Order of Business...

I have suddenly woken up to the fact that it is almost the middle of October, there are just under 11 weeks to Christmas and in less than 12 weeks we will be ringing in a new year, God willing.

I realized this suddenly on Wednesday when on going through the 'spam box' of my email, I found all the 'Santa Shoebox Project' emails that have been sent to me....definitely not spam, but then the computer decided that they were.  So I had a quick read through and sent off an email to ask if I am too late to make up boxes this year.  Last year we did some boxes and when we delivered them both Johan and I were so emotional to see the public outburst of generosity for underprivileged children, that we vowed this year we will do more.   I didn't have to wait long before receiving a reply....YIPPEE!!!!!!  I'm not too late, they still have plenty of boxes to be pledged, so I went through the whole thing of.... choosing my area.... choosing which home to support and the choosing of children.... I decided on six - seeing as I'm cutting it a bit fine, time wise,  and now all I have to do is put it all together.  Boxes have to be delivered from the 24th to 26th October...EEEEKKK!!!!

Now I'm in the Christmas mode, I thought that we better start thinking about the community and everything that has been discussed throughout the year, but not quite been finalized yet.  Firstly there is our 'year end function' which is usually held early in December...then we also need to collect our Christmas boxes that people have been making up for distribution to needy persons in our area.

This morning while feeding the animals I had a crazy notion....this happens often let me tell you when it is just me and my chores, hehe.  HOW ABOUT holding a  Community Christmas Fair??????  I'm already mapping it out in my mind and thinking of all sorts of ideas, but my thought is to give those entrepreneurs in the area an opportunity to market their wares and make themselves some extra money for Christmas.  AND if we get some people to do a food table for the day and sell wors rolls, curry and rice, pancakes and muffins then the money made from the food table can be put straight back into the community to buy another night sight and  2 bullet proof vests....much needed items for our team who go out in the middle of the night to investigate calls of intruders on properties etc.

The wheels are already in motion and I have called a committee meeting for next week Wednesday to discuss all this with them.  Hopefully they will be in agreement about my brilliant idea for a fair, otherwise  I will just have to sell it to them.....lol

So while the mind is working overtime and emails have been flying through the airwaves, life continues to throw lemons in our path....

NiQi had yet another SMS from her medical aid 2 days ago to say that her cover has been suspended!!!!  This is becoming a monthly nightmare now and my blood is starting to boil...grrrrr
Early yesterday morning she phoned to find out 'why?'  Another long story and they need a letter signed by all the trustees of her fund....blah blah blah blah blah.  More emails and instructions and so once this is sorted we will wait with baited breath to see 'what next?'

Then last evening, more wind....power gone for about 3 hours and there were Johan and I running around saving things from flying around and batting down the hatches.  If you can't comprehend the extent of our winds, here is a photo of our JoJo tank, that after the second time of being picked up and blown away, it has now seen it's day.  Sadly it will no longer be able to catch the rain  water for our vegetables...it is no more...it is deceased!!!!!

                                      we tied it to the tree to prevent it from flying further...

Today so far, has seen me surveying any wind damage and picking up rubbish and bits and pieces that have blown all over...oh and seeing a buck run through our plot....life is full of surprizes.....