"My FAVORITE QUOTE"

Always carry a Camera.. life happens all around you.

Monday, September 5, 2011

WOW TIME FLIES

Well it has been a MONTH already... WOW !!! I must say that I am really enjoying being a housewife for the moment, although all our furniture still isn’t here so it is strange to live in an empty house. We have managed to borrow beds and couches from friends that we have made but are using boxes as sidetables..

Our new house is so pretty and the area we stay in is amazing.. Inside Chase Estate, so it is new and modern and everything is so lovely.. walkways everywhere, an estuary next to us.. awesome.


The first thing we bought was a Flat Screen.. afterall.. who needs anything else hey? LOL


Waiting patiently for our container to arrive.. hoping that it arrives by the 20th at least.. going to take me ages to unpack everything.. still have no clue where everything is going to go as the house is much smaller than we had before. At least now it gives me more time to go out and shop and explore my surrounds.. thank goodness for GPS... I drive for hours to investigate on my own.. love it !


While I am driving around, Nev had to hitch a lift to work.. LOL.. so he finally got his 4x4.. a Dodge Nitro.. it suits him too.. He is so happy now..



The boys have slotted into school so easily so it does make our life a lot easier. Klaven got his bicycle and rides to school with a friend .. he loves the freedom. The cops are really strict here though and they have to have helmets on scooters and bicycles and skateboards if they ride. Today his friend has his tyres blown down by the deputy school principal as he didn’t have a helmet and they won’t let the kids ride the bikes without them... really serious here about stuff like that.. It is good though, it protects the kids in the long run.


The boys only start school at 9 but Klaven is out the door at 7h15.. he cannot wait to go each morning.. Brent is the same. I drive him to school, but by 7h30 he already starts nagging.. it is so cool..
Nev is coping well at work. It is a bit stressful I think but he is making progress slowly but surely.. not going to happen overnight. He is starting to get the hang of it and seems to have a pretty decent team to work with. Strange to have no black workers though.

The area we live in stunning, there are parks everywhere and nice walk ways that you can take nice strolls anytime of the day. Everyone is very friendly and the local shopping centre is not too far away. Everyone has their own post box.. so cute.. gonna do a page on that.. the local Bunnings has an aisle dedicated to postboxes only.. !!




The huge centre is about 10Km’s away as well, so everything is pretty close. The city is about 45Kms away and is so gorgeous.. everytime I drive past it I just love it more.. the architecture here is amazing... they really care about the environment and make it pleasing to the eye everywhere you go. You will drive on the highway and there are abstract structures of art on the side of the road to look at... amazing. The highways also have sound barrier walls all the way along and these are different everywhere you go.. they are decor more than anything else.. amazing.. The bridges and arches are awesome.. need to stop one day and take photos (a bit dangerous to do on the highway though.)..

Still trying to get used to the security here.. no walls, no fences, no security companies, no burglar bars.. strange. Everyone parks in the street, people leave their doors open, garages open.. they park their boats (huge ones) on trailers on the road.. anyone can just hitch and go.. with no worries.. Kids leave their bikes on the lawn and they are still there the next day.. amazing.

Everyone here are car junkies.. millions of old cars that have been renovated and souped up.. awesome to see old Chevy’s with flames down the side roaring down the street.. and they are everywhere.. they really look after them. Although no one drives faster than the speed limit, they still sound awesome. Tons of other fancy cars too... people love their big nice fast cars. The colors of the cars here are amazing.. every color under the sun.. teal, aqua, pink, yellow, orange.. awesome colors.. I love it.. like a fruit salad mixed with glitter.. beautiful !

