My favourite cold remedy

I've been knocked flat by a cold this week.  Sore throat, sniffles, stuffy head, temp..... feeling very sorry for myself!  In fact, it's verging on man-flu, only I'm a girl.

I've been turning to my trusted cold remedy multiple times every day this week and I thought I'd share it here on the blog.

What you need:

rooibos teabag
2 heaped dessertspoons of minced ginger
2 dessertspoons of honey
a good squeeze of lemon juice

Make a mug of strong rooibos tea, add ginger, honey and lemon juice, stir and drink while still hot.  The honey and lemon juice quantities can be adjusted to taste, I typically use more than the recipe suggests.

A walk in the park

One of the things we are blessed with in our area is a lovely park (Kloof Memorial Park.)  We regularly head there for a walk and it's always fun and often hilarious - things are inclined to get a little crazy when you chuck a bunch of people and a whole lot of unrestrained, but friendly, dogs into a fairly small area!

I'm always up for a stroll in the park,but my very favourite time of year to head there is Autumn.  Because the change of season isn't really dramatic in this area, we don't get a whole lot of Autumn leaves, but Memorial Park is always full of them, it so pretty.  I couldn't resist whipping out my phone for an impromptu photo shoot!

The Big Walk

For years I have wanted to do the Discovery East Coast Radio Big Walk and finally this year we did it - "we" as in the whole family.  It was SO much fun!  The weather was lovely, the view of the sea as we walked along the promenade was perfection, there was a large, but well-controlled crowd and great fun was had by all... well except for Danny who slept through pretty much the entire event!

We parked at Sun Coast Casino and then walked to the Park and Ride bus stop, where we hopped on a bus to ride to the start.  Issy has been obsessed with buses ever since our trip to Europe last year, so she was delighted to get an opportunity to "go on a bus" and it was Danny's first ever bus trip, so that got the day off to a good start.  

The walk started at uShaka Marine World, where we spent some time listening to the ECR jocks and mingling with the crowd.  

We'd signed up for the 10km walk and set off promptly at 9:00.  Surprisingly, the 10km was the biggest event of the day.  There were about 30 000 participants in total and, if I'm not mistaken, about 2/3 of the entrants walked the 10km.  It was pretty congested to begin with, but soon thinned out.

The sea really put on a show for us.

There was a really nice vibe, with ECR jocks along the way and plenty of refreshment tables.

Such a fun event, we definitely plan to walk again next year.

Dealing with grief

I just read this amazing blog post by a mom who recently lost her baby. She gives real, practical examples of what to do/say to someone who has lost a baby. I think it's well worth a read and most of her advice applies to ANY loss, not just a baby.

I had 2 ectopic pregnancies before Paula was conceived and it was hard, because so often people just said... nothing, or mentioned my surgery, but not the reason for it - "how are you feeling after your op?"  By not acknowledging my loss, they made it seem as though I hadn't suffered a loss, so I had to carry my grief alone.

After Craig died, while some of our friends were AMAZING, there were others that avoided us at all costs (in one case actually crossing a road to avoid having to greet me!), or else carried on like nothing had happened, and it hurt. It made it seem as though his life had no value in their eyes.

Dealing with grief is difficult and uncomfortable, yet sooner or later we all have to do it, so I think any bit of advice is helpful.

What To Do When Your Friend Loses a Baby - Pinch of Yum

Hi, my name is Lindsay. Mother’s Day is coming up and I’m thinking about this a lot because I am that friend. The one who lost a baby. I am probably…

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Anti-bucket List

I am busy ruminating on an updated bucket list - it's a lot more difficult than one would think!  The last time I created a bucket list was in 2012 (you can see that post here) and things change in 5 years!  There are things I can scratch off my list because I've done them (yay me!) and many things I still want to do... but are those things important enough to be the stuff bucket-lists are made of ? Decisions, decisions....   But while I am still umming and ahhhing and to-ing and fro-ing about the things I really want to do, I find that the things I really DON'T want to do pop into my head with the utmost ease.  So here is my ANTI-bucket list!

* I do NOT want to sky-dive
* I do NOT want to go cage-diving with sharks
* I do NOT want to go hunting
* I do NOT want to ride an elephant
* I do NOT want to go for pole-dancing lessons
* I do NOT want to pilot an airplane
* I do NOT want to compete in the Dakar rally.
* I do NOT want to ride in the Tour de France
* I do NOT want to be a competitor in Masterchef, or Survivor, or any other reality show for that matter!
* I do NOT want to pose naked for Playboy
* I do NOT want to meet Kim Kardashian
* I do NOT want to perform live in front of an audience
* I do NOT want to go bungee-jumping
* I do NOT want to climb Everest
* I do NOT want to learn to surf
* I do NOT want to be interviewed on TV - even if it is by Ellen.
* I do NOT want to meet the president of any country
* I do NOT want to eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant
* I do NOT want to smoke a cigar
* I do NOT want to perform surgery

So there you have it!  20 things I positively do NOT want to do!

The girl is THREE

Today my precious granddaughter, Isabella, turns 3!  Words can't express how much this little munchkin means to me!  I am forever grateful that I get to be her Nana and that I get to spend time with her pretty much every day.  I am an incredibly lucky Nana.  Happy Birthday my sweet Issy-boo!

Overwhelmed

Just checking in to say that I WILL be back.  My poor blog is being sadly neglected at the moment.  Life is just seriously cray-cray right now!

It's the busiest month of the year work-wise - financial year-ends are doing my head in, we have overseas visitors arriving on Friday to spend a week with us, there are some personal family issues that are causing untold stress and to top it all we have had various home maintenance issues on the go for the last.... oh.... 6 months non-stop.... ohmyshatterednerves. 

In the last month we had the entire interior of our house painted and literally the day after the painters left we discovered that we had a MASSIVE underground water leak (R17000 water bill to pay....!  That sure gets the adrenaline going...) and so as we bid farewell to the painters we welcomed a leak detection team and a host of plumbers, who proceeded to dig up my laundry, the day after they left we had our new security system installed...hello security-people.... all over the house on ladders for two full days.... oh the joy!  I really hope that is the end of that now.  My introverted self does not take kindly to work-people in and out of my home, all day, every day.

Having said all of that, life is good and I have a lot to be thankful for, I am trying not to forget that and to take the time to acknowledge it in-between all the chaos and stress.