MICHELLE'S BOM No. 12

No, Michelle is not late with her latest Challenge, I inadvertently deleted it when she sent it to me on the 1st day of 2009 - how organised is this chick???? You are my superhero for 2009, Michelle ...

This is her dedication to her mom and dad for the lessons she learnt from them ...

"My dad and mom have been a great inspiration in my life and were and still are, always very fair and treat my brothers, sister and I the same. None of us got more than the other. They are both very kind and caring people and always willing to assist others.
They are very careful with money and taught me at a young age its value and how to budget. When I received my pocket money, it had all been worked out exactly how much I needed and before I got my next month's pocket money, I had to show my dad what I had spent my money on ie I had to keep a budget. I know that my parents saved well which enabled us to go on holidays (mainly during July) and I saw a lot of South Africa as we mostly drove to wherever we were going. We often visited my cousins in East London and Port Elizabeth.
My parents encouraged us to do sport and fetched and carried when necessary. I was fortunate enough to do music (I played the piano until I was in matric and my teacher died), ballet, modern dancing, speech and drama (I won a bursary to study with Prof. Elizabeth Sneddon for a year), gymnastics, squash, tennis, badminton, athletics and swimming. My dad played a lot of tennis, so I suppose I got that love of sport from him. My brothers and sister also did music, karate, badminton and squash from what I can remember.
My mom was a Domestic Science teacher and once I started school she stopped working, so she was always home in the afternoons. My mom often baked biscuits and cakes which we loved to help with and when I got older, there were certain biscuits, coconut squares and cupcakes that I certainly enjoyed making. Whenever we needed cakes or things for a function, my mom would make meringues (this was her speciality) or other baked goodies. My mom would rather make something than go and buy it. My mom also sewed very well and made a lot of my skirts, dresses and tops and would often sit up late into the night to finish an outfit for me. I remember having to stand up on the desk (she is very short) so that she could measure the hems of my skirts properly!!
My dad is very good with doing woodwork and made a lot of the furniture in our house – all the cupboards in the kitchen and bedrooms, their bed, dressing table, my sister and my bed and chest of drawers to name a few things, as well as for other people. He was always doing something in the garage or fixing up something round the house. My dad very seldom called someone in to fix things – he got on and did them himself.
As children we knew exactly where we stood with my parents. If they said no, there was no changing that. Sometimes we could answer back to my mom, but if she said she was calling my dad, boy were we scared! A lot of pepper and sunlight soap went down my mouth!!!
Both my parents have a good sense of humour, my dad a bit more than my mom and we have had lots of laughs together. My mom has a lot of patience.
To dad and mom – thank you for all that you have done for me and for giving me the grounding to be the person that I am today."

Thanks for sharing, Michelle ...

Come on girls, let's try and catch up in this New Year - to remind you (and add a bit of positive affirmation), add this banner that I pinched from Stacy Julian to your blog ... it's so coool ...

Love,