Public Holiday Thursday!

Well, it is a public holiday here, and as Murphy's law would have it, of course the sun has stopped shining. It shone all week whilst all of us were at work. Brilliant, bright and warm sunshine. Then, the one day that we all have off, it is overcast, cold, windy, and miserable. Now that is annoying. So instead of being on the beach and enjoying our day, we are once again sitting inside waiting for better days ... literally ...

So I got up nice and early, did the washing, did the ironing, cleaned the kitchen, had breakfast, and am now trying to catch up with emails and blog and do all of that. Made the bed, wrote Pio's birthday cards, fed the cats, etc etc ... Pio did nothing ... lol

So tomorrow is our birthday, and as plans for getting a puppy fell through and he certainly unfortunately is not getting me Clara I think this is going to be rather a boring birthday. Once again we have no money! I so badly wanted to go away this weekend, get out of Swakop, get away from these people and have some time at a lodge or some place where we could really just chill and not think about anything stressful. As usual, there is no money, this time thanks to the new Toyota that we are getting.

So fair enough it is a good car and it's a bargain etc etc but it does mean that we can't do anything, can't afford presents (of which I got him anyway as you can't have a birthday with no presents) so we will see. I think it's going to be another washout as usual. Seems our birthdays are doomed. I really didn't mean this to be so down and grumpy but apparently that is how I am feeling and I didn't even really realise that. I wanted us to have a good birthday and we can't even afford to do anything nice. It seems that we can NEVER afford anything.

Anyway, so tomorrow is our birthday, Pio is working as usual, so I will be sitting at home on my own for the day cleaning and ironing and cooking as usual. Yay. Looks set to be a fab day.

The Bird

This little bird was the funniest thing ever. I do regret not taking any photos of the little thing, as it would have been great to stick up a photo of it now.

Nala caught it on Sunday the 3rd May, dragging it in the back door proudly whilst Pio, Tiaan, Vicky and I sat around the table playing poker. Vicky was the first to spot it, crying out "Oh my God, she's got a bird" which meant I took a flying leap off my chair and chased her around the house, eventually tackling her before being able to get the poor little scrap away from the evil jaws of death. So it sat in my shirt shaking madly whilst we finished our poker game, and then as I had no box or anything to put it in we used a cooler box with a towel and a hot water bottle inside to keep Birdy warm.

Needless to say, it survived the night in the cooler box, and the following morning before anyone woke up I crept out onto our roof and let it out to see if it could fly again. Well, it couldn't. What it did do though was bomb off the side of the roof into the neighbours garden before I could catch it against the ledge running around the top of the roof. So I thought well hey, leave it there for the day or at least until I can get a cage sorted for the poor thing, and then could go catch it again.

I couldn't find a cage, so eventually at like 6pm that night I sent Pio to go and look for it, and he couldn't find it - whether this was by choice or whether he was just being really blind, I do not know - but at any rate, we thought that it had possibly made its way into a tree and would survive on its own.

Half an hour later Nala dragged it back through the door. Which resulted in another running, tackling, rescuing drama and from my shirt back into its cooler box where it spent yet another night. The following day it really couldn't keep living in a cooler box and still couldn't fly, so I gave up and locked it in the spare room where it got to hop around everywhere on his own and do as he pleased with water in a shot glass and some bread crumbled up.

He landed up living in there for a week, got his own wild bird food, and expelled more birdy-poo than you can ever imagine could ever come from something so small, all over the beautiful polished wooden floors ... So by Saturday we decided that it really couldn't love there anymore and no one had a cage for us - it also still couldn't fly. To top this off, Nala and Zazu were having a very adverse reaction to the poor little thing and peeing all over the house which really was the end of the rope for me. So they got belted and their noses rubbed in it and little Birdy was taken off to SPCA in the cat basket - how ironic.

Seriously though, the little bugger has a death wish. He escaped through the tiny little blocks in the front of the cat basket and straight out the front door of the SPCA and was chased by two cats and God knows how many dogs as he shot through their enclosure - for being injured, this little thing moved like a bat out of hell, really, he was super fast! And once again, he survived all of this, and the last I saw of him he was in a proper bird cage with water and food and shrieking his head off. So, unless he has escaped again, he seems to be doing quite well bless him, he was too cute.

Sadly though, this little trip to the SPCA resulted in us taking a walk around and looking at all the animals. They really do have the most beautiful kittens, really, I was so tempted, but the animal that really caught my heart was a Ridgeback cross Boerbull female that had the most beautiful and sad brown eyes. We spent a little time with her, but as she was apparently already taken, the most we could do was leave our number and hope that the people that wanted her dropped out.

The following Monday came and no phonecall, so by Wednesday I rang them only to be told that the people hadn't turned up but someone else was interested in her and she had been spayed but that said people had not paid for her so they still didn't know. I still haven't had a phonecall so she has probably been re-homed by now. She really broke my heart, I would have absolutely loved to have her. For a little while I had a suspicion that Pio had somehow arranged her for me as the stories got a little confusing between the SPCA and him, but I have since realised that this is hoping for way too much and that I probably won't even get a birthday present. I can only hope that Clara has been given a good home and will be spoilt for all her days.

Oh dear God, I am sick!

Yes, I am. As in really sick.

I have not been able to get over this flu, so now today it is officially the 9th day of being sick, and as usual I was just plodding along hoping that by tomorrow I would feel better, same shit different day basically! Whilst standing in CNA I swallowed, don't ask me what or why, and my ear felt like it was going to explode. I almost screamed. When the pain lessened, and I could walk on again, it was painful, but every now and then kept throbbing and paining and swallowing / yawning / talking wasn't pleasant.

Anyway, that was just the end. The Pajero was standing at the car wash so I had time to kill, and I walked into the doctor and asked for an appointment, just saying that I would sit and wait until he could see me. I waited an hour at any rate, but it was worth it. Just before going in, Janine and Gustav arrived - what a coincidence - as Janine was seeing the doctor as well. So got to catch up with her as I haven't seen her in ages.

Anyway, once the Doctor saw me and inspected me and looked in ears, throat and listened to chest, I have been diagnosed with Bronchitis, a sinus infection and an ear infection so my poor ear drum is swollen which is what is causing all the pain. Anyway, my chest must be quite bad as he said if it isn't better by Friday I MUST see him again and will then be sent for x-rays to assess the damage and to start treatment before it turns to pneumonia. Thrilling stuff. So now I am popping antibiotics, steroids, sticking nasal spray up my nose, drinking flu effervescents AND cough mixture. I'm going to be as high as a kite.

It is of course Murphy's law that the only time that I am working is the time that I get seriously ill and feel too bad to take time off. It is just ridiculous really, honestly, what are the chances. Anyway, this has taken absolutely ages or me to plough through writing ever so slowly and stupidly - honestly, flu should come with a warning: "May cause stupidity".

I am going to bed.

Cooking

For some reason I seem to be rather preoccupied with cooking lately, which is making me wonder if I am really getting old here ... I am making stuff that I have never had an interest in making before and actually getting some pleasure from it lol.

My first attempt a few weeks ago was a chocolate cake which was a flop but still tasted very nice so that was great, we covered it in caramel and chocolate and that was what counted more than anything else really.

Then yesterday in the midst of my flu I decided to make tomato chutney. Chopping about 30 tomatoes isn't really that much fun but got it done and then had to cook it for what seemed like hours. I actually made two - one with chilli's and one without. Tasting them halfway through I almost died as the only thing I could taste in my flu-ed up state was vinegar, but it seemed that leaving it to cool then made it better and today we had our first fried egg and chutney sandwich! It was great!

Today my task is oxtail, which I have never cooked before as well, so will see how that turns out. It has been cooking for like two hours already so will add the potatoes soon and again, hope for the best ...

Then, this week I have to make a cake for Pio to take to work as it's our birthday on Friday so this is going to be interesting!