Big School!

So Quinn just started his first day of 'big school' at Rondebosch Boys Prep School.

Everything went well, except as I suspected he refused to allow his top shirt button to be fastened, so looked a tad scruffy with open necked shirt and mom's attempt at tying his tie. ;) (His friend Delan arrived looking ultra smart with fully buttoned shirt and full-Windsor tie-knot. I will have to work on creating a good crisp triangle knot!)

We managed to all be up dressed and ready in time, and thanks to Tiny his lunch was packed and Griffin was in the car and waiting when it was time to go. After taking a few quick photos and then set off.

Griffin got hurriedly dropped off at his school, and I only just realised we didn't take any photos of him with his brother - shame! I'll have to do some tomorrow...

Richard, Quinn and I then set off for Rondebosch. Luckilly getting there was not the traffic nightmare I had expected, and we managed to find a parking right near the school gate. We piled out and Quinn loaded himself up with his school bag and his lunch bag. At the school gate we bumped into some friends, whose son is now in Grade 2, so that was a good ice-breaker. When asked Quinn told them he was excited to be there. Although he hadn't actually smiled once all morning. I think he was showing his apprehension by being cool and guarded.

I did not even know where we were meant to go so luckily Mandy was able to tell us to take Quinn straight to his class. Which we did. There were boys all over the place all looking very smart in their matching uniforms. Quinn had never seen so many boys, as normally they have been in class, or already gone home when we have visited before. He didn't seem scared or intimidated though, and seemed mostly interested and excited by it all. He was talking animatedly and asking questions (again about the sport!).

The Grade 1 block was bustling with noise and activity. We took a few photos outside the class room, and then headed in to meet his teacher Mrs Scholtz. She is the head of the Grade 1 year, and is said to be 'very nice' and 'firm but fair'. I think that will suit Quinn well.

Mrs Scholtz gave Quinn his name tag and said, 'Oh you have lots of friends here don't you?', which was nice. She helped him to put his lunch bag in the lunch basket and took the supplies we had been asked to send.

Quinn has at least 2 old friends in his class. Delan, from last year at Keurboom, and Blayde from his old school Madison. He also knows Patrick and Cameron from Keurboom, and Cole and Tristan from Madison who are in the other classes. There may be others too. Delan and Blayde will be going to the same aftercare, on the school grounds too. So he has a nice network of friends already.

We found Quinn's desk, which also had a name tag on it, as well as all the stationery we had ordered. He was interested and excited by all that and we looked at all his new stuff (chair-bag, pencil cases, huge glue sticks, crayons, sharpener etc - who doesn't love new stationery!?)

Quinn then started chatting to the boy next to him - William, who seemed very confident and comfortable too. His other neighbours are Matthew & Julian. Neither Quinn, nor Richard or I shed any tears, and Quinn seemed quite comfortable about staying there. I think we were all ready.

One little boy was sobbing when we were leaving, as his mom had just left, and Mrs Scholtz was having to comfort him - shame poor thing.

On the way to the school all Quinn could talk about was the sports and when they would start, so I think that's what he is most keen for at school.

I'll be collecting him at 12pm, and will then take him to the after care facility for a look around and to make all the arrangements. From tomorrow he will go to aftercare straight after school.

I think his first morning went really well, and he did not show any signs of being younger or less ready than any of the other children. I am so proud of him!

There are some more pics in my gallery .

My beautiful sisters.

I have 2 sisters (and 2 step-sisters as well), one is younger and one is older than me. Although I was quite close to both growing up, especially with Belinda (Bee) as we shared a bedroom through most of our childhood, I am finding that I am feeling more and more fond of them now as the years go by.

They are both beautiful and accomplished women and I am very proud of them both.

We are all married with children now and all live in different cities, quite far apart, I am the furthest away. I wish I could see them more, and the infrequent times that we do get together we talk and talk and talk. It's fun. Bee and I inevitably turn into cats after being with each other for a short while, and always end up curled up and tickling each other's feet!

Catherine is my older sister and is very sophisticated, elegant, and poised. She is also very confident and capable. She dresses extremely well and always looks good. She has 2 gorgeous sons Stephen who is very nearly 10 and Thomas is 6.
I am the middle one... if you are reading this you probably know me - enough said! ;)

Belinda is my younger sister. She is caring, sensitive, ever-thoughtful, fun, friendly, capable, intelligent, ambitious and a brilliant mom (especially for a first timer) to Alastair Henry who is now 6 months old.

The three of us together at Belinda's wedding in October 2003. Do we look similar? I am not sure... but I know we all sound very similar.

It's funny because it's true...

Last night I caught a bit of the Simpsons (or 'Yellow man', as Quinn has always called them).

Homer winks and says to Marge, ' Who knows maybe the 'SNUGGLE' MOSTER will come and visit you in bed tonight...'.
To which she replied, ' I hope he is also going to bring the HOW WAS YOUR DAY MONSTER, and the FOOT RUB MONSTER and the LET'S CUDDLE ...'
Homer butted in grumpily ' Don't worry he's not comming...'

I had a fit of giggles over that.

Nuffing Magazine

Just what the world has been waiting for. The official launch of Nuffing Magazine!

The launch pary was a glittering affair at Speir featuring the who's who of the Cape Town social scene ....

Actually I was messing around on flickr toys (after I saw the one Ashleigh did), and I found the Magazine creator.

So without further ado, here it is my very own magazine featuring ME!

I can only dream...



Ok you can stop lauging now!

School Daze

With just a week to go before Quinn officially starts school, I thought it would be a good idea to try his uniform on, to make sure that we have everything and that is all fits. We were very eager and bought everything in mid-October. I was careful not to buy anything too tight fitting as I am sure he'll be doing some growing over the next year, so most sizes are for age 7 as the age 6 items seemed already a bit snug.

Quinn has grown up wearing only comfortable clothes and almost always informal clothes, so the change to a pretty formal and strict dress code is going to be tough I can tell. Admitedly we did try the clothes on after 9pm last night, so he was rather tired anyway, but my goodness. Nothing was right, and he complained about everything except the shorts.

* The shoes are too hard, he doesn't like the heel, and he want's more vertical room for his toes (note that I bought the more expensive and more comfortable looking type!). They may be a size too big though, so I might have to try again with those - the label is still on them.
* The shirt is fine until you try to button up the last button on the neck. Then OMG he goes all panicked and wants the whole shirt of *NOW*! he just hates the feel of the collar against his neck. We have tried washing the shirts to see if the collar will soften a bit, but he still reacts the same... I decided to leave the button undone and just support it with a ties, but he won't let me tighten the tie enough to even get close to bringing the shirst collar together. Either we are going to have a battle about this, or I will let the school deal with him on it! *efg* Hopefully with peer resssure and the requirement to conform he will get used to this and submit.
* The socks are too tight, too long, he can feel the seem on his toe, and if you fold them over at the toe (because they are a little big) they 'HURT'.
* The tie is fine as long as it is on loose and scruffy *rolls eyes*
* the Blazer - ok he loves the blazer and would happily wear it every day :)


I noticed his hair is a little long and shaggy, so we'd better fit a hair cut into the schedule for the next week. This whole school thing is a bit daunting for me. At preschool the rules are pretty flexible, now we have to really toe the line. I hope we are ready!

Richard in the press....

Richard is in the January edition of Windows SA magazine, he commented on a list of questions which has been turned into an article.....

Rat a tat tat.

So Christmas has come and gone, and the special request for rats, as sent via pictogram post card to Father Christmas was received.

Richard worked long and hard (and almost fanatically) to finish the rat palace in time for Christmas - resulting in him being up till after 4am on Christmas eve/morning - and being tired and grumpy on Christmas day (but that's another story). It was finally completed and is rather impressive and very neatly and expertly finshed. Who knew he could produce something like that!?

After being seen working on said cage for weeks - although the boys thought it was just a cupboard being created, we couldn't pretend it had arrived from Father Christmas, and so we decided that Father Christmas asked him to make the cage for the rats which he would be bringing.

On the Friday on my way home from my last day at work before starting my leave I had to return via the Durbanville Pet's Paradise, armed with a shoe box. I was tasked with selecting 2 suitable critters of the correct age, size and gender. It was a bit of a challenge as the little guys were 6-8 weeks old and frankly their genitals all looked the same! I eventually chose two hooded white rats which I am hoping are female (or the same sex at any rate), one with a black hood and the other with a light grey hood. They were whisked away into the outside room when I returned where they were fed and watered until Christmas morning, when they appeared in a ventilated gift-wrapped box.

The boys were pretty thrilled at the discovery that their Christmas wish had been granted, and Griffin in particular has been enthralled with his, and keeps saying, ' I like my rat, she is so CUTE'. :)

They are pretty tame and relaxed, and we are hoping to keep them that way. so hopefully other visiting children will not terrorise them unduly.

We let the boys name them themselves and they have ended up as Harry (the black one) and Grommit (the grey one).

We have had them for 2,5 weeks now and so far so good. Except for one of them peeing on me this past Saturday night - thanks!

Secrets Revealed

I normally don't bother with these polls anymore after participating in dozens via e-mail years ago, but I have decided to give this one a go.

1. Given a homeless guy more than R5? Yes, but I generally don't hand out money to beggars. I prefer to help people who are trying to help themselves, and support a particularly happy and polite man, who is doing the best he can to make a meagre living at a traffic light selling fudge. I'll buy from him whenever I stop there and usually pay extra.

2. Spent more than R500 on a bf/gf's gift or a night out? Yes certainly!

3. Had sex with more than one person in a day? er, *thinks*, No. Whew.

4. Hooked up with a good friends bf/gf behind their back? Never

5. Dated two people at once? No not really.

6. Actually met someone that you met online that you didn't know before? Yes loads of people! Including my husband *blush* (and it was 10 years ago before THAT became a fad).

7. Been raped? THANKFULLY NOT

8. Failed more than one class? NO, I did fail Calculus 228 the first time I tried it, but then aced it with 94% the second time.

9. Took someone's virginity when you weren't a virgin? No (not yet) ;)

10. Hooked up with someone from a different race? No, but I have socialised with lots of people from different races.

11. Ran around naked outside in the daytime/night time? YES!!!!

12. Scuba dived? No, but I'd love to.

13. Snorkled? YES, off Raya Island, South of Phuket in Thailand. It was fantastic, and I'd love to go back for more. There were stunning tropical fish nibbling my fingers.

14. Dated someone you didn't want your friends to meet? No

15. Got your stomach pumped from alcohal poisoning / drugs etc? No, I know how to manage my substance intake.

16. Threw up from alcohol? Yes, occasionally I have thrown up from various substances. It's my body's way of dealing with anything it is not enjoying.

17. Been suspended from school? No, but I got into trouble a few times. Including being sent out of a classfroom for being noisey and disruptive an hour before starting school on the first day of grade 1!!!

18. Kissed someone of the same sex? Yes, but not in that way.

19. Wore no underwear? OFTEN

20. Paint anyone's toenails? Yes, mine and my kid's.

21. Met someone famous? Yes. Mark Shuttleworth (does that count?), Corne & Twakkie, David Hasslehoff (vomit), Patricia Lewis (double vomit), Sol Kerzner, Elizabeth Hurley (served her in a restaurant in Pretoria), James Small and Christina Storm (at a sushi making evening), George Bizos (very intelligent and interesting man), .

22. Saved someone's life? No, but I have helped a few injured people.

23. Seen someone die? Yes, sadly, a little girl whose head I held on my lap after she was involved in a car accident just outside the flat I lived in, died after the ambulance arrived. She was only 7 years old. I was 19 and found it devastatingly sad.

24. Killed someone? THANKFULLY NOT YET, but I have wanted to!

25. Been in a physical fight? Yes, with my sisters.

26. Hooked up with someone 10yrs older or younger than you? Yes, several times. I am married to someone exactly 10 years older, to the day, now.

27. Been arrested? No, I don;t get caught.

28. Spent the night in jail? No.

29. Been in more than three car accidents in a year? No, luckilly I have never been in a car accident - unless the famous 'Pineapple Pudding Incident' and running over my own hand with my car count...?

30. Had sex outside? Yes, who hasn't?

31. Given or gotten road head? Yes

32. Had sex in your house when your/his/her parents were home? Yes

33. Had phone sex? Yes

34. Been turned off by someone's personal hygiene "down there"? eeeeeuuuuw! No - thankfully!

35. Watched Jerry Springer? Yes, but never again. Arrrgh save me!

36. Had sex without a condom? Yes, of course I have children!

37. Had a one night stand? Yes, a couple. I wouldn't recommend them. The one guy was a total bastard, the other just wasn't going to work out, even though we stayed friendly. I prefer a more meaningful relationship.

38. Flirted with a teacher? Yes, a young hot prof at varsity. was totally innocent.

39. Had sex on the beach? Yes, it wasn't great, in the ocean is much more fun ;)

40. Watched porn with someone else? Yes.

41. Been fired from a job? No never.

42. Danced on top of a bar? Yes, but not often, I passed up an opportunity recently in Montreal - there were too many cameras around!

43. Had sex somewhere in your high school? No, it was an all girl's school...

44. Bought a vibrator? No (but I have had them bought for me)

45. Been in a porn shop? Yes, alone and accompanied.

46. Been in a dance competition? No, but I did do a few ballet exams when I was little.

47. Had a threesome? Nope.

48. Spent more than one night in a hospital? No never. I had express deliveries with my kids - gave birth and went home a few hours later.

49. What color are your kitchen plates? I have lots of different plates, the nicest ones are white with green and blue designs.

50. What book are you reading now? I just read Ben Elton's 'High Society'. Before that 'Eleven Minutes' by Paul Coello.

51. Favorite magazine? FHM! The SA version really rocks. The UK and US versions are not as good. The women's mags here suck however.

52. Baked Goods? Um, not often but I like anything with almonds or other nuts, and chocolate croissants. I also like Milk Tart and Carrot Cake.

53. What's the first thing you think of in the morning? Do I have to work today?

54. How many rings before you answer the phone? As long as it takes to hear and find the phone, and I hate answering the phone.

55. Favourite TV shows? The L Word, Nip/Tuck, House, Survivor, The Amzing Race, Days (Not the 'of our lives' version!), Fear Factor, Las Vegas, The Most Amazing Show, Desperate House Wives,.

56. Ketchup or mustard? Neither, I do copious amounts of sweet chilli sauce on everything now.

57. Hamburgers or Hot dogs? Hamburgers I guess, but I'd rather have a wrap, or chinese/thai food.

58. The best place you have ever been? Thailand. I love love loved it! Take me back there.

59. The most amazing sight? Seeing my children just born. The reclining buddha in Bangkok. Bangkok's Patpong Road at night. Sunsets and lightning from Karon Beach Phuket. The MCQP attendees each year!

60. What wall paper is on your computer right now? Normally a photo of my kids, but it's the controversial default installed 'Edubuntu girl' at the moment.

That's it.