I had to get up very early last Saturday to take Norm to the airport for his flight to Johannesburg. I have not been feeling great for the last few weeks, I seem to have had a long running tummy bug so I spent the day languishing on the sofa with terrible stomach cramps.

I was due to collect him at 6pm that same evening but then his flight was delayed when they had an issue with the plane. He asked me to come later but as I can’t see at night it meant still going to the airport early while still light and just hanging out. Eventually he landed and we set off towards the city. Parking for an hour was R40 but an Uber home would have been around R200 so it was worth the mission.

By the time we headed off to find dinner it was almost 9pm and we were starving. We decided to go to Constantia as parking is easy and it was less hassle. Mugg and Bean were closing so we went to Primi Piatti.

Norm ordered the Chicken Campagnola “Chicken scallops sautéed in garlic, mustard, mushrooms, rosemary, parsley, cream and white wine. Served with linguine and roasted vegetables.” But instead of pasta he had it with zucchini fries. I was not feeling that hungry so I had “Sylvia’s Crispy Chicken Livers” which is described as crispy chicken livers sautéed with onion, garlic, fresh chilli and lemon. It is only R55 as it is a starter portion and I had it with fries.

We were both tired and my tummy was very crampy so we headed home. We did not want to go straight to bed and started a new show called ‘Sick Note‘ starring the ginger lad from Harry Potter.

It is absolutely bizarre. Funny, but in a dark off kilter way. Don Johnson is also in it and he plays the stereotypical obnoxious American.

I’ll give it 3.5 Kitten Stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

On Sunday we woke to a cooler day thanks to the cloudy weather.

I still had a very sore tummy so I cuddled up with a blanket and a cup of tea and put on the Netflix movie Christmas Chronicles just because I love Kurt Russell.

If you have kids this movie is a must see! Even if you don’t but you enjoy holiday feel good movies it is a good one. Even if you only watch it to see Kurt sex up Santa.

I give Christmas Chronicles a full on 5 Kitten Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m starting to have anxiety about the trip we are making to the USA at year end. I stress about the fact I’m hurtling through the air, about negotiating through all of those people, the public toilets, the discomfort, the 33 hours of travel time and about not seeing my children for Christmas and all of the unknowns around travel instead of being pleased I get to go and see my Mom.

I stress about wanting to see some of my childhood friends and wondering do they want to see me? My politics and religious beliefs are diametrically opposed to most of the people who grew up in the predominantly right wing south.

I feel anxiety because I am living in the future and even in the past. I know that my anxiety is due to not being present and mindful, so why is it such a challenge for me to shut out that noise? If I know that is my cure, why not drink the medicine? It is not that easy to grab your mind by the scruff of the neck and yank it back to the present.

But that is my goal.

Norm helped me come up with a way to shift my focus once there and I have to interact with Trump supporters. I will just try and understand that it is because they spent their lives in this little microcosm so they have not been shaped by the world’s opinions. Their view is narrow as the exposure in their lives has been narrow. I am not in any way implying that their lives may not have been rich or worthwhile. The narrowness could be a chasm, but that does not change its breadth.

After all, we are the product of our environment and if our environment is limited then so are our experiences.

Last week flew by due to trying to wrap up our project at UCT. We handed in our deliverables after they went through a few rounds of peer and stakeholder reviews. I think we did a good job and now we hope we get called back to implement our design.

Norm cooked on Monday and made pork chops, roast veg and salad.

It was yummy and he made enough for my lunch on Tuesday. Tuesday he was working and did not have a chance to shop so for dinner that evening he just grabbed a take away from Posticino. Norm loves it at this venue as he can get food which is mostly low carb despite it being an Italian restaurant.

On Wednesday we were back at our main office and off the client site. That night we had plans to meet our friends Alison and Andy for dinner after work and we met up at Papino’s. We love the food at Papino’s. The decor is a bit like a ski chalet, all wooden benches and simple styling. You do not go for the decor, you go for the food and the friendly staff. Norm and I were the first to arrive and tried to get a selfy but the sun behind us made it a bit awkward.

Andy and Alison arrived right on time and we all settled in with a drink and caught up with each other’s news as we had not seen each other in a while. They are such lovely people.

We all ordered a steak, this is what Norm and I always choose at Papino’s. Myself, Alison and Norm all had the Hollandse Biefstuk.  I had mine with Portuguese style ‘chips’ and it comes with steamed veggies.

My steak was perfectly cooked and the sauce was divine. We had a lovely evening and headed home just after 10.

The next day I had no leftovers for work so I used OrderIn to get food from Tortilla Modern Mexican.

I chose the Burrito Bowl @ R58.00 & I upsized it to regular (for an extra R10.00) & chose the Barbacoa Braised Beef as my protein choice, the Asada Sauce, and for the toppings I chose a ‘Little Bit Of Everything’. Next time I will omit the coriander rice as I do not think it enhances it and it adds carbs. It was delicious though and I was very happy with my choice.

Last night Norm cooked for us and made chicken sausages, fried sliced mushrooms, roasted some veggies and made low carb coleslaw. It was healthy and yummy.

Today we did another document walk through with the client, this time the technical design. I was only scribing rather than facilitating so it was not as stressful. We finished early and so I knocked off work at 3pm which is a great way to kick off the weekend. Lily and Josh are here for the weekend and it is so nice to see them both. Josh is racing this weekend so they will be out and about for most of the time but I still get to see their lovely faces.

Pixie is at the chiro in the morning so that means an early morning trip out to Noordhoek. Sunday I have drumming practice and we are having a year end lunch for the drummers and I am looking forward to hearing from everyone about how the recent Dance To Heal The Earth went.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxo