Random crap update and stuff

It's been a while since I blogged properly, but well I have been busy, and also not really interested in blogging much.

Now that I want to, I am again thwarted by the fabulous Telkom. What at first seemed like an issue with my wireless router is in fact, yet AGAIN, a Telkom problem. Luckily this time my fabulous ISP (Cybersmart - love them they are really good, and recently rewarded my loyalty with 2GB of bandwidth for the price of 1, just cos. Aww thanks guys! Would be great if I could actually keep my Telkom connection up long enough to actually use the 2Gb now!!) has reported the fault to Telkom on my behalf and have insisted that it be escalated immediately because of all the problems I have had with it. Let's hope they get further than I do.

Then, I changed my Telkom phone number too, because I was sick of the bill arriving in my ex's name and even though I have paid the account for over 2 years, I still had no authority to question or change anything on the line. Also because we have no contact with my ex, and as the registered owner he was the ONLY one with any power over it, I had to get an affidavit and 40-12 other forms and certified things to be able to change the account name. Half way through this exhausting and frustrating process, out of the blue dear ex phoned Quinn one day, after 7 months of zero contact at all. Quinn was rattled and unsettled for a few days after the call, and so I mailed him and firmly but politely asked for some contact guidelines to be agreed and followed, which received zero response (as expected). So the number is now changed and unlisted.

He is of course welcome to contact the children if he so wishes but it will need to be done via me and appropriately.

If anyone wants to contact me, they know my cell number and/or email address. The home phone is not something we really use. It is only for emergencies and so I can have a DSL line.

My donor baby turned 1 last month and a few weeks after I was contacted by the coordinator asking if I'd consider donating for them again as they are wanting to try for a sibling for her and had hoped for a bio-sibling. I was thrilled, mostly because that is a great sign that they are doing well and are happy. YAY. I told them that I am no longer compelled to donate again, but that I would gladly assist THEM again because of how well it all went last year and because of their wish for a bio-sibling which I can understand. However I was concerned that I may be considered too old (being over 35 now), but that I would leave it up to the doctor, them and ‘The Universe' to decide. A few days later I was told that after much deliberation the doctor had told them that their success rate would be reduced to 40% now (due to my age and that they only want to implant one embryo the second time) and so they decided to try another (younger) donor. I totally understand this and am fine with it. I truly wish that little girl and her family the very best. May they be happy and healthy and blessed with another little one soon.

My sister is pregnant too. She had a tough and fairly rocky start to her pregnancy, but is past half way now and seems to be doing well. It is confirmed that this little one seems to be a girl. She is thrilled. It will be only the second (third if you count Angelique, but no one besides me does) girl grandchild, after 7 boys. I think she is due around mid-Nov. So ANOTHER Valentine's baby. Have you noticed how many birthdays are around mid-Nov and specifically 15 Nov?? ;)

There has been a real spate of crime around our neighbourhood recently and it has got far too close to home. Last Thursday I woke up at 6am hearing a yell and a house alarm. It appeared our grumpy old neighbour was yelling as usual, at a random house alarm. I didn't think much more of it, and actually finally finished the book I was reading*, until I left for work only to find 4 police vans around the corner. Later it was confirmed that it was our back neighbours, who we are very friendly with and our respective children climb over the wall and visit each other's houses constantly. Dad had let the dog out and gone to work on his laptop. A few minutes later 3x coloured guys thre him to the ground, put a sack over his head and a gun against his head. The house was ransacked, 5x computers and laptops and TV etc stolen and they drove off in their car!

So now I am getting quotes for alarms and other security and armed response systems, because there have been 6-10 incidents in the last 2 weeks in our area where the front doors simply get forced open with a crow-bar. It is damn scary. I am not sleeping well at the moment and actually phoned the police at 23:30 the other night when I kept hearing weird noises outside. It is awful!

We have also finally sorted out our TV after a full month of it not working due to the aerial being broken and misaligned. We just couldn't get the normal braai-grid aerial to work properly, so I have finally bitten the bullet and connected up DSTV with a limited bouquet so we can at least watch normal Tv and a few limited DSTV channels. So tonight we are watching the Portugal/Spain game at home on our own TV yay.

Speaking of which it is starting now. I'll have to load this tomorrow at work. Bye! :)

*SHANTARAM. It took me 2 whole years to read it even though I read about 20 other books in between. But wow what an epic slog to get through those 940 pages of fine print! I did enjoy it though.