Things I learnt this weekend

In the tradition of this lovely blogger's weekend posts, I give you a list:

• Sometimes people will let you down. This is especially true of possible interviewees for magazine stories, who have a tendency to fall off the planet just before the deadline.


• Really special memories can be made anytime, anywhere.


• The blueberry cosmopolitan cocktail at Bottega Cafe in Fourways Crossing does wonders on a weary Friday afternoon.


• Ask (or even mention) and you may just receive. I happened to say that I would like a pair of decent sunglasses, and when TSC went to order his prescription lenses and somes frames on Friday, he got to choose a free pair of Daniel Hechter sunglasses. Seeing he already has lovely glasses, he let me choose a pair instead. Love my man and his amazing generosity!


• China Mall offers great bargains but also big headaches.


• Going out on the roads during the 94.7 Cycle Challenge is a bad, bad idea.


• The Rosebank Rooftop Craft Market is a great place to do Christmas shopping. But you need lots of time!


• Sunday lunch spent laughing and chatting with awesome friends is the best way to recover from horrible Cycle Challenge traffic.


• My concentration span is ridiculously short on a Sunday evening.


• Sometimes it's good to be reminded of the bigger picture.

What did you learn this weekend?

PS: ANOTHER friend of mine from real life has started blogging. So exciting! Please go visit Kimmi (Brettuce Lettuce's other half) and welcome her to the blogoverse.

Friday and minor panic

It's Friday! And it's 23 October! And that means it's only eight weeks till Christmas! Eeep!

Ok, enough exclamation marks. They are exhausting. *wipes sweat from brow with dramatic gesture*

I'm so glad it's the weekend (it has been a boring week). But at the same time, I'm freaking out that I don't have another weekend completely free until... next year. Good grief! (ok, one more exclamation mark)

That's a bit hectic.

It's all (mostly) good stuff. But still. I like spontaneity. And this is not leaving much room for it.

But, in happy news... We're going to see CATS this weekend. Yeah! (oops - again) I'm so keen. The church is taking us as a thank you for the work we do on the ushering team. Other than that, TSC is getting tutored in maths by a friend and then I'll be drilling him on two other subjects (communication and management) in preparation for another hectic week of tests and exams.

I'm hoping to have some garden time too. My soul needs it.

right now I'm bopping along to some awesome 80s and 90s hits on the giant exercise ball I use at my desk instead of a chair. Lionel Ritchie, Cyndi Lauper, Richard Marx and Belinda Carlisle. Woo hoo... I wonder how long I can bounce with my feet not touching the ground before I fall over?

Hah... Just answered that question. Not long.

Have a fabulous weekend, super people! (one last exclamation road for the road)

No brain power today

Is it just me, or is that end-of-year feeling setting in already? I know we're only just about to hit October, but I've booked our December holiday flights to Cape Town and my brain thinks it's time to be on a beach.

Or maybe it's just the fact that I've had a few days off. And without internet. My home internet line went down on Wed and has not been working since. Blegh. Have spent much time arguing with Telkom about this with no luck.

At least it meant I was forced to take a break, seeing I couldn't work. So good times were had, despite the fact that TSC was away. Highlights...

• On Thursday I planted new flowering summer plants, cleared the weeds (including the gazillions of cherry tomatoes that just grow on top of anything else we plant) from the veggie patch, created a new no-dig bed for more veggies and created an artwork to hang on one of our many bare walls (debating whether or not to post a pic).
• On Friday I went through to Pretoria to see my folks. We had lunch at Papachino's in Midrand (yummy toasted spinach, feta and bacon for me) and in the evening saw Earth. Wow - BEAUTIFUL footage. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone. It should be compulsory school-viewing, IMO. I was sad to see how empty the cinema was. I know it's a documentary, but it's a really special film.
• On Sat, my folks and I flew to Durban to see the work on their property (they're busy building their retirement house in Westville). Not much has been done yet. Just the trenches for foundations are done, but they should pour concrete this week, so things will get moving soon. Visiting the area always brings back a flood of childhood memories. I heart KZN. In between the site visit and exploring the tiles shop, my folks spoiled me with lunch, new shoes and a cute outfit. I felt like a kid again. Before flying home that eve, we met up with one of my best friends and her brother at the airport for coffee and a catch-up. I haven't seen either of them since my wedding (nearly three years ago), so it was awesome to swap stories and pick up where we left off, especially since she's been in Canada for the past year.
• On Sun, I drove home, washed my car, did the laundry and headed off to Angel and Glug to watch the GP and enjoy a braai with Wenchy and Noid, whom I'd never met. What a great bunch of people! Despite a relatively uneventful race, I had a fantastic time. And Angel introduced to me to Strawberry Cape Velvet. Yum... It's like alcoholic Nesquik. Dangerous stuff! I eventually headed home at about 6.30 to find TSC curled up on the couch, fast asleep. I woke him gently, but after working straight through the night on Fri and Sat, the poor boy was so bushed he didn't have a clue where he was. He thought I'd arrived at the surveying camp ;-)

It's so good to have him home. I missed cuddling up to him and waking up with his arms around me. The cats aren't impressed though - they quite enjoyed having his side of the bed to themselves ;-)

I'm off to do some serious catching up on blog reading - that's something else I missed over my long weekend! Have a good one.

