Welcome to 2014

Another new year, a time to review, close chapters, and open new ones.
2013 was very busy in many ways, but at the same time, I'm hard pressed to say what exactly kept me busy. Such is life! I have finished some projects and planned others, but so far this year I seem to be concentrating on cooking and cleaning. I have a friend who, in my humble opinion, is much less competent at cooking. Yet he has catered an event for a community gathering! So I have been inspired to do a bit of experimental and bulk cooking. So far I have:

• made lamb in the slow cooker (I don't much like lamb so I'm trying to find a way to cook it that we will all eat. otherwise I only cook it when I'm planning to fast.)
• made barley in the rice cooker
• made vegetarian tacos with red lentils and bought taco seasoning
• Made and froze a bulk batch of meatballs
• made and froze a batch of twice-baked potatoes

Tomorrow I will make a batch of cabbage rolls. The lamb was a bit overcooked because I started it too soon but I was able to enjoy it. The taco lentils were a surprising success, the red lentils gave a nice color. And I now have a few after-school lunch options for the kids!

Finally, let me just list a few goals.

For myself:

• eat more fruit or vegetables and drink more water
• make a personal fit pattern for myself that fits excellently
• sew stuffed animals for the craft market
• experiment with macrame again 

For my kids:

• get them to take responsibility for household tasks
• help them to keep a balance of study, other interests, helping others, and rest 

For my community:

• get more members in my girls' crafting club and raise enough funds to buy a hot plate (for melting chocolate and wax)
• keep my Sunday school class interested and learning at the same time(not easy!)
• Get involved in Town Council especially regarding the Diamond Festival (don't complain if you're not willing to help fix it!)

Reach high!

Happy New Year, or, Another Piece of Cake

Resolution time again. I don't do well with remembering to do better, so if a resolution doesn't improve my attitude to life, I don't want to know about it.
I entered this new phase of resolutions about 5 years ago, when I made the earth-shattering resolution to: NEVER SAY NO TO A PIECE OF CAKE. For a whole year, every time I ate a piece of cake, I got a warm glow of keeping a resolution. I could even afford to eat only a small piece because I knew that I was allowed, even encouraged, to have a piece of the next cake. That year gave me a whole new feeling of freedom.
Since then, I occasionally turn down an offered piece of cake, but I don't feel guilty for eating one. So now, if I make a resolution, I make one to improve my sense of well-being rather than to control my physical self.
So, I wasn't planning on anything this year, then I was given a resolution at church: Galations 6:9.Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
I know I have mentioned the Girls' Club previously, I continue to struggle there. The people I most expected to be supporting, helpful and encouraging have ranged from as helpful as a small breeze in a tornado to downright negative. I have found surprising support from un-expected places and great support where I expected only mild encouragement.
Well, I have this resolution now, and I have done the round of e-mails again, asking for support.
I'm also using this to remind myself to do the next right thing, everyday, whether the world around me participates or not. I would like to pledge to speak out against wrong when I see it, but I know how hard it is! At least I will not be a part of it and I hope to encourage others to turn away from hatred, bullying, tribalism, and general wrong-ness.

Next note will be of my latest creation, I promise.

Merry Christmas! Chippy's third favorite game

Christmas is always a bit conflicted for me. Summertime Christmas is difficult for a Wisconsin girl. I prepare all the dough and ingredients for a proper feast and then can't bear to turn on the oven. As long as I keep tat in mind and remember not to stress, all goes well.
Even without the baking, I still spend most of the day in the kitchen. Which can be lonely, but thankfully Chippy the clever dog played her third favorite game with Amy and me. First of all, she's not allowed in the house, so she can only sneak in sometimes.So the game goes like this:

1. Hang out by the braai(BBQ) area until nobody is paying attention
2. Sneak into the house through the open door
3. Trot through the house to the kitchen.
4. Greet everyone there like long-lost friends.
5. Wait by the door to be let out.
6. Stand outside the kitchen door for a minute to see if anyone is coming to play.
7. Either pretend to hear someone by the gate or just go trotting around the back
8. Start over again:  Hang out by the braai(BBQ) area until nobody is paying attention

And you can see that she absolutely enjoys each and every step of this game, which is why I can't bear to shut the door at the braai or close her gate to keep her away. She managed about 15-20 rounds on Christmas day.

the Christmas season begins

 I have been missing but not idle! I have been working on my tin curling for the Christmas craft fair.

 The 2 candle holders used to be cans of cream-style corn. I also did the candles. Writing on candles is an idea I got from my baptism candle where my name is written in gold leaf!

