Mia's Birthday Party Invitation

My sister is such a talented designer! 

Mia has specified that she wants a "red Minnie mouse party."

We're having a small party for family on her actual birthday which will be Saturday the 21st, and then the party with all the mommies and friends on the Monday morning.  (Tuesday the 24th is a public holiday, so lots of schools are closed on the Monday and people are making a long weekend of it.)

It's the first time we have her party at home, I hope it's going to work out, space is very limited...
Have booked a jumping castle, and am planning a "plant-a-seedling" activity for the kids.  Will do an arts-and-craft station.  And other than that they can eat cake! ;-)

The fun thing is that though I hired the jumping castle for the Monday, the supplier said they will bring it on the Friday already.  So Mia will have her very own jumping castle for her b'day weekend, yay!

xx

Nanny issues! *cry*

Oh gosh, have been through a stressful time, actually don't even know where to begin.

Last week Celia didn't come to work because she was sick.  High blood pressure, bronchitis, dizziness, tremors.

This week, on Tuesday, Celia and her daughter Salamina came here, so that they could talk to me and so that Salamina could do some cleaning, laundry, help look after Mia, etc.

They told me Celia is too sick to work.  The high blood pressure affects her eye sight and memory, apparently... not too sure about these symptoms!  But she looks bad, very ill, and sometimes couldn't even talk to me and would mumble to Salamina and then she would talk to me... 

Salamina offered to work in Celia's place.  I'm unsure about this, as she's not used to working, and Celia has told me on numerous occasions that Salamina doesn't like to work...  But, Mia is comfortable and happy to stay with Salamina, which is a big advantage, so I have decided to give her one month's trial period for the duration of September, and we can see how it goes.

Now, the biggest stressor comes in with the "retirement package" I offered Celia.  I didn't really know what to call it, as it's not really retirement as such, Celia is only 53.  I didn't retrench her, and she didn't resign.  So it's a tricky situation.

We offered her the following:
 - We will continue to pay off her outstanding electricity account, which we started doing for her a few months ago.  It's a total of R150 per month, and there's still about R2500 outstanding.
 - R1000 cash, either at once, or R500 over two months or R250 over four months.
 - I will continue to put airtime on her cell phone occasionally.

She was unhappy with this.  She says, "after six years, this is all I get?"  So I ask her what did she want, and she didn't specify, just talks about UIF and policies and crap. 

Now unfortunately I am in the wrong because I never registered her for UIF.  I tried a while ago, but I needed to supply MY UIF number in order to get one for her, and I don't have a UIF number, so I just left it...

I personally feel that it's a good deal we're offering her...  Especially as giving her more cash, but not paying her electricity bill wouldn't be beneficial for her, as she won't use the cash to pay her electricity.

She told me she's going to go to the labour department.

I am so distressed, shocked and infuriated, that this is the route she wants to take.

I told her to think carefully about what she wants to do, as no lawyer can tell us we have to pay her electricity bill, so I'm sure whatever other deal they suggest, it's going to be less than what we're offering her in total.

So now we wait.  I think Wyn will have to handle it all, I just get too emotional.

I feel sorry for her, and wish I could give her more, but we literally can't pay her more than that, and besides, if Salamina is going to work for us in her place, there will still be that income for their household, whereas if she's going to go the nasty route, I'll rather cut clean and not have Salamina work here...

I've been really upset the last couple of days, but then a friend gave me a good comparison just now.  "Worry is like a rocking chair.  It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere."  So true.  What will be will be.

And this way we learn the lesson the hard way, to make sure with any future employees that we do all the correct registrations, paperwork, etc...

xx

My Little Helper in the Salon!

Celia has been off sick this week, so Mia's had to come with me to the salon a couple of times while I see clients.

She's been so good!  I take her portable DVD-player with, then she sits quietly watching a programme.  Or she rearranges my nail polishes, or plays with my nail files.  Every now and then she'll come and squiz what I'm doing.  Sometimes she'll bring something to the client and say, "here, client!"

Whenever a client leaves, Mia hops up on the treatment bed and I must give her a "facial".  I rub some cream on, and she loves it.  Today, after doing this, she said, "OK, now mommy's turn!" And oooh what bliss having such tiny hands rubbing cream on my face!

I adored how she did it, complete with two hands following the same sequence, exactly how I do it.  Too special for words, I loved it.

What a precious lil helper I have! ♥

xx

We're making our own biltong!

About two weeks ago Wyn bought us a biltong maker!  It's a Mellerware Biltong King.  Got it for R300 from Kalahari, bargain!

At first we did some dried apple and dried strawberry to test it out, while we waited to get the proper spice from the inlaws - it worked well for the fruit, the strawberry was especially yummy.

Last week we started with biltong strips.  We got four flavours from Mom-in-law:  Original biltong, BBQ, Chili, and Coriander.

We bought 1kg of silverside steak at the butcher, Wyn cut off the excess fat and cut into strips, divided into four, so that we could try all four spices.  I was so impressed with Wyn.  Who knew he was such a pro at making biltong!

The biltong was ready after 3 nights!  So quick, woohoo!

One mistake we made, was that we used wire paperclips to hang the strips. (The hooks supplied are plastic, but weren't enough for all our strips.)  Big mistake!  That part of the biltong stick has a very horrible sharp metallic taste, oops.  Had to cut that piece off each one.  Nala didn't complain though!

Our favourite flavour was the chili one.  They all needed quite a bit of extra salt.
Our second batch we did only chili and bbq, with added salt, and they came out great!
We put our third batch in last night, we did chili again, hehe, and then coriander with extra salt and pepper.  Already impatient for them to be ready.

I'm stoked about this, because biltong is specifically the main snack the dietician recommended for me, and I'm trying really hard to stick to her plan.  Biltong sticks on tap - perfect! ;-)

Pinterest recipes that I've tried

I drew some inspiration from my friend's blog, where she did this post about Paleo recipes she had tried and tested - and decided to share some of the Pinterest recipes I've come across and tried!

I absolutely adore Pinterest and can spend hours browsing pins!  I have a Food Ideas board, as well as a 'Paleolicious' board with specific Paleo recipes.  Follow me on Pinterest, my username is JessV83!

The recipes I want to share today, are not from the healthier, Paleolicious board, but from the "Food Ideas" - where there are still quite a few delicious-looking and sounding recipes...

Warning - these are not low-fat or healthy recipes... But for a once-in-a-while treat and indulgence, they're absolutely perfect!

Taco Soup

Recipe here

 

 I absolutely loved this Taco Soup.   I didn't use turkey, just beef mince.  And used red kidney beans, and butter beans. I couldn't find dry ranch dressing, so left that out, and didn't use any yoghurt.  The Woolies mild chunky salsa worked great!  This was a winner, I can't wait to make it again!

Spicy Sausage Pasta

Recipe here

 

I've already made this sausage pasta THREE times!  It's so easy and quick to make, and truly truly delicious. A crowd-pleaser for sure.  My mouth waters just thinking about it!  The only change I made to this recipe is that I don't know what a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes are, so used a normal can of diced tomatoes, and then added half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to make it spicy!  I used Woolies frankfurter sausages.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Recipe here 

 

This casserole is a winner, I've also made it a couple of times already, including for all the book club girls when it was my turn to host!
I didn't use Swiss cheese, just mozzarella slices.  That mixture of Salticrax with the paprika, garlic salt and parsley is absolutely divine and so clever!  Another dish that I would highly recommend!

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

Recipe here

 

Quick, easy, tender and delicious!
My hubby isn't mad about things that are too obviously creamy, he ate this, but it wasn't a favourite for him though.  I really enjoyed it!

Chocolate Nutella & Sea Salt Fudge

Recipe here

 

I have already done a separate blog post on this fudge, but just had to include it in this collection, because it is positively the best fudge I have EVER tasted. Addictive. Make it, now!!! And then go to the gym for 5 hours! ;-)

And then lastly, a recipe that I haven't made yet, but it's definitely on my list to make asap, it looks and sounds so yummy:

Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Recipe here

 

Please share if you try any of these, would love to know if you loved these as much as I did!
xx

Learning to Dance in the Rain

I have been feeling a bit unsettled lately.  Disconcerted.  Anxious.

I am frustrated by my skincare business not making me enough money. 

I have spent way too much time lately looking at real estate websites and dreaming about houses that we cannot afford.

My skin has been suffering breakout after breakout after breakout.

I have wasted R300 worth of ovulation predictor tests – all of them negative - seems that where I wanted to fall pregnant as soon as possible, my body has other ideas.

I hate how I lose 1kg, only to gain 1.4kg the next week.  What a frustrating never-ending journey…

I have been very jaded and lacklustre lately, and I really don’t like this version of myself.

So I have decided to make a conscious effort… to just breathe… relax…

I must be thankful and grateful for what I have, because I know that I am very blessed.

I must keep the faith that things will come right – my business might not make me the bucks I wanted, but wow, I work from home, have lots of time to spend with my daughter, and I’m my own boss.  Our dream home might be outside our reach for the time being, but one day, one day.  My skin will come right again… I will fall pregnant again… I will lose weight again…

For now, I must enjoy the little things.  And count my blessings.  And find the contentment I am usually filled with again.  I must see the world through Mia’s eyes, where a tea party is just the best thing ever!

Some words and quotes that have touched me today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I won, I won!

I am so stoked!  I never win anything, but I do like to enter competitions.  Surely the odds should be in my favour eventually, right? Right!

I love this blog, Lipgloss Kisses, and entered to win a Bio-Oil hamper a few weeks ago.
Today I got notified that I won it!  See the post here.  Yay!!!

Thanks so much for running this competition Chicara & Bio-Oil!  I am super excited and can't wait to receive my hamper!
xx

Zoo Outing!

We went to the Pretoria Zoo yesterday.  It was so nice to spend time with my two loves, just the three of us.  It was a stunning day, sunshiny and bright.

It was the first time we visited the Pta Zoo.  Gosh, horrible part of town!  And the parking wasn't very nice either, R20 for a dirt road parking full of hawkers bugging us, and having to cross a super busy road to get to the zoo.

The zoo itself is huge!  Well-kept - but can see it's seen better days.  The animals all looked fine, and most of them had nice big enclosures.

We spent over 3 hours walking around - great calorie-burn, hehe!  Gosh, what a big selection of animals, let me try and remember what we saw:
Flamingos, variety of buck, variety of birds, leopard, monkeys, hyenas, gorilla, bear, tigers, lions, forest giraffe, elephants, zebras, hippo, rhino, camel, seals, koala bears, kangaroos, penguins, fish in the aquarium, alligator, dassies, porcupine, lemurs, buffalo and owls.

Really a great day out!

Love this quote!

So glad it's a brand new month, July was way too much of a rollercoaster ride. 
Just a month to go til spring time, woohoo! ♥

Samsung Tablet, woohoo!

Such a spoilt girl, I am!  Wyn got himself a Samsung Tab last week, and saw how much I enjoyed playing around with it on the weekend.  I thought we would all just share his tablet - but then on Monday night he got me my own one.  A white one, with a bright pink cover.  LOVE it!!!

I still have a LOT to learn about it though - for now been browsing apps, have downloaded some games for Mia, and, of course, Instagram - so pleased to finally join the world of Instagram.

I'm looking forward to finding a nice appointment book type app, then I can use it for all my salon bookings too.

Oh, how in awe I am of technology!
xx

Mia's favourite books

Mia loves bedtime - because it means it's story time!  I am happy to see that Mia looks as though she will love books as much as I do... And we're having fun in the book shops, adding to her collection in her bookshelf!  Just the other day she and I spent a happy half hour on the floor of Exclusive Books, both going "ooooh" and "aaaah"!

Here's a collection of her favourite books at the moment. She can already quote full paragraphs from most of these books.  I'll include some of these quotes beneath each pic!

"A mouse went for a stroll in a deep dark wood.  A fox saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good."

 "A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?  Why, don't you know? He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws!"
 

"Buzz off! That's MY witch!"

"He's somewhere nearby... Eating gruffalo pie!"

The other day I told her I'm busy reading a magazine, and she quoted this book, "hush now, I'm trying to read my favourite magazine."

 "Kisses on noses, kisses on toes-es. Who likes to kiss?  I do, I do! Frogs like to kiss, and dogs like to kiss! 'Normous elephants do, and little tiny ants do!"

 

This is the newest book, so no quotes yet.

We choose one or two books per night, and often at the end she'll say, "let's read it again!"  Bedtime routine just got quite a bit longer...  But it's so special, I enjoy reading to her!  Although I do draw the line after reading the same story 3 times in a row!

xx

Coping with the miscarriage

I'm doing OK.  Surprisingly OK.

I feel at peace that these things happen for a reason.  It's out of my control, it wasn't caused by something I did or didn't do.  It just wasn't meant to be.

I think what makes it easier to cope, is that it happened so very early on in the pregnancy.  I don't need a d&c (scrape), and there wasn't a heartbeat at all yet.  I'm sure these things are much more traumatic once one has actually seen or heard the heartbeat, or when one needs a hospital procedure after a miscarriage, or if it's further along in a pregnancy.

No mistake, I was an emotional mess the first two days, even refusing to talk to anybody on the telephone due to being so very tearful...  But then I accepted what had happened, and realised that I am truly ready to try conceive again as soon as possible.

I had a check-up at my gynea yesterday.  She initially said I don't even need to come in for a check-up, it's unnecessary, but I wanted closure, and I'm glad I went.  Everything looks fine and normal, and we can TTC (try to conceive) immediately.  She recommends that I carry on with my pregnancy vitamins, and take Inofolic supplements too, which is a form of folic acid.  She also gave me two blood test forms to use when I get my next BFP (big fat positive) - I must go for the hcg-count and progesterone blood tests 48 hours apart, to see that all is as it should be.  If I had done it this way last week, we would have known from the start that the pregnancy was not viable...

The gynea says that miscarriages before 5 weeks of pregnancy are extremely common - often women don't even know they were pregnant to begin with and think it's just a late cycle.  It just has to do with the way the cells came together or the way they had to implant, that it just doesn't always work out the way it should.  She called it a 'chemical pregnancy'.

I feel a bit betrayed by my own body...  I am also astounded at the power of the mind - I felt so pregnant, I was experiencing typical pregnancy symptoms such as extreme tiredness, hunger, heightened sense of smell, sensitive boobs... Now I'm not sure if those were all imagined, some how.

Wyn has been a rock of support this week, making dinner, letting me take things easy.  He takes an infuriating approach of "shit happens"...  But he's also positive that we'll fall pregnant again as soon as possible.

Mia doesn't really understand... But she has been so, so special, wiping my tears and hugging me lots.  She brought me the pregnancy book and said "let's see how baby is growing", and I told her there is no baby anymore, she said, "who took our baby?" which set off my waterworks again, so she fetched a tissue and wiped my tears again.  Then she got another tissue, but looked all perplexed when she saw the tears had stopped, so she said, "cry mommy, cry for our baby!" Which got me into a fit of both laughter and tears, because it's so sad, and funny, and a lil bit twisted.

I do, however, understand now why so many people wait until 8 weeks, or even 12 weeks, before sharing the news of their pregnancy with their family and friends.  The job of having to tell everyone, family, friends, forum friends and Facebook friends that the happy news I shared two weeks ago, is now no more... was quite emotionally draining.  But the support was amazing, I got so many special messages from so, so many people, and I appreciated each and every one of them.  I'm sure that's another reason why I'm coping so well, because I have had so many thoughts and prayers coming my way!

Next time around, I will only tell close family and friends, and not shout it from the roof tops like I did... Which is a pity, I like to share good news... But I'll definitely be more cautious next time.

I am very keen to TTC immediately, and I hope that within no time at all I'll be able to carry on where I stopped off, with baby shopping, chatting to Mia about being a big sister, thinking about the sleep deprivation I'm in for, etc. 
But for now...  I will enjoy my glass of wine still!
xx

Miscarriage :'-(

I'm devastated.

I started bleeding yesterday afternoon.

Went to a GP at Intercare who has an ultrasound machine. She did scan, but couldn't find embryo at all, but said maybe it's too early on to detect - did blood test to check hcg levels.
They're way too low. :-( :-( :-(
And bleeding so much.

Had to do more blood tests for my gynea to look at and then she'll phone me for an appointment.  Hope I can see her soon.

I'm heartbroken, but i'll be OK. I know these things happen for a reason, and a March sibling just wasn't meant to be. We can try again.

xx

Potty Training

I've been taking a very relaxed approach to potty training with Mia.  Put her on the toilet before bath time, sometimes she makes a wee, sometimes not.  She doesn't ever tell me before she needs the loo, not even for a number two.  I think that's one disadvantage that toddlers have who stay at home - kids who go to school do potty train a lot faster because of structured potty training amongst all the peers.

But mostly I think winter has put me off actively potty training her - who wants to spend lots of time sitting on a cold toilet seat, walking around bare bum, or with wet broeks! 

However, she's been showing more and more interest in wanting to go nappy-free.  So I've decided mid-winter or not, let's tackle this thing a bit more pro-actively!

I made her a potty training chart, to stick lil star stickers on every time she does her business in the toilet, and after a couple of stars, she can get a present. 

I bought three gifts so long to get started - a set of glitter bangles, a Pez sweetie holder with Pez sweets, and a little Hello Kitty digital watch.  I wrapped them up, showed the prezzies to her and explained to her that she needs a couple of stars first. 

Yesterday went very well with two wee's in the loo! Yay!

I'm hoping to be nappy-free for at least a few months before the nappy-drill starts all over again with a newborn!
xx

Xmas in July Pajama Party!

Two weekends ago, a few friends got together and had a Christmas in July Pajama Party.

It was SO much fun.  It's necessary to switch off from mommy-mode sometimes, I think.  And what better way to do so, than with good friends, good wine, yummy snacks, dressed in pajamas, and getting Xmas presents in July! ;-)

It was actually a sleep-over party too - but I didn't stay the night, came home around midnight. I like my own bed best. ;-)

Special times.
xx