Not so weekend Bliss .....

And here I am, not a week later, about to complain about the unperk's of my job :)

So, once a year, each employee has to take a turn to do a Duty Managers weekend at the hotel. You are here from 15h00 on a Friday till 15h00 on a Sunday. You eat, barely sleep and walk yourself into a coma for 48 hours .. I almost escaped this tiresome task this year but only almost .. I had been excused of my DM weekend on Thursday, only to be told on Thursday evening that I needed to do it because the person that was going to do it became ill. GREAT ! Now, how to arrange a house sitter, and more importantly - a safe, happy invironment for my child whilst im 'away'. Now most of you dont know that the target market of this hotel is very corporate and business orientated - we VERY rarely have children in the hotel ... we're not geared for it at all .... (Can you picture it ??)

Thankfully, when they called me on Thursday evening, I was visiting with a friend, who was only to happy to come and spend Friday night here at the hotel with me and to bring Natalia and her friend Gabbi with. The hotel allows your 'family' to spend the weekend with you and all foods etc are covered by the hotel .... The girls will thoroughly enjoy it we thought, so the plan was set ...

I arrived at work 15h00 yesterday and they arrived shortly after 17h00. The girls were obviously in VERY high spirits and almost uncontrolable :) ... They found a totally new use for the porters trolley ~ as a means of transport for little people, not luggage ... They stripped down to their bare little bottoms and launched themselves into the jacuzzi at 18h00 in the evening and ordered hot chocolate to their hearts content ... (all the while I am hiding in the background watching this circus hoping nobody will ask whose kids they were !) :) My friend Charmaine was just watching gleefully as they explored the services available to them in a 4 star property. Dinner was a challenge :) ... Two little people in their gowns in a fancy restaurant playing ponies .....under the tables, in the kitchen, galloping and neighing at full tilt :) The chef was less than amused at having to whip up Vienna's and Chips in his fancy "pay a fortune get a decoration not a meal" restaurant ... but he took it like a man ... This was followed by a room service order for ice cream & chocolate sauce and hot chocolate at 21h00 ... At about 21h10 I received a page to call reception because a guest had complained about the noise coming from room 2003 ... who's room do you think that was ?? MINE ... when I got there, the kids (and my friend Charmaine) were jumping on the king size bed shrieking with pure delight ... after all, its not their beds at home so why not ?? Thankfully, when I popped in to check on them at 22h00 they were all ordered & jumped out.

I eventually got in and to bed at 01h30 only to be up again at 05h00 to be back on the floor at 05h30 .... (my feet are killing me and its only 16h30 on Saturday, still 24 hours to go) .. Anyway, they joined me for breakfast, which was yet another experience. Faced with a full buffet breakfast with choices from fruit, yoghurt, cereal, meats, cheeses, biscuits, hot items, eggs on order etc etc you can imagine their indicision ... so a little bit of everything it was ~ with more hot chocolate ... :) They eventually left at 11h00 this morning, Natalia is spending tonight with another friend of hers (I dont think I could cope with repeat of yesterday ...) and will join me again for yet another big buffet lunch before I finish up tomorrow afternoon and head home ...

Although the mere thought of taking your children to a establishment such as this probably makes most of your hair stand on end, I am very glad that Natalia had the opportunity .. I remember as a child, my dad took us to a hotel where we had a very similar experience .. I remember the rest of the family finishing up at breakfast and moving back to the room while me and my dad sat in the restaurant and ordered hot chocolate ... I remember being SO full, but just enjoyed so much having the variety and choice available to me that I HAD to try absolutely everything ... and my dad just sat with me, until I was done and ready to leave this restaurant of heavenly choice :) I dont remember the room, I actually dont remember ANYTHING else about that hotel, just that, just the breakfast .....

Anyway ...I have to go, they're paging me ....We a huge set up for 500 people going on this evening and tomorrow, so I dont expect the rest of the weekend will be quiet ... I guess only 4 hours sleep tonight so that'll total a whole 8 hours this weekend ... im looking forward to bed time tomorrow ..

Must dash ...

Weekend Bliss ......

I must admit, doing the job I do has its perks .... I was spoilt by one of our suppliers on Friday and treated to a Side Car trip over Sir Lowry's Pass ... it was such an incredible opportunity, there were a team of 10 of us plus 5 drivers and we did the whole trip in convoy, which is impressive to see ... For some reason im having a problem posting pictures on here so i'll have to ask Shirl to help with that ..

On Saturday another friend of mine took me to watch the SA vs Aus game at Newlands - its always good fun to watch a game live - the atmosphere is electric. Natalia was MOST upset that she couldnt come with me .. she kept saying "mommy, I also want to go see the bokkies in real life !!" .... I had to promise to take her to a game (eeeek ....)

Sunday was a lovely day :) - We live in a small complex which is largly occupied by the older generation ... I have noticed that there is a single mother down the road with her two kids as well, but we have not made the effort to actually go and introduce ourselves ... Well Sunday was the day :) I am so totally over being the only entertainment at home for Natalia - I love my child to the ends of the earth and back, but there is only so much imaginery play, story reading, marble throwing that a mother can do in one day when all the other friends are away and you have no funding to take them out !! I took Tal by the hand, down the road and knocked on her door (brave for me ... i dont like that kind of thing :) ) ... We had a lovely cup of coffee and a chat and I then went back home without Natalia :) She decided that David (6yrs old) and Chloe (10 yrs old) were much better company than mom (ya think ??) ...

So on Sunday and the whole day yesterday David and Natalia were marching between our home and his home ... I actually spent a lot of time pacing around at home not knowing what to do with myself because she wasnt there and all the cleaning up had been done :) I eventually managed to drag her off their computer and take the roller skates off her feet at 18h00 last night - shoo ! Kids are funny - Natalia has TV games and David has Computer educational programs, at one point, David said to Natalia - "im staying at your house with your mom to play TV games and you go to my house and play computer games with my mom OK " hee hee

So all in all a good weekend .....