Spring is in the air!!

It appears that Mother Nature is back on her meds as this week's weather was surprisingly pleasant! Right now it is 18C as I type this blog.

On Monday, Liesel's parent's left South Africa and made it safely across the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Atlanta, GA. They are having a very productive time in the USA, and it is wonderful having them in the same timezone as you! I know how much they are looking forward to coming to stay with us in Cleveland next week! We are just as excited to have them, as it has been over a year since we have last seen them! And I know that Nathan will be spoilt silly, and will love every minute with them! (And I am hoping to be able to savor the beautifully smooth and silky textures of South African chocolates again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Monday evening was also the first time I did and filed my US taxes! It was an amazingly simple process. I purchased special tax software, which asks you to fill in certain information. Then you take your official tax statement from your employer and fill the figures into the software. What makes the process so simple is that everything is clearly marked (eg. Take figure from block C and enter it here). As you fill in the figures, you see a rolling total of what refund you can expect (or pay in!) At the end of the process, you get to file your taxes electronically over the internet. The beauty of this is there are no paper forms to complete, and no statements or any other evidence that you need to gather and make copies of to mail! Now for the highlight of doing your taxes electronically, you receive the refund owed to you (which you were told by the software, so no guessing) within 8 - 10 days! That beats South Africa's system hands down, where everything is manual, and the refunds come anywhere between 4 - 8 months later, not to mention that you actually have no idea if you are actually receiving anything back from Trevor Manuel (South African Minister of Finance) until you get that little blue letter from the Receiver that tell you your fate! Gotta love technology!!!!!

On Saturday, Liesel went to a seminar at our Church in the morning. Nathan and I arranged to see some houses that had just come onto the market with our realtor. Both the houses we saw had everything we were looking for!! So later that afternoon, we took Liesel back to the one house we saw. She also approved and we decided to put in an offer on the spot. Today the seller came back to us with a counter-offer, and we made a counter-counter offer. Sometimes I wish that the process was easier and that the haggling on the final price was not necessary, as it can take a significant amount of time, when all you want is a simple answer! But that how the system works here and we need to accommodate it. SO unfortunately I don't have a definite answer just yet..... As they say in the classics, watch this space! That evening we went to an Applebees restaurant for dinner. The food was simply delicious!!!!

The weather on Sunday was lovely. The sun was shining, birds were singing and blossoms and buds are making their long awaited appearance! We attended church in the morning, and found all the locals in shorts and T-shirts! Being South Africans, we still arrived with long pants, sleeves and jackets :-D After Nathan's afternoon nap, went for a walk around the neighborhood! That evening, we went to our Bible Study's game evening at our friends' house, where we ate pizza, desserts and had some great fun!

Not your average week in Cleveland

My last statement from last week's blog is confirmed. In my opinion, Mother Nature has hit menopause in Cleveland! On Monday, it was a joy being able to turn our air conditioning back on in the home and in my car! Temperatures hit 25C and we had beautifully sunny days. We even went out to the playground after supper and let Nathan (along with the rest of the city) play on the swings and slides, since it was so nice out! Could this be Mother Nature's hot flash?? Early on in the week, North East Ohio experienced a minor earth quake, registering 3.2 on the Richter Scale. Don't worry, we didn't experience any Tsunami's on Lake Erie! In the middle of the week, we were due for a good thunderstorm, so I left my car out in the rain, so that some of the salt accumulation from the roads could be washed off! Well, the rain turned to hail and tornado sirens wailed as a tornado touched down in a town about 20 miles west of us! The next morning as I stepped outside, I saw that my car was covered in an inch of snow and ice! On Friday and Saturday, we had a few snow showers with about 1 - 2 inches of accumulation on the ground and the temperature nose-diving to -12C with the wind chill! Now where else can you experience temperatures of 25C, an earthquake, rain, hail, tornado, snow, and ice in the space of 72 hours?

As for our weekend, Liesel hit a local re-sale event, where she picked up some bargains! She bought a range of Bob the Builder characters, that can speak, for $1 or 50c each! Nathan, of course, was delighted! We also looked at 4 houses of which two were possibilities, and one rated very highly! Unfortunately, we found out that our dream home that we had put an offer in on a month ago, is going to be foreclosed, and the banks will be taking possession of it shortly. :( This house has had a second mortgage taken out on it, and the banks will try to recoup as much money as they can for it, which means that the asking price will go up significantly.

On Sunday, we had a wonderful church service as it was our pastor's 50th birthday. The worship leader hijacked the service (unbeknown to him) and the rest of the service consisted of a tribute video that took a look back at the pastors life, and other tributes from his family and elders. His son wrote and sang a beautifully emotional song for his dad, and there was hardly a dry eye in the auditorium! Very different service, but very well done! Afterwards we headed to the store to buy Nathan a new car seat that will last him for a number of years. No-one informed me that I had to have a doctorate in physics in order to install the thing! Took me about hour to find latch A and place it in slot B! I finally got it insatlled after multiple attempts at various configurations.

Now I wonder what Mother Nature has up her sleeve for us this week?

I'm Ba-ack!!!!!

After spending the majority of the week in Philadelphia, I landed safely at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 7:30pm on Thursday evening. It was fantastic being home again - eating lovingly-prepared meals, being entertained by Nathan, and having a companion to talk to in the evenings!

On Friday, Liesel had her two upper wisdom teeth removed. I was able to work from home, so that I could look after her as well as Nathan. We are so blessed with Nathan, as he knows how to entertain himself when he has to, and not demand your constant undivided attention! This meant, that I could keep an eye on Liesel, as well as do some work and even dial into a teleconference! On Saturday, Nathan and I had a great opportunity to bond, especially after being away for the week, it was great to hang out with mini-me ;-) It also gave Liesel an opportunity to stay at home and rest. In the morning, we drove down to our local mall so Nathan could play in the kiddies area as it was drizzling outside. Later that day the clouds cleared and the sun shone brightly. This gave Nathan and me the perfect opportunity to go play outdoors at his favorite playground. This is the first time in months that we have set foot on this playground. Although there are still a few mounds of stubborn snow around, most of equipment was dry and ready for Nathan's rediscoveries!
The weather was still cooperating with us on Sunday, as Nathan and I headed for Church, as Liesel's mouth still needed some time to heal.

I have come to the conclusion that the weather in Cleveland has to be female. There is no other way to explain how on Wednesday this week, the temperatures were around -15C with about 2 inches of snow, and then 48 hours later, my OUTDOOR thermometer was recording temperatures of +18C in the shade! I have given up trying to figure out the weather in Cleveland, pretty much the same way I gave up trying to figure out women, many years ago ;-) What I have learnt is, don't try to understand it, just enjoy it!

This blog is coming to you from the Quiet Zone

As I type this week's blog, I am lying in a king size bed, surrounded by 7 pillows, in a "Quiet Zone" at a Crowne Plaza in Philadelphia! I have left Liesel and Nathan behind in Cleveland :-( and flew to Philadelphia tonight for business. I will be attending a training course for 4 days before flying back! My hotel room is situated on the "Quiet Zone" floor, and one has to enter their room card into a slot in the elevator before you are able to select the quiet zone floor on the panel! The Quiet Zone concept is as follows: No housekeeping or maintenance activities on this floor between 9PM and 10AM. People are requested to keep the noise levels down as they move around the floor. Each room has a king size bed with 7 pillows (I am still trying to rearrange them- probably throw 5 of them onto the floor!), and duvet. There is also a package containing a sleep mask, ear plugs, and a lavender aromatherapy spray for the linens! There is also a specially developed CD with relaxation tracks in the CD player next to the bed!! I am looking forward to drifting off to dreamland shortly after publishing this blog!

On Friday night, Liesel and I left Nathan with a non-family babysitter for the first time! We were invited to a dinner party, so we had to find a baby sitter for Nath, and only the best would do. We were fortunate enough to get daughter of our pastor to come, and she was fantastic. Nath seemed to get along well with her, and she said he was the easiest child she ever babysat!

In the meantime, Liesel and I were having a wonderful time at the dinner party where we could meet some new people and get to know others better. We were significantly younger than the other guests (we have been married for 5 years, and the next youngest couple were married for 18 years), but we all had an enjoyable evening of good fun, food and laughter!

This Saturday, Liesel, Nathan and I went to go and have a look at the new Gold's Gym opening up near our house. It is a 3 floor structure that has all the latest a greatest fitness equipment. There is a Cardio movie theater where they project movies onto a large screen with full surround sound, while you give your heart a workout on a variety of Cardio machines! They show a different movie every day. Then there is the spinning room that has the biggest ceiling fan that I have ever seen, that covers the entire room! Imagine Nathan's delight when his eyes caught sight of this!!! Then most pieces of equipment have their own flatscreen TV attached to it so you can watch a movie or anything else you desire! There are also headphone jacks on each machine for you to plug into to listen to whatever kind of music inspires you to perspire! THis place is tenfold better than Liesel's current gym, and the monthly costs are practically the same. So it did not take a much convincing to get her to sign up at Gold's Gym. Even Nathan will benefit as the kiddies area is about 5 times larger, and they have lovely structures for him to climb and explore.

Now its time for me to test out the Quiet zone, and recharge my battery for tomorrow's training. Afterwards I plan to hit the mall here, which is the largest mall in the USA! There are plenty of restaurants, stores and movies to keep me entertained for the week! Until next week, sweet dreams!