The difference in my life between last weekend and this weekend is like night is to day. Last weekend I was surrounded by noisy, energetic, sticky small humans and this weekend I woke up with a Pomeranian on my head.

Last Sunday I woke to the usual sounds of the kids shrieking with either laughter or frustration (I could not always tell!) and we had a lovely day. Trevor arrived after the babies had their nap and we all hung out. We waited for Caitlin and Wes to arrive from Cape Town to join us for dinner. They arrived late in the afternoon into the midst of the chaos, our family are all tall and loud and can be a bit overwhelming to the uninitiated. I had ordered lots of ready made snacky things from Woolworths to keep everyone fed over the weekend as I knew most would congregate at Lily’s. We heated up chicken wings, meatballs, little burgers, prego rolls, chicken & pulled pork bao buns. We even had a mini charcuterie tray with cheese and sliced meats. We put out bowls with salad, crudites and all manner of bits and pieces. We bought a party platter with BBQ chicken pancakes, bacon and cheese pancakes, chicken meatballs, pork chipolatas and mini beef curry vetkoeks.

The babies were adorable together. Amelia had a tiny shopping cart and Bree had a little baby carriage carrying a dolly and they raced in circles: around the kitchen, hall and dining room and back through the kitchen. They shouted random words like ‘Come!’ and ‘Hurry” or just shrieked in a generic manner. They were having a blast. Reuben just sat on someone’s knee and watched the chaos while laughing. He is going to be such a social little man.

Eventually Wes, Cait and Bree headed over to her father’s house to sleep. Wes had to work on Monday but Caitlin and Bree came over to Lily and Josh’s place late morning. Trevor came over too and we all hung out until noon when the babies had to go down for their naps. After Millie woke we hung out at Lily’s until 3ish when I had to leave to the airport. Josh drove me to the airport and they all drove over to their dad’s house.

When I got to the airport it was very quiet despite being a public holiday, or maybe because it was almost 2 hours before the flight. I am always very early as I like to arrive, settle and get calm. There is no air conditioning and I put my hair up and got comfy.

Eventually the plane arrived outside. It was one of the tiny ones which meant that we had to trek across the pavement, up the stairs and onto the plane.

When we landed in Cape Town we had to exit via the ladder stairs, walk across to get on a bus which took us to luggage arrivals. Norm met me when I got out of the gate. We had an early night as I was back at work the following morning and I had been awake since 6am. It was too dark to see much outside by the time we got home.

When I finished work on Tuesday, I was straight out to my garden. Several plants had bloomed as there was a lot of rain in Cape Town the week that I was away. The clematis vine we have planted by the terrace wall is blooming. It can almost reach the trellis.

The bloom is light purple and white and so beautiful.

I saw that all of the little things I have planted in the terracing wall are starting to grow.

I love to see them taking off from a tiny clipping. I love the donkey’s tails and the little white flowering plants will hang down over the terracing and cover some of the hideous concrete once they spread out.

One of my aloes is blooming and is even producing another shoot of flowers. Before I went away it was looking a bit peaky and I thought I had overwatered it!

I also mentioned that I bought a couple of new fairies for my fairy garden at “Faerie Gem“, the Timberlake Village Fairy Shop. First, please meet Francesca Fairy and her bunny Bilbo.

Francesca is quite a social fairy so I moved her in with the other Fairies. Bilbo likes it there too because he has a lot of other bunnies nearby to play with.

This is the second one I purchased, I have named her Ivy Fairy and her little Kitten is now named Cleo. I put Ivy by the little treehouse because she is a bit shy and wanted her own cottage and not everyone likes cat fur!

I also bought two other pieces from the same shop. One is a Turtle carved from Septarian stone. Septarian is also known as ‘Dragon Egg’ and is related to the lower chakras: root, sacral and solar plexus. It is a protective stone and provides both grounding and shielding of the physical, mental, and emotional bodies. I felt very drawn to him and he now lives by my keyboard and I can stroke him when I think.

The second piece is a fossil. Orthoceras are 400-million-year-old extinct marine cephalopods, ancestral to modern squid, recognised by their long, straight, cone-shaped shells. I read that “Orthoceras holds a powerful life force energy. Meditating with this fossil enables us to connect with the ancient wisdom of Mother Gaia. It is said that wearing Orthoceras increases your lifespan. Orthoceras ground us to the earth and channels her healing energies through the body and the aura. Opens us to opportunity, wisdom, and transformation and is for new beginnings and times of deep personal growth. It aids work with past life recall.”

They are the most beautiful fossils, I have a ring and a necklace already with Orthoceras on which I wear often, but this one is lovely and large! I did not know any of this information, I have always been fascinated by fossils.

On Thursday night I sat outside watching the sun go down and thinking how blessed I am to have this special spot where I can create my own happiness.

I only had to work for three days this week due to multiple public holidays in the same week, both last Monday and this Friday were paid days off.

This week I started a thread about Neurodiversity.

It had a lot of interaction.

I had a lot of feedback and quite a bit of it resonated with me. One person said that their psychiatrist told them they had “The ADHD that most male prisoners suffer from” and I actually went oof. I thought about how my looks and my charm got me out of so many situations that someone else might have been arrested for. I am very aware of the pretty privilege benefit in my youth.

I also remember Norm having to come and collect me from the back of a police car, but I was not arrested that time, my friend and I were driving around looking for the attacker of another friend on a night out in England. Or the police rocking up after I got trailed from Florida after hitting a car and driving off. There are other instances where I was exhausting whomever is in charge of keeping me out of trouble.

Someone else mentioned being free from being locked up in the ‘padded cell’ variety and I identified with that one too. Youth is a challenge for those of us with AuDHD, we are driven by that ADD need for endorphins but held back from the edge by our Autistic need for control.

We cannot let anyone shame us for our behaviour when we were undiagnosed and unmedicated. We must accept ownership for our actions, but we cannot beat ourselves up for our stupid choices. We did not know. We did not understand.

Yesterday I had a long lie in bed drinking cappuccinos. I wanted to garden but it was freezing cold. It was very windy and rained a bit on and off.

Instead Norm made a big fire for us and Blue, Poppy and I snuggled up in front of the telly and ate popcorn and watched Temptation Island. Well, obviously Poppy did not have popcorn she does not like it, but Blue and I had some.

This morning I was supposed to be popping down to Hout Bay to order some new specs. The weather is abysmal so I lay in bed drinking coffee. We have friends coming over later on this afternoon and we needed to pick up some snacks so I did an online order from my bed. There is always an alternative plan.

Tomorrow I am going for lunch at the new Spiro’s Nostos with a friend. I had a full day of rest on Friday and this will round out my long weekend perfectly!

Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxo