Juice It All Up.....

I've always thought that if I were an animal I'd be a dog. I love horses but definitely a dog. Even though I've frequently denied it, all my friends always said I'm "wife" material. Secretly I knew that I'm extremely domesticated. I love looking after my home (especially before I got married because I had all that time). I feel a great flush of pride when my kids and husband look good. I also never tire of thinking of ways of entertaining everyone or cooking meals they love or searching for bargains to improve the aesthetics of my home. Nothing tickles my inside like walking into a beautiful home that I live in. I think it might be the same feeling an author might get when they get their first print of a knew book they've labored on.

I guess that's why I can get as excited as I've been about getting a juicer for a present. My hubby got me one of these about two weeks ago and I've had an entire two weeks of splendid juicing. What is it that excites me so much. Well I love that I now don't have to rely on vitamin supplements alone to make sure that the daily nutritional requirements are met. First thing in the morning I've been making sure that all the kids have a glass of fruit or vege juice freshly extracted.

Yesterday I even got my husband to commit to drinking a glass of a mixture of beetroot and carrot juice first thing in the morning to help with his high blood pressure and eye sight.

But what I am most excited about is not having to buy baby food because no matter how organic a product is, if it has to be on the shelves then there must be preservatives in it. In fact we bought a couple of banana puree's which baby refused to eat because they were so sour to the taste, and yet they were organic.
So i'm sure you can understand how happy I am that when I'm cooking for the family I can take partially boiled veges and puree them for her.

I've also been struggling with carb and sugar cravings for a while now so I suppose it really is true, a craving is a signal that your body is screaming for nutritional fulfillment in a certain area. My sugar and bread intake has reduced significantly to no gassy drinks, refined bread or sugar.

And best of all, now vege or fruit has the chance of going bad. Everything from broccoli to cucumber is getting slushed. Its amazing how nice everything tastes when you add some pineapple or chilies or salt, pepper, etc to it.

So I say Yes to Juicing IT ALL!
What health benefits do you use your juicer for?


By the way, I made my first teacher appreciation gift for my son's teacher. Its far from perfect (and I promise myself to do better with the stenciling next time) but what do you think? Its a hand sanitizer that I wrapped up. I think every teacher appreciates one of those for their desk.

I'm grateful to Julie at A Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss for her tutorial on how to do this. She is a phenomenal DIY DIVA.

Amazing People on X-Factor

I'm usually an avid follower of all music oriented reality shows because I love  music so much. The one show I've been lax in watching though is X-Factor. I suspect because in my mind I still had the ideas of people swallowing slugs and lying in snake infested boxes. Not my seen.

The first time I realize things had changed was when I came across a You Tube video of this teacher. He absolutely blew me away.


Now I make a point of going on to check out what's happening now and again. Today I came across such fantastic musicians I had to share with you in case you missed them. Im definitely keeping tabs on these to. I have to have their music.

First up is Jahmene Douglas. This little man just improved on my all time favorite song which is in itself perfection. This is a phenomenal singer.


I end this post with this delightful 16 year old who's not only a brilliant vocalist but also an outstanding song writer as you'll hear. Witness greatness.

Striking Miners at Marikana

Business Report

South Africa is in mourning over a terrible tragedy that went on for about two weeks at a local mine (the Marikana mine). Miners have been on strike for better pay for what seems like forever now . It came to light during the strike that many were living in “”abject poverty”, earning approximately $1250p/m. Don’t worry I’m also still trying to figure out what the definition of abject poverty is if this amount falls under that description. 

The horror of this event though was the amount of violence involved and the way people got killed. Police are alleged to have gone on a rampage and people dropped dead or injured everywhere. Before the police opened fire, 10 had been hacked to death by the striking minors themselves and by the time the police were finished that number had increased to 44. 

I can’t imagine the pain and anger of those who lost their loved ones on both sides (miners and police). My heart goes out to them and I pray that God help them through this time of suffering. 

Mining is a cold, heartless business that cares only about the bottom line.  And I’m still asking myself, was this demand for an increase worth even one of those lives? Now political hyenas are using this tragedy to meet their own needs. Pointing fingers at whoever is in opposition, fuelling the fire to meet their own agendas. Not in the least bit concerned with helping resolve things.  It’s all been made into a travesty of ridiculous proportions. God help us.

The other things that really irked me today was reading an article from one of the local newspapers. I wasn’t irritated by the covering of the strike, I just  wish people wouldn't sensationalize unsubstantiated statements".

