A weekend of impromptu

This past weekend was divine. And not so divine.

It was filled with lots of impromptu which always makes me happy. As much as I enjoy a planned affair, I always enjoy an impromptu affair so much more.  My DH does not like impromptu very much and our kids also require A LOT of preparation BEFOREHAND, so this does make it quite hard for us to have an impromptu/ lock-up-and-go kind of lifestyle.

We decided on Saturday morning to attend a fundraiser at Child2’s school.

Btw we are those parents who never attend fundraisers, especially if they take place on the weekends. I know it’s bad but I honestly have no guilt about it.  I usually send a donation or something (maybe) which may explain why I feel no guilt. Besides, Child2 doesn’t really cope well with the crowds and so on.

Anyway. There was a bit of forward thinking involved in this one – we were looking at cheap entertainment that included dinner.

We got to the school and Child2 started to scream. He knew that it was Saturday and that we don’t go to school late in the afternoon. Eventually when he saw that we were staying, he calmed down and went to go and play with his friends and his teacher.

It was our first time playing Bingo and we were lucky enough to win some really cool prizes.  Some people are quite serious about their bingo (especially the experienced old ladies) and extremely competitive. Was a lot of fun though and it ended nice and early so we were home by 20:30pm.

Yesterday. I made an impulsive purchase. If you know anything about me then you will know that I don’t easily buy things on impulse. Especially expensive things, hence the not so divine part of my weekend because my DH was completely unimpressed with me.  In fact, he was horrified. Even when I explained my vision wrt said impulsive purchase. Even when I told him that I got it at an awesome price that I would never in a million years get again. Eventually he got over it but not until he told me exactly what he thought.

I also got a call from a good friend yesterday. She’s having a birthday today and was feeling a bit lonely and wanted to go and have a pre-celebration drink. Of course I said yes. So she fetched me and we spent the afternoon together which I really enjoyed very much. We had loads of conversations about friendship – she’s where I was 2 years ago, and it was sooooo awesome to share my friendship journey and insights. We made a friends list there and then which she’ll put on a spreadsheet.

I didn’t get much sleep this past weekend which is probably why I am feeling extremely knackered at the moment. Saturday night the dogs in our street were having a barking competition and last night I was exhausted and just couldn’t fall asleep so ended up going to bed WAY TOO LATE. I did manage to finish one and a half books though so that’s all good. Sjoe. But Deon Meyer keeps me at the edge of my bed – I am officially a fan and I’m about to buy two more of his novels.

This week I have a lot of admin to sort out and I need to clean this house that is driving me insane! In fact, I started to clean my room this evening and it’s at the stage where it’s at the worst part before it gets better. Am trying not to twitch. But. I’m going back to cleaning it just now when I finishing publishing this post.

What does your week ahead look like?

Are you good at being impromptu? Are you impulsive with purchases?

Do you attend school functions (including fundraisers) if they take place on a weekend?

 

Tuesday: this and that

• I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment. When I try to write about them though, then the words just don’t sound right. Right now there are 9 half-written posts in my drafts folder. My plan is to take a few days and then try again – hopefully my brain will have settled by the end of the week.

• I had a lovely weekend. On Saturday I went wine tasting with 2 of my favourite girlfriends. Lots of laughs and connection and wine and chocolate and divine food. Was sooooo good for the soul.  My DH and I were meant to do something on Sunday. It didn’t work out and we ended up staying home which, in hindsight, was a good thing. Did you have a good weekend? 

• MIL has made a remarkable recovery and only her speech remains a (slight) issue. However, she is not being a very nice person at the moment. She’s very nasty towards her caregivers (who btw are FANTASTIC with her and make me realise that I will never be a Florence and that it’s no use fighting it) and is spreading all kinds of stories to the neighbours if she doesn’t get her own way. Only my DH and I are her favourites. I really don’t want to be her favourite – it’s too much pressure. This past weekend I was talking to my friend and I suddenly twigged that my MIL is depressed. It all became clear after that and I could see all the signs which, truthfully, have been there for quite some time. My DH and I spoke about it and he agrees but we have no idea what to do next. She’s a proud woman and would NEVER admit to being depressed. Any ideas on how to go forward with this? How would you deal with your parent if you were in this situation? 

