The Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on 29/07/2012 by Lanthie

I would like to thank Quirky Grandma for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award.

Here Are The Rules For This Award:

1. Thank the Blogger who nominated you

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Quirky Grandma

2. Include a link to their site

http://quirkygrandmother.blogspot.com/2012/07/thanks-to-sugar-plums-lollipops.html

3. Include the award image in your post.

See below and on my sidebar:

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

I love Cadbury’s Creme Eggs
I hate Call Centres
I like Chocolate
I dislike cheese
I drive a Toyota Prado
I live in Johannesburg, South Africa
I have 3 cats

5. Nominate 15 other Bloggers for the award.

Wow – This is a tough one! Will nominate a few now and add to the list as time goes by:

More to follow……

6. When nominating, include a link to their site

Done

7. Let other Bloggers know they have been nominated

Done

While you’re down there!

Posted on 26/07/2012 by Lanthie

There is an abundance of advertising surrounding the Olympics on telly at the moment. I was in the kitchen yesterday evening making dinner when my 15 year old made a comment as Sky News were doing a segment on the upcoming games.

The “City logo” was on the screen at the time. His comment was “Look – there’s Lisa Simpson giving Bart Simpson a blow job”.

I was speechless! WTF! What do you say when your child says this.

I have never really looked at the logo and of course now I had to have a look. The segment on Sky News was over so I got my iPad out to have a look. I came across a whole bunch of social media sites and YouTube videos galore all saying the same thing.

And I could not disagree.

Decide for yourselves…

What’s My Blog Contest

Posted on 26/07/2012 by Lanthie

I would like to thank Nell at the Rambling Couch Potato for including my blog in her What’s My Blog Contest. I feel very special being included.

She has chosen 25 blogs and is asking 25 questions about them over the next 25 days. Winner who answers the most questions gets a prize.

Mosey on over there and have a look…..

http://www.theramblingcouchpotato.com/2012/07/whats-my-blog-contest-win-25-amazon.html

She has chosen the following blogs (I’ve put some of the links in):

1) Ramblings From an Upside Down Life
2) Chasing the Donkey
3) Life Cherries
4) Free is My Life
5) Good Golly Miss Hollie
6) Menopausal Mother
7) Pleasantly Crazy
8) Jayme (The Story Corner)
9) Katerina Wilhemina (Chatter Busy)
10) Rednecklatte
11) Tamathaa (Recipe for a Home)
12) Casey (A Dull Roar…)
13) Crystal Reads
14) Style4Curves
15) Martha Preston
16) Marieesbella
17) PamelaMKramer (A Renaissance Woman)
18) Glitter
19) Dana McIntyre (Home is Where Your Mom Is)
20) Ybonda
21) Life N Canvas
22) Mom n Stinks
23) Circusmum
24) The Southern Lady
25) Ont Jokes

Opening Ceremony of the Olympics

Posted on 25/07/2012 by Lanthie

Hubby had an epiphany last week. He calls me while out and about at meetings and says that there are still tickets available for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Can I find out more info.

I must admit that I had not considered this as an option prior to the phone call from Hubby but it definitely peaked my interest. We could fly out on Thursday, see the Opening Ceremony on Friday and fly back to South Africa on Saturday. A once in a lifetime experience.

So I went onto the web and did some research.

Just to give you some background of what I do as this is a subject I don’t touch on much on my blog. Hubby and I are involved with the technical side of events. When I say events – I mean BIG events.

We do the odd and unusual events and not the day to day type events. For example – we were involved as follows for the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup in South Africa:

Overall Event Managers for the Preliminary Draw
Local Technical Directors for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
Technical Directors for the FIFA Kick Off Celebration Concert

So the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics is something we would love to see from a personal and professional point.

I went on the web and looked up the Olympics. There are indeed tickets available for the Opening Ceremony. I do some more browsing – not as easy as it looks as you cannot just buy a ticket. You have to go through certain authorized representatives. So I do more digging and finally find the South African representative. According to their website all tickets are sold out. I send them an email enquiring about the availability and the process of purchasing tickets. (A week later and I have still not had a reply from them, so not surprised there are still tickets available.)

