Phuthu Stay Phut, Don't go!

It seems that there is no stopping us when it come to breaking records, firstly Jan Braai succeeded in breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest braai ever held. Now South Africa has officially made the biggest T-shirt on the planet and is the holder of a new world record. Over 64 metres in length, and 43 metres wide, the T-shirt is taller than the Statue of Liberty and has enough material to run the length of Robben Island………………. twice!

When asked what would become of the world’s biggest T-shirt after the celebrations, the creators said the T-shirt will be broken down and made into mini T-shirts which will then be donated to charity.

Sounds like a great initiative, lets hope they follow through with this promise, i would hate for all that material to go to waste.

I don’t know about you, but I’m already starting to feel the holiday vibe and everything that goes with it: Long summer days, late mornings and breakfast in bed, freedom, friends, family and festivities! Thankfully it’s still a while to go…

…Nothing wrong with slowly getting your groove on in the meantime, though!

Upcoming events:

Creative Week Cape Town 2010
24 Sept – 03 Oct
More info

Aardklop National Arts Festival 2010
Potchefstroom
28 September – 02 October 2010
More info

Klein Karoo Klassique 2010
Oudtshoorn
29 Sept – 03 Oct 2010
More info

Durban Homemakers Expo 2010
Durban Exhibition Centre
07 Oct – 10 Oct 2010
More info

24 September 2010, is a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the patron of “Braai4Heritage” has made a public, explicit and direct appeal to all South African citizens to braai on 24 September 2010.

“This is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I urge you to celebrate South Africa’s common heritage with our favourite past time. Gather around fires and Braai4Heritage on 24 September, the celebration of the nation.”

In other breaking news-

Jan Braai attempted and succeeded in breaking a Guinness World Record this week for the longest braai ever held. He braai’ed continuously for 2 days solid, now that is pride in one’s  heritage I tell you.

“Thank you for the enormous support over the two days that I was braaing. It feels great that this record now belongs to South Africa. But the important thing is not to hold a record. The important thing is that 50 million people braai on 24 September”.

So come on people, get out your tongs, skottle, briquettes and fire-lighters and get that fire going tomorrow for National Heritage day. Your Country needs you.

I’m back into save-the-world mode this morning. Phew. About time. I dance in and out of this phase of my life as family responsibilities allow me to. At times I get hugely frustrated and it feels like I’m playing house-house and business-business while there is so much work to be done out there. I would love to live a life of jumping on and off of microlights to take food, clothes and medical supplies over to countries where they are feeling the after effects of earthquakes, floods and the like. I had a teeny weeny taste of this and loved it.

Unfortunately we also have to eat, which means I have to earn my bread and butter. And my adorable kids need their mom at this stage. But there will come a time when they are a bit bigger, when I can get along with less bread (which can only do me good) and then.. then I’m going to do my thing. In the meantime I do what I can with what I have.

This is why I just loved this article when I  came across it on
SA Good News. Seventy of SA’s leading business men took on the 480km Change a Life Cycle Challenge which took place in Malawi in September 2010. Their participation in this marathon raised 3.5 million. The cause? To combat Crime in SA.

These were real people with real schedules who made time to do something for a cause they believe in. Business dudes nogal; they are almost as busy as us mothers. They didn’t wait for the right time or use ‘if only’s’ to justify not doing their bit.

Maybe, just maybe, we can all make a little time to change a life.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

I figured with parenthood and childbirth being the hottest topic discussed in the office lately. As well as Education taking a lot of strain, with teachers striking, students protesting, Cosatu’s “ingenious” education plan (I had to laugh when I heard about this). I came across the following excerpt and thought it appropriate, considering the source

Bill Gates speech: 11 rules for your kids.

For those of you who have never heard of Bill Gates he is the co-founder of Microsoft Corp estimated to be worth a net value of 53 Billion Dollars and Forbes second richest man in the world. I have a feeling that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to being successful in life.

• Rule 1
  Life is not fair – get used to it!
• Rule 2
  The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
• Rule 3
  You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
• Rule 4
  If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
• Rule 5
  Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
• Rule 6
  If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
• Rule 7
  Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
• Rule 8
  Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
• Rule 9
  Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
• Rule 10
  Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
• Rule 11
  Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

I think a few adults could learn from these rules too. The lesson I got from it, is you need to stop the mindset that you are more special than anybody else, that the world owes you. The world owes you nothing, you need to earn it. Get rid of the packet of Simba chips on your shoulder and you will find that the world is a much better place to live in.

Below is a number puzzle. It should be read left to right, top to bottom.

Question 1: What is the next two rows of numbers?
Question 2: How was this reached?