Raindrops keep falling on my Head

Winter fell upon us without warning and I was not prepared for her arrival. Having been able to work in my pj's in winter or sweat suites, I now found myself in a bit of a pickle of what to wear to keep me warm down in the basement office. I did close the sliding door but the boss walked into it, someone managed to slide it off the track and I had to make a sign indicating the door was closed (on account of the weather). The sudden darkness early in the evening has also knocked my body clock for a loop as I find myself getting tired earlier in the evening and then going to bed very early - hence no post for a while.

Work is livening up a bit as I have been tasked in helping the fundraiser organise events to raise funds. This is important as we do not get paid unless there is money in the bank. Huge stressful situation that is. The decline in the economic situation is worldwide and we are feeling the pinch here in the rainbow nation quite harshly. The cost of living has increased so much that so many people are complaining - the poor, naturally, being the hardest hit. The pressure for us to provide food parcels to the informal settlements now that winter has arrived has increased, yet everyone is tightening their belts to save money for themselves. Petrol has increased so much that the fuel pumps at some stations are unable to cope with the new fuel price. Besides giving up luxury items (like scrapbooking), giving to charity is going to decline as well.

The boss has been in a bad mood for a while and has used me as her punching bag. She obviously gets a lot of satisfaction picking on people even though it is not justified and I just happen to be the one she gets to the most. I keep quiet and get on with my work. One day it will all come back to her.

The kids are so adorable though but they have been down with a lot of bugs of late and my favourite Victor has had to be isolated from the other kids. These kids have grabbed my heart like I never imagined they would. We have an adorable little girl who will soon be fostered who is now 3 months old and when I hold her in my arms and talk to her, she quietens down and listens to me. Her curly hair is soft and she has a very cute habit of resting her little hand against the side of her face. Our AIDS baby began walking on Friday and everyone was so excited and I think he was excited too as he could not stop smiling. However, I think he just loved all the attention he was getting. I was asked whether I would be interested in becoming a safety parent but I declined. Playing with the children for 10 minutes at a time is something I am able to cope with but having a child dropped off in the middle of the night and I have to feed, bath and change nappies (or diapers) is something I won't handle very well. I will post pics of this kids very soon - I am waiting for the volunteers to download their photographs from their cameras onto our computers at work. I am also creating a powerpoint presentation showing our organisation, the babies, the informal settlements where we work which can be downloaded from our website so you will be able to see the beautiful children who did not have a good start in life but who are thriving with all the love and care they receive from us.

Other than that, Baby is sleeping here for the first time in a week. He has been giving me the cold shoulder for not being around during the day. He comes in to eat and goes out immediately but with it now raining, he has loved being curled up inside. He was "this" close in getting booted back home. *grin*. And you will not believe who else is popping by in the evenings - his sister. She also wants a bowl of wet food but Baby is not happy to share his domain with her and sometimes tells her in no uncertain terms that she is trespassing.

Sunday is Mothers Day here and we are going out for breakfast and then I am spending the rest of the day scrapping at C's house as her hubby has flown to Cyprus for a business meeting. I have to housesit for her again on Tuesday so Baby will be really really peeved off me with - beeg time.

That is all my news for the moment and hopefully I will be back soon to share some more.

Where is the Goddess?

I do apologise for not keeping up to date on my blog. For some reason my attention span is very limited and if I had to opt for laying on the couch and watching TV or doing something constructive, I opt to lazing and doing nothing at all. It is not that I am ungrateful for what I have in my life because I truly am. I am grateful for the job I have despite that the pay does not cover all my expenses and I will be living on the bones of my ass for a while yet, because I am grateful for it. I am grateful for my house and that the bank has not yet come knocking at my door. I am not grateful to the Dept of Inland Revenue who is hounding me for taxes but I do understand they have a job to do. Just wish they would hound the rich and affluent people instead of getting my stomach twisted in a knot. I am grateful for my friends. But. There is something missing in my life - a spark, an energy, a true happiness. Something is missing deep inside which is causing me to go through my day like a robot instead of living it abundantly and joyfully. And, I just can't put my finger on it. What is so frustrating for me is that this is so unlike my character and personality and it seems to be going on for far too long. What I do miss a lot (besides having the moolah to spoil myself) is the chance for holistic treatments - reiki, shaitsu massages, aromatherapy massages or a simple visit to my holistic therapist for body balancing. I don't feel grounded. My life seems chaotic when in fact it is only the financial side of my life which is chaotic. I can't explain the short attention span other than possibly my brain is telling me I really, really do need my eyes tested which I had done 4 years ago. I have heard that a short attention span sometimes is a clear indication that your brain is struggling to concentrate due to poor eyesight?

