Remember Physical Education class at school?

When I was at school, PE/Physical Education was a subject you got given, whether you liked it or not.

The part that always used to amaze me was that the PE Teacher, was always the largest (weight) person on the staff body.  She always used to wear that stupid matching tracksuit which made you think that she might have once coached or done hockey.

Her hair style was usually something that you would get done at the barber.

Personally I had no qualms about PE – I did not love it, but I sort of got by.

You always had to wear the most ridiculous clothes loosely terms as your PE uniform.  It even made skinny pretty girls look like they had a camel toe and a hunchback.  It was all in all just not attractive.

But this was the same era that gave you Dynasty and Sue Ellen on Dallas, so abysmal fashion decisions were pretty much the norm.

The thing I hated about PE, and I think has mentally scarred me for life was when Ms PE Teacher wanted the class to play a team game.

Everyone would mill around, then she would call out two random girl’s names “Sharon” (I was of the generation where there would be between 1 – 3 Sharons per grade) and “Leeanne” – then Sharon and Leeanne would each pick a girl for their teams.

You know all the girls they liked, who were popular with them.

As each name got called out, there would be some squealing and maybe hugging as the girls would go and huddle behind either Sharon and Leeanne, and stand and smirk at the group of girls who had not been picked i.e. me.

There I would stand “quietly begging” that I got chosen – please choose me, please choose me, I promise to catch/hit the ball.  Promise!!!  See I can jump.  See I can run.  Look Janet Look!!

I hated the fact that I might be the last one left, and not really chosen as much as being a team member by default.    But if I was chosen by Sharon or Leeanne then I would also go and stand in that rather selfish little group behind and smirk and the group of “unpopular” girls who had not been selected.

There are few things worse than being the kid who stands there last and has to be in either of the team, because they are the last person and was not chosen.

The fear of that is enough to sympathise with the girl who always said she was having her period or had a note saying she did not have to do PE.  There were usually 3 – 4 of them.

My friend Claudine Steyn and Joanne Mustoe did not EVER do PE.  I have no idea how one has a period that long.

I realise I am trying to link two rather vague points to each other here so bear with m – but for the love of gd, please go and nominate me - the 2nd Annual Mommy Blogger Competition 2012 is on.

Mommy bloggers have had a bit of a bad rap at the last Blogger Awards, so we are all a bit desperate for anything that makes us say “winner, winner, chicken dinner” right now.

I am having flash backs of PE selection and it is not my happy place.

I have no illusions about winning.  There are far better mommy bloggers out there with moms who really “sweat” and work their blogs.

I am a fair weather blogger.

I have no real drive to run around and pimp my “please vote for me” all over Facebook and every other place you can beg for a vote, but I just don’t want to be the fat pimply kid who does not get picked for PE teams by Sharon and Leeanne.

Cheese and Rice, it is like primary school again!

<link for voting – http://www.kidzworld.co.za/mommy-blogger-competition.htm>

Back to school ….

Last year there was a Cape Town Blog Hook-Up, arranged by several bloggers, one of them being Natasha over at Raising Men.

Lovely evening – me in a room full of people, but I did know a few people who made me feel slightly better.

There were some great prizes given out on the night.  And being lucky, I won a course at Friends of Design – I must confess at the time I really wanted the year’s supply of Pringles.

But those would have been long gone and I would have had only a few Pringles tins to show for it.

I decided to use my one freebie course and also do two more, so that I do a Web Design Course consisting of three modules: Adobe Flash, HTML/CSS Essential Skills and WordPress Essential Skills.

I started last night and got to sit in my first Flash course – granted I spent 15 minutes getting myself lost as I could not find the school, but enough about me being an idiot.

Not flash like run across a field and expose yourself, though there are similarities.

So look at me going all unemployed student on you.

But yay for the folks at Friends of Design.

Blogs by the Numbers ….

I realized my hit amount had crept quietly passed 200 000 and I had not noticed it (there is just a little over 202 000 – which seems like a pretty good number)

I really should of at least organized a cake or something, maybe a special bottle of wine.  Ah, what the hell I am drinking a glass of Robertson Chenin Blanc as we speak “cheers..”

