My Evil Mother and Grandfather updates

So. Great news! My grandfather's colon is cancer free. He is so elated by this news that he is even considering another round of chemo instead of the operation on his liver. The chemo will make him very ill, but he feels he will still be able to work when he is having chemo whereas he will be off work for a full month if he has the operation to remove the cancer from his liver. He'll be seeing a specialist in about a week to discuss his options and take things from there.

I took them out to dinner last night to celebrate his health, their 47 year wedding anniversary, his birthday (which is on the 13th of June) and to thank him for looking after Amber while we were away. We had a nice quiet dinner. It was lovely.

My Evil Mother is up to her old tricks. Her husband let it slip that my aunt could afford to 'lose her pension' as she works from home. Just goes to show what they must have been scheming about. My aunt's pension, which she worked hard for. My Evil Mother is still living with my aunt and uncle, although her husband was kicked out after one too many drunken tantrums at all hours of the morning. She tried to get him back in with promises of money (seeing as how they don't pay rent or contribute in any way) and some luxury food items. Luckily, for once, my uncle stood firm and kept by his decision. My Evil Mother has been hell to live with ever since. Rudi could not believe the way My Evil Mother spoke to my uncle in his own house. If My Evil Mother is really that desperate to be with her husband, then she should go and stay with him and his mother. My Evil Mother has told us horror stories of how his mother is evil and how she is an alcoholic. I think the actual story is that she is much more demanding about incoming contributions and them pulling their weight than my aunt and uncle are.

My Evil Mother *loves* throwing our religion/beliefs in our faces. She'll often say things like 'God doesn't sleep' - she seems totally oblivious to the fact that the same applies to her. Sometimes it's funny, but for people like my grandfather and my uncle who both hold ministries within the church the guilt trip she takes them along for is often effective. Last Wednesday in church she went as far as to keep her communion wafer and to shove it in my uncle's hand after church saying 'You need it more than I do'. I cracked up when I heard this. I'm actually quite sure my uncle - who was giving her a lift home from church at the time, the selfish bastard - might have cracked up also. He has a good sense of humour. My grandparents on the other hand, didn't think it was funny.

It is beyond me that My Evil Mother is still a free woman. The amount of fraud she has committed...and I'm only aware of a portion of it...must be substantial. Her ethics have always come in to question where she was employed. Just recently she went to work for a company. She had been there for less than a week and was given the company credit card to buy coffee, tea and a few other office supplies. She ended up spending R2500.00 and buying clothes and shoes for her husband. WHO DOES THAT?!

Did I ever tell you that she faked her suicide once because I refused to draw R500.00 and 'lend' it to her? This was before my eyes opened to her ways and I was in a total panic. I even phoned the police. She came home with a total BS story that didn't even make sense about how she had parked her car on the side of one of the national roads and put a pipe from the exhaust into the window (nothing blocking the open gaps in the window to prevent ventilation - DUH), she also claimed the pipe and everything were already in the car. Some 'valiant' man pulled over, took her to hospital and paid the bill apparently. What a load of bull.

Anyway...

I'm working in another portfolio today. I hate this portfolio. More often than not the feedback I have to give customers is negative and they usually get angry. It's not a nice way to spend a day. I'm the only one in my team who hasn't had a turn yet, so by default I have to go over today. Suck!

Transitional

I already regret coming in to work. I am feeling very nauseous. I think there's a bug going around. Other colleagues are also complaining about not feeling well. I'm sure the aircon is conducive to spreading this bug too, but bless the aircon. It's going to be over 40 degrees again today. Pffft. I'm feeling truly horrible and today I'm probably going to have to do the horrible work I don't like doing. Maybe I'll throw up on my desk and get sent home. I'm not kidding. I might just.

Amber's nose wasn't looking good this morning. It started weeping and Rudi had quite a bit of trouble holding her down to clean it. She doesn't like being confined. He put some antiseptic cream on it as well, as much as he could get on with her wriggling around.

I forgot to mention that I received a post card from France the other day! My friend from Belgium went there for the weekend not too long ago and he thought to send me a post card. He's such a sweetheart. I love getting random post from all over the world. I still have to send him the bottle of Amarula I bought for him about 3 months ago. Rudi even aquired special foam containers to protect the bottle on it's journey overseas. Quite strange since Rudi is a bit jealous of my friend, who I will be calling Brain. He has a pet mouse called Brain. He doesn't quite understand our relationship. I suppose he just doesn't like the fact that I speak to another man. It's all very innocent, I assure you. I would never ever cheat on Rudi. Emotionally or physically. I would never be able to live with myself. I simply love him too much.

Speaking of loving Rudi...

...my microscope is definitely starting to show some ferning! There was a spot of ferning this morning. It's not yet fully ferning - so it is currently in the transitional phase. Moving on to ovulation. I was quite excited to see the little ferns this morning. Somehow I had convinced myself I wasn't ovulating. I'm crazy that way.

The obsession has tamed itself of late. I'm no longer VERY upset if I see other pregnant people. It still makes me sad, but I'm no longer as unreasonable about it as I previously was. I don't necessarily want to hear about other people's pregnancies yet though. I'm not completely preoccupied with getting pregnant anymore either. Sure I want to be pregnant and I'm using my microscope, but I don't completely freak out when it's time for my cycle to start. Somewhere deep inside I'm still dying to be pregnant. On the surface I've given up. I don't know if that makes any sense.

Sick

I'm not feeling so well today. I didn't go in to work. I think I'm coming down with something. I feel all congested at night and nauseous during the day. No...I'm not pregnant. My readers would be amongst the first to know. I got up this morning and prepared breakfast and lunch for Rudi and I, like I do every morning...but I just didn't feel right. I bit the bullet and phoned Jubba (something I loathe to do, although he has always been reasonable when I've been ill) and took a sick day.

It's very hot today...I've already gone and cleaned the kitchen and put things straight and all sorts of things I should rather just leave because I'm not feeling well. Now that everything is done though I'm going to rest. Maybe it's just all the stress at work lately. There's been tension in the air at work for the past two weeks. For a change it's not Jubba that's driving me crazy. The whole department has been in shambles and trying to bail out one of the portfolios and I think everyone is feeling a little thinly spread. Management doesn't think we're performing at our optimum levels and decided to just pile more work on and shuffle us around. It makes complete sense from a business perspective, but we are people and sometimes companies forget about people. I must say The Company isn't heartless and doesn't treat us badly and pays us well. I don't blame The Company...I just think there are some structuring issues and perhaps some strategies need to be put in place to prevent the portfolio in question from falling behind like they have again. It's not the first time it has happened, but it always seems like it gets left till the last minute and then everyone panics.

So. I'm resting today.

I bought myself a very pretty dress yesterday. It's officially the only one I own. I own skirts that I rarely wear, but I have no dresses. Just this one. I saw it in a mall close by quite a while ago, but they didn't have my size. Yesterday I saw it in a different mall, in my size AND on sale. I had to get it. Rarely does a dress catch my eye, but this one did.



So last night I put on my new dress and my heels and I went to church. I felt so feminine and pretty. It's the perfect dress for special occasions and I received lots of compliments last night.

Check out Amber's battle scar:






Silly cat.

I just finished watching P.S. I love you. Very good movie. It just brings me back to that place where I remember that I need to appreciate what I have. It's a beautiful movie and I would recommend you see it if you haven't yet.

I looked at my microscope long and hard this morning and I just checked it again. I think I'm starting to see signs of ferning. Very slight, but it's starting to show up. Rudi reckons it still looks the same, but I don't agree. Maybe tomorrow it will be clearer and he can see.

I might have gotten myself out of fishing on Saturday with Fence and Lindor. It all depends on whether or not their partners are going with. Even if I don't go fishing, there's no escaping the braai (BBQ) afterwards. On Sunday apparently we're going to Franshoek. Rudi's brother, Derick, wants to do something for their mom and we've been invited, but it's not yet confirmed. I must take my camera if we go. It's beautiful there. I hope I'm not still feeling ill this weekend.

Amber's Antics

She looks like a little angel doesn't she? Well she's not all the time! Peacefully taking a nap next to us on the couch yesterday evening...but this morning at around 4:30, she was howling like a banshee. I practically had to roll Rudi out of bed to go and break it up. He thought that hissing from bed would help, but the wailing continued and eventually he got up. Amber has a big scratch on her nose. I'm worried the neighbours might complain, but there are a lot of cats in the neighbourhood and hopefully they can't pin point the noise to Amber.

Last night we went to visit Sarah and Brad in their new place. It's quite a nice place they have. It's so strange that they are finally on their own. It almost feels like they are house sitting for someone and that it's not quite real. They are really happy and we are really happy for them. We took a bottle of champagne to celebrate and had quite a nice evening.

There's no ferning on my microscope yet, but Rudi observed this morning that the pattern is becoming more dense. He estimates it will fern by the weekend, Monday the latest he says. I must say, even though he was not keen on me purchasing the microscope he has taken quite an interest in monitoring what it is doing. I think it's the first time since we have actively been trying to conceive again that he has speculated as to when I would be ovulating. Very cool!

Spoilt Amber

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned how spoilt Amber (our cat) is. Mostly by Rudi. He is always referring to her as 'beautiful', 'sexy' or 'gorgeous' and insists on pampering her on a daily basis. We cannot sit or lie down without her being called to join us. At times I get irritated with it, but she's just a cat. He completely went over the top the other night though. We usually buy Whiskas with meaty nuggets for her, but often find that she leaves the meaty nuggets behind and eats the pellets around them, leading us to believe that she's not fond of the meaty nuggets (ironically the selling point of the brand). While feeding her Rudi actually sat and seperated the meaty nuggets from the rest of her food! For goodness sake! I thought this was both disgusting and hilarious.

It makes me wonder who is going to spoil our child more - me or him? Right now I think I'll probably be the more strict parent and he's going to be the 'good cop' all the time. Somehow I'm always the bad guy...

Social Life

I actually had a social life this weekend. I forgot how exhausting it can be!

On Friday we went to Sarah's 21st. The hall turned out really nicely and I think it was a great success! The DJ was awesome. He had smoke machines and lights for special effects. The platters were also really great! It seemed that everyone had a good time. I was able to observe all of this while sober. It's funny to watch people get progressively more and more drunk. Apparently there was some drama after I left, but I can't comment on any of that since I wasn't there.

On Saturday we had a dinner at Amber's house. The setting and everything was really beautiful. Everyone brought their own dish so there was a variety of food. There were mussels and mini cajun pizzas for starters. Chicken curry with rice and potato bake for main course. Malva pudding and cheesecake for dessert. Rudi and I didn't stay for dessert as I was feeling a little under the weather.

On Sunday Boogaloo came over with his new boyfriend. I haven't sized him up completely yet. So far I like him...but I'd like to get to know him better before I make a final decision.

I'm feeling OK. Had a bit of a nose bleed this morning and my gums are sore and swollen. Other than that the morning sickness has died down and I'm generally feeling a lot better. The baby is moving around, still not kicking and still not frequently.

My grandfather is taking some strain since he went for the chemo drip again last Thursday, but he's starting to improve again which is great. It usually only gets better from here.

Bit of This and That

I receive this gift from The Original Gunslinger (and his lady sai I'm sure), for my chap (the baby) today:



Isn't it cute?! It's blue, but Eeyore has a pink rose in his mouth so I'm sure it could go either way :)

I'm back at work and as practically as soon as I walked in here I started feeling nauseous again. I'm starting to wonder if my body just doesn't like being at work. I think it's QUITE possible.

The house is pretty much sorted out. Just one room is still in chaos, but I'll sort that out soon.

I can't wait to get Amber out of the house...the litterbox (more specifically the smell of the litterbox) is driving me to vomit! I think we'll try and get her out today...or at least put the litterbox on the balcony.

We had our first braai (bbq) at our new place last night. It was cosy and really nice. I'm starting to <3 my new home!

Murder By Hormones

Rudi is really lucky that he was not standing at the top of the stairs last night. I would have pushed him. Where do I start?

Before Rudi left for darts last night (he plays in a league) Amber brought me a gift. A gift in the form of a bleeding little field mouse. She promptly dropped it on the bed and continued to chase the poor thing around. Once I realized she was really chasing something I jumped up screaming. Rudi rescued the poor thing, much to Amber's dismay.

I was feeling really sick last night and took new bedding out with every intention of putting it on the bed, but I never really felt up to it. I noticed that the housekeeper had removed the bucket I keep next to the bed for emergencies and send Rudi an SMS to please bring the bucket up when he got home. The bucket was in the garage and I had already showered and gotten into my PJ's when I made the discovery.

I managed to doze off at about 21:30 and was thoroughly enjoying my sleep. Rudi came ambling in at almost 23:00 (which is normal). He came up the stairs - a bit merry - and woke me up to ask me where the bucket was. I mumbled that it was in the garage and proceeded to try and sleep. He then woke me up again to ask me 'What's this on the bed?' - referring to the bedding I had taken out and not put on the bed. The light was on and he was perfectly capable of seeing what was on the bed. When I didn't answer him he repeated the question. Enraged I got up since I had realized that I needed to pee at this point.

He then HOPPED into bed. My stomach was aching and I was feeling really ill. It felt like he was jumping up and down on the bed next to me. I voiced my dismay - at which point he was fed up with my bitching and finally he let me go to sleep. He also left the bucket downstairs. I don't know why he bothered getting it.

At that very moment I really would have seriously injured him had I not felt incapacitated myself.

Co-incidentally I had to get up at 3:30 again to pee. Pregnant women are supposed to start urinating more frequently around 5 weeks, but I have been getting away with it. I think it has begun.

Peeing and Puking. That's me from now on I guess.

Amber's Mouse

Last night/this morning I was minding my own business, having a good sleep when Rudi became restless and started scolding Amber.

I thought a swift kick or two would keep him quiet, but he persisted in wriggling around and swearing at the cat. Eventually he grew tired of this and got up, shoo-ed the cat, opened the balcony door...it was at this juncture that I opened my eyes and saw the silouhette of a mouse dangling by it's tail from Rudi's fingers. He unceremoniously tossed the poor thing off the balcony. Cruel as it may seem, this may have been safer for the little thing as there is poisonous powder on the balcony which may have killed it, if Amber hadn't done so already.

In my sleepy state I turned around, grateful to have his warm body back in the bed and went back to sleep. At some point this morning I started thinking about what had happened and asked Rudi whether the mouse was actually in the bed with us...apparently it was.

*shudder*

Some days I don't know whether to pet her or to throttle her...

P.S. Blogger is working on my (.)(.) - It won't upload images. Balls.

Photo Monday

The weekend was pretty boring, except for the fact that one of our neighbours smashed up his car on Saturday night. It looks pretty bad. At least R5 000 damage. I think more. He's probably going to get quotes today because it's his work car (he has his own business) and he's going to need it pretty soon.

Speaking of cars, the other neighbour now says he's lost the photos of the burning car, but I have a picture of the burnt car:


It is lying on it's roof because they flipped it over to get it out of the road. It's now standing the right way up again, I think someone decided to strip what was left of the engine.

I bought the cutest Levi's shoes this weekend...I've also bought a black pair with the same kind of embroidery with little bits of red in. They were well priced and I've been getting lots of compliments on them. I <3>

Amber taking a bath. It's amazing how she can contort. She almost looks broken in this photo.

Photos as promised

Voldemort and Boogaloo forgot to bring their camera, despite the reminders I gave them. I did, however, manage to snap a few pics with my crappy phone.

Rudi and Trevlyn

A sparkler in his food as promised! The waiters sang for him too!

Amber has found a new spot on the stairs that she likes to occupy.

Peter and I...Don't we look fabulous?

She's just loving this step. I can't explain it.

I hope you like th pictures :)