Day 103: World Chocolate Day

It’s been a while since I’ve written a grocery list, let alone a blog post. A friend sent me a message on Friday telling me she misses me – and my blog.

Days 82 & 83: Turning Mishaps into Masterpieces

If for nothing else, this lockdown has taught me to utilise my kitchen. I am not going to lie – if The Cave didn’t come with a dishwasher included in the rent, I would be living in PB&J sammies, served on paper plates and drinking my coffee out of a paper cup.

Cape St. Blaize Lighthouse

As the lighthouse high on Cape St. Blaize winks and watches Mossel Bay was the opening line of my primary school’s anthem. Today I finally got to see that view for myself.

Review: Sekelbos Restaurant

I’ve been seeing daily ads in my Facebook newsfeed for a place called Sekelbos Restaurant, so decided to take The Bean there yesterday for a light bite. Sekelbos, as explained to us by our polite waitress (whose name I didn’t get) is a type of wood that is said to burn for ages, but never to ash.

Sleepless Mindfield

Now, I am meant to be sleeping, but despite taking a full sleeping tablet (I usually only do half during the week) and my other medication, I’m still awake. Charming!

My legs feel like lead. Steve pushed me to leg press another 10 Kg more than last week. That I could still handle, but hip lifts… Good Lawdy, them things are in a league of their own! My thighs are going to probably be stiffer than a corpse tomorrow.

Tarryn, my hairdresser (aka The Fairy because she was the most beautiful pregnant fairy ever) was at the salon on Tuesday when I went to Elena for my nails. She asked me quite bluntly, Where’s your ass. I told her it’s there, but because all my clothes are getting a little baggy, it doesn’t look like it. Truth be told, I don’t really have a well-rounded derriere, because my butt cheeks are on my chest. I’m very aware of (as Charlie put it) my great rack or as my Capetonian friend, Allan refers to them, The Girls.

Anyway, my bustline wasn’t originally what I planned on writing about when I started this post. Love was. Or rather the sacrifices one makes for those we love. When faced with a situation where you would have to either cause- or suffer heartbreak to save the one you love, would you really do it? And I’m talking about relationships between two adults here, not a parent for their child because that’s on an entirely different plain.

On the subject of plain, why is plain yoghurt apparently healthier than its flavoured counterparts? Is it because it’s free of colourants? Or is it just because it doesn’t taste pleasant? Like Chaimberlain’s cough medicine – tastes like battery acid, but my Grandmother swore by it. That, and cod liver oil. Blegh!

Personally, I believe almost any ailment can be fixed with warm salt water. Sore throat? Gargle. Sinus? Inhale. Constipated? Drink a glass of warm salt water and you’ll be shitting through the eye of a needle in no time. Guaranteed!

Okay, so this post went from tits to shit in just a few paragraphs, but at least my eyes are starting to feel heavy. Here’s hoping for some REM because if I don’t get any soon, I will not only have lost my mind, I may very well be Losing my Religion too.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Lucky Number One-Oh-Seven…He’s Funny Too!

I love waking up to emails that say xxx liked your blog, or yyy is now following your blog.  There is a sense of accomplishment in it.  If you want to follow my blog, please do.  Or dont.  But please share my posts, if you think they’re worthy.

This morning I woke up to find out that a blogger called Tony Self of is now following my blog.  That brings the total number of strangers reading the Reflections of this Misfit to 107.  Yay! *Awkward happy dance that resembles a frog in a blender* 

In just a few of his posts that I read, I was laughing like I haven’t in a long time, because on some levels I can totally identify with the conversations his Conscious and Subconscious have.  If you’re looking for some good old-fashioned best medicine, pop over to his blog, The Self-Talk Show

Wishing you all a happy, safe, fun weekend!

 

In 2013 I’m Going to…

Wake up and smell the roses…like this softly scented one I just picked out of our garden.  Isn’t it beautiful?

How often aren’t we so rushed to do something, or be somewhere, or see to others’ needs that we simply miss the beauty of God’s creation around us?

Though I said in my previous post, I’m not a resolution-making-kinda-gal, I’m going to resolve to do these five things daily:

1.  Be thankful for everything I have, every day – because this is A Philosophy we all can Live by.  An online friend of mine has an awesome thing – it’s a gratitude jar, and every day she writes something down which she is thankful for and places it in the jar.  At the end of the year, she literally counts her blessings.

2.  Try to speak only positive things into my life, and into the lives of those around me – and if I stumble, to immediately ask God’s forgiveness immediately and restart the process.  I’ve bought Pastor Joel Osteen’s bestselling book I Declare and I’m going to be reading the 31 Promises this January and living them.

3.  Give my best at whatever I am asked to do.  I’m not saying that it will be perfect every time, but that I will give my best – and if I can’t do it on my own, that I will ask for help.

4.  To talk less, (be more patient), and listen more – to God’s Voice, and to those around me.

5.  Walk by Faith, and not by sight.

Right, that’s that…no wait!  There’s two more:

6.  To drink more water and green tea

7.  To not go to bed with my make-up on – no matter how tired I am!

Then, I have a bucket list of things I would like to do this year:

1.  Read more motivational books – I’ve just bought this book which Nianell signed, with a simple, yet effective message “Just Be…” on Sunday evening after her performance which I was privileged enough to attend.  She is an incredible local artist, blessed with an angel’s voice.  She is an amazing ambassador for God too – an inspiration and a true light.  In the 90 minutes she sang and brought her message, I was moved to tears a few times.  After the show, she patiently posed for a number of photos with fans and spoke to each one.  Here we are:

2.  On the subject of reading, I want to also read all the books I bought in 2012 that I didn’t get around to reading.  I realize that this means I am going to be sleeping a lot less than I did last year…

3.  Go horse riding at Eight Bells – I’ve told Steve,  my trainer,  that I want to do this and he will ensure that there is enough lower-back strength training in my program for this to happen.   I’m thinking round about July / August – it’s cooler then, perfect weather for mountain outrides.  I can’t wait!

4.  To go hiking at least once every two months – the Garden Route has some beautiful trails, like the Giant Kingfisher Trail in Wilderness.  I think I shall start rallying the troops now already for a hike towards the end of the month.

5.  To save a few Rands every month, because I really do want to do the Advanced Novel Writing Course through the South African Writer’s College.  Having passed the first part of the course with merit, it is a step in the right direction.  I AM going to be published!  And my novel IS going to be a New York Bestseller – just you wait and see :-D!

6.  To swim in the sea more – I went with Carmen and Ewan to the beach on Thursday and swam in the sea for the first time in easily a decade (if not longer) and it was so refreshing.  The fact that I have a bikini ready body now helps too, I’ll admit 😉

7.  See more of my extended friendship circle – I am so blessed to have many true angels in my friendship circle, yet I don’t get to see them all as much as I’d like.

8.  Watch more movies (at the cinema) than I did in 2012 – shouldn’t be too hard, considering I only saw two last year 😀

9.  Take more photos – and share them with those around me, be it through the various forms of social media at my disposal, or here, on my blog.

10.  With that said…I will definitely be blogging more than the meagre 33 posts I did last year!

Bad Service Does Cost You…Yes, YOU, the Service-Provider, NOT the Customer

I have a number of friends that work in jobs related to the provision of services, so I feel that I can write this blog with a reasonable sense of certainty.

Often my friends will complain about a rude customer, an I-can’t-fill-this-form-out-myself-because-I’m-just-too-lazy-customer or a general-pain-in-the-butt-customer. With that said, I am sure they aren’t exaggerating either. I have actually been in a queue at a friend’s workplace when I have witness such behaviour first-hand. But, now I wish to toss the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons…

What happens when a customer is desperate to make use of the service that your company is rendering, only to be given lip? Just this morning, Mom had to deal with such a scenario…

Our electricity is up the pole – on and off since just before the 07:00 news. This meant a shit start to the day for both of us. I had to do my make-up for work in the shadowed bathroom – the result…my face looks like it was stuck in Cuba for a month because I grabbed the wrong foundation out of the bag! Next, I couldn’t get my car out of the garage, because that too works with electricity. Eventually after cursing, screaming, kicking and shouting I managed to get the door’s manual release to work and was on my way to work, only to arrive about 30 minutes late. Anyway, that is the dark situation in a nutshell.

I eventually convinced Mom to phone the most well-known electrical company in our town (there is only one other…). After explaining to the woman answering the phone what the problem is, Mom is informed that the electrician will be at the house at about 15:30. Here I am rolling my eyes thinking, if this man has to work on the box outside the house, 15:30 is going to be much too late because the storm clouds are even darker than the bathroom was this morning¸ but I say nothing. The receptionist then proceeds to ask how the bill will be settled. A fair question, I don’t deny. Mom politely explained to her that she herself is a not-so-tech-savvy pensioner, so I would do an internet transfer as soon as I get home tonight. It was this response that not only made Mom angry, but me too, when she phoned me to tell me, “Well, what time exactly does your daughter get home? We only work ‘til five. We can’t wait until she gets home one day to do the payment.” Needless to say, they are not going to be coming round at 15:30, nor will we be recommending them to anyone else.  So now we will use the other company…they are well aware of their competitor’s good reputation, so I guarantee they will put in more effort to offer a better service.  The other company’s loss will no doubt be their gain.

In today’s day and age, where money is tight and often, business is scarce, surely it is better to be polite to a potential customer than to cost your company current business now and referral business in the future. So too all my friends and those others of you in the service industry, next time you have a difficult customer, rather smile politely and conduct the transaction professionally. You need your customers to keep coming back, to maintain your company’s income, and so too, your jobs.