Friday, September 10, 2010

The staycation comes to an end....


I can thoroughly recommend a staycation for those of you who are:
  • fed up with life in general
  • in danger of doing bodily harm to co-workers, family or random strangers
  • burnt out with leave due
  • don't have the wherewithall to go somewhere else.

    11 days seems like lots of time if you're just going to mooch around the house, so I made a list:
    1. Fix the garden (the dogs have been trying to emigrate to Australia via the most direct route possible)
    2. Create a "safe space" to keep chickens (away from the dogs, in other words) for fresh, free-range eggs, daily (insert wholesome rural bliss picture here)
    3. Get the vegetable patch up and running (take that you dodgy, overpriced, low-quality supermarkets)
    4. Rip up the revolting carpets and replace them with tiles
    5. Read all the books piled on my bedside table
    6. Spring clean the house
    7. Get some plants for the terracotta pots we have artfully arranged to stop said dogs using the walls to hold themselves up as they patrol the paved perimeter of the house
    8. Catch up with friends I haven't seen in ages
    9. Write a blog a day
    10. Get a compost heap going for the garden
    I can happily report that apart from 7, 8 and 10 nothing has been done.

    This is partially due to my re-discovery of the hammock. I think hammock days should be mandatory.

    View from the hammock. Note the empty pots up against the house...

    Hey presto! Planted pots!


    But it's also due to:
    1. The chap who came to quote for fixing the Sun City beach feature (aka the dog's escape route) has not sent me a quote, 7 days later, despite promising to do so within the hour
    2. Chicken coops cost more than a luxury island holiday  (I kid you not, they're chickens for heaven's sake) plus there are a zillion "public health" by-laws governing the keeping of chickens within suburban areas and an annual license fee to boot.
    3. This is "partially" done, I have some seedlings and we're busy digging in the compost. The buying of the fence materials (to keep the dogs out, naturally) has been delayed. Do you know how many different types of fencing there are? 
    4. sigh. Quote for the lounge alone? R4k Carpets will have to stay for now
    5. I managed to read Jonny Steinberg's Midlands. That's it. The others are still there. I blame Twitter for distracting me.
    6. Um. Does cleaning up the mess around Scientist No 2's computer count? Packing away winter clothes? No? To be fair, this one never stood a chance.
    7. Tick. A trip to a nursery near Hartbeespoort Dam turned up bougainvilleas (all the nurseries in Johannesburg lost theirs to the black frost) at R25 each. Such a bargain, almost saved enough to cover the petrol to get there....  No wait, Lifestyle nursery is charging R289 each for the same thing. Good bargain then.
    8. Tick. Tick. Thanks to Trina and Margie. Advice on chickens was helpful, I may still do it, in spite of all your warnings....
    9. Well, I've managed 2 so that's a partial tick
    10. Yay. Now to wait the 6 months for the compost to become, er, compost

    Vegetable plantlets awaiting the vegetable garden's finalisation

    Back to the hammock for the last day then...

    I really need to move that disgusting table behind the bird bath once and for all.

    Wednesday, September 8, 2010

    Talking about fatclub....

    The first week went well but I'm afraid the wheels came off after that. It's not entirely my fault, of course, late meetings where snacks are provided are designed to test a saint's resolve (and I'm definitely no saint)
    But I thought I had it under control...
    The weekend-before-last we went down to the midlands, to a friend's farm (www.farsidefarm.co.za) for a mini-break. The boys played golf, I caught up with my girlfriends and it was going to be a low-calorie weekend.
    Hah!
    I forgot these girls go big in the entertainment department. First off was the "What dessert should we have?" discussion


    Followed by the "you do the salads" hand off (quite neatly done, I thought - they know I don't do dessert)
    Followed by a delicious lunch at the Coach House with two bottles of champagne for the 4 of us. Chicken, bacon and leek pie for me, salads for the others...
     But of course it didn't end there. There was a "braai" - not the kind of braai you and I have, you understand, I mean the table setting alone....
     See what I mean? For a braai?

    And of course there was red wine. And a superb dessert involving meringue, cream, strawberries and a few other calorie-free ingredients.

    And so I'm dreading fat club tonight.