LS 4 3 4 Saturday

Sheez, we're staggering through the Stages like a drunken sailor in a strange port! Keeping my neighbours updated is beginning to feel like a live sports commentary ...

Well, no 8-10 load shedding to interrupt my Saturday. Only the 16:00 - 18:30 ... at least that's the current schedule.

What bugs me most about this whole situation is that I now have to keep everything charged, and check my phone throughout the day ... on my weekends! I don't enjoy all this checking my phone all day ... it's not me! And I now have to keep everything charged, just in case there's a power outage and I need to communicate - report, check updates, etc. That really messes with my mood ...

This morning, I'm having serious trouble getting started ... It's now already half past eight ... I've only just loaded the washing machine. Nothing else! I should go out and feed the ferals ...

Done. I'm way off time, so they weren't waiting for me ... when I looked back, I saw ALL kittens crowded around the bowl, all four of them ... I heard growling, ha ha! Last night, I noticed three of my mippies at the front door - turns out mommy is bringing her kittens to visit, the black and white ran off when I approached, but the tabby kitten sat next to mommy on the veranda wall ... watching my mippies! Ha Ha!

Almost nine and I'm still on my ass ... doing nothing ... waiting for magic energy. Well, I HAVE loaded electricity, well ... not much choice, I was down to my last few units.

Tenant paid the agreed amount. He needed a fixed amount, rather than going by readings from month to month, so we agreed on half my budget. Looking at how much I'm over budget since he moved in, it works out fair ... even though one room without a geyser vs a 3-bedroom house WITH geyser does not seem 1 : 2 ratio, does it? And yet, I used to use way below my budget - now I'm going half my budget over budget. Since December. I turned on the chest freezer in November, and that pushed my usage up - right up to the limit of my budget. Yes, I want to feel confident that I'm not overcharging - and I do.

When I got home yesterday, the sprinklers were still going. I decided to play with seeds indoors, instead. I collected and bagged the gem squash and bell pepper seeds from last weekend, then the Marigold seeds, last the poppy seeds. Then I went outside and collected more poppy seeds.

I'm down to my last fruit juice, so I figured it's time to use my emergency stock ... I still had one box left ... only ... it expired like a year ago. Tastes still fine, though. But, of course, being full of preservatives, my colon doesn't appreciate my desperation ... and reacted in it's usual protest: dire ... and I'm all out of Re-Hydrat. I think that's why I'm feeling so low on energy today ... 

Well, re-stocking Rehidrat is going to absolutely have to fit into my February budget. Okay, prices are going through the roof! And it's only going to get worse ... I've checked online, and ... sheez ... As soon as I have my car back, I will have to make a plan to get to DisChem.

Half past ten, and all I've done is hang up the laundry. Which brings me to another problem: my laundry stand is falling apart. I've been patching it together ... which won't last. Either I buy a new one, or come up with a more permanent way of patching this one up.

The fresh milk I bought on Wednesday? Sour! Best before date: 2nd February! And I put it in the fridge at work all day Wednesday, so ... fresh milk? No more! Seriously, I can't afford to pay the inflated prices for something I end up pouring down the drain! Long life milk is not cheap, either, but at least I get to use it. All of it!

Producers and retailers are cutting corners to try and survive ... and we, the consumers, end up paying the price. And we're the bottom of the food chain. Literally. We're the one's dying ... well, not me personally ... though I'm getting close. Especially with these extra cats I'm feeding .... things are really not looking good.

Notice that? Processed milk is costing less than fresh milk! And quite a lot less! And that, right there, is the biggest problem with the effect of today's economy: the only way that processed anything can be cheaper is when the process 'stretches' the fresh ingredients.

Take the bread you get at Spar. I bought a loaf, a week or two ago. I ate 4 toasted cheese sandwiches in a row, and I was still hungry! That's 8 slices, about half the loaf! I eat one of my own bread rolls or a single slice of my own bread and I'm sated! That's 1/10th of a loaf versus 1/2 a loaf!

Vimes' boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness: why the poor stay poor. Or rather, why the wealthy stay wealthy.

I'm trying to apply the principle to my budgeting - saving up to buy quality. However, when it comes to electronics, you hit a snag: Electronics are ALL built to fail. The more expensive, the longer they last - but not to the point where they work out cheaper in the long run.

Well, I just tested my new mincer - it overheated when I tried to use it to mash potatoes. It's fine! The multi cooker, on the other hand? Not fine ... sigh ... 

Almost one and I've finished with the dishes. I'm taking it extremely slow ... the heat is really bad. Even the weeds are dying! Sprinkler is going in my garden ... only the one, though.

I've met most of my 'must' targets - just need to make the pasta dough. Which is just a matter of mixing eggs and flour.

Crap! I just discovered little wriggly things in some of my flour! I've tossed out my rye flour, brown bread flour and the last left over Type 00 pasta flour. The rye flour hurt - I had over a kg left, and it's the most expensive of all the bread flours! Well, I cleaned the shelf and put each flour into a plastic bag - that seems to keep the wrigglies away. I don't have air tight containers ... sigh ... evidently I should look into investing in some.

Or: large zip-lock bags! That'll work, and a lot cheaper!

Okay, pasta dough is done ... silky smooth my ass! I followed Jamie Oliver's recipe - 500gr Type 00 flour and 5 large eggs. When it turned out too dry, I added 'a little' more egg (yeah - I simply beat an egg in a cup and poured just a little in), still too dry, so a little more egg ... now it's too sticky, so I add a little more flour. And a little more. And a little more. It's now just a hard lump of dough ... well, not really hard, but too tough to knead any more. So, I just wrapped it in cling wrap and put it in the fridge ... hopefully what comes out of there will somehow be workable.

Half past two. Load shedding in an hour and a half. Next turn: tomorrow morning 06:00 - 08:30 and then 22:00 - 00:30 tomorrow night.

Twenty past three ... I'm steaming the last potatoes PLUS I've added rice to the steamer. Yeah, it has a rice function, as well. I've taken out the mince for tomorrow, and cleaned mippies' fountain. Again! I don't know, it's growing algae so fast - I'm cleaning it at least twice a month!

Clouds are slowly moving in, a bit of wind now and again - let's hope the forecast rain comes! At present, they expect it to start raining around three tomorrow afternoon ... earlier would be good! It's 34 Celsius in the shade!

I'm also going to make myself some coffee banana milkshake before the power goes off ... I'll shower when it comes back on at six. With the power staying on for twelve hours, I'll be able to keep the PC on for an audiobook. Nice change!

Unless, of course, they up the ante during the night ... again! I also need to think about coffee for tomorrow morning, I may want to brew a pot tonight.

This load shedding is really a mess! It's been only half a year - and we're told it'll continue for AT LEAST two more years! The mind boggles ...