In the spirit of the number, I thought I would quickly glance over my other numbers.

My first post: Pee on a Stick why don’t you.

The date of my first post: 2009/08/21 (blog birthday technically)

My busiest day: 2,986

The amount of comments: 4496 (or there abouts)

The person who comments the most on my blog is from  countesskaz.wordpress.com

(bless her cotton farming socks)

The post that is probably my favourite post:   Throwing the Baby out with the Bath Water.  I have written a few others that I was really “proud” of, but this one is still one that I look at and smirk a bit.

The post that made me laugh: An Arrow from Parow.  I laugh at myself when I read it, because it is still true.

I am not sure exactly what the psychology is behind blogging and why someone carries on with it.  But I know that it is part of who I am and what I do.  I enjoy blogging and I get something out of it.  I am not sure exactly what, I can’t really quantify it, but I enjoy writing, and I really enjoy the comments when I get them.

Blogging does help me to work through some of my things, and does help me not feel so lonely that “it is only me who thinks this way.”  I have realised that many of my issues are not as unique as I have often led myself to believe, but there are many people out there who “try hard to appear normal” when inside they feel alone and not normal at all.

We mimic “normal” to fit in.

I will blog for as long as I need to, or want to, and then I will stop, because then I won’t want to, or maybe no longer need to.  Maybe.

I do not make money from blogging.  It costs me nothing more than time.  It does however somes times come at a personal cost – as I do sometimes do or say things that have a ripple effect in my life and those ripples are not always good, and sometimes have dire consequences.

I do feel that it gives me more than I have to give away.  I have met some interesting people through blogging – and forums.

I have reduced my social media interaction since late last year – and have reduced my blog reading to virtually zero, and dropped out of forums pretty much all together.

It is not that I do not want to.  I am aching to read what people are up to.  But I have realized that I am unable to keep a good gap between “other people’s stuff” and “what is my stuff” – so the easiest way to break the cycle was “to go cold turkey” – I no longer read blogs {and I miss it like a lost limb}, I do so want to read and catch up with everyone’s lives.

I will confess to sneaking on to Moomie twice and I trolled around, but I realized I cannot read forums without getting totally wrapped up in them, and some of the “old feelings” came back, so it ws better to click away.

I read other blogs on occasion – but seldom – the moment I feel that “twinge” that I am starting to get involved, I click away.  I don’t get involved, I get committed and consumed …. my stop valve does not work very well it would seem.

I have also “removed” myself from reality television.  I no longer watch shows about other people’s lives as a way to distance myself from mine.   There is nothing quite like watching your evening get sucked up in some mindless and senseless reality show — and then you start fretting about why Kim is such a bubble head, and why ……. ah never mind, really it is best not to watch them at all.

Thanks to you the 200 000 odd (both in number and type) if you are reading my blog.

And really THANK YOU (sincerely) if you have taken the time to comment – I enjoy every one.  Even the creepy guy Steven with the gmail account who leaves questionable comments.

{thanks}

The dilemma of bloggers and blog readers everywhere …..

I think this image accurately depicts the “trauma” all bloggers and blog readers go through.

I have got much braver about commenting on blogs in the last year.

I know in the beginning I was all wide-eyed and red-faced at the very thought of commenting on some cool person’s blog.  I would read the post in awe, and then sit there and think “I can’t comment, I can’t think of anything clever to say …. everything sounds so naff….” and then I would sit there.

I have a similar problem with Facebook and then often my “comment” runs through my mind so much and I evaluate then re-evaluate, and then try to think what the person will read, that it becomes so “paralysing” that I go back and delete it.

I think Mommy Bloggers have it a bit harder than most .. but I can only speak as a Mommy Blogger.

Blogging can be very cliquey (is that the correct spelling?) and there is some inherent bitchiness, and new bloggers compete to be noticed, and there is always the “IT” blogger whose attention everyone is vying for.  <<it by the way is not me, in the event you needed some guidance on that issue>>

Or am I just reading a bit more in to it than it actually is?

I think blogging does start as a personal vomit about your shit, and that is why people read it.  A bit like slowing to look at a car accident and gawking at the blood spatter and seeing if you can see the injured person in the ambulance – or am I the only person who does this?

The problem with “blog traffic” is that at some point you stop writing about what you really think and how you feel, but you start to write what appears to be “popular” and then you lose the plot from there.  Or so I think at any rate.

I am as guilty of that as much as the next person of being aware that someone is reading this now, so maybe I need to tailor what I say.

It is sometimes difficult to stick to your opinion and put your neck out on an issue when you realise the “popular” discussions are going in another direction.  So as much as I want to say what I think, I do start to question how acceptable it will be to put it out here, or there.  And then I start to think too hard about what I say, and who I say it to.

And then I just become a cookie-cutter blog ….. sad but true.  Don’t you love social paranoia??  It rocks!

<< apologise for not being able to credit this image, I dropped it on my desktop ages ago, and unfortunately there was no reference on it …. so apologise for no credit on the image>> 

Arguing on the Internet …dick rating …

Julie Hall sent me this and I thought it dove-tailed rather well with yesterday’s post.

To forum or not, that is the question ….

Just wanted to check – are you ever going to join us back at Moomie, or have you completely closed that chapter in your life? I miss your wit.

I have been asked this question a few times as of late.  I left the last sentence on “ I miss your wit” for no other purpose that to stroke my feathers of vanity.

I am shallow like that.

The reality <and short answer> is “no … I am choosing to opt out of forums … for my own sanity… really”

I do miss Moomie.  It was a great forum for me.  It is run well and most of the girls there are so nice.  They give selflessly of their time and energy.  While I was part of Moomie I often started a conversation in the real world with “We were talking on Moomie about …..” because the forum became part of my life.

There are clusters of people I really liked, almost loved.  There are clusters of people who I would rather reverse over with my car, in the dark, while drinking a McDonalds Caramel Chocolate McFlurry.

The problem with forums, is that it is like standing at a cocktail party.  Yes, you will chat to your own little clique, but you still need to be polite and civil to everyone.  Sometimes you end up in a conversation with someone who really is not lucid or sober.  And who constantly misunderstands you and sort of spits when they talk.

Inevitably you say something you should not have said, and then all hell breaks loose.  Then one starts to argue.  On the Internet.  With people. Of no consequence.  Who you probably would not have spent time with in real life.

My poor judgement caused me to start thinking that a forum was safe and “private” – and that I can speak freely and I was cushioned in a kind of bubble.

I crossed the imaginary line between what is probably good judgement and then just being stupid.

If you put it on a forum, expect it to come back and hit you in the face.  Much like a shit covered spade. Repeatedly.

Without the aid of clever emoticons and smiley faces, people can sometimes take things out of the context they were meant (me included).

I tend to read comments with a “voice” – sometimes a whiny voice, sometimes a screaming voice, sometimes with a Parow accent or a nasal Johannesburg accent – it all depends on the personality which I have attached to the owner.

I associate a personality to each person – and in reality, many of them I have not met.  My perception of them is that they are an entire person, which I have created, in my head.  Based on a few vague conversations, I have created an entire functioning human being – and they in turn think they know me because they know a slither of my life. < the similiarities between forums and blogs are not totally lost on me….>

Kennith says my “social filters” are lacking.   They are, my doctor agrees.

The more nervous I get, the more my ”social filters” fail me.

The more personal I think the space is the more my  “social filters” start to disintegrate.

Add nervousness and alcohol, and the entire process needs some psychiatric care or at the very least a name change and a membership to the nearest witness-relocation-programme.

I learnt that forums aren’t that safe and not really a good idea (for me.)

I learnt that some people are wankers, and you can’t actually change them.  They really need to just let them go off and be wankers, and not waste your energy trying to de-wanker them.

I learnt that I am a bit of a douché-bag and really should spend my energy not being a douché-bag as opposed to try to make other people see my point of view.

I learnt that I do not have the amount of energy that one needs to be able to deal with that many people, that often, in my personal space.

So I have stopped on forums.  I seldom read blogs.  I stop in on Facebook maybe every one or two weeks. Briefly.

Social media did push me that little bit too far over the edge of where I really could safely go.  Forums <my ability to interact on them> were not the cause of my demise but it was a contributor.

I realised that I am not really “able” or “ready” to communicate on a forum and be able to heed the “boundaries” that I should set in place.

Every now and then I see a comment on Facebook from one or two people from the forum-space, and it always makes my blood run cold.  The experience was quite jarring for me, and clearly I am not all “forgive, forget and skip through the daisies…” material.

The best thing, for me, was to remove myself from social media, and right now I tread carefully.

The first two or four weeks left a gaping wound, and I would often hover my mouse over the icon to click-through and go and lurk.

Strange thing happened, people who I really missed realised that they could communicate with me via email, sms or skype, and did not have to wait until I appeared on a forum to say “hi!”  Bless them.  When I felt really lonely and alone, it was a real comfort to have little notes pop up of people who I did miss, who made the effort to stalk me and make contact.

I think I was desperately looking for something there that I needed.  But it was not the space to get it.

Without getting all Freud/Jung on your arse, I really need to look internally to fix my shit, than run around forums and hope someone there can fix me or offer me insights that resonate with me.

I wish Moomie all the best – and really want it to go from strength to strength.  Really.  It is a wonderful forum.  Deja who runs it is so awesome she makes me weep.  She has developed a wonderful place for women to chat and make friends.  Really.

<< As far as forums dealing with moms and for moms, I think Moomie is the best one around.  As for me,  Moomie has had some great spill overs.  I do however still feel an overriding urge to get my car out and reverse it over a few people, but I am in therapy so am working through those thoughts.>>

Getting a little revamp ….

Apologise for the bits and pieces that might appear the wrong size and in the wrong place on my blog.

I update my WordPress “theme” about once a year, and congratulations today is that “once a year.”

I really need to stop being cheap and actually pay for a theme that I want, rather than take the free ones out of the bargain-barrel as I do.

But anyway, I troll through the free themes and pick one that offends me least, rather than one I really love.

The ones I love are always for sale, funny that…

It all goes a bit pear-shaped before it gets better, so bear with me as I resize, move and kick things out that I feel are “old and shit.”

I may change again if this WordPress theme does not blow my hair back, so it may go even more badly.

On a different note, I saw Lyndsay Heldsinger’s illustrations, and I love her work so much – we were at school together.  She was this tall red head who made boys lower jaws drop .. and she appears to have lost nothing of her previous magic.

I have used some of her illustrations on the revamped blog.  She is so divinely brilliant and has more talent in her sweat than I have in my entire body.  She has some more illustrations on www.pinterest.com so feel free to stalk her there.  Love her work!!!

<I am watching True Blood – its been PVR’d so no idea when TB comes on the television – while I am typing this post .. what a  fkd up show…. these people really should just move out of this town, and not supply a forwarding address … How many werewolves/possessed people/vampires/shape shifters does one need to encounter to realise that you need to sell up and move the hell out of Dodge?  It got really weird because I was watching another show, then I looked down and up again and they were talking about vampires, and it took me several minutes of head scratching to realise I was now watching a totally different show …….>

The fat lady still needs to sing …. SA Blog Awards 2011

It is all over, barring the fat lady and the singing.

SA Blog Awards 2011 Public Voting is over.  Now the cool guys with calculators and an abacus work out the numbers, it goes to …. actually I have no idea where it goes to be verified.

Based on that the top three bloggers in each category are handed over the <mystery> Judging People.  They in turn lurk around and make a decision and award something to the winner of each category.

I really have no idea of how it works.

I must confess that I have some doubts about how the SA Blog Awards are run/managed.

It does always appear to be this last-minute rush, a website that is not updated until about 2 weeks before things get started – which irks me considering the medium it is trying to promote ….

Bloggers do not seem to always know what is going on – or maybe it is just me – the final nail in the coffin of questionable behaviour is that the SA Blog Awards website always has SPELLING ERRORS, which annoy the crap out of me.

I am allowed to make spelling errors, they are not.  That is just the way it is.

I raised the issue of my doubts about how effective the SA Blog Awards appear to be run.  The person suggested that maybe it is not being run as a business for now, so there is no real buy in and “push” for it to function well, so there is no business model.  No profit incentive to make it work.

Maybe.

Anyway, congratulations to all the blogs who are shortlisted, nominated and who win.  Really.  I am sure there will be sour grapes no matter who wins and loses, but there we go.

I would be excited if three guys at a Parow Fish Shop named Jan, Theuns and Willem created an annual blog awards and gave out some props for blogs and bloggers – I would be equally thrilled.  If they threw in a packet of slap chips and a 500ml coke light, it would make me all kinds of happy.

I am easy to please that way.

Is anyone else as confused about SA Blog Awards 2011 as I am ….

SA Blog Awards is in the public voting stage and this runs until 9 November 2011.

The short of it is, public pops along, reads your blog, or a bit of it and goes, hey that is worth a click.  Clicks on vote button and then they fill in a form that requires 2 lines of information.

They vote.

Vote site sends them a confirmation email, so that it tries to stop one person voting and using a few dummy email addresses.

The one thing they did not say, or possibly I overlooked it is – that one email address counts for one vote (for one blog) per day.

In others words, you cannot vote for several blogs in one day.

You can vote each day.

Again, hats off to ever takes the time (and enery to) organises Blog Awards, good for you.  I would rather sit on my stoep and drink wine, but cheese and rice, at least let us have some information that we can work with.

Anyway ………

On a totally unrelated note.

I stopped at Cape Union Mart in Access Park yesterday.  Access Park is like a “sales” area and loads of businesses have “depot” “outlet” “over run” stores there.

I am not a big fan of sales.

I like to shop and make it feel like a lavish affair, rather than a charity situation where I am scrambling for clothing and elbowing the shopper next to me.  I don’t want to feel like a refugee when I am trying to spend my hard earned money or credit.

Cape Union Mart in Access Park, has women’s Poetry and Old Khaki clothin - already marked down stuff – marked down a further 75%.

To give you an example of what a winner day this was. I bought a jacket for R25.00 which was R499.00 (it was a new jacket, I was not pulling it off a dead guy.)

I also bought Poetry White Linen shirts for  R49.75.  Again, brand new, I think it was originally R299 or R399.00. Of the many things that Poetry do well, they do white linen shirts very well.

So now I have 5 more.

I walked out of the store with:

• 13 shirts – two short-sleeved, and the balance long sleeve, some linen, and some a blend and so on (so no t-shirts, though one was a golfer)
• 2 jackets/blazers.
• 1 x 3/4 trousers.
• 1 x long pair of linen type trousers.
• 1 x  Poetry dress
• 1 x jersey thing that hangs at an angle (love this item!!)

I paid R950.00 in total for that.  It was a box of clothing – and none of the items were things I would not have bought any way.  If you average it out, it means I paid R50.00 per item.

The best part was when the store manager – Smilton – stood on the counter with a pile of blazers/shirts/jackets and started doing his sales pitch: “I have blazers here, for R25.00.  R25.00 only.  They are great for summer, with linen pants.  They were R499.00 but for you – today – R25.00.”

I would not have seen them.

So I took one, and then he looks at me and goes: “Why not take 2, then you have an extra one for a Xmas present!” 

SOLD.  Good man that Smilton is.  Xmas shopping taken care of.

The special/mark down runs until Saturday.

I think it is on Old Khaki and Poetry women’s clothing – so 75% off already marked down things, which are often marked down to 1/2 their original price.  I am not sure if it is Cape Union Mart clothing as well, though there is Cape Union Mart stuff there marked super low.

Its the Access Park outlet (I believe there is one in Woodmead as well), so do not appear at a shop in the mall and wonder why you are not paying R50.00 for a shirt, because if you do, then the sales assistant really should have permission to palm slap you.

Hard!