 

• I was fascinated by the comments on this post. Doesn’t it just suck that we only realise certain things when we are adults? And that more often than not, the realisations only take place in the rooms of a therapist?  In my life, the issue stems from the fact that I am the oldest child and therefore more independent. My parents trusted me enough to just get on with it. They do love feeling needed and she was more needy than I was. Also, she’s extroverted (the opposite of who I am) and funny and therefore people are naturally drawn to her.  Which really is fine. I am completely OK with it but, like Sharon, it does affect me in that I never feel like I truly fit in anywhere.  My sister is a fabulous person and I love her a lot. We are working on our relationship (remember I wrote earlier this year about breaking up with my siblings?) and things are improving between us which makes me really happy.

• I just got back from an enjoyable evening at Craft Group. I am currently knitting a grey headband. The plan is to crochet a little flower or two to stitch onto said headband. I have tried to crochet before and was largely unsuccessful because I just cannot seem to hold that needle properly. I think with my knitting brain and  I need to put my knitting brain in the box and channel my crochet brain. Anyway. I’m going to give the crochet one last shot before I completely give up on it. When last did you try something completely new? Especially something that the rest of the world finds so easy??? And what are you currently creating?

 

• School started up again yesterday and I have to say that it went well, despite the fact that we had to get up an hour earlier to be on time. It wasn’t easy to get to school though because it was raining. I don’t know if you know this but, here’s a not-so-secret-fact: CT drivers have no idea what to do when it rains. They freak out, even when it’s only a few drops. Fortunately both kids were in a really good mood so there was much singing going on in the car. We are on Queen’s We are the Champions at the moment.

 

 

• I checked my calendar and I see that I have 2 socials this weekend. Oy. How did I manage to do that? I obviously wasn’t thinking. Child1 has a project due on Monday which means that we need to get it done by Friday which means that this first week of school is going to be a busy one. No easing into it around these parts.  In fact, I’m seeing Child1’s teacher next week and I spent some time today making up a (long) list of questions for her. How did your first day of term 2 go? 

That’s all I have from these parts at the moment. How are you? How was your Tuesday?

Everyone thinks they can call me Jules!

OK. So you all know that my name is Julia?

Well. The whole world and their dog and kids are now calling me Jules.  It annoys me a little.

Even Child2 now says my name correctly i.e. with all three syllables. Ju-li-a instead of Ju-la.

Everyone else, though, thinks I am Jules. Well.

Newsflash.

I am Julia.

If you do not share my bed or hang out with me fairly regularly, or if there is no real relationship or proper connection between us then I am JULIA to you. You would think that people would realise that?

It’s not like I even introduce myself as Jules. I ALWAYS introduce myself as Julia! And then they just decide that it’s OK to call me Jules exactly 1.5 minutes after they have met me?

Today I called my Boyfriend at work.  So the Receptionist (she knows her place and calls me MRS W…) transferred my call which was answered by someone else that I have never spoken to in my life – my Boyfriend has never ever mentioned this person either.

Here’s that conversation:

Person: Good Morning

Me: Good Morning may I speak to (insert my Boyfriends name) please?

Person: He’s currently in a meeting, may I take a message?

Person: IS IT JULES????

ME: After taking a VERY deep breath: “It’s actually Julia and yes, you may ask him to return my call”.

Seriously. This man who has NEVER met me calls me Jules! And it’s a common thing. I introduce myself and then by our seventh sentence I am Jules.

Is it normal for people to think that it’s OK to be so familiar?  Do you think I am being petty about this? My Boyfriend thinks I am. Ugh. What does he know?

Ps…blog/online friends are welcome to call me Jules.  Because we DO have a relationship/connection.

Check check check-in

So the other evening I went out for dinner with 2 of my girls.

Friend Y and I traveled in her car and the arrangement was that we meet friend O.

