Organisation

Well, I have finally managed to organise my office! It has taken me two whole days! The downside is that I have two whole days of work to catch up on. But really, I could not work one more day in this place that was just ooooozing with papers and boxes and files and and and….!! So yay! I am organised… Now for the work!
I have added Nana Fi to my links list – check her out and say hi!
Hope you are all having a great week!

For the Dog Lovers…

Here are some of my favourite little tips from a little book I got called “One Hundred Ways for a Dog to Train it’s Human” by Simon Whaley

1. Always shake excess moulting fur off when a human has just hoovered. It allows you to monitor how much hair you are losing.
2. When your human throws a stick, ask yourself three important questions:
- is it a stick you particularly want?
- can you be naffed to go and get it?
- does your human look stupid enough to go and get it if you don’t, only to throw it one more time in the hope that they might encourage you to get it this time?
If you answer ‘No’ to the first two, and ‘Yes’ to the third, just lie down on the ground and watch your human tire themselves out.
3. When playing in water, always retrieve the item your owner has thrown and drop it at their feet. As they bend down to pick it up again, remember to shake your coat vigorously to expel surplus water in case they throw the item back in the water again.
4. Never let your human blow-dry you with a hairdryer. Believe me, tomorrow you’ll wake up and your fur will be so fine and wispy you won’t be able to do a thing with it.
5. From time to time, humans try to bark orders at you. Sit, stay, beg, roll over, play dead – the list is endless. If you decide to join in, do it only for chocolate. Don’t do it for free. Once you start, it’s a slippery slope to them controlling you.
6. If your family point a camera at you, ignore them if they shout ‘Cheeeeeeese.’ They want to take your photo. They are not signalling another food-tasting session.
7. When out on ‘walkies’ always remember to test out your camouflage abilities. Roll about in anything you can find, and then run in front of your human. Your aim is to antagonise them. When they start shouting, run into the undergrowth and hide. If they can’t find you then your camouflage practice is working.
8. Never urinate on command. Always go when you want to go. Do not worry about insignificant events going on at the same time, such as the FA Cup final, the Wimbledon final or Coronation Street.
9. Always offer to wash up after a Sunday roast. A tongue cleans plates, cutlery and roasting tins far better than any leading brand of washing-up liquid.
10. If another dog offers you fleas, always accept. It’s rude not to share. Remember to share them with everyone at home.
And my favourite…
Master or servant? Just remember who shovels whose poo up. There’s your answer.

something sinister this way comes…

well, sadly i have decided to join roo in the comment moderation camp. a friend of mine had a very disturbing comment on her latest post. unfortunately, as wonderful as blogging is, there are some really horrible people out there. i think it is a good idea for everyone who reads this or comes across it to add as much protection to their blog as possible.
on another note, it has come to my attention that pictures that are posted up on the web, and especially emailed, are very easily accessible in cyberspace. This means that ANYONE can get them and upload them. i myself copy and save pics from my friends’ blogs. while my intentions are good, not everyone else’s are. please guys, choose the pics carefully that you put up and send via email. it is a sad reality, but there it is.

Ronnie the Finch

Before I start, I apologise once again for the gross neglect of my blog and all of yours too. It has been a very busy week and that’s my only excuse. Sorry! I have been wanting to write this post since Friday, so here goes….
On Friday, I went to visit my sister and nieces in Welgedacht. My sister has recently had an aviary put into her garden and I have been dying to see it and meet all the lovely birds she keeps telling me about. I decided I would go to the pet shop and buy her a little bird for her aviary and it would be my bird I could name and check on when I go visit.
Let me just add at this point that I have somewhat of a phobia of birds. I think they are beautiful and all but they scare me just a little bit. Well, a lot actually, truth be told. It’s the flapping that really gets me – I find it very unsettling and you really never know what they are going to do next. (This coming from the person who will be inheriting the family parrot in years to come… I better get over it hey)?
Anyway, so nervous as I am, I go to the pet shop on Friday morning to select the bird. There was a tiny tiny little finch just a few days old in the cage all by himself (actually I have no idea if it’s a boy or a girl bird – it’s just a hunch at this point). He was soooo cute man even for a birdophobe (sorry Sandra I really don’t know the word – call it poetic licence)! So, the woman asks me if I brought a box to put him in. Well of course I did – I mean I buy birds from the pet shop every day! NOT! I would have thought that pet stores have boxes for this type of thing, but apparently not! So, off I go to Pick ‘n Pay and Clicks to beg for a spare box. As you can guess, these stores never have this sort of thing …..!!! Eventually, a kind lady gave me one which was rather on the large side for such a small bird but I thought ok, so it will have lots of room to walk around in. So, the lady gets the bird out the cage, I hold the box in such a fashion that there is only a tiny gap for it to go into, but once it was in the gap was too big and out it flew! I raced for the doors of the shop to close them and there we go – two woman running around a pet shop trying to catch a very very VERY small bird. The poor thing must have been so scared and nervous, I was so scared that perhaps it was going to have a heart attack. So, naturally I started crying. The woman looked at me like “if you think I am going to leave this bird on the top of the shelves and console you, you have another thing coming darling.” I quickly gathered myself and had to then go the the back store room to find the net. I had no idea what I was looking for but I found one and eventually, after the thing hiding under those enormous dog cushions, we managed to catch it. Then lose it. Then catch it. Then lose it. And so on. At this point I am soooo upset and I just said to the woman that we should leave it for now as I am worried the bird would die of fright. She once again gives me THE LOOK. (the one that says ‘do you actually have a brain cell in that head of yours – how can I leave this now the bird is loose). People were trying to come in the shop, I was miming NOOOOOOOO! WE’RE TRYING TO CATCH A BIRD! through the window. It was madness! Finally I (yes me the phobic) caught the little guy and we put him into a brown bag with lots of holes in and off I went. This poor bird. I felt so sorry for it at this stage that all my fear disappeared.
HOWEVER. On the journey there the thing was flapping furiously – so much so that the bag was lifting up of the seat of the car! This frightened me so much that I had to pull over and recollect myself. I then decided to use ‘The Caroline Approach’ and talk to him. “Ronnie,” I said. “You are going to a wonderful place with lots of beautiful other birds for you to play with. The lady you are going to stay with is so nice, I promise you will love her.” I then proceded to sing to the bird and whistle. Then I thought, maybe finches don’t whistle, so I made that little sound with your tongue behind your top teeth. Amazingly, he settled down. For a long time. I then started panicking that perhaps he was dead. So, of course, I did the sensible thing and poked the bag……………FLAPPING FLAPPING AND STILL MORE FLAPPING.
Needless to say, by the time we reached Cheryl’s house, I didn’t even greet her – we made a beeline for the aviary, released him, and I went inside and had two strong cups of coffee immediately.
I am happy to report that Ronnie the Finch is very happy in his new home and has made friends with Leonardo the Quail, who grooms him and looks after him!

Bad Bad Bad Day!

AAAAAAAAAA! The person who sang ‘Tell Me Why I Don’t Like Mondays’ really should have left a contact number. I could really fill him in. Every Monday is always horrible. I don’t consider myself a moody person, but today was just ridiculous! What made it worse was that it started great! I had a wonderful morning with Fiona (aka Nana Fi) having breakfast, chatting and laughing. I think I may have fooled myself into thinking this Monday would be different. But no!
I get back to the office and start up my computer and that’s where it all started going pear-shaped. The thing just kept rebooting itself over and over again. Each time I think, ok I am connected everything’s fine, down it goes again. Eventually I switched it off and luckily Steven had left his laptop here else I would have had no access to any of my work at all. (This is being positive as actually I hate working from a laptop and Steven’s is nice but it’s not my computer with all my things – my shortcuts my links my emails etc etc). You know what it’s like working on someone elses computer (as I am still doing now) – you have to relearn everything all over again. NOT TO MENTION his terrible Outlook filing system where I can not find anything! Ok ok I know I am being a tad anal but really…:0(
Anyway, Steven is now trying to do some damage control and set up my email on my old computer until we buy a new one which we will have to do now as oh, I forgot to mention – I have a virus. Enter the lucky task of having to reload all my data onto another machine. Oh joy!

