All I want for Christmas....

 I have a double fudge chocolate cake taste on a bread and butter budget. I love beautiful things and sometimes they are REALLY expensive. If I had an unlimited amount of money for a Christmas wish list, here are a few of the things I would wish for...
A Le Creuset casserole dish and whistling kettle. I really love their pretty colours and the fact that they are sturdy and will last for years. I wish I could have a whole rainbow of Le Creuset items in my kitchen.

Some Carol Boyes cutlery. I fell in love with her quirky style from the first time

 I saw her beautiful pewter ware and I love wishful shopping whenever I get a chance at her shop. Thanks to my Mom, I have two lovely pieces created by her and they are definitely family heirlooms.

A dress by Luna or Hiphop.I love the simple lines and the classic feel their clothes have. They are so feminine.

A ring from Jenna Clifford. They are soooo pretty and while I would probably need a bodyguard if I wore one out, I would love to own just one piece of her jewellery. This was on my wishlist for a wedding ring but on our budget that is all it will ever be.

A bath hamper from Crabtree and Evelyn, preferably their lavender or rose.

A Susan Lordi figurine ( or two..). I love them for their simplicity and the way they express such intense emotions. I have one for each of my children and I would love to collect a few more.

A Yankee candle ( Vanilla or Fresh Cut Roses).They are so pretty and smell lovely.

A dozen lavender bushes


As I said, this is my unlimited budget Christmas wish list. What would be on your list? Happy dreaming.....

A book nook to keep you dreaming

 10 Excellent Reading Nooks
 I just had to share this post from Amanda Nelson at Bookriot with you.If you are a avid (or is that rabid) book lover like I am and have a deep desire for your own book nook, then you must see these awesome  reading spaces. I particularly love these three spaces but the others are also a must see.

I could imagine curling up here  on a cold, rainy day with a good book and a cup of coffee

This is pure fantasy. It looks so cosy

I think if I had a reading corner like this I would never leave.

This and that.. and a busy book page

Hi from a very wet and cold Highveld. It has been raining on and off for days now and both little ones have summer colds. Not a very happy scenario, especially as they love being outdoors. Playing in the rain puddles at granny's house did not help either.It it the first time that our youngest child has seen hail and she was absolutely fascinated.She kept on running out and collecting hailstones to show us ( after it had stopped hailing).

We have really enjoyed the few hot days that have come our way. We went swimming, visited a play park, ate ice creams and set up a tent for the children in the back yard. 
The children spent ages playing in the tent and bringing their toys out to play " house". With a tight budget, keeping two very busy little bodies occupied has required some creative thinking. The internet is a great source of ideas and inspiration. I will be sharing ideas and links to websites as I find them, as I am sure that I am the only mom on a budget.

It has been back to work for all again and the December holidays seem very far away. We have a Christmas market coming up and I am frantically trying to complete a LARGE number of stuffed animals to sell, in between the usual chaos of our lives. This has been very challenging.

We are also facing two life changing happenings in the very near future, both of which leave me with butterflies and sleepless nights ( more on this to follow).

A busy book page in progress

I would love to share with you my completed ( yes , completed) holiday project. I found the pattern for this beautiful  busy book page at Imagine our life and am really quite proud of the final result. These pages are quite addictive, much like my crochet work. I have started on  a second page, the Castle Puppet Theater, although now that we are all back at work and the Christmas Market is looming, I think this will have to wait until December
 I will also be posting new Busy Book pages as I finish them.

I am going to start remodelling our garden, so keep watching this space as I post photo's and share the progress with you. Budget gardening is going to be challenging but fun. If you have any great idea, here would be a good place to post them.

My finished Sandcastle page

That's it for now. Have a great week.See you again in a few days time

We're all going on a (short) summer holiday...



What a busy week. My husband was away at a week long conference,so I was left with the littlies. I promptly moved in with my folks for the week ( yes I am a coward) and it was lovely.It was also our last school holiday before the December break , so I decided to make it as fun as possible for all of us.On the Saturday before my husband left, we took the children to C'est la Vie play park in Centurion. We had a lot of fun on the go-carts, scooters and play  equipment.    This was rounded off by a yummy lunch involving lots of "mato sauce" at their coffee shop , by which time both children were drooping very visibly.



