With Norman still away last weekend, I had nothing much planned as I had the animals to look after. I was booked for a facial Saturday afternoon and when it was time for me to leave for my 1:30pm appointment, Finn refused to come inside. I knew I was only going to be gone for just over an hour and I decided to leave him outside. Like a normal dog. *Shock and horror* When I got home he would not leave my side. I would say he was in his Found Out Era.

My facial treatment at Skin was a good one to end off the year. I had a stronger acid peel and a deeper nano-needling. Both of these things hurt like a mofo. But after that, she scrubbed me down and oiled me up and put on and took off multiple layers of different smelling stuff while I lay drifting off to sleep. It was actually amazing. That is twice in one week I got a wonderful massage! I felt so spoiled.

Then I came home and pottered about the garden as I always do on my weekends. I find it is a constant cycle to clip the dead things, replant the live things and water all of the things! There are a lot of things even though we have help in the garden to deal with the big things.

I really hope this paddle plant blooms before we go away!

When the sun started to go down I was pleased to see that the little solar tea lights were working in the glass lanterns. I love all of my kitschy lights. I do not care what anyone else thinks, if it makes me happy then that is all that matters!

I have so many kitsch items in my kitchen. I find that a funny phrase to say. Someone asked me on TikTok about whether plants can grow in a glass planter with no drainage holes so I filmed mine for her.

All I can offer is my own experience of course, I never claimed to be a gardening expert!

I watched the lizards jump from place to place so fearlessly, covering huge gaps. I then thought about the fact that baby skinks are on their own from day one as their mom’s bugger off leaving their babies to figure things out for themselves. There is no lizard mommy nearby restraining them saying ‘No Lerato, do not jump you might hurt yourself!’.

This made me wonder, if we have no boundaries do we leap higher? Do we risk greater things? The little guys leap from one surface to the next so skillfully! Does parenting restrict us from reaching our highest heights? I saw a video where they were advising against constantly saying ‘be careful’ and I realise that is one of my mindless mantras when the girls are exploring. I am trying to be less fearful and hope that leads to more bravery by the babies.

I cooked a nice Sunday meal for myself. I fried potatoes in paprika, garlic and a splash of avocado oil and a bit more olive oil. Once they were mostly cooked I added a chopped onion. These are so reminiscent of home, my grandma made them often. I used the last of the goodies to make a ‘salad’ and I put some shrimp/prawns in the air fryer. I made some ranch dressing from my smuggled powder, some cream frais and mayo. I was happy with my dinner, despite it not being terribly healthy.

I eat at my desk when I am home on my own. I can watch some series while eating and not risk messing all over the new couch.

On Monday Chichi came to clean and Norm arrived back home. The dogs went insane when they saw him.

This week I did my manifestations for 2026.

This is what I have for my first draft.

This year I decided to focus on manifesting a shared home for myself and all of my kids and grandkids. I wanted it to be in Wilderness but Lily and Josh need to live in George for the baba’s school and swimming lessons. I would like it to be a little piece of land with 2 or 3 houses on it: a separate one for Lily, Josh and their 2 kids, a flatlet/small house for Trevor and a house that Caitlin & Wes, their kids and Norm and I can use when in town. I would like to be able to take our dogs with us so that we can drive down and spend a longer time there.

My more immediate manifestation list is a safe trip to the USA for Norm and I, a safe delivery of baby Roo, and a quick recovery for Lily.

On Tuesday Coricraft delivered our new daybed lounger I ordered in the Black Friday sale.

I think it goes beautifully with the other sofa we bought and I am really pleased with how the lounge is looking now. It means we can comfortably seat 9 or 10 people when the whole family are here.

Of course Finn has decided it is a bed for him. Luckily I found 3 matching throws in the cupboard which actually blend with the colours of the sofas reasonably well, so it should minimise the dog damage. Due to the depth of the bits of the larger couch, you have to use your feet to push yourself into the back of it, so the throws will stop our dirty feet marking them (I never wear shoes when at home).

Last night after Finn had been chilling on there, Poppy discovered that she can jump onto the footstool next to the couch, then jump onto the couch from there and so she went up and lay in the same spot as Finn because she is a wannabe Big Boy. She really does crack me up. She keeps me so entertained.

Kim came to work on Wednesday and he started painting the inside of the perimeter wall. The painters did the street side of the wall when we had the house painted.

It was amazing how much of a difference it has made. It looks so fresh and bright. This is just the primer, next he will go over it again with the same Diamond White paint the house is painted in.

Norm and I ordered a curry from Curry Mafia again this week. It was good but not as good as the last time. I could feel the grains of the spices again and the texture freaks me out. Consistency is a challenge I am sure with creating this sort of dish, but I need consistency #Autism.

Last night we were both so tired, Norm from traveling, me from existing. We had a quiet night in and watched the second season of the series called Missing: Dead or Alive.

Sometimes the things you see on a show can really stay with you. It was about missing people and both of the people in the episodes we watched were black youths. One was a young man, Morgan, who suffered from schizophrenia and had gotten involved with a group of drug dealers who had infiltrated a set of apartments where social services had placed vulnerable people. The lad had gotten addicted to crack and owed the dealers a lot of money and they killed him. Luckily they managed to convict the killer and eventually they found Morgan’s body so his mother could put him to rest.

The other missing person was a trans woman named Shandon. Her mother loved her and supported her decision to become a woman but she did not know what her daughter had been doing since her transition. She worked as a sex worker and she was an addict but her mother thought she was doing hair to earn a living. They eventually found Shandon’s body after she had allegedly overdosed. She was found in a car that she and another man had driven off in together, but she was already dead. They could not charge anyone with anything as they could not prove she did not take the drugs voluntarily. Trans women are at risk just living their lives, but if you factor in sex work you never know who they may end up with that makes it even riskier. It could be someone who is either deliberately seeking trans women to assault them or worse, or a homophobic man who may react badly if they do not realise they are with a trans woman until after they have been intimate. She was a beautiful intelligent woman who graduated top of her class. Was the trauma and dysphoria around her gender the issue or was it just an unfortunate situation that she became addicted to drugs?

The show made me sad for the families who have to live with knowing the trauma their children went through and how their bodies were just discarded like a bag of rubbish.

Afterwards we watched a few comedy clips to clear our heads before we went to bed, otherwise my mind will obsess over the darkness of how many people are addicted to drugs and struggling to survive. How many children will be traumatised by the generation who are addicted? And on and on the cycle goes. If I open up my heart to this trauma it can leave me incapacitated so I have to be careful what I allow into my view.

Today I slept late, Poppy actually woke me up at 8am by trying to dig a hole in the middle of my shoulders. Norm got up with them and let them outside then brought me a coffee in bed. When I got up I had a shower, washed and conditioned my hair and did a full body scrub. I think I may have rubbed off my fingerprints I scrubbed so much! My skin feels like a baby’s.

This afternoon I am meeting Caitlin and Bree at Blue Route mall as Caitlin needs to shop for a dress. The wind has finally calmed down and it even rained a bit last night which has helped a bit with the heat.

It is just over 4 weeks until my new grandson is due, we are all very excited to meet him.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and week ahead. Until Next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxox