Birthday Time

October signals the start of the birthday frenzy in our household.

Oshean kicked things off on the 25th, and Eilam turned 1 on the 28th.
Needless to say all that cake is not helping my thighs...or my butt.

This 'n That

I discovered an awsome author today.
She is Canadian, and writes brilliant "chick-lit" novels.
I'm reading Chronicles of a Mid-Life Crisis, and it's definitly my kinda read these days.

Today, I also received my copy of Manju Kapur's "A Married Woman"
I'm trying to read more books written by Indian authors. These books are intense, but so colourful,and deep, and honest.

On the television front, Oshean and I are desperately trying to catch up with Season's 1 and 2 of Heroes.
I'm not sure why we waited so long to watch this.It's totally up our alley :)

Scrappy-wise, I've been making a few Christmas cards to send out. So far I just have about 4, and they're ear-marked to go to family in South Africa.

I've also been working on a few pages for Busy Bee.
Our Tips and Techniques articles go live around the first of every month.

Here's a peek :)

Hee-Hee...wasn't that bumper sticker from my last post so funny?
I came across it a week or so ago, and had to put it on here.

Oohhh...I started working out again last week.
It's been a long time since I've been at it, and it really shows. I've barely lost any of the weight I put on with my last pregnancy, and the extra kilos are taking their toll on my feet, back and overall mental well-being.

I started with just 20 minutes a day on the treadmill, and today worked up to 30 minutes.
I'm using a rolling hills, walking program, 'cause this girl don't run...unless someone is chasing me with a large butcher's knife of course ;)

I've calculated that I'd like to lose about 15 kgs to start feeling happy about myself.
There I put it out here for all to see.
I'm committed.

Don't say you never felt like this...

MAC or PC???

I've been in need of a new laptop for a while now.
But...
I can't decide.

Some say "Once you go MAC you don't go back".
Others say the learning curve from PC to MAC can take some getting used to.
And I'm not so sure this old dog is up to learning any new tricks yet :)

Although, I must say that Apple is making up my mind a little more every day.
Their new MacBooks look fantastic and the LED Cinema Displays have this techie-geek-girl chomping at the bit.

But then I think if we switch to MAC, we should switch to a MAC desktop too, and that sounds costly since our pimped out PC desktop is but over a year old...

Oy!

Let me leave you with a Christmas card I made yesterday, using Upsy Daisy's new "Spirit" line

After close to 8 years of living in Canada with no family to watch our kids if we ever wanted to go out alone; nobody to take the kids off my hands for even an hour, we decided to get some help.

A few months ago we applied for a nanny and started the long papertrail.

Last weekend she arrived and it has been great.
It takes some getting used to having someone else in our space, especially since we are notoriously private people, but our privacy is one the reasons we decided to get someone who will live with us and work only for us.

*M* is an awsome housekeeper. She cleans everything, all the time.She helps out with the kids, especially during the crazy morning and evenings when all four kids need stuff at the exact same time.

It's been bliss!

House

The last few weeks have been frustrating and stressful.
We were due to move into our new home next week, but it appears it won't happen until late December/January next year.

But,
on the upside, what has been done so far looks great and we're happy with that.

Here are a few pics:





The Foyer (which takes my breath away even when it looks a mess)


The view from the kitchen and nook into the Family Room (how gorgeous is that red?)


The oversized family room in the basement, which leads to a bedroom and bathroom:


The steps into the basement (love our rounded steps)


The deck..(rad,right?)