Makro Opening

Makro Opening

 

I know this is a weird post. On Wednesday the 26^th of September we in Bloemfontein had an exciting day. We got our own Makro store, for those who live in other parts of the world. Makro is a partner with Wallmart (don’t know about the spelling) so this is a BIG store with loads of stuff.

 

So on Wednesday morning we got up at 2 am to go and get into the queue to get into the shop before work. Now some people might find this as extremely crazy. I felt a little stupid, but we got into the shop at 7 and we were 10^th in the queue.

 

They had awesome specials my friend got a 32” tv for R1999. This is so cheap! I had two goals set for myself, I wanted a PVR decoder for our dish and my one colleague asked me to grab a CANON 500D that was marked down to R3999. I was done with my shopping by 7:30 but had to wait for my colleague to bring his money.

you will notice the cars at the top of the screen. those were in a queue from the city to get to Makro

 

I must admit I felt petrified with all those people pushing you out of the way, trying to grab all the specials up for grabs. I read in our local newspaper, that they jokingly referred to the fact that not even on an election day you will get so many Bloemfonteiners in a queue for hours.   

Show More

Show Less

 

 

 

 

The Vow

The Vow

 

Have any of you seen The Vow starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams? My sister wanted to see this movie in the cinema, but after I saw the trailer, I figured I did not want a repeat of our The Notebook catastrophe. O yes you don’t know about our Notebook episode.

 

When The Notebook was in the cinema, I think I was in about 10^th grade, I am not sure at this moment. A bunch of friends and I decided to go watch it. We did not really know anything about the movie; we just figured it will be a great movie to watch on a girl’s night out. So we bought our tickets, got some popcorn and cold drinks, went into the movies all dolled-up, looking pretty. When the movie was over we had to rush to the bathroom. Needless to say our mascara was all over our faces instead of just on our eyes. We were about 6 girls and between us, we had a tissue per person. We were not prepared for this movie. The best part was getting to the bathroom and seeing that we weren’t the only girls who were unprepared. The bathroom was filled with girls trying to fix their makeup. We burst out laughing then.

 

So you can imagine my reluctance. So we waited for the DVD, which came out last Monday. We rent it over the weekend. Let me tell you I was very glad we watched it at home. I could pause and get more tissues. This movie is one of the best movies I have watched in a while. The story was moving. I fell in love with Channing’s character. This guy had to get his wife to fall in love with him, twice!

 

The movie is based on the actual relationship between Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, who after being married for 10 weeks they were in a car accident were Krickitt suffered brain injuries, and Kim’s love was so deep that he had to make Krickitt fall in love with him again, since she could not remember him, or their relationship.

 

Here is a link to the trailer, and if you can, rent it. It is worth it.

 

 The Vow Trailer

 

 

 

Show More

Show Less

 

 

 

 

Heritage Day

Heritage Day

 

On Monday the 24^th September we had Heritage day in South Africa. What this means to us as Afrikaners (people who speak Afrikaans) it is BRAAI day (roughly translated Barbeque day). So this means when you drive around town you will smell people lighting fires, smelling the most delicious aromas of braaied meat.

 

We woke up to our lodger and her boyfriend having a braai. They didn’t want to pose for a photo, but they were still in their pj’s. It was so cute.

 

We didn’t get to braai until very late that afternoon, but we had lots of preparations. We made potato salad, stuffed mushrooms, and a lovely green salad. My dad went crazy and braaied a lot of meat, we still had left over’s until last night. Here is some photo’s of the yummy food we had.

Show More

My moms famous stuffed mushrooms.

Afrikaners love us some Boerewors

Show Less

 

 

 

 

Pinaholic

Pinaholic

 

Have I mentioned before how big a Pinholic I am? Each morning when I get to the office I switch on my computer, and get my sites for work going, next step I log onto Pintrest and I keep this window open the whole day. Sometimes I see the same thing over and over, but guess what, this does not bother me. I love stumbling on new ideas, DIY projects, quotes and many more.

@ work

 

I have stumbled across many of my blogs that I follow on this method.

 

I must admit some of the DIY projects have ended in disaster, but others were real treasures. You might remember my post on the crayon art back here  and of course there was many failures. But this makes me grow as a person. If you follow me on Pintrest you will see, I have my wedding, friend’s baby showers and photo’s of my future family all planned out. So to end this confession:

 

My name is Elize and I am a Pinaholic

 

Catch up

Catch Up

 

So life has been very busy lately, I have a couple of things to catch-up on.

