The daffodils are in bloom!!

Archie just couldn't resist investigating this morning.

This week has been one of varied activity in the Rethman household. The girls have been busy at school, Jemma is revising for her upcoming Biology exam in May and Amber with track and field practice several times a week.

The materials for our new deck arrived, so Craig spent most of Saturday rearranging the garage and sorting out junk for the annual Spring clean up collection. We are down to our last cord of wood now and rarely need to light the woodstove.

I am as happy as Larry to have a paintbrush in my hand again!

After waiting patiently through winter I finally got around to painting the chest of drawers in my sewing room, covering the ghastly orange varnish with a calming antique white, it's actually a bit darker than it looks on this photo.Following the painting, yesterday evening I set about filling the drawers. Sorting out a trunk of memorabilia I came across my old 'scraps' collection and my serviette collection too :) In the 70's I spent a year in Stavanger, Norway attending the local elementary school. Little girls were still very young at heart in those days (no computer, tv, celebrity magazines) Initially I didn't understand a word they were saying of course, we played with my Pippa dolls and loved collecting things. So, coming across the pretty collection of over 70 serviettes/napkins, from that year gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

The 'scraps' or 'glans' as we called them, were a huge a source of excitement at the age of 11. Every week I would take my Kroner, skip down to the local store and buy some carefully selected scrap sheets. Then I would meet up with my friends where we would swap some and carefully arrange them in our precious books. Even back then I had a fondness of the cute pictures of children, animals and especially the vintage ones! Oh and I do still have a few of my Pippa dolls hidden away in a box :D

I have another friend who has just started blogging. Kathy, who now lives in Sydney Australia. I met Kathy about 18 years ago, before we had our babies, but we only started corresponding on a regular basis about a year ago, through emails and facebook! We have discovered that we have so much in common it's quite uncanny. I only wish we lived a little closer. Both our families left SA for the same reason, the safety and future of our children (I lived there for 2 years when my daughters' were toddlers). Somehow Craig being held at gunpoint a couple of days after we had bought a house in a leafy suburb called Rivonia put a kind of dampener on staying! I became a little paranoid, totally over protective and felt like a prisoner in my own home. On that same note, my poor Mum and Dad had their home broken into last week, luckily they were not harmed as they didn't actually go into the room that was being ransacked and the intruders took off (with computer) after being disturbed. This followed another nasty incident a year ago when they were held at gunpoint in the city by five men, who took their wallets, bags etc. Now they are a little more 'aware' of the dangers and have upgraded their home security to include panic buttons and perimeter beams! (a way of living I couldn't handle) I may be living the 'simple life' but I do at least feel safe (except perhaps for the odd black bear in the woods this time of year)

Hazel xx