Tara the TERROR!

My parents have a not quite 1 year old Flat Coated Retriever called Tara. It is quite the cutest thing ever, but as Roland told my dad - a spoilt child! Megan and Tara have an incredible bond, it's amazing to watch.

But when my dad brought Megan home and stayed for supper, Tara was put in disgrace!!! She crapped ALL over my family room kilim.



Now if I had carpets all over my house I wouldn't be so annoyed. But my house is TILED. And she did "her business" all over the one big carpet that I really like.

Though she is really cute so she has been forgiven!!!

Hannah is Home!

Hannah is home!!! It was so wonderful to see her siblings reactions when they saw her. I told her she could have whatever she wanted for supper and she said PIZZA! So they sat in a row watching a new Tom and Jerry movie.

Meg was with Grandpa, but the boys were home. It was amazing to see their bond. And when Meg got back, they hugged like long lost friends.

James Blunt Concert

I had been looking forward to the James Blunt concert since January - when I had booked the tickets. But the timing of the concert and Hannah's seizure wasn't great. We spent hours trying to decide if we should go or not, but in the end decided to go. It only started at 8pm when she would be asleep and she was in high care on 24 hour monitoring.



I am so glad we went. It was FANTASTIC. I love the musicians who truly are the full package - they write their songs, they sing their songs and they play various instruments in between. And he sounded exactly the same as he does on a cd.



The venue was fantastic, our seats were great. And it was just what I needed!

(The photos were taken with my cell phone - with no zoom. So although the quality isn't great, maybe it is an indication of how fabulous our seats were!)

Hannah had a Seizure

On Wednesday I left home early to fetch the girls because I had a meeting at their school. During the meeting my phone rang, but as I didn't recognise the number I ignored it. It rang again, but it was Roland so I ignored him too. But when he phoned straight back I figured I needed to answer it.

The first call was the school because Hannah had a seizure at school. When I had ignored it, they had phoned Roland. Luckily I was only 100m from her classroom, so I dropped everything and ran. Another mum (Jacqui) realised what had happened so ran with me. Helen (Hannah's FANTASTIC teacher) had administered the valium and was sitting with Hannah in her arms.

Jacqui drove me to the hospital which, luckily, is only 5 minutes from Springfield. She was put onto oxygen and monitored in ER before being moved to paediatric high care.

We did all the blood tests and discovered her medication levels were too low and on top of that she had a bacterial infection which had caused the seizure. I'm feeling pretty crap about it as I should have done her tests in March and April and didn't. Somehow she was doing so well I just left it. But she had put on weight so obviously needed a higher dose.

She will hopefully be home tomorrow or Saturday.

Grandparents Day at Springfield

Today was Grandparents Day for the Reception and Pre-Reception classes at the girls school. Hannah is still a year too young, but she will get to take part next year. There are four classes, two in each year and they were fantastic. They sang all togther initially, then performed class by class.


Meg was a superstar, she sang and danced her heart out!


The ballet girls were all dressed up because they did their own special show. One group were hula girls and the other group (which Meg is in) did the Dalmation dance. It was gorgeous. Naturally my little goodie was leading the pack!

Chilli Chocolate

I am totally addicted to chilli chocolate. I'm not that bothered by chocolate in general, but the chilli variety, I can't get enough of!

We get a few varieties, but nothing compares to the Lindt version. Genuine Swiss chilli chocolate.

I didn't think much about it, until I discovered everybody else thinks I've lost the plot!!! So this is my one-man-show marketing campaign!

Buy chilli chocolate, it's FAB!

And for all of you in the US, you can order it from Lindt.

Meggies BIG Bump!

As we were about to leave for dinner last night, Meg came out of her room screaming... and this is what I saw...



I still don't know exactly what happened, but it had something to do with "little teddy" and a wall.





My poor girl was SO brave. She lay on the kitchen counter with an ice-pack on her forehead and then we covered her in Arnica gel.





She wanted to phone granny to tell her and while she was on the phone Cadbury came to comfort her.

Lazy Winter Weekend Days

This was our house last Sunday! Just Megs and I were on the move!

My Court Experience

Sometime towards the end of 2007, I was trapped by a speed camera. Not a fixed one, but a cop operated one on the side of the road. Now I'm the first to admit I'm not always entirely law abiding on the roads and have had a couple of fines in my lifetime. But this one made me just mad.

The freeway (highway for some of you) that joins the southern suburbs of Cape Town to the city center is called the M3. It's a road I drive everyday. On this particular day I was on my way home. As you come down a certain hill the speed limit is 80kmph and as you round the bend it changes to 100kmph.

I figure if I can see a sign, I can drive that speed. I don't believe that I need to pass the sign before I can accelerate. Boy was I wrong. The cop was sitting UNDERNEATH the 100 sign. He trapped me going 99kmph 10 meters in front of it. I got a whacking great fine.

So I decided that I wasn't going to pay it, I was going to write letters. I wrote 2 letters and never heard back. In February I got the court summons. So I decided to go.

When I got into the court, I was told I can either ask for a reduction or fight it. Now that would mean spending that entire day in court and at least one other. I asked about writing letters and was told that's a waste of time.

I have 4 small kids, I can't sit for days in a courtroom. So I had to pay it. I know in theory I was speeding - but COME ON. All that is doing is trying to make money, not trying to slow the traffic down.

My Beautiful Megan

I was looking at the photos on Megan's school website. They still have the photos from the spring fair last year. And I found this one.

My Latest BLOG Project Idea

Seeing that most of my blog viewers are not from South Africa, I've decided to start doing a weekly (or more if I can) blog on where I come from. Beaches, restaurants, scenery, views, people, places and anything else I can think about.



I'm really excited to start sharing it all, I think I'll start all those posts with PSA - Project South Africa!

I've Been Tagged!

Because I've been tagged, I now need to reveal 7 things about me that you might not know. It's going to be fun, I don't have any idea what I'm going to write.

1. Me - I am adopted. I was born in Edinburgh at the Elsie Engels Hospital. I did not return home with my birth mother, but instead went to a foster family. At 3 months I was placed with my parents now. So I have 2 birthdays, August 30th and December 16th. And I am an only child. (Can hear you all saying - Oh that explains a lot - LOL!!!)

2. Movies - I am a rom-com junkie. All and any, I love romantic comedies. I've seen them all and have a huge personal collection. I can watch them over and over.

3. Music - I play the flute and the piano. The flute was my "thing" and I played it grade 5 through 12. I carried on for a bit at university, but just didn't have the time.

4. My name - I absolutely detest my full name (Judith). I get shivers down my spine when anyone says it. My mum used to do it when she was cross with me as a child. And Roland does it now to send me over the edge. And the German version, when I hear that I'm not responsible for my actions. It is pronounced U-dit!!!

5. School - I was at boarding school from grade 7 to grade 12. We were living in Cape Town and I was at school in Grahamstown, DSG. I loved it. We had a 3 term year, so I'd be gone January to April, May to August and September to December. And I was home for 4 weeks in between - that is if I wasn't off on a swimming camp, hockey tour or some musical thing.

6. Restaurants - I love eating out at nice restaurants. Being in a different environment changes the whole experience for me. I love La Colombe, everything is in French and the food is exquisite. Wijnhuis, where I've been this week is fabulous. The food is divine, the atmosphere one of the best. The Tasting Room at La Quartier Francais is incredible. There's Jakes, Myoga... I could go on and on.

7. Coffee - I'm an addict. I love coffee. I have a coffee mug for my car and before I take the kids to school in the morning, I fill it up. And I have a series of places to visit for great cappucino. Manuka is near where we live and I've spent many mornings there sipping cappucino. And the good part about Manuka is that they have a fantastic wine shop next door.

Thanks Chris, this was a blast!

Wijnhuis

On Monday my fantastic friend Nikki took me out for dinner at the most fabulous restaurant called Wijnhuis.



It was a fabulous evening, great food, divine wine and perfect company.

And the best part is, we are going again tonight!

She is doing charity work in India and leaves again on Sunday. So we're making the most of it while she is here. She was my bridesmaid and one of my first friends when we came to South Africa from the UK, so it's always fantastic to see her when she's here.

Boys Room

Well of course once I started with Hannah's room, everyone else decided they needed an improvement too! So I hit Oliver and Cameron's room next. They got a two-tone blue and red checked curtains. I still have to find fabric for their blind - I was thinking maybe a denim colour.



We also put the bunks up. I was really nervous about it, but they are fantastic and there are no silly games going on. I'm also going to make them new duvet covers, just can't quite decide what I want to do!



I've rearranged and added shelving to their cupboards so that if necessary, all toys can get locked in. They aren't too bad now having toys in their room, but do have their moments!

And as with Hannah's room, I'm still needing pictures and such for the walls. But we'll get there. More importantly, Megan is chomping at the bit, waiting for her paint job!

Hannah's Pink Room

I decided my little pink princess was in need of a nice pink girly bedroom. So off I went on a paint and fabric mission. And now she has her bright pink room!

I painted the walls (a little pinker than I had at first anticipated, but she loves it) and sewed like mad.


I'm still busy looking for pictures to put up and sorting toys. I've got some pink baskets for her goodies on her shelves.





So not entirely complete, but we are getting there! And everytime she goes to bed she smiles and says "My pink room"!

Smelly Siamese

We've had a few public holidays recently and on one particular morning Roland and I were lying in bed, trying to get a chapter or two from our respective books.

BIG MISTAKE!!!

It was all really peaceful, everyone was playing nicely. Or so we thought until Cadbury (our Siamese) jumped onto our bed. He smelled absolutely terrible, like urine, though I couldn't believe that. I eventually persuaded him to lie on his blanket on the chair in our room because I couldn't cope with the stench.

Back to reading, until Cameron comes in, all proud of himself...

"I made a wee on the cat!!!"

What the heck is that about?!!!

Nationwide Induced Holiday Drama!

One of our small airlines had a bit of a disaster in December. On take off from Cape Town International Airport they experienced "an engine separation". Hmmm... what's that about?! Well due to poor maintenance the engine fell off. Pilot friends of ours say it is incredible that the captain kept that machine in the air. On takeoff, at full power, you lost all power on one side and are at full ball on the other. Well by some small miracle he kept it in the air, circled to dump fuel, and landed safely. They were grounded by the CAA and checked. All maintenance issues were resolved and they were back in the air in January.

My mum and dad were due to fly from Cape Town to Nelspruit on Wednesday 7th, as they are going to the Kruger Park - to a fabulous private game reserve called Timbavati. On Nationwide. And on Thursday 1st of May it was announced they were to cease flight operations immediately and were placed into provisional liquidation.


Oops... no flight to Nelspruit for Granny and Grandpa. And no refund.

It would've cost them so much to cancel the trip because all the accommodation and transfers had been paid. So we went on a mission to get them there. After hours and hours of trying and nothing going their way, we've done it!!!

They are having to fly to Johannesburg and get a shuttle the 350km to Nelspruit. But there was no shuttle suitable to get back to Johannesburg so we eventually managed to find a flight from Hoedspruit back to Johannesburg, and another back to Cape Town. What a nightmare, but thank goodness it is sorted now!

Mum and Dad, have a fantastic holiday!