I had to giggle…

On the way to work this morning – yet another one of those moments where you wonder what the hell the person did.  Signs tacked to lamp posts just past the Kirstenbosch turn off…. *Sorry* *Honey* *I was* *wrong* *learning husband* – would love  to know what he did *grin*.

Wouter spotted a Yucca tree being advertised on freecycle and as he’d always wanted one – leapt at the chance.  Well leap is a bit strong – took the crazy lady who was freecycling it some time to actually agree to part with it. Not sure what it is about the deep Southern Suburbs, but they’re a crazy lot. He then had Frank and a couple of his buddies help him collect it.

As Yucca trees go – the poor thing is a bit brow beaten, scrappy and in serious need of TLC but does give our place a bit of a tropical feel to it.

Being Fish Hoek Wouter needed to do a little bit of macgyvering to make sure it didn’t blow over.

Apparently it doesn’t need much watering – this is a good thing.

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Chocolate fondue tips…

We invited friends over last night for supper and I had the grand idea of having a chocolate fondue for dessert. I love fondues – they’re fun. Well this one would have been if Wouter hadn’t burnt the chocolate! (still bummed at having to miss out on the swiss melted chocolate). It would seem that once one has melted the chocolate on the stove… one must not put it on a lit burner to keep warm – all that does is burn the chocolate in about 2 seconds flat.

Looks pretty though?  And yes we *still* haven’t got our diningroom table – that is this weekend’s mission.

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Heading towards inadvertent tax evasion….

I have a major, MAJOR gripe with our South African Revenue Service. I registered for efiling the previous tax season but never managed to get it to work properly so I submitted my tax forms the conventional way, manually filled them in and dropped them off at their offices.  This year with much pomp and ceremony they announced their new system – which is supposed to make submitting our tax forms easier and faster.   I have been trying to submit my form for the last couple of months with ZERO success.  I can see my ‘already filled in for me’ tax form on the website, I can even open it to a certain extent… but I cannot fill it in and submit. And I haven’t just tried one computer – I have tried several, I have downloaded and installed the latest adobe reader as per their instructions – it *still* doesn’t work, I have even gone to the lengths of phoning their helpline only to be told I have a technical problem and should email their tech support people.  I am STILL waiting for a reply.  A colleague of mine in desperation went to their offices yesterday morning – they were offline.

How the friggen hell are we supposed to avoid becoming tax evaders if they can’t get their bloody system to work?

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Weekend round up…

I think the “end of year” syndrome is starting to take serious effect in the Hubbard/Blake/de Waal household. There just doesn’t seem to be any energy left to do anything, and the will/desire to do things seems to have gone on an early holiday. In fairness Wouter hasn’t been feeling great and spent quite a bit of the weekend sleeping. I on the other hand spent most of it reading… not very productive at all. It wasn’t even a very good book, one of the many John Grisham’s (Testament). I apologise to any Grisham fan, but seriously it was a real pot boiler.

Despite the lethargy we did manage to get a few things done. On Saturday we went to Builder’s Warehouse ostensibly to find a bath, I clambered into the first small one there and decided it was perfect. My feet could touch the other side – my whole foot, not just the tip of my big toe! We then went into Eagles Lighting and found a fitting for the lounge and my (erm our) bathroom.

Pretty isn’t it? We’re going to put in down lighters/spots (never sure what the hell to call them) in the ceiling, so this light is really just for show.

 

I figured we couldn’t get too ornate a light for the bathroom otherwise it would compete with my light and that just isn’t on.

Would you believe we finally got the shower door? After waiting who knows how long – poor Wouter the things he does for this house.

As with everything else in the house nothing goes according to plan the first time around. We installed most of the shower door but the door doesn’t fit nicely – something to do with the professional tiler screwing up. I’m sure Wouter will blog in more detail.

Handyman tip of the week – if you’re in a hurry whilst defrosting your fridge (there was an iceberg in there bigger than the one that sunk the Titannic) and the heat gun isn’t doing the job properly… take the angle grinder to it – works like a charm.

