The good, the bad and the ugly

The good news is that my MP3 player arrived, and I have loaded it up with LOTS of music, and I tested it when I went for a good run last night. I estimate that it was about 8km**. So I am now not too nervous about the impending 10km on Sunday. I just need to remember to stick to my own pace and not tire myself out to quickly.

The bad news is my running route was from our house to meet the family for Pizza.

The ugly news is we went to Panarottis! Will we ever learn? I did learn something from my last visit though and decided not to have either Pizza or Pasta and ordered soup. It's usually a very tomatoey 'minnestrone' but last night it was a thick and rich pea and ham soup, and it was actually pretty good. Quinn made me a nice fresh garlic and parmesan bread - from his play (pizza) dough and that was yummy too.

This is the route I ran. I had 10 minutes to spare when I got there and there was good music playing, hence the erratic circles! ;) The route looks like the ebola virus! ** Now that I have it on a scaled map I can calculate the distance.

Type-OH!

Yeah yeah so everyone knows I am the world's worst typist. My speed is not bad (over 100wpm) but my accuracy SUCKS, especially on a laptop.

I just LMAO though when checking something on my blog, I noticed my links saying, 'My flickr photos' and 'My Newd flickr photos'.

Now how did that d get in there? And more interestingly, I wonder how many people clicked on that and were sorely dissappointed that there was indeed no Newdity there.

HAHAHA!

The tooth mouse came again last night - or did he?

So Quinn is too bright to really be conned by the whole Father Christmas, Easter Bunny, Tooth Mouse thing.

He first asked me if I was Father Christmas when he had just turned 3. I managed to dodge and evade the question fairly easilly then using the age old magician ploy of distraction, as I thought it was too soon to break the illusion. Since late last year he has been questioning things more and more, and now especially being at school and chatting with his peers they have all worked out that it's a hoax. A lucrative one indeed, but a hoax none the less.

He asked me out right a few months back whether I am the Tooth Mouse. I was about to concede and tell him that yes he is right it's all just fantasy. Then I decided it wouldn't be fair to Griffin, because once Quinn knows the truth he will not be able to keep himself from revealing all to Griff, and I still have the scars from the wrath I envoked in my little sister when I broke the news to her (she was 6.5 at the time).

So here's my take on it. I don't lie, and I don't tell the whole truth either. I have told him that no one knows if it is true or not. Like the Narnia story - did it happen or was it just a dream? No one knows, BUT if you don't believe in it, then surely it won't exist? So I don't know who the Tooth Mouse is, but if you put a tooth out and money arrives. Something is happening. Right?

Ok, I had some better way to explain it at the time and it all sounded very reasonable.

So yesterday Quinn lost his second tooth. It was quite loose anyway and it got bashed out during a judo grapple. I told Quinn he would probably get more from the Tooth Mouse if he wrote a nice letter. He knew I was bargaining with him and using it as a way to get him to do some extra hand- writing practice...

When he was done he showed me and said, 'Look this is a good clean tooth, the tooth mouse will love it, I am sure it is worth R5. Then I think the writing is worth R3 because it is nice and neat.' He then did a quick mental sum, and said, '..er, and I didn't argue about it and was very good so that can be R2...?'.

At bed time I tucked him in and told him to put his tooth mouse pillow next to his head on the bed. He said, 'Ok, and where are you going to put my R10? ... er I mean where is the Tooth Mouse going to put my R10?'.

Um. Just who is conning who here?

Cart a box

Well I went to the CBD gym last night and it was good.

I had time before the class to warm up on a treadmill, so I did a quick 3km, and then went upstairs to wait for the class. I found a spot on the side. I actually prefer to be fairly near to the front, but always stay on the side.

