Disney Cinderella Kids was a blast for the Birthday Girl

We were promising Little Missy to see Disney The Aristocats by The People's Theatre, but it ended earlier than we had hoped. She was reminding us since April when we saw Sleeping Beauty that she wanted to see
"Rescue Cats"!

Luckily Disney Cinderella Kids was still on, and we saw it on the 24 December, the last day of shows at the Joburg Theatre Complex.

The show had her glued to her seat.

The best was when they called all the birthday children of the month to the stage, and gave them each a small present! It really helps to be part of the The Kid's Club.

Apparently another four productions is planned for this year! I will check back more regularly not to miss out. Little Missy has not forgotten about "Rescue Cats"...

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post! 
We love attending the shows as a family!

A less-than-perfect Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day could easily have been called a Super Bummer!

- We had empty purses!
- We bought each other a kitsch Valentine's present!
- The Toddler got the Influenza virus, and she was booked off for the rest of the week.
- I struggled with a sick toddler the whole day who only wanted to sit with me, and who didn't want to eat anything...
- There was no time to put on fancy clothes for a date night!
- We went to sea the early movie, and after we came out of the cinema, the restaurants were packed. I did not think of placing a booking, and we ended up at Juicy Luicy. (We were thinking in terms of sushi...)
- The movie made me bawl my eyes out, and I looked even worse!
- The food was crappy as well!

But it did not matter in the least!

- Hubby bought me flowers as well!
- The kitsch Valentine's presents are a tradition we are going to keep!
- We had a good date night in spite of the fact.
- The movie, The Descendants, was a great movie!
- We had a good laugh sitting at Juicy Luicy and watching all the people in their "Valentine's" outfits walking past in the mall.
- The Toddler enjoyed her stay at her grandparents, and she was asleep when we got home. Huge bonus!

I realized how lucky I am to have such a great friend in my husband, and that we do not have to have a perfect evening to enjoy each others company!
I declare Valentine's Day 2012 a success!

What did you do on Valentine's Day?

Passive Aggressive is another kind of violence

WordItOut word cloud: Passive Aggressive behaviour

Definition:

"Put simply passive aggressive behaviour is silent aggression. It is where you are angry with someone but do not or cannot tell them. It may involve, shutting off verbally, it may involve angry looks, obvious changes in behaviour, being obstructive, sulky or stonewalling. It is characterized by an indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation, as in procrastinating, evading, pouting, or deliberately creating confusion.
A passive aggressive individual doesn't always exhibit outward anger or appear malicious. At first glance, the behaviour might appears unassuming, gracious and benevolent; underneath there may be manipulation - hence the term "Passive-Aggressive". – Counselling Directory

Examples that I have experienced:

            -   “Forgetting” to pass on an invite.
- Saying that you will do something and not doing it.

-          - Not paying on time.

-          - Coming late on a regular basis.

-          - Accepting an invite, and phoning to cancel at the last moment.

-          - No response at all to an invite.

-          - Not prepared at all for guests that have been invited.

-          - Only starting to make food when the guests arrive, and spending the whole time in the kitchen while they are there.

-          - It is always somebody else’s fault!

-          - When confronted about passive aggressive behaviour the person does not own up to it.

It is usually very subtle, and only after a number of occurrences do you actually start to realise that something more is at play!

It is strange that passive aggressives do these things out of a deep sense of unworthiness, but the more they exhibited this kind of behaviour, the more people withdraw from them...

The unfather who died the previous week also paid his maintenance late every month, and his ex-wife had to stress while waiting on him... The final passive aggressive act! The maintenance money was not paid, the school fees and forms for next year was not sorted as he had promised... We hope that his will was sorted before he died! 

What legacy is he leaving behind?

It is violence. Violence against your own family members when you try to leverage relationships by being passive aggressive!

Breastfeeding moments

Following a weekend with the toddler, it is very difficult to get into the weekly routine on a Monday morning. Especially with regards the breastfeeding routine.


On a weekend we stretch the mornings in bed a little longer with the toddler snugly on the breast. She wakes anything from 5, but we are able to stretch sleeping well after 7 o’clock.

This Monday was the last time in a very long time where I could sit a little bit longer with her. The schools start today, and because the traffic is going to be back to normal (hectic), I stretched it until 6 while sitting with her on the breast.

I was looking down on the sleepy child with her arms wrapped around me. A picture of contentedness! How I wish I could sit her every morning until she wakes up in her own time... One of the working mom’s guilt trips! At 6 I had to start dressing her and take her down to her dad who made her a bottle while I had to rush to get dressed myself. Luckily the traffic played along and I was not late.

But today is going to be a whole different story. The schools start again after the end of the World! No more stretching the special moments with the toddler...

Stop complaining, Powerwoman, you’ve got it covered! (Chin up, smile wide!)

Weekend withdrawal kicking in

Sunday evenings are the worst. Following a perfect relaxing weekend with the family; who wants to jump back into the rat race on Monday? Aaaargh!


May your Monday be a good one!

I am busy watching the last of the World Cup! My vote goes to the Orange Team, the Dutch. It promises to be a good game... Vu-vu-vu-ze-la!