Ok, I will stop moaning now – no need to bring you all down with me is there? There is one bit of good news – today I made an appointment at the fertility clinic to find out whether it will be possible for me to do IVF. The appointment is on the 6th June, so I will let you know all about it then.

Ooh, another bit of good news is that I finally caved and went to the chemist this evening and have bought some herbal sleeping tablets. So wish me luck… Hopefully I will go from one crash to another…Get it?! ;0)

So, all I can say is here’s hoping the rest of the week goes well and all of yours’ too!

A Busy Time

I feel I need to echo my friend Caroline’s thoughts in her latest blog post and say to all who have been following my blog – I apologise for being so scarce and neglecting my blog duties. From what I gather when speaking to friends and family, this is a very busy time of year. There is so much going on in everyone’s lives. I am finding it hard to keep up with myself never mind anyone else.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day in South Africa. As with everything else in my life, this is very complicated for me. Why? Well, I have THREE MOTHERS! That’s right – three! I have my mother mother – you know the real one the one that gave birth to me. Then, I have my stepmother. And finally, my mother-in-law. This makes these type of days not only very expensive but also very very insanely busy. So, here is the plan for tomorrow: First up is mother number one (my mother) who we are taking out to breakfast. I have also bought her a voucher for a hot stone massage. Second is stepmom. We will be visiting her after the breakfast to drop off the fluffy pink slippers we bought her and some flowers. After that, we go home to prepare for the third round of Mother’s Day, where Steven’s whole family are coming for a roast dinner. (She is also getting pink fluffy slippers and flowers).
YIKES! I am tired already just thinking about it!
On top of all this business, I have three birthdays coming up next week which I am preparing for – buying pressies and getting them ready.
Oh and then of course just to add to all this, I have work coming out of my ears. I know I shouldn’t complain about this as it means we are making money, but wow I could use a break!
Life is hectic people!

For Dylan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE TWO

YOU’RE MY FAVOURITE NEPHEW

I WISH I COULD CELEBRATE WITH YOU!

xxxxx

Fine fine fine…

So, on Friday there’s a knock on the door and a lovely man in uniform is standing there with a summons for yours truly! YIKES!!!! :0 Apparently, I had an unpaid fine for R600 from a speeding incident in August last year! Well, all I could say is: “I didn’t receive any fines! Please officer, don’t take me to jail…!” For those of you who know me, you will know that I NEVER get speeding fines…………….. OK OK that’s not true – I know I know, I get millions…. (Surely driving 80km/hour on the West Coast Road is a mere suggestion..)? He told me I would either have to contest the fine at the traffic department or I would have to appear in court… Which do you think I will choose……hmmmm – that’s a toughie! So, this morning I went through to the dreaded traffic department, that had a queue going right outside the building and into the parking lot… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Luckily, this queue wasn’t for people who were paying fines – apparently there is some big issue with licenses at the moment – who knew? (I live in the garage people – maybe someone can fill me in)? Anyway, the lady at the counter informed me that the fine had already been paid in January! So, now what do I do? I have one person saying it’s paid and the other saying he hopes I enjoy female company if you know what I mean….. So she printed me a proof of payment and now I will just have to wait and see if anyone arrives to take me away so I can show it to them. Hey, it’s all fine!

On My Doorstep..

Well, not quite… but about 3kms down the road…. Took doggies to the beach this evening and thought I would make everyone who is not lucky enough to be living in Cape Town jealous.. ;0) How lucky we are…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING FRIEND!!!!

A Happy Birthday to Caroline! Hope you have a wonderful day my darling and I am so looking forward to our ‘High Tea’ this afternoon – how posh are we!

Here’s to many many more!