Life in the very fast lane...: It is Valentine's Day. I have decided to work fro...

Life in the very fast lane...: It is Valentine's Day.  I have decided to work fro...: It is Valentine's Day.  I have decided to work from home this afternoon as my helper is off, and I am extremely concerned about who will let...

It is Valentine's Day.  I have decided to work from home this afternoon as my helper is off, and I am extremely concerned about who will let the delivery men in when all my flowers arrive.

So far, the bell has not rung once, so I immediately think there must be road blocks, pot holes so big they block highways, and a driver with a broken down vehicle, or a driver who is actually from Mpumalanga, and has not been given a G.P.S.

If you are married (ask me, I know), one feels you need to pull out all the stops and really try to bring romance back into your marriage (if it has been lost), or maintain romance in your marriage (if you still have it at that time).  If you are in a new relationship, it is happy days, roses, champagne, endless feelings of elation and of course, one is still at that stage where you are hiding your Bridget Jones like "hold it all in" bloomers.  If one is single, you have three choices - go out with great friends, throw caution to the wind, and have a ball; stay in and consider the best ways in which to slit your wrists, or lastly, focus on the ones in your life you truly love, and shower them with affection.

At this moment in my life, the beings closest to me are my mother and my daughter - and it is they whom I have chosen to focus my affections on.  Truth be told, this unconditional type of love, is a good one to have, and to keep.

I am proud to say I did in fact receive a Valentine's Day card, from my six year old daughter - it read "Bee mine" with a drawing of a bee.  I have to confess, I am smitten.

And so, this evening, whilst corks are popping all over this planet, I will be spending my time doing "Mathletics" with my daughter, eating fish with my mother (in pursuit of the body beautiful of course), and sipping on ice cold wine, just because I can.

And so the moral:  please chaps, next time you all decide to send me flowers, either get the address right, or alternatively, ensure that the driver knows how to get to my home...

Life in the very fast lane...: Forgive me for I have sinned. It has been several...

Life in the very fast lane...: Forgive me for I have sinned.  It has been several...: Forgive me for I have sinned.  It has been several weeks since my last blog. As most of you are aware, I have always wanted to be a full-t...

Forgive me for I have sinned.  It has been several weeks since my last blog.

As most of you are aware, I have always wanted to be a full-time writer - actually ever since watching Jessica Fletcher as a child in "Murder she Wrote" - what a perfect combination of life in a small town in Upstate New York, being a full-time writer, and, to boot, being able to solve murders.  This to me seemed like the perfect life, and being able to combine a bit of "spy/investigative work" with writing, well, I was sold.  And so, since this desire found it's way to me, I have heard about this thing called "writer's block".  In a way, I wanted to have that too, because then that would mean, I was a writer!

Sadly, I am not at a point yet where I am able to be a full-time writer, and still, in the past few weeks - writer's block, big time.

I have had things happen I thought I could blog about, but I lacked motivation.  I wondered if I were depressed, then I got over that thought, I wondered what it was, for several days actually, and still, no conclusion.

Now it is the beginning of a new day, and the end of a work week, and hey presto, I have found the motivation I have been waiting for.

Upon waking this morning and hearing that a dear friend has moved on to a better life; and tomorrow being the fifth anniversary of the death of one of my closest, closest friends, one does tend to look around and wonder why life can be so fragile for some.  For me personally, I have not really feared an early demise - mainly because "only the good die young", so I know I am pretty safe.  However, the death of someone way too early in their path, certainly does force one to reflect, and be grateful for the life going on around us all - a life that continues to tick and tock away.

This whole thought process got me thinking about something known as "random acts of kindness".  And this I have been faced with recently.  I was at a traffic light earlier in the week where a blonde woman was standing with a sign, begging.  This is not what we would call a normal sighting.  I studied her - she was about my age (young!!), but looked weathered, and very tired.  There were two African gentlemen in a car, and it was they who unwound their windows and gave her money.  I was so touched on her behalf.  What a brilliant show of humanity, and such proof that many of us have moved on from the atrocities of this country's past.

The following day it was "Sandwich Wednesday" at school - were we are all encouraged to make an extra sandwich when we are doing the usual lunch boxes, and then drop off the sandwich for the local soup kitchen.  I walked with my daughter to drop off my I am sure very average sandwich, and saw that someone had put a sandwich into the box, but also a small bag of jelly tots with it.  Another touching moment.  How thoughtful and kind of that child or mum, for including an extra treat for someone less fortunate than ourselves.

And to end, with a moral of course:  life can be long for some, too short for others, but those small random acts of kindness are the moments that we will recall for a long while, and are the moments we should remember fondly forever.

Rest in peace Colin Douglas and Mandi Leicher - forever with us in our memories.

Life in the very fast lane...: We are now on week two of January out of four and ...

Life in the very fast lane...: We are now on week two of January out of four and ...: We are now on week two of January out of four and a half weeks.   Resolutions made – tick; sticking to resolutions – semi-tick; challenges...

We are now on week two of January out of four and a half weeks.  Resolutions made – tick; sticking to resolutions – semi-tick; challenges to resolutions – double tick.

Apart from trying to only see the good in people, and say good things about people, is the resolution I call “project body beautiful”.  To be honest, this has been a resolution for a few years now, but this year that is 2013, I decided I really do want to take it seriously. 

So the new eating plan has begun – less wine (the hardest part), less carbohydrates (bear in mind that if I were on death row and I was asked what my last meal should be, it would a four cheese pizza, as large as possible, extra anchovies), more exercise, more water, more raw food… blah blah, we all know the tricks of the diet trade.

Seeing as how I have now turned the big 4-0, I decided that today was the day to re-look at the running programme.  Waking up early is never a problem for me - given nearly seven years of motherhood - lazy late mornings are just something I used to do.  So off I set looking what I thought was uber cool.  New York Yankees t-shirt, long grey track pants hiding a multitude of sins, followed by one times ankle guard for messed up ankle (party injury) and one times knee guard for messed up knee (skiing injury post cocktails halfway up a mountain in Switzerland).  Uber cool?  Perhaps not.

So off I set, and in the spirit of all things weight loss, I decided to tackle a hill before anything else.  The first five meters were actually not too bad, then things started going downhill rapidly.  Before I knew it, I was huffing and puffing my way up what would be to others a gentle gradient, which to me, was like running up Mount Everest without boots on.  I made it twenty five meters and had no choice but to stop, and look around for where I had left my lungs.  Two security guards in a neighbouring complex started to laugh at me, and frankly, who could blame them?  I had a Bridget Jones moment right then and there, and wondered if I should be wearing the undersized bloomers to match the rest of my now sweaty attire.

Ever the persistent one, I broke out into a gentle jog, and attempted the hill again.  The heavy legs started to shake, the derriere broke out into a speed wobble, and quite frankly, any New York Yankees player would not be happy to see me wearing one of their fan shirts.  But carry on I did, head down, praying for the end of the road with more enthusiasm than I would have for that four cheese pizza. 

Finally, the end of the road was there to meet me, and I turned around, and managed, with some weight literally behind me, to shoot down the tar track with such speed that even good old “Beep Beep” from the Road Runner cartoon would not be able to catch me.  Imagine the surprise of the security guards when they saw the haggard individual who minutes earlier staggered past them, come shooting past in front of them, with such speed and glee, they almost had whiplash as they watched me pass.

This pattern, I am afraid to say, was repeated more than twice, and became funnier and funnier as the footsteps progressed.

And so, the moral of this story:  When life throws you that desperate uphill, put your head down and tread carefully; when life throws you that long and easy path – run as fast as your legs will take you, appreciate what it is you have managed to achieve to get there, and enjoy the rush of the summer wind through your disheveled hair.

Life in the very fast lane...: And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a wee...

Life in the very fast lane...: And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a wee...: And so, 2013 has begun, and we are just over a week into what I am choosing to believe will be the most fabulous year yet.   As with ...