Gratitude turns what we have into enough

Yesterday I saw a lady running down the road I always take on my route home. She was about 45, a black lady, a domestic worker.

I stopped my car, mid-conversation with my mom on the phone, switched on my hazards and flung open my door. I thought she was late for her train, so I gave her a lift.

We had a conversation while driving her home - and I could hear that she was quite an educated lady. I really liked her. We spoke about her life; she has three kids - aged 26, 23 and 21 – all at college. “My little salary doesn’t really contribute enough to their education,” she says. I ask her about a spouse. “Never been married.” How about a boyfriend? “He passed away seven years ago. Committed suicide.”

She explained to me that she was running because the sun is setting earlier now and it’s getting dangerous for her to walk alone at night. I ask about her salary, if she gets transport money and she discloses. R1 800 a month. I see people spend that on a shirt in a day.

As I was driving out of the suburb with its massive houses, pristine gardens, the BMWs and Mercedes’s in their driveways, out of the plush lifestyle – where people can also easily spend R 1800 on a meal – I feel angry. Loathing.

As we move into the squalor of the Primrose squatter camp, I wonder if her employers have ever seen where she lives, if they see the absolute despair that hangs over this area like the anthracite smoke that pours from the large kettle drums - a necessity if you want to stay warm.

“I used to live with them, my employees, in a garden cottage. But then they started asking me to pay rent, electricity, and water – you know. I had to move out, I couldn’t afford it.”

I ask about her education. “I have a diploma in cooking, I went to a cooking school. I want to start my own baking business, maybe bake some wedding cakes, but the money is always a problem.”

I suggest that she starts small, perhaps with cupcakes and then build her business up. She agrees. I drop her off where she asks me too. “God bless,” she says and off she goes.

Driving back from the informal settlement, back to my plusher-than-hers life, I am grateful. Grateful for ambition and a strong mind, grateful that she is aiming for something better and trying to improve herself. I am grateful for the life I have and that I can use what I have to share with others.

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*Photo via We Heart It
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New name, new look

Hello everybody, hope this Tuesday is treating you swell! Or much better than its treating me, I feel a bit like an overloaded donkey at the moment.

Notice anything different? Well, I sure hope so, I changed the look AND NAME of SFL to The Sun House. The reasoning behind this is that I started the blog when I was still living in an apartment, on the second floor, but that only lasted for a year before I absolutely had to move to a little house with a garden so that I can have a pet, or two.

The story behind the name:

Flip and I currently live in a canary yellow house on Sun street. It only felt apt to change the name to The Sun House. And even if I paint the house grey, which I am planning on doing as soon as the wedding is over, I will still be living on Sun street.

I am also planning on making some changes to the house, which means that the blog will journey some of my DIY's and changes that are happening in every day life.

It's still the same blog, with the same old me, just with a different new look and feel. Also, since I am owned by a staffie, I thought that this would make a lovely touch to the look.

There will still be some ongoing changes, as a blogger's job is never done.

Bear with me while this is happening. Goodbye SFL, hello The Sun House.

I would love to know what you think of the new look.

Maiden Name winner

Winter is definitely upon us; well almost, and this weekend was mostly spent indoors, with the gas heater, blankets and Milo. I even got Mila a fancy - read kitsch - fleece jacket to keep her insulated against the cold. She loves it when I put it on her, and parades around the house like a little madame.

Jethro got a more rocker type jacket, a leather one, with a plush inside, but when I put it on him, it didn't fit. Oh well, I'll just have to swop it.

At least I can make one person warmer by announcing the winner of last week's Maiden Name competition. Drum roll please....

Congratulations Mineze! 

I used Random.org to sort through all the entries and this number 32 came up.

Thanks again to Maiden Name for hosting this lovely giveaway!

Fitness goes up a notch!

So Lady Luck pretty much loves me these days, so much so that we're going steady. 

She's totally smitten. 

Yesterday I was informed by one of the coolest blogs in South Africa, The Pretty Blog that I had won a whole month of bootcamping adventure from Adventure Bootcamp for Women. 

To put it elegantly, I was raving!

This is almost beyond perfect timing for me as we are approaching our colder months now, months in which I usually prefer to eat soup, drink red wine, move as little as possible, skip gym, watch movies, drink hot chocolate. . . you know, all those things that are counteractive to what a bride-to-be should be doing. 

But now, from the 22nd of April - MONDAY!, I will be gearing up - full steam ahead - to look like a princess on my wedding day by training extra dirty, while eating clean, of course. I'll even try and give a few updates on the progress I'm making. And if all goes great, I might even join the classes more permanently. {What am I saying! I'm probably going to chicken out!}

The ABC website states that by doing the bootcamp, I can expect results like 3-9cm decrease in the midsection; 2-6kg weight loss; 3-5% reduction in body fat; 25% increase in strength; 25% improvement in endurance; greatly improved posture and better relaxation.

 Those last two are extra important, because which bride-to-be wants to be stressed, and have bad posture? Not me.

Exercises include core conditioning, short distance running, muscular strength, jumping rope, circuit training, hiking, fitness kick boxing, Pilates, sports drills, obstacle courses and mat work that  targets specific areas that women need to work on. {You know, those niggling little areas on your tummy, on your thighs, maybe your back and definitely that little piece of flab on your arms}

 This four week outdoor fitness programme is definitely something I am looking forward to!

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*All photos via Adventure Bootcamp
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