Yesterday was a super bleak day, occupational hazard of the company secretary, you spend your days in meetings.   Yesterday’s meetings were harder than normal, horrible meetings, way too long, points that were debated much longer than normal, and add to that 4 sleepless nights, a terrible headache bordering on migraine... All in all, a bleak day, a long day, a day that made me question my career... So when I got home last night and read all my e-mails, I see that Liam needs a spring day crown to wear on Friday, he also needs to take a bunch of flowers as they will be handing out these flowers at the office park close to his school.   So a couple of harsh words along the line of the teacher and her beeeeehind came to mind. So after bath time, Liam and I (begrudgingly) start making flowers out of paper, we drew the outlines, made some glitter flowers, added pompoms, made a busy bumble bee, coloured, cut, used glue... Imagine my surprise when I had fun, my headache disappeare

We had (yet another) power failure last night.  I seriously think that we are being subjected to loadshedding on the sly. Anyhow, Liam loves it, he loves the fact that we can light lots of candles, have baths with our flashlights, draw and colour by candlelight.  He only hates the fact that we have no TV when the power is out...go figure. The power failures does bring some problems of its own though, Luka's bottles need to be sterilised, so if the power is out again tonight, out will come the good old fashioned gas stove.  If my mother could boil bottles on the stove, then by golly so can we.

After really grappling with Luka and school, we decided to take her out of school last week Friday.  In the three weeks the pretty girl spent in school, the teacher called me on two occasions to tell me that Luka is not happy, she is crying and I must please come and pick her up.  I also got told at the end of almost every day, that it is a very long day for such a small little person.  Bear in mind that the school hours are from 07h00 to 18h00 daily, we drop Luka at around 08h00 and I pick her up at 16h30.  On two occasions, when I arrived at school, there was little Luka all packed up and ready to go, sitting in reception, and goodness, did the teacher ever give me a foul look, shame on you mommy, she is only small. The last straw was of course when all the kids in her class were sick, and at school, so yes, another visit to the GP, Luka has tonsillitis.  A course of vile antibiotics follows.  Now excuse me, because I am about to get onto my moral high horse again, ahem, her

Sometimes I wish I could freeze time, just for a bit, just to savour the here and now without thinking about yesterday, tomorrow, and the rest, but just to be happy in the now. We have reached a happy space Luka wise, who would have thought that the little girl that cried and screamed for 10 whole weeks would become such an utter cutie, she literally rules the house with that toothless smile of hers. And Liam, he loves Luka, he gives her a dummy when she needs it (and takes a suck or two himself on the sly when he thinks we are not looking), a cuddle every morning and reads her stories. He loves his school, has loads of friends, so all in all, life is good. So on days like today when I feel a tad melancholy, I remind myself of a quote by that giant of wisdom, Dr Seuss. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." And believe me, I am smiling, because it is all happening, happening too fast, but happening!

Today, just some Dr Seuss quotes from me.  Man oh man these are just great! "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You." "A person's a person, no matter how small." "We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdn

I was chatting to someone at work today, about 5 years younger than me and the gaps in this guy's emotional education just baffled me.  The movies he missed, the books unread, songs unsung...This really got me thinking about movies that changed your life, movies that you will think of forever and I decided that its time for some lists again.  So I will start with the Top movies of my youth.  Think Brat Pack movies, think Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan...ah, to be young again! Today, Top 7 movies, 7 because it is a lucky number of course! 1. When Harry met Sally - 1989 I was a whopping 12 years old, and to be honest, its probably not until a couple of years later that this movie really made a lasting impression on me.  Most memorable scene in this movie, has to be the orgasmic scene in Katz Delicatessen http://youtu.be/F-bsf2x-aeE .   2. The Breakfast Club - 1985  One of the most important Brat Pack movies starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy  and Judd Nelson.  Five hi

Jip, you guessed it, spring has sprung, winter's back finally seems broken (It will probably snow tomorrow just to keep me in check) and people all around are getting rid of their boots.  Having said all of this, there are some die hards around wearing boots and jerseys today, with the mercury rising to 26 degrees, sunshine and clear skies ahead. What is it about the first promise of spring that always makes me feel alive and kicking, as if I can actually deal with the world and all its problems again.  When you first get your claustrophobic toes out of those (albeit fashionable) boots and into peep toe's.  When you have that first Pedi done, put some gel on your toes and voila! I feel so alive, I feel like cooking, cleaning, throwing the shutters open and inviting friends for dinner, eaten outside on the veranda, Italian style.  I want to take my kids to the park, kick around some balls, go on prolonged island vacations, sip pinna colada's... A part of me will

Remember my pregnancy paranoia...well, I seemingly suffer from children paranoia too.  You see, Luka was a brilliant sleeper, until she started school.  My initial reaction was that Luka is just settling in and still digesting...Last night Gerhard pointed out that some kids are drugged to sleep the entire day and maybe that is what is happening to Luka. Now I must just point out that Luka's school is actually called a baby centre, there are 6 babies in her class, two people looking after them, it costs a small fortune (varsity would be a steal compared to this), there are see through windows, so everyone can see right into her class. So last night my mind started wandering to such an extent that I was ready to appoint an au pair this morning, and maybe even home school both.  Let us be totally honest, it would be significantly cheaper than what I currently pay. I had visions of people drugging my cute baba, of her sleeping in her bed the whole day.  Of her little mind being unde

It is August, August and Liam (and Luka mind you) has not been sick even once.  I put this down to a couple of things: Liam is in a new school where rules are laid down a tad more stringent than at the old school.  There is a sick bay and when you are ill, your mommy gets a call and has two hours flat to come and collect you; A friend suggested that I give Liam iron supplements daily, kids do not eat enough red meat and legumes to provide enough; We have just been so busy, there has not been any time to get ill. And then, yesterday morning, Liam wakes up all snotty, clogged up and coughing...poor thing, and we were so close. Now, my question is this, why do kids only ever get ill on Sundays or public holidays (yesterday was women's day in SA), when a) You battle to get an appointment with any GP in SA and b) If you do manage to get an appointment, you pay an arm and a leg for the privilege of seeing said doctor? Well, we decided not to overreact, I nebulised Liam this

Tomorrow is yet another public holiday in South Africa and as these things happen, the schools decided that today is a school holiday.  As if it is not enough that we have loads of public holidays, weeks on end of school holidays, we have ad hoc school holidays too.  Bliss.  And without realising what I was in for, I gave Sekai a week off, so she is in Zimbabwe, unaware of the fact that Liam's school is closed for the day. Well, Gerhard and I decided to take leave and go away for the weekend, but we left it a tad on the late side, and could not find anything, so I decided I am not wasting an entire day's leave, to heck with it, I am bringing Liam to work with me. A teeny tiny part of me is wondering why on earth I volunteered, the entire floor of my (usually pristine) office is covered in sticky sugar, the remnants from a packet of jelly tots eaten at 9 am.  Liam is picking his nose, my floor is littered with website printouts of dinosaurs, I coloured an ultrasuarus, Liam,

Monday marked Luka's first day of school.  Now I must point out to all those people crying out that this is just cruel, sending a 3.5 month old baby to school, that school is a pretty big word for where Luka goes.  It is a Baby Centre and there are exactly 6 babies in class.  So she gets loads and loads of love and attention, the fact that she is so very cute helps A LOT! On Sunday when I started labelling all her things I recalled doing the same for Liam two and a half years ago (remember the lucky bugger had 6 months at home).  I cried when I did Liam's things, because to me marking clothes and bottles was always something done for kids in boarding schools only... Well, needless to say, no tears where shed for Luka's labels, cute pink labels with butterflies.  Adorable.  I enjoyed adorning her things.  On Monday morning, we dressed her in her pink Paris Hilton tracksuit and off we went.  She loved it, remember having been at home with Sekai for the past 3.5 months m