Reluctant Mom Shopping Strategy Suggestion : when you go the outlet store, do not take kids, do not take your husband, have your hands free, have a t-shirt shirt on, which allows you to just try on things while you are standing there.  Taking stuff to the change rooms just wastes valuable time you could be spend finding more stuff.

Have a small bottle of water with you, so you do not get thirsty and want to leave the store.

Take along a canvas bag of something over your shoulder, that you can drop things in as you see them and like them.  Gives you more free hands to grab more!!

Shoot off to Cape Union Mart in Access Park and shop up a storm, ideally today but tomorrow is the last day.

I seldom get excited about a sale, but seriously this makes that crappy Woolworths red sale or what ever it is called look like it is standing still and dribbling on it’s bib!

Ask for Smilton, he really is brilliant.

Say his name loudly and then give him a little hug, I think he will like that.  It will confuse and disarm him, but I think it will make him smile.

SA Blog Awards 2011 … er about that ….

The SA Blog Awards is/are upon us.

There will be the usual bitching, moaning, sighing and hair pulling (and that will be just from me) this year.  There will be winners, losers and disgruntled bloggers and followers.  Everyone will have an opinion.

Nominations closed on the 31 October 2011.

I noticed I did not get a nomination badge.

I will not lie. I felt a bit hurt and rejected.  I was quite bleak actually. I tried to appear like it was “no biggie.”

I filled the void by eating a McDonalds Egg-McMuffin-Sausage Breakfast meal.  I was still a bit wounded come the afternoon, so I bought myself two bottles of wine for dinner.

This came on the back of me NOT WINNING my office “best dressed Halloween competition” when I thought I was a shoe-in (is that the right term?)

This evening I was cleaning out my “junk mail box folder” and lo-and-bebold what should I see there? Oh my giddy aunt, a little badge.

I will not lie I squealed.  No I did.  Yes, it is a bit sad.

It made me forget all about Kim Kardashian and her ridiculous 72 day marriage.

I personally am a bit shocked it lasted that long.  Seriously, once you see your large arse in a white bikini with Mrs Humphries on the back, the doubts will creep in.  It must. Mrs Humphries?  I think Koekemoer (tribute to you Anita) might only be worse than Humphries, but only marginally.

Sadly this is the part where all self-respecting bloggers lose all self-control.  All sense of dignity and starts running around like a rabid dog begging-pleading-smiling insanely to get you to click on the nominate/vote button.

I really really wish I could tell you I was above this sort of thing.

I would like to say it with a smug indignant look on my face, like I was above all of this hoopla, but the sad truth is I am not.

Anyway, there it is, click if you can, sigh if you must …. yes I am shameless.

Note from my persecutors:  Members of the public can vote for their favourite blogs by clicking on the vote badge.

The <desperate request for voting from the> public vote phase will continue until 9 November 2011. Upon completion of the public vote phase, the top three blogs in each category will be handed over to a select panel of judges to determine the winners in each category. 

When child services are called ….because of a blog …. no really ….

I may be coming a bit late to this party, I do not read as many blogs as often as I used to, but none the less, I do eventually get there, albeit it a bit later.

I saw this on blogher and of course, it made me a bit nervous, and apprehensive.  I raised a need-an-appointment-for-waxing eyebrow in suspicion, and asked “What is really going on here …?”

I went along to read the original story and unless I am missing something: – a son sold his calculator for Pokemon merchandise, his mom thought okay, that is fine, you do what you must, but you will need to earn the money back to pay for the calculator, which you do need for school – and oh, seeing as you sold your calculator it appears you will not have one for your maths test.

Sorry for you!

You sold/swapped the calculator = You suffer the consequences = Seems like good parenting.

Possibly I am further on the scale towards “free range” parenting, than say “helicopter” parenting.  But I personally have no problem with this concept.  (In truth out of guilt I may have stopped en route to school and bought my son a calculator, but good sense would have told me to allow the lesson to be taught and granted if I bought him a calculator now, what would stop him from swapping his duvet for a cool skate board tomorrow?)

The child in the blog post is eleven.

