In all honesty, I have mixed feelings about this car…

My Glugster and I got to drive a Colorado Red, Ford Focus 2.0 GDi Sport for a road trip weekend, the top model of the new Ford Focus range.

The styling and the interior is fabulous. Its a seriously good looking car in my humble opinion, especially in the red!

When my knucklehead climbed into the car he said it was like sitting in a spaceship! The centre consol is mindbogglingly full of buttons and dials- which I just love to fiddle with and figure out- and you can even connect your phones to the car with Bluetooth! The steering wheel also has almost full control of the centre consol functions! For someone as easily distracted as I am its easy to get side-tracked whilst behind the wheel!

Neither the knucklehead or my Glugster have ever been in a car with a key-less start and that was quite a novelty- as long as the key is inside the car it can be in a pocket or the cubbyhole, and you can push a button to start the engine. My Glugster and I are not small people *coff* but we didn’t battle with space or leg room at all, in the front or in the back. The driver’s seat is 6-way adjustable and easy to do, which is fabulous when there are two very different drivers. The steering wheel is also adjustable, for height and reach. Its got a fantastic sound system, more than ample boot space, and it has cup holders INSIDE THE BACK DOOR PANELS!

Such a chick is me…

We took it into the Kruger and cruised merrily through the park for an entire afternoon, it handles beautifully at low speeds with a cruise control that can se set as slow as 35km an hour! It was a wee bit low to be able to see into the bush properly, the I think that’s the bane of any non-SUV in a game reserve. I would have LOVED to do a game reserve road trip in the Ford Ranger WildTrak, OMW what an awesome car!

Anyhoodle, I’m getting off topic here. Back to the hatch.

When I drove this hatch at the launch, I had the same issue as on our road trip- it can’t get up a hill.

One would think a two litre sport hatch would be a cake walk to throw around a mountain pass, but not so with this one. If the revs drop to under 2K you have to gear down to 3rd to get it going up an incline, unless you were flying down the previous hill at break-neck speed which is of course, against the law!

I found that immensely frustrating and disappointing on a car that I otherwise love.

On December 28^th 2012, I awoke to the final realisation and the absolute inability to deny any longer, that I had come to the end of my 38^th year on this here third rock from the sun…

38

Thirty Eight

The Big Three Eight

XXXVIII

0b100110

You know, there are some numbers that are scary when it comes to one’s age… For me, 27 was one of them and 38 was the other. 20 didn’t scare me, 40 doesn’t feature, and I can’t tell you why, but turning 38 loomed large on my emotional horizon.

I had a bit of a cake and tea for my birthday, its never a particularly big occasion when I celebrate on my actual birthday as most people are on holiday/ broke/ hungover in the week that falls between Christmas and New Year. I did have some fabulous company and we had some luvverly cake and tea and I got some glorious gifts!

I got some Yuppiechef vouchers and if anyone has ever been on that site they will know how it is to get stuck there!

The day after my birthday I was sitting outside with the dogs and I shopped with my vouchers, and I was quite flabbergasted when my parcel- with a hand written birthday card- arrived the next morning already!!

And of course my Twitter and Facebook accounts were both full of birthday wishes from friends and loved ones and that always makes a birthday special!

And now I need a holiday!

I closed The Cupcake Lady for business on December 22^nd, since my Glugster wasn’t going to be on leave I didn’t see the need to close earlier than that. That would also give me a full two weeks to get Volt, the guide-dog puppy I am raising, settled and sorted in his new home. I fetched Volt from SAGA on December 19^th and its been crazy busy since then (you can read about my puppy raising adventures here)!

Christmas Eve started early-ish with my in-laws coming to us for lunch! We were going to braai but it was seriously rainy and cold so we had a cold lunch indoors instead. It would have been really relaxed if I hadn’t had to run after Volt every few minutes, but it was lovely to see them for Christmas. I am really lucky in that I have really awesome parents-in-law!

Christmas Eve dinner was at my folks place. Cold meats, salads, cheesecake, snacks… wonderfully relaxed, and my mommy darling got to have almost all her grandchildren in one place for the first time in a long time! We had decided on a fun gift swap since we don’t buy presents for everyone in the family, and after supper and cheesecake we had our second youngest nephew Nathan play Santa, deciding who got which gift. The kids were fascinated with Volt, but he has to be carefully watched because rowdy play is discouraged. And he behaved so very well! My poor sister C spent Christmas Eve in hospital having put her back out again!

Christmas Day was back at our house! My Christmas table centre-piece was inspired by some things I found on Pinterest (you can find the link to my boards in my sidebar). My darling Glugs did his always popular chicken-pasta-potjie and we all ate too much! The weather was perfect compared to the previous day and it was fabulous for swimming! Once again I did a lot of running after Volt, but he was really very well behaved. We played 30 Seconds and laughed till we cried! It was glorious!

Boxing Day, or Family Day as its now known, was spent at home, chilling and sleeping and eating leftovers.

I hope you all had a glorious Christmas!

Read the newest instalment:

Volt Is Learning So Fast

This was our version of an electronic Christmas card that I emailed to our friends and family earlier this month!

I hope all who have visited me here in the last year have a fabulously blessed and peaceful festive season and a happy start to 2012!