Such sad news this weekend about Angi’s mom that passed away. She was such a beautiful person and will always be missed. Her photo is in my older posts on the blog.

Went to scrapping university and it was a great weekend. Spent my time with Dee and Derryn and what a perfect choice that was, we had great fun, lots of laughing and great memories were created.
Got to meet my blogging friend, Canadian scrapping teacher and Making Memories Idols winner Wilna Furstenburg. She got her husband to take a photo of us together so she could remember me! What a stunning person.

I got home and was feeling really tired. Kiara met me in the passage and said ”Mom, come you have to help me with a homework project”. I moaned and groaned all the way down the passage into my bedroom, my room was spotless, lights low, music playing and a bubble bath ready for me to climb into! What more could you ask for?

I have become reunited with my beloved old music and in typical Tasha style have gone totally overboard. From no music in years to listening to everything I can get my hands on.

I am just loving the sunshine and the friendliness of people in general. Don’t know if it’s my attitude that has changed but I am finding myself so abundantly blessed in all areas of my life.

Devin went to see the WWE wrestling twice this weekend at the Dome and also went to Greenstone shopping centre to see his hero John Cena. He got about 2 meters away from him and apparently John looked at him and gave him the thumbs up!

I am would have been happy to see Randy Orton up close and personal.

How awesome is the gold price today? I have been waiting for $700 for quite a while now.

Well, I have some interviews to do for the rest of the morning so better get to work.

August 2007 Update
Home
This month saw a whole lot of changes in our world. Our beloved pet Shadow was put down and the whole household was affected. Shadow was also the last of our pets that was around with Richard.
My Moms entire pension money was drawn out of her account while she was at another ATM trying to draw some cash. She was devastated. The response she got from the bank amounted to ‘shame, don’t you watch TV and see that criminals target old people?’
Tarryn
She is having a ball and you would not think that she is writing prelims. I hardly ever see her these days and she is just loving her freedom. She has a car, a petrol card and a credit card. Hello world! Her main concern at the moment is sorting out her matric farewell dress.
Kiara
She has had a busy month with ice skating, school activities and her latest brainwave, volunteering at the SPCA. She spent Saturday morning at the Benoni SPCA with a friend Kyle and they had to clean out cages etc. Kiara ended up with the donkeys and ostriches, didn’t even know they had things like that there! She spent the whole day sulking and glaring at me, because I would not let her bring a Husky puppy home! Now if she nagged about this cutest pot-bellied pig they had there, it might have been a different story!
She can’t wait to see her beloved cousin’s in Cape Town in September.
Devin
He is still in moonboot (he thinks it should be spelt moanboot), and is getting as frustrated as anything. He has missed so many BMX races. He still has about a week to go. He and Trevor have been at the driving range as often as they can persuade Tarryn to take them. They go and hit a bucket of balls and she shops.
He is counting down the days to the WWE experience and is going both nights!.
Work
We had the horrible news that Lorraine’s son passed away. Lorraine works in my team. I decided that I could not face the funeral and went to see her at home the day before. Went with my boss and another colleague, in my boss’s fancy BMW. We got a bit lost in Kwa Thema and I wondered what people thought seeing these two black dudes driving around with white women in the backseat. I started to get very anxious when his fuel light came on and we were still hopelessly lost. Anyway we found her and I was glad we could visit and pray with her at her home.
I am busy on 2 new projects at work and as always having fun there.
Natasha
I eventually conceded and booked for scrapping university after declaring that I would not be doing it this year. I can’t believe that the time is here already. Can’t wait to see Wilna from Canada who will be teaching this year.

I have become hooked on Facebook and all the fun that goes with that. Collected some friends that I have not seen in ages and am loving it. Reading is definitely taking a back seat and I only redeemed myself this weekend by reading James Patterson’s The Quickie in just over a day.
Went to breakfast with a friend that lasted over 5 hours. We kept getting phone calls to say ‘are you STILL at breakfast’. Had a great time and bought my first cd in 8 years Nickelback’s All the right reasons.

I have a “decisions list” that is growing day by day, not sure what this shift in my world is all about but I am being enticed into new adventures and experiences on a daily basis.
I bought 2 new blankets that have the most amazing texture. Don’t know when I turned into Linus? Got some new curtains and luckily had a whole entourage of friends to help me put them up that day. I am so spoilt hey! Hanging curtains is the pits.

Claire and I are almost done with our twin albums. The idea and the actual album was my idea, but she did most of the work. They are looking stunning and the journaling is very draining but so worth it. She bought us twin teddies to hold the albums.

