South Africans had a moment of huge pride this week when the beautiful Zozibini Tunzi was crowned Miss Universe. There had been so many comments on social media about her short natural hair. She was told to wear a wig to make her more attractive but she was confident enough to trust her own natural beauty would be sufficient and she was right! It was more than sufficient. Zozibini is a stunner.

I hate to see women running other women down. I wish we could be more supportive and less judgmental and be proud of other women’s confidence and ability to be themselves regardless of public opinion. There is so much societal pressure for women to be a certain size or look a certain way.

We need to encourage each other to take up and hold space.

We need to be vocal in showing each other appreciation. This week I went to buy lunch when at the office and the young lady behind the till was wearing a stunning burgundy lipstick which looked so beautiful against her cocoa colored skin. I told her exactly that, that her lipstick was lovely and it looked gorgeous against her skin. She laughed and said thank you for the compliment and told me that it made her day. She thanked me for making her smile. Such a little thing can make a difference to another woman’s day.

I was given a lovely compliment from the client this week and it made me feel great. I presented my deliverable to my stakeholders and afterwards they asked me what my job title is. I told them that I’m whatever the client needs, business analyst, data quality specialist, data analyst, data governance consultant or a data migration specialist. If it is to do with data, then I’m your girl. She said that my work is really good quality and is so thorough. That was nice as some of the other projects we are involved with for this client have been so contentious. This one has been smooth.

Another item of great news for the female gender is Greta Thunberg being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. I am so full of admiration for her. It says so much about the insecurities of the ignorant who denigrate her. She is so intelligent and determined to make a difference and I believe this is only the beginning of her impact on the world.

Work has been really busy this week as everyone was trying to tie up loose ends before the end of year break. We had meetings every day except Friday.

Despite the time these meetings took to prepare for, attend and then write up the meeting notes, I still made great progress and on Friday I delivered my work book of data quality rules, mapping and look up tables for approval and produced a year end status report. I have a new developer starting next Tuesday and wanted these for him to use as his specification. I am now off work for a month so he has to sink or swim on his own.

The electricity outages have finally stopped. It had been getting worse and worse and even went up to stage 6 and allegedly stage eight was looming. Stage 6 is where the power can be shut off 18 times over a four-day period for four hours at a time, or 18 times over an eight-day period for two hours. But luckily stage 6 was withdrawn almost as quickly as it was implemented.

Our president shortened his trip to Egypt to come back to reassure us that there was no catastrophe in progress and eventually everything would be fine.

But to me it sounded like this….

All nonsense and bullshit.

Life staggers on…..

It was quite hot this week and with all of the on off electricity Norm bought a ready made roast chicken and salads for a few nights. He did make the yummy baked chicken topped with guacamole and crispy bacon dish I love and served it with chips and salad.

The left over roast chicken seemed to satisfy the needs of the beasties.

I went to the gynecologist this week for my annual check up and all is A-OK. She even does an ultrasound so she is very thorough. Everything is where it should be and nothing is where it shouldn’t be. Phew.

Norm had a busy weekend with Neighbourhood Watch and was called out for a few security issues. A woman in our suburb heard a noise upstairs and discovered a man in her bedroom. He had shimmied up the outside of the house to the second story and climbed in an open window or patio door. Later that week when exploring how the urglar had gotten in the guys discovered the homeowner’s iPad and the robber’s jacket which had been left in the bushes. This was days later and tells you how useless our police are with forensics.

Yesterday on our way home there was a major accident at the turn off to our neighborhood and it appeared to be the security companies and neighborhood watch guys dealing with it instead of the police. There were multiple injuries.

I could not tell how the accident happened but it was a mess.

I’ve watched a variety of things on Netflix this week.

I watched “The Confession Killer”. I really recommend this series and give it 5 Kitten Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

I thought it was a bit similar to the documentary Making A Murderer which was about another case where the police were determined to find someone to blame whether it was the actual murderer or not.

Both are riveting viewing.

Lily came down from Mossel Bay yesterday and we watched a couple of films.

6 Underground was advertised on the Netflix home screen so we watched it.

It was a bit of a boy target audience type film. The beginning was all car chases and gunshots followed by more gunshots, explosions, death and action. And gunshots. And car chases. It has Ryan Reynolds in the majority of the scenes though so it was OK but I only give it 3 Stars and that is predominately because of the beautiful actors and actresses. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Then we watched another film which was suggested by Netflix and it also happened to star Ryan Reynolds! It was a similar vibe. It also starred Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman. Ryan’s character was the center of the plot but he does not actually appear in the film that long.

This one was better in my opinion. It was a bit of a mental twist. I give it 3.5 Kitten Stars ✨⭐️⭐️⭐️.

I was off to the city early on Saturday as I had an appointment at the hairdresser. I had not had my colour done in 7 weeks but thanks to my new fringe it is not that obvious as most of my grey is around my face so you cannot see it. I usually have my hair done every 5 weeks so think will stretch to 6 and see how I cope. It’s so expensive having your hair done.

It was misty over the sea and mountains. The roads were bumper to bumper traffic due to the onslaught of tourists and visitors on holiday. Parking was scarce too, both from tourists, the usual Saturday visitors and the additional pressure of one block roped off for a film set. Cape Town is rife with film or photo shoots as it is beautiful and varied scenery and cheap labor rates.

I eventually found parking and had a relaxing massage and colour from Thembi and a cut by Leandra. I’m so comfy in this salon, some salon staff are so snooty.

After my hair appointment I collected Norm and we went to Dario’s for a burger. It was rainy outside but we sat outside on the porch and the plastic curtains kept us dry.

Norman and I both love their burgers. I ordered the Jalapeño, bacon and cheese burger. It also comes with an egg but I asked them to leave off the egg.

The burger was cooked to perfection, there was just the right amount of jalapeño to taste but not be overwhelmed by them. There was ample bacon, I think 4 strips, and it was crispy but not overcooked. They toast the bun so it is crispy and the burger is not so large you cannot pick it up to eat. I am not a fan of eating a burger with a knife and fork, I want to dig in. I give that burger and chips a perfect 5 Kitten Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Norm and I went to Woolworths to do a shop for some tapas type picky bits in case we were hungry later that night but would do for Lily’s dinner.

We headed home and encountered the aforementioned car bash and were stuck in traffic as we had to use a single lane. Luckily it had cleared by the time Lily arrived down here.

We had a chat and caught up then watched the films.

The next day Norm made Lily and I his famous poached eggs and bacon. It was perfect. I’m a spoiled kitten for sure.

It was a beautiful day after the misty skies and rain of the previous day.

Caitlin picked us up and we got a few Christmas gifts in the Hout Bay shops. I also got a few pair of leather flats and some vests as well as over the counter tablets to help me sleep on the plane.

We then went to the pub for a few drinks and an an early dinner.

Some game was playing and the other bar attendees would periodically shout about things going well or poorly, I never knew the difference. Eventually the game ended and as a result the noise died down.

Lily ordered the beef stew with mash from the specials board.

Caitlin had a chicken Caesar salad.

I had popcorn chicken from the starters.

We all shared a starter portion of jalapeño and cheddar cigars.

We all sat around for a while outside by the pool. After a bit my friend Michelle popped round for a chat.

I’ve had a lovely time with the girls. I am so blessed. Caitlin left about half six and we all got into our jim jams to relax.

I am now off of work for an entire month, I’m so excited.

I hope you get to have an end of year break of some sort. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxo