The Meltdown

Well it finally happened somewhere circa Saturday 2.30pm.
The Meltdown.


Weeks ago I'd agreed that we have a braai with a bunch of old friends on Saturday afternoon at our place (Curse that indoor braai which leaves no excuse for cancelling). Up to this point it had been a hectic weekend and we really got home only then for the first time.

I started tidying up frantically in time for the influx... the Band (oh, such naivete) said "why are you doing that now?" and that, friends, was his gravest error.

I replied "because I want it done now. There are people coming over and I am not happy with the way this place looks."

"But," he replies enduring along that tragic walk to oblivion, "why now? you've been ok with it til now. Why now?"

And then I manifested.

"I have not been ok with ANY of it til now. But I leave things and suck it up and suck it up some more until I reach a point where I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!"

Which is when he gently steered me to the privacy of our bedroom (because, OBVIOUSLY, we were not alone). Poor harry was furiously vacuuming up a storm by this stage. Shame. But it wasn't that. It was J's dishwasher. And tumble dryer. And Shelves. All in my bluddy dining room for the past month and a half. (There is already an entire bedroom which is packed floor to ceiling which his stuff) It was the bicycles and surf boards in the entrance hall. It was Harry's 3 racks of dodgy wet washing (including the "leppies" - leopard print jocks. He's an odd one) in our braai room. It was the lack of space - physical and emotional I guess.

Well I went to my room and cried. BLUDDY HORMONES. While I heard The poor Band rearranging the house in fast forward. Then he came to rub my inconsolable back. I told him that there's not another woman on the planet who could survive this. Pregnant or not. And he said he's so sorry. He also didn't think it would be like this and for so long and he knows it's tough on me.

That is really all I needed.
Men: a tip. All we women want is for our feelings to be validated. We want to know that you understand or are at least trying to. And then we want to be taken on a shopping spree. Which is how The Band and I (who both hate the mall) spent Sunday. Buying me clothes. Then watching a movie. Then going out for dinner. Just the two of us.

Plans to keep Caz sane in the home which has become a commune

• Start inviting all my GIRL mates over ALL THE TIME.... I like this one.

• Start escaping to my girl’s places.

• Start talking about siff girl things like the menstrual cycle, the woes of pregnancy, etc. At meal times.

• Ask the guys to help me with things like ironing and folding baby clothes.

• Be the one to choose the DVDs... (you, me and dupree for starters – thanks T) and ensure they have not so subtle subliminal messages on them!

• Start cooking only for me... claim the whole pregnant vegetarian thing.

• Stop wiping up and cleaning compulsively and let it all slide.

• Wait for the next inevitable call from a telemarketer and give them the phone numbers of my honorary housemates.

Ok guys... i need your suggestions here....

ooooh, so that's how...

Bugger it.

So either the hormones have kicked in or I am just needing sleep and space. Perhaps a combination.

At the moment our mate J is staying with us (since beginning of April til we move at end June). Since he has been there, Harry (who lives in the flat on the property) BASICALLY lives there as well. These guys are great. Don't get me wrong, but it gets a bit much. Sometimes I just want to shlop around in my undies. Sometimes I don't want to be wiping up after everyone every five minutes. I am a germaphobe, no denying that. Sharing a kitchen with 3 guys is... stretching.

Plus I am very conscious of the fact that this would be the last time that it's actually just The Band and I. Come September, there will be kids in the house for the next couple of decades! Except that this can't be the last time, because we aren't alone.

Again, let me say that the guys are great and it's not them, and it's lots of fun and lots of laughs, but sometimes I just need my space. I think what I battle with is that The Band doesn't really see it. He is a boy, after all, so it doesn't affect him. In fact for him it's probably the ultimate - mates and woman all having a fun time. Boys are so different. They don't seem to need privacy like girls do. I love cooking, but cooking for 4 pretty much every night? a bit much.

Of course I got no sleep last night for some unknown reason so I am grumpy as hell this morning. This morning I found something dodgy looking in my porridge and had to flee the kitchen. To go cry. Pathetic but true. I need my sleep people. I am grumpy as hell without it.

In loving memory of Booster

The faithful steed who saw us through a 9000km once in a lifetime trip, through crater-sized potholes and glue-like mud in Zim, through rain, shine and corruption in Zambia and through coconuts and chemically induced insomnia in Mozambique is gone.


Booster, a 2x4 Toyota Hilux double cab, was one of VERY few cars NOT to get stuck in Mana Pools. 4x4 landrovers and cruisers were getting stuck left, right and centre, but not our Booster.

Booster left us yesterday, tragically taken from our lives by a thief in Cape Town. Booster, you will always hold a special place in our hearts. We love you buddy and hope they'll be good to you!

The cursed house

It all seemed so good when we moved in... the jacuzzi, the pool, the indoor braai.
Ah but there were warning signs. Like the fact that the previous tenants had a life size painting of a faun (goat/man thingmajig - I think it's a faun but I'm a little behind on mythological folk so who knows). Or the fact that the estate agent has PINK pencilled on eyebrows and was downright rude to us from the start.

Well ten months later the pool is STILL brown - it was broken when we moved in, they got some cheapo fix job which lasted a month and it has been broken ever since, we have been robbed 4 times and I am ready to get violent with the pink eyebrow wench.

In spite of the pool being as it is, in spite of us asking for increased security (which we will happily pay for) since August and being told (SINCE AUGUST) they are busy getting quotes, in spite of the fact that they KNOW I'm pregnant, she is giving us attitude still. The Band let her know we'll be moving out at the end of the contract period. She replies that the garden is not in an acceptable state and we have 7 days to sort it out. Now we have a regular garden service so I genuinely don't know what she means, but as the Band pointed out, if she comes to inspect any part of the property she has to MAKE AN APPOINTMENT to do so. But nevertheless, WHAT ABOUT THE BLUDDY POOL AND THE BLUDDY LACK OF SECURITY AND THE FACT THAT AN AXE WAS LEFT ON MY DRESSING TABLE ON ONE OF THE MANY TIMES THIS PREGNANT WOMAN WAS BURGLED?????

I am going to Hello Peter her ass the second we are out of there!!!

The real reason I'm in conservation...

If you every thought I was a fantastic do-gooder for being in conservation, you may be disillusioned. I discovered the real reason I am passionate about fighting climate change HERE yesterday.
I'm sure you'll all agree it's a noble cause.
(Shrink you evil bastards!!! SHRINK!!!)

Boot camp and booty calls

So I am back at bootcamp trying to ensure I'm not stuck with a tankass following the emergence of The Bambino in September. yes people, SEPTEMBER that means I am now more than 4.5 months preggers. Past halfway and so far it's a breeze. The ...er... chest is still bigger than the stomach but sure that's changing by the day.
Anyway, uncharacteristically, I digress. Yesterday I was in the process of dying at bootcamp and the instructor (aka Adolf) was taking the opportunity to assure us that despite what the admin fiends at bootcamp may say, it is perfectly fine to exercise through your pregnancy bla bla bla (I had to get special permission and sign an indemnity form and was enjoying feeling quite self righteous with my efforts until) this other woman pipes up (snottily) "I exercised ALL the way through my pregnancy and it was just fine... I did ballet!" (My mate rolls her eyes at me and I smirk, wondering why she had clearly stopped exercising since). Yes, yes, I hear all the cat meowing sounds you are making and I must admit that the hormones may be releasing a bit of ... honesty into my thoughts. But seriously she was just being a nasty little glory stealer. Just leave me alone to puff around that field and bask in the attention and praise it results in, k?
So now you're all waiting on the booty call bit which is the only reason you have bothered reading this far in the first place. Well now that I can finally track how people come upon this blog I figured I should probably type out terms like booty call as much as possible :). Just jokes. That's a bit cheap. There was in fact a great story about a booty call (oops, I did it again!) but it seems inappropriate to share it here.
And now you all hate me.

They're back

I could cry. I can't sleep. And the nightmares are back. I can't even pee at night anymore. It's just too dam terrifying. It's as if THEY KNOW.

Who are the infamous "They" to whom i refer? THEY, of course, are my nemesis. My greatest and probably only genuine phobia. THEY are RAIN SPIDERS.



Now sure this one looks deceptively cute and malevolent at the same time, but that's coz I am too dam scared to have a pic of a real one on my blog... i'd never come back here.

Loyal followers will know that rain spiders made my life miserable for many many months while I lived on the farm - to read about those terrifying ordeals click here, here and here. Since I moved to Somerset West and into civilisation I thought I was safe. No spiders in the past 8 months. In fact no bugs at all. Sure we get burgled on a nice and regular bimonthly basis, but still. No spiders was always something to be grateful for, right? UNTIL NOW.

Last night we went to chat to our good friends, The German Nudists (Ja Mein!). They have a beautiful (and safe) house and have officially decided they are moving back to KZN at the end of next month so it seems we will be moving there. I am in love with their place - it is a beautiful place with wooden floors and a real family feel and a perfect spot for a nursery next to the main room. PHEW, relief.... until....

I got home and (PREDICTABLY) was about to hop into the bath (they always choose their moments, those bastards)and grabbed my towel from my cupboard and - LET OUT A PIERCING SCREAM and did the on-the-spot tap dance I always do when I get a big fright. There he was. Watching me with his freaky compound eyes. It was in part a good confirmation that it's time to move on, but sadly also a warning that I may never be truly safe from the evils of rain spiders *SHUDDER*

raging hormones and the case of the flame thrower

I am grateful for the fact that I have gotten off ridiculously lightly thus far in terms of pregnancy. All my other knocked up mates are having episodes which put mere PMS to shame. TV ads bring on tears, husbands become enemy number 1, etc etc.
I've really had none of that. In fact I'm loving life mostly. Not because I'm blossoming with the joys of motherhood or anything as deep as that, but mainly coz my metabolism has sped up and I can eat what I want without gaining weight (HOW COOL IS THAT??)plus people are nice to me and keep doing stuff and buying stuff for me.

Anyway, my first and PLEASE LORD LET IT BE LAST emotional episode finally happened circa 3AM this morning but I guess the foundations for it have been laid over the last week or so...

To start with, I was in Durbs earlier in the week - yes, I know I travel a helluva lot and I have a massive carbon footprint but at the very least my travel is for a good cause, k?

hmmm... I may be a little defensive today.

Anyway it all started in Durbs. I managed to spend a bit of time with my GORGEOUS neice who is 4 and the cutest little girl on the planet. Oh please... you doubt me?
Doubt this:

She is very excited about the arrival of a cousin and quite fascinated by the whole thing. The low point came when we bathed together and she asked if the baby was being grown in my boobs. . . . . . ehem.
Well to be fair, I could see how she could get mixed up. My stomach is a pitiful JOKE in comparison to The Pamelas. Now the flat-chested among you may find this amusing and even complimentary, but mine were a very respectful size to begin with.

Anyway, with my changing body well and truly top of mind now, it also occured to me sometime yesterday that tomorrow (Saturday) I will in fact go from being somewhere in my mid-20s to being in my mid- to late-20s. I TURN 27 TOMORROW. This depressing fact lurked within my self conscious.. er i mean sub conscious.

Last night the sweet infant growing within morphed into some sort of FLAME THROWER and for the first time I experienced the agony of "heart burn". HA! Heart burn sounds like a benign little crush. This was like the Fires of Hell dancing in my throat.

The final straw was The Dream. I dreamt the band was at an arcade??? and when he emerged we were chatting when some chickie who he had been "playing" with came out to say goodbye to him. Well the skanky hussy was little and tomboyishly sexy. Wench. And as she departed The Band gazed on wistfully and murmured "I wish she lived a bit closer... she's so interesting".

Well I woke up (ok, I woke up AGAIN - there's A LOT of waking up to pee in my life at present!) and I was feeling OLD, MISHAPEN and THREATENED by the sexy chick with the boyish figure who was so bluddy interesting to The Dream Version of The Band.

I went to make Hairy Boon (the Baboon shaped hot water bottle which I have stolen from Harry) and some milo and got back into bed and then they started....
Hot, Self-pity filled tears streamed down my cheeks. "She's so interesting!?" Bluddy hell. I AM INTERESTING THANK YOU VERY MUCH! And I wouldnt be peeing all the time, and be changing shape if you hadn't knocked me up in the first place!!!
INTERESTING!!

At some point The Real Non-Dream (and No Longer Dreaming) Band woke up and realised I couldn't sleep so he played with my hair a bit and eventually offered to put on an episode of The Big Bang Theory for me. Ah. So at 3 this morning we watched a big bang theory and then I fell fast asleep and had sweet dreams and woke up feeling my usual wonderful self and being all excited for my birthday tomorrow and that, lads, is why you are lucky to be MALE!

voting moral dilemma

well it seems that everyone is blogging about their voting experience on wednesday. The most eventful part of my voting was the queue and the moral dilemma which resulted.

You see, standing in the queue The Band handing me a Steri Stumpi (chocolate milk drink) - my pregnant indulgence. I was pretty bored by that stage and shoved my as yet unsullied thumb nail through the foil with gusto and SPLOOSH! chocolate milk splattered all over the lady in front of me's top. BUGGER.
She didn't notice, but the chick behind us did.

What to do? What to do? Should I ease my conscience by telling her but then have to stand behind a super grumpy woman for the next hour, or should I just pretend it never happened?

Well you can all guess which choice I went with. I am pregnant and can not be held accountable for my actions and besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her right?

Perhaps as some form of divine vengeance, the nail ink person did a bloody shoddy job on my nail and in the last two days i actually think it is getting darker and bigger. At least steri stumpi washes out!

Scared of snakes?

...well actually you have every reason to be!
(oh, I'm sorry - you were hoping for some reassuring statistics about how you're more likely to die from having a coconut land on your head? Sure.. If you live in the middle of a coconut palm forest in central mozambique, but if it's SA you live in... well let's allow my photos to tell the story, shall we?)
When I went up to Ngala (borders Kruger National Park) in Feb this was one of the insane sightings... a bluddy 3m python hugging an impala to infinity and beyond.
I guess now's about the time to put in the little disclaimer of *NOT FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS*





In this one you can see the python's head as it goes over the rump of the impala. The head must have been at least 15cm long. FREAKY BLUDDY DEEKY!

BTW thanks to Ches for inspiring this post :)

Men losing their minds

So there's no denying that the gestating female loses her mind just a bit. There are plenty of stories of women having car accidents only when they're preggers and in general forgetting their name. So far from my fecund self, I have gotten my (ANCIENT) pin code wrong enough times to warrant having my bank card swallowed and needing to replace it. The more horrific evidence of the porridge that is my brain was that a cousin smsd me on a monday to tell me there was A PARCEL for me at the post box and I only remembered the following Sunday. I have never, in my life, ever, forgotten about A Parcel At The Post Office For Me. I mean that's practically the most exciting thing ever, no? But I clean forgot all about it.

Anyway, has anyone heard of this happening to the father of the Unborn One? Coz the Band has definitely lost it. He has lost the keys 4 times in since yesterday. As I write this he is trying to break into his own car (no spare - yes, yes) because therein lies his laptop and I don't need to tell you how prone to the bluddy impacts of crime the two of us are!! So I think he's got pregnancy brain himself. What else could it be. Speaking of these matters click here to find out what very exciting thing happened today!

10 things I learnt this weekend

So lacking all originality, I have decided to plagiarise Being Brazen's post idea(thanks lady)
So here they are:

1. I learnt that if you tell Discovery you're knocked up you get all kinds of free stuff (score!)
2. I learnt that there is no limit to how much time I can spend sleeping in and napping. Getting into actual clothes is entirely optional.
3. I learnt that if you show a bit of interest at the Clinique counter they give you freebies.
4. I learnt that if you tell the Clinique lady that you currently use Woolies face products she will laugh at you. (imagine how much more she would have laughed if I told the truth: Water and a face cloth followed by a bit of cheapo moisturiser)
5. I learnt that I too enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but that Sheldon makes me frustrated to the point of actual anger
6. I learnt that my days of sleeping on my stomach are numbered... in the negatives.
7. I learnt that Mark Boucher lives in a really nice place in Constantia and that next time I should take my costume.
8. I learnt that easter eggs for breakfast works out just fine.
9. I learnt that when I'm hoping for leftovers for lunch the next day I should not invite my friends over for dinner.
10. I learnt that I have lost my tolerance for heat and summer must frikken duck now!

Phobias

So last night I hosted a murder mystery dinner for my friend Harry. Harry is an interesting character... he has a GENUINE fear of Asians. Now despite the fact that its utterly un-PC, and probably because of the fact that I live in a country which is still rather scarred by xenophobia, I find this HYSTERICAL.

Don't judge me.
Think about it.

The Cape (where I live) has very few Asians. There is certainly still plenty of racism around in SA... let's not even START talking about our snaky future president saying English-speaking whites in SA are not real South Africans(!!!!) And there is a lot of fear of other local cultures that still lingers among many South Africans.The scars of Apartheid run deep on both 'sides'. And while I don't think it's right to judge someone on their colour I do understand that if you have been victimised by someone of a certain colour or gender your unconcious response may be a generalised a fear of all people within that race or gender.

But in Harry's case there is no such experience. It's just so bluddy incongruous. All i can think of is that perhaps he watched some terrifying movie featuring an asian villain as a child. Either way the phobia is real. So us, being the supportive, understanding friends that we are, decided on a chinese theme murder mystery dinner. Everyone had to dress their parts and speak with accents. It was GREAT. HILARIOUS. The chinese accents soon started sounding more like rough chain-smoking elderly french women.

Do you have any phobias? I promise to try not to mock them.

Water

Water is a pain in the ass. Seriously all this guilt that people and media constantly put on you to "ensure you drink at least 8 glasses of water a day". Come on. In 26 years I've probably achieved that less than 50 times (sports events excluded). Now that I'm knocked up it's worse:
"Are you SURE you're drinking enough water?" um... well.... I'm not thirsty?
One friend threatened that junior was probably dessicating in my womb due to lack of water consumption. Bollocks.
I went for a scan this week and that kid is merrily aquaarobicsing it up and growing like mad.

confessions of a former UB

so thanks to this post a disturbing and once deeply suppressed memory has resurfaced.

Promise you won't beat me up or pull my bra strap?

The memory is this:
I used to sleep in a headbrace as a teen. Yup. Ala Ugly Betty herself.

In some freakish way now that at least 10 years have passed I feel quite proud of the fact. Like I'm a survivor or something.

A similar emotion was evoked (invoked?) when I was cruising through delhi week before last all on my own being swindled by auto-rickshaw drivers and being petted by beggars. an odd sort of high, but a high nevertheless, tho it probably had more to do with the fact that in India I was actually semi-wealthy. Yup - somewhere that our currency is actually worth a bit! Unfortunately everyone who sees you (all billion and something of the population) seem to be well aware of this..

on a happy note 6 years ago today The Band and I finally got together (after the obligatory prolonged period of fighting like cat and dog, flirting insanely and fighting some more).

We were on a 5 day hiking trail along the Wild Coast. It was the middle of the night. He didn't say a word. Just came over and woke me and kissed me.
HOT people. Very hot!

Earth Hour be%^&

:)
Hi guys and girls. ok I know that I always have excuses for being such a inconsistent blogger but come on. I am in charge for media at WWF - if you didn't read, see or hear about Earth Hour in the last month then you can be upset with me, but if you did, THAT's why i haven't been around. It was a monstrous bloody effort and I feel like I've been run over by a truck. Altho EH wasn't about saving electricity, I am pleased to say that Eskom reckons there was a 15% saving for that hour - the equivalent of 4.7 million lights being turned off and 400 000 Megatonnes of CO2 saved. Not shabby at all. That being said.. if i never hear the words "earth hour" again it will be too soon. ON A VERY HAPPY NOTE... guess what?? I WON THE COMPETITION!!! WOOHOOO. With 950 sign ups I killed it - second place was 350. YAY!!! and thanks to those of you who took the time to sign up. you rock and I will think of you in gratitude during my week at the Beacon Isle!! (valued at R14K! nice!) Last week, aside from Earth Hour and all the chaos that involved at work, we were burgled again. Bastards (and this time they left a hell of a mess) and my cousin died of an overdose! didn't even know he had a drug problem. So relieved my gran didn't live to know about it. It would have broken her heart. So anyway, a hectic week in every way and I'm glad it's over.

Delhi to Agra

yes people (not slyde) you are correct. India is where I indeed am. Been in a conference all week but tomorrow (after a good day's shopping) we take a taxi to Agra and spend the night. Saturday morning with a bit of luck we'll be viewing the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Guess where I am?

I'll give you a clue.
The food is spicey. Everyone only drinks bottled water and we're 3.5 hours ahead of SA. The person who guesses right gets to name my child. haha RIGHT!

Anyone? Guesses??

Check out the pic

Hey guys.... click here to see the scan pic. ah cute.

So... I have an AWKWARD thing going on in 15 mins... That person who was making my life miserable who is not my spouse? I have a meeting about that situation with another person. EEP. Not going to be pleasant!!

P.S.

Seeing as i am now "out the closet" (no people, I am not gay!!!!) go check out mabakerscountdown.blogspot.com abnd find out why I won't need breast enlargement surgery any time soon.

My Wife is an Ax Murderer

Ok you guys are going to have to read between the lines here. Clearly I don't have a wife and clearly the Band is close on perfect. But there is SOMEONE in my life who is definitely 2 cookies short of a picnic. The lift doesn't go all the way to the top floor if you know what i mean and it is making life frikken miserable for me.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!

Saving the planet :)

ok, sure I've been scarce but it's all for a good cause. At the moment we are crazily working on promoting EARTH HOUR! (what is Earth Hour, you ask with wide-eyed intrigue).

Earth Hour
We (WWF) are basically calling on a billion people worldwide to turn off their lights for an hour at 20:30 on 28 March. This unified, symbolic act is aimed at the world leaders who, at the end of this year, meet to decide on a new global climate deal. Needless to say, what they decide is really make or break for the planet. In addition to asking people to turn off their lights, we are also importantly asking them to sign up and pledge to do so. The reason for that is so that we can actually quantify the number of people participating and so make a strong case for action on climate change.

So... dear loyal reader... how do you participate?
Well you sign up through the widget on my blog for one.
Now here's the added thing... we are running a competition internally here at work and the staff member who signs on the most people gets a week's holiday at a hotel in plett with her Band... PEOPLE I NEEEEEEEEEEEEED THIS!!

Can you get people to come to my blog and sign up through my widget? The widget tracks who signs up through me.please please please??? I am clearly not above begging!! :)

OR EVEN BETTER:
please load this widget onto your blogs and encourage all your blogbuddies to do the same. The widget is coded and I will get kudos for the entries. YIPPEEEEEEE

<***iframe scrolling="no" width="162" frameborder="0" src="http://www.earthhour.org.za/widgets/widget160x330.php?refer=40d416b1acc47b16fe13238caf0eb8bd&wid=72" marginheight="0" height="332" marginwidth="0"***>

NB: Just remember to delete the 3 stars at the start and end of the code else it won't work :) They are just there so you can view the code as text :)

THANKS GUYS!!!!!

Happy Anniversary

to me and my Band :)
3 years today and it's been FANTASTIC!

So tonight we'll do dinner or something, but tomorrow we fly to JHB and friday morning we leave for 3 nights in the Sabi Sands. If you like going green then click here and prepare to want to hit me :) Its going to be pretty dam amazing. And no, in case you are wondering, we can't afford R4900 per person per night, but we know a guy... and so we stay there for PEANUTS!!

I am certainly not above 3 nights in 6 star luxury in the bush. BRING IT ON!!

Just B Positive

Is it weird that I've never known my blood type? Well it's B Positive and I am oddly stoked about it.

flu sucks

seriously. who has flu in the heat of frikken summer!?

BEEEEEEG SECRETS!!

well anyway, I have a mystery to unveil to the chosen few. Those who would like to know what the hell I'm on about, send your email address to mabakerscountdown@gmail.com

All shall be revealed....

An interview with ME

So my American blog buddy (would that make him a bluddy??) Bruce has sent me a list of interview questions... how exciting!

Here they are...

1) You live in South Africa, and many of the rest of us don't. For those that have never been, what would you say are the major differences, not so much physically, but culturally. What would Americans find odd and vicea-versa?

I think that SA is both very diverse and very conservative. The last time I was in the states I was kind of shocked by things like the youth swearing in their cellphone while sitting next to an old granny on a bus. Even a "skollie" (dodgy type person) here would, in my experience, have ingrained respect for their elders. I guess that's something in the African tradition as well. My gran was mugged once (she was mid-80s at the time)and she reprimanded the guy and he gave her stuff back. Another time, her wallet was snatched and then left outside her door the next day.
Now don't get me wrong, I love the States - esp New York City and ESP the bagels they sell there. INCREDIBLY GOOD for a carbs fan like myself!

2) Do South Africans see Barack Obama as the coming of the American Nelson Mandela?
ummmmmmm, i doubt it. I mean we are all inspired and whatever, but Madiba is Madiba and you don't get a second man who is made to spend his best years in prison for fighting Apartheid and then comes out and forgives everyone - even invites his jailer to tea - and preaches peace rather than revenge. Nah, we have dibs on Madiba magic in SA :)

3) The name of the boyfriend is 'The Band', which is totally confusing. Why do you call him that, what is the significance?
No no no. The Band is short for the husBAND.

4)In the end, when you are 80, do you want to be in the lap of luxury and able to give your children and your life long friends the benefit of your labors, or would you rather be poor and destitute, but with a lifetime of wonderful memories? Explain why.

The second, no question.
Luxury is great in small doses but I battle to relate to people who live in the lap of luxury. Especially in a country where you have people sleeping on the floor of tin shacks in the middle of winter probably just down the road from you. I'd rather have fun than big moolahs anyday! I think being really rich would be really lonely.

5) We should all have a list of things we want to accomplish in our lifetimes.....what is at the top of yours? What is at the bottom?
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Crikey, it changes all the time. I'd love to write a book. I'd love to travel Africa properly. I'd love to see the gorillas in Uganda.

it seems a bit early in the year

for a week to consist of 4 mondays in a row.

"4 Mondays" you say, "But that's not possible!"

On the contrary, it is very possible...

On the first Monday:
Me and The Band had a little scrap...(sadly ours are nowhere near as dramatic as EXMI's, but it was a fight nonetheless). Sure, he had no idea (until I brought it up today) that a fight had even occurred or that I was offended, but still, to me it was there - a big, nasty, festering thing.

On the second Monday:
Victims of crime people. I know. There we were merrily watching a DVD when we heard Booster's cries for help. (Booster is our Hilux that we got for the trip, try to keep up people) The Band looked out the window and saw a guy fumbling in the car. Suddenly my soutie man became Afrikaans and shouted "Jou Bliksem!!!!" as he sprinted after the guy. He chased him round the neighbourhood and managed to recover a dvd player which he'd stolen from Harry's house. So the guy actually got away with nothing although he did break our window (the bliksem). It was quite exciting actually - the thief had left his bag of goods in our garden. It was like a little treasure chest - gazillions of watches, some gold bangles, bully beef (minivom).

On the third Monday:
I had ambitious plans to cycle home from work. I am doing the Argus SOOOON and haven't even got on my bike since about March last year. Brought all my stuff and voila. Puncture. So there goes that idea. So much for good intentions.

On the fourth Monday:
My boss called my colleague and I in and more or less told us we had bad attitudes. I KNOW! Now I am many things, but rude and disrespectful in the work context, I am not. She was upset with our feedback on her plans. She asked our input and we gave it and she didn't like it. There was no rudeness. Only constructive criticism. Last I checked this was a workplace, not a warm and fuzzy lets all be best friends play group. (So yes, the attitude has certainly worsened).

Fortunately, today is FRIDAY at last and the weekend is beckoning.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MEEEEEEE

Today Spacebook turns 200 posts old!

time flies like the wind, fruit flies like bananas

actually, time does not fly. Anyone who is back at work and reading this will concur. but let's not even go there...

instead of moaning (more) or having (yet another) tea break, i thought i'd spread some cheer from my favourite sickos at cyanide and happiness...

Travel in the time of Cholera

Seriously, where do i start? There is so much to tell you... so many funny stories and sad stories. But I will tell them in bits and pieces as the weeks go by... Make sure I tell you about the White Water Rafting(!!) and the Dhow trip! In the meantime, our trip briefly went as follows....

Ok the brief itinerary was this:

• we first went up to Mozambique to spend about 2 weeks on the island of Bazaruto.


• Then we headed accross to Zimbabwe. Spent a couple of nights in Harare (the capital of Zim) before heading to Mana Pools for 5 days ("The world's wildest game reserve" - so called because although all the big game are present there are no fences and pretty much no rules which means you can walk through the bush alone if you want - we did, of course).


• after a stop at Lake Kariba,


• we went over to Zambia and spent time in a town called Livingstone,


• before crossing over to Victoria Falls.


• Finally after 4 weeks of camping we spent our last night at the most insane 5 star reserve being pampered before heading back via Beit Bridge (Crazy insane border crossing between Zim and SA - I KNOW!)

So countries visited were:

• Mozambique (great place, very poor, Portuguese influence)


• Zimbabwe (the pockmark on the face of Mbeki's presidency... for any who may not know, Zimbabwe is in the midst of genocide and human rights travesties... inflation is in the MILLIONS of percents, people are starving, cholera is devastating the country, the leader is a psychotic despot who refuses to acknowledge the results of the previous election... BUT it is beautiful. The people are some of the best i have ever met. They are genuine passivists. Going to Zim I both fell in love with it and had my heart broken by it. But Zim will be it's whole own post.


• Zambia.... a let down after Zim. People weren't friendly. Felt a bit harassed there.

Currencies we used:

• American Dollars


• Mozambican meticals (25 to the US$)


• Zim Dollars (changes daily, but when we were there it was about 4million to the US$)


• Zambian kwacha (4885 to the US$)


• South African rands (around 10 the US$)

Ok a few cool pics for you.

BAZARUTO:

Sunset on Bazaruto

A dhow - we sailed over from the mainland to Bazaruto on one of these

My little friend "Now". He came and spent a day with The Band and I... so sweet. Holding a giant starfish.

HARARE:

A shop in Harare... the shelves are pretty much empty except for a few sweets.

Prices in Zim Dollars. A bit of a joke. Prices are generally handwritten as they go up on a daily basis. The official inflation rate is 231million percent. I kid you not.

Cars queueing for petrol... the queue goes all the way down the road. There was no diesel available in Harare when we were there.

MANA POOLS:

Sitting at camp watching a hippo grazing

Some zeebeez

The group: The Band, The Joshwaaaa, The Harry and The Caz

Lake Kariba

Lake Kariba at dusk

Victoria Falls

Standing in front of Mosi Oa Tunya "The Smoke That Thunders". Victoria Falls is a sight that literally renders you breathless. Niagara Falls is beautiful, but Vic Falls is RAW.

Just above the falls... see the mist rising in the background.

The Zambezi River

Sunset on a river cruise on the Zambezi

And again

Last sunset on the Zambezi

Back in South Africa

I've got to get out of this place

So from whence do I blog? From Vilanculos? From Komatipoort perhaps? No? At least from Joburg. Surely! Nope…from my bluddy lounge!

Why... Why am i not well on my way to Mozambique?
why am i still here
instead of here



or more specifically here...
coz here it looks like this:

oooh brace yourselves... it's not a pretty story.

I was just about home yesterday all ready to leave when i got a call from Harry... the guy who lives in our flat.

He got home and couldn't find Zac (the male dog). Zebu (his wife/neice) was going crazy at the wall. Harry looked below the wall into the neightbours place (their property is lower than ours) and saw zac lying there in the sand covered in blood.

He jumped over and fetched him then the neighbours pitched up. It seems Zac had fallen into their garden and their 5 SIFF DOGS had mauled him... remember this post? Same dogs.

So Harry asks them how long ago it happened. They said about an hour. "So why didn't you let us know?" Harry asks.

"Why you getting so agressive?" they reply "maybe next time we'll take him to the vet so he can finish the job off properly."

Ok.... (breath, breath, breath). Those #$%^&*(#$%^&*()#%$^&*() fill in your own decriptives... seriously, what kind of sick sick people would leave a small dog in the sand to bleed to death??? If harry hadn't noticed he was missing that is exactly what could have happened!

We have never even MET these people so it's not like they could have an issue with us! They are obviously just evil awful people who should not be allowed to own dogs.

So we took Zac to the vet and he got a bunch of injections and stitches and stuff. The vet said it was very unusual that the majority of his bites are in the front. (Ha! That's our boy... he faced those 5 mutts head on!)

So today Zac is a lot better. Up and walking around. Chipper - probably stoned from all the medication. We will leave in about 20 minutes, so adios amigos. I will miss you all. My SMS roaming number is +27 82 929 0348.... send me love!

PS. Do you think zac's nightmare was a premonition of the fight??

PSS. What steps do you think we can take against the neighbours on our return?
A lawyer's letter from a mate to scare them - in terms of them threatening our dog?
TP their house?

Invite them to dinner and kill them with kindness?

All suggestions are welcome. I can not bare people who are cruel to animals...

Merry Christmas from Caz and her Band

Click here to see how we plan to see in the new year somewhere in the bundus!!!!

Nightmare on Abelia street

So it's no more sleeps... tonight we leave for our Big Trip. AT LONG BLUDDY LAST!
So this is how it's going down...

The characters:

• The Band (the hot one)
  
• The Caz (the supposed damsel in distress who is actually the hero of the story)
  
• The Joshwaaaa (AKA The Oracle. their faithful friend of old, best man at the wedding, part of every major adventure they've ever had, and in fact, the one who introduced The Band to The Caz)
  
• The Harry (the youngest and newest to the group – AKA replacement Josh. While Josh lives in JHB, Harry lives in their flat. He's become part of the family and The Band and The Caz keep tabs on him ensuring that he is home within his curfew and gets a decent meal every once in a while)

The plot:
A couple of weeks ago our characters buy a Toyota Hilux aka The BOOSTER (bought at a steal on auction - bless this financial crisis) and pimp it up. Much planning and packing and purchasing and borrowing ensues while our heroine organizes 2 weeks free camping on Bazaruto island (all in a day’s work!) and bakes rusks and crunchies in her spare time.

4 weeks will be spent driving, eating, sleeping, dhowing, snorkeling, beach batting, exploring, birding, bribing, swimming, reading, pokering, backgammoning and white water rafting. Firstly we go to the tropical paradise of Bazaruto – gorgeous island off Mozambique. Then it’s off to Mana Pools – the wildest park in Africa. No fences around camps. Unaccompanied walking permitted. After that possibly Lake Kariba or possibly not and then…VIC FALLS. We’ll white water raft and should be able to spend a night or 2 in the 5 star Matetsi Lodge through Josh.

Where are we now:
The chalk board countdown is over and it’s no sleeps til we leave. This evening we drive through to JHB. Sunday morning we leave for Vilanculos in Mozambique. On Monday we take a dhow over to Bazaruto….

The house is chaos. The car is ready. The packing will be done tonight. The audio books have been taken out the library (I really am that dorky!). Music is being burned to CDs. Tensions are high all around.

The Fine Print
Our plans are not set in stone. We are all pretty chilled and will play things by ear. If things really go bad in Zim we’d have to make a call on whether it is still wise to go that route. We could do both Mana Pools and Vic Falls from the Zambia side if needs be.

The Muttlies
Shame, I haven't blogged about my stepdogs in a long time and actually a delicate truce has occurred. See when I got into my gardening phase I realised that the Zac (also known as the Caz-backwards) and the Zebu can be useful allies - I was trying to dig up grass for a veggie patch and it was exhaaaaausting. Then I invited the pooches with an encouraging "dig!dig!" and pointed where I needed digging and in about 5 mins I had a gorgeous patch of ground. Cheap labour, you got to love it!

Well needless to say, with all the packing going on the pooches are getting mightily depressed. They KNOW! Shame. Last night at about 3am we were woken to the most spine chilling mournful howling. "Arrooooooooooorooooowoooooooooooooooooo". Had Zac been bitten by a snake? We went to look for him and called and called and he didn't come. Eventually the Band found him still fast asleep and in the throes of a terrible nightmare. I suspect he dreamt that we were going away for a month....

Shame!

he (also) finally did it....

The Band himself posted his very first comment on my blog and there is even talk about him doing a guest post, he enjoyed it so much.

(The difference between guys and girls is that if i was reading the 10 things that the Band finds most annoying about me i'd probably leave miffed. Not The Band. He cackled evilly and no doubt made some internal vows to step up the efforts in the annoying the Caz department!)

Slyde and Glugs even got special mentions from him! fame indeed.
Go check his comment on this post, pay no heed to his insiduous lies and allegations though...

Oh and pleeeeeeeeeeeez all comment - it will make his day.

he finally did it...

The 11th commandment:

Thou shalt have sexy times for 7 days.

Have you guys heard about this? This pastor has challenged the marrieds in his church to have sex every day for a week. Well I say Halleluia! Preach it brother!!! :)

The low down on the Band

The answers to your questions about my husBand (please note all the linking and bolding and effort so you can forgive me for taking so long!) BTW I really thought you lot would come up with saucier questions.. i don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed!

From Being Brazen (by the way congrats on the 200th post!! I'm 9 posts away!):

"How did you meet the Band?"

We were in class together. We studied conservation. When we did meet through a friend we were sitting outside and a "bergie" (the Cape Town word for homeless person - berg = mountain in Afrikaans) was quite taken with me. the Band tried to SELL ME to him. mm. Needless to say we never liked each other. Not through all the disections practicals where I'd get home and find an eye (or worse) in my bag. Not when he made me cry by claiming his grandad was a nazi who had a gas chamber in his house. Not with his looong hair. Not when I found out that he was crashing my party ie going to work on this crocodile conservation project in the Okavango delta at the same time as me. But when we there it all changed........

From Bruce:

"What type of music does the Band play?"

The Band is honestly not very musical... but he does have rhythm ;)

From Slyde:

"How long has the Band been together?"

Well Slyde, I mean I guess I could ask his mom the conception details, but I'd rather not so I'll have to wing it and say since approx 9 months before his birthday... which makes it since January 1981.

And as for us? Since March 2003...

From Tamara:

"What does the Band do?"

He works for our church full time. He's not a pastor, he does things like organising art exhibitions and doing a website and managing a bunch of staff. Probably the nicest thing about his job is that he gets to do nice and stuff and it counts as work. So if some little old lady asks him to help her tune in her tv he could go do that in work hours and it would be legit.

"What made you fall for him?"

ooooh. now we're getting personal. Ok fine. I had been badly hurt in the past. The Band liked me for a long time and I was not interested. But we were best friends and I loved the way he was to me. So consistently caring. Actually not only to me (but especially to me!) he is one of the kindest and most generous people i know. Not a push over. Not a sap. Knows who he is and what he wants but cares about people. He pretty much refused to give up on me.

"What does he do that drives you nuts?"

This is a bad time to ask because A) I'm sitting here munching on cashews and B) he has been away in Durbs since Friday and I am at that point when someone has been away so long (hey, 3 sleeps is long!!) that they seem flawless and perfect.

I guess something which MURDERS me is that when he cooks he leaves everything open and out and creates CHAOS in the kitchen. When I cook, I clean and pack away and wash as I go so that by the time the meal is served the kitchen is more or less clean.

"Does he read your blog?"

Nope! But I often tell him about you guys.

From Gill:

"Does he comment on your blog?"

Nope :)

"What's the age difference between you?"

He is 7 months older than me, but born in different years.

From EXMI:

"What are his 10 best and 10 most annoying features?"

Now are we talking physical or not?
hmmm ok, i'll just wing it.

10 best:

• SUCH A GREAT BUM


• Great legs


• Gorgeous mouth


• Beautiful eyes


• Great... oh, that's not appropriate :)


• He has a sense of humour which is actually kookier than mine and so we share this connection that only we really get.


• He's an adventurer. We have done some incredible things together - hitchhiking through Botwana, hiking the wild coast, etc and in 11 sleeps we'll be on our way to Bazaruto!


• He's so different with me than with anyone else. I love that.


• He's very competitive as am i and i dig it. We get quite snotty with each other over stuff. We had The Backgammon Challenge going for months and months. The first to win 50 games got to decide how we spent our holiday this year. It got soooo intense, I think he may have actually chucked a chair or something when I finally won in Addo Elephant Park last year. HAHAHA That furious reaction MADE MY DAY. Nothing more satisfying than beating a sore loser!
  
• He holds me tight. We spoon and when my alarm goes off at 5.20 (Bootcamp, people!) I start to get up and in his sleep he pulls me back and holds me tighter.
  
• He often buys me gifts. But not just random bunches of roses, he gets creative. He'll go to a second hand book store and dig out an autographed copy of a book by one of my favourite authors. He'll buy me 50 bucks worth of cashew nuts coz he knows i love them. Stuff like that.

10 worst:

• He always forgets to indicate.
• He smses while driving.
• He borrows my car and returns it to me empty.
• He is not opposed to leaving random stuff all over the house and garden.
• He refers to the mutts as my son and daughter. That REALLY gets me.
• He can get a phrase in his head and repeat it ALL DAY - driving 14 hours to Joburg next week could be baaaaaaaad.
• I know, I know, sorry, but it's true and it bugs me: he leaves the toilet seat up.
• He is not very... um... thorough when he washes the dishes. They are ussually still covered in gunk so I just end up rewashing.
• He refuses to cut his hair regularly and ends up with crazy Kramer hair.
  

"how did the proposal go down??"

Phew... that's a long answer but i will give the quick version. We randomly (or so i thought) decided to just drive and see where the road took us (it was a public holiday the next day). Eventually snuck into a nature reserve on the West Coast at about 2am. Slept there in the car on a mattress. The next morning we went for a walk on this utterly pristine beach. No one and nothing there. Had a picnic under this huge rainbow. As we walked back he kept pointing out little shells and stuff in the sand. Eventually i noticed a little bag. I asked him what it was. He didn't know. Asked if i knew. I didn't know. Opened it and inside was a box, in that was a ring. Then he proposed.

"what's the worst he's done to piss you off?"

He arrived home from Joburg with a mini mutt. He already had the one dog (which I wasn't crazy about) and then he arrived back and "Surprise!" a puppy! I was LIVID. Nearly broke up with him. He offered to get rid of her. I said it was fine. He proposed the next day.

"who has a bigger temper?"

Well he has a far quicker temper than me. It takes a loooooooooooooooooooot to get me angry. When I do get really angry it can take a while to get me out of The Zone. That's probably only happened about 3 times in 8 years we've known each other.

"who's the bigger scaredy cat (between you guys of course)"

Me. Spiders I can not stand. Bats, I am not fond of either. But other than that I'd say we are both pretty hardcore. We have caught crocodiles for goodness sake.

From Glugster:

"Does he have all his toes and fingers?"
Yes, Glugs.

A little behind

is what I'm getting from all this exercise.
waa haa haa
ok actually a little behind is what i clearly am.
But better late than never bla bla bla bla so I am now responding to this request from EXMI.

The LowDown on the Band
*chuckles nervously* well... I mean surely my level of transparency depends on who I know that reads this blog... but what the hell. I'll tell.

Ok, *exhales* what do you want to know?

Perhaps it's better if we do this:
You can ask any question you want about the band and I will post answers to all... Deal?

I'm baaaack :)

It's been a long time (long time) I shouldn'ta left you (left you)

And that is as much rap as I am prepared to type out.

So the countdown to the holidays has begun... 18 sleeps til we leave for paradise.
The band and I are planning a trip of monstrous proportions. First we are going to BAZARUTO where we will camp.
Now from what i understand, the island actually doesn't have a campsite. We are going to be roughing it in a big way - no running water even!! The only reason we can camp there is because i work for who i do. Perks.

Anyway, it's going to be wicked.

Then the plan is to try get to Lake Kariba, Mana Pools and Vic Falls. We are fairly disorganised, but we'll happily go with the flow and decide along the way.

I am soooooooooooo excited. I have been looking forward to an adventure like this all year! YAY!

HAPPY HOLE O WEEN

:)

Meeting the people of BLOGLAND

So anyway, I am sooooooooper keen to meet all the Joburgers among you, but as with business trips in general time is short. I propose we do one of the following:

EITHER:

LUNCH on Wednesday at 13:00 either at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton (anyone got a good suggestion for a restaurant) or at my favourite lunch spot in JHB - Tasha's! mmmmm

OR:

A LITTLE SUNDOWNER on Wednesday after work I guess at Nelson Mandela Square (guess who only knows how to find two places in JHB!!!)

Let me know if you guys are keen.

PS YOU MUST CLICK THIS LINK (LOVING THE BARMAN!!!) hahaha
http://1227.com

In and out, in and out

you little sickos... I was referring to BREATHING!!!

So this* is me:

And that is why this post is so short and I am not being a good commenter or replier to comments!

(*MENTAL NOTE: Searching google images for "headless chicken" is not an activity for the faint of heart!)

Ketchup

So scarce, I know. Sorry sorry!
Last week was a good week, I:

• was on the radio twice (fortune and fame, people!) and will be on again tomoro (no I won't say what and when) to discuss the launch of our first of its kind Mobile Carbon Calculator. Been working on this project for aaaages so was cool to get a nice media response to something which i kind of consider to be my baby.
• worked at the Natural and Organics Fair (a bunch of crazy hippies mostly, but entertaining nonetheless)
• took my first day of vacational leave this whole year
• spent that day doing the Crystal Pools hike on the way to Koelbaai. Stunning. Basically you hike up this gorge into the mountains. River flowing furiously. Fynbos blossoming.
• went to my favourite cuban place
• started my veggie garden properly - this morning I saw my first seedling emerge - woohoo!

Yesterday I started a new boot camp and also a bit of a detox. Bikini season looms.

My brother left on Sunday. Sucks. Miss him already. ugh. Why must people go to London. Really! :(

AAAANyway, I may be up in Joburg next week. Anyone keen to meet up? Probably tuesday or wednesday evening??

about frikken time

I am guessing Being Brazen is probably the only one who will share in the excitement of this with me... unless there are some other capies lurking among you?
WELL summer FINALLY decided to make a brief appearance this weekend! I went to the BEACH. I got SUNBURNT to the point of resembling one of those gross red vienna sausages. IT WAS GREAT. Obviously summer disappeared already now, but hey at least we had two days of proper sun at long last!!!

Also, my brother is visiting. YAY!
This is a pic of my gorgeous brother taken while we were doing some mountain biking in the Transkei* last summer. We'll call him Boo. He's currently visiting from the UK. He's lovely, no? Seriously... how is this man still single? It confounds me. Really it does. I adore Boo. He is one of the nicest guys i know and i am loving having him back in SA... even only for a week.

In other news, I am away tonight - this blog comes to you all the way from my hotel room in Caledon**. Feel the love!

Speaking of feeling the love, can you people please click on the little follower button thingie on the right? It took me forever to figure out how to get it there in the first place!! (thanks Tamara and Gill!!!!)

What else to share... emmmmm pfffffft. nope. I got nothing for you! K bye!

* for the foreign ones: The Transkei or Wild Coast is pretty much the most beautiful place on the planet.... I will soon post a story i wrote a while back on hiking the transkei and some pics. It's gorgeous.

** Caledon is a pretty arb dorpie (small town) close to nowhere. It is a very random destination, but hey, hotel = mini shampoos and shower gels and stuff so it's worth it.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!

I just discovered the proper way to weigh myself. It seems we've all been doing it wrong all these years!

We must spread the word!

PS. temporary new look...

I am feeling very burdened by all you frikken overachievers who insist on continuously giving your blog a gorgeous makeover. I will get there at some stage i suppose, but it sounds a lot like work.

barking mad

So on Sunday a bunch of us went back to our new favourite place - the cuban joint. Everytime we go there we seem to get free drinks. This time it was some kind of sambuca shot. Why do I tell you this? To contextualise What Happened Next....*

So we return to our place and the neighbours annoying dogs are barking. They are AWFUL things. Something like an overgrown staffie - about 1.5 times the size and with very rabid temperaments. Seriously, if i look over the wall at them, they snarl and drool and growl and bark. Even if i am trying to be nice (aka trying to get them to shut it).

Anyway.. so my mate Max reckons she wants to have a look at these dogs. So we go stand on the wall (our house is set higher than theirs, so we are looking down on the dogs). The dogs come running up to us and, inexplicably (or perhaps not so inexplicably *) Max snarls and barks at the dogs.

--- Retelling the story later she explained that they are demonic dogs and you just HAVE to bark at them. You can't help yourself. It is beyond your control. ---

Anyway, she not only barks at the dogs, but she tells my dogs "Zac, Zebu, I'm on your side here. We're a team" and then returns to her barking.

I see a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye and quickly run behind a bush. I signal to max (well i THINK i did... in my HEAD I did!!) but it's too late. The OWNER of the dogs has come to investigate. She is right upon Max before Max sees her.

WAA HAA HAA Max goes red and very bashful and the woman complains about OUR dogs barking (seriously, at least they bark normally and don't sound demon possessed like hers) and Max meekly explains that she doesn't live here and shuffles off.

I could barely stand up straight. Priceless!!! Imagine finding some woman standing on your wall, growling and barking at your dogs. heee heee hee

Welcome to the hood (Take 2)

Lovely weekend which even included some suntanning! (The sun finally made a brief appearance only to be replaced today AGAIN by the rain) Anyway, did some more gardening and went to our favourite restaurant - the cuban place etc etc blah blah blah

And then....

this morning The Band's car was stolen.

Fortunately for my state of mind it was not stolen from our house.

Here's what happened:

The Band left this morning for the week - he's gone to bloem.

On the way (at like 4.50) he dropped off his car at a friend's house for the friend to use. At like 5.20 the friend went outside and the car was gone.

Anyone seen a white Isuzu double cab lying about?

The bad news is that we purchased the car through vehicle financing so it looks like even after insurance we will still OWE R30K AND not have a car. How rough is that???

Gutted. It feels like you are just crawling out of a hole and you get shoved into a deeper one. I am pretty frikken depressed. There go my plans for FINALLY doing up my lounge and much much much worse.... there go my plans for a WONDERFUL December holiday up to vic falls and mozambique. ("I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry")

This is not a sad thing. It is not even a scary thing. It is just an incredibly UNFAIR thing and that makes it so frustrating.

Happy Birthday Phoebe

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment

If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!


This is the dog who rules my heart... Phoebe.... It was her birthday on Sunday. If you think it's odd that I phoned her (she's in EL) then you'll find it even more odd that my bro's called her from London. We're not to be mistaken for a normal family, but she is an incredible dog and we love her.

Saving relationships one month at a time!

This is great.... I may have to anonymously and mysteriously add it to the agenda at our next staff meeting!

http://pmsbuddy.com/

WHY I LOVE SA (Inspired by EXMI)

So following on from EXMI's inspirational post and also "inspired??" by a disgusting, racist, awful blog which i will not link to, I hereby start my very own meme. Sorry Slyde and Lotus (and any other foreigners reading this), I know that you'll be gutted, but this is a South African meme... and here is how it works:

• Link back to the original meme (that would be this post) and the meme inspirer (that would be EXMI)
• Link to the person who tagged you
• Give (at least) 5 reasons why you love SA
• Tag at least 5 peeps
• Let me know when you've done it!

Let's get this thing going and get SAns thinking good thoughts about our AWESOME nation!

1. I love the people. WOW. Where to start? I love how when you greet a xhosa person in their language their entire face lights up. I love how afrikaners are so ordentelik - living in Stellenbosch (a place with an UNNATURAL amount of nails in the road) I had plenty plenty plenty punctures over the years and have never had to change a tire. A nice afrikaans boy will ALWAYS appear out of nowhere and change it for me. I love how there is this (sometimes unspoken) comraderie among South Africans. Pretty much all South Africans.
2. I love how SA always manages to shine at our darkest hour. Even the xenophobia attacks were an incredible time of unity for the rest of South Africa. Young, old, black, white, STRANGERS, all came together, rolled up their sleeves and helped.
3. I love our social ways. So many SAns who go overseas stick to being friends with other SAns. That's coz many other cultures don't do the whole "drop in at whim" thing. They are more seperated and detached. We thrive on it.
4. I love that we beat the odds, the stats, the doomsday prophets and proved them all wrong by NOT ending in civil war in '94.
5. I love our language. It's a mix - mostly english but with others peppered in - "yoh!" "eish" "jislaaik" etc. Sometimes english just is not expressive enough all on its own. South African is much better!

Ok now that you have patriotic Jonny Clegg type music swelling in your head, it's your turn.

I tag: Sweets, Glugs (worth a try and it is for a good cause!!), Tamara, Being Brazen, Gill, Charmskool, My so called life, Ruby and in fact ALL WHO READ THIS POST :) I spose I can't reeeeeally tag EXMI seeing as she has pretty much already done it, BUT I can blame this meme on her :)

TELL ME WHY (I don't like Mondays)

I pretty much have that song in my head every monday.

Great weekend. Thurs nite I took the band and some mates to Buena Vista Social Cafe - FANTASTIC. We all assigned ourselves Cuban names (i am now Babarita - pronounced buburrreeetuh) our waitress became Manuel (munwell) etc etc. Great vibe, great food, great evening.

Fri was a birthday braai for the band - had about 30 peeps over. good fun.

Sat I did some gardening!* (No one was more impressed with me than me!! :) and went to another braai and today at 6 frikken AM I started to get my ass in shape.... http://www.adventurebootcamp.co.za/ 6 - 7 am, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Wish me luck guys!!!

* The things i planted are called bulbines... see the pretty yellow flowers at the top of my blog? they're those and soon they'll be brightening up my garden. yay

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to The Band

27 today!

And HOT AS EVER!

Dam I am in love with this man!!

Politics

What are your thoughts on the controversial Zapiro cartoon which appeared in the Sunday Times this weekend? There has been a huge reaction to the cartoon on both sides since.
What's yours??

Current addictions

I'm a tag victim...Tamara tagged me to do this meme.
So in a vampirey manner reminiscent of those creatures in I am Legend (ok, yes, I totally am mentioning that so I can lure our favourite vamp fan, Slyde, into participating :) ...I tag:

Blue Sunflower
EXMI
Glugs
Slyde
Lotus
I realise the last 3 are guys and therefore I'm perhaps quite unrealistic in my expectation, but hey, c'mon... i reckon your addictions would be VERY interesting :)

Now... the rules:
*Post at least five current addictions (with some details please)
*Mention the person who started this game of tag (Being Brazen) and also the person who just tagged you (in my case, Tamara).
*Type your post with the heading "Current addictions"
*Tag at least two people and pass on the above rules.

And, my current addictions:

1. My hotwaterbottle! Ya, ya, things may be warm up north, but here in the Cape it is still freeeeezing!
2. Not very original but i have to back Tamara up here... I am also completely addicted to Viva la Vida. LOVING IT. Also somehow I only just discovered SnowPatrol now. LOVING Chasing Cars.
3. Rosie Thomas books. I inherited my gran's collection and am devouring them steadily!
4. Blogging. You guys are my sanity. (aaaaaaaah sweet).
5. Prison Break Season 4. You know how i feel about Wentworth!!!!! ;)

Welcome to the hood!

So anyway, we were burgled! (spelling anyone??) Remember our NEW place that we've been in for a month?
YUP!

The sequence of events as retold to the police:

• Got home from church (nogal) on Sunday and our garden gate was open. (*caz and the band are puzzled*)


• The dogs are inside (*puzzled some more*)


• My jewelry is all out of my jewelry box (*growing confused*)


• The band's laptop is gone (*bugger it! A BURGLARY*)


• There is a frikken AXE lying on my dressing table (*lovely!!!*)


• I notice that my gran's earrings and some other sentimental jewelry is missing (*caz decides to not completely freak out... deep breaths deep breaths!*)


• The band's watch is gone (*well that sucks*)


• And then I see it... The VOID.... the VACUUM which was once filled by something vital in my life.... THOSE PSYCHOS have stolen my GHD!!!!!!! What kind of a SICK WORLD are we living???
  

Why I despise David Attenborough

So I'm a greenie, right? A nature lover, if you will. A bunny hugger, as it were. So I should be this huge fan of Dave Attenborough and his work and his ability to invoke a sense of awe for nature. But I'm not.

You guys seen The Planet Earth series? You know 'filming over 5 years, in 204 locations with a budget of $25 million'. Emmy award winning etc etc?

Well I find it emotionally manipulative and disturbing.

Take the snow geese for example.

You watch these little geese fly for 3 MONTHS from Mexico aaaaall the way to the Arctic ("wow such endurance" you think "they deserve a good summer break when they get there". They fly with their man or lady as they mate for life. ("how romantic" you think "and soon they'll be a family!!") Then they get there and all is great. ("if anyone deserves it, they do!" you think) They lay their eggs and really work hard at nesting, incubating and all that stuff (you can hardly wait for the little ones to arrive!). Finally these fluffy little goslings emerge. (despite the heart warming crescendo in the background you are starting to grow suspicious). The music (inevitably) changes. A cloud shadows the sun (ok, well it may as well have!!) And then enter miss arctic fox ("noooo!!" you think). The fox goes for the chicks (obviously). The parents do their best to fight it off (unsuccessfully). In the end the fox kills all babies but only takes one.

So NOW you are hating that fox. Evil wicked little bugger until OBVIOUSLY you see her taking the chick to her little babies.

UGH! I find it draining and awful. Bla bla bla yes, it is nature, but it's also not. Nature doesn't have the emotional music in the background. So there.

That's why i don't like David.

hmmmm

today i am sad.
I miss my gran. I feel kind of homesick for her if that makes sense.

I think through the process of reading through her diaries (20 years worth) in EL and all the letters she's sent me over the years and her bible here I have come to know my gran in a whole new way. Not just as my gran but as the woman.

I missed so much – like her loneliness at loss of my granddad. Every year she remembered her anniversary – we don’t think of these things and the power of phoning someone on the day and just supporting them. Her passion for her family and the impact of hearing from them. Life is so short and it’s so hard not to sit with regrets.

The night before she died I was at church and I felt that I should go out and call the hospital and leave her a message. But I didn’t. I put it off. And now she is gone and I will never get that chance. Stupid stupid me for not listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. A regret I shall have to live with always. BUT God is so good. Last night I dreamt I was in East London and Noon was going to die and we all knew it but I got the opportunity to tell her again for a last time how I felt about her. Amazing how God does that. Noon knew how I felt, I know that, but still… you know? Yes, … you do know.

Anyway, this isn't the point of my post. The point is to say that life is short and it’s the decisions we make on the spur of the moment – the decisions that cost us in the short term but mean something in the long term – that make all the difference.