Category: Uncategorized

Ups:

1. 2 ups rolled into 1:  I have been trying for ages to negotiate different terms with my employer and they weren’t keen.  I was approached by another agency to do something similar to what I wanted for them and went for an interview this morning.  When I got to the office I was told that my current employer is happy to accept my request.  How amazing and weird!  I am now waiting for the two contracts and will decide who I want work with.  I am scared out of my mind at this total change of career!
2.  I found a face painter this morning for Daniel’s party tomorrow for a mere R100!  I called a make-up school and they have students looking for part-time work.

Downs:

1.  A backpacker lodge burnt down in the CBD this morning and 4 people died.  You can click here for the story.  It is around the corner of our office and it was so sad to see the very tired firemen walk down the road.
2.  My husband was meant to arrange for someone to come and fix the roof during summer as there are slow leaks on the side of the house.  I’m afraid that if the storm is as bad as they it is going to be this weekend we might have a problem.  He is great with a lot of things, but he sucks at the DIY and maintenance stuff.

Holds thumbs for the party tomorrow, will post pics when I recover.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Daniel’s birthday party is on Saturday from 10h00-12h00 and there are probably going to be about 15 children plus parents in my house as there is major rain predicted in Cape Town.  What’s with the Mommies and Daddies coming to parties??

I am trying to figure out how I can keep a bunch of 3 year olds busy indoors for 2 hours without a terrible mess.  I did toy with buying cheap brollies and letting them all run around outside, but think that would be career limiting..  I also think that, even if the jumping castle I booked does have a roof, they will probably end up swimming to get to it.

All I have so far is colouring crayons and pictures off the internet and I am trying to source a face painter with no luck.

I have also decided to forego the usual array of foods and will be serving soup and bread.  There will of course be the obligatory chocolate cake for the mommies  🙂

The party theme is Lion King as Daniel insisted that he wants a Lion cake (I really tried to sell the dinosaur theme, but he wouldn’t hear of it, I had the whole thing planned) 

Any suggestions?

 

My friend Tracy is working on a ship in Alaska and here is a pic at sunset. 

The sun sets at 21h22 and rises at 04h00 at the moment.  Amazing, I would love to go there one day!  (hopefully not when I am too old to enjoy it!)

 The Blogototallytrivial quiz

Nicknames: Liefie, T-rex

Silliest childhood nickname: Fanja

Most likely to say:  Whatever 

Least likely to say: “I’d rather have salad please”

Best job ever:  When I worked at The Table Bay

Worst job ever: Waitress at a restaurant on Santorini

Best book ever: The Time Traveller’s Wife

Book everyone else loved that I just couldn’t get into:  Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Slightly embarrassing book addiction: Um, Nora Roberts…

Few people know that I… would love to be a writer and Reiki Master

Most recently, I lost… 5kgs, but managed to gain them back through hard work and perseverance 🙂

I make really good lasagne.

You probably missed that fact that… my husband cooks every night and is a wonderful father!

A while ago I did this post about playrooms.

I then caved in and decided to move the girls into the spare bedroom and convert their room into the playroom, which means that I could possibly reclaim some space in the dining area, or at least have running around space during winter.

This, however, entails, amongst other DIY things that my darling hubby cannot do, selling off my precious antique oak double bed and desk.  We placed an ad in the paper that ran on Friday, Saturday and Monday in Die Burger.

The first telephone call was at 22h40 on Saturday night from some guy that lives in Villiersdorp that insisted that I MUST know his shop as it is in the main road.  Dude, I haven’t been to Villiersdorp since 1985 when I went to the SOS camp with a broken arm.  He then proceeded to tell me that he only buys Afrikana and did I have any to sell.  Uhm, NO.  Who calls people that late at night anyway?

I then get 2 telephone calls during lunch on Mothers day, the second wanting my address before even asking my name or having arranged a time to view.  The other people (an older couple) came and looked at the bed on Monday night and they were a little weird and scared the living shits out of Isabel as she was on my hip and the guy was in her face the whole time.  I actually had to tell him to stop teasing her.

I also had a frantic message from a girl on my cell saying that she wanted desperately to view the furniture, but didn’t answer my call or reply to my message.

But by far the best call was from the guy in Worcester that said that Durbanville was really far, so could I please bring the bed to Worcester so he could have a look at it.  

