I leave for work in the morning at approximately 630am. Now that it is heading into colder weather it is still dark out when I leave. I use a flashlight to get downstairs to avoid waking everyone up. But then when I get onto the roads I struggle with the glare from oncoming lights from the other cars and the many bikes on the road.

My lovely bestie Retha gave me these glasses which she bought online which are yellow and supposed to help with reducing glare. It sounded a bit far-fetched but they really do work! I have Posterior Vitreous Detachment which means that I struggle with light and glare.

I have been wearing the glasses this week in the mornings and find that they do work! I may look a bit like a giant yellow fly-woman, but the glare from the lights is no longer painful and I arrive at work far less grumpy.

For the perpetually grumpy menopausal among us, every little bit helps.

I made a lovely dinner of gem squash stuffed with pork fillet and spinach in a mascarpone sauce on Tuesday evening. I started with steaming the gem squash as I am rubbish at timing how long these things take.

I took a whole pork fillet and removed the icky bits, then chopped it into bite size pieces. I stir fried it in a bit of butter, then once cooked through I added in a huge bag of raw baby spinach. I kept stirring through until it was wilted, then added about 2 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese, a dash of milk, a teaspoon or 2 of tomato puree, a few dashes of thick soy sauce and quite a lot of lemon juice. I sprinkled it all quite liberally with pepper, pink salt and paprika and let it simmer a bit.

For the zucchini I was worried there would not be enough for all 3 of us so I chopped an onion and browned it in butter then added the sliced zucchini to stir fry for a bit – we do not like squishy veg so I kept them al dente.

To serve it I scooped out the squash and mashed it up with butter on the side of the plate, then I spooned the pork mixture into the empty squash cups.

It was delicious. Caitlin and I had both thought that the dishes I have previously added mascarpone to were a bit too rich, so this time I kept tasting and tweaking it until I got it balanced.

Wednesday felt so odd, it was more like a Friday as we were all off for 5 days after we made it through Wednesday. It rained during the night and the next day we had major thunderstorms and pouring rain.

I had not taken in lunch as we had wolfed down the previous night’s dinner, so I had a wander up the road when the rain had stopped for a bit. On the way there (it is about 2 blocks) the rain started again, so I thought that I would eat my lunch there and wait it out.

It did not lessen however, it got worse and worse. The lightning and thunder were booming loudly and the rain was coming down in huge droplets.

My hair and head got drenched. But I did discover that I have an inbuilt Boobarella. Barely a drop hit me below my rather generous boob area.

At least there are some benefits to compensate for the back pain!

And before you think me a bit of Mutton dressed as Lamb with a pierced belly button that is the button of my Mom jeans sticking out.

After work on Wednesday I went home to collect Norm and then we headed off to meet Caitlin at the flat she put an offer in on. It is lovely, it will be perfect for her. It has lots of space for the price. She has had a few offers of loans from her broker and should be in within the next four month or so.

After we finished we headed home. Caitlin had her friend coming around to colour her hair and she had agreed to do a razor cut on my hair to resolve my split ends in order to deal with the frizz. That took up our entire evening but my hair was like silk afterwards! 

Thursday was a paid day off for Freedom Day.

It started out pretty fabulously. 

Once I fought my way out from under Pixie who had decided to sleep on my head.

When Norm brought me a milky coffee in bed, I woke to a sunny bright day, a bed full of cuddly animals, an SMS that I had been paid, and a notification that I had won a TL in Covet, the little game I play.

Once we got up and showered Norm took me for lunch at Barney’s. How do you like my new hair cut?

We both had the Mediterranean Salad.

I’ve heard a rumour that they are closing Barney’s as the landlord won’t renew their lease. The turnover of restaurants in the bay is so high. We really liked their food so we are sad if those rumours are true. 

After lunch we popped to the shops and ran some errands and got food in for the next few days.

When we got back home Lily and Josh arrived down from Mossel Bay where they live. The pups were over the moon with excitement.

Nav had been a bit whingey since he woke that morning so we thought it was his ear as he yipped if we touched his ear or jaw. But as it was a holiday the vet was closed so we decided to just keep an eye on it.

That night for dinner Lily and I made a giant pot of chicken curry. I did cauliflower rice for us low carb eaters and proper basmati rice for Lily and Josh.

I’m a bit lazy and buy the cauliflower already ‘riced’ and if I am having it with a curry I fry chopped onion, add fresh cilantro/coriander and spices then add the cauliflower so it has more flavour.

Navajo’s ear seemed fine the next day but was whingey if you touched his back and ribs, so we just decided he wanted attention and was creating phantom illnesses. After Panda went on a solo trip to the vet on Tuesday Navajo decided that he must also get treated to a road trip and every time Norm went out into the garage Nav raced around to sit at the back of the car expectantly. 

We were awake early on Friday as Panda had an appointment at the vet first thing to get a tumour cut out of his mouth. It is due to his beating from the dog up the hill. Even though it happened years ago a granuloma is almost always due to prior trauma. As this was where his little face was slammed on the ground I am sure his current issue is related.

My baby was at the vet all day to recover but he was still high as a kite when he came home.

Lily and I made a very late brekkie for the gang after Norm came back from dropping Panda. We did a sort of open faced Egg McMuffin for Lily and Josh but Cordelia and I shared an English muffin and Norm was virtuous and did not have one at all. We toasted them first, then topped with cheese and baked so they were nice and crispy.  We made crispy bacon, eggs with runny centers and served with sharp rosa tomatoes and ripe creamy avocado.

We had a lazy day as it was so hot outside. Josh brought his video games and he played while Lily and I watched a few light hearted animated films. We watched Sing which I give 3.5 Kitten Stars and then Trolls which I give 2 Kitten Stars, unless you are under 5 years old then it is a corresponding number of stars. 

Cause that’s how five year olds roll yo.

Lily and Josh went out that afternoon to see friends and they went out for dinner. Caitlin was working on Friday and on her way home she stopped to pick up sushi for me and her for dinner. Norm went to his fave Spiro but I had a sushi craving. 

After we ate we decided to play games. We played Bananagram which was lots of fun. This was the tiles I had the round I won.

We also discovered that LookTV has lots of music options so it is so easy to find great background music. No faffing with CDs as we have none of our music online so it’s such a treat for us oldies. No more nearsighted peering at our CD rack only to discover the one we choose is in a different case which is in an unknown location.

Lily had invited some friends around on Saturday and it was so hot! The temperature was already in the 30s by 630am. We girls tidied up outside and Norm cleaned the pool.

Caitlin and Wes made cocktails from scratch, even muddling the mint properly.

The kids were having their friends round because their friend Talya was home after 11 months working as a scuba instructor in the Maldives.

It was up to 35 deg that afternoon so they all had a swim.

Later on once the sun went down the kids went to start the gas grill to cook the meat but it hadn’t really cooled off at all so Norm swam and Panda and I kept him company.

The food was plentiful so we have lots of leftovers for the remainder of the weekend. The kids seemed to have a great day based on the amount of laughter. Norm and I just tried to stop turning into puddles of sweat, sitting outside periodically to catch a breeze. Panda was still recuperating so I kept him close. 

Today we are all feeling lazy after a day of festivities. We have just relaxed, munching on a sausage or a rib here and there. Later we will have leftover curry and play games. It is lovely being surrounded by family, I just wish my son Trevor was here with us.

I still have tomorrow off work and Lily and Josh will drive back home. I’m grateful for both the restful break from work as well as the time with my kids. 

I’m trying to be more positive and focus on being consciously aware of the many, many items on my gratitude list.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend my friends. ❤️