Ballerina Girl

 

After yesterday weird day, I was thankful not to wake up to an alarm telling me to get up. After a lovely sleep in, we had to go watch our little ballerina girl, Rebekah.

 

How Green?

 

Another heat wave has set in with temperatures reaching record highs but thankfully it is the weekend, and here I am sitting on my patio, there is a cooling breeze blowing down the valley which makes it all right.

With so many things going wrong, I don't have a problem as it has been handed over to God. On a daily basis, God comes through. It is the little things in life that matters and here I am admiring how green the valley looks. Beautiful! The swallows are swooping in the air catching the bugs. God is good.

Last Connect

 

That is how we all feel at this time of the year, screaming as we about to hit the brick wall. Uhmm, okay the truth, this is Kyle trying to catch popcorn that Nicolene  is throwing from across the room during the last Connect meeting of the year.

After this it is all downhill from here...

22 Days

 

And finally we get Lynda's car back after what was estimated will take 10 days, took 22 days at the panel beater, Auto Magic. The new bumper looks different, and I had to look at other Brios to see what was different, oh they forgot to paint the one section black, doesn't bother us too much but what does is that the car doesn't have aircon anymore. 

We told the insurance and the panel beaters that the aircon was damaged in the accident but the report from the panel beaters is that there is nothing wrong with the aircon, only out of gas. Oh well now we have to do it ourselves.

Additional Note: We took the car to an independent aircon specialist. They tried to fill it but found that the compressor was damaged in the accident. It is cracked and leaking gas. Which begs the question how did the panel beaters test that the aircon is okay without putting gas in? I think they must have taken a chance. Now the car has to go back.

Daily Water Intake

 

So here I am sitting at my desk, when I notice all these empty water containers on my desk. Yip water bottles from my daily water intake. Well I try my best to drink as much water as I can.

Murdock

 

Murdock, my tenant's bull terrier puppy is a feisty little thing. I think Murdock is the only dog that can handle River Song boisterousness. Over the weekend, I let them play together, and during this time, I heard a splash, rushing out I found Murdock in the deep end of the swimming pool. He was struggling to stay afloat so I reached in and pulled him out by the scruff of his neck. And today he is back for more punishment. Doesn't he even learn?

Month End Crackers

 

Sunday afternoon, month end cracker time. Oh well God provides my daily bread everyday including these crackers that I am snacking on.

Fearful Storm

 

This photo was taken late afternoon, a few minutes before a fearful storm broke overhead. With thunder and lightning, it was very frightening to the fur family. The cats were trying to find places to hide and the dogs were nowhere to be seen.

Cat Fight

 

With the week finally over, my feet up on the ottoman, I put on some TV and searched for something light to watch. Somehow I came across  this video clip of 2 cats fighting and with all the wailing, our cats started to get upset. So the big boy Paddy went to investigate what all the fuss was about. Here he is staring at the 2 cats on the TV.

Storm Pizza

Just as I was about to leave work, a major storm broke over us and there began my crawl home in traffic that does not enjoys the rain. It is Connect tonight but by the time I got home it was late, we had no power as the storm took out the electricity in the area, so off I went to get some pizza.

After a hot muggy day, after the storm, we sat on our patio eating pizza while a gentle breeze cooled down my stress levels caused from sitting in the traffic for over 2 hours.

Yesterday Today Tomorrow

 

The Brunfelsia pauciflora is not an indigenous plant in South Africa as it orginates from the Amazon yet here are 2 of them in my garden. Know locally as a Yesterday Today and Tomorrow as the flowers I've been told changes colours from white to purple on a daily rate, hence the name as the flowers are never the yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And I don't have the patience to check if this is true.

Don't Forget Me

 

"Don't forget me,"cried River Song, our 2 year old German cross Belgium Shepherd. "No, how can we ever forget about you , River, you big galoot". So here before I forget about her again, is River Song, one of our children.

Misty Monday

 

We woke up this Monday to some light drizzle and mist everywhere. After our quiet time, I sat alone on the patio with a lovely mug of coffee, enjoying what God has given us before I set out to start the day. The beauty of the mist, with only the birds tweeting away, no noise from traffic, no bustle of the rat race. Just me, God and this mist.

"Thank you God, for all your blessings". Now let the week begin!

Mike Drop

 

Why am I always surprised when God does a mike drop? I mean why after so many times He has come through for me, do I still tuck the mike into my back pocket and try make contingency plans. This morning I saw this funny moment in church where Lance put the mike in his back jean's pocket just before he went up to talk. I just had to take a photo, anyways later on in the afternoon we had to go back onto our roof and do the second coat of waterproofing. Not following then read Friday's post and yesterday's post to catch up.

Anyway now that we are on the same page, God did a mike drop moment for us by holding back the rain at our house long enough for us to apply the waterproofing material and allowing enough time for it to dry before opening the heavens again. Don't get me wrong it still rained but the rain went around us and poured elsewhere while Peter played on the keyboard.

Waterproofing

 

We weren't sure if the weather would clear, but it seems that God held the rain at bay especially in our neck of the woods just enough to water proof our leaking flat roof. After getting detailed instructions from Dudley of Rubber It, on how to use his liquid rubber product, we washed down the roof with soapy water and scrapped off any lose material.When that was dry, I sealed all the joints with gauze and acrylic waterproofing paint. Then once that was dry we applied the first coat of the liquid rubber compound to the roof which had to go on in one direction. Then we will leave it to dry overnight and apply a second coat this time in the perpendicular direction tomorrow.

Lets hope the rain will hold off till Monday.

Rubber It

 

I haven't seen Dudley since August 2011, when we conquered Sani Pass together that is until now. Well let me start from the beginning, that is last week Sunday. It started raining heavy on Saturday night, and the next morning my tenant said that the cottage is leaking. We climbed up onto the roof above where the leak was originating, and that section it is a flat roof, one of my pet hates because flat roofs are notorious leakers. We temporary covered up with plastic and on Monday we contacted the insurance. 

In turns out that the insurance won't cover us as we have to redo the roof every year. Eish how come we find this out only now but deep down I feel as insurances go, they just don't want to pay. Anyways I contact a friend who runs a waterproofing company with his dad on the East Rand for advice, but he was bit reluctant to come all this way to check out our leaking roof. Then I remembered Dudley, he once said to me that he sells this liquid rubber stuff for roofs. So I phone him, and he said that he manufactures the liquid rubber roof sealant. After some discussion on the phone about my application on a flat roof, I ordered this liquid rubber product from his company Rubber It.

His factory is in Pretoria, but Dudley himself drove all the way to my work to drop off a 25l bucket of liquid rubber. 

Now just to get a gap in all this wet weather.

Amagwinya

 

It has been raining all week, but on these cold wet mornings, I start my day with some warm magwinya, that I buy from a street vendor along the road on my way to work. Amagwinya or vetkoek are small balls of deep fried dough that costs less than a R1 each.

Wacky Wednesday

 

It was getting near midday, when the boss man piped up, "What's today?". "Wednesday", came our reply, "all day". The boss man then exclaimed "Wacky Wednesday" and went on how he loves Steers, Wacky Wednesday deal of 2 burgers for the price of 1 on Wednesdays at this South African burger joint. And before we knew he had ordered everyone in the office Steers burgers for lunch.

Welcome to my world.

Tricksy little Hobbitses

 

Taleesha has been trying to get me take a photo of her engagement ring for some time now and so far I have avoided falling for her sneaky little traps, that is until today. "Look at my beautiful nails, why don't you take a photo of them for your blog?" Oh that tricksy little hobbitses. Do you see what she had done there? "It isn't fair", I cried, "my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in it's nasty little fingersess?"

Have you Forgotten

 

With all the celebrations and our home being like a train station, have you forgotten about us animals? Nope, how can I forget about all our dogs and cats, spiders, and a lizard? Let the week to recovery begin.

Weekend Party's Over

 

It was good spending time with Matthew on his birthday and sharing him with his friends and family but now Matthew must go and be the adult God wants him to be.  

Happy 21st Matt

 

Although your official birthday was a few days back, and this is your 2nd birthday party in a week, I hope this is a good send off into the world of adulting. Happy 21st birthday Matthew. You have grown up to an awesome young man and may your adulting years be just as awesome.

 I can't remember all your friends names

 

Dael, Ryan, Dakotah, Danielle

Jaen

 

Matthew, Danielle, Hans, and oh course Minky

 

 Lynda

Bees vs Ants

 

I see that the Ants have stepped up their game to get rid of the bees. Once the bees are gone, well that is it tickets for us humans. These ants in Johannesburg are sure getting out of hand. 

Model in da House

 

Oooooh we are so blessed to have a real live model in da house! Welcome Sadie, to our weird yet lovable Connect group. Okay we should not forget the male model and the ginger one too, but the UJ girls just connected with each other. What was that new word, Jess, oh yes racial hybrid, but we are just one happy connect family even though we are about to lose Lance and Kerry to the other Centre Church Connects, we are still tight and da best!

Oopsie

 

Last week we had an oopsie with Lynda's car as it saw the back of the garage a little too close and poor Lynda had to continue to drive it without an air conditioner that is until this morning as we dropped it off at Auto Magic in Strydompark to see if they can work some magic to restore it like new. 

Pain Pool

 

Sigh, I feel the pain as I struggle to get our swimming pool perfect for this coming Saturday. Yes I kept the pool cover on for a week longer than I should and the result was an stinking cesspool. Thankfully we had rain last Friday, 30mm of mana filled the pool so that I could vacuum the fine sludge from bottom. The pool is crystal clear but has this slight sulphur smell which I can't get rid of. 

Oh well I have a few days to go so let it rain, let it rain, pleeeeeeeease.

Monday Bran and Yogurt

 

It is Monday morning, and here I am suffering from gout eating my yogurt and bran breakfast. When will I ever learn that orange juice and I and not good bed buddies. Oh ow I hate this gout.

Oh well, I better grit through the pain, as Matthew turns 21 today while I make a revamp of an existing website go live. Mission: concentrate on finding any bugs and eliminate as soon as possible. I think I managed to minimise as few bugs as possible for an successful revamp.

Happy birthday Matt, I love you.

Breakfast Apology

 

Well not to give away any personal details, somethings happened in all the celebrations yesterday while we were in Pretoria, well more like didn't happen, so to make it up to Nikita, Bradley organized breakfast on our deck. Okay more like brunch but the apology breakfast went down well and all the little campers are happy once again.

Lets Start the Party

 

Matthew is turning 21 on Monday, and as usual his birthday falls in critical exam times, so to start the celebrations off we had a family get together had my sister's place in Pretoria. 

But first we had to drop off Bradley and Dael at the local sports pub so that they can watch the World Cup Rugby 2019 final with South Africa playing against England. So while the Boer War III was on the go, Lynda and I drove north to be with Matthew and family.

Good news is that the Springboks won, and that we had a good time with family celebrating Matthew. 

Most Offending Gum

 

This really peeves me off. Here I am standing at a urinal in the men's toilets at out office park, only to find that some low live has stood here before me and spat out his chewing gum into the urinal. Now who does this low live think is going to pick out this offending gum and throw it into the waste bin only a mere 2m away? 

Arrrrrrgh, this is not how I want to start my weekend.