When you have an infant you get excited over their developmental progress even though you expect it to happen and you have a general timeline of when it should happen.

When little Panda became paralyzed we had no idea if he would recover and if he did we had no idea of the timeline of his improvement. The specialist Vet and all the articles we read about acute idiopathic polyradiculoneuritis said that he should eventually recover but it could be a few weeks or even 6 months before we saw progress. This week he has had so much progress it is making my head spin and my heart happy.

He is sitting so strongly.

All 4 of his legs are starting to move with the back ones being very strong and moving a lot. His tail is wagging a bit too. It’s just difficult to catch on video. I thought I had a brilliant video this morning then realized I had not hit the record button. Meh.

I got a video of him doing a little side leg lift after an encouraging tummy tickle.

I did get a nice video of his bark which is almost back to normal.

He can lie down from a partial sitting position and wiggles about quite the thing. He is very agitated sometimes and we suspect he may be experiencing a sort of pins and needles as his nerves wake up. But he seems happy enough (as long as Daddy is nearby).

I was already in touch with two of my worst character traits, the fact that I am a control freak and that I have no patience. Dealing with Panda’s illness has forced me to accept my lack of control but I still struggle with patience.

Again, when teaching a child you expect some level of ignorance as they are children, but when teaching or educating adults it can be exasperating if they are resistant to new information or are slow to grasp it. If I tell someone the same info over and over and it is not sticking I get incredibly frustrated. This week I am working with a guy who has a high level of formal education so he cannot be stupid, he just cannot seem to grasp or retain anything I’m teaching him. I catch myself getting exasperated and feel bad for being a bitch, but then he asks me again something I’ve told him 10 times already and I lose it all over again.

How I was ever a trainer I have no idea. Maybe I was more mellow back then? But that was a lifetime ago. This week marks 12 years since I emigrated back to South Africa.

This week I was approached by a homeless man when getting into my car in the city. He told me that he was trying to raise money for his family to stay in a shelter. He said he ‘isn’t a bad guy’ and he sells stickers/decals so ‘he does not have to commit crime’.

For some reason I found using the crime deterrent as a marketing ploy and a reason to buy his stickers a bit amusing and repeated it back to him and burst out laughing which set us both off in fits of giggles.

Lucky for my car park pal, just that week I had discovered the heart decals are part of the Secret Love Project. I’ve seen people selling them before but did not know the background.

According to their website, the Secret Love Project is a registered charity dedicated to helping the homeless in Cape Town. They offer a lifeline out of extreme poverty and a fresh path to re-integration into society for the people who have been marginalised and neglected by society.  They provide anyone in need a way to make their own money, become self-sufficient, and enjoy acceptance by the community.

Each month the project provides 10,000 free heart sticker packs to the homeless to sell to motorists at R20 each. The sellers keep 100% of their sales which amounts to R200,000 a month (R2,4million per year) going directly into the hands of the most needy in our community.

I gave the man R20 and let him keep the stickers to sell on to someone else in order to double his money. He was very happy and I felt like I had helped someone so it was a mutually beneficial experience. If you can support them here is the link to make a donation.

I love supporting any initiative which gives someone the means to help themselves rather than those which just give out money as it empowers people and allows them to keep their dignity. That is why I was happy to be able to contribute to another NGO which is dear to my heart, Community Cohesion whom I have blogged about before.

On Saturday my friend Mel who runs Potted Up, held an Open Day in collaboration with Community Cohesion and Norm, Panda and I attended.

The view from the nursery is so stunning.

I bought a little birdcage with succulents in it for my kitchen windowsill.

I also bought a rusty looking pot with succulents for my front porch.

In addition to all of the sweet little pots of succulents Community Cohesion were also selling some of the items they have made in the community. I bought some eco-friendly bamboo straws in a sweet little fabric envelope and a drum stick decorated in beads and thread.

I put my drumstick in the holder on my drum and it fits perfectly.

I was so pleased with my purchases and felt happy to be able to contribute to a worthy cause.

Before we went to the open day Norm and I went for breakfast in the village at Delish.

We grabbed a seat outside by the children’s play area.

Of course we took Panda as he cannot be left alone.

Norm fancied a bacon butty so he ordered scrambled eggs and bacon on ciabatta bread.

I ordered toasted seed bread with smashed avocado and a poached egg and asked for crispy bacon on the side.

I really enjoyed that and will have it again. The egg was cooked perfectly, the seed bread was delicious and the avocado fresh and lemony. 5 Kitten Stars to Delish ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We have attempted to do low carb this week but it was very hit or miss.

On Monday Norm made his delicious low carb chicken croquettes but served them with chips which sort of defeated that one! It was delicious though so whateverrrrr.

I cooked a pork fillet and mushrooms in a teriyaki sauce and roast sweet potatoes. To go with I made a buttery cauliflower purée and sliced the pork onto it. We also had steamed broccoli in a butter sauce.

The other nights we had takeaways, with Friday being my usual sushi night. I had my fave: crab salad, tempura prawns, salmon roses, and cucumber roses topped by prawn.

The portions seemed more generous this week but the rice was a bit undercooked. (Yes I am hard to please)

The crime in Hout Bay has made the front page of one of the local papers.

One of SA’s top lawyers has been hired in response to the ongoing issues we are experiencing often due to the inept Justice System which continues to put dangerous criminals back onto the streets.

After slagging off SAPS in my last blog, they have now caught all 3 of the suspects in the murder of the tourist Ivan Ivanov. Today there was a vigil held on the mountain in the place where he was murdered.

Shortly before the vigil was due to begin, we heard on the neighborhood watch radio that there were several hikers attacked very near that same location. It is never ending it seems.

The UK consulate has put out a warning to tourists thinking of coming to SA. In response the Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane tried to reassure us that all is fine. Does anyone smell bullshit?

Last week the Hout Bay post office & several others in Cape Town were robbed at gunpoint. It was SASSA grant day so everyone would have been collecting their payments and the post offices would have had a lot of cash on hand.

There have also been a series of armed robberies in Cape Town. So what planet the tourism minister is living on is definitely not planet reality.

Crime is certainly not restricted to SA and this week there have been 3 mass shootings in the USA, the last two both occurred this weekend. As long as White Supremacy and the NRA govern the country these shootings will continue with no protection offered to the victims except thoughts and prayers.

Meanwhile like many people we distract ourselves by watching nonsense on telly. We finished watching Killing Eve last night and we both loved it.

Last Sunday we watched Bohemian Rhapsody which was brilliant but I found Rami Malek’s ginormous fake teeth a bit distracting especially when singing as it made him whistle. But other than that it’s a must watch and I give it 5 Kitten Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Today I was supposed to go drumming but I am not feeling 100% and opted for a pajama day instead.

I cooked a big pot of chili con carne for dinner tonight.

It was hot and spicy and yummy.

I cooked it in the gorgeous new Jamie Oliver pots and pans I bought this week which were R1000 off as mine are in a dire condition.

I love them so far!

We are watching Den of Thieves for our Sunday night film. It is more of Norm’s type of film but as I’ve been blogging I’m not bothered.

I hope I feel better tomorrow as it’s back to work. As much as I love to complain about my job, I do enjoy what I do. I was chatting to one of the young girls who works at the cafe where I get my lunch and she said she starts work at 3.30am and that made me realize I am so lucky and that I need to be grateful for the reasonably well paid, mentally challenging job I have and that I should STFU really.

Have a great week, keep safe and well until next time.

Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxo