It is just unbelievable how much renovation disrupts your home, your routines and your mental state. My mental state is very much influenced by disorganisation. I know where everything is (usually in my desk) and not having things easily locatable was doing my head in. Norm put in the desk drawers on Sunday which certainly helped. I often say my desk is my nest.

I put all of the bits and pieces back onto the front porch last Sunday too. At least one of my cozy places was restored. The back sitting area is still full of dust other than the plants I cleaned carefully with a cotton ball.

My new flower bed is looking beautiful as well, the clivias are all blooming. There are no signs of a bloom on my air plant however. Usually by September we have blooms or at least the buds are starting to appear.

On Monday I was able to sit at my desk. I did not use my desk chair as I did not think my fat arse creating deep rivers into the concrete would endear me to Norm. The dining room chair did not do my back any favours however.

Norm has been working so hard at getting the house back in order. He painted so many bits and pieces black to get them to match the new window decor. He has been slowly bringing furniture & boxes of stuff downstairs as he goes along. He keeps muttering ‘minimalist’ wistfully as I pop the 9th object onto the mantel. I love my beautiful little items which make me smile, but I did streamline my ancestor altar to just my collector’s plates from my Mom, my collection of gifts from Mother Earth, and a few pictures of my ancestors. I also pared down my other big table of framed family photos.

We have a big box for DARG, our local charity of choice for ‘stuff’. If it is clothing we send that to another charity. Lily went through it first to see if she wanted anything, tomorrow I will let Chichi have a look and when he comes on Friday I will give the games to Kim for his children. Nothing is ever wasted in South Africa, there is always someone who is grateful for what you no longer need.

Wednesday was a public holiday and we needed to go to the shops to look at couches, but I felt exhausted so I begged off and pottered around the house organising. I also did some work in the back garden.

Kim was working here on Thursday and moved around lots of the pots from Tamlyn, trimmed the hedge around the front, and cleared the tree of vines. I remembered to take a ‘Before’ image!

And this is after he removed the vines and trimmed the hedge. Now we will get some sun on the swimming pool.

It also looks so tidy!

Norm hung up some of our fave art pieces so it feels less barren and soulless.

We have half of the curtains at the dry cleaner and half are back. Meanwhile Norm hung the new blinds which means we can hide the less attractive parts of the garden, and once the curtains are back the blinds will still allow in some light.

We barely had the bedrooms cleared when the kids all arrived on Thursday evening, in fact Josh had to help Norm carry down some bits of furniture. I put out some of the last bits of decor but there are a few bits and pieces still to do.

It was so lovely having my son Trevor, daughter Lily, SIL Josh, and my granddaughter Amelia here from Thursday til today. We blew Amelia’s mind at one point because we told her I am Trevor’s Mommy. We had already told her I am her Mommy’s Mommy but the latest one seemed to be too much to absorb cos she said UH UH loudly.

She arrived on Thursday having slept very little the previous 24 hours, proceeded to sleep very little while here, but still stayed in great spirits. She usually went down easy for her midday nap but bed time was a challenge for poor Lily. Lily is now 6 month pregnant so she is tired. Baby Roo had doubled in weight since her last Doctor’s visit. Lily and Josh were both very big babies.

On Friday after Amelia’s nap, Trevor and Amelia went with Lily over to pick up their dad at his Air BnB and drive over to Caitlin’s. Caitlin was working but the Nanny was there with Bree so they could spend time with her. They came back to mine for dinner and then it was time for bed for Amelia after she spent the evening entertaining the household. Her evening usually ended with her running in circles around the lounge while Poppy chased her and Amelia shrieked with laughter.

We woke to a gorgeous sunny day on Saturday.

We had a lazy morning sitting in the sunshine outside the front of the house drinking nice coffees and chatting while Amelia explored the garden. It is a wonderful garden for children. There is a path all the way around the outer part of the yard and a lot of it is through hedges and fun little pathways. This weekend was the first time she travelled the entire garden.

She also loves the fairy garden of course and spends ages out there rearranging them and making up little stories for them, muttering to herself and moving them around.

On Saturday Norman, Trevor and I went off to a shop Trevor wanted to pop into, then we went to Coricraft. We found the couch we want, we just have to decide the colour. We are keeping our red leather chair and footstool but selling both red sofas.

We have dark wood accents, pale grey floors and ‘greige’ walls. But I also have my bright red Chinese style cupboard and 2 black metal cupboards. So it has to be a colour that can blend with all of those things but not fade into the flooring. We want a U shape so we both have a place for our feet. We have chosen this one. We are now deciding on the colour. We saw them in person yesterday and they look very different than the images online. Kalahari Camel or Buffed Taupe are top of the list.

Opinions welcome on this. I do not often like advice but it is acceptable when requested.

We then headed on to Caitlin and Wes’s house and we all arrived at the same time. They had lots of gorgeous food and Wes had baked two cakes, a vanilla and strawberry one for Bree to smash for photos and a carrot cake one for us all to eat. It was hard to believe our little Bree was one year old.

Bree loved having us all surrounding her while she carefully took the strawberries off of the cake and ate them. She waved to everyone around and pointed at them. It was hilarious like she was working her crowd at an appearance gig. Amelia kept saying ‘me, cake’ as in get it for me Mom but she was content munching on strawberries and then once they had enough video footage they gave Millie a piece of the kids cake.

Trevor made the most adorable piggy ears for Amelia to be Piglet while Bree was dressed as Winnie the Pooh.

Of course I had to give them a go.

Caitlin and Wes had set up some water play toys for the 2 girls and they played there for a bit but the wind was howling and they got very cold quickly. We needed to head home to get the dogs walked and organise dinner for Amelia.

I did insist on one picture of me with my kids so that I could post it since we do not post the babies’ pics online.

We had such a lovely day with all of our family and Wes’ there. Bree received some amazing presents: a little kitchen, some of the little ‘choppable’ vegetables, books, a fantasy play tent, clothes, blocks, stuffed animals and all sorts of things. She was a lucky little girl. It is so wonderful to see how many people love your grandchildren.

It was late by the time we went home so Amelia had a bit of food and we all hung out for a while then she headed off to bed under great duress. We ordered food to be delivered and so once Lily got her to sleep she had her own dinner.

This morning Lily and Josh got up quite early to head home to George. They stopped for a coffee with one of Lily’s childhood besties in Somerset West then headed out. It is a long trip with a baby en route. They took the 3 light fixtures I had on marketplace as a guy had messaged me to say he wanted them but could not get here to get them. So we made the effort for them to stop and exchange with him. He showed up but he did not take the lights. I had another buyer who wanted them. It is so annoying!

Trevor and his Dad flew down and only left late afternoon so Norman drove them over to Caitlin to spend the afternoon.

It is so quiet now and the skies are so overcast. I am going to relax and recover from the activities of the weekend. It was wonderful, but exhausting!

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxo