Well I'm certainly back into Blog mode again, it seems! It's still raining and this may be just what caused a little visitor to appear in my lounge this morning. Our maid, Judith found it in the corner near the window, all curled up. Needless to say, there were some shrieks and squeals once she discovered it was not a lizard nor a frog, but rather a 30cm odd snake.


We do live on a plot in the countryside surrounded by lots of natural veld grass, so I guess we have to expect these critters from time to time. But they certainly give me the heebies and I have been watching the ground everywhere I walk all morning! Fortunately this one is a common Red-lipped Herald (aka Herald snake in the Cape Province), which is not at all poisonous- in fact, according to a website I found (I forget the name), this little guy can even become so tame he will eat out your hand! (I don't think I'll try though!) They eat frogs (their favourite), lizards and mice. Eeeeeuw! (To think of hand feeding equally as freaky food to such a freaky critter makes me shiver!) (Sorry - I can take spiders anyday over snakes or frogs!)


One bonus was I finally have a (kind of) interesting photo for today's Photo for my Project365! Judith thought it was very funny that I first ran for the camera before I allowed our gardener to take the snake away.

Here's a photo of it once he herded it outside into the back courtyard. Unfortunately he injured it when he took it out the house, so he had to kill it. (If I had anything to do with it, he would have killed it anyway- but my DH won't have even the poisonous ones harmed! Ok- I'm not that bad- I actually don't like harming little critters, I just simply don't want them around!!!).

"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others"

- Robert Louis Stephenson

My goodness- 20 days of no posts! I really was determined to post more often on my blog this year! At least I've posted more than last year!

What I have kept up with is my Project 365 over at Weeds & Wildflowers. I have got the Life365 Tool Kit from Gina Marie and I participate in all the challenges I can (& those my unsteady internet connection is allowing!!) . I am all caught up to last week. Just need to finish off this week's layout, then I'm on track again! I love the incentives Gina Marie sends out each Monday, so I am determined to finish off each and every layout in time to post by Sunday/Monday.

Oh my word, it is now POURING with rain here again! Thought it was done for the day, the sun even peeked it's head out at lunch time, but now we're all wet and misty out again.

Yesterday Shannon's tennis lessons were rained out, she was not a happy camper! She was so looking forward to her private lesson with Erda which she started last week.

Here's hoping the sun shines over the weekend. We're planning on taking the kids somewhere for the day on Sunday - a nice relaxing family outing. The kids suggested going to Gold Reef City - but we certainly aren't keen on such a hectic place! I'll still do some research to find somewhere good.

Leon's still training intensely for the Two Oceans - he played squash yesterday and then had to go for physio today for his back- perhaps he is overdoing things just a little? He has now decided too that we should join him down in Cape Town for the race in April. So I'm looking for accommodation from the 6th - 14the April. The kids go back to school on the 15th and the race is 11th, so I have to fit in around those dates. Not sure if we'll find anything still as it is the Easter weekend.

Here are a few of my latest layouts :

I love this photo of my cat- he completely takes over our lives! When I'm in my studio, I often find him curled up somewhere, but heck, the copy machine?

"It's not easy being a Princess"

This layout was a "Recipe Challenge" at WW on the blog for this week. Such fun following the ingredients for what had to be used on the layout. I did a paper layout years ago for a class I taught, but decided to use the cute photo again....

Here are my first 3 weeks of Project 365:

I feel like all I have done lately is clean! The washing machine & dishwasher goes all day; the clothing line is never lacking in clothes and the kitchen sink is never empty! Judith- I'm looking forward to you returning to work on Monday! We need our clothes ironed!! (I'm really useless at ironing!- I sent Leon's work clothes to the laundromat for ironing this morning!).

One thing I am happy about is that while cleaning, I also end up getting more organised - That is, I end up moving things around. I have repacked my kitchen cupboards and even moved certain things to other cupboards which makes it a more user-friendly kitchen. When we moved in 3 years ago, the house was 3 months away from being actually 'finished'. So we moved in with some kitchen cupboard doors missing (among loads of other incomplete things) , the result- I simply dumped the kitchen stuff into the nearest cupboard, trying to make it orderly, but never actually user-friendly. I have now got things nicely where I want them. (Hope it stays that way!)

Shannon begins her singing classes today again. This just indicates to me that the year is finally getting underway and returning to some semblance of normality after the festive season and 7 weeks of school holidays. On Wednesday, the kids return to school and I look forward to it as I can get back into a routine and they can refrain form using the words "I'm bored" and "What can I do" (when they each have a playroom full of toys and games; a 1 hectare garden to play in; a swimming pool and a trampoline!).

I am now going to download my photos for my Project 365 challenge- and hopefully get around to completing my first week's layout! I have set myself the goal of staying up to date, not only with the photos, but with the completion of my weekly layouts too. I definately don't want to end up with 52 layouts to complete at the end of this year!

Now to download those photos ...... Vxx

What's new? Yip- I get bored easily & simply am continuosly trying to figure things out! I changed my entire blog (again!). This time- I like it... for now. Still have to change the last 2 link buttons- but that can wait till later.

No time left to play anymore. We're going out to lunch today as Leon starts work again tomorrow. He decided it would be good for us to have a family lunch out. (a) As he is going back to work; (b) as the holidays for the kids end in a week's time; (c) I won't have to cook and (d) (the most important)- I'm sick of cleaning up!

I have decided I'm going to try my best to take on the "Project 365" Challenge- to take a photo a day for the whole year and then scrapbook them. Quite a task, but if I keep it up it'll be so worth it. I only skipped yesterday so far, but I'll still take a photo for it (one may have to allow oneself a little cheat here and there).

Off to lunch shortly...chat soon. Vxx

Celebrations...

Happy New Year! Hope it's going to be a fantastic year! I plan on doing so much! Not sure if I'll ever get around to everything, but I'm sure going to try...

I plan to : blog more; decorate the house more; sort out my studio; paint more paintings; scrapbook more (paper!! - gotta use up my stash!); design a little later in the year again....

Whoo hoo....I finally managed to figure out how to add different backgrounds to my blog! My neck muscles are killing me and my eyes are squint, but hey, I figured it out!

So now I have a whole new-look blog! Yay!

I discovered a cute new site yesterday called "Enchanted Studio Scraps" (ESS) - take a peek here. It is so cute- the whole theme is fairies & pixies. They haven't officially opened yet, as the store only opens on 15 January - but it's really worth a visit.


There are some really good challenges too - I did the desktop challenge called Charmer's Time Dance (click on the words for a direct link).


This is my January Computer Desktop using the template provided by Hutchie.

Well we're off to friends for dinner tonight- yay no cooking (or washing up!) for me. So I'll have to go get myself ready now... chat soon. Vxx