Everything is going just swimmingly...

Where to start...well, I suppose last week will be a good beginning? As you may recall we were in the middle of a fierce heat wave. Just after I posted last week I got an e-mail titled "You know you're in SA when:". I opened it and was expecting another list of crime or similar, but instead I got this!

1. The best parking space is determined by shade instead of distance.
2. Hot water comes out of both taps.
3. You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
4. The temperature drops below 35c and you feel a little chilly.
5. You discover that in January it only takes 2 fingers to steer your car.
6. You develop a fear of metal car door handles.
7. Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to prevent them from laying hard-boiled eggs.
8. The trees are whistling for the dogs.
9. While walking back barefoot to your car from the beach, you do a tightrope act on the white lines in the carpark.
10. You learn that Menlyn isn't a shopping centre, its a temple to worship air-conditioning.
11. If you don't wear your slops to work you probably don't have any.
    

I especially like the one about the chickens...:-)

The pool is at last finished! Yay!!! I have been homebound now for the last 4 weeks more or less in one way or another with the pool and the contractors and my joy knows no bounds that this is finally behind us. Initially we beleived that it would take another three weeks before we were allowed to swim in it but that is in fact not the case. The Penguin Pool people assure us that it is perfectly safe for us to swim now - however we cannot use the Kreepy for another three weeks. The family has decided that all potential pool parties will also have to be delayed until then. Luckily it has a heat pump... Anyway here's me - in the pool at last (the ducky is the thermometer).

On Thursday our neighbours (Marius and Chrisna) were robbed in their house by gun point...Apparently the neighbours next to then on the other side also got a taste of it. I was sitting at the Keg with Annelie when my mom sent the panic-stricken SMS for me to be carefull when I came home. As you can imagine you see all kinds of suspicious shadows when you get news like that. Luckily I arrived home without any incident. However, later on when I got off IRC with John at about 2:00am I heard our back door open unexpectantly. I say unexpectantly because my dad already said goodnight about an hour or more before that. So, in typical thriller movie style I did not shout out or call for help or investigate escape routes - but picked up my hockey stick and went investigating myself. Luckily my dad sniffed when he did or I might have brained him on the spot! Note to self: At all times attempt to get an accurate visual of perpetrator before assaulting with intent to cause grevious bodily harm.
On Saturday I accompanied my mother to a Ladies Wellness Breakfast to benefit the Reach for a Dream Foundation. I wanted to chew off my own leg to get away! From about 9 to 12 we had to listen to various "experts" and "doctors" tell us about the miracle and harmlessness of Botox and Fillers and Lazers and Chemical Peels! I hardly wear make-up...I can assure you that I am not, nor will I ever, be tempted to inject POISON! into my face in an attempt to fight aging...grrrrrrr! The funniest thing I heard on stage was one Doctor who got involved in the event through her church somehow proclaiming that there really was no need to worry about that aspect either because it was in fact not Vanity but fell firmly within the parameters of treating your body like the temple of God. Mmmm...now that was an interesting theory...Hahahahahahaha! Yeah right... this event has put me off charity events for a bit, and I've also decided to listen a bit more carefully when my mom describes these things to me in future.

The best part of the morning by far was the coffee and the therepists from Mangwanani Spa who gave anyone who was interested a relaxing foot rub...I was very interested in anything that could get me away from the Botox party that was developing at the other end of the venue. Also nice that my mom had a foot rub too because she has now decided that we need to go there for a day to get rubbed all-over. It's the spa that Louelle always goes to so I know it's an open bar full day event, 7 treatments and two meals. She claims that it is a little piece of heaven...;-) Apparently they ask you in the beginning of the day whether you want to be rubbed with salt, sugar or various oils - and Louelle claims that the only bit of you that doesn't get exfoliated is the little strip of skin between your ...well use your imagination on this one...I'm not elaborating. I look forward to reporting back on what I find there - although I regret that there will most likely not be any photos of the event.

On a totally unrelated issue...I've been meaning to share this with you for a while now. Recently I had the oppertunity to look for a Tiger Eye stone, because I wanted to give it to Freddy for his birthday together with the book version of Practical Magic (His favourite movie). So I thought a good place to look for stuff would be the internet right? Not right in this case! Although I learnt many things about Tiger Eye, I also learn that the net is a super-crap place to shop for them. I am truly horified at the prices (in dollars) that people are willing to pay for something that I could probably find in our garden if I looked long enough. Okay Freddy, if you're reading this don't worry - I didn't find it in the garden, I found it at Clearwater Mall. Anyway, what I want to tell you is that I'm not sure everyone knows but it's actually some morphed form of asbestos and apparently this is one of the only places where it naturally occurs. So that brings me to my question...who?! named it a Tiger Eye?! We don't even have tigers here...the mind boggles.Okay, this is turning out to be a monster big post here! I'll end it off now... Update on New Years Resolutions: (You might recall that I made 7 because of the fact that it is 2007)

1. Laugh...Love...Live (Still on track with this one)
2. Walk as much as possible...look at the sky often...enjoy the simple things...plan less experience more...breathe deeply (doing okay, but this one still need alot more work)
3. Study hard...be passionate in my thirst for knowledge again (I am way behind in this one, partly due to the construction and chaos that came with the pool. But that is no excuse so I'm fixing that straight away)
4. Listen (If I had done this I would not have had to listen to three hours of Botox-talk, so I have to say needs work)
5. Do enough Yoga to do the dreaded four-legged-table position without hurting myself or looking too ridiculous (I'm busy with that, but I don't look anything like a table yet...hahahahaha!)
6. Try new things...be unafraid (Unafraid almost got me to clobber my dad with a stick, so maybe I need to relook at how I do this?)
7. Host an awesome theme party...make time for old and new friends (This might well be happening when we do the first of many pool parties...we'll see).

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me! Hope you all have a brilliant week ahead.