I am more than just a Momblogger...
Join me on my journey of self discovery, finding myself and my purpose. Sharing my parenting woes, quirks and fails...
taking back my wellness and wanderlust lifestyle with kids in tow.
So whilst I am trying not to lose my mind at work…. This is my snack of choice… but only because I can’t have alcoholic beverages whilst on duty and in public!!!!
I’m so not happy about work right now. And this madness continues until the end of next week!!!!!!
Cheers for now. Catch you on the sane side…
Spirited Mama
Sooooooooo, it’s been 1 year to the day that I wrote my first blogpost. I’m sort of in disbelief that I’ve been blogging for a year. Where did the time go?
Although it’s Saturday and believe me I would’ve loved to lie in…(Thanks Murphy – just today the Dudie decided to sleep past his normal waking time(6-6:30am…) he was actually still asleep when I left at 7:25am. I am at WORK!!!! I have to work today. And next Saturday too! We work from 8am – 1pm. As I left home, I made a U-TURN back to KFC for a “Eggs Benedict and cappuccino” breakfast, the drive through cost me an extra 15 minutes, so I was late for work. BooHoo. I enjoyed my breakfast. I enjoyed the morning drive. Open highway, I could really drive. Fast. And I did. And I loved it. (I am a speed junkie. I have to constantly remind myself that I need to obey the speed limit. I do, when I have my family or fellow passengers BUT when I am alone… My music is blaring, and I’m exhilarated by the thrill of the open roads…)
Within 30minutes of getting to work, we got Latte’s and croissants…And 10minutes later more coffee and muffins… Let me just say that I’ve overdosed on coffee, half of the muffin s still staring at me and my croissant well I think I’ll give it to Dudie… Way to much food for my liking! Even though I love food, it just too much right now.
So on that note, I’m patting myself on the back for my official 1st Anniversary! My blog started off with a very negative spin but with some humour, I hope… And it has transformed into my happy, ok sometimes not so happy but it’s filled with life and real emotions blog an I’m loving it…
Cheers
I’m off to go get some water!
Happy weekend folks
Spirited Mama
P.S. We are going out with our Quadbikes tomorrow. This will be Dudie’s first “Official” quadbike outing. My nerves are shot. But I cross my fingers and my toes that all will be well and safe tomorrow….
P.P.S This will be the first time I get on my quad in almost 4years…. I hope I still remember how to ride. I have a manual bike…. Why is it so difficult to find tracks in Gauteng. Any riders out there please do tell about “happening spots”. The place we used to frequent closed down…
Help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Dudie has started Grade 000. Great! All is going swimmingly BUT!!!!! This is a huge BUT! We love his school and his teachers. But this might be the last year that he is there. They have a Private Primary School but it is not on our route. It’s actually way out of our way….Although, on the plus side they give preference to the kids in their Nursery School.
Dudie has been accepted by a very sought after Montessori Nursery school for 2014. Yay! But, I’m not sure that I want to move him there because we don’t want to move him there and then move him again when he has to start Grade 1…. So I really think that I should let the school know that we will not be taking that spot….sigh….
We have been doing the research and we have found a few independent schools, that we really like but it will curb our spontaneous getaways(sob sob)…..
Can you recommend private schools in Pretoria? I’d really appreciate personal experiences….
We do however have a DARK Cloud looming…What do you do about holiday times? I don’t have a nanny/domestic that I can rope in over the holiday. Our family lives in Cape Town. So we basically fend for ourselves in GP. Currently, his school only closes for December but we do take frequent breaks during the year, in case anyone thinks that my child is at school 340 days in the year 🙂
Are there any holiday programmes available in Pretoria? Holiday Schools? We will take leave as and when possible but I would really like to know what other working parents do????
