The Purple Journal

Feeling tired and longing for my HOLIDAY (leave in 16 days time!)!

• looking for a nursery school that we can afford for my daughter (2 yrs 5 months). I have a feeleing I have left it too much until the last minute and we are not going to find anything suitable
• we put up beautiful bamboo blinds in the scrap / computer room at home - they look stunning
• The Christmas party was wonderful on Saturday we had Westlife performing (about 45 mins) as well as Vicky Sampson. The food was ot great, but thats probably to be expected when they are catering for 4500 people! We had a blast and danced the night away until 1.30 in the morning.
• Cant wait to start reading this book that I bought!
• I have not started studying - but a friend doing the same courses hasn't started either and she seems to think it will be fine!
• I have just been to a baby shower of a woman at work due to have a baby girl on the 23 December - SUCH CUTE gifts! I love baby showers!
• I have had a card-making frenzy - I have made 15 cards in the last few days!
• I am worried that I cant find the 8X8 inch scrapbook I need for my mother, mother-in-law and granny's books I am making them for Christmas (I have phonede all the stores that I know in the area!)
• I have slipped off my diet for the last week ad need top start brining my salad to work again if I am going to be able to get into a costume over Christmas!
• I LOVE this paper pack which I downloaded free from digichicks.com (I haven't used it yet)

I got the new (-ish) John Grisham - the Broker....cant wait to get home and start reading it. I also bought a few odds and ends like stickers and some cardstock - I LOVE CNA! This weekend will be quite busy - tomorrow night is my work Christmas party and in the morning we have to do the grocery shopping. Sunday we have a Braai with Jerome's Aunty Topsy. I still need a top to wear to the party tomorrow night - I will post pics here Monday. Have a great weekend!

• I had a wonderful day yesterday ( a surprise bunch of flowers from J, supper for just the two of us, and nice big frame and an album)
• Have new music on my MP3 player that I am loving listening to it now (count on me - Whitney Houston and Cece Winans is playing now - I just listenened to my favourite Sting song - Fields of Gold)
• 3 weeks until the end of my work year and DURBAN!
• I NEED to start studying! 3 exams starting on the 9 January!!!! Shucks!
• I had salad and rooibos tea for lunch
• I have a new favourite pen - it's bronze and still works (I bought it at the fleamarket about 3 years ago!)
• I found the SARK books for the first time at Exclusive books - I will be buying my first SARK book after I get paid....tomorrow! Yay!
• I may have taken on more than I can handle right now with the studying....

I know. From my fresh-faced beauty depicted below, you would NEVER say! 10 years ago I turned 21 - so that says it ALL! I am trying to put a positive spin on being 30-something, and I can't seem to find anything.... at least its not 40-something? At least I have all my teeth? At least I can still walk on my own? =0) 31 things I am grateful for today:

1. A wonderful loving husband
2. 2 wonderful, naughty, beautiful, healthy children
3. I have a job
4. A loving family
5. Friends
6. SCRAPPING!!!
7. A beautiful, cozy, comfortable home
8. Writing
9. Herbal teas
10. Summer in Johannesburg
11. Holidays in 3 weeks
12. I am healthy
13. A lovely white suit from Woolworths
14. Christmas parties
15. The blue top I have on today
16. The internet
17. colours (purple, brown, pink and turquoise are my current favourites)
18. flowers in my garden
19. A healthy family
20. Sunshine
21. 60 coloured pens
22. New paper to scrap
23. Brown sandals (flip flops)
24. The smell of a newly painted dining room
25. Norah Jones
26. Bebe and Cece Winans
27. A richard North Patterson book I found 2nd hand at the fleamarket
28. hugs and kisses
29. Late mornings
30. A space to call my own (scrapping, writing, STUDYING!!)
31. Woolworths!

So maybe its not so bad to turn 31 after all!

Well sort of! It seemed like a nice catchy phrase to start with on a Monday. Today I have done more work than I have in a long time and it feels good! I feel like I have accomplished something (a bit - not too much) but it is a start! I think the realisation that I go on leave in a few weeks (the 15 Dec is my last DAY!!! YAY - I need to work out how to put one of those ticker thingies here to follow everyday....I'll put it on my LIST!) forced me to get my ass into gear and get things done. When I get back in January, the following are due:

• My Needs analysis project and report which is half done
• My Assessment of someone at work (which I havent started)
• I am back for 3 days, then I go off to write my 3 three, THREE exams which I have not STARTED studying for

So.....I have exactly 4 weeks to sort all of this out

Also, I have decided to try to make gifts for some people this year:

• Brag books for my mother, Mother-in-law and Granny
• Journals with Journal Jars and bookmarks for teenagers (1 niece and 3 cousins)
• Card sets for 2 Aunties (I have about 6 aunties - cant do ALL those though!)
• Mini book for a sister in Law of her daughter

It seems a bit overwhelming when its all written up - but I CAN do it - yes, yes, yes (imagine a hyped up motivational speaker voice!)

The weekend was great - lots of retail therapy (that may acount for my improved mood and increased productivity=0). I went shopping with my sister and brother - it was nice, we haven't done that since we all lived at home. I bought a beautiful white pants suit (for my company Christmas party next Saturday) and a pair of Indian style sandals 3 pairs of shoes for Tyla, and both childrens outfits for Christmas. Sunday I returned a skirt and a dress which I did not like and we had lunch at the fleamarket

Anyway, I will stop surfing the net and get back to My Productive Day =0)

or bad luck... where I'm from we call it Baaties. Bad luck. Rotten timing. Murphy's Law. Take your pick... Now Im not one of those people who immediately see the funny side of bad things that happen to me. I normally need the luxury and distance of about 3-5 years. But this is just classic! I have just returned to my desk from fetching my Friday morning treat - a lovely cup of hot chocolate. The kitchen is about 50 metres from my desk and the toilet is right next door. So, I always try to combine this trip ... first to the ladies, then to the kitchen for tea etc. Today as usual....Ladies first. But I could not get the zip of my jeans down... " maybe its stuck" I think to myself. "Maybe I caught the zip in some of the materialof the pants" I think.... but these would all be to lucky, too contrary to my life, too easy for Sharms. This would mean the glass is half full, when today, obviously the glass is so definitely and firmly half empty! OBVIOUSLY.. My zip is broken. Yep. Broken. bear in mind that it is 8.40 on a work day, so I have to last with this broken zip until 5.00 this afternoon. Any tips on how to fix a zip would be appreciated. Sharms "the glass is half empty" Samuels! Edited to add: of course - the best part is that I am stuck in my office for the day! No toilet, no tea, no nothing because I have about 40 people who line the "path" in cubicles from my office to the passage to the kitchen - too embarrasing to walk out there with goodness knows what hanging out for the world to see.... These things only HAPPEN TO ME!!

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c218/SharmaSamuels/S1010078.jpg me http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c218/SharmaSamuels/S1010071.jpg Jordanv-son http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c218/SharmaSamuels/S1010068.jpg Tyla - daughter http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c218/SharmaSamuels/S1010066.jpg Jerome - husband

Yesterday morning was great - we had a meeting at Jordan's school, then we had breakfast at Wimpy together and did a bit of shopping (for ourselves and NOT the children for a change!) I got a pink strapless top, some beads and bracelets and Jay got sneakers and socks. It was nice time alone together - we haven't done that for along time. I am trying the micro movements I put here yesterday from SARK - I really need something to get me going on all fronts:

1. I NEED TO START STUDYING!!!!
2. I need to start doing some work and working towards my work goals
3. I need to get writing again
4. I need to start on the gifts I want to make for Christmas
5. I think I must get a "project book" and start setting dates and times to all these things.....
6. ......micromovements.....thats all it takes!

I feel tired and low - just funny like funny funny, not funny haha =) My sinuses are acting up and my body is sore...maybe getting the flu..

MICROMOVEMENTS Tiny Little Baby Steps By SARK Micromovements are tiny, tiny little steps you can take towards completions of your life. I'm a recovering procrastinator and perfectionist and I have a short attention span, so I invented Micromovements as a method of completing projects in time spans of 5 minutes or less. I always feel like I can handle almost anything for 5 minutes! Here's an example of a project that can sit on a list for months or even years. Procrastinators are great mental rehearsers. They can clean the closet in their mind dozens of times without any actual movement! and then, there can be no failure! Or success…… Here's an example of a micromovement: After completing this micromovement, you simply choose another gentle, small step. It is important to use dates and times as a guidance system. It is equally important not to tyrannize yourself with the chosen time. If the time comes, and you simply cannot make a move, gently assign yourself another date and time. I like the gentleness and "allowance" of this. We are always so hard on ourselves for perceived transgressions - this is a refreshing way of saying we shoudl step back and be kinder and gentler with ourselves which will eventually lead to the achievement of the goals we have set for ourselves by taking tiny steps towards them. I LOVE SARK!!!!!

Happy Friday! Its so easy to be happy on a Friday, it shouldn't even count! Anything is possible on a Friday, you can accomplish so much over the promised weekend - 2 whole days of doing things you WANt to do! Our school events are over - we just have to make sure we get "civvies Day" over next week, then the wind down to the end of the year starts. I need to work out how to put a ticker here for the countodwn to my trip to Durban over the Christmas hiloidays! Speaking of Christmas...we have already seen some shops are decorated, now it can only go downhill with the inundation of annoying Christmas advertising and jingles playing everywhere. I love Christmas - its my favourite holiday and time of the year, if only I could block my eyes and ears for the duration of the season it would be perfect! I have a few goals this weekend (I like to have a list going in to the weekend so I dont feel like I have wasted my only 2 days of freedaom!!)

• Sleep late on Saturday morning ( I am exhausted)
• Make some koeksisters for my family
• Take the childrento the lake to feed the ducks
• Go to church
• Start putting my books in order and start STUDYING!!!! (exam are in January and I have stupidly take THREE, 3, drie subjects this year!
• Take some nice photos and scrap them
• Do some writing exercises form the Right to Write

Have a great weekend!

I am exhausted - a combination of ahectic weekend, then being sick and a late night last night after mu sons play at his school - tonight they have a cultural evening at the school - so no chance of an early night. I suppose I will rest enough when I am dead....

Happy to be back! So much to write about, so little time... Last week's training was gruelling and challenging. I enjoyed it mostly but it was quite exhausting. I look at it as a way to upgrade my skills and equip me better to re-enter the job market next year.... Friday was stressfull in between trying to leave the course early and having my family waiting outside through no fault of my own was tough. I eventually let it go so that our First Family Holiday was not spoiled! We drove the entire afternoon and arrived in White river at about 6.00. We stopped at A Spar (there are MANY for some reason in the Nelspruit / White River area) and got the essentials (bread, milk, cereal) and supper at Twinz, a local Pizza place. Saturday morning we were all up early (YAY!:-() and got ready for a day out. The weather was overcast and not warm enough for the children to swim, so we decided to try to find GodsWindow. We drove to Nelspruit and called the tourism board when we got there (only to find thatb we had driven for 20minutes in the WRONG direction!) We eventually found it after getting lost once more... We found a map and that helped a bit. The view from God's Window was absolutely worth the drive! (I will try to find links and post them here soon) It is the most awe inspiring thing I have ever seen in my life. There are just trees and mountians into the distance as far as the eye can see. The trip there is filled with mountains and trees cover every stunning part of those mountains. We stopped on the road to look over the side of one of the mountains and I was immediately filled with vertigo! We passed through little towns like Hazyview and Graskop - very small and touristy but with lots of character! Sunday we woke up to rain bucketing down, so we watched a bit of cricket for most of the morning and went to the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon. We got slightly rained on, but it was wonderful - and a place we would not normally visit. Monday we packed and got ready to make our way home. We stopped for a visit to the Sudwala caves in Sabie and eventually got home at about 3.00 in the afternoon. Overall, a wonderful holiday and break from the routine!