Picture update:

Looking at the ducks with my friend, CP
Tres Jolie

Chasing the chickens
Tres Jolie

Not cautious about sitting on the donkey
Tres Jolie

Enjoying the jumping castle with Dad

Winter groans

Finally, the winter has arrived in all its cold splendour. (Ha-ha. The sarcasm can’t even warm my cold hands!)

We are a sorry bunch here! We complain and groan! Our standard greeting includes something about the cold!

“It is cold!” “It is freezing!”

Very lame and boring! As if it is the only thing happening here in South Africa...

No, wait! There is the minute detail of a World Cup happening on our soil! We are lamenting our sorry loss in the World Cup soccer as well.

“We lost!”

“Our Boys were pathetic!”

“It’s the referee!”

“It’s the coach!”

“It’s our Boys!”

We are a bit deflated and a bit cold here...

BUT, we still have a lot to be proud of. We actually pulled off the World Cup where everybody said it couldn’t be done. That is a lot being done on this side of the World!

I am proud of us! I really am! (I am tuning out all the negative comments, on purpose!)

And it is nearing the 21st of June. The middle of winter. Very soon it is turning, and summer is around the corner!

It is holiday time here as well! We are starting to pack for a seaside holiday. What is better than that?

A lot to be thankful for!

(Photo: Mieka with her nephew, Gideon, who is five months younger)

Soccer fever and… we missed it!

Even if you don’t like soccer, you can’t help being caught up in World Cup fever! As a host nation there is an electrifying air of goodwill and optimism here! Especially after we got a goal yesterday and played to a draw against Mexico!

LADUUUMA! You, go Tshabalala! You go, Bafana Bafana!

I had a bit of a strange afternoon. We missed most of the game! (Horrors!) Luckily there are the highlights…

We could leave from work at 12 already. I was waiting for Hubby who went to watch the game at his boss’s house. He phoned me just before the game to tell me that he was going to watch it on his own, because the wife was not feeling well. She just had her last chemo treatment the day before!

I resigned myself to watch the game on my own with my two daughters (feeling sorry for myself), when Hubby phoned again and told me that the wife was feeling better. He came to fetch us, and the first part of the game we listened to in the car. Tshabalala scored his goal while we were on the road! Mieka even caught on to our excitement, and she was screaming her Mieka babble to us. (Very cute!)

Boss was dressed in yellow soccer gear. But there was no television screen or plans to watch it in the house. When I asked about it, I was told that he is not in the mood for the soccer! (What? No kidding!) So we missed the last part of the game… How strange is that?! (But we still love you, Boss!)

Luckily there is another game coming up on Wednesday. South Africa against Uruguay!
[I love Cat’s post with her family dressed to the teeth! Nice!]

Keeping our children safe during the World Cup 2010

It is finally here! The World Cup! We are all caught up in the excitement! This afternoon we are all going to vuvuzela South Africa against Mexico!


You go, Bafana Bafana!!

My sister made me aware of the Mr Price Safe Place Project, one of our chain stores, who has started a safe place campaign for our children. On the site it states that during the last World Cup in Germany, 30 000 children were reported missing. That’s very scary!

I am impressed that Mr Price has “Go To” people wearing “Safe Place” badges. Children should be made aware that every Mr Price will have designated people who will help them. They can look out for the badges or the “Safe Place” t-shirts that the store managers will be wearing.

Unicef has also made a card “Give the red card for child exploitation” with important telephone numbers who has dedicated special resources for our children. As soon as a child is missing, it should be reported to one of these numbers to put the wheels in motion:

Police 0860 010 111


Childline 0800 055 555


Child Welfare SA 0861 424 453 (08614-CHILD)

As a mother I DO hope that our children will not be part of the worst-of-the-worst statistics of these exciting times!

Please keep an eye on your children! Please keep them safe!


Playing FlogYoBlog Friday with Brenda: Please read her rules at MummyTime.

Football Fridays

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is around the corner. Yeah! Something is happening here...


I am seeing everybody driving around with South African flags hanging from their windows, and South African flags covering their side mirrors! (I like it!)

All over we have been doing Football Fridays for a couple of weeks. We are dressing up to fit the theme at our workplaces. I even have a Zakumi (the official FIFA mascot) t-shirt which I wear every Friday. We have seen the diski dance being demonstrated, and the Vuvuzela is heard (annoyingly) everywhere!

At school the teen has been dressed in the football colours since the previous Friday. She organised a yellow t-shirt in the official Bafana Bafana (South Africa’s official team) colours. But she decided to buy herself an England jacket over the weekend. She wanted to wear it with the England scarf and pet she got as a gift from my sister in England. She came home very angry when the principal announced that they could only wear yellow on a Friday. Now she dislikes the principal even more than before... (Smile)

I felt very sorry that she had spent the money, but salute the principal for only allowing yellow!

There is a lot of bad vibes going around here in our country, but there is something positive building here with the World Cup coming to our part of the World!

Thumbs crossed for a bit of goodness bringing us together again...

Go, Bafana Bafana! Go, South Africa!

Go, World!

(Photo: Mieka with a plastic 2010 football. She loves playing/kicking it)