Because I Can

The Goddess, She is Here

2008-07-13T20:35:00.007+02:00

Helllllooooo!

It has been a long, long while, hasn’t it? The main excuse for my utterly lazy behaviour is the cat. Yes, he lies on my lap in the evenings and it is oh-so-warm that I do not wish to move. At all! It has rained non-stop for more than 5 days – my car is leaking somewhere, my house is leaking and it has been very cold – the heavily-laden snow capped mountains is proof that winter has finally set in for another couple of months. Luckily the sun was shining this weekend and I was able to do washing – I was beginning to worry that I might have to go to work in my pj’s.

We have a new cat in the hood. Either someone has moved in over the weekend close by or this cat is lost. And Baby cannot stand him/her and is constantly guarding his territory.

Check out these photos.

The new cat in the Hood

who is checking out .....

I thought it so funny that Toby and Baby ignored each other whilst sussing out the intruder in my garden. What is it about me and my garden which is attracting all the cats in the neighbourhood? Anyhoo, Baby had his afternoon nap inside a box which held some scr*pbooking supplies and woke up to find this .....

And then he moved to the chair to keep an eye on the activity outside ...

Isn't he a cute cat. I think he could be lost and I don't know what to do with him. Baby would never forgive me for having to share attention with another cat.

As for work – all I can say is that I have to stick it out on the puny little salary they pay me and put up with really bad management style as the economy is so bad here that cut-backs are inevitable and I would hate to loose the pittance I receive monthly. I am riding out the storm and affirming that something great will happen in my life – something so momentous that I will be dazzled by the fabulous change. Little baby Vic left as it was declared that his mother was fit to have him back and I miss him a lot. I gave the s*ocial w*orker the photographs I took of him to give to his mother – she is from Nigeria and I am sure she would want to send some back to her family. Baby R has gone to her new foster parents but we will see her from time to time, I am sure. We have another little boy with HIV and he is really and truly badly neglected despite spending time in hospital recently. He also has fetal alcohol syndrome and very bad eczema due to the antiretroviral medication his mother was taking. And gosh he is a cute and happy little boy. At the moment his entire body is covered and he wears little socks on his hands to prevent him from scratching his face but it won’t be long before the volunteers have him fixed up. He starts antiretroviral medication on Monday and the volunteers will be exfoliating his skin to rid it of all the dead skin. We also have a prem baby who came to us on Thursday and she is receiving Kangaroo care at the moment – meaning, she is carried in a pouch strapped to the front of a volunteer - all day long.

Other than work and the odd bit of scr*pbooking I have been doing, I have been keeping very much to myself – sleeping a lot and watching mindless TV to pass the time away whilst Baby cuddles on my lap, wraps himself around my neck (just like a scarf) or lies near me whilst I am scr*pping something. My mind still boggles that he has found himself comfortable with me and my home. Though cat food is very expensive and he is a rather fussy eater, I am glad he is keeping me company and fills the void which I feel at times.

Luv to all and have an awesome week!

End of Another Week

2008-06-22T21:18:00.007+02:00

Tomorrow another work week begins for me and the only thing which is keeping me going is the fact that I will be getting paid. Had another "session" with the she-boss and it is pitiful that she is so insecure that she cannot accept any of the suggestions I come up with - it is her way or no way. I have since decided that I will just keep quiet from now on. On Friday a group of us were playing Uno at lunch (team building) and she came to join us. She tried to make jokes at my expense (about being single and having no kids so I am obviously still trying to relive my childhood by being "silly") but I ignored her.

The entire weekend I worked on the products and costing for workshops which I am designing. Not that they would make me enough money to resign but it will help go towards being able to have a bit of a life which would, in turn, take my mind off the she-boss. Should the workshops be successful and more are requested, I may then just be able to make a living from it. Not much but maybe enough to get by. I now have to see whether I am able to order the products. I have been reading a lot of scrapping blogs where they offer workshops and I cannot believe how easy it is for them to churn out project after project and to offer them at such a good price. But being in the You-Knighted-States, they don't have a shocking exchange rate, do not have to pay postage (for orders over a certain value) and then do not have the import tax to pay on top of that. Scr@pbooking is so cheap there that I think if I lived there I would have been ultra successful by now. The economy is really bad here and the finance minister has told everyone to tighten their belts and that the worse is yet to come. Scr@pbooking, being a luxury, is definitely going to take a knock and therefore whatever I do, I have to make it as cost effective as possible for the customer but at the same time ensuring that I make enough to earn a living.

I was offered another job for a slighly higher increase but it is about an hour's drive (due to the route I have to take and traffic) and with the exceptionally high cost of petrol, it is not worth the change. I would rather do the workshops and use my creative skill to earn extra money than to put myself under more stress by travelling a long distance. Not to mention the strain my poor little car would be under with all the stopping and starting in peak hour traffic.

Since Wednesday we have had nothing but rain. The sun did peek out the clouds this afternoon but that was shortlived. I am in a turmoil as to what to wear to work with the limited choice of clothing I have as most of it is still trying to dry out. This is the only aspect of winter I do not enjoy - wet washing around the house. Oh how I wish I had central heating!

Got to go - Baby has woken up and will soon be walking over my keyboard trying to find a suitable place to plonk down his body. As long as he is near or on top of me, he will be happy.

Have a super duper week.

The goddess has left her blog.

This, That and Other News

2008-06-16T19:31:00.006+02:00

I am truly gobsmacked that I have not posted for so long. It is not as if I have any other distraction other than Baby who occupies a place on my stomach when I am laying on the couch. And I have no excuse for it being a bitterly cold winter because it has not. We have had a mild winter with the odd chilly day with a chilly wind blowing.

The job has been emotionally intense only due to bad management and a power hungry director who wants to throw her weight around. The intensity leaves me depleted by the time I get home and the only escapism is to loose myself in TV programs and then go to bed early. I have started a mini album on one of the abandoned baby girls who is going to be fostered shortly but am not sure how long it will take to complete. She is such a cutie and I wanted her to have some photographs of herself when she was a baby and I want the album to depict that no matter how she entered the world, she was loved everyday by the people who cared for her. I have spoken to her foster mother and she agreed that she would take good care of it and it would always remain with baby R. Seeing my favourite little boy each day is the one of two constants in my life which brings me joy (the other is Baby cuddling up with me each night). Here is my fav little boy taking his bath ...

