Monthaversary Six: Starting to feel more settled.

Spring is coming soon… maybe the rainy days will go away. 

Just yesterday with the wind blowing through my hair, I smiled to myself, enjoying my life here in Cape Town. If only we had more money to really enjoy it! 

This month has seen us really settle into our new, tiny place, and figure out our new schedule/pattern. Living father away from the hubby’s job means that he cannot walk to and from it anymore. So we do a mixture of things: Sometimes I drop him off and pick him up on rainy/foggy days; sometimes he rides his bicycle back and forth. The final option is that I drop him off and he runs home!

Found this little guy outside our bedroom window.

School holidays are over, so the neighbor kid is at his boarding school Monday through Friday. We feel so much more relaxed without him popping out of nowhere to talk to us. I really don’t want to sound like a mean old ogre…!

We visited West Coast National Park a few weekends ago- it was flower season and so beautiful. I’ll post about it soon.

Furry little guy!

Now that we have opened up all of our boxes, I have baking pans! I’ve tried to make a few things, with varying degrees of success due to the oven here.  The potato and butternut squash casserole I made was still pretty runny, even after extending the baking time 30 minutes! The brownies I baked were too soft and I had to scoop them out of the pan. The oven is mostly fixed, so the lemon poppy seed muffins I made came out better with only 5 minutes overage. I really want to get into baking more. I’m a little wary of crusts and doughs with yeast. My other problemmo is that I don’t have a mixer, so that has limited some of my choices as well.

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I’m participating in a beading workshop with Beloved Beadwork and am quite liking it. I have dabbled in the past with bead weaving, but I’m really into it now. I’ve made a few cabochons using some tiger eye faceted beads that I had. I’ll post pictures of my work soon, but here are some inspiration pieces for you to look at.

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I’ve been thinking that I might stop the “monthaverary” posts. I’m ambivalent about it. I guess I like it but I don’t t know if I have enough things to talk about. Will “Highs and Lows” satisfy? 

What do you think?

Song of the Day: Catalyst by Anna Nalick.

Basic Crochet Triangle Lace Shawl/Hip Wrap

So I decided to make my own triangle hip scarf that I could wear for belly dance and to keep my shoulders a little warm when I need it.

I searched high and low on the internet and finally found a pattern that I could follow and tweak.

Materials:

Crochet needle of your choice; I used a H/8- 5 mm

Yarn of your choice (I needed over 100 grams, but less than 200, of 100% Acrylic low pill yarn)

Pattern:

Foundation chain and Row 1.

Foundation Row: Chain on as many stitches as you need for the length you want. I made it as long as my arms stretched out. Try not to pull on the chain as you’re measuring/trying it’s length on.

Row 1:

Slip stitch into the last chain. Chain 5 stitches. (you can do 3 or 7, as long as it’s an odd number, for this type of netting. The size of the netting will vary based upon your hook size, yarn, and number of chains you make). Single crochet into every fourth and fifth stitch of the foundation row. Continue until you reach the end. Single crochet last stitch.

Row 2  and on:

Half-way done!

Slip stitch in next 3 stitches of last chain of 5 (you’re kinda back tracking here). Chain 5. Single crochet in the 3rd stitch (the center stitch) of the next  5 chain loop. Continue in this manner until the end. Turn and repeat. You will have one less chain 5 loop in each row. Continue repeating this until you attach your last chain 5 loop with a single crochet.

 

Edging: Slip stitch around the entire edging.

When I got to the two main “corners” I realized that I actually needed it longer. 

If you find yourself in this position, here’s what you do: At the corner, chain as many stitches as you need for that side (remember to do only half the chains you need total because you will beading the others at the other “corner” this will make a little tab or ties – not more netting). Then slip stitch back and continue on to the other corner. Add on more stitches here if you need to. Continue to the bottom point.

The "tie" that I created for extra length.

Begin picot edging by chaining 3, then slip stitch into first chain stitch. Single crochet in next chain. Repeat until top corner.  (You can actually space our your picot bobbles by adding more single crochet in between, but I liked them closer together.)

The bottom point.

At the corner, continue picot onto the tie. I wanted it to “taper off” (see above picture) so I stopped the picot a few stiches before the end and flipped it to start on the top. On the way to the next corner, I decided that I didn’t want picot on the top edge, so I just single crocheted it to the next corner.

Stop before the end of the tie and flip, to begin picot on the next side all the way to the point. Finish and tie in ends.

Me the model, hubby the photographer.

 

A good video tutorial for picot edging is here.

You can see the width and length here.

In a future post, I will demonstrate how I am going to add some beaded fringe!

 

If you have any questions just post a comment or e-mail me!

I'll be linking up to several blog linkys and hops. Check them out here, and here.
My hubby's blog is here.

Song of the day: Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight by Amos Lee. To remind us how to work our stitches; and how to take our steps in life.

Highs and Lows for the week of 7/8/11.

He lives near our house.

Highs:

• I took a Beading Workshop and made a beautiful beaded cabochon. I can’t wait to go back next Friday, we will be making a beaded box. I’ll post pictures of my work soon.
• Met someone my age! The bead artist it really cool.
• Learned about some new places to shop. Said bead artist tried to give me the “low down”.
• Discovered Makro. It’s like Sam’s Club kinda, but you can buy in bulk or single items. We finally found a spring loaded shower curtain rod! No other store sells them here- can you believe it?!
• New Gym classes to change up my pattern.
• Milnerton (Flea) Market. We went today and it was great entertainment. And we didn’t spend any money!
• Got contacted by someone’s office for a meeting next Tuesday for potential volunteer work that will help my career.

Don't see this every day, thank goodness!

The beautiful Protea.

Lows:

Sidewalk in our neighborhood.Have you ever done this?

• Saw landlord giving our dogs his leftover food. Big no-no for us. We try to be very consistent with their diet. I’m not sure how to bring this up, but we have to talk to the landlord.
• The other neighbors who share our common area back yard hang clothing to dry on the clothesline over our walk way so we have to duck or brush their things out of the way every time we use the path. Drives me BONKERS! I can’t believe they are so oblivious and/or inconsiderate. I’m thinking I should ask the landlord to talk to them? But I worry because I’m not sure how close they are to each other and he might be upset/defend them...
• Wanted to go to Makro (for the 2^nd time this week) and got shut down by the early Sunday closing hours AGAIN. So many stores close at 2, 3, or 5 p.m. on Sundays. Need that dinner ingredient at 6:00? You’re screwed! Sorry sucka, should have planned ahead.

• Oh yeah…um… I realized that I turn 30 next month.

So, how was YOUR week?

Song of the post: Two of Us as sung by Amiee Mann (written by Paul McCartney). I couldn’t find a live version of her singing it, so here is a video from the movie it was featured in, I Am Sam.

Stellenbosch Wine Festival

The hubs enjoying the wine and weather.

A few weekends ago we went to the Stellenbosch Wine Festival and had a wonderful time.

The drive over from Cape Town was nice and the only “moldy spot” on the day was getting lost. The directions online were vague and we didn’t Google the location before we left (doh!) and then didn’t see any signs for it once we got to Stellenbosch. Luckily, our friends got us sorted out and we met up quickly. 

The cutie pie we spent the day with.

There were approximately 73 wineries represented. They each had 3-6 wines, a mix of reds and whites; overall, there were 24 different types of wine to taste! 

There was a coupon system for tastings, but only some stands were actually collecting them. It was basically a free for all! 

There were some interesting flavours, some sparkling wine, and some Grappa. Grappa smells like pure alcohol, and I couldn’t even take a sip of the teeny sample I was given. Too strong. However I know someone who bought two bottles!

Lead singer and violinist for Zamar.

 There was a clever way to track which wines you’d tasted, which ones you liked, and which ones you wanted to buy. There was a list with check boxes that you could use to track (we didn’t) and you could also get stickers with the name and a barcode on them. With that, you could go to the shop and buy what you liked best. What was nice is that every person was given a R20 discount card to use on any bottle of wine you purchased. We, of course, found the cheapest Pinotage we could find and bought two bottles, using our collective R40 off!

The music was great! There was a band, Zamar, that had a violinist dressed in a ball gown (reminded me of Celtic Woman). They performed great covers of songs and some nice original ones as well. I hope to listen to them again. When the band was taking a break, they were playing a CD of

Tracy Chapman, one of my all-time favorite musicians. I’d go to her concert any day.

Huge centerpieces. We got to take some of the Proteas home.

The foods stands were tremendous and varied, almost 30 vendors! I made one Latin Food caterer upset because I had offhandedly stated that the food couldn’t be as good as the “real thing” that I am accustomed to. Oops! But she lost my business for raising her voice at me. Her oops!

The crowd was a perfect size- and well behaved.  

Me and my Gelato.

We sat in the sun eating cheese platters, cured meats, oranges, trail mix, and sipping red wine. It was heavenly. 

The cappuccino gelato ice cream cones we had were supreme.

 I will definitely go back next year!

P.S.- I'm linking up to this site where you can check out other U.S. expats's lives in exotic countries.

Song of the Post: Red, Red, Wine by UB40. Takes you back, doesn’t it?

Conversions List for South Africa.

24-Hour Clock (source)

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned some of the conversions that I have to do while living here in South Africa. I thought I’d post the entire list and the websites I use to quickly get the conversions. The web sites are not special; they’re just the ones that came up when I went to Google. 

To me, conversions = adjustments. All the time. Its quite tough to change how you've thought about basic concepts your entire life!

 

1.   Kilojoules to Calories: converter here. The food packaging here often tell you the energy units in klojoules, not Calories/kilocalories.

Seepdometer (source)

2.   Pounds to Kilograms: converter here. All the scales and the gym machines use kilos.

3.   Miles Per Hour to Kilometers Per Hour: converter here. I use this when Driving and using gym machines.

4.   U.S. Dollar to S.A. Rand: converter here. I have to mentally do this every time I spend money!

5.   Fahrenheit to Celsius: converter here: Every time I want to know the weather temperature or bake an American recipe.

These are the coins I use every day (source)

6.   12 hour clock to 24 hour clock: converter here. Many of the television/radio shows and public clocks run on a 24 hour clock.

7.  Cups to Milliliters: converter here. Used in cooking.

8.   Gallons to Liters: converter here. Used when filling up a vehicle. 

9.   Inches to Centimeters: converter here.

Since I haven’t memorized the precise conversions, my life is very “rounded.” I’ve given up precise measurement for convenient heuristics like $1 = 7R (It doesn’t, but its close enough), and I drive the speed limit that is posted, but I don’t always know what it is in miles per hour. 

Do you live a “rounded” life in a certain sense?

Song of the Post: 

Waiting for the World to Change by John Mayer.

Laundry Time!

Okay…I feel a little boring to post about laundry, but now as I am jobless, many of the household chores are now mine ALONE. Eek! House work is not my forte, as many of you know…I used to hate it. But I changed my perception of it when it became my new job. 

Skip (source)

 

So laundry. 

It’s a dirty word in my book.  

Liquid Detergent. First off, there are almost no liquid detergents here. Can you believe it? There is one name-brand, Skip, one Pick N’ Pay brand liquid detergent, and Woolite,  in most grocery stores. I choose to use it still, because it’s what I’ve always used. And I heard that it doesn’t “gunk up” the washing machines here like powder does. 

StaSoft (source)

Fabric softener. It is made for two types of washing. Machine washing and washing by hand; the latter is “no-rinse” to make life easier. I think many people, especially those who love in townships wash clothing by hand. The most popular brand StaSoft, no Downy or Snuggle, like in the USA. Here, you can buy cheaper re-fills that you add water to. It saves money and create less waste. Perfect in my book.

Dryer Sheets. No one has ever heard of them here!! It was unbelievable when we first looked for them. We have only found them in one grocery store, a brand called SpunSoft. And the check-out lady had no clue what it was. The fabric softener here also takes care of the dryer’s needs. We have not used them after a few months. Our clothes are basically the same…

SpunSoft (source)

The washing machines are typically front-load and are smaller than the Bosch we had back in the USA. This means I have to do more loads…waaah! I typically do 1-2 loads ever 2-3 days, it averages out to about 7 loads a week. I’m sure all the mothers out there are laughing at me right now…and that’s ok. I’m preparing myself slowly.

Laundromats. Self-serve Laundromats are few and far between. If you don’t have access to a washing machine and don’t want to hand wash everything, typically, you would bring all your clothing and unmentionables to a Laundromat where they will wash and fold your things for you. We have not done this, but I have taken our doggie bed (a large queen-sized comforter) to one  because it didn’t fit in our washer. It cost me 65 Rand, basically $10! Ugh. Luckily our washer at our new place fits it just right. 

Where is your and dryer? In the USA, I’ve had washers in sheds and in basements. Here, we have had it in a room accessible from the outside, and both fit; in our new place, the washer in in the bathroom and the dryer in the ground floor common room. I know that in Europe, washers are often in the kitchen. I’ve never liked the kitchen idea; the bathroom is growing on me. However I think that most people in the USA do not like it in the bathroom.  What are your thoughts on placement of washers and dryers?

Since moving to our new place, we have a clothesline as well, so I have been using it for some things, to save energy for SA and money for my landlord. I’ve learned that I’d rather tumble dry my towels because they become stiff as a board outside. Sometimes I’ll dry my clothes outside to “nearly dry” them tumble them a bit to get them a little softer. Kinda works.

I know, really deep… haha.

Song of the Post: Hands Clean by Alanis Morissette