A few weeks ago a very good friend of mine, Natalie, who lives in the USA said on her Facebook status that she wished her friends and family in other countries could come to her babyshower.  And then I got an email from her friends invited me to her babyshower, and I thought that was sweet, but pity I couldn’t just fly there… even though that is one of the things on my bucket list.

And in steps her amazing husband Brian to make this a reality

After spending a few minutes setting my Mac up with him remotely a few nights ago… today was the day of her babyshower.  So I duly made sure I was at the flat, and ready and setup with my red wine and dried wors… ready for her virtual and real-life babyshower that happened at 5PM SA time, and 11AM Maryland time

And with the sea in the background, and the kids and Lance watching TV… I attended Natalie’s real-life babyshower along with her mom and dad and gran in the UK, and our friend Charmaine in New Zealand (it was 3am in Auckland… now that’s dedication).

There was a huge amount of squealing when she arrived at the venue, and realised that not only her were her friends and family there, but we were too.

If you’re wondering how it was done… we all connected via GoToMeeting.com using our webcams.  It was fantastic considering I was on a 3G connection actually… there was hardly a delay on my side.  Brian had set up 2 laptops at the venue so we could see everything going on… and there seemed to be a lot going on, and it was quite funny to watch the kids so enthralled by the setup.

I just wish I could give her a real life hug! But it was awesome spending that special time with her.

I went to Wolves tonight to meet up with a bunch of bloggers.  It was awesome, and I’ve put some more photos on my photoblog, but I have to add something here.

Firstly, I have to say that I LOVED that there were so many bloggers there that I didn’t know.  I LOVE that there’s a resurgence in blogging locally, and that people want to tell their stories.

But it was also quite an eye-opener for me, and I love that after all these years of blogging and going to tweet-ups etc that I had to explain who I was again.

Let me explain.

The focus of my blogging in the last few years has been my photography, and not my personal blog. My personal blog has been for me mostly, and for my friends to follow what I do.  It’s less about ego than what my photography blog has become. This blog is about my story.

Normally, when I get to meetups, I’m introduced as Jeanette or Jenty the photographer, and everyone knows my photography blog, or has heard about it, or wants to hear about it.

Tonight was different.  When I got there, my name tag had this blog on it… and I quite like that!

Obviously more people read this blog than I realise.  A few months ago I contemplated shutting it down because I couldn’t think of more to write.  But I’m glad I didn’t… mostly because this is where my story is.  I don’t really punt this blog, I don’t get half as much traffic on it as I do on the other blog… and I’m OK with that.

But my ego was stoked tonight when I realised that people do actually read this, and not just my friends who’ve followed me online for years.

So… anyhoo… I can’t wait to visit some of the blogs of the bloggers I didn’t know about before tonight and adding them to my ever expanding reader

Half the conversations at Friday night’s dinner at my house were about how old we all were… hence the title.  LOL!! Remember I told you that I was going to make curries and the chocolate brownies?  Well, I ended up being a little heavy handed with the chilli but the curries were divine, and the brownies were just sublime, and thankfully there were loads left over

It was awesome seeing our friends again.  Fanie and Mynhardt were at school with Lance, and they’ve kept in touch all these years. We don’t see Fanie and his family all that often, and  Mynhardt moved to Australia years ago.  Mynhardt is in South Africa on holiday with his wife and their 2 year old son, and I know we’re going to get grief with this blog post because it wasn’t a bigger group of friends that met for dinner, but they were only available on that night… and I can’t entertain more people on a Friday… 11 is quite enough

Anyhoo, on with a few photos… I just loved how the kids interacted actually… considering the language barriers.  Our boys only speak English, Fanie’s older son speaks English and Afrikaans, but the younger son only speaks Afrikaans, and then Mynhardt’s 2 year old is more fluent in Russian than he is in either English or Afrikaans!  Oh and notice… 5 boys!! It was one noisy evening!

OMW I have a busy weekend coming up… starting today.

I’m going to be:

1.  Having a dinner party at our house for 11 people tonight… I’m going to be cooking 2 curries… Sandi‘s awesome Butter Chicken recipe, a beef Bombay curry recipe from the most awesome curry cookbook from Woolies that now out of print, and then for dessert it’ll be Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Chocolate Brownies (Lance is shopping so I can just cook when I get home)

2.  Delivering 2 photoshoots

3. Taking the kids to Pretoria at sparrows fart tomorrow to watch Cars2 at a special screening, because I’m taking photos of the decor etc.

4.  I’m going to do my level best to get to the Tranquil Body Treats 1st year celebration tomorrow

5.  I’m taking photos at a kids birthday party tomorrow

6.  A maternity shoot on Sunday

And between all that I need to fnd time to take the dogs for a walk, they’re destroying my garden again

What are you up to?

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This is Day 9 in the 30 truths for 30 days meme

My oath, these questions are hectic…

I could name a few for this one.

I’m SUCH a bad friend, and I’m hopeless with phone calls to find out how you are.  I find it very difficult to even send little emails with questions asking how you’re doing etc.  Thing is, everyone answers OK, or all right, anyway.  It’s only when you see them or read a blog post or have a conversation via skype etc that you actually hear what is going on.  Small talk and me… I hate it!!

As a result though, loads of drifting has happened.  It’s sad I know, but I’ve “lost” many friends over the years.

There are a few that I’d love to be in contact with again… there were 4 of us that were very close at school… I’m not in contact with any of them any more.  I have Lorraine’s phone number, that’s the only one left, but I think I last spoke to her about 2 years ago.Would love to contact Debbie and Lorna again, but I don’t know where to try.  They’re not on Facebook.

I’m in semi contact with my best friend from Primary school though… I found her on Facebook… she lives in Tasmania now.

As for post school… yes there are a few friends… would love to be in contact again.  We didn’t mean to stop talking, life just happened.

Quite sad actually

Why do people have to be so spiteful?

I got an email from an old friend this morning to tell me that one of our shared Facebook friends is having a problem.  Her ex-husband has got hold of her Facebook password and cellphone and is sending random messages to her friends.

This is the second time this has happened to a friend of mine!

I have a few things to say about this…

1.  WTF are you thinking when you do a stupid thing like that?

2.  WTF do you think you’re actually achieving?

3.  You do realise that that instead of getting the support that you’re clearly craving, that you’re alienating yourself entirely.

4.  The person you want to hurt by doing this is ending up being the hero.

What an idiot!

Start acting like a man and get on with your life, like she clearly is!

I wrote a blog post in October last year about Simply Slim after a discussion about the drug at bookclub one night.

For those living under a rock… it’s a weight loss miracle cure that’s not sold by pharmacies, but by agents and random people who have set up camp in shopping centres across the country (that in itself is a worry!).  It was/is touted as a natural weight loss pill and hundreds and thousands of women have been buying it and losing oodles of weight.

However with the weight, comes horrific side effect, some of which I blogged about at the time.

The point of my new blog post…  KUDOS to the medical council for FINALLY investigating this stuff!

According to the Government Gazette, the MCC has suspended the sale of the product with immediate effect.  And according to Timeslive the levels of sibutramine found in the product are above legal limits and after many complaints they’re suspended the product.

I get between 20 to 30 hits on my blog post every day from google searches like “simply slim complaints” and “simply slim dangers” and “has anybody experienced side effects of Simply Slim” and “simply slim side effects”.

My stats have been telling me that there’s a HUGE problem with it.

And on top of that, one of my friends has been told categorically by her doctor that her heart problems are directly related to her taking the drug!

I’m sorry, but that’s not normal. I know that a lot of people swear by it, and have lost oodles of weight on it… but people… you’re killing yourselves early!!

I just hope they actually shut the whole operation down. And yes, I feel sorry for the agents. They’re really in the middle of this mess, after being given “medical” training on the stuff and being told that there’s nothing wrong with it, and it’s safe to take.  Ja right!

And I’m NOT going to respond to people who comment saying I have no idea what I’m talking about… this is my opinion! I know people have gotten their lives back on the stuff because they’ve lost so much weight in the process, that’s not the issue… the issue is how much of your body you’ve irreparably damaged by taking it.

I’ve followed Wenchy’s blog for about 18 months now.  She’s one very amazing single mom who lives in SA, she has a heart of gold and the most amazing family.  However, her son Liam, needs my and your help.

So, another amazing blogger decided to do something about it, and has called it “Lent for Liam”.  The premise is that Lent means giving something up… and R100 was set as the amount to give up.  Now seriously all you peeps out there, R100 is really tiny in the grander scheme of things.

What does R100 buy you?    Think of it as giving up on a R100 luxury something that you normally buy, but don’t really need – like 2 boxes of good chocolates or half a new bra or half a pair of jeans or a new t-shirt.

This is what your R100 will help with…

Liam has ADHD, suffers from extreme anxiety, panic attacks and is on medication for depression, concentration an anti-psychotic as he has bouts of hallucinations. A learning disability has also been diagnosed.

He is currently in a main stream environment where he is not coping and required remedial assistance on a weekly basis (as that is all I can provide at the moment), there is a professional who acts as Liam’s “scribe” since he cannot articulate the information he knows into writing, an education psychologist meets with Liam weekly and he attend a psychiatric hospital monthy to oversee his medication…. all which I struggle to provide with limited resources.

I’m petrified for Liam going to High School because there is no way he would remotely cope emotionally, academically or socially. Remedial care has been suggested by more than one professional caring for Liam.

I found a government school which will be able to help with Liam’s needs… I’m getting all the (many) forms filled in, doctors recommendations etc to make application to the school, although I’ve been told there is a long waiting list… and private education is just totally over anything I could ever manage on my own… so I am making application and hoping they will accept him.

I really have no words. Thank you isn’t enough.

Liam’s Mom.

So now that you know the story, this is how you can get involved…

1.  Join the Facebook group.

2.  Pledge some moolla – the banking details are on Facebook, and if you don’t have Facebook, and would like to contribute, leave a comment and I’ll send you the details.  Some people are giving R100 once off, others are giving R100 per month for 12 months.

3. Blog about it or spread the word on Twitter and Facebook etc

4.  Link to Lent for Liam on Twitter

And that’s it! I’m positive that Wenchy will be able to get Liam the education he needs

My friend Marlise is leaving in 2 weeks time. They’re immigrating to New Zealand.

And this morning it all of a sudden hit me

Her kids are going to Connor’s nursery school until they leave, and Bradley was with me when I dropped Connor at school. Bradley ended up having a chat with Thomas and Sonja before we left.

And then it hit me, especially when I told Bradley that how close their flight date is. I can’t believe it’s snuck up so quickly.
Bradley was talking about it all the way to my mom’s house. He said that he’s going to miss them, and I’m going to miss Marlise, and miss talking to Marlise and he’s going to miss playing with Thomas etc etc. Then he asked where we’re going on holiday this year. He’s really not understanding how far they’re moving away.

Damnit, I’m going to miss them, we all are.