My friend Val…

I’m a little late with this one… as usual…  but knowing Valerie, I’m sure she’ll forgive me! 

You’ll remember in my friend Lee’s blog I told you that I had 3 very special ladies as friends, two of whom are godmothers to my daughters.  This one is for my youngest Mia’s godmother Valerie on her (now passed) birthday…

To tell this story right, I have to tell you how we met.  About 3 years ago I  was still doing nails from home as a second income, when I got a call from a lady who made an appointment.  She was very adamant that she was from Johannesburg and she KNEW how good acrylic nails should look and that I should not take any offence if she only comes once, because she won’t come back if she’s not happy.  Now look, I’m a redhead… and very stubborn!  So I told her I can guarantee her she’ll come back… Hahahaha!  So she came, we chatted, we connected – and 3 years later we are still best of friends!  Though she has moved on to someone else for her nails (due to Mia’s health I had to stop for a while) Val has been a welcome addition to my life, someone who really cares about me.  She’s forever giving me things – like their old TV when mine passed away, a beautiful TV cabinet when she got a new one, a grand plate set (I’ve never owned something like that before!), beautiful jewellery for my birthday (and even once just because she felt like it!), etc etc.  I’ve never been in the position to return the favour, so I gave her the one thing I had… godparent-ship to my daughter.  During my pregnancy, she was there every step of the way.  She only has one daughter and really wanted another child at that stage.  Unfortunately it was her (wonderful) husband’s second marriage and he already had two other daughters, so he was “fixed”.  My heart broke for her when she talked about longing for another child, and here I was pregnant.  The more I got to know her and Alwyn (her hubby), I knew that I could never ask for better people to stand in as spiritual guiders for my baby girl.  So Herman and I decided to ask them to become a part of our family, which they eagerly embraced.

They were there for her since her birth and every time we needed a babysitter for Mia – and she would come back thoroughly spoilt!  She gave Mia her first haircut too (pictured here) as she used to be a hairdresser before Alwyn’s business took off and she became an allrounder – mom, wife, personal assistant, bookkeeper.  Val is like me, we just cannot help ourselves when we see something really cute for Mia.  Mia also took her first steps in their living-room (which made it really special!), to a loud applause from both sets of parents!  When we go to church to meet them there, Mia always lands up on Alwyn’s lap, very content.  She knows she’s loved with them, always.

Poor Val has had her ups and downs with family, I think perhaps in some cases more than most of us have.  Yet I find that after she’s had a good cry about everything, she goes back to our Father, asking for guidance, before she lifts her head and looks the worlds squarely in the face again.  She carries her troubles with grace, while making a success of her life.  Valerie is a wonderful, warm, caring, creative, understanding, encouraging, faithful friend.  She always dresses very smartly, looking so gorgeous that I feel like a washed up rag next to her – though that beauty definitely comes from within.  We don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like to due to conflicting work schedules, but she always sends me an email or sms so see if I’m still around!  I don’t even do that, bad Corné…  As I’m writing this, I’m missing her terribly.  She’s been someone I could talk to and spend quality time with since Elouize left and I hope that we’ll never loose our special bond. 

So Val, I know I let you know your present would be late, but I didn’t plan on THIS LATE!! My darling friend, I love you.  I hope that you will be in my life for a long, long time to come!  Happy (belated) Birthday!!!

To all my pumpkin friends…

A woman was asked by a co- worker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"

The co- worker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin." God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you.  Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.

He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed.  Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

This was passed on to me by another pumpkin.  Now it's your turn to pass it to other pumpkins.  I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch!!

Be Blessed!!!

My Fishies Had Their Birthdays!

Weird title, I know – but since my husband Herman and daughter Mia-Mari both had their birthdays last week (17th and 19th), that makes them PISCES!!! Get it? Fishies…

Anyway… so it’s been a hectic time for me as usual, except now a little worse as Herman missed a step on a ladder at work and met the ground face to face.  His right knee got the worst of it and he’s been off work since the 11th, which is really tough on me at the moment.  Besides the fact that he’s not really able to do much but sit with the leg in the air (though he really does try to help me), I actually MISS the bugger at work!  And I’m dead tired all the time from running around, double time.  I swear, if I’m not 5kg’s lighter by the time he’s mobile again… ;-)  He’s going back to the doctor on the 31st and we’re REALLY hoping no surgery will be necessary.  He’s just VERY bored at home already…

