Team Up Thursday - Should be Week 20

I chose the theme this week - AND both of us agree that although it is a challenging theme, it has tons of potential...
We have both taken photos, but are not happy with them - Mariette says that she chose the best of what she had, but it was ok but not "WOW"....I am sure with a bit more time and patience, I can exceed the quality of what I took, so we have decided to carry on trying and we will showcase our efforts next week...So until next week ----Take care and lots of love to everyone

Don't you like the cute little Bunny....that is the picture this week (it has absolutely nothing to do with our theme)....

And I am only joking about good bye until next week - You will unfortunately have to wait to see our photos, but if you want a little bit more news of what is happening in my world - please read below...

Well after my terrible and awful start to the week (see post "One of those Days") and before you all start worrying about my mental health – I am feeling much better…

Before I started eating my lunch on Tuesday – I phoned my sweet husband, and humbly (no gritted teeth here) and sweetly thanked him for my lunch AND everything that he had done to help – He responded just as sweetly that it was a pleasure and then asked “Did you get to work OK – because this morning you were a bit flustered” – A bit flustered????? – I think it was an understatement born of a need to self preserve, but it worked – I mean he is still here and I did start to feel better after that…It amazes me that Mike has a knack of knowing just what to say and how to react when I am not myself....It does not always make me feel better at the time, but when I think about it afterwards I realise that if he had done anything differently, it would have been wrong anyway - I really think that he knows me better then I know myself..

The rest of the week has passed relatively peacefully - no awesome moments to take my breath away, but no awful moments that took my breath away either, so all in all - ALL IS WELL IN MY WORLD - I do hope that next week will be happier...

I have also been battling the tail end of flu - have been feeling ugh, but not totally man down that warrants staying in bed...Just kind of in-between...and it has stopped my swimming training (for those that do not know, I swam the Midmar Mile (openwater/dam swim of - yip you guessed it - of 1 mile (1,6kms)) last year and have entered to do it again this year....and with the flu I have not done any training for a full week - which is also just annoying me...AND guess what - both children in our house started snuffling and sneezing last night...Kayla-Fern kept looking at me with daggers and telling me that I made her sick...Brad just wandered around feeling and lookign miserable.  So the only healthy person in our house at the moment is Mike - Touch wood that he stays that way....

Well, that really is all our news for now, so seriously until next time...Take care and lots of love and thank you to all my special friends (near and far) who kept me going this week with funny stories and support and it is nice to know that I am not the only "horrible" mommy/wife in the world....Love me

One of those Days...

Sooooo – Here I am

Feeling so glum…

Don’t know what’s wrong

Don’t know what’s going on….

Just want to cry and shout and

throw things About….

Don’t know what to do…

It’s Tuesday morning and this is really how I feel – I don’t know why, but I am just miserable for absolutely no good reason…Mike got up early this morning and helped me prepare breakfast and lunches and even fed most of the animals…and although I said thank you – I know it was ungracious and I am sure he heard that I was talking through clenched teeth – How unfair is that??????

Kayla-Fern came through saying she had a splinter and asked very nicely if I had a container to soak her little foot in, and she got blasted for her efforts…so badly that she forgot all about her sore foot……

Bradley wants to start going to gym…He is at that age where it is important I guess…and he asked if we could try and go on a Tuesday/Thursday and Friday evening…I just don’t know how we will find the time, and I told him that this morning in nontoogentle a way (meaning I raised my voice beyond normal, rational measures)…

So all in all I feel very guilty…(I mean lets be honest the only unfair thing that I did not do this morning was kick the dog - although I did not give any of the animals a nice cheery morning greeting) - I did apologise to Kayla-Fern  – but the apology should not have been necessary, cos it should just never have happened – Oh dear, why do I feel so hateful….

I think I am going to try and stop worrying about it for now – my motto for the day is just to get through it without being too snappy and ugly to everyone around me and tonight once all the normal stuff is done…I will have a nice long soak in a nice hot bath and then try and have a better start tomorrow….

I was hoping that kind of having a plan of action for this horrible day would help me feel better – but it hasn’t, I don’t…so perhaps I will hum whilst I try to get through the day…

Well, anyway, until Thursday ---- Lots of love

Week 19 - Outdoors

Mariette chose the theme this week - and normally living where I do, I would have been able to take a million photos of the outdoors...At this time of year South Africa is "normally" beuatiful, hot (very hot), sunny, blue skies and just lovely for taking Outdoors photos - we are not called Sunny South Africa for nothing....BUT this week has not been normal - We have had very heavy rains, no sun and it has been chilly - Oh well on the bright side, we are not as badly off as certain parts of Austrailia and probably not as cold as America and the UK - but still, I am so over this rain and can not wait to hang washing on the line and bring it in dry and fresh smelling two hours later....

Mariette's picture this week is lovely - the colours are subdued and subtle with the greens of the tree and leaves kind of blending in with the grey of the water...Mariette says that she likes the effect of water through the trees - so do I - Well done Mariette.

I took a picture today, at work - You could only see the nests from one angle and I just happened to look up at the right time...the weaver bird was a bonus..

Some other pictures - taken whilst we were on holiday...
First, Kayla-Fern enjoying the great outdoors...

