I win!

I am all chuffed today. I beat the load shedding this morning. Eskom is right when they say it's easier if load shedding is scheduled. The first time it happened I was lost. I got soap in my eye and had nothing to light the candles with.

The second time it happened I had a lighter and some tea light candles which alleviated the problem. This morning when it happened I was already done! I got up 30 minutes earlier and did all the things I need light to do. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, brushed my hair, picked out my clothes and put make-up on. It was perfectly timed as the electricity switched off exactly when it was supposed to and I was done.

I then crawled back into bed for a 30 minute snooze while Rudi was getting ready in the dark. It pays to plan!

We also received a free gift from work today (pictured above). It's a book lamp which is awesome! I love to read and sometimes wish to read when Rudi wants to sleep. Rudi can't sleep if the light is on, or even if the bed lamp or TV are on. Now I should be able to read even if he wants to sleep.

My week is almost over. I took leave for Friday and Monday because my weekend ahead is so busy. Hopefully I can get some rest.

Load Shedding

I was a victim of load shedding yesterday morning. You don't really appreciate electricity until you don't have it. It is the first time I've been affected by load shedding since the 'power crisis' has ravaged our country and our economy. For those who do not live in South Africa and don't know what load shedding is...well...the company that supplies electricity to our country cannot supply the demand so they have implemented scheduled power cuts in certain areas at certain times to save power as they feel the public have not done enough to conserve during the crisis. If you need to know more, just Google 'Eskom' with any swear word.

The power went out the moment I opened my eyes. As winter is setting in it is already dark in the mornings. I found candles easily enough, but had nothing to light them with. I used the flash of my cell phone camera to navigate through the house and managed to get soap in my eye somehow. The soap decided to settle underneath my contact lens and a battle ensued.

Load shedding seems to be part of what it means to live in South Africa and something everybody needs to deal with so I'm not going to cry about it anymore.

Rudi and I had a huge fight this morning at approximately 2:00. I'm working on around 3 hours of sleep and feel like I could fall asleep sitting up. We've kissed and made up now (via SMS since we're both at work), but what he did is unacceptable and I hope he's realized I won't stand for it.

I've got a meeting to go sleep in....Zzzzzzzzzzz