aerial patchwork

Back from a fabulous few days in Joburg. My second favourite South African city. Not that there's a whole lot to choose from or anything...

Lots to tell, lots to think and blog about, head feeling a little full and crazy. All in a good way. Raas kop leef.

But I did love these.

Shots of farmlands from the plane.

Wouldn't you love a patchwork quilt in these colours and patterns? 

Did you know those circular irrigation thingiemajigs are a South African design? We rock.

random tuesdayness

~ managing to brush my teeth and set the washing machine going while cradling a 14kg kiddie swathed in 2 blankets, clutching 2 dollies and a toy panda, makes me feel like a super-hero

~ after years of practise I am now able to drink a cup of hot tea while driving without spilling any on myself but I've yet to work out how to prevent my sunglasses from steaming up [and the sunglasses are non-negotiable so no, wise-asses, 'Don't wear them' is not a acceptable solution]

~ is it uncool to love a homeless person's coat so much you consider offering them 100 bucks for it? Would the more humane approach be to offer them a new (but obviously not as stylish) coat in exchange?

~ today the gods of green traffic lights smiled on me

~ I hate having to carry actual cash, bring on that implanted bar-code thingie in my forehead I say

~ sandwiches cut into little stars really are more appealing to toddlers. This is not just a cutesy-pie myth as I'd long suspected

~ after pondering for some time whether I'd rather eat a hedgehog or a rock, I've decided definitely a rock. All the pain in one mouthful.

~ I love my new shoes

craft catch-up: no.'s 21-24

Although I'm far behind on my target of 100 crafty type thingies for 2009, I've not been completely craft-less lately, just entirely too busy and distracted to post about them.

I've a couple more incomplete projects which I hope to list in the next few weeks, and I'm really hoping the mid-year spate of birthdays and celebrations will allow for some creative outlets. Of course all I really need is about a month of me-time and I'll be flying, but failing that (and I think we can check that off as a complete and utter FAIL), I try and do a little bit here and there and not get too frustrated ....

no. 21 ...

 ... little knitted hearts. I've been making these for some time, just kept giving them away without remembering to photograph them. These are the first things I've knitted since high school and I got mildly obsessed with them for a while. But I'm over that. For now.

no. 22 ...

... a silly little patch for a silly little hole in a silly little shirt.

no. 23 ...

... a baby shower gift & card.

no. 24 ...

... brandy snaps! Made for a lovely Mother's Day lunch with the family this afternoon. Served with double-cream vanilla ice-cream & heart shaped caramel marshmallows.

I'm off to make that Sunday evening list. Ever the optimist!

does my butt look happy in this?

On the subject of happy butt ... I couldn't resist this.

(apologies to those of you who already received this from me on email, I just had to share it further and wider. Wider like that smile :)

Oh and hold on, just so we're all clear: that is not my happy butt. I would never wear yellow.

a diamond in the dust

I think it was at 02:16 this morning, standing outside waiting for the doggie to have a wee, enjoying the still of a rare warm night, bathed in the 99%fullmoon light, that I stopped feeling arb. And since then the weekend just got better.

This morning we set off in search of some refurbished office chairs for our study. Husband has ongoing back issues and works from home often enough that he needs a decent chair, I always blog work from home and could do with one too. So we hit the first of a couple of 2nd hand office furniture stores, and discovered ... this ...

At first glance a smallish warehouse of sad, repossessed office-ware; on closer examination (and we ended up hanging out there for over an hour), a veritable treasure-trove of the bizarre, 

the magnificent,

and a complete set of 'omg are these kinda out-there enough to actually be awesome or is my sense of awesome completely addled by the copious amounts of dust I'm inhaling?' chairs.

Fear not, I'm now convinced of the latter.

But it turns out this dusty dungeon of delights did have the perfect (normal black office) chairs for us - I'm sitting on one now and without too much o/s can I just say my butt is very happy :) - but also ... my birthday present! Here's a clue.

I have to pick it up on Monday and drive it home with my eyes closed. But that's not the hard part. Husband has to hide it somewhere I'll never think to look for a whole 9 days after that. Tricky.

Yay!

arboa

arboa ~ the mantle of arbness I've worn around my neck this week

And I couldn't even say why. It's not like I've not been having a nice time. I've had some lovely times with Frieda, two very nice evenings with friends. I've had some productive work time, and cooked and eaten some yummy meals.

I even got new olive-green velour sweatpants to glamorously arb around in. You'd think that would make me happy ...

But then, I'm not unhappy. Just arb.

Is it too soon for SAD? 'Cos I might just have a touch of that.

Hmmmmm.

Ok, here we go - a little pick-me-up challenge. I will now search Google Images with the word 'arb' and post the first pic that comes up. Uno momento, por favor.

Oops, that didn't work. Turns out there's a brand of 4x4 accessories called ARB. The first 4 pages is full of it. (Seriously? ARB?)

Let's try 'arbness' (yes, okay purists, its probably not a real world but just play along). 

Oh. My.God. Get THIS: there's only 25 picture references for the "word" 'arbness'. 9 (yup, nine) of them link to my blog.

Am I wildly re-energised by the notoriety? Or feeling even more arb?

Think I better change into those sweatpants and think on it.

Rocking Friday night over here, can't you tell?

parents say the darndest things

For a while I've wanted to do a shout-out to all the mummy (and daddy) bloggers I read, and love. One of the fundamental lessons of parenting is how very, very, many ways there are of doing this job, and one of the earliest lessons learnt is that there's only one way for you to do it: your way.

The path to comparative parenting is fraught with angst and self-loathing. Don't go there. Find your feet. Forge your own way. Fall over. Have a cry. Dust yourself off. Set out again. Repeat. To infinity and beyond.

But do listen, read, laugh, puke, judge, stand in awe and generally keep your eyes and ears open to how others do. For you can only learn. And you'll often be entertained, inspired, moved and motivated. This ole blogosphere is so good for all that.

So check out my blogging mama's on the right. They're a strange mix, but each of them speaks to me. Which is an indication of how eclectic my parenting style is if nothing else!

I love to laugh with amalah. She has a turn of phrase which cuts right to my funny bone, even while dealing with some pretty tough parenting challenges.

Girls Gone Child sometimes makes me laugh, often makes me think - the best kind.

Inchmark just makes me stand slack-jawed in the face of her meticulous needle-work. Her advent calendar is something else... And I love her regular posts on the library books she and her children are reading. I've seen many old friends there.

And then there's SouleMama. So much is said about her, and its all so deserved. While I don't aspire to her life (4 kids!), or relate to some of it - home-schooling, home births - her blog is a place I love to visit, and I always come away feeling peaceful and positive. Her's are the posts I read last thing before going to bed.

There's lots of other bloggers I love who blog about parenting in between other life things (so I didn't include them on my blogging mama's list exclusively). Sweet Juniper is a Dad with some of the luckiest kids in the world, just for being his. Eyeblog is another calm and restful haven I like to visit, Tara is a great Mum. Super Fiona is just starting out with her gorgeous Hallam.

And then there's Petunia Face. I've a major blog crush on her right now. She's just so dang honest. And insightful. But I heard a rumour she recently posted about toads, so I won't be going round there for a few days....

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I think the same should apply to parents. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories!

don't know why I still do it ...

.... write a To-Do list on a Sunday evening that is. 'Cos Frieda Monday holds many surprises and delights, but seldom does that include actual practical necessary things like making a gynae appointment or finding a tree-feller. Or is that tree-fella?

On a Frieda Monday, when the kiddiwink declares, after breakfast, 'Mummy. Painting.' Then that's what we do. 'Cos Frieda Monday is sacred. And I love it.

But it does make for a hellova To-Do list looming for Tuesday ...

And yes, I really should add 'Buy more paint' to that list. As delightful as Cyan Blue is, it's a bit been there/done that.

to be perfectly honest...

One of my new blog buddies tagged me for this 'Honest Scrap' meme some time ago. And as I'm feeling much better but still recouping in bed (can I just pause for a moment's acknowledgement of the universal awesomeness of grandparents, who have happily whisked Child away for the day so I can lie about in bed recouping? Here goes ............ . Moment acknowledged, thanks), I thought I'd play along.

So, herewith my list of 10 honest things about myself (and be warned, they're pretty random):

1. I'm feeling a little blasé about this whole swine 'flu hype. I obviously feel really badly for anyone who has it etc, but living in a country where HIV/AIDS is an actual pandemic, we have 3 or 4 strains of multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis on the loose, cholera recently killed thousands of people, we regularly have (admittedly isolated) cases of Ebola virus and malaria is an illness many of us live with every day ... it's a little hard to get my panties in a knot about swine 'flu. Sorry.

2. There's a big bag of mud and cow-shit bespattered shoes outside my backdoor which I still haven't cleaned after that weekend and I don't expect to get round to until, oh, maybe very late the evening before our next camping trip?

3. Having been a committed cat person my whole life I never expected to love our new doggie as much as I do. Dogs win hands down in the unadulterated adoration stakes. That's her adoration - of me. Love it. But also, and you know who I'm talking to here, I still love my kitties the best.

4. I've never wanted to run away and join the circus. I'm a homebody through and through.

5. I'm more nervous of having a 2nd child than I care to admit. I'm completely convinced that we should have one, but the reality scares the bejesus out of me.

6. Sometimes I go to bed without brushing my teeth. I find the minty taste of toothpaste too jarring if it's really late and I'm really tired.

7. I'm so over this renovation thing. Seriously, can we move into a finished, complete, free-flowing family home already?

8. I really enjoy doing laundry. I find it quite satisfying and find it gives me a sense of order. Weird huh.

9. I have a base and compulsive addiction to Survivor and The Amazing Race.

10. I still like to believe I'll have dreadlocks one day - stylish, thin, blond dreadlocks. Just for fun.

I'm supposed to tag seven five fellow bloggers for this one but you know, I'm just too damn lazy! Play along if you'd like tho', and let me know if you have so I can come snooping.

big fat sulk

Entering 48 hours of dread stomach bug.

Husband.

Self.

Child.

All stricken.

Surviving on miso soup and fragile good will.

Big fat sulk: missing the LKJ concert tonight which we've been looking forward to. For. Ever.

Hmph.