For the record I’m not comfortable leaving Dudie home with a caregiver even if it is family because of:
a) our swimming pool (yes, he does take swimming lessons but he is no olympian)
b) our beloved dogs (we do not leave Dudie unattended with our breed)
c) I don’t want him catching up with soapies during the holiday time ( I would prefer that he be stimulated with age-appropriate activities)
So this is my dilemma… Please let me know how you manage to survive work/parenting/life…
Spirited Mama
P.S. I’m looking for new employment closer to Pretoria as I commute daily. I am more than willing to take a back office, sit quietly and just not be seen but still get MY salary every month…. SO if anyone is hiring, please shout!!!!!
So you may have read about how I ended up at Wilgers ER but don’t fret I’m ‘A’ for away. No rest for the wicked….
So in between all the fine dining, drinking, partying, just living in true spirited style my Dude made us some delicious Oxtail Potjiekos. (For those who do not know what I’m referring to – You cook your food in a cast iron black pot over coals(firewood/coal fire). It is mouthwateringly tasty. I generally feel that left over Potjiekos(about a day old) tastes way better…
potjies have to be so expensive? We bought a flat based pot to make “Potbread” but is yet to try it out…>
Back to the point. So one day last week, I decided we are cleaning out the fridge, eating all edible left overs and chucking the rest. The spirited family (Dude, Dudie & I) gather in the kitchen and we take on the Fridge! We ate watermelon, cheese, desserts, yoghurts, mango, peaches and then we find the ‘Oxtail”….Ta da da dam! So Dudue decides we’re gona warm it up and go sit down at the table like civilised people who are about to share the most delicious food ever….(As most men, my Dude suffers from “I-Do-NOT-KNoW-WHAT/WHEre- ANYTHING-I’M-Looking-FOr-BUT-I-JUST-HAD-IT-A-Minute-AGO- SYNDROME!) I’m not kidding – he will stand infront of his closet stare at his shirts and continue to ask me where his white shirt is? WTF? It’s right there staring back at YOU! Or the infamous – WHere are my shoes? Really? Like you wore them so how the fck should I know where you put them.
Amidst the cleanup – he asks me “where’s the Oxtail?” This is how it went down:
Me: How should |I know? You just had it…
Dude: But I put it down on the counter… Now it’s gone!
Me: You know how you misplace things…. Maybe you put it back in the fridge?
Dude: I’ll check. Fck, I just had it.
Then we realise Dudie is no longer there…. So we go searching. We find Dudie sitting infront of the security gate feeding the dogs… yes, the oxtail….Dude runs to rescue it but alas it’s too late. They have devoured 60% of the contents and Dudie is now screaming frantically that it’s for the dogs. We surrender the food and leave him to feed the dogs. We ate crackers with cream cheese… BLEH….
Note to self: Watch child around food. Dude will feed those dogs ANYTHING! As a baby, I was once caught him sharing his dried mago strips with the one dog. He would lick it then let her lick repeat process. True Story. I shudder to think what else they may have shared. Recently, i caught him trying to feed the cockatiels chicken and the drumstick bone…. I calmly said, baby They don’t eat themselves chicken. They will get very very sick. I’m sad to report that our one bird has passed on but we do not know the cause of death…
Spirited Mama
P.S. I’m very busy at work at the moment and hardly have time to pee nevermind lunch. I got to work an hour late this morning, due to delays with the GAUTRAIN!!! Thanks a mil!
P.P.S. My cousin had a baby girl yesterday!
So a whole week went by with me NOT blogging. Don’t get me wrong I have loads to blog about and believe me it’s blogworthy but I’ve just been living, working, being mom, being wife…. It’s been busy but good busy.
So after my Dudie miraculously recovered, I thought ‘Yippee’ we are in the clear… Until Friday morning, I woke up at 5am with an itch just above my knee. I took a shower and then realised that my face is hot and it stung to the touch. I exit bathroom as I now feel nauseous from the steam in the bathroom. I go and examine myself in the mirror. Big mistake. I had a rash of some sort spread all over my left side of my face, on the upper chest area and it was spreading to the rest of my body fast… Within minutes my face, neck, chest, arm etc was covered.
I go to check Dudie, as he snuck into our bed in the wee morning hours, but he was clear. So I take a pic, send it to Dude nd call him. He’s response was go to ER now… Don’t be stubborn and wait for 8am. Go! now!
SO I dress Dudie hurriedly, grab keys, wallet and Dudie’s school bag. Dudie stared flipping out as he kept saying “mamma, you got an eina! YOur face got an eina!!!!
We arrive at ER, the nurse gave me one look and said you must be the patient, he’s way too happy 🙂 They did the routine check and within no time they adminitsered meds via IV. CAn I just add that if at all possible do not take your 3yr old to ER with you. UNless of course said child is the patient. My child tampered with my IV. At one stage I felt very dizzy, only to realise that my child has increased the flow of my meds. I’m not kidding. He climbed everywhere. Played with the staff, ran up and down the passage all whilst I lay, dizzy, on the bed.
The nurse offered him toast for breakfast which he politely declined but requested Calamari:-) Ai, you must love this child of mine. I said we could get Calamari later when we left. after 2 IV’s they gave me the ok to leave. BUt I had to get home and to bed soon. So I vowed that I was going to take Dudie to school and then get to bed. They reiterated that the meds I had just received is quite heavy and that I will not function properly. As I dropped Dudie, I could feel my head buzzing.
By the time I reached home I was floating. Now, I know what a “high” feels like. LMAO! I called Dude, armed the alarm and went straight to bed. When I opened my eyes, it was after 1pm and I had no recollection of my sleep time.
The doctor called it an allergic reaction, wheels and flares because of the severity and rapid spreading. Blood tests confirmed no infections. So up until now, we still don’t know what caused it. I did not eat anything different or do anything different…
After my morning slumber, I happily packed our bags and when Dude got home we headed to Mount Amanzi for our weekend getaway. I was still high on meds but we had a nice weekend away none the less. Oh. I also baked a bread and red velvet cupcakes…..
And I can safely say that all spots are gone. No indication of what happened what so ever. And thank goodness it was not contagious…
Spirited Mama
Ok so ask any parent, kids ALWAYS get sick at night…. It’s Friday morning, I have slept maybe 2-4 hours, and this was interrupted sleep. When I got home Dudie was burning up. Funny how my kid gets sick when he sees me. We grab some takeaways for Dinner and it actually seemed like the A/C in the car was Dudie best friend.
We arrive home. Bath Dudie in lukewarm water and administer Empaped. No other symptoms except fever…. Dudie ate and read me a story and dosed off to dreamland. We checked on him continuously and it seemed the fever had broke. We retired just before midnight, but alas I heard Dudie fussing. He was burning up again. We sponge him down, administer Empaped and swop beds with Dude. Dudie came to lie in my bed.
Goodness me, my kid is a bad, fussy, roll around, kick you, stick his fingers in an orifice type sleeper. He was literally burning me to the touch. At 5am I administered Neurofen. I took the day off to give Dudie some TLC. We’ve had milo cereal and this child of mine looks like a spring chicken. Nothing wrong. No pain. No fever. WTF?
I’m going to squeeze in an appointment with the Doctor as I would rather have a good checkup than deal with casualties on a weekend…. So for now, we’re watching Cars 2,for the gazillionth time, and trying to pass the time until Doctors rooms open.
Oh, about the cow, I love milk. Dude loves milk. Dudie loves milk. My family consumes a crap load of milk in one month….so if anyone has a cow that’s just not being used, could we borrow Daisy for a while? Please? Our milk habits will bankrupt me 🙂 seriously, I need to buy a cow, and learn to make cheese. We easily consume 2kg’s cheddar cheese a month.
Happy Friday Folks
Spirited Mama
P.S. if Dudie is ok after we see a doctor, we’re going shopping. I need a new swimming costume, IPad accessories, vitamins, and maybe some sandals.
P.P.S yesterday I booked a weekend break for the Spirited household. Next weekend we’re having some time out. Whoop whoop
As 2013 approached, I heard yet again about probably the most used, most over rated New Year’s Resolution….. Weight LOss!!!! Really, I scrapped that resolution many many moons ago and I’ve been so much happier ever since.
But now my inbox is flooded with best wishes for 2013 and countless lists of people’s New Year’s Resolutions… And guess what tops it …Yep, WEIGHTLOSS.
So I found a Guaranteed “to Burn Calories” Solution. This is how Women in France burn Calories.
Click here to watch it.
Spirited Mama
xoxoxo
P.S. I actually don’t make any New Year’s Resolutions. I generally just spend some quiet time thinking about how and where I’d like my life/my family life to be or go for the year….
Phew, to say that this festive season flew by is an understatement. Where did the time go??? For part of my festive season I do wish I can “rewind” and just relive that moment. Some moments were priceless and they are etched in my soul so deep that no can remove them. Family time is important but nothing comes close to “Quality Family Time”. The love, laughter, joy and happiness that comes along with it is truly magical.
This Christmas I truly had a magical Christmas! We just soaked up one another. It wasn’t all rosy but the good definitely out weighed the bad.
Yesterday, I started working again. It’s was horrible yet liberating at the same time. As much as I adore Dudie, we all need that “alone ” time form one another. So when I announced that it’s school time he wasn’t overjoyed but wasn’t exactly sad about it either. This morning he had a skip in his step as we walked to his class. He was happy, singing and bare feet ‘cos his Teacher said that he can leave his shoes off….
SO for now, I’m catching up to 400 emails. Trying to snack on healthy stuff and keep myself well hydrated ‘cos damn it’s HOT in Gauteng!!!!!
Happy 2013 All!!!!!
Spirited Mama
It is just after 1am and I’m vegging out on the couch waiting for my washing machine to finish its cycle… I washed 4table cloths. I cleaned the kitchen, mopped the floors and packed away all the food, read squeezed everything into the fridge as I’m worried it gets too hot and the food will go off.
What an awesome Christmas we had. We started with midnight mass at 23:00, Church need at 12:30ish, on route home Dude stopped to pick up McDonalds for us. We had McD’s and champagne at 1am. Dude, my gran, her sister, myself, and all whilst Dudie slept. We played Christmas music, laughed, ate,drank, face timed family, and eventually got to bed just before 3am. Dudie script into our bed in the wee hours of the morning, I was too tired to notice. We eventually got up after 7, did a “just wing it” breakfast and proceeded to Finish the food.
We had gammon, leg of lamb, beef roast, chicken, seafood, oxtail,veggies, salad, etc…. Oh and ice-cream, trifle and cake….cupcakes too. All for 6adults and 3 kids. What a feast we had. And how delicious it was. We laughed and had champagne, tequila coffee, beers, savannas, water, juice and sodas…. We played dominoes, shared memories created new new memories too. This was definitely a very special Christmas for all f us. One that we will talk about for a very very very long time to come.
im having a leftover cheese burger and a glass of milk. Going to hang out my table cloths and then I’m off dreamland as I know it won’t be long until Dudie wakes up. That child does not sleep later than 7:30am…..
i do hope that you all had a blessed merry Christmas.
Spiritedmama
xoxoxo
So I got my package from Santa’s little helper, aka lovely lady who partook in the secret Santa bloggers party that Charlotte arranged. Thank you so much, Lady. I was all over that package. I have managed to contain myself but today I will web using my gift. And of course acting my Turkish delight. (My Grandfather loved Turkish delight, and we used to sit together sharing his sweets. This brings so much fond memories back. Thank you a millio times. You have no idea of how happy you have made my heart. Also my gran is arriving in 1hour. So I will be sure to tell her about it. Maybe she have some sweets too) This is what I got: 
The package was addressed to Spiritedmama1, so firstly Dude thought it was his book from Leisure Books, then I said that it’s my gift! He said so how will you prove it’s you. Luckily the address matches perfectly on the receipt in my ID. And I kinda had to explain to the lady why it is addressed in my pseudo name. The big reveal:
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