A Life Without Water

It is day four of live sans H2O and I am officially scared of what lies ahead.

Okay, that is not entirely true, it is day four of no water flowing through our taps- we are fortunate to have a couple of borrowed drums of water and a full swimming pool (aka our new source of water for flushing toilets) and access to shower at the houses of family members who have not yet been affected by the water crisis. We also had water for a few hours last night, allowing us a chance to top up containers.

What on earth is going on in Johannesburg? Well, we are in the middle of a heatwave inflicted drought, coupled with a poorly maintained water infrastructure. For weeks, we have had low water pressure, with just trickles of water coming out of our taps (we live at the top of a steep hill and apparently higher areas are the first to be affected). Then, over the weekend, a massive power failure meant that the little water there was could not be pumped from the reservoirs and suddenly- crisis, with no water in several parts of Johannesburg. Mass panic ensued, with bottled water at local stores running out at some places. While tankers with water were deployed by yesterday, I am told that the water brought was smelly and did not appear suitable for human consumption (we were still stocked up so I did not witness this myself). To top it all, we have a tummy-bug ridden toddler and not enough water for those delightful projectile vomit clean ups.

Times are tough but we are reminded of just how privileged we have always been to enjoy an abundance of water. While inconvenienced, we have plenty to drink and just about enough for everything else. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain of those in places where no water is a norm, leading to illness and dehydration. 

While we can point fingers at government for the current crisis we face, we can all do a little to save the little of this precious resource that we have. I am scared to think of the consequences if action is not taken soon. There is no indication as to when the current situation will improve, so we all need to do our share to save water.

While we all pray for rain, here are some things we can all proactively do:

• Jo'burgers with water, please share with those without. It has been nice to see the spirit of community in our area, with those with tap water letting those without fill up.
• Adhere to the current city regulations of not watering plants during the day time. In fact, avoid watering them at all if you can. Yesterday, I saw several homes with sprinklers on full blast in a neighbouring suburb.
• If you are fortunate enough to have water, ensure that all taps are properly shut when not in use and fix leaky faucets. 
• Install eco-friendly taps and shower heads if you can afford to do so and adjust your toilet flow so that the minimum is used for flushing.
• Use water responsibly and sparingly. 
• Close taps while brushing teeth and while lathering up in the shower. 
• While you are waiting for the shower to heat up, collect shower water in buckets for use elsewhere.

How have you been affected by the water crisis? Please share. 

Something Fun to Do This Weekend

Does your little one love Play-Doh? I know my little ones do!!! Then Hamley's in Greenstone Shopping Centre is the place to be this Friday and Saturday!

I have been meaning to check out this store since it opened for the first time in South Africa recently. If you don't know, Hamleys, dubbed as the finest toy store in the world, is the mother of all toy stores- we literally spent hours there on our last overseas holiday as we could not get the kids out of there (and I don't blame them since it had such cool stuff and is so interactive). Sorry, I am like a kid in a toy store at the mere thought of Hamleys so I distracted myself there for a minute! Back to the Play-Doh event, which is happening at Hamleys.

Real Play-Doh (as oppposed to the homemade goo I often make) is incredible stuff and these days they incorporate all your kids favourite characters, like the Minions, Hulk and everyone's favourite snowman Olaf.   

Kids joining the fun will get to meet ‘Doh Doh’ the Play-Doh mascot, see some amazing Paly-Doh displays and make their own creations, which will be uploaded to the Play-Doh Facebook page. They will also receive a Play-Doh card with instructions for making fun creations at home and can win some great prizes. 

I know this is something that my kids would love to experience as they love creating new things with Play-Doh and I am sure yours will enjoy it too!!!

Squish Says

At 22 months, my big boy has quite a vocabulary and also loves singing (besides nursery rhymes he knows the words to many of the popular songs on the radio). 

Here are some of the funny things he says.

"Tickle, tickle little star, how a water what you are".

"Wheels on the bus go aaateeedown. All day yon."

"Baa baa. Bat sheet. Havvveeeee wooooooooo. Yes sir, yes sir, teabags food."

(Points to his belly button). "Booby!!!" (Side note: I wish he would call them something more discreet, but I have failed hopelessly in that area).
Me: " Not booby, belly button".
Him: "Bewwy... Button ... Booby".

Goes to toilet, sits there (does nothing) and then screams "mooooooommmmmy, I'm fiyeeeeeeeshed". 

"Birthday party... Eat cake... Blow fire on cake!"

"Mommy, lets go to shop. Buy sweeties and yoghurt. Now, mommy, now!"

I ask the kids what they want for supper. His response:

"Cook yoghurt and matoes (tomatoes)". 

"Mommy give me medicine".
Me: "You are not sick!".
Him: "Nado syrup?" (Panado syrup).
Me : "No, only when you are sick".
Him: "Telfast? Pospad (Prospan)?"
I think we may just have a pharmacist in the making.

"Come. Must watch Youtube". Oh dear (daddy is to blame for that one).

