Which drugs are your dependent on?

I don’t smoke. I don’t drink alcohol, yeah I know boring.

I drink a lot of cooldrink, yes “sodas” with all that sugar. Yes it is addictive too.

A year ago I stopped drinking CocaCola and then I found that the watercooler at work was filthy inside and the water had bits of plastic in it so I went back to drinking cooldrink out of cans.

Many years ago I witness someone who was dependent and addicted to Grandpa Headache Powders. I realised that was a dangerous downhill addiction. This week I discovered that two female colleague I work with are addicted to Grandpa Headache Powders which they down with Coke. The one even admitted sniffing the Grandpa powder once with an acquaintance and swore never to do it again as it was unpleasant.

I found this result from my Google search “Grandpa contains a combination of paracetamol, aspirin (both painkillers) and caffeine, which, loaded with extra caffeine from Coke gives the user a mildly euphoric feeling and a “lift”.

“Dependency on Grandpa is very dangerous,” says Ane Carelson, social worker and marketing manager for Elim Clinic, a drug rehabilitation centre in Kempton Park.

“An overdose of paracetamol causes a lot of damage to the liver and kidneys. You can develop ulcers.

“Some people are taking 10, maybe 15 a day, which can be lethal.””

Source

Load shedding … again.

Yesterday when I was driving to work they announced on the radio that it was going to be 35°C in Johannesburg, it was 6:30am and it was already 22°C in the car. The new “corporate directors” of the company have told me I cannot park in my usual spot under the shaded tree so I leave my car at security in full sun all day. When I headed home in the afternoon it felt like like it was 50°C in the car (sorry I did not check the actual temperature). So when I got home I had an electric fan going in each occupied room. At 10pm I was looking at this …

 

 

Imagine going through hot flushes (menopause), not able to open windows because of mosquitoes and feeling that even the flame of the candle is making the room feel warmer.

 

 

 

 

 

Stuffed mushrooms.

4 Large Brown mushrooms (cleaned and stalk trimmed)

Fresh breadcrumbs (1 slice of bread)

1½ tsp garlic (chopped finely, optional)

1 Courgette (trim ends, do NOT peel, finely grated)

Salt & Pepper

Cheddar Cheese (grated)

½ Onion (grated)

2 tbs Olive oil

Method

• Pre-heat oven 175°C.
• Wipe or lightly rinse mushrooms. Remove stalks and discard ends. Finely chop stalks and place in a bowl. Place mushrooms cap side up on cutting board to dry.
• Add breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, courgette, salt & pepper to the bowl and mix well.
• Lightly brush mushroom caps with olive oil, turn them upside down still working on the board. Brush the outer edges thoroughly with oil. Sprinkle salt over mushrooms (optional).
• Spoon breadcrumb mixture into each mushroom and pack tightly. Each one should be filled with a well rounded heap of filling.
• Place mushrooms in buttered baking dish.
• Cover each mushroom with grated cheese making sure the outer edges of the mushrooms are neatly covered so that they will not burn.
• Bake 15 mins, 175°C.
• ENJOY

 

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Toadstool houses.

I came across this interesting edited photo and although I don’t have photoshop I took a basic picture editor and took a bash at coping the image.

http://www.thephotoargus.com/inspiration/30-examples-of-creatively-edited-photography/

We have received quite a lot of rain in the last two weeks and the grass (and pesky clover ;) ) have had a chance to get height. I spotted 3 tiny toadstools and took the best photo possible to replicate the one shown above. It took some time and it is harder than it looks. What do you think?

 

Do you want to show me that your editing skills are better than mine? Well go ahead take any of your photos or have fun with my original photo (below) and I will follow your link and have a look. If you are  familiar with Photoshop I would love to see how an expert does it :D

Sjoe! I made it to the holidays.

 Ok, so now I am on leave.
 The first thing I must do is get my body
 and mind adjusted, feeling stupid when I
 wake up at 5am and it isn’t a work day.

I decided to treat my mom and myself with updated cell phones.

Knowing that she would blast me if I bought something too expensive I got us each a Samsung Pocket Neo touch screen phone. Well it backfired, perhaps I should have bought more expensive phones because the batteries do not last and I hate having a phone on charger all day especially when I don’t use the phone constantly.

My mom did not even switch her phone on and refused to answer it or send me any messages. So I took it back to the store and asked them to check the batteries. They insist I was running too many apps, I say no way. I charged the phone and put it down and 10 hours later the batter was flat. The phone was not in use at all.

They hesitated, waited a week to see if I was in a hurry to have the phones back before Christmas, and when I insisted they check the batteries they agreed to hand it in. I am still waiting. I am not sure if I will keep mine, the one I bought my mom I will probably take to Cash Crusaders or throw it in the back of a cupboard. The store does not give refunds on phones.

Sometimes she is so stubborn and negative and does not realise that when I am at work I worry if she does not answer her phone especially after she had the heart attack in May.

As if that was not bad enough I got a letter from the corporate director while the year end braai was held. Only 30% bonus and a possible performance bonus in the middle of 2015. I did the work of 3 people, trained new staff, survived two retrenchments and then I am rewarded with an insult. I did not stay for the stupid braai made inside a rusted old drum, I spared myself the stupid “next year will be better” year end blah blah speech.

Are we using the internet to its fullest?

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I come from a generation who did all research in an ancient library.

School projects where always on subjects found in dusty old books which you weren’t allowed to book out and take home. So if there was a picture you wanted, you had to pay R1 to photocopy the page or else you would have to sit on a hard chair and write down notes.

I never imagined that one day we could be doing all this so effortlessly with computers, printers and the internet.

ARE WE USING COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET TO THE FULLEST?

Lately I feel bored with what I am doing, I have several running blogs, I read what my friends post on facebook, I hate Pinterest, I have watched almost everything available on YouTube. I have taught myself excel and VBA so there must be something more. I have seen almost everything on StumbleUpon. I hunger for something else, something different, something engaging.

I’m not interested in porn, UFO’s or dinosaurs.

I have read everything on the internet about ancient Egyptian history, crimes and celebrity news. What else is left?

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