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A place for women in South Africa and abroad to share something good every day!
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The Circus is Coming to Town
One of the not-so-thrilling aspects of living in Southern California is dealing with termite infestation in our wood-framed homes.
Our townhouse development (about 250 units in all) is being fumigated this month, which means double-bagging all our food and medicines, moving all our houseplants out into the yard, packing up everything we need for work and daycare, and moving out for three days while our home is tented.
We’ll be living it up in a local budget motel — watching junk TV, eating out and swimming in the hotel pool.
With all the packing, living out of bags and then unpacking again later in the week, I think I’m going to take a little holiday from blogging. Our hotel has wireless Internet access but I think I’m going to take those three days to just hang out with my boys!
See you all next week!
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Posted: July 21st, 2008 | 1 Comment ... Your thoughts?
Categories: From the editor, Living abroad
Happy 90th Birthday Mr Mandela!
Source: South Africa Info’s Mandela Gallery
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Posted: July 18th, 2008 | 1 Comment ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Politics & society, From South Africa
Small, Small, Catch Monkey
This is the second guest post installment from AfricanKelli. Check her blog for more photos and a detailed account of her work in Moz.
I’ve just returned from two weeks in Beira, Mozambique. I work for an American NGO that has a public health project in eight outlying villages of Beira.
This city was once the major port for Southern Africa. The former Portuguese colony has suffered greatly since their independence; civil war, Cold War, communism, the arrival of HIV and a essentially non-existent educational system have left the people fighting to survive. The average life span in Mozambique today is just 37.
I’m not exaggerating when I say there are entire generations of people simply missing. You don’t find folk in the villages age 40-60. There are some older than 60 who managed to avoid the AIDS epidemic and there are entire orphanages full of children who haven’t. There is no end in sight to this disease’s wrath even though testing and treatment are free. And some 26% of the population in Beira is HIV-positive.
Our health project focuses on HIV testing and treatment, and malaria and cholera prevention. We have 11,000 people currently participating in the project, along with our partnering agency — Care for Life. While it is easy to see the death and despair in these numbers, I’m hopeful too. Our mosquito nets are preventing malaria every day. Our water treatment project is restoring health and keeping children from dying of dehydration every day. Each day a child is born healthy in Mozambique because the HIV prevention message was successful. I have to cling to these positives to get through our work. Otherwise it would be too easy to give up.
They have a saying in Cameroon — “Small, small, catch monkey.” Little by little, we are tackling disease and poverty in Mozambique. I know this beautiful country will once again thrive with prosperity. I hope to be there to see its great return.
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Posted: July 18th, 2008 | 1 Comment ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Politics & society, Body, mind & spirit, From around the world, Travel & leisure
Visiting Malawi for the First (Definitely Not the Last) Time!
Guest posts today and Friday from the lovely AfricanKelli. Enjoy! And visit Kelli’s blog for more photos.
My first trip to Africa was eight years ago. In the past five adventures to this great continent, I have been lucky enough to swim on volcanic beaches of Cameroon, stand at the Cape of Good Hope and see wildlife in Mozambique. Two weeks of vacation in Malawi to explore sounded like a dream, and this beautiful country lived up to every expectation.
I flew into Blantyre and spent the first week at the Lujeri Tea Estate in the Mulaje Mountain Reserve. Imagine the TV show LOST, or Hawaii or any other slice of paradise and you’ve got Mulanje — minus the beach. Towering, lush green peaks covered in jungle and cloudy forest team with monkeys, birds and other wild creatures. The scenery was other worldly.
Malawians speak British English, take their tea quite seriously and have a great sense of humor. They were kind, exceptionally hospitable and curious to why an American girl would pick their corner of the world for an adventure. Why not?
Their game parks are full of incredible animals I’d only seen before in zoos. Their restaurants offer heaps of seafood, beef and grilled chicken, with a cold beer or two to help the palate. Their villages are full of happy, singing folk who seem to have a state of content that I’ve rarely seen elsewhere.
Malawi is safe, clean, beautiful, sweet and worthy of an exotic vacation. I simply cannot wait to return.
More on Kelli’s difficult but very rewarding work in Mozambique on Friday.
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Posted: July 16th, 2008 | No comments yet ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Travel & leisure, Food & entertaining
RU RSSing? And Giveaway Prizes!
First, congratulations to the winners in last week’s giveaway! The following ladies each win a Handbag Organiser from Cherry Brand:
US/Canada:
- Julie at Green Stilettos on the Go
- Michele at Creative Writings 101
- Gemca, who is still resisting the idea that she needs to start her own blog!
South Africa:
- Kitten
- Vanessa
- Saaleha, who has not one, not two, not three but FOUR blogs!
Congrats all! I’ll be in touch. And for the rest of you, please don’t forget the Cherry Handbag Organiser when you are buying holiday gifts later this year!
So! Onto the subject of RSS and how you get your daily information fix.
If you currently read more than a handful of online news or entertainment sites or personal blogs, you really should be using RSS to read them.
In a nutshell, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication — and in plain English that means your blog posts coming to you each day, all on one page, instead of you having to go and track them down.
I find the easiest way to do that is to use Google Reader or one of the other great readers (Bloglines comes to mind).
Once you’ve set up the reader, you simply add the RSS feed address for the sites and blogs you like (for example, eLuckypacket’s address is: http://www.eluckypacket.com/feed/) and voila, the next time your favorite site has a new post, it pops up in your reader.
Want a bit more on RSS?
- Here’s South-African social-media expert, Melissa Attree on RSS.
- And here’s my friend Aimee at Greeblemonkey’s outstanding tutorial on using Google Reader (or Bloglines).
And to make it REALLY super simple, here is a quick ‘n dirty overview on how RSS works by the guys at Common Craft (thanks Melissa!).
Yes, remember when you vowed to make life simpler earlier this year … in your New Year resolutions? RSS is one very easy way to do that!
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Posted: July 14th, 2008 | 4 Comments ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Giving & receiving, Products & services, Technology & gadgets
Ooh! Five-Minute Chocolate Cake in a Mug!
Only a few more days to enter to win
our latest FREE giveaway!
Oh my word! A new reader, Naqiyah at Tongue Tickle commented recently and so I went over to take a look at her foodie blog.
Lovely photos, tantalizing recipes. Take a look for yourself.
And then I saw the chocolate cake. The FIVE MINUTE chocolate cake. That you make in a coffee mug. In the microwave.
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons oil
Method:
- Add all the ingredients and mix in the coffee mug.
- Pop into the microwave and cook for 3 minutes.
- Remove, add whipped cream and grated chocolate.
Now that’s my kind of chocolate cake! I haven’t tried it yet but I plan to soon.
How about you? Want to try it, come back here and let us know how it was?
Five-minute chocolate cake in a mug. It’s GOT to be GOOD!
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Posted: July 9th, 2008 | 3 Comments ... Your thoughts?
Categories: From South Africa, Food & entertaining
Horses, Silk and Feathers
Miss our FREE giveaway Friday? You’ve got all week to join in!
Designer Siphokazi Mzekandaba shows off
her very pretty peacock-inspired design.
(Photo: Richard Shorey of The Times)
For those living out of the country, this past weekend was the Durban July at Greyville Race Course and I ran across these pictures of avant garde fashion at the race. As outlandish as ever!
Also great pictures in the set of Hugh Masekela, Gcina Mlope, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and other celebs enjoying the races.
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Posted: July 7th, 2008 | No comments yet ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Politics & society, Arts & culture, Fashion & beauty, From South Africa
Friday FREE Giveaway! Six Cherry Handbag Organizers!
Cell phone, make-up bag, wallet, iPod, hairspray, comb, hair elastics, lip balm, notebook, pen, nail polish … massive bunch of keys.
Credit cards, chequebook, library cards, medical and auto insurance cards, the seven-year-old dog-eared business card with my husband’s social-insurance and driver’s license numbers on it. Some grimy looking chewing gum. The list goes on.
Needless to say, even though I have four or five handbags, I only use ONE of them. A stylish new red leather job that, alas, doesn’t go with much but I love it. When I turned 40, it was cheaper than buying a red sports car!
I only use one bag because the thought of transferring all my crapola every day is daunting!
Enter the Cherry Handbag Organiser™, a flexible, waterproof fabric insert that fits neatly into your handbag to hold the kazillion items you can’t live without.
The outside pouches hold cell phones, sunglasses etc, the side pockets hold business cards and the miscellaneous bits and pieces that usually collect at the bottom of your bag. And the large central cubby can be used to hold purse, keys, cosmetics etc.
In case you drop your bag, spilling the contents, there are also a few secret pockets on the inside of the organiser for those discreet or embarrassing items. Like the silicone nipple shield I found in my bag a few months back … I haven’t nursed my son in over two years!
Not only does the Cherry Handbag Organiser make it easier to find stuff, it really makes the swapping of bags an absolute breeze! Just lift the whole insert out and pop it into the new bag!
Here’s the sweet part … Karen and Connie from The Cherry Brand are giving away handbag FREE liners to SIX eLuckypacket readers – three in the US or Canada and three in South Africa. Isn’t that delicious?!
There’s only one thing more wonderful than a practical, stylish product like this … and that’s a FREE practical, stylish product like this!
And I’m going to make it super easy …
Simply visit The Cherry Brand’s website and take a good look at their beautiful liners, which come in small, medium and large … and black, grey and cherry red!
Then come back to eLuckpacket and leave a comment on this post telling me:
- The most useful item in your handbag
- The most useless or embarrassing item in your handbag
- Which country you live in (sorry … South Africa, US and Canada only!)
I’ll leave comments open for a whole week — lots of time to send this on to your mothers, sisters, colleagues and girlfriends. Then next weekend, we’ll do a random draw and announce the six lucky winners the following Monday. Sound good?
So, what you waiting for? Go check out the Cherry Handbag Organiser … and then rush back and tell me what’s in YOUR bag!
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Posted: July 4th, 2008 | 21 Comments ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Fashion & beauty, From around the world, From South Africa, Giving & receiving, Products & services
eLuckyfocus: Oh My Stinkin Heck!
PSSST! Check back here on Friday!
I’m giving away gorgeous
FREE stuff again!
Or perhaps I should say Oh My Sticky Heck!
One of my very favourite American bloggers, Heather at Oh My Stinkin Heck, has a list of great projects she’s doing with her kids this summer (yes, summer, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere).
Case in point, these lovely Post-it Notebooks made by daughters Emelie and Meredith, and five-and-a-half-year-old son Kenny.
Yes, these deliciously vivid and very practical little booklets were made by Heather’s kids with a bit of help from Mom. Beats shipping them off to the latest Pixar movie any day of the week!
Heather is an unbelievably talented photographer, web designer, writer and a very honest, soulful mama. And I find myself living vicariously through her and other work-from-home bloggers.
Feasting my eyes on the artsy craftsy stuff she does with her family, eyeing with a bit of envy the time she spends with her parents who live close by, and definitely coveting the stunning chalkboard wall she (well, her hubby) and her hubby recently installed in their kitchen.
Spend some time on Heather’s beautifully designed blog and dip into her archives. You’ll find it hard to resist adding her to your blog reader.
Here are some more pictures of the Post-it note books and a link to the original tutorial Heather worked from.
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Posted: July 3rd, 2008 | 2 Comments ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Arts & culture, Kids & family, From around the world
An American Girl in Mozambique
A blogging friend is currently doing work for an NGO in Mozambique.
Kelli is an American girl with an African heart, and when she returns to Arizona later this summer (or winter, depending on where you live), she has promised to guest post on eLuckypacket and tell us all, not only about her work in Moz, but about the time she spent touring Malawi last month.
