For our Blue Boy this has not been a great week. He got into a tussle with another neighbourhood cat a few months ago and his face was scratched quite badly. When one small spot just at the corner of his wee nose did not appear to heal we kept an eye on it and when it seemed to be getting bigger we started to worry he might have skin cancer as he has a white face and a pale pink nose and loves to lie in the sun. The African sun is so harsh that it is a real risk for animals with pink noses.

On Wednesday we finally convinced Norm to take Blue to the vet. It took hours to catch him and get him into the travel box and he was not very happy, in fact he howled the entire journey. I should clarify that Blue howled, not Norm.

The vet put Blue on the exam table, looked as his nose, and when he poked around the ‘lesion’ on his nose it fell off.

The lesion, not his nose thank goodness.

The vet said it was nothing at all and definitely not cancer.

I cannot count the number of times that the girls and I insist Norm take one of our animals to the vet and the vet says they are perfectly fine. You may have heard of Munchausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS) which is a relatively rare form of child abuse that involves the exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses or symptoms by a primary caretaker.

Maybe instead of MBPS I have Hypochondria By Proxy as I do not cause the illnesses or symptoms I just imagine their existence.

Ironically I have to be near death to take myself to the doctor or to take medication. Obviously I love my beasties more than I love myself?

Caitlin was out at the Justin Bieber concert on Wednesday evening and so I cooked pork chops for dinner as she is not a fan of pork.

I kept it simple and just baked them with a bit of seasoning. I fried whole mushrooms in butter until brown, roasted butternut in coconut oil and steamed asparagus to go with it.

On Thursday I had a client presentation and workshop which I facilitated. We were getting requirements in order to be able to scope the work to allow us to put together a proposal. I always stress out so much when I have to present, once I get going I am fine, but the build up of anticipation really knocks me for six. The meeting was booked for an hour but lasted over 2 hours. We still did not finish and have organised a follow up session. I had not had time for lunch before hand and I felt a bit woozy due to hunger but I managed to make it through without collapsing in a hypoglycaemic heap. #Winning.

I had such an intense headache after, possibly due to the carbs I had for lunch as I just grabbed a sandwich after we finished and wolfed it down hungrily. The bread had dried cranberries in it. Who does that to an innocent loaf of bread? I detest sweet things hiding in my savoury things. Meh.

When I got home I lay down in a dark room hoping my headache would settle but it did not. I was so stressed out and was rather an anxious nightmare for poor Norm as I could not shut up with obsessing.

Today I was scheduled to take an exam for yet another role that I have been put forward for as I have been shortlisted and part of their recruitment process is that the applicants take a written exam. It was being held in an area of town that I am unfamiliar with and it is quite a technical role, so both of these things combined to cause me such anxiety I was a blubbering eejit. Norm is the sweetest man and so late last night he drove me across town to the location I had to go so that at least I could stop panicking about getting lost. I was so glad of that this morning as the traffic was horrific. It moved at a snail’s pace and I made it with only minutes to spare despite leaving an hour and a quarter to get there.

The exam was based on a case study and was divided into 3 parts which were weighted according to the importance of the responses:

1. They provided a list of hypothetical customer problems and I had to classify them into an issues list, define the root cause then make a list of actions I would take to investigate a resolution.
2. They described a system enhancement proposal and I had to create a data dictionary and a data lineage diagram.
3. They provided the text of 2 emails and I had to decide which mail should be prioritised, write the full proposed email responses and make an actions list defining what steps I would take to deal with the issues.

We had 2 hours to take the exam, I finished in just over an hour and a half. I have not written anything by hand other than meeting notes in ages and those get transformed into an electronic version before anyone has to consume the information, so I hope they can actually read my answers. There were some technical bits I could not answer but those were minor. Now we wait and see if I make it to the next step, if so I have to present the information which I have written in the exam to an interview panel.  The role that I tested for is until the end of 2017 so it is a meaty project which I would like to sink my teeth into. I am in line for 2 different roles, we just have to see which client bites back.

