You will be happy to know that 'The family C' is quite a regular family, that just has a normal home life.
This is what happens on a Thursday... well it is school holidays, so it is a little different from usual.
Fi is usually first up.
After a visit to the bathroom, she switches off the house alarm (this is Johannesburg remember - crime central)
Switching off the alarm usually wakes Shane up...
He feeds his fish before he does ANYTHING else, so he doesn't forget - they are his responsibility.
Shane usually makes enough noise to wake the dead when he is 'being quiet' - this wakes Natalie up (but not when it is a school day!)
Next Fi unlocks the passage gate. (This is Johannesburg! You have as many obstacles as possible...)
Then she lets the dogs out. They sleep inside in winter as the one has hip problems and the cold makes her very stiff. No photo of this because they were in a rush to get out and bark at someone. They will be fed a little later on and then again this evening.
Once everyone is awake, they have breakfast. Usually something quick like tea and toast and some fruit. Fi has water or juice, she says tea is vile. The children like Rooibos tea (red bush tea) which is a South African tea and apparently an acquired taste. It is well known for its health benefits. All meals are eaten at the table, as a family.
Then Fi has a bath and gets dressed. The children get dressed and brush teeth. (If it was a school day, this would take place at about ten times the speed. School starts at 07.45 and it takes 20 minutes to get there through the morning traffic; it takes five minutes when Fi fetches them at 13.30.)
Thursdays are paper collection days - this is a free service that not enough people make use of. There are twenty houses on Fi's street - only four of them put out paper for recycling. Money is donated to the SPCA (Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals) by the company that collects the paper, dependent on the weight they accumulate.
I was a little worried I'd be left in this box and end up recycled!
On Monday the refuse (trash/ rubbish) is collected. During the week it is stored in these big black bins - they were made compulsory last year. Before that everything went out in black plastic bags that dogs tore apart or things fell out of and injured the refuse collection men. Fi has two, but since she started recycling she uses a quarter of one bin.
This is the recycling bin...Fi gives everything a rinse before it goes in here. Believe it or not, she pays for this service; it is a private company that collects it and separates it and sends it for recycling. A huge amount of items are recycled but they are usually scavenged out at the rubbish dumps by people who sell it to earn a meagre living..
On Thursday a free local newspaper is delivered. In this area it is called the Randburg Sun. It has local news, crime reports, school news, motoring news, sports news and a classified section. And Fi never took a photo of me reading it!
Fi likes to check her e-mail first thing in the morning (addicted? - surely not!), the middle of the morning, mid day, mid afternoon...you get the picture!
So, what do you suppose everyone else is up to? Dad has gone off to work... Shane is....ah! Sitting in the sun reading a book (takes after his mother who always had her nose in a book)
Natalie is in her room playing with her dolls.
She is telling us a story...
Usually the two of them are making something crafty, or digging holes in the garden but today they are going to friends for a picnic so they are trying to stay clean.
There are all sorts of nice things in here for lunch...hmmm...
We stayed behind when they went out to visit their friends. Before they left, Fi closed all the windows and put the alarm back on. Insurance won't pay out if you are robbed while out and the alarm was not activated. Most houses also have an electric fence around the perimeter wall and several vicious dogs. Fi has no electric fence and her dogs are huge and scary looking, but not vicious (unless you have four legs and fur)
What was the first thing the children did when they got back?
Straight up a tree, talking to the children next door! They are like two monkeys. They pretty much stayed up there until it was bath time.
Fi started preparing supper while they were outside. She either cooks things that are quick, or if it takes long it must be something that can be shoved in the oven and takes care of itself. All meals are made from scratch - Fi tries to stay away from all the nasty stuff that goes into processed food but she is not that fanatical.
The vegetable peelings go into the compost bin... and this meal is going to be shoved in the oven to take care of itself!
Ah! This is Fi's favourite time of the day...look who is back from work!
But it is Thursday so he gets changed and goes off to play squash.
Fi and the children sit down to eat supper...oh that smells heavenly!
After dinner, they usually play a game like 'go fish' or dominoes. There is no television in this house, it got struck by lightning and was just never replaced. The children watch DVDs on their computers and play computer games when they need 'screen time'. This all happens upstairs in the family room. No PCs are allowed in the bedrooms.
Then the children brush their teeth and it is time for bed...
First they choose a CD to listen to while they fall asleep. Some are music and some are stories. Roald Dahl is a favourite. The big empty gaps are from the CDs that are in the car...sometimes they get home and they won't get out the car until the story they are listening to is finished!
Usually Dad reads them each a story, (he does night duties and Fi does day duties) but as he is off playing squash, Fi reads to us. Here I am all tucked up with Natalie - that doll seems quite startled to see me!
Story time is over, goodnight kisses and hugs and love yous are exchanged... Natalie is listening to Disney's Silly songs. She likes classical music (actually, she just likes music!) and even better if it has funny songs to go with it!
And a few minutes later Shane is sound asleep...
Fi spends the rest of the evening on the internet, writing postcards, making something or sometimes reading. She goes to bed around midnight or one.
Her husband sits up and works till three or four, sometimes later!
Then it is off to bed, lock everything and activate the alarm and hope you pass the night without incident.