So my baby girl turned 2 on the 19th… jeez where does the time go?  She’s sooooo cute and soooooo talkative and soooooo in her “terrible two's with temper tantrums” stage, hahaha!  Her poor sister Chené is constantly being yelled at in baby talk, if not hit on the head with a toy.  Lucky for Mia, Chené so loves having a playmate, that she takes (most of) it in her stride.  But every now and then I send sis off to her room to watch a DVD while keeping baby busy, just to try and keep Chené’s sanity!  Mia’s godparents went away for the weekend, so we went around there on Thursday so they could give her her gift – a tricycle!  She LOVED it!  Now of course we just HAD to get Chené’s bike out of the garage (the break is broken) so that they could ride them!  We had a little party for her at the day mother on the Friday where she got stuffed on sweets, talking all the time.  She had a ball!  A few prezzies there… but when we got home – oh boy!  THERE was another big PRESENT on the cupboard – from Chené’s godparents!  It was a doll that could cry and laugh (she loves that) and drink a bottle and sleep – all with the appropriate sounds and movement of the mouth.  We got her a pram to go with it, so she was set. 

Daddy’s birthday on the 17th was BAD to say the least.  In between terrible pain, busy kids and a tired, overstressed (aka bitchy) wife, the poor thing was not happy!  So I wowed via Facebook (haha) to make it up to him.  Had a pizza delivered with a “I’m sorry!” note the next day, but we ended up going out for the evening as he was tired of being cooped up in the house.  How is it possible that he could still be so sexy on crutches?  Hahahaha!  Had a nice ribs special, which left us with enough left over to take home, so we had ribs and leftover pizza on Friday!  Not bad, in his books…  Mommy also gave Daddy a stereo headset for his birthday, so he could now watch his movies and play games in style!

On Saturday we had some friends and family over for a braai for the fishies’ birthdays.  That was really nice!  Herman sat on a lounge chair outside and kept everyone entertained, while my dad did the braaing for us.  LOVELY!!  The weather played along great, so we were able to stay outside for quite a while while the kids played.  We even had a very lively discussion on exactly how old he (and in a few months, I) actually was, since he had gotten it into his head that he was 34 and he was FEELING 34.  Then we counted backwards to 1977 – hey no!  He’s ONLY 33!  Phew…  Since there were 4 little girls (with Chené and Mia), they of course dressed up too – in the gorgeous Disney dresses Chené got from Elouize.  Sorry, there WAS one little boy there – my sister’s beautiful baby Wian, who his auntie Corné grabbed every chance she got!   He so tiny and still smells like baby, something I’m already missing now that my baby’s growing up.  The little bugger just smiled as he was passed from arm to arm, from grandma to aunt to grandpa to uncle…  I miss him already!

Oooooo, I’ll tell you about the goings on at Admin Aunties and LiBa Training (yes, new venture!) in the next blog.  For now the most important – ELOUIZE IS COMING FOR A VISIT NEXT WEEK!   As usual she’s seeing that I get some adventure in my life, so she’s flying me up to Johannesburg to meet her and the kids and fly back with them.  It’s my first time on an aeroplane and the first time in Joburg!  Whoopdido!  Thought for a short while that hubby’s injury might mean that I couldn’t go anymore, but we made a plan!  So now – WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR??!! :-)

Be Blessed my friends!

Something old, back to being something new!

Sooooo, I finally decided it’s time to dust off my liquid and powders and start doing acrylic nails again! Jip, I’m putting an advert into our little community news thingy and hoping for the best.

Those of you who’ve know me for longer, will know that I was a nail tech at Dream Nails for about two years. It was a real change from being in admin, but I enjoyed it. The girls I worked with were really nice (except for the odd cat-fight, of course) and we had LOTS of fun while I learned about a whole new world. I was the oldest in the bunch, the (almost) motherly figure. I gave advice and they gave fashion tips. I gave the shoulder to cry on and they tried very hard to loosen me up! We did lots of fun promotions and nail art and had some real sweetheart clients. It was especially fun for me, as my sister is a hair stylist – imagine what we could do together! She liked using the girls I worked with as models for her competitions, while she got free nails out of the deal.

When the salon changed ownership (a sad day for me, though I’m still friends with the original owner Mandy), things just wasn’t the same. Mandy loved coming in on Saturdays (she had a day job!), cleaning up all around us, making coffee and chatting away with the clients. I guess with being the only female in a house full of men, this was her “girl time”. She was into fun and so were we. Then came Tracey – only about 3 or so years older than me and we just did not click. Partly because I had training in Human Resources (so I was clued up) and she couldn’t put her unjust new rules and regulations past me. I’m not one for pretentious people, so we were like oil and water. I don’t know who was more relieved when I had to resign when I fell pregnant with my first daughter – me or her! I still keep in touch with one of the girls Tanya, and of course Mandy.

