Mom on the run

I honestly do not know what is happening to time at the moment.  How can it already be the end of January.  I think I have posted about 4 times this whole month!  I do miss it but there is just not enough time in the day to do everything.

Ohh woe is me.

We were at a game farm close to Marble Hall this weekend.  The pool there had a lot of chlorine in but it must be some kind of bargain bucket type of Chinese chlorine because even after washing Zoe’s hair it still has this awful chlorine smell to it and a lovely green tinge as well!  It never happens when she swims in our pool.

We had a fantastic run on the farm with all the zebra’s, kudus and other antelope just staring at us and then trying to run with us!  Great fun and if we wanted to get rid of them we just made a move pretending to pull something from a pocket, and that made them scatter!  Obviously they know when hunters will pull a gun.  Sorry don’t want to step on any toes but I really do not understand hunting.

And then a question.  How strict are your routines at night?  I was the only one there in a group of 12 people that did not have a night time routine.  All those people eat strictly on the dot at 5:30 or 6.  Goodness Hubby is normally not even at home then.  Our non routine is more a question of running, getting clean, shoving some food in our mouths at around 8 and falling into the bed exhasuted.  What do these people do for the 4 hours after dinner?  I presume they go to bed at around 10?

And then another question – are we turning into pill-popping hypocondriacs?  Our little family was the only ones there this weekend without a giant first aid and medical emergencies case.  Everybody was popping pills all weekend long and everybody had some kind of serious allergy?  Are we just extremely lucky?  Or are we really over medicating ourselves and our kids?

Better run – work does not wait.

Have a lovely day!

Thanks to Deblet for reminding me that I’ve been extremely quiet in the new year.

Well it has been complete chaos – all of a sudden my work has increased about tenfold at work and at home it feels although I’m forever going somewhere to buy something for someone or something!

And the worst of all is that I’ve injured my shin so I’ve been off the road for more than a week now and that is never good for my mindset and frustration levels.  The worse is that I’m heading for a bit of a disaster in terms of my Comrades training.  I was supposed to do about 200km’s in January and I’m now sitting at a pathetic 74.5km’s.  Please do not forget the .5km’s – every inch helps!

What else is going on?

Well they are introducing all the extra mural activities at Zoe’s school at the moment and every day she comes home with a new idea about what she wants to do.  The only thing that really puts her off is drama.  Strange that since she is such a little drama queen!

Anyway we have now wittled it down to freedance, action ball, swimming (my choice – not negotiable) and ballet.  She also wants to do Cricket and cooking but Mommy’s wallet does not stretch to all those actvities!!  She can cook at home!

Ohh goodness to I have an itch at the moment.  My Honda Jazz is 7 years old – low kilometers and in an excellent condition – really nothing wrong with it BUT I have now fallen in love with the Nissan Juke – I just think it is the cutest car on earth.  I so badly want one – I’ve even been to a Nissan dealership and I’ve applied for finance on the internet.  And that is when the whole dream came apart – firstly they have a waiting list – the first one available is in June!  And then secondly – paying 12% interest and having a monthly repayment just for something that is going to do the same thing than my Jazz?  I think not!  So now I’ve reconciled  myself to the fact that I’m going to really drive my Jazz until the wheels or the doors come off!

However I’ll still have to give this news to Zoe because she is extremely excited about this new car!  I had to laugh at her because when we left Nissan she was very shocked that we were still leaving in the Jazz.  It seems although she had this idea in her head that is like any other shop!  Walk in, buy and walk out with the new stuff!

And now they have Smurfs at Build A Bear!  Ohh dear.  Currently I’m still saying NO – but they are so flippin cute I want one for myself!

OK better get some work done!  Almost year end and I’m behind with all my recons.

Have a lovely day!

So by Saturday morning everything was in place, tables were decorated, cookie dough was made, icing was made, aprons, recipe books and pan with cookie cutters in for the goodie bags were decorated.  So I had time to go for a run and to have a leisurely breakfast on my own at the Deli.  Yes I was on my own – Zoe was with Ouma and Hubby went for a run in Pretoria – absolute bliss!

I think the party was a success – it seems although the girls enjoyed it and let me tell you the cookie recipe is fail proof – small ones, fat ones, flat ones and big ones, they all came out perfectly!

So here are some piccies:

All the girls with their aprons that I’ve made

The table, decorated and the dough and flour is ready for the cookie making

Hard at work, rolling the dough in balls

Some of the finished cookies – excuse the mess in the background – it is choas at a party!

Hard at work decorating the cookies.

The birthday cake – before and after – it was my first time ever icing a cake like that and to me if was a fugly cake but everybody else including the birthday girl was very impressed. At least it tasted fantastic but with two tins of caramel and 500g’s of icing it didn’t have much a choice!  Apologies for some of the piccies lying on their sides – can’t fix it after I’ve emailed it. 

And now it is over for antother year and I can start planning again in November – goodness knows what I’m going to do next year though! 

Zoe’s birthday was on the 8th.  However it is such an akward date that I always move her birthday party to the next weekend when everybody is back at school and at work.

This year I really thought I had it in the bag.  I found a place on the internet that have baking birthday parties.  I suppose my first instinct was right and I should’ve canned the whole idea when my first phone call and message was ignored.  However if nothing else I’m quite persistant.

So after another 3 tries I got the girl to talk to me and I ordered the invites from her and booked the venue for the party and ordered eats for the mummies and goodie bags for the kids.  And here the fun started – I told her I need the invites before the school closes because I need to get it to the friends before year end.

Well guess what? She had it ready at the very very last minute!  Very cute invites but then I had to drive to her place to pick them up and here the whole plan fell to pieces.  I asked to see where they have this baking parties.  And woe is me – it was outside in a lapa next to an open pool!  None of the cute little tables and chairs in the lovely room as was seen on the internet.

So what did I do?  I grabbed the invites and hightailed it out of there.  Stopped at the  nearest PNA to buy Tipex and a pen and proceeded to tipex out the address of the venue and put my house address in.  So the invites went to school the next day with a baking theme and my address!!!!  And I have no plans!  Luckily this all happened on the 15th of December and the party is only on the 14th of January.

Well I have now been swallowed up completely by this whole baking party and I swear next year there won’t be a party or I’ll find a proper place to have the party at!

I’ve been making aprons for each little girl and now I’m in the process of compiling a recipe book and I still have to bake a birthday cake and prepare the dough for the cookies the little girls are going to bake and buy the deocrations for the cookies etc etc.  And then obviously all the mommies are coming so I have to ensure there is something to eat and drink for them.

Luckily I have a few girlfriends that are absolutely brilliant and they have offered to come and help!

Ohh the stress.  Let me be off to go and search for cheap and cheerful decorations!

Ohh by the way – I had to prove to Hubby that this will be cheaper than having the party at a venue so obviously that adds even more pressure because I’m not really succeeding in keeping the costs down.

The new year is here and to be brutally honest I just do not feel ready for another year with all the mad dashing and all the running and working and everything else that is involved in my daily life.

Christmas was the normal disaster with my brother basking in my mother’s doting eyes and him trying his best to dish out an insult to me at least every 30 minutes. I think what hurts most was when he received a gift from my aunt and I didn’t. He hasn’t done a thing for her or her family in his whole life but they still think he is too wondrful and me who has always tried and given money and everyting is now the scapegoat, purely because I asked last Christmas that we should be more mindful of the true meaning of Christmas and stop focusing on just gifts.  Ahhhh well nothing I didn’t expect but it still hurts like hell, especially my mother’s blind adoration for the child that does nothing for her but only use and abuse.

New Year was not much better. I was also left feeling very excluded and it is a feeling that I still have. Maybe there is really some serious flaw in my make-up that makes it very easy to alienate people and loose them.

So not very hard to see that the black dog of depression has me firmly in his jaw and he is gnawing away at all my joy and happiness. I truelly hope that once I’m back at work and back in a routine I would be able to get onto a more even keel and find my inner joy and shake off this black dog.

I ‘m typing this on a tablet’s touch screen and it is DIFFICULT so please forgive any mistakes.

Off to run and try and feel better.