Month: July 2011

Debriefing

Ok.  So I haven’t blogged in 2 weeks.  The longest time EVER I have gone without blogging in almost 3 years.  I feel like I should be doing a confession or something: “Dear Darling Blog Readers, it has been 14 days since my last entry”.

To be honest, I have been really busy and I generally think it’s a really lame thing to say you’re too busy to blog.  But I got busy making something for a friend (read:  crochet and nerd) for her babyshower which has turned into a monster project.  I’m 3/4 way there and will blog the completed project.

And work’s been hectic.

And I’ve been getting home late and not seeing my kids.

And I’ve been tired and ratty.

And I’ve been trying to pull myself toward myself so I can write a coherent post without sounding like I’m running around in circles.

And I rehearsed and wrote so many lovely posts in my head that I wanted to sit down and do properly.

And I wanted to sort out my feelings before coming here and sounding like I’m a rambling lunatic.

And.. Oh. wait.

And I realised that this is my very own rambling space, so here I am.  Rambling away.

But I’ll be back to gloat because we now officially Recycle (my halo is apparently on it’s way) and ask about Upcycling and Re-Using and what your thoughts are.  And whether you do it.  Because my friend Sally does and I think it’s a bloody fantastic idea.  Except for the fact that I can pretty much just crochet in a straight line.  And it takes me months to crochet a bloody baby blanket.

So send your birthdays for 2013 along so I can start now 🙂

The Control Freak continues confession..

After spending my day on the verge of tears yesterday and doing my best OCD/OTT thing I rushed out the door to my poor, desolate, deprived and neglected child.

My parents had collected them from school so I had to collect them from their house. I arrive at the house and find the 3 kids sprawled over the furniture happily munching on popcorn and watching a Barbie movie and ignoring their long-suffering mother. I really didn’t know whether I should be happy or sad.

Fast forward to bedtime.

We did an extra long read-and-cuddle-time, me with the girls and Etienne with Daniel and going-to-sleep-time didn’t go too badly. Normally when they are asleep they stay that way apart from the odd wet bed/fever/snotty nose/bad dream etc.

At this point you need to know:

We moved our room around recently. Since we have had children Etienne has always slept closest to the door. i.e. he generally gets up more than I do. Now I’m the one closest to the door. Which is not a bad thing as I generally sleep like the dead. (this has incidentally backfired nicely on Etienne as the dogs bark directly outside the window and Lily has taken to sleeping on the trampoline) (yes, Lily the dog)

That is, when I’m not dreaming up a storm of bizarreness as I have been lately. Really weird dreams which I know is just my mind’s way of processing, but it’s still stuck to me the next day like dog poo on a shoe. So, last night I decided to use some, erm, chemical assistance to sleep i.e. an anti-anxiety tablet. And half a one nogals as I don’t generally take anything to help me sleep.

At 10pm I was happily in bed, children checked on and tucked in, house quiet, alarm activated and drifting happily off to dreamland.

At 01h00 I surface to a doefdoef coming down the passage and the vague shape of a 3 year old looming in the doorway. It’s Isabel. “Mamma, I’m cold.” Drag myself out of bed through the haze and tuck her back in bed with a kiss and a cuddle.

01h30: “Mamma, I’m awake”. Etienne gets up and does something.

01h45: “Mamma, there’s a scary man” Etienne gets up grumbling and mumbling and deposits her back in bed.

02h00: “Mamma, I need to poo”. I get up (very slowly) and switch on the bathroom light and tell her to call me when she’s done.

02h10: “Mamma, I can’t make a poo” whilst looming in the doorway. At which point it got a little ugly and we asked her very nicely to go to bed.

02h30: “Mamma, I’m awake!” Etienne and I: “Go To BED!”

03h00, 03h30, 04h00 and so on: dogs barking. Allegedly. Because I was sleeping.

I’m getting too old for this…

And then, this morning, when we finally managed to drag Madam out of bed, she insists on wearing these shoes my Mom bought her yesterday. In 9 degrees Celcius weather. The pure fugliness of these shoes know no end. And notice the battle scars on her shin.

Sigh.

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Confessions of a Recovering Control Freak

I have been trying to write a post on being a Recovering Control Freak for a very long time, but I haven’t been able to get it Just Right.

