My joy jar

I love this creation of mine, it has really brought me so much joy.

My encounter with gratitude started a long time ago, I suppose the earliest memories would be of saying prayers and listing all the things I was grateful for.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 

One of the most notable entries was on the day after my husband was killed - I wrote I am grateful that he will never see me with wrinkles - that’s all I could summon up on that most dreadful of days. During the first few months I also wrote on one gloomy day, I am grateful that I can lift my pen to write in this journal.

At some stage I decided to buy a big glass jar and put small scraps (of old cutoffs from scrapbooking projects) of paper with things that made me happy written on then. I also got a jar for my friend Linda. I loved seeing the notes piling up forming little piles of colour and then toppling over and spreading out as I added more. As always, I was competitive with myself and wrote more and more each day. 

I wrote about big important things that happened and tiny almost insignificant things that made my stomach get that joyful feeling. Nothing was too small and the more I wrote the more I noticed. The more I noticed the happier I felt. Sure bad things also happened but they were far outnumbered by the little joyful moments.

I love reading about the things that gave me joy at the end of each year or on any day that I especially need to feel gratitude.  So many of you have featured in my joy jar. I hope you know who you are and how grateful I am to have you in my life.

Nanna's dinner menu

When I got home from work one night this week, I saw this on the dining room table.
My mom has such lovely ideas and really tries hard to show that she is adding value to our family. She really doesn't have to do anything but it makes her feel valued to cook dinner. We really appreciate it so much and we love these interesting touches she comes up with every now and again.

A great helpful app

I eventually bought a new wallet as my one was a bit tatty. This created a new problem, all of my store loyalty cards didn't fit into the new wallet. Devin's girlfriend Kayleigh kept telling me about the app she uses called Stocard. I tried it and am super impressed.

Once you have downloaded it from your app store/playstore, it takes seconds to add a card. Press the + sign to add a new card, select one of the available card types and then simply scan the barcode of the card you want it to keep.

If the card does not have a barcode, my Makro card didn't, there is an option to add the card number manually.

I have added 8 cards that I use often and tested the MySchool card at woolies yesterday, it worked perfectly and I'm very happy with my lighter load in my wallet. I haven't tested any manually added cards yet.

The app looks like this. Thanks Kayleigh!

Surprise Supperclub weekend away 2019

Supperclub weekend away 2019

What a feat you pulled off Brenda, surprising us with flights to Durban and a stay at Geraldine's awesome place in Durban North. I was very happy that I got to Uber to North Beach Parkrun with Carol. The highlight of my weekend though, was sleeping outside on the massive patio and waking up to see the sea. We had an incredible, delicious weekend and were treated like royalty. I enjoyed putting on the extra 2 kilograms that I took home with me. The resident buck Sophia was so unbelievable.

Our flight home was very interesting, we were re-routed back to Durban just before descent due to the storms. That has never happened to me before. We waited in Durban and took off again over an hour later. Brenda played 'leaving on a jet plane' on her phone and got us all singing. She's a hoot. I enjoyed chatting to all the girls in such a perfect setting. I didn't even know there were things like vegetarian piranhas, fascinating creatures. A memorable weekend indeed.