molly needs ...

Just for laughs - I remember this going round on email a while ago, now apparently it's circulating on Facebook too. It's very silly, but worth the laugh.

Google your 1st name and 'needs' - i.e. molly needs ... I picked the best (there seemed to be many, many Molly Needs New Shoes - which is 100% spot-on naturally - but I think it must be a recently released book?)

Anyhoo, here goes:

1. Molly needs a new full-time Mom. (ja -haaaaaaaaaaa! could this be any truer?!)

2. Molly needs a favor. (baby-sitting anyone?)

3. Molly needs a 'do'. (mullet? afro? up-comb?)

4. Molly needs to be in brackish water. (wtf?)

5. Molly needs to be very afraid. (er.... )

6. Molly needs a wheelchair / cart. (when you gotta roll, you gotta roll)

7. Molly needs a smack. (oooo,  a naughty one ... )

8. Molly needs leg amputation. (this explains no. 6)

9. Molly needs to go .. now. (but I'll hold it for a minute longer)

10. Molly needs SLEEP BADLY.

Night night.

when we do the things we do (no.14)

Sometimes, very rarely, we like to make a revolting '70's dessert. It's usually on the weekend.

'Cos we're seriously hardcore.

I give you ... the Friday Night Blancmange.

Well, a kind of a blancmange. This one's also known as a fruit form pudding - blackcurrent jelly, evaporated milk, berry juice and, just 'cos I like to fuck with things, some pureed banana & vanilla yoghurt - or in our family, Dead Man's Lung.

Can you see why?

It was delicious, and Frieda's got a mini Dead Teddy's Lung waiting for her for tomorrow. It might even count for no. 15, if I get all creative with the sprinkles ...

despite yourself

I just discovered this blog, a recommendation from another molly, and it's given me lots of smiles on a day when I wasn't particularly inclined to do so otherwise.

favourite no. 13

This used to be one of my very most favourite things to do, back in my old life. Many gifts were made like this, many contact books & diairies were thus embellished, and any particularly exciting new projects I worked on would have new workbooks created, just for them.

It's been a long, long while since I last made time to do this properly, but after some preparatory snipping yesterday, I spent the whole morning today finishing this:

A new inspiring workbook for a new inspiring job.

lists of 5: 5 things to get 2009 back on track

Gawd, SO Cape Town... I resolved last Thursday to make this list. I gave myself grace until the new week to start it. Now it's Tuesday...

But, in my defence, I think I lost momentum for it as the items on this particular agenda started resolving and revealing themselves before the list was even written down. Thereby proving that the power of listing lies not with the list, so much as the making of the list - mentally or physically.

It's deep no? 

So here goes:

1. Find a job. ✓(Ok so it's just for March for now, but I have faith more will come of it...)

2. Sort out my studio! Half a ✓(can you guess what fancy new HTML code I learnt recently?) 

3. Up my game. Fitness wise that is. I'm working on it...

4. Focus on quality, not quantity, for my time with Frieda. See yesterday's post...

5. Focus on quantity, not necessarily quality, for my time with husband. We need to just hang out more. I.e. lie on the couch and watch trashy DVD's. Duly scheduled for the weekend.

I already feel so much more relaxed and happy, and the not so astounding truth of the matter is ... because I have work lined up. For all my breezy 'career is just not that important to me' statements, I'm aching to get Stuck Into Something. And next week, I will. Yay!!

frieda monday

(I know, I know, I really should have chosen Fridays for Frieda's day, it would've scanned better.)

But Frieda Monday it is, a no-nanny, no-work, all day play day with Frieda and Mum. That's me.

Depending on the lead-in weekend, Frieda Monday has sometimes been frustrating in that it feels like a slow way to start the week, but more and more I've come to realise that there-in lies the beauty. I get to start the week with a whole day with my girl, just her and me, arb-ing around, doing some errands, but mainly just playing and being and living the moment.

We always start slow - 'cos we're working at Frieda's pace see - and are often still in our PJ's come midday. I try to do some chores, but what doesn't get done, doesn't get done. I've always got some vague plans for errands or excursions if we need them, but if we don't leave the house that's also fine.

Today included cheese & banana for breakfast (Frieda's choice, naturally), singing along to Alanis's Ironic at full volume in the car (well, I sang, Frieda kind of screamed her appreciation), a couple of loads of laundry (she's such a keen little helper) ...

Some tiresome games of 'hee haw' (someone gave it to her ok, I'd never spend money on a pastel coloured sparkly pony. Obviously she loves it.)

Some collaging for me - amazing what a distraction little paper off-cuts can be...

A late afternoon trip to our beloved recycling depot. This place is so cool I once heard a little boy tell his Mum it was his 'favourite place in the world'. Ok, maybe I should feel sorry for the poor kid, but it is pretty great. We found a set of vintage tins for the kitchen at their thrift shop and a lovely Eric Carle for our collection.

We walked the puppy, read lots of books, rolled on the floor chasing dust-motes in a sunbeam, ate peanut butter sandwiches, watered the garden, chatted to the cats and generally just took it all One Minute at a Time.

And that is a luxury to be treasured.

this one's being 'band'ied around

INSTRUCTIONS:
1 - Go to wikipedia.

Hit “random... Read More”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random Quotations or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together. (It's album art, so make the picture square)

5 - TAG the friends you want to join in.

Consider yourself tagged.

saturday & no. 12

A nice, quiet Saturday in which:

• We introduced the pup to The Beach. And she loved it - I mean, why wouldn't she?

We did ponder the abandoned shopping trolleys in the background... They're often filched to be used as transport / mobile homes / cargo ferriers, but why dump them on the beach? Is this where they're parked at night? Did their new owners bring them down to wash them off (like the scrap metal guys do with their cart-horses)? Did they get pushed off the promenade as part of an insurance scam...?

• We discovered the existence of yellow watermelon! Yellow. Who knew?

And the child, who scorns all fruit except bananas and the occasional (un)lucky apple, LOVED it. And probably consumed far more than the recently recovered victim of a stomach bug should have... (pic, and some more info, from here).

• We laughed at the peril of training a puppy and a toddler at the same time. Whenever we ask Frieda to say 'please' before giving her something, she sits! Now if the pup starts saying 'please' it'll get really interesting...

• And I baked a batch of cookies - cranberry & orange for the grown-ups, choc chip with white chocolate icing & sprinkles for the kids. And also for the grown-ups.

And yes, that'll be no. 12!

nice work if you can get it... and I think I might just have!

So (yup, this is a justified so post), proving that you can't keep a good woman down for too long (unless you're George Clooney I guess, 'cos he could keep me... oops, I digress...) um, where was I?

Oh yes, just for the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so', the Universe has down an about-turn and made me a very happy girl today.

The exciting job possibility I've hinted at has come to some fruition and I'll be spending next month working for one of my favourite SA designers. I love her work - and her work ethic - and as her business is growing locally and internationally she's in need of a hand, and another brain, to help out with everything from stream-lining her studio to marketing to running stock orders. It'll be well paid part-time work (the best kind for me right now), in an industry quite removed from the ones I've worked in before. 

Which is almost the most exciting part. I spent 5 years in the film industry, as long again working for NGO's and I'm really keen to get into a different network and start anew the process of sniffing out who's who, joining the dots as to how the particular scene works, having those aha! moments as I make the connections of who knows who and how. It's a particularly favourite activity of mine (and I have a certain knack for it), so this'll definitely be part of the fun.

It'll also be very different in terms of scope and responsibility. So much of my work the last few years has involved working with huge groups of people, moving them around the country (and world) and managing logistics on a massive scale. This'll be a much more detailed focus, but still with a big impact.

We're doing a trial month, but both hope to continue the relationship beyond that so we'll see...

What I find really interesting is that back when I was considering the Most Exciting Job in the World (for me) and having the whole dilemma about whether or not I could take on a project like that right now etc, I was thinking how uncanny it was that I'd just a few months prior started really getting into the design world, through blogs and what have you, and how fortuitous that seemed in light of possibly working on this (which, incidentally, is coming up in CT next weekend and yes, if you must know, it still kinda hurts when I see the publicity and think I could've been involved. Sniff).

Anyhoo, when that all didn't happen etc I laughed that off as mere coincidence (maybe shrugged is a better word, I don't recall doing much laughing at the time), BUT maybe all my design blogging was for a purpose, and that purpose was this new job. Whaddaya think of that Oprah?

no.'s 8 through 11 (and back on track)

Ok, the sappy self-pity is fading. I do resolve to pull myself towards myself and all that. I do resolve to make a list of the top 5 things I need to do to feel better and then implement them forthwith.

Or maybe next week, I never could start a new project on a Thursday. It's a Cape Town thing.

Yoga last night, followed by a little bit of being crafty, coupled with Frieda sleeping through and not having explosive bowels this morning, must all be credited for my improved head-space. 

No.'s 8, 9, 10 & 11: a little pile of gifts to be sent back to England for the chilly rellies.

in which I moan. a lot.

To be completely truthful, one of the major reasons for my lack of blogging recently is that every post I think about, and sometimes start writing, ends up being a big fat moan. Which then makes me feel self-indulgent, which then stymies me, which then annoys and frustrates me even more blah blah blah...

But heck, if I can't have an all out, rip roaring, bells tolling, vale of tears inducing, pathetic pity party on my own blog then where can I right? So here goes: ye have been warned.

Fuck life is just hectic right now.

Oooo, and just like that:   light bulb moment!!!!

(see, this is why I blog....)

SUDDEN REALISATION: it's not because I'm so busy and feeling sorry for myself that I've not been blogging. It's 'cos I don't really feel I've reason enough to complain about being so busy and feeling sorry for myself.

I say life is so hectic right now, but if you ask me to list what's going I immediately feel inadequate when I think of all the people I know who seem to do so much more (like working for instance). On paper my life doesn't seem that crazy, but can I just say that living it is not very easy at the moment.

The child ~ is veeeery busy. Growing, talking, teething and, just in the last 24h, crapping. A lot. Her paed is lobbing terms like 'bacterial diaherrea' and 'stool samples' around but I'm sticking my fingers in my ears and la-la-la-la-ing for now. Stool samples? Surely not.

The puppy ~ is veeeery busy. Growing, playing, also teething apparently and, all the time, crapping. A lot. Any stool samples required there could be procured in a matter of minutes. No problemo.

The weather ~ is veeeerry hot. And while I understand that this is not an excuse for anything really, it does contribute an over-bearing, ummm, heat to everything. Making things like growing, playing, teething and cleaning up crap that much more strenuous. 

The career ~ is veeeery stagnant. There are still possibilities on the horizon, some more exciting than others, and for possibilities I must, at this stage, be truly grateful. But nothing concrete, nothing to get my teeth into, nothing bringing in any significant cash, and this all a bit heavy at the mo.

Add to this; a house guest, a full and vibrant household, a f*kass taxi strike which left us with no cleaner and no nanny for some of last week, a bunch of social occasions, an over-active brain, sleepless nights, legless tights (oh wait, not sure how that crept in) yada yada yada... 

And here endth the moan. Truly my life is mundane. Thank god no one reads this crap.

and a photo one...

Jeez, first a week of silence and then 3 posts in 1 day!

This is a photo one. We spent the afternoon in exquisite Kalk Bay, home of the delicious Beatnik Bazaar amongst other gems. I didn't photograph Beatnik (there are oodles of gorgeous pics of the shop on her blog), but here's some other lovely sights mine eyes did behold.

no.7!

And remember this?

I'm still on it.

May I present number 7, a handmade card (not my best ever but as mentioned I've been a little busy and also, if I'm going to do 100 things this year they're not all going to be fantastic ok? Just make peace with that now) & wedding gift.

i miss you!

Dear Blog,

Oh how I've missed you. It's been 7 days since my last confession.

Excuses? Reasons? I have many. Good ones? Not so sure.

Toddler+puppy+house-guest+30degreedays+findingnewwork+awedding+dinnersout+toddler+puppypoop+excitingworkmeetings+house-guest+doingtouristythings+toddler+sleepdeprivation+shakespeare+puppytraining+laundrylaundrylaundry+toothextraction+toddler+beaches+puppypuppypuppy

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neglected blog

A big hurdle has been that there's a couple of things (good & bad) going on which I can't blog about! How annoying is that? And that's kind of stymied me a bit; when I have found 30 seconds of calm in the midst of the madness I've needed that time to think about Stuff, not write about it. Yet.

I'm getting over losing the contract, and I'd be getting over it much faster if I'd received the promised compensation from them - grrrrr - but I am very excited about some potentially very exciting work on the horizon. (I also think its very impressive of me to still be getting very excited about anything work related, considering what a f*ck up the last few months have actually been in that area.)

But really, this new thing could be amazing, a bit of a departure from what I've been doing until now, but a lot more conducive to where I'm at in my life at the moment. And if you follow the Oprah philosophy of the universe sending you what you need, even while you're maybe staring off in the opposite direction at the retreating back of what you thought you wanted (ok, so it's Oprah as interpreted - and dare I say, improved on - by Molly), then here's holding cosmic thumbs this one works out. 'Cos it would be FUCKING GREAT.

Not that I'm getting over-excited or anything....

But in the meantime I'll get back to:

Toddler+puppy+house-guest+30degreedays+findingholdingthumbsfornewwork+aweddingatriptothecountry+dinnersout+toddler+puppypoop+moreexcitingworkmeetings+house-guest+doingtouristythings+toddler+sleepdeprivation+shakespeare+puppytraining+laundrylaundrylaundry+toothextraction(pleasegodenoughofthat)+toddler+beaches+puppypuppypuppy

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hopefullynotsoneglected blog

Oh and, ain't she sweet?

it's a shitty business

number the one:

Turns out 19+ months of changing nappies has not adequately prepared me for dealing with puppy poop. Goddamn it's gross. And at least with kiddies there's the thought that one day, after the nappies and the 'Mum, come wiiiiiiiiiiipe', the day will come when they'll be solely responsible for that aspect of their personal hygiene. With a puppy, the best you've got to look forward to is that they'll get to a stage where they poop mainly in one place, or only out on walks and then you'll still need to pick it up and dispose of it for them. Bull terriers live for approx. 15 years.

But who's a cuteliddlepuppywuppy then?

Flew down from Joburg all by herself on Saturday (I've been fighting hard to name her Import) - no local Cape Town doggies for us dahling - and she's been really good and sweet so far. Husband is Smitten. Hyper Toddler is having to up her game to stay Ms Popular. Especially after recent events. More on that soon.

number the two:

So the stupid #!@&!! contract has been postponed! WTF??? I am feeling SO frustrated - I was SO looking forward to getting busy. Jaysus.

As my Mother, with her hilariously jaded sense of humour said; at least I've a fancy new oven to stick my head into! Urgh.

 

number the three:

Our house, my life, my sleep, our mealtimes - all are being run at the moment by a very contrary demanding little lady AKA Our Beloved Daughter.

It's the bane of parenting to spend ages seeking a reason ~ with Frieda at the moment I can only think its a combo of incisors cutting through (those bastards are sharp), the terrible two's making an early appearance ('cos she's so advanced of course), the (apparently normal) increased clinginess at her age, the shifted dynamic of having a house-guest and her possibly feeling she needs to be even Louder because of it. 

It's been a trial.

Me time is a concept I've completely shelved for the time being. The other evening I had a quick shower between Frieda going to bed and having supper. I was rushing, as I am all the time at the moment (and this without the job grrrrrr), skipping any luxury such as facial scrub or back brush, hurriedly drying off, dashing to our room to throw something on. It was dark out and the curtains were open. I was in too much of a hurry to close them so started dressing in the half-light. And suddenly I had to stop. The frangi-pani's outside my window are in full bloom, their wonderfully exotic scent wafting in the window on the gentlest of warm breezes. The street outside was quiet and almost glowy in the orange street-light, one of our kitties was sitting on the wall absorbing the evening, enjoying the coolness, surveying her kingdom.

I stopped, and sat down on a chair by the window, I forced myself to stop. Stop and observe the moment. Say hi to myself, to breathe, feel and most importantly, not to think.

And then I rushed on.