Our maid / domestic worker has been on holiday since the third week in December so I have been trying to keep up to date with the washing & drying. I really hate ironing. It takes me ages to iron even one shirt, and while I believe I’ll get quicker if I do it more often, I am just now willing to try that while I can pay someone else to do it for me. Hunny’s work has an ironing service. Drop your clothes of in the morning, fetch them the same day, so what needs ironing has been going there.

We’ve had a week of the most amazing rain in Joburg. The weatherman predicts similar weather for this week, though we did have 2 dry days over the weekend. While I love the rain, it’s not helping me keep the laundry from overflowing it’s basket and escaping down the passage …

So on Saturday made the bold step into true adult-dom and bought a tumble-drier. We took a drive to Makro and tried to look like we knew what we were doing, until a salesperson saw through our act and helped us out. Half an hour later we left the shop with our new machine safely in the back of my ever-so-handy truck

It didn’t take Hunny long to set it up, it took me longer to figure out how to work it. My moms tumble-drier only has a timer, and either it’s on, or it’s off. Our nifty new device has several symbols of cupboards, irons and feathers around the dial, and buttons with a picture of a bell next to it, and one other thing that I have forgotten …

Ultimately, you turn the dial onto any one of the symbols and press start, and well, it starts. For a while. Then it stops and spins the other way for a while, then it reverses again, etc …. Apparently this has something to do with reducing ironing, sounds great to me

End result: We now have some clean and dry clothes despite the weather not co-operating with my washing schedule … and the bikes have a heated garage, of sorts.

Sorry about the grainy texture of the photos, they were taken at night with a cellphone camera. Not great quality, but you get the picture

The lime green room. The bedspread doesn’t really suit anymore, but what can you do?

Main bedroom complete with romantic lighting … Very caramel, but very sleepable.

Not painted recently, but this is the orange room, and still my favorite methinks. I like orange …

I tried to get snaps of the mud-paint pots, but it’s a bit dark out and they didn’t come out at all nice. Will try in daylight sometime …

Despite having precious little leave available to me I took Friday of work and had myself a nice long weekend. We were supposed to be taking a bike trip somewhere, but being as I don’t have my bike back … But that’s another story, most likely to be told on Tuesday when I do finally have my bike back. Hopefully.

Instead we stayed around home and did some home improvementy-type-stuff. It’s rewarding, the main bedroom and pots look great, and the garden looks a little better for the tidy-up, but I did learn that I’m not cut out for a job of manual labour. Not right now anyways.

We went back the the fabulous mega Mica to shop for lighting stuff, took the room apart, Hunny did the rewiring and partial installation of the new lights and I went horse-riding (two horses) on Thusday. Friday we masking taped and painted the walls (Hunny does the big roller stuff, I do the fiddly little edges) , and I started ripping stuff out of the flowerbeds and hacking dead stuff off the plants pruning. Hunny then went to buy more supplies and harass the mechanic about my bike while I went to ride 2 horses again. Finished the pruning when I got back, and heard the good news that my bike should be done by my birthday.

We’re having a rather large gathering around next Saturday in way of celebrating my birthday, and I will phone everyone up and cancel if the bike isn’t in the garage by next weekend. I’m not in the mood to hear 20 different folks ask me where my bike is, and if it’s back from the shop yet, but I digress again.

Saturday Hunny painted the ceiling while I set about washing and ironing curtains. This doesn’t sound like such a bad task until you have tried to iron these curtains. They never really release their creases. Takes roughly 45 minutes a curtain to get a semblance of smooth. I’m told it’d be easier if we tumble-dried them, but in Sunny SA we saw no need for a tumble drier, until the curtains that is.

I also cleaned and mud-painted 3 plant pots we had been given (they were an awful shade of green). Mud paint is one of the coolest inventions, and the results are a huge improvement. I’ll post pics once I’ve planted something in them.

We finally got the curtains re-hung at around 7PM and we were so dead tired by then. Put the room back together and slept in the comfy bed again. The spare room bed is a little like sleeping on concrete. With it’s pretty brushed stainless steel recessed down lights, toffee colour walls and matching ceiling (only a few shades lighter) and white cornices it looks very pretty. Not exceptionally exciting, but like a good place to sleep. Oh! and Hunny installed a dimmer switch, very romantic Photo’s tomorrow, I promise!

On Sunday we rested, as far as gyming for Hunny and horse-riding for me constitutes rest.  I also finished reading “Spud – The Madness Continues…” by John van de Ruit. A fitting sequel to “Spud” and so much funnier because it’s about a South African school experience, and you feel privy to an experience that only a South African can fully grasp. Great stuff!

Gonna go and soak some Gauteng dust from my weary self, have a great week all!