{scraps of jacki's life}

news on the pain...

just a quick update on the man's shoulder:

he is in a lot of pain. much more than last time. i'm not sure why. maybe it was a bigger procedure than last time? maybe because it was the second surgery in 2 weeks? the pain blocker that they inject also only lasted a few hours this time, instead of the 2.5 days of last time. and it is quite a bit colder than 2 weeks ago.

last night he really felt overwhelmed. for the first time. he was difficult and grumpy and whiny. he just could not get comfortable, and the pain killers did not help.

thanks for all your good wishes and support, both here and on facebook. i know things will be a little better every day.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

on mojo and a shoulder, and other things we are missing...

• my blogging mojo seems to have gone the way of my scrapbooking mojo. both gone.


• if you see either of them, capture them and return them, please? there will be a reward...


• and they will be punished. for going AWOL.


• the man went in for another operation on his shoulder today. to fix whatever came loose after the previous reconstruction. a re-reconstruction. he, quite literally, had a screw loose! let's hope there will be more success this time.


• and he has to stay overnight in the hospital. and i miss him while he is there!


• he has become rather handy with one arm, and is doing almost everything himself, with one hand, and his teeth.


• he has not driven in more than 2 weeks, and he is either home-bound, or i have to drive him where he wants to be. thankfully his mom is helping out with picking sean up from school and taking him home. that would have been our biggest crisis, otherwise.


• on mondays i have the day 'off'. that means running around like a crazy person, trying to get the entire week's errands/shopping/chores done. these last 2 mondays i had the man along, and we ran his errands too. yesterday we went to pick 'n pay (a supermarket/grocery store) for a few things. sean was with us by that time. and we spent ages there. browsing. can you believe it. browsing in a supermarket.


• normally grocery shopping is a chore, something i don't particularly enjoy. but as we were walking out, i thought about how fun that was, and how nice a day it had been. running errands. grocery shopping. together.


• when we came home, we made supper together. the man made chips (with one arm), i made steak, and sean made eggs. there were no vegetables in sight...


• and i realised again that the simple things can be so joyful, if you do them together. with the ones you love.


• on another note. i still have no new car. but today a salesman came to show me, and let me test-drive, the new kia soul. very new. it has not even been launched in south africa yet. 


• it is different. unusual. certainly not pretty. but the price is right. oh, the confusion...


• and my new laptop is out of order. i cannot believe it, i have had it for less than 2 months! it has also been in hospital for more than a week now. so tonight there is no man, and no computer. i'll just have to spend the evening with michael schofield and his friends..

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

us...

sometimes i have so much to blog about, and sometimes i can think of nothing to say. this seems to be one of those quiet weeks.

the man went for a shoulder operation tuesday before last. over the weekend he started to complain of more pain. on wednesday he managed to squeeze himself in for a early appointment to the doctor, and something inside the shoulder has come loose. so on tuesday he is getting operated on again. and the healing process is pushed back by 2 weeks...

the biggest problem with the shoulder is that the man cannot drive. so i have to take sean to school, and take the man everywhere.

this has added some strain to my days..

here is another photo from the photoshoot, of francois and myself.

*edited to add: are you a coldplay fan? you can download their album leftrightleftrightleft FOR FREE here. i did, and i'm listening right now...*

 jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

making cards, and a facelift for typepad...

i have been making these mother's day cards, to sell in the shop.

i am on typepad's beta team, which means that we get to test all new typepad products before they get rolled out to the other users. and i can tell you that there is a major facelift on the way.

as with all changes, it takes some getting used to. since it is quite a dramatic change, it takes a while to find your way around. and, as with all changes, there will be complaints.

but, after the initial confusion, i must say that is looks good. i think the improvements make all the changes worth the initial inconvenience. i'm working in the 'new' version now, and it works well.

i need to blog about tim holtz and the convention, but i have had so many things going on at the same time.

my man had a shoulder operation on tuesday. he is doing well, but in some pain. and the worst is that he cannot drive! that makes life very difficult. but before we know it, it will be over...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

i heart technology!

i have been a bad blogger this week, there has just been so much going on.

my man had an operation on his shoulder yesterday, after it dislocated 6 times in about 8 months. 5 trips to the emergency room, and 3 times it had to be put back in it's socket in theatre under anesthetic. eventually the doctor agreed that it could not go on this way, so he did the surgery yesterday. and unexpectedly, the man had to stay in the hospital overnight.

i don't have time for a proper blog post, as he has let me know i can pick him up now.

i am sitting in my local mugg and bean, a coffee shop, having breakfast and coffee, and surfing the www on my laptop using my free wi-fi minutes. the internet is super fast, so i will keep it in mind for the end of the month, when i get capped. i am a mweb client, so i get 300 free wi-fi minutes per month.

i just love technology. and i'm sure these other people in the coffee shop think i'm this very powerful and important business woman. it's great!

by the way, while i typed this i noticed that certain words in my post are being underlined in red, and if i right-click on them, the spell checker suggests alternative spelling. thanks typepad, for making the spell-checker so much easier to use! just one thing, though. maybe you should include the word 'typepad' in your dictionary...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

it is that time of year...

i often say this blog is form of therapy. a place for processing my thoughts and emotions. well today's post is one of those. so please excuse me as i have a little emotional meltdown.

this week is ronnie week. it is that week that starts on the 14th april with what would have been ronnie's 46th birthday, had he not died. the week ends on the 19th april, the day of his death 7 years ago.

this is a difficult time for me every year. you would think it would get easier as time goes by, and it does too, but as always the days leading up to this week are intense.

now, to make matters worse this week, i also have to face my biggest fear. i have blogged about it before. we all go through life with that wonderful gift of denial, that conviction that 'it can't happen to me'. well it did. and when it did, i lost that conviction. it did happen to me. and now, i can never shake that fear that it can happen to me again. and i know how blindingly devastating and suffocatingly dark "it' can be.

in fact, i am not even going to go there...

this week the man is on the road again. on thursday he is flying down to cape town, and driving back up. he is bringing up a very ill family member to johannesburg. and you know that his being on the road for such a long period is very, very difficult for me, as you can read here.

so, i have to deal with both issues in one week. the re-living of the death of my husband ronnie, and my fear of something happening to my man. a double whammy. or maybe a big, final test? i hope so..

anyway, there is a reason why i'm telling you this. i have found in the past that putting it out here, on my blog, works for me. i need to yank it out of the dark, moist, fertile folds of my heart, where it can grow and fester and multiply, and expose it to the cold light of day, where it will wither and die. i need to expose it, i need to think and write and read and edit and process it out, so it has no more hold over me. somehow saying it out loud, putting it out here, and telling you about it, exposes the fear for the parasite it is, and helps me to conquer it.

and now that it is written here, i am going to pray over it. and ask you to pray for me too. and then i am going to lay it at the foot of HIS cross. and turn around, and walk away, and leave it there. and whenever those dark thoughts try to tell me how big the fear is, i can tell the fear how big my GOD is.

because i trust that GOD has a plan for my life, and even if that plan includes the worst, as it has in the past, HE will never let me walk that path alone, HE will carry me, as HE has always done.

as i write this, i feel the tears build up in me. but they are not the tears of sadness and defeat, they are the tears of relief, and the tears of cleansing.

it is not a coincidence that this week was preceded by easter. i was reminded this past weekend that for those of us who believe and call HIS name, HE has already overcome the darkness and everlasting death, so i may have everlasting life in HIM. the message of easter is that of overcoming. and i will carry that message forward in me this week.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

i started to write this post on sunday, and then left it in it's raw, emotional form. then i edited and worked on it today. and can tell you that i already feel better. the moment i wrote this down on sunday, it was out of me, and i felt victorious. the demons were exorcised.

in closing i want to say this: i did not write this because i need sympathy. also, remember that although this is on my mind, it is not the only thing going on in my life. i am fine. i am happy. i have dealt with this issue, and i am dealing with this issue. there is no reason to be worried or concerned about me. at all. i promise!

i often say this blog is form of therapy. a place for processing thoughts and emotions. well today's post is one of those. so thanks for excusing me as i had a little emotional meltdown...

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

dear spar people...

*spar is a supermarket chain in south africa*

i shop at your store in rynfield. at least twice a week. my man also shops there a few times a week.

this evening, i stopped there again for bread, milk and hamburger patties. and ice cream. my man had asked me to get him a carton of cigarettes. kent one.

i pause here a moment to tell you that when my man realised that he could not stop smoking, he switched to kent one. they are the lightest cigarettes on the market. the next one up, kent ultra, is considerably higher in tar and nicotine, and give him a sore chest and headaches.

this evening the cigarette counter lady (CL) says they are out of stock of kent one. i complain to her that they do not keep enough stock.

ME: you do not keep enough stock

CL: yes, we do

ME: no, you don't. you are out of stock.

CL: you can have kent ultra

ME: i don't want kent ultra. i want kent one. you don't keep enough stock. my man buys his cigarettes here, and 2/3 times a month you don't have stock. month after month. you don't keep enough stock!

CL: yes, we do. 

ME: no, you don't! *sigh* just give me kent ultra.

CL: um. we are out of stock...

ME: *very annoyed* can i see your manager?

i complain to the manager (MR) that they don't keep enough stock.

ME: you don't keep enough stock

MR: yes, we do

ME: no, you don't. you are out of stock

MR: yes, we do

ME: no! you don't! my man buys his cigarettes here, and 2/3 times a month you don't have stock. month after month. you don't keep enough stock.

ME: leave inconvenienced and angry, and determined not to shop there again

so. dear spar people

please tell your manager in rynfield that they don't keep enough stock. if they run out of kent one 2/3 times a month. month after month. they don't keep enough stock.

and. dear spar people

please tell your manager that the following would be an example of a better conversation to have with a client:

ME: 1 carton of kent one please

CL or MR: sorry. we are out of stock

ME: you don't keep enough stock. my man buys a carton every week, and you are out of stock 2/3 times a month, every month, month after month. you don't keep enough stock

CL or MR: oh, i'm so sorry to hear that! thank you for bringing that to my attention. i will look into it

ME: i would appreciate it if you ordered a little more, and kept enough stock

CL or MR: i apologise for your inconvenience. we are expecting stock tomorrow. shall i give you a call when it arrives, and keep a carton aside for you?

ME: thank you

CL or MR: i will ensure that we will increase our stock-order, so that you will not encounter this problem again. i apologise once more

ME: leave inconvenienced but placated and with renewed loyalty

*i know smoking is a very bad habit. so does the man.

and for the record - i don't smoke*

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

my worst fear...

today i'm facing my worst fear.

some time ago i wrote a post called it happened to me, where i wrote about how, after losing my first husband ronnie in an aeroplane crash, i have this issue. ok, i have lots of issues, but today we will just focus on this one, ok?

you see, when something bad happens to you, you also lose your built-in 'it cannot happen to me' shield. since that dreadful day, almost 7 years ago, i have had to deal with my constant fear of it happening again. generally i am an optimist, and i don't tend to worry about what-ifs. except this one: i worry that someone close to me may die. i especially worry that the man, francois and sean may die. i know people die. heck, i know people die! but i also know how terribly bad that is. and i also know that it can happen to me.

this morning, very early, the man, francois and my mother, left with a bunch of other people in 2 mini-buses, to go to port shepstone from benoni. a trip of about 7/8 hours. on the highway. in holiday season. on a public holiday. in the early morning hours, when drivers are tired. i stayed behind, because i had to work today. 3 of my closest loved ones, together in one vehicle.

as i write this, the man has already let me know they have arrived safely. so one half done. before i heard this, i could not even write about it, my stress levels were too high. after they got to port shepstone, they each get behind the wheel of a little chana truck, and started the long drive back. lots of those little trucks need to be driven to gauteng, so they are paying people to drive them back. the man was one of the drivers down in the bus, so he will be driving a total of 15/16 hours today. the rest will drive only one direction. alone in a truck. including francois, my 22 year old son, who has never driven more than 2 hours in one go. they will only be home late tonight.

from the moment that it was all arranged and confirmed last night, i have had this internal battle. i have been constantly praying. i have had the thin, cold snake of fear slithering inside my stomach, so bad that i woke up with a stomach ache. and i feel like i cannot really breathe. extreme stress. in fact, i'm finding it very difficult to write this...

but, i have been working on it. i have been trying to breathe, and to relax. i have been placing my fear in HIS hands. ok, i have been taking it back all the time too, but i know that HE is in control. 

today i'm facing my worst fear. and i'm not doing too well. what is yours?

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

ron...

i used the photo i edited and used as part of my creative cropping photoshop tutorial on this layout:

it is ron, the man's dad. do you recognise the paper strips, and the letters that spell 'ron'? they are leftovers from jenni bowlin's layout that we made at the scrapbooking convention, as shown here.

i did zig-zag stitching around the outer edges of the layout in black cotton. the tape that says '3 metre' i found somewhere in the man's workshop. a whole roll...

i'm going to the scrappink event on saturday. are you also going?

i think there is a big storm coming, so i'm rushing off to get home before i get soaked.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

convention layouts..

so, it turns out, being (sort of) up to date is no fun at all. last night there was a workshop in my shop, and the girls were scrapping. antoinette is the teacher, and i just (wo)man the till. and i had no blogposts to read. and no emails to catch up with. sure, there is always work to do, but this is thursday evening, for goodness sake! so, iv'e changed my mind. please post? lots of posts! and please comment?

the man's father was in america on holiday, visiting his step-daughter, when he had a stroke, probably sunday/monday. he was flown back, and landed on wednesday afternoon, and taken straight to hospital. yesterday evening they operated on his brain, to stop the bleeding. it was a tough time for him, his family, and for us all. he is in ICU now, and stable. just before the weekend i made this gift for his wife, for her birthday. i used the photo i made for my creative cropping tutorial:

   

hey ron, you have to stick around a little longer, we still need you!

on a lighter note, here are the layouts i have made so far from the south african scrapbooking convention:

 

this is from jenni bowlin's class.

the next 2 are single pages, from rachael scholz's class.

 

journaling: no matter how old you get, you will always be my baby.

 

journaling: once upon a time there was a beautiful princess called anika.

thanks rach, i really enjoyed your layouts! i'll be scraplifting them again soon!

i made a photo-album with all my convention photos in it on my blog, in the left column, here.

look what i got! the magazine launched by celine navarro. it is in french, but i can look at the pictures. i love it! the layouts are more artistic, different.

 

for those of you who have been watching it, i will definitely be hitting the 10 000 visitors mark today. wow! 10 000 visitors? wow!  so, time for another RAK! the last one worked well, so i am going to do it again. if you leave a comment on this post, between now and sunday, you will go into the draw to win a photo-makeover, like the one you see here. i edited jodi's photos yesterday, she won the last RAK. she hasn't responded yet, so i don't know if she is happy...

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

we all need a helping hand sometimes...

on sunday morning our worker came to tell us that there was a problem. when we went to look, we found this:

she had gone into labor during the night, and in the morning when the sheep were let out, she made it this far.

do i hear you saying eeeww? you shouldn't. it's a miracle of nature.

see? not eewww. a tiny little lamb. we thought it was dead. it was very still, and it's tongue was hanging out.

the man started pulling it out. then, suddenly the lamb shuddered. it wasn't dead! that meant that he had to pull more carefully, because now he didn't want to hurt it.

see those hands? those are the hands that hold my hand. no more hand-holding until those hands are washed...

he soon realized why the lamb was stuck. it's one little knee was catching inside. the man had to reach inside to straighten the leg. believe me, this wasn't pleasant for the poor mama.

after quite a long struggle, it just slid out. the poor lamb and the mama were exhausted! our one worker was moved to tears. he said it made him sad to see the mama suffering like that. when he said that with a catch in his throat, it moved me to tears too.

hello little lamb. welcome to the world. i hope nothing will ever be this difficult for you again.

the mother sheep licks the baby clean, and eats all the afterbirth. this is to replace all the blood and minerals she lost in the birth. now, this is eeww..

come on baby! you can do it! i know you can! you see? a miracle!

sometimes we spend so much time looking for a miracle, that we do not even notice the 'every day miracles' that happen around us.

after this, our cup of morning coffee outside in the spring sunshine seemed to taste so much sweeter!

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

domestic bliss...

this is a typical winter's evening in our house. see the roaring fire in the background? ok, not so typical. usually we are out of wood. the men lying around, and the dirty dishes and the general messiness, now that is typical. the only thing missing, is a few cats and dogs. usually, the man has a cat lying on his chest. we have 4 cats, 3 dogs, 9 sheep, and a large assortment of ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys, and other birds. ah yes, domestic bliss...

on wilna's blog she has a link to this awesome layout. i think is is fabulous too. so i thought i would share it with you. also, i am linking it here, so that i can find it myself if i want to look at it again...

did you see how sexy donna downey is? she lost weight, and looks great. no more skinny poses for her...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

it happened to me..

human beings were designed with this 'it cannot happen to me' shield. you know, when you hear of other's misfortune, you sympathize deeply, but somewhere deep inside your subconscious you believe that 'it cannot happen to me'.

we need this feeling. it is our built-in shield. without it, we would go mad. can you imagine what our lives would be like if we did not have this mechanism. it is what keeps us sane. (well, kinda).

when something does happen to us, me, however, then i lose that feeling. that is why a relatively small break-in or a robbery or an accident can be so traumatic. it is not the physical stuff that i lose. it is that shield, that comfort that i lose. now, i will never be able to tell myself that 'it cannot happen to me', because it did! this leaves me vulnerable, raw and exposed to the worry that constantly nags, that little voice that keeps whispering 'it can happen to me. it did happen to me. now, what if it happens again...'

i am not a worrier by nature. i do not live in fear as many south africans do. i am careful and responsible, but i do not constantly fret about an attack, or robbery or hijack. i am surprised every time people ask me if i am not afraid alone in my shop. and believe me, i get asked this almost every day. people ask me if i am not afraid driving home at night after dark, especially on a thursday evening when we leave the shop after a workshop at after 11pm. i suppose that if i asked those people, it would come out that they have experienced a robbery or hijack themselves.

ronnie's mother is terrified of snakes. i know a lot of people are, but she is worse. she would never walk in nature or relax in a game park or on a farm, as she is constantly worries about snakes. she talks about it all the time. but, she was bitten by a snake as a child, and almost died as a result.

i was reading a novel by jonathan kellerman a week or so ago, and in it he described it so well. i cannot find the passage to quote it verbatim, but it talked about the thin, cold snake of fear that had been slithering inside his stomach for a while. and then, in the story, the thin snake suddenly rears it's head and bares it's fangs and hisses in his face. what a chillingly accurate description! do you know what he means? have you felt that thin, cold snake in your belly too? tell me, i'd like to know.

it happened to me that my husband died. in a plane crash. one normal, sunny friday morning in april 2002. just like that, it happened to me. and on that day i didn't just lose a husband, but i also lost my shield.

if the man is just a little later in coming home than expected, then the reasonable, unruffled, non-worrier in me becomes frantic. suddenly, i am filled with fear. the voices inside me start whispering. they say 'it can happen to me. it did happen to me. what if it happens to me again...'.

last week the man was in hospital for a few hours for some tests. and we had to wait a few days for the results. in this time, no matter how hard i tried to ignore it, that thin, cold snake slithered around in my belly. those voices whispered 'it can happen to me. it has happened to me. what if it happens to me again...'normally i refuse to worry about the worst, as i reason that if the worst happens there is plenty of time to worry then, and if the worst doesn't happen, i have wasted a lot of time and energy worrying unnecessarily. but this last week, i constantly felt that snake. and every time i did, i prayed to GOD to let this cup pass the man, and me, and to take those awful thoughts away.

thankfully i can say that HE has been true, and that the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, although uncomfortable, is treatable and not too serious. this time i beat that snake. and i thank GOD for this. and next time i feel him slithering in my belly, i will tell him again how powerful my GOD is. and if the worst were to come to pass, than i know that GOD will be there for me, as HE always is. and while i know my psycologial shield will probably always fail me, GOD will shield me, better than i ever can.

 

francois sometimes takes my camera, and snaps away, and when he is finished he puts my camera back. then, when i download my photos i find lots of surprise photos. he took these photos on his birthday of my siblings' kids.

the two guys in this photo are eduard - my brother andre's son, and tian - my sister paula's son. how's this for cooperation...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, south africa

that ashtray stinks!

the man smokes. and although he is generally a very kind, caring and considerate person in almost every aspect of life, he is rather a selfish smoker.

he smokes in the car. i don't care what he does in his car, but he smokes in my car too, and when the car stands closed in the sun for a few hours, the smoke smell gives me a headache. we have to eat in smoking sections of restaurants. i am an adult, and make an informed choice, but when 11-year old sean goes along, i have to agree to go to mike's kitchen, the man's favourite but not really mine, because the smoking area is well ventilated, and sean spends almost all the time in the kid's play area anyway. he refuses to go to the movies, because he can't smoke, and he hates going out to supper with family or friends, because then we have to sit in the non-smoking section. he also smokes in our bed at night.

sunday morning, he got up earlier because he had to work on the electric fencing of our property, he was doing some maintenance and upgrading. he left me in bed to lie in. when he was gone, i smelt the stink coming from all the stubs in the ashtray.

