It's beginning to look a lot like Fall

I LOVE the first signs of Fall! We've had cooler weather for about a week now and it is so refreshing. Though we know the cooler weather will only last for a little while until the summer temperatures battle back again. The summer and fall temperatures here will battle each other probably until about November, but that just makes us appreciate each time the cooler weather makes it's appearance. Rob has been bringing lots of fall plants home that isn't perfect enough to sell (yay for me!) ...so we've been working on transforming our yard from summer plants to fall plants. Basically so far it's just been Mums and Petunias, soon we'll be planting Pansies, we're just waiting for the weather to get a little more cooler.

All of these pictures are just showing our work in progress, can't wait for all of it to bloom. I'll post more pictures when it all is at it's fullest potential!







And these are some pictures of our back patio. I have yet to blog about my sewing adventures, but I will soon for sure! In December I picked sewing up as a hobby, I've basically just been teaching myself from ground zero and LOVING it! In these pics you'll also see my cushions and pillows that I made for our patio furniture :)



Still working on this cushion...




Enjoying our patio-in-progress, plants and great weather!


Soon we're gonna have to say bye to our Coleus! They've gotten really big, and we've cut them back several times already.


And these flowers are just for fun. Aren't they gorgeous!? I don't know what they are, but when Rob showed up with them from the store I immediately loved them!


And I love Gerbers!

Stuck in between two languages

Do you ever wonder what it's like to be living in another country, speaking a different language? Well...probably not, but today I'm gonna give you guys just a small glimpse of what it is like. Yes, for me it has been TEN YEARS...(unbelievable!!) since we moved here, and Rob likes to tell me often that I can't play that card anymore, but I beg to differ! And here's why...

- The guessing-game
Most people can't believe it when they hear that English is my second language...you see, they are fooled by my almost non-existent accent. But then when the time comes (and it is WHEN, not if) that I speak all confidently like the other night, and use the word "refinished" instead of "refurbished" to describe my computer...that I get dumb-founded stares from people, and I can see the thought process within them "and I thought she was smart!" It then gets worse, as soon as I see those stares I immediately know I used ALMOST the right word, but that wasn't quite it, then I start rambling off as many familiar sounding -r-words as I can, hoping I'll get the right one soon. Usually if the people are up for the fun, that then results in the guessing-game of them trying to guess what I was actually trying to say. It can get interesting FAST. :)
I'm actually trained pretty well to recognize those stares, but a lot of times I realize it as soon as the word left my mouth, and it's too late. It can happen with the most simplest of words, it's the ones that I know I know, I just don't use them on a day to day basis. Usually I'm not a 100% sure about the word, but I know I'm close enough that it might be it, so then I weigh my chances, and if it's worth the try I blurt it out and immediately look for a subtle look-response from whoever I'm talking to. I'm pretty good at it! It's especially funny when Rob is with me, because he has picked up on my tactics and enjoys himself observing all of this. (Depending on who we're talking to, if it happens to be people we might be trying to impress a little, he is quickly there to save me).

- Good-ol' sayings
This is when I want to be fancy and use a saying like "hold your horses" for example, but instead "calm your horses" comes out. -usually Rob's response to me very matter-a-factly is, "my horses are calm".

- Stuck in between two languages
This is when while I'm speaking perfectly fine English in a conversation, all of a sudden (and I really have no clue where this comes from, or when it's going to happen) one Afrikaans word slips out in the middle of my sentence! This is usually because there are certain words that are spelled the same in both languages, but would obviously be pronounced completely different in Afrikaans. And sometimes, they just happen to come out pronounced in Afrikaans! Sometimes, if I think it was subtle enough, I nonchalantly continue talking trying to fool them that did not just happen. Usually people will go along with it. Except for Rob, who I think patiently waits for those words to come out, and then gladly tries to repeat it back to me in Afrikaans. I can NEVER get away with it with him.

Talking about Rob and Afrikaans. Here are a couple of videos of how it usually goes when Rob is trying to learn to say something in Afrikaans. He really seriously tries to say it a 100% correct, and DOES NOT give up. Me, on the other hand, tries to patiently teach him but just CANNOT keep myself from laughing. It pretty much always ends up being like this.

http://qik.com/video/13692823
http://qik.com/video/13693184

(That went on for probably 20 minutes or so, I would think we are done and then I hear him softly saying 'herder' over and over again, trying to figure it out). It went on and on.

I know all you South-African-Americans can relate with me in this...maybe not exactly in these things, but we all have our little weird corks. (Ok, here I just asked Rob if the right way of saying weird corks, is weird corPs, and was corrected, and then given very sweetly a definition of 'corps'. Thank you, love, but I KNOW what a corps is...I just couldn't remember the right way of saying weird CORK! ...but I was close, wasn't I?) :) ...Anyway, I also know all of you who have been around me enough have experienced most of this with me. Now you know I know! All of you who usually try to act nice about it, feel free next time to humor me and take part in the fun...I make fun of myself ALL THE TIME. That is part of the fun of being in this country and loving it! :)

PS. Part of the downfall of English as my second language, is tenses, spelling, and...just not saying things right! So for those of you who are particular on these things, I apologize! In order for you to keep reading my blog, you are just gonna have to learn to look over it. Enjoy the fact that you are reading a humble South-African's blog who seems like she should have this English language down, but in fact is now stuck in between two language - great in neither. Because believe me, speaking Afrikaans is a whole other story...

The rest of our household...

It is now time to introduce Mr. Black and Mr. White. I have to confess though that yes, I refer to our two cats as Mr. Black and Mr. White, but they have actually never been 'named'. We've only given them 'titles' -if you will- for the sake of all our friends and family that can't believe we didn't name our cats. Why you may ask? Well, I grew up with lots and lots of cats, and I have never known ANY cats to respond to their names...only to your voice. So, with Rob and I already not being the most creative on names, we decided what's the purpose anyway if they're not gonna respond to it? Usually the next question from most people is, what do we say if we want to distinguish one from the other? Well, we keep it simple with calling them the black one and the white one. We have our way of telling them apart :)

When we first decided on getting the cats it was mainly me who wanted them. Rob just wanted to get them for my sake. He was determined that he has never been a cat-lover and never will be, including these cats. I took these picture within minutes of arriving home with the two little things. It was love at first sight:



They really are the sweetest cats. More so than the ordinary, most people that know them agree. They basically want to cuddle with ANYBODY the entire time, and they trust everybody...including my little nephews in this next video. McCade and Dylan can't get enough of these cats, they can't wait to come visit me and Rob, not so much because of us but more so because of this: (I can't get the videos to work, so the best I have for now is a link)
http://qik.com/video/13656477

And this is the day that we had their manhood taken away, right after getting home from the vet. They were so OUT OF IT and dizzy. It was so funny. The video is 2 and a half minutes long, but the end is the best, so fast-forward it to the last 45 seconds or so if you don't want to watch the whole thing. So funny, I was snickering the whole time...
http://qik.com/video/10474722

Here we are...

We made it! I've been wanting to create a blog for quite a while now, and finally...HERE WE ARE! The more I contemplated about creating a blog, I just LOVED the idea of having all our little (and big) memories documented and shared. After a year of marriage Rob and I reflected back on everything we did and learned, and I found myself wishing that we documented it. I just don't journal as much as I used to, and Rob and I would usually get back from a great event and realize "SHOOT, we didn't take any pictures!" So, I'm hoping to create this blog as a reminder to cherish our daily lives, no matter how big or small the events.

There's several blogs that I love following and reading, as soon as I figure out how to put you on my follow list, I will! (I think this took me way too long to figure out how to do all this...and I actually thought I was decently internet savvy!)

I have lots of things to post to catch up on everything. But for now, here's an update of what's been going on with Rob:



Uh...wanna say SCARY!!?? That's what I thought when I randomly received this text while rob was out shooting guns with some guys, and I was just chilling with some girls. Rob's face came a little too close to the gun he was shooting and that was the end result. Ouch.