Bird on a Wire

I LOVE being able to go and pick some veggies and herbs from my garden. It’s the closest to being a hippie I get – that and the bare feet I’ve been donning for the past month. I’m also not bad at cutting my 3 boys’ hair, as long as I can use clippers and they sit still! Cutting my own though? Na, I think that’s best left to the professionals, as are some other things I’ve come to notice during lockdown…

All things pretty

Between the botched hair attempts I’ve seen, including these, and friends gluing their “hoohaa” to the sink while waxing (I have no idea how), all I’ll say is “Proceed with caution!”. Some say that beauty therapists should be added to the list of essential services for this very reason.

I’m pretty low maintenance so fortunately I’m not affected at all, but I do feel for the MANY women who will soon be unrecognisable. As an aside… Maybe it’s time to embrace natural beauty a bit more anyway? To be real and comfortable in our own skin instead of the fake lashes, fake nails, fake tight skin and fake plumped lips that so many have come to rely on? Just a thought…

Our daily bread

I’ve been limiting my shopping trips to every two weeks during lockdown which has meant that I’ve had to make my own bread or rolls in between. Now, one of my favourite things is the smell of fresh bread, and enjoying it while it’s still warm. I kid you not, when I was pregnant I would go to the shop, buy a loaf of “Ouma se brood” and start eating it straight away, breaking off chunks as I go. I didn’t even care about the looks that I got. Now I at least wait until I get to the car.

It just doesn’t seem to be the same at home though. I’ve tried 3 different bread roll recipes and I cannot get them to smell as good, taste as good or be as fluffy as they are in the shops. I am very clearly not a baker (I flopped crunchies the other day!) but here are 3 things that I’ve learnt in this process:

• When the recipe says “beat for 5 minutes” they mean with a dough hook attachment, NOT a normal beater. Oops!
• It’s important to read the recipe properly. There’s a difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, especially when they’re talking about quantities of yeast…
• I am genuinely terrified of the amount of preservatives that must be in the pre-packed bread and rolls that we usually buy that make them stay fresh for as long as they do. I’ll still buy them because it’s just SO much easier and more sustainable – and cheaper too, I’m convinced.

On the money

My goodness – the amount of time that I’ve spent trying to figure out what the heck I am doing with my business accounts, PAYE, UIF and all the rest of it. There is good reason why people pay good money to get good people to do this stuff for them – and I WISH I could at this point! Hopefully I’ll have more luck today.

I’m not even going to TALK about teaching now, except to say that I thank God for them, I don’t know how they do it, and I will NEVER complain about school holidays ever again! Now please make this homeschooling thing stop. Please!

Which professionals are you most grateful for? I’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiments in the comments.