It’s 5:00 pm, again!

November 21, 2016November 23, 2016Leave a comment

Don’t you absolutely hate 5:00 pm? In our house, I call this the ‘crazy hour’. This is the exact time that my 7 and 5-year-old decide they will die an excruciating death if they don’t get something to eat immediately and to top it off they become these very energetic bouncing balls that cannot sit still for just 5 min so that I can whip up something delicious out of the cupboard.

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Well, if you are anything like me, cooking dinner with a couple of loud, bouncing children is basically impossible. You see, by 5:00pm my energy levels also reached their all-time low, as, like all mothers, I’ve been running around from one corner to the next trying to adhere to everybody’s needs in our household, including feeding the donkey, the horse, the bunnies, the birds and two dogs and cats, as they also look into my eyes for their daily bread.

The worst of all is that I’m not the best cook in the world. So cooking dinner, or basically any kind of nutritional meal is a lot of effort and planning. I literally need at least 2 days in advance to plan, and sometimes even cook dinner. And these little buggers have the habit to sneak up on you…if you open your eyes it’s dinner again, and I haven’t even opened the pantry to see what there is to use for dinner. 9 out of the 10 times the dish that I have in mind and the ingredients in the pantry isn’t the same, so a trip to our local market is also on the to-do list.

After a lot of effort, we will have a nutritional meal on the table and would enjoy it, then the chaos starts all over again…bath time….The act of bathing the kids isn’t so bad, but getting them out of the bath is a mission. My kids LOVE water, doesn’t matter in which form or shape…drinking a glass of water, running through the sprinklers, swimming in a pool or bathing. It literally takes me the same amount of time to get them out of the bath as it took me to bath them.

At last, it is time for me to sit back, relax and have a little bit of me-time. As my children, I also love a nice bath, and this is the only real thing that recharges my batteries. I love that warmth of the water that unfolds me, and I love the clean feeling after you’ve washed your hair. And I come to realise to survive the next day of making dinner, feeding all hungry mouths and just be the best mom that I can be, I need that little bit of me-time, even if it is just 30 min in a warm bath.

White Beaches and Blue Waters

November 20, 2016November 23, 2016Leave a comment

There is probably nothing on earth as calming, relaxing, enjoyable, but also fears, angry and dangerous than the big blue ocean we have on our earth.

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We went to the beach yesterday, and once again what a pleasant experience. My children couldn’t get enough, they played, ran and investigate as if it is their first time to the beach, (and we have been to the beach many, many times). I couldn’t get enough looking at their faces and seeing the pure joy they experience playing in the sand, finding new treasures in every tide pool we enter. Yes, we walk into each and every one of them and investigate each corner of the tide pool to find hidden treasures and new and funny creatures.

Thanks to Octonauts, my son knew exactly what each little fish, sea urchin and seaweed are called, and whether it is dangerous or not. For those of you that don’t know Octonauts, it is a kids story about a crew of eight adorable animals who explore the ocean in search of adventure and fun. Through Captain Barnacles, Peso Penguin and Shellinton’s eyes my children are learning all the real facts about the ocean. They learn how to respect it, and they learn all the dangers that also comes with it. If you have time, check it out…..really worth showing it to your kids.

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For me, it is more the calming effect it has on me. I can sit and watch the waves for hours at a time, and just think or not think and just be. My husband cannot do that, so I presume the ocean is not for everyone. Hopefully one day we can have our own little house by the sea. See some pics of how my dream beach house will look like one day. Until then I will settle for travelling and visiting all the most beautiful beaches in the world. According to The Traveler the most beautiful beaches are in Brazil, Bermuda, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Mozambique, to mention just a few, but personally I think we, here in sunny South Africa, also have amazing beaches, I’m just thinking about Jongensfontein, around the corner from us, the West Coast, and not even to mention the East Coast. Personally my all time favourite is Strandfontein, situated on the West Coast. Nothing can top this, probably because this is my childhood holiday destination. We’ve been going there for almost 30 years, and it still has that magic to it, that you wouldn’t get anywhere else…well, that’s how it feels to me.

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The sad part is that not everybody appreciates this big, blue wonder with its white beaches. Not everybody knew how to take care of it and look after it. I’m thinking of all the big ‘companies’ that just leave all their dirt and think the ocean will be happy with us forever. At some stage, maybe not now, it will turn on us humans that cannot take care of it.

So, in this post I’m begging each and every one of you, please look after our oceans, don’t spoil the blue water and don’t throw your waste on the white beaches, because one day it might not be there anymore to enjoy.

Magazines

November 18, 2016November 23, 2016Leave a comment

I absolutely love magazines. You can almost say it is my secret little addiction. Some women have a shoe fetish, and some have a handbag fetish, so why can’t I have a magazine fetish?

I love the feeling when I page through a brand new magazine, the smell of the pages and the sheer feeling of excitement just to see what new thing is on the next page. I sometimes just quickly page through a magazine to quickly see what is all the nice things inside and then I leave it for later…when I can sit back, relax with a glass of wine and slowly absorb every single image, text, and page in the magazine.

I love reading the articles and absorb how the author has chosen his / her words to get her message over. I even love it more to look at each image and analyse each piece of it. I even sometimes see a flaw on the image where the stylist missed something, and it makes me feel good about my own home and life. Just to know that magazines can also sometimes get it wrong.

I take such good care of my magazines my children aren’t even allowed to page through them. Each magazine has a special place on my bookshelf and I often go back to previous additions and relive every single emotion as if it is the first time I’m reading it.

I’ve travelled the world through magazines and I’ve become the skinniest woman, cooked the best meals and have the most beautiful home, by just reading. By reading a magazine my imagination just opens like a beautiful flower in spring. It’s funny how just one small image could start a whole new dream, that leads to a new project, that leads to a new corner in your garden, or new table in your home.

Thank you to all publishers out there for the amazing magazines we have!!