Some reading for the weekend

Charlotte, North Carolina

I realised I'd better start sharing all these links I keep collecting.

So here they are - there's something for everyone.

Sharing finances in a marriage

I love stationery

Adventures with boys made me laugh

This is how I'm currently spending my days

Infertile women in the Bible

Another view on the currently popular green smoothie 

Which was your favourite link?

PS it's the shortest day of the year. Louisa's been waiting for this one!

{Friendship Friday} The May edition

I was trying to have a friend date once a week in May but you know how that goes... best-laid plans and all that jazz.

So I landed up seeing 3 friends in two days.

Yes.
Laura and I met in the middle of nowhere :) (Midrand!) and thankfully I didn't get lost going there which is always a huge blessing.

We had a lovely brunch, spoke too much about everything from blogging to kids to business to finances, and eventually we parted ways.

I ran into Dischem (big mistake because I had to sms nanny S to fetch the kids since I was now running late) and then made my way home, again not getting lost.

Seriously, I feel like a rock star when I don't get lost :)

The next night I braved the cold and went out for supper with two other friends, this one in the photo below and another.



We were having such a nice time I forgot to take a photo.

Slight lie. I very briefly thought about taking out my iphone but the conversation was "delicate" and we just moved on.

You don't need a photo of everything, right?

SOOOO nice to connect with these two.

I told them I'd be scheduling regular suppers so I best do that, it being 3 weeks later.

Those two dates sorted me right out and helped me get my "extrovert" fix.

I had Caren's 40th last weekend, a tea this morning, have another tea tomorrow after gym (she asked me to go for a coffee!) and I want to try and squeeze in another friend date next week sometime.

How are you doing with your friend dates?
Or is it too cold?

Can we talk about cold sores?

 
I suffer from cold sores. This was last year's episode.

And I've tried everything.

EVERYTHING.

My go-to for a few years was a bluish gel called.... cold sore gel.... that the secret company's gift shop sold for awhile.

At the time I bought about 3 - 4 little jars.

When they stopped selling them and I'd run out, I was quite distraught because they worked like a bomb.

I then switched to Acitop which was okay but still took forever to get them gone.

Last week when I had a cold, the cold sores emerged on Wed.

I'd bought a new thing - L Lysine tablets -  my personal trainer from last year told me about them.

Well, it was like magic from the blisters to the dry stage, but I've been at the dry stage for probably a week now and they just don't disappear from here on out.

The thing is these tablets cost me something like R65 and I just stopped taking them when I didn't see noticeable improvement.

I've just checked on the internet and I've tried most of these remedies.

*sigh*

I went to the dentist on Tuesday morning and yes, it was as sore to open my mouth as you're imagining.

She's very gentle and even put some vaseline on the sores so I could say "aaah".

Best I go put on some vaseline to keep them from cracking.

Do you suffer from cold sores?

What's your secret for living with it?

How long do yours last?

PS pics from Caren's 40th (hers, not mine) on Sat night. Don't you love number 2?!

Wordless Wednesday - Voting Day

We vote at a school near us so we always take a walk.

this was the tiny queue!!!! And it moved so quickly. Straight after taking this photo, I took the kids to the side, set them up with their lunch boxes and when I turned around D was about 5th from the door

 

I scratched off my mark in the shower a few days later

Connor calls these "carrot" flowers. Louisa, what is the correct name?

 

our neighbours really have great walls to use as backdrops :)

After all the drama pre-election, it's been kind-of anticlimactic, hasn't it?

 

PS I've worn this blue top for the last 3 elections - 2009, 2011 and now, 2014

So... nanny S, and how we tiptoe around each other

Remember I told you nanny S is pregnant?

Right.

Now here's the problem.

I feel guilty giving her work.

When I mentioned this to two friends, they told me I'm crazy.

The one said, "this is her job. We all had to work while pregnant" which is true but also, at the time, my Wonderful Boss let me create my work life exactly how I wanted it. I scheduled all meetings in my building, took things easy, etc.

Then again, I had an office job which is not physically taxing.

I wore the Fitbit on my wrong hand for a day before I realised my left arm is my non-dominant hand....do you know how impressed I am I managed to take a photo with my left hand? :)

But she's not working properly which was quite evident to me before but this weekend, even D said to me I need to "talk to S because she's getting lazy".

I know what he means.

When I was on my rampage on Thursday, I pointed out about 5 things in quick succession in the kids' bedroom. Silly things like "if you move the ottoman, you'd have seen all these things by the curtains".

The way I said it was that she needs to take just 30 minutes EXTRA in each room for the daily deep dive to do things properly.

She has PLENTY of time. She's idle for about 2 - 3 hours a day aside from her lunch break....

I asked her the other day when she plans to work until and she again said end of November.

FLIP.

I'm going to go crazy if I'm still at home.

Same friend above says if I want Nanny S to come back, I should only go back to work once she returns from maternity leave.

I said, "I will be absolutely mental by then".

So that's a no. But I'm also not going to rush back to work just because she's driving me nuts.




I said to D I have no problem getting someone to do moving furniture, bending, kneeling-type work once a week or so but I'm not paying that money over and above the current salary I already pay. And of course, she's never going to agree to less money. I wouldn't want that either!

Therein lies my dilemma.

I need someone because my time is not best spent cleaning. She's been off work 3 days in three weeks and I can see my work has suffered because I'm doing laundry and cleaning instead of writing and creating.

I suppose I'm going to have to have some conversations soon.

Some of you asked (my MIL did too) what it's like being home with S here the whole day...

We do keep out of each other's way but I have a thing about closed doors (as in I don't like them) and so she feels free to come and interrupt me when she wants. I do tell her clearly if I have deadlines (as I have this week) which she does respect.

I have no space for anymore photos on my walls!

We had two incidents though.

My desk is very tidy when I'm not working. However, when I work, I spread out my papers and everything has a place.

One day I started working, went to shower and get ready and I told her, "don't move a THING on the desk". She said yes.

I showered, etc. and returned to find.......... ALL my things in one pile.

I don't like piles.

I freaked out a bit. S, I told you not to move my things.

"I only moved it to the one side".

S, that's moving it!

It might seem small but I teach focus and time management and such.... and it takes me at least 20 minutes to get back into my zone (and I was perfectly in my zone!). My precious few hours in the mornings are critical to get my important things out of the way, I can't afford to faff around.

Anyway, we had one more such incident. I know, I could hardly believe it.

And then I started closing the door if I'm going to be away for longer than 2 minutes to make tea/ pee/ fetch my phone, etc.

Now I only let her "clean" the study when I'm around. ;)

Tips?????

Caren and Mrs FF, what are you doing about your pregnant nannies???

Sleeping babies and Father's Day

 

Last night after seeing the millionth post on FB/ IG about Father's Day, I asked D what he thought of it all.

Turns out he still feels the same as I do.

Namely, that it's a bit weird to write on FB/ IG all these soppy messages when your husband/ father is right there/ at the end of a telephone line to receive your message in person instead of via the social media that he probably isn't even reading.

We've always thought the "to my two-year-old, you're the best little boy in the world" messages are SUPER weird.

(if you think they're cool and you do them, go right ahead :))

Your two-year-old can't read and shouldn't be on FB til he's 12/ 13?

I believe D mentioned things like "are you writing for your audience or the "beloved father"?"

Anyway, that's us.

If you and your father/ husband talk through FB, it's obviously a different matter :)

 

In the morning before I got ready for my exam, I got the kids cards and gift out and told them to go give it.

He loved it (or pretended very well). I need to take a few pics and show you....

I then got on with it, got myself ready and dashed out of there.

They went to church as we normally do.

I sent an SMS when I was back home afterwards and they came to fetch me so we could go out for lunch.

(Personally I hate lunches on 'theme days' - can we say crowds!!!! - but D loves eating out all the time, so out we went)

Came home, I finished a book and then slept with a child on my bed, the other child didn't want to nap and D watched the World Cup. I'm already over the World Cup.



By the way, I've now read 40 books for the year, 10 of which were physical books (YAY!). I have only 2 more physical fiction books to finish before my birthday.... and a TON of physical non-fiction.

I must say, there's nothing like a photo of a proper book though. I find myself taking iphone photos of the physical books next to my tea.... or in good light.... because the days are limited!

And then it was the bath/ supper/ stories and prayer routine.



Today D and I had a nap again and the kids played QUIETLY for an hour without destroying the house too much.

Could it be that they're growing up?


And a last little weird thing - I haven't enjoyed a cup of tea or coffee for a whole week.

I kept throwing out my tea and then I switched to coffee and kept throwing that out too.

Then I twigged.

It's the anti-biotics messing with my taste buds.

This is only the third lot of anti-biotics I've ever been on in my life (first the gall bladder when they didn't know it was my gall bladder), and then flu..... I remember last time I didn't enjoy my food so much but this time, it's been horrible.

My course ended on Sat night but my taste buds are still not normal. I'll confess I can't WAIT to really enjoy some Joko tea again.

How was your Youth Day?

So the Spanish exam is over!

I had to have (and pay for) a private lesson yesterday morning to go over my stuff one last time before this morning's exam.

I practised like crazy on the Friday night and thankfully that paid off on Sat morning.

This morning in the exam my dance was not quite as "spot on" in one place as when I did it yesterday but certainly good enough to pass, I hope.

On the whole, both of us have never danced as well as we did today.

We technically haven't received our official notifications of passes yet - I'm considering that a mere formality! :)

Some thoughts:

it is super weird to be competing with all the teenagers.

My friend in my class is also in her 30s (I'm using that til the last possible minute!) and has a boy of about 3/4.

There is one other lady who is older than we are - deep into her 40s - but she's about 6 grades ahead.



The rest? All teenagers!!!

Were we as silly as teenagers are today?

At one point the teacher said, "GIRLS! Will you put away the cell phones and get dressed?!"

S (my partner) and I didn't even take ours out. I only took mine out afterwards to take a photo for memories!

Can't quite believe it - 3 months of lessons and here I am doing exams again.

I said to the older lady - I haven't done exams for ballet or Spanish for 23 years.

Well, Tuesday we start the new grade and bring on November for the next exam :)

(you know me with a goal...)



It's been so good for me to get over myself, get my confidence in my body back (it was fantastic to see me in the mirror yesterday - I actually could remember the old Dance Marcia) and build those muscle memories again.

And now that that's over, I need to get my kids' party sorted!

I actually have a TON of things to do during this very short week including my visit to the dentist first thing on Tues morning (can't wait!) and getting C's hair cut.

What was most eventful for you this weekend?

PS do we need to talk about Father's Day?

{Fearless Friday} Our adventures with ziplining

First I want to tell you something "funny".

One of my goals for this year is to do something fun as a family every month. You'd think that would be easy but life goes by very quickly. As in, I totally missed March's one.

When we were on holiday, there were brochures at the resort advertising lots of adventure-type activities, one of which was ziplining.

It's always been on my list and this year the kids are big enough so we decided to go.

When I realised it was 30th April, I said to D, "let's do it tomorrow so it can be our May adventure" and to his credit, he agreed with my madness after I phoned them to make sure they were open on the public holiday.

The kids were adorable in their helmets but look at the fear in K's face (biggest photo below). They both get very, very quiet when they're scared.



D told me when they got to him at the end of the first line, they were both crying. They told me when they got back to me that they didn't want to do it anymore but I gave them a talk and we agreed they'd do just two more zips.

What do you call it? Zips? Swings? Swishes?

The kids were allowed to go 5 times for their R55, and they actually did them all. Connor even got an extra zip in.

can you see how scared he is? too sweet (I almost want to frighten him daily to see the sweetness)

Then it was our turn.

Well, just the practice about did me in. It was HARD.

I'm not super fit but I'm also not the most unfit person around (I'd say I'm acceptable) and it was HARD.

Apparently adults get to go around the course 3 - 4 times in their hour. After I'd been around once, I told the guy to take off all my stuff because I WAS DONE!

He was horrified.

I said, "I've had quite enough, thank you very much". When he mentioned PHOTOS, I said ok to one little zip on the kiddies line just for photos.

So here is PROOF I've ziplined.

D said, "oh come on, that's not what you looked like on the actual zipline"...

so I did this face! which shows my true terror

this was just for the last little (tame) zipline because I'd been videoing D

And I'm not interested in doing any more of these adventure things. My adventures henceforth will come from normal things like speaking in front of crowds and saying yes to opportunities to step out of the (mental and emotional) box.

I can honestly say I felt SO BAD forcing the kids to go because if we'd gone first, I'd have kept them back.

Connor did say, "this is number 5 and after this I'm NEVER EVER EVER coming back to do this again".

I feel exactly the same!

Not to go all spiritual on you but I LOVE those photos of D waiting for the kids. It reminds me of how God is always ready to catch us and hold us safely.

D loved it, of course. There had to be one.

And then decided he even wanted to do the tree swing.

So there we have it.

We're not an adventure family and we like it just fine.

Are you an adventurous sort of family?
Have you ziplined before? Did you love it?

PS I mentioned before maybe going ziplining as a group for my 40th. Um, no. Not going to happen.

You don't want to see the state of my study

This morning Louisa phoned me and we arranged for her work colleague to come collect the things for the hospital.

Well.

I flew around the house. Because the colleague was arriving at 10:30 and I wasn't ready.

1. I got the things out but I also decluttered, organised and made the kids' cupboards pretty again. It felt GREAT!
2. Nanny S got some baby things that were still hanging around (not a lot but I had 8 towelling nappies for some reason, and nappy bags).
3. I was pulling things out of the cupboards in the study too so things are all over the couch in here.
4. Been wrapping presents, printing photos, sorting albums, paper, whatnot and the evidence is all around.
5. I've finished with May photos but I need to quickly put the photos in their folders and then all will be well with the world (I'm about 20% through).
6. Project Life is done - will take blog photos tomorrow in the good light.