Natural History Museum



 While dad was away we visited the Natural History Museum, which was great fun, for about the first half hour. The children are still a bit small to really enjoy it but they were most impressed by the stuffed elephant and rhino and enjoyed the birds as well.

C'est la Vie play area

 We also visited a farm zoo, which was a total disaster, as the animals mobbed us for food and both children were fairly hysterical.

The kids spent hours in the blow -up pool at granny's house, racing down the driveway on their scooters and some serious bonding time with Buzz,Woody,Shrek and Barbie ( no , this is not a folk music band).  We also visited our favourite second hand book shop, Rutlands, where I came away with three of my favourite authors ( Debbie Crombie, Kathy Reichs and Sue Grafton ) and I found a very sweet book for the children called Russel the Sheep by Rob Scotton. If you have little ones, this is really a must buy. Russel cannot sleep and tries everything in his power to fall asleep. Nothing works until ( yes, you guessed it) Russel starts counting sheep. I managed to read FIVE books in my holiday, finish crocheting three birds for our Christmas market - see previous post-as well as complete my first "quiet book" page ( more on this later).

Another great entertainment for the kids was ( who knew?) a box of koki pens, some paper and a pair of scissors. This kept them busy for quite a long time, with one child drawing lovely colourful scribbles and the other reducing any piece of paper he could get hold of to confetti.We have had a very busy holiday but it helped keep our minds of the fact that my husband was away. This week it is back to work and school, with the December holidays seeming a long way away.

Have a great week

A garden picnic

For the first time it has been warm enough to have an impromptu picninc in the garden. It was a perfect Spring afternoon, with a gentle breeze, warm sunlight and the birds singing in the trees. Lovely. 


The littlies enjoying a tea of fruit, muffins, cheese and biscuits



The animals had to join us...

 

A lovely moonrise just as the sun was setting

Aren't these pretty. I have no idea what they are.

A pensive husband

Not sure what these flowers are but they are so pretty and give off a lovely scent.

This is Oscar and he loves it when we go outside, particularly if there is food involved.

Things I love

Hi, I have not posted for a while, as between deadlines at work, a " sick " computer and plenty of birthday celebrations I have just not had time to post. I thought I would do a quick, fun post on some of my favourite things:



Cherish - Susan Lordi



Lavender and roses. Susan Lordi figurines.Siamese cats. Golden Retrievers. Chocolate. My children..Cape Town.

 A cup of tea



Crochet. France. Reading. Silver jewellery. Mountains and sea. Purple. Music. Painting.

A date with my husband. Chocolate cake.

What are some of your favourite things? I would love to hear. Have a great weekend.



Not graceful but full of grace

My second name means graceful and as a young girl I so desperately wanted to be a ballerina or a gymnast. I used to love ( and still do )watching those girls glide and pirouette so lightly over the floor. I dreamt of appearing on stage or at competitions and being the belle of the ball. The reality is that I was built for speed and not grace. As a student at university I once had a guy tell me I could kick start a Boeing with my thighs ( the fact that I remember the comment tells you how much it hurt). That coupled with being an introvert, being clumsy ( if there is someone who is going to spill something or trip, it is usually me) and then having very bad soft tissue damage to me feet as a result of a child hood accident meant that those dreams just never came true.

As an adult I have come to realise that my Heavenly Father looks at my heart and not my body. He is molding me and making me more and more "grace-full" as I get older. I still sometimes wish I could dance or do gymnastics, be beautiful and graceful, be the princess at the ball with perfect hair and a lovely figure. But these days the hurt is fleeting at what I am not and my Father reminds me regularly that I am full of His grace and that as I draw closer to Him, I become more beautiful and grace-full on the inside. I am so grateful for the love of a Heavenly Father, who looks at this wallflower and sees a perfect rose.