We arrived at our meeting place and Friend O wasn’t there yet. So we sat and looked through menus so long. Friend Y then realised that she left her phone in the car. She contemplated whether she really needed to go and fetch it – the car was parked in a secure parking area (we were at Cavendish) and her husband knew who she was with and so could reach her on my phone if necessary. Eventually (after about a minute of contemplation) she jumped up and said that she was going to fetch her phone because SHE NEEDED TO CHECK IN ON FACEBOOK!

Oh my hat. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Friend O arrived at that moment when she ran back to the car. I  told her where Friend Y went to and WHY she HAD to fetch her phone and she had a good laugh too! Friend Y then  came back with her phone, checked in on FB AND made sure to tag us as part of the update.

Anyway. It made me think AGAIN about the checking-in thing. I have never ever checked in ANYWHERE in my life!

I may include my whereabouts as part of a status update eg..having soooo much fun at the Sting concert. OR I may post a pic and include a caption like “ scones and tea with a spot of sewing at the Cape Grace”  or whatever.

But I have never actually physically done a check-in.  I have simply never felt the need to do it, mainly because it just feels weird. For me.

I don’t have ANY issues with people who DO check in, though I may get annoyed with them if they do serial check-ins.  Like more than 2 or 3 places a day.

Or if they are not responsible and safety conscious about it eg checking in at their kids schools and naming the school etc. THAT annoys me.

For the most part though, it’s all fine with me. I always say that you need to do whatever makes you happy so if you need to check in, then check in.

It DOES fascinate me though. Maybe because the serial check-in types never have a really good reason as to WHY they need to do it ALL THE TIME? Like 7 times a day or something?

Are you the type to check in? 

Why do you check in? 

Would you consider yourself a serial check-in type? 

Ps…I think I’m going to check in somewhere this weekend to see if it will give me some kind of thrill.

 

Escapism and the week ahead

So I had a seriously divine weekend.

It consisted of some socialising with SIL and her friends, beach swimming that left me feeling exhilarated and pumping with endorphins, playing with kids, visiting my parents, movies (I watched The Notebook and DID NOT CRY – could there be something wrong with me?), a trip to Wellington (about 100km away) and a divine braai and some more swimming with Leigh-Ann and her beautiful family. I am usually nervous to take Child2 to new people because of the fact that he’s so unpredictable, but he was just fine and we had a lovely afternoon.

I got into bed last night and had plans to read but I was completely knackered and fell asleep after about 5 minutes.  I was out cold by 21:10.

So yes, it was a BEAUTIFUL weekend.

Pure escapism from reality. I did not go onto SM (OK, I did just a bit – 10 minutes max for the entire weekend broken up into 3 little snippets), I did not read a single news report, I did not listen to any radio, I read only  2 blog posts so have loads of reading and comment catch-up lined up over the next day or so.  But seriously though. The silence and the lack of noise and the peace and the feelings of pure bliss that I experienced =  simply out of this world. I need to get back into NOT using SM on the weekends. I’m currently not there on during office hours so I know that it can be done.

This week I look forward to seeing Rodriguez whose music my DH introduced me to when we met.  Am too excited about this!

Child1 has a few projects coming up and so I’m going to have to spend a bit of time assisting him.

I have catch-up/goal setting sessions with all of Child2’s therapists.

AND my DH and I will be attending a wedding this coming weekend.  It’s a bit of a distance from where we live  so we’ll be sleeping out. Am excited about MORE adult time.

My Monday was a bit of a killer and I’m really thrilled to be home right now. Am off to bed in a minute or so.  Child1 and I are doing projects in my bed. Not ideal but right now it’s the only way I can help him.

How was your Monday?

Did you have a good weekend?

What’s on your agenda for week 8/52?

 

 

Six on Sunday

Well hello there.

It feels like ages since I did a proper catch-up post so I thought I’d do that now! How are you? I have been SUPER BUSY. In fact, these past two weeks have been crazy. So crazy that I haven’t really spent much time reading and commenting on blogs.  Have no fear though, this will change tomorrow when I will be doing a comment catch-up.  One thing is for sure, I am way too old to be going out EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK. It caught up with me in a BIG way and I have learnt my lesson! Anyway, some updates:

• I went to my first Let’s Get Crafty session with some really funky ladies this past week and I had soooo much fun! Can’t wait for the next one. Took some knitting along and decided that I would NOT start any new knitting projects until I completed all my half-finished ones. There are FIVE of those at the moment.

