Highs and lows of the last two days...

What's say we start with the lows and just get them out of the way, and then end on the wonderful highs?

Last night I was making some bok choy for dinner.  I rinsed it quickly because Beni was already over-tired, wanting to take a bath and go to bed. I cut off the ends (where lots of dirt gets stuck sometimes).  Then I threw the bok choy in the pan to stir-fry, when all of a sudden I noticed THE WORM that fell out of my boy choy and was now sizzling in the wok.  I was using chopsticks to stir, so I just picked up the worm, threw him in the garbage, swallowed that little bit of vomit that was creeping up my throat, and finished cooking my bok choy.  Then I ate it.  Finding worms in my food = seriously lowest point of the whole day yesterday.

I can only hope that today's low point has already happened... here's how it went.  I have to start by saying that the whole garbage situation was never really explained to us- and maybe it's never really explained to anyone, but, the point is, we don't really know how to handle it.   Last Thursday, Joel had already left for work, when he remembered that it was garbage day.  So I got a text asking to put the garbage out, and I did it.  I took the fancy basket we received the other week, filled with our stuff, and put it at the end of our driveway, as it seemed other people on our street were doing.  Well, a few minutes later, I see the maid from across the street come over and drag our garbage on to her side of the street.  OK.  Maybe they only pick up from one side.  Fair enough.  Well, they didn't pick up until fairly late in the day, but then, at the end of the day, I realized that all the garbage receptacles, including our lovely basket, were cleared from the side of the road....except they were just gone.  As in, OUR BASKET was not in our driveway, yard or anywhere else.  So, now we don't have a basket.  Also, last week, when I was putting the garbage out, there were a couple boxes left over from our packing that had been left out in the driveway in the rain.  Needless to say they were a sopping mess, and I didn't feel like dealing with them, so I left them.  BIG MISTAKE.

So this morning, I get another text from Joel, "Just realized as I'm driving down the street- it's Thursday and garbage day!  Can you put the garbage out?"  Urgh! But of course, what am I going to do...have to put the garbage out!  We had more empty boxes to get rid of, so, I already planned that I would take one of the empty boxes outside, pick up the mess of leftover boxes from last week, throw them in there and then haul it all out.  Good plan.  And it worked.  But it almost made me skip eating today at all, and I have washed my hands like 10 times since, and I'm pretty sure I did puke.  Because, in the last week, there happened to have been a bag of kitchen furniture in those boxes as well.  So when I went to move them the ants swarm nearly ate me, and the inch long maggots started dropping out left and right.  Oh FFS I just threw up again.  And now I need another shower.  DISGUSTING.

I don't like bugs.  Ask my husband, he would lives with me in climates where bugs abound, and he has to kill every roach I come across.  He's well and truly fed up with my inability to deal with a bug like a roach when I come across it, but, I just can't.  I'd have to take another shower.  ICK.

So there you go, as I said, I can only hope that I don't have any moments that are lower than that today!

Now, the high points!  Yes!  The last two days have had some very, very high points!!!

Yesterday was a fun day because my SIL and I took the babies and went to Thailand!  Just for the day.  Just for some shopping and a stop in at Starbucks!  Oooh yeah! I just think it's cool that I can go to Thailand for a day trip. I mean, ok, I get it, going to Thailand conjures up images of laying on a beach, drinking cocktails and eating phad thai, and that is hardly what we were doing, but still... we went to Thailand for the day!  The amazing thing is how, for whatever reason, you can have shops and order and cleanliness and what not that you just don't have over here just over the border.

So SIL and I went to a big cash and carry (Americans, think Sams or Costco) and picked up random bits of things in bulk- things like chips and Coke for a certain someone, for the house things like dish soap, hangers, toilet paper and a few more kitchen gadgets (some serving bowls, serving spoons, a whisk, a small pan...).  Then we went to a grocery store that is a proper grocery store plus more- Meijer, Woolworths, Shoprite

After a long day shopping in those two stores- at one point even carrying a sleeping Beni in one arm while shopping/pushing the cart with the other arm- I was tired, and LORD did I need to use the bathroom.  We made our way to the Starbucks right there in the same shopping mall, and took a much needed break.  I got my favorite drink- a caramel macchiato made with soy milk...and savored it as much as you can when you have to keep track of a fussy, over-tired 1 year old! It was lovely.    

When we got home, only a short time later, Joel came home with the highest high of the day.  Our new car!!!   It is a 4 door VW Golf.  It has a hatchback- but a surprisingly large trunk space.  It's a late 90s model, but has less than 74,000kms on it- so less than 45,000 miles.  It has a few little things that need fixing, and it's not fancy, but, I tell ya what... it holds the lot of us- and will be big enough for two cars seats if there is the need ever.  It has room for our stuff in the back.  And it GOES!  And the air con works.  Thank goodness. :)  

So here she is... 

As I said, nothing fancy, but it is clean, doesn't look overly worn... 

(the floor is already dirty from me driving two trips...)

Plenty of room for Beni in the backseat...

From behind...

The only challenge Little Blue is going to have is dealing with the pot holes around here.  The only reason I really wanted an SUV type car is because it rides higher, and would deal with pot holes better.  I have to crawl down some streets as I navigate around the craters in the road...but, I've been up and down the road a couple times now, and made it just fine.  So it's all good.  And yes, I have driven into town twice- once last night with Joel and Beni, and once this morning just Beni and I.  I didn't hit anything, didn't break any major traffic rules, and didn't get lost.  Yay! (This is actually the first time I've driven in a foreign country, if you don't count Canada, which really, you can't. ;) I have been trying to pay attention when we drive around here knowing that I would eventually be driving myself, but of course, there is a certain amount of learning that can only be done once you're actually behind the wheel.  So far so good though!