Entries from June 2007 ↓

…a Pizza Hut?

When I saw that photo that song immediately came up in my mind. I can’t get it out now

Got them in an e-mail from my sister, here are other cute ones which were included in the mail…

[Happy Easter] [Gas mask?]

For millions of sleep-deprived mothers around the world, this woman’s findings could be a miracle! Priscilla Dunstan, a mom from Australia with a special gift, says she’s unlocked the secret language of babies.

When Priscilla was a toddler, her parents discovered she had a photographic memory for sound. At age 4, she could hear a Mozart concert on the piano and play it back note for note.

Priscilla says her gift has helped her hear a special “second language” beyond English, allowing her to detect moods and even diagnose illnesses! “Other people might hear a note but I sort of get the whole symphony,” Priscilla says. “So when someone’s speaking, I get all this information that other people might not pick up.”

That mysterious second language took on an astounding new meaning when Priscilla became a mother to her baby, Tom. “Because of my gift for sound, I was able to pick out certain patterns in his cries and then remember what those patterns were later on when he cried again,” Priscilla says. “I realized that other babies were saying the same words.”

Here is the short version:

• Neh=”I’m hungry”
• Owh=”I’m sleepy”
• Heh=”I’m experiencing discomfort”
• Eair=”I have lower gas”
• Eh=”I need to burp”

Those “words” are actually sound reflexes, Priscilla says. “Babies all around the world have the same reflexes, and they therefore make the same sounds,” she says. If parents don’t respond to those reflexes, Priscilla says the baby will eventually stop using them.

Priscilla recommends that parents listen for those words in a baby’s pre-cry before they start crying hysterically. She says there is no one sound that’s harder to hear than others because it varies by individual. She also says some babies use some words more than others.

The Dunstan Baby Language DVD is currently available. Visit www.dunstanbaby.com to order your copy.

And NO, I do not have children, I just find this extremely interesting. I was an au pair for a while, but for babies who were talking / starting to talk. It’d be interesting to try this out though, so those of you with babies, let me know if it works please?

Sources: Oprah

On this freezing cold day I am thinking back to when I was in Mauritius. Nice WARM memories.
Something which immediately came to mind was the star fruit. When I was young I heard about it, but not many shops (if at all) in South Africa stock this fruit. The first time I saw it in REAL LIFE was in Mauritius. That which I had was pretty sour, but apparently there are some nice sweet variants!?

A popular fruit of wealthy Europeans in the late 1700’s, Star Fruit or Carambola was introduced to America only 75 years ago. A native fruit of South-east Asia and India, Star Fruit became an established fruit in Hawaii by way of Chinese immigrant traders. Arriving in Florida, Star Fruit has since made the state the largest producer of all American-consumed Star Fruit. Named for the 5 pointed star shaped slices it yields, Star Fruit’s pale yellow, juicy flesh contains a few, small, flat seeds and a distinctly tropical flavour. The thin, edible, lime green skin ripens to a bright yellow, with a waxy sheen. Usually sliced fresh as an elegant addition to salads, buffet platters and desserts.

This is one of the most productive fruit trees. If you only know the sour fruit from backyard seedling trees, be sure to try the sweet grafted varieties! Fruit from grafted trees is one of the fastest growing new exports from Florida. Cross sections of the fruit make attractive yellow stars, giving rise to its alternate name of star fruit. Carambola has a thin skin and crisp, juicy, non-fibrous flesh. The fruit can be eaten fresh, juiced, canned or dried.

Sources: Melissa’s & Echonet

Such pretty fruit hey? Stunning for garnishing

For the international visitors’ interest, it snowed in Johannesburg this morning - for the first time since 1981. There are photo’s of it on the Highveld website, pop into their gallery if you’re interested.
In the news this morning they also said that a man had died of exposure. This troubles me deeply. Whenever I think about people dying of cold or hunger it makes me so sad I want to cry.
I found a beautiful, sad, and very true piece of writing on the Highveld site too…

Please see Highveld’s terms and conditions before using this content.

“Holding on for a hero…

I will not look at the news today. Not a glimpse, not a stolen glance over the shoulder – nothing.

