This reminds me of my dad

This image reminds me of my dad. Not really sure what it is exactly. It could be the fact that he was wrinkly (is that even a word?) like the turtle in the image. It could also be the glasses, or it could be the pipe with the smoke billowing from it. My dad smoked like a chimney till the day he died. It could be the way the image makes me smile - I don't know. All I know is that from the moment I saw him, I started thinking of my dad.
My dad was the most intelligent human being I knew. There was nothing he didn't know and very little he couldn't do. He loved my mom so much that he couldn't live without her and died ten months after her, from a broken heart. I remember so much about him and most of it makes me smile. He could not walk past a Wimpy without stopping for coffee. He read every roadsign, no matter what language, in Afrikaans and made up some really insane translation. When I was at the lowest point in my life as a young girl, he didn't say much, he just took my arm one morning and asked me: "Have you spoken to God about this my child, you know He doesn't talk about what you tell him, don't you?"
So, this card is for him, even though he isn't here in person, I know he is still around, because I can hear his advice so clearly sometimes.
Love you dad, always!

What a game!

Hannah and Luke

Anke and Juan

What a game of rugby that was!

Yesterday was a big day for South African sport. It was the final of the Super 14 rugby tournament. The final of a very long season. The team that I have supported since I was child, the Bulls, had a fantastic season and made it to the final. We played against a team from New Zeeland, the Chiefs. I was quite nervous before the game, because you can never tell what will happen on the day. My whole family were dressed in their Bulls shirts and even my husband who is actually a Stormers fan ( I know, there's no explanation!LOL) was rooting for the Bulls, because we were the only South African team still in the competition.
The game was FANTASTIC!!!!! We won 61-17.
As far as other sport was concerned South Africa had a great weekend. Our Netball team won the tri-Nations tournament and beat Fiji in the final. Our sevens Rugby side will be playing in the final of the Edinborough tournament later tonight, and by qualifying they have won the world championships. Even Bafana Bafana, our national Soccer side, won this weekend, so a great weekend for South African sport!
The photo's are of my youngest two and my wonderful grandchildren in their Bulls shirts before the game.

Chocolates are always the right thing!

The last time I gave somebody a chocolate to say thank you and covered it like this, it was a hit, so I thought why change a winning recipe?

The rose was coloured with my Copics and then painted with making memories glitter glue. Paper is the last piece I had in my leftover boxand ribbons are from my stash. Hope you like it.

I had a pretty busy few days. I went to my uncle's funeral on Friday and although it was very sad, it was also nice to spend some time with my family that I don't often see. Found out that my cousin, who is 45, and his wife are finally being blessed with a baby.

Yesterday we celebrated my eldest daughter's 30th birthday and she finally got engaged to William. I am so happy about that. He is the perfect partner for her, he spoils her rotten and puts up with all her dramas and insecurities. What more could a mother ask for in a son in law?

It was also the semi-finals of the super 14 rugby and my team, the Blue Bulls won!!!! Now all I need is to get my hands on some tickets for the final next week! They are going to be almost impossible to get. People have been camping out at the stadium since yesterday after the match, but my DH said that he would try to get some tomorrow as soon as tickets go on sale, so please hold thumbs that he gets some!

Good Bye to a gentle giant.

Good Bye to my uncle. He has been fighting cancer for a little over a year and lost the battle last night. I am so sad to think that he will no longer be there at family get togethers. He was a man of few words, but everybody loved him. He loved my children and they all loved him. This photo was taken at my sister's 40th birthday when he was already very sick. I can't remember that I had ever heard him complain about anything, ever.

So good bye dear oom Jan, may you rest in peace and may your family be content knowing that there is no more pain and suffering for you. Say hi to mom and dad and tell them we miss them.

This is why I haven't blogged.

I am sick! I have had a cold for about three weeks, but it decided to turn into a nasty flu suddenly on Monday, so I was out of action since then. In between all that I had to help my girls with preparations for our school's annual Fun Day. I felt really sorry for my girls because they have just finished doing the Matric Dance and spent most of their holiday decorating the hall. Then they are writing exams in three weeks, so they are pretty stressed out.
The whole school were given white t-shirts and a country that they were representing and they had to decorate the shirts accordingly. The poor girls didn't know where to start, so I helped. They wanted a bull somewhere and when we started talking, the ideas just kept coming. Initially they wanted to buy iron on transfer paper and print the design on the paper, but that would have cost each of them a fortune, so we had to revert to plan B. Teacher is a stamper, so why not stamp the design on? Well......., nobody sells stamps that size, so. improvise! We used old, discarded cardboard boxes. We printed the design on plain paper, cut it out and then cut 4 bulls from the box. We stuck them all together, put a flat piece at the back and had our own stamp design. The girls made a stencil from an old x-ray for the sun and then the fun started.
They had the Superman 'S' on the back of the shirt, with a cape, but the cape covered their sign, so they made teenie weenie little capes. The class photo was taken after they had a soapbox race (which they won, of course), you can see how tired they are! They won most of the prizes on offer today including best shirt, most spirited class, best hip hop dance, and the best one of all - most unco-ordinated teacher! LOL I will just say: 'Dancing is so not my thing! Especially Hip Hop."

Mothers days are hard for me.

Since my mom passed away, I have tried not to think about mothers day too much. It just makes me sad, because my mom was my very best friend in the world. I am slowly starting to understand my dads comment soon after she passed away. I asked him if the pain of losing your mother ever goes away and he answered that he wasn't sure, he thought it might get better after 29 years, but he will tell me the next year, when it will be 29 years since his mother passed away.
So with this challenge from Stamptacular Sunday Challenge I found it very hard to start. Then I decided that I was going to take mom flowers on Sunday and that I would make a card to go with it. That made it a lot easier. Here is the card that will be going to the grave tomorrow with a letter inside. I think she would have liked it.
The stamp is from the local stationer (I wish they would put the manufacturer on it!), ink is Stazon, Cardstock is Bazzil, patterned paper is a little scrap from my leftover box and the lace and angels from my local fabric store. The image was coloured with Copics.
Have a wonderful Mothers Day if you are a mother, and if you still have a mother, give her an extra special hug from me.

Can you tell school has started?

I haven't been able to blog as often as I would have liked because things have just been going at top speed. We have Matric Dance tomorrow and the annual fun day next Friday. In between all that I still had to take Hannah to physio and go to my Photography classes. I loved every minute of it and will be saving like crazy to be able to go onto the next course in the next holidays. I have not had much time to do anything, but thought I eould upload the LO I did of my 50th birthday last month. The cardstock ia Bazzil, patterned paper are little bits from my leftovers and flowers fromthe local craft centre. Bling is from the bead shop.