Holding on by my fingernails...

Sounds dramatic doesn't it! No, no extreme life changing things going on except that its that time of winter that I start longing for longer daylight hours and warmer weather....and hanging on by my fingernails. At work, I feel somewhat human but by the time I get home in the dark I feel like I'm running on my hamster wheel again, using a lot of energy but never getting anywhere, just repeating the same tasks over and over again.

Shopping in the icy evening air after leaving the warm cocoon of my office, nursing my geriatric and possibly terminally ill car homeward, arriving home to a messy house (which I had left tidy a mere 8 hours previously), cooking supper and tidying up the kitchen, feeding the animals. I sit down to watch a bit of tv or to indulge in my new favourite hobby of knitting, and half an hour later I start to feel sleepy. In the morning, I get up early, watch a bit of tv and then I'm late because I've got behind in the cleaning up of the living room area which I need to get done before work.

Sometimes I'm tempted to just stay at the office... This space is just mine alone (except when my boss pops in).

I'm sure it'll be better when spring arrives. Just another 7ish weeks to go!

Dael attended the fanpark at the beach for the soccer final. The weather was icy. He caught the shuttle bus down from the Pavilion shopping centre. He went with friend 'S'. Bradley didn't go. My car was newly fixed and I hadn't even wanted to make that trip down to Westville but because Dael had diligently worked on fixing the oil problem for most of Saturday, I humoured him and sponsored him the money for transport down to Durban. I left him to catch the bus at about 2.30pm. At about 9.15pm and about halfway through the game, I was already tucked up in bed, not expecting to have to go and fetch Dael because the plan was for him to stay all night with the fans and have fun. Because of the icy weather I was kind of expecting plans to change though and they did. He phoned from Durban to say that he would leave just as the game ended and catch the bus back up to the shopping centre and could I fetch him. I complained, my car complained and started to play up on the way back home again. I wasn't happy but Dael learned a valuable lesson. He is a creature of habit and after an evening of fun, he likes to come home. No such thing as staying out all night for him. He had a bad backache from all the walking to get where they had to be and from the cold. After a cup or two of hot coffee and some painkillers, he was out like a light! He said afterwards that he should have given the fanpark a miss and just used the money to go to his usual club on the Saturday night. Oh well, life is made up of these experiences.

I have completed 5 toys so far, an aeroplane, kitten, monkey, duck and mommy and baby kangaroo. I almost sold the monkey! I'm enjoying the hobby a lot.

Bradley is back to school, albeit with a very sad face every day. Today is first soccer practice and he has gone prepared. I am hoping that the second half of this year will see improved maturity and motivation towards school however onerous he considers it to be. Even if seen as a necessary evil, as long as it achieves the desired result, it will be worth it.

Dael has proven himself to be a totally committed and motivated person when faced with an engine to fix. He tackled the oil problem (which is basically cleaning out a sieve into the oil sump). This should have been sorted out previously by the garage to which I was taking my car for this very same problem last year. Thousands of rands spent and I still had sludge in my sump. That alone is enough reason for my son to learn mechanics. However, his extreme concentration and focus and commitment in terms of time when fixing an engine is a big incentive for me to continue to try and get him into this field of work. On the job training would be the ideal situation for him.

Everything around me seems to be freezing up in this cold snap. Even our work sliding complex gate is acting up. Yesterday, it wouldn't close once it was open. Today, the phone rings to indicate someone at the gate (intercom works through the phone) but no voice can be heard and no signal sent to the gate to open. Murphy's law dictates that this must be the very day that I get a lot of visitors. I think I have had to get up about 5 times with my remote and walk halfway up the parking area to get close enough to the gate for the remote signal to open the gate. Extra exercise for me today! The last time I let in a visitor, two monkeys were balancing across the top of the gate but as they felt the gate move, they catapulted into the bush in fright. It must be warming up a bit if the monkeys are coming out of hiding. The weatherman says another cold front is on its way from the Cape and that Jhb area will be freezing again from Thursday with it being only 11 deg. C during the day and Zero at night. This will affect us in KZN too but not nearly as badly as in other parts of the country.

My poor cats are battling hugely in this weather and I actually left the heater on for them to snuggle up to this morning. When I sit down to knit in the evening, the cats pile on. The small ones are okay but when the big chaps come and squash on top of everyone else, I get aggravated. I try to knit, lifting my arms higher and higher so that my knitting needles are almost poking me in the face and then I throw everyone off! Mean mommy but I also need my relaxing space. I'm not just a glorified cat pillow! By next winter I have got to get hold of some cat igloos for my cats to snuggle inside. Its getting a bit much now.

Oh and my ADSL connection was giving me a message from this Monday that I had reached my internet cap and I couldn't get onto any international websites but could only access South African websites. All of a sudden this morning late, I could get on again. Maybe someone at Head Office paid the account or maybe its a glitch. I'm not arguing and I thought I would quickly type a post before I get switched off again!