FIVETRIBE

It has been a productive week, probably because I am spending less time online. ;-) Or maybe just because it's spring and that always gets me motivated to sort my life out. In the last 2 days I have accomplished the following: Sorted out various extramural stuff that has been hanging around on my to-do list Visas approved Took my garmin hrm in for repair Sorted out and purchased my Wild Card Bought new cable and switch to connect dvd, media player and wii to tv with switch for easy toggling Sourced a pair of fab trail running shoes after my feet got destroyed by my basic Adidas tekkies. Shopped and shipped goodies for gift swap organised by Harassed Mom Bought birthday presents for myriad of little people parties. The nagging thing is that it is my mans birthday on Sunday and I am *clueless* as to what to get for him. I have arranged for some mates to come for brekky with us and then we are obviously going to watch the rugby...and then if the weather plays along I was...

Do you ever have those days where you stare at your screen, knowing you have so much to say but then realise that your blog is just NOT the place to share that stuff? I wish I could drag some of you into a corner and whisper in your ear. There is such a lot going on - sad things, happy things, tragic things and exciting things. Bullets will have to suffice for this monday: it is show week in our home. A Kidsummer Nights Dream premiers this week with a matinee on Wednesday and an evening show on Thursday. Honey has been working hard as the lead and is extremely excited. Young Lulu is also thrilled to be part of the action as one of the main faeries! because of all the concert-hype (and having grandpa staying here)  Lulu has been more fragile of late. she is moody and flies off the handle and overreacts to small things. it can be treacherous navigating her at the moment. I look forward to normality but at least I understand why she is behaving erratically. My father-in-law is...

Been a weird week. My body is at odds with itself, my runs/crossfit sessions earlier this week have been an awful slog. I had to talk myself through each and every minute of them. Not a nice feeling. I am not sick or anything but when I woke up on Monday with a fever blister I knew all was not well. So....today I took a rest day : Went and had coffee with a mate. Enjoyed a 45min deep tissue massage to ease some stiffness. And finally off to the pharmacy for a B12 shot to wake up this body! I routinely get B12 shots when my body begins to rebel. (once every 6-8wks) I find them to be extremely effective and only mildly uncomfortable. I have to confess that todays shot left me in acute agony for a minute or so. I have NEVER had such a painful jab - clearly this was a b-a-a-a-d batch. The nurse said everyone has been complaining....hopefully I will get an *extra* kick from enduring that blerry burn. Been a lovely way to spend the morning, all things considered. Off to have a qu...

Bullets for a Tuesday: I am doing A Week in the Life project with Ali Edwards this week. I have been meaning to do it for years! Basically just documenting in words + pictures a typical week in our lives. This week I am simply taking notes and pictures and next week I will put the album together. Took a three day vac from running/gym and went back today. I should never have done it as I had a kak weekend and I am convinced its because I didnt start the day *right*. I had fun looking after the Gr 4 class for a few hours yesterday - got the opportunity to teach English and EMS with them. NIce change of pace for me and very fun for Honey to have her mom as teacher for the day! I have to take Hooli to another surgeon this week. That lymph node is still in his neck. Either the original guy didnt get the right one or a new one has popped up. Its very small and innocuous but I have to get it checked out nonetheless. I write casually about this but instead I am fighting hard not to get...

The kids are back at school, yay. Or so I thought until yesterday completely winded me. Projects, orals, homework, library, violin, swimming and the rest of life. Crazy hey? But all things considered we got it done and in good grace. Sometimes its good to be productive - towards the end of the holidays life got a bit dreary....even I can tire of staying in my pjs til lunchtime. Yes, really. I set off to run again today after taking some time off due to shin splints. I think I just upped my mileage to fast and hurt myself. Going from 5 -25 km in one week might do that I guess. I did also buy some uber cool ICE SPRAY so that if I get eina I can sommer spray it away and carry on. Yeah!! Love that idea but promise to use it responsibly Mom! ;-) I went to get photos printed yesterday. To scrapbook. (true story)  I want to journal about our little magical overnight trip to Old McDaddys farm. I also want to do a 'Mel @ 38' page before I turn 39....I have been doing a page a year s...

Today I get to enjoy my own house. Until 1pm anyway but HELL I will take it and rejoice. Usually I love school holidays and am seldom ready to start the routine again but this time my steam ran out a few days too early. I think I was just so disappointed when we couldnt go away last week as planned that I just kinda lost my mojo. I had been entertaining the kids the first two weeks fully expecting the last week to be us, as a family, away somewhere beautiful....anyway - it will still happen. I dont have any major plans for the morning barr the obvious things that I do daily but I will certainly enjoy doing them all solo and in silence. :-) Here's to a wonderful third term!

Cape Town's winter continues to rock my world.  We will be booking tickets this week to go to England in early October. Decided to put Vic Falls on ice and rather spend the money and tour England a bit. School holidays are almost over. I am truly grateful. The voices are getting a bit much. I saw a posture specialist/muscle tester this week for my shin splints. Am optimistic... And have entered 2 races in the next 3 weeks. Yes, really. One 6km and one 10km. Small beginnings but a goal is always good. Reading a book that is revolutionising the way I run.  I blog about my training elsewhere cos I can see you rolling your eyes in your head. :-) My girls are wetnurse to 3 baby bunnies. Formerly 6 but Mamma Rabbit turned on her babies. See my moms blog to see pics and story about wetnurse adventures. Am off to embrace this beautiful last day of holidays and meets some very special people (and their sprogs) for lunch. Happy weekend.

I was on the phone. In the middle of quite a deep conversation. My man caught this interaction between Honey and myself....what a precious moment. Just look at her face in the middle picture. Physical touch is such a precious thing as often it seems they dont want it when they get old but clearly that is all a facade!

Today I spent a morning with a friend I have know for over 10yrs. Our lives have gone in different directions and we havent spent much time together while I have been raising my kids but somehow we just connect like it was yesterday! She enriches my life in a way no-one else can. From there I went to gym - am loving my new trainer, G, she pushed me to do a workout I had found online that I NEVER thought I could ever do. But she knew...and I did it. Twice. I do go workout with her with mild trepidation - our workouts are not for the faint of heart, but I like to feel almost dead otherwise I fail to see the point...she gets that. She is also helping me reach my goal with running so all in all - a good fit is what we are. Funny story: because I was going to be out all morning today I unblocked Disney XD as a treat for the kids. Well. You would swear that they had won the lottery! The excitement was off the hook. Amazing how something they totally took for granted 3 weeks ago is now s...

Some of you will remember my Intentional Living post from last week. It is not unusual to have these *epiphanies* about life and purpose and change occasionally, but to *do* something about it it less easy. How quickly we can just get overwhelmed by the bigness of it all and let it paralyse us into further apathy or complacency. I do not want this to happen. For this reason I have decided to study again.   I will be the subject of my studies ..... I am going to be doing the online course called MyCube4Change. Go check out the videos on their site - I know many of you resonated with that post and perhaps this is also a tool that would interest you.. I am really stoked that my man is well on board and is, in fact, arranging for us to go away overnight next weekend to go through the course material and begin to make the changes that will facilitate the vision we have for our lives - both personally, as a couple and as a family.

Tomorrow is Honey's much anticipated Adventure party out in Scarborough. She has been looking forward to this for some time and seeing as its her TENTH birthday we decided to splash out and treat her (and her mates) ! Take a looksee here at what its all about. In other news: 1. We have booked a winter holiday here. Many of my friends have claimed Blanco as their dream holiday - back to nature and pure restful bliss. We are looking forward to a special family time and maybe even some snow! It is a 9hour journey from Cape Town which will be interesting....luckily my kids are awesome travellers....its me I am worried about! 2. Have found an awesome mountain bike for Hooli for his birthday, gears, shocks - the works. Best part is it is hardly used, comes from a friend of mine whose daughter simply didnt like to ride. What a bonus. 3. We finally sorted out our Wii...bonust is I was able to get one for R500 (long story) so have been able to purchase Wii Fit Plus, Just Dance 2, M...

The school run went well. No drama this morning or at drop-offs. I decided to do what I want to do today.  So I made breakfast and watched The Kardashians. Then I made a fire. And started watching Fame - the 1980's version. But thought it best to put a load of washing on - cos my char comes to iron tomorrow. And maybe square up the kitchen and take meat out the freezer. Oh, and get the kids worksheets/ activity sheets printed for this afternoon. And maybe I should be getting some exercise as the sloth is growing into beast inside me. I would run but its freezing and raining so its the Trek to gym for me shortly. Lovely not to have to chase around though...and we have an awesomely quiet afternoon ahead - with revision for upcoming assessments, violin practise for recital next week and of course - running of lines for the play! At least we do not have to leave the house though. Small mercies. Howz your days looking peoples? :-)

I have come to a somewhat blinding realisation. My kids are growing up and doing less *insane and mind-numbingly annoying* things for me to blog about....ho hum. I have been reading through my original blog from 2007 and have been blown away by the fodder with which I was provided by my then 1,3 and 6 year old. Gosh, my days were like a reality show - full of amusing chaos, carnage and craziness. Nowadays it is not uncommon for me to have my charming lad set the table for dinner.... and find these two playing for hours together with all kinds of new games being created daily. Now let me hasten to add that I am not angling for any chaos, carnage or craziness. I will settle quite happily for Walton-style normality. Friday night we took them sprogs off to see HOP, they thoroughly enjoyed it and I enjoyed the soundtrack. I dont really *do* kids movies (was scarred for life recently by Rango and before that by The Bee Movie) but this one was doable. Discovery offers free movies for kids be...

Monday - and a new start in a few areas: 1. I start my 10wk online studies with UCT distance learning crowd, GetSmarter. I am doing the Internet Marketing module which covers everything from web design&development to SEO, analytics and copywriting. Me thinks I am going to *love* honing my humble skills. 2. I also need to build in a few hours a week to help my bloke with his renewable energy business. The company is on *explosive* point and he really needs admin, capturing help. Nothing brain taxing but often it is the grungey everyday stuff that oils the wheels for the important stuff. 3. I have found the most *amazing* skincare range that has changed my skin completely. It's like I have had a facial peel or something. I strongly recommend checking out RegimA . I have an amazing skin professional that did an analysis and then sampled me on a day and night cream aswell as a cleanser. I didnt have to fork our large sums of money until I was SURE the product worked. Within 3 day...

Nee jislaaik. It is almost March! I swear time speeds up as you age. Really, tell me I am wrong? A few bits n pieces: 1. My hair is growing. Truly it is. I saw someone recently who hadnt seem me in some time and they confirmed my suspicion. Yay. 2. Lulu is loving school and has lots of friends across Gr1 and Gr2. She makes me smile with her enthusiasm for all things school - reading, writing and just the *correctness* that come with being a new school-goer. 3. Honey is still sukkeling a bit but we are making progress. She is still loving school but I am going to make an appointment with a pyschologist just to help her through this speed wobble but am fully anticipating that we see daylight very soon. She is a remarkable, insightful child - just need wisdom to help her deal with all that she processes. 4. We have another opportunity on the table from Australia. Anyone who has been reading me since 2007 will know that this is a regular thing. So now we process and ponder and pontificate....

Things going on in my world and head this week: Hooli is going in for surgery on Monday. Oh the suckiness. He is having a little gland removed from his neck. It is a simple 20min day procedure but I am not loving the whole thing. His anxiety is making me sad. I wish he didnt have to go through it but in the scheme of life it is not a big deal. (I am telling myself that - not him!) The hardest part is going to be keeping him away from food from 8am until the surgery at around 2pm - oi vey! Am so enjoying watching Lulu embrace school, new friends and reading. There are very few things in life more rewarding than watching *words* come alive through the eyes of a small person. She had a rocky start to school, feeling a bit insecure and friendless but she bounced back within a day and now is very excited to find out what new surprise each day will bring. Both girls are LOVING their violins. I thought it was going to be heinous - having to hear them practice but fortunately their teacher in...