We had builders in today to finally get the bit of wall plastered in the kitchen where we had removed the old tiles. When I got home it was all sorted and looks fabulous. Next week Norm will paint the ceilings and walls and then that is the kitchen pretty much completed.

When I got home from the exam I was starving and so Norm and I popped out for a bit of brunch. We went to Dario’s Café which is a bit of an icon in Hout Bay. They have a porch area where you can sit and watch the world go by on a sunny day so we grabbed a seat there and ordered a coffee.

I chose my usual fave Eggs Benedict. I had never had Dario’s version but it was really delicious. The eggs were soft and the bacon crisp exactly like I requested. Their hollandaise is creamy and just the right amount of tartness.

Norm had a cheese and mushroom omelette.

We didn’t hang about afterward as I needed to get home and start work as I was working from home this afternoon rather than travel into the CBD for just a few hours.

After I got home I received a message that the sentencing had been handed down for Juane Jacobs and Brent Henry who murdered my children’s friend Carl Schoombie. Both of them received the sentence of life in prison. I am so glad that the family have had justice for their brother, it will not bring him back but at least they know someone has to pay for the crime. Carl’s brother Lee has worked diligently to ensure that these animals did not get away with the murder. He is going to set up the Carl Schoombie Foundation. It would provide a platform for victims’ families who did not have the ability to voice their opinion in the journey to justice.

Lee gave an interview on the radio if you wish to listen, the link is here. It is hard to listen to, it breaks my heart even though I know all of these facts it does not remove the trauma of hearing them again.

I hope that justice will also be served for the deviant who murdered the 3 year old Courtney Peters whose murder I blogged about recently.

The news has revealed that not only was Courtney murdered but she was also raped twice by the 40 year old pervert Mortimer Saunders. Saunders was a ‘friend’ of the family who rented a room in their home, the family thought he was a very nice guy. However this is often the case with paedophiles, they not only groom the child, they groom the parents into thinking they are harmless. Saunders has requested that he be placed into a hospital rather than be sent to Pollsmoor. Pollsmoor is a maximum security prison here in Cape Town, one of the prisons where Nelson Mandela was held for part of his incarceration. Pollsmoor is a notoriously dangerous place rife with gangsterism and extreme horrific violence, including sexual violence. Child rapists are the lowest of the low and Saunders knows that his chance of being raped himself is incredibly high.

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

Karma will be served for this man, I suspect he will not even survive long enough to go to trial. Or if he does, he will not enjoy sitting on those hard benches.

The numbers of rapes and murders of our women and children in South Africa seem to be on the rise, or maybe they are just more visible with the increase of exposure from social media. However when your President is himself an accused rapist what message does that send to the men in the country? The sooner that we get rid of Zuma as the president the sooner our country can begin to heal from his damage and pilfering of the coffers.

ON a more positive note, I am very excited about a Drum Circle which is happening tomorrow with the group I have recently discovered in my search for a teacher in Shamanism.

The host posted the video of the song we are going to learn.

This song speaks to my soul of memories of my past lives. It is so familiar to me. When I looked up the lyrics on YouTube I was astounded.

‘Our hearts are full
and our minds are good.
Our ancestors come
and give us strength.
Stand tall, sing, dance
and never forget who you are
or where you come from.

A hundred years have passed
Yet I hear the distant beat of my father’s drums.
I hear his drums throughout the land.
His beat I feel within my heart.
The drum shall beat
so my heart shall beat.
And I shall live a hundred thousand years.’

As mentioned in my last blog about my search for my true calling as a healer, the message that I get told in my visions is consistent and it aligns with the lyrics I highlighted above:

‘never forget who you are
or where you come from’

I am exactly where I need to be and the path is opening up before me. My soul memories of my previous incarnations are rising to the surface. I will try to keep up with the flow of my destiny.

But for now, I am logging off and I am going to sit on my balcony in the sun and drink a little Friday afternoon cocktail in celebration of life and as a tribute to those who are no longer with us.

Hold your loved ones close. ❤