Eleven you can work out a few things, including you will not have a calculator for a maths test if you swap it for Pokemon merchandise, for instance.

I figure, if you can’t work this out, well then maybe you need to be kept back a grade anyway, whether you pass the maths test sans-calculator or not.

I do think as a parent we struggle to give our children everything, and balance this off against a sense of entitlement (the child’s) and a sense of their place in the world (the child’s) and guilt (ours as parents, which seems to arrive at the same time as the child).

I know far too many children who are catered to, and who have no idea what a consequence is.  They do as they please, and mom and dad, pretty much smile and nod and the child merrily skips through life thinking their sh*t does not stink.

These are loving parents, but for some reason they perceive discipline=hate my child, and they just can’t discipline, or choose not to.

I do think it is wonderful to be a child and be given toys and no restriction on rules and sleep time and all of those wonderful things.

It sounds like Disney Land every day.  Great for kids, maybe not so great for parents, or society.

I sense that by not setting boundaries and a sense of consequence we will affect how our children go through the rough (and trecarious) teenage years and thus develop in to responsible adults.

I may be wrong, but I will update my blog in about 5 – 10 years and let you know how that works out.

I am not sure what the result is of “giving in to everything our children want” being “restrictive about what we give our children” and I am sure for everyone there is a happy medium.

Yours may be very different to mine.

I try my utmost not to judge other parents, as really you have no idea what they are faced with, and how much sleep they have had, but I do roll my eyes.  Inside. Quietly, so they don’t see.

Have I told you the part where we made Connor pay for a second tennis racket we had to buy for him. (We bought the first one, because we are good parents who encourage sport and involvement, but we draw the line at kitting out the same child for the same sport a second time.)

Because he had lost the first one.

And we explained the value of looking after your possessions.

Then I found the tennis racket in a box.  I had put it in to.  After I had cleaned out my car …… yes, CPA anyone?

SA Blog Awards 2011 are upon us …. insert happy face or not ….

Surprisingly I won the Best Parenting Blog in 2010.  No really I did.  NO REALLY!!

I was as surprised as you presently are — trust me.

I could not make it to the Award Evening/Announcement of Winner-and-Losers as I was holidaying in Zanzibar at the time sans children (I love the sound of that.)

Good times.  Relaxed times.

I sent my lovely friends David and Alice to the Awards Evening in my stead.  Bless them.

I won!!  Yay for me.

Alice stumbled up to the stage and collected the little perspex/glass award for me.  She might have used the old but never forgotten speech of: “You like me, you really like me…” which I would have gone with, had I been there.

I did not see images from the night, but I saw this one earlier today, which was great. Olmeca Tecquila was a co-sponsor …..>

The 2011 SA Blog Awards have got started, a tad late, I might add.

But hey, I am not having to organise it, so really I leave it to others who are suitably qualified, and who like the feel of the last minute rush and the chaos that ensues.

There are far fewer categories this year.

Parenting Blog Category has been axed and so too have several others – we could argue the merits of that, but really I don’t want to.  It would be a case of lamenting something I have no control or influence over, and really just getting my big girl panties in a knot.

The present blog categories for the 2011 SA Blog Awards are:-

• Best Business / Political Blog
• Best Entertainment / Lifestyle Blog (I was suspicious as Lifestyle was spelt incorrectly on their website, not a good omen)
• Best Environmental Blog
• Best Fashion Blog
• Best Food & Wine Blog (It annoys me when an ampersand is used, when in other instances the word “and” is used ….. anal much?….. yes I am a bit)
• Best Music Blog
• Best Photographic Blog
• Best Science and Technology Blog
• Best Sport Blog
• Best Travel Blog

So there we go.  It appears I fit into none of these categories, though I may make a play for “Best Wine Blog.”

Drinking copious amounts of wine whilst blogging does not equal a wine blog, it seems.  Which I think is just a technicality and shows a narrow-mindedness very early in the competition.

If you like a blog enough to spare a few clicks, pop along and see if they are there, and then cast a vote.

