Monday 31 May 2010

Long Time No Blog!





Thanks to DH's new laptop I can finally pop out a quick blogpost! What a crazy month it has been & I don't know where to begin in bringing you all up to speed...but figure I should just start typing & see where it leads! Rest assured that, even if you haven't seen a comment, I have been doing my best to keep up with all your blogs via my mobile. Good news is I've seen my Nokia E63 browses better than my husband's Blackberry, BUT it WILL NOT process my comments, and, silly me, I keep trying to post them! Sooo frustrating to keep writing comments that you never actually get to read! I will try to spend an hour a day here just catching up with y'all this week as DH is on his way to Zimbabwe tomorrow morning so that should keep me occupied in the evenings GUILT-FREE as he won't be around to chat too.

Finally we have moved! We have been in our new home nearly 3 weeks now - which should have been lovely - but to be honest it's been a nightmare - what with workers here every day breaking things, stealing things, arriving late, not arriving at all, leaving midway through incomplete jobs, you name it we've had it. Appaling behaviour & difficult to fathom. I have spent hours worrying about it & finally decided to "Let it go" & put it down to them not being like me in any way. Obviously they have had very different life experiences that have caused them to behave the way they do. They are bad people - that I do know for sure. Even our landlord from our old rented "dive" {as we fondly referred to it ;-D} has been holding up our deposit refund - with all sorts of excuses - talk about bending the truth completely outta shape...disgraceful behaviour once again & really disheartening after everything we did to improve his dreadful property.

Coupled with having to report the Conveyancer to the Law Society here {his behaviour was gobsmacking & our transfer dragged on & on} we have had quite the time of it all...so much so that even the camera has hardly made an appearance! I have recently started an elementary photography course locally though- one morning a week - and am enjoying it & learning a bit. It is all rather overwhelming & requires actually reading the manual & experimenting. Needless to say it's the first time I have EVER read a camera manual! I love to read, but manuals? Not so much ;-D

The Scraproom is In. At. Long. Last. and YES, you will all be burning up with envy when it hits your screens later this week! Still gotta pack all my "junk" into all the cupboards, nooks & crannies, before it's photoworthy for y'all. My stash seems to have multiplied en route. How I ever obtained so much is beyond me, but I do know that I am going to have to have some serious scrappy marathons to get through it all! I am seriously trying to restrain myself from buying anything new {not hard here as there's never much new from my fave manufacturers, in brick & mortar stores} so being offline for so long has had it's advantages. Kept me away from 2 Peas & the like!

Anyhoo...I reckon that's about as much blah blahing as you can all take from me right now so I best be off...MUST be off actually as my 2 younger kids have their school play on tonight then we are taking them out for pizza ;-D The 2 older ones have exams so have to settle for take-aways! I will dust off my camera & take it with me tonight. Now that I'm "back on the blog" I need to get back into happy snapping! Please leave me a comment {you know I don't make a habit of begging lol!} just so I know that all my {millions of...} followers haven't deleted me! Gee I sound desperate...Okay....I think I'll just go now...




Monday 3 May 2010

Scrappy Storage, Funky Paint Shades & some new toys for all my efforts!






The great trek {all 5 kilometres of it!} is about to take place this Saturday {8th May 2010} & while only good things await us one real *bummer* is the fact that we need to disconnect here on Friday & "who knows when" we will get reconnected at the new place. It can take up to 6 weeks for Telkom {network service provider that has the monopoly in this country} to reconnect us. The previous owners had dial-up {hard to believe but true...} & of course we want {NEED} ADSL {Fast Internet}...well, should I say, SA's version of "fast", which means extra cabling which most likely equates to extra delay! In a nutshell, "Au Revoir" until we meet again ;-D Or in simple English, when I'm eventually back on line I'll be back here {& on your blogs too}.

Have popped in to all my old faithfuls of late & left you comments. Actually may have missed a few of you but need to get to bed soon so will try to complete the list tomorrow if you haven't heard from me since my last post a while back.
Scrappy-wise I have designed what is set to be an AWESOME scrap-space. It will only be installed towards the end of the month so right now I am busy boxing up all my supplies & they will have to remain boxed up for the next month, until I can get them into my new craft room.

The room was previously the hall & I have had to drywall over the charming french door that led to the outside, but I still have a nice big window so lots of light & a lovely white wooden trellis is in the process of being made to cover up the french door on the outside. My intention is to place a few pretty pots below it & grow something gorgeous like several Petrea {climbing plants} over it, to conceal the doorway & detract from the fact that it is no longer functional.
The room is newly painted white & all the fitted units are white woodgrain "foil" so better than melamine but not as good as solid wood. Of course we are already "over budget" on "doing up" the house so this is the best I could get & just the fact that I am finally going to get custom-made storage for my crafty bits is SURREAL & FANTASTIC!

To say that I am excited about moving in to our OWN HOME after 4.5 of the longest years of my life is an absolute understatement. I have been happy as a pig in mud these last few weeks! All the curtains are up & have been BEAUTIFULLY made & look outstanding. We haven't repainted ALL the walls as good paint don't come cheap here but all the kids have their colour of choice {with a bit of gentle (read HEAVY) persuasion in the right direction from moi...} & my white bedroom now has a dark brown accent wall awaiting a myriad of white framed photos. The painter presumed I had given him the wrong colour & hubs nearly keeled over when he saw it but I am delighted with it. Ultra, ultra cool...

Have another "accent" wall waiting to be painted but as DH reads my blog I better not say anymore about it...I love to surprise the poor man! Heehee...

So - not sure if I'll be able to stop by here again - if I can manage I certainly will - may even be able to get online away from home if I get to DH's workplace, but that IS a really long commute so no promises there. Finally he is back from China & his stopover in Hong Kong made up for the 2 weeks without him! He outdid himself as far as goodies went & I am now the proud owner of a *squeal* Nikon D5ooo {still in the box & can't stop STARING at it every time I open the cupboard} complete with SEPARATE 50mm f1.8 Nikon lens {Karen Russell fans will appreciate the importance of NOT buying the lens as a set with the camera but insisting on BODY ONLY!} AND a Tamron AFS f2.8 zoom lens, AND {that's not all folks!} a PINK INSTAX!!!

Haven't had time to play with the "real" {Nikon} stuff but have had a blast with the Instax (Fuji's new version of the Polaroid - the photos pop out of the top & develop in minutes!}. To say I was spoilt is a serious understatement. Prices in Hong Kong equate to HALF of what they are here & that is INCLUDING the duty, so it really is worth getting what you need if you're close by.
I have been running around in circles getting our house ready to move in & my "Mr. Handsome" appreciates that! Good thing too!!!