Catching up...

Can you BELIEVE that we're already in the 3rd month of this year?!?!?!?! CRAZY!

So far this year has presented itself with loads of ups and downs...

• Kids that don't listen to you when you SPEAK to them, annoys me to no end (not referring to my nieces and nephews). Kids who choose to pick fights, and then also prefers to avoid the fact that they are the common denominator in all fights, really is like stepping on my sciatic nerve and grinding it with your boot's tip.
• The Government in general seems to be useless, especially the GSSC - they're quick to jump on the bandwagon and force you to pay back money that they wrongfully paid to you and you actually informed them about it. But when they've taken your money illegally, it's PERFECTLY FINE for them to take longer than 6 months to sign a sweet piece of paper to give your (rather big amount of) money back.
• Missing my parents a lot, have not seen them in more than 3 weeks - which is a lot for me!
• Missing my baby brother to no end - last year this time we made plans to visit for the weekend. We visited, and JUST after the weekend we found out I was pregnant...
• Missing being pregnant, and not having a baby to show after being excited... and frustrated at the process of falling pregnant again (having to sort out a huge cyst on my right ovary and getting the MMR innoculation, now having to wait before we can try again).
• Being stuck at my work / home for most of the week without a car - ugh.... just REALLY wanna get out!

The pick-me-uppers in my life:

• My husband wakes up EVERY MORNING at 04h55 and starts to run a bath, then makes me breakfast and Pink Nesquik Milk before leaving for work.
• Seeing my husband smile from EAR-TO-EAR about his new job, and experiencing him coming home with a little skip in his step, instead of dragging his feet because it never ends..
• Hearing Thinus' key turn in the front door at night :-D
• Chatting to my family, my parents, my brothers, my sisters, my nephews and nieces.
• Making plans to visit friends, being frugal and hopefully saving some money in the process.
• Visiting with my family and friends on Tuesday, Thursdays and sometimes Sundays.
• Going to church.
• Practising Lancet with our interschool-team, and getting rid of pent up energy, frustration and showing all-round appreciation for kids who try their best, never mind the TONNES of odds stacked up against them!
• Practising for the revue / musical production at our school - these kids are amazing, REALLY! They try so hard, and succeed in things I, for one, can definitely not do (I suck at coordination).
• Baking, baking, baking and some more baking...
• Reading any available quilt-blog on the internet, downloading patterns for clothes, bags, quilts etc.
• Planning our trip to Bloemfontein as well as the other trip to the Western Cape for a wedding at the end of this month.
• Talking to my parents on the phone at 06h30 in the morning to discuss things like a person's sagittal plane and how exactly that cuts you up i.e. anatomy.
• Being grateful for amazing people around me.

Okay, that's me. I've caught up. Hope the rest of your week's a good one!

This year...

I'm at absolute breaking point - this year has just been too much to bear. I'm over-emotional, high-strung and easily ticked-off by anyone. I need a looooooong holiday, not just 4 weeks (WAY too little)...

So, let's see what this holiday (which is way too short) holds.

Frugal Living

How come the more you earn the less you have? I've been asking myself that question quite often this year. Here's the scenario:

2008 I started working (after living off only Thinus' salary and money gifts from our wedding for the first 6 months of our marriage).

• I get a paycheck, and we suddenly have to start looking for a new car since we only had one working car which was OLD (1982 Datsun Skyline, Powder Blue colour! A WICKED cool car!).
  
• We found a 2007 Toyota Corolla 1.4oi (RunX shape) and bought it... but did not even consider negotiating the sky-high interest rate (things you don't know.)
• My entire salary goes towards paying for the car, the petrol to my work (which was SERIOUSLY far from home, but I couldn't change, I was assigned to work there as my community service year), and the insurance on the car.
• We buy a new Cloud Nine bed in Aug 2008 after discovering that Thinus had been saving up money for the past 3 years without him realising - that truly saved me years of more backache!
• The money that was not spent on the bed we put away for a holiday at some stage (which came in March/April 2009).
• I get my first bonus - buy something special for myself and save the rest.
  
• We pay some of the money for Thinus mom's home caregivers (She was terminal with lung cancer and Takiyasu Syndrome).
  
• We see my parents often, we make biscuits for Christmas presents and that's 2008.
• We STILL make end's meet!
  

2009 I start a new job with a hectic annual salary increase (or so I thought).

• Suddenly I only work half-days, I don't have to drive NEARLY as far as previously and Thinus gets a lift to work with one of his friends.
• Thinus gets a mountain bike from one of my sisters-in-law, which he uses to cycle to work 2 days per week. It keeps him fit and the petrol / gas costs down!
• I start studying for my Diploma in Hand Therapy, requiring quite a chunk of money from me before July 2009 to pay off the course -and fortunately I receive a pay-out from my pension for the previous year. It goes straight into my studies (okay, maybe one tank full of petrol as well for the car).
  
• We go camping TWICE (really a cheap way of having a holiday).
• We go visit Thinus' dad in Cape Town in March/April with the savings that was left over from Aug 2008.
• I get a bonus, buy a bunk-bed set for my brothers' kids for when they come for sleepovers, as well as one single-bed Cloud Nine mattress - and plan to buy the next one a few months later with savings.
• We make it through the year of 2008 with money put away from my bonus for two weddings.
• And another huge amount of my bonus goes down in November 2009 to pay towards a deposit for a new course: International Interdisciplinary Wound Care Course
  
• My aunt requires home caregivers over weekends, and Thinus and I decide to pay for that.
• We visit my parents very regularly, really as often as we can.
• I make each of my brothers a calendar with all the birthdays on it for Christmas, and buy my dad a Sudoku Rubic's cube (that's just CRUEL!)

2010 - I get an increase,

• I still have some money left over for my bonus of October 2008
  
• PLUS we move to the school which was how we were gonna save up money for a deposit to buy Thinus a car...
• My aunt passes away...
  
• I go to study - which includes two trips flying to Cape Town on my account for my residential weekends (one of it includes taking Thinus along for a holiday)... OUCH
• We get invited to 5 more weddings... YIKES! Of which one is in Cape Town - amounting to an extra trip to Cape Town (but we just could not miss this wedding!). We also travel to Harrismith and for another wedding we go to Potch, then two in Jo'burg, and then the two we did budget for (one in the Vredefort Dome, and one in Nylstroom). We also get invited to our eigth wedding of the year - just outside Potch in December...
• I fall pregnant (YEAH!!!!), but after 5 weeks of happiness, our baby's heart stops at 10 1/2 weeks gestation... that amounts to 4 / 5 trips to the Obs/Gynae and an operation.
• We visit my parents nearly every second weekend.
  
• Our PC decides to die on us, and we urgently have to buy a new laptop for me in order for me to finish my studies.
  
• My studies are all paid for at the end of July 2010... and then my baby brother passed away in the beginning of August 2010 (the 8th).
  
• Funerals are expensive, incase no-one knew...
• Three days after my brother's death, my sister-in-law's brother passes away - August 11th.. We attend his funeral in Bloemfontein.
• The phonebill comes for August 2010 - it's astronomical and we just don't care because we were busy letting the whole world know of all these tragic events...
• Sept 2010 one of my varsity friends passes away from a pulmonary embolism - I can't attend her funeral in Cape Town, due to a lack of finances.
• Oct 2010 I get my bonus - it's gonna buy another mattress for the other bunk bed, and it's gonna be used to pay-off my laptop, and to give Thinus money for his Gamer's PC, and to save for next year's two weddings, and to pay for the wedding gift for December's wedding... basically to patch up lots of holes.
• November 2010 - my car gets serviced and sucks up a quarter of my bonus. Some money gets redistributed, some money gets used on books (too much, really)... I buy a portable DVD player for our car (I got an extra bonus for back-pay on a salary increase). We go back to the Ob/Gyn for lack of falling pregnant, only to discover that I have a cyst (6x3.5cm) in my uterus / womb and have to go on treatment for the next 3 months and if that doesn't work, surgery's the next step... SO I can no longer afford to buy my bunk bed mattress or save money for next year or buy a wedding gift for December (fortunately I did get them a very nice bridal shower gift ;-) ).
  

What is the lesson to be learned? I'm not living frugally, but even if I was, this year was so full of unexpected events, it showed me all the loopholes in my 'budget'. I am not making New Year's resolutions, I'm making New Life resolutions.

• I want to live frugally so that I can afford life's curve balls without feeling completely shaken.
• I want to spend less time on my cellphone, and utilise Skype / FB more often so that I can connect with my family.
• I want to pay off the outstanding amount on my laptop.
• I want to save money for future holidays without guilt.
• I want to save money for kiddies - those we want too and they come with a price tag!
• I want to visit my parents as often as I can, as well as Thinus' dad in Cape Town.
• I want to stay at home, and learn how best to save money using home recipes for removing soap scum in bath tubs, washing hair with vinegar and baking soda, processing food I buy in bulk from the farmer's market alongside my best friend Vici, just live a little.

So I am roping in the help of a few websites to

• learn how to budget,
• learn how to spend money on what's necessary and save money on what's not,
• how to use cloth diapers,
• how to make nice food from here that does not cost an arm and a leg.

I'm pretty excited to be sharing all of this information with my husband tonight - YIPPEE for frugal living!

OT time

It's been a while since I last blogged about anything concerning OT. Well, my personal life seems to have gotten the better of me, PLUS my crazy loads of studying. I'm almost done with my IIWCC (International Interdisciplinary Wound Care Course) I am happy to report :-)

Well, the past few days I've been reading and Googling and finding new resources to use for OT-purposes. Basically to make my life a whole lot easier next year with regards to planning treatment and so forth. I discovered, as well as having been directed to, some amazing websites containing a plethora of information!

www.kleuters.co.za has the most amazing worksheets in Afrikaans
www.yourparenting.co.za also boasts very beautiful printable worksheets which can be used for both Afrikaans and English children.

And THEN, my personal favourite at the moment: http://juffer.wordpress.com/ For all the teachers out there, WOW, this is a wonderful website / blog to explore. Loads of information and ideas that are shared. LOVING it!!!!

So, that's me doing my OT-post. Hope you're all still well, and that the information provided will be of some assistance :-)

A little bit of a tribute... to someone else who knew my baby-brother

Here follows a tribute, in Afrikaans, but also translated into English, which I wrote to Jacques Raubenheimer as a response to his Tribute to Heinrich newsletter sent out in collaboration with Mountain Pursuits.

Hallo Jacques.

Marthinus Kahl, een van my vele boeties, het sopas vir my die Tribute to Heinrich gestuur wat jy verlede week uitgestuur het.

Ek wil net begin deur om vir jou dankie te sê dat jy dieselfde passie vir God deel met Heinrich as wat julle gedeel het vir klim. My woorde is bietjie meer 'clumsy' as syne - hy was altyd beter met woorde...

Toe jy daai stuk insit van wat hy geskryf het oor die tekort aan erkenning van GOD binne die klim-gemeenskap, het dit my herinner aan 'n gesprek wat Heinrich en my man (sy swaer) vroeër dié jaar gehad het. My man is in die IT-wêreld en ook nogal 'n 'avid gamer'. Hy't vir Heinrich gesê hy mis die Christelike samesyn in hierdie gemeenskappe, en dit laat hom baie alleen en afgetrokke voel omdat mense nie GOD erkenning gee soos dit hoort nie. Heinrich het toe ook teenoor Thinus (my man) opgemerk dat hy in 'n soortgelyke situasie sit wat die klimgemeenskap betref, want al is hulle omring deur GOD se glorie en rykdom van die natuur, gee hulle nie erkenning aan Die EEN wat hulle geskape het en hulle voorsien van 'n plek (die berge / boulders / rotse / die natuur) waar hulle hulle passie kan uitleef nie. Weereens het dit nou vir my duidelik geword dat GOD Heinrich se nommer EEN passie was in die lewe!

Hy't dus sy passie GOD uitgeleef in die natuur, in sy menseverhoudinge, in sy studies en in sy hobbies. Sy stokperdjies het hom op 'n manier altyd aan die natuur gekoppel - daar waar hy die naaste aan GOD gevoel het (veral die berge). Hy't 'n teleskoop gebou om die sterreprag te kon aanskou, hy't van mooi kos gehou, want hoe kan jy dan nou nie van kos hou wat onberispelik goed en mooi voorberei is nie? Hy't tou-geloop en ook ons hele familie in sy stokperdjies betrek. As dit nie vir hom was nie het ek dit NOOIT gewaag om twee maal in my lewe op rots te klim nie... en as dit nie vir sy liefde vir fotografie was nie, het hy nooit die enkele foto geneem wat my vasvang waar ek 'n roete doen naby De Hoek in Oudsthoorn nie. Sy liefde vir herwin het van hom 'n kunstenaar gemaak, wat met ander oë na ou, weggooigoed laat kyk het. Sy afgetrede klimtou het oor 'n paar weke die gestalte aangeneem van 'n gerolde mat.. dié lê nogsteeds as eerbetoon in sy en Carlien se sitkamer op die vloer. Hy't met my pa se ou elektronika parte oulike insekte gesoldeer met ou CPU's en wie weet wat nog. Hy't vir my 'n toon-vas wind-chime gebou met riete wat hy gesaag en almal volgens die klavier in 'tune' geskuur het. Hy was definitief 'n kunstenaar in eie reg en tot eer van GOD.