Because in many ways I am a Recovering Control Freak, but in most ways I’m not.

Let me paint you the picture:

When it comes to home stuff I don’t see myself as a huge control freak, probably because the balance of that lies more with Etienne.  Not that he’s a control freak, he just has a wonderful ability to bring discipline, order and humour into our house.  And he doesn’t mind cleaning up the playroom which I avoid like the plague.  (I hate that room, but that’s a whole other blog post).  And my poor husband probably feels like I don’t carry my share of the load.

I have realised of late that I’m a work control freak type person.  With a direct correlation of how much out of control I feel at home.  Take this morning for example:

Every morning Mignon fights us and says she doesn’t want to wear anything warm because she “wants to be sick” and I can never understand why.  Usually we weedle and negotiate until we eventually get something warm on her.  But this morning she was having none of it.  She was NOT putting anything warm on and she was NOT going to school, especially as Daddy was dropping her off and not Mommy.  There was snot and trane (tears) and a special moment of sobbing and hugging and I realised

a.    she thinks if she’s sick Mommy will stay home with her and

b.   she just wants her Mommy.

And then I came to work and started planning my day and how to keep everything here under control and realised with shock and horror that the more out of control I feel about managing my time with my kids and how much they need me, the more I have this intense need to control my work environment. 

Because maybe I am just really not a Recovering Control Freak, just an Aware Control Freak.

And now I shall pull myself toward myself and get on with my day.  I’m determined to make it a good one!

Light-bulb moment

Daniel turns 6 in May 2012. In South African terms that means that he would go to Grade R next year and then Grade 1 in the year he turns 7 (2013). The girls will only go follow 2 years after him.

I have been writing an angst-filled post about what school to send the kids to in my head for the longest time. I was going to carefully lay out the pro’s and con’s of the various schools we are considering.

Just briefly, there are were 2 schools on our ‘short’ shortlist. The one is the reason we moved to the suburb we live in because it has a really good reputation, but I just felt it was way too big. Big classes, many classes. Everyone that has their kids there love the school. In fact, it is the main feeder school for the pre-school our children are at now and many of Daniel’s mates will be going there next year.

The other school is the school Etienne and I went to (yes, we went to the same Primary school). He loved it as he grew up with all the kids and they are still his best friends. I hated every single minute of it. Hated most of the kids and the parents as we moved halfway through my Grade 7 year from a small town and a lot of the little girls were snobbish backstabbing bitchy little primadonnas.

I would run into these girls from time to time since then and it would still feel like they were looking down their noses at me like I’m a second-class citizen (my own shit, I know). Now that I’m all grown up I’m not really phased at all. People just are who they are and I have too many fabulous friends to spare a self-destructive thought for these folk.

I have been leaning toward sending the kids to this school because it is smaller, in a really good area (we would probably have to move to be able to put the kids in there, but not far) and also has a pretty good reputation. I forced my own little-girl horror down and thought that it might be “giving our children the best”.

Because all we want to do is give our children the best. Always.

Until today.

One of those girls that was at that school with us happens to work for the same company I work for now and we often run into (pass) each other. I always try to catch her eye to greet her, because God forbid someone should think I am rude. And she mostly avoids me. Which makes me feel 12 years old and very, very small.

Then I realised something. If our children go to ‘that’ school it might not be the best choice for them. They might turn out to have as much emotional shit as I do or they might turn out like that snobby, bitchy chick. And I don’t want my kids to be either of those. (I hear you wonder why their father turned out so nice. He’s freaky that way)

So kids, sorry. Mommy works, Daddy works. We live in a pretty good area with a damn fine school just down the road. And there will be other issues you will have to deal with, but they won’t be the same issues Mommy had to deal with (hopefully).

We do the best we can. Always.

Love you muchly.

Chicken Pie

I have been looking for a cool Chicken Pie recipe for a longlong time. I tried a traditional recipe of my Sister-In-Law’s which had bacon and sago and the whole bang shoot. But this recipe took absolutely forever and I hate deboning chicken, so I found this recipe on Food24 which I have tweaked to my (almost) satisfaction.

