You know how it goes… photographers never have photos of themselves. Well, the same is true for me

The only reason I took this photo of us this evening is because Connor’s theme at school this week is “Me and my family” and I had to do something about it.  So out came the camera and I rested it on a chair (I don’t actually have a tripod) and set the timer

So now… there we all are… I think for the first time on this blog

And Connor has his photo for school  Mission accomplished!!

Ooh and btw, it’s our 15th wedding anniversary this week!!

And before you jump to conclusions… we did not leave the rat poison out for the Huskies!

High drama in the Verster household today.  I got a phonecall from Beauty mid morning to tell me that she’d looked outside to see a torn up rat poison box/container (you know those white ones) and the poison scattered all over the lawn and the huskies standing watching her as she shrieked.  Fantastic… considering I had a full day of meetings booked.

So anyhoo, I rushed home after phoning the vet and discovering that even though we weren’t sure whether they’d eaten any, that they need to go in for a checkup. After chatting to Beauty… and being on the phone with Lance trying to figure out where it may have come from… I gave up on the guesswork and just took them to the vet.

They stayed there for a few hours while they were made to vomit everything up.

The vet says that she didn’t find any pellets in their vomit, but I’m sure they ingested some considering they ate the cardboard container (they both love to eat paper and cardboard).

There are a few theories about where the poison came from…

1. someone threw it over the wall…

2. one of the poison boxes that we had installed in the kitchen a few months ago managed to miraculously get to a spot that the dogs to get to (and we’ve checked them all and they’re all accounted for)…

3. the pest guys may have put a box in the roof, and maybe a bird trying to nest dislodged it.

Anyway, whatever caused it… they’re now fine thank goodness… and they’re VERY happy to be home.  In fact, when I got them there, Kitara recognised the place first and started cowering, and then when they saw the cages they had to go into, Kimo just shrank back completely… I’ve never ever seen him look like that ( it was too sad.

And because I can’t blog without a photo… here’s an instagram image of Kitara from this afternoon at home…

My parents took Lance and I out for dinner last night in lieu of my birthday plans a few weeks ago (the lunch that had to be cancelled because Bradley was sick).  It was so nice to spend time with them like that… and we had an AWESOME meal.  Oh I do like the restaurant so much!

From the fabulous wine my dad chose, to the spectacular food and awesome service, it was such an awesome evening… and I didn’t even blog when I got home!! LOL! I was actually too tired by the time we got the kids home and sleeping.  The kids seemed to have had a ball at Madelein’s house too, although Pierre and Madelein looked rather tired when we got there at 10pm because my kids were still not sleeping!

Anyhoo, back to dinner.

For starters we all had gypsy spits which are button mushrooms wrapped in bacon.  Oh wow, how divine were they… especially cos they came with garlic sauce.

Then for main course, I had a fillet with potato wedges and veggies.  And OMW the meat was divine.  It was perfectly cooked to my liking with pink inside… and the taste was sublime.

By then I was full, but my dad ordered creme brulee for dessert…. and I could not resist.  And I’m so very very glad that I did order after all, because it’s one of the best creme brulees I’ve ever tasted! It was just perfect

As for the photos… taken with my iPhone even though I was carrying my DSLR

I’ve been mulling over this topic for a while, but haven’t managed to get around to blogging about it.

When you get a form that asks how many dependants you have, you’re generally expected to fill in the number of children you have… not right?

Well, I don’t think that’s entirely accurate.

Just think about it, it’s not just your kids that are reliant on your income for survival, is it? Well, it’s definitely not in our case.

To start, our income has to pay for our living expenses including housing and food for ourselves and our children.  So that’s 4 people.  And that’s all we normally think about when we calculate things.  But there’s a load missing from this equation.

We have a full-time domestic working in our house, and she’s the breadwinner in her family (well apart from her one son that now shares the rent with her) and she has 5 dependants… one useless husband who hasn’t worked in 7 years, 2 sons (one of which is now working and the other one is still at school) and one grandson.  In addition, I know that some months she sometimes has to give money to her grandson’s mother who often ends up in shelters because of her circumstances.  So that’s another 6 that we provide for.

Then there’s our gardener who only works for us on Saturdays, so the money we pay him isn’t his sole income, and I know he lives on his own, yet I also know that he sends money home to support family there.

Then there’s Lance’s mom who we also support.

So, our household income actually has to provide for 12 people on a good month.

That’s a lot! But I also know that that’s not unusual, and it’s also not something that we normally think about.

Have you ever worked it out for your household?  How many people do you support directly without monthly donations etc?  I’m assuming that this is a South African phenomenon, primarily because the average home in the ‘burbs has some kind of full-time or part-time home helper or domestic worker or gardeners in our employ.  But it would be interesting to hear from non-Saffers in the comments

So if you’re a friend on Facebook and you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that Bradley is ill.

He’s been ill since Wednesday last week, and the doctor said on Friday that it was a viral infection causing his headaches and vomiting. Then he started getting better, and all was good.  But then, he got worse again on Sunday night.

On Monday he spent most of the day in bed after starting vomiting again from about 4am.  He’s NEVER spent that much time in bed.  Ever.  So Lance took him to the GP (I was in a 5 hour meeting at work), and this time the GP tested him for swine flu.  So, he’s on antibiotics, and hopefully we get the results soon.

He was remotely better today, and actually managed to keep a small bit of food in, but not much.  And again I wasn’t at home… I was in an all day offsite which I felt I really needed to be at because it would have been severely career limiting not to be there considering what’s happening at the moment.

And the mommy guilt you may ask… apart from the fact that I haven’t really been around, which is enough guilt anyway…

You remember a few months ago when he was being bullied at school, and he was vomiting some mornings trying to stay at home??? Well, my first thoughts on Monday morning were exactly that!! That he was faking it, and there was something at school he didn’t want to face. In fact, I thought that until about mid morning when I spoke to Beauty and he was still vomiting and hadn’t got out of bed!! Then Lance got home to take him to the doctor and he phoned to tell me how bad Bradley looked then… and then it was clear that this was serious.

So anyhoo, I feel like crap right now, so I think I’m going to stay at home tomorrow to look after my little boy… and stuff everything else!

When I saw this video on Deb‘s blog, I just started crying.

Someone very close to me has just started her chemo treatment for breast cancer, and this just hit home.  Thinking of her so very much at the moment, and really praying that last sentence in the song “Just make it go away” and knowing that it will because she’s such a beautiful woman with a beautiful family and it just has to go away.

Long time no speak, blog reading peeps   Missed me?

I’ve been around… very busy (check out my photoblog)… and I haven’t had much to say here.  But today was a mare of a day and it warranted a post.

It started like it starts most school mornings with the rush to get dressed and the kids fed and out the door… while I multitask and package photos that need to be delivered that day.

That part went as planned, and that was about all.

I had so much to deal with at work… apart from work, that by the end of the day, my heart skipped a beat whenever my mobile rang. This post only covers 2 of the “things”… there was more!

We are using a transport company to take the kids home from school for the next few weeks… and guess what… second day with the new arrangement and Bradley gets left at school!! OMG my heart sank when the school phoned me to tell me that he’d been left behind and he was in the office.

Turns out it was a mix-up with the karate that caused it… and strangely enough Bradley seems to have handled it perfectly.  He’s normally completely stressed when something happens that’s not in his routine… but he took it so calmly without tears.  On the other hand, I was in a state!! I can’t believe my child got left behind.

I remember the feeling of being stranded at school, and it’s not a feeling that I EVER wanted my kids to feel

Anyhoo, apart from that, we have a visitor at home that’s causing a little bit of chaos.  My parent’s jack russel has come to stay for a few nights because there was a drama at their house and there’s no-one to look after her until Saturday when my sister comes back to Joburg.

I was really really worried about how the huskies would react.  And in fact, the first few minutes were a little hairy because Kimo started growling and looked like he was going for her.  But after we seperated them for a bit, and then tried reintroducing her into the garden, it went a lot better.  They’re tolerating each other, and the huskies just want to play with her.

And that’s actually quite funny to see. Kimo and Kitara’s playtime is really really rough.  They grab each other by the neck or tail and literally drag each other around the garden.  They’re really not sure how to play with her.  Kitara keeps swiping Jackie with her paw, and batting her on her neck, and standing on her.  LOL!

For tonight, we’ve decided that it would be best to keep her inside, and the huskies outside… just in case.  She’s a night sleeper… and they play at night… all night long… so if she stayed in the garden she’d be wide eyed and exhausted by morning

I really hope they calm down tomorrow.

And tomorrow of course, is Bradley’s 8th birthday!! More chaos in the morning because we have to squeeze present opening time into the morning chaos But it’s fun, and he’s going to LOVE his gifts!

If you’ve been reading my Facebook, Twitter and other statuses and my photoblog you would have known that I’ve been in the Cape for the last few days.  One of the main reasons we went was to visit my grannies who are both in Frail Care facilities (in Somerset West and Hermanus).

Well, actually, that’s not quite true.  I didn’t actually want to visit my granny in Somerset West.  But I did end up going to see her, and I’m very glad that I did.

You may think that’s strange… that I wouldn’t want to visit her.  But, you see, the last time I saw her, she had no idea who I was.  At the time she was still mobile and could talk… and had no idea who I was, and wouldn’t even look at me.  And this year, Granny Sylvia took a turn for the worse, and just after New Year everyone thought she would die.  In fact, she was taken off all medication… for her heart etc.  Yet, she recovered… to some extent.

Anyhoo, I visited her on Monday morning.  Thankfully my mom showed me a video that she took when she visited her earlier on this year.  I wasn’t shocked when I saw her at all.  I was prepared for what she looks like. The biggest surprise though, was that I think she knew I was there.

Not that she can talk at all.  My mom says the sounds she makes sounds like a bird.  I don’t think so.  I think it sounds like she’s on a ventilator.  But she looked at me as if she knew me… and she opened her mouth like she was smiling.  And anyway, even if she didn’t… the fact that I think that, is enough for me.  I’m glad I went.  And I’m also glad that I saw her sitting in an armchair… even though I know she can’t move.  It’s more dignified that lying down all the time.   It was a very short visit in the end… less than 10 minutes, because she fell asleep while she was watching me.

This is not how I’ll remember her though.  I’ll always remember her walking around my mom’s garden singing.  And walking around the house singing.  And laughing at Christmas parties while doing party tricks because she was always so supple with all the yoga she used to do.  The way that she is living now… is not living.  It’s not her anymore.  She’s just a shell.  And it’s so hard to accept.

As for my other granny… we took the boys to visit her in Hermanus on Monday afternoon.  She loved seeing the kids, although they weren’t enamoured by the place… so I went on my own on Tuesday morning for a longer visit.  She’s changed a lot as well… and in her case, I didn’t realise how frail she’d got.  Yes, my dad had kept me up to date with her progress, but being there just hit home how much she’s lost her independance.  She’s still fighting though… I just hope she fights a whole load more!

She’s hurt her knee again, and is now not able to walk at all.  So on Tuesday, Aunt Cheryl and I had to lift her to help her get to the phone to speak to my dad.

I really really hope that she does fight it… and she stays determined to make her knee work again even though it’s so sore for her exercise.  Because I couldn’t bear her losing all her physical  independance.  It’s bad enough that her mind is confused at the moment (she’s getting dementia).  At one point she pointed at a photo of her and Grandpa hanging on the wall, and asked Aunt Cheryl who the lady was… she’d been wondering about it for a few days.

One of the things that she complained about a lot while I was there, was the food.  She moans that they feed her a lot… but it’s not tasty.  Now my Granny was an amazing cook.  I LOVED going to lunch at her house.  I loved the simple lunches she made for my grandfather, that we ate when we stayed with her for the day… and I loved the big family spreads she cooked when we went for family lunches.  It’s really sad that she can’t cook or bake anymore.

It’s so hard watching these 2 woman who have always been so very strong, and always so independent, live like this.  It’s not fair.  Yet, I know that it’s inevitable… this happens to most people as they get old.  It’s just so hard to accept.

We welcomed 2011 in our traditional style today… we went to my parents for lunch.. we do that every year.  I don’t normally post photos on this blog, however, I did a shoot today as well, so I need to give that family’s blog post some space on my photoblog instead.

My mom has wanted a family photo with everyone for simply ages, and with all our schedules it’s been impossible to get right.  And today it didn’t seem possible either because of the incessant rains… but when I got back after my shoot, the weather cleared for a few minutes and we managed to snap a few photos.

We will be doing a proper family shoot with everyone soon… I’m just going to need a willing soul who’ll actually take the whole family photo for us on that day

Tweeters are just awesome… seriously… they are.

A few days ago I was getting frustrated because I wanted to send my grandmother a gift.  She lives in an old age home in Hermanus.  I went to my usual haunts… Woolies, Pick n Pay and NetFlorist.  Neither PicknPay nor Woolies deliver to Hermanus.  And Netflorist’s range… well… nothing caught my eye, because I wanted a simple gift.

So I tweeted about the fact that Woolies and PicknPay didn’t deliver there.

A few minutes later, there was a reply in my stream from Tertia.  She was going to be going to Hermanus the next day, and she wouldn’t mind delivering something to my gran.

How cool?! How totally awesome is that?!

So yesterday, Tertia dropped off some flowers, biscuits and chocolates at the home. She’s too awesome, isn’t she?!!

I phoned my gran last night to make sure she got them.  Tertia had said that my gran was in the shower and she’d given the gift to her neighbour.  My gran was so confused.  She said that because there was no card on it, they weren’t too sure who the gift was for.  Also, once her neighbour described the person who delivered, my gran became convinved that it was me.

She sounded quite disappointed when I told her that I was in Jo’burg still

I really need to make a plan to visit.

And how cool is Tertia?!