 

• I wanted to print some valentines day coupons for the boys (and my Boyfriend) today but everything is so pink and red and full of hearts i.e. so very girly! Any links for funky-looking coupons? Do share please?

 

• Earlier this week I was driving the car and on Tuesday morning on the school run, my brakes failed. It was the SCARIEST driving experience I ever had and I literally drove 20kph with hazards so that I wouldn’t need to stop. Thankfully I leave home early – I would NOT have coped in traffic. I stopped at a petrol station to put in brake fluid (at that stage the light on the dashboard flashed at me) and it made ZERO DIFFERENCE. Then I remembered that there was a workshop around the corner from Child2’s school. So I made my way there and it was closed (obviously). A guy pointed me in the direction of a mechanic (opposite the workshop) and I went to wake him. It was 7:20am and he was still in pyjamas! He looked at my car, pointed out the leaking brake fluid, invited me in for coffee, took his daughter to school and then kindly gave me a lift to work. THANKFULLY he fixed it all by the end of the day and he brought the car back to my workplace. I am trying REALLY HARD  not to twitch about the fact that I paid R2620 for all the fixing but at least it’s sorted now. I guess this just means that I’ll lose A LOT of weight because I will have to NOT EAT or something?

 

• I bought Child2 his first pair of flip-flops (the one without the strap around the back of the ankle) this past weekend.  Quite by chance. We were on our way somewhere and I realised that both kids were shoe-less. So I stopped at a Pep Stores en route to our destination and bought a pair of el -cheapo flip flops for both of them.  I usually only buy him the ones with the strap around the back but they didn’t have any of those.  Child1 was fine. However, Child2 was a scream! Child1 and I could not stop laughing at him while he tried to figure out how to walk with these strapless flip-flops. At one stage he was even walking in the parking area with his legs bent. It was too funny! Anyway, he eventually got the hang of it (eventually figured out how to walk that they  DON’T slide off his feet) and now they are all that he wants to wear. He’s too cute!

 

• Last week Monday I went out for pizza  with two old friends.  We scheduled it ON SUNDAY NIGHT!  We didn’t drink. But we may have been the loudest people in the restaurant. My friend said that it’s the restaurant’s fault for allowing us in. It was a scream! Soooo much fun and the perfect Monday night.

 

• Child1 doesn’t appear to be getting a lot of homework. I never thought I would hear myself say this but it bothers me a bit. I need for my child to AT LEAST have Maths and English homework every single day. The pregnant teacher gives him Maths, English and Science. She DID mention that she pushes them a lot within the classroom environment so that it’s not necessary to give too much homework or rather, so that it’s not necessary to give ANY homework.   I feel that this lacks foresight. Child1 DOES need to learn to manage and create balance in his after-hours life – this IS what will be expected of him next year and subjects like Maths only improve with LOTS of repetition.  Also, who knows what her replacement will be like? Maybe the replacement will give mountains of homework and my child will not be used to those volumes? Well. I want him to do homework. So I have 2 options. I can go to her and voice my concerns and insist on homework. OR I can go all Tiger on my son and use my resources (free internet worksheets and study guides and x-kits, or I can look at signing him up for Kumon) and oversee this myself. What would you do? I spent my afternoon googling free school worksheet downloads. Tomorrow I will be doing A LOT of printing at work.

That’s it for the moment. This week promises to be a quiet one – thank goodness. I REALLY need one of those after the last two weeks. I plan to catch up with the cleaning and a bit of organising and admin at home and I think I will do something fun with the boys for Valentines. Not sure what yet.

How are you? How was your weekend? What does your week ahead look like?

Tiger Mommy – my final thoughts for the moment

I  usually judge a book on how much it elevates me out of my comfort zone, how hard it makes me think and by how much I talk about it afterwards. Well, I’m STILL talking about this book. To everyone I know! Most people in my office (including the childless ones) are now reading it and  I can’t wait for the conversations that we are going to have about it.