In the meantime I have costed it all out:

Airtickets – we have loads of airline points so we could cover the cost of the airtickets with points (if we are allowed to use them)
Accommodation: Not really an issue – probably not freely available anywhere near the venue, but hey – we are not going into this blindly and are quite happy to stay on the outskirts and travel in.
Local transport in London – probably going to be a pain in the ass but as long as we leave early
Tickets – haven’t had anyone reply to emails. Got a vague idea of prices on the web though ranging upwards of GBP1,850 each. This is where I fell off my chair…..

This is about R23,000 per ticket – a SH!T load of money in South African terms.

So this is where the idea bit the dust. It was a nice thought and it would have been great!

It’s Not Your Place

Posted on 21/07/2012 by Lanthie

It’s not your place has been the theme at home his week. I’ll explain…

We usually get up at around 5.30 in the morning. We all get bathed / showered etc. Son no 3 sets the breakfast table, we sit and have breakfast, then we brush teeth and get into the car for the morning school run. Most mornings this all runs smoothly and everyone is in a good mood.

This week has been different though. Son no 4 has decided to change his position at the table and this has upset Son no 3. So chatter around the table has been met with comments like – “Stop looking at me / Dork / I Don’t want to look at your ugly face etc etc.”

I have done some illustrations below to help you visualise:

This first illustration shows our original seating layout – when we still had Son no 1 and 2 at home. As you can see – Son no 4 sits on the right hand side.

The following illustration shows our current seating arrangement – it is just the 4 of us nowadays so there is loads of space at the table.

Son no 4 has decided to move from position 2 to position no 6. No big deal really and hubby and I have no issues with it. Son no 3 of course is causing major problems over the move though. He insists on setting a place for Son no 4 in position 2 every morning. Son no 4 then comes into the kitchen and they snarl at each other for 5 minutes and then Son no 4 moves his place setting to position 6.

Then the 2 of them spend the rest of the time throwing derogatory comments at each other. So by the time we get into the car – World War 3 and 4 has happened.

We told Son no 3 one morning that if he didn’t like it – he could go eat in the ~~dining-room~~ storeroom. (I say storeroom as our dining-room is currently home to the ~~treadmill~~ white elephant and loads of boxes and washing baskets etc.) So he sat in the dining-room on his own.

Whatever hubby and I do or say – we are accused of favouring the other child. There is just no way of winning this argument.

Quickie

Posted on 20/07/2012 by Lanthie

My eldest sent this to me this morning and I had a good laugh. I thought it was good enough to go on my blog….

My hubby always gets my birthday and our anniversary dates mixed up. At the beginning of May each year he says: “Just remind me – is your birthday on the 21st or 29th?” At the beginning of September each year he says: “Just remind me – is our anniversary on the 21st or 29th?”

At least he gets the months right!

My Mundane Life

Posted on 16/07/2012 by Lanthie

It has been a mundane 10 days or so. You have probably picked this up from my posts last week which were not exactly exciting.

I supplied accreditation and front of house services for a “Kids Club” on Friday night. It is a club my brother has started and wants to hold every 2 months or so. It is aimed a kids between the ages of 14 to 18. I must admit I was a little skeptical at first about it. Kids of that age are very difficult to cater for. Anyway – it was decided that the “club” would be for them only – no adults allowed. We made sure that there was no alcohol or drugs and we made sure there were the associated “bouncers” on site and they would be safe whilst in our care. I was amazed at how well behaved they all were and I think the evening was a great success. The next one is planed for the 21st September. More information about this event can be found at http://www.be-at.co.za/

Saturday and Sunday were spent resting – well sort of. I cooked a roast lamb with potatoes and Yorshire puddings for lunch yesterday which made a nice change. And we watched Armageddon yesterday afternoon – my favorite film!

Kids went back to school today – Yipee! Peace reigns once more at home and the house no longer looks like a bomb has exploded. I had to take son no 4 for his vaccinations this afternoon and I popped into Son no 1’s house to have a look at how it is coming along.

Son no 1 and his wife are currently living with us in a cottage on our property. They purchased a house late last year and have done some major renovations. They moved back in with us while the renovation are taking place. It is now almost finished and just the final touch-ups are happening at the moment. This should see them moving out in about a week or so. Of course Hubby is smiling and he keeps gloating about how we will have more peace and quiet when they are gone. I am avoiding the subject as this means I wont see them much anymore and will miss them like hell.

Son no 2 has booked his plane ticket out here in the middle of next month and I will finally get to meet his new girlfriend. I am counting the hours till I see him.

Otherwise the rest of the week is looking just as boring at the moment and I apologise if I have bored you all to death. Hopefully my week will get more exciting.

A Man’s Perspective

Posted on 12/07/2012 by Lanthie

When I started blogging, I wanted to write a blog that appealed to all and not just to a particular genre. This is not easy though and I have found that I tend to write more towards the type of bloggers that typically comment on my blog. Not that this is an issue as I have made some wonderful friends and have found some amazing blogs. Not a day goes by without me reading a post out load to Hubby from a fellow blogger which brings a smile to both our faces.

I find myself writing more about getting older, menopause, my kids and all thing mommy orientated nowadays. And let’s not forget to include who’s the hottest hunk out there type posts.

Occasionally it is nice to come across a blog that looks at things from a different perspective and I have found such a blog. It is a blog called “The Shitty Dad” and it is about (in case you hadn’t guessed) the trials and tribulations of being a Dad. I love his blog and it is great to hear that the male population have their challenges as well when it comes to parenting.

So go along and have a look:

http://shittydad.wordpress.com/

Be Grateful for the Little Things in Life

Posted on 10/07/2012 by Lanthie

Please note: This post is for ADULTS ONLY. If you are under 18 or easily offended, please ignore this post and come back another time.

I came across a blog yesterday and was suddenly very grateful to be living in the 21st Century. Can you just imagine what life would be like living in the 19th Century with none of the gadgets we have today. Life without my iPhone would definitely be a challenge.

Anyway – This blog talks about Female Hysteria and the treatment thereof. Click here to read it.

Oh my word – just imagine having to go to your doctor and asking for a pelvic massage!

We have gone from this:

To this:

Let me know what gadgets you are grateful for……

Heart Palpitations

Posted on 09/07/2012 by Lanthie

Just recently I have been having “Heart Palpitations“. I of course mention this to hubby to accuses me of being a Hypochondriac. So I ignore it for a few weeks. At the same time I stop having my mutl-vitamin thinking that perhaps it is being overly ambitious.

The palpitations are still there – even when I am at rest or laying in bed at night. So I look it up on the web and of course it says it could be due to menopause. I then mention this to hubby who responds with a comment “you don’t even know if you are going through menopause – has a doctor actually done any tests“. (I felt like punching him in the face after this comment so I ignored it)

So I looked up the symptoms of menopause on the web and this is the list – I have indicated if I have the relevant symptom or not:

Hot Flushes – YES
Night Sweats – YES
Irregular Periods – NO – (What’s a period?)
Loss of Libido – YES
Vaginal Dryness – YES
Mood Swings – YES
Fatigue – YES
Hair Loss – YES
Sleep Disorders – YES
Difficulty Concentrating – YES
Memory Lapses – YES
Dizziness – NO
Weight Gain – YES
Incontinence – YES
Bloating – YES
Allergies – YES (Prior to menopause as well)
Brittle Nails – YES
Changes in Odor – NO IDEA (Generally don’t smell myself)
Irregular Heartbeat – YES
Depression – YES (very occasionally)
Anxiety – YES
Irritability – YES
Panic Disorder – NO
Breast Pain – NO
Headaches – YES
Joint Pain – YES
Burning Tongue – NO
Electric Shocks – YES (probably due to very dry air at the moment)
Digestive Problems – YES
Muscle Tension – NO
Itchy Skin – YES
Tingling Extremities – YES (often get pins and needles)
Osteoporosis – NO

So I have checked 26 of the 34 Symptoms – There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I am menopausal – with or without a doctor verifying this……..

To appease myself, I duly went to see the Doc last week about my heart palpitations. He did an ECG – resting and stressed. All is normal and fine with my heart – good rhythm / pulse / blood pressure etc etc. He says it is caused by menopause and I must not stress about it all. He also goes on to recommend I start taking HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). This was then a debate as you are either pro HRT or against HRT – I have discussed this in the past with my Gynecologist. I explained that I was neither pro or against HRT but would act on the advice given, providing my Gynecologist agreed with him.

So I have stopped taking my little soy extract pill each day and am now on HRT. Probably a bit too early to say if it is working and will give it a few weeks.

Image from http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/hormone_replacement_therapy_gifts.asp

Life Cherries

Indulging in my Wildest Fantasies

Monthly Archives: July 2012