Gotta make a move.....

....to Wordpress that is.

I've been a loyal Blogger fan for a very long time, but I'm also a technojunkie. Everyone raves over Wordpress, so I have to see for myself.

You can find me here: http://arkwife.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there soon!!

AW

Another pregnancy post

Yes, I know these are probably getting a bit tedious seeing as the Earth and her sister are all knocked up, but it's kind of a big thing in my life right now, so I have a bit to say.

I'm about 22 weeks pregnant now and this is what I have learnt about pregnancy and myself so far:

1. I have a pretty nasty (though well-hidden) temper most of the time. I become a fire-breathing super bitch when pregnant. Everyone has suffered my wrath.
2. I cry at the drop of a hat. This has gotten progressively worse as the weeks pass.
3. Being pregnant isn't all that glamorous, at least not for me. I feel fat, because I look fat when I look in the mirror. My body does not look like those glowing preggie bellies you see on all the magazines. (Seems the pictures of stick figures on normal magazines aren't the only ones designed to make you feel fat and inadequate)
4. I'm not eating like a horse. In fact, there are long stretches of time that go by before I get hungry or thirsty. I don't know if this should worry me.
5. I'm losing weight, but the baby seems fine. (according to the last scan) For some reason this bothers my doctor, who wants to put me on a supplement if I don't gain enough weight in the next two months. I don't feel like I need to worry about this.
6. I'm not sure if the little weird movements I'm feeling in my lower abdomen are that of the baby kicking. It feels more like muscles that are moving. According to the book I've been reading the baby should be behind my belly button by now. The funny movements are coming from quite a bit lower than that. And they feel the same as when the muscle underneath your eye twitches.
7. I'm feeling quite ambivalent about this whole parenting thing. Everyone else seems to be excited or scared or something. I kinda wish that I would just start feeling pregnant. (as opposed to fat and temperamental)
8. I seriously wish that fewer people would ask me how the pregnancy is going, but that more would just touch my bump. Its like when I was getting married and people kept asking me how the wedding plans were going. It pissed me off tremendously. Now people keep asking me how the pregnancy is going....and I keep wanting to scream "I don't know, ask it yourself". My pregnancy is not a seperate person....ask me how I am instead please. As for the bump-touching, I welcome it. It helps me to feel pregnant, which I don't, so touch it already.
9. I've noticed that I complain a lot more lately.

I will continue to observe myself in a third person view, and I'll let you know when it finally shifts to a first person view.

AW

Two thousand and whine

Right, it's time I get back to this whole blogging thing. I think I've been holed up in my closet of self-pity for long enough now.

2009 is officially starting in March now. I've written the past two months off as a terrible memory, but I will give you the highlights so you know why I temporarily retreated into a pit of despair.

The Good Stuff:

1. I moved house. My incessant nagging about having to climb stairs while I'm pregnant finally paid off. Hubby and I moved into a gorgeous little 2-bed townhouse with a huge garden.

2. The boss quit. The man who made my life a living hell finally upped and buggered off.

3. I got a snazzy new phone. Gotta love those upgrades.

The Bad Stuff:

1. I spent the first week back at work all alone in the office with the boss. This was moments before he resigned. It was hell.

2. The second week back at work began with a phone call from our US head office to tell us that we're losing our jobs. (I'll have to tell the whole story in a separate post - things are looking okay though. They're structuring a deal that will let us keep our jobs)

3. I found out I was losing my job mere days before I had to sign the contract for my new place. The one I'd already put down a deposit on.

4. Still swimming through deep waters of uncertainty, I decide to take out a personal loan to consolidate my debt. Bank has botched this up phenomenally. I'm still fighting with them. (Also worthy of a separate post)

5. I hurt my back quite badly with the move. Also have to contend with excruciating heat and flaring tempers of well-meaning family members. (Without whom the move wouldn't have happened, so I'm still grateful even though it was awful)

6. TMI moment: along with paralysing back pain, I contract a nice little infection while moving. Probably due to lack of fluids consumed on moving day. Every moment of it was torture.

7. Had endless problems with internet connection at work. It got to a point where I would bawl my eyes out because I couldn't get Google to open.

8. Traffic has descended into the fiery pits of hell. Before it was barely manageable, now it is downright impossible. I'm late for work every single day. Also having endless fights with Hubby about his temper in traffic.

9. Have realised that I actually earn too much money for what I do. My duties don't match my job description. I'm basically a glorified filing clerk with a foul temper. This has to change.

March has suddenly arrived (the third month of the year already?!?) and I'm going to let go. Things are finally starting to calm down and I'm fighting to get recognition and tasks that match my ability. I'm also holding on to the bank like a pit bull. I will not go down without a fight.

The point is, I'm back. I will blog more regularly now, if only for therapy if nothing else. No more moping around and waiting. I'm making things happen now.

Yes, she lives...only just.

Thanks for all the comments on my previous post. It helps to know that you don't hate me just yet :-) I promise I'll get back to reading your posts in something other than my reader soon, and I promise to leave comments too.

