Lots of Fun with Angie

Today my friend Angie invited Liora and Ayala to come to her workshop at Museum Creations, they all had fun the girls creating jewellery and Angie knowing they would eventually go home!

     

They are wearing the necklaces that they made.

I am trying to write this blog on an ancient computer which is very frustrating as it is extremely slow. My computer has died! It is going to be interesting only having one computer in a household of 6 users.

I had a nice surprise when I got home from work tonight, in our local newspaper was a photo of Zahava and her best friend Ami at a memorial service for the 3 Israeli teens who were kidnapped and killed recently. Zahava may disown me for posting this but I have told her that mothers are there to embarrass their kids at all opportunities.

On a work related note, when you go to see a doctor for anything, full disclosure is important even when you think something is irrelevant.

I had a patient come in because he has "the flu" which started a week ago, what he said was that he was coughing and thought his sugar may be low as he wasn't feeling great. On assessment his sugar was actually very high, his oxygen circulation was extremely bad, so we put him through as a fairly urgent patient after we had completed his assessment. On examination by the doctor she found that the patient also had a very swollen left leg. He didn't mention it to his GP whom he had seen the day before and been put onto antibiotics or to us in the triage area (assessment area) or to his wife.  That 'unrelated' problem actually almost killed him. It was a clot in his leg on top of the pneumonia which he had developed. The patient has also had a previous clot.  He almost missed his daughters wedding which is in 3 weeks.

Please let your doctor or nurse decide what is relevant or related to your visit, it is why they spent all those years at university/college.

South Africa at the moment is having a relatively mild winter temperatures are dropping to freezing mostly during the night, however there are some places where it is so cold that ice has formed. This was a photo sent by a colleague's sister in Welkom in the Free State.

For those of us in the south, stay warm and those in the north stay cool and for my family and friends in the bomb shelters in Israel, stay safe.

Teen free Monday (almost)

The house is now relatively free of teens, with the two oldest away.  The first thing my girls at home got to do was go to sleep late last night! Then today they got spoilt by my parents who to them to a dairy farm in Irene. 
Irene is just between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
According to its website it was started 1895, and has been run the whole time by the van der Byl family from then until now.
 
My girls had a wonderful time both being fascinated and disgusted (the cows poo while they walk!)
Tomorrow they are going to spend some time with Angie making jewellery from old beads she has lying around.


My youngest daughter has a project to do for school during the holidays called a treasure box, one of the things she must put it the treasure box is an interview from someone older, at least the first two interviewed my mom about the "olden"days, but she wants to interview me! It fascinates her that I only had TV from 1976 (we got it late in South Africa) and the fact that I was an adult before cell phones came out blows her mind. She wants to know how we knew where people were?
As usual it was another busy day at work, we heard that the government hospitals have also had to close their Emergency Departments as they have run out of space, there are just too many people with pneumonia at present. It is a worry that so many people are that sick that they need to be admitted, what will happen if a real Infuenza hit the world? There are not enough beds in any country to contain that amount of people and certainly not enough nursing staff or doctors.
The best way we can prevent this is by remembering to wash our hands properly with soap and water, regularly.


Stay healthy everyone.

Bon Voyage

One gone and one to go. Today my oldest daughter left for the winter camp that she will be attending this week at the coast Port Edward. My son leaves tomorrow for his week in the Drakensberg mountains where it is snowing.  Looking at their luggage it is hard to believe that they are both only going for a week, my daughter packed a suitcase and a tog bag her pillow and duvet didn't fit in so she had to carry that and my son packed a tog bag with his sleeping bag inside.
I at least know that Zahava packed enough clothes but I am not sure Aharon has any!


Now I just have to find something for the two younger ones to do for the holiday. Hopefully they wont kill each other out of boredom on the days where I am working.


This winter in South Africa has been one of the worst in terms Bronchitis and Pneumonia, even though or maybe because it hasn't been so cold, but day after day we are inundated in the emergency room.  It makes for a very busy shift, there have been days where we have had to close the hospital to ambulance patients and we are not the only hospital to have to do this.


Tonight I didn't make anything interesting for dinner but as it is Sunday I have put a recipe in the recipe page, thanks to the blog Lara's Latest, so cook and enjoy

Friday at Last

Thankfully for me the week is over and Shabbat has arrived, 5 more hours and I can shut off my phones and all my rushing for another 25 hours and with this horiffic week I certainly need it.


I am sitting waiting for my son to finish his last exam for the term (semester). For my overseas readers, South Africa works in terms (semesters) 3 or 4 per year depending on the school.  Our main vacation times are July which is usually 3 weeks and December which is 6 weeks.  Our school year starts in January and there is a short 2 week break in March/April then July next is October for 2 weeks and December/January for 6 weeks.
For the winter vacation my two eldest are going to camp, one to Durban and one to Drakensburg, they will be gone for 10 days.
I am not sure what to do with the younger two yet, but we will think of something.


                                                                


I am waiting for my son in a little coffee shop in my area called Jozi Blue, drinking tea and eating the most decadent muffin, Toffee Caramel, using their WiFi and enjoying the atmosphere of all the people around me. There is music playing on the speakers, the coffee shop is simply decorated, you help yourself to your muffin or quiche, salad and sandwiches will be delivered to your table, your coffee is hot and fresh and for those who don't drink coffee there is a variety of herbal teas. For people wanting to work there are plenty of plugs around. Everyone is friendly (the Jewish community is small so you are almost guaranteed to meet someone you know there) and you are greeted with smiles by the owners, as if they have known  you for years, even though you don't come in  all that often (although I may need to change that).
                                                                   

The Bumpy Road of Life

Sometimes life just likes to throw you a curve ball, it's up to you what happens next.
Today was a heavy day at work, with one of my colleagues getting a phone call at the beginning of her shift, saying her daughter (24y) was ill, later that morning we heard that the daughter had died.  Losing a loved one is hard, losing a child is unimaginable to those of us who have all our children living.
Knowing that our friend will not be back at work for a while as Traditional customs in South Africa dictate that you should be buried in the place (region) you are born, and for most people that is not where they live. We spent the day trying to find a staff member to replace her for Sunday and Monday's shift in between seeing to patients.
It was an exhausting day.


I thought about colors today. When we make something does our mood affect the color we choose to use or does the color we choose affect our mood?


I looked into the color red, mostly because it is one of my favorite colors, the others being yellow, orange and turquoise, wearing red always makes me feel good and confident.






                           

 RED
Is the color of passion, energy and action.  Red is a warm color associated with physical needs and our will to survive. It gives of a masculine energy. It energizes us and stimulates our emotions, it motivates us to take action.
It can give a shy person confidence, it is a color of leadership, ambition and determination a pioneering spirit.

It can also be an expression of anger and hatred.

It is often used in restaurants as it increases your appetite.

However, being around too much red can make a person agitated and irritable.

Red is used often in wedding colors of the Chinese as it symbolizes luck and in the Indian culture wedding silks are often red as this symbolizes purity.

People who like the color red are supposed to be:

Extroverted, optimistic, courageous and confident.

They are action orientated and physically active 

Reds like to be the center of attention and people may be drawn to your vitality and the feeling of excitement that you may give off.

So the next time you are feeling a little lacking in confidence or lacking energy, try it, wear RED even if it is your underwear!

Dare it, Do it

Today has been a great day for the blog as I had over 35 people reading it, this gives me confidence that I am going in the right direction.  I can be difficult sometimes to decide what to put into the blog.


This morning's shift started with a bang and a seriously ill patient was brought in by ambulance, so the first hour of shift was very stressful and rushed until we could get the patient ventilated and into the ICU.  Then the shift just petered out and we only saw about 35 people, this is half of what we see on an average day. I have to say it felt like I was working in a GP practice as it was mostly colds and coughs.
 Also the hospital was put on divert(patients must be taken to another facility) for any serious cases as we are full, not a bed available, and the EMT's working with us said that they had received notice from four other hospitals that they were also full. It looks like Jo'burg is full of sick people!
Then I come home to a sick ward, with two members of the family sick, well actually one is sick and the other has decided to sympathize!


Tonight I am going to go over some of my older pieces and talk about how to decide what to do with your beads.


This watch I chose the face first and then spent ages experimenting with the different beads and patterns to use. I am not a bling type person but this watch face just screamed sparkle! I sold it within 1 day of making it.

I used white pearl beads and black flat crystal beads and for spacers silver colored beads with black detail.  I have never found a watch face like it since, so I am grateful I bought it at the time.


Some things work and some things don't, however, what might not work for you may work for some one else. This blue crystal bracelet, I felt was a disaster yet I sold it faster than the heart charm necklace which I loved. They were the same price.
   


Think about how many times you have seen an outfit or a piece of jewelry or hair piece and thought YUCK! but some one liked it or it wouldn't have been available for you to see!


Happy crafting!

Designed

Tuesday has come around again and it is time for us to meet Angie, one of the talented creators and designers for Adiesdesigns.
Her bags are selling brilliantly and her shoe jewels range are getting a lot of interest, they are a fun and funky way to spice up old boring shoes.
Angie pours and makes her own beads and likes to incorporate vintage and recycled beads.  When she makes bulk items no two are every exactly the same.


I met Angie at Synagogue (Jewish church) and the first thing I noticed was the bib and handbag she was wearing, and I knew then that this was someone I wanted for my shop.


I hope you enjoy 'meeting' her as much as I did.
Read our interview on the interview page of the blog and enjoy the pictures of her work.