Well, it’s out first full day back from holiday today and I don’t feel as wiped out as I usually do when I bounce back to reality. We got home around lunch time yesterday and I basically dumped the bags and ran out with the kids to try get them to their dancing and swimming lessons!

Our internal body clocks are all messed up though. I have no idea why – it’s not like we changed time zones or anything like that so I can’t put it down to jet lag. I woke up at 04.50am this morning! Me?! Teh one who snoozes my alarm three times. Then I had to drag the eldest one out of bed at 06.20! Her?! The one who normally wakes up at 05.00.

On a good note, as I’d got up so early I managed to get the kids to school by 07.15. That must be an all time early record for us! I’m usually part of the “8 o’clock club” which is how I refer to those of us parents who only just manage to get the kids to school  before the gates close. Needless to say I saw people I’ve never seen before and hit the traffic! I might relapse back to 07.45 tomorrow.

Then I got home from the school-run to the mountain that is my laundry pile, the joys! Thanks to the dust that seems to forever hang over this town I now have 4 loads of laundry hanging all over the house and garage.

Unfortunately, despite the house being almost spotless when I went to bed last night, it now looks like it was abandoned in some kind of hasty escape twenty years ago. Thanks to our ‘welcome back’ dust storm from yesterday which still hasn’t blown away, there is a thick layer of dust all over my white kitchen counters and beige floor tiles, and clothes hanging everywhere. Who on earth decorated the houses in this town? Whoever they were clearly didn’t have a clue about the weather in September. Yes, yes, I know I’ve moaned about the dust on here before, Disclaimer: Post contains a lot of complaining and sarcasm. Sorry, it’s just really, disgusting.

On the bright side (if you can see through the dust cloud – okay, I’ll stop now) the girls had a good day at school. I’ve managed to hack my rose bushes down and trimmed the hedge. I’ve even shoved a roast in the oven for dinner. I’m not quite a domestic godess, but at least the family will be fed tonight. I’m not so sure about the cats though. I forgot to get them some of their wet food as I couldn’t bare the thought of going grocery shopping, so they may be stuck with more dry food tonight which will no doubt p*ss them off even more than being left behind for eight days!

Anyone else have cats who sulk when you come home from holiday and give you the silent treatment as if to make sure that you know that they are peeved at being ‘abandoned’ despite the fact that you spent a small fortune on a ‘cat-sitter’? Brats! They finally gave up their ‘hard-done-by’ act after I’d been home for about five hours. Or maybe that was because they wanted their food? That’s more likely to be honest.

So now I’m counting down the hours until wine o’clock. At least I get to spend an hour or so ‘watching’ the roast and reading as many of my fellow blogger’s posts as I can.

As much as I love routine, and the comfort of being back in our daily lives (and uncapped internet!), a part of me is sad to be back. This is where we live, but as I said before, Home is where the heart is! 

p.s. The girls were good as gold on the flights. The South African Immigration department on the other hand, really really ticked me off. Lookout for that rant on a later post. I need to calm down before I type it up, or I’ll be banned from posting in the ‘kids’ category for obscene language.

Featured Photo: a reminder of good times on holiday! If you’ve not tried in Savannah cider is The Best thirst quencher on a hot day in Africa!