for a moment i was annoyed. but then i remembered, that if heaven forbid something were to happen to him, and i were to be lying alone in the bed, crying the heartbroken primal sobs that tear painfully from the core of my being, it is the smells that i would miss the most. i know this from experience. you don't miss the title, or the posistion, or the car, or the salary (ok, maybe you do miss the car and the salary), but while you sob your heart out, you know that you would give anything, everything, just to smell the smoke again. just to smell the scent of him again. i would put up with all the smoke, just to have him here again.

so, while i would be very happy if he were to give up smoking, i snuggled down under the duvet, and smiled while i snoozed contentedly, because i knew that that stink of the ashtray was a reminder that he was still very much around, and that is all i need.

i am writing this from the hospital, where the man is in for a few tests. he is back in the ward, and awake, and feeling fine. we are waiting to hear from the doctor. and he cannot stop moaning, because he cannot go out for a smoke. he is stuck in bed because of the drip.

edited to add: the man wasn't in hospital as such, he was just in for a few hours for tests. he is back at work, and will see the doctor next week.

edited to add: the doctor says he has ulcerative colitis, an inflammation of the intestine. we are thankful to GOD that it is a treatable condition, and not something more serious.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, south africa

the man

i found a great tutorial on jessica spraugue's website. it is about how to make the grungy frame i used, and includes the free frame/mask. you can find it here.

the man has been cranky, and difficult to live with lately. does your man get like this too? i decided to make this softened photo of him. moody and scratchy around the edges. 'cause that's a good description of him at the moment...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, south africa

how i met the man...

my first husband, ronnie, died in a plane crash 6 years ago. he left on a friday morning, and went to pretoria's wonderboom airport, and got on a small plane with 2 of his colleagues. his one colleague, hendrik, was the pilot. they were going to tzaneen on business. they crashed on takeoff. it happened at about 07h20. i only heard about it at between 10 and 11am.

in the time after he died and i heard about it, i was making some phone calls at home. amongst others, i called this guy who's pamphlet had been on my friend lucia's notice board for months. he did garden refuse removal. i had arranged with him that he would drop off the drum early the next morning. of course, after i heard the devestating news, i forgot. the next morning, when i was a widow for 24,5 hours, the doorbell rang, and i met the man. his first words to me were 'what's wrong?'. i must have looked terrible...

the first few months i hardly even noticed him. sometimes for weeks i did not even see him. i certainly did not look at him. ok, maybe a teeny little peep...

at the time i had this fancy sprinkler system in my garden. it was automatic, with these pop-up nozzles. it was giving me problems. these thingies were popping up, but not turning, and just spraying their water in one direction. some did not even pop up, the water just sort of bubbled out of the ground. i had phoned some companies to come and service them, but nobody was interested.

one morning, as the sprayers were working, and some of the water was running down the road, my doorbell rang. it was the man, offering to fix my sprinklers. and the rest is, as they say, history...

of course, if i had wanted to have sprinklers fixed today, i would probably have to pay someone else to do it...

stay tuned for the next riveting episode of : 'how i met the man'.

or maybe not.

 
jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES

time and about magazine

time & about magazine has just increased their quality and credibility. why? because they published one of my layouts, that's why! you see, i've been published once, and it has already gone to my head...

this is really exciting!

 

the man hates to be photographed. and he is never really that interested in my scrapbooking. on saturday, we went to the hobby expo, and while we were there i popped it to time & about's stand, to pick up my shop's issues of this magazine. and when i showed him this page, he winced. but, on the way home, i asked him to stop off at the shop so i could put the magazines on the shelf for monday. he asked me to please take one home, so he could show sean. and on sunday, when his dad came for tea, he showed him. o, so now that it's published you are interested... his only regret is that he is not the centerfold!

here is a closer look at what appeared in time & about magazine, issue #7:

 

 

i converted these photos to black and white, and printed them on textured paper to create a canvas look. did i mention how much i love this amazing guy?

now, please pop in to the shop, and get this excellent magazine, before my mother and his mother buy them all...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES

our family

You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.  ~Desmond Tutu

this layout i scraplifted from a layout i saw on annette's blog, posted january 16, 08, under the title of 'jen wilson sale'.

the photos are of my family. i used colormates, pattern paper from K&Co, 7Gypsies and Making Memories. the metal flowers i bought loose ages ago, and the brads are cha ching brads from bazzill. i used a stamp to make the stems. the hearts are of cardstock, with Making Memories heart tag rims.

see how you can take an idea, and make it your own. and scraplifting is ok, as long as you give credit to the one you got the idea from. thank you, annette!

Family:  A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space.  ~Evan Esar

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES