the story of our lives: 2009

13 July 2009

My wife and baby and then of course The Boss

Diana from Tajikistan has been playing by us virtually daily. This has been the best thing since popsicles for my children. She is 6 years old, and Johan and Rina, our neighbours', foster child. Jesse calls her his wife, and so does he call his other friend, Dakota, as well... we will need to wait and see what will pan out in a few years' time. He calls Diana "Sweetie" when he wants her attention ( I don't actually know where he got that, as Mark and I am not sweetie people). Diana told Rina on Saturday morning, while looking in the mirror; "I don't want to grow old". After asking her for her reasons, she said; "Because then Jesse won't like me anymore!" And this all from the mouth of a 6 year old, I was in stitches...

They find all kinds of interesting things to play, like husband and wife, and Rachel is always the baby. They enjoy face painting, playing in the sand pit, and good know what else. I even found them in the vegetable patch once, trying to keep Anouck, the dog, out... chairs all lined up with a mattress and two pillows and busy digging in my veggie patch. Is this not 100% better than watching TV and DVD's?

Here are a few photos of my vegetables coming along slowly... but at least growing.

Thought you might like this

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble ~Charles H. Spurgeon

Twin Cam Peugeot Bakkie

Oh Africa, oh Africa, wherefor art though mine?

I got this picture this morning from Jean, my sis in law. I could not resist posting it, as it so reminded me of going just outside our country's borders. I think if I would see this with my very own eyes, I would probably be shaking my head. But if I think about the scenario playing off in this picture, there is so much more untold facts than seen with the naked eye. How would our dear continent be Africa, if it was not for "Twin Cam bakkies"... or "stacked to the clouds bakkies"... or "let's see which side is lower" bakkies. And this is not even to mention the fresh food markets, with the fish irrigated in the open drain pipes. If these things weren't there, it would not be Africa... the place I love! These things at least make us still appreciate what we have in South Africa. So if you think things can't get worse here, just step outside our borders...

12 July 2009

Which mattress would you recommend?

I am putting this out to you, my friends, and please: I need your input on this. It is quite a serious issue, because if you wake up every morning with back pain, it is no longer funny! We have had this "very good" mattress (I won't mention names due to possible lawsuits), for two years, they came out to assess it, and said it falls within the SABS standards for it's age! Well, I don't want to sleep in my bed... we have previously had another mattress by the same company, as it is a reputable mattress, and the same thing happened after 5 years. So now I am asking you, if you have had a mattress for 10 years and it is still going strong, please let me have it's name. You can mail me to mziman@vodamail.co.za if you do not want to publish your reply here. Please help!

Green Fashion

How about wearing your very own weed garments, especially if they are gorgeous like these! Common, let's start growing, or shall I say, collecting, because I sure have enough growing in our veld!

11 July 2009

Fun in the Sun

This was taken this morning after breakfast. We are trying, with the emphasis on trying, to convert our swimming pool to a chlorine free pool. But we started off incorrectly and have to do some damage control now. So our pool is at this current stage, still green... but changing colour as I write here. This product, which I sell, by the way, works completely different to a salt chlorinater, which still produces chlorine. It works with ion exchange, so once one succeed in having a crystal clear pool, you will have a 100% mineral pool. There will be no harmful effects, as one has when using chlorinated water. So as they say in Afrikaans, "Aanhouer wen"... we will continue in our quest for that which we hope to attain and in the process be of some help to those who would like to attain the same, using the most cost effective method on the market in South Africa.

In the pictures, our children are enjoying the fresh winter air and chlorine free water... being pumped unto our lawn. You can see by Rachel's expression that it was a wee bit too cold to do for more than one minute. But they have been begging me to swim (Can you believe it?), so this was a welcome refreshment, and explanation why mother has said that it is still a bit too cold.

Update:

Our pool is blue today... hoorey! I am sure it will be clear tomorrow... so this wonderful stuff IS working!

10 July 2009

For my friends

I will offer a 10% discount coupon to the first FRIEND that leaves a comment on my blog. I just received my mooncup, which I won in the Mooncup competition and will start using it very soon... So if you are keen on having one, drop me a line and I will post your coupon to you... for women only.

Mud Junkie

I discovered Bentonite clay and do I need to say more. I managed to get a good quality supplier of the kind that one can use externally as well as internally. Please do visit Eyton's Earth to view all the applications for this clay. I am now a supplier of this clay and at the best prices in our country that I know of... 50 % cheaper than one of the leading pharmacies in SA, and their kind of clay is not safe to use internally, as well as it has been pre - treated... defeating the purpose of using something form our earth. This clay is of Volcanic origin mined in an open cast mine to prevent contamination. I have experimented already on myself. I did a clay mask for my face, and my oh my did it go stiff! I could truely see a difference in my skin straight afterwards, so I will be doing this twice a week. I then had a bath in it, which draws out metals and toxins from your body, and it was amasing. So once we have completed our parasite cleanse, I will commense using it internally and give some feedback on it. If you want to order some, please send me a mail to mziman@vodamail.co.za and I will send you an updated pricelist. Hope you become a mud junkie like me...

Girls' morning out

It has been quite a while since Rachel and I have had some time alone. When Mark said this morning that he wants to Jesse with him, I was quite glad to be left with one child and to have my little girl do my errands with me. So we gladly trotted off to town, did all my business, and ended it with a visit to our Wimpy. She was soooo excited about our trip and these pictures were taken just before we left.

06 July 2009

Homeschooling

Yesterday we went to a celebration of one of the church communities that we visit at times in Pretoria. At lunch I sat down next to a lady I have only seen, but never spoken to her before. I asked her what they do for a living. And amasingly she home schools her two daughters, ages 14 and 12. She took them out of school a year ago, and they are ALL loving it. She is using Love to Learn as a curriculum and could only say good things about it. This has been the curriculum that has been on my heart for our children, so it was so good to finally meet somebody using it. The standard is very high, the books are beautiful, and they cover so much more than the schools do. She told me what homeschooling has done for their family life, where they have always had a good family life, they now have such a different dynamic. They have discussions about what the girls had learned around dinner table, like discussing tornados! Her one daughter falls asleep every night with her Bible on her chest, and this all be her own doing... man that just brings tears to my eyes.

It has been amasing how God has been confirming this path for us as well, I think this must be about the 6th confirmation, and second one for Love to Learn. He is faithful when we ask Him to guide us.

This makes me excited... I will definitely attend the Homeschooler's Expo again this year in Jhb and maybe even join my friend in Cape Town for their expo when I am down there in September with the kids.

Tomorrow is my official off day... my dearest husband tries to give me off every once in a while, how kind of him... so I am off tomorrow and I am just going to enjoy myself, catch up with myself and have some silence around me... which I dearly need.

04 July 2009

A Handful of keys

My husband took me out on a "live" date last night, knowing how much I love live performances! I have been wanting to see this show for years... and finally got to see it last night... it was definitely worth the wait! It has been going since 1994! Do yourselves the favour and go and see this.

Here is a review...

Roelof Colyn & Jonathan Roxmouth

A Handful of Keys

MAIN Theatre

Thanks to countless requests from you - South Africa's most successful two hander revue is back!
This hilarious piano show, winner of over a dozen awards, returns with all of its ever-green appeal intact, featuring some dazzling new material.
Roelof Colyn, "the witty, urbane, master of comic timing" - had the press eating out of his hand and thrilled audiences with his "musical mastery and goofy charm". He is joined by the extraordinarily talented newcomer, Jonathan Roxmouth, who has been igniting stages around the country with his performances as Amadeus "a totally unique pianistic madman", Buddy "an assured, powerful, versatile talent" and Vince Fontaine "a born show-stealer - truly outstanding".
Directed by its creator Ian Von Memerty, these two men at two grand pianos give a dazzling display of pianistic virtuosity and hilarious impersonation. A performance of constant surprise, intelligence and wit, with music that ranges from the great classic masters of Bach and Beethoven, through the kings of soul Ray Charles and Fats Waller, via the queens of show biz and pop Elton John, Freddy Mercury and Liberace.
A Handful of Keys is a completely South African product of international standard.
DON'T MISS THIS PHENOMENON - SEEN BY MORE THAN 250 000 PEOPLE, IN MORE THAN 750 PERFORMANCES ON 3 CONTINENTS
All bookings at the Pieter Toerien Theatre, Montecasino Box Office & Computicket
Reviews
Daily Dispatch"Masterful, Sheer Brilliance & Creativity. Sensational from start to finish.

"Cape Times"Entertainers entertaining at the highest level; exceptional pianists and outstanding comedians.

"Die Burger"Woorde nie genoeg nie - gaan kyk, gaan kyk, gaan kyk. Dit was uitmuntend, gevolg deur staande applous."
The Citizen"It is quite simply superb in every way. A witty, entertaining piece of creative genius.

"702 Radio"Sensationally Brilliant - four hands full of hilarity and keyboard genius."The Star Tonight"It is wonderfully entertaining stuff - simply joyous to watch."
Barry Ronge"The diversity is dazzling, with a firecracker script and two grand pianos played with unparalleled virtuosity."

