My Life's Winding Roads: Happy New Year all and welcome 2026.

My Life's Winding Roads: Happy New Year all and welcome 2026.:   Good morning friends and family all around the world. I hope you all had a very peace filled and blessed Christmas.  As I write this we ar...

Happy New Year all and welcome 2026.

 Good morning friends and family all around the world. I hope you all had a very peace filled and blessed Christmas.  As I write this we are on our way to the Bears for the day as well as dropping. BigGuy off with them for his last night in Cape Town.  What a joy it has been having him here with us and seeing him bonding with his little nephew (he is an absolute baby and dog magnet - they all naturally gravitate to him).  We have had a wonderful time with him visiting. He cooked so many meals, we went for coffees and breakfasts.  We also went through to Lourensford  Wine Farm on Friday evening for their night market, which was a first for JB. When he arrived he spent two days with the Bears and then the entire family met up last Sunday for brunch and Big Guy came home with us. Christmas day was spent in Hout Bay with the Bears and some family from MamaBear's family as well as friends who were not with family.  What a truly wonderful day, Soo much food, so many laughs, people got sunburnt 🥴 in the pool (not me 😉). It was the first time in many years that the whole family was all together on Christmas Day and I was so blessed and will treasure all the memories. Thank you everyone making it so special, my heart is full.n

Backing up a bit we did our makeover day, which took three days and oh my goodness it was chaotic. We all painted, and painted and painted.  Eventually on the Friday we paid our gardener, who is also a painter , to come in for the last coat on the walls.  It looks absolutely stunning and I could not be happier.  I also got my sheer curtains up on the deck. I will post a pic below. N

There was also a lot of heartbreak just before Christmas. Our precious little Dash has always hated our one neighbour and the feeling was very mutual.  He would bark whenever he saw them and they are in the garden all the time. They would react by spraying him with water and swearing at him. Naturally this only escalated the barking.  On the Friday before Christmas he was barking and as usual JB went out to stop him (we did this every time he barked, we never left him). This day the neighbour was spraying him with water and when she got outside, he looked her in the eyes and let forth a string of abuse and swearing.  This was so upsetting that she made the extremely difficult decision to surrender Dash back to the Dachshund Rescue we got him from,  the fear that the neighbour could be so violent and out of control , was what the next level he would resort to.  This has really caused so much heartache, he is truly the most lovable dog we have ever owned, he brought us so much joy.  His welfare is the most important and happily he is being fostered by his previous foster mom and she has another three daxies at the moment. She keeps us updated and gave him his Christmas presents and treats from us.  JB and   I still get very emotional about it and are working through the anger and sadness.  Even Charlie has been very low key since he went. We are praying that he finds the perfect home where he can run around outside without a care in the world. 

Weather wise, oh gosh it has been unbearably hot.  Most days with no wind at all. Today however the South Easter is blowing so hard that it is difficult to walk . I am already counting down to winter 🙏🏻.  The fans have not stopped lol, perhaps we will get to swim today if the wind is not blowing a gale in HB. 

This is usually the time that many people will be making. New Year Resolutions, what are your resolutions or the things you want to change  or accomplish in the New Year ?  As for me, I want to handle my work time better. Making time for myself and for my home. Ie. Baking more, cooking the kind of meals I enjoy as opposed to standing in front of the freezer at 5pm when I'm exhausted and trying to come up with a menu. More time for beach walks and my hobbies.  It is a tall order and one that I alone can control, so here goes. 

Feeling a little bit sad, having said goodbye to Big Guy for now, he flies out tomorrow morning. It was super special having you son, thank you for the laughs, all the meals and our special family hugs. 

Folks that is all from me for this year. I wish you only the best for 2026. May you make memories, try new things, step out of your comfort zones and take time for yourselves.  Please stay safe wherever you are and enjoy good health.  With love from a small seaside Village in the Cape.  Ciao ciao

2 of the 3 units we painted, before and after.

In this pic you can see the previously pink unit now Navy in the mirror 😉

The whole room then the deck with curtains.

We actually did it !!!!

I love our Christmas tree this year

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My Life's Winding Roads: December and we made it.

My Life's Winding Roads: December and we made it.: Ooops and good morning everyone.  I am so sorry, I completely forgot it was Blog time. 🤦🏼‍♀️. It truly has been so busy that I have had a ...

December and we made it.

Ooops and good morning everyone.  I am so sorry, I completely forgot it was Blog time. 🤦🏼‍♀️. It truly has been so busy that I have had a hard time keeping days straight.  My apologies.  

Let me back up to November.  We were mostly home all month, can you believe it ?  Being home doesn't mean it was any quieter lol.  Home is busy. Work coming and going, I got a LOT of our mending and alterations done which was really good.  I also took "the leap" and emailed our biggest local hospital re my Ollie Octopuses.  I truly did not expecting any kind of response.  In the meantime I was chatting with an old school friend who shared how she worked with the Hospitals.  This is something that BigBear has been telling me to do for a long time, but I really didn't think I had a chance or any idea how to go about it.  Anyhoo ...I  drew up a flyer (yep all by myself) and then gave it over to the Designer and Marketer of the family, BigBear.  PS. He was quite impressed with what I had done.  He took a few minutes and transformed my flyer into beautiful and designed me a business card as well.  At the same time I received an email back from the hospital asking me to bring in one packaged Ollie and flyers and they will put the flyers into each goody bag they hand out in the pre-natal classes and every month one mommy-to-be gets a free gift. Ie. Ollie. Whoop whoop, I was so excited I could not stop shaking. So the race to get the flyers and biz cards printed has been on and I will collect tomorrow as well as deliver to the Hospital.  Who knew ??  I also worked on an idea and created a Rainbow Ollie especially for those extra special Rainbow Babies. (You can see it in the pic below)

JB and I spent last week in Hout Bay helping with our little Munchkin, it was so good to see him after almost a month away.  He is growing so quickly in every area and every day is an absolute delight.

Business is going well for Hubby and he finds clocks in the oddest places but is always busy.  Between that and his sailing his is on the go.

Princess received an award for Best Sustainable Design 2.  Well done my angel you are rocking this and we are so proud of you.  Big Guy is also doing really well in his new job and thoroughly enjoying it all.  THE best news is Princess and C fly down on Sunday and Big Guy flies down on the 19th. I am SO excited to see them all and can't wait for all the hugs, fun, laughter and cups of tea.

As for Christmas all our shopping is done and I still have 2 Christmas cakes to make. Today Hubby and I will move some of the furniture around in readiness for our makeover in 2 weeks.  He has been prepping the walls with damp patches, we've had our carprt cleaned (I am not putting it down until all is done and dusted )  I sewed all the deck curtains yesterday and just need to sew on the loops, today hopefully . When I've moved the furniture then our Christmas tree can go up. 🎄Tomorrow I collect the printing and drop it all off at the Hospital amongst a gazillion other things that need to be done in town.

Belatedly 😂 the weather has been unbearable. It has been so hot that I have really struggled. I find that when it gets this hot, with Fibro my body overheats and I keep having faint spells. As you can imagine this is most inconvenient grrr.  There has been no let up with the heat, last week in Cape Town and Hout Bay it was 37 c. Which is about 20 degrees too hot for me 😄.

Folks I'm going to close off with wishing each of you and your families a very Blessed Christmas. May it be joyful and may you make wonderful memories.  We are going to be an entire family all together, on Christmas Day, for the first time in many years.  Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout this year and I am looking forward to a new year of achievements, happy times and peace. Please stays safe on the roads and wherever you are.  Ciao ciao.

The Ollie Range 

My new Flyer