Taking toddlers to the vet

Sometimes I wish it could actually be the way this sounds, but no, we took the new doggies to the vet and the toddlers joined the adventure “to see what a vet looks like”. It’s an important, educational thing to do when you are four years old and have never seen a vet before in your entire life. The two-year-old wanted to stay home and watch the Lollos DVD for the millionth time, but when the puppies got in the car she was sold on going wherever they were going.

So, the four of us plus two pups got in the car and out at the vet at almost 18:00 in the evening. At the vet, the puppies first had to be weighed. Daddy carried the box with them in it and the rest of us trailed behind... every single one of us. No one has ever seen how dogs are weighed, and some of us who have seen it last night won’t remember anyway... Then we went back to the waiting room... to wait for the vet. And have old ladies check out our puppies. I have vast experience in old ladies and ooms checking out your babies, but I had no idea it happens to pups as well. And then we had to smile and say how cute her doggy was...

This is the moment a few things got a bit out of hand. We’ve done the small talk, now we just had to sit and wait. Toddlers are not particularly gifted when it comes to sitting and waiting. Any mom could tell you that. So the monster two-year-old starts investigating everything there is to look at and touch. Goes and stands next to people who choose dog food – as if she’s part of the conversation and helping them make a decision...  I call her back (people in shops and other public places usually say goodbye to my child and call her by her name when we leave). On her way to us, she makes some kind of weird move (still unstable on her feet) and falls down, banging her head on the floor. Groot skree. Ten hemele. We are the centre of attention. Yay. All this while the puppies try to get out of the box, not sure they like the environment.

A lady runs over with two Spur sweets. The four-year-old opens hers and pops it in her mouth. Two minutes later she tells me she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want it any more. I say you can’t spit it out here. She knows not to take the matter any further. The two-year-old holds the sweet under my nose until I open it. Of course it falls on the floor just after she put it in her mouth and of course she picks it up and puts in her mouth again. Three-second rule. Then Charlie gets out of the box and runs – straight towards the vet’s rooms actually. Mommy scrambles and returns him to the box.  

At last the vet calls us. And he’s… stoic. Even daddy the IT guy says he has the personality of a rock when we come home. So much for the four-year-old’s first encounter with the vet. And she was so excited!

Stick to the speed limit

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

Gandhi

I have declared 2012 as my year of slowing down. I don’t know for how much longer the human race will be able to go faster and faster every day. I’ve reached my limit, and I’m turning around. It’s not easy – almost nothing worthwhile ever is – but we have to stop somewhere!

Have you ever felt so wrapped up in everything that is happening around you that you could not tell which day of the week it was? Then you should perhaps read on.

The funny thing about this superfast mad joyride that we’re on is that it isn’t fun any more. No one said life will be easy or you’ll ever find complete happiness, but pretty much all the fun is gone. We are killing ourselves trying to make humanly impossible deadlines. All of us are driving like maniacs because we left late (we had too much to do) but we can’t be late for the next big thing where we have to be. We think we are irreplaceable and “who would BE ABLE do it if I don’t?”. Even the fun things we look forward to doing turn out to be just another chore and something that has to be completed in a hurry.

Facebook, smartphones and the digital gadgets are not helping. Most people can be reached anywhere at any time of the day. As I sit here and write this on a Sunday night, my not-so-little Android smartphone is right next to me, because… maybe a friend needs me, maybe… nobody will need me and I can actually spend some time alone without external input (of a digital kind). They should have therapy groups for Facebook and smartphone addiction, I think. It’s ugly.

I’ve received the message to slow down in various forms and ways over the last few years, and at last I’m heeding. This doesn’t mean I’ll work less or do less, but it’s about getting priorities straight and making some time for God, myself and the people who are important to me. These two aspects of life will be my focus for the year – you have to chew an elephant bit by bit!

By the way, in addition to slowing down my life, I am committing myself to physically drive according to the speed limit from now on. It’s a well-known fact that our inner world affects our external lives, and the inverse is also true.

We are responsible for giving meaning to our own lives. How would anyone be able to do that when that person is swept away by the chaos that is our world today? It is, after all, every person’s own choice to decide how full his or her programme should be.

If you agree with me, or at least are thinking about this slowing down thing, you can find a number of interesting and informative articles on www.psychologytoday.com. You can start of with this article on feeling guilty and making time for yourself, and this one, which offers six reasons why you should spend time alone. They are targeted at women, but most of us share duties these days and are feeling equally overwhelmed by trying to get to every little thing.

Enough talking… writing. I’m off to go and smell some daisies! You should be doing it too!

Die lekkerste nagereg in die wêreld

Dis amper eenuur. Die nag, of die oggend. Die man snork so hard daar is geen kans dat hy nie wakker word daarvan nie; nogtans draai hy nie op sy sy nie. Ek is nie seker of ons dalk op minder goeie voet gaan slaap het nie, maar ek vermoed als is nie pluis nie (hy het hier 23:30 kom melk aanmaak vir die baba en was nie vriendelik toe ek kom vra het wat maak hy nie – ek het vanaand, gisteraand, vergeet daarvan). Ek wil nie vet op die moontlike vuur gooi nie, so ek kom sit maar en skryf, want die woorde draai in elk geval in my kop. 

Ons het die skoonfamilie vir Nuwejaar oorgenooi, met die idee dat ons sommer die vierjarige se partytjiekoek vir nagereg sal eet, maar toe word ek lus vir trifle en onthou die skoonsus in Kimberley het ’n resep. Dis Nataniël se Swartwoud-trifle wat sy ’n paar jaar gelede uit ’n Sarie geskeur en sommer gemaak het. Dié skoonsus het redelik vinnig naam gemaak in die stad met haar gebak, so jy kan maar ’n reseppie gebruik as sy hom aanbeveel. En met Nataniël kan jy ook nie sommer ’n fout maak nie – eendag skryf ek dalk net ’n ode aan die man.  

Hierdie trifle – met my eie klein aanpassing – het almal wat dit geproe het, se smaakknoppies laat lofliedere sing en die resep MOES net aangestuur word. En dis wat ek nou doen…

Nataniël noem dit die Swartwoud-trifle omdat hy geblikte swartkersies gebruik, maar die bessies op die winkelrakke (goed dan, Woolies se rakke, liefie, en dit was ongelooflik duur, maar dit was ook ongelooflik lekker!) het gesmeek om asseblief net op een of ander manier gebruik te word!

Toe knyp ek my oë toe en koop bloubessies, aarbeie, moerbeie en frambose en kry die resep. 

 

Saam met die bessies of kersies het jy die volgende baie dekadente bestanddele nodig:

12 sjokolademuffins
Brandewyn (moet nou net nie skaam wees daarmee nie)
500 g roomkaas
2 blikke kondensmelk
Sap van 1 suurlemoen
500 ml room
Sjokoladeballetjies (Whispers of Woolies s’n met die shortbread in)
Versiersuiker en kruisementblare vir versiering (maar ek het nie eers daarby uitgekom nie)

Voor jy begin, kan jy die roomkaas, kondensmelk en suurlemoensap meng. Kry ’n lekker groot, diep, mooi glasbak en begin. Sny die sjokolademuffins in die helfte en pak die eerste laag daarmee. Gooi brandewyn oor. Moenie die fout maak wat ek gemaak het en bang wees die brandewyn oordonder die ding nie – gooi goed. Dan kom daar ’n laag van die roomkaasmengsel en dan ’n laag bessies of kersies. Nou herhaal jy die lae. Klop die room styf en sit dit bo-oor, en heel bo-op kom die sjokoladeballetjies. Gebruik die hele pakkie, behalwe vir die een wat jy proe! Sif versiersuiker oor en druk kruisementblaartjies in om dit te laat mooi lyk as jy tyd en energie het. Die skoonsus sê dis die beste dat dié nommer oornag in die yskas staan dat al die bestanddele lekker kan bymekaarkom. 

Dit sal die beste nagereg wees wat jy in jou lewe eet.

Die resep is nogal op 'n paar plekke op die internet beskikbaar, so dis nie ’n staatsgeheim nie. Dit is in die Sarie van Desember 2006 gepubliseer so ver ek weet. Die skoonsus is seker dis Nataniël s’n, maar die internetblaaie laat my twyfel. Wie s’n dit ook al is, Nataniël bly een van my helde en Barbara Joubert, redakteur van Sarie Kos, se resepte is ook treffers.