Monthly Archives: March 2013

More from Dubai – day 2

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I’m sitting here on my hotel room bed, feeling rather stuffed. I have eaten some amazing meals here in Dubai over the last 2 days and probably eaten more in the last 2 days than I have in the last 3 weeks. The breakfast buffet this morning must have been the biggest buffet I have ever seen.

We have just returned from dinner in the Ronda Restaurant at the Atlantis Palm Resort and it was just amazing.

I woke up this morning struggling to walk. My hip started playing up over night again. And of course I did not bring my pills with – probably because I have not had any need to take any for the last 2 months since I started dancing. Anyway, it was a good excuse to go the the Mall of the Emirates today while the kids were at the beach with their cousin. Spent hours in the Virgin store drooling at all the gadgets and then eventually admitted I needed my pills.

Found the pharmacy and asked for some of the pills I use (Arcoxia 120mg). Usually only available on a script back home so didn’t think they would give me any. Pharmacist happy to give them to me – no questions asked and no script needed. Strange that a country who is so sensitive about drugs issues medication like this without a script. But hey, I’m not complaining – I should be pain free by tomorrow.

Went to the pool this afternoon. Weather is still not great here. The sun is shining but there is a really cold breeze, so we only spent an hour or so at the pool. Had a swim with my son and thought I was going to freeze to death when we got out.

An Easter Egg shop opened up at the resort today so we had a look around. Saw the following chocolate figure (see pic at end of post) in the middle of the shop and thought it looked very “phallic”. But maybe that is just all the Cadbury Creme Eggs talking – let me know your thoughts on it…..

Ciao for now
Lanthie

(Using blogger app on my iPad and find it very clumsy so excuse the formatting – cant get pics etc to be where I want them to be)

Hello Dubai

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Finally in Dubai and what a wonderfully city. It felt like home driving from the airport this morning. I lived in Dubai back in 2008 so it is all too familiar to me. It is a concrete jungle in the middle of the desert but quite beautiful and so clean.

When I left at the end of 2008, there was an abundance of deserted building sites after the financial crisis hit Dubai. Dubai was very badly hit back then and it is nice to see how it has recovered. It is looking as good as ever.

Back to my trip. Son no 3 had his 2 cans of AXE deodorant confiscated at check in last night. Had a good laugh at him! Spent 3 hours aimlessly wondering around the airport and finally boarded at 10.20pm. I was so ready for a good night’s sleep by then and in fact sat down, made myself comfortable and closed my eyes.

That was as close as I got to any sleep though. There was a family sitting in front of us with 3 young children. The youngest was about 18 months old and didn’t stop whining all night. There was no crying – just the uttering of the same word over and over and over “mama, mama, mama, mama, mama”. And on it went. I was really ready to throttle the child (I am very tolerant when it comes to kids so this kid was extremely annoying for me to say this).

Landed at 8.30am and was at the hotel in no time. The weather is dreadful. It has threatened to rain all day and has been very overcast. There was no wall of heat that hit us when we walked out the doors of the airport.

Rooms were ready when we got here as well. Unpacked, had a bath and then my son appeared – With a bag full of Cadbury Creme Eggs and Twisters. (So I will be having many happy thoughts over the next few days!)

He looks amazing. It was so good to see him. Has been so nice to see him and his brothers interacting all day and has made me feel like a really proud mum today.

Met up with Hubby’s brother and a friend for lunch at the pool. Pity about the weather and it even started drizzling when we were down there.

Didn’t do too much today and didn’t venture out of the hotel. We are all a little too tired but have a full day planned tomorrow. Hubby already asleep and I suspect kids are asleep in the next room as well – all a bunch of wusses!

No pics just yet as I haven’t ventured out of the hotel. Will get down to taking some pics over the next few days.

Hope you are all having an amazing day!

Caio for now
Lanthie

I’m leaving on a Jet Plane

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Making last minute preparations for my trip to Dubai. Still got an hour before we leave for the airport so doing an idiot check. Packed my comfy shoes in the bag and wore my high heels today so thought it may be wise to swop now. (Im one of the few women who dont own 200 pairs of shoes – only a few favourites!). Hubby and kids all ragging me about having to unpack a bag to get my comfy shoes out. They can’t understand what’s the matter with wearing my high heels at the airport and on the plane. Must admit I should have thought about it when I packed at 4am – but then the brain was not quite awake yet (don’t tell them this).

It hasn’t set in yet that I’m going away – felt like a normal day today at work. But suddenly it has kicked in – I’m leaving on a jet plane (there’s a song there somewhere). And I’m going to see my son in the morning. Been an awesome week and doesn’t get much better than this!

I will be blogging about every minute so hope you will all join me on my journey. And please keep the comments and messages coming – makes me feel like you are with me 😉 😉

Caio for now
Lanthie

Monday Ramble

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I am going to Dubai on Wednesday – so excited I feel like blogging!  I have got a load of paperwork to  get through before I leave so a little stressed at the moment.  But not an issue as I am going to see Son no 2.  I have not seen him for quite awhile.

So today I received a call from Emirates Airlines – Firstly confirming my booking on the 20th.  And then asking if we wouldn’t mind changing our booking to the 21st!  Huh?  Really – why would I want to do that?  Anyway – apparently the plane is overbooked and they are trying to bump people. They offered me free tickets to go another time as well.  I stopped and thought about it, and then gladly declined.  I am not going to Dubai for very long and we already have a hectic schedule of things to get done there.  So we are taking bets on whether they bump us anyway.

Schedule currently looks like this:

  • Thursday – Relaxing day at the pool
  • Friday – Relaxing day at the Atlantis Water Park / Kids going to a beach party in the afternoon
  • Saturday – Shopping at the Souk (for Belly Dancing gear)
  • Sunday – Simulated Skydiving – Yes you read this right.  I am once again challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and do something unusual.  I am actually looking forward to it! (Will post pics)
  • Monday – Burj Khalifa – Have made a booking to go all the way to the top!  (Will take pics from the top of the world)
  • Tuesday – We come back home

I am sitting here reading this out to my sons – Son no 1 and his wife are over for dinner tonight.  He has just asked where he can get the ransom money from as I am posting exactly when and where we are going and he is concerned we may be kidnapped!  (PS – ask for South Africa Rands – we have no dollars!)

Want to see something really cool

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It is not often I blog about technology but I saw someone else playing with a really cool app this week and I couldn’t resist downloading it and playing with it myself.  In case you were not aware, I am a gadget freak.  I work with high end technology on a day to day basis in the entertainment industry and always looking for something that is new.

Augmented reality is not that new and has been around for a little while now but it is not often we as laymen get to play with it and see it in action.

Anyway – the app is called STRING.  If you have an iphone or ipad, here is a basic overview so follow along ….

Now this is where is gets really cool…..

  • Either print out the pictures or display them on your PC / Mac or Laptop.  If you have printed out the pictures, lay one of them out on a surface.  (I prefer the first 2 – the dragon or Boffswana)
  • Now take your iphone or ipad, open the APP and point the camera at the picture – holding your device as still as you can.
  • You will see a creature popping out on your device screen – the dragon will pop out of a hole or a little green creature will pop out.  If you touch your device screen, the green creature will go in that direction.

Let me know if you have any cool apps you can recommend to me.

The Memory of What Once Was

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Son no 3 wrote this poem for a school project this week which touched my heart.  Enjoy …..

The Memory of what once was

The Memory of what once was
Standing at the fence
I think of memories so dense
I put out my hand and
feel my sorrows fall from my fingers like sand
To touch is to feel
feel what was once is no more
I was such a dunce
to walk out that door
As I lean against the fence I can feel the trust
And I understand that I misused your trust
The moment that I was bust
drooling over such lust
I miss your hugs
To me they were like drugs
I’m sorry I lied
Without you I might as well be taking cyanide

By Gregory Ransom

Things I’d Rather Be Doing Than Having a Pap Smear

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I am due for my annual pap smear this week so I thought I would come up with a list of things I’d rather be doing while laying there in all my glory.

It always amazes me when the Gynecologist asks you to please get undressed and put a gown on – I mean what for?  He is seeing everything there is to see and more.  Not to mention that the gown is typically 3 sizes too small and doesn’t tie anyway.  So really what is the point.

Then you lie on the bed while he pretends to make small talk and apologizes while he gropes your tits, gently opening one side of the gown, grope, grope, then closing it and opening the other side and having a quick grope there as well.  Guess what Doc – the small talk is not helping.

Then the towel comes out and gets thrown over your knees and he asks you to please lift them up and part them.  I am really not bothered about you seeing my knees Doc!  He then brings the lamp right up to your nicely clean shaven / waxed parts and shines it right up there.  Then the gloves comes on and the tube of lube appears.  Ug!

He is still making small talk and you are now trying to not think about him or what he is saying or what he is doing and you are trying to think of…….

  • Taking out the trash
  • Cleaning the drains
  • Scrubbing the shower
  • Scrubbing the remnants last night spaghetti sauce off the carpet which your little one gladly brought up at 2am
  • Cleaning out the litter box
  • Cleaning behind the stove
  • Cleaning the kids toilet
  • Picking up the “present” your cat brought in earlier
Let me know of some of the things you would rather be doing than having your annual check up….

Proudest Mom in the World

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Son no 4 was recently elected as a Prefect at school.  He is in Grade 7 which is the senior year of what we term as primary school in South Africa.  They went on prefect camp 2 weeks ago which is like a leadership camp where they all bond and vote on the Head Boy and Head Girl positions for the year.  This vote is then tallied and the teachers and school Principal get to have their say and finally the heads are elected at some point in the near future.

Today I was invited to attend the school assembly once again.  This usually means that my child is receiving an award of sorts and I am very proud to say that my son has been elected as Head Boy.

I am thrilled to death. He is thrilled to death.  He has always claimed it is a sure thing for him and he has claimed for the last 3 years that this position is his.  So I am really pleased all of his hard work has paid off.

As life would have it, I cleaned out my cupboard yesterday and managed to do a really good purge.  I also found a dress I have never worn before.  I am generally not big on dresses so it was a quick decision to chuck it out or wear it.  So I decided to wear it today and of course wore the highest heels I have to go with it.  As they started announcing the heads, they kindly asked for the parents to come up on stage as well.  So there I am, in my short dress, white legs, high clunky heels, clunking my way up the stairs to the stage (imagining myself falling flat on my face going up), and then clunking my way all across the stage.  Had I known, I would have dressed a lot more modestly!  I stood there whilst they took photographs with the biggest smile ever on my face – firstly because I am so proud and secondly because I was having a seriously embarrassing moment imagining what I must look like.

I am not a helicopter mom and I am fairly hands off when it comes to schooling.  Yes I make sure homework is done and I even help out on occasion but I generally leave the teachers to do their thing.  I don’t believe in putting too much pressure on your kids and I don’t expect a report full of A’s.

Son no 4 has always been the brainiac in the family and typically brings home reports which are full of A’s.  He was also recently elected cricket captain as well so he has a fairly full plate which of course comes with extra pressures.

So I am a really proud mum today and I know he will do an amazing job in his new position as Head Boy!