c'est la vie

Now my husband has the patience of Job when it comes to me.  Truly.  He just shakes his head and often says to the kids "it is a miracle that you two have turned out so well given how crazy your mom is" .... he means it in the best possible way.  With me he truly does not sweat the small stuff.  Proof is in the fact that on Saturday, when Jess and I were actually at the mall to buy my moisturiser, we got waylaid by cages full of bassets, maltese poodles, border collies, jack russells and more at our local pet shop.  When the maltese licked Jess I knew her heart was lost.  Now please, it is not as if we don't have any dogs, we do ...... BUT ..... sigh, the things moms do to make their daughters happy.  So we arrived home with puppy (Prince), new little bowls and puppy food.  I walked into the house, daughter in tow, and said to hubby, "Ok, now I have done something ..... don't say a word" ..... he looked at the puppy, said "who are you" and aske...

Yes I know you never thought you would see the day.  My name and the word exercise in the same sentence.  I went even one big step further .... my name and the word Zumba in the same sentence.  Yes, along with Jess I joined a Zumba class.  Our kickass ridiculously amazing fun teacher, Simone, is giving one of her classes in our church hall.  So since we all pray together, it seemed quite logical that we should all laugh and Zumba together.  It's nice to do stuff with people that you share your religion and a part of your life with.  So off we went tonight.  Appropriately kitted in tshirts, leggings and takkies.  All ages made up the class, Jess was the youngest and no, I was not the oldest.  I may feel tomorrow like I am the oldest when I wake up, but not tonight. I did at one stage during the class wonder if your heart rate goes over a certain speed does it get a speed wobble, but I appear to have survived.  Now Zumba is like...

My grandmother is 93.  For all intents and purposes she may as well be 63.  And is livelier than some people of 33.  She loves movies, outings, shopping, going to Mass, tea & cake @ Jam & Daisies, having her hair and nails done, playing bingo and of course the pre-dinner Amarula every night.  And yes, she lives in a retirement home.  Rules the roost. Gets irritated by the "old people" as she calls them ... who are usually a minimum of 10 years younger than her.  Before the weekend her health took a turn for the worse and she was admitted to hospital for a few days of observation.  She was not happy.  Yesterday we went to visit her.  Upon seeing us she whipped off what she termed "the stupid damn oxygen mask" and proceeded to instruct us to put a surplus of cushions behind her so she could sit up.  Immediately she was unhappy as she did not have her purse with her to give the kids some tuckshop money and she had no sweet...

Matric prelims.  13 fear inspiring, spine chilling letters.  And that is just for the moms.  Imagine how these kids are feeling. My darling 18 year old bundle of nerves is hard at work.  After fantastic June exams report results she has at least got a serious head start on prelim studying.  But that does not stop the nervous - sleep deprived - half weepy - hysterical laughter that makes up Jess at the moment. What do we moms do?  We memorize the timetable.  We get sleep deprived.  We stress.  We eat.  We make copious cups of tea and carry to aforementioned child.  We tell everyone else in the house to sssshh all the time.  We stress more.  We eat more. Suddenly there are so many moments rushing towards us at once .... Prelims ..... Last school days ..... Matric dance etc etc and whilst our kids get used to the fact that a huge chapter of their lives is about to end whilst an exciting new book lies ahead, us moms are ...

Now I have had parish priests before that, when I walk out of Mass, I think to myself "now what the hell was the actual message?".  I have had parish priests where I walk out afterwards and wonder how I managed to stay awake.  Now I have a parish priest who challenges me, and my family, all the time.  Sometimes we feel guilt at what we hear, other times we feel ridiculous joy.  He teaches us that it is ok to crack a smile during a Homily, that using the word "lekker" in your Homily makes it real and when you say FOMO during it, most teenagers think you are more cool then they already usually do.  I never have to wonder what he was saying .... because he is so ridiculously real that the message is just easy to follow .... and since it is recorded and placed on social media and the website, you can go back and relisten during the week if you want to.  Tonight he spoke about the "instant coffee mentality of life" and the truth rang clear in my head ..... ...

