Making changes

I have made quite a few changes to my online life. 

I don't do Forums anymore.  Okay, I lie, I sometimes go onto the local forum for parents / families of kids with cancer.  I'm not very active on it, but if there was a particular topic I felt I could add something to then I might respond.  I also have a few good friends / contacts on there from the time we walked the leukemia journey.  So I do visit this forum at times, but no other forums. 

Twitter is something I tried before, but I really and truly don't see the point in sharing with the online world every thing about me and where I might be and what I might be doing every 5 minutes in 140 characters or less. Some thrive on it, but I find it odd that somebody would write something like "just had lunch at XYZ - how amazing"  "At ABC getting my hair done"  "my kid just said poop in the middle of the XXX store - I'm so embarrassed"  And so I can't remember when last I accessed my Twitter account.  Sure, at some point I'll have to do it for our business, but then it will have a business focus.

Facebook.  Ahhh, Facebook.  Facebook was something I was incredibly reluctant to even start using, but then slowly but surely got dragged into this world.  And for a while it was a very valuable thing in my life.  It connected me to others during a time when we were so isolated and cut off from the world.  It put us in touch with others going through the same journey as we were walking.  So it wasn't all bad.  But lately I have noticed more and more how some people simply use Facebook to spread their negativity.  Or their hatred for others.  Or their political agendas.  Or even their attempt to spite others.  I've even had a "friend" actually replying to a status update I wrote and in no uncertain terms telling me off.  I simply wrote that it felt like summer was close to coming to an end.  So I got told off virtually within 2 minutes of putting up this status update.  This particular person felt very strongly that I was completely and utterly wrong and that even though technically summer was going to be over in less than a month, she simply didn't look at things that way and that as far as she was concerned summer was definitely NOT nearly over.  Sigh!  Really?  It was an innocent remark.  It didn't even ask for a response.  It certainly wasn't asking to start a debate over who was right and who was wrong.  But whatever.  So yes, I started getting really really irritated with Facebook.  So now I have completely stopped using it.  I have simply not been back.  The profile is still there, but I have no real interest to spend any time on it at the moment. I might change my mind at some point, but for now, this is good!

Blogging will always be something I enjoy even if I don't do it all that often.  And I enjoy reading other blogs.  There are a few cancer blogs I still follow and I love blogs that just deals with life.  Or topics that are so incredibly funny that when you try to read it to your husband you laugh so much he just looks at you like there is something seriously wrong with you.  Blogs that just deals with interesting things people get up to.  I don't like blogs that constantly deal with negativity.  I'm not talking about blogs where people are truly dealing with challenges like cancer or another illness or even something as traumatic as a divorce.  I'm talking about people who simply complain for the sake of complaining.  They seem to have a comfortable life.  They are not dealing with any major illnesses or other traumatic experiences, they have a good job, domestic help at home, they enjoy a range of luxuries, but despite all these things for them life is never good.  Life always suck.  They hate their life.  They simply can never see anything positive.  I don't deny the fact that they might not cope with living life, but I find it so draining to constantly be exposed to that.  So I choose to rather distance myself from that.  And it annoys me when every single topic is about comments.  Or the lack of comments.  Or how badly they want to have comments.  Sure comments are nice, but does it really matter when there are times when people don't comment?  When I look at my statcounter I can see people visited.  I can see they stopped by.  And that is the nice thing.  And after all, blogging for me is very much also a place to share snippets of our life journey also, so somewhere to look back one day and say "wow, just look at all the things we experienced, look at how we simply lived life".  And so yes, I have become rather selective with the blogs I enjoy following.  And I guess it just shows that we are all different.  We all have different ideas and interests and the beauty of the blogging world is that it can put you in touch with others who have similar interests and ideas.

I love how my kids:

• Giggle at their own silly little jokes and games
• I love how their faces light up when they see you
• I love how they ask for the sleepy time song I made up when Bianca was only a few weeks old
• I love how they say I'm the best mum in the whole wide world
• I love how they don't throw temper tantrums. Ever. Not even when we go to the park and we have to leave.  Or go past the toy shop.  Or when they want something.
• I love how they have become independent little girls.
• I love how excited they get to help out at home.  They like to pack the shoes neatly, tidy the DVDs and even help clean the bathroom mirror and cabinet.
• And I love how they will quietly close the door on a weekend morning and play and keep themselves busy until we get up.  And then to go one step further - and this morning Bianca made scrambled eggs all by herself (from the recipe she wrote in her recipe book) and she made Terence and I toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  All by herself.  And it tasted good!  Yum!

A chilly update...

This morning we woke to this:

These are the mountains / ranges / hills (whatever you want to call it) that we see when we look out our kitchen window (the brown house at the bottom of the bottom photo is our neighbours just across from our house, the middle one people on the corner about 2 houses away and the top one a little further down the street).  Up to now it has not been THAT cold.  I mean it's been chilly and we've had some rubbish weather with rain and hail and even a tornado, but today was freeze-your-fingers-off cold.  Brrrrr!!!!  So we had the fire going all day pretty much.

This morning the kids had friends over and after they left the girls were watching a DVD and I was looking out of the glass sliding door by our lounge and saw this:

I believe they are Eastern Rosellas.  A type of parrot that is really native to Australia, but was introduced a long time ago to New Zealand.  They are actually considered a pest as far as I can find out because they compete with our native birds for food.  But they are so beautiful.  And no they are not tame.  I've seen them before, but they are usually too quick for me to actually take photos of them, but today they were taking their time in our one tree.

Not long after, our rain suddenly changed.  We could actually see snowflakes.  It didn't settle on the ground, but for about 10 minutes or so it actually snowed.  The kids were totally excited and fascinated and couldn't believe their eyes.  I think the only disappointment was that it didn't snow enough so they could actually have snow on the ground to make a snowman :-)

Here is a small video clip of the girls' reaction:

A netball cake

Yesterday was Bianca's last holiday netball session.  She absolutely loved the netball sessions and I'm hopeful she's learned a few things that will help her with the remaining matches next term.  So for the session yesterday they decided to have a shared afternoon tea.

Bianca insisted that she was going to make a cake to take.  And it had to be a netball kind of cake.  So we consulted our trusty friend Google to get some ideas and some inspiration.  In the end Bianca decided that we would do a netball court cake.  And it had to be pink.  And so we made a rectangular cake and made some pink butter icing.  Bianca then used pink sugar paste icing and made the lines on the court.  For the poles we got some red liquorice sticks with round circle bits cut from left-over cake and for the people Bianca stuck lollipops.  Red ones and yellow ones for the two teams of players.  Oh and Bianca added little marshmallows all around the side.

I think it looked really cool.  When we got to the netball everybody was so impressed and all we heard was "oh wow!  It is a netball court!  I have to take a photo!" Bianca felt so proud.  And there wasn't even a tiny bit left when I picked Bianca up at the end of the session. 

Photo taken by the holiday programme netball coordinator

If you are Afrikaans

Then you will likely appreciate this.  I have to thank Cat from Juggling Act of Life - she commented on my post yesterday asking me if I knew the story from Dana Snyman about Anneli van Rooyen's Neem my op vlerke.  So I consulted "trusty friend Google" and stumbled upon this story.  It has been a long time since I laughed this much!!!