Celebrations

Today is my first blogoversary. Yup... exactly one year ago I began this blog adventure. It has been supremely awesome thus far.

This was my first ever post.

I don't think I realised that it was Halloween when I wrote that, but it does make the date easier to remember now.

Here's a Halloween pic for you - what happens when pumpkins get pissed. Have a fab weekend.

Doing the right thing is hard

On Tuesday we had to do something very sad.

As I think I've mentioned, the abusive neighbours had two cats that they seemed to look after, once upon a time. Then they kicked them both out the house. The poor animals were so confused. And the one was really sick. As in it couldn't breathe properly, was covered in scabs, had puss streaming out of its nose and eyes and was a walking bag of bones. The neighbour man told me that it had FIV (the feline version of HIV), which meant that not only would it not get better, but it might infect other cats.

So, as you've probably guessed by now, we took the poor thing to the SPCA and had it put down. It was the right thing to do, but it was really, really hard. I sat in the boot of my hatchback car, with the cat in an old laundry hamper. It struggled to breathe so much that every breath sounded like someone in the last stages of emphysema. And yet, even as it sat there, pitifully spewing mucous out of every orifice (sorry, that was graphic), it tried to cuddle up to my hand to get some love. My heart broke.

I bawled my eyes out the entire way there. Not because the cat was being put down, but because there are people in the world like my neighbours who can beat their child black and blue in the face and let the family pet get the point where it is needlessly enduring ongoing suffering.

Surely when you have children or you take on a pet you sign up for responsibility?

Anyway, by the time we got to the SPCA I had mascara smeared all over my face and could barely get the words out to explain to the SPCA staff what the situation was. All I could hear was that poor cat's laboured breathing. The lady told me that there was nothing we could do; it was too late for him. I knew that, but it was still really hard to know that the cat's last moments were spent in pain that could have been avoided.

Ok... waiting for tears to clear... sorry. I'm starting to think that this post was a bad idea.

But my point... Last night, the horrible man comes to our flat and asks if we've seen the cat. Why? Certainly not because he cares for it. He shouted at our other neighbours for trying to feed it once. He wants to know where it is because it's his. He wants to know where it is for the same reason he doesn't want his kid to be taken away - becuase he has power and control over it.

He disgusts me.

The kid's grandparents have arranged to fly out from the Ukraine to some and get him. I'm not sure what the legal process is, but I can't wait until that child is out of the sphere of his influence.

Meme

TSC did not sleep well last night. Which means that I did not sleep at all last night, between his tossing and turning, kicking me, trying to cuddle with me (it's flipping hot here at the moment so spooning is not an option) and generally being a pain in the bum. Plus, I am not feeling well. My stomach does not appreciate the KFC I fed it yesterday at all.

As such, my creativity today is faring as well as the world economy and I cannot think of anything vaguely witty or interesting to post about. So I'll leave you with another random meme I was tagged to do. Like most others, you have to write random facts about yourself and, seeing I have a never-ending store of randomness, I don't mind if I've done it before. So here goes:

RULES:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
That would be Sass

2. Post the rules on your blog
Done

3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself

• My name means palm tree in Hebrew. Go figure.
• I don't do designer labels or brands. I'd rather buy five cheap shirts that I can chuck out when I'm bored with them than one designer item that will cost a fortune and that I'll probably stain the first time I wear it. I'm the ultimate bargain shopper.
• I have a dream of having a room in my house with triple volume ceilings and padded walls with a floor made entirely of a big trampoline. Is that weird? Yup, I'm sure it is. But seriously, how COOL would that be?
• I like health foods. Not all of them, but I prefer seed bread to the white store-bought bread, which doesn't taste like anything. I can't handle full cream milk - it's too rich for me. And I'd take a chicken salad over a burger any day of the week. I guess I was brought up eating relatively healthily and so that's what I'm used to. TSC is the complete opposite and it was honestly one of the biggest areas we struggled with when we started dating.
• I prefer even numbers to odd ones. Unless the odd number is a multiple of five. Those are ok too. My radio volume is always set on an even number or a number ending with five and when I need to do something, for example get up from my desk and print photocopies, I wait until the time on my desktop is on an even number or a five. So not 9.43, but 9.45. Can anyone say OCD?

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs

No. I respectfully disobey this one. If you want to do this, please go ahead and let me know. But I'm not tagging this time.

5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

As above

6. Let your tagged peops know once your entry is UP.

As above

Explanation and stuff

So I was bleak yesterday.