This is just written with a blunt needle, filled with craft paint, and the excess wiped off. I twisted a bit of wire through the red beads to attach them to the wax. 

 We also had a Christmas Carol evening. Here are some of my girls practicing, sorry for the blurriness, I shake it's to protect their privacy.

This picture is supposed to be last, I'm preparing my pumpkin to celebrate Thanksgiving at home. This pumpkin is from my mother-in-law, she grows them every year and thinks I'm crazy for appreciating them soooo much.

 We had our church Thanksgiving already, here is my special girl with her friends(it's not wine, it's Fanta Grape). . .

it was held in the school teacher's lounge.

Times have changed--I remember when the teacher's lounge was a nasty scary place where it was easy to believe the teachers were dragons because of the great clouds of smoke that billowed out whenever some luck-less child opened the door.

The school finishes final exams this week, so next week will be devoted to crafting. I still have that pre-holiday dream that my children will be cheerful industrious unpaid workers while I relax by the pool...

back at home but not to normal

This is not a proper post!!! Just checking in between loads of laundry and house-cleaning. One news flash: The girls' club has got our own venue at last!!

I'm so tired these days!!
After 8 years with a full-time domestic helper, we have let her go. I have honestly had mixed feelings for a long time, especially with how lazy my kids were being, and disrespectful. They haven't had to bother to do chores because they know the lady will eventually do whatever it is--making beds, taking out trash, putting away their toys, the list goes on. When I would go through a phase of 'serious parenting', I would spend two hours in the morning explaining to her that the children must do what I have told them to do, that she mustn't help them. Then the afternoon nagging and reminding the children as well as spying on the domestic to chase her away from their chores. Every day. Aaaargh. Until I would give up and let her do it again.
So now, right in the middle of all these dresses I'm doing, while I'm running around town begging for a permanent girls' club venue, while the kids are having end-of-term exams, as we are planning to leave town for 3 weeks, we fired our cleaning lady / house-sitter. So, yes, I'm a bit tired these days, but I know it's worth it in the long run.

Girls' club today! We chatted about Friday the 13th, bad luck, good luck and personal foolishness. We were supposed to pick up trash, but the girls had good luck when it started to rain! So far the kids here don't seem to take western superstitions too seriously, which is good. Of the 14 girls, 4 had bad luck, 4 had good luck, and 4 had some good and some bad. I haven't got enough knowledge to check the local superstitions, apparently chameleons are very bad omens, and owls, but not bats.
We also made our first public appearance today. My friend donated peel-and-stick paper, so we made name stickers for everyone with their name and "Girls' Club" written. Then I had to explain the apostrophe in Girls'. The Pre-Primary school had it's fund-raiser, so we walked over as a group. Quite nice, we went singing. All we need is some marching moves and we're ready to parade! We didn't collect dues, rather the girls spent their money at the school.

Pictures will be in next post!

my daughter's horse, and the horse we gave to the dog

2011: Chippy and Horsey were almost the same size!

 First, the dog. She's so much fun. On Sunday, we had a bring-and-braai (cook-out)church social. One of the youngsters came home with us afterwards. We had brought bones, so we decided to show off how cute and smart is our dog. We made her sit and dance and she was duly admired. Then we had to show off Horsey because we had used the pink horse for Palm Sunday Sunday School lesson. So I took Horsey and put it on the laundry line. Usually, Chippy will sit below and whimper and jump for her friend, but apparently the smell of the bones was too distracting. So we gave her the bones and went inside.

A year ago, they were the same size and shape, just different colors

Fast forward to about an hour later, the two girls and I are in the kitchen when we hear this cheeping noise. Amy and I explain to our friend that's how the dog got her name, she cheeps. I assume my son is teasing her and will give her whatever she's begging for. But the cheeping doesn't stop so I go out to tell my teenager not to torture the dog with his teasing. And there she is, standing under the laundry line, staring at Horsey, and whimpering for her friend. Ooops!

Ligola's dress top-most, Amy's dress next, and the banner is the arm ruffles for the other six dresses to come

 I have gotten a healthy start on the anniversary dresses. They are all cut out, and all neck and shoulder seams are in. Tomorrow at hobby club I will pin in all the sleeve ruffles and the skirts for the babies and their mommas, or as much as I have time to do. It will be closer to winter when we wear them, so I got a long-sleeve tee-shirt for each of the little ones, but I still expect the African sun so they will also get sun hats which are so much easier to put on babies than the scarves their mommies will get.

Ligola's dress and sun hat

I need to be completely done by the 28th, so I have to do a bit every day.