I will avoid all things bad, drink two bottles of water, buy salad for lunch, and listen to the sounds of people going about their business. Today is a day for deep breaths, for taking stock, for sitting quietly reminding ourselves that winning hearts and minds is more important than standing on a podium, clutching reward.

With spring waiting patiently for winter to have its evil way, the lazy 7am sunlight makes for stark viewing. I saw an old man today, hiding from the wind against a posh Bryanston wall. Everything he owns in one trolley, everything he dreams about frozen in that moment. Bowing forward, begging for respite from a life which has offered him very little, the man battled for survival.

I wonder what he has to say. I wonder if he has a family. I wonder why he’s on the street, alone, fighting for his life. Does he ever look up at the stars, amazed at their beauty, does he ever admire the fireworks display of a highveld storm, will he let the sun rain down upon him on a glorious summer day?

Will he make it that far?

Chances are that the man cannot afford to enjoy the simple pleasures of life because he is too busy finding lunch in a gutter, searching for dinner in a trashcan – pushing his trolley along, hoping for a kind face in a cold world.

He is the soldier of misfortune, the gladiator of the underworld – ignored, ridiculed, pursued, haunted. Yet, he is the one who will risk another cold shun and wave a trembling hand. He is the one who bravely takes it on the chin when gleaming 4X4’s pretend he does not exist.

He has no job to strike from, no car to speed with, no agenda behind what he says. No company in which he can commit fraud, no wife to abuse, no family to murder. Yet, HE, is regarded as a third-class citizen. This man, guilty of nothing but boldly facing adversity – is what we point at when talking about the failure of the human race.

Armed with nothing but a trolley and the will to survive – he is the hero, the champion, the bastion of hope for every director, CEO, superstar and common worker in the world. For every day he survives, we can survive a hundred, for every smile he gives, we can give a thousand.

This man: cold, frozen, bowed forward . . . is the symbol of human triumph, the award-winning advertisement of unwavering courage.

I will not look at the news today. I will not think about all that I want changed in my life, all that I desire, all that I’ve not yet achieved. Today I will celebrate being alive. Today I will admire the setting sun, honouring the courage of one man to survive winter alone.

I hope summer warms his heart . . .

I hope he makes it that far.”

A driver who was high on cocaine destroyed an entire cornfield in an attempt to escape from the police.
Four police cars were destroyed before the 35-year-old crashed into a ditch and was arrested, near the village of Dussen in the south of the Netherlands. ”

And all along they thought it was aliens!!!

size=”1″>Source: Daily Mail

My weekend started last week Wednesday, hence the reason I didn’t blog much lately.
I took the three days off word because my boyfriend had to go in for an operation, and thus it wasn’t really a holiday, but I’m still glad I took the time off. I’d have hated to go through something like that on my own.
He had a minor foot opp – just mending the ligaments again, but he’s foot is in a cast for six weeks now! Pity, cause its exactly in the time that Fall Out Boy and UB40 are in South Africa! (Damn it!)

I spent Wednesday & Thursday in the hospital with him, but on Friday he came home, so then I could actually do something more than just sit. I made Turkish delight! I’ve been planning to do so for a while now, and finally got around to it. The first time round it wasn’t as nice as I’d hoped for. I used a recipe, and I must say I was not impressed. I sprayed the pan with Spray ‘n Cook, and the Turkish delighted tasted like it so much, that I missed the real flavour. I hate Spray ‘n Cook. It was also a bit rubbery.
Take two was better, though not completely successful. I replaced half the gelatine with strawberry jelly, which made it taste MUCH better. I also used margarine instead of Spray ‘n Cook, which made it taste like sweets instead of some poisonous gas. The consistency was similar to that of the Turkish delight used in chocolate bars. It was soooooo sticky. Actually to the point that it was messy. It couldn’t be cut into squares, so instead we tried to roll it into balls (with our hands covered in margarine). We then covered the balls with a mixture of corn flour & icing sugar, but they didn’t stay ball-shaped… Instead they went flat
Eventually we decided to roll them again, and immediately cover them with melted chocolate, which worked OK, and tasted awesome – exactly like the stuff you buy in the shops!
I would not recommend it to anyone though – it is a huge mess – lots of dishes, and not worth it if you can buy a 200g slab in the shops for R10!

I also baked. 48 Bread rolls with fillings in – yum. Bacon & Onion, Bacon & Cheese, Feta & Olives, and Plain Cheese – aren’t you proud of me? If you’d like the recipe, please ask me – I just can’t post it here, else I’ll bore the non-bakers

Because I was not at home this weekend, and instead with my boyfriend, I didn’t check my e-mails or blogs for the whole time, and when I checked my old Wordpress blog, I discovered that it had been removed. It was suspended due to violation of terms & conditions. I tried to find out why, what I had done wrong, and got a fairly quick reply, saying that paid posts are not allowed on Wordpress. So for those of you who were thinking about it, don’t even go there. I might get my blog back, but at this stage I’m not really worried about it, as I have this new one, with all the original posts. I’m just thankful that I had exported my posts in time

For now I have to finish up, I’m exhausted.

Damn I don’t think I’m very virtuous

I’m one of the most impatient people I know. Like now I can’t wait until this blog is up and running like my previous one was.

If you noticed my old blog is unavailable, its because Wordpress decided to close it down. Luckily I was in the process of getting this one ready, so I wasn’t caught too off guard – I just had to rush things a bit. I think I finally got a theme? Tell me what you think about it. I needed something different than the normal Wordpress themes, but with a sidebar which at least displays my blogroll.

Now I’m kinda comfy here, except that hardly anyone has been around. It’d be nice to know that you guys found me again? I miss your comments!

For those of you who’d like to swap links, please leave me a comment!!

Everyone is disappointed at some point or another. And its even worse if you love the person and they you. Why are we disappointed? Obviously because we expect something more or different, and then don’t receive the wanted attention, or expected behavior. This might be due to a lack of communication or even just because the other person was selfish or inconsiderate.

Whatever the reason, it is more important to learn to deal with it. Not as a couple. But you, and I as individuals. Even if the other party doesn’t apologize or show regret. To remain emotionally healthy yourself, you need to forgive the person, and move on, right? Right… Its not always so easy.

It is very important to realize that we cannot hold other people responsible for what we feel. What you feel is up to you. If you were disappointed, you should review your expectations of the other person? Is it fair? Sometimes the other person was really at fault, but very often it was just a difference of mindset.

Your girlfriend might like it if you text her to say goodnight every single night, but to you it seems senseless to send the same message each night? She will take offense if you tell her that you feel you’re waisting your money – its the thought that counts, remember? The point is we all have different outlooks on life, and to merge that and remain happy is tricky.

It is important to be realistic about your expectations. Your boyfriend will not give up his sport for you every single weekend. Abandon childish demands and foolish expectations. Most guys love their sport, and for them to give it up, is like to ask of you to give up your make-up. It ain’t gonna happen. Be fair about what you expect!

Admit to yourself that you had expectations that were not met, and then move on. Forgive the person. Talk about your expectations to the ‘disappointer’, and tell them how you feel. Most of the time the disappointment might be over something that isn’t such a major issue in any case. Try to think to yourself if you would still be angry with that person if they were lying on their death bed. Would you be willing to forgive them then? Would you be willing to see it over? If you would, then it wasn’t such a big deal really!!

Relationships so often turn into what I WANT. What I NEED. And what is important to ME. Make sure that you keep yourself focussed on the other person. Remember things that are important to THEM. If you are still unhappy in the end, you should consider the worth of the relationship altogether.

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on:

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash……..Twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

…Coffee, or hot chocolate perhaps? Sorry about the mess. Things are still upside down here, I know. But in due time I will hopefully sort it all out. Welcome to my new blog!! I have finally upgraded to a proper domain, thank you for your help Rush

For now I will busy myself with all the little bits only I will see – I need to get proper stats working again, and I also need to find a theme. Any suggestions would be great. I want something unique and fresh, yet not overly expensive.

Hopefully I can get myself setup soon – take care, and please pop-in if you miss me