ANYWAY, though I went back to admin, I’ve been doing nails as a second income off and on now for about 5 years. Since I don’t need a big client base, I get to do my clients when I want to… which helps if you’ve got 2 small children! My eldest Chené used to climb onto my clients’ laps to see what I did up close, not they ever complained. Now it’s little Mia doing it. I had to stop doing nails for a while after Mia was born, as it made her very sick. I realised the other day, after having done my first new set in two years, just how much I missed it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing nail art! I’m creative, so that’s a given, I guess.

Bottom line people – Corné’s Nail Corner is open for business! Tell your friends, shout it from the roof tops, hire a billboard, whatever – JUST GET ME CLIENTS! Hahaha!

Be Blessed!

A little bit of rambling...

I'm late with this one... wrote it on Thursday already!!

 

So… what shall I chat about tonight?  Let's see… 

 

Hubby Herman and I started on a new diet this week.  Well, not really that new… we did it or a week along with my sister Suzaan and her husband Willie last year.  He lost quite a lot on the diet, so we tried it.  After that week Herman swore NEVER again, but here we are!  It's the famed soup diet.  If not THE famed, then ONE OF the famed!  It's soup and fruit, soup and veggies, soup and fruit and veggies, soup and bananas, soup and red meat and tomatoes…. Soup soup soup…  which upsets poor Herman's stomach terribly!  For a big, butch guy, he's got the stomach of a sissy…  hahahahah!  I swear he spends more time on the toilet than he does in front of the TV.  BUT!!  The pants I am wearing today feels a bit looser than it did last week… well flip!  After 3 days of fruit and veggies only – I SHOULD BLOODY HOPE SO!!!  The nights are the worst, because we're constantly opening the fridge to find something to eat, just to remind ourselves not to do it.  Today was a bit better, because we decided to mix the days' eating patterns just a little bit and eat tomorrow's lunch meat for dinner, with a great big salad.  We'll just do another salad for lunch tomorrow…  Wow, it was GREAT!  We don't eat a lot of red meat overall, just because we prefer white.  Every now and then, though, there's nothing like a nice big piece of nicely braaied meat!  Then even Herman doesn't mind the hunk of salad I make him eat!  If we were rich, we'd do the "steak & salad" thing every night!  I must say, after tonight I get the whole "S&S" thing…  Elouize is also on it now – you go girl!  We'll suffer through this together!  I promised hubby we'll only do it for two weeks, then it's back to our old, but healthy lifestyle.  I also realized that there is no need to do "boring" salads and vegetables.  The better it looks on a plate, the nicer it is to eat!  So watch me spice up those squashes!  I'm not the world's best cook, but I can surely try!

 

Did I tell you I'm also involved in another new company called Distinctive Choice Training?  They do training for heavy duty machinery like forklifts and overhead cranes, etc… ANYWAY…  I handle their admin.  February seems to have started with a bang for DCT as we've been getting more and more training!  I am so excited about this.  I desperately need to supplement my income and if they keep this up, I'll be visiting Dubai by the end of next year!  Yeah!

 

My boss at Aluminium Build is a real sweet guy.  His only daughter (he has 2 sons as well) got engaged end of last year and the wedding is on Saturday 20 Feb 2010.  I told him in today that he was the calmest father of the bride I had EVER SEEN!!  He just laughed and said that his wife and daughter had things so well in hand, that he just followed their (extensive) planning schedule.  It seems my mother was not the ONLY mother who believed in bi-weekly wedding meetings!! Hahahaha!  Poor thing… I hope he'll put the extra tissues in his pocket like I warned him to do.  He asked me to check the weather on the internet on Monday – they had prayed that it would be a nice day.  Guess what?  It's going to be 36 degrees Celsius!  Herman says they prayed a little too arduously!  We are very happy for the soon-to-be newlyweds and hope that they will have a wonderful life together.

 

I had a call in this week from a guy (Jacques) who was interested in using Admin Aunties for his admin.  Turns out he needed someone to be available during the day, which I currently am not.  So with a heavy heart, because he sounded so nice and so disappointed when I couldn't help him, I referred him to some of the other VAs in Cape Town.  I'm still checking in with him, as he's keeping me up to date with whether he has found someone yet.  I found out his wife handled his admin, but she died a few months ago.  OH BROTHER!  Now I want to cry!  The poor man… Since he and I both get our precooked meals from Sally Oosthuizen from www.slimmingmeals.com (he got my details from her newsletter), he feels like family!  I've put another friend of mine on standby in case Jacques doesn't get the right person.