"Do you like school?"
"Yes!"
" Did you have fun today?"
"Yes!"
"Do you want to go back to school tomorow?"
"Nooooooo!!! Stay with mommy. Home."


My absolute favourite- if he has not seen us for five minutes: " Missed you sooooooo much! Big huuuuug!"

About me... Tag

Just Ella Bella (who is awesome- check out her blog here)  tagged me to answer a few questions about myself. So here goes.  

1. Are you named after someone?

Well you all know Jozi Wahm is not my real name (Jozi= Johannesburg and WAHM= work at home mom). I am not named after someone but my real name is an Arabic one chosen by my late grandmother.

2.     When was the last time you cried?

My kids have me in tears most days, mostly from physical pain (sometimes emotional, hahaha). A hard kick in the shin did it this morning.

3. Do you have kids?

Yes, Noodle (almost 5) and Squish (almost 2).

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?

I would like to think so. In all honesty, I do not always find time to physically spend time with my friends or go out with them frequently (and a few have dwindled for that reason) but the ones that have stuck around know that we will be friends for life and there for each other when needed.

5. Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Oh and lemon meringue, cheesecake... and now I am hungry.

6. Do you like handwriting?

Yes. I have finally overcome my stationary addiction though.

7. What is your favorite cereal? 

Those sachets of flavoured instant jungle oats, I am totally addicted.

8. What is the first thing you notice about people?

I am not sure, probably their body language and facial expressions and whether or not they come across as approachable.

9. What color are your eyes?

Boring brown. My extended family has every skin and hair colour imaginable but  I think everyone in my family has brown eyes. Anyway, some of my favourite things are brown.

10. Scary movies or happy endings?

Without a doubt happy endings. I can't even do scary movies anymore. 

11. Favorite TV show?

Greys Anatomy, Big Bang Theory, New Girl. (See question above... stuff with happy endings, usually).
 

12. Summer or winter? 

Summer.

13. Hugs or kisses?
 

Hugs and kisses. Especially from kids and hubby.

14. What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?

Probably Dubai.

15. Do you have special talents?

I have many but I take multi-tasking to a new level. Like writing this blog post while cooking, doing a load of laundry, removing unknown food substance from tiny human head and breastfeeding. 

16. Where were you born.

Jozi, born and bred.

17. What are your hobbies?

Blogging, reading and arty stuff. 

18. Do you have any pets?

No, but Noodle is trying very her very best to talk us into one- I am not sure if we will be giving in or not. 

19. Favorite movie? 

Hmmm, can't think right now but see question 10... I like comedies... stuff with happy endings.

20. What color is your car?

Charcoal grey.

21. What did you want to be when you grow up?

If I grow up. Let's see, I have qualified and practiced in my dream career and then gave it all up to work from home part time and blog on the side. Maybe one day I will go back to the 'dream career' (there have been offers lately), maybe not. 

EDIT: I posted this yesterday and then needed to run off to a meeting and forgot to tag people.

Melanie Blignaut, Luchae Williams and Faziela Carrim, tag, you're it!!!

Messy Fun with Marshmallow Dough

I was cleaning out the cupboards when I found a tin of (very) expired custard powder. I hate wasting food and as custard powder is essentially just flavoured, coloured cornstarch (maizena) and you will know by now that I use cornstarch for many things, from dry shampoo (see this post for directions), to nappy rash cream (make a paste with a little water) to goo (see this post for instructions). Today, I decided we would just have fun with it.

I found a recipe online using cornflour and shaving foam a while back. I do not remember what they called it but I will dub it marshmallow dough as it has that super soft, fluffy, powdery texture of marshmallows, but is just more stretchy and pliable. You have to feel the texture for yourself to understand just how soft and fluffy it is (but be warned- you will want to play with it too). 

Mine happened to have a sweet marshmallow-like smell thanks to the lovely vanilla fragrance of the custard powder. If you are using cornstarch and not custard powder, you could add a few drops of marshmallow essence (or any other fragrance).

INSTRUCTIONS:
 
So here is what you do.

First you add some shaving foam to a bowl (about the amount that a man would use to shave his face, if that makes any sense). The kids loved this part!!!

You can add a few drops of food colouring if desired. Noodle wanted pink and I added some pink gel colouring, but thanks to the yellow colour in the custard powder mine turned out more of a peachy-orange colour. Alternatively, you could leave it white (if using normal cornflour and not custard) and use it to create faux snow.

Now add the custard powder (or cornflour) a little at a time until you get the desired texture (I probably used about half the amount of the shaving foam) and mix. 

Then it is play time! Let the kids mould, stretch, pull, squeeze or poke to their hearts desire.

(WARNING: This might smell delicious but it is not edible). 

  
This gets messy as the dough is very sticky, so protect surfaces or play with it outside (like we did) and have a bowl of soapy water close by. You will be glad to know that it washes out very easily (due to the soapiness of the shaving foam I suppose).

Squish was covered in it by the time we were done and I literally needed to hose him off outside before coming back on the house. 

The bad news is that it loses its texture after about an hour one all the air inside the shaving foam has been squeezed out (well that was our experience anyway). It is fun while it lasts though!