Catch-up time

Technical issues drive me mental. On Tues, we had no power at the office. That screwed up our internet (always does), so we had no email or web access for most of Wed. Thankfully, we seem to be up and running today. Yesterday I had to have my car windscreen replaced, so it's been an annoying week.


Luckily the long weekend turned out to be a good break, although sleeping on new beds and lots of driving meant we were both tired at the end of it and felt like we needed a day just to recover.


Contrary to what everyone seemed to think when I mentioned KZN, we were not in Durban or on the coast. My grandparents live in the sleepy town of Howick, which is about an hour and a half's drive away from the sea, in the Natal Midlands.

We spent a lovely day having a braai and picnic with the grandparents on Saturday at Midmar Dam. On Sunday we headed through to The Pavilion for me to make my annual stop at Oh La La and then went down to the beachfront for a bit of a walk.

We went to Mini Town (sadly not as awesome as I remember it being as a kid), ate yummy Milky Lane ice-cream and admired the sand sculptures on the beach before heading back to Howick.

We left at 5.30am on Monday morning and were back in Gauteng before 11am, which gave us time to snooze, chill and then work a bit.

This weekend, our house is being invaded by students so TSC and his team can start their big project - building a concrete boat. Should be interesting!

I also need to get seriously stuck into the garden (am replanting at the front of the house and replacing bits of our watering system at the back) and find a good cake recipe. It's my birthday next week Thursday and I'll need to top last year's chocolate devil's food cake with marshmallow frosting ;-)

Right now, I'm off to catch up on some blog reading. Have a great Friday!

It's just all so... odd

Everything is weird at work at the moment. I can't explain, just in cas (as Ches pointed out the other day, you never know who's reading), but it truly is random and unsettling and I don't know where things stand.

*Sigh*

Curiouser and curiouser as Alice would say.

On a nicer note, the weekend was mostly great. I went to a 40th birthday party on Sat with the dress code "black tie or fancy dress". No theme, just that.

Am I the only one confused by that? Generally if it's dress-up, it's a theme. Like mafia. Or Pirates of the Caribbean. Or Medieval. But no, for this one, we had licence to dress up like clowns or queens... whatever our preference.

And normally I LOVE dress-up. I tend to go a bit over the top, actually. But I was nervous going on my own (TSC being away on men's camp), because I knew there would be hardly anyone my age and that I wouldn't know anyone other than the birthday boy and his fiance. I decided to go black tie with a feathered mask just in case no-one else was in costume.

It turned out I needn't have worried - their were scores of people dressed up (from the host dressed as Elvis to a Zorro, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, pirates, convicts and a Cleopatra) and loads in black tie, so I would have been fine either way.

I had also been to a girls' tea party that afternoon (not really my thing, but turned out to be good fun) and a friend who is studying make-up did mine for the evening. Wow! I didn't know I could look like that! It seriously helped me to walk into a room full of strangers knowing I looked my best.

Pity I don't have any photos, but that is typical of me. I prefer being behind the lens rather than in front, so I have pictures of everyone else at the party (even random folks I didn't actually meet), just not of me ;-)

So just take my word that I looked fabulous, k?

After my last post, where I just happened to mention Bosnia, I have been asked to write about our family trip there in 2006. My laptop with all my photos on it was stolen shortly afterwards, so I'll have to see if I can get some pics from my parents, but I'll try to post about that this week.

In the mean time, have a good Monday, folks.

Assorted catch-up

Sorry for the little break in blogging transmission. I am just snowed under at the moment.

Thanks to those of you who asked about how Friday's meeting and the weekend went. The meeting seemed to go well, although the client is one of those who's not very good at the things that are supposed to happen after the meeting - sending me the necessary info, contact details etc, which is a bit frustrating.