 

Every week I do the shopping for essentials for work and today was no different.  As usual I also pop into one or two shops… shhhhhuuuuttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!  The girls at PEP stores treat me like family already and I get shown all the best buys!  Lay-buy – what a wonderful concept!  So at one of the shops I popped into, there were the cutest little key rings which is made out of some kind of artificial hair/fur.  With two little eyes glued into place and the way they were glued together, they look like little miniature Chihuahuas!  So each of my girls got one… they were cheap.  Now you have to hear Mia ask where she put her "wawa"… Chené already has hers in her handbag – Paris Hilton, watch out!  Herman just smiles when I come home with little prezzies for the girls.  He knows he can't take this bit of fun away from me and he's even worse than I am when he has money to burn!

 

So that's it for tonight.  I HAVE to get some sleep.  Not been doing a lot of that lately… 

 

Be Blessed my friends!

 

 

 

 

 

Just a quick note... about a guy of note...

Hi all

Just wanted to say a quick happy birthday to my friend Mike Heil. He's the other half of my dear friend Lee, who I wrote about earlier. Though I'm not spending so much time on birthday blogs for guys as I will for girls, I would like to say a few things about Mikey...


- He's a sweetie pie, though he tries to act tough.
- He's a funny guy, without trying too hard.
- He goes out of his way for his friends, which he has many of.
- He always makes time for a chat when I see him, no matter how much in a rush he is.
- He adores his wife and sons
- He's a good boss and great party host
- He makes REALLY good rotary chicken!
- He's part German, so that explains alot (wink-wink!)
- He LOVES his Audi!!! (German, figures...)
- He always writes a note in German on my Facebook wall on my birthday, which I then translate on the internet, and comment on. I think I'm a GENIOUS, while he just laughs at having made me go through the effort!! He's very sweet for taking the trouble to make it interesting...
- He'll make a great father-in-law to my 2 daughters some day (hahahaha! just HAD to throw that one in there!)


So Mikey, hubby and I adore you! We hope we always have you in our lives. May you have a blessed 2010, my friend! Enjoy your birthday!

To my darling BFF, on her birthday...

I have a very difficult task ahead of me today.  I have to put into words what a very special person in my life means to me.  I'll try my best to tell you about Elouize (Botes) Stevens...

We met on the first day of Gr 1 (the old Sub A) - the tiny little black-haired girl and the loudmouth redhead.  According to her (though I remember it the OTHER way around!), I came to her and asked "little girl, would you be my friend?".  Obviously she agreed, because 25 years later we are still together, chatting every day!

Through Elouize and her wonderful family, who I consider to be my surrogate family, I experienced some of my most memorable times of my life.  They took me along on trips where her brother Bernard rode in BMX competitions (we loved it!) and I remember we slept in their car one time because it was a two day event.  Because of her father's connection to the air force, we went on a ride in a light aeroplane (and hit an air bubble and almost fell!).  We went to visit her grandparents by the sea, where we picked up sea pumpkins and strung them together - I kept mine for years, until they became too brittle and I had to throw them away with a heavy heart.  Once again because of her father Lukas (Loekie), we went for a two hour ride on the SAS Tafelberg, which had hunky sailors on board. Hey, we were 13/14 and noticing things like hunky sailors, ok?  I was only sea sick (land sick?) when we came back, other than that it was an amazing experience. 

Elouize invited me over for weekend stays regularly and we used to roller skate everywhere.   She made chocolates in moulds and plaster of Paris in moulds, which we used to paint afterwards.  She still does the chocolates in moulds - guess some things don't change!  Her mother Belinda used to have her nails done every so often and I loved looking at them.  They were long and beautiful and I specifically remember once that she had them painted with nail art in red and black, with gold stripes.  This was definitely where my love affair with nails/nail art started!  She also had Elouize's pitch black hair, sometimes with a blonde fringe!  Elouize's parents have always been sweet and caring towards me, though uncle Loekie swore that I was the naughty one (What? No way!), while giving me a hug at a braai last year.  I love them to bits!  And as the story goes and you might have guessed, I wouldn't be her best friend if I didn't at SOME stage have a crush on her brother. which I did while he was riding the BMX's!  So yes Bernard, if you're reading this, I smaaked u!  Hahahaha!  But these days I feel blessed to have another "big brother" in him and he treats me like he does her - with affection.  Elouize and Bernard have an amazing relationship, though I'm sure they've had their share of tiffs!