26 June 2009

Movie Night

Update:

This was one of the funniest movies that I have seen, and so worth going to. We will even take it out when it comes out on DVD! So if you want to laugh even when you leave the theatre, and not want the movie to end... this one is for you...

Mark and I am off to see the new movie... Kiddies are going to granny, and it is our night out. Jippie!!! Following is a review for those who would want to go and see why there is such a buzz about it! Cheerio!

Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis)

DANNY BOON'S comedy Welcome To The Sticks is France's most successful film to date, so it comes as no surprise to learn that it has already inspired plans for a Hollywood remake. Or should that be a reinvention?
Its theme will survive transplantation but you can be assured that its specifics will not, for it is about class prejudice, French-style.
Its hapless hero is a post office manager transferred from the sunny and civilised south to a town in the industrialised north, where the weather is notoriously grim and the natives are said to be barbarians.
Kad Merad, a balding, big-nosed and baggy-eyed character, with a certain hangdog charm, plays the part and you'll get my point about reinvention if I tell you that the Hollywood version is likely to star Will Smith.
Wildly popular in France as a stand-up comic, Boon was last seen on screen here trying to cheer up a misanthropic Daniel Auteuil in Patrice Leconte's My Best Friend but he was nurturing the idea for this film long before that.
Boon comes from northern France and he has cast himself as Antoine, the friendly postman who helps ease Merad's Philippe into his new life. Philippe has been banished to the outer limits of the French postal service because of his efforts to please his habitually picky wife.
After promising her a move to the Riviera, he discovers that the company's policy of positive discrimination has earmarked the job he wants for an employee with a disability. Undaunted, he applies.
Then he has to deal with the consequences, a surprise visit by the company's personnel inspector. Some expertly choreographed bumbling, involving a hastily bought wheelchair, ends in disaster and he is punished for his deceit by being sent north.
His new home town of Bergues is near the Belgian border in a region famous as the setting for Germinal, Emile Zola's classic tale about the horrors of life down the coalmines. The mines closed long ago but the region's reputation for adversity lives on and prevailing mythology says its natives are so alienated from the rest of French society they have their own dialect.
Boon lovingly dramatises these calumnies on his home province.
By the time Philippe is ready to leave for Bergues, he's so unnerved by the hardships ahead that he feels unable to subject his family to the ordeal.
Heroically deciding to go it alone, he rugs himself up in thermals and a sheepskin hat with earflaps and readies himself for the journey. Even wife Julie (Zoe Felix) is impressed, farewelling him with a fondness she hasn't shown in years.

The script prolongs his misery until the morning after his arrival, which is as traumatic as he feared. Blinded by rain, he knocks down a pedestrian who, luckily for him, turns out to be the irrepressible Antoine. Boon is so open-faced and so incurably good-natured that he ought to set your teeth on edge but there's something anarchic there as well.
In the pursuit of a good time, he is willing to risk all sorts of trouble and once Philippe is adopted as his new playmate, the rain stops and all the usual attractions of French filmmaking come into play.
Philippe's new routine includes long lunches in the sun with Antoine and his fellow workers, Fabrice (Philippe Duquesne), Yann (Guy Lecluyse) and Annabelle (Anne Marivin) who, far from being barbarians, are kindness itself. But the mythology was right in one respect. They do talk funny, which means Philippe has to be tutored in the intricacies of their dialect that is called "ch'timi" because "c'est toi" and "c'est moi" are pronounced "ch'ti" and "ch'mi".
The film is rife with comic opportunities that must be much funnier in French. Even so, these verbal confusions work pretty well via the subtitles, thanks to the mixture of guilelessness and geniality that Antoine and Philippe bring to the game of trying to understand one another.
Language lessons aside, the film's finer points translate into other cultures, after all (well, one culture, anyway). After a while the comic style of the piece started to seem strangely Australian. It's not just the locals' taste for beer and barbecues, it's their artless affability, sharpened by a casual pride in their status as rugged individualists. It's as if The Dish were being served up with a Gallic shrug and a flair for slapstick a little more frenetic than our own.
The script falters towards the end as contrivance piles on contrivance, climaxing in a twist that obliges Philippe's new friends to live up to their oafish stereotypes.
At this point, The Dish segues into Dimboola, yet even when the burps and belches are resounding around the barbecue table, there is still enough insouciance at work to be disarming.
It's that Gallic shrug again.

Sacre bleur!

25 June 2009

From the Mouth of a Babe

Jesse at 3 months

We went to The Glen yesterday and I took Jesse to the toilet. So the family toilet happened to be unlocked, for a change, and we gladly went in. Only to find the cleaning lady busy cleaning. So, the plan was, sorry for the graphics, that we both would go at the same time, which now could not happen. So Jesse did his thing, and I wanted to leave to go to the ladies. As I opened the door to leave, he turned around, and said "Bye" to the lady. At first she was quiet, and then it seemed to have struck her, that this boy took the time to greet her. She was overwhelmed. Well, I felt so convicted of not setting the example in this situation, and learned something very valuable; a lesson that I have always had on my heart, which is not to differentiate between rich and poor, black and white. I will make a point of greeting people, no matter who they are and what they do... a lesson learned from the mouth of a babe...

22 June 2009

We are back again

It has been two years since I have written on our blog. It is about time to update this! Well a lot has happened. For starters our children are so much bigger than on the last photos I have posted. Jesse is already 4 and Rachel 2 1/2. She is nearly fully potty trained! Mark and I are older as well... :-( but not feeling it... and going healthily on. Thank God!

My life has taken on a completely new direction. For starters have I done a cerficate in herbalism, after which I have started helping people through this means. I have done my certificate in Iris diagnosis, and am moving on towards my diploma in Iridology. This is such an exciting field, but SO much to know, which surely keeps one humble. I will be completing my natural healing certificate end of August, so things are going ahead. It has been an amasing journey with God, as He prompts me to read things, investigate avenues, and then I get e mails or newsleters from independant sources, confirming what I have been pursueing. He has made our bodies to be able to heal itself, and that has been taken from us. God wants to restore this ability to us! And it is up to us to take responsibility for our own health, and not leave it in the hands of practitioners. Surely there is a place to see a practitioner, but that is to get you on the right path, educate and supply you with great natural remedies, with which one can continue. There is not a place for dependancy on practitioners though... the responsibility is ours.

ON a lighter note, we had an awesome time in Transkei end of March this year. We spent a few days with my family in Cofffee Bay... uncles and aunts and my mom. It stays to me the most beautiful part of our coastline... so peaceful and tranquil, unspoiled beauty. You will see some piccies of our holiday.

Ma en Rachel op pad na Koffiebaai

Gesinsfotos op die bult voor Koffiebaai. Maart 2009

Jesse caught a frog on the lawn in front of our room at White Clay.

Rachel early one morning on the lawn.

Daddy and son with Daddy's catch of the day!

Jesse turned 4 in May and we took a few friends to the Spur. He thoroughly enjoyed it. Mother forgot to take pictures of the cake, on which they put a sparkler. He was bombed over! He wanted another Thomas!!! This was the last Thomas... the local baker already had to save my attempt! I have at least taken some pics of them in our garden after the spur outing... the theme was wild west, and our kids were sheriffs...

The salute of a sheriff???

Die maatjies by ons swaaie.

Rachel in die tuin.

We had a lovely visit from Oom Chris and Tannie Anette (old family friends) from Clanwilliam, such wonderful warm people. It is always refreshing having them in one's complany. They slept over for one night and then continued on their holiday to the Waterberg.

Breakfast with Oom Chris and Tannie Anette on our lawn.

We went on our yearly home church get togehter at Wyndford Holiday Farm on the border of Lesotho. It is always a treat to go there, as one gets 3 x 3 course meals there daily, so all you have to do is dress and bath yourself and the kids! We went for lovely walks in the mountains, a drive into Lesotho, and my two kids went down a very high foefie slide! My heart nearly missed a beat... there are photos of that as well.

Jesse coming down the foefie slide.

Rachel on the platform, about to go... the camera did not take a pic of her in action!

My vegetable garden is going slowly this time of the year, but none the less, still beautiful in a different way, still a peaceful place to be in. I can't wait though for August and September to plant all the new seeds! We have decided to expand our garden to a flat area, with more space and sun! That would make winter crops also more possible. It is wild grounds, so it will require a lot of blood and sweat! But we have never been afraid of hard work, so here we go! I am so glad this was my husband's idea, otherwise I might be accused of husbandry slavery! We should start with this soon, to be ready in August. I will send piccies once it is done...

My green cleaning is going well, and I am proud to say that I do not use any harmful chemicals in my house anymore! And my house is clean, and does not smell. I might publish a manual soon, to sell, as people from the Free State have contacted me for information. Let me know if you are interested.

On the Cassia & Clove area, things are also moving. I have had some big orders from businesses, as well as people as far as Namibia and Australia... I love my job! I can honestly say this, there is few things that excite me as much as making wonderfully wholesame products that I know will not harm people, and in fact enhance their health.