 

SO. This is what I LOVE about Tiger Mom:

 

I LOVE that Tiger Mom does NOT give two  hoots about how the public (and even her kids) perceive her. She has a very clear set of values and objectives, she recognises that she has a job to do, she sets goals and does whatever it takes to accomplish them and she does it in a way that SHE believes is best. Her focus does NOT waiver. And guess what? Her methods (whether or not we agree with them) actually DO produce her desired result.

I love that she challenges my thinking in a big way – I have one or two more posts about certain things that really made me think – I’ll publish them in the coming weeks.

I love that when her children do achieve (well, according to HER standards) then she doesn’t skimp. She is extremely proud of them and goes all out with the celebrations.

I love that she is confident in her parenting style and that she doesn’t really waste time and energy doubting herself.

I love that she EXPECTS greatness and that this is NOT NEGOTIABLE.

I love that she truly believes in her kids and that as far as SHE is concerned, they can do ANYTHING – she does NOT limit them  in any way.

 

This is what I REALLY don’t like about Tiger Mom:

 

I hate that she doesn’t truly listen to and hear her kids.

I hate that she’s actually very rude to them. I simply cannot condone name calling and insults and emotional abuse under ANY circumstances and I don’t care about the context in which it is done. It’s simply NOT OK to treat your child like that.

I hate that she makes a lot of assumptions and generalisations. Not all western parents are ruled by their kids, not all western parents embrace modern and pop culture and not all western parents  are helicopter-types. Subsequently, not ALL Chinese Mothers are Tiger-types either. Btw…there are fundamental differences between  helicopter moms and a tiger moms.  Maybe I’ll do a blog post on that.

I hate that she’s so competitive. I am not competitive (I really wish I could be) and I honestly and truly don’t mind competitive people. However, when being competitive affects HOW you parent, and when you are so set on winning and being THE BEST at the cost of your children’s emotional and social well-being and development, then I actually WILL judge you, because I cannot like a competitive person who loses perspective like that.

I hate that she loses sight of the fact that her kids are individuals. She wants to parent them in EXACTLY the same way. That would be quite fine if you are dealing with robots. However, it simply doesn’t work if you are dealing with actual humans.

 

My final thoughts – for now:

I really enjoyed reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It made me think long and hard. It made me re-assess certain aspects of my parenting. It made me see what kind of mother I am NOT. It made me see what kind of mother I CAN BE WITHIN REASON.  It made me see the importance of NEVER comparing your kids to one another and to others, and NEVER forgetting that they are individuals in their own right. Individuals with different needs and temperaments. Individuals who WILL respond differently to different situations. It made me see that there is no CORRECT way to parent.  How you parent should depend on WHO your child is.

 

I never want my kids to fear me. This stems from my own childhood and it fuels my parenting style in more ways than I realise. I need to work through this some more. THAT came out very strongly while I was reading this book.

 

I have read a number of reviews on this book and to be honest, I actually think that many of them are a bit unfair. From where I’m sitting, it looks like the reviewers take extracts out of the book (obviously all the ugly stuff) and base their review on only that extract,  which means that it’s not really in context. I never ever saw this book as a parenting guide –  I always saw it as a memoir and I think that this is where many of the reviewers fall short.

Tiger Mommy’s daughter started a blog to defend her mother after all the criticism that she received when the book was published. Interestingly enough, the blog is written by the older daughter (Sophia) who THRIVED under her methods.  Here’s the link to that blog.  I would LOVE for the rebellious daughter to start a blog. Or even better, to write a book on HER interpretation of being “Tigered”.

 

Ultimately, I WOULD recommend this book so do read it if you can. It’s well-written, it’s an easy, riveting read and if nothing else, it WILL make you think.

Have you read it yet? What are your thoughts?

What was the last book you read that TRULY challenged your thinking about HOW and WHY you parent the way you do?

 

Do you PUSH your kids?

As a child, my parents  didn’t push me to BE THE BEST.

They definitely had expectations (poor grades and laziness were absolutely NOT tolerated and a lot of the time I performed out of fear) but they trusted me enough to study and to get on with it. They trusted me enough to let me take responsibility for myself and they never stood behind me. There was not a single day where I had to be told to do my homework or to study for a test or for exams or to practice my music. I just got on with it.  If I had a problem with say, Maths or something, then I felt free to tell them about it and if they couldn’t help me, they paid someone who had the necessary skills to tutor or to coach me..

