c'est la vie

So about 2 years ago I buy a car.  I sign the registration forms, fill in my address ... which I know I did correctly .... after all I live there .... and they register it for me.  Now last year when I have to renew my car licence I pop into the friendly GPO and they pop the form right back in my hand .."your car is registered in Jhb", she says.  Now since I was born and bred in Pretoria and have lived here my entire life, I am pretty sure I live in Pta.  So I tell her.  "Nope", she says, "your car is registered to the correct address where you live, but whoever inputted it said Jhb and so you can only renew your licence in JHB".  So I did, whilst seeing a client there.  Now the renewal has rolled around again and I go to Jhb nowadays by Gautrain, so getting to the GPO or Postnet is now a pain.  So I go to the licence department to do a change of address.  Except that I am the only person doing a change of address who has not actually cha...

Now normally one would want to blog about bad service, but I realised today that sometimes we become so used to it that it becomes more of an achievement to blog about good service.  Now the Spar supermarket in Waterkloof Corner ... they get it, so do Piza e Vino in the same centre as do Isabella's ... also same centre.  Very conveniently situated directly opposite Nic's club training field, it is the perfect place to while away 90 mins .... enough time for 2 delicious cappuccinos @ aforementioned Italian place and sometimes Jess and I even share a foccacia.  They understand sounding happy that you are choosing them when there are 3 other places opposite them, they probably recognize me as the lady who forgot her purse at home and realised after the bill came (see a few blogs back).  Isabella's is always my takeaway spot on Saturdays when it is a home match.  Their cappuccino is hot and they ask if they can put the sugar in, their cheesecake goes in a pre...

Now there are three types of soccer moms ...... those that never come to games, those that always come to games (and their sons wish that they didn't) and those that come to games and are welcome.  I have still managed to remain in the last category successfully for 9 years so far between Nic's school league and club league soccer.  I even survived the week long provincial tournament intact.  I do bite my tongue often.  The moms in the middle category are easily identifiable.  Firstly their sons take to calling other boy's mothers ... mom ..... in the hope that the other spectators will not think that the ranter is his mom.  This mom can be found right on the line next to the field, very often one foot on the field.  She follows the game step by step, by running alongside the pitch whilst shouting instructions at her son ..... this is followed by shouting instructions at other people's sons ..... even the opposition team. This can escalate to the l...

 A very popular woman's monthly magazine ran a survey a while back in which they tried to find out from all women, young and old, married, single, divorced or widowed, what it is that they notice about men.  Now when I published my answers to another survey in my blog, many of you copied and pasted the questions and your answers and put them on FB or emailed them to me to see ...... so go ahead and tell me What women want:  Men mmmmm lemme see what I would put in reply to the questions in their survey : ..... What is the first thing you notice about a man:  WITHOUT A DOUBT, NO MATTER WHO THE MAN IS, HIS HANDS.  I AM A HANDS GIRL.  AND IF HIS EYES CRINKLE WHEN HE LAUGHS .. EVEN BETTER What are the top 2 personality characteristics according to you:  SENSE OF HUMOUR AND EMPATHY What are the worst 2 personality characteristics:  ARROGANCE AND DISHONESTY  What irritates you:  NOT HAVING MESSAGES / EMAILS ANSWERED ... IT REALLY IRRI...

now there are a number of reasons that the rapidly changing weather is bothering me.  (1) I hate wearing a lot of stuff.  Mainly because during the day it gets warmer and I will remove my jersey or scarf or whatever and that means that I will lose it.  I promise that when I get home I will have to wonder where I put it down.  (2) I want to wear peeptoes and sandals with kickass heels.  All year round.  Yes there are boots and all kinds of other heel stuff  for winter.... but it is not the same.  And please don't suggest stockings and peeptoes.  I am not using the same stylist as Jack Parow.  The only thing I love in the winter ... my AllStars. (3) Food.  It passes faster from table, shop counter, deli fridges, to mouth than in the summer.  Coffee consumption also goes up rapidly and in my case that could be fatal.  No seriously.  It could.  (4) Getting up in the cold .... I hate it.  Getting out of the ...

Women always carry their handbags around - how the hell do men cope without a bag?  Eug says that if he ever goes on Survivor where you can take only one thing with you, he will opt for my handbag.  You can survive 237 days on an island with the contents of my handbag ...... when I do the monthly tip out and swop to another bag even I am stunned by what I find ...... last month I found a cash slip .... which did not belong to me ..... I have never been to that store.  And one tired and very sad looking little apple.   Women never have anything to wear - trust me if you have an 18 year old daughter you will identify with this.  Now it is not because she opens her wardrobe and there are 50 empty hangers.  So I am stunned if she goes out on the weekend and I pop into her room while she gets ready, to find half the wardrobe contents on the bed while she says in great despair "I have nothing to wear".  Only a fool would at that stage say "look at all thes...

I wrote it just for my girl  ... "The heart song every mother dreads to sing, When her child races through her last school year. You remember every detail on the day it was to begin Gr 0 ..... it was quite a scare.  The years fly by, each with their memories, The ups and downs, the sadness and joy Each new year demanding new energies You remember the first read word, And the first noticed boy. You live through exams, tests and stress You live through their hard work and dedication Sometimes what they want is anyone's guess But the studying proves the value of education You give guidance in what they want to be You praise their choices and their skill You know your job will always be to oversee That they reach that dream with an iron will  And so as the year races by And you wish you could slow it so You know God is watching from up high But someday moms ... we have to let go" Much love to you Jess, you make us so proud Till next time c...

How many of you have seen that movie with John Candy called "Plains, Trains and Automobiles"?  Well I saw it several times and I still laugh every time.  Briefly it is about 2 guys trying to get home from a business trip and everything with their transport modes goes wrong and they end up using every transport method known just to get home.  The reason I find it so funny at present is because tomorrow I am going to go to work and then from work to Sandton and then back to my kid's school CBC and then from there I am going home.  And to do that, since I have no car, I am going to use no less than 5 modes of transport.  In one day.  Now I find that amusing, exciting, challenging and pretty annoying all rolled into one, since I actually own a car, a fully paid for car .... albeit a non-driveable car at present.  So to get my butt to office my day will start with a drive at 6am with hubby and kids and he will drop me off at the Hatfield Gautrain statio...

So yesterday was an all over the place kind of day.  Had to catch a lift to the workshop which is currently trying to help me with what is turning into a major disaster with my car ....... (don't get me started on the salesman who sold it to me) .... caught a bite to eat en route home ..... worked sourcing funds for hours for IH ....... made a kickass dinner in the afternoon .... slept on the couch for an hour and then at 11pm went to Adoration.   The Adoration was the highlight of the day (as it is every week) .... there is something to be said for doing it so late at night.  The church is dead quiet, the street is quiet, the neighbourhood is quiet.  Even the guard and I whisper to each other when I get there .... and he is always glad to see me .... because I come bearing hot chocolate and a cookie for him each week ...... Inside there is nothing but candlelight, me, God and lots of quiet.  When you spend 2 hours sitting in such peace, alone, you have no c...

So I went to a funeral today with the kids.  My best friend, Elm's, dad passed away.  We all seemed to be stuck somewhere between being really sad that he had passed away and really glad that he no longer had to suffer.  With cancer spreading rapidly through his body, unable and unwilling to eat, unable to walk, staying in a step down and losing weight rapidly, it was sad to visit him and see him as a shadow of his former self.  So God decided it was time to relieve him of this pain.  As sad as it is for those that stay behind, God always has the best plans.  Whilst I was standing in front doing the thank you's on behalf of the family at the end of the service, I told them of the last time I had seen William ...... he was in hospital and when I arrived he said to Elm, "you should have told me that Karin was coming and I would have combed my hair".  He immediately asked them to pass him a comb and little mirror and combed his sparse grey hair over to ...

What makes you joyful?  I have been thinking about it quite a bit the past few days ..... it is not complicated and the answer is not winning the entire Lottery, having all your debt paid off, winning a car or having eternal youth (although all the abovementioned would not hurt either right now).  Especially the car!! For me .... it's the little things ..... and they seem to be growing in abundance for me lately..... or maybe it is just that the harder life pushes you, the more aware you become of these things .....  You know that song from The Sound of Music ..... Favourite Things? (OK those of you frowning now and going ...... uuuuh No? are way too young for this blog) .... a whole lot of favourites come to mind now so if you live in Pretoria then you simply have to ... Go to Bella Sophia Culinary Cafe at the end of Chamberlain Str in Riviera .... it is run by a former Masterchef SA finalist and makes the best cappuccinos I currently find in Pta (and trust me I...

Now there are many honest Joe salesmen out there in the 2nd hand car market.  The guy who sold my Henrietta Hyundai to me was not one of them. After giving my dad the sales pitch and my dad even being able to speak to the previous owner of the car who had sold the car to this dealership ... The price was negotiated and settled in full.  I wish I had a mechanic of my own who checked it out before I signed the paperwork.  The niggles were pointed out to them ... They sorted it .... Car was washed and polished and off I drove SO EXCITED. 18km from the dealership the car broke down.  They drove to assist me .... Told me I had activated the anti hijack.  I hadn't ... The cambelt had broken.  Weird coz in the service book it said it was replaced 3000 km before .... But when the garage stamped the book ... Cambelt replaced was written above the stamp in pen?  Weird.  So they fix it at their cost as well as the faulty oil sender unit and work on pistons ...

So by a combination of crazy saving and selling his Wii console and games, Nic gets enough money together to buy original Adidas imported boots.  He is in his football boots 7 days a week and very often he trains 90 mins at school followed by 90 mins at the Academy so he wanted Adizero's .... the world's lightest football boots ..... and I mean it .... like picking up a feather.  And I promise by the end of the season each year his boots lie down and say "kannie meer nie". So off we go to Adidas in Sandton City as the imports of the new Adizero F50 in lime green had finally arrived two days prior.  With great excitement (and I mean GREAT excitement) he slips his feet into those two pieces of lighter than air and pronounces them to be "the ones".  He parts with R2300 at the till ..... and my heart soars because I only had to give him R500 towards it .... he was happy to come up with a plan to afford these dream boots.  So Adidas and Nic ..... match made i...

So I been wondering how many people really love their jobs?  Or how many just go to their job every day, because it is what they must do, where they must do it and have been doing it for so long they see no other area to work their talents in.  It took me until I was almost 43 to find my perfect job.  And don't be mistaken ..... I am not saying that the jobs before that were not exciting, well paid, boring, frustrating, interesting, social, annoying, well travelled, learning curves etc etc, I am simply saying that when I walked into my current job, it felt like I had "come home" in many ways.   This job is nothing like I ever in my life imagined where I would end up.  With my qualification firmly entrenched in Public Relations and Journalism, will extensive PR experience and being a deft hand at media relations, press releases and anything requiring me to be out there and addressing people, having a career at a home for mentally disabled adults would probabl...