Had Scott and Sue and the folks over for lunch the other day and it turned out to be a great day. We really need to do it more often. Celebrated ladies day at a function at Summer Place. Janine Starkey, the speaker, is an image consultant and I was expecting to be really bored. I was totally blown away by her. Book club is great and we have booked our Christmas outing at Mangwanani Day Spa. Can’t wait to do that again, it’s such a spoil.

I am so glad it’s Spring. Swam yesterday and today and lay in the sun reading and listening to Kiara’s ipod. The birds are singing, saw butterflies and everything is staring to look green. Love this time of year.

:) :) :)

Hey I have had such a fun weekend,
I left work early on Friday and had arranged for Tarryn’s new car to be ready for collection. She had ordered the car but had no idea that it was ready. I told her we needed to go to the dealer to choose a radio and sort out some paperwork. We all went to Heidelberg to collect the car and that brought back so many memories of the fun Dale and I had working in the branch there a zillion years ago when they first became computerized!

Tarryn saw her car at the dealer with a congratulations banner that had her name on it and was proudly showing us the car she would soon be getting. I got a photo of her face when I told her she could drive it home that day. She was stunned and then ecstatic.

Devin wanted to drive home with her and Trevor but I said no, she needed to get used to the car first. He said to me, Mom, it is against the law to disappoint a disabled person! I think he is enjoying having a broken foot!

I took my mom and aunt curtain shopping at a factory in Pretoria on Saturday after Kiara’s figure skating lesson and we had breakfast there. Devin bought a new cell phone (to replace the one that did not survive a washing machine cycle) Kiara got an ipod nano. Claire came over for the afternoon and my brother and mom were there too. Spent the afternoon on my bed, in the sun chatting, laughing and eating Mugg & Bean lemon meringue and chocolate mousse cake. We eventually got around to some scrapping and are busy with twin albums that we need to complete before she leaves the country.

I went out for a really enjoyable dinner with a friend in the evening and we ate prawns until we couldn’t any more. Lots of catching up and laughing and watched a dvd called “Because I said so”. I outdid myself by watching 2 movies in a weekend. I went to Claire’s place today and ate leftover prawns and watched a brilliant dvd called “Breach” about the FBI and based on a true story. We took a bunch of crazy photos of each other for our album too. She also updated my travel bible that we give to all our friends when the leave the country on holiday. Visited Megan and spent the rest of the night online getting Tarryn’s music sorted out for her car.

The wind is starting to blow the dust around and August is almost upon us. I really can’t wait for spring and my first swim in my pool. It has been spotless and sparkling all through winter, thanks to my pool service (not quite the pool guy from Desperate Housewives though!)

Got back to work and wasn’t there for 2 hours before it felt like I had never even been away, guess it’s like that for everyone. So now I am really thinking hard about the December holidays. Still undecided about London, Paris and Wales because I really don’t do winter very well.

Tarryn has done so well this term that she has shocked herself. She is still not sure what she wants to study next year and is really sticking to her New Years resolution to party more this year. She is now looking for a car and I am not madly excited about her being out there on the roads. No reflection on her driving!

Brilliant news, Kiara was awarded a cultural scholarship at the private school she applied to for high school, (next year already), she is so excited and can’t wait to get there. Went to see the school on Thursday and I was so impressed. The headmaster gave us a guided tour and it looks awesome. She has received her itinerary for the Cape Town school trip in September and it looks like a jam packed, amazing trip.

Devin can’t focus on anything other than the WWE wrestling bunch that are coming to SA in September. He is going with my cousin’s family and is counting the days. He is still doing cross country and BMX racing, and has wrestling matches against Kiara’s giant teddy bear whenever she is not looking!

I have eventually become an active member on Facebook.com and just love seeing how small the world is. I have seen so many connections on either side of the family that know each other through others that it is amazing. I can really believe that 9 degrees theory. Join up if you haven’t. It’s not only for kids contrary to their opinion.

Not too much scrapping has been happening. On Friday night Kiara and I visited Woolies and stocked up on goodies so that we could be undisturbed on Saturday for the Harry Potter book launch. My book got delivered at about 11am and I was riveted for 7 hours. Devin acted as our waiter and gopher and got paid R5 for each job that he did for us. He kept a note of it all and made a fortune! Now that I have finished, I wish that I was just discovering the series for the first time. Books are so bloody expensive now, I used to check to see that a new book was under R100 about a year ago and now I am relieved when it is under R150!

I am busy doing alterations at home, mostly in my hideous lounge and my friend Megan is helping with the decorating, so if it turns out to be a crappy, blame her. I also eventually had my room repainted and the ceiling in there fixed. I miss my dark room but I suppose change is good.

Mail soon or send a message on Facebook. Don’t forget to leave your name if you comment on the blog and you are not a member.

Keep well and warm
Love
Natasha

Hey it's freezing in Johannesburg, I am so glad we got to have a 2 week break in Ballito. We had very nice weather and a great time. As usual we luckily chose to be away the 2 weeks that Joburg had awful weather so now I hope it warms up.

Well, Devin is back at BMX and took part in the SA’s in Natal. He went skate boarding at Gateway and someone’s broken board fell from about 4 meters high onto Devin’s shin. I got a message while I was in the movies to say that Devin had cut his leg and could not skate anymore. He had to have stitches in his leg!! He did very nicely but is not in the running for any points because of the races he missed, so now it’s just for the pleasure of racing. I discovered that he wanted a rest from going to races every weekend so he is going to decide on 2 race meetings a month.

I read quite a lot during our holiday and managed to get through 14 books. I took a photo of the pile that I had read. It is such a cool feeling to lie on the bed and watch the waves breaking just a couple of meters away from you. I LOVED seeing the dolphins come past and got to see whales too. Got a few nice photos.

We went to see the latest Harry Potter movie and I really enjoyed that. I can’t wait for Saturday morning for my copy of the last book to be delivered. I have told everyone not to disturb me on Saturday at all. I am finishing the book before I do anything else.

Tarryn and her boyfriend Trevor seemed to enjoy the Ballito holiday too, they spent most of their time at Gateway shopping centre buying clothes. Kiara had fun too excepting when she was dragged off to BMX, she does not include that on her “fun things to do” list. Tarryn is not looking forward to prelims and studying for finals and she has not decided what she is doing next year.

Kiara turned 13 on the 29th. She took 2 friends, Devin, Tarryn and Nicholas to Gold Reef City for the day. Kiara and Devin both did very well in their exams with A’s all round. Tarryn gets her report when she gets back next week!!

Well that’s all for now. Tired after the 6 hour drive back and it’s now 11-30 pm.

Cheers
Natasha

Some photos of the snow Angi. Hope you enjoy gloating about the heatwave in Florida that you are suffering through!! Luckily Caroline called and told us it was snowing. Tarryn and I went outside at 2am and took photos, that is not dandruff in my hair.
I loved the way the water froze in the birdbath.

Hi all,

It's been a cold and strange week. I worked from home on Wednesday and it was such a delight to be able to sit under the duvet and get work done. Wonder why I don't do it more often? Tarryn has hardly been at school because of the strikes.

Kiara and I went to a book signing in Bedfordview with Anthony Horowitz. I was not sure what to expect because the only other signing I had been to was Francois Pienaar and I definitely did not go to that one for the talk, that one was just for the viewing! I did get a book signed though.

Anthony was marvelous; he is an author of teen reads and is a superb speaker. He was so witty and looked good too. Kiara bought 2 of his books and we waited for him to sign them, he did so very graciously even though he had just hopped off a plane from the UK. We then got free tickets to see the premiere of his movie Storm Breaker. It was great, like a junior James Bond. She has put the rest of his books on her birthday list. Photo of him from his website.

Devin has decided to quit BMX for the moment. He said he will think about it again next year? He has not given any reasons, except to mention that he would like more free time on weekends. I thought I would be ecstatic to have my weekends free, but I did enjoy seeing my BMX friends and socializing with a different bunch of people. Oh well, we will see what transpires.

I completed 2 mini albums this weekend and it was so lovely to give them away and discover just how appreciative people are. The shops were a mad house today so I never got around to buying Father’s Day gifts. What now? Maybe I will dream up a very clever plan tonight.

My plans are starting to take shape for the December holidays. I think we will be going to London, Paris and Wales. I know it is not the best time of the year for Europe but we don’t really have a choice. Next year I have 3 kids that will all have different holidays!

I am redecorating my lounge. I realized that I have been avoiding this room and sort of sneak past it to the dining room at night. I don’t watch TV so it was quite easy to just ignore the lounge altogether. My friend Megan came to help me with the mission and told me in no uncertain terms that some of my stuff was just not going to survive the change, including my little TV! I have already had some handymen in to give me quotes to sort some of the problem areas out.

The folks have decided to call it quits here in the suburbs and move to the coast. They will probably do so by the beginning of the year. They have been in their house forever and that was the place that I met Richard. It must be quite difficult to pack up and move after spending a lifetime in a house.

I am missing my jet-setting friend like crazy. I don’t know what I am going to do when she leaves for good.

Nanna has just called to say dinner is ready, mash, vegetable cheese bake and fillet. She is cooking tonight, yum!
Keep well and warm
Mail soon
Love
Tasha