The weekend was packed, but fun. On Friday night we went out to one of my best restaurants in Joburg with some neighbours we met at the AGM of the complex where we live. Ghazal's is a place that started out small and has become incredibly well known for their excellent Northern Indian cuisine and good service. You have to book to get a spot there on any night of the week. The restaurant has expanded a few times and now occupies practically half of the block of shops it's in. I'm sure world domination is next. And I wouldn't mind if it came with their curry ;-)

We so enjoyed getting to know the much-older couples we ate out with, Peter and Sandie (in their 60s) and Paddy and Vicki (in their 50s). We had some good red wine and the excellent food (TSC had the Lamb JaL Frezi and I had the Chicken Makhnie) and talked well into the evening. The six of us decided to make this a regular event, and TSC and I will host a braai (BBQ) for the next dinner so that he can show them "how to braai their meat properly". Hehehe...

Saturday was spent with the lovely Ruby, who got dragged to Pretoria with us, where we unexpectedly ran into two of my favourite people - Angel and Glug. It was nice to see them, even for a few minutes. After that, we took Ruby to the Irene Village Market, where we had brunch (homemade pies for TSC and I and a vetkoek for Rubyshoes) and oohed and ahhed over the lovely things on sale. Later we watched the rugby together with some red wine and TSC let Ruby and I play bloggers catch-up, which was fun.

On Sunday we were up early to get some work done before my folks arrived. TSC worked on his varsity stuff and I uploaded media coverage for the client whose data capturing I do. Fun fun. But then my parents and brother arrived (in their separate cars) and we had a great time together.

I had made a traditional Sunday lunch: roast leg of lamb, roast veggies (with my favourite chilli, lime and coriander salt), rice and gravy. We had blueberry cheesecake icecream for dessert, with fresh fruit salad and hot chocolate pudding. Yum! It all turned out very well.

My dad, TSC and I watched the F! Grand Prix together (great race for our McLaren team, although the weekend was marred by Massa's nasty accident) while my brother messed around with his car's brakes, which weren't working well. My mom had a catnap in the sunshine.

When we decided to take a walk around the complex, my brother said he was leaving to visit his girlfriend (not a walker, my brother). He got in the car and it started making a weird noise. I also pointed out that it was leaking something all over my driveway, which turned out to be brake fluid. Not good.

Deciding that it was not safe to drive the car, my folks took my brother in their car and left his car in our driveway. We rushed off to church to be there by 5.20pm to help one of our welcome teams that was short of people. We had to take the church trailer with us, which is currently being stored in our driveway as we have to transport the sound equipment to a few venues this week.

That meant that we had to stay for both services to pack up the sound stuff afterwards. We only got home at 10.30pm! So much for working on my freelance stuff after church. At least we got to have a quick cuppa between services with Kim and Brett, one of the nicest couples we've met in Joburg.

Monday was just as packed, but TSC and I had to take time out in the afternoon to get home and help my mom load my brother's car onto a rented car trailer to take it back to Pretoria to be fixed. We live in a cul de sace with a tiny turning circle at the end, so getting the massive trailer and bakkie (truck / utility vehicle) turned around was such a pain, nevermind that the trailer was a piece of crap and none of its parts worked properly (for example, the loop that you're supposed to thread the car straps through to secure it on the trailer was broken).

I worked till 11 on Mon night to catch up and then couldn't sleep becuase my mind was in work mode. Tuesday was just as hectic. And I have betwenn 20 and 30 people coming to my house tonight for a bring and braai life group social. Eeep!

I was planning a big ladies' thing for this Sat, but I actually decided not to contact anyone about it. I want Saturday to myself (TSC is away on church mens' camp) to breathe a bit.

Freezing, freaking out Friday...

It's freezing cold and I'm freaking out because I have a big freelance client meeting this afternoon, which I think will be WAY over my head. Thankfully there's a nice, nearly-full bottle of Rescue Remedy on my desk.

And... tomorrow morning we leave for ZANZIBAR!!! Can't believe it. Can't believe it's actually arrived. And I'm finding it strange to believe that we'll be somewhere warmer where I won't have to wear thick tights, thermal vests and leather gloves at all times (poor locals... be prepared to be blinded by my bikini-clad paleness).

I tried to type with my gloves on this morning. I have really bad circulation in my hands and feet (genetic, my mother tells me) and after typing for about two minutes, I can't feel my fingers. But typing with gloves on looks som egthing l;ijkde gthi...

So I'll just run my hands under hot water every half hour or so to restore feeling. Until tomorrow, that is. I can handle that!

Have a fabulous weekend. Like one of the infinite number of Terminator sequels, I'll be back. Next Wednesday.

A post of lists

Things I did on the weekend:

• Worked till midnight on Friday to finish my big freelance project.
• Missed TSC.
• Worked till 14h00 on Saturday to finish said project.
• Had breakfast with the parentals, which was great.
• Had coffee with a friend and discussed the possibility of hosting art classes in my garage.
• Dyed the big white cotton rug my mom gave me. It's now dark brown and will match the lounge and hopefulyl be kitty pawprint proof. It was damn difficult to do on my own though - so heavy when it's wet! I'm amazed that I too am not dark brown to match the lounge.
• Finished painting and decorating the coat rack we've made for our room.
• Painted two canvases lilac to match the guest room. Added thickly painted branches and stuck on some velvety cherry blossom flowers to make a 3D work of art.
• Missed TSC some more.
• Bought my dad's birthday present.
• Bought a pair of skinny jeans (finally).
• Bought some new bras so I could chuck out the ancient falling-apart ones.
• Blew my budget (see above).
• Went to church.
• Dreamt of hosting art classes in my garage.

Things I did on Monday:

• Spent a frustrated half-day at work with no internet access.
• Went home and worked to finish my big freelaance project.
• Wrote a press release about programmable logic controllers. Coz I know so much about that stufff. Or not.
• Tried not to freeze in the icy cold house.
• Went for a piping hot supper and some good red wine with departed colleagues Icing and DK, which was awesome.
• REALLY missed TSC.

Things on the list for today:

• Say goodbye to latest departing colleague, JK.
• Try not to freeze in the office (we have no heaters).
• Have my hair cut (yay!).
• Welcome TSC back.
• Snuggle in a warm bed.
• Discuss the possibility of hosting art classes in our garage.

Weekend happenings

In bullet-points, here they are:

• Went to the Fashion TV Cafe in the Irene Village Mall in Pretoria for supper on Friday night. We asked for a table in the non-smoking area. The people on both sides of us started smoking. We called the manager and asked for a solution. None was forthcoming. We left. I don't mind if people smoke - many of my friends do. But I don't like to taste secondhand smoke while I eat, and as far as I'm concerned, if I'm sitting in the specifically non-smoking area, there shouldn't be people smoking in it. But I have had this fallout with a few restaurants over the past year. And I am always regarded as the villain in the situation, by the restaurant manager and the smokers. That pisses on my battery.
• Went to the Irene Country Market on Saturday with my mom. Spent too much money, but had great fun. Came back with various home and garden things and my mom bought me a cute bird feeder to hang in the tree. Will try to remember to take pics of my market loot.
• Had a housewarming / birthday party that was quite random. Met up with a few old friends there and after we'd hung around for a couple of hours, we all left together and the boys watched rugby while the girls had a LONG chat. Fabulous catch-up session! The only not so awesome bit was all the pregnancy chatter (one of the girls is 6 months pregnant). I can't escape it ;-)
• Watched Juno again with TSC and cuddled on the couch. I heart that movie. So odd and so awesome.
• Ate Oatso-Easy porridge for supper. Just because.
• Ruby came to church with us. Our pastor has been away for a few weeks and had been desperately wanting to get back and deliver last night's sermon, which was... fiery. He is passionate about Christian men standing up and being real men, not pansy wannabe men. It was an awesome message from Ruth about Boaz - the businessman, believer and Romeo - and it was so cool to have Ruby visit. I'm loving getting to know her better IRL. She's a legend.
• Made a card from everyone at the company for the new girl who's starting today. She is going to work part-time while she finished studying, so on Monday and Friday she will only come in at 1pm. As such, I have yet to meet her.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Rom-coms and randomness

The weekend was awesome.

A fancy dinner at Le Canard on Friday (we finally got to use the voucher from our friends R & A from our birthdays last year). Yum! From the atmosphere to the three courses and all the in between bits (like the palate-cleansing mint sorbet... mmm...), it was lovely.

Saturday (Valentine's Day), we swapped presents in bed over a cafe latte (I got some super yummy Pomegranite body lotion, shower gel and hand cream in a cake tin and he got some *ahem* interesting goodies from Lola Montez - the classy adult gift store down the road from us).

After a lazy morning we got stuck into the garden and finished digging the new flower beds. Then it was off to the hardware store to get the stuff to make the mosaic mirror for the guest loo (which is almost finished - hopefully I can post a pic tomorrow) and then he dragged me off to see He's Just Not That Into You.

Now I'm not generally a fan of romantic comedies. In fact, I suggested that we see Valkyrie insteadm, despite my patent dislike of that Tom Cruise character. But nope, my chick-flick-loving husband was not in the mood for that.

He's forced me to watch very many rom-coms before, including such gems (NOT!) as Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and Swept Away (even he had to admit that this one was a complete and utter waste of time. How could it be directed by Guy Ritchie?! You see what that mad ex-wife of his did to him?! From Snatch to Swept Away ??? Ok. Vent over).

So I was sceptical about this one. But I actually enjoyed it thoroughly. I hadn't seen the previews and I had no idea who was starring in it. Probably a good thing - I usually make a point of not seeing movies with Ben Affleck in them. But it was funny and cute and the perfect movie for a Saturday afternoon that leaves you feeling all happy and soppy. Which is great on Valentine's Day.

Sunday morning, after a BLT and cup of coffee, I headed off to the nursery and grocery store while TSC did his varsity assignments, poor boy. I planted my new flower bed, did some veggie garden maintenance and worked on the mosaic mirror. We had a relaxed braai for late lunch and then headed off to church, which was great. So a good weekend, all in all.

Today I am online trying to find Halaal restaurants in our area. Why, you may ask? Well, TSC and I host a life group (small group) every week at our place. This term we asked our guys what they'd like to focus on, and one dude came up with the idea of studying other major world religions.

I think it's a great idea - as Christians we can be so quick to judge other faiths and I think it's a good chance to look for common ground and get some insight into what other people believe. So we started off with Islam last week, and we're continuing with that theme this week. TSC has asked his Muslim friend from varsity, K, to come and chat to the group about his faith and he's agreed.

I'm so keen to meet him and really excited that he's agreed to share his faith with us, but I need to figure out how to make him feel comfortable in our home and organise food that he can enjoy. I know the basics - no pork or alcohol to be served, no dogs to be present (dog saliva is considered extremely unclean), no physical contact between members of the opposite sex (so I should not hug him - must remember that), providing washroom facilities for wudu (ritual washing) and a clean, private space for prayer so on.

But I'm not sure how strict he is when it comes to food - he may be fine eating in our home or he may prefer that all utensils that have been used to prepare non-Halaal food be washed three times before being used, or he may prefer not to eat from pots that have been used to cook non-Halaal meat. So I figure that it may be easier to take him out for supper to a Halaal restaurant.

Anyone know of one? The only options I can seem to find are fast foods (not my thing) or Karma Nirvana in Fourways. And anyone have any other advice on how to make K feel at home?

Oh, and have a great week, all.

From Scottish lodges to Australian flicks

The weekend was fabulous, which was great after a holiday that was quite so-so. Glenburn Lodge was a lovely venue for our church. Yes, there's a bit too much fake rock and Scottishness around for my liking, but the rooms were well-maintained and tastefully decorated, the food wasn't bad at all and the facilities are very good.

My previous weekends away with the churches I've been part of were usually student camps or nationwide conferences. Accomodation consisted of dormitories with shared bathrooms and we normally had to bring our own bedding and sometimes even cuttlery. Schedules were often quite tight, and although I enjoyed every experience, I sometimes wished for a bit more free time.

So it was a nice change to have our own hotel room and some privacy, as well as time to socialise and chill on the Friday evening and between planning sessions on Saturday. Our leaders are a great bunch of people and we laughed our way through a Singstar competition in the bar and many rounds of pool. I love the fact that they are all so genuine and don't pretend to be holier than thou. Even our head church leader will grab a beer and have a go at the karaoke.

We had such a good time and were a little sad to leave on Saturday evening. But the rest of the weekend was good too. We ate lots of focaccia and saw Australia yesterday with our mates R and A, which was a very long movie but really enjoyable. I loved seeing Hugh Jackman playing an Aussie (seeing he is one) and Nicole Kidman squealed less than usual and actually did a very good job. The little boy, Brandon Walters, is just beautiful with his soulful eyes as Nullah, the mixed-race aboriginal child that warms Kidman's heart.

I enjoy Baz Luhrmann's films. They have a rich, bold quality that sweeps you up into the fanciful storylines he seems to be attracted to. He weaves strong visual and emotive themes into the film's fabric that carry what could otherwise be considered a laboured plot.

I guess this is a film that you'll either love or hate. I'm in the first category. If any of you have seen it, let me know your thoughts.

Weekend catch-up

What a busy weekend it was! Most of it pleasant, though.


The one exception was Friday afternoon. I received a letter from the attorney handling my property transaction on Wed, telling me that I urgently needed to go to the city council to set up rates, electricity and water accounts in my name. So I book Friday afternoon off to do that and TSC and I head to the ugly governmental building in the centre of town (a 30 min drive from us) to go and do the rates and water accounts, seeing we've already done the electricity.


As we arrive, it starts bucketing down with rain. There's no undercover parking in sight, so we make a dash for the entrance and get soaked to the bone. At reception we are told that we are in the wrong building and must go to a building in the next street. Seeing the rain is coming down like cats and dogs, we climb back into the car, drive around the block and park outside the entrance to the correct building. We run inside, now completely wet.


At reception we are told that we are at the wrong entrance. It's the right building, but they won't let us walk through it to get to the department we need to be at, we must run around the outside of the building in the pouring rain and go through the other entrance.


So we do. And we get the correct form, fill it in and stand in line. There are two people at the counters for registration and deposits. There are three people in the queue in front of us. A full hour later, we finally sit down with the man who can help us.


"Why are you here?" he asks, having scanned through our form.
"To register the rates in our name," I say, thinking that he is a useless power-tripping bureaucrat.
"But that happens automatically," he says. "You don't need to be here. You need to be opening your water account."
Seething inwardly, I smile politely and say, "But the attorneys said I needed to be here. Uhh... so where do I open my water account?"
"I don't know why they told you that. You need to go to *address* to open the water account. But it's 15h30, so they'll be closed now."
"Oh, ok. Well... thanks for your help, I guess."


Stupid damn attorney. What a waste of time and petrol!


We then sat in Friday afternoon traffic for an hour and a half to get home. And I have to trek back into town again today to do the water account. And they can't tell me how much the deposit will be. And they don't take debit or credit cards. They only take bank guaranteed cheques or cash. Why must they make everything so difficult? I know, I know... Because they can.


Anyway... Friday night was spent making a last few pieces of jewellery to sell at the Christmas market on Saturday, and I ended up packaging and sorting my wares until 2am. Saturday morning I had to be up early to get to the house and set up my stuff. We didn't have that many people turning up, but I made good money and will now be able to spoil TSC for Christmas. Yay!

Then my folks dropped off some curtains they've donated to us (we're their top charity cause) and after a quick lunch with them, we rushed off to the Bloggirls Christmas event. What fun! It was awesome to meet everyone's partners and kids and to hook up with one or two blog ladies I hadn't met before. We were ridiculously late and it poured with rain, but much fun was had by all and we arrived home to two very hungry kitties at about 10pm.

Sunday after church we spontaneously had a bunch of people around for lunch, which was entertaining amidst all the boxes. I ran around like a headless chicken looking for things like the grater, a vase and my hairdryer to restart the fire when the rain and then hail arrived (this always seems to happen when TSC and I are at a braai). It was lovely to have people in our house for the first time and I can't wait to have a proper house-warming party early next year.


This morning at 2am, TSC left to go to Namibia to renew his blasted driver's licence, and I didn't manage to get back to sleep after that. I would so like to be doing this right now...










But work is beckoning, so I must do some writing. We close at the end of the week for Christmas holidays, so there's lots to be done before then. Have a great week!

Time is like that arcade dance game...

...You know that one where you have to step on the little lights when they light up? They start out slow and then they speed up until there's no way you could stamp on all of them even if you had an extra pair of feet.

It feels like time is like that. When you're a kid, the school holidays feel like they go on forever and ever and eventually you just want to go back so that you can stop being bored. And when you're at varsity, you think you're really busy with exams, lectures, assignments, sports and other activities. And then when you start working a full day, it feels like there's never time to do the things you used to do and like you are the busiest person on earth. And if you move in with someone, you have to take their time into account too. And then if you have kids, you have someone else that you are responsible for 24 hours of the day, seven days a week, and busyness becomes the understatement of the century.

I wonder if the game slows down again as you get older? Because it feels like everyone I talk to just gets busier and busier every year. Or is it just me?

Anyway... enough with the "deep" stuff. Here's a Friday funny for you. Looking forward to seeing those of you who are attending Bloggirls tomorrow. Have a great weekend, all.

Has anyone seen the new Bond flick? We saw it on Fri. Very cool, IMO. I reckon Daniel Craig is far better suited to the role than Pierce Brosnan.

The weekend was a good one. Poor TSC had to write varsity entrance exams the whole of Sat, so I got to do some serious packing and sorting. We then watched the rugby, took out a lame DVD and on Sunday, after church, had a yummy lunch at Papachino's with my folks. We spent the evening chilling with a truly awesome family. we know each family member from a different place and time in our lives and it's the first time we've seen all of them together. Good wine, great company and balmy weather made for the best of times.

But now for a much-needed rant... TSC has a Namibian driver's licence. The other day he realises that it's about to expire in a month's time. So he phones the traffic department, speaks to a million-odd people about how to go about converting it to a South african licence and is eventually told that he needs to go to such and such department, which is on the arse end of Joburg and only open on Monday and Tuesday mornings.

Off he goes, ID book and a letter of validation from the Namibian Embassy in hand. These were the only documents he was told to bring. Upon arrival, he is informed that he also needs a copy of our lease. So, being the lovely wife that I am, I dash home, fetch the bloody lease and fax a copy to the department.

