Monthly Archives: May 2012

Cake And Puppies!!

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My knucklehead is liking his new job! Its only been two days, and he is working very hard, but he likes it. He also got to spend Saturday with biodad and they had a lot of fun.

Last Friday at about lunch time, I went to fetch my Glugster from work and then we went to SAGA to fetch our Volt– who had been at kennels for a full two weeks! At the same time, we picked up a very special puppy whom we have named Riddick! You can read all about him on my furbabies blog! Ironically, Riddick was bred by the SA Guide-dog Association, but he was born without pupils in his eyes, so he is effectively blind. We have adopted him to be a part of our forever family! And trust me, you will battle to resist this face!!

Riddick and Volt are fast friends already! It has been so cool to have Volt here to keep Riddick occupied and vice versa!

This Sunday past was #WorldBakingDay, and I decided to take part as well- in the name of my alter-ego of course!! The aim is to bake a cake (or cupcakes), put it somewhere crazy, and then photograph it, posting it on Twitter with the #caking hashtag. I got photos of my cake in a few different places, but I think this one of my guide-dog-in-training puppy Volt, helping me out with some extreme “caking” is my favourite! He was so good! He didn’t even try to take a bite or get a lick in!

On Friday afternoon, I received a courier delivery from our dear friends Shebeeliciousness and her Jon. Instead of sending us flowers for the loss of our Super Nathan, they had one of our favourite photographs of Nathan printed on canvas and mounted for us. It hangs in our living room now. Thank you both. The picture contains a treasured memory.

On Saturday my folks popped around for a visit to meet the new puppy and we had a lovely afternoon, then on Sunday my in-laws visited us and- they brought lunch! We had divine mince jaffles with potato salad and a bit of green salad and enjoyed a little wine with our lunch! We haven’t seen them in MONTHS and it was so cool to spend the afternoon with them again!

We had a nice relaxed weekend. I had one cupcake delivery that my Glugster did for me while I waited at home for another order to be delivered. We actually managed to sleep late even with a new puppy in the house!

The Knucklehead…

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Spike and my knucklehead are still inseperable! Spike even showers with the knucklehead, sitting on a rock in the bottom of the shower and then chilling in a basin of warm water whilst the knucklehead brushes his teeth and gets dressed and stuff. They then head outside together and Spike suns himself on a log that has been set up specially for him in the garden!

And then the big news today- he has a new job!! He starts tomorrow and its close to where we live so I can drop him off when I drop off my Glugster at the Gautrain station! He is very pleased with himself as he had to go for an interview and everything. The only downside for him was that they “suggested” he cut his hair. He shaved it all off tonight in preparation for his first day tomorrow. He is very lucky in that he looks gawjiss with long and short hair!

My Mothers Day…

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With my darling Glugster’s permission (he says he has enough brownie points stashed so I can blog this, erm, fork up) I am going to tell you about my mothers day.

When I was raising my knucklehead alone, my mommy and daddy darling used to try and make sure my knucklehead had a little something to give me for mothers day, and we usually got together as a family to do something on the day. And of course, my son would make something at school to give me- or I would have to buy something from the school for a fund raising thing– it was sweet enough.

When my son was no longer at school and I started dating my husband-to-be, I kind of assumed they would take care of mothers day together. Lawd knows there’s enough advertising around to let everyone know when it is! That hasn’t really happened…

This year my knucklehead woke me at the crack of sparrow with a cup of coffee- but not because it was mothers day- because he had concocted a new coffee “recipe” and he wanted me to try it. Before I could finish my coffee I had to go downstairs and clean up a gigantic mess from Louise as the knucklehead hadn’t let the girls out of the house as soon as he woke up, and Louise can’t hang on too long… I went back to bed for a while but I was getting hungry and attempts to wake my husband gently were unsuccessful. I went to get breakfast and discovered there was no cold milk for me to have with my cereal (I loathe warm milk) and there was no defrosted bread to make myself toast with. There were also no eggs.

We were due to go to my parents for lunch at 1pm, and at 10am-ish I decided I needed cheesecake and wanted to try ExMi’s recipe, but I had to head to the shops to get the ingredients to make one.

So I put on some shoes, informed the two men in my life- in no uncertain terms- that for next year’s mothers day I want a fuss. I want every cliché in the book. I want to sleep late and be woken with breakfast and coffee. I want cards, flowers and chocolates. And I want to be wished a happy mothers day by the two men in my life, even if the rest of the planet is wishing me a happy mothers day via Facebook, Twitter, text message, Whatsapp and BBM! The knucklehead grunted an “okay” without even looking up and my Glugs apologised, and the rest of mothers day was pretty cool. The family was over at my folks’ place for a delicious soup lunch and I had champagne to drink, and we went home in the evening nice and relaxed.

But the point of my blog post is not to whine about my mothers day. The point is that I should have known better. I really do not have a leg to stand on when it comes to complaining about husbands. My darling Glugster knows exactly what I like and he regularly surprises me with all kinds of little things for no reason at all. It truly is the little things you know. I mean really- I have five cats and two dogs and I am raising a guide-dog puppy! If we could afford it he would allow me to take home every kitten we come across!

I know that most men do not pick up on hints. Most men are not psychic. Leaving a catalogue open on the bedside table is not going to get you anywhere. I know this. If you want to be spoilt on mothers day, Valentines day, your birthday- whatever- TELL THE MEN IN YOUR LIFE WHAT YOU WANT! Tell them the date and the occasion. Tell them what you would like! And don’t sulk if you get no attention!

A Long Overdue Week Away…

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Last week Friday, my husband and I set off for Midlands Saddle and Trout in KZN to spend the week there with my mommy and daddy darling at their timeshare!

We’d been planning it for months and even after we learned our sweet Nathan’s memorial service was on the Thursday before we were due to leave, we decided not to change our plans and make the most of the chance to get away from everything. We also couldn’t really change the dates as my daddy darling’s dialysis bags were delivered to the resort as was arranged months before.

The drive down was pretty uneventful. We left Gauteng after 10am so we missed the worst of the traffic, and the roads were clear because we were going down out of season. My Glugster and my dad shared hethe driving with my mom and I chatting up a storm in the back seat- to each other and on our BBM Groups! We stopped in Harrismith for lunch before finishing our journey at the exceptionally well appointed resort cottage!

There was one family event planned for the Saturday (a bit of a reunion of sorts for my mom’s family), and a couple of visits to my granny darling in Howick were arranged. The rest of the week was ours to do with as we pleased. And we did exactly as we pleased! We strolled around the resort. We looked for birds. We slept late. We talked to the resort’s horses (who you are not allowed to feed). We played Scrabble. We ate too much. We drank too much wine. We were hoping to do some fly-fishing but the licenses were a tad pricey, and the horsey outrides also weren’t cheap so we didn’t ride at all. There was next to no 3G signal so we couldn’t spend time on line, and the phone signal was horrible too so even calls were limited!

On the Sunday morning- after my Glugster reminded me that it wasn’t actually Tuesday- I took a chance and phoned Cath-tastic! I was ecstatic when she said she and her sweetheart had no plans and we set off for their house in Doibs a little while later. I was even more excited when she let me know that B and her SexyG would be there too! We had all of two hours to put away a couple of Pina Coladas and some bubbly, but it was SO totally worth it to be able to give Cath and B some real-life hugs!

On the Monday morning we went to visit my granny darling in Howick, taking the scenic route along the Midlands Meander instead of the highway.

On Wednesday we spent most of the day touring a part of the Midlands Meander, bird watching, taking our time, sampling cheese, eating chocolate, waffles and biltong, admiring horses and shoes, and playing with goats!

On Thursday my folks went to see my granny darling again and my Glugster spent a rather arduous day helping out with a crisis at work, which with a better signal would have taken perhaps an hour! But we stayed at the house and I made supper for the four of us and we just chilled.

Friday morning we lit out for home again, stopping again in Harrismith for coffee and making excellent time!

It was such a wonderful week.

Party Animals – Pay Attention!

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YAY YAY Sass and Chantal!!

The competition is closed!

I have two – thats right, TWO – six month memberships to Good Fellas to give away from SAB Reality Check!

SAB has come up with an online game, called ‘Last Round’, and it begins where most nights out end: with the player making his/ her way home after a good party and one too many drinks!

The player is then presented with a few options of how best to get back home where each choice leads to a different outcome, but the message is simple: if you drink and drive you will regret it!

One of my biggest concerns now is that my twenty one year old son (AKA the knucklehead) can’t get home because his ride is drunk, or he is too drunk to walk home, and since he was very young I have told him I will fetch him from anywhere no matter what time- rather than have him drive or walk home drunk. Good Fellas is the ideal way to make sure that doesn’t happen!

You must be over 18 to play the game and to win the prize, and you connect via Facebook so you don’t need to remember yet another password!

To enter, tell me in the comments (with a valid email address please so SAB can contact the winner) what you have done in the past to find a smart way home!

Competition closes at midnight on Thursday 10 May 2012 and you must be in South Africa!