The minute I came across her blog, I knew I’d found a kindred spirit — Kelli is exuberant, carefree and passionate about so many things. And she really does take time to make others feel important.
An excerpt from her post yesterday:
“I went through my backpack and found red nail polish. Amelia (14) and I sat at the kitchen table. She smiled wildly as I painted her fingernails.
I suppose there are certain universal truths to being a teenage girl. You want security. You want to feel pretty. You want to be smart and well-taken care of. You want to be loved. This teenage girl wants to be able to take care of her siblings. And I even managed to find her some new underwear and a half-full bottle of Dove body spray that made her jump up and down in delight. If only all of her wishes were so easily granted.
I wish for her to stay in school, be able to keep the boys away, go to church and be the recipient of a fabulous stroke of luck that keeps her from sickness and further sorrow as an orphan raising a family.”
Here is the rest of Kelli’s post. I look forward to her sharing more of her travels and work with us!
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Posted: June 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Arts & culture, Fashion & beauty, Body, mind & spirit, From around the world, Travel & leisure
eLuckybits ‘n Pieces
Just pretend it’s Christmas here at eLuckypacket! These bits and pieces have been sitting on my to-post list. Just little snippets I thought you might like:
- For Flickr fans, there is a new tool that allows you to search Flickr photos by colour (by COLOUR I say!). For example, I chose three colours to get the group of thumbnails above. Subtract a colour and the results are recalculated to remove that colour from the pool; add another colour and new pictures appear that have that colour added. Sweet! And handy for making ready-to-hang art for a space with difficult colours … or instant eye candy to add to the front of a homemade birthday card?
- Also learned about a new African entertainment portal called Jamati. This very stylish new site targets the African diaspora and features music, film, lifestyle, books and sports. Here’s more about Jamati and its founder from Erik over at White African.
- If you were a teenage girl in Durban in the eighties, I only need to say two words to make you swoon. Shaun. Tomson. Remember the hunk pushing past you through the crowd, heading out into the surf at the Gunston 500? Well Mr. Hot Stuff will be the honourary guest at this year’s Mr. Price Pro, which has replaced the Gunston. And yes, he’s still delectable, so head down there in your old high-school crocheted bikini and mirror sunglasses. Or maybe not!
- Amazon.com (one of my very favourite online retailers) and the SA Post Office have been arguing over whether or not it is feasible to ship to SA. US-based Amazon wants to ship only by private courier to SA, running South Africans around R400 a shot for delivery! And in a very smart move, Amazon.uk put out a statement wooing South-African shoppers to use their services instead — the UK site will continue to ship via good old-fashioned airmail to SA.
- Last, remember I told you about SA blogger Alice Vosloo, who just this year had a double lung transplant? Well, she’s going from strength to strength and is, in fact, featured in this month’s edition of Oprah Magazine (SA Edition). Go Alice!
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Posted: June 27th, 2008 | 3 Comments ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Arts & culture, Living in South Africa, Products & services, Technology & gadgets
Bravo Mr. Zuma!
Not often you’ll hear me say that!
Jacob Zuma’s actions may have been dicy in the past — and I don’t exactly relish the idea of a man with his seeming lack of moral judgment running the country.
But I have to stand up and say (actually I feel like jumping up and down screaming!) “FINALLY!” and “Bravo, Mr. Zuma!”
From a story in Tuesday’s LA Times …
“We cannot agree with ZANU-PF. We cannot agree with them on values,” Zuma said at a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. “We fought for the right of people to vote, we fought for democracy.”
He said the situation in Zimbabwe was “out of control” and called for urgent international intervention to ensure a political settlement leading to new elections.
Zuma has clearly acquired what we call here in Southern California a set of cajones (referring to those parts of the male anatomy that show you have what it takes in tough situations).
FINALLY a South-African politician is calling it as it is in Zimbabwe … in stark contrast to Mr. Mbeki’s absolute inability to speak a word against Mugabe.
Our news has been FULL the last few days of various world leaders FINALLY calling for international action.
Too little too late but on the other hand, better late than never! I’m still hoping to light that second candle.
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Posted: June 25th, 2008 | 3 Comments ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Politics & society, From South Africa
iBEZ 4 PREZ! Tannie Evita Now Holding Court on Zoopy!
You’d think after all these years that we’d be over Tannie Evita. Or that she’d be irrelevant in this era of South-African globalism and the passing of her old-time political rivals.
But she manages to reinvent herself — as with the launch of her new multi-media channel on Zoopy — South Africa’s very successful answer to YouTube.
Her Zoopy channel has videos, a photo gallery and, kyk skattie, even a blog! That and her bid for the South-African Presidency. I have a feeling that she and Hillary would instantly form a mutual admiration club were they to be introduced.
And for fans, check out Pieter Dirk Uys’s webpage.
Things are slowly returning to normal in our household … and I’ll hopefully be back to posting this week.
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Posted: June 23rd, 2008 | 1 Comment ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Politics & society, Arts & culture, From South Africa
Celebrating the Dads and the Kiddos
A very belated Happy Fathers’ Day and I hope all of you in South Africa had a relaxing long weekend and a restful Youth Day on Monday!
Things have been a bit wild here at Casa eLuckypacket — hence no posting! See that angelic blondie in the picture above? He’s been sick and home from daycare for a week with a nasty chest infection. Coughing, spluttering, a very high fever and piles of yukky diapers.
I hate it when he’s sick and there’s so little I can do about it. Tylenol, lukewarm showers to cool down, lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles. He’s finally on the mend — you know it when he starts doing naughty things again!
At the same time, Dave’s brother and his family came to visit, so our three-bedroom townhouse is pretty full and loud at the moment with three boys under the age of four.
That’s Kai, Tau’s bigger cousin, with him in the picture above. We made a cake for Father’s Day — the boys doing the mixing and the decorating and me helping with anything that required pushing tins in and out of the hot oven.
The boys spread the icing and pressed Smarties into it — then “decorated” using some Madagascar figures we had from Tau’s baby shower cake.
And of course, no cake is complete in a kid’s mind without candles — so we had to add a couple of those and the kids helped the dads blow them out! Pfooo!
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Posted: June 19th, 2008 | 1 Comment ... Your thoughts?
Categories: From the editor, Kids & family
eLuckyfocus: Mother City Living
Planning a visit to Cape Town? Check out Mother City Living, a blog that celebrates the gentler, greener pleasures of the mother city.
Great places to watch the sun set, fun hangouts for an after-the-beach drink, where to find the best local veggies and crafts.
eLuckypacket reader Pia edits and maintains Mother City Living and is clear on what she calls the good (green) life:
“… I mean a life that includes good food, beautiful places and excursions to the great outdoors, all within the realms of an ordinary person’s budget.
I am a big fan of natural things, of organic foods, original crafts, restaurants that are not chains, small shops and cafes.
I’m for slow food, not fast food.
Mother City Living will bring news of the places I’ve visited. Places that take great care in the preparation of food, of the service they provide.”
MCL also highlights local accommodations, special events and neighbourhood markets, so this site is definitely worth a visit next time you’re in the city!
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Posted: June 12th, 2008 | No comments yet ... Your thoughts?
Categories: Arts & culture, Living in South Africa, From South Africa, Travel & leisure, Food & entertaining
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Your Comments
- Georgie: Enjoy the break..Enforced holidays are not a bad thing....
- SunnyInspiration: I really enjoyed these guest posts by Ms. AfricanKelli. Than...
- Kelli: Amen! May the world be graced with more leaders such as Mand...
- Gill: I love the sound of this. I think that would be a great thi...
- Jeanne: Dooce absolutely rocks my world. I love her monthly newslet...
- Linda: I love your blog. I found it via your comment on AfricanKell...
- Mom: Am I "RSSing"?? Are you kidding me?? It takes me all my time...
- Vannessa: Cool! Thanks, I usually never win anything. Maybe my luck ...
- saaleha: Thanks again for a really useful prize, especially since I t...
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