I was expected to try my very best and I truly believe that, at the end of the day, my parents wanted me to be happy.

So no. I can’t say that I was pushed to be better and better and better. I was pushed to be consistent and the work ethic and taking pride in your work thing was drilled into me.

I recently read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and boy, that Tiger Mommy takes the pushing to a whole new level. It REALLY made me think about the pushing thing A LOT.

I keep wondering where I would be in my life IF I had been pushed A LOT harder. Would I have struggled with certain things so late in my life? Would I have struggled with certain things if there were FEWER options available to me?

After having read this book, I keep wondering HOW MUCH MORE I can push my own kids.

Because truthfully, I don’t push them.

I expect certain things (try your very best, be respectful, say please and thank you etc) but I DEFINITELY don’t push them. When Child1 does badly in a test, then I go and see the teacher and together we figure out what went wrong and how we will go forward so that this doesn’t happen again. I never assume that perhaps Child1 just didn’t apply himself or give it his all on a particular day, because he DOES study and I do test him.

Fact is, I see both my sons as individuals and I do value their happiness more than anything. I want them to have choices and I want them to be happy with their choices. Could this be part of WHY I don’t push? Could I be afraid that they will become unhappy if I push?  Could I possibly be using their issues as an excuse not to push harder?

I am not competitive. At all. Could this be why I don’t push them?

My DH feels that I do push. Just a little. For goodness sake, I’m planning to mainstream Child2 and I have BIG plans for him – plans that at this stage are not negotiable.  I also have homeschooling on my brain for Child1 – because I TRULY believe that he’s never going to reach his full potential within a school environment. I believe that he can go MUCH FURTHER with ME being a Tiger.

So. Where to from here?

I am GOING to push HARDER and expect A LOT more because I KNOW that they can both do better in MANY areas of their lives.  I won’t go all hardcore and nasty and mentally and emotionally abusive like Tiger Mom and call my kids names or belittle them or anything – this is not who I am. I will do this within the context of WHO they are, something that I think Tiger Mom fails to do – deep down I do believe that this is her only regret.

I DO believe that if I don’t push more than I’m currently pushing then I’m essentially sending them a message that mediocrity is OK.

I believe that if I expect the basics then I’m going to get the basics.

I believe that being a parent is a gift, not a right. I have chosen this so it is up to me to create responsible individuals who achieve things IN SPITE OF their issues.

Even though I am not competitive, I need to put them in a position that THEY can compete if they need to. Because it’s no use I complain about the world boxing them and then I sub-consciously do the same thing.

Because ultimately mediocrity is NEVER OK, even though our  government thinks it is. Excellence is ALWAYS better. ALWAYS.

Do you PUSH your kids to be better and better at the cost of their social and emotional development?  Do you frown upon parents who are hardcore with the way they push their kids? Do you frown upon parents who don’t really push their kids?

If you do push, are HARDCORE about it?

So January was fun!

I started doing a month in review book last year but I didn’t have the erm attention span to keep it up.

I decided that I’m going to do it here every month possibly in addition to a goals post (to keep me accountable and to serve as a reminder that I need to do it and so I don’t forget to add in certain things) and then I’ll transfer the some of the info to my little book and add some pics and more personal things that I won’t post here.  Here we go:

Movies watched: 

Les Miserables –  Absolute Masterpiece. I LOVED it.

Taken 2 – Not better than Taken 1.

Django – I am not really a Tarantino fan but I REALLY enjoyed this movie.

 

Series:

Season 1 of Sons of Anarchy. Eish. It was a bit of a shock to my system but after episode 3 I was HOOKED! Can’t decide if I should start Season 2 or start with Season 1 of Heart of Dixie (I think that’s what it’s called) or season 1 of Downton Abbey. So many choices!

 

Create:

I covered LOADS of books and I’m working on a piece of embroidery. It would seem that I am VERY ambitious for a beginner. Trying to make a wall hanging thing which was meant to be a gift for someone . Needless to say, I’ll be keeping this one. May post a pic soon.

