Trial=ed out ...

So yesterday ... our first experience of DSRU rugby trials ...

Quite an experience I have to say ... Kelsey was very nervous when we set off yesterday morning and I have to say I was too !!! Neither of us had a clue of what to expect ... but I made sure we arrived there on time ... the U14 trials started at 12noon but we had to be there an hour before for warm up and registration ... also meant I got a good parking spot too LOL ...

The weather was not being nice for us spectators but was pretty good for the boys ... cold and overcast ... exactly like the last time we were at Old Boys Rugby Club .. seems winter has popped back for a quick visit ... yadda yadda yadda ... enough about the weather ... stay focused Janet !!!

All the boys were called to the registration area ... and my first surprise was how FEW boys were actually there (there were 40 boys from the u14 age group) ... the organisers then gave us and the boys the run down ... and I must say I was very impressed with their 'speech'... the 'headman' told the boys that they had all already 'been selected' for their talents and their abilities ... the fact that they were standing on that field meant that the selectors had already singled them out as players with the abilities needed to be part of the DSRU Squad ... and he said each boy should be very proud of himself and pat himself on the back for having been spotted on the field.... (So for me that was a huge achievement for Kelsey ... and I hope he sees that on it's own)

He then went on to explain what the DSRU were looking for ... there would be 2 squads chosen from today's trials... one squad would be the touring squad which would go on the inter-provincial tour (IPT) at the end of September to Bloemfontein, the 2nd squad would be classed as the reserves and unlike other years ... these boys would be the automatic choice if the boy in their position had to 'fall out' for any reason on the tour... this way there would be no worries for the organisers to be searching for a replacement at the last minute. The reserve squad would also be playing in games on the 15th October when a touring side from Pretoria came to our province to play ... so in a nutshell both squads would get game time !!!!

NOW me as a parent I was pretty impressed at the whole organisation of this ... I am very, very proud of Kelsey as this means he is classed as one of the top 40 in club rugby for the region ... so if he doesn't get into any of the squads I still think he has done extremely well ...

The boys were then given numbers, which was how they would be recognised for the rest of the day ... just as numbers. The boys were not allowed to wear their club colours as they were there to represent themselves NOT their clubs and they did not want the selectors to be seen to be favouring one club over another ... good practise I thought...

Then it was 'games begin' ... the boys were given a shirt with their position number on and there were 2 teams ... they then played 15min 'chukkas' and during this time the ref was told to change boys into different positions, swap sides etc. etc. so the selectors could watch how the boys a) played in the positions they were given, b) see how versatile the boys were to play against and with each other and c0 give those boys who were able to play in more than 1 position the opportunity for the selectors to see which position he was best suited to ...

Kelsey ended up playing the whole day in the same position ... NUMBER 3 which is Tight head Prop ... a position that he has NEVER played before ??? Now that was VERY confusing for both of us ... when I spoke to one of his coaches and asked why he was in that position... they said obviously at one of the games he had been seen by the selectors playing in the position and they had liked what they saw ??? OK fair doe's... also we noticed that there seemed to be more back line players and not so many front line players ... apparently it had been the opposite in previous years !!! So he played in all 6 'chukkas' ... by the time the day was over he was 'FINISHED' and very sore !!!

The head honcho ... did mention half way through the day that some of the parents had commented that their boys had not played as much as others ... his explanation was simply that there were some positions with MORE players than others ... so I'm thinking obviously there were not too many Tight head props cos Kelsey played every game ... is this a good sign or a bad sign ???

NOW we wait ... we started the day at 11am and finished trials at 5pm !!! and we've been told the selectors will be getting the figures, comments etc all together and we should be notified by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest who has been selected and for what !!!! and who has NOT been selected !!!

I asked Kelsey how he feels about the whole thing and he said yesterday "mum I really don't care I'm too sore to worry about it right now" ...bless his little cotton sox...

Today I've asked him and I'm proud of his response ... he said "mum I played my best and if it was good enough for them I'll get a position... if it wasn't I'll try again next year!!!" Excellent reply Kelsey ...

I think he's also in 2 minds because the week they go on tour, Paul is here in SA and we have planned a long weekend in the Berg with the family (the 1st time the whole family will be together in about 5 years !!!) And Kelsey has sooooooo been looking forward to that ... plus if he goes on tour he will only get to see his dad for 1 week, the last week of school, the tour is the week they are on school holidays ... I've told him to just wait & see what happens ... what is meant to be will be ....

