The Happiness Project

We had a wonderful Christmas in Johannesburg.

The tree looked lovely with lots of presents.

The table was set.

Mel and Christine

celebrate Christmas on the 24th. 

Presents get opened at midnight.

But there was no way Ethan would stay up that late,

so he got to open his gifts at 10.

But since Santa comes on the 24th,

Ethan awoke to more gifts

on Christmas Day!

He even got to Skype with his mate

in Finland!

Christmas was a little quieter this year,

but it was still lovely.

Happiness is a lovely Christmas

with friends. 

A Very Gothic Christmas - C. Feehan & M. George

It's Christmas time,

so I had to read a Christmas book.

A Very Gothic Christmas

is not very Goth,

but it is a little Christmassy.

There are two little novellas here.

The first one,

After the Music,

is written by Christine Feehan.

It's the story of Dillon,

a famous musician.

Years ago,

 his wife got involved with the occult,

and after walking in on her friends

abusing young Jessica,

shots were fired

and the house was burnt.

Years later,

Jessica arrives on the island

with Dillon's teen aged children

in hopes for Christmas miracle.

Someone has been trying to kill the twins,

and Jessica hopes spending time with their father,

will bring them together as a family

and learn who is trying to harm them all.

Lady of the Locket

is written by Melanie George.

I've never read anything by her,

but after this,

I think I will.

Rachel Hudson travels to Scotland

to fulfill her parents wish, 

of spreading their ashes over Glengarren,

the Scottish castle where they met

years before.

She sees a portrait of the fierce Highlander,

Duncan MacGregor,

and something awakens within her.

After a stormy night,

Rachel finds herself face-to-face

with Duncan.

This one was heart-wrenching

but so lovely.

Dark Desires After Dusk - Kresley Cole

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year,

for many reasons.

One of them being,

having nothing to do all day,

but enjoy a book

(or two).

Dark Desires After Dusk

is another Immortals After Dark

book.

This one is the story of Cadeon Woede,

a demon.

He's fated to be with Holly Ashwin.

There's just one problem,

she's a human

and it's forbidden to mate with a human.

So Cadeon spends his days

watching her

and watching over her.

Cadeon is determined to help his brother

reclaim his throne.

When the opportunity to help comes,

he takes it.

It seems simple enough.

Deliver the Vessel to an evil sorcerer.

But when he learns the Vessel is Holly,

a Halfling,

can he give up his fate to help his brother?

The Happiness Project

We weren't able to make it to Canada

this Christmas.

So we decided to have a 

South African Christmas,

spending a week 

with mates.

Since it's summer here,

the weather's not quite as cold

as it is at home,

so our mate

took us to Gold Reef City,

an amusement park.

She thought Ethan would love it there.

He went on rides,

played some games,

Auntie Mel even won a big dog for him.

Ethan got to meet some miners,

and saw a gorgeous peacock.

Ethan even got to see Father Christmas.

Happiness is a fun-filled day.

Writer's Workshop - Pajamas

Write a blog post inspired by the word:

pajamas

Last year,

my cousin started a new Christmas tradition.

She has three sons,

her oldest is the same age as Ethan.

We have another cousin

with a son the same age.

Every Christmas,

we try to get the boys together.

So, she had a fantastic idea.

Get the boys matching pajamas.

The boys had a blast in their PJs.

We're not home this Christmas,
but she hasn't let that stop
the second annual
pajama party.
She sent Ethan a pair.
I'm going to let him open it on
Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile,
everytime I think of pajamas,
I think of Sandra Boyton's book
Pajama Time.
What I like even better
was hearing it as a song.

And since I've now got it stuck in my head,
I'm going to share it with you...

Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton

The moon is up, 

It’s getting late. 

Let’s get ready to celebrate.

It’s Pajama Time!

Pull on the bottoms. 

Put on the top.

 Get yourself set to pajama-dee-bop-- 

It’s Pajama Time!

Now, some are old and some are new. 

Some are red and some are blue. 

Some are fuzzy. Some are not.

 But we can all pajammy in whatever we’ve got.

 It’s Pajama Time! 

Ooooo yes, it’s Pajama Time!

Some are pink and some are green.

 Some are the ugliest you’ve ever seen.

 They might be stripey,

or polka dot.

 But we can all pajammy in whatever we’ve got. 

It’s Pajama time!

Pajammy to the left. 

Pajammy to the right. 

(Jamma jamma jamma jamma P! J!) 

Everybody’s wearing them for dancing tonight.

 (Jamma jamma jamma jamma P! J!)

Now all around the room in one big line, 

wearing our pajamas and looking so fine.

It’s Pajama Time! 

Hop into bed.

Turn off the light.

 You can have a party in your dreams tonight. 

IT’S PAJAMA TIME!

(Hush, Hush.)

(Shhhhhhhh.)

GOOD NIGHT 

SLEEP TIGHT.

The Happiness Project

Last week,

was the last week of school 

before the Christmas break.

As tradition at IST

there was a class party.

This year's party was fabulous.

The class mum thought it would be nice

to have a little present exchange.

However, 

so parents didn't have to go out and buy something

the idea was to bring in a 

wrapped book

and take one.

There was a dance contest.

Ethan won.

But the best part

was not him winning

but the reaction of his classmates

when he won.

Happiness is having a wonderful

class.

The Pagan Stone - Nora Roberts

Have you ever read a trilogy

or series

and got to the last book

and was slightly disappointed?

Well...

that doesn't happen here!

The Pagan Stone is the third

and final book in the

Sign of Seven Trilogy.

Cal, Fox and Gage,

along with Quinn, Layla and Cybil

are determined to fight

The Big Evil.

As July 7th approaches

they are willing to risk everything to save themselves,

their families,

friends

and the little town of 

Hawkins Hollow.

This is also the story of Gage and Cybil.

Both have the gift of seeing

the future.

Neither is looking for love.

And when you're out to fight the

Big Bad,

love is the last thing you're looking for.

This book is heartbreaking as well.

Gage lost his mother when he was young.

His father turned to the bottle

and beat him.

He then let out the Big Bad.

Is the way to win sacrifice?

Will Gage need to sacrifice himself?

Unlike the others,

he doesn't have a family.

He has no ties.

Is he the key to success?

The Happiness Project

We have a cook!

Yipee.

We finally get home cooked meals.

Yipee!

On Monday, she came

and made some pizza bases

and homemade pizza sauce.

Which meant

that last night,

we all got to make our own

pizza.

Happiness is homemade pizza.

Writer's Workshop - Pin It

You saw it on Pinterest ..... does it really work?

Some years ago,

I came across a Swedish pancake

recipe

and it became our Sunday tradition.

Every Sunday,

Ethan and I would make the pancakes together

and he'd slather on the Nutella.

So this past weekend,

our first in our new home,

Ethan wanted pancakes.

Unfortunately,

I didn't have any flour.

Scott suggested I make French Toast.

Ethan was excited about slathering

on the Nutella.

"You can't put Nutella on French Toast!"

And then I remembered seeing

on Pinterest

a peanut butter and jelly stuffed

French Toast.

If you can do PB&J

why not Nutella?

So I looked it up again,

and wouldn't you know it....

there's even a

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

recipe on Pinterest.

And it's super easy!

Even I can make it!!!

How easy you ask?

Well,

make yourself a Nutella sandwich,

or two, or three...

I cut them up into slices.

Grab some eggs, milk, vanilla and a tad sugar

(I used honey).

Whisk it together.

Drench each slice of sandwich

in the egg mixture

and place it on a greased

baking tray.

Bake at 200C for 8 minutes.

Then carefully flip them over

for another 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Hollow - Nora Roberts

In between moving into our new place,

having a swarm of fundis

(carpenters, plumbers, painters, etc)

fixing things in the house,

unpacking,

studying,

going to the gym,

and

fetching Ethan from school

I've found some time

to read!

The Hollow is the second part of

The Sign of Seven Trilogy.

And while the story continues

with our boys trying to find a way

to beat the Big Evil,

this is Fox and Layla's story.

Layla also possesses the gift 

of seeing the present

and Fox helps her learn to use and control it.

Unlike the men

who were part of this since the beginning

and Quinn and Cybil

who were friends before

Layla is the outsider.

Something brought her there.

She is still unsure of herself

and what the future holds.

I love Fox.

He grew up in a vegan house

hippies and all

but he loves his snacks

and processed food.

He's true.

He's there for everyone.

He puts others first.

Layla...

I don't know.

While she's the outsider 

in this group,

she seems to hold that against Fox.

She can't commit to him,

yet fully commits to other things.

Either way,

book 3 is up next,

and you know I'll be reading it!

Champion - Marie Lu

It's the year of trilogies.

And the conclusion of some.

Legend is one of those.

Champion brings the story of

June and Day,

of the Colonies, Patriots and Republics

to an end.

And it was a good one.

When we last saw of dear friends,

June and Day decided to save the Elector

and go against the plans of the Patriots.

June became to Princeps Elect

and Day learnt he's dying of a tumour.

