End of week and Weekend

I don't really have much to tell. I get up, go to work, come home, sleep - repeat. With the rain last week, I've been taking advantage of the softer ground by clearing my path for my walk around the garden. I started along the north fence working my way to the east fence, then south along the east veggie beds. I've nearly reached the watermelon bed - and I'm happy to announce that another watermelon has appeared!

I mostly pulled all the large weeds and grass - what I couldn't pull, I cut as low as possible. Friday it rained again, so I worked back along the north fence westwards, digging out some of the deeper roots. The good news is that, where I used to be surrounded by buzzing and biting mosquitoes, it's now lovely and quiet! I can finally walk around most of my garden without the permanent red bite-mark ankle bracelet!

On Friday I also decided to do my shopping trip. I thought I was being clever, going before everyone gets their pay - hoping the shop would be emptier. It was. Unfortunately, not only empty of customers but also empty of goods! A lot of the fresh goods were not on any shelf - I outsmarted myself! Logically, the stores won't fill their shelves with short-lived items when they know the majority of their clientele are without funds! I got some of everything I needed - and won't need to go again for another month! So, mission accomplished!

The weekend was a bit of a bust, as I had no energy. I wasn't up to anything. Saturday morning it rained again - lovely for me, not so much for mippies! It didn't rain too long, though, so they went outside hopping, running, jumping, chasing ... and jumping onto my back, of course! I had a lot of cuddling to do, as they missed me all week - yeah, evenings are not enough cuddling time, they need to stock up on weekends!

At work, I'm getting a little de-motivated again. The three of us trying to implement improvements ... well ... turns out, when it comes to actual DOING rather than talking ... I'm on my own. It was agreed to re-implement morning meetings. All agreed it was needed and a good idea. So, the meeting where we were going to discuss the details started with ... "Yeah, I'm special, I shouldn't have to hold those meetings" followed by "Well, I don't mind, but I don't have enough content to meet every day" ... So, we're back to square 1! Still looking for a starting point ... ah, well. Round and round we go ...

I've not given up, yet! I still have a couple of ideas and plans which I know can work. How do I know? Because they rely on ME doing, not anyone else lifting a finger. Today, I'm preparing an Information Sharing Session on Incentive Schemes (or rather: why we are in absolutely no position to implement any) which will then lead to 'Step 1 of getting ready' = documentation! Tomorrow two of us are driving through to Jo'burg for a meeting at our client's ... so I have only today to prepare the Info Session. I'd better get at it, eh?

Interrupted night

On the way home last night, I was relieved to get my milk. Not so much for the milk, but I was a little worried that the farmer hadn't come out the night before. He sheepishly told me that he had tripped his power and not realised that, just assumed it was another power failure! That's life in South Africa!

I meant to wash the dishes when I got home ... but ... well ... garden ... mippies. I pulled weeds here, there and everywhere, cleaned the lawn by cutting the grass along the edges (which the lawnmower can't reach), and just cleaning out more and more - it's looking good! I also picked my three cucumbers - they're more like balls than cucumbers. And then I pulled the plants out - their time has come and gone. My cherry tomatoes also didn't survive the hailstorm, so I pulled those out as well. Sigh.

I worked until it was too dark to see ... again! Then I looked at the kitchen, I looked at the time ... and decided to wash at least some of the dishes, anyway! At least my coffee cups, the blender and the bread machine are clean now. I'll need to bake another loaf Thursday night ... hmmm ... maybe, if I go shopping on Friday, I don't? Anyway, I can if I want to, now.

As a result, dinner was really late! That didn't stop mippies from wanting to share with me, though! Oh, were they four happy mippies over my dinner! Ha Ha! And I didn't forget to take something out for tonight, either.

I went to bed some time after nine ... went to sleep ... woke around half one! Argh! I looked at my arms and they looked like bubble wrap! And my hands were itching like nobody's business! Those freaking mosquitoes couldn't just feast on my arms and back, they had to go and bite my hands as well! THAT's what woke me: itching fingers! Sigh. I got up, had some milk - shared with mippies, of course - had a smoke, sat at the PC for a while, then tried sleeping again.

I was surrounded by mippies! Even Lady Jane was right there, on the box by my head! Mewthos had taken up the one side of the bed, next to me, Ziva was by my feet and I had carried Mini from her fortress to the bed - oh, was she happy to come join us! I don't know why she retreats to the bathroom - she is always so happy to come to bed! Licks my face, then washes herself thoroughly before settling down - usually snuggled up to me somewhere.

I managed to get up on time, get to work on time ... but by ten I started to feel tired. So, I went and got myself a Coke. I chose a 2 liter bottle, as I also want one of those for my milk deliveries - the two I've got are a little creamy inside now, and you can't get a bottle brush into them. Of course, I also bought myself chocolate! Ha Ha!

And that's the morning of Wednesday, so far ...

Crazy week

Last week was pretty crazy. In my online game, we had another short-term event running, which is always intense. I had a lot of players in my group who had never done this event before, so I had to help loads and loads with explanations. I used up all my PC-time on the game - leaving me no time to write my blog.

Nothing much happened, anyway. I did have some issue with the delivery of my groceries - the courier stood outside the gate several times with nobody opening up for him, but eventually both deliveries were completed. One was the order I placed last Sunday, the other was the delivery I had ordered in December, and they went out of stock on one of the items.

With all this rain, my garden is doing nicely. Well, the flowers are, anyway. The Zucchini are now finished - time to pull them out. The cucumber still have 3 fruits growing, when they are ready, those can come out as well. The tomato plants were too damaged in the hail storm, I think I should pull those out as well. The first watermelon also got damaged - but the plant is still flowering like crazy, so there is still some hope. My shady ladies are now flowering and I finally have some flowers in the new bed as well.

The cosmos are flopping around like drunken sailors - some got bent during the hail and others are just being pulled down by those. I'm just waiting for them to finish flowering, so that they can re-seed themselves, then I can pull those out as well. I've got a few more already growing in the next bed, so ... some sunflowers as well and a few Marigold. None of them are doing very well in the bed along the east fence, though. So on Sunday, I hunted through the garden for some indigenous flowers, which I then moved into the bed along the east fence. I'm also clearing my walkway - I'm really tired of getting my ankles bitten and stung to shreds from all the mozzies and buzzies hiding in the grass and weeds along there.

My peanuts are doing nicely, though! The first one is now flowering! They're still small, but looking very good!

Ziva has taken to using my walks around the garden as her special time. She comes running and roly poly's under my feet, mipping insistently that I must scratch, rub and tickle! On and on and on, she doesn't seem to get enough!

Mini had me laughing again! I dug a hole to plant Spekboom - I still have quite a few left in pots. I had barely turned my back when Mini jumped right into the hole to do her business! Like she was soooo happy that I'm digging holes for her! It was just too funny! Whenever I'm weeding or busy in the garden, she's flopping on the ground nearby, wanting tummy tickles and scratches! Over the weekend, she'll often lie next to the toilet and whenever I come inside, she rolls onto her back, begging for tummy tickles! I spend a lot of time with her, as she's still not fully integrated into the cat section of our society. She's somewhat uncertain how to react when Mewthos tries to wash her.

Mewthos' eyes have finally cleared up, I'm relieved to say! I was beginning to worry, wondering if I should maybe take him to the vet ... but that is such a long, and for him traumatic, trip! It takes half an hours driving. So, I'm very relieved that I don't need to take him.

Lady Jane has been kind of quiet. Oh, she comes mipping for cuddles, especially on weekends! I often have to just pick her up and hold her while I scratch her ears for a while. She purrs up a storm those times!

This week should be business as usual again. Well, last night I got stuck in the garden again and only came inside around half past seven ... no time to do much, just pack lunch, eat dinner, shower, bed.

Sunday

I woke at half past five, turned off the alarm - and turned over! Ha Ha! Then woke up again twenty past six. Again, mippies let me sleep in! Cuddly little darlings!

I'm taking it easy today as well - since I've struck 'washing floors' off my 'must do chores' list, weekends are much more relaxed! Today, the plan is only to fold and pack away the laundry - all else is pleasure!

The nice thing about using a drying stand is, that I can move it easily! I can hang up the washing in the shade, then just carry the stand into the sun - no need to risk sunburn! If it looks like rain, I just carry the whole stand inside - no need to rush taking down the washing one by one!

Right now it's standing in the lounge, most of the washing is dry, only some of the socks are still wet.

I played my game a bit, then started the dishes. Instead of a chore, I'm now looking at washing the dishes as a prelude to fun! Today, the fun being baking another loaf of that yummy bread!

Before I started, I made myself another smoothie - I used strawberry juice, which I bought Friday and some of the watermelon ice cubes. Then I peeled and sliced the cucumber and packed that into the freezer - while I was packing, I decided to pour some of the strawberry juice into ice trays to freeze as well. The thing about fruit juices is, if you buy a small bottle, it's almost prohibitively expensive - they don't come in 1 liter bottles, and 1 1/2 liter is usually just a little too much for one person. So, why not freeze some to use for later smoothies!

For my bread, I took a walk around the garden, harvesting! I picked some spinach leaves, some basil, some mustard cress, five lone beans, one carrot and a handful of sage leaves! Yeah! My sage is finally ready for harvesting, too! How awesome is that?

I cut everything up and added it to the dough. Yes, including the beans! After all, what else am I going to do with just 5 beans? I had grated more cheese as well, and also added a nice dollop of cream cheese again! This time, I made sure I added the right amount of water!

Still, the dough doesn't look like it's going to make a smooth loaf. It'll probably look like broken apart cookie dough again - not that I mind! It tastes so awesome!

I sometimes wonder what my mum would have said about my bread baking. She also tried to bake her own bread - though, I don't remember many successes, I'm afraid. She also found the prices at the German Brotstube growing beyond her budget, and that was over a decade ago, when she still got a standard size bread for the same amount they now charge for a small loaf!

She went quite a long way to try and bake bread, she got a mixer with kneading hook attachments - neither easy to find, nor cheap in those days. I should know, because I inherited the machine. I use it all the time, although mostly the blender part of it. She also got some books on bread making, even an Afrikaans one! I say 'even' as an indication how much effort she put into it, since she struggled to read Afrikaans even more than I do. Despite all that, she never really got the hang of it. And I don't remember every seeing any sour dough culture, so I guess she never got that far.

On the whole, I would guess that my mum would not approve of my bread. Mostly since her own efforts were not successful - and my mum loved baking! She had a life-time's experience with baking ... then, here I come along, rarely ever baked anything, and every bread I try turns out not just edible, but delicious! That alone wouldn't sit well with her, ha ha!

Reminds me of a similar dilemma, about my cooking! When I moved back home, my mum would alternately demand I 'do my share of the cooking' then demand I 'stay out of her space' and let her do the cooking! Yeah, communication skills don't run high in our family. The problem was simply that my cooking wasn't bad, and after a while, she'd get jealous. Funny, eh?

Anyway, this loaf again broke apart lengthwise, rather than opening along the cuts I made. Just on one end, though. Not that I mind - it smells absolutely divine!

To be fair, though, the secret of my success is the bread machine! It does just the right amount of kneading before just the right amount of rising. I simply don't have the feel for the texture of dough to know when the time is right!

Well, it's been a good weekend! I got done what I wanted to get done, and enjoyed the rest of the time. I even did my online shopping - just now. Lunch is packed, I've had dinner, showered, mippies are inside ... time to sit back, watch a show, then go to bed.

Saturday

Mippies let me sleep late this morning!?! I have no idea why, but I only woke twenty past seven! They all patiently waited for me to get up and open the door! Even Mewthos!

Well, last night I found out that the next Adventure for my online game starts Monday - not next Friday. I'm not ready, so ... I spent the whole day today getting ready for that. Well, I've recruited active players, motivated them to play Adventure - can't let them down at the last minute, now, can I?

It took me all day, but it's done. At least I also got the laundry done, although the machine didn't work properly, again, and I hung it up sopping wet. Sigh! As it was overcast most of the day, I didn't want to take a chance of it getting rained on while I'm at the PC - but late afternoon, it cleared and I'm hoping most of it will at least be dry.

Oh, but the bread I baked? Absolutely awesomely delicious! It is so yummy, I'm eating it with just butter on - like cookies! I'm really very happy how that turned out! Can't wait to make more of the same!

For that, however, I'd need to wash the dishes, ha ha! I think I'll leave that for tomorrow.

Mewthos has caught something in his eye! Sigh. It's been oozing a little for the past two days - I've cleaned it, and thought that was it. But it's forming again, so today I washed out his eye. If we were still in PE, I'd have quickly driven him to the vet - just in case. At first, it didn't seem to make a difference - he still squinted that eye almost shut. But over time, it looked better. He's not squinting anymore - I'll see how it looks tomorrow. He really is my grey hair maker!

Well, that's all there is to say about today!

Friday

First working Friday of the year - I'm glad it's Friday! Unlike last week, he he he.

I had quite a bad night again. I keep waking around one in the morning every night, lately. Last night, it was so hot, I got up and washed myself in the basin before going back to bed! I considered taking a shower, but decided against it. And the mosquitoes? Yikes! Buzzing and biting like crazy ... I'm just about ready to go after them with a shot-gun! Told you: crazy!

Mewthos mewled, mewled, mewled me awake at half past five, so at least I didn't oversleep. I don't know what his problem is - he so badly wants to go outies! Can't let him, though. Tomorrow! He just didn't let up, mewling away like a siren! Right in my ear, too!

Ah, well. I got up, made coffee, shut the passage door ... and had to give mippies a treat. Mewthos just would not stop mewling! Well, it's okay, I've budgeted for 4 sachets a day - and I give them 3 in the evenings, so a 4th one most mornings is perfectly within my budget.

I've written a useful shopping list this time - in the past, I've often focused on what I need plus what I could use, without taking the processing time into consideration. This time, I got just 2 items to process, so it shouldn't 'cost' me too much weekend time.

At work, the first teleconference with our client - they hadn't answered the phone Monday nor Wednesday. Then at nine the Info session I had been preparing - which went off very well! We've got enthusiasm and momentum going - very promising!

After the meeting I went on my shopping trip. They had blackberries and raspberries! Wow! And not too expensive! So, I took a whole lot of each - sigh, adding to my processing time, of course. But they are so scarce, got to take them when I can get them! I also treated myself to Sushi again - but only 1/2 the usual size, as I had packed lunch. I managed to get everything on my list, except chicken hearts. And - apart from the berries - I didn't get anything not on my list! Good girl, eh? Well, I'm serious about sticking to my budget. Until now, I've worked on a rough guideline, but if I want to maintain my standard of living with the rent increase, etc - and no salary increase - I've got to keep a closer eye on my spending.

Not that I'm frivolous - well, except when it comes to seeds, maybe. Ha ha, no maybe about it, if I'm to be honest! And in the past, I've based my decisions regarding additional expenses - like the bread machine - purely on current bank balance. Now, I need to 'save up' for such items, like the vacuum sealer I still want. Make sure it falls within the 'grocery, etc' budget.

Today, I've already reduced the online shopping list by a few items, which I could get cheaper in store - without compromising quality! I got white bread flour, a different brand, but the same quality - I tried that brand before, and it's not as finely ground, and seems to have a higher moisture content, but I like the rough ground. They had only one bag, though, and no brown bread flour.

So, I've spent a bit more than I expected today - but will spend less than expected on my online order. Coffee was on special, so - after some hesitation - I got two, not just one.

On the way home, I thought what I should do about dinner. I hadn't taken anything out, as I was going to go shopping. I figured I'd get something. I've got some Porterhouse Steak - but ... I'm not really in the mood for steak tonight. In the end, I decided on another, new bread experiment! I decided to add some of my cream cheese to the dough as well as grated cheddar!

First thing I did at home was to carry the shopping inside and unpack it. Then I went for a walk around the garden before setting the dough. Before starting in the garden, I decided to freeze the berries I got today - good thing, too! Even though the date claims that they were packed yesterday and the day before - with a sell-by date of Monday & Tuesday ... they were already looking ready to grow mold! Funny thing, though, the one's packed the day before yesterday looked fresher than the ones packed yesterday! Which leads me to believe that the 'packed' date is NOT the date they were picked and packed, but the date when the retailer, Spar, re-packs them! So, since the one's packed yesterday look worse, I'm guessing they started packing when they arrived, fresh from the farm ... then, at the end of their shift, left them standing in the aisle (not refrigerated) until they were ready to continue! And that also answers the questions 'who squashes them'! That's not done on the farm, but at Spar! The blackberries were a little squishy, simply because the container was a little too small for the quantity. 

Well, they're all cleaned, packed and in the freezer now.

Then I went to continue the work on the Spekboom bed and the path in front of it. Which I finished! Good thing, too, as the ground is already hardening again and in some places I could barely get the fork in to loosen the ground. When I was done, I continued with the bed and path from that corner working north. I got half that bed done - with the path in front of it, too.

Then I sat waiting for my mippies. Ziva and Mewthos were already there, waiting for 'time'. Eventually I had to call. It took less than a minute for both Janey and Mini come running at top speed!

After feeding mippies, I checked on my dough - I'd left it a bit long. It was 'finished' about an hour ago already ... uhm ... not good! It's all crumbly and dry! Sigh. I checked the recipe and realised that I'd added 1/4 cup of water less than I should have. I decided to try and save it. I've added the missing water, re-kneaded it ... it's rising! Which is promising! Although it's now rather late, ha ha! Should have checked on the dough when it was due to be ready, eh?

Well, if I keep making differently tasting bread, I won't need to put anything on them! Butter alone will be perfect! Okay, so I'd be eating the same taste all week - but I'm doing that already, anyway. The cold meats I buy and freeze, I defrost one at a time. That's one per week. I can't sit and mix and match slice by slice when I freeze them - and since I can't get a mix once a week, that's the way I roll!

The loaf is baking now - it sure looks very different from any I've ever made before. Even though I cut slices in the top, when it rose, it didn't widen those cuts, but broke lengthwise. But it smells good! Too late for dinner tonight, though. But definitely ready for breakfast tomorrow!

Oh, funny thing happened today! I got a message, apologising for a video call - apparently, the person sat on her phone! I had no clue what she was talking about, until I got home and saw the missed video call on facebook! Ha Ha, I couldn't help myself, but reply 'Bummer!'

Late again, then on time

The power went out around midnight, Tuesday night. Which woke me up - because the house alarm's backup battery is depleted, and it beeps pitifully for juice whenever the power goes out. In my bedroom!

Fortunately, I didn't fully wake up, just turned over and went back to sleep. Until the power came back on - because all the house alarms go off whenever power comes back on! Sigh.

Not having had enough sleep the night before, this little interruption didn't help much and I woke late again on Wednesday. Earlier than I did on Tuesday, but still late.

Not much to tell about work, I'm working on research for an Information Session for the project I'm busy launching - while also doing the day-to-day store work, of course.

Not much to tell about home, either. Mini stayed under my feet the entire evening, she needs such a lot of tummy tickles! I wonder whether she fears abandonment - since she still hasn't fully integrated into our family society? I do my best to reassure her, though.

Oh, one thing: My first flower is in bloom! In the new bed I had made opposite the kitchen, along the lawn! It's a stunning deep red with a touch of pink - gorgeous!

Since I didn't have any chicken hearts, nor had I any food to share in a while - last night's steak was very popular! I was cutting, cutting, cutting little bits for each mip, and before I could cut another piece for myself, the first mip was back for more! I may not have gotten too much of the meat - but I did get a lot of fun and pleasure! They're not at all greedy about it, just ... curious and happy!

I woke up again during the night - this time, I have no idea why. Maybe habit? Ha Ha! Again, I just turned over and went back to sleep. So, this morning, I was at least on time again.

I've been trying to decide when to schedule my grocery shopping, specifically, whether I want to go to Spar this Friday. Of course, 'want' is the wrong word to use - if I could, I would NEVER set foot in any store again! Ha ha! The normal 'trigger' for that trip is cigarettes - but I still have plenty. What I do need, though, is flour. Yes, I can get that online - but it's a few Rand more expensive now than it is in store; the online price has gone up. And since it's something I use all the time, those few Rand add up - making it worth a trip.

At the same time, I don't want to make unnecessary trips - so, if I do go, I want to get everything, including Cigarettes ... but ... spending that money now, before I need it, would actually cost me a few Rand - loss of interest. Eventually, I decided to go and get the flour, but not the Cigarettes - I'll get those with next month's trip!

I've put together a shopping list - just what I really do need. I've also prepared a list for online shopping - if I can get any of that cheaper in store, I can scratch it off the online list.

Yup, those are the things that occupy my day! Dull life, eh? Dull, maybe, but I'm happy! I've had enough drama in my life to last a life-time - I much prefer my life now, where shopping lists are the most dramatic items on my agenda!

And then, some drama finds me! Nah, nothing big, just a message from some debt collector threatening me with legal action ... over an account I know nothing about! I googled the company which claims I owe them ... some internet service provider. Never heard of them! So, I called the debt collector to clear the misunderstanding - the agent assigned this account will call me back. Should be fun! Especially, since they always come at you with major attitude, ha ha! Yeah, it's not my first run-in with a debt collecting agency. They really are pathetic! First of all, they only contact the 'contact person', not the account holder. If they are two separate entities - that is a complete and utter waste of time and effort, since they can't do anything to the contact person (oh, they threaten, a LOT! Blacklisting, legal action, etc - but since I'm not the account holder, they can take absolutely no action against me, whatsoever!). Last time it was about an account for the German Company I was contracted to. All they had to do was contact them - they would have paid without any problem! But that's against their policy - 1) they refuse to contact via e-mail and 2) they won't telephone anyone outside the country. So, having done the best I could to help them contact the account holder (which, strictly speaking, I didn't have to do! Especially since it cost me phone-calls!) ... they continued to message threats to me ... which I simply ignored. It took a couple of years, but eventually they gave up.

Same story with another account, where someone took over my contract, but left me as the contact person. The account was linked to a land-line number AND a physical address - yet, they would not call the account holder on the land-line nor post to the address. Again, I tried to explain how to contact the account holder ... again, I was threatened with all sorts of action. And, again, I stopped answering and ignored calls & messages. Also, again, eventually they gave up.

How can you call yourself a debt collector, when you refuse to take the simple, inexpensive, yet relevant action to actually collect the debt? Why continue repeating a course of action which costs you time and money, knowing that can not produce results? Pathetic, right?

My chocolate order arrived! Happy, chocolate day! I love those peanut butter cups! If I was given the choice between Lindt and those peanut butter cups? I'd choose the latter! They are just so tasty, and the taste lingers. They are covered in dark chocolate, too - really, really delicious!

On the way home, I got my milk, and since it had rained quite a bit during the day, instead of washing the dishes, as planned, I sat and pulled the weeds from the Spekboom bed! That's been bugging me for quite a while, the stuff just grows and grows - but with the ground so hard, I can't pull anything out, only tear it off - which would leave it to grow again in no time. I cleared more than a third, though not quite half the bed. Looks much, much better now - you can actually SEE my little Spekboom, now!

Late Start

It's thunderstorm season again, if you haven't picked up on that. I remember, when we first arrived in South Africa, in 1982, that December we stayed at a work colleague of my dad's house until we could find our own place - they were away on holiday in Cape Town for the month. December is, of course, the hottest month in South Africa, and having newly arrived from Germany - we really had a hard time. But I also remember that, every evening there would be a thunderstorm! Almost punctually at five. I drew that on a scrap paper, too - just the scenery with lightning. 

Last time I stayed in Pretoria, I took a lot of photos of the sky before, during and after each thunderstorm. I managed to take a few photo's of lightning striking! Okay, I also took some 300+ photo's where I just missed the lightning ... all black photos.

So, thunderstorms have always been normal during December / January in, what is now, Gauteng = Pretoria & Johannesburg. What's new, of course, is that now every thunderstorm tends to cause a power outage! Which is really frustrating. Last night, the power went out and only came back around nine. Fortunately, I had showered before it went out, and the bread dough was almost finished - just rising for the last time. Still, since it is normal weather for this season - why can't Eishkom be prepared?

Yeah, that was a rhetorical question. A bit like asking 'why can't politicians tell the truth'. Not so much rhetorical, than it is a futile question.

Anyway, you'd think that at least with thunderstorms every night, temperatures would cool down somewhat. They don't. As soon as the storm is over, it's as hot as ever - just with added humidity!

Just imagine how hot it would be WITHOUT the daily thunderstorms? Yikes! I'd rather not!

In December 1982, I remember that we'd often take a dip in the swimming pool AFTER the storm had cleared. Well, a home swimming pool was such luxury to us Germans! Nobody has their own pool in Germany - only the very, very rich! Well, I don't know what it's like there now, but that's how it was 40 years ago.

Reminiscing ... strange way to start the day.

I woke up around midnight, and could not go back to sleep. I tried everything ... by three I gave in and switched on the PC to put my audiobook on. That seems to have been the missing link, because that's when I finally went back to sleep. At three in the morning!

Then woke up again after seven! Sigh. I got up, got dressed, packed my lunch - which only finished baking just before I had gone to bed the first time, set the cheese I had prepared into it's bag to drip-dry during today, had some coffee ... and here I am. An hour and a bit late.

Last night was fun, too, though. I had started the dough, then showered before going to sit outside - Mini was under my feet the whole time! She wouldn't go outside, she wouldn't run or play, just stayed by my side. I took a walk around the garden and Ziva came running and mipping to get her roly poly lovies! Then I started pulling out some grass ... when the first drops started to fall, I put everything away and called my mippies.

Mewthos was already mewling under my feet, Mini was still by my side and Ziva already hid under the sleeper couch. Janey? She was still on her daily walkabout and had no interest in coming home, yet! When she finally arrived, it had been raining for some time and she was soaking, dripping wet! I dried her off somewhat, but she doesn't like that - not sure why, because she doesn't like being wet, either!

I treated them, then went to the kitchen, then sat at the open door for a smoke. With the rain still coming down, I didn't worry about any mip running off. Janey and Mewthos sat outside, under my chair and Mini in the door. Ziva went back under the sleeper couch.

Without power, I could still ready some cheese and bake my bread rolls, at least. While they were in the oven, I continued working on my belt, which I'm quite enjoying! I fried myself some sausages for dinner - none of the mippies wanted a piece; I did spoil them with chicken hearts, though.

Can you tell that I'm a little bored at work? Ha Ha! Yeah, I've got stuff to do, but not really all that much. Mostly, at the moment, I'm researching for the project we're going to kick off soon. First meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.

Back at home, first I carried the heavy cat food bags inside. I've changed the order to larger bags, which work out cheaper per kg. Then I filled the one dispenser from one bag and took a handful for the bowl from the other bag.

I took a break, and decided to first wash the dishes. After a shower, though! Sigh. But the cheese turned out extra delightful! Very creamy! Now I wish  I had some bread ready to try it on - but I've just baked sausage rolls. It'll have to wait until Friday.

After I finished the dishes, I went outside to pull out some more grass. While I was busy, the alarms went off a few times - which leads me to believe we may have had power failure(2) while I was in the garden? Sigh.

I had forgotten to take meat out for tonight's dinner, so I made myself some pasta. Added a few anchovies, capers and a bit of feta and fried them with one egg. Dinner was good! Oh, and I did take something out for tomorrow night, he he.

Now, I'll work on my belt for a bit and then go to bed ...

First day back at work

Very inspiring heading, eh? Grin.

I had told my mippies every evening throughout my vacation that 'mommy home tomorrow'! Last night I told them 'mommy has to work tomorrow'. From their behaviour this morning, it would seem that they understood! The alarm went off, all four mippies stayed where they were, none of them moved when I got up and shut the passage door! Throughout my vacation, whenever I got up, they eagerly moved towards the front door! Today, they behaved quite differently, giving me no trouble at all! They really are a clever bunch!

I set the bread machine ... and when I got to the outer gate, realised that I hadn't started it! Again! Seriously? Ah, well. At least I only need to push the button when I get home tonight - all ingredients are already in the machine.

At work, I learned some shocking news. One of the guys we had retrenched died. Horrifically. Apparently he got a job in Limpopo and someone threw a petrol bomb, I think on the car he was travelling in. I didn't like him much, but burning to death? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! Especially not at such a young age! I can't help feeling responsible ... if he hadn't been retrenched ... I know, feeling isn't reality; I know that I did everything I could to avoid retrenchments, and I had no part in the decision. Still, I can't help feeling responsible.

I was glad, however, to see At again! He was supposed to come visit at least once during our vacation - but he didn't have the car he'd been promised. Plus, his phone acted up, so he couldn't make any calls nor send messages. He somehow fills part of the void left by Rose - we talk about much the same things, except that he doesn't knit!

We went off to get both our shopping, just before lunch. He got what he needed and I got my coffee - and some extras, including chocolate! Which I polished in less than five minutes! Ha Ha!

I'm keeping myself busy preparing the project I want to introduce, having received the go-ahead from my boss. For now, I'm just doing a bit of research on 'Meetings', since that will be the key. If I let the meetings about the project run off on tangents, the project will follow ... and we really, really need the results implementation promises!

The heat and humidity are no better here than they were at home though. Okay, so here it's a few degrees cooler than at home. Big deal, when temperatures near 40! That was sarcasm, by the way - because anything over 35 is just too hot for comfort, whether it's 37 or 40 doesn't feel very different. Of course, I've never - and never, ever want to - experience anything over 45! Yikes! Thank you, no!

Anyway, I've gotten through the day, and am ready to go home now ... better post now, or risk forgetting again :) Wouldn't want to keep my reader in suspense!

Last vacation day

Sigh, already the last day? That is so sad!

I didn't get a lot of things done, which I had planned. I didn't start my sourdough starter, I didn't start my yoghurt, I didn't make any cheese, I didn't make pasta, I didn't sow anything in the second bed I made in the garden, as a matter of fact, I didn't sow any of the seeds I got! I also didn't spring clean my flat, nor did I unpack a single box!

However, I DID cook the chuck, I did cook the Rouladen, I did come up with an exciting and delicious new bread recipe, I did process all the food I had bought - even the watermelon, I did a lot of kittie cuddling, oh, and I did sow the Blueberry and container Strawberry seeds! I did move the avocado plants to the next stage, I did spend some time reading, I finally made the time to design a layout for one of my game cities - something I've been meaning to do ever since I moved here! And I prepared a lot of tips & tricks for the mini fellowship.

So, the paragraph of 'did' is longer than the paragraph of 'didn't'. Considering that I only had two weeks, I have nothing to regret!

And I learned something about my mippies: The more cuddles you give them, the more cuddles they want!

Speaking of mippies, one thing I also planned but hadn't got around to was: making myself a belt for my work pants. I've been using a velcro strip, which works fine, but it's fraying the loops and ... well, it's not really a belt. I also remember the trouble I've had trying to find a decent belt in the past - I've never found a single one, yet! Everything out there seems to be disposable - with a limited life-span. I've also tried using a rope, but that was just as stupid as it sounds! So, I had planned making myself a belt. I thought macrame would be nice. The trouble is still: how am going to fasten it? I've tried googling ... nothing helpful. So, now I've cut the buckle off one of those disposable, now frayed belts and tied twelve strings to it.

Here's where the mippies come in: Have you ever tried working with 12 long, white strings in a room full of playful mippies? Yeah, we're all having a great time! I'm not sure it will be finished today, though.

One thing I do regret, though: I wish I had built something - anything - for my mippies! I thought of it the whole time, but couldn't come up with anything realistically useful. Mippies LOVE when I build something for them! They love watching me, seeing how things fit together and they always, always play with everything I build for them!

By the way, I've been experimenting with Ziva's 'good manners' of getting up when I come outside - she really does it to please me! I thought maybe it's to get away from the cigarette smoke, but she gets up even when I don't light a cigarette. Even when I sit on the chair next to her and pet her - she still gets up to let me sit on the chair with the cushion! Mewthos doesn't, ha ha! He's no gentleman cat!

Sadly, I am also working out my budget. Well, it's not really all that sad. Basically, what I'm doing is add up my fixed expenses, work out how much they come to per month and the amount left over is what I can spend on groceries and extras. Predictably, the sachets for my mippies every evening are the 3rd most expensive item on my list! First, of course, rent, followed by Cigarettes. So far, I'm left with less than a third of my salary for groceries and extras. Cat litter is one of those extras.

Groceries isn't really much of a problem, except when I overstock out of fear of running out! Ridiculous, isn't it? Funny story: I'm almost out of coffee! I had tea this morning, so that I'd have coffee for tomorrow! Not so ridiculous now, is it? Ha Ha!

Only problem I have now, is that I'll need to make a plan to get coffee - preferably tomorrow! Unless I want to drink tea for the rest of the week ...

Well, for now, I've ordered myself chocolates! I'm almost out, and they're just so delicious and not very expensive.

Sigh, and now it's half past five, time to put the pressure on. Another heavy sigh! Not keen on going back to the rat race tomorrow. Okay, lunch, at least, was easy: the last two mince-filled rolls. But I'll need to bake more bread tomorrow, so I need to set everything up so the machine can make the dough tomorrow. And if we have another power failure - like today - at least I can push start when I get home. I've bullied myself into doing the dishes again, so almost everything is clean. I say almost, because my last butter experiment is still in the fridge.

Everything's done now. And I can finally just sit back and work on my belt! Which is coming along nicely, by the way. Nowhere near finished - unless I have a 2 inch waist, ha ha ha! So, back to the grindstone tomorrow ...

Saturday

Second last day of my vacation and I feel awful! After the really awful night, I've had a headache the entire day and I just can't shake it. So, instead of any action, I've just been mooching around all day.

Oh, and the 'old wives tale' that thunderstorms turn milk sour? True. With raw milk, anyway. Fortunately, what's also true about raw milk is, that it's not bad just because it's sour. Unlike pasturised milk, it doesn't go all at once, but gradually.

I took a walk around the garden and boy, was that depressing! That flower growing so lovely and strong in the round pot ... broke off. At least one stem. I pulled it off and stuck it in the other pot - I hope it grows. One of the flowers growing from the bulbs was sheered off completely. Nothing left to save, I'm afraid. The rest aren't looking too healthy anymore, either. The Cosmos? Quite a lot of them are flattened or bent. The 'wall of cosmos' has quite a lot of holes in it now. The peas, tomatoes, basil and mustard all took quite a beating from the hail. The cherry tomatoes are ... sigh ... only about half of each plant is left. And don't even ask me about the watermelons. I don't know whether they stand a chance to recover ... One sunflower broke, I tied it up and hope it'll recover. It was very depressing!

But a new sunflower opened! That was the only uplifting news in my garden. It's about the size of Cosmos - both in height and size of flower.

Mippies are insanely demanding! They absolutely love it when I can't sleep at night, they get lots and lots of lovies whenever I'm awake - especially when they're all cuddled together on my bed, like they were last night. I can not walk around my garden without mippies coming running and throwing themselves at me! Ziva demands her roly poly, Mewthos jumps up to be picked up and Janey comes running and mipping and just wants lovies! Mini stays by the toilet and rolls onto her back every time I sit!

Oh, and the crackling sound in my ear is gone. It's been gone a couple of days, no clue what it was.

Today is awfully hot and humid again, I woke up with a headache and haven't been able to get rid of it all day. I've tried everything. Even took a nap - lasted two hours, still woke with the headache. I've also had no energy for anything. I didn't even wash the dishes. But at least I made myself dinner - I suddenly felt like pasta with tuna. At least that's an easy, quick meal to cook. Of course, I also still have several bread rolls with mince left.

I keep hoping tomorrow will be better, but that hasn't been the case all week ... 

Well, tomorrow is the last day of my vacation. I really should clean up a little - well, there isn't that much to do, at least. Since I've decided not to worry about the floor, ha ha! Two weeks and I've neither swept nor washed the floors!

Thursday & Friday

Not so early morning, but it's lovely, overcast and nicely cold. Pity I don't have the energy to make use of that quite yet - I did a little later, though.

As it was overcast and still under 30 degrees, I took advantage and pulled all the tall grass out of my garden - well, the area I can see from my chair, at least, so now I have a clear view to my Cosmos and my new beds.

And I finally have a clear walk around the garden! By ten it was clear skies and 30 degrees again. I made my pancakes ... only not a single pancake stayed whole! Ha ha! They tasted good, even though they were scrambled!

I've been reading up about a sourdough starter, well, I got myself a kit, so it should be simple, right? Yeah, only ... ideal temperatures are between 20-28 Celsius! That NEVER happens here! It's either summer, above 30 Celsius or winter, below 20! I finally found a website that suggests adding less water and increasing the feeding times in warmer climates and perhaps chill water and / or flour before adding them. So much for the simple starter kit, eh?

Oh, and just to add to that: the container that came with it? Can't use it! It's too small. Much too small! I can use it only the first day. Sigh. Ah well. I think I'll leave that for a while.

I also made another attempt at making butter ... which also failed! Ha Ha!

The watermelon made simply too much juice for me to freeze all of it, so not I'm enjoying it as a cold drink! Next time, I'll make my water ice again - as well as freezing cubes.

After that fiasco with the pancakes, I decided that I had better make something else for tomorrow's breakfast. Bread, I guess. At the same time, I felt like experimenting in the kitchen - though energy levels are still low, thanks to the heat, I think.

Eventually I came up with an idea: I made another cheese, bacon and herb dough, then mixed some mince with an egg, mustard, the leftover grilled eggplant sauce as well as the leftover pickles and the first tomato from my garden, then shaped the bread dough around the mince, kind of like a cup. Sprinkled more grated cheese on top and baked that! That turned out very well indeed!

When I sat outside Thursday evening, waiting for my mippies to want to come in, I saw a buck wandering across the grass outside my garden! I really enjoy that there is such a lot of wildlife here: tortoises, hares, meerkat and now buck! Oh, and snakes, which I'm not so fond of, but still. I think the buck was a Duiker. It was fairly small - about 3x the size of Ziva; brown and with large ears. 

Friday, I didn't have any energy for anything, though. Temperatures climbed close to 40 again and with the promise of rain in the air, it was uncomfortably humid.

I did have all my mippies inside around nine and went to get milk. I had asked for 3 liters, but he had filled 4. No problem, though. Next week it's back to my 'normal' schedule, so that should work out better.

I also found out that there's another Adventure coming up in my online game, so I spent all day writing Tips to circulate, so we can all prepare and work together. I wonder how that will work out, though. Now, all that's left to do is design the spreadsheet we'll be using. That's going to take some time, too! But I've got 2 weeks to get that done, so: no rush!

It was getting somewhat dark outside, a storm was definitely brewing, so first I went and showered - just in case the power goes out during the storm. Lucky, I did, too! When I was done, I called my mippies - I want them to be nearby when the storm breaks, especially Mewthos!

Wow! It was a really, really bad storm! It came down by the bucket-load at first, and then it started hailing! Not too big, at least - the largest hailstones were about the size of a grape at most. But the whole outside was covered in white fairly quickly! I took some photos while trying to calm my mippies - especially Ziva, who hid under the sleeper couch again! The hail just didn't seem to want to stop - it was actually quite fascinating to watch; though, of course, I worried just how much damage it would be doing in my garden!

Of course, the power went out.

Sigh. While I was looking out the front windows, the rain AND hail came in the back window! When I finally went to my bedroom, I discovered that my bed was soaked and I still picked a couple of hailstones off the covers! Worst part was, that I had just washed one duvet and put on new duvet covers! Fresh bed - freshly soaked!

And not just the bed! I had quite a puddle on the floor plus the rain was still coming in through the open windows! I got out the mop and got busy. At least the rain had slowed so I could keep up. I considered going around to close the windows - but couldn't find my jacket, and since the power was out, I didn't want to risk getting soaked with no means of warming up.

When the rain had finally slowed down, I caught up with all the water and could finally relax. I had moved the bed away from the window, though, and taken the pillows off as they were both quite wet. The room was somewhat crowded with everything on one side, but at least it wouldn't be for long, just one night.

Then I looked for something to read. Eventually I stumbled across The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I had bought a long time ago. I had read all the novels already, but thought it would be nice to have them all in one place - at least, that was my thinking at the time. I was delighted to find an introduction by Neil Gaiman with a Preface by the late, great Douglas Adams himself! Plus: I can't believe I didn't know this, but there's a story in the book, which I haven't even heard of! How could I leave that in my shelf, unread, for such a long time? Sigh - I really, really need to get back to reading!

Well, I enjoyed reading last night. Then went to bed - using the spare duvet for my pillow, trying to use the little dry bits of my other duvet to cover my feet ... 

One of the worst night's ever! I just could not get to sleep, the mosquitoes were driving me absolutely nuts! No fan, no noise, so the buzzing sounds as loud as a buzzsaw! I was slapping and flapping around like a fish out of water! At the same time, all my mippies helped dry the bed by sleeping everywhere. Only Mini practiced apartheid by sleeping in the bathroom! I went and carried her to the bed and forced her to be nice to my mippies! It's not only the big mips not fully accepting the mini, but Mini herself tends to like being MY baby rather than mixing with her own kind! I pushed quite a bit, though, so there's been some growing closer.

I don't know how many times I got up, but the last time I checked, it was one in the morning! At that time the mozzies calmed down somewhat, so I finally managed to get to sleep.

Only to wake at three! Again! Mozzie buzzing at full volume, driving me absolutely insane! And it was hot and humid and I was uncomfortable - although, more of the bed and duvet had dried, so I had some more room.

I spent the time awake working on a concept I've been meaning to develop for a long time. It's a very feminist concept, because frankly, I'm getting really tired of women's equality being measured purely by how 'male' they are. For example, when it comes to strength - only women who can fight a well as men AND look extremely sexy while doing it, are considered to be 'strong women'. Why can't a woman who runs a happy home be considered strong? Or, why is it that 'emotional' is always labelled as a weakness? In my opinion, when it comes to 'right' and 'wrong' true justice must involve emotion to some extent ... what's going on in the courts these days, based purely on 'unemotional law' is definitely not justice! It's more of a theatrical interpretation, twisting the letter of the law to serve the richest person's purpose. And here again: juries are emotionally manipulated by a performance, so: so much for 'right' and 'wrong'!

Anyway, I'm busy working on a concept of a matriarchal society. One where men and women are truly equal - not, like where real life is at the moment, where everything traditionally associated as 'male' is good and strong, whereas anything even remotely associated with 'female' is weak and inferior.

And I would like to expose the hypocrisy of today's society, as well. For example, women have an accepted reputation for being emotional - the truth, in my experience, is quite the reverse. I have had more unprofessional emotional outbursts coming from men - and far more frequently than I've every had coming from any one woman! Especially in 'professional' environments! Yet, when a woman reciprocates, she's shut down and told 'calm down', usually referencing her menstrual cycle! The same goes for gossip! There's a generally accepted belief that an office filled with women is 'chit chat and gossip and office politics' - I've spent more time in male dominated offices and, in my experience, men are much, much worse! Especially, since everyone accepts that, if it comes from a male, it's an objective statement of fact, not gossip!

Another observation I would like to explore is that aggression is usually an outlet for something suppressed. I have several experiences to draw on. Of course, that doesn't explain psychotic personalities - but then, I've never encountered one myself; and I'm no psychologist, so I honestly don't know.  Maybe not all aggressive behaviour can be explained with suppression, but definitely a lot!

Anyway, it's a concept that's been on my mind for a long time. I've been working on it every now and then - usually sleepless nights. As I said, I'd like a truly matriarchal society - but I'm finding it difficult to establish a development that could actually work. So far, I'm at a society where females are rare; actually all people are rare - children are only born when there is a gap. So, there's no overpopulation leading to expansionist aggression. But that's not really natural - what controls it? So, I've come up with a limited telepathic society, which would also encourage faster development - with communication open right from the start, allowing an exchange of ideas at the earliest stages. But not everyone is telepathic. All women are - which is why women are often leaders, as they have the wisdom and knowledge of ALL women in the world to draw upon. Some men are also telepathic. Telepathy being the intial means of communication - just like some people are good at sharing their thoughts, teaching what they've learned. They are not necessarily the most brilliant minds - just like humans. Some can understand, some can communicate their understanding. Also, they evolved from amphibians. Where we have different skin colours, on their planet they have different levels of amphibian-ism - some people still have webbed feet and / or hands. Another thing is, that, if a tribe or village or group find themselves without a female, a male can become female. That is one of the foundations of their true gender equality. 

Also, in a population that is limited - I think, the telepathic pressure of too many people may naturally repress reproduction? - everyone is valued. Rather than treasuring the lemmings, diversity is treasured. And THAT, too, led to the fast-track of their progress, that they allow minorities to be heard rather than what we do: laugh at them for being / thinking / believing differently. Where brilliance doesn't have to fight hard to be heard or acknowledged.

Well, that's what my mind keeps itself busy with when I can't sleep. I still don't know whether this might be a novel, a short story, a series of short stories ... or what. An idea I had last night is, that I might like to 're-write' episodes or short stories with my female cast.

Of course, come morning, I didn't wake up. It was past seven when I first woke up, but still turned over. I finally got up at quarter past nine! Co-incidentally, that's when the power finally came back on.

Busy day

This morning it was overcast again. This time I didn't expect it to last - it didn't. But I did use the cool morning to get a start on the day.

It started with Mini pushing my phone off the bed! So far, that it fell apart and I had to clean quite far under the bed to recover all the pieces. At least setting the date was faster than usual, as today IS the 1st of January.

Yesterday I at least finally finished the laundry - unfortunately, the machine played up again and everything was sopping wet.

I used to think I was a little obsessive because I have this thing where I 'need' to use the same colour pegs for items of clothing. I've been working on that and I'm almost over it. But then I read about quite a lot of people sharing how they actually colour-code their pegs with their clothes! Funny, how we keep quiet about some quirks we think others might think are weird - only to find out there are lots of people out there even weirder than we are!

It only became an 'issue' for me when I moved to East London, as I used to use plain wooden pegs until then. But with the wind in East London, I nearly lost some clothes to the wind and had to get something stronger; which is when I got the coloured pegs. And discovered that I'm a little quirky with washing pegs!

I also got 3 liter milk yesterday morning, this time I made sure the window was closed! All three of my mips were inside, I looked for Mini but she was clearly out chasing something. And mostly, I worry about Mewthos & Janey - both Ziva and Mini are used to cars, after all. Well, Mini came running with a hoppy in her mouth! I gave her time to play, but as the other three were already shut in, not much time. Eventually I just carried her inside - away from her hoppy!

I was so early, that only 1 liter was ready, the others were still being milked! So, I just bought a 2 liter bottle.

And last night I carried the can around watering my plants again.

Back to today, I got quite busy. I started by finally processing the water melon! Turns out, a whole melon is much, much more than I can freeze in one go, so I liquidised the lot and put it in the fridge. Tomorrow, I'll pop the first frozen cubes, then re-fill the trays.

And then, I - also finally - moved the avocado plants into bags. I used the poop bags, because they are compostable. But since they're soft, I cut open some bottles to use as means to hold them up. Filled with potting soil, watered thoroughly and placed them by the fence between the carnations, where they get sun all day long.

And then, enjoying planting things so much, I started trying the jiffy peat, and ended up putting first paw-paw seeds into them, then made another tray with Blueberry seeds and then one for the container Strawberries! I made the trays by cutting the bottom off milk bottles, and the soaked peat pellets look like chocolate kisses - they do look tempting, ha ha!

Of course, the additional activity pretty much defeated the purpose of the first! I meant to plant the avocado's outside, to regain the space on my kitchen counter ... which I've now filled with three trays of more trees and bushes!

And finally, I crumbed another pork chop for tonight's dinner. Last night, I simply made six more Klösse as I still had a lot of sauce. Yummy! I still have three left for tonight. With sauce!

Do you know the weirdest part of all this kitchen activity? I continuously washed the dishes, so the kitchen is spotlessly clean! Well, I didn't wash the floor, but still.

I've been trying to remember my grandma's pancake recipe - it was the best! For the life of me, I just can't remember - and I used to be the only one who could make them as good as grandma. I've looked up pancake recipe's but they all have ingredients I'm sure grandma never used - and I'm quite sure she did not use milk! Eventually I found one that looks right, using just flour, water and eggs. I'm not sure about the eggs, though. I'll give that a try tonight, since I don't feel like baking bread for tomorrow's breakfast.

By the way, you know what's nice about New Year's Eve so far out of town? No fireworks! Okay, so nothing to watch out the window - but also, no worries about my mippies! Not that they ever worried on New Year's Eve! They're all shut in over night anyway, and I don't remember either of them ever getting scared ... but then again, I sleep through the fireworks, so: how would I know?

I did, however, according to German tradition, watch 'Dinner for One'! 

Well, I've made the pancake batter, and had the three Klösse - now I'm full, so I covered the pork chop for tomorrow night.

I was right about the weather today, it didn't take long to clear up and the sun came out. Full blast! But then, around five, it suddenly got very dark - so dark, I called in my mippies! I don't worry about Janey, Ziva or Tynx - they'll come running home, no worries. But Mewthos? He got caught outside once before, remember? It was pouring by the bucket load, and I went outside looking for him - I still don't know where he was, but he came back after the rain stopped, soaking wet! He's the reason for my grey hairs! Okay, so they match his ... 

I was getting worried, but he eventually came running at top speed! It's quite early, and I considered letting them out again after the rain - but it didn't rain much, yet it's still thundering, there's also a chance of hail. Can't let Mew-Mew out - he just might go run off and not be close enough to come home if it does start hailing! With him, better safe than sorry!

With four bouncing mips, it's gonna be a fun evening!