Hair-do

So where was I? Yip, I know, the silence has been long again and again the excuses are work related: the last couple of weekends I have been working on a talk that I was giving to work mates and found that the preparation did really take a lot longer than anticipated. Oh and the health hasn't been good either (but I am much better now). So, back to my question of "where was I?" and the reply being the last news I passed on was about cat-sitting. On with the stories...

I am not much of a person to pamper themselves, hair-cut now and then, don't go to the beauty salon to get nails done etc. So it was with great excitement (granted more my friend's excitement than mine) that we headed off to get our hair cut and styled. I was little nervous because I never know what to say to the hairdresser and never know what style to go for. Anyway, after a little confusion as to which hairdresser we were getting (I was supposed to get the guy and friend was supposed to get the girl, but there was a mixup and I got the girl and friend got the guy) our hair was attacked. Both styles turned out great and if I spend a little time in the mornings sorting my hair out it turns out really curly (which it is naturally so anyway) with my fringe to the side. No pictures... sorry! But I was really happy with it and still am! And the price wasn't too bad either. My friend's hair also looked good and I think she was happy with it too. So all in all a nice little pamper session followed by good food, cooked by my friends! They are good to me!

Here kitty kitty kitty...

A number of weekends ago (16 Sept) my friends had to go away for the weekend and asked if I wouldn't mind cat-sitting. I said not, as the cat is a cool cat and I was willing to help my friends out too. However, I decided that instead of cat sitting at their house, I would see how he (the cat) felt about staying at my place. The weather was going to be rubbish the whole weekend anyway (according to the forecast) so the cat wouldn't be going outside, so why not try it (this would be a useful experiment too for later possible cat-sitting moments)?

So, Friday after work I headed to the cat's house (his name is Kappa) and bundled him into his carrier without too much hassle (although he wasn't happy to be in the box)! The drive home was a little long, interrupted by the odd "meeeow" as if to say "are we there yet?" On arriving at my place I released the cat and he started exploring the house under my watchful eye: to be honest I was a little nervous about him wanting to scratch things, although he doesn't seem to do this in his own home! After a little while following him around, I decided to collect the rest of his stuff out of the car and then settle in for the evening (taking some photos in the process)...


(Left) Initially Kappa seemed a bit nervous and found a spot on the bed looking out my upstairs window for some comfort...



(Right)... after a bit of food and more exploring things went pretty quiet and I went looking for my guest, only to find that he was "relaxing" in the dark, two steps down from the top of my staircase - I still wish I knew why this was considered a "good spot".

That night I, admittedly, didn't sleep too well as I was concerned about rolling ontop of the cat; he found his blanket at the foot of the bed (on the bed) so was technically out of the way, but still I do tend to kick and move while sleeping, so didn't want to hurt him. He did wander off a bit during the night and at one stage when I was in a deep sleep he thought it would be a good idea to jump on my back (I was sleeping on my tummy at this point). I freaked as I had temporarily forgotten about the cat and didn't know what was going on! Unfortunately he also got a fright, due to my reaction! We did both manage to settle down again, with no further incidents.

By Saturday Kappa seemed pretty settled in...

... making me wish I could be a cat too! How peaceful he looks! We spent the day relaxing, with me reading or watching tv (attempted to blog but Kappa wanted to sit on the computer and I didn't want him to, so stopped all computer work) and Kappy mostly sleeping and looking for attention. We even played a bit with his toys (which is amazing as he doesn't play that often according to his owners!)

Sunday morning saw me trying to get Kappa back in the box! He didn't like this and managed to escape me... but not for long. I thought I had "lost" him when he ducked behind my couch, however he was silly enough to keep running a popped out the other end where I managed to grab him and put him in the box. I was impressed that he didn't try to scratch or bite me, but instead protested with lots of meows and scrabbling legs (claws retracted). Once in the box though he settled nicely and our journey back to his home was uneventful (with a couple more "are we there yet" meows).

It was a fun weekend (for me at least) and made me wish I had a pet, although not a cat as I am still very much a dog-person. Oh well, something to look forward to in the future (way, way in the future!) when I have more time and money!

Slow, slow. Quick! Quick! Slow…

Tuesday nights have now become another activity night for me, since my friend and I joined local classes of ballroom dancing! So far we have had three lessons and have learnt steps for the fox-trot, the cha-cha and the modern waltz. I know I have covered these before in other classes, but I am hoping to use this course as a refresher course (which I do need as I have forgotten a number of steps) before moving to the intermediate levels. It is also another way for me to meet more people from the area and to feel more involved in the community. So, between ballroom and tennis I feel pretty active, or I would if the weather was good enough to stay dry on Monday and Wednesday nights for tennis, and if my body would decide to stop feeling ill at other times when the weather looked great!! Hopefully at some point soon I will also return to squash, which technically was going to be tonight (1st October) but I really don’t see that happening despite me feeling better (I have been fighting off a cold bug thing these last couple of days which has been making me feel rather exhausted and out of it!). Maybe next weekend I will pluck up the energy and go smack a squash ball around – could prove amusing for a number of reasons! Updates will be provided.

I want to ride my bicycle...

Yip, I now have new wheels… a bicycle! You may laugh! I know people did when I borrowed a bike while living in Grahamstown and I decided to try cycling around instead of using my car. But I don’t care! I have been thinking about getting a bike for a while now (granted a short while, but still) and have been spurred on by my mom constantly mentioning she would love to get a bike and also by my friends letting me cycle on a borrowed bike through Cambridge. So during July, when I felt I could spend money, I ordered a bike through my brother’s work. After a long wait (about 7 weeks) it finally arrived at my house and I opened the box with enthusiasm, only to discover that I had to put the bike together myself. This didn’t floor me for too long though despite my complete lack of knowledge about bicycles and their gears etc. Last time I owned a bike, in fact I don’t think I have ever OWNED a bike, was when I had use of a BMX when I was about 6 or 7. I am sure the bike was in fact my brother’s and if I had use of it, it was probably because he had been given a more up to date bike. Anyway, I digress… I haven’t been a fan of bikes for many years and therefore know pretty much nothing about them, other than they have pedals, brakes and you need to keep moving or you fall off (unless you are propping yourself up with your foot). After finding the instructions on how to get the bike out of the box and also how to put it together, I took the brave step of actually putting the bike together whilst reading the instructions (this reading of instructions is a rare thing for me!). I managed pretty well and only made one little mistake, which I managed to rectify quite easily. Once the bike was all set up, I gave it a go outside on the front drive-way; it worked except the gears didn’t change properly. I have since managed to fix this too and now feel pretty confident about maintaining a bike! Overall I am enjoying my new-wheels, although I haven’t been out on it for a while now due to ill-health and bad weather. I still have to get used to its colour though – pity I didn’t have a choice of colours, as I sure wouldn’t naturally choose a bike that is mostly PINK! Oh well, it is a LADIES bike, so what other colours would you expect?

Ghost-busters?

It was a bright and sunny afternoon (ha ha) and I arrived at my friends’ house a couple of hours before heading off to the mini-ball. After being welcomed into the house and led up the stairs to deposit my bag in “my room”, I entered the room to find a ghost figure in front of me making panicked noises and flaying about… "what was this?" Quickly, I grabbed my camera to get evidence of this apparition, much to the apparition’s dismay and further panic. Click! “Gotcha!”



As you can see or deduce from the pic, this “ghost” is nothing more than my friend putting a duvet cover on the duvet! And you thought I was amazing at staying so calm at seeing a real ghost (or that I have completely cracked and that you should send the men in their white coats to come and fetch me…if it is the latter, please make sure the men are young and cute!). Oh, and all the panicked noises I heard and have semi-described, were my friend not wanting me to take photos of him being domestic or even seeing him being all domestic.

But my question now is “who truly climbs into the duvet cover and then drags the duvet in with them, just to put the cover on the duvet?” I have never seen anyone put a cover on a duvet in this fashion before and find it rather amusing. I am not saying it is the wrong way to do things and it sure looks fun (especially when the duvet cover is white and you can make ghoulish noises in the process) but it does seem a little too taxing. I personally wash and iron the cover inside out and then turn the cover the right way round as I put it over the duvet! I think my mom used to just shove the duvet into the cover and then shake it until all was flat, but that was also too energetic for me (okay I am lazy when it comes to putting duvets into their covers). Just out of curiosity I would love to hear how other folks put their duvets’ covers on!

I'm back... (Sunday 1 October)

(Remember, we are casting our minds back... this was written on the 1st October)

I was just reading my book whilst relaxing on my couch when it dawned on me, yet again, that I haven’t blogged for a while. Excuses? Main one is that I have been waiting to be connected to broadband (yip, still) and although this has actually occurred, I do not yet have the correct equipment to actually access the internet via broadband. This equipment is still arriving in the post, with a “little delay” due to the internet provider I am using sending the required information etc to the wrong address and now the postal business messing me around! Dah! I think I am forever going to be dealing with incompetent people!!! Once I was “connected” to broadband, I had the joys of not being able to access the internet at all and had to contact the providers to request that they keep me on dial-up until my broadband stuff arrived… that was two weeks ago. Oh well there is hope that by next weekend I will be on-line through broadband and wireless!!!

Other excuses for not blogging include the fact that work lately has involved a lot of computer work and when I get home in the evenings the last thing I want to do is stare at a computer screen. At present I feel I can handle the computer for a while as I haven’t looked at one for a whole day, but I will have to pace myself as this coming week seems like it is going to be another spent in front of the computer screen! I have also been busy at times with other activities including sporting activities – tennis, ballroom dancing and cycling; entertaining friends and family and also cat sitting again. It was at the time of cat sitting that I was contemplating blogging, until the cat decided to try sit on the computer and I wouldn’t let him – I was not impressed (neither was the cat) and decided that working on the computer was not going to happen (this cheered the cat up a bit).

So, let me think what I have been up to that I can make into stories worth telling. While I think, let me run upstairs to close windows as it has now decided to rain a tad…

Ah yes, I forgot to mention the possible ghost I saw recently when I joined my friends at the mini-ball and stayed over at their place that night; I have acquired my last “large” purchase of August; I have joined another activity in the local community which is proving enjoyable; I have again cat-sat, with a difference; have expanded my tastes and become addicted; have had a hair-chop; and have celebrated another “year gone by”! So, let me start with the ghost…

On LINE!!!! And cruising...

I am so excited... not only am I connected to broadband (at long last) but I am also typing this will connected WIRELESSLY! YAY!!! The joy is immense!!

So, now I can say sorry for not blogging for so long. As you will see with my "coming news" I did attempt to blog last week and did my typing off-line and was all prepared to actually add the stuff on-line when I discovered that I had been thrown off Dial-up yet again. Due to my lack of energy to deal with my providers and knowing I had a package waiting for me at the postoffice which was likely to be my broadband stuff, I decided to wait until I was sorted with the broadband before actually posting my news. This has meant a delay of another week before posting: so caste your minds back to last Sunday and just pretend that the news is the latest I have for now....