South Africa remains possibly the most unequal society in the world,- the black majority still faces a life of poverty and toil, if they are lucky enough to even find work; while the still largely white elite, enjoy a life more familiar to the suburbs of Atlanta or Los Angeles, than a country in which over the half the country’s citizens live below the poverty line, without access to basic services. Amandla Pub.

 South Africa is not "possibly the most unequal country in the world”. Does this writer person know how big and unequal the world is. Have they stepped foot just north of our country. Our neighbors both near and far don’t even bother to raise their voices because they know in their position they mean nothing to no one. Have they heard of places like India who are living far below the breadline, etc. I don't condone what has happened by any means but I just wish some of these journalists wouldn’t give the world the impression that you can't get worse than South Africa. When in fact we are a beautiful country that is working on its social ills like any other. That is simply malicious.

Is Culture The Unwelcome Ingredient In Marriage?

Last weekend my family on my husband’s side came over to see the baby. I ended up enjoying myself immensely during that gathering which was something of a surprise to me. Why it should surprise me is that I never really know what to expect from that side of the family because we are so different, background, tradition and so on. Im always full of apprehension.

even the way we (South Africans) entertain is completely different to the way Nigerians do. But i’m happy to say that the prospect of holding these gatherings is not as strenuous as it used to feel because I don’t worry about it so much anymore. Anyway one of my brother in-laws that I feel most comfortable with always seems to get into discussion and debate with me every time we meet.

This time it was about culture and inevitably its role in marriage. I feel very strongly about this issue which I think is understandable because it seems to be that African men use culture as an opportunity to get out of responsibility and excuse incompetence. 

Infact I am persuaded that culture is the reason many marriages get into trouble because what is culture and tradition after all. Some rules set by old men who being bored of sitting in the sun decided to think of ways to enslave the females in their lives to their benefit even more. And then it becomes even worse when you marry into a different nationality because suddenly who you are and your history become completely insignificant incomparison to your husband and his background. 

When my husband and I got married, our counsellor told us to take culture out of the equation and use the Bible as the basis to set standards for behaviour in our marriage. And funny enough the men work very hard at misrepresenting this too in order to get their way. Be that as it may, I maintain that it is better to submit to biblical principles and use these as reference for behaviours in marriage than talk about my culture or your culture that has no basis. 

I know this has turned into a bit of a incomprehensible  tantrum on my side but what roles has culture played in your relationships and how have you handled hick ups if it ever created  any?

Things I Love

I had such fun today, in fact for the last couple of weeks its been good. Good enough to almost feel all is right with the world again and to come by here and say howdy?

"What have you been up to Wendy?" you might ask. 

Today specifically I went shopping and did myself proud finding good deals on winter stuff for everyone except me of course. Even my nanny got shoes and a sweatshirts. That's moms' for you right, nothing new there.

If only someone loved me enough  :-)

The last two weeks I've been in and out of antique and collectable shops  so I'm brimming with ideas, I even ordered two mirrors for the main bedroom which I can't wait to get. I found the most delightful antique dealer that also does great reproductions of 17th to 19th century furniture. We can't all afford the real thing you know, even the reproductions are easily out of reach for most. Check out these Victorian nightstands which i think are fabulosity itself but ridiculously priced at $423 for one by the same store.**sad sigh**

Good news though, I started buying art again as  result of my trips into these obcure little quaint places in Johannesburg. Happiness. 

There are still challenges with my online life though. One, I still don't have a laptop of my own and am stealing hubbies when possible and two, I only got a nanny last week so I'm so busy to catching up on everything else I barely have time to visit to my blog life. But things are looking up, at some point I was a tad bit concerned that I might not get to come back to mine and your blogs which of course would just be tragic.

We are all of 3 months and 4 days today.

Oops, nearly slipped my mind. Here's the latest pic of le bambino **in my head that sounded Italian**. Ain't she just absolutely divine? Even if I'm a little biased. This is the most beautifully calm baby ever, if i'd known this is what exclusive breastfeeding does I'd have made more effort with the others..

Next. I've been busy trying to get the house in order as best as a not working mother can so mostly its turning out to be DIY decor on a diaper budget. Its either that or live in an empty house until I can afford new things again and that would just be enough to have me slit my wrists. So I've been educating myself. In my last posts I mentioned my sewing endeavours. Well that hasn't really gotten anywhere. I've discovered I don't have the patience for all the detail that goes into making clothes. Maybe it will come but I much better prefer the feeling of walking into the house and seeing something I've made in a jiffy. Like my kitchen curtans which I wipped up in two hours this week because my white ones just had no character. I'm quite proud of them but am sure in six months time after i'll have more practice i'll look at them in shame and say to self: what were you doing? _ that's what I said when I took off my other self made ones to replace them with these. By the way this Kathryn White print I got the other day was inspiration for the curtain choice. I love it.

