Fun was had by all....

It has been ages since I last wrote. And I have a fine excuse.... we have been on holiday for 3 WEEKS! Yes, Carl too!!

We started with 5 days at the Vaal, which is always a balm for us, a complete escape from the stresses of JHB. We did the usual - boating, kayaking, fishing, bike riding, sleeping, reading, playing games, chilling etc. We were also joined by Roland and Caron for a couple of days, which was very nice. We took Gemma down with us, and she may have been the only one to not really have the best of fun 100% of the time!

Another hilarious tale (which probably should get a posting of its own) is how Ali and I found and comandeered an abandoned, algefied, fish-filled canoe. My guess is that in one of the hectic storms we have had there recently, it ended up abandoned at the other end of the harbour. So Ali and I turned it over, mostly emptied it out, and then towed it back to Marina Letata! I don't know why I lie and say Ali and I, the truth is, that Ali was there but I did all the hard work!!! Needless to say, Carl rolled his eyes and sighed a great sigh when I showed him our bounty. That being said, he gamely helped me empty it completely of all its water and accompanying marine life, and lug it up to a spot on the shore. Where it will hopefully remain until our next visit where we can examine it more closely, clean it up and try it out. If its a dud, we will tow it back into the middle of the dam and sink it. Don't tell anyone!!!

On our way down to Stellenbosch for a vdriet family Xmas, we stopped over at a sheep farm belonging to friends of ours, the Besters, from church. Their farm is in the middle of the Karoo - in the middle of nowhere!! But they have created a genuine oasis in the desert - what a beautiful home with a fabulous separate guest suite. What luxury! Their hospitality and friendliness was amazing! They have 3 kids, aged 10, 8 and 5, and all the kids got along very well. Do I need to mention that we had delicious Karoo lamb the night we arrived? Even Roland (our resident vegetarian) should be drooling! Their cat had 10 day old kittens, so you can imagine where Megan spent a large part of her time! Carl ran in quite the opposite direction! Amazingly, it wasn't as scorching hot as we thought (in fact we were actually cold in the evenings!) but terribly dry - the driest they've seen it since they moved there 4 years ago. Their home was inspirational in it's self-sufficiency and I have all sorts of New Year's Resolutions to try and get my own home more green!

After two fantastic and memorable nights, we said our farewells, and continued on to Stellenbosch. What a stunning part of the world. If it weren't for the weather (boiling hot, dry summers and freezing, dark, cold winters), I would say it is paradise for SA! The entire family was there, including all 7 cousins. We did lots of touristy things, as well as lots of chilling out at the Farrell's house. We were fortunate enought to house-sit for some friends of the Farrell's, so at least we weren't underfoot all the time. Christmas was really nice - the usual feasting and celebrating. My sister-in-law, Sarah, deserves a MEDAL for all the hard work she put in to our visit, especially wrt catering! She has set a standard that I don't think I could ever live up to! She and David were also the most easy going, welcoming hosts (another thing I'm not sure I could live up to!) and they provided us with one of our best holidays ever!

Those of you who know Carl and I would have been quite amazed at how active our holiday was. We ran/cycled and walked a huge amount! At least we didn't put on the ton of weight we should have with all that over-eating! Our trip home was long and boring. One highlight, however, was on our way back up through the Karoo, we went through an incredible storm, which looked like it had been around for quite sometime. On sms-ing the Besters, we learned that they had had 50mm of rain in 30 mins! The little dam near their house which was completely dry when we were there is now full.

Sadly, back to life, back to reality! Carl has now started work, and the kids start school next week (not that that is such a bad thing - for me!)

Xmas function

Last week we had Carl's company year-end function. Normally year-end functions are rather boring affairs simply to be endured, certainly not to be mentioned on a blog! This one, however, deserves to be shared....

We went river rafting on the Vaal River. While it is not the white water of the Zambezi, it was such a fun day out!! We were so lucky with the weather! The previous week it had been pouring with rain and maximum temps of only 12 degrees. We would've been VERY miserable! As it turns out, the sky was blue and temps went up to about 26 deg. Perfect!

We arrived there (near Parys) at 9am and had a nice brekkie. Afterwards, we donned our helmets (very sexy!) and life jackets and got loaded into an open truck for the very uncomfortable drive to the start of the rafting. Once we had been given a briefing by the guide, we were off!

If ever you want your staff to completely relax and throw off any facade - this it the outing!! It is impossible to look lovely with those helmets, and it is impossible not to just have fun - splashing other rafters, taking on the rapids (and falling out - Carl!!), throwing hyancinth at each other etc.!

We did about 12kms, and the last stretch took some serious effort. By which time we had completely worked off breakfast and were ready for lunch! After lunch, there were 'awards' and Xmas pressie giving, then we headed back home to JHB to retrieve our kids.

What a great day!

We're gonna be rich!

Yip. Last week Megan went out to work and brought home the bacon.

OK, that's not really the whole truth! Here's what actually happened:

The Grade 4's at the kid's school held a 3 day Entrepreneur's Sale. They could work alone or in groups and it was entirely up to them as to what to sell, how much to sell it for, how to advertise etc. etc.!

Megan worked with her two friends Ryan and Marco. They decided to call their stall MMR Claus (for Megan, Marco and Ryan). They even made up a song for their stall to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', which they then sang to the school to encourage them to come to their stall!!

Ryan's mom, Debby, runs a party business and as a result has many contacts in the Chinese Market world! Which means she was able to purchase a lot of stuff for very low prices! Then we all got together and the kids decided how much to sell each item for, they made a banner, and covered boxes in Xmas wrap for displaying the products. Interestingly enough, it was the cheaper items which enjoyed the bigger mark up. The biggest mark up was 208%, and the smallest was 29%. On average, they marked their products up by 96%.

Most of their stuff sold very well - takkie key rings were the first to go, followed shortly by syringe pens. The slowest items to move were the little rubic cubes. Luckily for this group, Debby bought back any unsold items at cost, so at least they didn't make a loss! Also, Debby let them sell some of her stock on consignment on the last day of the sale and they could keep the profit. I'm not sure real life is quite so accommodating!

The group managed to make a total profit of R531,30, which worked out to R177,10 for each of them. Which they get to keep and spend during the holidays!

It was fascinating to see some of the other stalls - one group raffled a MOUSE!! And apparently did very well! Other stalls sold fresh pancakes or pies; some had Xmas decorations, many had sweets, and toys; some sold jewellery and a couple were more action stalls - fishing or balloon popping for prizes.

All I know that it was a frenzy last week - with having Megan manning a stall, and Ali spending like a man with no tomorrow!

Not for the faint hearted!

Last post I told you about Gemma's dog fight. And told you about the incredible fact that there were no wounds to be seen!

On Thursday, Carl got home from work and pointed out that Gemma had a very swollen face, and on inspection, we could feel that there was a great big abscess under the skin where she had been bitten. So on Friday, I took her off to the Vet. On the way there, her abscess popped (fortunately she was in her crate, so it was quite contained!). And there for the world to see were two HUGE gaping holes!! I was mortified and kept telling the Vet that I had checked her so carefully and there were no wounds and what a terrible owner I am, blah blah. She listened to my confessions (Forgive me Dr. for I have sinned!), shaved the area, cleaned out the holes, gave her an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory and then told me what she thought.

Turns out, she believed me about the wounds story, but the bruising from the bite must have been so severe that the skin died, and an infection set in underneath, creating an abscess. Which created a whole lot of pressure, and so it popped through the weak points - the two bite wounds.

Hah! Vindicated!

I have to put in this picture, but my apologies for those of you with sensitive stomachs!!!

The 94.7

For those of you non-Joburgers out there, the 94.7 is a massive cycle race organised by our local radio station, 94.7 Highveld Stereo. The truth is that the race was actually 96.5km, but don't let the public know! So, Carl and my two brothers, Roland and Bruce, and 26 000 other crazy people took to the streets of Joburg for this race on Sunday 15 November (you can see it has taken me a while to get around to writing about it!). It was a clear, boiling hot Highveld day and by all accounts, the race was longer, steeper, hotter and tougher than last year, but apparently still enjoyed by all (OK, most!!). Carl did his race in 3:11 but was a bit disappointed as he was hoping to break 3hrs. To me, it was an excellent time, and the most important bit was that he beat my brothers! Not that we are comparing or anything!
Check out Carl leading the pack (OK, so you can't see the thousands of people in front of him, but anyway!). GO DELOITTE!!
For the spectators, it was great fun! We went up to a nearby water point and got to see all three men (plus thousands of others!) ride by. It is a great thing for Joburgers, because we spend so much time behind our high walls and electric fencing that we never really get out onto our streets! Sad but true!
The most dramatic moment came when our puppy Gemma got attacked by another Jack Russell and I could NOT get this dog to release her! What was more scary is that there were two other really big dogs right close by who also wanted to get in on the action and take a chunk out of our baby!! So, I was fighting off the two big dogs and at the same time trying to get Gemma away from the attacker. And let me tell you, Gemma was shrieking like she was being murdered!! It was terribly scary! The kids were crying, I was yelling and the dogs were snarling. Not nice! The minute I got her free of the other dog, we literally ran back to the car and hot-tailed it home. On arriving home, I cleaned and checked out Gemma from head to toe, and there ware no puncture wounds! Incredible! Did I say no puncture wounds? Well, I lied - only the wounds were on ME not her!!!! Turns out my foot got bitten (punctured), as well as my finger (bad bruising only). I only realised that once we were home! So, I then cleaned myself up, took a shower, popped two Rescue Tablets to calm myself and we headed off to Waterfall Estate to meet Carl at the end of the race! Whew! What a morning!

Here is Carl looking very lean and mean on his bike!

The Vaal (again!)

We have just enjoyed another pleasant weekend at the Vaal, this time with my folks, brother and his kids. The weather was once again fairly missy, but we did still get out on the boat. Austin skied like a champ, and Liam managed to get up, although not stay up! He gets a medal for trying though!!


I have to include this photo, which I took with my cell phone, of our other member of the family on the boat. She looks like she's ready for lift-off (Gemma, that is, not Megan!).

Other than that, we did some paddle-skiing, fishing, cycling, braai-ing, sleeping, eating, chilling!

Y'know, the usual!

The do-ers and the don't-ers

We had our school's White Elephant Sale this past weekend. Which means that for the past few months people have been bringing all their old junk (sorry, treasures!!) and dumping it in a trailer in the car park. Which had to be manned. And then the stuff had to be sorted. And then carried up to the store room above the church. And then resorted. Priced. Cleaned. Etc!!! Are you getting the picture?
The amazing thing is that the bulk of the work was done by so few people! Mom keeps telling me that's life and stop complaining, but it never ceases to amaze me how little some parents do for their kid's school! I get it that the working mom's can't exactly take time off during the day to do all the above mentioned work, but at least on the Saturday they could've come and helped with the selling. But no! I eventually had to corner people to ask for help, but they unashamedly said no, they have other commitments! Person after person after person.
The good news is that the sale was a great success and we made R54000!!! Megs and Ali each got R50 to spend for the morning, and that kept them amused for ages! Megan bought a Willard Price book on arrival, and pretty much spent the rest of the morning in her own little world (as usual!). Even I got some real bargains - so the whole thing was not a complete waste!
Thanks to those of you who donated stuff towards it!
OK - done grumbling!