I knew it!

Reindeer's Story at Christmas

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.

Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should have known...

ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost!!!

Hahahaha! Be blessed! C.

You Gave Me A Mountain

This is really a great story – enjoy!

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens.

"Great", she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry." She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there. She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You." I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him... I can do all things through GOD who strengthens me.

Be blessed! C.

Why Women are So Special..

This crossed my inbox recently and it was so spot-on that I just have to share it with you! Enjoy!

Why Women Are So Special.
Mum and Dad were watching TV when Mum said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed." She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches. Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.

She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button. She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.

She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry. She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the excursion and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair. She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her bag.

Mum then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night Solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails. Dad called out, "I thought you were going to bed." "I'm on my way," she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.. She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and radios, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. "I'm going to bed." And he did...without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer...? 'CAUSE THEY ARE MADE FOR THE LONG HAUL......... (and they can't die sooner, they still have things to do!!!!)

BE BLESSED! C.

My princess is growing up...

Have you ever had one of those dreams where, somewhere during the dream, you have to go to the toilet but nothing comes out no matter how hard you try? Then you wake up and you realise that your bladder is so full it wants to pop, but you didn’t WET THE BED!! And you go the toilet to do the necessary, smiling at the fact that our bodies are amazing in that it knew how to wake us up to get us to go to the loo… I get those a couple of times a year…

I’ve been struggeling to get my 5 year old daughter Chené off her night nappy. I know, I know… FIVE?? Somehow she won the powerstruggle and I just gave up, hoping that someday things would change. Recently she went to go sleep over at a friend’s house, where Auntie Debbie told her she was a big girl now and she mustn’t wear nappies anymore!! She came home, promptly informed us that Auntie Debbie said this and Auntie Debbie said that, so she’s going to stop wearing the nappies. My jaw dropped to the floor… How long had I been telling her this SAME thing? How long? So, I asked daddy to take the 10H30 pm toilet run, which he has been doing for more than a week. So far it’s going VERY well… I’m so proud of my little princess. I see Debbie at the daycare every day, so she gets a running commentary of how Chené’s doing. I laugh at this because Debbie knows my struggles with the nappy thing and she obviously saw a gap of how she could help. I cannot thank her enough! This is such a big thing in our household, you have no idea!

Last night I went to the information evening for Chené’s Gr R class next year. I sat there listening to all they did and the rules and regulations – and I felt like crying. Mostly because I know how much my child hates rules and structure. She’s like a butterfly, spreading love wherever she goes. Her imagination is amazing and she’s so good with her little sister. I really don’t like having to send her to school. To make things worse, they start at 7H45 – are they crazy? That’s the time we’re still running around like chickens without heads, trying to get the kids packed up, grab our things and get in the car! So daddy got a stern talking to last night about how he CANNOT sleep late anymore. Once he finally gets up, he’s ready in 5 mins, but the girls take a bit longer - which usually makes us late. In winter I fight with them EVERY day to get them to get up… I get up at 6h15.

So, I’ve decided to not think about it any more and to rather concentrate on our holiday coming up and on decorating the new school bags Chené got for use next year (they encourage this). I was thinking of something with a princess or a balarina theme… any ideas guys? I’m a VERY creative person, but a bad decision maker! HELP PLEASE!! Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful weekend. The sun is shining in Cape Town! Be blessed!

Blue Tuesday!

I know I’m supposed to update this blog regularly, but honestly! I JUST CAN’T FIND THE TIME! When did I become so busy? And at the end of the day, I look around me and ask – so what did you actually DO today? I’m busy with a little bit of everything it seems, with nothing coming to conclusion. I feel a bit frustrated with myself, because I fiddle and fiddle and nothing is in place! So why am I tired at the end of the day? It doesn’t help if your day started out like mine did…

First I was upset with hubby for wearing one of only TWO decent shorts he has left to work. He’s a foreman at an aluminium company, so obviously everything gets dirty and torn… I sit more nights with mending to be done, than I get to do my blog! So you’ll excuse me if I get a bit hot under the collar when he wears the NEW shorts… And what’s his reaction? He just shrugs… SHRUGS!!! I tell you… Then I drop the kids at the day mother where 18 month old Mia promptly decides to start crying so that I won’t leave her. She doesn’t really do this kind of thing, so now I’m a typical mother and I’m starting to worry. She had a runny tummy yesterday which cleared up after some meds and no fever to speak of since, but what if…? Oh stop it Corne!

Then I drive to work and I sneeze so much in the car that my eyes start to water and I can’t do my make-up. Sigh… So I get to work all ghost-faced, to walk into an office that is buzzing with activity as my boss tries to get everyone out to sites on time. Of COURSE there will be something that I missed yesterday (that I was supposed to inform him of), so I feel bad about that and try to sort it out. Then, as soon as he leaves for a site meeting, it starts… One after the other THEY come pest me! The guys who work in the warehouse, that is. It seems they wait until I’m settling in, getting a nice rhythm to my work – and then they strike! They need this, I must do that for them, they want to use the phone, and of course… the loans. It frustrates the heck out of me that my petty cash (i.e. the money we keep for office use / emergencies) is used for loans for the guys. By Wednesday each week, I’ve got nothing left. So I’m a bit miffed at this day so far… Hopefully it will get better. Picking up the girls for ballet at about 2 and helping at my mom’s school concert tonight and tomorrow night. Looking forward to it, actually. This will be her last concert as she is (finally!) retiring. Now we just have to find her something to keep her occupied in her retirement, because she’s got more go left in her than I do! Any ideas, anyone?

In-between all of this I’m desperately trying to get the virtual assistant business off the ground… but it’s a SLOW process and some days I just feel like dropping the whole thing. The trouble is… I really think this is perfect for me! Please hold thumbs for me… and tell all your friends! Have a lovely week and be blessed!

Blogs & grey hair...

My mind has been racing with things to put on the blog, but everytime I sit down to write, I seem to forget what they were! And then I think of that farmer in the Barnyard movie, when he says that his wife’s mind is gooooooone! That’s how I feel! I keep on having to back track, just to go find my train of thought again! Have you ever done that? You know, retracing your steps, talking to yourself: “I was here, then I went to get that, then I packed that away, then I…. oh YES! THAT’s what I wanted to do!” Terrible, I tell you, terrible! And I’m still relatively young! My mother is only getting to that stage NOW. How did I get the bug so early? And when your’e busy with something, and someone interrupts you… try getting back on track after that! My hubby jokes that I’m getting old, but I think I work too hard! You should see how grey I am…

Speaking of grey… My sister is a hairdresser, actually she teaches other people how to be a hairdresser – excuse me, STYLIST. You would think that this would mean that I look fabulous all the time… but sadly no. The poor thing is pregnant with her second child, and it’s murder to try and find a spot to get in for a colour with her with her busy program. So, being the hands on person I am, I went and bought a cheap hair colour to tie me over untill she could fit me in again. I was REALLY grey and felt very selfconsious when I dealth with clients, so I just had to do something! Last Saturday I took the big leap and did my own “touchup” on the grey with this unknown colour. Although I have done a full hair colour a few times before, I’ve never tried to only do the grey part. And… it didn’t come out half bad! Must be in the jeans! It’s a bit RED, but otherwise I’m very pleased with myself! This way at least I can help myself until I can get an appointment with my Personal Stylist!

The sun is shining today – just makes me feel alive! Be blessed everyone!

Yes, I'm fat...

I've been fat my whole life, well actually only since my parents lost everything when I was about 12 and I started eating to compensate for being uprooted to a new home, friends, etc. My mother and sister are both beautiful and thin, so people noticed them. I however have been blessed with a warm personality and wonderful thick red hear, so people REMEMBER me! And not for my weight! I recently found a whole lot of my old high school friends on facebook and was surprised about how many of the "skinny" ones got big after having children. So I'm not alone! And most don't remember my sister, only me because of my hair.

I have a wonderful husband who never says I am fat, as he eats right along side me! We LOVE food, the texture, the tastes - so my eating to feel better has gone over into an honest enjoyment of food, especially since hubby is a great cook. Now my mother and sister are still beautiful and I'm still the fat one, but I've learned to accept myself and try just to control it. Loosing weight is a major battle for me - just trying to not pick up more is easier.

My eldest daughter is slim and tall, and instead of telling her "you'll get fat if you eat so much" (like my mother told me, thereby speaking the condemnation into my life), I tell her that she should be active and try her best not to be fat like us. She loves fresh fruit and vegetables (as I do) so I give this instead of sweets. And I try to teach her moderation, a word I learned too late. My second daughter is a bit chubby, but then she's only 18 months old! We're trying to get her to be as active as her sister and to only speak positives into their lives. Hopefully this overweight thing stops here!

I was always very obsessed with my weight (not being able to get any off) when I was living at home. Since marrying my husband (who I met when I'd FINALLY dropped about 10kg's), I've been more focussed on the things he loves about me. He compliments me on tiny things and has a good eye for clothes to flatter my (big) body. Who wouldn't want someone like that in their lives?? Strangely enough, we were sitting last night, discussing the fact that we REALLY should do something about our respective weights, as we seem to just have GAINED again this winter. Come on summer, I need fruit and water!

So, my point is this: Surround yourself with people who love you and see the REAL you, and the rest will follow. And teach you children what you know now about weight gain! And the next time someone makes a weight comment to you or yours, please direct them to the nearest hairdresser so they can fix their shabby hair!

Where'd the sun go??

So, we set up the swimming pool up today (it’s deflatable) in the hope that summer will catch the hint and decide to return to Cape Town! The weather has been SO weird lately! Last weekend – summer, during the week – winter, this weekend – summer, this coming week – winter again! How is a girl supposed to do her washing (and with 2 kids there’s LOTS!) if the sun won’t show? I have to check the weather in advance on the internet just to plan when to do the washing. And if it rains the whole week, you should see what our house looks like! If you have the sun where you are, please send a little sun our way!

Trying to understand this blog business...

So, it’s been another day of work and life for me. I tried to write a blog about my hubby last night, but I seem to be doing something wrong. Every time, yes EVERY time, I finish the blog and click on post to blog, IT GOES POOF!! Gone… just gone…. ARGH NO!!!!! I saved every few lines, but it’s still gone! Ok, lesson well learned. Write it in Word first, then just copy and paste. And it was such a good blog! I’ll try to rewrite it again.


But for now I want to talk (type) about something else. I got a very disturbing email yesterday that called for action against child abuse. Now, as a mother of a 1 and 5 year old, this really UPSETS me! Especially because I had been molested as a child. I do however feel blessed to have a husband who would protect his daughters at any cost (more about him later!). We have a major problem in South Africa with child abuse and I wish we had more resources to tackle the problem. Every time I get an email with a tagline just MENTIONING child abuse, I have to delete it immediately, because if I read it first I end up sitting and crying for the better part of an hour. I pray for protection over my little ones every day and I will protect them with everything I have!! May God protect those poor children who don’t have caring parents to pray for their welfare. And here I sit bawling my eyes out again…

So I'm starting my own virtual business...

I started my own virtual business... What was I thinking??? This is difficult!! Ok, let me take a few steps back and get you in the loop of the last few weeks in my life:

It all started when the company both my husband and I work for, was unable to give us our annual salary increases. Everything here has gone up, but now our income stayed the same. What now? I desperately needed to supplement our income, so I posted a message on a Yahoo group I belong to for any ideas people might have on a legitimate second income. The ideas came in - some requiring money (halloooo I don't HAVE any!), some marketing related, but one really caught my interest and so my journey began. Since I am an Office Manager by profession, I wanted something along this line to do in my spare (spare? with two kids? HA!) time. So I started researching about becoming a VA or Virtual Assistant. Now, if you're a newbie at cyberspace, like me, you'd be asking "what's a VA?" In short, it's an admin assistant (secretary) who works from a virtual office (home) assisting people with their admin needs (in between a day job, running a home, the kids and hubby!).

I took the advice I got and joined a Yahoo group called TAVASA (Transcriptionist and VAs of South Africa), a wonderful group of ladies who were eager to help with setting up my business, answered all my questions and gave me helpful tips. As you can see from the group's name, I live in South Africa, a beautiful country full of natural resources, sea, sun and friendly people, just like TAVASA. I feel blessed living here, despite the high crime rate, because I love the people here. Where else would you find people who are willing to help you without expecting anything in return? Though the rest of the world seems to be digitally more advanced in using VAs, I was surprised to see that SA was not far behind and was eager to join them!

My best friend Elouize currently lives in Dubai (her husband is very much in demand as an air traffic controller) and she's been listening to my worries about our finances for the past few months. When I told her about this new venture, her comment was "great! What can I do to help?" (she's a legal PA). S0, with friend in tow, I chose a name, got an email address, set up the web page, designed the letterhead, wrote the business plan, etc etc, all while working full day and running a home and the kids... and almost crashed! We were planning on going "live" by the 1st of October, 2009 and I was working around the clock. And then it happened...

Shortly before the 1st, I asked Elouize to check the website in order for us to iron out some last minute wrinkles. She accidentally typed the web address in wrong... and landed on a page where another lady was using the SAME name as us, doing the SAME work we wanted to do. OH! MY! WORD!

"So?" she asks me via MSN live chat. "What now?" What now? NOW I did crash! I wanted to cry, scream, throw things!! It took all my courage not to lock myself in a closet somewhere! Do you know how hard I worked?? How I struggled to get everything in place and done in time?? WHAT NOW?? NOW, I calmed back down (VERY upset with myself for NOT surfing the net to see if the name was in use for the same reason we wanted to use it, a lesson well learned) and asked her opinion. She suggested we start afresh: new name, new logo, new outlook on life. So we started brainstorming again. What name will we use? Luckily for us, her hubby Dick was home and eagerly gave suggestions via MSN. Effective VA (nope), Overflow Execs (maybe), Chaos Crusaders (hahahahaha!) and finally Admin Aunties (EUREKA!!!!). So, after BOTH of us having surfed the net to make SURE the name is not in use, we found a cute logo, changed all our documentation, redesigned the web site - all before finally going live on the 5th of October, 2009. Not bad, actually.

And then came e-marketing. I had no idea it would be so much work! I'm STILL not finished! I think we're only listed on about 10% of the known sites, and I still have to find the UNknown ones! My diary has too few lines to write in every day... and I seem to get my ideas right before I fall asleep. So, I now keep a pen next to my bed (the pad has been confiscated by my 1 year old) and wake up every morning with illegible scribblings on my hands of things I need to remember to do that day! In the meantime our website http://adminaunties.yolasite.com/ 's webcounter is very SLOWLY counting away, I'm checking our email every day, we're sending out e-mails to prospective clients, etc etc... Soon, I tell you, SOON we'll be getting more work than we can handle! Poor Elouize is saddled with a friend and partner that can think of nothing but the business, probably driving her (and my hubby) crazy with my nerves!

So, I've decided to start the blog as an exhaust for all my stresses and ups and downs! I hope to keep you updated on what's happening at Admin Aunties, as well as blog some titbits about my wonderful, funny hubby and our life together. My two little girls are busy enough for a whole SERIES of blogs! But mostly, I love to write and I'm eager to see if I can BLOG!!

Come visit me again soon! Be blessed!