..... and in his pj's ...

His face lights up when he catches sight of me and loves me to pick him up and cuddle him. Some days he is really miserable and the only time he feels at ease is when he is picked up - he is cutting teeth at the moment.

As for Baby, nothing suits him better than to lie with his body squashed up against my face. Now if only I could take him to work and use him as a scarf.

Till later - behave yourselves.

Winter Chills

2008-06-01T21:00:00.004+02:00

Before I get onto my usual run-of-the-mill blog, I want to send a special message to Steve who has been out of touch for an oh-so-very-long time. Steve, I hope you are enjoying the start of your retirement and I cannot wait for the day when you get back online and get yourself an email address now that you are "back home". I have missed your regular communications.

The ex-husband visited with his friend this week. Oh boy, was that a mistake. Firstly, he has changed - totally grey and has put on sooooo much weight. For someone who always pestered me about my weight when I weighed 50 to 55kgs at the time, he sure has changed. We had a good start to the evening, sipping wine, eating pizza and them viewing all my albums and raving about how fabulously creative I was. I liked that bit. A lot. Then we got into chatting about his family which turned to homosexuality which turned into the biggest argument between friends I have ever witnessed. I was gobsmacked at the insults his friend threw at him and the anger erupting before my eyes. I could see that even though they had been friends for 35 years, they were too emotionally immature to handle certain aspects of their relationship. Eventually my ex took his friend home and then came back to apologise. His friend phoned the next day to apologise and told me that he had made the choice to end the friendship. Oh my, like I need this like a hole in my head! My viewpoint? I am very pleased I am no longer involved with those two. We will always remain on friendly terms but being friends, I think not!

The weather has been rather cold here and we have had a lot of rain which has surprised me a bit I must say. And oh boy, do I have a problem with lack of winter clothing. I no longer have the excuse that I can go to work in my warm winter pj's but the cost of clothing is so high that I am afraid to embark on that one trip I loathe beeg time - shopping at the mall for clothes. I saw an awesome woollen coat which I would give my eye teeth to have and if I had money, the cost was not too bad but there are more important things I need and I think layers of clothing will have to do in the meantime. The economy is so bad here at the moment that it is too frightening to even put into words. The number of houses and cars being repossessed is the highest it has ever been since time in memorium and according to economists it is not getting better.

Back to the weather. It has been so chilly and wet, that Baby has been spending many hours indoors. He just hates it when I go to work and won't leave me when I get home. Pet sensors for my burglar alarm is very expensive so the only solution is to put a cat door in the back door of my garage so he can have access to the garage when it rains. I will have to speak to my brother. So when I get home in the evenings and after I have done my usual checking of emails etc, I am forced to lay on the couch with Baby on top of me. Such an inconvenience! *grin* I do admit he is a wonderful hot water bottle.

As for work - still the ups and downs and I so wished I was paid a decent salary in relation to the amount of work I do. I am still being treated as the general dog's body and managed to have my say with regard to this at a recent staff meeting. I mentioned to them that I am capable of handling anything which is handed to me and I am not afraid of hard work but I will not tolerate being treated as a 2nd rate staff member being at tht beck and call of everyone. I told them I don't need accolades for what I do as I am secure within myself that I do a job well done but respect is sorely lacking within the team and there are some staff members who think they are too good to handle some tasks - looking down on their fellow colleagues with some superiority. It was a good meeting but we'll have to wait and see whether they make a conscious effort to be more aware of their colleagues, their work loads and general situations within the office.

Before I go, have a faaaaabuuulous week.

What a Monday!

2008-05-26T19:28:00.002+02:00

Another start to what can only be a hectic week. The 1st of June is International Child Protection Day and here in Cape Town we are doing workshops the entire week long at various schools so most of the staff is out of office. Over and above this, we have staff working out at the refugee camps and taking them food, water and bare essentials to get through each day. I have to stay in the office to ~~woman~~ man the phones which do not stop ringing – dammit! I am exhausted and though it is only after 7pm, I am going to have a late night to watch a 2 hour special of Greys Anatomy.

Yes, we did allow too many immigrants into this country. Xenophobia is continuing and volunteers are working around the clock to help them. But. These people who are being subjected to attacks and are being driven out the country, are hardworking. Really, really hardworking and they have set up their own businesses which our own people have failed to do – the frigging lazy sods. We cannot now just decide to kill them and drive them out of the country and then loot their businesses and steal from them. Oh, why did I not think about that?

Two of our children were discharged today to other places of safety. One was a 3 year boy and he kept on saying he did not want to go. The place is quiet and our cute little girl will be going soon too. Little V is still with us and his face always lights up when he sees me. I just wish I could capture his smile with my camera but he always gets serious when the camera is pointed in his face. Though we don’t bond too much with the kids, it is still a little sad when they go, knowing we will never see them again. But, for Baby R and Little V (who both will be leaving soon), I am scrapping them each an album which hopefully will go with them wherever they land up. One day they will know that there were lots of people who loved and cared for them in the infant stages of their lives.

Now I am off to watch Greys and then to crash on my bed.

Oh yes…….. you would never guess who is coming to visit Tuesday night – my ex husband! Will tell you more later.

News from the South

2008-05-24T22:37:00.012+02:00

The days keep flying by and I am stunned that is has been so long since I last posted. What makes things worse is that winter is definitely here and I am still disorientated by how early the darkness falls. Work has improved slightly only because I am not taking things personally but the organization has a long way to go before it can be deemed as an organization that someone would want to work for. Communication is the main cause for the many downfalls including lack of good management skills. Hopefully in time they will see that being policemen and keeping a tight rein on staff is not good but poor management.

Having a job has eased the burden somewhat but it has also highlighted just how much more I need to survive through the month. The oil situation has affected everyone worldwide and in this country even more so due to our currency being so weak against the dollar, pound and euro. Petrol prices have soared and so too have food prices and the power company is trying hard to get the government to agree to a 53% price increase in order to carry out much needed upgrading. Sadly, our country is deteriorating fast and I am not sure how much longer we will be able to sustain poor management from government. With our current president on his way out, I shudder to think of what we have in store with the new. At the end of the day, I am still in the same situation – not enough money to make ends meet and I am not alone in this situation.

Though I have not been directly affected, we have had staff working round the clock with refugees who have been subjected to the Xenophobia attacks taking place in this country at the moment. The police and volunteers evacuated all the children and as many refugees as they could on Thursday night and housed them in shelters before the attacks against the foreigners began. It has been a barbaric situation – people being set alight, shacks burnt and shops looted. We had an appeal for blankets, clothing and food and from our own supplies, we packed cars full of items to take to the refugees. I know that a lot of these foreigners are illegal immigrants but we should show compassion to them in light of what is happening in their own country. However, it has been suggested that these Xenophobia attacks are politically motivated one of them being that “Moogarbee” is behind them to entice the Zimbabweans to go home and once there they would be subjected to brutal attacks to force them to vote for him. Speculation or the truth? Anyhoo Friday was a busy day as mostly white ex-Zimbabweans donated as much as they could to help those in need. These whites have had their own share – husbands murdered and farms taken away from them but yet they rallied together to help those who have been subjected to cruel dictatorship in their own country.

I could easily be here right now.

Cabin

A few weeks ago my brother and father took a fishing trip to the Drakensberg area in Kwazulu-Natal and also had the opportunity of going into Lesotho and up the Sani Pass. As I was basking in the last of the summer sun, they experienced snow. I was gobsmacked that it was already snowing up country. Winter did not take long to reach us.

Sani Pass

Besides trout fishing and pub crawling, they managed to take a few bush drives to view some game.

~~Donkey in Striped Pyjamas~~ Zebra

~~Tall Horse~~ Giraffe

~~More Tall Horses~~ Mom, Dad and Baby Giraffe

My brother took over 600 photographs and I promised him that I would scrap an album for him. The photographs were stunning and the one's I posted here, I edited free online by using picnik.com - a fabulous photo editing website.

Next time I will tell you all about Baby, my only source of companionship when I get home and when we have blackouts.

Till then - be good and thank you sooooo much for dropping by.

Raindrops keep falling on my Head

2008-05-11T00:32:00.004+02:00

Winter fell upon us without warning and I was not prepared for her arrival. Having been able to work in my pj's in winter or sweat suites, I now found myself in a bit of a pickle of what to wear to keep me warm down in the basement office. I did close the sliding door but the boss walked into it, someone managed to slide it off the track and I had to make a sign indicating the door was closed (on account of the weather). The sudden darkness early in the evening has also knocked my body clock for a loop as I find myself getting tired earlier in the evening and then going to bed very early - hence no post for a while.

Work is livening up a bit as I have been tasked in helping the fundraiser organise events to raise funds. This is important as we do not get paid unless there is money in the bank. Huge stressful situation that is. The decline in the economic situation is worldwide and we are feeling the pinch here in the rainbow nation quite harshly. The cost of living has increased so much that so many people are complaining - the poor, naturally, being the hardest hit. The pressure for us to provide food parcels to the informal settlements now that winter has arrived has increased, yet everyone is tightening their belts to save money for themselves. Petrol has increased so much that the fuel pumps at some stations are unable to cope with the new fuel price. Besides giving up luxury items (like scrapbooking), giving to charity is going to decline as well.

The boss has been in a bad mood for a while and has used me as her punching bag. She obviously gets a lot of satisfaction picking on people even though it is not justified and I just happen to be the one she gets to the most. I keep quiet and get on with my work. One day it will all come back to her.

The kids are so adorable though but they have been down with a lot of bugs of late and my favourite Victor has had to be isolated from the other kids. These kids have grabbed my heart like I never imagined they would. We have an adorable little girl who will soon be fostered who is now 3 months old and when I hold her in my arms and talk to her, she quietens down and listens to me. Her curly hair is soft and she has a very cute habit of resting her little hand against the side of her face. Our AIDS baby began walking on Friday and everyone was so excited and I think he was excited too as he could not stop smiling. However, I think he just loved all the attention he was getting. I was asked whether I would be interested in becoming a safety parent but I declined. Playing with the children for 10 minutes at a time is something I am able to cope with but having a child dropped off in the middle of the night and I have to feed, bath and change nappies (or diapers) is something I won't handle very well. I will post pics of this kids very soon - I am waiting for the volunteers to download their photographs from their cameras onto our computers at work. I am also creating a powerpoint presentation showing our organisation, the babies, the informal settlements where we work which can be downloaded from our website so you will be able to see the beautiful children who did not have a good start in life but who are thriving with all the love and care they receive from us.

Other than that, Baby is sleeping here for the first time in a week. He has been giving me the cold shoulder for not being around during the day. He comes in to eat and goes out immediately but with it now raining, he has loved being curled up inside. He was "this" close in getting booted back home. *grin*. And you will not believe who else is popping by in the evenings - his sister. She also wants a bowl of wet food but Baby is not happy to share his domain with her and sometimes tells her in no uncertain terms that she is trespassing.

Sunday is Mothers Day here and we are going out for breakfast and then I am spending the rest of the day scrapping at C's house as her hubby has flown to Cyprus for a business meeting. I have to housesit for her again on Tuesday so Baby will be really really peeved off me with - beeg time.

That is all my news for the moment and hopefully I will be back soon to share some more.

Where is the Goddess?

2008-04-29T17:59:00.002+02:00

I do apologise for not keeping up to date on my blog. For some reason my attention span is very limited and if I had to opt for laying on the couch and watching TV or doing something constructive, I opt to lazing and doing nothing at all. It is not that I am ungrateful for what I have in my life because I truly am. I am grateful for the job I have despite that the pay does not cover all my expenses and I will be living on the bones of my ass for a while yet, because I am grateful for it. I am grateful for my house and that the bank has not yet come knocking at my door. I am not grateful to the Dept of Inland Revenue who is hounding me for taxes but I do understand they have a job to do. Just wish they would hound the rich and affluent people instead of getting my stomach twisted in a knot. I am grateful for my friends. But. There is something missing in my life - a spark, an energy, a true happiness. Something is missing deep inside which is causing me to go through my day like a robot instead of living it abundantly and joyfully. And, I just can't put my finger on it. What is so frustrating for me is that this is so unlike my character and personality and it seems to be going on for far too long. What I do miss a lot (besides having the moolah to spoil myself) is the chance for holistic treatments - reiki, shaitsu massages, aromatherapy massages or a simple visit to my holistic therapist for body balancing. I don't feel grounded. My life seems chaotic when in fact it is only the financial side of my life which is chaotic. I can't explain the short attention span other than possibly my brain is telling me I really, really do need my eyes tested which I had done 4 years ago. I have heard that a short attention span sometimes is a clear indication that your brain is struggling to concentrate due to poor eyesight?

My job is ambling along. Not much is happening and I have had no training but after today, it appears there may be light at the end of the tunnel. The only drawback is that as we are a non-profit organisation, we have to ensure that we do enough fundraising to cover all salaries for the month and that puts a lot of pressure on everyone to ensure that their job is justified and that they have enough work to do to warrant the job.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me get down to the light-hearted stuff. Ummmmmmm...... mmmmmmmmmmmm ............ wellllll ........... nope, can't think of anything right now. Baby took a chunk out of my hand on Friday as he really is peeved off that I have to work. We have just had a long weekend and he would not leave my side and slept indoors all day long. Thursday and Friday we have off again (just got to love those long weekends when one has a fulltime job) and he will, in all likelihood, do the same. At the moment he is curled up on top of my monitor. He has a new "thing" - he only drinks water from the toilet - I have to remember to catch him in action and he now lies on top of me when I am vegging on the couch. He is good company but boy, oh boy, do I miss human company at night and another paycheck and someone to share my load with.

T has signed the partnership agreement and there is so much I need to do and to provide to her but my passion has waned a lot. I am hoping she will help revive it by taking the workload and leaving me to be creative and to "find" myself again.

That, my friends, is my life in a nutshell. The nut is tiny so I am afraid that is all you get for the moment. But I know you love me and don't mind the "story in a nutshell" moment.

So until later my friends - behave yourselves and enjoy the onset of summer.

From this side of the World

2008-04-20T20:23:00.002+02:00

The Goddess, she cannot wait for her first pay cheque. Only a week and a half without money and then the Goddess, she will be smiling again.

Work on the dark African continent is no good. The phones, she is driving me a-crazy especially when the peeples they don't speeka the Inglish. And my oh my, the rules and regulations, too many - don't do this, you must do that, don't even think about, you cannot do many for me. I am waaaaay beyond that type of managing of staff.

Autumn has now arrived and we are having the most gorgeous weather - windless warm days when it is so pleasant to be outdoors - just my luck I am stuck in an office now. The early mornings are fresh and we are now beginning to wear winter pj's and putting that extra blanket over us at night. Baby is sleeping inside every night now, curled up close to me. He misses me not being at home and at weekends he spends as much time as he can sleeping indoors just to be with me.

Work is progressing with T and the new contracts and I think that this time it will work. She is willing to take over a lot of the functions to give me a bit of a rest and let me do designing and the making of kiddies albums plus conducting workshops over weekends. I am looking forward to that.

Be good, take care and have a fabulous week.

That 4-Letter word - Work!

2008-04-13T10:43:00.005+02:00

And I thought 2008 was going to be good year!

I have not been impressed with being sick as it has left me totally depleted of energy. I am not used to going to bed at 8pm each night only to have interrupted sleep due to coughing fits. I am however much better but am still on antibiotics and still have a dry, irritating cough.

Work is quite bizarre. We have strict rules and are monitored with virtually everything we do. And we are not allowed to do anything private on the business premises. I am not used to working under such strict rules as I have always had bosses who have trusted that I would get the work done without having to be monitored. Everyone in the office is serious and very seldom will you find anyone laughing and joking around - except me of course - I am forever cracking joking comments and teasing everyone. Unfortunately that side of my personality does not understand the rules and will continue to do whatever it feels like doing. I miss being at home. I miss the freedom of coming and going when I feel like it and working the hours I feel like working. I don't enjoy answering the telephone and the work, per se, is not very interesting at the moment only because I am more intelligent to just sit at a desk and answer the phone. The whole organisation is somewhat disorganised with everyone being the chief and delegating the shitty stuff to me. My mission is to get everyone organised so that everyone knows where everyone is and appointments are not booked on top of one another. I have come up with some good ideas regarding foster care and foster care parents but I can only do so much as everything we do, we need to ensure that we have the funds to complete it. Otherwise, we have to get on the phone and try to find donations or companies who will donate their services (eg printing) to us. Therefore, everything takes longer for us to implement and complete.

I do love the children though. One little guy in particular is such a cutie and has a gorgeous little smile. It horrifies me at how easily babies are abandoned or neglected and I am gobsmacked at how dysfunctional a lot of families are. The fabric of the family unit does not seem to be that important anymore and I thank my luck stars that I grew up in a child-friendly era without the influence of TV and the internet to distort my childhood. I am grateful for living in a crime-free neighbourhood and for being able to play in the streets without fear of being molested, kidnapped or witness a drive by shooting.

Here is a collage of some of the children in our care at the moment. We have many more, some will be going into foster care soon and one little girl is going to be adopted soon. We have one little boy who will remain permanently in our care as he has AIDS so therefore his chances of being fostered is almost nil.

Autumn is here. The sun is rising much later and is setting much much earlier. The gale force winds have stopped and the autumn days are pleasant enough to be outdoors. Yup, and I am now stuck in an office! The sun has begun to lose it's strength and these are the days I favour the most - glorious sunny days with the sun no longer sending out harsh sunbeams.

Hope you have all been well and that the snow has stopped falling and Spring has announced herself to your side of the world.

Sick, Sooo Sick

2008-04-06T19:13:00.004+02:00

I have not been around last week as I have been very sick with bronchitis. The doctor booked me off work and all I have done is sleep - either on my couch or in bed. I had begun losing my voice and I was instructed not to talk too much and to rest as much as I could. Sunday evening and I am not yet better but am much better than I was on Thursday. My entire body feels as if it has been tossed around in a washing machine and each time I move it feels like my organs are bashing up against my ribs. When I cough, I have to hold my ribs to alleviate some of the discomfort. Oh woe is me.

As soon as my energy levels have returned to normal, I will be back to share more news with you.

The moral of this story (seeing as I got sick when I started working away from home) is don't work and stay at home in a relatively germ-free environment.

{1st Week @ Work}

2008-03-30T21:43:00.004+02:00

Though I don't have the "Monday Blues" yet, the proverbial start of the week is something I am going to have to get used to again. I only worked 4 days last week but I was tired at the end of each day and by Friday, I had caught a mild dose of the 'flu.

I am enjoying the work but there will have to be changes if the admin systems are to run efficiently. This means time management is going to have to be a priority issue. So far my task has been to organise the office for an influx of 7 social workers who will begin working on Tuesday and to open case files which we have taken over from another social department. All this data will soon have to be captured onto a new computer system when it is eventually installed. My other job task is to complete the paper work for all the babies who arrive at the safe house and those who leave.

The company I am working for handles all social services for a large part of the city and surrounding areas. They started off as a safe house for abandoned and abused children but now deal with all types of social services and work in conjunction with the government (but we get no funding from the government) and the police. All money has to be raised through donations (including our salaries) and the amount of money needed to run this organisation and keep it sustainable to be of excellent service to the community is huge. So if any of you know of anyone who would like to be a patron and raise money for us - you just let me know. Though we have our own fundraiser working fulltime and a part time fundraiser, I am also going to see whether I am able to bring funds in.

We are renting a house on a farm to create a home environment for some children - two children are in our foster care permanently and they are soooooo cute and friendly. They have house parents who care for them fulltime and the older children are put into school - all their needs are paid by the organisation. But we have to move out in 3 months time so we are raising funds to buy a large house down the road to cater for the safe house babies and the permanent foster kids.

When I arrived on Tuesday I spent the entire day moving desks and wall units, unpacking pamphlets, stationery etc. As I perspire terribly, my hair remained sopping wet the entire day. The babies were also sick - snotty noses, chest colds so maybe this is why I caught the bug. On Friday a two month old baby boy was delivered to the house so I don't think I will go into the nursery and playroom until my chest cold has cleared.

I don't want to name the organisation on this here my personal and scintillating and interesting blog *grin*, but if you would like to know it and check out the website, email me and I will let you know. Have not had a chance to take photographs but I will soon.

I am mostly office bound however on some occasions I will be allowed to go out with my friend and manager to familiarise myself with procedures and the different cases we work on. I would like to go with her to court when she discusses the removal of a child with the Magistrate - that would be rather interesting.

Other than that, T is getting rather enthusiastic and we are changing the concept of the company in order to make it much more profitable and to ensure that all excess stock is utilised fully. Her husband is considering buying a laser cutting machine in order for us to make our own embellishments which will be a huge saving for us and we can get extra creative. We are still in the discussion stage and nothing will go any further until we have everything in writing - but to put your minds at ease, I don't have a bad feeling about this change around.

So that my friends, is my roundup of last week. Now I must get back to my "other" job - finishing the tutorials for the kits. A woman's work is never done! PS - Am still looking for an ultra rich man.

{Message from the Couch}

2008-03-25T22:17:00.002+02:00

The past month or two has been an emotional roller coaster for me but my life is changing slowly but surely for the better. During the last couple of months I have had no money and have been very low in spirit. I have had my mother, brother and friend help me at times but sometimes I have had no food to eat for a few days, no petrol in my car and electricity running out quickly. My father had to help me with my medication otherwise I think I would have gone completely around the bend. *grin*.

I could not post before now (wanted to post before the weekend) but I have been housesitting and did not have any computer access.

But ....

I started a job today. I am the administrator for a non-governmental, non-profit organisation which cares for abandoned babies and children and abused mothers. It is the same organisation which my friend works for. I will be continuing with the "business" on a part time basis - evenings and weekends and believe it or not but T is wanting to come back again so we are negotiating new contracts etc which will all be signed before we go a step further and make it official. It will help me having someone to share the workload especially as I am now fulltime employed. Some great aspects about this job is that it is a 10 minute drive from my house and with petrol prices going through the ceiling, it is great that I work so close to home and the dress is casual which means that I can go to work in comfy clothes and do not have to spend a fortune on a work wardrobe. I will be taking photographs of the house and the cute little kids which they have in the safe house at the moment and will post them on my blog. The admin and social workers office is downstairs but we do have a chance to interact with the children - however, the snot running out of noses gets to me and when they reach out begging to be picked up, I ummmmmm ..... wellllll ...... bend forward and tickle the tummy. I am such a wuss.

That is my good news. And the other good news is that my emotional state will be improving and I will soon become a regular like I used to be. Though I am sure I have missed the boat already as I barely get any comments anymore. I will pop by your blogs and reconnect with you and hope we can carry on where we left off.

Hope to hear from you all - have missed you all immensely.

2 for the price of 1

2008-02-28T14:38:00.003+02:00

Oh are you not lucky today. Two posts from me. The first for absolute viewing pleasure and the second to make your brain work for ~~a change~~ a little exercise.

Here is another word puzzle. I battled with this one for a long time but when I started applying my cells it became quite easy though I was not able to come up with 24 words before my mind got bored with all the trying. Have a go and I will post the answers soon. Here are the rules again ...

1. You can only have 4 or more letter words
2. Each word must contain the letter Y
3. No words with hyphens or which start with a capital letter
4. You must have 1 9-letter word

24 words = good / 36 words = very good / 48 words = excellent

A Session From the Couch

2008-02-28T13:22:00.016+02:00

Still no job and though my spirit is up and I am remaining positive, I do have my moments of doubt that my life as I knew it - rich, abundant and overflowing with opportunity, will ever return. As for poverty, though I am still living in my house with all my comfort around me, I do empathise with those people who have lost everything or had nothing to begin with in the first place. It is tough to get up and focus on the positive when one's stomach is growling with hunger and you have no way of communicating with those people who would be in a position to find you employment. Once you hit rock bottom, it is amazing how many people want nothing to do with you. It is as if you have the plague or they are afraid you would ask them for money or whatever their weird reason is. Though the latter has not happened to me in the main, there are a few of my "friends" who avoid asking me how I am doing. There are those "friends" who have not stepped forward to offer any help at all and when, in the past, I have been invited to their homes, I barely receive an invite these days. So I keep mum about what is happening in my life but just in case you wonder why I don't update very often, my thought process is fixated on trying to remain positive and as I stay at home 24/7 (the odd occasion I do go out), there is nothing much to report.

A friend did take me to a wine farm on Sunday. How sweet of her? Well, yes but she had a couple of ulterior motives (1) her boyfriend was away (otherwise it would never have happened) and (2) she had just bought a new car and wanted to take it on a fairly longish drive and (3) she wanted to take photographs. So she paid for my share of the picnic lunch and made me promise to reciprocate when I found a job.

So here are photographs of my Sunday trip to Zevenwacht Wine Estate just a 30 minute drive from where I live. Click the photographs to see the "bigger" picture. Size does matter!

A Collage of Photographs

Across The Lake

The Jetty

Point of Collection for the Picnic Baskets

The Picnic

Tree branch in shape of a Rainbow

The Restaurant

Ducks waiting for the Wedding to start

Wooden bridge to Chef's herb garden

Otherwise my dear and wonderful friends spread across this vast wide world of ours, I am okay. Trying to figure out where to from here but keep your fingers crossed that my brother receives his commission soon for selling a wine farm in Franschhoek. He has promised to give me money (yay) and hopefully this will pull me out of the cesspool into the sunlight.

Baby has been so adorable lately though totally frigging fussy about his food - I have had to serve him his food on my coffee table, on my sideboard next to the TV, on my computer desk otherwise he won't eat it. Also, he has found his shadow whilst sitting on my hi fi and after attempting to lick, bite, claw at himself, he got a huge fright and ran outside to hide behind a bush. Check him out:

Who is That?

Why can't I taste you?

OMG, That was Scary!

I will be back again shortly.

{Glory to Mother Nature}

2008-02-10T22:51:00.000+02:00

It rained. But I did not wake up to it beating against my window. Unfortunately I slept through it as according to my mother it rained very hard at 6am this morning. It did rain pitifully light throughout the day but man, oh man, was it hot and humid. My skin was clammy all day long and it was only at about 6pm when I could eventually switch off the fan and feel like a normal human again.

Though I did not dance nekkid in the rain, I did stand in it and celebrate those joyous drops which fell from the heavens.

Have a good week all.

{Too Hot To Handle}

2008-02-09T21:56:00.000+02:00

Before logging in to post, I made a quick stop over at Jade's blog as she normally gives me a clear picture of weather conditions. Jade is truly frustrated with Mother Nature and I, for one, cannot blame her. Either the Big M is hitting me "big" time or it is getting hotter down south. Everyone is complaining about the constant heat, the wind which will not stop blowing and then there was today.

A blistering heatwave struck us today and besides not helping me and my body temperature very much, we have lots of fires all over the place and I feel very sorry for the firemen. But today the wind dropped and though the slight breeze was more pleasant than a gale force wind, the heat was so oppressive you could not move a muscle without breaking out in a sweat. I sat in front of a fan, I ran through the sprinkler, I showered several times to no avail. I had no sooner dried and the sweat was pouring off me again. The only blessing I could think of was that I was not on a date trying to make an impression on Mr C.

Anyhoo, I was sitting on the table outside (too lazy to take the chairs out) and the threat of rain was making me terribly excited. The drops however were about 5 minutes apart so it made no difference. Like Jade, Mother Nature just playing a cruel trick on me. However, rain is predicted for late tomorrow and Monday and I will happily dance in the rain stark nekkid to show Mother Nature how grateful I am for such a wonderful gift of rain.

So as much as you are getting tired of winter, I am really getting irritated with being hot and sweaty all the time. Roll on those balmy days of Autumn!

I am hoping for an electrical thunder storm tonight with beeg rain drops falling down very hard. I can't wait to smell the earth after the first downpour and I want to dance under the rain and cool this body of mine. I want to wake up tomorrow morning with rain battering against my window.

No Connection

2008-02-05T21:38:00.001+02:00

I have been unable to access the internet and my mail since Saturday and a rather helpful guy from our telephone company popped in earlier and got me up and running again. Yesterday I was online to my internet provider but they told me it was definitely a fault on the "other" side. This morning I logged the fault and a short while ago the guy left and I was restored. I really missed being connected to the rest of the world.

Like missing electricity just when I need it the most.

Will be back in a mo.

Get Me Out of Here. Please?

2008-01-31T23:28:00.000+02:00

Excuse the lack of blogging but it has been so hot here that I cannot bare sitting in my little office with sweat pouring down my head. I don't perspire anywhere else excepting my head and neck - yuck! How do I expect Mr C to nibble passionately at my neck when I am hot and sweaty. He had better have air conditioning in his house! Even Baby has been out of sorts. He is getting very fussy about his food and most nights he sleeps outdoors - tonight he is lying in the bath but I am sure he will want to go out later.

NOTHING is happening here and I am trying to remain upbeat and positive. I am reading The Secret for the 2nd time and making notes and underlying important, life-changing points. I am also working them into my daily routine. It is true what they say - you cannot be down if you are thinking of something good and positive. Tell that to my brain when my stomach is growling!

The job market is pathetic and I have not heard about the proposal I put forward to the wholesaler. I have been meaning to give her a call or a follow up email but over the last couple of days my mind has been on clearing my house of junk and recycling big time. My garage is looking great and I have now started on the inside of my house - I need to get ready for the big move into Mr C's house. *smiles*

Tomorrow I also start on my effort to loose weight. Unfortunately I am not able to control what I eat due to a certain important criteria which is hugely missing in my life and in my bank account but I thought that maybe by exercising I could get the process moving until my "ship comes in" and lower my blood pressure at the same time. Tonight a friend lit a candle for me and she told me that I must think of it as my guiding light to loose weight. She also promised to buy me the most awesome outfit for my birthday party if I have lost the weight by August. So I am determined not to let her down. I showed them photographs of me when I was married and everyone of my scr*pping friends could not believe how slim I was - those photographs will be my incentive.

Other than a shift in my mind to positive, determined, hopeful and believing, there is nothing else to report. Excepting we are having constant power cuts every day. We have just been told that our electricity is going to be rationed. For a week the gold mines were not able to operate and all their power to the mine shafts were cut. The lack of sufficient energy for the entire country should be seen as a state of emergency. The government made a HUGE mistake 14 years ago when it decided not to spend money on energy. It admits its mistake now but we have to suffer in the interim. I cannot begin to tell you how this has affected us and in particular - farmers who rely on cold storage, supermarkets who do not have generators as back-up, the city morgue, funeral parlours, butchers, bakers, and very importantly the petrol manufacturers. This is going to have a huge impact on our economy and foreign investment. Mention has also been made regarding our international credit rating.

Read this and weep - "South Africans could save electricity by going to sleep earlier and boiling less water, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told Parliament on Wednesday. "Go to sleep earlier so that you can grow and be cleverer. Boil less water, use the microwave rather than stove, take a shower and not a shallow bath," she told a special sitting of Parliament to discuss the power crisis". Only in Africa!

In case you were wondering what Eskom had in mind for us today...

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 21)
Things will be pretty dark for you today, unless you remember to buy new torch batteries.

Taurus (Apr 21 - May 21)
You'll probably eat cold, raw food again today. Try to remember to get that gas cylinder filled! Be cheerful, though, and remember that your ancestors lived like this and survived - 25,000 years ago.

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 22)
There will be a programme on TV tonight that you'll love. Bummer that you can't watch it 'cause it's on during your allotted "block" in the Eskom disco derby...

Cancer (Jun 22 - Jul 23)
Thought you were smart buying that generator? But we know you're going to run out of fuel tonight and the nearest working petrol station is 20km away. As you get there, we'll cut their power... Sorry.

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 24)
Another morning without that essential cup of coffee awaits you... If you make it to 10am we'll reward you with enough power to make some, but by then you'll probably have killed 3 people and severely injured a 4th. (Don't worry, though. This is the new SA - you'll probably get away with it.)

Virgo (Aug 24- Sep 23)
Not for very much longer... What else is there to do after dark?

Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 23)
Your star-sign stands for fairness and justice. That's why we're going to hit your area with three 2hr outages a day, while the area where your local MP stays will enjoy uninterrupted power throughout.

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 23)
Your area's assigned outage "block" is from 10:00 to 12:30. Expect the power to go off any time before or after that. And don't think it will only be out for two-and-a-half hours, either.

Sagittarius (Nov 23- Dec 22)
Today you'll buy some food that is apparently within its sell-by date. What you won't realize is that the sell-by date is for food that has been stored in a constantly operating fridge.... Although you'll get severe food poisoning, we think you may survive if you can find an emergency ward that has back-up generators. Good luck!

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 21)
Don't bother to go to work today. During the hours when you actually will have electricity, your network provider will not, so you won't be able to do anything anyway. Stay home and well.... there's not much to do there either, is there?

Aquarius (Jan 21 - Feb 20)
Today you'll get so fed up with our incompetence that you'll decide to emigrate. We regret to inform you that this is no longer possible... The airports have all shut down, because - well think about it! They need electricity to run the place!! You ain't going - nowhere...

Pisces (Feb 20 - Mar 21)
Today all your hopes and dreams will come true. You'll have power during "Days of Our Lives".

If today is your birthday:
Use lots and lots of candles on that cake - even if they don't reflect your age. How else are you going to see to open the presents? You will receive the ideal gift -your very own miner's helmet!!

The Goddess has left her blog!

When the Wind Blows

2008-01-19T22:50:00.000+02:00

We have had a dreadful summer with gale force winds blowing non-stop every day. Thursday last week, when I went to the beach, was the only good day thus far. It is rather annoying as the windows blow shut and if I keep the front door open, the noise becomes unbearable after a while. So what is a Goddess to do? She continues with the clean up and re-organising of all her scr@pbooking supplies - a long and tedious chore. But I am getting there.

Here are the word solutions to the last word puzzle - apron, introit, iron, pair, part, PARTITION, patriot, patron, port, print, rain, rani, rant, rapt, ratio, ration, riot, roan, rota, tapir, tarn, taro, tarot, tart, torn, tort, train, trap, trio, trip, triton, trot.

All words are from the Chambers Concise Dictionary 1991. Hope you did better than I did.

Next Word Puzzle

2008-01-18T09:32:00.000+02:00

Last night after returning home from scrapbooking just before midnight, I decided to stop off at the Quick Stop to buy the paper. Here is another word puzzle for you.

17 = Good
25 = Very good
33 = Excellent

I could only come up with 17 before dropping off to sleep and this morning I have not been able to think of anymore words. I did get the 9-letter word though. Answers will be on my blog on Saturday. Remember all words must contain 4 or more letters and all must have a letter R. No hyphen words and no words which commence with a capital letter.

Edit to previous post

2008-01-17T08:56:00.000+02:00

I forgot to mention that you cannot have any words which require a capital letter - i.e a name of a person or a name of a city/country etc.

Pity, as I could find a lot of words like that.

I could not find a newspaper so I am going to phone them and ask whether they would kindly fax me the words or if that fails, I will post my words and then everyone can post theirs when they comment. Hope you had fun. I had a frustrating moment when I got stuck on 20 but a good nights sleep got the grey matter working again.

Expanding the grey matter

2008-01-16T05:02:00.000+02:00

On Monday I bought our local morning newspaper as it contains the job finder section. However, they also have word puzzles, crosswords and the like and I just fancied myself a little R&R. I have not been able to stop trying to think of words to form from the below puzzle and since I have been awake since 3am trying to find more words without consulting a dictionary, I thought you should suffer the same fate and exercise your grey matter with me. I was able to make 29 words.

You need to:

1. Find as many 4 or more letter words which contain the letter M.
2. You cannot use the same letter twice. (However as there are 2 x letter O's you can use that - eg, moot)
3. You have to have one 9-letter word.

20 words = good
30 words = very good
31-39 words = excellent

1. Most of the words I found began with M
2. Very few began with T
3. I only found 1 which began with O
4. A few began with F
5. 1 began with N as well as with A.

In the meantime, whilst you have fun, I am going to track down yesterday's newspaper which will contain all the words. Now go for it!

Putting it out there

2008-01-13T21:50:00.000+02:00

A big flea has little fleas
On his back to bite him
Little fleas have smaller fleas
And so ad infinitum

I have fleas. Well, not me (though you would not say so at the moment) but just yesterday and today, I have noticed fleas jumping on me from my carpet. Here is the culprit:

Besides finding unusual places in the house to sleep the day away, if the weather is really nice (read: gale force wind not blowing), you will find Baby sleeping under the bushes in my garden and thus is picking up fleas from the sand. The other day I bought Cat Spot and followed the instructions. However the instructions did not tell me how to prevent a cat from wriggling and getting cat spot all over his fur. First lick of that stuff and he was jumping like a Springbok and running beserk all over the garden. Strings of white saliva was pouring from his mouth and I managed to corner him with a towel, wiped his mouth and then rubbed as much of the flea poison off his fur as I could. He disappeared for about an hour before chancing coming back into the house again. Next time my friend said she would help me and in the meantime I am going to (1) buy him a flea collar and (2) fumigate my house. Soon it would be 5 years since I moved into my house and this summer I have been overrun with ants. They are in my plants, the creep through cracks which are not visible to the human eye. It is most annoying. Thankfully we don't have termites here as then I would be seriously worried.

This weekend I have been summer cleaning my office. Getting all my stock organised so I don't waste time sifting through countless boxes searching for something I am needing to use on a layout. It has been fun excepting when the cat decides that enough is enough and plonks himself on the pile I am working on. I have lots more to do but am hoping that my big brother will be kind enough to go shopping with me to the plastic warehouse to buy more containers for me. I am hoping to entice him by telling him about the fabulous things he is able to buy for his next fishing trip. Keep your fingers crossed that it works.

He is off to the Drakensberg, Kwazulu-Natal and right up towards Mozambique with my dad on a fishing expedition. My mum and stepdad are off on a cruise from Durban to the Portuguese Islands (only a four day trip) and I am going to Remainhere. Oh and my brother is going to hike up Mount Kilimanjaro later in the year too. I will still Remainhere. My holiday comes in July.

You see, it is like this. I am getting married in July to a wonderful American chap and he thought it would be a good idea to have a lovely summer wedding in the States. I agreed and he offered to pay for all my family and friends to fly over for the wedding. He has the most fabulous Tuscan-styled house here in Cape Town plus a house at the river and a house at the sea. He also owns a beautifully designed plantation-styled house but for the life of me, I can't remember where it is now but I do know that the lovely house in Vermont is where we will spend a lot of time plus the seaside house in Cape Cod (I think). I am looking forward to the wedding - still very much working out all the details. He will shortly be buying me a new car and sorting out all my financs to get me back on my feet again. I enjoy and deserve this and when I opened myself to the desires of my heart, the universe brought it forth in abundance. I am seeding and visualising everything pertained in the paragraph. I have photographs of everything I desire in my journal and am affirming, seeding and visualising every day. According to my horoscope ...

1. Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, is now firmly ensconced in my true love sector and will remain there during the whole coming year. Jupiter entered my true love sector of my chart last month on December 18, and will stay until January 5, 2009. From now on, Jupiter will see to it that I shift from being the sign unluckiest in love, to the one that will be the luckiest of all. January is special because I will have the new moon, always an important ingredient. I also have the ruler of my house of true love, Saturn, in Virgo, meaning I will almost literally be able to draw that new person to me, as if by hypnotic spell. Virgo is always modest, but I must not underestimate my charms! They are awesomely powerful now! (Go me!). Pluto is considered one of the most powerful planets in our solar system because it moves so slowly. It takes approximately 246 years to circle the Sun and all twelve signs of the zodiac. The last time this planet visited Capricorn, and therefore Virgo's 5th house of true love, it was in the era of the American Revolution, 1762. As you see, the emphasis on love, children, and creativity is no passing fancy, but a long-term trend that will have enormous staying power. Since Pluto brings intense experiences, if I do fall in love under this trend, (and I will be doing just that folks) it is likely to be quite an intense, all-encompassing experience!

2. A creative effort or hobby that I am serious about may also play a much larger than usual role in my life in January, as well as in the coming year. The need to self-express will become a theme that will grow louder and more urgent as the year progresses. I have a lot to give from within and it's time I gathered up my courage to show my talents to the world.

Naturally a lot else was discussed in my monthly horoscope but I thought those two issues were important in light of my affirmations and desires I put out into the universe. These wishes and desires are now floating about and attracting all those things into my life. I am such a fortunate goddess.

See you on the flipside!

Look, See

2008-01-10T16:19:00.001+02:00

Look where I went today and OMG, did I have the most wonderful afternoon.

It was a friends birthday so we went out for tea and cake. It was the first perfect day we have had all summer - no wind, the sea was flat though the tide was coming in. The water was not cold so we waded in rock pools and took photographs to scr@p. It was abso-frigging-lutely fabulous to have been outdoors and not stuck at my desk at home. I must do this more often.