Dog-eat-dog-eat-Sarah

Those of you who know of Sarah's dog obsession will appreciate the following sly attempt to procure a canine:

S: Mommy, do you know what I've been sinking about?
A: No, Sarah, what have you been thinking about?
S: I've been sinking dat we should go for a drive.
A: Oh, that sounds nice.
S: Yeah, and when we're driving, we go to all the people's houses and see whose don't want their doggies anymore.
A: Ohhh.
S: And then we can take them home with us. Is that a good idea?
A: Hmmm, I think you should ask Daddy.
S: d'say?
A: Ask Daddy.
S: Ok let's call him.

First our fence, and now me. . .

I've been tagged and I guess you don't need a sandblaster for it in the world of blog. The second cutest Wendy in the world has tagged me and so I shall oblige:

Where I was 10 years ago:
Ten years ago, I was in high school. It was my sophomore year, in the afternoon, so I guess I was in Algebra II class. I'm sure Mike Hoke was sitting behind me, making some derogatory-yet-insanely-funny comments about poor Ms. Burleson under his breath. Ms. Burleson REALLY did not like our class, but I am convinced she had a crush on Mike Hoke. She was an interesting character, now that I think back on her. Once I saw her at our local gym and you can be sure I steered clear of the locker room that day. Running into your math teacher in the buck just wouldn't sit well at dinner. . . or ever.

Five things on my to-do list:
1. Actually call a dentist. I don't want to talk about it.
2. Take my computer to get fixed. Sarah knocked it over and now the battery won't hold charge.
3. The dishes
4. Look up volunteer positions in local charities
5. Plan a trip to Cape Town

Three bad habits:
1. Not going to the dentist
2. Staying up too late
3. Letting the girls gorge themselves with cartoons when I'm tired.

Places I've lived:
1. NoVa
2. Provo
3. Dallas
4. Fort Worth
5. Philadelphia
6. Johannesburg

Things most people don't know about me:
1. It is physically impossible for me to fall asleep without brushing my teeth. I've tried and I just can't do it.
2. I've dreamed of being a spy for the CIA--even before 24 and Alias. Don't laugh, or I might just kill you one day.
3. I can't stand messes on the ground. If you just pick it up, and put the mess on a chair or table, I'm ok. Just don't leave it on the ground!

What would I do with billions of dollars?
First, I would have a hard time doing anything, since I am naturally inclined to being a hoarder. But I think I would get over that quickly enough and go straight to making our disaster of a house suitable for the cover of a magazine. We're talking new windows, insulation, new paint, porch swings (which require a reinforced roof), a spanish tile roof, garage, landscape, decorative trim, a fixed gas line, new sewer line, closets for the girls room and playroom, decorative floor vents, reworked HVAC, and absolutely stunning furniture and rugs. And we might get some guard dogs to go with it. (BTW, ADT provides armed response here...when will they offer that in Dallas???) After we knock that out, we'll pay off some debt, buy a second car, keep some seed money to start our own business or two and then pay for world peace. You may claim that in order to be considered a good person, I should have written world peace first, right? Hahah, you haven't "experienced" my house. In order to be a sane person, the house comes first, then all other altruistic endeavors follow. However, judging from the money-sucking trend our house has shown, the house may take billions of dollars to complete. Sorry, world peace.

And that's all she wrote.

Life is good!

Last weekend we went on a real African game drive. Emron's cousin, Dan (who is currently working for The Clinton Foundation in Lesotho--see previous post for photos of that place), came up to Joburg last week for a conference and stayed with us for the weekend. We went to the Botswana border to a reserve called Madikwe, stayed at a luxurious lodge and saw some incredible animals:

Hyenas

Elephants (I didn't have to write that, did I?), which totally make up for my previous encounter that fell short of photographic glory.

Wildabeest--which Emron dubbs the "punk-rocker" of the wild

Wild Dogs

Lions

Giraffe

The wind-blown look

Hotness

The red African sunrise. . .with a LandRover antenna

An obscenely large cricket whose species entertained Wendy for the duration of the trip

White Rhinoceros

We also saw Water Buffalo, the African Wildcat (which looks no different than a housecat,) Zebra, Impala, Kudu, some rabbits, birds, monkeys, etc. But either I didn't get a good picture of them or I am too impatient for any more pictures to upload.

On our return home, we were shocked back to real life after having lost our house key, which also had my car key attached. The locksmith to get into the house was pretty painless. In fact I was a little disturbed by how easily they got in and changed the lock. I had to wait a full day to get the car sorted out. A tower came to retrieve the rental car because the spare keys are all the way in Cape Town--again, I was shocked by how easily he broke into the car with a coat hanger and disabled the alarm with a small wrench. But waiting so long wasn't so bad, especially since I was upgrade to the Audi A4. Yes, I like life here in South Africa.

Valentine's photos

If you ever talk to her, get Sarah to do her Bunny Group class cheer for you. Awesome.

So for some reason, I have been unable to post pictures for the last three weeks. Maybe blogger senses that my internet connection speed is a complete disappointment to the name of the world wide web and refuses to dignify my shoddy excuse for a modem with even an attempt at uploading. Oh well, Blogger has gotten over it and here are some cute photos from Valentine's Day at Sarah's preschool.