See, I got an email from an ex-colleague, L, who was very upset with me because she thought I'd stolen her story idea. I'd also be upset if I thought someone had hijacked my article proposition, but the truth is that we both happened to suggest the same person as a source for two very different stories. It's more complicated than that, but I'd rather not get into it because it will just bore you and have me in tears.

Anyway, I admire this ex-colleague and was gutted to discover she was cross and hurt because of me, especially seeing I honestly had no idea she would be offended. It came as a huge, out of the blue shock, especially because she informed me that my ex-boss is also hurt and offended. I felt like the time I came flying off my bike on a steep hill, landed on my back on the road and winded myself. My worst feeling in the world is disappointing someone, especially when it's someone I respect and I haven't even known that I'm hurting him or her.

On top of that, my two-year old nephew has been in hospital for a few days with a hectically high temperature. He was fitting and swallowing his tongue, but doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong, even after lumbar punctures and loads of blood tests. Thankfully he's out now and is doing much better, but his parents have driven him to Bloem to have him checked out by a specialist who also doesn't know what's been going on. The conclusion seems to be that it was a virus, so hopefully it's over and gone now.

And then I realised that the company where I work probably won't give us anything extra for Christmas, which means I won't be able to spoil TSC for our anniversary or go away aside from our holiday with my in-laws. Joy.

Then I discovered that I needed to drive out to one of our clients in Meyerton (about an hour and a half's drive) this morning, which hacked me right off, seeing petrol costs a flippin fortune.

But, after arriving home and crying myself to sleep, I awoke to find TSC at home. He cuddled me and took me out for sushi before our church meeting and made me feel so much better. And then I realised that although this feud with L still hurts like hell, my problems could be infinitely worse and that I am blessed to have such an amazing husband, two crazy cats, a wonderful family, fantastic friends and many other good things in my life.

And then the trip today ended up being a really nice break from the office and a fantastic chance to bond with my new colleague, let's call her Icing (seeing she loves nothing better than to frost a cake).

And then I got this in my inbox, which just made me smile:

I've seen it before, but I'm a twisted freak and this never fails to get a giggle out of me.

See y'all tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have time to catch up on my blog reading from today.

Too bleak to blog

Back tomorrow.

Friday funny and new travel site

The other day I got an email from a lady named Julie who lives in San Francisco. I've never met her or chatted to her before, but she somehow came across my blog and saw that I live in Johannesburg. So she asked me to test out the new travel recommendations site her company is building, http://www.nextstop.com/ along with a range of other people across the globe.

I think it's really cool and have added a couple of my own local recommendations. She says that if people like the site and want to contibute, they should sign up to request an account. They'll then be sent an invitatation to add recommendations.

South Africa is not yet listed as one of the travel destinations on the site as there are not enough recommendations. I plan to change that. Care to join me? She's looking for people from all over the world, though. So wherever you are... go have a look.

And for those of you that aren't interested in the travel site, here's some Friday funnies for you:

Gift of the gab / gibberish

Wow. Today has been a solidly unproductive day as yet. My motivation, like the Rand (the South African currency for you non-locals), has dipped severely this week.

The thing about working in an office full of chicks is that there is A LOT of talking that happens. Usually we natter about fashion, movies and our men as we make tea or print out invoices or whatever. But today we spent an hour an a half all sitting in Boss Chick's office having a loooong conversation together. Very bonding, I must say.

So what were we talking about? The men who read this will probably guess 'sex, naked pillow fighting, or last night's television shows'. The women will probably guess, 'how pathetic men are, plans for the weekend, or how amazing the ghd is' (I know Caz has got my back on that last one).

But no... we discussed politics, economics and human nature. I'm quite impressed with us. Granted, we're all probably spouting nonsense, but as PR chicks, that's what we're supposed to do, right? Along with wearing killer heels and crisis control.

Speaking of which... time to get back to work. I have press releases to write and a world to save. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention gross exaggeration as part of the job description ;-) Just kidding.

Have a good Thursday, people.

Twisted intertubes...

I hate the internet today. Ours keeps going down and I am tired of retyping what I was writing, so this is all you're getting for today (if the sadistic line even lets me publish this)...

The difference between Nigella Lawson's way and the real woman's way:

1. Nigella's Way
Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice-cream drips .
The Real Woman's Way
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Goodness sake. You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.

2. Nigella's Way
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
The Real Woman's Way
Buy Smash and keep it in the cupboard for up to a year.

3. Nigella's Way
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking tin, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
The Real Woman's Way
Spar sell cakes. They even do decorated versions.

4. Nigella's Way
If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a potato slice.
The Real Woman's Way
If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's tough!. Please recite with me the Real Woman's motto: "I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes."

5. Nigella's Way
Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks
The Real Woman's Way
It could keep forever. Who eats it?

6. Nigella's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
The Real Woman's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and drop it in 8 ounces of vodka : Drink the vodka. You might still have the headache, but you won't care!

7. Nigella's Way
If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
The Real Woman's Way
Why do I have a man?

8. Nigella's Way
Freeze leftover wine into ice cubes for future use in casseroles
The Real Woman's Way
left over wine???? Helllloo

Personal needs analysis

I suggested to Po that she make this post into a meme, and she did. And then she tagged me and I didn't do it. Shock, horror!

But now I am making amends for my evil ways and lack of blogging etiquette and giving some fellow bloggers their own personal needs analysis, compliments of Google. If I've mentioned you, you are tagged to play too. Simple choose five or more bloggers and ask Google what they need then post it.

Elizabeth needs: protection and to be loved

Slyde needs: to be the number one lynch and he needs a drink

Gill needs: your support and help

Angel needs: a ride and to be hired

Shania needs: a purebred to get over that mutt (?!?!) and she needs her fans again

Catch-up

Shooby-doo, it's been awhile. Thursday last week turned into a busy, frantic day as I scrambled to get everything done so that I could have Friday off. And then we were in the bush on Friday, so no posting either.

Back now and wishing I could have had a longer stay. It was a great weekend and I promise to give you some details soon, along with one or two of the squillions of photos I took of the kudus that were hanging out around our cabin.

As it's a Monday morning and I have catching up to do on Friday's emails etc, here are the highlights:

• Switching my mobile off for two whole days.
• Learning to play poker (Texas Hold'em) by candlelight when the power went off.
• Watching an amazing electrical storm sweep over the bone-dry bushveld.
• Seeing the green shoots already appearing the next morning.
• Visiting a local holiday resort and swimming in the heated swimming pool.
• Not having TV in the house for the whole weekend.
• Having breakfast at the local pub and watching Lewis Hamilton win the Grand Prix for McLaren, putting himself 7 points in the lead for the driver's championship.
• Getting home yesterday and being able to sleep in our queen-size bed again after three nights in the two single beds pushed together.
• Great 'couple' time.
• Enjoying a bottle of ice-cold Rose wine on a blisteringly hot afternoon.

Right... off to do emails now.

Things are happening

Have I told you about our Russian trustee? Let's call her Nina (becuase the only other Russian woman I know is called Nina).

She knows the grandmother of the little boy being abused by our neighbours. The grandmother lives in the Ukraine and phones Nina to check up on her grandchild as the parents won't let her speak to the boy himself.

I have told Nina about what's been happening as I needed to get the parents' telephone numbers from her. She is very distressed about it, and last night, when the boy's grandfather called, she told him the latest developments (i.e. nothing has been done because nobody seems to want to help). He broke down in tears and sobbed, especially when Nina told him she'd spoken to the boy and asked him if he wanted to go home to the Ukraine to his grandparents. He answered quietly, "Yes. Please!"

So the grandfather called the Ukranian embassy in Pretoria, and they are sending someone to come and meet the boy and talk to him tomorrow morning at 9am, to try and get him returned to his grandparents. Nina would like TSC and I to be there as witnesses. I don't think I'll be able to be there, but TSC will.

Let's hope something happens. Frankly, the whole thing scares me. The boy's father has been yelling at Nina and threatening her. I would like to see him behind bars.

Quick post

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. It was a typical Monday - lots of activity and stress, not so much result ;-)

Whew... Still feel like I'm in recovery from the weekend. Who knew a church conference could take so much out of you! We were on ushering duty on Friday night and Sunday late service, saw my mother in law on Saturday for lunch between the morning and evening conference sessions and had people over for lunch on Sunday after conference. Busy, busy, busy... i didn't get a chance to go to Taste of Joburg, but I had a great weekend anyway. Even lunch with my MIL was pleasant. Will wonders never cease?

I'm heading off to the bush on Thursday evening for a weekend away with our awesome friends (the ones who have just discovered they're pregnant). Can't wait! It will be like a mini holiday. It just means I need to get this week's work done pronto, so off I go again to try and be diligent!