I don’t use whole chicken, I prefer to buy packs of chicken breasts as they are mostly meat, very little bone and easy to debone. And a lot less skin.

• 2 or 3 Packs of chicken breasts (about 1.4 – 2 kg), depending on how big a pie you want to make.
• 2 packs of chopped or shredded mushrooms (500g)
• 250ml cream
• 1 pack cream of mushroom soup
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 tbsp ground coriander
• 50ml lemon juice (or as much as you like!)
• 3 all-spice and/or 3 whole aniseed pods (the aniseed can get a little much so if you don’t like it rather leave out)
• 1 roll of store bought puff pastry
• 250g chopped bacon (optional)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Heat some oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the cloves and coriander. Brown the chicken pieces in the oil. Put all the chicken pieces back in the pot and add enough water so that the chicken is almost covered. Add the star anise/all spice, lemon juice and bacon if you decide to add and bring to the boil.

Boil for a longlonglonglong time. About as long as a proper afternoon nap (90 minutes to 2 hours) until the chicken is really soft. Take out the chicken pieces and chop up, with or without the skin, depending on what your preference is. In the same bowl and add the mushrooms. If you don’t mind using the soup, add to the cream, stir and add to chicken and mushroom mix. Then spoon into flat-ish dish you want to use in the oven.

Roll out the pastry and cover the meat. Brush with egg and bake in the oven until the pastry is brown, about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Ps: those chicken bones and left-over water: add whatever you have in the fridge such as celery, carrots and peppers and boil again. Drain and freeze for chicken stock.

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A question for a friend

Hello! I’m baaack!

I decided ti move my blog to Afrihost and it’s taken forever to get it sorted (through no fault of Afrihost)

So, I need to ask your opinions on something:

I have a friend that has met this guy that no-one seems to approve of. She quite likes him, so I offered to put some of his details up and get your opinions.

I haven’t met him, so I can’t give my opinion either way, but if you had to meet someone at a party and this is the life story that emerges, what would you think?

Here goes:

He is very religious.

He is 10 years older than her.

He is studying theology at the moment.

He has 2 kids.

He has been married (and divorced) twice.

He sold everything 2 years ago after his second divorce.

He stays in a room in someone’s house for free.

He doesn’t drive a car.

He hasn’t had a steady job in 2 years.

He lives from money being paid into his bank account by random people from the church whilst he is on this religious journey.

This church is not a mainstream church.

And lastly: the night he met my friend he told her that he was going to marry her.

I am not in a position to venture my opinion, but would very much appreciate yours.

Aaaaaaand GO!

Saturday night easy supper

We wanted to make something a little decadent tonight so we decided on Chicken Schnitzel and Potato Fritters.  My Mom has made these Fritters for years and it’s one of those “a little of this and a little of that” recipes that I dread calling her for.  But I think we have it down to an actual formula.  You need to fiddle with it a little because the size of potatoes vary so much, but you’ll get used to it eventually.

  • 4 large potatoes, peeled
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 onion, peeled
  • 4 heaped tablespoons cake flour
  • salt and pepper to taste

Whisk the eggs, grate the potato and onion into the mix and add the flour, salt and pepper. Mix well.   The mixture needs to mix easily without too much egg at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

Spoon about tablespoon quantites into an oiled pan and fry each side on medium heat.

I made my own Chicken Schnitzels tonight from scratch too.  I just found myself standing in the shop looking at the prices and thinking that it was nuts. 

  • 4 deboned and skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup breadcrumbs (I know!  How decadent!)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • lemon juice
  • 2 eggs

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

Halve the breasts, lentghwise, so that they are nice and thin, plonk them between 2 sheets of clingwrap and give them a good whack with a rolling pin.  (good thing for today, because the Stormers were losing their game in a big way)

Sprinkle with lemon juice and leave in the fridge for about 10 minutes in a oven pan that has been lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick stuff.  Mix the breadcrumbs, oil, salt and pepper in one bowl and whisk the eggs in another bowl.  Pat the breasts dry, dip in the eggs and then the crumbs.  Then back in the fridge for another 10 minutes.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes depending on the tickness of the breasts and turn halfway through.

Serve with a cheese sauce if you want..

Yum.