 

About two months ago we had to put our Boerbul to sleep, she had cancer and after two operations we felt that she was in too much pain. This left us with a crisis, with us living in South Africa, and having an open field behind us, which provides a walk through for people; we need a big dog to help scare burglars away. So introducing to the world. Our Leila, she is an 8 week old Labrador and the one of the cutest dogs on earth, she is also very playful, and luckily our year old Yorkie keeps her occupied.

Annien and Leila

 

We had a casual day on 7 September. This means that you dress up according to the theme of the year. This year it was pirates, sailors. So of course we grabbed the opportunity to dress up as pirates. Since we in South Africa don’t really have Halloween, we always look for the occasion to dress up.

Annien's Pirate gear

Roxy picking out a hat

Me in my pirate gear

 

I recently received a Kindle Touch, I totally love this, as you know I am a avid reader and this just makes it so much better, I have all my books at the touch of a button. So in love with this invention.

 

So this has brought you up to date. Will post the latest book review soon.

Show More

Show Less

 

 

 

 

Hospital Stay

Hospital stay

As I told you last week, I was admitted to hospital, this was not in my planning, and this was also a horrible time for me since I thought we have beaten this disease since I haven’t been ill in almost a year. As I have mentioned before I have an illness in my leg called osteitis. It involves my leg being inflamed, and pain, etc. don’t need to go into the details.

So I phoned the doctor on the Monday and since he just got back from leave he was busy that I could only get an appointment for Wednesday, but I was in pain, so I decided to drop in late Monday afternoon to beg for a prescription. Luckily I have a very kind (when he isn’t fighting) doctor and got and OR time booked in less than 30 minutes for Wednesday (even before my appointment time)

Wednesday afternoon we pitched at the hospital to be admitted. My best friend and sister in tow. Needless to say we sat in admissions for 2 hours waiting for a bed, since I had to be in a private room because of the infection. I was getting nervous because the time arranged was 2 o’clock and we still did not have a bed. At 13:50 I was admitted into the children’s ward. The doctor was already waiting and since I was supposed to get x-rays and blood work done and none of those things was done. Told you my doctor is nice, except when he is fighting with everyone. So I was operated on and later the afternoon I was moved to the orthopaedic ward (my second home)

I slept the whole day, only read when I could keep my eyes open, and of course when friends came to visit. I think my doctor wanted to ensure that my pain was managed and all the different concoctions made me very sleepy. I took some pictures with my phone when I was bored.

All my bracelets they almost cover your whole arm

Lovely snacks in the afternoon

This machine is small but can make a lot of noise

Atleast I got pretty flowers

And a succulent, I love these little guys

Televisions in the ceiling. No need to sit and watch

This little guy is so much better than having to sit with an earpiece

So yesterday I was released, unfortunately with a surgy-vac still installed and since I am not one of those people who can hang around at home doing nothing I came to work this morning J don’t worry the pipe and all its goodies is safely hidden in a bag. So no co-workers will be grossed out, aren’t I considerate?

Show More

Show Less

Hunger Games

Hunger Games

I finally finished The Hunger Games trilogy. I must say it took me longer than I thought but I am glad I read it.

For those who don’t know The Hunger Games is a young adult novel by American television writer and novelist Suzanne Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, rules over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death until only one person remains.

The hunger games originated after district 13 had an uprising against the Capitol and then after destroying 13 the Capitol instated these “games” as a lesson to the rest to ensure that they don’t also start an uprising.

In the first book titled The Hunger Games, Katniss takes her sister, Prim’s, place when her name gets called in the Reaping. The other tribute from 12 is the baker’s son Peeta. The tributes are then placed on a train and they are then transported to the Capitol. On arrival they get a prep team who has to redo the tributes and make them spectacular. They also have a mentor who was a previous victor, the drunken Haymitch. On the first day of the games nearly half of the tributes are killed and Katniss depends on her hunting skills to survive. While Peeta is spinning the story of the star crossed lovers who will never be able to be together thanks to the games.

The gamemakers announce that if the tributes can survive with their district tribute both of them can survive. Katniss and Peeta join forces and fight to the end. Until the shocking revelation that they won’t be spared. Katniss gives Peeta and herself a handful of poisonous berries and they make to eat them, when the gamemakers intervene and lift them out of the arena. They are treated to a hero’s welcome, but this has also flamed the unrest already spreading through the districts.

The second book is called Catching Fire. Both of them receive considerable wealth and are living in the affluent Victor's Village of the district; however, they have rarely spoken since winning the Games, as Peeta realized that Katniss's proclaimed love towards him was exaggerated at their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy's, request in order to receive life-saving gifts from sponsors. Katniss struggles to understand her feelings about Peeta and her best friend, Gale, who kissed Katniss upon her return to District 12. As part of their duties as victors of the Hunger Games, they are preparing to embark on a "Victory Tour" to all districts within Panem. President Snow announces that, for the 75th Hunger Games, as part of the "Quarter Quell", a special edition of the Games every quarter-century, tributes will be reaped from a pool of all living Victors of past Hunger Games. Desperate to prepare, Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch begin training and studying the winning tactics of past victors. Being the only living female victor from District 12, Katniss is chosen for the Quarter Quell by default. When Haymitch is chosen as male tribute, Peeta volunteers in his place to protect Katniss. The new Games arena is a beach and jungle terrain with the Cornucopia located on a small island in the center of a miniature sea. The arena resembles an analog clock with one lethal event occurring every hour on a twelve hour cycle. At night, the group splits to prepare for the plan, but is attacked separately by the remaining tributes. Katniss is knocked out and has her tracker removed by Johanna. Johanna then leads the two remaining careers away from Katniss. An injured Katniss comes across Beetee, holding a knife tied to the wire and appearing to have planned to direct the knife into the force field. Katniss realizes the plan all along was to destroy the forcefield, and she directs the lightning at the force field's control panel with an arrow tied to the wire, destroying the force field and temporarily paralyzing her. When she awakens, Katniss discovers she is being transported to District 13: a place widely believed to no longer exist. But to her horror she realises Peeta was taken by the Capitol.

The last book is called Mockingjay, After her rescue by the rebels of District 13, Katniss is convinced to become "the Mockingjay": a symbol of the rebellion against the ruling Capitol. As part of a deal, she demands that the leader of District 13, President Coin, grant immunity to all of the Hunger Games victors, including Peeta, and that Katniss receives the right to kill President Snow, the leader of Panem, herself. Katniss watches Peeta on television, and is unable to cope with her guilt. Finally, District 13 leaders decide to rescue Peeta, realizing that Katniss' guilt is impeding her role as "the Mockingjay." After the rescue, it is discovered that Peeta has been brainwashed into believing Katniss is the enemy, and he attempts to strangle her during their reunion. Peeta gradually improves after much treatment and therapy, including cake decorating. His childhood friend, Delly Cartwright, helps with his recovery by retelling happy events in District 12. Soon, Peeta recovers fully enough to train. The rebels and Katniss eventually set off on a mission to the Capitol, and President Coin later sends Peeta with them in replacement of another soldier, although his many scarred memories fuel his rage. After the rebels conquer the Capitol and place President Snow on house arrest, he informs Katniss that the final assault that killed Prim was ordered by President Coin. Katniss realizes that if this is true, the bombing may have been the result of a plan originally developed by Gale Hawthorne; however, Gale denies his involvement. Katniss remembers a conversation with Snow, following the 74th Annual Hunger Games, in which they agreed not to lie to each other. Her suspicions plaguing her, Katniss banishes Gale from her life. When she goes to execute Snow, Katniss realizes he was telling the truth and kills Coin instead. A riot ensues and Snow is found dead, having possibly choked on his own blood (laughing) or been trampled in the crowd. Katniss then tries to commit suicide by swallowing a suicide pill sewn onto her suit before the campaign to conquer the districts began (in case the Capitol captured her during one of her missions), but Peeta stops her.

In the epilogue, Katniss speaks as an adult, twenty years later. She and Peeta are married and have two children. The Hunger Games are over, but she dreads the day her children learn about their parents' involvement in both the Games and the war. When she feels distressed, Katniss plays a comforting but repetitive "game," reminding herself of every good thing that she has ever seen someone do. The series ends with Katniss claiming that "there are much worse games to play."

This was one of the best books a read.

Show More

Show Less