Friday funny

So it's Friday. Yay! I get to see my bestest friend in the whole world today. She and her husband are up from Cape Town for work, so we'll meet them for drinks and a chat before they fly back tonight. Then we've got church conference for most of the weekend, and I'm hoping to squeeze in a visit to Taste of Joburg (gourmet festival) sometime too, probably tomorrow sometime.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Here's the Friday funny:

SPAGHETTI

For several years, a man was having an affair with an Italian woman. One night, she confided in him that she was pregnant. Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he paid her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to secretly have the child. If she stayed in Italy to raise the child, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18. She agreed, but asked how he would know when the baby was born. To keep it discrete, he told her to simply mail him a post card, andwrite 'Spaghetti' on the back. He would then arrange for the childsupport payments to begin.

One day, about 9 months later, he came home to his confused wife.
'Honey, 'she said, 'You received a very strange post card today.'
'Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later,' he said.
The wife obeyed and watched as her husband read the card, turned white, and fainted.

On the card was written: 'Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Three with meatballs, two without. Send extra sauce.

More awards...

Yes, it seems to be the season for these. Thanks to Blonde Blogshell for mine (you legend, Blondie).

Now, of course, I need to pass this along to those blogs I rate E for Excellence. Now Blogshell has already nominated many of the blogs I love, and I read about 35 blogs regularly, so I am going to randomly select five of the blogs that I adore from those and nominate them. in other words, if you're not on this list, don't bite my head off. It doesn't mean that I don't love your blog, k?

But here are five blogs I think are uber-excellent:

Mother Jungle: Susan writes beautifully from Costa Rica. I have recently started reading her and really can't stop!

Shared Insight: MsBehavin can be naughty or nice, but is always a good read.

Chester Pillow: Ches is a blogger who keeps me in stitches with his random observations and 70s disco dancing ;-)

The Life of Sass: Also one of my new reads, Sass has a whole heap of alter egos. Each one is entertaining.

The Kattbox: The thoughts of a woman slowly going insane on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Or so she says. Good reading.

Edited in later: And because somebody did not listen to me and decided to take offence.... I hereby also award:

Spacebook: Caz in the fair Cape can even write in Latin!

My (own) Ella, Ella, Ella...

Ella, my car, my baby, my darling, is in for her first service today, poor thing. She is named Ella after jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald because she is a Honda Jazz (only I would come up with that, right?). She's the first female car I've had, preceded by Ziggy, my fiesty Ford Fiesta, and George, my grumpy 1960-something Alpha Romeo Giulia that I got to drive a grand total of twice (my father bought him "for me" and worked on him solidly before selling him off to a collector).

Anyhoo... Ella is in for a service today, as I mentioned, and I am thus far extremely impressed with the local Honda branch! When I had to take Ziggy in for his services in Cape Town, it meant visiting the hideous Rondebosch dealership, which, aside from being filthy, was inefficient and bloody expensive. Luckily it was down the road from the local library, so I could retreat there afterwards and breathe in the smell of old books to calm my nerves. Yes, I'm odd. Had you not noticed? Pfffft...

At the Ford dealership I would wait ages while the surly staff studiously ignored me and continued with their phone conversations. Once I'd finally been served, I could not convince them to drop me off at varsity after I'd handed my Zigster in to have his insides checked out by the monkeys that worked there. It was like dropping your toddler at daycare, only to discover that the childminder was a depressed has-been soap star with a penchant for early morning vodka shots and cherry cigars (where do i get this stuff?!).

Today's car doctor visit was a world apart. I forged my way through the miserable traffic on William Nicol (the worst road in the world, in my opinion) and arrived at the clean and friendly Honda haven, where I was greeted personally and shown to a parking bay. Within 10 minutes the paperwork was done and I was allocated a friendly driver who dropped me off at the office, after politely laughing at my lame jokes and proficiently making small talk with me.

Half an hour later, I received a phone call from the man working on my car to inform me that he would need to align my wheels. He just wanted to make sure I was ok with that and let me know what the cost would be before they went ahead. How different from my Ford experience, where they would do as much extra work as they could before I arrived to pick up my car and faint at the price and the pile of car component boxes on my passenger seat.

I'll see how Ella's doing when I get her back, but so far, thumbs up to Honda for not pissing me off today. For a car dealership, that is truly impressive. I'll take them one of the beeeeeg smiley face stickers I'm currently obsessed with. I'm sure they'll be impressed.

One of my best friends is pregnant

So weird. She's a year younger than me (she's 23). This terrifies me. I have no maternal instinct as yet. Which is another thing that worries me.

"Why is it that weekends go by so fast?"

I find myself asking this question every Monday morning as I stumble out of bed and trip over one of my cats (they lie there on purpose, I tell you).

This weekend was good. My folks are back from their holiday and it sounds like they had a great time. We had dinner with them on Friday evening and they showed us all their photos. Jealousy! They brought us a beautiful hand-crafted blue glass bowl that I can't wait to display in the new house, and TSC got a gorgeous belt, some chocolate and a "funny" T-shirt very similar to this:

Unfortunately, none of the shirts they bought me really fit, but my mom found the cutest little brooch. Will have to take a pic and post it.

And my dad, who is the world's greatest car fanatic, gave the thumbs up on the repairs to my Ella*. Which is great, because he didn't actually know that aside from the bumper that got scraped in the pothole, I also had the left side of the car fixed where I scraped it on a pillar in the parkade. I figured that if he didn't notice, I was safe.

Little did I know that my mother had told him about the second incident! All that skulking around for nothing! What a waste of my talents in the sneakiness department.

Truth be told, I'm actually glad he knows. But he doesn't know that I know that he knows. Did you follow that?

Well, I just saw that I have an award from Kitty Cat (yay! Two awards in two weeks), so my Monday is ok thus far. Hope you all have a fabulous week!

Friday funny and a quick update

We've finally found a social worker who will come and see our neighbours' kid, so that's good news. I've tracked down the phone numbers for the parents (like drawing blood from a stone with our helpful trustees) and she's trying to set up an appointment today. Will keep you posted.

Here is the picture of the house that is soon to be ours. I cannot wait!And here, are your Friday funnies:

Finally... a post about my first award (and other stuff)

Thanks to Elizabeth and Being Brazen who both awarded me on the same day (for a first-time awardee, this is particularly cool).

I'd like to pass this award on to a few bloggers, but everyone seems to have it already (wow - I truly am a loser. The last one to get this award. Sheesh). But, if I read you regularly and you don't have it, be sure that I would like to give it to you. Email me or leave a comment and I will gladly bestow it upon you with great pomp and ceremony.

I have also been trying to update my links list / blogroll thing. So if you're not on there and you think you should be, please let me know.

And here's a picture for you for today:

If you don't know Edward Monkton's work, go to this site immediately: http://www.edwardmonkton.com/

Randomness

I have no sensical (yes, that be a word in the Doodles dictionary) train of thought today. My train has derailed and is making its way through the African bundu even as we speak (write. Whatever. Philistines)...


So I'm just going to post the random bits and pieces that are floating (and sinking) around in my skull. Sorrreeeee for yoooou! Suckers... MwahahaHAHA! Enjoy my ellipsis abuse while it lasts, for it is rare indeedy. Or not.


Uhhhhhh.... I feel like I'm in a dead space at the moment. Nothing exciting is going on, and for once, I'm not under too much pressure. I work well under pressure, so I'm not working well at the moment. Like a little faulty pressure cooker - everything is half-cooked, including my brain...


Moving on... We visited our new house on Monday evening to discuss taking over some of the garden equipment and tools. TSC loves tools like most women love chocolate, only more... In fact, he loves tools like men love boobs. Yes, that much. Tis true. Thus Monday evening's outing made for a long discussion with the people we're buying from and resulted in much boredom on my part. I mean, how excited does he want me to get over a work bench. If it were a chocolate work bench it would be a different story...


I came away more sad than happy... Not about the house... LOVE the house. But the owners will put their gorgeous cat George down when they leave (going to Australia). He is a beautiful, friendly cat who looks exactly like my kitty Marble at an older age, and I would desperately like to keep him, but I can't see a way to do that...

Ok, crying now. Seriously. I am as soft as double-ply loo paper. So much for dead space... Rargh...


In other news, I seem to have Neil Diamon's Sweet Caroline in my head for some obscure reason. I'm mentioning it to ensure that I pass on the misery.... Come on! Altogether now: Sweeeeeeeet Caroline... ba-da-ba... Good times never seemed so good... I know you're singing with me! Sweet Caroline...


Ahem... fisnihed now, I promise...

Yesterday was payday. Now there's a good reason to be singing, bar the bunch of debit orders that eat away my pay within minutes of it arriving in my account, that is...


But, the other good news is that some of my freelance clients have paid, so there is moolah in our work account. Yeeeeha! Still scared to touch it though. Need some tax education ASAP. Ruby? Oooohhh... new song, new song: Ruby, Ruby, Ruby... ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! 'Scuse the howling...


Last night there was a cat sitting on our neighbours roof, howling (yes, cats can howl apparently). Eventually the owners came home and managed to get it back inside. I feel like sitting on a roof and howling... Why? I dunno. Would just be cool to see everyone's faces, I guess. Not so cool to be in a straight jacket afterwards though...


I warned you that the randomness is strong today. And it's contagious... See:





Ok, done for real now. Till tomorrow, when sanity may or may not be restored.