The instructor arrived 'MichaelB'. I have done kata box with 5 instructors before, Norman, Neil, Lindi, Arno and Vuysile. Vuysile is brilliant - I call him Wesley Snipes. He has gone away for a 6 weeks now though. He does quite a pumping class with LOUD music. Norman is very hyper and quirky, so he is fun, but he made us do push-ups which I can never do try as I might. I loved Neil because he did a martial-artsy class with lots of variety each week, including some cool Matrix-type moves. I'd often almost break my ankle, but it was fun to imagine you were training for tomb raider or something (ok, maybe that was just me...LOL), plus I think Neil is pretty hot. Lindi is ok, but her classes are more aerobicy than anything else and she does too much high impact for me. TMI* Alert, I love high energy but I can't do high impact. Star jumps are my worst. Let's just say after birthing several giants my bladder just does not like that at all. ;)

Arno was a bit wishy washy so his class never really made an impact. Neil was my longest standing instructor, but he left about 2 months ago, and I had really got into Vuysile's style, so I was skeptical about MichaelB. Well I was pleasantly surprised. He sort of combined all the elements I liked about the other instructors. He was funny and quirky, hyper, had cool loud music, had a varied routine which required some co-ordination and concentration, had some pumping endurance intervals, AND not too much high impact. W00t!

By the end of the class I was wet from sweat, my thighs were sore already and I felt great! There's another class same time on Thursday, so I may try to get to that.

I left at 18:40 expecting to fly home when. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! WTF! $%#@&^%$$#@%%!!!! The road was still solid bumper-to-bumper traffic OMMFG! NO WAY. What gives? The N2 looked like Friday 16:30, so there was no way I was going that way. I decided on the N1 instead, which while full was at least moving. I think it took 25 minutes and I got home at about 19:05, still at least 30 minutes earlier than I would have got home, so not awful, but I had really expected the traffic to be gone by then. It was raining so I am really hoping it was a once off thing. I'll try again to see.

* TMI = Too much information

Le week-end part 2

I didn't sleep very well on Saturday night, and kept dreaming I was late and very far away from the race and was racing to get there in time, but kept inadvertently getting further and further away - like ending up catching a bus across town, but it went the wrong way so I jumped off and found another ride, but I ended up going to the airport, and then I went to the International terminal etc etc. It was exhausting! I was so wound up that I was going to be late that I woke up and got up earlier than I needed to ;)

I had enough of time to dress, have coffee and even get breakfast for everyone. We were out of bread, so I improvised with a forgotten about frozen banana bread - the kids were thrilled. I arrived at the at the stadium with plenty of time, even after fitting in an unscheduled stop when I realised I was driving right past the hotel I park in every day, so I pulled in and used their fancy toilets so I wouldn't have to queue to use a stinky port-a-loo. Clever hey?

I was meant to be meeting Claire and Lindy there as we were all doing the 10km event, but I couldn't get hold of anyone, so I decided to follow the crowd and head inside. By 09:15 I still hadn't heard from anyone, so I started making my way towards the front - I hate being at the back. I ended up possibly 50m from the start line. The place was crowded and clearly this is a popular event - understandably since it is a charity event and being a walk it is easier than running so accessible to more people. At 09:30 the gun went off, the MP3 player went on, and off we went. It was a bit of a shuffling start as we all headed towards the exit and on to the road, but I managed to get up to a fairly brisk pace and was able to pass people pretty easilly. Being on my own I had no one to chat to, so I decided to try to walk as fast as I could. I would spot someone walking ahaead of me and would aim for them and try to catch up and then pass them. Then I'd select the next person and so on. I passed loads of people. I reckon at one point I was in the top 50 of the 10km walker pool. Eventually there were 3-4 women that stayed just out of reach, or I'd pass them, and then they'd pass me again after a few minutes. I had met my match! LOL That kept me entertained and focused, because otherwise 10km of walking is quite long and tedious - unless you are chatting.

It was another gorgeous day and looking out over the ocean and Lion's Head and the rest of the Sea Point promenade was lovely. I especially liked it when the breeze brought in some scents of the sea.

As I rounded the half way mark and started my journey back, I realised that getting back would not be as easy. Since the journey back is on the same route, and I now had to contend with the thousands and thousands of people who were still doing the first leg. Some of them were pretty rude and were taking up not only the whole pavement, but spiling into the road too, and wouldn't even attempt to move aside to make way for those of us heading back. The result was that I ended up walking right out into the road, which was both dangerous and probably rather annoying for the poor people trying to drive. I was determined not to get too annoyed though as I was enjoying the day, so I just tolerated it. But by about half way back I was getting frustrated and after being passed by other people running I decided I was going to run too. So I ran for about 1.5 km or so until there was a less crowded section and then walked the last bit back to the stadium. I finished in 1 hour 25 minutes. Which is not too bad, but I was hoping to have an average 7.5 km/h, but that would have required being able to walk full speed the whole way.

The stadium was still pretty quiet at this point as not many people had finished yet. I got my little medal, a coke and a free Week-end Argus, and went to read it in a shady spot under an umbrella. Lindy was still stuck in the mass en route at this point so we never got to see each other at all.

After about 30 mins I was nice and cooled down and relaxed when Richard and the boys arrived. By now the stadium was filling up and getting a bit loud, but it was quite feastive so we decided to stay on for a while. The kids played on the jumping castle etc, and I went to get lunch (from Woolies nearby, the food in the standium looked boring, and the queues were too long). We had a picnic on the grass, which was nice and lush after all the recent rain. Afer that we took a stroll around the flea market, looked at over priced African artifacts - decided to rather spend the money to go fetch something directly from the origin ourselves one day, and then we went home.

The afternoon was spent visiting a friend for coffee so all the kids could play, and then home to relax in a bath and wind down.

Today I am surprisingly stiff from the walk, I can definitely feel it in my hips and feet/ankles. I have bought my gym cothes to work and I am going to try the CBD gym (which is 50m from this building)'s kata box class this evening. Which will mean no traffic to get home, no rushing to change and get kids in car and get through more traffic to get to to Constantia by 18:15. This way I'll be done by 18:30 and should have an easy 10 minute drive home, in time to shower get dinner sorted and watch Grey's Anatomy properly. Sounds like a great plan. I just hope the instructor here is good.

Le week-end part 1

Last week I managed to fit in some exercise each day, and it was great.

On Friday afternoon I even upgraded my gym memebership to Premier, so I can now go to any VA club in the country (except the uber-larny Melrose Arch Club in Johannesburg which is reserved for the rich and famous). Then I left work and planned to get home a little early, change and run to Quinn's rugby practice. Where I was going to meet up with the family, watch the practice and then run home again. Alas the Friday traffic was the worst I have ever seen it, and it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to cover the 12km home. It was not pleasant at all!

I got home after the practice ended and feeling like I had run a marathon. Gah! Also I was disapointed to find my new MP3 player still NOT there waiting for me. Waaaah, where is it damnit!? So the thought of heading off immediately on a run was not a welcome one and I decided to have some tea first.

While I was having my tea I decided to go through our CD collection to see if we have any any suitable running soundtracks. Anything with a fast beat works for me, but if I LIKE the song too thats a big bonus and increases my speed and endurance a lot. It seems kind of Pavlovian now that I think about it... Anyway I found some cool stuff. I had forgotten about a lot of the music I have, especially the cool stuff Napster gave me in 2001 & 2002 (Shhhhh!). So I got into making a list of what I wanted to copy for the new MP3 player - assuming it will arrive one day. The list got quite long and I was enjoying listening to snippets which brought back all sorts of memories, and next thing Richard was asking me to turn off the racket so he could watch something on TV. It was 19:30 and pitch dark. So no run then.

Quinn had gone out to sleep at a friend's house so Rich, Griff and I snuggled on the couch and watched TV.

On Saturday we had to get to Quinn's rugby tournament at SACS at 08:30. We were to meet him there. I had woken up early enough so I decided it would be nice to run to SACS, I set off at 08:20 and got there at 08:45. Wow it was HOT on Saturday! I was expecting it to be chilly, but I was panting and sweating profusely by the time I got there. The weather was stunning though. Richard had arrived at just after 08:30 only to discover we were meant to be there at 08:00! Oops. It was fine though, because a) Quinn was there on time anyway as I arrived with the other family, and b) He wasn't playing in the first game. It was the last tournament of the season and the 2 games Quinn played were great. It is amazing to see how these little boys have progressed throughout the season, and they are really playing well. They drew aainst Reddam in their first game and beat SACS 7-2 in the second, both were the toughest games they have played, with the defending team defending strongly. Making their team's season total of 7 wins, 1 draw and 0 defeats, which is damn good!

After the game the boys went off home with Richard while I went to finish my run. I ran a bit but when my ailing old MP3 player's battery died I opted for brisk walking instead, especially since it was getting quite hot by then. I walked via the Rondebosch Sportsman's Warehouse, where I collected my Race Number for Sunday's Blisters for Bread charity walk, and then headed home, after a total mileage of 8km for the day, just in time to shower and then hit the road. We were going through to see our friends in Kommetjie to braai and watch the Springbok rugby. The drive over the mountain was lovely on such a perfect day.

Our friends have just signed up as foster parents, and took delivery of their first baby 2 weeks ago. So we got to meet him when we arrived. He was abandoned by his prostitute mother and found in a public toilet at just a day or 2 old. They got him at 6 days old. He is the most precious thing! At now 3 weeks old he weighs just 3kgs (my kids were 50% heavier than that at birth!) and is perfect, with beautiful light brown skin. There was not a single thing wrong with him, and he had neither alcohol or drug withdrawal after birth. (He will be tested for HIV status at 6 weeks.) I can not imagine discarding a baby (or kitten, or mouse or anything, in fact when Richard dropped some of our almost invisible newly hatched silk worms I painstakingly retrieved them all, and was worried I may have missed some!), doing that must haunt you forever.

Our friends will be looking after him for up to 6 months until a suitable permanent home can be found for him. He is so calm and content. I held him and bottle fed him, and he is the most easy going baby I have met. Really cute.

After the rugby game (which I didn't watch at all - my son wasn't playing after all- and which we had to relocate to a local pub for after the DsTV died), we headed back home over the mountains. To meet Tiny back home, to hand over the kids and get ready for a night out. I decided to make it a bit saucy and chose to wear stockings, suspenders & corset etc under a tightish and quite short dress. That made a change from my usual jeans and a shirt!

We went off the Wang Thai in Greenpoint for dinner because I had won a R250 voucher to eat there after filling in a comment slip at the Asian Kitchen when we ate there. The dinner was YUMMY. I had Litchi Duck Curry, and Richard had Angry Beef, we also had a nice bottle of Merlot. We shared a coconut cake with coconut ice-cream afterwards. It was really good. After dinner we weren't quite ready to go home so we ended up at Oblivion in Kenilworth for a drink. It was a little loud and young and the music was actually pretty bad, but other than that it was nice. We had fun watching people and commenting on their outfits, and watching the inibriated singles flirting, which is rather funny! One woman just looked WAY scary. She must have been at LEAST 35, possibly more and she was wearing a short short school girl skirt and tight white top. Instead of looking sexy, she just looked skanky and bad. Whereas she could look really attractive and appealing, as she hasa great body, she just looked like a cheap prostitute.

After our drinks we went home ...

Pimp my snack...

On a lighter note (or is that heavier?) ;) I just found this.

Now this is my kind of snack! Perfect for those one-biscuit-a-day diets.

'Oh I only had one Smartie today!'

'Sure I'll share the last Rolo with you ... and the rest of the school!'

From the water to the water... Griffin’s life Aquatic.

Griffin was meant to be born via a water-birth, like Quinn was, but after a slow start to his labour I was not allowed to get into the birth tub for fear that my labour would progress even slower. I had to wait until my labour was progressing well and we were sure it wouldn't stall.

As it turned out my labour suddenly picked up the pace and the mid-wife decided to check my progress to see if I could get into the birth pool 15 minutes before the allotted 2 hours was up, and well 9 minutes later he was out - this included a stop past the toilet and me climbing onto the bed to be examined! So there was no time to even think about filling the birthing tub!

I wonder if Griffin has some kind of sub-conscious urge to return to the water of the womb from which he so abruptly emerged? Because in his own words, 'I have drowned 4 times now, hey?'.

Yes this child has slipped underwater 4 whole times in his life. *shudder* The most recent was this past Saturday.

The rest of this post may be a bit disturbing to some...

The first time was my fault. He was still very little (2 maybe) and was playing on the step of my friend's swimming pool. The older kids were swimming, and I was watching them. My friend had gone into her kitchen, which is right next to the pool. I asked Quinn and his friend to watch Griffin for a second while I dashed into the kitchen to grab my glass. I told them to call me if Griff slipped. I went in and then came out and hey presto he was off the step and underwater. I waded straight in work-clothes and all and calmly lifted him out. He had been about 2 cm under the water, and looked very calm despite being wide-eyed. He was fine, just a bit surprised. Even though the other 2 were RIGHT next to him they didn't see or hear him. It happens that fast and silently. I did not blame them, as you can not hold a 4-5 year old responsible for someone else's life.

The second time Griffin was about 3, Richard took the kids to swim at the gym. He would sit on the side while Quinn swam and Griffin splashed on the steps and monkey walked around the shallow end side. Griffin somehow lost his grip and went under. Richard waded in fully-clothed car-keys, wallet, cell phone and all to retrieve him. I came out of kata box to find him soaking wet. Again Griffin was under for a second and was calm and fine after being fished out. He even told me he had drowned and daddy had saved him.

The third time was similar to the first, we were at the same friends but this time Griffin and the others were monkey walking right around the pool, while my friend and I watched. Her older son and his friends were making a whirl-pool by wading and swimming around as fast as they could. The little kids were enjoying this, until Griffin was pulled by the whirlpool while at the deep end. I saw him slip off and asked one of the big kids to retrieve him. The big kids started panicking, but I told them everything was fine, just to pull him out. It happened really fast and everyone was fine. In fact Griffin wanted to carry on where he had left off.

Now despite what it sounds like neither of my boys have ever fallen into a pool, and they are both pretty cautious when swimming, and never swim without us watching or at least knowing they are going to swim and us being right nearby with them watching each other. In fact when we moved into our house which has a pool we got a net installed immediately and it has hardly been used at all. It has spent 95+% of the time off the pool, and so I was thinking a week or so ago what a terrible waste of money it was, and we shouldn't have bothered....

Yes kind of like my thought process regarding my driving insurance risk profile. I should just STOP thinking, because clearly 'I think, therefore it happens!'.

So on Saturday the boys were watching a video, I was showing Richard something on the Internet. We were having people over for dinner, so I had been putting candles out. Lighting some to melt wax to set them in their bases etc.

So while I am showing Richard the web page, I hear Quinn scream in a bad way 'MOMEEEEEE!'. My blood went cold as my mind raced to figure out what could be wrong. My first though was that the house was on fire, as the candles and matches were still out... I started running through the house and Quinn met me half way and said, 'Griffin is in the pool, he is under the water!'. I didn't even know what to think, and the thought of arriving at the pool to find him motionless and floating face down was too much to comprehend. I got out to the pool and there he was in the deep end in his usual 2 cm below the surface staring wide-eyed and almost swimming below the surface. I lay down and reached for him, and was about to jump i, when Richard swooped in and grabbed him out by the scruff of his neck. Richard panics a bit more than me and held Griffin almost upside down and said 'Breathe breathe!' the poor child had to muster all his strength to say, 'Put me down, you are gong to drop me in the pool!'.

The pool was freezing and his lips went white from the cold. I had a hot bath with him to warm him up again. For some unknown reason he had taken the pool cleaner and was trying to sweep the pool!? Something he has never done before. I am very thankful that Quinn was right there laying with his soccer ball, and saw him fall in, and yelled immediately and came to call us. I don't even want to think about what would have happened otherwise.

So the net is back on the pool, and Griffin has promised never to fiddle near the pool again unless someone is with him. The thing is he can basically swim now anyway, but with water that cold even if you CAN swim it doesn't really help.

The moral of the story, I am not thinking anymore. It's too dangerous.