I'll never forget the day our house in Brackenfell went onto auction.  I still remember staring out the living room sliding door into the distance, with such a sadness and great loss in my heart.  As I was staring, a funny little car came speeding along the road.  As it came close, I saw that it was Elouize and Aunt Belinda in their beach buggy.  She had worried about me and got her mother to bring her so she could see if I was ok.  Wow!  That meant the world to me that day!  Soon after we moved to Parow and I was sure I would never see her again.  I cried more for the loss of my friend than for the loss of my previous life.  We promised to write and call, but as things go, we both got caught up in our new lives in high school.  We did keep in touch, though not as much as we promised.  But that all changed the day I got my motorbike and was able to go visit her!  Soon after, she got her license, so she came to visit me!  We'd lost some of our closeness along the way, but neither one was willing to admit it.

And then suddenly, we'd grown up and started working, she as a legal secretary and I as a general secretary.  We both loved to "lang-arm" dance, so we found a way for us to see each other regularly by going dancing and meeting at a dance hall in Brackenfell.  And so we started to pick up the treads of our thinning friendship.  Along the way we found that one of the girls I went to high-school with and sat with in home economics, was the sister of the guy she was dating - so I guess we always had something connecting us.  We started getting together more regularly, emailed each other and made time for each other.  And our friendship grew roots that are stronger now than they've ever been!  At a stage in my life when I had lost a lot of weight, I went through boyfriends quite quickly.  By this time, she had met her now hubby Dick (my teddybear!).  One New Year's Eve she invited me and my then beau Herman, to come for a fish braai with them.  We had a wonderful time and when we left, Herman said: "see you again soon".  I later found out that she and Dick had said "yeah right" to that comment!  Haha to them!  Herman DID see them again... and again... and again, as he's now my wonderful hubby!  It's still his favourite joke to tease them with.  We have since had many get togethers as a group and the guys get along very well, which of course suits us girls just fine!

Just over two years ago she dropped a bomb on me - she, Dick and baby Skyela were moving to Dubai for 5 years.  Dick is a highly qualified air traffic controller and very much in demand, so this was a wonderful opportunity for them.  BUT WHAT ABOUT ME????  We had a "good-bye" dance, for old time's sake... and on all the photo's I'm crying!  I was sure I'd loose her... Stupid me!  Never heard of something called "modern technology"??  We set up email, then msn messenger and then - what a wonder! SKYPE!!  Yeah!  Now we seem to chat more than we did when they were here!  Strange how these "anonymous" systems also allow us to reveal more of ourselves than we would face to face.  So thank you, msn and Skype, for letting me get to know my wonderful best friend so much more!  We've shared each other's daily woes through our keypads for more than two years now and I'm blessed to have her inside my computer screen, just a key stroke away. Of course, we do have the odd days when both of us are too busy (or away on holiday) to chat... and then we seem to have withdrawal symptoms!  Then the outdated method (haha!) of smses keep us going.  They do come for visits about once a year and Elouize made a special trip with Skyela last year August, in time for my eldest Chené's 5th birthday party, so that was really special.  The Stevens' are scheduled for a visit again in April... we're counting the sleeps!

If you go back to my first blog, you will read the story of how she and I recently became the "Admin Aunties", our Virtual Assistant business.  I could not have asked for a more professional, understanding partner!  We seem to compliment each other perfectly.  Each has their own strong points, so together we're quite a team!  She is my best friend, my confidant and now also my business partner.  She is godmother to my eldest daughter, who she spoils rotten, while not forgetting my youngest (or me!) in the process.   She is caring and loving and full of advice.  She always makes time to hear if I'm doing ok (I'm the emotional one, while she's the cool and collected one!).  She's a minimalist, while I'm a gatherer.  She's happy with just a few good pieces of quality in her house, which she moves around EVERY MONTH!  She's actually very funny like that!  She gives with an open hand and never expects anything in return.  She surrounds herself with friends and family and is a wonderful mother to her (now) two children, Skyela and Zach and caring wife to Dick.  I recently realized that her mother, her husband and I are all August babies, Leos. how weird is that?  Oh and I MUST tell u - she has the tiniest feet, a size 3!  I always tease her that I'm her friend because she's the only friend I have that is shorter than I am - and I'm relatively short.  And after all these years, she still laughs at that stupid joke, bless her soul! 


I love her so much for always being there and for sticking with me when I really needed her in those tough years, for giving me some of the best memories of my life and for allowing me to be a part of hers.  I hope to be her friend till the day we die... and after.  My dearest BFF - Happy Birthday!  May God bless you as you have blessed me and mine.  We love you very much!