Jun 22, 2008 | Rants, Shopping
NOTE TO SELF:
Never, ever, and I mean this … NEVER, no not EVER … never go to Cavendish Square on the same day that a rugby test is being played at Newlands.
Ever.
There will be ZERO parking and it WILL take you about half an hour to find somewhere to stop and leave your car. (If you want to experience that kind of pain and time wastage again, simply get in your motor vehicle, drive around the block about 50 times whilst simultaneously reaching up to grab large chunks of your hair and pulling sharply.)
Then, to avoid further frustration, make sure that when you buy any items from Look & Listen that qualify for a discount, you do NOT go to the till manned by the turnip who has more bling than brains. No Sweets, stay away from he who insists that the total he gave you AFTER the discount was applied is correct, even though it’s HIGHER than the total he gave you BEFORE said discount was applied. That will save you at least 35 minutes and you won’t have to get the manager to come and sort the mess out for you.
Also, if you happen to walk in while they are playing Usher’s new “Here I Stand” album over their audio system … turn around and RUN!!!
Oh yes, and be sure never to buy any item that has the security tag INSIDE the sealed packaging – how intelligent and thoughtful of the manufacturers to do this … not. That way, the damn bleeper thing won’t scream at you while you’re walking out the shop and the security guard WILL NOT suddenly haul out a great big pair of scissors and start trying to cut open the packages of those little ear thumps you want to give to a few folk as gifts. You should know better, really.
And please, don’t ever wear a poloneck jersey again! It’s really not a good idea to be dressed for the cold Cape weather when every second shop you walk into seems to have their thermostat set to the highest available temperature so you can actually feel yourself melting after only 2 minutes in their stuffy little hot boxes. If you want to wear a jersey, make sure that you’ve got something on underneath that is not too skimpy or revealing so that you can at least peel off a layer or two when you enter those saunas.
Also make sure you turn your cellphone off so that you don’t continuously get harassed by phone calls and text messages from various people, some of whom keep pestering you to “come back with McDonalds”.
Lastly, if you get home ridiculously stressed and exhausted after what was supposed to be a just couple of enjoyable hours to yourself and you realize that you forgot to pick up dog food, DO NOT back out of the driveway straight away and head to the nearest shop, which just happens to be Woolies. No, no, NO! Forget about the idea of dashing in and out as quickly as possible because you sooooo need to get home and take a chill pill. Why? Well, that cashier with the vacant stare who can’t stop chatting to the chic at the next till could accidentally mistake you for Someone Who Has All The Freaking Time In The World and decide to operate at the pace of a bloody stoned tortoise again!
Hrmph.
“Retail therapy”? I don’t think so …
Anyway, at the end of that extremely traumatic expedition yesterday, here’s what I eventually landed up with:
- 1 x Xbox 360 game – GTA4. I was going to get Alone in the Dark, but I was a nervous wreck just looking at the cover image, so I opted for something a little less scary.
- 5 x CD’s – Hullabaloo (Muse), Narrow Stairs (Death Cab for Cutie), Flavors of Entanglement (Alanis Morisette), Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff (Sarah McLachlan) and Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (The Offspring).
- 2 x DVD’s – Jeff Foxworthy and Lenny Henry stand up comedy.
- Seasons 2 and 3 of Scrubs – I missed this series on tv, but decided to get Season 1 on a whim a while back and totally loved it … just have to see some more =)
- A couple of sets of ear thumps with packaging still intact, but only after yours truly nearly slapped 1 x female security guard brandishing enormous pair of scissors.
- 1 x set of unmentionables, thanks to the La Senza voucher I got for my birthday back at the beginning of April but haven’t had the opportunity to use until now.
- New bathroom scale from Clicks – my old one gave up the ghost a few weeks ago.
- A few personal bits and bobs – no, you don’t wanna know, really.
- Dog food.
Sheesh, nearly 3 hours of hell, just for that!
And then today I had to do The Dreaded Weekly Grocery Shop so I am now offically all shopped out. Completely. Over. Shopping. I seriously don’t get why some people love it so much?!
Jun 19, 2008 | Kids, Life at Home, Shopping
Son#1: “Mom, please can you organize Chai Tea for me?”
Me: “Huh? I thought you wanted to do Muay Thai? I mean, after you met Quentin Chong you were so amped for it.”
Son#1: “What are you TALKING about?”
Me: “I know you! You’ll start off this new sport with great gusto and then lose interest, just you did with Karate!”
Son#1: *totally bewildered look*
Me: “And anyway, you don’t have the time, what with all your other sports and school work and stuff. I’m not going to waste money, or ask Dad to waste money on another flash in the pan idea!”
Son#1: *bends over double in fits of hysterical laughter*
Me: *mortified* (wtf?) “What? Why are you laughing?”
Son#1: “No mom! I mean Chai Tea, not Tai Chi, CHAI TEA … T-E-A … Chai Tea is TEA! Bwahaha!
Me: “Tea?” (the lights go on … ooops!)
Son: “YES!! Its tea. It’s a spicy tea. That you DRINK! You can buy it at Pick ‘n Pay or Woolies or something.”
Me: “Oh. Mmk, I’ll look out for it and see how much it costs.” *blush*
**
So I looked, and I found it, and I was curious so I bought it =) And let me tell you, it’s totally yummy!
Chai is a spicy milk tea from India – they’ve been drinking it for centuries – and it’s now becoming popular all over the world. It’s a combination of milk, black tea, sweetener and various spices like cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pepper.
You can make it from scratch, but I think that would be a mission for busy people, so the alternative is to buy it in a concentrate or powered form. All you need to then do is add either hot milk or water, depending on the brand/type you buy. I use fat free milk (‘cos it’s all I keep in the house) and that helps to keep the calories down a bit – works out to about the same amount as a cappuccino.
I bought the powdered one from Woolies (works out to about R4/cup) and Son#1 made me my first cup of Chai Tea a couple of days ago. Lovely stuff! I didn’t think I would like it, but then I didn’t think I would like sushi either … I’m really enjoying the taste (sipping a cuppa as I bang this out … no, really I AM!) – it’s not really like any other flavour I’ve encountered before. I think I can best describe it as a mixture between Horlicks and hot cross buns =) The weird thing is that I don’t actually like either of those two, but the taste combination somehow works for me.
So do give it a whirl if you haven’t yet, you may be in for a real treat! Just be careful though, it apparently has as much caffeine in it as coffee, so don’t go drinking a cup just before bed time.
Bottoms up!
** Based on a true-life conversation
Jun 13, 2008 | Shopping, Websites
OMG, could today actually get any better for this Cowgrrrl?
Methinks not …
Eric, the man behind Springleap.com has just personally delivered all my totally funky new Tshirts!!
I asked him to put together a surprise package for me (you can read about that here) and I am so NOT disappointed with the fab selection. They are super-duper!
I gathered the troops and told them all to claim what they wanted and everyone is really happy with their new Tees – especially Son#1 who just thrives on wearing fresh originals. And these particular designs have only been in the country Cape Town* for 3 hours, so you don’t get more fresh than that! Son#2 made his choice and immediately went out skateboarding to show off his new threads =)
Thanks Eric. Thanks Springleap. Very happy cow-stomer.
I think this calls for a drinkie-poo to celebrate!
* Edited after being Eric reminded me that his products are Proudly South African.
Jun 7, 2008 | Shopping, Websites
I’ve just placed my order for some awesome new Tees with springleap!
If you’re looking for some funky original designs, then you really need to check them out. And the website is great – it’s super easy to use and the registration, shopping and payment processes are very quick and quite painless.
I actually wanted to buy a whole bunch of springleap Tees to give to my staff, friends and family and I had no idea which designs to order (they are all great and I was spoilt for choice … ok, so I’m lazy!), so I contacted Eric, the man behind the business, and asked if he could assemble a surprise package for me and he agreed =) How cool is that?! I was super-impressed … and I just love surprises so I’m really looking forward to seeing what they put together for me.
Springleap also offers a gift delivery service, which I think is a grand idea! So, if you want to buy one of their great Tshirts for a friend, you can request that the order be delivered to them directly.
My overall impression of the site and service so far: easy, friendly and efficient … now we wait for delivery!
(If I have any suggestions for springleap, it would be for them to let me know when to expect delivery – I couldn’t see any info about that, but perhaps I just missed it?)
Mar 20, 2008 | Medical, Shopping, Work, Xbox 360
Yesterday was an odd day. It started off with half my team getting stuck in the most horrendous traffic jam, spending hours on the road trying to get to work and not arriving till lunchtime. Apparently a truck on one of the highways overturned and fell onto a car, killing the 2 female occupants. What a shocking reminder of how quickly our lives can end hey? There you are, just driving into work one morning and in the blink of an eye, you’re dead. No warning, no control, no future, your life is just over … Anyway, half the city was gridlocked after that while they tried to move a crane in to lift the load off the car and remove the bodies from the wreck. Oh boy, my team was NOT in a very good mood when they eventually arrived. Who can blame them?
My mouth is still sore from my recent dental trauma and I can’t chew anything properly so breakfast was just a protein shake yesterday, after which I went to gym and nearly passed out from not having eaten enough! I made it through the hour though, just, and then picked up a smoothie with my Kauai voucher. I managed to get through loads of work yesterday and even got to do some designing again, which was a nice change =) Dinner was a peanut butter sandwich on really squishy white bread. I can’t put ANY pressure on the tooth that had the root canal treatment, so it took me ages to delicately chew my through that sarmie.
I played some poker on my Xbox 360, but didn’t do very well at all. This new game is much tougher than the last edition and it’s really hard to win (I keep getting the worst cards?!) They’ve also included some versions of the game that I dont know anything about (what’s Omaha?) so I’m stuck in those parts which is frustrating. I’ll have to Google the game names and see what I can learn. I think I’m going to try Tombraider tonight – I got the anniversary edition a while ago (an impulse splurge) and I haven’t played it yet, been too occupied with LOST Via Domus, which I have now finished – was great fun (when the dreaded black smoke didn’t nail me!), but far too short.
Today has been good so far. Despite not having slept too well, I’ve been feeling quite strong for a change. I got through quite a bit of work this morning and I even managed to run around and do some errands I’ve been putting off for a while – boring stuff like collecting my new credit card from the bank and paying some bills. The shopping centre was like a total mad house though! Sheesh, with Easter Weekend coming up, people are shopping like the shops will never open again, it’s crazy! Why do they do that? Every year it’s the same thing and yet the shops are open on Saturday! I have to go out again just now and brave the masses – running out of food and now that the boys are on school holidays, I need a whole lot more stuff to feed them. Wish me luck …
