This week started with Phil’s 41st Birthday.
Unfortunately he had to work, so during the day, the kids and I did his cake.
Wasn’t my best effort as the cream had been frozen and it did not whip very
well. The kids also hated the mint icing, but that just meant all the more for
Phil.
I also had to deliver the invites for the upcoming morning
tea. So Laura and I went around and hand delivered to half of the rental
estate. Then the kids and I went to the
pool in the afternoon. I then made Phil
honey prawns for dinner. They were delicious. I will definitely make them again
and if I could just find sesame seeds, I am sure they would be even better.
Tuesday was a quiet morning, before heading to Solwezi in
the afternoon. Sally and I went later in the day, so that the shops would be
restocked after the weekend. It went really well. The same boys from before
came up to me and asked to help me, but I told them after what happened
previously, I was not going to have them help me again. It worked and they left
me alone. Maybe I will be able to go back again alone. I then had to pick up a
friends’ car from the airport and drive it home for them. It was a long day,
but at least the pantry got stocked. The manager from the shop on site, did not
have his contract renewed (big, big shame), and as a result the shop is getting quite low on items. Hopefully it will pick up soon.
Then on Wednesday, we had our big power out day. It was so
quiet. When I woke up, we had no water at 630am and then the power went off at
7am. What to do with no water and power. Tom luckily was able to go to school,
as that ran on a generator, so I just had Laura. We went across the road so
Laura could play with Ashleigh for a bit. Thankfully, before we picked Tom up
at 12pm, the water came back on. Which was great, but we were prepared as I had
bought two 20L containers and had filled them with water yesterday. I had also
collected clothes washing water for flushing. So we were doing ok.
A few of us decided to go to the pool in the afternoon as it
was really warm. However, it was closed as it was so filthy. So everyone came
back to my place and we filled a bucket with water and let the kids splash. That
night I got the braai going and reheated sausages that I had cooked yesterday
and wraps. So we had a lovely dinner outside of sausage and salad wraps.
The power did not come back on at 6pm as it was meant to,
nor at 7pm, or 8pm, but finally at 915pm it came back on. What a day of 14 hours
with no power! Thankfully the deep freezer was still cold and the fridge was
just slightly cool, but we did not lose anything. Thank goodness.
Thursday was a busy day. Tom woke up with a nasty fever and
photophobia. I automatically thought ‘Malaria’, so we raced up to the clinic at
630am. Tom had his first finger prick test for malaria and did not like it one
bit. Thankfully, it was not, but he was diagnosed with a throat infection and
sent home with antibiotics. I then had to go to the LTG information session for
a few minutes before heading home to 2 screaming children. Laura did not like
all the attention Tom was getting and so demanded her own by screaming and
crying. It finally settled down in the afternoon and the kids helped me to make
a spice rack. I have included a photo to show you my carpentry skills. What you
can’t see are the bent nails and splinters. But it works a treat! We all went
to bed very tired that night.
Tom was still feeling awful on Friday and so we just hovered
around the house. We have now worked out what type of lizard Harry is. He is a
Blue Headed Tree Agama. We found this out when his head and tail turned bright
blue and a friend leant me her book to find out what he is. Anyway, I decided to
make him a more comfortable environment in the garden suited to someone of
Harry’s taste. So the kids and I went out and grabbed a couple of logs and old
ant mounds. I waved my magic garden wand and voila! I had created a beautiful
spot for him. So beautiful in fact that a female has now turned up. We have
named her Sally (as in When Harry met Sally) and hopefully we will see little
agama’s in 5 months’ time. LOL.
That night I made pizza for dinner as is our Friday night
tradition. I also made banoffee pie and Phil’s work mate Ross came over as
well. I have to say I had 2 drinks too many and woke up with a slight hangover,
but it was a great night sitting around the fire talking. It was a late night
for me and I don’t cope well after less sleep, plus my face felt like it was
going to explode thanks to me grinding my teeth overnight.
Tom woke up somewhat worse for wear and he spent the weekend
being very quiet due to his loss of voice. It did make things quiet around the
house. As a result we had a quiet weekend as we could not go anywhere with Tom
being sick.
I had the Quiz night Saturday night. I was still tired from Friday
night and now had another late night ahead. It went really well though and was
a big success. We raised over 8million Kwacha. We have decided to spend the
money on tables and chairs for a local school in the surrounding area. This was
our aim for the night and we are really glad we managed to achieve it.
Tom has developed a cough now and so we will be back to the
clinic first thing Monday morning. He is also vomiting nightly, poor thing. I
am sure he has a chest infection. A lot of people are sick at present due to
the wind lifting all the dust on site.
The joys of living here....
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