What on earth has happened?

To ODandME of course

Don’t fret my dear readers. We are definitely still alive and kicking. Although, it feels like a lifetime ago since my last blog. Just as my slogan would suggest, life happened.

I’m going to try my best to cram in as much information as possible without making it boring and long-winded.

The Children

Would you believe that my babies are babies no more? My daughter will be joining Year one in September and has lost her first tooth to the tooth fairy. Of course, I had loads of tears to shed after that ordeal. I mean what is up with that?! Then my little cuddly panda bear will be going to KG1 in September. Overnight this little guy started talking, ditched the nappies, and sleeps like a champion through the night.

The Furry Children

We’ve had some interesting issues and fun with the cats. Juliette is our oldest cat and honestly have no idea how she’s still alive. She must be around 20 years old, half her teeth are missing and she’s not all that “with us” if you catch my drift. However, she’s still eating, drinking, sleeping (all the time) and sometimes will allow us to give her love.

Then we have the twins, Olaf and Elsa. Olaf is completely white and luck would have it, he’s totally deaf too. Poor guy doesn’t even know what he’s missing, but we have to take special care of him. Not too long ago he managed to cut his paw so bad, that he ended up with 7 stitches. Long story really, but dude, if you wanted to get attention there are better ways to do it. His sister Elsa, well she’s just a little fat cat running around demanding attention from her human aka ME.

We have a special big boy named Royal Shadow. He’s a Maine Coon that’s totally black and just a big ball of love. Although his character is more of a dog, he really is a big cat. At a whopping 8.5kg, this guy has cost us a fortune in the past year. It would seem that the breed is known for inverted eyelids and or ulcers on the cornea. Who knew! After several trips to the vet, we hope that he’s eyes will be all good to go in a few weeks.

House and home

My darling husband has changed employment, which meant we had to move houses. We found the most amazing villa outside of the city and we couldn’t be happier. Huge open space for my children and furry children to run around. Helps loads during the Middle East summers, as we are probably the closest to hell, it’s so hot.

My mother has moved in with us! We can have her with us full time in the new big house. We are just over the moon and delighted that she can live with us. Unfortunately, the affairs in South Africa are not that great, with all the crime, load shedding, and water shortages.

We also had the privilege to have family visit us for a couple of months. As an ex-pat, in any country, it’s really tough on the family. We miss out on special family gatherings and the family misses out on seeing the children grow. However, it has been such a blessing to have family visit us in Dubai.

Online business

I celebrated my 1st anniversary in March 2022 with Juice Plus UAE. My journey personally and within my business has been mind-blowing. Self-development, education, and the most valuable friendships that I’ve received over the past year have been fantastic. Although this business is nowhere near where I can say I’m paying the bills, I can definitely say that the extra cash at the end of each month has helped us out a few times.

What’s to come…

The start of 2022 started with no feet. The whole family had Covid-19 and that was over Christmas and New Year. That was not fun at all. In fact, my husband’s father landed in ICU for 2 weeks. We are super grateful that we all survived it and are stronger for it. We also had to move 10 days after our quarantine was over. We had VISA issues and serious cash flow challenges. Volcanos erupted in our marriage in this period, which was not ideal for the overall situation.

Fast forward to July 2022 and we can finally settle and start new adventures. I’m super excited to share that I will be starting my own Podcast. I will be finishing my Vegan Nutrition Course and finally getting certified. There are definitely other ideas on the board, that is still in the research phases. All I can say is that I will not be doing just one thing. Let’s wait for the next time I update you, my dear readers.

Until next time my dear readers. I bid you farewell. Not for too long this time around, I promise.