My job is ambling along. Not much is happening and I have had no training but after today, it appears there may be light at the end of the tunnel. The only drawback is that as we are a non-profit organisation, we have to ensure that we do enough fundraising to cover all salaries for the month and that puts a lot of pressure on everyone to ensure that their job is justified and that they have enough work to do to warrant the job.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me get down to the light-hearted stuff. Ummmmmmm...... mmmmmmmmmmmm ............ wellllll ........... nope, can't think of anything right now. Baby took a chunk out of my hand on Friday as he really is peeved off that I have to work. We have just had a long weekend and he would not leave my side and slept indoors all day long. Thursday and Friday we have off again (just got to love those long weekends when one has a fulltime job) and he will, in all likelihood, do the same. At the moment he is curled up on top of my monitor. He has a new "thing" - he only drinks water from the toilet - I have to remember to catch him in action and he now lies on top of me when I am vegging on the couch. He is good company but boy, oh boy, do I miss human company at night and another paycheck and someone to share my load with.

T has signed the partnership agreement and there is so much I need to do and to provide to her but my passion has waned a lot. I am hoping she will help revive it by taking the workload and leaving me to be creative and to "find" myself again.

That, my friends, is my life in a nutshell. The nut is tiny so I am afraid that is all you get for the moment. But I know you love me and don't mind the "story in a nutshell" moment.

So until later my friends - behave yourselves and enjoy the onset of summer.

From this side of the World

The Goddess, she cannot wait for her first pay cheque. Only a week and a half without money and then the Goddess, she will be smiling again.

Work on the dark African continent is no good. The phones, she is driving me a-crazy especially when the peeples they don't speeka the Inglish. And my oh my, the rules and regulations, too many - don't do this, you must do that, don't even think about, you cannot do many for me. I am waaaaay beyond that type of managing of staff.

Autumn has now arrived and we are having the most gorgeous weather - windless warm days when it is so pleasant to be outdoors - just my luck I am stuck in an office now. The early mornings are fresh and we are now beginning to wear winter pj's and putting that extra blanket over us at night. Baby is sleeping inside every night now, curled up close to me. He misses me not being at home and at weekends he spends as much time as he can sleeping indoors just to be with me.

Work is progressing with T and the new contracts and I think that this time it will work. She is willing to take over a lot of the functions to give me a bit of a rest and let me do designing and the making of kiddies albums plus conducting workshops over weekends. I am looking forward to that.

Be good, take care and have a fabulous week.

That 4-Letter word - Work!

And I thought 2008 was going to be good year!

I have not been impressed with being sick as it has left me totally depleted of energy. I am not used to going to bed at 8pm each night only to have interrupted sleep due to coughing fits. I am however much better but am still on antibiotics and still have a dry, irritating cough.

Work is quite bizarre. We have strict rules and are monitored with virtually everything we do. And we are not allowed to do anything private on the business premises. I am not used to working under such strict rules as I have always had bosses who have trusted that I would get the work done without having to be monitored. Everyone in the office is serious and very seldom will you find anyone laughing and joking around - except me of course - I am forever cracking joking comments and teasing everyone. Unfortunately that side of my personality does not understand the rules and will continue to do whatever it feels like doing. I miss being at home. I miss the freedom of coming and going when I feel like it and working the hours I feel like working. I don't enjoy answering the telephone and the work, per se, is not very interesting at the moment only because I am more intelligent to just sit at a desk and answer the phone. The whole organisation is somewhat disorganised with everyone being the chief and delegating the shitty stuff to me. My mission is to get everyone organised so that everyone knows where everyone is and appointments are not booked on top of one another. I have come up with some good ideas regarding foster care and foster care parents but I can only do so much as everything we do, we need to ensure that we have the funds to complete it. Otherwise, we have to get on the phone and try to find donations or companies who will donate their services (eg printing) to us. Therefore, everything takes longer for us to implement and complete.

I do love the children though. One little guy in particular is such a cutie and has a gorgeous little smile. It horrifies me at how easily babies are abandoned or neglected and I am gobsmacked at how dysfunctional a lot of families are. The fabric of the family unit does not seem to be that important anymore and I thank my luck stars that I grew up in a child-friendly era without the influence of TV and the internet to distort my childhood. I am grateful for living in a crime-free neighbourhood and for being able to play in the streets without fear of being molested, kidnapped or witness a drive by shooting.

Here is a collage of some of the children in our care at the moment. We have many more, some will be going into foster care soon and one little girl is going to be adopted soon. We have one little boy who will remain permanently in our care as he has AIDS so therefore his chances of being fostered is almost nil.



Autumn is here. The sun is rising much later and is setting much much earlier. The gale force winds have stopped and the autumn days are pleasant enough to be outdoors. Yup, and I am now stuck in an office! The sun has begun to lose it's strength and these are the days I favour the most - glorious sunny days with the sun no longer sending out harsh sunbeams.

Hope you have all been well and that the snow has stopped falling and Spring has announced herself to your side of the world.

Sick, Sooo Sick

I have not been around last week as I have been very sick with bronchitis. The doctor booked me off work and all I have done is sleep - either on my couch or in bed. I had begun losing my voice and I was instructed not to talk too much and to rest as much as I could. Sunday evening and I am not yet better but am much better than I was on Thursday. My entire body feels as if it has been tossed around in a washing machine and each time I move it feels like my organs are bashing up against my ribs. When I cough, I have to hold my ribs to alleviate some of the discomfort. Oh woe is me.

As soon as my energy levels have returned to normal, I will be back to share more news with you.

The moral of this story (seeing as I got sick when I started working away from home) is don't work and stay at home in a relatively germ-free environment.

{1st Week @ Work}

Though I don't have the "Monday Blues" yet, the proverbial start of the week is something I am going to have to get used to again. I only worked 4 days last week but I was tired at the end of each day and by Friday, I had caught a mild dose of the 'flu.

I am enjoying the work but there will have to be changes if the admin systems are to run efficiently. This means time management is going to have to be a priority issue. So far my task has been to organise the office for an influx of 7 social workers who will begin working on Tuesday and to open case files which we have taken over from another social department. All this data will soon have to be captured onto a new computer system when it is eventually installed. My other job task is to complete the paper work for all the babies who arrive at the safe house and those who leave.

The company I am working for handles all social services for a large part of the city and surrounding areas. They started off as a safe house for abandoned and abused children but now deal with all types of social services and work in conjunction with the government (but we get no funding from the government) and the police. All money has to be raised through donations (including our salaries) and the amount of money needed to run this organisation and keep it sustainable to be of excellent service to the community is huge. So if any of you know of anyone who would like to be a patron and raise money for us - you just let me know. Though we have our own fundraiser working fulltime and a part time fundraiser, I am also going to see whether I am able to bring funds in.

We are renting a house on a farm to create a home environment for some children - two children are in our foster care permanently and they are soooooo cute and friendly. They have house parents who care for them fulltime and the older children are put into school - all their needs are paid by the organisation. But we have to move out in 3 months time so we are raising funds to buy a large house down the road to cater for the safe house babies and the permanent foster kids.

When I arrived on Tuesday I spent the entire day moving desks and wall units, unpacking pamphlets, stationery etc. As I perspire terribly, my hair remained sopping wet the entire day. The babies were also sick - snotty noses, chest colds so maybe this is why I caught the bug. On Friday a two month old baby boy was delivered to the house so I don't think I will go into the nursery and playroom until my chest cold has cleared.

I don't want to name the organisation on this here my personal and scintillating and interesting blog *grin*, but if you would like to know it and check out the website, email me and I will let you know. Have not had a chance to take photographs but I will soon.

I am mostly office bound however on some occasions I will be allowed to go out with my friend and manager to familiarise myself with procedures and the different cases we work on. I would like to go with her to court when she discusses the removal of a child with the Magistrate - that would be rather interesting.

Other than that, T is getting rather enthusiastic and we are changing the concept of the company in order to make it much more profitable and to ensure that all excess stock is utilised fully. Her husband is considering buying a laser cutting machine in order for us to make our own embellishments which will be a huge saving for us and we can get extra creative. We are still in the discussion stage and nothing will go any further until we have everything in writing - but to put your minds at ease, I don't have a bad feeling about this change around.

So that my friends, is my roundup of last week. Now I must get back to my "other" job - finishing the tutorials for the kits. A woman's work is never done! PS - Am still looking for an ultra rich man.

{Message from the Couch}

The past month or two has been an emotional roller coaster for me but my life is changing slowly but surely for the better. During the last couple of months I have had no money and have been very low in spirit. I have had my mother, brother and friend help me at times but sometimes I have had no food to eat for a few days, no petrol in my car and electricity running out quickly. My father had to help me with my medication otherwise I think I would have gone completely around the bend. *grin*.

I could not post before now (wanted to post before the weekend) but I have been housesitting and did not have any computer access.

But ....

I started a job today. I am the administrator for a non-governmental, non-profit organisation which cares for abandoned babies and children and abused mothers. It is the same organisation which my friend works for. I will be continuing with the "business" on a part time basis - evenings and weekends and believe it or not but T is wanting to come back again so we are negotiating new contracts etc which will all be signed before we go a step further and make it official. It will help me having someone to share the workload especially as I am now fulltime employed. Some great aspects about this job is that it is a 10 minute drive from my house and with petrol prices going through the ceiling, it is great that I work so close to home and the dress is casual which means that I can go to work in comfy clothes and do not have to spend a fortune on a work wardrobe. I will be taking photographs of the house and the cute little kids which they have in the safe house at the moment and will post them on my blog. The admin and social workers office is downstairs but we do have a chance to interact with the children - however, the snot running out of noses gets to me and when they reach out begging to be picked up, I ummmmmm ..... wellllll ...... bend forward and tickle the tummy. I am such a wuss.

That is my good news. And the other good news is that my emotional state will be improving and I will soon become a regular like I used to be. Though I am sure I have missed the boat already as I barely get any comments anymore. I will pop by your blogs and reconnect with you and hope we can carry on where we left off.

Hope to hear from you all - have missed you all immensely.