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

Our New Bike...

This is our new bike, the gleaming sexy feline Yamaha R6 2008 model, brand spanky new out of the box : ) The middle photo. The bike with the cool black side fairing. (For you ladies out there who wanna learn something new... check out http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fairing)

 

My Hub is like a tiener...

 

Sands x

 

My News…

 

1. We're trying for baby no.2 from October this year.
2. We're enjoying our new dog Corky.
3. We've paid off our Opel Essentia.
4. We've bought a new Yamaha R6 Motorbike.
5. We've put in a new porch (5m long)
6. I've started work.
7. I'm never getting a normal pay check again.
8. I signed up for a voice course at the Playhouse on Monday nights, hoping to learn something new and add to my singing edjumecation… it looks like I might end up teaching the course at some point. Not sure yet so just waiting to see what unfolds.

 

Ok that's it. I have no inspiration for a post this week.

 

I'll add my weekly post from Surviving Durban North.

 

Sands x

 

Pink Stockings: The Twinkle Toes Files…

From the age of four my mother did what all Durban North mothers did and kitted me out in pink stockings, a black leotard, a pink waist band and too-tight leather pumps for my first day of ballet.

 

I walked with little trembling footsteps up the concrete pathway and into the dance room – the floor was shiny (back then – now it's the parking lot of an office park) at Minette De Klerk's Dance Academy, there was a big mirror on the left facing wall and the Barre ran along the right hand side and across the back before coming back down the left. We all sat in a circle and the teacher manipulated us into thinking that it was ok to run around on the tips of our toes…despite the agony (this was what we were 'looking forward too' as we could only do this when we were older) and I spent the next decade trying to achieve this goal.

 

As I recall, we spent most of that year skipping in a circle, and ended up doing an exam where we dressed up as little Bo peep or something and skipped in a circle holding a frilly umbrella. I have a photo of myself dressed as a clown, a maid, a sailor, a mermaid and a rainbow fairy. Good times. I still don't think that I ever successfully learned an entire dance. I merely relied on my good childhood friend Carol for the moves, I was always a split second behind the rest – you would only be able to pick it up in slow action replay….bwahahahah.

 

After ten years I accepted that I was too curvy, had size 8 shoes and just could not be bothered to "float like a feather" across the room anymore – so I took up Jazz dancing. Now that was what I liked, I think it was Jean Weirich-Wiggil who took our class, we had such a ball. I ended up with my International Bronze Levels for Jazz*

 

We sis shows at cool theatres, we dressed up, we had cat fights, we judged each other, we laughed at the one whose boobs grew first and then laughed at the one whose boobs grew last. Good times. I was the latter.

 

Now my cousin who is 6 years younger than me, he did soccer as a kid at the sports fields by the Virginia circle – anyone know of it? Were there any other ballet teachers in DBN-North at the time?

 

I also remember that at Chelsea we had Hobby Day on Fridays and we could choose from a number of hobbies to take part in for an hour before home time. I did gardening (will go into that horrific tale of forced hobbies another time – eek!) Woodwork,  Flower arranging and then Porcelain doll making before the school choir mistress stole the hour for choir where we sang "groovy kinda love" every Friday for a year. Good times. What hobbies did you have?

 

 

Yawn.

For those LEGENDS who have recently joined us please check out the past posts so that you can see what the heck we're on about. For those of you who left and then rejoined (jax) welcome back! And to the faithful cling-ons who don't leave - good on ya.

 

Have a great week guys

 

Sands x

 

PS. Cris Gill is looking for a traindrivers hat and a big silver whistle for when he storms the mini train track at virginia later this year..

 

PPS. Thank you Charlton for your reply! Glad to see that at lease one person is enjoying the memories...

 

 

 

*I have now made peace with the fact that singing is my forte – I'm a fully trained Opera singer and Professional Voice Coach.

Funny Video!

http://view.break.com/501514 - Watch more free videos

A Photo I Don't Remember Being In...

I had such a good laugh tonight, I am sitting here on the couch, harassing people on Facebook chat and looking at pictures… now I remember making a comment about this picture but don’t actually remember Kim Swan taking the picture…

 

Let me explain,… when you have a small baby you don’t sleep. Ever. You live in a 2 hour cycle that repeats itself 12 times a day, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. At this point I think that Kim and I were zombies who drank cold tea together, spoke in short incomprehensible sentences and generally made fools of ourselves trying to breastfeed, eat and remember to go to the loo all while trying to keep our two bundles alive :) good times.

 

It’s kind of sad now, my little friend Chloe is at baby school, her mommy Kim is going back to work again next week, I am already back at work and Sav is my trusty portable sidekick. Our days of unlimited hours of Rachel Ray, Dr Phil, Tyra, Days of our lives, and Sunset Beach are over : (

 

It has been an incredible journey, made easier because of my special Kimeshni and Chlo-eera Swannaidoo who became a part of my lounge suite for the past 4 months. I won’t forget the super-egg sammies, cold tea, milo, coffee, baby research, blogging, dreaming, crying babies, pooh nappies, fast growing limbs and endless chats. Good times.

 

Thanks for the memories : )

 

 

Sands x

 

 

Our New Guest...

On Saturday night, a wandering man by the name of…no, wait, we don’t know his name because the idiots who own him have not put a collar on him… (back to the story) a wandering man by the name of ‘Corgi’ walked into our complex and spent the night on a friendly neighbours porch. By the Sunday, having stripped himself of his former life and acquiring a new identity, he ended up at my back door wagging his tale and letting me know that he would be staying a while. I am still reserved about the matter; my husband is, to put it mildly: in love.

 

My two dogs made friends with him instantly, Skippi ever the socialite welcomed him into her kennel (lucky boy *cough*) and spent ages licking his face and being a general pest, the fact that he did not decapitate her speaks volumes of his self control.

Oscar, after having his ‘my little pony’ nose put out of joint, has made life unbearable for Corgs, he is a third of Corgis size but is harassing him and ‘putting him in his place’ The most violence I’ve seen from Corgs yet was when, out of desperation, Corgi gently pinned Oscar to the maxi-door gate, and stood there looking bored while Oscar struggled, screamed, kicked and nibbled at him. What a beaut.

 

I have put out flyers, phoned both Durban and Kloof SPCA and have even left a message on ECR. I am hoping that no one sees them…

 

The only problem with Corgs is that he is a peepeedog, in other words he lifts that short back leg way too often.

 

Some Facts About ‘Corgi’

‘Corgi’ is a black-headed Tri-color Pembroke Corgi.

According to legend, Pembroke Welsh Corgis are an enchanted dog, used by fairies and elves to pull wagons and serve as steed for the fairy warriors. Queen Elizabeth II of England has four Welsh Corgis.

From Wikipedia: "Like most herding breeds, they are active, intelligent, and athletic dogs despite their short legs and plump body. The short legs may seem to be a disadvantage, but they can run and jump just as well as any other dog of comparable size. Though still sometimes used as a working dog, today they are more commonly kept as companions. They are happy and loving but can have a stubborn streak due to their natural instinct to command their surroundings."

Well, for now I have three little canine mouths to feed…

 

Sands x

UPDATE:
Please Note - His name is now officially "Corky" Due to his shape and the fact that this well-fed rotund beast would definately float if thrown into Durban Harbour...

My First Week Back At Work!

Baby Savanna has settled in so nicely to our new routine!

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 my maid Octavia and I bundle our stuff together and pack little Sav in the car, shooting off to my Music Lessons.

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At first I was a little worried, I didn't know if Sav would cope with the noise and excitement of my work environment, I was also worried about how Octavia would cope with suddenly being a real 'nanny' playing, with and stimulating Sav with games and books for 4 hours!

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Well, on Tuesday it was a little tough, Octavia suffered with stagefright and spent most of the time just sitting looking into Savs pram saying "whats wrong?" again and again... explanation - it is a phrase that is common for zulu mothers "Whutzrong?...whutzrong?" I had to coach her along by saying something every time the 'whutzrong' started... "Octavia, read her a book now" or, "Octavia, show Sav the rattle" or "Octavia, take her for a walk" we were only there for two hours. You see, I know my maid, if I give her enough ideas and encouragement she will run with it and be really great at her job.

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Wednesday was more of a "trial by fire" for Octavia and Sav, Octavia was picked up at 11:30 and worked with a highly exciteable baby till 4:30! I had to smile as I drove us all home, Octavia looked like a nagaapie (kind of like I did in the first three weeks of being a mother) and Savanna crashed and slept till 6pm! I did notice though, that Sav had a blast - smiling at all the students, basking in the attention from Octavia and having a ball. Octavia was more in control and acted with more authority over her little charge.

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Thursday was a bit shorter - we were there for two hours only, Octavia packed all of Sav's bags and made sure that she packed toys, books, a blanket and play mat. It was so nice! We each settled down to our individual task - her with Sav and myself with the children coming through for lessons.

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The result of this blog post is that I am very happy with my decision to keep Sav with me. She is going to have an interesting first year, lots of music and fun. It's amazing how fast she is progressing, she is crossing milestones with leaps and bounds. Almost sitting on her own, grabbing at things (especially her mums tops... exposing her bra to all who are looking... blush!) sigh.

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Music is a gift. I have loved seeing the children so excited to be playing, singing and strumming again :)

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Sands x

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Photographic Evidence of Evil...

It's official. Oscar is the devil.