All the parks have chairs and tables and “barbeques” set up for everyone to use free of charge with gas.. awesome, the kids all ride bicycles in the streets, people park their cars in the streets.. no one has walls or security bars.. just so strange, but such a lovely way to live ! the boys have just embraced the freedom so well. Even Brenton plays outside more than he used to ! And.. if you want to go to the beach, you jump in the car and 20 minutes later you are splashing in the waves.. it is amazing. 10 minutes in the other direction and you are in the mountains and by the lakes, everything is so unspoiled and untouched.. amazing.. just like mother nature intended. There are huge open Parks everywhere for people to just stop and picnic if they wish too.. that is so cool.

We have managed to make quiet a few friends already.. everyone here is very friendly.. the area we stay in has a lot of South Africans (we stay in Berwick and are called the Berickaners.. LOL) very apt.


If I am not cleaning house or fetching kids, then I am out jolling with the other housewifes.. LOL.. so much fun ! Nice bunch of ladies. Neville’s work group of friends have become house friends and they just rock... this weekend we are going to a braai and a Spit Braai on Sunday again (fathers day).. our weekends are pretty much booked out by people inviting us places, it is nice as they embrace you into the area. I like it. The Australians themselves are very nice but I haven’t really made any friends with them yet.. all the friends so far are South African and New Zealanders. I am sure we will make Australian friends too as we go along.. just seems that we tend to gravitate to what we know for now still.. and it is amazing how the SA people find you ! LOL.. there are all over our area and in our street there are tons. Awesome. You walk in the shops and hear Afrikaans often. I just laugh and keep walking.

The only negative here is that stuff is really expensive.. if you work in dollars though I suppose it is all relative.. but thinking $7 for 4 bananas (x 7.5... OUCH)... the butter here however is cheap ! That is about the only think I found that is cheap.. and ribbons (will have to import all my Scrapbooking stuff.. too expensive to buy here).. Bread here is really expensive.. like $5 a decent bakery loaf.. normal bread is about $1 so that is OK.. but nice Portugese rolls are like 60c each !! That is madness.. Hence we don’t eat rolls..

Well, that is my life at the moment.. hope to catch up with everyone soon.. cannot wait to get scrapping again.. think I'm going to do some Digi Scrapping till my container arrives.. it should be here soon.. holding thumbs...






Hugs, Mich

Saturday, July 30, 2011

I see the Sea !!!

Today was our first Real day in Melbourne. We work early enough (around 10... LOL) and after breakfast we took a nice 20 minute drive to the Coast. Our closest beach is in Frankston. It was so pretty. The waves are non existant as it is in a bay, so the water is very calm and nice.



There is a lovely Pier that everyone walks down and fishes off the end. We took a nice long walk down it and enjoyed the view of the Bay.

Tomorrow I am taking the boys to sign into their new schools and Nev starts work.. gulp...


Wish us luck !

Hugs, Mich

The Big Flight

Well, Thursday dawned cold and sad... Time to say goodbye to the family and head towards parts unknown...

We have such a special family and a lot of them came to the airport to see us off and say goodbye.
All the boys..

After our very teary farewells, we headed through the boarding gates. Our plane was just waiting for us in the distance..

Neville and the boys...

We left at 2pm on the Thursday and finally arrived in Melbourne (after a Sydney transfer) at about 7pm Friday night... a really long trip.


Saturday we all slept until 2 in the afternoon. Neville's work have given us a nice serviced apartment to stay in for 4 weeks and a car, so we are settled quickly.


Hugs, Mich

The Big Move

On Monday morning the 25th of July 2011, the Elliotts team of packers arrived en force. They took 2 days to pack up our whole house.. cannot believe it all fits into boxes !!!

This is my entire Scrapbooking Room in boxes...
Snapshot of our dining room... boxes galore..
On Wednesday the container arrived, a nice big pretty red one... they spent most of the day packing all the boxes into the container. By about 1h30 they were finished and the truck drove off to hopefully the first possible ship to Australia..
Seeing all our boxes on the street was very sad... my life in a box... oh dear... amazing it all fitted into the container with space to spare..




