This may come as a slight surprise to you, but I may have the ability to SOUND dramatic.

In a world (Benoni, South Africa) where the need for a car is a necessity, having problems may be the norm but having car problems well that is where I resort to ugly crying.

Having grown up in a family of mostly girls the over-analyzing need to not sound or be dramatic fails me constantly.  So I will tell you my story whilst giving the facts and to the point. I will try not to be dramatic and keep to the facts. The following story is a recount of the life of Ms Chanaynay.

It is August. I have been trying to do a year round up every month since 2017, so I am pleased to advise that managing this post makes me simply unstoppable.

Between the chaos and the WTF moments, 2018 has had some wonderful moments. However, I do not want to focus on the good. The crazy moments that I have endured make me funnier.

I have had consistent car problems.

My Car-ma ,yes I just did that, has been a bit off.

It may have started with my reversing into a stationary Jag, the car. And then there was the slight hiccup when we had to tow my car to the local mechanic due to the teapot light (the oil filter) coming on. Apparently trying to save money by extending the time between services is BAD! Who knew? 

What happens when you find yourself car-less?

Between this one part of my goings on, life carried on in the usual rhythm of getting kids to school, some days with sunblock other days they had lunch. Give and take I’ve been told … when it comes to parenting.

The day that everything changed was the day I went to an Aromat launch – it was about a month ago.

It was the day the real car problems started. I left the Good Food Studio on an event high. Excited that Aromat have created something wonderful and involved some brilliant South African people. And now we can be happy and guilt-free when feeding our children

With no MSG, GMO’s, artificial ingredients, preservatives or colourants and 40% less salt, Aromat Naturally Tasty is bursting into the South African market as a guilt free healthier seasoning option.

I managed to get back to the East Rand and after some meetings and a few errands, I was lucky enough (see still being positive here) to have my car have its emotional breakdown as I drove into my driveway. 

Needless to say for a second time in as many weeks my car was towed.

Between begging and pleading for lifts and relying on the goodwill of mom friends at the school, and family as we have now entered the 5^th week of no car. Firstly I absolutely hate having to ask for help. I have had to swallow a lot of pride and ask for help. I am just a lucky girl to surround myself with some phenomenal people

When trying to share one car creates another car problem

My brother in law without question let us use his Fortuner which the hubster has been driving. I have been driving the hubsters *gulp* … manual.

I love driving the hubster’s car because it has power and I feel like I can reenact a scene from “The Fast and the Furious” except that when I drive I am in fact not fast nor furious.

Surely things do not get worse at this point of the story?

Well … guess again!

During this time I may have needed to jump start a borrowed car that couldn’t start whilst in the school parking lot. Apparently this car’s lights do not turn off automatically. In front of the preschool, the Grade O’s were preparing for an outing. And so in front of the Grade 0 classroom, the teachers including the pre-school headmistress, all got the opportunity to watch my helplessness as the car’s alarm let off intermittent squeals. Eventually a groundsman bought a jumper cable and Miss K’s friend’s mom jump-started my car.

It has spiraled. Forgetting a book here, being late there, forgetting to dress Miss T in her PJ’s for Pyjama Day and even though, to be fair she did look like she had just gotten out of bed, she was understandably upset.

Miss K was currently in her last school concert performance before school holidays started. I was helping the Grade One girls get ready and then rush to get the much-missed pyjamas and slippers. So once again I continue my walk of shame at the school as I walk the corridors. The parents look at me as they pass me, with great pity saying, “Shame, shame, shame …”.

I need to stop writing now as I have to arrange to get my garage door fixed. Yes! That has stopped working too. The not so good news is that, as we stand, my car has had to be towed from the current mechanic to the dealer to try to find the electric fault.  Whilst the bills continue to pile up, just know that I am not crying and rocking in a corner. Why? Because there are just sooo many things I choose to be grateful for.

I am struggling a little, but once I start chatting to everyone around me I realise that we all have our struggles. I would however like to think that my struggles are just that little bit more funnier.

Last night, we watched the kick off to the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2018 held in Russia. Robbie Williams sang and for me, it will already be one of my favourite World Cups thus far. Now as an avid all round watcher of any big sporting event I realise that some partners may not have my enthusiasm – even though I have no clue on a good day. I thought it was best to write up a “How to Survive The Soccer World Cup  2018″

Saudi Arabia and Russia met on the field for the opening game. Russian scored 5 goals and I went to bed with the knowledge that Putin would be a very happy President. My prediction would be that there will be no oil deals in the near future with these two countries. I guess it brings in surviving into a whole new context.

As we head into the next few weeks soccer fever will escalate. Potentially so will most wives tempers. I approached 2 friends whose husbands are quite the avid soccer watchers.

In one of my past lives I was an au pair, and for a few years I ran a local agency supplying au pairs to families.

What Is An Au Pair?

There are many definitions of au pairs and childminders, but during my time running the agency and trying to put some structure to a very new environment and service, this is what we decided on with regards to providing an explanation for each service:   

What’s in a name?

Whilst one might think of Gin & Tonic when hearing the name of my blog, and whilst you won’t be wrong, you won’t be right either.

Whilst I do like the occasional Gin & Tonic sundowner, alas that is not the “tonic” I am referring to in the name of my blog – Tonic & Tiaras.

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 I have a love-hate relationship with the different chat groups I am part of in my WhatsApp world.

Our Telkom line has been down and with it my link to the outside world, I’ve been on edge.. no really it’s all I can get on my mobile. I mean what else do we use our phones for. Calls? Pfft

Last weekend the Hubster and I grabbed some popcorn and settled in to watch Arrival.

Arrival stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Remmer who are on an important mission to find out why alien craft have suddenly appeared around the world. As it turns out these pods are trying to communicate and it’s up to the pair to figure out why they arrived on Earth and this needs to be done before war breaks out. I thought this was just another lame sci-fi but it turned out to be so much more.

I have mixed emotions about sci-fi movies, but when you marry a man who lives for them and requires me to throw a tantrum before we get to watch something girly (which more often than not proves to be a massive disappointment) you have to learn to cope. So what I thought would be the background soundtrack to me working on my Pinterest life, has managed to leave me so deep in thought and reflecting on this whole parenting/adult journey and choices we make.

I love cooking and trying new foods, sometimes to the detriment of my family and friends.

I think my palette is different and it does not like to be bored. My palette is its own entity controlled by weird and wonderful tastes and emotions. One could say my palette is an acquired taste. I have decided that besides my fascination with all things trending in food, my palette is making me a bit of a foodie outcast.

On advice I am going to start with the basics again instead of going straight to making kimchi. Firstly, because not a lot is known about this superfood and then to top it off I do not have many taste testers knocking down my door. So maybe I need to start with more basic South African ingredients and experience that first. I do find myself drawing the line at “walkie talkies” I know what they are but have no desire to cross that road.