The Witch is Dead (and Other Good News)

Ding dong, the witch is dead. Which old witch? The wicked old witch.

No more Trump guys! Okay, he's not a witch but the feeling's the same. From a satire piece I read the other day, I like to imagine that come January, he will disappear in a cloud of cheeto dust. And it feels so good. As a Brit, I can only be pleased that our own right wing leaning Prime Minister has lost his mate. Let us hope our next election garners us a similar result.

I Painted a Pebble and I Liked It

I did, rather a lot actually. So here's a short and lighthearted (non-political, easy reading) post about my new found love of painting stones. I'm guessing some of you may have heard of the painting and hiding pebbles thing huh? I'm not exactly sure if it's popular further afield but certainly here in the U.K. it's become so in many parts of the country.

Guess Who's Back

Well I'll be. Not sure what I'll be, not a monkey's uncle that's for sure albeit the correct idiom to express my shock and surprise at the fact that ... I am blogging again! 

Bit like riding a bike, I'll wobble and bump my way back in - bear with me as I find my voice. Possibly a new one hey, as we have all grown and changed since I was last here. So much so, I find some of my earlier posts make me cringe! Although I do manage to resist the urge to edit them.

Sporadic Blogging Causes Mixed Posts

I'llllllll just casually drift right back into my blog shall I? Sneak in by the back door and start writing a post, hoping nobody noticed I've been gone.

Do you know, there's so damn much going on in the world right now; choosing what to write about when I do find the time very quickly uses that time .... so we end up with mixed posts like this one.

But that's okay, it can be kinda cool. Just look at all the topics we can cover in one post if we try.

South African Ways: Things That Will Never Leave Me

I lived in South Africa for almost seven years and it probably wouldn't surprise you to know that it has kind of rubbed off on me.

Which makes it sound like a hairy dog that just brushed passed my leg and coated me with dog hairs, but the 'rub off' is actually a whole lot more pleasant than that.

Here, in no particular order, are a list of things that South Africa has given me that I will never lose. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I cannot see any of these not being a part of my life forever more.

Settling In

Howzit all! (Like I have so many readers ...).

Another quick post done on my phone, to let you know that we are settling in nicely in the U.K. Actually been here one month today, which has flown by.

Yes, it's a bit colder than Africa but you know what? We've had blue sky and sun for over a week now so I have high hopes for Summer. Even unpacked my flip-flops, oh yes.

Interesting Facts: Well I Never No. 9

Three Cool, Useful or Otherwise Interesting Things I Didn't Know a Month (or so ...) Ago.

Look what I learnt recently!

1. We Go Wrinkly When We're Wet for a Reason

Via: www.gettyimages.com

You know you've been in the bath too long when your fingers start pruning, but it's not just a sign that it's time to get out. Back in our more hunter gatherer days, we were barefoot and we had many a terrain and weather condition to contend with in our nearly 100% outdoor lives. Now imagine it's peeing it down and you're trying to scale a rock face to get a clearer view of that wildebeest you intend on having for dinner. Or you're walking through wetlands, foraging and trying to pick up wet things. As we get wetter, our wrinkly fingers and feet work like tyre tread to give us better grip in wet conditions. Why haven't we evolved this away? Because we're generally a quite clean species, and we like like to get wet on a regular basis. Our bodies don't know that we're just having a shower, and not trying to scale a waterfall.

Spring is Coming!

My favourite time of year, my favourite time of year … doo doo doo, tra la la, Spring is coming guys.

WARNING: Fully expect now a cheesy post about Spring. Those of you about to enter Autumn, I apologise in advance because ... SPRING IS COMING!!!

The coming of Spring in South Africa is so frikkin tangible, I can feel it with all of my senses. And today is September the 1st, considered here the first day of Spring.

Winter is dry, dry, dry. Everywhere you look outside, you can see

yellow and brown. Even the trees with some green left on them have a yellowed tinge to them and the ground is dusty and cracking.

Dear Readers (dramatic pause) I AM BACK!

Hello! *waves frantically* Anyone there? Gee, there's cobwebs everywhere and look at the dust...

Not as Excited as Me. *

I've been without a computer (other than my teeny, but awesome phone) since February and you won't believe how excited I am to be sitting in front of my (secondhand) new one now, typing with all of my fingers on an actual real keyboard!! Which makes me sound a bit archaic, I know - I should be blogging from my tab, no? But then I don't have one of those either so you can see why ANYTHING other than typing with my thumbs while squinting at a teeny tiny screen would be welcome.

Who knew I would miss the blogging world so much? Oh ... okay, I knew. Anyone that knows me could have figured it out too but yoh, it feels good to be back!

And after months away, you'd think I'd be bursting with post ideas, have notebooks full of notes and drafts huh? But it surprised me how much it effected me, knowing that I couldn't actually POST anything. I stopped wanting to write anything, went into a writing lull if you will. In fact, when I first sat down this morning I couldn't think what to say at all!

8 Cool Facebook Pages: Facebook's Still Cool, Right?

If you use Twitter or have any friends or family members under the age of 25 then you'll have probably heard the theory that Facebook is just, well ... not cool anymore.

I'm 42, which means I no longer get a say on what's cool of course.

Ha ha ha yeah right.

But I beg to differ and give you the following Facebook pages that are all cool to Like. Well, I think so anyway.

Note: A lot of them come from websites originally and I'm not including my Blogging friends in this list, mainly because there's so many good ones out there that they deserve a shout out of their own some day.

Just Writing

I've got three posts (yes, three) in my drafts and today I don't find myself wanting to finish any of them.

But I do want to write, so this could be interesting. I wonder what I'll write about? At this point ... I have no plan! Blogging by the seat of my pants.

Photo Credit

It reminds me of a post I read on Mistys Laws this week, 'The Neverending Nothingness', in which Misty ... simply writes.

And another post I read recently by Becca on 25toFly called 'Blogging Bureaucracy', in which Becca questions why and when the love for blogging and writing themselves, get overtaken by the want for a larger audience?

They both hit home with me. I too have fallen prey to being so busy trying to gain followers, please who I thought was reading (sooo ... my best friend and my Dad?) and SEO the hell out of my posts, that I forget sometimes just to write.

And so today, I just write ...

Caring and Sharing Social Media: And a Brand New Page

Totally unnecessary pic

Do you know (leaping right in) as I sit here at my desk at home, ignoring the chores that should really be done all around me, you'll find me in a jovial mood.



Possibly has something to do with the six squares of Dairy Milk I just found in my desk drawer and devoured. Who knows?

Either way I find myself with both time and internet (you don't know how rare that is) to bang a little post out, so to speak and I've been meaning to do just that for quite a while.

Huge Jungle Gyms: New House: Random Blah, Blah

Honestly? I'm sat here at 7:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning, partially distracted by the fact that I currently share the computer screen. I have the bottom half for writing and my freshly awakened boys, Tallen and Nate, have the top of the screen for viewing 'Ice Age 3'.

Hubby's having a much deserved lie in, everybody's happy. And you'll note I make sure to include myself in that happiness, oh yeah.

Point being, I sit here keen and eager like a beaver to write a post, the computer's just returned home after nearly three weeks away so you can imagine my excitement BUT just like a kid who's running off to play in the garden without suncreen or shoes on .... I'm underprepared.

As has more recently been the case with me, I sit here with no idea what I'm writing a post about. My High School English Teacher would be tutting at me.

WTF expect a random post then, let us just enjoy the fact that a NEW post is up! Ha Ha! Go on, laugh with me. Let's just wing it. It'll be fun.

New Business Ideas?: Where's Your Head at Woman!

Was that Basement Jaxx? I think it was. Video with monkeys. Whoever it was, I now have that tune as a kind of soundtrack to my blog post. In my head that is.

iPod's do that also, you ever thought this? Give us a kind of soundtrack to our daily lives when we're out walking or public transport-ing somewhere. You can even remove one ear piece when there's need for social interaction or conversation and you'll get a kind of fade out effect in your soundtrack, just like they use in the movies. Cooool.

And there, in the first two paragraphs of this blog post, lies my exact problem. Clear for all to see.

Where TF is my head at?

Writing on Other Sites: I've Been Moonlighting Again

Do you remember Moonlighting, that 80's TV show with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd? The title of this post just got me reminiscing, I was a big fan. Oh yeah.

davidandmaddie.com

They were Detectives, in case that isn't apparent from the picture.

And I digress.

See how I write? Just a constant babble really. A flow directly from my brain to the keyboard to my blog.


Hardly surpising then that I find I have 'excess thoughts' that end up on my PC without a home to go to. I mean, if I posted on WeezaFish as many times as I thought about posting on WeezaFish, well. Let's just say it would be hard to keep up. And you'd probably get bored or something.

Cats and Dogs and Hair EVERYWHERE!

At the risk of doing a bit of a boring post about pets, I'm going to do exactly that!

I hereby promise that my next post will be cool and edgy. And not about pets.

Remember the two cats we stumbled across in our back garden rescued, Black and Jetta? Now fully grown big boy cats both doing well and both very much at home with us now.

Jetta and his new 'brother'.

They also have a friend. We haven’t named him yet because we didn’t officially adopt him. He just joins them at every meal and eats whatever they leave him after they’ve done. Which wasn’t much, so we got him his own bowl … and suddenly we have three cats!

It seems a bit odd to us that there would be so many cats in need of a home and a good feeding in our area, we're wondering if this new cat is in fact a brother, from the original litter we rescued. His colouring's different to Black and Jettas, but very similar to their Mums.

And me not really a cat person. How did I end up with a 7kg bag of ‘Catmor’ in my kitchen cupboard FFS?!

Back to Normal & Bye Bye Aunty Laura

Whatever the heck normal is, I think I may have forgotten.

Just after my sisters visit, like literally the morning after she departed, I was struck down with a very nasty Stomach Flu.

I ached from head to toe, my sinuses blocked so severly my head pounded all day and all night and for six or seven days I couldn't eat, move without hurting or do much of anything at all really.

I am better. Far from recovered as yet, but better.

I'm left with a nasty cough, very tense and sore stomach muscles (all that coughing) and I haven't got my appetite back yet. Which, for anyone who knows me and my love of food, is totally out of character. I'm having to tell myself every day to eat.

Oh, and the strong sinus meds I'm taking kind of ... well, trip me out!

It could be fun, Hubby says I should enjoy the trips, and they are kind of fun. I feel spaced out and a little fuzzy, prone to giggles and unnecessary grinning.

Hard to work though, I'm a bit worried I may do something silly in my 'airy fairy' head.

I decided to post instead, a wacky little post I can look back on later and laugh at! Good idea? Maybe not, but here goes anyway ....

Real Love, not Perfect Love

I don't know about 'most folk' (whoever the heck they are ...) but my life's experiences of love and relationships, thus far, hasn't exactly been text book.

But then, there isn't a text book hey? I guess that's the point. But like a lot of young teenage girls all I knew about love at a young age was romantic fairy tales and rescued princesses. Real life can hit a bit hard after that.

If I ever have a daughter I will try and teach her to be strong, independent and in control of her life and body. I'll also tell her to expect to kiss a lot of frogs, maybe even marry one or two, before she finds her Prince. Nay, King. And when she finds him, don't expect a Perfect Love. Instead, look for a real love. Keeping it REAL people.

I remember my first experiences from the age of about 12 or 13, lots of snogging competitions (who can go on the longest without coming up for air) and all the usual teen exploratory stuff but I didn't even consider a relationship or anything like one until I was well into my thirties. I held on to my virginity until I was 18 and my solemn belief in 'true love' gave me an inner strength to hang on in there for the real thing.

And hang on I did.

Hooray for the New South Africa!

Political? Me? Not normally on my blog. Should I comment? I'm a Brit living in South Africa, and I have lived here for over four years with my Joburger Hubby who has lived through and therefore understands his country and it's people far better than I ever could.

But Hubby doesn't blog, so it's my half arsed opinion you're reading ha!

Two things happened recently, both first time occurences for Hubby and I since we've been together and living here, but by no means (far from it) unusual situations for an average South African to find themselves in.

Firstly, we got pulled over in our vehicle by the police last week. Let us just say, to protect the innocent and yet make clear the story, that we had just called on an 'aquaintance' of ours to make a ... 'purchase'. The police vehicle followed us as we left, and pulled us over less than five minutes down the road.

These cops were on a mission, and they were following a set routine.

First, they ask Hubby to step out and they search him. Then they ask me to step out, there's three male officers all now out of their vehicle, one of them talking to Hubby, one of them searching the car and the other now telling me to "search myself" as he's not allowed by law to search a female.

I Got My Mojo Back

It may be a slightly tentative position but for now, at least, I have my mojo back. Don't go all Austin Powers on me, I'm not talking about my sex drive. More my energy.

I'm sleeping well again!! Yay!!

Not long back I was suffering from a severe lack of sleep and moreover, broken sleep. I blogged about it here and at the time I thought it had a lot to do with my kids (LOVE those little tykes) and their sleep patterns. I tried a few different things .. thanks for the tips, it all helped because in the end, a few good nights kip was all I needed to break the old routine.

My kids slept well most nights, I just had to stop myself waking up in the early hours to 'check on them'.

And now (I can hear a drumroll, is it just me?) I've broken the habit. Sleeping like a log most nights. Hoo-f*@king-rah I could kiss Celine Dion right now, I'm so happy.