Sucker...

Yep, that's me. From hamsters to silk worms - I just need to learn how to be stronger and just say NO!

So, Jake's gone to school today with a shoe box poked full of holes (thanks to his cousins) and a bunch of mulberry leaves, to get some silk worms from a friend. I said no more than 2 worms, but was told that I might get 2 boys or 2 girls and then we won't get any eggs (YAY!). The minimum's 6 worms (eeeeewww). I love nature and I love seeing new things, but I also like creepy crawlies to stay outside. I even fumigate my house so that I don't get goggas inside. I'm a girl. And until recently, I haven't had a man to call on to catch bugs and take them outside for me. Anyway, today my family grows by 6 silk worms and I've already ceded all ownership and responsibility over to Jake. I don't want them, I don't want to see them, let alone hold them or smell them and heaven help that child if they get out the box!! I'll take him to get leaves, I'm not that mean, but if he doesn't feed them, they're going die.

I'm sure that by next June, when the next batch of eggs hatch and unless I do some serious crowd control, Jake's going to have 7 billion baby silk worms to care for - anybody want some? Gross...

Sue X

Happy, happy...

Today's Danie's birthday and while he says he doesn't care about his birthday (I think he's fibbing), Jake is beside himself with excitement. He didn't even moan when we went shopping at Canal Walk (his all time worst) for presents and went to bed last night reminding me that 'tomorrow's Danie's birthday'. This morning, before he'd even opened his eyes, Jake had found my cell phone was on the phone to wish Danie - "Happy birthday too you, you belong in a zoo, you look like a monkey and you act like one too". Of course, I joined in, but the idea was entirely Jake's...

After work today, we're going through to Danie's house, where I am hoping to get Jake to have a nap. I'm not sure yet whether we're going out for dinner tonight, or whether friends are going to pop in - either way, Jake needs to catch up a bit. Jake also told Danie on the phone this morning that he wants to visit him at work for some of Danie's mom's delicious milk tart (his mom made a serious feast of food for Danie to take to work this morning. That woman can cook!!), but I'm not so sure that I'm brave enough to visit him there yet. I have met Danie's boss and his wife already and they're very friendly and seem really sweet, but shew... there's a lot of people working there. Danie might have to bring milk tart home for Jake.

Then, to the special birthday boy: Danie, you're amazing, wonderful, special, gorgeous and I'm so glad that we're part of your life. I hope that you have a really happy birthday full of spoils and surprises (we have a few for you for later). Thank you for everything you do for us - we are so, so blessed! I hope that this will be only the first of many, many happy celebrations that we get share with you. I can't wait to see you later, I love you XXX

Anyway,... on a totally different subject, my camera heads off to Johannesburg tomorrow, where I'm hoping that it is declared beyond economical repair, so that I can get a new one. My cousin's wife, Yvonne, has been staying with me for almost 2 weeks and she'll be taking it in to the Nikon factory in Jhb sometime after tomorrow. I am already feeling like I've lost a body part, so not sure how I'm going to survive a few weeks without it. Anyway, I'll end off with a few photos taken over the weekend.

Chocolate croissants and hot chocolate over shark books for breakfast at Empire Cafe in Muizenberg... We took a little drive along the coast and saw heaps of whales. It's breeding time and they tend to come pretty close to the shore, which is always a treat...

We stopped for ice-creams and a little on the beach (it was windy). That's Yvonne and I... We drove on a little and found two whales really close to the shore. They weren't doing much (that we could see)...

If you look closely, there are two dark lines in the water to Jake's left (kinda in line with his chin) - those are the whales...

Looking forward to the weekend ahead, it's going to be a super busy one with 3 birthdays! Not sure if I'm going to make it till Sunday and I might be half dead at work on Monday, but looking forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Maybe I should have a kip with Jake later too...

Sue XXX

Changes...

So, spring has sprung and my intentions to post pictures of my beautiful yellow roses have been ruined by miserable weather for the last few days. Plus I've been too busy. No more excuses, the sun's finally out today and I'll have some spring pictures up on Monday.

I don't have much to write about today (or this week in fact, sorry)... I've finally realised why I'm so exhausted; I'm finally sleeping. I don't know whether it's the weather or personal happiness, but seriously, I haven't slept this well since well before Jake was born. Usually, I climb into bed at whatever time and read my book for a little bit. I turn out the lights and lie there, waiting for sleep. Out of sheer frustration, I would end up turning the lights back on and reading some more... roll on midnight... By 2am, I'm normally frantic for sleep after having read for 3 or 4 hours, eaten everything in sight and had a cup of tea, but the more frustrated I would get, the less chance I had of falling asleep. My old trick was to try to stay awake. It's not that easy and eventually I would manage to pass out, only to be woken by either the dogs or the child a few moments later and I'd have to start all over again. Things have changed though - I sleep like a log!! If I get woken up by the dogs (they go out during the night at least once, a few weeks ago they were up 13 times though!), I can go back to sleep again without a problem. It's amazing and I can't help but wonder if everyone else sleeps like this all the time. Fingers crossed that it lasts :)

Anyway, hope you all have wonderful weekends planned. The weather here today is beautiful and has me longing for summer!! Jake has a function at school tonight and I'm going to a soup evening at Buitenverwachting with the book club girls. I don't have much else planned for the weekend. my cousin's wife is staying with me till next Friday, while she does a course on cochlear implants, so I'm sure we'll be busy with her.

Till next week!

Love Sue XXX

Call me a fool...

After work yesterday, I took Jake with me to do a little grocery shopping for dinner. His choice, standing in front of the meat in Woolworths was roast chicken. No problem-o. I bought a now fairly expensive chicken, bought some fresh veggies and headed home to first clean my house and then cook up a storm.

I like cooking. I never used to, but I've learnt how to prepare simple meals that generally taste good. I find cooking relaxing and while I definitely don't profess to be the world's best chef, I do my best and I think I'm OK. That said, cooking for a family/group of friends is very different to cooking for myself and Jake. If I had my way, we'd have toasties every night. With a kid in the house though, I need to be a bit more creative and one really needs to work hard at keeping it exciting and colourful. Jake's all time favourite is spaghetti bolognaise, which I can do with my eyes closed. The thing is that he's suddenly become a fussy eater. He used to eat anything - olives, anchovies, mushrooms, broccoli, feta cheese, blue cheese without the preserves; the only thing he's never really liked are peas and potatoes. Easy peasy. Not. Since he's started pre-primary, he's got a list as long as my arm of things he won't eat any more. I've basically ignored him and carried on preparing meals as per usual. If he doesn't like the mushrooms in my spaghetti, he can pick them out himself. Still, there's nothing worse than preparing a meal and having your child literally gag over the plate...

Anyway, I spent most of yesterday afternoon preparing food. Jake had helped pick out the veggies in Woolies and promised that he'd eat a bit of everything, so I was looking forward to sharing a good meal with him. The full menu included the chicken with gravy, chipolata sausages, potatoes with garlic and herbs, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce and gem squash filled with sweet corn and topped with cheese. There was enough food for 6. I carved the chicken, served the meal and we sat down together to eat at 6pm (early, I know, but bedtime's at 7). After just after just 2 chipolatas, 3 teeny weeny carrots and a squash, Jake was "stuffed" and headed off to brush his teeth. Seriously? Tomorrow night he's getting a toastie...

Not all right...

We tried to introduce the dogs to each other on Saturday morning. I'd hoped that everything would be as perfect as the man I've met, but it was all wishful thinking and I'm left wondering what to do from here (suggestions welcome)...

I don't that think we went about the introduction in the right way - we let the dogs loose in my front garden and we should've done it on more neutral ground and probably with leads. Thankfully, I kept Amber inside, while we let Duracell out to meet Laila first and he quite literally tried to kill her. Fortunately, Danie managed to pick Laila up quickly to get her away from Duracell and neither were hurt, but I think we all got a big fright. And, as much as we wanted them to be, our dogs just aren't going to be friends.

We do probably need to try introducing them again, off our property and with leads, before we start looking at alternatives. I'm just not sure what difference the location is going to make at this stage, when Duracell already wants to eat Laila. I've been quite upset about this all weekend, but I guess things have a way of working out...

Other than the bad dog experience, we had a really lovely weekend. We spent quite a bit of time at Danie's house on Saturday and a lot of time with our families. It was Rosanne's birthday on Friday - she turned 1/4 of a century!! We went to Pancho's in Observatory for Mexican (yum) to celebrate. We also had dinner with my family on Saturday night, which left me with a headache all day yesterday. Danie's mom's a cook supreme and always prepares a feast for lunch on Sundays, so we joined them yesterday. I'm still full... Danie's brother and his family are always there too. He's got a gorgeous little girl, Kira, who's 5 and a son, James (or Jamie), who's 9 and gets on really well with Jake. Today's Danie's dad's birthday, so we're popping in there again later for cake (the diet starts tomorrow!)

And that's that. Another week has started and I have a really busy one ahead. Work is nuts and the guys are driving me mad already. I hope you all have a good week ahead!

Sue XXX

There and back again...

Last week, Danie and I went up to East London. He had some work to do there and I managed to get a day's leave on Friday, so we did the great trek up the gorgeous east coast. East London is not the kind of town I'd really like to go to on a holiday, but there are plenty of gorgeous little towns along the way. We did almost 3 days of solid driving, but it gave us lots of time to talk uninterrupted and, while the road was long, I really enjoyed every moment of our time together.

We left on Thursday afternoon at about 3:00 and stayed over in Port Elizabeth for the night. We only got to PE after midnight and, despite all the red bulls along the way, were both exhausted. We were up early on Friday morning (6:00!) and drove on to East London. By about 3:30ish we were finished in East London and back on the road towards home. I had hoped to get down to a mall while Danie was working (me time), but ended up sitting in the office chatting to a really funny girl till lunch time. We drove all the way back to Knysna after Danie finished working and arrived at about 10 that night. We stayed in a gorgeous little B&B on the main road for the night and then headed home the next morning. We took the drive home quite slowly, stopping to enjoy the views along the way.

Sunrise from promenade in PE...

Some scenic shots in Knysna harbour...

Views along the way home...

Victoria Bay...

The Canola fields were in full bloom too, so pretty...

The only other news I have, aside from life going really well, is that Jake's lost his first two teeth. He's been dying for them to fall out and has been wriggling them since last year. He's really chuffed and each time he's lost one he adds a year to his age. At the moment, he thinks he looks like an 8-year old.

I took this a few days before number 1 fell out (bottom left). 'Scuze the supper stuck in his teeth and smeared across his face...

And this one after the second one fell out. He's working on the top two now...

We spent a bit of time at Danie's house on Sunday afternoon too. Jake really loves it there and it's super pretty. Like I said before, you feel like you're on holiday when you arrive...

Jake did a bit of fishing with a net...

And actually caught a few teeny fish. This one was the first and biggest...

Laila was by his side most of the time, I think she likes having someone her own size around...

I ask you though; have you ever seen a dog with such a long tongue? It just doesn't go in. Ever. It's physically impossible...

YAY - a photo of us. It's the first reasonable one I have...

Sunset...

Jake would've sat there all night, but had school the next morning, so we had to go early...

Also, I have a couple of new blog readers, including my BOYFRIEND. Hi Honey!! And hello to everyone else. Feel free to let me know if I'm boring you too much. Shew... I hope I don't get into too much trouble for posting all these photos ;o)

Lastly, they say people always choose pets that look like them - whacha think??

Love,

Sue XXX

Oh my...

Shew... he's nice. He's very, very nice. And we had a really lovely weekend. I know it's still very early days, but I can only say that I haven't felt this way about anyone since Jacques, which is a pretty scary thing...

We spent yesterday afternoon at Danie's house and had an absolutely lovely time. He's got all the toys a boy could ever dream of owning and Jake was in his element. We went out fishing in Danie's little boat and went on a tour of the marina - it's like a whole other world and it's really pretty. The houses are all built on the water's edge and the weather was super yesterday, so everyone was outside, braai'ing, fishing and sunning on their decks. I felt like I was on holiday. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but will take pictures next time.

Danie's house is really beautiful. A typical bachelor's pad though, complete with fridge full of drinks. It's a little under-furnished and he still has a bit of work to do to finish it off, but it's gorgeous and every thing's practically like new (I don't think he's even used his stove yet). It's double storeyed (storied?), with 3 huge bedrooms (they're each about half the size of my house) upstairs, all with balconies and stunning views over the marina. The main bedroom's got a dressing room and en suite bathroom and there's another full bathroom upstairs and a study. On the lower level, the entire front of the house opens up onto the lawn, which runs down to the water's edge. The kitchen is open plan and there's a scullery just running between the kitchen and the garage, which I love. There's a huge area that's totally unfurnished between the kitchen and doors leading outside, which I'm guessing is meant to be either a second lounge or a dining room and there's obviously the typical boys lounge with flat screen TV, big couches and lots of sound on the other side of the lower level.

Besides that, he's kind and caring and he makes me feel so special. He phones me all the time and I love how gentle he is with Jake. I think I'm falling for this guy and I'm not the least bit scared.

Jake's come out with a few priceless quotes in front of Danie this weekend. The best probably being that I'm now Danie's girlfriend and that he's going to kiss me all over and give me an egg in my tummy. An egg? Seriously? I think the time has come for us to have a little chat about a few things. HAHAHA - nothing like a kid to break the ice.

Anyway, I hope that every one's well and happy like me. I have a busy week ahead. Tonight's a wine tasting at Buitenverwachting, Wednesday is a long overdue dinner with some special friends, Thursday's book club and hopefully I'll see Danie somewhere in between.

Take care of you and lots of love,
Susie XXX