Timing is everything...

Especially when your geyser gets hit by lightning (yes we were sitting about 5 metres from it when it tripped the electricity) on Christmas Eve, and there is no one answering the phone at the 24hr insurance call centre. I guess they don't specify 24/7/365.

So that rather loud and heartstopping (and hot stopping) bang was on Thursday evening. By Saturday we were on the last drops of our hot (read tepid) water. So on Sunday we were forced to bathe our hard laboured bodies, with the help of a kettle, in a puddle at the bottom of the bath, prior to settling in for the night. On Monday morning Natal shuddered itself lethargically back into work mode, and we hollered our local electrician. Luckily he was able to get the geyser repaired in a matter of minutes, since the part that was charred to a cinder had a handy replacement in his bakkie. Good thing too, because I do not clean in cold water!

So, I mentioned labour weary bodies. You might think that a bit odd bearing in mind that we were on holiday. But. BUT. Sean and I lost our minds one morning and started spring cleaning. By that I mean we emptied 2 rooms, vacuumed them as well as everything in them and put one of them back into the other. One remained in the dining room (I am refering to furniture here, you understand, as opposed to bricks) and the house looked like a bomb site for 12 hours. More than usual that is.

The following day was more of the same, I suppose, as we could hardly live as we were then for any length of time. Anyway, this spurt of indecent energy expenditure was brought on by the children being covered in bites from some unknown and unseen monster. They looked like they had some terrible lurgy, but were none the worse for wear (having said that a small drop in their energy levels does not actually register on the hyperactivity scale so perhaps I am wrong here) other than a little itchy. Their old room is always damp due to the large shady trees just behind our fence preventing the sun's warmth from drying it out. We also live in a very humid place so hot days make the floors and walls damp.

So, now that our holiday is drawn to a close, we have a whole new home to enjoy. Shannon and Jordan play happily in their new room, whereas they almost never played in their old one, the living area seems so much bigger and more open (it is tiny anyway but the rearranged furniture has created an illusion of space, ha ha).

As for the rest, Sean went back to work yesterday to discover that his main welder has a broken collar bone and that the one company he needed to be open is not! They have, locked behind their sleepy doors, the ballustrade he was meant to install this week! Did I mention the lethargy much of the province suffers from in the New Year? Not a great start for BMO, but other than that great things are afoot!

I am busy getting Shannon ready for Grade 1, she has learned to tie her shoelaces, write her name and write her numbers this holiday, (of course she is a genius and no, I am not biased just because I am her Mummy... lucky me) so hopefully she will be ready and able to participate enthusiastically in her first year of 'big' school!

Jordan is the cutest little thing I have ever clapped eyes on, but it is all a front to his devilish intentions. How difficult to be his doting Mummy!

Happy New Year to you, and I have great dreams for all of us for 2010... watch this space.