Before
(It had a green
 faded velvet seat).
I was mending broken bits
and sanding by the time I
took this pic *sorry*.

After

I have a chair in my bedroom which was my first upcyle/reupholstery project and I think its time for another and hopefully I'll do better second time around. I picked this chair up at an antique dealer for about $7 because I needed something temporary in the room. I got an off cut fabric from a reuphosterer and went on with my trail and error. I didn't think it was half bad thereafter to be honest I still don't. I'll just cover the upholstery with a boy's room worthy fabric and stick it in my son's room for a desk chair. Believe it or not, covering a straight forward chair with like takes about 30 min. if you have what you need. Does that make you think about your dining table chairs?

I've decided to create a page for my DIY stuff because I've made other things and am in the process of upcycling and repurposing an old bookshelf into 3 separate units (a bookshelf, a linen cupboard and amoire for kitchenware) . I'll stick my detailed instructions on there in case there's another nut out there like yours truly. I find DIY therapeutic and rewarding and can almost guarantee that its the only hobby out there that's an investment with immediate and long term returns.

I can't believe that before the year is over I have reconnected with most of the things I loved. As you know if you follow my blog, things have been tenuous this year and I've been at the precipice of despair a number of times. But glory be to God, here I am, smiling again. I hope life is making you smile too.

Love and kisses from another  DIY Diva!

Fabulously Fashionable @ Zando Online

Monika Nyzio Ankle Boot Espresso

I don't normally do these but I really wanted to send a shout out about Zando , an online shopping site.

One of the things I really envy about living in the States and Europe is the shopping variety and methods. Its taking a while for us here in good old SA to catch up but its really refreshing to find that its not for lack of trying. Just recently I was introduced to a fantastic store and I love it so much its bookmarked on my iPad. One of the things to love about it besides the fabulous fashions is that if you're an SA customer is the free delivery on all items.  Who doesn't right? I'd rather spend my money on the actual shopping than paying for my stuff to get delivered. Love it. And then as you browse through their many brands you find that they have something for everyone's pockets. I have a shoe fetish so that's where i've been spending my time as you can see. Check out the variety in terms of price.

Zoom Ankle Boot R599

Even more important though is the love I feel for businesses who know their client and cater for them. In this case meaning they accommodate a variety of payment options which are accessible to all. We are not as big as the States and the like on online shopping for many socio-economic reasons but nothing is more irritating for those who are into it then wanting to buy something online only to find that they only accommodate credit cards and Paypal, which the majority of people on this side of the globe either don't prefer, don't know about or don't have access to. Double the love here.

Zinka Ankle Boot on sale for R465 

So you can imagine my happiness when Zando asked to be mentioned on my blog. I jumped at the opportunity especially because I get a voucher which I can't wait to spend. By the way i'm also giving you an opportunight to grab one of their vouchers. All you have to do is check out www.zando.co.za and comeback here to comment on what you think you'll spend your R100 voucher towards. I have 5 X R100 vouchers to give away and you have until the 13th May 2012 to post your comment here with your email and name. If you one of the lucky ones you'll receive a voucher number from me which you'll use towards your purchase. I'll be giving away more at Fabulosity Reads as Zando was generous enough to send me 10 vouchers. You may be twice  lucky if you read my book review blog. Watch this space.......

In the meantime check them out, they even have a tab for items less than R300. Happy winter shopping.
PS! Don't forget to leave your name and email in your comment.

Meet Mikaela, Our Latest Gift

Finally I am able to take a moment to introduce you to our latest family member who is 15 days old today. Time flies ridiculously fast. Things have been a little hectic but she makes it easy by being the most wonderfully behaved baby in the world.
We all fell in love with her immediately and her little sisters especially Ariyel, the older one, just can't get enough of her. Bath times have become a great treat and opportunity to sing all the songs learnt at nursery school.
Its odd how you manage to live without someone for so long but when they arrive in your life you simply can't imagine them never being there. Its truly the magic of what makes families.

Well friends I have to run. I feel positively cowish these days. I'm breastfeeding as usual you see and am once again having intimate relations with my mammary glands.
You see the link to the cow right? Milk....udders....permanent exposure. I here the milking bell ringing... until next time....cheers!