Champion picks up months later.

June and Day have not been in contact for months.

Eden, Day's brother

is slowly getting better.

The Colonies have declared war

against the Republic.

And the Elector

wants June to get Day to help.

Confused?

I love how June continues to be strong in this book.

And even though Day's dying,

he's also just as smart and 

just as strong.

He's also torn.

Can he love the girl

that helped kill his family?

It's not easy.

For either one.

And these emotions

are what made this book

fantastic.

The Happiness Project - Week 36

It has been

officially

one week

since Ethan started at IST.

And he's been loving it.

He gets up early,

no complaints.

He's happy when I fetch him from school.

He's even ok 

with wearing a uniform again.

I was terribly worried 

that the transition would be hard on him.

Thank you 

to all the teachers,

friends

and councillors

that made Ethan's transition

smooth.

Happiness is having a happy

child.

Blood Redemption - Tessa Dawn

It's been awhile 

since I was in the company

of some bloodsuckers.

So I felt it was that time

once again.

And Tessa Dawn was happy to oblige

with the release of her fifth book in the

Blood Curse series. 

Meet Saber Alexiares.

He's mean.

Ruthless.

A killer.

A warrior in the house of Jaegar.

A Dark One.

He has been captured by the house

of Jadon

and sentenced to death by sunlight.

But something strange happens on the day of his execution.

He does not burn.

He does not die.

He has a soul.

It turns out that Saber

is really a Light One.

Eight hundred years ago,

he was kidnapped from his parents

and raised as a Dark One.

Vanya Demir

is an ancient princess.

An original,

sister to both Jaegar and Jadon.

She witnessed the blood thirst of her brother.

She has a deep sense

of duty.

Plagued by dreams of a fire-breathing dragon,

Vanya decides to visit her sister

in Dark Vale.

Saber and Vanya's path

collide with the presence of the

Serpens Blood Moon.

Vanya is Saber's destiny.

But he is a savage.

He has no emotion.

Yet, if they are not united within 30 days

he will suffer the Blood Curse.

Can she allow that?

Will he accept who he is?

What he is?

Can he be redeemed?

Writer's Workshop - Wrong

Something you were wrong about.

I have spent a lot of time

thinking about this prompt.

And I mean a lot of time.

I think I finally came up with a story to share.

However,

I do not believe I was wrong.

I was mistaken.

Forgetful.

Confused.

Irritated.

But not wrong!

Ethan has an iTouch.

And now that he's learning to

read and write,

he's taken full ownership of his iTouch.

He's deleted songs

he once wanted,

and apps

he had begged for.

He even created folders for all his apps

and organised them in a way

that makes sense to him.

And him only.

He even downloaded YouTube

and started 

watching videos.

But as his spelling

is still a work in progress,

I've worried about him watching something

inappropriate.

So I took action!

I disabled the apps store on his iTouch.

This would prevent him from 

deleting anything without

first asking.

It also prevents him from adding

new apps

without my approval.

Somewhere,

between disabling it

and syncing it yesterday,

I forgot about this.

I recently purchased a few new apps

that I thought Ethan would like.

I decided it was time to sync his iTouch

to my computer.

It's been forever since I had last done it.

As I'm doing this,

I'm noticing the new apps are not loading.

And I can't figure out why.

And then I notice it.

The app store is GONE!

OMG!!!!

Ethan, did you delete the app store?

Are you sure?

Maybe when you were moving apps around

you accidentally deleted it?

Ethan you need to be more careful!

Yes, I blamed my child

(wait - this is not a bad mommy post

let's get back to topic).

I just couldn't

for the life of me figure out

what went wrong.

Suddenly it dawned on me....

It was not a what

but a who.

I was wrong!

It wasn't Ethan that deleted it.

It was I that disabled it!

Well,

I fixed it.

And so,

this does not make me wrong,

just in error!

The Happiness Project - Week 35

Anyone who knows me

will tell you I love Halloween.

Big Time!

Ethan and I even bought his costume

in May!

But this year,

with the move,

Halloween almost didn't happen.

I know!!!!

We left Lusaka before

Trunk-or-Treat

or even Halloween in the Hood

and we weren't sure

what was happening in Dar.

But then,

my friend Lara

 came to the rescue.

Lara,

a fellow Canadian,

loves Halloween

almost as much as I.

She was planning a kids party,

and when she heard we were moving

asked us to come to the party.

We were happy to oblige!

The house was decorated,

there was an abundance of treats

and even scary slime!

Even Scott enjoyed himself!

Happiness is Halloween with friends.