I won the blog candy over at Shoestring Scrapbooking's blog. YAY!!! Wish you could have seen me, doing the happy dance while trying to type a reply to Canica with my address. So glad nobody was here to witness that one. LOL
My card for today is another one I finished in the holiday. My one and only Sweetpea stamp. I just adore her and even though she looks very hard to colour, she is actually a pleasure to colour. I have ordered some more Sweetpea stamps and can't wait for them to arrive. I know that they have shipped, but we live in Africa after all - it could take anything from a couple of days to a couple of months to get here. I live in hope that it will be days rather than months.


She was coloured with my Copics. The cardstock is Bazzil and the dp is from my scrapbox again.The flowers and ribbon are from my stash. The ribbon looks very different IRL - it is bright pink and turquois (sp?) Her wings were given a liberal Stickle treatment (not sure you can see that in the photo)
Now on to the award. The lovely Debbie Harris passed this on to me. Thank you Debbie and sorry it took so long to post ( http://dkhdesigns.blogspot.com/ )




I have to: 1. thank the person that passed the award on to me - done that.

2.Put it on my blog - done that

3.mention three things that I love doing: Thats a hard one - I love doing so many things, but OK here goes. i) I love teaching (I know, I know, most teachers complain about their jobs, so I am weird), but I really love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else.

ii) I love working with paper - making cards, making Layouts for my scrapbooks, making weird and wonderful paper creations for my grandchildren.

iii) I love taking photo's - I am by no means an accomplished photographer, but I love the whole process.

4. Post my favourite picture. Thats a hard one too, but this picture is a current favourite. It was taken at the Soccer World Cup opening Ceremony. One of those once in a lifetime photo's where the camera is pointed in exactly the right spot and you press the shutter at exactly the right millisecond. I did absolutely no editing on this one I promise.

My all time favourite picture is the one I used as my profile picture. My little granddaughter holding my face and looking me in the eyes telling me:"Ouma, I love you SOOOO much" I was not aware that my DH took the photo at the time, but I am so glad he did.
5. I have to pass this one on to 5 other bloggers. I really don't know who to pass this on to, but I would like to pass it on to all my followers that haven't already recieved it.

WARNING: Proud Mommy moment following- sensitive readers should stop reading here.

Just had some more marvelous news - My daughter, Anke, has been on teaching prac for the last seven weeks. She is busy with her last week and has enjoyed every minute of every day that she has spent at Crawford College Lonehill. The staff has made her feel so welcome and part of them. They have taught her so much and shared all their knowledge so willingly. She has often commented these last few weeks that she would LOVE to be able to teach there when she is qualified next year. I suggested she hand her CV in because you never know when a post will become available. She was planning to hand her CV in on Friday when its her last day at the school. Today she was called in by the deputy Principal and offered a teaching position for next year! How wonderful is that? I am such a proud mom - she must have made an impression on them for them to do that, because I know just how difficult it is to get a job at such a wonderful school, especially for a first year teacher. You go girl! Just another confirmation from our Father that teaching is where your calling lies my girl.

Have a great Tuesday everybody, hope to see you soon.

I can't believe its Thursday!!

What happened to this week? It was Monday and then when I blink, its Thursday!!
I know it is silly season at school, but this is ridiculous. I have been buried under piles of marking for the last few days. I went to bed at 4 this morning and will propably have to do the same tonight! Worst is, I can only blame myself. I have been putting it off and now it has finally caught up with me. I thought I had another week to mark, but I forgot that I leave for leadership camp on Tuesday, so my marks will have to be in tomorrow. The only good thing is that I will then be able to relax at camp and enjoy my two week holiday.
I found some nice Flowersoft stamps at Hobby-ex and had to play with them. (Another reason my marking is not done) Isn't she just lovely? The papers are all Bazzil and some scraps from my scrapbox. The flower is Prima and the button and ribbon is from my stash. I coloured her with my Copics. The butterflies were cut out from the dp and stuck with pop dots.
The sentiment is hand written and the label is cut with my Nestability die that I found at Hobby-ex too. I put some Flowersoft on the grass. Hope you can see the texture on the close up photo.

The inside of the card. The stamp set came with some small flowers and a watering can. I made 20 tags for the Birthday club again, they fit into the pocket on the right hand side.

The next card is for the pre school again ( 9 down, 5to go). They need two male cards. I find those really hard. I always want to just put a little flower here or some lace, or some pearls. LOL I am quite happy with this one. The image is a freebie from Rusty Pickle. Coloured with my Copics again. The cardstock was embossed with my Cuttlebug. Cardstock is Bazzil and the dp is some K & co that I still have from long ago. Brads are by Enmarc, a local company and the ribbon is from my stash.

The inside has some tags as usual.

I am really angry about the upcoming Water Polo camp that Anke has to go to. As usual, it is over a long week end, which makes the airline tickets horribly expensive. R4000 to go to Cape Town. She has known for some time that she is writing a test on Friday (tomorrow) and she has applied to the university for an extension. She had to wait till last Friday to hear that she could not get an extension. To make matters even worse, she has to come back very early on Sunday morning because her club is playing in the club finald at 11h00. That meant that she would only really be at the camp for Saturday, a very expensive day trip if you ask me. She mailed her manager immediately to explain the situation and ask if it was at all possible for her to miss the camp. (She has not missed a single camp in 5 years!) The e mail that she got back was shocking, to say the least. It opened with: Anke you are really irritating me!!!! and got worse from there on. I have never seen such an unprofessional e mail in my life, and that from somebody that is supposed to be the manager of the National team.

Anke was so upset, that she decided to go just for the one day. Dad and I felt it was a waste of money, but we also fear that if she does not go, it will jeopordise her chances of making the National team. Eventually I bought the ticket on Tuesday night. Yesterday I get a message at school to say that I must call Anke urgently. She informs me that she had just recieved a text message from the coach, saying that she shouldn't come. Not to worry, he will see her at the National club championships in two weeks!

Tried to cancel the tickets, but I can't get my money back. So, now she is going. Her head is not in the right place, I hope she makes the team.
Whether she makes the team or not, I think I should forward all the emails from the manager, some of them even worse than this one, to Swim SA for comment. What do you think? Am I over reacting?

So proud of this girl.

When did it happen? When did my little girl grow up? Yesterday my baby graduated. What an honour to be there and watch her walk on the stage. Three years of very hard work being rewarded.
Wish you could have been there to see the look of utter confusion an her face when she was shown to her seat in the very front row, far away from her friends and classmates. DH asked me what was going on, but I did not have a clue either. After the whole ceremony, when we asked her why she had to sit there, she said that they told her she was a disabled student. She was horrified! We never once told her that Epilepsy was a disability! Well, actually, I never considered it to be a disability. It is just something that we all had to deal with as best we could.
It was the very first time in her life that somebody had ever refered to her as disabled. In fact, most people are usually very shocked when she tells them about her Epilepsy. She has had comments like" "You don't look like somebody with Epilepsy" Duh! What does a person with Epilepsy look like? Usually new coaches (who absolutely has to be informed) look at her with total confusion. "Oh, but are you sure you should be playing then" some of them have said. Comments like those really hurt her, because she works very hard at everything she does. We decided a long time ago that she was going to focus on things she can do, in stead of moaning about things she can't! She has proven to everybody that there is NOTHING a person with Epilepsy can't do.

So proud of you my dear Ankie. This is the first step in achieving your ultimate goal. I have every faith in you that you will achieve that goal too! Love you!

Its official, I am weird.

Yesterday I was told by a friend that I am very weird, I have to admit, she is propably right. LOL She finds it very strange that I will go and watch my daughter at water polo. You don't think that's strange? Maybe I should explain a little bit more - my daughter is the coach.


This friend of mine says that I am the only person she knows that takes photo's of her daughter coaching a team. What can I say, I like watching my child doing what she loves most in the whole world - being involved in sport. AND.... I am a scrapbooker, so I HAVE TO HAVE these photo's, don't I?
How wonderful is the expression on her face in this next photo? She is so angry, she can spit. She is looking at me, willing me to know what she is thinking. Funny thing is, I did know what she was thinking and I am so proud of her for not exploding there and then. One of the fathers from the team volunteered to be the manager of the team and then just took over, some kind of hostile take over of her team. Must tell you, she looks small and harmless, but don't think you can walk over this child of mine. She kept her cool during the match, not wanting to upset her girls, but after the game she called him aside and calmly thanked him for his help and politely asked him to refrain from coaching and stick to managing. You go girl!
Enough of polo and on to some cards. The new challenge at Sunday Stamptacular is to create a Christmas card, using no reds or greens. I seem to be hooked on the whole purple and silver thing this year. The stamp is from Inkadinkadoo and was embossed in silver. The background paper was embossed with my Cuttlebug. All Cardstock is Bazzil and the ribbon is from my stash.

Here is a close up of the stamp. I really like how this turned out.

Family weddings are so much fun!

My niece got married on Saturday. What a fantastic day it was. It was a real 'boeretroue' (I don't know how to translate that. Literally it would be a farmers wedding, but that is not what it is at all - maybe old school? Somebody help, please!) The reception was in the church hall and all the food, flowers, cake, decorations were made by the bride's family. Her uncle baked the cake. Mom's sister did the flowers and her mom and stepdad made all the food. I think this photo says exactly what kind of day it was. A day filled with joy about two young people who still believe in marriage. So often today people are so busy trying to find the best venue, the best photographer, the best caterer that they forget what it is all about.
This is the bride and her father, my brother in law.

This was Hannah's first experience of a wedding. She has only been to a couple of funerals when close family members passed away. She did not know what to expect at all and when we got to the church, she asked her mom, in a very loud voice: "Mommy, do we HAVE to cry?" Needless to say, there were lots of smiles all round.
When she saw the bride, she was completely bowled over. She came to me at the reception and asked if people were allowed to speak to the lady. When I said yes, she wanted to know if it was allowed to touch her at all. I took her to Wilma and said that Hannah just wanted to say hallo. Bless her heart, Wilma bent down and gave her a big hug. That sealed it, Wilma had a shadow for the rest of the night.
When we said grace I happened to peek at Hannah to see what she was doing and could not help myself. I had to quickly snap this photo. I am sure God will forgive me for this one.

The next photo is of my two youngest with their cousin. Wilma is exactly a year younger than Ankie and her brothers are the same age as Juan and one between them, which meant that they were very close growing up. It is such a gift to have cousins.The last photo is just here because I am very proud of myself for managing to take it. I saw the snail in the church garden and just snapped it.

Happy Birthday beautiful, beautiful girl!

Today my little girl is 22! I can hardly believe that 22 years have passed since she was born. I made her a gift set for her birthday. The card is made with paper and flowers from Prima marketing. Cardstock is Bazzil and brad is from Enmarc. The image was coloured with my Copics. The birthday card had money in, with the instruction that the money may only be used to travel with!


Here is the gift set. Couldn't have chosen better images or sentiments for her. She is crazy about shoes, any shoes! Even her Sport shoes have to be special. We gave her a book she has wanted to read for a long time and I made a box to put it in. The bookmark is metal and has the Irish blessing engraved on it, I made a little envelope to put it in. The shoe was coloured with Copics and I used Flowersoft (must admit, after a lukewarm start it is growing on me).




And here she is - the birthday girl! Call me prejudiced, but I think she is beautiful! I am so proud to be her mother. She has taught me so much. In spite of suffering from Epilepsy, she has never, ever let it stand in her way, she has used it to prove that not only can you lead a normal life, you can lead an exceptional life! In that little body lives a giant. She plays Water Polo for South Africa, her province (Gauteng) and her University. She had a devastating injury last year that kept her from playing Netball for a year, but she never gave up and trained so hard to be back stronger than ever. She is the most honest person I know. She is the most giving person I have ever met, traveling with food in the car, just in case she sees a beggar on the streetcorner. She coaches sport to young children and never holds back. Love you Ankie - Have a great life darling and never stop being the amazing person you are!

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge and more.

I bought some new stamps at the local stationary shop and just had to play with them. While I was bloghopping a while ago I came across the Scraptacular Sunday Challenge and realised that my card was a perfect fit. So this is the first time EVER I am taking part in a challenge. I haven't even been making cards for that long, so it is kind of cheeky to put myself out there amongst all those talented ladies, but you have to start somewhere.

The papers are by K&Co (I think!) and Bazzil. The image was coloured with Copics and the dress painted with Making Memories glitter glue after it was coloured. It looks very nice IRL.

I fanally scrapped again! When my DD came back from the last Water Polo tour to Durban, she was clutching some photo's and held them out to me saying they were a present for me. My DH's only comment? "Does your mother scrap or what? Other children, bring chocolates home and you bring photo's?" I had to laugh. I have trained them well!

The title says 'One legged wonder' and refers to the fact that she seriously injured her leg less than a week before the tournament and refused to let that stop her from playing. It tells how proud we are of her and how much I admire her perserverance. (The whole story is somewhere in my blog) In spite of the injury she played herself into the Soth African senior Ladies side. Not bad for somebody with one leg!

Papers by K&Co and Bazzil.

Didn't post, was hoping to calm down, Isn't happening!

I have been wanting to vent since Monday, but since I decided to choose happiness and positivity this year, I waited and waited for the anger to go away - but... not happening, still angry!
As those of you who know me, knows, Anke, my DD is a incredibly talented sportswoman. She was just chosen for the SA Water Polo team. She had a very serious knee injury last year as a result of Netball and had to have an operation that kept het from the sportsfields for 9 months.
She followed dr's orders to the letter, went to physio, gym and a bio=kinetisist. She started playing Water Polo in September last year, but had to wait till January to play Netball.
Her first game back at Netball was two weeks ago. She is still playing with an orthopedic brace.
OK, I promise I will get to the point! This Monday she goes to the indoor Arena in Benoni to play 3 games. First game went off without a hitch. Second game comes and her opponent is a long time rival. The two of them are very equally matched and Anke actually loves playing against her, because she finds it a challenge. They play and as usual it is not an easy game for either of them. Difference is, since Ankie's injury this girl was pretty much queen of the court and she is not used to working hard for every ball. Then it starts, she starts playing dirty. Now, don't get me wrong, my child is no pushover. The harder this girl plays, the harder Anke plays. Half time comes and when they walk back on the court, the girl turns around and says to my child (loud enough for everybody, including the umpires to hear): "I am going to take you out!"
She then proceeds to trip my child. The umpire smiles and gives the ball to Ankie's team. Then. Anke jumps in the air to intercept a ball, gets to the ball, catches the ball beautifully, but when she comes down, this girl has purposefully moved in under her. She bends down and when Ankie lands on top of her, she stands up and flings my child onto the ground on the injured knee!
As if that is not enough, she turns around, laughs at Anke who is crying from pain, and says:" I told you I am going to take you out!"
The umpire stands there laughing! I am so angry, I can chew bricks! My child can not afford to be injured now just as she has been chosen to represent South Africa in Water Polo! When I went to the Arena owner to complain, I was told that this was not the first complaint about this girl!!! Why is she still allowed to play?
Anke started playing Netball at the age of 7 and she is 21. In all those years I have never complained about anything, because I realise that every sport has its injuries and that accidents happen, but this is just not on!
You have to wonder how some parents raise their children? I have always told mine that if you love a game and you have skill, there is NO need, NOT EVER to play dirty! I thought that all parents felt the same way.

OK! Vent over. Good news is, that the brace did protect her from serious injury and that it is only a slightly stretched muscle!

This is such a small thing compared to the worries of some of my friends. Please remember my cyber friends in your prayers. One has just gone for a biopsy for her breast and another's SIL just lost his business and her DD is pregnant. Please pray for good news from the biopsy and a good job for the young man and his family.