The public voting phase opens on Monday 31 October 2011 and runs until Wednesday 9 November 2011.

The 2010 SA Blog Awards were a bit controversial.  People moaned, people complained, people beat their chests in anguish and not everyone was happy with most of it.

I found the process a bit odd and really had no idea what was going on most of the time. Clearly I was somewhat pleased with the outcome, as you would expect.

Winning is a bit like that.

There were a lot of bloggers who had some less than complimentary things to say about the way it had been dealt with (nomination + voting + judges decision) and how it had all run.

Lots of bloggers were annoyed and voiced this on blogs, tweets and on Facebook, and basically shot the awards down. It was my first year, so I had no comment as I did not know any better.

I guess this year will be similar, and already there is a bit of a huff about the categories and the fact that right now “quite popular and much in need of a night out with a bit of dress up and the possibility of an award” Mommy-Bloggers are excluded, or not included sufficiently.

Mommy Bloggers are hardly going to be “right” in the Best Entertainment / Lifestyle Blog Category.  And as mentioned the Best Wine Blog Category is not right either.

Mommy Bloggers float in the abyss, or throw their hat in the ring with Entertainers and see how that rolls.

Motherhood often does requires an ability to fake an interest in sex, all things poo and how-much-does-your-baby-weigh related, and you must appear truly excited when you unwrap the macaroni-painted-necklace again ………. so at best we are fantastic thespians … just with a limited stage and not so much in the way of ticket sales.

Hence we might make it into the Entertainment and Lifestyle Category …. and then Mommy Bloggers are being compared to 2oceanvibe - I mean seriously!!!?

Ah well, such is life.

I think it is great to have a Blog Awards.  It’s cool to be ranked with the cool kids. and it is also nice to have a bit of “props” for something you think is pretty phenomenal.

But at the end of the day, you blog because you like the sound of your own voice, and you like to write about your own sh&t, and you get to cyber-meet some really interesting people.

Does an Award make you a better blogger?  Doubt it. Is it always the best blogger who wins? Probably not – it is subjective and probably not always as “fair” as we would like to think.  Does blogging become a bit of a please-for-fk-sake-like-me-and-vote-for-me? Of course.

Granted it is a nice badge to have, and I was super thrilled in 2010.

Good luck to all the bloggers for 2011.

Maybe Living and Loving or Pampers can run a Best Mommy Blogger of the Year Award …. I would so get on board with that sh&t …… just saying.

Speed dating for Bloggers …..

On Thursday, 6 October there is a blog hookup in Cape Town.

It is a bit like speed dating for bloggers.  But with wine.  And prizes.  But without the pressure of having to put on clean underwear and shave.  I have my doubts whether there will be much in the way of the anticipation of se.x later in the evening.

But it is my first blog get together, so I have no idea how these things usually play out.

Kodak, Canderel, Braun and Pringles are supplying awesome giveaways. Cape Town’s leading digital design Academy (Friends of Design) will be giving away part-time courses (I so want one of those)!

What’s not to love?

I am excited to my proximity to wine.

I am excited to see some folks who I have spent many an early morning stalking while I could not sleep.

I am excited that I might win something.

I am a bit nervous to physically meet people in real life.  I am a bit of a social retard, and I feel high anxiety when I encounter new people, or a large group of people.

My mind goes into overdrive and it usually ends with me saying something inappropriate and awkward.  A certain measure of self-flagellation is also standard course of affairs.

I keep asking myself:

“What if they don’t like me? What if I am not as funny and endearing as I appear on-line? What if it is like the popular girls at school and I don’t quite fit in?  What if they run out of wine before I get there?  What if there is karaoke? What if I trip and smash my two front teeth out?”

I am really excited and I am so glad that other bloggers have got their shit together sufficiently to organise something like this, because god knows that right now I can’t organise anything.  So big ups to them.

I am experiencing excitement and anxiety in equal proportions.

I really hope other people go straight from work.  If other bloggers look like they have gone home and had a shower, and spent 3 hours on their hair and make-up then I am definitely going to look like the Ugly Duckling amongst the swans.

I hope they have nice wine.