Facebook dislikes

dislike button (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

I am a bit of a Facebookaholic. Okay, delete the ‘bit of’. And now that Facebook is available on my phone twenty-four-seven-three-sixty-five, I cannot help myself. I am constantly checking out the latest status updates, photo’s or check-ins.

I am not sure why, there’s not any specific reason why I would want to know if my sister’s old school friend is having a good day, or why I would want to know whose kids are participating in a beauty contest, or won first prize in karate, judo or gymnastics. But it’s like eating peanuts, once you started, it is difficult to stop. And every now and then there is a gem. Some really funny quip or update that will make me smile. Like this one…(disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the person-who-wrote-this, I don’t want any Twilighter mobs hunting me down!)

The last Harry Potter film was the end of an era.
The last Twilight film was the end of an error

But most of the time it is quite boring. Maybe it makes me feel better to know that nobody else is having more fun than me ;-).

But I also have a few pet hates.

• 

  Cityville Zoo (Photo credit: sabrina.dent)

  I have no interest in your games. My list of games that I have already blocked includes Farmville, Castleville, Cityville, Cafeland and wait for it…Farmville2. I do not want to tend to your chickens, buy land, or whatever you need me to do. When the screen comes up with the people you need to select to interact with, please untick my name!

• There is no such thing as a profile viewer that has been developed by Facebook. I promise! And any post on you wall that starts with ‘OMG! Can’t believe…’ is a spam post…even if it comes from your bestest friend in the world. Delete!!
• I hate all applications that automatically posts to your wall, like daily articles, horoscopes, favourite pictures, etc. It clutters my newsfeed, and I am too scared to even look at your picture of the day, because most of the time, these applications see the fact that you clicked on a picture as a chance to zap down on you and the next moment, you are posting daily pictures yourself!
• Unless you have an exceptional exciting day, I don’t know, like you are attempting to do a bungee jump off the Stormsriver bridge or just got crowned the Queen or something, posting more than 5 status updates a day is too much… I do not want to know about every move you make all day long.
• I enjoy the occasional joke and inspiring quote or bible verse just as much as the next person, but if I have to scroll through five pages on my phone to get to the next post then you should consider starting to write self-help books.
• Talking about which, I do a lot of Facebooking on my phone. The screen is not very big, so when you post an update that spans over more than a page, or write a whole story, the whole thing spins down like the screen on a one arm bandit at a casino. Keep it short, simple!
• If you are a big twitterer, and post tweets all day, then that is great, but DO NOT LINK these to Facebook, please…. I will hide your posts from my newsfeed, and then, when something exciting does happen in your life, I will not know (of course, assuming you care that I know).
• Just because we have some friends in common, like a school friend that I have not seen since Noah’s ark disembarked, does not mean that I want to befriend you. I prefer to know the people on my Facebook account. I am not a celebrity (yet) and I cannot think of a single reason why you would want to know that I have just been to my favourite Italian restaurant.
• I totally know that predictive text on some smartphones can cause embarrassing moments, but please check your posts for basic grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. It irritates me endlessly to hear how greatful you are and that you went threw a really tough time.
• It is really great that you love your boyfriend or husband and I really don’t mind that you publically display your love on Facebook, but if you are going to post updates all day and all night about how much you love him or her (mainly girls here I am afraid), then please get a room.

And now, friends, I am getting off my soapbox. Let me check my FB news feed quickly to see if anybody commented on those pictures I uploaded and then I need to get ready for the day!

 

Entrepreneurs day sucks…

I am sorry. I know all the pros about teaching our kids to be entrepreneurs in this society is amazeballs and I have also heard the talk from Nikki Bush about future careers, and that the ones our kids will most likely occupy probably doesn’t exist yet. I get it. We should teach them entrepreneurial skills and how to make money. And I get that this is the ultimate intention of the annual entrepreneurs’ day at school.

But for the love of sanity, can we for once just set up a stall, sell some pancakes or lemonade and let it be!

I hate entrepreneurs’ days. My kids never seem to make much money and it ends up stressing me out endlessly. So, you’ve guessed it, you wickedly clever reader, I just went through another one! This time with my youngest, who is in grade 4 and this was her first entrepreneurs’ day.

They had this idea to sell lemonade, which I thought was pretty clever. The ingredients are easy to get, easy to make and you should be able to recoup your money quickly. But, no-oh-no, that’s not enough. They have to make five different things to sell (apparently it was three to five things, but that little titbit of information was not passed on to me).

The Frazy Girls’ cupcakes

Now, I don’t know about you, but one of the lessons I have learned in business is that you should be careful not to expand your portfolio too much too soon. So, they ended up making the lemonade, cupcakes, sweet kebabs (which is sweets on a stick), mud buddies (little balls with sand in them with weird eyes and pokey noses) AND some homemade jewellery. Now you don’t need to be a maths wizard to know that they will probably make a profit on the lemonade and the cupcakes, but this will be severely diluted with the rest of the stuff, in my humble opinion.

For starters, if you do your market research, you will realise that there are less than 400 kids in this school. Each kid will probably coax about R20 to R50 out of the parent, who are swearing at ANOTHER entrepreneurs’ day (in our school there are entrepreneurs’ days for each of the grades from grade 4 onwards, which makes four of them a year). And then there are about 46 grade 4’s, teamed into groups of two, so 23 groups with 5 items each they are trying to punt. I don’t know about you, but if I have only R30 to spend, I am gonna have a drink, something yummy to eat, do something fun and look for something that I can spend on, to get rid of the change.

I cannot see how getting kids to participate in an market that is filled to the brims with trinkets is teaching our kids to survive in the big bad world out there. I would much rather them focusing on one or two things and make a big effort promoting their goods. Showing them how to calculate how much they need to charge per item to make a profit, and helping them work out when it is okay to start selling the leftover lemonade at half price. Now we are talking business sense.

All that is going to happen is that they will tally the money, deduct the cash outflow (ignoring the effort of all involved AND the anguish of a mom who had to speed to the Pick n Pay for a second time in two hours because the ‘enough’ cups turned out to be enough for about a quarter of the lemonade). And if they make a profit they will be happy and if they make a loss they will be devastated. But they will have no idea why this happened. At all. Especially since the lemonade will sell like cupcakes…

Thank goodness it only happens once a year.

And the end result? I am left with probably 10 litres of lemonade, cupcakes to feed the entire street’s kids and since my daughter thought it ‘fair’ to split the money halfways, forgetting that I spent most of the upfront cash, a fairly substantial loss.

Anybody for lemonade (with a complimentary dash of vodka)??

 

My year of firsts…

I was on the radio a couple of weeks ago. But before you get excited about the fact that you are reading a blog post from a celebrity, it wasn’t anything like that!

Stacey Norman has a weeknight show on 94.7 Highveld Stereo that is pretty awesome and she had a list of things that you should always say ‘YES’ to, like spending a day in you pajamas, or spending a day watching your favourite series. And she wanted to know what the listeners recently said ‘YES’ to. I sent in a text message and they phoned me! The text read:

‘I am a single mom of 41 and said yes to doing Salsa classes with a girlfriend. On my way now!’

(What happened was that I received a Wicount invite in my mailbox, and managed to coax a girlfriend into joining me. So theoretically she was the one who said ‘YES’!)

It was a bit nerve wracking being on the radio…and I almost bungled it up as I needed to move my car (which I parked in a hurry when I heard they were phoning me from the show) and the Bluetooth kicked in just as they transferred me live on air (trust me to mess up a ‘hold on for Stacey’). But they phoned me back again, after which I had to make a beeline for the class.

But it got me thinking that 2012 has been a year of firsts for me. I feel slightly braver as the year is drawing to a close. I have done so many things this year that I always wanted to do… There is still a lot more, but it has been a good start. The last few years has been emotionally draining and I needed a revival, so 2012 has been like an elixir for me :-).

Some of the things I did this year was:

1. I finally kicked out my lying, cheating boyfriend. I made a New Year’s resolution that I was never going to allow him back into my life again, and I stuck to it. Taylor Swift even wrote a song about it!
2. In February I bought a new house. I have been twiddling my thumbs forever about buying a new house, but finally took the plunge, and it has been fantastic! (One day I may even be able to afford it!) But we love our new house with the big airy rooms and my kitchen is a dream come true, gas stove and all!
3. I started a new job…after seven years it was time for a change and even though I am still working for the same group of companies, I am in a much more operational roll and enjoying the challenge!
4. I went on a sushi making workshop! Ever since I tried eating sushi a few years ago, I have been a huge fan. I just absolutely love sushi, and thought it would be stunning to be able to make my own! (I haven’t actually invited anyone for a sushi dinner party…yet, but we will get there.)
5. I started writing this blog! I have been writing little odds and ends for years, but never had the courage to post something for the whole world to see. I didn’t even know what I was gonna write about, or whether anyone would read it. But I am so happy I took the step, I am loving it! And strangely enough, people are actually reading it!
6. I joined a dating site and then decided it wasn’t for me. I know this may not seem like a brave thing to do, but believe me, I was literally shaking in my size 3 boots about taking that step.
7. I did a pasta cooking course with a friend. And here I have actually tried it out on a friend and her daughter, and once on my girls. I am still trying to get the dough consistency right, but it is so much fun. I have another pasta evening planned with some friends on the weekend. I will take lots of pictures and if the guests survive, I will blog it!
8. I used some of those accumulated frequent flyer miles and booked a trip to Scotland in December! I have always wanted to go, but when the opportunity came along, I was all of the sudden hesitant about going by myself. Then I decided I am not going to delay the fulfilment of my dreams, whilst waiting for the perfect travelling companion. And who knows, I may even pick up a sexy Scotsman on my travels…:-)
9. And of course I started the Salsa classes. I love dancing and I have been wanting to do some formal training forever. And so far it has been a lot of fun and I haven’t caused any injuries to anyone that couldn’t be healed by putting their feet up!
10. Oh, and I almost forgot that I finally stumbled into a TAG shop and bought the watch I have been drooling over for years, to the greatest astonishment of my cousin. I don’t think she will ever fall for the “Let’s just quickly walk into this shop” again.

And even though the year is not over yet, I can honestly say it has been my best year in yonkers! I am loving my life at the moment, and just enjoy spending time soaking up the joys!

So, here’s to saying ‘YES’ to life. I am throwing open the doors of opportunity, and for once having fun for the sake of having fun!

You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.
~ William W. Purkey

 

From the wastebasket…

Some people, that I have known for a long time, have been asking me what made me decide to start writing now. I guess that is a fair question, but in reality I have been writing stories in my head for years. I even started jotting down some of those stories, but being ever organised me, of course they are NOT in a diary like you would expect. So, I set off tracking down some of my old writings and found a couple.

One of these were the ramblings shortly after I got divorced. These were in Afrikaans, so I cannot share them, but I read them and it did remind me of some of the stories I can still tell you all. One day.

Then there were some stories on my little netbook that I bought shortly before my trip to Perth in 2010. I started writing this travel blog about my experiences in Australia, and unfortunately I never finished it (I was a bit pre-occupied at the time), because I think some of it was pretty funny. I decided some of the bits were worth sharing.

Perth visit June 2010

Perth skyline from Tompkins Park

As a background note, I travelled to Perth around the time of the start of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. The timing was planned to coincide with the kids’ holidays, as they were off to their dad, who was living in Knysna at the time. The plan was to visit an old school friend in Perth, whom I have not seen in years. I flew out on the Friday afternoon of the 2010 SWC kick off. Here are some of my ramblings about the trip down under…

Note to self…next time I travel to Australia (or anywhere more than 5 hours across time zones), SLEEP the week before…!

So, I started my trip to Perth (6 hours time difference) sleep deprived…but I did go and see Grease during the week AND watched the SWC kick off ceremony. Wouldn’t want to miss out on anything now, do we? After a disastrous trip on the brand new Gautrain (nothing wrong with the Gautrain as such, but the traffic to the Sandton Station and AT the Sandton station was a nightmare), missing the kids’ flight to George, managing to rebook their flights to Port Elizabeth in the evening and having to deal with the noise of Vuvuzelas blasting away at the airport, it was quite a relief to finally be seated in the aeroplane. Peace and quiet at last…or not. Did I mention that I started my trip on the day of the FIFA World Cup opening game?

I spotted the girl in the boarding queues in advance, phoning (it seems) everyone she knows before she takes off. Well, I guess you never know when you get a chance again… “Lief vir julle”, “Praat binnekort” and “Groete vir Seertoon”, had me fascinated… A fleeting thought passed my mind to say something to her but you never know when you end up sitting next to the person for a nine hour flight… And guess what! Yes, mois ended up sitting next to Jakkie Kruger from Lydenburg. And, then I made the mistake of actually greeting her in Afrikaans.

So, after asking my name (and surname), what I do (she was suitably impressed that I was an accountant), how old I am (kid you not), the teacher from Lydenburg told me all about herself as well. I now know how many siblings she has, that she likes eating A LOT on planes (okay, the “Gaan jy jou poeding eet” (translation “Are you going to have your dessert”) gave it away), and that she was going to visit a house friend in Perth and then onwards to her sister in New Zealand (who is 14 years older than her). I think that is why I managed to get some sleep in (my internal system knew the alternative would have been finding out the grade 4 curriculum contents). About 3 hours sleep, that is….

After arriving safely in Perth, and meeting up with my friend, I jotted down some of what we did on the trip. One little notable entry was as follows:

Fremantle used to be the main entry into Australia in the bygone days where passenger ships were the main way of travelling across oceans. The town still has several 19^th century buildings and has a historic charm to it.

We went for coffee and breakfast at this little bohemian coffee shop. I was wondering if it was the wizardy world meeting place in Australia that we muggles stumbled upon…complete with a retired professor Dumbledore lookalike (okay, the resemblance stopped with the long beard) and the woman with the purple hat?? Interesting…. There was some live music on very ancient instruments, a board where you can post your own poetry (wonder what they put in the coffee…or flat whites, as the Ausies call them). Breakfast was delicious though, I had French toast with blackberries, cream and maple syrup…yum.

Trust me to mention the food I had! The next little bit that I wanted to share was when I decided to take a trip into Fremantle to collect some brochures for a planned visit into the Margaret River region. I almost forgot about this event…

My friend, who had swine flu the week before, was feeling very tired, and offered her car to me. She did mention that the petrol gage was a bit low, but thought that I should make Fremantle easily, which I certainly would have been able to do, had I not turned in the wrong direction….

Now, this is something about me and strange places…somehow, unless I am driving myself, I never have a clue in which direction I am being taken and how I got there. I am far more interested in checking out the sites, people, and whatever else is going around. In Geneva, my friend Annie once left me and my daughter at a shopping mall with very clear instructions to take the bus right outside the mall to her offices, very easy. Until the bus stopped unexpectedly at the airport, which even I realised was NOT in the same direction as my friend’s office! So, my rule of thumb is, when you see the airport, it is normally in the wrong direction. So, voila…I saw the turnoffs to the airport in Perth, and knew I was going in the wrong direction. I did finally get to Fremantle, managed to park the car, paid the parking and walked in the general direction of the cobblestone passageways. I (of course) had to ask around to find the travel agent, but managed to get a few nice brochures and a couple of T-shirts for the girls. I never buy myself T-shirts in strange places, but the kids love it!

I strolled through a few book shops, managed to find a second hand copy of London by Edward Rutherford, which I had been looking for and was on my ‘next UK trip shopping list’ for A$10. Cool!

It was now starting to get dark, and I decided to head back to my friend’s house. I decided, sensibly, to find the first petrol station and fill up the car. This thought always dreads me in a foreign country because, growing up in South Africa, we are not used to pump our own petrol…. On the way out of Fremantle I didn’t see any petrol stations, but was sure I would find one soon enough, as it is quite a busy highway back. I was idling uphill in the afternoon traffic leaving Fremantle when the car started making the noise that every person who has ever ran out of petrol dreads…that gulp gulp sound that always proceeds the moment when the car stalls…. So there I am in a strange country, in a city that I don’t know, on an uphill in a very busy street and no petrol!

I phoned my friend, and she phoned her husband, who was almost home. The next moment, a friendly face peered through the window and offered to help me push the car off the main street onto the sidewalk (how nice!). He then asked me if I belonged to some or another association, which I made out must be something like the Automobile Association back home, which you can phone if you are a member, and they will come out and help you get your car going. He offered to pretend that he was the one stranded without petrol and phoned them. We then started talking (he picked up by my accent that I was not Australian…) as we were waiting, and waiting, and waiting….forever! Eventually my friend’s husband decided to come out anyway, and helped me get going again…

And that was, unfortunately, pretty much it. I started writing about the trip to the Margaret Valley region, but the ramblings stopped there. I did start taking more pictures, saw some kangaroos in the wild, visited some fantastic wineries, an Aboriginal culture centre and a chocolate factory (where I had the most divine chocolate fondue for lunch that I have ever eaten in my life). But no more writings.

So, here is my new resolution! I will never, ever go on a trip without my trusted notebook or iPad again, EVER! To years of sharing!

 

Another letter to Santa…

Dear Santa

No, you are not having a déjà-vu moment, it really is me again. I know when I wrote you a few days ago, I told you that I have not felt any compelling reason to write you on behalf of myself for a long time. But on Monday night I stumbled across a Secret Santa initiative by The Stiletto Mum, for South African bloggers, and on the impulse decided to join in.

You see, I love giving gifts. It is one of my favourite things to do. I can agonise for days over ‘the perfect gift’. Unfortunately sometimes I agonise so long about what to get that I end up running out of time to actually get the present…but it is the idea that counts, isn’t it?

Anyway, the deal is such that each participant needs to compile a Santa wish list of items not more expensive than R100. So, here is my list:

• I love chocolate! Preferably dark chocolate in any shape or size or form (except for the low calorie versions…).
• I can never say no to a good bottle of wine or a nice cap de classique (ask any of the wine telemarketers constantly phoning me…).
• My biggest treat on a weekend is a nice long bath with aromatherapy bath salts! Which are running seriously low at the moment.
• I am a sucker for kitchen magafters like that Bean Slicer Jamie Oliver used in one of his Jamie at Home shows! And this morning (for inspiration you know), I strolled over to the Yuppiechef website and when I saw all the under R100 items, I almost started loading my virtual trolley! Btw, my kitchen in predominantly red…
• Still twiddling my thumbs in the virtual kitchen, I spotted a new Beer Bread Kit that I saw in the Yuppiechef newsletter the other day. It is called Barrett’s Beer Bread Kit, and you can make home made bread, just add a beer!
• Before I get stuck in the kitchen, I have started collecting second hand vinyl LP’s so if you so happen to stroll through a flea market and spot some classic oldies, don’t feel shy!
• I love shoes, but the last time I bought any shoes under a R100, was when I was being ambushed at a market in Kenya, and I never wore them as they were uber uncomfortable. But then again, my feet are so small that your elves’ hand-me-downs might fit!
• Actually, I am very easily pleased when it comes to gifts, so if you run out of time, gift vouchers from any book, music, food, wine shop or the like will do too.

Not wanting to be pesky, but if you can let me have an update on my previous letter, I would really appreciate it!

Yours sincerely
Butter-won’t-melt-in-my-mouth-good Gerda

 

A letter to Santa

Dear Santa

It has been a while since I have written to you. I think the last time was probably when I wrote to you on behalf of my youngest daughter, who is almost 11 years old, and since she has been reading and writing for some time, it must be a long time ago. No offense, but I have not really felt the urge to write a letter on behalf of myself for a while.

This is a bit awkward though as I am not sure what the protocol is for raising an objection against a Christmas wish. I am sure there must be some way that a parent can give their input or raise their dissatisfaction with a Christmas wish submitted by one of their kids.

But maybe I should explain the background to my letter first.

A week or so ago, after a family wedding, I had to drop off the kids’ cousin in Tshwane (formerly known as Pretoria) on the Sunday. They have a few Siberian Huskies. But if that is not enough, they have Husky puppies, of about 2 months old. Very cute. Very fluffy and adorable, I have to admit. They still have that little puppy smell to them, you know?

And my daughter fell in love, head over heals, I promise. She immediately took one and sat with it in her lap, cuddling it. And told me that she now knows what she wants for Christmas. Did I mention that they have these beautiful blue eyes?

Now, for a couple of reasons, the evidence of which are listed below, I believe that she has already submitted a Christmas wish for a Siberian Husky puppy, and this is the reason for me writing to you. I would like to object…

Exhibit A

She has actually changed her profile picture on her BlackBerry Messenger several times this last week. This is one of the examples…

Anya’s BBM profile

Exhibit B

But never one to leave things to chance, she has created a collage of pictures of Siberian Huskies for her bedroom door…

Anya’s bedroom door

Objection

Firstly, we have a fairly small yard, and I have had experience with a large dog in a small yard. IT DOES NOT WORK. I cannot imagine that I will be impressed with the dog catching a large rat, as a colleague explained to me in detail their Husky did.

Or another friend told me how someone pawned a Husky off on them, after it ruined his garden and this dog set out killing a neighbour’s geese. I have been told horror stories about them ripping up entire couches, digging up gardens and eating the flowers (mine are just starting to make a reappearance after a hailstorm a few weeks ago).

Secondly, I am a terrible light sleeper, borderline insomniac. I wake up when the cats enter my room, walking on the laminated wooden floors. I wake up in the mornings at 5:15am when the sprinklers outside starts going off! In fact, I think I often wake myself up when I dream too loud! And these dogs, being descendants from a wolf, howl rather than bark.

Thirdly, I think this will put the poor sausage dogs and cats at a significant disadvantage for attention, don’t you think? How will they be able to compete against this gorgeous dog, with blue eyes, nogal? Somehow, this hardly seems fair.

Alternatives

In the absence of knowing whether she put down any alternative suggestions for Christmas presents, I have to admit that this does place you in a bit of a predicament as to what to get this poor girl, who has been (mostly) good this year? I am actually thanking my lucky stars that I am not in your shoes/boots. Good luck, and maybe just a hint…she really likes her music quite a bit and is always annexing my iPad, so I suggest you keep an eye open for bulk discounts in your electronics department. Someone at work suggested getting her a gold fish named Husky, but unless you can find one with blue eyes, I don’t think that will do the trick!

Finally, I have to apologise again for disrupting the well oiled machine that must be your Christmas wish evaluation department.

Kind regards

Gerda (probably better known as Anya’s mom)

PS. While I am busy corresponding with you, maybe I can ask you, if you come across a handsome, well read, intelligent, honest, well dressed, gentle, loving guy, with a sense of humour, who doesn’t take himself too seriously, who loves kids with their own opinions, a house full of animals, crazy girls….oh, nevermind!

(If you are not Santa and you are reading this post because you follow my blog via email, I discovered a nifty little trick.  If you hit reply to the email, you can comment on this post, without logging in to WordPress.  Try it :-))

 

That’s Ms Crazy for you!

You may be right
I may be crazy
But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for
~ Billy Joel

I went through quite a stressful time at work a little while ago… And my solution to stressful situations is laughter (come to think of it, that is my solution to most situations…). Anyway, I was having my morning coffee with colleague #1 when colleague #2 walked in and apologised for interrupting our conversation (erm…laughter). He then looked at me and told me that he thought I kept colleague #1 sane…(a nice compliment I thought). But when I asked “And who’s keeping me sane?”, he proceeded to tell me there is no way that I could be sane… (I think that is quite rich coming from someone who names his pet chickens, but maybe it takes one to know one :-)).

So, I went home that evening and in a you-have-to-feel-sorry-for-me voice relayed the story to my 14-year old daughter. She responded by saying “Mom, but you are crazy. We are all crazy around here.” Sounds earily like a scene from Alice in Wonderland…

Now, one person could be a fluke, but two people sounds like a confirmation. So, I am crazy. And apparently I gave birth to two crazylings. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “Knowledge is the antidote for fear”, so I did what I always do when I don’t know the answer…I googled it. Whatever did I do without Google?

And, guess what? It’s actually not that bad. Apart from the ‘affected with madness, insane’ bit of the definition, the rest (sort of) sounds palatable. Here it comes…

Informal Departing from proportion or moderation, especially:

1. Possessed by enthusiasm or excitement
2. Immoderately fond; infatuated
3. Intensely involved or preoccupied
4. Foolish or impractical; senseless

Now, if that’s not me, then I don’t know.

1. Possessed sounds a little bit spooky, but to be possessed by enthusiasm or excitement cannot be a bad thing, now can it? For example, I am super enthusiastic about going to Greensleeves this Saturday evening! Greensleeves is a medieval venue, and like a friend said to her husband “Gerda wants to you dress up as a wench and serve her beer. Wanna go?” I may just break out in song….”I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it“
2. Why do you have to moderate fondness or infatuation? Okay, I guess maybe I should do that a bit more, it may save me some hurt, but then what is the point? I don’t ever want my loved ones to wonder if I love them!
3. I don’t do partial involvement, sometimes to my own detriment. A few years ago I got involved in the Homeowners Association for the complex where I lived. Now, I am renting out the house and I am still the Chairperson?? Something wrong here…do I hear the word sucker…?
4. I have been known to do some foolish and impractical things from time to time. Which is why I often have to hush people I have known for a long time, when they are introduced to new people (can we let the London Ice Bar story die now, please….). Somehow my embarrassment can provide hours of entertainment to other people!

I don’t think anything can contain my zest for life. I don’t think I will ever see myself as old. I still find it very surprising when young people call me ‘Tannie’. I keep thinking they are talking to someone behind me. I don’t feel old. I don’t know when you are supposed to start feeling old. I always thought that one day I would feel my age, that one day I will wake up and look at all those wrinkles and decide that I have to start acting my age. But it must be a long way off still.

So, I have decided to embrace my craziness. And after my daughter jokingly referred to our house as the ‘Looney Bin‘, I decided it may be an apt name for our new house! We now live in an Estate (yeah, it sounds all very fancy, but essentially it is just a big closed off neighbourhood) and there are geniunely houses that have names, and I find that almost as amusing as personalised number plates. Imagine driving a car with the number plate 2SXY4U? You would never be able to go to the corner cafe in a tracksuit! Ever!!

So, the Looney Bin it is…maybe that will make the neighbours in ‘Oaktree Cottage’ or ‘Villa Toscana’ sit up straight 🙂

 

A family affair

This weekend Kleinjan got married.

He is far from little nowadays, but in my mind I will always remember him fondly by this nickname.

Jan was the middle brother of the three boys my in-laws took into their house as foster kids when they were small.  I think they were 6, 4 and 3 years old at the time. This was long before I married their Ouboet. (Their Ouboet’s name was also Jan, hence the reason why the younger Jan’s name was adapted). The boys grew up before me.  I was there when they started school. I was there when they celebrated their birthdays. They were the ring boys at my wedding in 1993.  They were so cute.

I have to be honest though, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the wedding.  I am not sure why, maybe that’s partly because I always feel slightly awkward at my ex’s family functions. I am, after all, only connected to them via my ex-husband and my kids. But we were married for 13 years.  Maybe I wasn’t that excited because the wedding was taking place in Witbank, which is about an hour and a half’s drive for me.  And Witbank is certainly not one of my favourite places in the world.  It is a mining town, built around coal mining and steel industries.  The best thing about Witbank is that it is the gateway to Mpumalanga, which is one of the most beautiful parts of South Africa.  But I was not passing through this time.

But mostly, it was the first family function after Ma Kotie passed away last year.  Ma Kotie was my mother-in-law.  But she was so much more than what that title entails.  To her, I was her second daughter.  And she was a second mother to me.  She was also the kindest, most down-to-earth and unselfish person I have ever met and probably will ever meet.  She would feed people who had less than her without knowing where the next meal would come from for her own family.  And she was the best grandmother ever to my girls.  It is not often that you find an Ouma willing to sit on the floor for an hour, while the kids paint her face with pastel crayons and lip sticks and ‘do’ her hair with clips and ponies.  She had a bottomless pit of patience with them.  And she was my rock with the kids; always there to help out (and spoil them rotten).  She potty trained both my girls…(before they were three years old, surely saving me from the embarrassment of having to explain that “winter is such a difficult time to potty train kids”).

The last photo of all the girls (photo: Desmond Bold)

The last time I saw her was when they flew up for a four-week long visit last year April.   At the time they were living on the other side of the country, in Knysna.  Before they went back, we went for dinner at my favourite Italian place, Ristorante La Trinita, and we had such a lovely evening.  Ma Kotie (as always) had strawberry milkshakes and when we couldn’t make up our minds over the dessert menu, the hostess/cook, the charming La-la, prepared a dessert platter with helpings of chocolate mousse, panacotta, mini pancakes with chocolate sauce and Italian kisses.

Nine days later, Ma Kotie passed away in a hospital in George.  She was never going to see the boys she raised, as her own, getting married.

But, despite my apprehension about the wedding, we had a blast.  It really was a beautiful wedding and proof that you don’t have to mortgage your house to have a dream wedding.  Everything looked beautiful, in white and apple green.

Jan and Nelmarie (photo: Desmond Bold)

The bride and two brothers (photo: Desmond Bold)

The bouquet (photo: Desmond Bold)

And my girls and I had so much fun.  I was allowed to join the teenagers on the dance floor and we danced the night away.  Anya played with her cousins and brother, took pictures and showed the little boys how the jumping castle was meant to be used…The girls eventually had to pull me away from the party with “Mom, let’s go before the next song starts playing.”  This was when I realised that if we didn’t leave, I would have had to carry a dead-tired 10-year old down the stairs…:-).  And in the car, Bianca declared that “I just had fun and enjoyed myself, without even worrying what other people might think of me.”  Enough to make this mother’s heart do summersaults with joy.

I think Ma Kotie would have been happy, I think that she would have been proud.

Ma Kotie, your boys are big, and you’ve done a good job.  We love you to the end of the world and back and will miss you forever.  This wedding was a tribute to you.  A tribute to an angel.

 

The bucket list…

I have been meaning to compile a bucket list forever…but my one worst trait after procrastination (I am the queen of procrastinating), is indecisiveness. I cannot seem to narrow my list down.

I am blaming it on being a Gemini. How can you make a decision when these twins in my head are always coming up with alternatives? If you had to ask me what my favourite song is, something will pop in my head, like Your Song from Elton John and then immediately I will think “Oh, but what about Stuck In The Middle With You from Stealers Wheel, or Money For Nothing or Bohemian Rhapsody” and then my head gets in a spin, and something dumb like, “I don’t know” will come out.

I have many favourites! I listen to such a wide range of music, read a very wide range of books, and eat a wide range of food too! So, I guess it is no surprise that there are so many things I want to constantly add to my bucket list… I am hoping that I will live to a ripe old age to be able to fit in everything. One of the people I look up to is Kate Turkington. Kate did a tandem parasail in Mauritius last year, at the age of 77! Now, that impresses me much :-). She just came back from la Cruezette, a chateau in France, after returning from India, a houseboat on the lakes of Kashmir, followed by Mt Katchenjunga and Everest. What a way to celebrate your 78th year! I am in awe.

I think that is what I want to do when I grow up. I want to travel the world and do amazing things like that and blog my experiences. But, since I have no formal writing experience or education, I am not a journalist or photographer, I don’t think anybody will jump over hoops to sponsor these trips for me, so I will have to save up some money so I can pay my way. It is also a good motivator when I struggle to get out of bed at 5am in the morning to go for a run or walk. Who cares about whether my skinny jeans fit, if I don’t do some exercise, I will never be able to walk along the Great Wall of China when I am 70 years old!

The great wall of china panorama, stretching throughout the mountains (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, I have started a list with a qualification…
This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list and can be amended at any time and without prior notice. (My best attempt at sounding as legal minded as possible…)

My Bucket List

• A culinary tour of Italy, just going to these little small towns and finding the ‘Best pizza in town’ or whatever the best thing in that town is…(or maybe I will ask Rick Stein, I loved the Mediterranean Odyssey series!)
• Doing a walking tour. Something like the Otter Trail along the Garden Route, although I cannot imagine my fitness levels ever allowing that. Maybe something shorter?
• Doing a hot air balloon ride over the Sossusvlei, Namibia.
• Visiting the Okavango Delta during flooding time.
• Living in a foreign country for at least a year….I used to say working in a foreign country, but maybe I should revise that to ‘living’. Ooh, preferably somewhere steeped in history, like somewhere in Europe or NYC. (The latter after they cleaned up after that Sandy chick.)
• Learning to speak French. I am not very good with languages so even just learning the basics like “Where can I find the best food in this place” should suffice (btw, I LOVE food).
• While we are onto learning, I would love to learn how to play a musical instrument. And as I bought a piano for the kids, maybe I should learn to play Chopsticks? There are even clips on YouTube showing you how to do this!
• Still on the learning thing, I would love to do an English Literature course of some sorts. This provided much amusement to some colleagues (all CAs) at work one day. They were talking about furthering their studies, doing a Masters in Accounting and that sort of stuff, when I blurbed out this one. “That sort of killed the conversation” was the response.
• Meeting Heston Blumenthal. I will watch re-runs of Heston’s feasts for days. I first saw him in A Search of Perfection and have been a fan ever since. Who says science and cooking doesn’t mix. Recently he visited Jozi and apparently hosted a charity evening at R1 500 per head. A friend said if I could get tickets, he’d pay for them….sweet, hey? Of course, by the time I found out it was much too late for that.
• And while I am onto chefs, I want to eat in one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. (Now if he can cook for me, even better). Did I mention that I love food?
• A road trip on Route 66. Visiting all these little towns and cities along the way and meeting people who has never travelled out of their state. How cool is that?
• Visiting India, and the Taj Mahal and Delhi and Mumbai and just soaking up so many people in such a small space. And I love Indian food….
• Going to Prague. A friend of mine eloped to Prague (well, pretty much) and it just looks like the most romantic city in Europe.
• Touring Southern America, Brazil, Argentina, maybe a trip to Mayan country?
• I want to do a tandem skydive. Don’t laugh, I even googled it and got a quote. They do it in Harties and as soon as I find another person who feel brave enough to join me, I am gonna do it!
• And of course going to China…and see the Great Wall of China, hopefully before I am 70!

And this is where the problem comes in…this is already quite a list and now my mind is running away with me thinking of all the fantastic places I still want to see and visit and things I want to do…

Let me go and eat some salad leaves, will have to eat healthy to live long enough to do everything!

What is at the top of your bucket list?

A few hours later….I am really clueless and don’t know how to get my Facebook comments onto WordPress, but thought I would add that since I published this post I have found out that 3 friends would also like to go skydiving….so watch this space!!