Oh and we (ok Wouter) made sushi on Friday night. Jessica decided she felt like sushi and Wouter decided he felt like making it – perfect combination. Some of it was a little rough around the edges but it sure did taste good.

‘k so the ‘table’ isn’t the most elegant one around – it served the purpose.

Sunday we went to the airport to say goodbye to Odette and sprogs (my sister-in-law and kids) they’re off to join my brother in Australia. Brave woman travelling all that way with two kids under the age of 6 and no sign of drugs to ease the way (for her!! Lest someone think I’m advocating drugging kids on long haul flights). Mind you…

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Looking good…

I have to say these days it doesn’t seem like we’re making much progress – but actually we are… it is just that a lot of the stuff being done is small stuff and usually technical (ie. wiring and suchlike which  Wouter is far better suited to blog about).  {The other thing is coming home after a day of work – the desire, energy and will to do stuff – isn’t always there}

However! The backsplash tiling Frank did yesterday – isn’t small, isn’t technical and is definitely worth blogging about.  I think it looks awesome, and really finishes off the kitchen nicely. They’re actually floor tiles we spotted when we went to choose carpets and I figured the colours would match well with the floor tiles and counters. I reckon I was right.  We still need to organise a bar counter, plumb the dishwasher, prep bowl in etc, etc.  One little step at a time.

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A bit of a boo-boo…

I’ve never really considered myself short, that was until I met Wouter… then again when one is 6ft2 (and a half) three quarters of the population look short. I am subsequently having to re-evalute my opinion on not being short. We’re also having to re-evaluate our position on the bath. I attempted another one on Sunday only this time I was prepared.. I’d bought myself one of those non-slip mats (the type they recommend for really old people).

I drew my bath, lots of bubbles - the fragrance of the bubble bath wafting around the room…. stepped elegantly in the bath…. lay down and …… woosh…. ended up half submerged with bubbles tickling my nose (non-slip mats aren’t all they’re cracked up to be).  They’re also blimmen uncomfortable and one feels like one has bubble wrap permanently taped to your bum.

So we’re looking at replacing the bath because to be honest… a. I *really* don’t fancy permanent bubble wrap markings on my bum and b. it just isn’t pleasant having to stretch to the maximum just to get the tip of my big toe up against the end of the bath.

Sucks being short.

On a more cheerful note – we have a prep bowl! and it’s in place! Looks damn fine to me.

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A fairytale…

Once upon a time there was a library filled with interesting manuscripts, tomes and epitomes. The King of the land deemed it necessary to equip the library with safety measures to protect the valuable information housed within it. One such safety measure was an alarm linked up to a canister of lethal gas – designed to quell the mightiest enemy of any library…. fire.

On a sunny day in November the beautiful and charming head librarian arrived at work to notice an unusual sound emanating from her library. Immediately she realised (by a swift and intelligent deduction on her part) the gas alarm had been triggered.  Risking instant death she dashed into the library scouted around for fire and tried to deactivate the alarm. Dashing out again to breathe clean air she realised the alarm wasn’t giving in.

Not defeated yet our intrepid heroine went to the security under advisor to the King and reported the situation. Troops were immediately deployed to locate the problem…. well that was the idea, it wasn’t till many hours later that the troops found their way to the library.

In the meantime our heroine stationed herself outside her library ostensibly to keep an eye on things. She soon realised the peasants in the village are a dim lot as she had to save a number of them from imminent death.

(it would appear a huge yellow warning sign and alarm bells going off are not good enough)

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If you’re not into scrapbooking…this post is bound to bore you

(you have been warned)

For a long time now I have coveted the personal die-cutting machines one can buy – the cricut, craft robo, sizzix, there’s a lot of them on the market. However they’re all extremely expensive (even more expensive than say a wok) so I haven’t attempted to buy or hint for one. That was until Making Memories brought out this little beauty, the slice.

It was launched in February at the CHA show in America – gosh what I wouldn’t give to go to one of those, and only recently became available to the public. I threw caution to the wind and treated myself to an early Xmas present.

The basic kit doesn’t come with the cute storage unit or the 12×12 glass mat.

Here are my first impressions of the slice.

It’s cute… very, very cute. A little noisy at times and if you’re thinking of getting away with not gluing (you get a dinky little tube of quick drying repositionable glue with it) the paper down on the glass mat – don’t. It doesn’t work – I thought it might if I pressed down on the machine but all that happened was a very sad crumpled looking mess. Reason why I tried is I find peeling the paper off the glue difficult at times and there is the potential to mess up small bits you may have cut. I guess with a bit of practise I’ll get better at it.

My first attempt wasn’t terribly successful, then again I did decide to go for one of the more intricate designs on the card. My initial impression is the machine battles to cut through really thick cardstock although it claims to be able to cut through virtually anything.

My second and third attempts however were far more successful and another personal recommendation – if you can afford to buy the 12×12 glass mat do. The mat that comes with the starter kit is really small and whilst it’ll be great if you’re taking it on crops and suchlike – it isn’t that great when working with larger pieces of paper.

Another tip – if it seems to have gone wonky and is cutting some strange hieroglyphics – it could be one of two things, either the battery is running low or you haven’t ‘homed’ the blade. Took me several failed tries to work this one out.

The battery didn’t seem to last all that long, but perhaps it is because it has only been charged once. The manual says that you need only charge for an hour and then it is ready for use again. Of course you can also use it whilst connected to the mains but that kind of defeats the whole ‘cordless’ aspect of it.

It may not be as fancy as the expensive ones on the market and you are limited to the shapes on the card, but I have to say there are a lot of choices on the various cards available and for now the two I have (basic card 1 & 2) should keep me busy for a long time.

On a local note.. the American sites don’t recommend we (South Africa) purchase directly from them, we should rather go through a local agent. Something to do with the voltage – well turns out all you need to do is purchase a universal plug adaptor.

Am I glad I bought it? Hell yes!!

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Kid stuff again…

This time of year tends to get really hectic, especially for those of us who have kids in primary school. It’s non stop plays, entrepreneurs days and anything else the teachers can think up to keep the kids amused which inevitably means more work for parents.  I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation why there always seems to be two weeks left of the school year and nothing for the kids to do, damned if I know what it is though. Jessica’s teacher yesterday told her class he had nothing for them so they could go home. Bloody stupid if you ask me, especially if you’re a working parent. *grumble*

Anyway, last night was Tamsyn’s nativity play and entrepreneurs day. She teamed up with her best friend to sell mince pies and xmas cookies. Initially sales were slow but by the end of the evening, she’d managed to sell almost all of it. Well done Tamsyn!  (And no I didn’t make the cookies or the mince pies…. they came from the other side – probably why sales were so good)

The play was extremely cute with most of them either getting a chance to say something or sing. I’ve discovered Tamsyn rather enjoys speaking into a microphone.. she practically took over the show.

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Fair skin and sun…

Wouter and I took a drive to Hout Bay on Sunday ostensibly to see if we could find a prep bowl at the Hout Bay market, but also to look at the classic cars on display at the local school. We went early in the morning and probably walked around for around an hour, I still managed to burn to a crisp and am now doing a really good impersonation of Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer. Must say the bright red face goes really well with my bright red hair (had it coloured again – I’m easy to spot in a crowd).

We found two potential prep bowls at the market – we have a very small space for it to go so the smallest one we can find will be ideal. We weren’t sure if either of these would fit so took the measurements and measured once we got back home, looks like it might. We were (for once) unanimous about which one we wanted (the one on the left).

General view of the Hout Bay market – quite an extensive market and can I say Jessica was right when she said they make the best falafel’s in town.  Well worth a visit if only to taste the falafel’s.

On the house front, Tamsyn was jubilant to discover Wouter had put the door handle on her toilet door. We’ve been telling everyone who visits – “don’t shut the toilet door, you won’t be able to get out again”. It’s the little things in life that get one excited.

Our bathroom is really coming along nicely – the basin is up complete with the mirror and baskets (forgot to take a picture of it with the basket and mirror up).

I convinced (‘k bribed, cost me R30.00) Tamsyn to unpack my cats for me. She did an awesome job.

On the more domestic side we invited my folks over Saturday evening for a roast – pork with all the trimmings, was very nice.

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