Now I have yet to see whether the guy is going to pitch tonight to collect the bed and bring me the moola and find a buyer for the desk.

Anyone else had funnies like this before?

 

Do yourself a favour and take a drive through the Durbanville Winelands.

I refuse to take the N1 and sit on the parking lot, it is much better for my soul to take the long way around, so I had such a treat this morning.

The colours of the vineyards are AMAZING, it is an explosion of browns, greens and reds!

Seize the moment though, I don’t think it will last long! 

I am forever bleating because I have to work full day, but taking care of children is much harder work!

Our childcare nanny decided to do her Matric this year and will be taking a total of 7 days off in the next few weeks (don’t even get me started on this topic, will save the story for another post), so the domestic, grannies, hubby and myself will be juggling the children on those days.  Luckily Daniel goes to school half day and then sleeps in the afternoon, so it really only is from about 14h30 each day.

Today was my turn and I really had to bite my tongue.  We couldn’t go to the park as I have to try and sort out the spare room (long story for next post), so it was the domestic, the 3 kids and myself.

Daniel was DJ and worked his way through 4 bananas which he gracefully shared with his sisters.  I’m still trying to get the shit off my clothes, cupboards, floors, carpets and out of my hair.

And of course, every time I attempted to distract him it ended in a tantrum.  I eventually gave up and took him to the shops, where he ran AMOK.  I think 3 year olds are psycho.  His mood changes every 30 seconds, pretty much at the same rate he changes his mind.  In the trolley, out the trolley, on the front of the trolley, must push trolley, all in the space of a minute.  God help me, I love my child, but he is hard work.  And I don’t know how to spend time with the girls when he is around as he is all consuming, all of the time.  I also refuse to put the tv on in the middle of the day, so I should probably not complain.

So, all I really wanted to say in a roundabout way was this:

There is a special place in heaven for Moms that spend 24/7 with their children.

Why do parking machines not dispense change in notes?  I am the lucky winner of R35 in coins.  Aarrggh 

A friend of a friend who is in her late 30’s, divorced with two small children had leukemia last year and survived after a long battle.  She was clean for 6 months and is now ill again.  The only way she will get well is through a bone marrow transplant and the only donor they could find has decided she can no longer donate due to personal circumstances.

She posted a note on her status update on FB saying that the battles begins again and this is what one of her friends commented:

 

“you are taking this weight loss thing tooo far, I will always, repeat always have a smaller arse than you. Leukaemia is so last season, getting well is the new black, come on doll get healthy, lots of fun places I want to see with my favourite friend.”

 
Get well N!

Quite a nice weekend!

Went for a nature walk with Daniel’s school on Saturday morning and won a picnic blanket!  We couldn’t have an actual conversation with anyone as we were herding children, but it was fun anyway.

Saturday night we had my In-Laws over for supper and that was hard work.  They are very sweet and I can probably not complain as far as In-laws go, but have you ever tried to explain to a 78 year old that he cannot watch the rugby as the 3 year old will throw the mother of all tantrums if he cannot watch the Barney he watches every day at the same time. 

I had to laugh, I took Daniel to Dischem to find something for his cold and he pushed this lady out the way trying to get to the baskets on wheels.  I then asked him to please apologise to the the lady which he, of course, ignored.  The lady then said “he must be 3”.  How true and why did no-one warn me that the 3’s are this bad???

Yesterday it was a quick trip to Toys-r-us as we have gift vouchers and we let the kids roam.  They were in 7th heaven!  I did get snapped at by hubby at the till because I was loading bubbles for Daniel’s party this coming Saturday (pray for good weather please!), so he was lambasted when we got to the car.

Then off to my parents for another lunch from hell rescuing my mother’s valuables, but hey.  The best is that Daniel now SHOWS the girls where all the breakables are.  And of course my mother’s grocery cupboard is on the ground as well as her cupboard with all the chemicals.  Drives me nuts!  Especially as I had given her some childfriendly fasteners for her cupboard doors.

Late avie we had our neighbours over for tea (read:wine) and I think that was the last of the good weather.

I am now getting worried about Daniel as his voice is very high pitched, almost like when he has croup, but no fever, so we’ll keep an eye on it.