7 Random Things to end off 2007

I have been tagged by Leigh to do this "me me" and I'm actually kinda looking forward to thinking up seven random things! (Oh and hi Leigh! Nice to meet you!) So, here goes... Seven Random Things to end off 2007...

1. I am incredibly lazy. Exercise is like a swearword for me. Even thinking of exercise makes me break out in the sweats, which is probably just as well, because I very seldom actually do exercise, so my body could use the sweats as often as possible! (But my new year's resolution is to exercise more often... splutter splutter! I'm already feeling a hernia coming on.)
2. I have never lived in one house longer than two years. My dad says I have ants in my pants. He's probably right. Ants and spiders.
3. I am an accomplished pianist, but I don't have a piano at home. I've been offered a few "cd recordings" over the years, but I don't trust myself not to make a huge mess-up of it, so I sort of worm my way out of it. I'm silly like that... I'd rather think of what "could have been" than wish I'd done better at it.
4. I really want people to remember me fondly when I die. I want them to have an ENORMOUS funeral, with lots of weeping and sad somber songs. I have even chosen what songs I want them to play at my funeral one day. And now that I've freaked most of you out...
5. When I grow up I want to be Paris Hilton! (just kidding!) I am very unambitious. I don't like working. If it were up to me, I'd spend all day sitting at home reading, knitting, baking, watching telly, painting paintings and romping on the couches with all the cats. But unfortunately, I'm not Rockafella; I'm the other fella. So, to work I go. If only I'd lived in the 1700's when I could have been a "kept woman" or the sixties, when women were expected to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Although that wouldn't work for me either, what with the UNpregnant part...
6. Speaking of which, I have stopped reading "trying to fall pregnant" books, blogs, et cetera. Our escapades into the land of fertility issues have left me dazed, disappointed and delusional disillusioned. We are now persuing happiness of a different sort. Some would gather children, we would gather pets. Welcome to our Zoo. Where the cows and the cats and the corgies roam freely. And where I might need to purchase a few boxes of "anti-mad" pills to keep the craziness at bay. c",)
7. We have resolved that 2008 is going to be a GREAT year for us. It will be our HAPPY year. 2007 brought many challenges for us. Financial, emotional, spiritual, everythingshinal! We have decided that come what may, 2008 will be the year that finds us sitting firmly at the Saviour's feet. Because every day that He gives us is one to be appreciated and enjoyed. And no matter way may happen, we have the reassurance that everything will work out for our eternal good. Because that's what He wants for us. "... a plan to prosper us and not to harm us; a plan to give us hope and a future..."

Happy New Year everyone. May 2008 find you also happier, kinder, more trusting in the Saviour, and one step closer to realizing your dreams.

We're in Durban for New Years (and our wedding anniversary...) so we're already having fun. Chat to you again next year!

What Christmas looks like

And so here I was all ready to upload some pics for you to see, and then Blogger decided not to allow me to post any pics today. I keep getting error messages... ugghhh... oh well! Sorry guys, but you'll have to look at them the LONG way round. Click on the album below for pics.
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Christmas 2007

Here I am to Worship

I just had to share this video with you. It's one of my favourites and I think it's the perfect end to a gloriously beautiful day. Enjoy!
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Christmas thingies

I really wanted to post Christmas news a whole lot sooner, with bunches of groovy pics for ya'll... but our computer at home is about as old as I am, and therefore has about as much memory as I have, which means that space is rather limited, so things tend to freeze up at the most critical moments and pictures don't get saved and then things get rather confucious and cranky pretty quickly. And therefore not very Christmas-spirit'y. If you know what I'm saying. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So, hopefully this weekend some time I'll make a pittstop at my work office and download some cheery christmas pics for you all to see.
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We actually had a really christmassy christmas. With loads of gifts, yummy food and fun times with family. My dad even dressed up as Father Christmas! (But someone forgot to pack the fake beard, so there was no fooling anyone into believing he was really Father Christmas... not even little Ethan who just turned four a few months ago...) But it was still fun seeing him squeeze into the outfit. I have it on dvd to show you all, as soon as I can figure out how to connect it to my computer get to my work office to download it. Not only were we all spoiled rotten with groovy gifts, but I also acquired a rather funky tan, leaving me resembling a radish. (I was going to say resembling a cranberry, but "brown as a berry" would be a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Radish is way more apt a description. What with it's crisp white top and bloodred skin... ) And a nose like Rudolph. As in the reindeer. Tis what Christmas in South Africa is all about. Sun burn et cetera.
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Tis hence the season to be wearing lots of Factor Fifty Two.
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And a wide-brimmed hat.
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It wouldn't hurt. At least not as much as the blisters on my shoulders. Although it would leave me looking like a german tourist. And hence make me a target for pickpockets and the like. (*Note to self: need to spend some time reading dictionary again to improve vocab - use of "tis" and "hence" becoming a tad profuse*)
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One of my favourite gifts was from my hubby: he bought me the cutest little boozie-hanger for christmas. One of those really cute little white lace and satin numbers. The type that makes you humm "I'm too sexy for my shirt" when you're dressing. And prance around the room once or twice before doing up that last button, just to see if there is any jiggling going on down there. And it reminded me that I still have not posted BEFORE and AFTER pics! How absent-minded of me. Which makes me a bit relieved that I have my "geriatric computer that has no hard-drive space left for new pics" excuse to hide behind. Because, apparently, there are a few people who don't believe I've even had some renovations done. No names mentioned Chrissy. I will be posting before and after pics soon. And that's all I have to say about that.
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So anyway, guys... Here's hoping your post-traumantic-Christmas weekend is a relaxed one. With lots of leftovers still in the fridge and lots of time on your hands to enjoy it. Sleep until you're hungry, then eat until you're tired. That's what I always say. (And that's why I'm going to need some lipo soon too. Just kidding. Seriously. No lipo for me. At least not this year. Haha. No, really, just kidding.)

Christmas murder shopping

Remind me never to go last-minute-Christmas-shopping the day before Christmas ever again. I must have been crazy. Seriously. I thought I was having a hard time managing my hormones the last time I went shopping and had to find a parking space at the mall... This morning I was contemplating a few new scratches to our 4x4, and at the time I thought it would have been worth it!!!!

Anyway, ho ho ho, everyone! Merry Christmas to all of you.
Chat again soon!

Work work work

I am stttttiiiiiiiilllllll working... And by "working" I really mean sitting in my office moping while everyone else is having a fat jol. I am feeling o-so-sorry for myself. If I just pulled up my socks and put some real elbow grease into it, I would have been finished aaaaages ago. But no, I'd rather sit here moping, feeling sorry for my lazy bones, than just get it all finished up. Because I'm sensible like that. I haven't even put up my Christmas tree or fairy lights yet this year, so that should tell you something!

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One good thing though, is that I'm pretty much finished with our Christmas shopping. Except for my brother-in-law, who is super rich, has everything he could ever want, and is a real pain in the oo-all to buy for challenge to shop for. Oh well... my sister-in-law reckons we should give give him dosh, but he has enough of that already anyway!!! And of course, shopping in Dunfiddledeedee is also really conducive to finding a groovy gift for him, what with it's ENORMOUS selection of shops. *Sob!*

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Oh and to put some real fuel on the fire - my hormones are all whacked again. As in totally wacko. Makes for some interesting shopping experiences, I'll tell you that much. And fights races for parking spaces. I'm blaming the camp food we ate for two weeks. There's only so much rice you can eat before things go haywire...

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Before I return to my slave labour, thought you might enjoy a really easy, yummy recipe to add to your Christmas day menu (especially if you live in the southern hemisphere where we're all dripping with sweat this time of the year)... I call it Nougat Ice Cream.

Ingredients

• 2 litres vanilla ice-cream. The full cream stuff. It's only Christmas once a year after all.
• 8 - 20 blocks of fudge (depending on your sweet tooth) broken into smaller pieces
• one third of a cup of glacé cherries, chopped into small pieces
• at least 2 big slabs of dark chocolate (or mint choc), melted
• 1 big stick of french nougat, chopped into pieces the size of your finger nail

What to do

• melt the ice-cream to a thick sludgy milkshake consistency
• toss in all the other ingredients except the melted dark chocolate
• give a quick stir through to make sure the bits are well distributed
• half the mixture
• pour the melted dark choc (which you've allowed to cool slightly) over the one half
• add the other half of icecream on top of the dark choc
• pour the remaining dark choc over the top
• Pop back into your freezer overnight
• It's really good served with crumbled fudge over the top

If you enjoy nuts, oreos, M&Ms, etc. you might want to add a few too. I don't like "hard things" in ice-cream so, we do it without. Because I'm the cook and I get to decide. There are advantages to being the one in the kitchen when the food's being prepared, I guess. c",)

So, happy eating, everyone. And if I don't get to blog again before Christmas, which is a real possibility right now, then HAPPY CHRISTMAS too! One last Christmas Jig from Robin and I for all of you.

Just in case...

The kids are GONE! Hooray! Just as well I don't have a video-cam connected to my p.c. because if I did you'd see me shaking my booty over here. And, believe me, that aint a pretty sight. What with my wobbledy butt and my grey hairs, etc. (not on my butt! On my head! - Just in case you were overdosing on the eggnogg there.)

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But we are freeeee... well, sort-of free-ish. I am still at work, back in my office, sorting through paperwork, catching up on the admin I wasn't able to do when the delinquents kids were still here, but I should have it all wrapped up by tomorrow afternoon, and then it's HOOOOOLIDAY! Happy days. I already have a brand new novel lined up for those lazy summer days when I'm draipsed into the hammock on our stoep (that's South African for patio - pronounced like "woop", but with a "st" instead of the "w"). It's called "World Without End" by Ken Follet. You can read an excerpt here. It's the sequel to my fave book of all time: "The Pillars of The Earth". And you can read an excerpt of that one here. Oh, and just in case you were wondering where you'd heard of that book before, Oprah just added it to her "Oprah's Book Club" November 2007 selection. Probably because she was sick and tired of getting a letter a month from me recommending it for her club. The least she could do to thank me would be a first-class ticket to her show. I'm just saying! c",) Haha. Just kidding. But I really wouldn't mind if she did. I might be able to squeeze it into my Christmas schedule. Oprah, if you're reading this, you can contact me by posting a comment. (You know, just in case!)

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Anyway, ya'll... here's wishing you a wonderful day today. I'm going to wrap up this office of mine a.s.a.p. so I can go home and get tucked into my new book.

Geriatric and friends *updated*

I got my first taste of what it feels like to be called "tannie" this week. For those of you who are non-South African, "tannie" (pronounced "tie" and "knee") means "aunty" and is usually a respectful term coined by Afrikaans-speaking young people for those who they see as muuuuuch older than them. Tis hence the season to be very depressed. Shocking! When did old age creep up on me??? OK, so I'd noticed the odd grey hair here and there. And a few smile lines. But shucks, these kids who are here now are like 13 years and older, and even some of the early twenty-year-olds are calling me "tannie"! My shattered nerves! Roll on the wheelchair. Oh and the false teeth. They'll match my false brown hair colour. Yikes!

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Incidentally... to add insult to ego-injury, my friend (some ten to twelve years or so younger than me) and I were walking together towards the dining hall one day of the kids camp, and a twenty-something-year-old walked up to us and said, "like, hey... are you two, like, um, mother and daughter or something?" Clearly, it's time to get my roots dyed. Those grey hairs are showing me up.

Sigh

It feels like I'm coming up for air - just logging on to say hello. I can't even begin telling you how busy we've been. There are kids. EVERY. WHERE. All busy. All the time. All making me verrrry tired. We arrive at work with the sparrows in the morning, and leave at some awful hour every night when every other sane person on the planet is already kicking up a fat snore or two. Two weeks of this! What were we thinking?!? But, Monday's a-comin! And then we are officially on leave! Halelujah! Come on Monday, come on, come on... Come on Monday, come on! (And then I'll be blogging more regularly again too. Promise!)

Shucks, I've missed blogging...
Hope you guys have a fab weekend.
Chat soon...
[hectic with the kiddies still... sorry!]

Camp!

In spite of my best ill intentions I am LOVING camp! We have just short of one hundred kids here with us and we are splitting at the seams, but making do. Ten counselors, 100 kids. That's about a ratio of ten to one... but then we have to factor into the equation that these kids are between the ages of 7-12, which means they have the energy of four adults, so the ratio is more like FORTY to ONE! Yikes! But what a GREAT group. Of counselors. Haha! Ooookaaaay, and kids. Sorry this is such a shorty, but hectic hectic hectic. As only one who's been a slave helper at camp can understand. Eleven days to go! Here are some pics of what we've gotten up to with the animals campers... and here's a quickie pic of me and my fab hubby too (taken yesterday).

Junior Festival 2007