And secondly - how beautiful and tranquil is this...

Then lastly....the pic below is not officially a lake.....I took it of the side of the road, from the car on the way to work this morning...what was a little bit of "veld"** on the side of the road is now a swamp - Shrek you can come and claim your land....By the way the reflection of the building was not intentional, in fact I had not even noticed it until I had downloaded my pictures....

Veld** - this is an Afrikaans word that basically means "field" (I think), but not a typical English field of green and daisies, perhaps a better description would be "grassland".  Similair words could be "Outback" (Austrailia) or "Priarie" (North America)...It is quite a lekker word because like with so many words that have been adopted into English from other languages, it has many nuances, and there is not one single word in English that can replace it....
Lekker is another of those words - it means anything from good/great/awesome/delicious etc, (and it can be used in sarcasm as well - "Now that is really lekker" (meaning oh so not lekker)......but not one of those words defines "lekker" properly...
Anyway, I am now talking LEKKER KAK - probably because once again it is late and it is well past bedtime, so until next week...Take care and I hope everyone has a LEKKER WEEK....Lots of love

Team Up Thursday - Week 18 - Blue & White

Don't you love Blue and White together.....It always looks so fresh and clean...I had been thinking about a "colour" theme for a few weeks and last Wednesday, on the way to work, I finally decided what the colours should be - I was amazed after I had decided how many things I noticed that reflected the theme...I must have seen at least ten company logos with these colours...
I love Maritte's picture of a blue and white chinese bowl...The contrast of colours is lovely and again you have captured just an angle of the bowl, proving once again that quite often in photos "less is more"...

I was also quite chuffed with my picture....We have not had many of those perfect days with blue sky with wispy white clouds this summer, so I was quite lucky to choose this theme in a week that we had one day with this photo opportunity.

When I went through my photos from our Christmas break - I found two that slot perfectly into the theme as well...

I love the picture below, I love that I managed to snap as the two birds appeared in the frame and the perfect "m""m" that they form - this is my top picture of all time - the only reason it was not my chosen picture this week was that the other one is more "BLUE & WHITE"

At the place where we stayed - there were four white geese - who strutted around the resort like they owned it - they were stunning...and I spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect shot of them....Here is one, blue water with a white goose...

Anyway, a fairly short post this week...But you can see that I am starting to see things through TUT eyes again and am loving the photography and the challenges - I am having fun....Lots of love

Team Up Thursday - Week 17 - Bottles

It was Mariette's choice this week - she chose BOTTLES -  I enjoyed the theme - I thought of finding 10 bottles and painting them green and hanging them on a wall (Ten Green Bottles Hanging on a Wall) - but it was a fleeting idea, and whilst it may have been a good idea, we were still in holiday mode and did not have the motivation to make the idea a reality.

Mariette and I both chose perfume bottles - although we chose different perfumes...Mariette's picture is of a bottle of Boss Femme - she says that she struggeled this week, because the really pretty perfume bottles did not photograph as well as she had thought they would, however, the picture she chose has good light and is pretty in it's own way.

I chose a picture of a Baby Jadore bottle - the Jadore bottle is a really pretty bottle and whilst the photo probably does not do justice to the bottle, I did try something different as a back ground and I like the reflection of the hearts from the background in the lid

I think we both wanted to do better this week - and I think we imagined photos like we see in the magazine adverts, but I guess we will have to keep trying.

Here is all my baby perfume bottles together - it is a Christian Dior collection that Mike bought me one year on an oversea business trip - I like the way the light has caught in the Jadore bottle and it looks like a little dimple in the liquid.

I also took a picture of a fancy shaped bottle that my mom gave me many years ago - I have never used it for anything except decoration.

Last year Kayla-Fern came home one day and told me that they were going to make a Dream Bottle at school - A few days later she asked me if I could give her a bottle for her Dream Bottle....About a week later I remembered to give her an empty bottle ( I am sure the school and teachers make allowances for moms like me and give a really long notice period) and then a few days later she aske me for decorations and I gave her some ribbon and some scrapbooking stickers....This is her Dream Bottle - the piece of pink paper in the bottle is what she has written her dream on - And she won't tell me what it is, because then she won't dream it....I really like the concept of a Dream Bottle and hope that my little girl always has many dreams that come true - I think as a New Year project, we should look at making our own Dream Bottles...Great idea me thinks...Perhaps photos on our blogs would also be nice...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year...

Our Christmas was better then we anticipated I think...Lunch with my dad was lovely, and then Mike and I and the kids left on Boxing Day for a very peaceful and relaxed few days at a resort near Hartebeesport Dam - It was lovely, and just the perfect place for relaxing and reflecting on the events of the year that has just passed.  I love the Hartebeesport/Magaliesburg area and I re-found my "NESS"...Still am not sure where my "TIGER" is or what it is doing, but I am feeling much more peaceful and not as sad - Maybe my "TIGER" has woken and is just lying quietly until it is needed again, but whatever - I am fine and my "TIGER" can rest/slumber on - It worked very hard last year and I am fine without it for a while...

I will try and load some gorgeous pictures (well I think they are gorgeous) from our break, so until then take care everyone and lots of love...