My desk hasn't looked like this since last week!

I've done about 4 hours of "business" work the entire week. Terrible!!! And that all happened on Monday.

Granted, I've been sick.

Tomorrow, I'll have to get myself back to business (Louisa, maybe I need a kick in the butt from you again, this time to get real work done!) and finish my important deliverables for the week.

I have a course launching soon. Would you like to join me?

(It will be more fun with friends so grab a friend and come join me)

I also have to squeeze in some practice for my exam tomorrow. Connor told me tonight, "can you please stop doing the same things over and over?" (there is one rhythm that's sticking a little in one place so I do it every night in the kitchen - I have to build the muscle memory). I said, "well, boy, pray for me that I pass on Sunday otherwise you're going to hear it for ANOTHER five months :)"

(also, he has been SUPER grumpy today - Louisa was treated to some lovely screamy tantruming on the phone this morning, and he had a 10-minute time out this afternoon again)

Enough about me.

What was the best thing that happened to you today?

PS Louisa's featured on that page too!

A quick little catch-up post

this one was playing in my car for a few weeks (mind you, all the driving I do is TOPS 3 mins one way, and that's in the traffic)

the kids like Lip Service :)

So we currently have the House of Sick.

I was dreading last Friday because the expected high was only 9 degrees (48 F - thanks to a nifty little app I downloaded a few days ago called Converter).

We also had gym, a lunch here for friends and a party straight after that on Sat. The friends cancelled which gave us some white space so onward to the party. Boy, was it cold. I suspect the kids picked up whatever it is from there since there were at least 3 sick kids, including the birthday girl.

They had some runny noses on Sunday but were so bad on Monday we all stayed home.



Nanny S wasn't here (that's a post for another day) and I was feeling terrible too. I took some Degoran and made the kids sleep, so we all had a lovely long, 2 hrs 2 min (according to Fitbit) nap.

K was fine for school yesterday, I felt worse (really, really shaky - I couldn't even lift a book to read) and Connor was up and awake coughing for about 30 mins at 4 am so off we went to the doctor for some good old anti-biotics.

(if anti-biotics are not your style, I understand - I personally like to suffer for as short a time as possible).

I walked in, opened the drawer to set out their PJs (do you still do this?) and underwear, saw the light and dashed out for my camera :)

And after one dose, I was better... not so shaky. So I quickly cooked supper, intended to eat with the family at about 6:30, but I lay down on the bed "just for a moment" and when I woke, it was 10:50. YES!

The house was in darkness and everyone was sleeping.

So I ate a meal quickly (hot cross bun, tea, banana and yoghurt) so I could take my meds and then I read a book (HAHA - no joke!) til about 5 when I eventually felt tired and slept.

This is the life.

I said to Julia yesterday that I was sick but it felt great to have the FREEDOM to recover properly without being bombarded with SMS, emails, phone calls from project managers. Small gifts.

Today, I have no more shakiness, still coughing a bit.

happy pegs

Now there's the small matter of my Spanish dance exam on Sat.

I chatted to the doctor about this yesterday and she said IF you rest well (no physical exertion) for the next 48 hours, you'll be fine to have a lesson on Friday/ Sat and the exam on Sun. So I didn't go last night obviously since I was out cold. She may be able to squeeze me in on Sat. If not, I'm rocking up to the exam and just giving it my best.

What else is there to do, right?

love the light!

In the meantime, I decided to take the good doctor's orders because I have been feeling like I'm supposed to also be ENJOYING this time off too, it being a gift and all. So this morning I was playing with photos and albums, I want to finish May today so I can print off the monthly pics for the albums and for Project Life.

Speaking of photos, I can't WAIT to show you my latest obsession. Once I'm done with May, I'll have time to take more photos of the project and blog them.


So how are you? Are you well and healthy?

Broken auto-focus on my camera

Remember I told you I went to do a last photoshoot at my work?

After taking the last photo I wanted to, I got up from the floor, misjudged the distance and the tip of my lens nicked the floor.

When I tried to focus after that, it went shh, shh, shhh, but wouldn't focus.

Got it repaired and just like when you get a car serviced, they gave me the old part back (I understand for this one... but normally why would you want old spark plugs, or whatever those things are).

I took some photos in case anyone else was interested.

By the way, there are videos on You Tube showing you how to fix this thing. I'm very good with detail - in the chem lab, my experiments would be close to perfect because I was so accurate with the pipette, etc. but since I'm in no way DIY, I didn't want to mess around so I took it to the approved specialists in Jhb.

Moral of the story - ALWAYS hold the lens and don't trust your faulty eyes!

How was your Wednesday?
Would you have taken your lens apart?