missing Mojo

Now those of you that know James well (my African Time James) will know I continuously moan about how slow he can be in getting things done - WELLLLLLLL . . . James is now the first one up, but before he goes to bed he lays out his school uniform, his breakfast bowl cereal, even puts the toothpaste onto the toothbrush, all the the aim of getting ready as fast as possible in the mornings. He seems to be loving school this year and is so motivated, long long long may it last.James had his sportsday last week, he ran really well in his heat, but swimming is more his thing. At their interhouse gala trials he managed to come first, beating even the kid that had been training throughout the winter (much to that child's mother's disgust!!) to the point where she went to complain to the teacher that James had dived in before the whistle for butterfly so they had to race it again its really sad when parents are like that, anyways, I am SO proud of James and how well he swam, so next stop is the interhouse gala in 2 weeks.

Chris had his first waterpolo match that Rob and I could go and watch,

tagging along we had Michy and Gill as well, so the car was pretty full. It was fun getting 3 teenagers up at 6.30 on a Saturday morning, they were all a bit bleary eyed though.

Their team won 14 - 1, of which Chris scored 2 goals.

James got hold of the camera and decided to take photo's of Rob and I and completely awares we both struck the same pose - go figure - great minds think alike or is it fools never differ???

James also took a photo of the bee hive that appears to be forming in the apex of our roof, so now we have to try and find someone to remove it for us just another thing to do.

Catching Up

I cannot believe it another week and half has flown past. All my best laid plans to be soooooooooooooooo organised this year and gone flying out the window. Thought I would ease back into things gently - well that was not to be, instead we all hit the ground SPRINTING.

Thanks goodness for camera's at least I have a memory of what happened this last week. One of the really nice things was my new toy (yes Andy!) a new digital camera, our old one got damaged so compliments of insurance we now have a Canon G9, we saw the Mandy and Andy had and the fantastic pictures it took, so decided to go with that one.

Another wonderful thing was that Gran came home after her long visit in J-Bay. The cats all went moggy, particularly Mickey the poor thing, she just didn't know what to do with herself. These cats just love having Gran back, but as you can see by the pictures, she spoils them rotten feeding them leftovers.Here all the rats are attacking the catnip granny and grandpa bought for them last time they were down. Thank goodness the holidays are over, much as I love the kids with all my heart, it was definately time for them to got back to school, but not before James spent the day at Ratanga Junction (yes again!) and came home with a semi-permanent tatoo which supposedly you have to have parental consent for, but he managed to persuade his friends mom that I would say it was fine - hmmmm - so now we have to go buy a huge plaster to cover it up for swimming gala's

It's been great having Rob home for the weekends again, poor things has to work hard when he is here, most it revolving around food and braaing.

Tigger continues to grow, as does his attitute, he is so cocky that it is cute. He is fearless and thinks the world is his personal playgrounds with moving milk on tap. Jess is still feeding him.

James in true James fashion had to be reminded that he had to shower and clean himself after about 4 days, this poor destitute child of ours even wears clothes that have huge holes in them and he just doesn't care. he gets to ride in a Porsche, has a father and brother who are always worried about what they wear yet he don't care.

Gill and Chris are still going strong and it is actually so nice as they are quite comfortable to sit at home with Rob and I on a weekend and have a braai with us, sit around the table talking.

This week of course started with the boys going to school again, Chris to High School Grade 8 and James to Grade 5. They both seem to have settled down quite easily, its just the logistical nightmare of trying to figure out how they get home from school. Particularly Chris who has been contacted by Westerford High School vice principal who heads up the waterpolo. Gill spoke to him about Chris possibly coming to play at Westerford and basically did a whole sales pitch about how he is a good swimmer, played waterpolo last year etc etc and now has been told he can come and play there, problem is he finishes school at 2.45 in Bergvliet and needs to be at Westerford in Newlands by 3.15 hmmmmm

The night before school Chris decided he was going to re-arrange his bedroom, so finally got to bed about 10h30, but he's a bit like me in that way likes everything to done and dusted before he tackes a new project.
We have got Aunty Rhoda's grandaughter coming from England to stay with us, as are Dawn and Peter, so we had to go out this morning and purchase some matress's to accomate the bodies, going to be a bit of a camping adventure, but should be fun.

Jeez can't believe its Tuesday afternoon already . . .

Rob went off on Sunday morning as he had to drive the new Yaris up and fortunately that all went well, BUT he has since found out that this one has also been in an accident so watch this space for what happens next - just our luck!!!

We had such a lovely day on Saturday, after that we decided to go for a drive to Table Mountain with the kids to see if we could spot the mysterious white statue that has been popping up around Cape Town, only to get there and be told they parks board had taken it down that morning - what a bizarre thing, the statue 1st appeared on the rocks at Oudekraal and no-one knows how it got there. It stands 2m tall and is quite heavy and could only have gotten there by boat. It then disappeared and reappeared up Platteklip Gorge. The Parks guys said it took 2 of them to bring it down and it had been bolted into the rocks. Sadly though we did not get to see it.

Just before we went there though we stopped a place for lunch and had the most amazing smoothies and wraps for lunch - reason I was impressed, is the kids also enjoyed the lunch.

We then went up Signal Hill where it was the start of some yacht race so we watched that for a bit. It was the first time I had seen the stadium that is being built as well.

We then went back via Gran's house to water the lawns again and the kids were messing around on the lawn, hence the photo of Kevin cutting the lawn with a pair of shears.

Its been back at work this week in the mornings, and I start swimming this afternoon - fortunately only make-up lessons so its not a long day. Spending the rest of my time trying to get my council application forms together so I can submit them. Have finally managed to get my conveyancers certificate, so lets hold thumbs.

So looking forward to everyone coming back from leave, Gran is still in J-Bay and poor old Mickey wonders around like a lost fart, miaowing for her to open the door. Frances and the girls are in freezing cold London whilst we are sweltering here, but hey we can't complain.

On Sunday afternoon Ingrid phoned to invite the boys and I to the Watershed concert at Kirstenbosch Gardens, Morten had gotten 4 complimentary tickets. What a wonderful evening, nestled under the beautiful mountains and blue sky's the music was excellent, I didn't realise our local bands were quite so good. I also could not believe the number of people there, we got there early (or so we though) along with the rest of Cape Town and were fortunate to find somewhere in the shade as it was sweltering, particularly after parking about 2km away and having to walk uphill to get there - who needs gym.


Finally Tigger has eaten something, we had a packet of kitten pellets which he has been chowing down on since last night, but if you think its normal he had to be hand fed them on top of the black bag of papers I was throwing out. He just gets cuter by the day and so playful.

I was so impressed, James went to some take-out place with his friend Sebastian last night and came home with this purple headed doll thingie, the pants on it broke so he asked me to sew them which I did NOT do fast enough for him, so he went and got my sewing kit and did it himself - GO BOY!

The saga of our cars

For those of you who don't know we have sold my Ford Focus and in its place gotten a Renault Clio as well as a Yaris. The Clio is for Rob and run back and forth to the airport with and as a 2nd car here in CT, whilst the Yaris will go up to Jhb. Rob does minimal mileage in Jhb as well so doesn't need anything fancy there - so he says (personally think he's saving for a Porsche - yes Brian, the next photo will be of me driving our own Porsche - SIGHHHHH!!!!!)

It is cheaper to run the Clio (including parking costs at the airport) than it is to have a shuttle service pick him up twice a week.

Now if you follow my blog you will remember I mentioned Rob polishing the cars, well whilst he was doing that he discovered the Yaris had been in an accident (replaced front headlight) and on further inspection found the one side of the car was totally repaired.

The dealer we bought it from have been fantastic (I suppose because Rob has an email that states the car is accident free) - and bottom line are replacing it with a similar car, but instead of the blue, it will now be white.

Hopefully it arrives on Friday, in time for Rob to drive it to Jhb on Sunday.

But on top of that the Volvo has been making a lot of noise when you drive at high speed and we finally took it to Volvo today to be told the wheel bearings need to be replaced - thank goodness for the maintenance plan, so in the car goes on Thursday.

yay we've finished painting

Well almost finished painting, we've done the lounge, dining room and passage and that has taken us 2 days, just the TV room and kitchen left to do. The weather here has been absolutely stinking hot making it that much more of a challenge - of course the kids, did what kids do and avoided all possible work, only getting involved when we asked them to.

After the painting, Rob jumped into a bath (mostly to ease the aching muscles) and was promptly accosted by all the cats - and as my family know me, I couldn't resist the photo op.

We went off the other night to the waterfront to have a farewell dinner with Kerry and her Mom. I can't even remember the last time we were there. It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside at the Greek Fisherman which was lovely. Initially the idea was that the kids were going to eat with us, but when we got to the waterfront there was a funfair running and we didn't see the kids for dust. They took our money and ran - bought their own food and entertained themselves for the evening. But it reminded me again of how beautiful our city is, living here all the time I just take it for granted, the mountain and sea are just stunning.



At new years, a friend of ours Tony, started telling us about an old Zulu tradition about the moon and how the zulu warriors could tell if it was going to rain, he said that if the moon was in a crescent shape that was tilting, this symbolised a bowl/saucer that was pouring the rain out (i.e it was going to rain) - of course gullible me believed him and they all had a good laugh at me, but of course I now can't look at the moon in the same way.
Had to go and spend more money, this time on Christopher's uniform for high school - SCARY!!!! In fact I am starting to hit a bit of a wobbly, knowing that Rob is leaving on Sunday and worrying about how I am going to cope with Rob away, and Chris in high school and James at a different school - got to organise lifts or have them walk home alone, extra murals are now going to be at different times and venues etc etc. its been so wonderful having him home to make all the decisions and deal with all the problems, so much so that I woke up at 4.30am this morning worry about all the things to be done, including getting myself ready for swimming. It is a horrible feeling for me as I am normally so in control, but I think the thought of last year with him away that was so difficult, is about to start again, is what has got me going.

Will just have to try and drawn my 'calmness from our cute kitties'

the year starts flying by

So another week begins and the year starts to run away with us. Rob and I have been extremely industrious over the last couple of days what with gardening, polishing cars, dumping and clearing out things all in all a good start to the year.

It was so nice to see our good friend Kerry who was out from England visiting her mom. Whilst Rob and I hid in the shade, being a true pommie she was soaking up the sun - although even as she says, what the point, no one will see it back home as she will be covered from head to toe in the cold.

We also took Kerry to this wonderful restaurant we know in Steenberg Village, called Manuka, anyone that hasn't been there hasn't experienced good food.

We went off to the nursery to buy some plants, well we didn't get much for our money, but I suppose its a long slow process (not one of my strong points - I prefer immediate results). The car was stacked full, thank goodness the kids were away at friends - otherwise there would have been nowhere for them to sit. I love going shopping with Rob, he always spends more than I would, so we got more than I had expected. Anyways with the wind we have at our place, we needed to get plants that would survive so today we spent baking and sweating in the sun digging planting, cutting and shredding and of course we both got slightly toasted.

Yesterday Rob also took to giving all the cars a clean and polish that should supposedly last for the year, all this whilst I was cleaning the house and washing - thank goodness Mirriam is back today, so that Rob and I can concentrate on all the other things to be done around the house, like painting, putting up curtain rails etc. I also mowed the lawn (and nearly died), had to finally get James to mow outside . . .

Must say its all very rewarding doing these things around the house, but still so much to do, including making application to the damn council who are now threatening that the next time they come round to visit me, they will issue me with a notice to cease operating in 30 days, otherwise I will be summoned - go figure, we can let criminal out of jail, but spend time on this sort of rubbish. Anyways, have instructed attorneys to do their thing and will worry about how to pay it later.

We all got so excited this morning as little Tigger finally used the sandbox, now we need to just get him to eat something other than his mom's milk.


Couldn't resist this photo of poor old Titch whose skin is finally looking better after the flea treatments. he is sitting in my toy shelf at the pool.