PS: I think I should be changing this blog from The Craft Oracle to Rugby MUM.com (PMSL)

Ooops forgot ...

to mention one of the most important things of the whole week ...

Kelsey has been invited to attend DSRU (Durban & Districts) rugby trials on Saturday ... yes my boy ... my SON-shine ... I am soooo very proud of him ...

Not so sure what to expect from these trials but apparently if they get picked to play for DSRU then they go on an Inter-Provincial Tour to Bloemfontein for a week and play against all the teams from the other provinces ... quite an honour to represent your district ...

I've kinda told him to do his very best but to keep in mind that there will be lots of boys trying out for the same positions as him and this is a step in the right direction for him ... seeing as he's never been selected to even 'try-out' before now... and you know what ... if he doesn't get in this year there is always next year and no matter if he does or does not get into the squad I am extremely, extremely PROUD of my SON-shine ...

He has come so far in such a short time ... xxxx :-)

Eish ... maar dis a hectic life I'm leading !!!

another whole week has gone by !!!

I just have to get a handle on this 'time management' thing !!!

Oh I must apologise in advance if some of this post is mis-spelt ... seems my keyboard is playing up ... every now and again my keys get jammed !!! Always something ...

Hey people ... before I go any further I just have to mention ... the weather ... it has been blerdy awesome ... not too hot ... but warm enough for me to shed 2 layers !!! Right so weather covered let me tell you what I've been up to this last week ...

Hard to believe it but last week Thursday was Kleo of the Bells 1st birthday ... yes our little (NOT) puppy is now a year old ... so when do puppies actually grow up and no longer be puppies ??? With this one I guess it will be never !!!

The weekend was as usual a hectic one ... we went to the Shongweni Car Expo ... Juno asked me to go take some pics of her new toy ... her Pink & Black Toureg ... lucky cow !!! and there were some really pwetty cars ... some very desirable pieces too ... mmm wondering if maybe it's time for a new toy for me too ... and even more so after our escapade on Monday ... but wait I'm jumping ahead of myself again ...

Sunday was club rugby ... the weather was beautiful and the day was great ... both U15A and U15B won their matches which was a big boost for the boys cos they were thinking they were never going to get a point on the board ... well done HVJR Colts ... now we just have to keep moving forward...

SO onto Monday ... morning started out fab ... Juno & I went to Party Themes ... I have a few functions I've got to plan and 'do' in the next couple of weeks and Juno is planning Tamar's 16th .. so we kinda got a bit carried away ... then we 'popped' in to the new China Mall ... aaw ... all that cheap china bling ... managed to find myself a few bargains and so did Juno !!!

Then ... the day went down hill ... the weather was beautiful again and by the time we came out of China Mall it was very hot ... so we decided we just had to have the air con on ... 20mins later ... a strong burning smell and then the car started making the weirdest noise ever ... OMG here we go again ... thankfully it got us back to Juno's place and when Steven heard it he was like " turn it off !!! sounds like something had seized " ... it had ... the air con compressor AGAIN !!!

Grrrr so onto the roll back truck it went and off to the air con people ... you know all I have to say is: the drugs are definitely working .... cos even after a 10min stress peak ... I was just so OVER that damned car ... Thankfully I have friends like Juno & Steven ... Steven let me use one of his old bakkies to get me and Kelsey home ... and then the air con people have had to by-pass the air con unit AGAIN and take out the compressor .. which was only put in 6 months ago !!! So here we go again ... yet more car aggro !!!

But at least I have 4 new fuel injectors in my car ... they were finally put in on Wednesday ... while I was out Crafting ... yes you read right ... me CRAFTING !!! with my mechanics wife ... yes we women actually planned that perfectly LOL .. Adele has introduced me to a Craft Society up in PMB .. and so on Wednesday I met the other ladies and my first class with them was NON adhesive book binding ... AWESOME ... I'm now making my own books ... next week Wednesday we're doing a more advanced class .... yippeee...

STOP Thief ...

whoever stole the last 3 days of my week please bring it back !!!

It feels like I've been on the run all week ... not even had much time for FB either !!! So you must know that's bad ...

OK I didn't get the job that I applied for ... maybe a good thing cos don't know when I would've had time to do it LOL ... but Mrs M did ask if she could keep my CV on file ... maybe next year ???

Sunday rugby ... yes he played ... half a game, sadly they lost to Collegians now we really have to start winning some games otherwise !!! and it was BLOODY freezing, I mean BLERDY FREEZING cold and the club where we played was down near the beach ... it's supposed to be warmer there !!!

Monday & Tuesday involved getting ready ... beauty stuffs, new hair do etc ... for the Sharks Ladies Breakfast on Wednesday ... only either idiots or dedicated sports fans get up at 4.30am to have breakfast with 48 gorgeous well toned hunks who play with odd shaped balls ... well I don't mind being called both ... an idiot and a dedicated sports fan !!! ... the breakfast was at Sabiya Casino ... the room looked lovely .. the coffee at 6.30am was awesome .... and after that I have to say Sabiya SUCKED !!! the food was disgusting ... in all my career in either banqueting or the kitchen ... if I had DARED to serve that food in that condition like that I would have been FIRED !!! and when you consider there was 48o people in that room ... I dread to imagine just how much they charged for that function ...

The rest of the morning ... having access to the SHARKS was great, when you could get a word in ... they were all great fun, had to put up with 400 crazy women LOL ... we were on table 14 and we had Stefan Terblanche (and I still think of him as THE CAPTAIN) at our table ... such a nice gentleman ... the MC (none of us can remember her name) was very good, she's an Indian comedienne and an excellent hostess ... except for when she thought Adi Jacobs was Keegan Daniels (the current captain) now if you know these 2 players you will be pissing yourselves laughing ... it's like mixing up a cauliflower and a carrot (roflmao)... there were lots of spot prizes ... some nice sponsors and an awesome main prize (of course NON of which I won :-(... sour grapes nah !!!) ... although I have to say (and remember this is just my opinion) the ladies goody bags 'sucked' ....

It was really interesting to know that these guys have kinda normal lives ... do a hell of a lot for charity ... the profits from Wednesday's breakfast was going to Addington Children's ward ... so definitely a good cause ... and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room when they showed us a film of the boys taking gifts etc. to the kids on the ward ...

Took loads of photos (just trying to upload a few for you to see) ... managed to man (oops woman) handle a few gorgeous buns !!! And even with my 'moaning' and slight criticism HELL YES I wanna be on the list again next year please ....

Hello Saturday ...my old friend ...

yup so here we are at another Saturday ... and what a weird week we've just had ... with the public holiday (Women Day) on Tuesday ... it made this week and incredibly SHORT week ... well no I know there were still the same number of days in the week ...duh !!! I'm not that stooopid ... but because we had a 4 day weekend ... it meant 'the working week' was shorter!!!

And then because it was shorter ... mmm what did I get up to ??? Let me see...

Tuesday ... as it was Women's Day ... of course we had to spend it with other Women LOL .. so we popped over to June's for the afternoon ... first time we'd seen them since we got back from the UK ... it was a lovely day so we actually sat outside ... warming the old bones in the sun ...I do love the winter sun ... when it bothers to show its face....

Wednesday it was back to the 5.30am wake-up and the school run ... and overnight the weather turned funny ... so it was time to be with my BF blankie again ... I had lots of photos to edit, and a workshop to organise ... so the day was spent at my desk on the computer !!! and before I knew it, it was collecting time, homework then off out to rugby practise ... I took a bet with the girls that K probably wouldn't be playing this coming weekend cos the 'A' squad have a BYE ... and Craig had already put up on the Teamer site that some of the 'A' squad would be invited to play in the 'B' squad..... don't go there Janet ... stay away ... deep breaths ... no-comment please ... anyway himself came of the practise field telling me he IS playing on Sunday !!! (maybe good thing no-one took me up on that bet ... but Sunday is not here yet so lets wait and see... I'll keep you posted)

And then Thursday ... a very SPECIAL day ... Happy Birthday to my darling SON-shine ... 14 years ago my life was changed ... and I've never regretted a single moment of it ... so it was lovely fresh chocolate chip muffins for the kids in his class ... and I have to say this batch was particularly yummy ...

Thursday also saw me attending my interview ... not sure how it went but hey ho ... I shall wait and see ...

And then Friday is was Petunia's Pancake Palace performing again at the High School .. fund raising at the girls soccer tournament ...

Oh what a hectic and varied life I lead !!!

Son-shine has gone away for the weekend with Heini & his family to Scottburgh ... and they are driving back down to Durban tomorrow so the boys can play rugby ... Hopefully they will have had a good time ...

And well I guess my weekend has been sleeping ... hunting for stock in the garage that I can't find ... stock that I need for my workshop day ... grrrrr... that is so frustrating cos I know that I had it ... well I've taken stock of it ... it's on my computer as my opening stock !!! so IT has to be in there ... but I'm sure I have moved and unpacked at least 100 boxes and 'sod's law' I can't find what I'm looking for ... so !!! what do I do ??? change the projects or go hunting again ??? Mmmm decisions, decisions !!!

No, no, NO, no...

absolutely NO snow for us to chase this weekend !!! hahaha *evil laugh*

We're having a long weekend, our kids are off school today and tomorrow as it is a public holiday tomorrow 'Women's Day' ... and after all the 'doom & gloom' weather reports I was expecting to be getting up on Saturday morning to a scene from Narnia ... and although Saturday was Ass Freezing Cold ... there was definitely NO SNOW ... not even in the mountains .. and why??? Cos I promised the kids that if there was snow I would take them snow-chasing either today or tomorrow ... (hahahaha I know exactly how to keep the bad weather at bay now !!!!)

Oh have to mention ... the bug thing I thought I'd picked up ... well it's also known as a Kidney Infection !!! Yup ended up in so much pain I nearly crashed the car on Friday so I went to the doctors ... he said "you have a hectic kidney & bladder infection" so I'm on a course of anti-biotics ...

Do you know I have been to the doctors more times in the last 3 years here in SA than I ever was in the 8 years I was in England !!! Wonder why that is ??? Can't blame the heat !!! cos we hardly get any LOL .... I wonder if it's cos I'm NOT working hard and I have time to be sitting around lazily waiting for things to catch me PMSL !!! You know what I'm talking about ... when you're sooo busy rushing around, with deadlines, classes hectic lifestyle you're just running too fast for any nasty bugs to catch you ... then when you calm down, do nothing ... you catch them all .... well I know that works with me cos every year at Christmas when I used to come out here to SA ,before I'd have a hectically busy build up to Christmas ... crafting,shows, classes etc like a demon ... the first week of my hols I was always sick !!!

Well just gives me something else to be moaning about, and talking of moaning:

Kelsey played rugby yesterday and I think it was one of his personal best games ... but he only got to play half a game !!! He got taken off just after half time ... I'm not even sure if I wanna be going through this CLUB RUGBY scene again ... especially when you are led to believe one thing is going to happen ... then something else happens... the coaches have come up with a 'way out' for their decision making process ... they have decided on a new logo for this season "Team before Me" and apparently that is supposed to make any decision to play or not play someone all OK ... but at least Kelsey did get half a game ... some poor kids who were told to pitch for the match didn't even get game time !!!

As I was led to believe ... if we had enough players our 'coaches' were going to put forward 2 teams for this season (not bad considering last year HVJR had a hard time putting forward 1 team in this age group, every weekend Michelle was driving around collecting boys to make up a full squad, and on one rare occasion Kelsey was asked to sit on the bench as a sub cos they didn't have enough guys !!!) ... because U14/U15 are a combined age group a management decision was taken to put the U15 boys in the A league and the U14 boys in the B league ... fair game... it means that all the kids will then get game time and everyone should be happy ... well come game day match A takes place and that happens ... the U15 boys played their game with some of the better U14 boys on the SUB bench for them ... excellent idea ... gives the better boys an opportunity to prove themselves in the A league... (sadly they lost their match) then it comes to the B side ... our U14 boys ... they go on and play very well together in the 1st half ...we were on 5-5 by the half time whistle ...then the 'coaches' decide our motto which is great if it's actually really Team before Me ... but actually it should be Win at All Costs ... even to the detriment of the fun of the game... cos suddenly the U15 boys are being put on the field in the U14 boys places !!! Now yes they can do that cos it is a mixed division ... but they didn't really make that much of a difference cos we still ended the game on a draw 10-10 !!!