I moved house this weekend. I'm completely exhausted as a result. I had all three sets of parents and my darling brothers to help. Very strange having my mom and dad in the same house, but they helped a lot and I'm very grateful. Now I need a weekend to recover from this weekend.

I absolutely hate moving!! It's always a highly stressful and emotional affair with tempers running high and fuses tremendously short, mine first and foremost. Especially when having to juggle getting the last few things packed, moving people and possessions from one place to another while keeping everyone happy and hydrated. This task is even more daunting when you're pregnant.

Next time, I'm getting movers to do it for me....

......

....yes, I'm still here.

Kinda.

As you may have noticed, I've taken a huge sabbatical from all things blog. I do twit on occasion and I check in on Facebook about once a day, but other than that I've become an internet-recluse.

It's not because I'm not interested anymore, really I am, (and I even lurk on your blogs daily, even if only through a reader) but I'm taking heavy strain in the real world at the moment. I don't really want to divulge all the details, but I do think a quick update is in order.

Firstly, my boss resigned. This is fantastic news even though he's only officially leaving at the end of January. He doesn't come in to the office much, which the rest of us prefer. When he does he brings thunderstorms.....seriously.

Secondly, I'm moving house. I currently live in a two-story garden cottage and I've grown to detest the stairs. Being pregnant means needing the loo at the most inopportune times. Going down stairs at said inopportune times is hazardous to my health. Consequently, I'm moving. I'm really excited and anxious at the same time. It seems like we'll never be packed in time, and I can't wait to have my own little garden to do stuff in.

On the subject of pregnancy....I'm doing really well. I've been blessed with a total absence of morning sickness, although my gag reflex has become somewhat severe. I gag at the thought of gagging. Other than that I'm only really dealing with tiredness at the moment. The baby is doing fine according to scans, and seems to be healthy. I am very excited about the next scan, where we might be able to see the gender.

Hubby's band is doing really well too. CD's are apparently flying off the shelves, they're featuring on a few weird and wonderful "Top" lists across the country, and their music video is making waves on MK. The bad with the good though....I'll be home alone for about two weeks in April when they'll be hitting KKNK in a big way.

There are a few other things that are keeping me very occupied and in a state of semi-panic and ignorant denial at the same time. I'll let you know about it as soon as I have final clarity myself.

In the meantime I miss writing, but I'm too depressed to be creative, so please bear with me and know that I'm still here :-)

AW

Enough already!!

Right, so I know I said I would blog more before I go on holiday, but quite frankly I've just been too tired and fed-up to do much more than play mindless games on my pc.  My boss has been in a foul mood for the past two weeks and I've been at the receiving end. This is a very draining place to be and as a result I've been conking out at 9pm every night.

But enough of my whining.....I am officially on holiday as from today, which is fantastic!! I won't have internet access though (okay, maybe once or twice) but I'll be back in January with many stories to tell (I hope)

So to end of this very hectic and less than wonderful year, here is a meme that my darling cousin Louisa tagged me with.

6 Random Things (that you don't know already...)

1.  I'm not enjoying the first 3 months of pregnancy. I'm 6 weeks now and so far it has not been fun. My clothes don't quite fit, I'm walking around in a semi-constant state of light nausea, my moods are....strange,  and I'm suffering from an assortment of aches and pains that are apparently completely normal. I'm also totally buggered....besides for being exhausted from the long and excruciating year, I'm falling asleep in the office loo because of a total lack of energy which is also attributable to being preggers. FUN!!

2. I have suddenly developed an urge to bake stuff.  I want to bake a cake and a milk tart and some cookies for Christmas. I've never been someone to bake so this is a bit weird.

3. I think and sometimes even dream in English, even though I'm Afrikaans.  I think this is because of being married to an 'Engelsman'. Hubby's Afrikaans isn't half bad, but it just sounds weird when we speak Afrikaans to each other. As a result my brain automatically does things like counting in English.

4. I once spent about an hour underwater in my gran's pool. I was about 10 years old and had gotten a snorkel and goggles for Christmas. I put them on and spent the entire time breathing through the snorkel, pretending that I was some kind of mermaid princess. It's a fond memory.

5. I don't like phoning people. The only people who I would happily phone and spend hours speaking to is my husband and my mom. Other than that I avoid phonecalls like the plague. I would rather send you an email. I'm not particulary fond of smsses either. I have a phone so people can phone me and even then I might not answer. If you don't leave a message, I won't phone you back.  This doesn't apply to weekends though.....I'll answer your calls then :-)

6. I suck at chess. I own a beautiful wooden chess table that was made by my great-grandfather. I refuse to use it as a table even though I never play on it.  I can't wait to move into a bigger place where I can display it better. I might just start playing then. Who knows, I might even win a game eventually!

Okay that's me for 2008.  I say it was an awful year, but I did meet some amazing people in all of you. I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and a fabulous New Year and I look forward to seeing everyone next year :-)

Love 

AW

Top 10 Tuesday

**PS....I'll fix my template ASAP. I don't know how this happened, or how long it's been like this...damn**

Following in the tradition started by SleepyJane (and because I have very little motivation to do much else), here is my list of 10 favourite restaurants in Roodepoort (....I'm keeping it in Roodepoort, because if I had to expand, this list would be of at least 50 restaurants!!)

In no particular order:

1. Piatto in Westgate. I've only eaten there once, but the food and the service was amazing (and well priced). I've only heard good things since and am seriously planning a big get together there.

2. Seemans in Little Falls. Their food is fantastic, especially if you like meat. It's a restaurant and a butchery in one, so their prices are also completely out of this world. (in a good way) They have the best steak on the West Rand, and at the price, you can have twice the steak for half the price!!

3. Fournos Bakery also in Little Falls. They're right next door to Seemans....it's like a food heaven!! I've haven't actually sat down and eaten there yet, but I have sampled the food from their bakery and it is to die for. Chocolate croissants, petit fours, mini milktarts, doughnuts....it's a pregnant woman's Mecca, I tell you!!

4. Simply Asia in Clearwater Mall. The most amazing Thai restaurant ever!! I absolutely love this place. At once stage Hubby and I ate there every Sunday. Try the 515, trust me :-)

5. Café Fino in Clearwater Mall. The have the most delectable wraps and fabulous breakfasts. Go hungry.

6. Sushi Tei in Ruimsig. They have the best sushi ever. Period. Sadly, I can't eat their sushi for the next few months, but luckily they have a fantastic Tepanyaki section as well. (you know, those flat grills with the guys who throw your food around while you watch) Was there last night for a birthday, will go again soon.

7. The Chinese Kitchen, also in Ruimsig. In Featherbrooke Village Shopping Centre, there lies a tiny restaurant in a corner. They serve an array of Chinese fare in the most delicate of settings. Perfect if you want to have a romantic dinner for two (especially if you have a small budget.) I can recommend any of the set menus for 2.

8. Primi Frontier in Ruimsig. Home to the Jamjar and Teapot cocktails.....and the most delicious pizza and pasta around. Sadly, they seem to have closed down until further notice. Let's hope it just for renovations.

9. Adegas in Wilro Park. Prawns prawns prawns.....enough said.

10. Meat-n-Eat on Ontdekkers Road. What a concept....you order your meat and the rest is all you can eat. Sounds like my kinda place. Book in advance if you plan to go over a weekend though, the place has been packed every night since they opened.

That's me for now (can you tell I love food??). I promise to try and blog more often before my holiday starts next week ;-)

Consider the variables

What a ridiculous year end.....I'm not all that busy, but I'm completely knackered. This year can end now....seriously!!

Due to my total lack of energy and creativeness, I'm posting on of Ringo's infamous notes again. Enjoy!!

Fightbook!

Fools! Foolhardy fools, every one! I do not need your social networking contraption. It is broken. I shall have mine own bastion of needlessly specific groups and useless ‘applications’.

I shall name this plethora of interesting: Fightbook.

Here, I give you a slight but tantalizing view of the dream I have:

1. Applications

No longer will I tolerate applications that create black-holes off stupidity, sucking in the intellect of the masses. No Mob Wars or Gifts or Drinks. Gone are Pillow Fights and ‘What Character Are You?’ questionnaires.

I have these instead:
Profile Graffiti – Change others profile’s as you see fit. Let the true artist come to the fore and ignite self-doubt in friends who have lost their likes and dislikes in you creativeness!

News Feed Editor – Become a media empire and shape what people see and hear in the news feed.

Sensationalist reports about your co-workers? O.K!

False facts based on made up statistics and studies? You’ve got it!

How about scandals involving your friends? You’re cooking with fire now!

Accept, Ignore, Destroy! – Now you have more choice when deciding what to do with friend requests. It is up to you to shape the destiny of that person you remember from somewhere, but you’re not sure and the picture is small and the name conjures up only questions.

2. The Status Bar

The sanctity of the status, is there a more revered device on the all powerful internet (Praise be to it)? The safety gained from knowing that others know of you immediate disposition, at all times, truly is rapturous glee.

Now, I submit to you this scenario:

“Wait a minute”; you think to yourself as you check your status for the umpteenth time this hour, hoping that someone has commented on your “LOLZ, I fell when I try thinck and walk at sam timez, BRB!” update. You look again and read: “I’m gay now.”

What you have just felt is the pure bliss of having other people update your beloved status when and how they see fit. No further comment required.

3. Groups

This is the darkest sector of the internet (May its blessings rain down). No-where else is the concentration of folly as high as this collection of brain abortions.

There are groups that proclaim to be charitable but do absolutely nothing except claim to be charitable. Other groups are anti-child pornography and they make you feel despicable for not joining their neo-cause. Worst of all are the overly specific groups that clog up our pages, like this example: “People Who Like KFC, But Not Too Much And Only The Zingers. Also Only On Wednesdays”.

There will be no such silliness in my omnipresent presence!

My groups will require active involvement or the members will face swift retribution. If you join a charity group, money will be taken from you and given to someone else. If you join the fight against crime (group), you and crime will fight. Music groups will require concert attendance and a certain amount of track downloads per month.

All the groups will track your movement and opinions at all times. Just one false move or sign that you do not, in fact “…Like To Wear My Underwear Over My Pants Like Superman But Only Boxers And Only Over Jeans And Only On Saturdays”, and you will be visited by the administrators and re-aligned.

4. Friends

Without your comrades, you are an empty, lonely shell. You have nothing to live for and are a burden upon society. Life is an endless routine of waking up, going to work, not talking to anyone, going home and getting into bed. Like Mr. Bean. Fightbook will value your list of associates very highly.

Before a friend enquiry may be approved, at least one photo containing the two persons claiming their acquaintance must be presented, after which each claimant must fill in a questionnaire about the other in secrecy. Blood tests may also be required in some cases to prove identities.

Steps like these will make you truly appreciate your friend list and prevent unscrupulous attention seekers from posting un-intellectual media on your wall.


That concludes the taster. I, like you, am proverbially salivating at this very moment. Fightbook will forever change the internet (Bulbous is its mercy).

Later!!

It's official.....

.....I'm pregnant!!!

(Three weeks and counting...YAY!!!)

A week with out a limb!!

That's what I feel like right now. I haven't had any internet access since last week Wednesday and I've been feeling like a lost child since. It is back up today though, but now I have a hundred blogs to catch up on and my own to write. I promise I'll get around to everyone's, okay? :-)

In the meantime, my darling brother Ringo is writing more often (somehow he found out about my pseudo-plagiarism) so I get to post his writings more often. Here is the latest one:

Quick and Critical Analyses of Movies No-one Saw

1. The Eye

Plot: Jessica Alba is blind. She has been for many years and must live life using her other senses to ‘see’. Her HEARING is especially good and borders on superhuman. Then she gets an eye transplant, presumably, to stare at her super-hot self.

But the donor eyes are from a Mexican girl who hanged herself, and Jessica starts seeing ghosts and shit.

What a surprise.

This critic’s critique:
Poor acting. (Sorry Alba. Please can we still date?)
Slow pace
Boring and idiotic dialogue

O and the fact that despite Alba having not been able to see for years and having the HEARING powers of a bat, she suddenly sees and HEARS ghosts. Why couldn’t she hear them before? Did the doctor’s play a practical joke on her a transplant the ears of a third world kid who committed suicide onto her too?

2. Primeval

Plot: Somewhere in Africa there’s is a river with a famous crocodile called Gustav. Gustav has been eating people for years and the locals have built up an aura of the devil around him.

A band of intrepid (read: cliché) Americans venture into the wild to catch this big boy.

Cue screams, rain and crappy CGI.

This critic critique:
Unoriginal
Cliché
Done before
Hit head into wall

Where did they do their research on crocodiles? Gustav IS the devil. He can climb trees, drag big boats around like toy bathtub ducks and roar.

Best of all though: Tall Athletic Black Man is in the middle of a grassy field, I’m guessing, about 50m from any water. Gustav, having only eaten East Africa during the movie, is still a bit peckish. He decides to get out of the water (where crocodiles do all their hunting) and proceeds to chase Tall Athletic Black Man hundreds of meter across African savannah like it’s a documentary about cheetahs. He catches and devours him.


3. Teeth

Plot: Some high school girl and her boyfriend live in Middle America. They are publicly ridiculed everyday for abstaining from sex. Because everyone knows you should start as early as possible and scream at other people for not doing the same.

One day, she and her boy go to the woods on a camping trip. He does a 180 on the sex thing and tries to have his way with her. Her vagina bites his manhood off.

Yes, you read correctly.

This critic’s critique:
Really, really, really bad acting (can you still call it acting then?)
Violence towards woman
Violence towards penises

What this movie taught me is that every man in the world is a super pervert and should be shot.

This girl nearly gets raped by her curly haired boyfriend who doesn’t look like he could force himself on a pillow. Then she nearly gets sexually assaulted by her gynaecologist because she doesn’t read pamphlets. Then she nearly sleeps with a guy who made a bet that he could have sex with her, twice. Then she nearly commits to incest with her bad-boy brother because he screamed at her dad, all inside one week.

Luckily, she has teeth in her vagina.

4. Alien VS Predator: Requiem

Plot: Two races of aliens invade a small American town that’s just like your small American town. One alien likes to lick things head’s off and the other skins stuff with a sharp Frisbee.

They are here to fight between themselves and as a result of their poor aim/coordination, kill everything except each other.

Only two options, run to the centre of town or run out of town. No cars allowed.

This critic’s critique:
Passable acting
Darkness
Stupid community leaders
Rain

Why don’t they just all leave? Get in your car and drive out of town, easy. Just because there are aliens around town doesn’t mean your licence becomes invalid. LEAVE!

Do not run to the centre of town and wait for help. As anyone who’s ever watched a movie of your American town being overrun by zombies/vampires/ aliens/ Russians may well know: the government is not coming for help. In fact, The Man has been waiting and praying for just this opportunity to launch a nuclear offensive against himself.

The result: Your ass gets fried in the holocaust along with the alien’s.

Seriously: Where are all the cars?

Have a good one!!

Randomness....

My darling cousin Louisa tagged me for this one.

Word for the week in my head: Dammit....I keeping thinking one thing and finding out the opposite in true....dammit!!

Thought for the week in my head: Please please pleeeeeaaaaasssseee let this week be over already. I'll tell you why soon :-)

Thing for the week in my life: Hubby's music video. They're shooting on Thursday and I'm and extra (Role description: a normal girl in her twenties....)

Song for the week in my head: Sunshine Happiness....object of said music video.

Food for the week in my belly: Real Cheese Mini Cheddars. Though I would prefer steak.

Colour for the week in my life: Yellow and red....I'm trying out something new and it seems to be working.

Smile for the week on my face: nothing at the moment really. I'm too bored to smile.

Blessing for the week in my heart: my health. There is very little wrong with me and I'm grateful for that.

Taggies: Ruby, Tamara and Kitty.

Here follow the rules:
1. Link back to the creator of this here meme (cathjenkin)
2. Link back to yours truly (all the better for me to see you with)
3. Share your list of randomness
4. Tag whoever you want to tag, or not....it's your choice :-)

Tada....

So much to tell....

I have two weekends happenings to squeeze into one post, seeing as I seem to be losing days left, right and centre....

So, last Friday I went to a sex toy party.

It's not what you think.....

This really cool and hilariously funny lady sells a whole range of different toys, lotions and potions at private parties for ladies only. She's actually a marriage counsellor who needed to fill a script in a sex shop (her words) and never looked back. All her goods are *ahem* tried and tested by eight couples going through various marital difficulties and are only added to her catalogue if 85% of her test subjects are happy with the product. Which means I got to choose from the crème de la crème of toys on the market...hehehe (this is not the type of party you attend if you have a tight budget...trust me!!)

Saturday saw me going on a mad road trip through the Wild West (also known as Krugersdorp) on a expedition to find all the little factory shops in the area. My two friends grew up on the West Rand and graciously took the roles as tour guides. I ended up spending even more money and going home with way too many sweets and a makeshift roadmap so I can find the shops again. (Especially the sweets shop!!)

Saturday night had my usual shift at Greensleeves, with me working especially hard to make up for my philandering ways. The only interesting things I can relay from there is that I managed to burn myself on some candle wax and later on hot bread.

After church on Sunday, Hubby and I went on another excursion to Baba Indaba at the Sandton Convention Centre. I'm broody in a very big way, but only ended up buying something for myself. (again with the spending.....I was on a rampage!!) I did have a go at pushing the brand new Jeep Liberty SE through a hectic obstacle course. I have got to get me one of those!!

Another week followed with nothing much other than work happening.

This past Friday was spent having a quiet, romantic evening at home followed by a lazy late morning in bed. Hubby and I went on another excursion to find prices for a whole bunch of baby stuff (you can never be too prepared) when Greensleeves phoned to hear if I could work. Sadly, due to my severe spending over the previous weekend I had to say yes and had to cancel my plans to attend Angel and Glugs' party. (I did send Hubby with Ruby though)

Finally I spent most of what was left of the day after church sleeping. I was so tired that I missed two phone calls and four smsses while I was asleep!! I also realised that it may be time to get a maid.....hmmm

Writing Guidelines

Let me start by saying that my younger brother is hilarious (or at least I think he is), he also writes very well, even though he doesn't think so. The only real outlet he has for writing is the Notes facility on Facebook. He wrote this note a month or so ago and I've decided that more people need to share in his humouristic genius. So Ringo, this is your note, whether you like it or not...

Writing Guidelines by Ringo

Learn to spell.
Then I’ll know it’s a language I can understand and I’ll keep reading.

Use grammar.
Then I can read it and know it’s not a random collection of words.

Punctuation is required.
This helps prevent death from lack of oxygen when reading aloud.

Stop exaggerating so much.
Then I’ll believe you more of the time.

Don’t try to be funny with every single sentence.
You aren’t.

About how empty, meaningless, materialistic, pessimistic, disloyal, ugly, dark, anguish filled, pretentious, fake and/or ‘plastic’ the world, the human race, the future, popular entertainment, them, they, me or your life is, has become and/or will be.
Writing about this has been done. You’re a sissy.

Use facts that are true.
If I know you’re lying or making it up, I’ll not be impressed.

LOL, ROFL, OMG, WTF, BRB etc.
Using any of the above mentioned abominations, or any other I didn’t list, will put you on my douche list.

Swearing can be fun.
It can also be gosh-darn irritating.

If a simile, metaphor or expression makes no sense, don’t use it.
“...pisses off…more than an Agro[sic] Eric Cartman on PMS showing you thoughts of impending end-of-the-world stigmata on a piece of pig rind...”

Criticism is just opinion.
Take it or leave it. Don’t fight it.


Disclaimer: There is no reason to follow these guidelines. I am not a writer and I didn’t study literature.

I'm going to be posting more of his work as he writes it. I'm very proud of my little brother and may even tell him what I'm doing (one day.....)

My Story - Part 5

This is the second incident that I remember from when my dad and FSM were still dating.

Part 5

This happened at around the same time as the two previous entries. I had been singing my entire life. It was and still is my one great passion, and I happen to be pretty good at it too....or at least, I must be fairly good to have made it into the youth choir for the area where I lived. I lived and breathed that choir. All my best friends were there, and I couldn't wait for choir practice every Friday....and I couldn't wait for the trip to Thailand that was planned during my second year in the choir.

I nearly jumped out of my skin the moment I found out that we would be going overseas. It was like a dream come true. A dream that nearly got killed....

I told both my parents that the choir was going abroad, and that it would cost R5500 for me to go along. (about 3 of the kids had to stay behind in the end because they couldn't afford it) We started with passport and visa applications immediately, and my parents arranged that each of them would pay half of the trip fees. It was close to December and I was starting to think about getting a job for spending money. Then Dad said the he and FSM needed to speak to me.

They sat me down in the lounge on a bright and sunny day, and told me that I couldn't go. They gave me reasons why, but I was so devastated that I can barely remember what they were. Everything was ruined!! The one thing that I wanted more than anything in the world had been destroyed.

It was around this time that my relationship with my mom started getting better too. (in hindsight, she probably saw an opportunity to win me back, but I didn't see it that way back then) I told her that my dad had said that I couldn't go because he couldn't pay his half. I was completely crushed. I didn't count on Mom's resourcefulness. Somehow, she managed to make a plan to pay the full amount, as long as I worked part-time during the holidays for spending money. My life had meaning again!!

About a month before I was set to go to Thailand, Mom decided to take me to the doctor to have him look at my skin. I didn't have acne as such, but I did have a problem skin and it was starting to eat at my self-confidence. Dad must've authorized it because I was on his medical aid. The doctor prescribed Roacutane.

I was almost halfway through the three month treatment when the date of my trip to Thailand arrived. I asked Dad if we could get a renewal on my prescription as I would be running out halfway through my trip. And for a second time I was told no. This time it was because my portion of the medical aid had been used up. I decided that I wouldn't let this ruin my trip and left it there.

The next ten days were those you read of in fairytales. I saw things that blew me away and had experiences that I can't describe to anyone. The memories I have of that trip are ones that I will cherish for the rest of my life, because they offer me a bright light in the midst of dark times. I forgot about everything that had gone on at home and had the time of my life. Which is probably why I was so unprepared for what happened when I got home.....

I was ten years old when Mom's cat died from a dog bite. I absolutely adored cats, and my parents got me a cat of my own after Katie died. He was the cutest little black cat with only a white spot on his tummy and his throat. His face resembled that of a mouse, so we called him Mickey.

For six years, Mickey did everything with me. I was the only person who could pick him up. He only slept on my bed and he only came when I called him. I loved that cat more than anything and when I came home from Thailand, he was gone.....

While I was away in Thailand, Dad had decided that he couldn't spend every weekend at FSM's house, and leave our dog and cat alone at the house....so they had to go. He (always having been more fond of dogs) arranged with Mom to give Hitler (our gorgeous 2-year-old German Shepherd whom I loved almost as much as Mickey) to friends of hers on a farm. Mickey, on the other hand, would be put down.

I came home exhausted from jet-lag, only to find that my darling cat was missing!! Thankfully, my darling mother had come to the rescue again and arranged that my grandparents would adopt Mickey so that he wouldn't have to be put down.

It wasn't very long after this that I decided that I couldn't stay with Dad anymore. At the end of that same year (and after four months of therapy) I moved in with Mom.

Dad's one condition for letting me move was that I would quit the youth choir.....

Have a good weekend.

Always in threes.....

So...

I spent the entire day in an extremely boring meeting about technical stuff that I don't need to understand (but which I had to attend), only to come back to an email from my mom, saying my cousin had died in a car accident.

What a crap day :-(

I'll have it once your done, thanks!!

Today seems to be the day from hell for more than just me.

It started like this....last week Thursday, I sent a 3 part package via "insert courier here", with explicit instructions that the packages needed to be in Windhoek by Monday (yesterday). They're parts and brochures that needed to be there for a presentation that's happening today (Tuesday).

So yesterday, my contact in Windhoek phones me to say that only one of the packages have arrived. Now please remember, they were sent as one package, with three parts, but only one part had arrived in Windhoek.

I promptly got on the phone with our distinguished couriers, after using the online tracking facilities to see where the other two parts of my package were.

It seems that my packages had somehow developed a mind of their own, and had gone to see the world. The landed at Feltham Airport in the lovely Britain on Friday of last week. Not content with only seeing a small part of beautiful England, they decided to take a short flight to Stansted Airport as part of their journey. Finally they hopped over to Koeln (Cologne) in Germany, before flying back to Johannesburg on Sunday.

As fascinating as their tour must have been, my problem was that they were still not in Windhoek. So yesterday afternoon, I had a long conversation with one of the guys in the export department of these wonderful couriers, and he assured me that the sightseeing packages would be delivered to the door of my contact in Windhoek, by the manager of their Windhoek branch, today. He even gave me his direct number to follow up on the progress of the delivery.

Why then is this the day from hell you ask? Well, I checked the online tracking system again this morning, just before phoning the guy in exports, to see if the package had at least arrived in Windhoek yet. (as was promised to me) It had not.....or at least, that's what the website said. The guy in export couldn't tell me, because he wasn't there!!

I spent 20 minutes bouncing off the walls before phoning them again and getting through to Mark, my knight in shining armour. According to Mark, he'd only scanned out one parcel last night, and the other one had only arrived back in Johannesburg this morning. Neither of us had any idea which tracking number went with which parcel, so he couldn't even tell me which one was in Windhoek.

What followed was two hours of stressing and phoning to try and find out which package was in Windhoek, which one in Joburg or if both had gone off to Windhoek after all. At long last, the nice lady at the courier office in Windhoek phoned me to tell me that both parcels had arrived at their destination in Windhoek. I cried tears of joy!!...

...That is, until my colleague phoned me. Somehow, my waybill for the one parcel, had ended up in someone else's parcel, and their little box of chemicals had been delivered in Windhoek, instead of my box of VERY expensive cables....which were now officially missing.

Boss-man and my colleague managed to make another plan with the cables (thankfully) so they could continue with the presentation, however, that box needed to be found. So after 3 more hours of phoning around, I convinced Mark, and his counterpart in Windhoek that they should go on a massive man(box)-hunt of both airports to try and find the missing parcel.

Finally, at 16:00 this afternoon, Heila in Windhoek phoned me back to let me know that they'd found the renegade parcel, and that it was, in fact, still in Joburg. I requested that it stay here, because it would need to come back anyway. She phoned me back 40 minutes later to tell me that it was already ready to leave for Windhoek and that they couldn't hold it back anymore. So now she will keep it in her office when it arrives there tomorrow morning, relabel it, and wait for our go-ahead to return it to Joburg again.

This is the last I heard, and the news that I need to convey to my boss......

....so MsB...pass the lube when you're done, please....I'm going to need it!!

How I met your father....

*well Exmi, you asked for it....here is how hubby and I really met*

Dear Unborn Child (unconceived really...)

So you want to know how Daddy and I met? Well, it went like this:

My friend at the time, M, was studying marketing at UJ (still known as RAU back then) and through campus life, she managed to meet this band.

I don't know the exact history of how she met them and what her relationship with them was, but I do know that she ended up managing the band.

I had just come out of a very long relationship, and was trying to get myself back into the social realm, spending time with the odd guy here and there, and partying as much as I possibly could. This inevitably led to me joining M on a trip to Heidelberg to see this little project of hers in action.

The place was called Coyotes (yes, I did have flashes of Coyote Ugly running through my mind) and the band was called Swallow 15. (the Coyote Ugly flashes got worse) They were a four piece band consisting of a chick on bass, two hot brothers on lead guitar and vocals, and a shy dude on drums with the biggest hair I've ever seen.

I kid you not!! Daddy had a mane of curly hair hanging halfway down his back, and standing in all directions. (Kinda like Angel's hair :-)) There was something about him though.....I couldn't quite put my finger on it but by the end of the night we were chatting like we'd known each other for years, had exchanged numbers and he was keeping me warm.

A week later I was back (wearing the skimpiest mini I could find).....for some reason this shy, placid dude had completely bowled me over. At the end of their first set, I sat on his lap (I know...Mommy was a skank back then!!) and then asked him if he wanted to get some fresh air.....we barely made it out the door before I pinned him against a wall and snogged the breath out of him. (The rest of the band even asked if they could get their drummer back.....over the microphone!!)

We decided to do the whole dating thing at the end of that evening.....and two weeks later I broke up with him. I'd decided that I was going to walk all over him, and I wanted to spare him that. So much for that idea.......I didn't last a week without him.

I broke up with him a second time two months later (but that's a whole different story which Mommy will tell you when you're a little older) but that break up also didn't last much more than two weeks. In the end, something made me realise that this was the man I was meant to be with for the rest of my life....the best decision I've ever made, and the reason I'm your mommy today :-)

With love
AW (your future mother)

Lifejacket

Exmi threw me a bit of a lifejacket with this meme....I will get more time eventually....no really!

1. Who is your man? Hubby
2. How long have you been together? 5 years
3. How long did you date before you got married? We got engaged after knowing each other for six months, but only gat married 18 months later.
4. How old is your man? 29 in January
5. Who eats more? It depends where we’re eating....I can pack away prawns like there’s no tomorrow, but he kicks my butt with pizza. Other than that we eat pretty healthy and the same portion sizes
6. Who said “I love you” first? Me, but about 5 seconds. It was so sweet, we both knew at the same time.
7. Who is taller? Hubby, by about 2cm. He’s not the tallest guy around/
8. Who sings better? We’re both very musical and can both sing, but I sing a lot more than he does, so I get more practice (he beats met at Sing Star though)
9. Who is smarter? Ummm....I think I am, but only because he hides how intelligent he really is. I mean, he’s a drummer for heavens’ sake. He can think in 4 places at the same time!!
10. Whose temper is worse? Mine by far!! He never really gets angry....people have made comments about it. I’m Mount Vesuvius on the other hand.
11. Who does the laundry? Both of us....we take turns or do it together.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Again, both of us, but Hubby does it more often than I do.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does, it’s closer to the door, so he can protect me.
14. Who pays the bills? I pay the majority of the bills, and he takes care of spending and petrol money. It works for us.
15. Who is better with the computer? Definitely me. He can get around, but he doesn’t have access to a PC as often as I have.
16. Who mows the lawn? We thankfully don’t have a lawn to mow.
17. Who cooks dinner? Me mostly. He couldn’t cook when we met, but he’s improved a lot and actually likes cooking every now and then.
18. Who drives when you are together? Whoever wins. We both drive, but neither of us like driving, so we race to see who gets to the passenger door first, and the loser has to drive.
19. Who pays when you go out? Hubby mostly, as all my money goes to the bills. Sometimes I use my card though.
20. Who is the most stubborn? Me again, though he can be pretty stubborn too.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We both admit when we’re wrong which is seldom as we don’t really fight a lot and when we do, we both apologize for whatever we did wrong.
22. Whose parents do you see most? Mine, his live 2 hours away, but we try and see them as often as we can.
23. Who kissed who first? I kissed him first....in fact, it was only the second time ever that I’d seen him, when I promptly dragged him outside, pegged him against a wall and kissed the hell out of him.
24. Who asked who out? We kinda just decided we’ll do the whole dating thing after I let him come up for air.
25. Who proposed? He did. It’s a long story.
26. Who is most sensitive? I think we both are pretty sensitive, though I’m more emotional.
27. Who has the most friends? Me, he’s an introvert, but all my friends consider him their friend as well, so we’re kinda equal.
28. Who has more siblings? Me, by faaaaaaaaaarrrr!! He only has one sister; I have two brothers, two step brothers and 5 stepsisters.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? He does in the end, even though he lets me think I do. I get my way most of the time, but if he says no, then I know its no.
30. How did you meet? at a bar in Heidelberg....he was playing a gig.

That's me for now....I tag whoever wants to do this :-)

A word for the week.....

Here goes:

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 (Tamara)
Give (at least) 5 reasons why you love SA
Tag at least 5 peeps
Let me know when you've done it!

I love SA because:

Minibus taxi's. They drive like idiots and cause accidents, but it just wouldn't be the same without them. In a country where buying a car is out of the question for a lot of people, they've stepped up to offer some sort of public transport. And most of them are actually quite nice....I'm more likely to get a spot to squeeze into from a taxi, than from a lot of other cars. Oh, and they improve the driving and observation skills of the drivers around them.

Our heritage matters to us. So much so that we have a national holiday to celebrate the fact. Regardless of how westernised a lot of our thinking has become, there will always be room to go back to our roots, whether it be in language, religion or some other tradition.

Highveld thunderstorms. There is almost nothing as beautiful as watching a thunderstorm develop in Joburg. The sky darkens and colours seem to sharpen. Then all of heaven breaks loose. The sky lights up with brilliant displays of lightning, and you can literally feel the thunder as it rolls in the sky.

How well we blend. In a country where there are so many different cultures, we seem to be able to blend exceptionally well. Everyone can understand at least one other language, and is able to communicate in that language. We cross cultural borders with ease, and mostly accept that everyone is different, and we don't expect people from other cultures or races to do things the same way our culture or race does things.

Our obvious affection for our fellow man. I've never heard of another country where hugs and kisses flow as freely as in ours. No family gathering is complete without everyone giving each other a hug and a kiss hello. We laugh together, and cry together and aren't afraid to extend a hand to someone in need. The comments on my blog are enough to prove this, where hugs fly around when I have a bad day, even if they are only virtual. I know that someone will always be there for me when I'm in my own country, and they will be sincere.

I can't tag anyone because everyone has been tagged already :-) What I can say is that I'll miss all of you, as I'm leaving for Aardklop in the morning, and will only be back next week. Have an awesome week!!!

A lonely weekend