I don’t believe it! I’m standing by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who said, “The road uphill and the road downhill are one and the same!”

We had a wonderful time in Palm Springs for my 40th birthday this past weekend. Dave rented a gorgeous place with a pool and a hot tub, and we spent the weekend relaxing, sleeping in, going for coffee and yes, the three of us ate a whole birthday cake! It was mostly fruit and sponge cake, or so I keep telling myself.

Also, I have been wanting to buy a digital SLR camera for a long time now and with birthday contributions from various family members (thanks again all!), I was able to order my Canon Rebel XTi and a 50mm lens last week. It arrived in time to take away with us.

Thanks for your lovely cards, calls and flowers all!

So as I mentioned, most of my blogging energy is going into my new site (those of you who haven’t seen it, let me know and I’ll send you the URL). That means not much nobaddays-ing these days.

But I did want to touch base on a couple points.

1. It snowed in San Diego County yesterday. Yes. Snowed. And it was cold and windy. I had to wear a sweater. And run to my car. And turn on the heat. Yuk!
2. This week I started a three-month tech-writing contract with a small software company here in San Diego. For the techies: They develop a media-hosting/social-networking platform that fits seamlessly into their customers’ websites. Think YouTube but higher-quality and for the corporate media market. Online newspaper and TV sites. That sort of thing. I’ll be documenting their admin tool. Love being at a small start up again … fun product, fun people. And I really love that I’m only working four days a week and 20 minutes from home!
3. Dave and I celebrated our seventeenth anniversary last week. See pics of the yummy dinner I made on Flickr to the right.
4. And yes, my fortieth is coming up this leap year’s day. We plan to be away that weekend, so family if we could talk the weekend before or after, that would be grand.
5. I hoped to post about New Zealand the whole month of January but didn’t get around to doing that, did I? Dave stepped in admirably with posts on wine and coffee but I had planned to tell you all about our travels there. So many posts still sitting on the shelves of my mind. Time to clear them out but with the new job and a bunch of other things I want to get done around the house in Feb and March, I don’t think that’s going to happen. So please make do with taking another look at our pics. I think they capture just how lovely and relaxing our visit was!
6. Finally, belated happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We kinda skip over it here at Casa Nobaddays but Tau apparently did quite well — he came home with a goodie bag stuffed with candy and cards from his classmates. All along the lines of this one last year.

That’s all she wrote for now!

Because I’d so love to, really I would. And I like to think I could come up with something delicious every day of November. But truthfully, my mind is elsewhere. Somewhere new and exciting.

For the last I-shudder-to-tell-you-how-many months I’ve been dreaming up a new venture. A nichey social networking blog for South-African women, both in the old country and living all around the world. A site that brings the sweets of the Internet to South-African women and a bit of Southern Africa to the rest of the world. You like the idea?

It’s been slow and painful at times. I’m no graphic artist or web designer but I can poke my way around PhotoShop and cascading style sheets when I have to. And truth be told, mucking around with web stuff is one of my favorite things to do. As you know, there’s not a whole lot of free time in our household, so most of it has been done in little bursts of effort. Half an hour here, 15 minutes there. Baby blogging steps that finally get you there. (more…)

At the door this morning. “Tau, wait! Mommy needs to put on her shoes … uh, boots …”

Turns around, staring at my boots for the first time because the new word (it’s only just cool enough to consider wearing boots) … the NEW WORD! … has alerted him to something that needs to be examined, explored, filed away in his little Rolodex of comprehension.

Tugging them on, showing him the zippers. “These are Mommy’s boots.”

“Boo-bz?”

“No … boo-ts. Boots.”

“Boo-bz.”

“Boots.”

With certainty: “Boobs.”

“OK dude …” Can’t beat ‘em join ‘em. “If you say so!”

Mommy’s boobs. On her feet.*

Nice!

* If I was Jessica at OTJs, I’d be breaking out my Photoshop skeelz right about now.

Oh my. I’ve been trying to tell you all about our lovely week away in Santa Barbara for two weeks. And every time I do, we end up having to take our kid to the emergency clinic and so I tell you about that instead.

So, the short version, lest we be interrupted again. And to be honest, it’s Sunday evening and I’d like an early night but I really want to tell you about the fabulous time we had away.

We love Santa Barbara. Love it more every time we go there.

This time, Dave booked four nights in a snazzy little condo he found on the Internet. A property belonging to a couple that have clearly traveled extensively, as evidenced by the eclectic decor and shelves and shelves of travel books. I should mention the gourmet kitchen and the comfy couch that was big enough for all three of us to sit on to watch Clifford the Big Red Dog and the toddler-proof, easy-clean hardwood floors. No carpet to stain. But instead, I’ll suggest you go and take a look at our Santa Barbara set on Flickr. It really felt like home without, you know, feeling like home. (more…)

I recently told you about winning a pair of Ryka running shoes, and later about Ryka’s Good for Your Sole contest.

Guess what? I won another pair of shoes in that contest - a pair of their MC2 walking shoes! Aren’t they gorgeous?

I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

We all have our own versions of this. But today I think Heather Armstrong put it so well. The full version is here at Dooce.com.

“We spend years and years of our lives discovering who we are, and it’s not a sudden realization, but one day you figure out who you are, that you are the type of person who likes to be in charge, or you are the type of person who likes to be given a list of tasks. Maybe you’re the type of person who can’t have fun unless you know that the other people around you are having fun, or maybe you’re the type of person who has fun no matter what. And if you’ve had enough therapy you’re okay with that, you’re okay knowing that this? This is who I am.

… It wasn’t until Leta was about two years old that I grew into my identity as a mother, that I finally stopped feeling guilty and embraced my version of that role. I knew that I loved my child, that I would do anything for her, but that I don’t necessarily do this thing like many other women. And that’s okay.”

I posted recently about the shoes I won from Ryka, which should be arriving any day now.

For those of you in the US, Ryka has another great giveaway starting today. As part of their “Good For Your Sole” program, they will be giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 performance tees every day for the next 50 days.

Yay free stuff!

Oh, and for every pair they give away, they’ll be donating another to the Women’s Sports Foundation to distribute to organizations across the country providing health and wellness programs for women.

Register to win at http://www.ryka.com/main.asp

… I thought it best to get his baby book done.

And you know those long, flat Rubbermaid containers? The kind you store gift wrap or sweaters in under the bed? I had one of those FULL of baby memorabilia. Everything from receipts for hospital meals to extra passport photos taken at two weeks old for our trip to South Africa.

I had visions of having to buy a second album to fit it all in. “You wanna see my kid’s baby book? Oh … take a seat. Here … oof! And here … oof! Well, let’s put that second volume on the floor then. We’ll take a break for dinner in between the two.”

Actually, it ended up being not quite that bad. I managed to get it all in the one album, and have it look nice without being cluttered and overdone. Not a big fan of the over-the-top scrapbooky look. You know what I mean. One cropped photo and about three tons of layered paper, ribbon and swirly doodads on each page. Wanted to avoid that.

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Compact and demure looking, isn’t it?

When I posted the contents of my handbag, making reference to my Mom’s bag (aka Le Pantechnicon), I had no idea.

No idea.

Either I’ve forgotten just how much crapola my mother carries around or she’s anticipating a string of global disasters. Those of you living in the path of hurricanes take note.

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Still life with Handbag and Corporate Access Pass

Canadian blogger Her Bad Mother recently posted the contents of her handbag and invited readers to do likewise. Which got me thinking about the sad state of my bag and how I am not one of those women who carry pocket Kama Sutras or silk scarves or Japanese blotting tissue at all times.

Instead, I am one of a long line of women who carry a far more practical bag. With the bare essentials. And at least a year’s worth of gum wrappers, passed doctor’s appointment cards and old shopping lists scribbled on scrunched-up post-its.

Not much different from my mother’s or maternal grandmother’s handbags really. Except that Granny Sylvia always carried a roll of Triple-X mints and Mom’s bag weighed a bit heavier with that bunch of keys — a Fort Knox-like fistful of keys befitting the manageress of one of Durban’s larger branches of the Permanent Building Society.

Yes, our women folk believe in purses that are up to the job. Purses of solid brown or black with sturdy handles. And when my mother refers to her bag as “The Pantechnicon” she isn’t kidding.

Without further a do, the contents of my handbag:

1. Pile of doctor notes, post-its, and a monthly statement for the store card I’ve been meaning to cancel because I don’t use it.
2. Wad of calling cards we got made not too long after we moved here (free from Vista Print). Thought they would come in handy when we met new people but since then we’ve changed our web address and ISP, and my work phone number is no longer current. Why do I still carry these? (more…)

… a pair of Ryka shoes in Sk*rt’s Off and Running contest.

I could really do with a new pair of running shoes to use in the gym. My current runners are at least four years old (did I just admit that?) and even though they feel and look okay, I’ll bet the support in them is shot.

Waiting to hear from the folks at Ryka — I get to choose whatever I like! Leaning towards the N-Gage Run, shown above. Who-hoo!

Dear Muffin Lady,

I should have warned you up front: I am not a morning person. People I work with know not to ask questions until I’ve had coffee, breakfast and cleared my email.

And while I understand you would like me to buy breakfast from you more often, making know-it-all small talk doesn’t help. And breaking down for me just how and why I speak as I do will not make your chocolate-chip muffins any dearer to me than they already are, thank you.

So, now that I can get a word in edgewise let me tell you how it is:

• No, I am not from England. Not from any part of it. Never have been. To you it may sound that way at first. But no, I am positively not. From Britain. At all.

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This week at Crazy Hip Blog Mamas, the theme is Something I made that I was really proud of.

So. This goes waaaay back to my college days in Canada, when I submitted this and a second story to a la-di-da literary fiction contest. Ahem. Talking With His Hands won and the other story placed fourth, out of hundreds. Trust me — no one was more surprised than yours truly. And though I preferred the other story, I was still thrilled this one had won. A big prize. Me.

Dave and I went over to Vancouver to rub shoulders and drink beer with the very erudite Creative Writing types who ran the magazine. Had to do a reading, which normally doesn’t bother me, but it was a bit daunting in front of the small group of very smart, talented people who had driven in to UBC that night in the rain — gulp! — to hear me read my little story. 

Haven’t thought about Talking With His Hands in a while. It sits in a virtual drawer with a bunch of other stories in varying stages of being written and rewritten. Somehow moving to a new country and having a baby kinda got in the way.

That said, I thought this was a good opportunity to dust it off, and for those of you who don’t know me personally, to show you this little part of me that’s still lying neatly folded at the bottom of the drawer, cherished and not forgotten. Enjoy.

Talking with His Hands 

            When Cyrus wrote that he was soon to be married and would not be returning home to Keimoes, his father did not reply for two months.  When the letter finally came, Petrus Leshoa asked his son only this:  “What must I now do with this house I have built for you?”

            Cyrus had not thought about the house the four years he’d been in the States.  He did not consider it his.  That his father built it for him now made some sense; Petrus was a man who spoke with his hands.  Realizing this made it more difficult.  Cyrus could not tell his father that he finally understood, could not explain that the gesture made little difference.  He could not bring Chlaris home.

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It’s Photo Friday at CHBM and the theme this week is strange positions. Here’s Tau at five months practicing the yoga pose commonly known as Happy Baby.

And here is a link to yoga master Rodney Yee doing his best Tau impression!