So ja, hierdie is maar my tribute aan my kleinboetie, my amper-tweeling boetie (met 'n verskil van 1 jaar 11 maande en 20 dae tussen ons twee). Hy't my leer boomklim, my allerhande 'ontgroening-sessies' laat deurmaak om deel van sy en Pieter-Ettiene, sy beste pel, se bende te kon wees. En ek mis hom, maar ek kyk na die natuur, en veral Boven die afgelope naweek, en besef dat hy alleenlik sy hoogste doel in die lewe kon bereik deur een met GOD te word in die natuur en deur sy verhoudings met ander. Ek eet gerookte mossels op Vita-snacks en onthou hoe hy my dit leer eet het na 'n harde klim in Hogsback se Hog 1, waar ek hom nie wou toelaat om die tou van my te laat gaan sodat hy sy multipitch kon voltooi en terug kon keer na my toe nie. Hy't my oortuig, maar dit was met BAIE oorredingsvermoë van sy kant af.

Mag julle ALMAL aanhou klim, en ALTYD dit tot eer van dié EEN doen wat aan julle die wonderskone natuur verskaf het! GOD het Heinrich op die perfekte tyd, op die perfekte plek, saam met die perfekte persoon kom haal. Wat meer kan mens voor vra in jou lewe as so 'n ongelooflike wonderlike lewe saam en IN GOD?

Groete in Christus,
Ronél

_______________________________________________________

Hallo Jacques.

Marthinus Kahl, one of my many brothers, just sent me the “Tribute to Heinrich” which you sent out in your newsletter last week.

I just want to start by thanking you for sharing the same passion for GOD with Heinrich that you both shared for climbing. My words tend to be slightly more ‘clumsy’ than his – he always was better with words…

When you inserted that excerpt from one of the emails which he sent you, about the climbing community’s lack of acknowledging GOD, it reminded me of a conversation which Heinrch had with my husband (his brother-in-law) earlier this year. My husband is in the IT-world and also a rather avid gamer. He told Heinrich that he misses the Christian Fellowship within the gaming community, and that it leaves him feeling very lonely and desolate because people don’t give GOD the credit that HE rightly deserves. Heinrich then mentioned to Thinus that he faces a similar situation within the climbing community because even though they’re surrounded by GOD’s glory and riches of nature, they don’t acknowledge The ONE who created them and provided a place (the mountains / boulders / rocks / nature) where they can pursue their passion. It once again became clear to me that GOD was Heinrich’s number ONE passion in this life!

He thus lived out his passion for GOD in nature, through his relationships with other people, and in his studies and hobbies. His hobbies always somehow connected him with nature – there where he felt closest to GOD (especially in the mountains). He once built a telescope to be able to study the star galaxies; he also liked beautiful food, because he reasoned – how can you NOT like food that is delicate, good-tasting and beautifully prepared? He did tight-rope walking and also involved our entire family in this hobby. If it weren’t for him, I would NEVER have risked it twice in my life to do ACTUAL rock climbing, out in nature, on real rock… and if it weren’t for his love of photography, he wouldn’t have captured the single photo ever taken of me doing a route near De Hoek in Oudsthoorn. His love for recycling made him an artist who looked at thrown-away items in a whole new way. His retired climbing rope became a rolled-up mat within a period of a few weeks … this mat / carpet still gracing his and Carlien’s living room floor. He used my dad’s old electronics parts to solder cute insects with old CPU’s and who knows what else. He built me a tuned wind-chime with bamboo which he sawed and then tuned each individual ‘pipe’ according to the piano by sanding it until it was ‘in-tune’. He most definitely was an artist in his own right and always to the glory of GOD.

So yes, this is my simple tribute to my baby-brother, my nearly-twin brother (with a difference of 1 year 11 months and 20 days between the two of us). He taught me to climb trees, put me through all kinds of ‘initiation-sessions’ so that I could become part of his and his best friend, Pieter-Ettiene’s, gang. I miss him terribly, but when I look at nature, and especially Boven this past weekend, I realised that he could only achieve his highest goal in life by becoming one with GOD through nature and his relationships with others. I eat smoked mussels on Vita-snacks and remember how he introduced me to this snack after a hard climb in Hogsback’s Hog 1, where I wouldn’t allow him to let the rope be released by me when he wanted to complete a multipitch, in order for him to be able to return to me. He did finally convince me, but it was with a LOT of convincing / reasoning from his side.

May you ALL continue to climb, and ALWAYS do it to the glory of The ONE who grants you the passage to an awesomely-made nature. GOD took Heinrich at the perfect time, at the perfect place, whist with the perfect person. What more can one ask for in your life than such an amazing life with and IN GOD.

Greetings in Christ,
Ronél

So ja, this is me, remembering my brother, once again.

PS: We went to Waterval-Boven this weekend to the accident site. Carlien explained to us how everything happened, and we got some clarity regarding just exactly HOW big this miracle was that she's alive! The rock / boulder, which is now in pieces (each the size of a normal, KIC Supercool fridge) where once the size of a small vehicle, like a VW Golf.