Busy house and a Birthday Girl!

Its been raining again since Sunday. Its not much fun at the coast anymore. Whats the use of the beach if its always raining!

On Friday evening, Bradley discovered a patch of dampness on the bed and as it was the second time, with me having found a little damp patch before, I decided that the kittens had to move. I took their whole box and put it in a corner of the kitchen. They are like different kittens now, interacting with the other kitties, playing and jumping and stalking, using the litter box and sampling the other food. I can think of no better way to train the littlies than to let them watch the bigger cats and copy them. They are also getting socialised and used to all the strange cats! Amazingly, its their own older siblings who were the most averse to them, hissing when they came near but all seem to be getting used to each other.

A good thing about the wet weather is that is forces Sabrina to stay inside and there's no sun to burn her ears and nose. She is healing nicely now but it will be an ongoing effort to make sure she doesn't damage herself again.

Saturday was spent in cleaning house due to the imminent arrival of my son and his father from Jhb as well as helper, Ishmael. I did a bit of shopping in the irritatingly crowded shopping centre in town and then popped in to see my parents on my way home. I didn't think I would get a chance to pop in on Sunday as my visitors were arriving then and my parents are away for a short holiday this week.

After another morning of Springcleaning (really with this rainy weather, what else is there to do), my visitors from Jhb arrived. Dael was hyped to come back home to Durban but after three days of rain, he wants to go back to the sun in Jhb.

It is little Rachael's 3rd birthday today and her mom phoned through this morning so she could speak to her dad. After he had wished her and chatted about her toys, I got on the line and spoke to her. She loves cellphones. I sang Happy Birthday to her, my voice cracking with emotion as I tried not to cry. She was giggling, so happy to hear the birthday song sung for her and trying to sing along at the same time. Unfortunately it is her second birthday that he has been away from home for, due to working away from home at the time but her mom and her big sister and I always try and keep the magic alive so that it is a memorable occasion for all the kids.

Rachael, the Birthday Girl! Happy Birthday, cheeky monkey!

All going well with the job, the Jhb gang should be returning to Jhb on Thursday, dragging with them Bradley and Chris, who has asked to hitch a lift to his relatives in Jhb for Christmas. Bradley is all packed and raring to go. He thought that the return trip would be today so prematurely packed what seems to be every item in his cupboard in two overflowing bags.

I cooked a big meal for the hardworking crew last night. Pork sausages left whole in a stew of cubed potato, butternut and baked beans, all dished over mashed potatoes - wholesome and filling. Supper was ready as they walked in the door and was shovelled down fast. Thank goodness I am used to cooking for a multitude so am able to make a little go a long way. I'm buying macaroni and bacon bits tonight to make macaroni cheese with bacon, always a favourite with all and usually eaten with fresh buttered bread on the side. Yum! Don't know how much genuine cooking I'll be doing once the mob has gone. Its probably going to be easier to just join my mom's table a couple of times a week.

Robynne phoned me late yesterday afternoon to tell me that her car was leaking petrol...fast. She is the one responsible for fetching Trish and the two little girls in the absence of her father and now her car was playing up again. She had left the office on her way to pick up the family, discovered the problem and managed to limp her car back to her office. She was almost crying in frustration at having another problem with her car but had secured a lift home with the office driver and had phoned Trish to let her know that she had to make alternative arrangements to pick up the kids and get home. I chatted with her for a while and then had to leave myself as I still had to get to the shops and pharmacy and get home. A while later, she phoned me at home to say that the clever company driver had crawled under her car and discovered a pipe that was half out and causing petrol to spill out. She had also spoken to her dad and he was of the opinion that someone had tried to steal her petrol. Now she had been doing stocktaking earlier that day at her company's warehouse and her car had been parked outside on the street during this time so it is a likely probability. She reckons she lost about R100 worth of petrol. She was extremely thrilled that it wasn't another serious problem but obviously she is now aware that you just cannot leave your car on any street in Jhb and expect it to remain unmolested! How sad and just plain wrong. We have an alternative career choice in good ol' RSA and that is Car Guard and sometimes they are the only deterrent that you have against car molesters!

More later...

Another side to Santa...

A Christmas Story for people having a bad day:

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor.

In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor.

He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree!

Nothing like a cold shower to wake me up!

I had fallen asleep on the couch last night while watching tv but was awakened by a shower of something wet all over my face. Sabrina had been sitting on my hip and she went leaping as I immediately sprang up and headed for the bathroom to wipe my face with a facecloth. I realised that she had a problem with her ears which are still healing from their operation but since it was the middle of the night and I was barely awake, I just switched off the lights and went to bed.

In the morning, I investigated and discovered her one ear is bleeding, probably from scratching so I hauled out the collar again and cleaned it off nicely, replacing the yucky bandage which secures it to Sabrina's neck with a fresh piece. I also padded the sharpish edges of the collar with some elasticised plaster which hopefully should prevent it from cutting into her neck. Last step was to slather her ear and her nose which she also keeps damaging, with ointment. She was non too happy I can tell you.

Early in the morning still but just before I got up, I again heard a sound which would have most people jumping up to investigate. Glass breaking! But I am so attuned to the movements of my cats that I just knew even in my half asleep state that it was 'only' a drinking glass left on the coffee table from the evening before that some cat had jumped against and broken. For some reason when they come through the 'cat/dog door' they can't just run past the table on their way to the kitchen. They have to jump onto the table and off the other side, wreaking havoc on their way across. I usually keep the table clear because of this. Cats - 1 - Crockery - 0!

The little kittens, at almost 5 weeks old, are running around on the bed in my room where they are based. Their mommy removed them from their box and made a nest on my bed on one of my pillows. The beige boy is the noisiest and whenever he hears one of us, starts meowing loudly and comes running for attention. The orange boy is quiet but can be playful and also gets around quite a lot. The little orange girl is much shorter legged than her brothers and although she does get around when she wants to, is generally very quiet and placid, just cuddling up in a corner behind the pillows and always seems to be lying on her back. Funny little kid.

Bradley has finished exams now and as his father is coming down to KZN next week to do a job, has decided to return to Jhb with him to be with his extended family. He will miss the last two weeks of school but there doesn't seem to be much happening there anyway. So I will be on my lonesome ownsome for a few weeks. It doesn't phase me too much as at least he will be entertained and I can just completely relax for a couple of weeks. I will only finish work on about the 22nd December and Bradley will probably return to KZN with his sister, who intends driving down on the 23rd, just in time to spend Christmas with the family.

I must say with all the hype building up for the Christmas Season, I am leaning toward low-key and relaxed after a rather hectic and changeable year. My mother has always made a big deal out of Christmas and they start buying Christmas meat as it comes on special from about August. She makes huge quantities of shortbread and mince pies and her Christmas fruit cake which my dad ends up eating until April of the next year. She changed the Christmas dinner to Christmas Eve a few years ago so that on Christmas Day she is not so overloaded that she ends up not enjoying the day but she still ends up laying out a generous spread on Christmas Day itself. She always has a real tree to the ceiling, perfectly laid table in the Christmas theme with candles and flowers. Its a big production as she has 'catering bones' which unfortunately I haven't really inherited. When it comes to catering I would always rather just be the helper. In fact although my younger sister considers herself a cordon bleu cook and spends a lot of time watching the cooking channel, a lot of her dishes turn out to be too rich or unusual. I don't think any of my mother's daughters have the catering desire or stamina so it may be the end of an era when my mom decides that she's had enough.

In the meantime, we gather as many family members as we can and spend the festivities together with an awareness now being realised that in the future, family members may not be around, or may have other commitments on that day and we probably won't always have the privilege of being together as a family.

I like being Gorgeous!

Busy mom of 3 and all round friendly and interesting lady who goes by one of my favourite names, Cat at Juggling Act Of Life has bestowed upon me an unexpected gift....The Gorgeous Blogger Award.

The 'rules' of this award are:
By accepting this award I am to tell you six things about myself that you don't know and then award it to six other gorgeous bloggers.

I am the eldest of four children, all born within 5 years of each other.

I was painfully shy as a child and only had about 2 actual friends in high school, both of whom were better friends with each other than with me!

I used to hate condiments and salads such as tomato, gherkins and onions and burgers were picked bare before I ate them. I outgrew that.

I do not like peas and only buy them because Bradley likes them.

I used to love drinking chocolate in cold milk with lumpy Milo floating on top. I wouldn't drink it but gradually consume it with a teaspoon.

I needed about 10 hours of sleep a night in perfect darkness and quiet as a teenager. I got over that too!

I am passing this award to the following blogging friends because they are all truly Gorgeous:


Elizabeth from Elizabeth Bradley Bits & Bytes
Tammy from Forever Feline

Lulu from Small Town Lulu
Louisa from 123 Blog Myself
Roby from I'm Just A Girl
Kaleena from Living Life With Laney
Tamara from Doodles Of A Journo
Susan from Mother Jungle
Renee from Circling My Head
Barefootheart from Willow House Chronicles

I couldn't just stick to six nominees and this is by no means an complete list. I have just met so many Gorgeous Bloggers since I have been blogging.

Thanks so much for your ongoing support and friendship.