Now let me say right up front .... Ivy Sutton is my kind of motivational speaker.  She makes no apology for being loud, out there, vivacious and the thing I loved most was when she said life is full of what she calls "High 5 Nike" woman ... who run through life (not walk) bursting into every room, shouting High 5 and just like Nike they "just do it", every challenge, every opportunity, breath and life in every step ..... like Boom.   My own table and my Lifeline friends commented that I am definitely that person.  Not the other side she described, the more quiet one (although I thought I belonged there .... whahahaha).   My table at the Woman's Day event today clearly was a "Karin" table and those sitting there agreed that it personified me.  My Lifeline counsellor from the course I attended said without glitter there is no Karin-ness .... and then she found it on my cupcakes!!!  Ivy told us about making memories every day with everyone, especial...

Amazingly I have 17 readers from Russia who translate my blog, followed by 12 in the Czech Republic .... I find it so fascinating that they would do so .... Now one of the readers from Russia sent on a thing to me from her blog .... so because she is such a faithful reader I will answer it for her in a blog which I hope translates correctly .... What irritates me the most:  People whose arrogance is so all encompassing that they cannot see past it to what is going on around them.  People who take other people for granted.  Drivers who change lanes without indicating.  Cold, weak coffee :).  Rude cashiers. What makes me the happiest:  Great cappuccinos. Appreciation that is expressed.  My jobs.  Devouring novels.  Writing.  My ridiculously silly family. My ridiculously loving Alsation.  Watching my kids play sport.  My daughter's cooking. Where have I travelled:  Mauritius, Comores, England, Germany, France, Netherl...

Got asked an interesting question by someone this morning after I explained to them what I all do to earn my bread and butter .... "What would you do if you got paid for doing what you love?". Did not have to think too long to give my kneejerk reaction .... I would write.  All the time.  Quite happily.  Imagine getting paid to write ...... that would be such a soul fulfilling thing for me.  I do write.  A lot of the time.  Quite happily.  And I have all kinds of people read my stuff.  But imagine being able to do that .....  It led me to think about a further question and this person and I then debated that .. "What would you do if you didn't need a salary and could do simply whatever you want?" .... Write.  And write some more.  and a few more random ones: Counsel youngsters.  Work for an NPO.  Learn to play the piano  Get involved in my parish Bake for anyone who wanted me to.  Write some more ...

So today I had to have a little heart to heart with my body.  So I sat myself down and looking downwards told my dear body that I had some bad news.  Spring is about 3 weeks away.  My body reacted with shock.  "I have to come out from underneath the jerseys, jeans, scarves, gloves and other items of multi-covering functions?", it gasped in disbelief.  "Already?".  I nodded solemnly whilst berating myself for not reminding my body of this a little earlier.  My body is now not talking to me.  Yes once again it is almost Spring.  Spring ..... flowers, blossoms, warmer weather, couples skipping through lush green parks singing The Hills are Alive whilst smiling at each other, birds chirping, dogs fetching frisbies, icecream and ............ yes that other stuff ...... swimming costumes, tshirts, shorts and that long awaited moment when we bring our long covered flesh out into the open eye, and sunlight.  Gasp.  It is usually at ...

Today I got my new car.  Silly ridiculous dancing excited does not even begin to explain it.  After having my previous car written off by some idiot who slammed into me, a wonderful opportunity (after much car window shopping, reading up on the internet and speaking to various salesman)arose when we decided to ditch all the complications we had previously with pre-owned cars and buy a new one.  Not easy, it is a huge commitment to make to pay for over a looong time, but armed with the payout from the insurance and the abovementioned commitment, I found a fabulous saleslady at VW who highly efficiently sold me a Polo Sedan 1.4 Comfortline .... man this is a kickass car .... it has every bell and whistle standard, and to satisfy my family who are concerned about cellphone usage in vehicles (who me??), I got a bluetooth connected to my speakers for my cellphone. So off we went this morn .... Eug and I plus kids plus grandparents.  Given that the kids thought I had bou...

 “Authenticity is a collection of choices we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” "Just be authentic", my hubby tells me, "because the Karin that you are (and he never calls me Karin), is exactly the Karin that people love".  "You always show up and be real". That seems logical.  Not entirely sure how practical it is.  Imagine how wonderful that is or could be.... to just show up where you have to be every day and be real.  Be you.  And have people love it.  How many versions of your "authentic self" do you have?  Is our "real self" ever good enough?  Or do we have to conform to everyone's pre-defined "box" for us.   There are so many labels ..... too loud, too withdrawn, too outspoken, too shy, too involved, too enthusiastic, too kind .....too kind (what the hell is too kind?) that I think for any person it would ...