 

Books Read:

Jodi Picoult - The Pact – beautiful

Rick Warren – The purpose driven life – stunning. Still in progress. It’s not one of those books that you can read within a couple of days.

Francine Rivers – Redeeming Love – a bit long-winded but not too bad. I kind of liked it.

Amy Chua – Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother – I LOVED this book and took a lot out of it. It made me think LONG and HARD about HOW I parent and WHY I parent the way I do.  Right now I have a few blog posts in draft about it so do watch this space.

 

Kid outings – ALL free entertainment in CT:

Lots of swimming. St James, Dalebrook, Muizenberg, Sea Point

Green Point Urban Park – BEST PARK EVER

 

Concerts and shows:

Hot Water – They were SUCH a fun act and I LOVED them. Thanks to this group I can now Sakkie and Toyi Toyi

Hugh Masakela – LOVED LOVED LOVED.  He’s a VERY entertaining act. Do see him if you ever get the chance.

Karen Zoid – She was BRILLIANT! Afrikaners IS baie plesierig!

Mark Lottering’s one man stand-up comedy show  – I don’t work on Sundays – I expected more and can’t say that I will recommend it.

 

Celebrations:

Sister’s B-day

 

Things bought:

New bag – brown with turquoise accents. I LOVE it and EVERYONE compliments it!

2 basic t-shirts: one brown and one stone/beige one.

 

Friend Dates:

Karen Zoid with Friend E

Dinner with Friend E

Walk followed by tea and scones with Friend L

Cake and wine with Friend Y

Lunch with other friend L

Lunch time coffee with Friend C

Can I just mention that ALL these friend dates were impromptu meet-ups? I LOVE it!

 

Goodness me, January was a whopper with A LOT of fun times!

February is definitely going to be fun too – there are a number of group socials planned, as well as two weddings, a fancy dinner with my Boyfriends bosses and a night (or two) away! Am rather looking forward to it.

What fun stuff did you get up to in January and what fun things do you have planned for February? Can you recommend me a cool series to watch or maybe even tell me what you read recently?

 

Thursday: this and that

• I am home today with a tummy bug. It’s the first time in YONKS that I stay out of work for anything other than a chest issue. Not sure if I should be proud of that or what. Actually it does make me a bit happy in a weird sort of way.

 

• I found a really nice church that I like. I don’t quite know if I should stop looking and just stay there or what. Need to think about this some more. Do you normally continue to look even if you find something that you like or do you just stop right there with the search?

 

• There is someone in my life who is quite needy. I don’t do needy very well – this is why I can’t have anymore kids. I have spoken to the person about this and it would seem like I’m going to need to go hardcore. Do you do needy very well? If so, how? Because really, I ALREADY have kids!

 

• This past weekend I got a bee in my bonnet. I decided to home school Child1 for High School and I was googling myself into a frenzy to find a home school curriculum  Alas, there is NO WAY that I can do it. We need two incomes in our family and to be honest, I haven’t found many great blogs of Moms who homeschool high schoolers.  I am not sure I feel confident enough to pull this one off. So yes, he’s going to school.  Even though I KNOW that home schooling him would be best.

 

• It has been SUPER HOT in CT these past few days. I just about coped but it was NOT easy.

 

• I looked at my calendar last night and decided that my weekends were just too busy for this month. So I cancelled/postponed EVERYTHING that was happening on a Sunday because I really do need to have my Sundays free to rest and read and watch series and generally be all lazy and sloth-like.

 

• I have a wedding to attend on 23/02 and it’s quite far from where I stay. My DH suggested that I book a B&B close by so we could relax afterwards (it’s a family friendly, morning wedding) and sleep over. We decided to leave our kids at home and I am rather looking forward to this kid-free time with my Boyfriend!  There’s a pool at the venue so I may even swim afterwards! Am looking for a place to sleepover as I type this up

 

• Right now, I’m getting back into bed with Rose. Despite the fact that I am feeling a bit on the terrible side, I have LOVED having hours to just read.

How are you and how’s your day going? What does your weekend look like? My Saturday is chock-a-block. That’s why I NEED my Sundays to be free.