Now to wait for the 6 weeks until they can deliver to my new home in Melbourne.. (Now to find a home there first..LOL)


Hugs, Mich

Sunday, July 17, 2011

SCRAPPING AT RETRODAISY

I was so excited to be lucky enough to attend Elanie @ Retrodaisy's first Scrapbooking Class. For those that don't know yet, Elanie has taken over from me and is teaching Scrapbooking Classes in Krugersdorp on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and Saturdays. You can contact her at elanie@retrodaisy.co.za for a schedule or to book for class.

Margaret, Salome, Pauline and I were her very first clients and as I expected Elanie was taught us a stunning layout and was a super teacher. Her new little Studio is awesome with fun stock to play with too.

Photo of Elanie and the layout that we done on the night:
Us ladies had an absolute ball of a time... Thanks Elanie !

Pauline packing up after a fun filled evening... Elanie's husband Riaan was sweet enough to come visit and make sure we were all safe on locking up.

Salome shopping for more stash to add to her collection... LOLIt is so sad that I could not attend more classes, but all my goodies are already packed up. Good luck Elanie with all your future classes... it was a wonderful one and I am glad I was able to be there to share it with you !


Hugs, Mich

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

FOUND SOME TIME TO SCRAP

Good morning...

Before anything.. I have to brag.. check what my stunning husband bought me for my 40th birthday. A Michel Herbelin Watch.. I am so in love with it !
Am I not just a spoilt brat.. LOL


OK, it is freezing cold here in Sunny South Africa at the moment.. I cannot even feel my fingers. However, on Monday night I managed to finish two quick layouts for a friend.



Excuse the photos of this one, I framed it before I took the photo (duh !!).. so there is lots of reflections..



This was for Deon who shot his first buck. He was very impressed with himself. Had to make a real "boy" page for this .. and plain enough to put in a frame.. I was told that he loved it.




Close ups. Tore corrugated paper and added letters to it for the title:

Had a packet of Guinnea Fowl feathers left, so used them on the page..

The photos for this layout I have had on my desk since January ! I know.. I have been bad at finishing it. The layout is actually part of the kit we got for Margie Romney Asletts class. I changed the whole thing around though and made it different. Papers were cute though and it worked well with the photos:


Some close up shots of the layout:

She is a real little Cutie Pie:


I have a Scrapping Lesson on Tuesday with Elanie as she launches her new Scrapbooking Venture (Elanie is the new teacher taking over from me).. It will be nice to end of my time in South Africa by actually attending a class and not having to teach one.. LOL


Still busy fighting with the Australian Embassy for Visa's. So hope we can get them this week so that we can book our flights and pack up soon. Still haven't sold the house though, so that is also a big worry.. not sure what to do there! Things just happening so fast... Grr !



This Saturday I have a big jumble sale at home, so hope to get rid of a lot of stash that I don't want to take with. Had a Scrapbooking Jumble sale last weekend and that went very well, lots of girls came to buy notes and papers. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone.. But such is life I suppose.. everything must come to an end some time or the other.. Last week I taught my last class and that was very sad. Have such a lovely group of ladies and it is really not nice to have to say goodbye to them.



Anyhow.. will keep you all updated on my life as it happens... hope to chat to all soon!


Hugs, Mich

Friday, July 1, 2011


Hi there !

Well, time is sure flying by fast, I have finally sorted out 90% of my scrapbook. Time to have a sale to get rid of all the stuff I cannot / don't want to take with.. so tomorrow is:
And then last night I got a chance to finish the final layout for our Weekend Retreat coming up.. the girls are really in for a fun weekend and the layouts are coming out so cool !


Here is a sneak peek:

Hubby home this weekend for good. Now we can really get stuck into the unpacking and sorting out of stuff.



Having a JUMBLE SALE on 9 July 2011 at my house to get rid of some of the stuff we can't take with.


Want to take the boys to see Transformers 3 tonight.. will see what time we can go.

Have a good weekend !

Hugs, Mich