The Story of My Nokia N73

OK, a while back, about 6 weeks ago, I ordered a Nokia N73 online because my Nokia 6111 lost its marbles as do all Nokia 6111’s…

A day after ordering my new phone my baby knocked my old one off the table and the internal screen split open (see previous post)  – even though it landed on carpet.

Anyway, I ordered it and sat back waiting for the “delivered in 5 working days” to happen. 6 weeks later I am still waiting.

 

There were complications with my order at first because the telesales person I had dealt with did not write in the specific foot note “don’t call after 11am” and so Vodacom called me for a few weeks after 11am and guess what? I was not there.

So, I waited and waited… eventually I got to the point where I realised that something was just not happening right so I called in – after a frustrating call I eventually in all miffiness wrote a complaint on the website hellopeter.com and received a personal response from the head of customer relations at the mobile place.

 

On Monday last week I received  a call from a dude at Vodacom and it was confirmed I’d have my new (blasted) phone by Wednesday…its now the following Monday and I think my phone might actually make it here.

Anyway, I thin kI need to name my phone after all it has taken its sweet time getting to me it must have a personality – any suggestions?

Sands x

 

I Thought This Was Hysterical!

Ok, so I was browsing through my friend’s Facebook page and saw this picture – it took a full two minutes to understand what the heck it was on about and then it hit me.

 

Kim? Cris? Whaddya think??

 

Oh yes, we’re off to Oribi Gorge this weekend with Shirley and Sean Langton from Hillside getting back late Sunday – it’s going to be awesome!

 

Sands x

My Weight Loss So Far

Well, so far I’ve lost just under a KG and these are my measurements:

 

 

 

Quick Loss-Check
Hips	Waist	Bust
104	93	104
8	2	6

 

 

Sands x

Tiny Love : More like Tiny Pain in the @$$!

I bought a TINY LOVE DVD MagIQ for my little 5month old girl a few
weeks ago - it is quite an expensive toy and I spent R400 on it which
is quite a lot of money. I have been very disappointed with the
quality of the active pal.

The toy never picks up the TV signal to start playing even if we have
the TV on full blast - we try for ten minutes or more and then
suddenly as we give up in desperation it will pick up signal and work
- but only for a few minutes and then it goes out of synch. Also, the
toy is very quiet, in order for it to stay in synch we have to have
the TV on very loud (over 70) and then the toy is inaudible.

Dear TINY LOVE: I think that with all the great advertising etc your
product should deliver what you promise, but it seems that we have
been duped again by a gimmick. I have had so much frustration over
this product that I want to return it! I am going in to see if I can
get it fixed but in reality I have had it. Don't say that it will just
switch on if it actually doesn't and that it's simple when it actually
takes ages to work.
Then, the car DVD does not play the audio of the TV DVD, as mentioned
in your adverts, and the active pal plays through the TV DVD track and
it doesn't make sense when played alongside the car DVD - why is that?
Isn't the toy supposed to play along with both?

Yours Truly,

Sandy

UPDATE Tiny Love responded and are sending me a new microchip - lets see what unfolds here....will tiny the dog take over the world? or will his micro cip be incorrectly coded leaving him a gender confused lamb called tickle...or even worse, a hoarse voiced cow called dot.

The Day That Things Went Wrong At School

I was sitting in my classroom on a hot First Term day. I was minding
my own 7 year old business when, out of the blue, our class saw a
group of children race past the window screaming in unintelligible
registers about something that sounded like "FIRE!!!!"

After our teacher ran out of the classroom leaving us stunned and
unattended, it turned out that there was no fire, merely the threat of
a bomb being placed inside the school.
Now ordinarily, when I was faced with a bomb or fire scare I would
just calmly run 200km/p/hr to my Mom (heck I was a 7 year old
Super-Hero… weren't we all?)
But, in this case, she was on the other side of town earning a living,
and I was stuck in the middle of 1987 suburban bomb-induced Chaos.
KAK! S'kies.

The first thing that happened was that we all had to get down under
our tables. After ten minutes of leg-numbing under-table posture we
were shunted back out from under our desks and made to line up. After
enduring our teacher getting us into height order, girl-boy girl-boy
order, making sure that laces were tied, hair was done and belts were
buttoned (if there was ACTUALLY a bomb at least we'd all die
"really-really good looking") and then we made our way, in class order
of course, down to the field – in single file.

We all sat at the far end of the field for roughly two hours - cooking
in the sun and thanking the lord that we were missing maths.

As I recall, we were suddenly and quickly shunted back to class, when
the teachers realised that "the bag" containing the supposed bomb was
in fact under the very same tree that the Class ones were sitting
under…

Ya.

How many "fire escape" and "bomb escape" practices did you have to
endure at school? Did any of you actually ever see a fire at school?
Did any part of your school ever blow up, or was it a ploy for
teachers who didn't want to teach and who needed a tan? Let me know

Keep well

Sands x

My Weight Loss Chart

This is a bit embarrassing but I believe in being open and honest - Click on the image and it'll open up so you can see what I have to do to achieve my goal, I will post an updated chart each week so that I at least 'feel' that I am being held accountable - You see, I
have just had a baby (January) and since then i have put on weight.

I was told by weighless that my goal weight is between 70 - 74kg and
at present I weigh a whopping 88kg.

Above is my weight chart - you are welcome to leave me encouraging
messages to motivate me!!!

I have joined Virgin Active, I am doing gentle yoga in the mornings
and I am cutting down on meal portions (we eat a predominantly
vegetarian diet) so i'm sure it will get going from ..... wait for
it.....

NOW

Fat, be gone.

love Sands x

The One That I Want Whoo Hoo Hoo... (Grease Lightning)

I want one. I know it'll be slow but you can't die if you fall off
going 20km/hr.

Sands x

The Heater, The Baker and the Baby Hat Maker...

Ok - so my Husband Francis and I went to Kimmels and Paul's for coffee, kuir and DVDs and it
was there in the presence of friends that I made one of my biggest,
blondest blunders...

I walked down the passage and noticed that Kim had a new Heater - it
was awesome, kinda shaped like a calabash. I didn't say anything but I
thought it. I thought it and that was enough.

After fresh hot scones and bittersweet coffee we watched a tense DVD
called "No way up" I say tense because it made me nip so badly that I
crocheted ten lines of my big baby blanket (I normally do about 5
lines a night) I was in fast forward mode (it might've been the
coffee) I think I'm still reeling from the aftershock of the coffee
(las coca-eina if you ask me) and it has even affected my blogging
skills (as you can tell from all the bracketed 'asides') Anyways...

SO there we are, high on coffee, covered in the desiccated remains of
8 unsuspecting scones, nipping to the soundtrack of a low budget movie
while I feverishly crotchet in fast-forward - in the midst of all this
drama I turn my big blues across to the 'heater' and open my mouth to
comment before I realise with the clarity that comes after a 'Blonde
Ambisie' Moment...

The Heater...was not a heater...it was.... wait for it...

A LG computer screen turned on its front. Screen down on the floor.

I gagged, I spluttered and then I burst out in shamefaced laughter.
Admitted it all and we laughed like hyenas (that coffee has a kick as
all Paul Swan induced coffee-highs do)

The funniest was when Kimmelescence in all her spluttering, recalled a
comment I had made earlier about a Dr Khan that I went to - he has a
pronounced lisp and had told me that I was "A very Th-ick lady") Kim
found it hysterical that he was right....

egh.

Gotta love me!

Sands x

The Secret Life of the Pigeon Catcher

OK so he was a dove. A ring neck dove. His name was Noddy and he rocked!

The school bell always took so long to ring, my sandwidges were always
at the 'other' end of my school bag and the only constant was that my
very special friends Bridgitte and Kerryn would be waiting for me at
the bottom of the playground to play our cool game of 'walk the plank'
(you know the white concrete border at the edge of any tarmac
driveway? Well, that was the plank and we spent hours balancing on it,
walking along it and making up circus moves…)

My best friend at the time was Tammy and she joined us to do our
walkplankthing and suddenly one of us screamed – there in the mud with
just his little head poking out, was a tiny baby dove. He was
practically featherless and all we could see was a head nodding up and
down. I had to have him. (I'd like to say in an amorous tone, while
dramatic violins play in the background, that our eyes met and we knew
we were destined to be 'Girl and Dove' but I'd be lying…) and we
frantically dug him out and ran around; trying to find a teacher who
cared enough to give us a box and some tissue paper.

My next memory is of being at Tammy's house debating who should keep
him. Tam's mom said a firm 'Hell No' which left me in a sweet pre-teen
delirium, because there were only the two of us who laid claim to him,
and Tammy couldn't have him so…….. He was MINE!

My memory after that gets sketchy, it involves:
My mom giving me a smack for bringing home a diseased featherless monster.
Us at the Hyper buying pronutro.
Us at the Docs getting a syringe.
Us at my aunts getting a bigger shoebox.

I named him Noddy, he was awesome, despite being cared for by a right
brained 11 year old he survived and grew into a beautiful grey ring
necked dove. He was 100% tame (a few kernels short of a corncob
actually…as in DOM) and my mom, the sport, even turned a dog kennel
into a wicked cool dove penthouse bachelor pad.
We added various other birds to it over time – little laughing doves
and Indian /mynahs etc but none of them survived.

When I was 13 we decided to let Noddy move to CROW – we were too old
to play with him and he was a lonely bugger who spent too much time
watching the cooking channel and reading HEAT magazine, it was the
kindest thing to do.

We arrived at CROW after getting lost, Dad swearing, Mom map-reading
and me crying over the loss of my silly bird.

He flew off without a backward glance and hooked up with some ho who
thought he was a millionaire (heck he had his own penthouse back home
- with Dstv) So he was stoked. I on the other hand felt gutted. My
baby had left me.

Did any of you ever bring home an animal or two? I think we all did
the 'bring home a dying baby bird' thing – what are your stories? Let
me know.

What The Hell?

If Oscar is in fact Satan himself in canine form (See previous Pet post)

Then what in the hell is Skippi??

 

I am afraid.

 

Sands x 

What Savanna Rae DId To My Phone..

The Scene:

A tantrum. A misplaced flailing arm. A poor innocent cellphone. A table leg. A split screen and oozing black goop.

 

The Death of a crappy nokia 6111 cellphone - a fitting end for such worthless garbage. I am hoping that Nokia will give me a fixed phone back at the end of this dark and unending tunnel of nokia-ness. Ah Nokia. Wasabi.

 

 

Sands x

The Truth About Guitar...

This is what happens when you play guitar like you are supposed to. Not for the feint of heart!

 

TIP: When your fingers hurt, Do NOT suck them, rinse them or apply any form of water or cream - this will only make it worse! The best way to treat sore and swolen finger tips is to tap them on the neck of the guitar, or rub them on your trousers or the carpet! When it is sore, play on. When they bleed, play on. The more they peel, the more you will be able to withstand the pain. So, play on my guitar heroes!

 

Who ever said that music was for sissies?

 

Sands x

May...

PICTURES: Leek Soup, Veg Soup, Couscous, Lamb Stew

 

 

I have to apologise for my sporadic, dry and inedible posts lately, there is reason I promise!!

 

After being exhausted for three months, I got to the point where I thought I had full blown ME. I was sleeping solidly through the night and I just could not wake up in the mornings, my poor husband felt like he was a bachelor again: he'd get home to a cooked meal and a sleeping wife and leave in the morning after kissing a sleeping wife… sorry Franc.

 

I was having migraines every day, I was having an asthma attack every day, my eye sight was poor, my ears were blocked, I was weak, listless, depressed and just not a happy camper. Well, after having a mini breakdown my husband bundled me up and took me to a doctor, after taking one look at me he said in a lisping voice

"You are a sick lady….you are living within a constant state of asthma, you have become so used to being ill that you don't know what its like to be well anymore. You need to get this under control because from what I can see, the state that you are in is not one that I would like to live in. You need to double your cortisone nasal spray, you need to take your antihistamine everyday, you need to go on a strong course of steroids and you need to hydrate yourself and rest, your nose inside is a mess, the lining is inflamed, it looks terrible, your chest is tight, your eyes are milky, your ears and affected and this is not a good situation at all, at all"

 

Well.

 

Just hearing that I was not dying was an energy booster for me! After a day of taking the steroids I was like the energiser bunny, I had so much energy! I laughed, cracked jokes and messed around (all before 5am Friday Franc=not impressed)

While chatting to Kim she said to me "what are you on? I want some!" and the truth was that I was feeling 'normal' again. Refreshingly normal.

 

Now, another change that we've made has been a dietary one. Food has become to expensive now'days and our weekly bill was coming to R600+ each week. We had very low energy and I had to make some changes. We now eat a predominantly vegetarian diet with meat protein a couple times a week. When we do have a meat meal, there are veggies crammed in to boost the overall yumminess and health of the meal. Spaghetti Bolognaise doesn't just have to be meat tomato and spaghetti, add some chopped mushrooms, some finely chopped leeks and a nice addition is the shaved carrot – you use your veg peeler to shave the carrot into a big yummy pile of shavings, add that to the frying onions, meat, mushrooms and tomato and voila! a scrumptious good 'eat out' feel spaghetti : ) if you really want to go all out – add some diced celery to your mince bolognaise, it is so sweet and means that you can extend the meal further without spending.

 

If anyone is interested I have a recipe for a veg lasagne that tastes like the real deal, and I'll be posting my recipe for Fridge Cake / Ice cream / Fat Maker…

This is an example of my two week meal plan, it means that my shopping expense goes down, my stress levels go down, I can be creative with each recipe and I know that we are getting healthy food into our system.

I had my first Health Smoothie yesterday and it said on the cup "FOOD IS EITHER A CREDIT OR A DEBIT. CREDIT YOUR SYSTEM"

 

(Recipes are easy and available just leave a comment and I'll post them)

Week One

1. Sandy's Sweet Leek Soup and Pasta (SOUP&PASTA)
2. Sweet Leek Soup & Rich Crumbed Sweet Chilli Chicken. (SOUP&WHITE MEAT)
3. Tender Green Lamb Couscous (RED/WHITE MEAT&COUSCOUS)
4. Thai Butternut and Potato Soup (SOUP)
5. Treat Night
6. Mucho Grande Spaghetti Bolognaise (RED MEAT&PASTA)
7. Big Beef Stew (Slow cooker) (RED MEAT,VEG&RICE)

 

Week Two

1. Creamy Chicken and Mushroom with Rice (WHITEMEAT&RICE)
2. Luscious Lentil Stew with Rice (LENTIL&RICE)
3. Butternut Cinnamon Basil Soup (SOUP)
4. Frikkin Chicken Couscous (WHITE MEAT&COUSCOUS)
5. Treat Night
6. Braai Night (BRAAI MEAT&VEG)
7. Fend for yourself day! (LEFT OVERS)

 

 

Gotta go my baby is crying J

 

 

Sands x