Fine, he is told. Come back in a week with R160.00 cash and we'll let you know what needs to happen. So this morning he treks out to the ugly governemnt building once more. As he steps through the door, the woman he spoke with last week says, "oh. It's you. You've been declined."

Why? No reason. Except, apparently, that he should have thought about doing this ages ago. The spiteful cow.

So now he needs to go to the licencing department in Namibia, which is only open on Wednesday, before his licence expires on 15 December, to renew said stupid licence there. With our move happening this weekend and two weeks full of meetings and end of year functions we are committed to after that, you can imagine just how impressed I am at the thought of being left home alone.

The joys of living in Africa.

A happy ending to the weekend

It wasn't a great weekend, mainly because (here comes an overshare) as well as the PMS that plagued me, I have another medical condition that seems to act in tandem with said evil PMS. I won't go into details, but basically, for five days of every month, it feels like my body is trying to murder me from the inside in three different ways at once. Not fun. Unless you're a masochist. Clearly I'm not.

On Saturday, TSC and I had planned to go to Dragon City, the sprawling Chinese market in the centre of town, to check out the cheap wares and let me stock up on some beads to make jewellery as Christmas gifts. The place is three storeys high and is crammed full of tiny, overcrowded, hot stalls manned by cross non-English speaking salespeople. It's kind of like this so-called mall is themed "hell" (just without the fire and brimstone. What is brimstone anyway?! I've always wondered). Sidetracking...

There is NO ventilation at Dragon City, so as you climb the stairs to the next floor, you get into the stale, hot, smelly air that's hanging around near the top of the building like a foul cloud of swamp gas. Lovely, hey? We also happened to be there over pay weekend and at lunch time so it was really, REALLY busy and most of the shop owners were cooking lunch on little gas stoves, adding to the heat and smell.

Needless to say, it made me feel a gazillion times worse than I had been feeling, so I spent the rest of the day lying on the couch and being thoroughly miserable (I am very talented at this, you can ask TSC. I've made it into an art form). So in the end I missed Angel and Glug's party, which SUX :-( It looks like it was such fun. And I had the coolest costume planned. Grrr...

Sunday I did some web copy writing work and interviewed someone for a story I'm writing, and then... it was time for the event of the year, the only sport worth watching, the race of the season, the last track on the calendar... The Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix! *drums, trumpets etc*

And it did not disappoint. Now I know that most of you think that F1 is just a bunch of noisy cars going around the track, but it's not. Hear me out...

Aside from being the pinnacle of motoring technology and the most expensive sport in the world, F1 is a test of both man and machine, working together to achieve not only speed but reliability and accuracy. It's a strategy game where everything from the amount of fuel in the car to the type of tyres and the length of a pitstop can make or break a race. And, in the case of yesterday's event, a championship.

Picture the scene as you would a movie: the crowds are cheering for the man in red - it's his home race and they love him. In the shadows stands his arch rival in white and orange. He's tired - it's been a long year of politics and unfair penalities, and although he's seven points in the lead and only needs to finish fifth to win the driver's championship, he remembers the previous year, where he also looked set to win but made a wrong choice and watched his dream disintegrate in front of his eyes. He knows he needs to play it safe now, but that goes against his racer's instinct.

As the teams line up to start the race, the rain comes down in buckets. The race start is postponed to give the crews a chance to put the wet tyres onto the cars so that they don't spin out of control. Eventually the race begins. The red driver speeds ahead and doesn't make a single mistake. He looks like he is controlling the race. He's perfect.

Behind him, in fifth place, his rival is exercising his self-control and driving conservatively, much as he hates it. He just needs to hang onto this place... He just needs to hang onto this place...

Pitstops come and go, pulses quicken and then slow again. As the race draws to its end, the momentum is building. Who will win the championship? Will anyone get in the way?

A few laps before the end of the race, with only minutes to go, the rain sets in again. What to do?! Should the drivers hang on and try to finish on their dry tyres and risk skidding off the wet track and crashing? Or should they pit and change to wet tyres and risk losing valuable time and places?!

Cut to the pit lane. The crews are coming out! There's a buzz of activity and the adrenaline is pumping. The leaders are coming in! 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... And they're out again! Who's in front? Have the places changed? What's going on? Wait... one of the top runners is still on dry tyres... and he's going faster than the man in orange and white!

Will he hang onto fifth place? No! NO! He has been overtaken by a navy car! Where did he come from? The championship must be lost. But there's two laps to go... Will something change? One lap to go... The last lap has started... all is surely lost for the man in orange and white, now in sixth place?

The last corner comes up. The man in red is celebrating already as he crosses the finish line. But wait, the dry tyre car is slowing down... the man in navy overtakes him. The man in orange and white too! He's won the championship! He's won! He punches the air in excitement and relief!

The man in red begins to cry. He did everything perfectly. He won the race! How could he have lost the championship? He climbs onto the podium, wiping tears from his cheeks. His home crowd roars - he's still their hero. They love him all the more... Next year. Next year he'll do it, he tells himself.

Honestly. That's how it happened. Like a flipping Hollywood film. It could not have been more dramatic. And now it's over until March next year. Phew... I don't think my heart could have handled any more!

Have a fab week, darlinks!

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.

Of Mondays and movies

Why does everything go wrong on a Monday? Is it so that you'll have the rest of the week to sort it out, or is it to drive home the point that the weekend is very definitely over? Just a question. Today hasn't been especially bad. Aside from the printer pulling its usual attention-seeking nonsense and the fact that ALL my colleagues are out of the office at an exhibition today, it's going fairly smoothly.

Our friendly kind-of-temporary receptionist, CK, is in for the day, so at least I have company in taking everyone else's calls and managing their clients. And it's unusually quiet, so I may actually get some of the things on my list done for a change.

The weekend was great. TSC's childhood family friend, Rob, spent it with us. He's really easy going and didn't seem to mind the fact that we didn't really give him proper guest status (which would've meant showing him the sights of Jozi [are there any?!?]; waiting on him hand and foot; and serving him 3-course gourmet meals). We treated him more like a member of the family, which means that he got to, go grocery shopping, sample my pasta a la Tamara, watch old DVDs with us and even help with the clearing up after meals.

We enjoyed having him, and I think he enjoyed his weekend. Yesterday was the long-awaited joint birthday picnic, which was AWESOME (in my opinion)! And yes, Slyde, after this, my b-day truly is over for the year, k?

It was a little windy, but we had a good turnout of over 30 people and there was more than enough food (I now have a fridge stocked with enough potato salad and various juices to last the next month). Everyone seemed to get along, and my only worry was that I didn't get to spend enough time with anyone because I was trying to talk to everyone.

Of the bloggers, Angel, Glugster, Ruby and Arkwife were in attendance, along with Angel's son, Damien (aka The Knucklehead). What an awesome bunch! I've only met Angel before, and I loved the chnace to finally meet her man in real life. He is just as sharp as he is on his blog. Although, Glug, if you're reading this, I still find you intimidating in all your technical wisdom ;-)

We made everyone play a loud and childish (but fun, I hope) game called 'Hah', which requires the use of both hands. Angel somehow managed to play with one hand while taking pics with the other. She also made THE MOST AMAZING CUPCAKES in the world! they were so beautiful you didn't want to eat them, but YUM, I'm glad I did! With purple frosting (my favourite colour), which was strawberry flavoured, and little sparkles and decorations, they were gorgeous works of art. And the red velvet recipe meant they tasted like a little slice of heaven. Mmmmm... making myself hungry now. Angel, I still have your cake tray! I must get it back to you sometime soon.

Ruby and Arkwife are also stunning ladies that I hope to see more of, and, despite the fact that they'd never met us before, they still managed to come up with a funky present - these spoons made entirely of chocolate that you stir into hot milk to make your own Belgian hot chocolate. How cool is that?

My only regret is that by the time everyone had left and we'd packed up, we were covered in sticky juice, various dips and other food remnants, so we decided to go home instead of visiting EXMI and went home to shower instead. Then we watched Untraceable, starring Diane Lane and Colin Hanks, which traumatised me with its twistedness.

Ugh... I get shivers down my spine just thinking about it. It's about an Internet serial killer who devises incredibly sick ways of killing his victims with help from his readers - the faster they post, the quicker they die. If you, like me, can't handle depictions of cruelty to animals or graphic scenes of torture, STAY AWAY from this one.

It would've been a bad end to a good weekend, but we saved it by rewatching one of my all-time favourite movies - Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie. So funny, even the millionth time around.

Ok, this has been a long post. Ending it now. Happy 1st day of spring to those of you in the Southern Hemisphere!

The long walk to Friday...

Is, at last, over. It has been a rough week and I am super stoked that the weekend has arrrived.

I have as much energy right now as George Bush has common sense, so I won't be posting a long one today.

“Life is a cement trampoline.” —Howard Nordberg. Stolen from SA-Essay's blog, this is my quote for the day.

No, I'm kidding. It's really not so bad ;-) I have stuff to look forward to... picnic on Sunday, spa treatment for hubby and I next weekend (my birthday present from my parents), hubby's birthday next Sunday... And all these good things make the rough stuff okay.

Before I bugger off to spend some quality time with my pillow, a last cry to all those in Gauteng this weekend to join me for my birthday picnic. Mail me if you're keen: doodlesofajourno@gmail.com.

Have a good one!