Sooo my questions are : how do the younger boys ever get to gel together as a team if they are not going to get the time to play together ??? and how do the boys with little or no experience get that experience if they are not even going to get game time ??? ... maybe my problem is I would like this world to be a FAIR place and in reality life is not fair and it is a dog eat dog world and we should not be teaching our kids to be kind to others and work well with others and respect others ... what we really should be teaching is it is all about every man for himself and get out their and win at all and any cost and bugger the people you have to step on to get there ???

It makes me soooo mad ... it's all about results .. about WINNING only ... and did we win ... hell NO !!!

Oh well old Cyni-cal strikes again !!!

But I am not going to let that put a dampener on my long weekend ... I have a lot of work to be getting on with ... oh and talking of work I have applied for another job ... a classroom assistant position at the Primary School ... well even if I only get interview experience it's better than nothing hahahaha...

Oh I went to the High School on Friday ... it was their Founders Day and took tons of photos .. so I have those to sort out and work on... Saturday we (the HHS Supporters Club) catered at the Soccer Tournament ... it was blerdy freezing ... but we die hards stuck out the cold and made some funds for our committee ... and ... oooh I almost forgot, how could I forget probably the most important piece of news ... I have a Workshop Day to prepare for !!!! YES you read it right ... I am going to be doing a Scrapbooking/Papercraft Workshop at the High School ...a) to keep me busy b) to build up my client base & c) to raise some funds for the school ... now how great does that sound ???

Actually I have a lot to be doing in the next couple of months, wedding photo shoots booked, jewellery orders to complete, school photos to sort, Workshop day to plan, Christmas to organise ... so why the hell am I worrying about getting a job ... I know what's going to happen now ... I have all this stuffs to be doing AND I'll get a job too ... you know me folks it's all or nothing !!!

Is it possible ???

that Spring has Sprung a month early ??? now wouldn't that be nice ???

Especially after the crap weather we had last week ???

So here I am sitting outside in the warm winter/spring sun warming my old and aching bones !!! Don't know if I've picked up some sort of a bug or something but came home from rugby practise last night and started with the shivers, the headache and pains in every joint and muscle !!! Had me a med-lemon and then crashed into bed ... woke through the night with the sweats !!! I mean really .. do I look like I can be bothered to be sick right now ... duh! NO

It is so nice to be here sitting outside ... our tree is bare of leaves but alive to the sounds of the chirping weavers ... they are all frantically building their upside down nests ... it is fascinating to watch them ... makes you realise that nature is a wonderful thing ... Mr W flies off strips leaves of another tree ... brings it back .. starts weaving a nest ... when he thinks its good enough he calls Mrs W over and she inspects it .. if she doesn't like it she tears it off and throws it on the floor ... no second chances for him ... our garden is littered every day with thrown away nests which look perfectly good to me ... but then again I'm not Mrs W !!!! We have to chuck them away asap otherwise Kleo thinks they are toys for her to bring in the house and shred !!!

But now as I said if we were in September right now I'd be thinking this is spring ... but we can only hope that because winter arrived earlier for us this year maybe, just maybe summer will arrive earlier and possibly stay longer ??? Normally August is a wet and very miserable month but so far ... 4 days into it and things are looking positive !!!

I think I need some intervention folks ... I do honestly and truly believe that I have become addicted ... to FB !!! I find myself spending hours and hours just trawling through the crap that people put on there ... and then wonder why it gets to the end of a day and I have done nothing !!! I really really have to force myself to not hit that beautiful blue F button on my computer ... and why am I telling you this ??? Well it's because of that beautiful blue button that I find myself doing less and less every day ... I mean this morning when I looked up it was 9.30am already, I sat down at my computer at 7.30am ... and then next time it was 12 noon ... and I'd done nothing !!! and hey I'm still doing nothing !!!

Which most of the time is ok really but now I'm starting to feel guilty ... cos I have some jewellery orders that I have to complete ... I have to clean up my photos on my HD, I have to print another CD for someone, I have to take my car back to the garage... and a whole load of other things ... and mmmmm I'm stuck on NOTHING !!!!

Aaaah that sun is so nice ... not too hot but warm enough to defrost to the bone ....aaaah ;-)