we love you hope

on friday night, the mister and I went out on a date. We ventured into the big city to see hope sandoval and the warm inventions play at the enmore theatre, that most wonderful of venues where one doesn't have to feel guilty about sitting down for an entire gig, because that's what you're meant to do. Good for old folks like us.
I am so glad we went. I knew it would be good, but it totally surpassed my expectations. I was blown away and am totally in awe of her talent (not to mention gorgeousness!!). I now have an intense desire to learn to play the glockenspiel...we'll see how we go with that one. In the meantime, maybe I can just mooch around the house in a little black dress and knee-high boots, humming along to the cd. I'm sure the mister won't complain.
above picture is from this article...luckily on the night we went, everyone paid heed to the "no camera" warning. I know I took it very seriously!

whilst mamma was busy in the garden today...

someone decided to help himself to a little snack. Because, you know, milo is good for growing boys.
oh look, I can just eat it straight from the tin, I don't even need to use my hands.

um, maybe just one more mouthful?

no, maybe not.

back to business

cute blue one in the shop

loving this pocket

and this button

today I...

made a calendar. Why would you be making a calendar halfway through the year I hear you asking, and quite rightly so. Well, the reason I am making a calendar halfway through the year is because I was too stupid to buy one at the start of the year, when other, more sensible folk get these things sorted and thus become organised and remember to do things. Not me. I am the sort of person who decides they will solely rely on the calendars they give out in frankie magazine, because they are cute and sweet. So what if you only get two months at a time. I will keep buying this sweet little mag because it's great and as we approach the end of the second month, I will just write down important upcoming events for the next month on little scraps of paper that will of course become lost amongst the plethora of little scraps of paper that decorate our home, so that those upcoming events will come upon us as more of a surprise. Ah yes, it is fun to live one's life this way, but what if one decides they don't want to buy the mag one month. What if they don't like the look of the girl on the cover, or they simply don't have nine bucks to drop on it, deciding they need some new hand cream instead? Well then that person is stuck either paying full price for a calendar that they will only use half of, or making one themselves. And yes, I know there are countless free calendar downloads out there, but I didn't like any of them. Not "hand-made" enough. So, for approximately two hours this afternoon I drew up a calendar, by hand. There were countless other things I could have been doing, like sewing things that people are waiting for, or finding out more about our new prime minister, but that would have been boring. And besides, I have a clever husband who reads newspapers rather than magazines, and he can fill me in on such important current affairs, whilst I am doing something else more interesting. And besides that, he was starting to get sick of only having two months at a time, with nowhere to write down important future skateboarding events, so I owed it to him.
So, now that I have made a calendar, I can cross it off my "I can just make that myself" list, and move on. The silly thing is (yes, I know, you thought that was the silly thing), I think I can remember making my own calendar when I was about nine years old, and feeling like I'd wasted my time then. You'd think I would have learnt my lesson. Let's see, that gives me about 27 years before I have to make another one.

ps. I haven't seen the latest frankie yet, and I'm sure the girl on the cover is just peachy, but I don't think I can buy it on principle. I mean, what would I do with the calendar?

getting out of the nest

not too much happening around here right now. At this time of year I'm happy to just spend my days at home, puttering about the house, the smell of something yummy wafting from the oven and sweet sounds on the stereo (going to see them on friday night!!). Sure, I get a little stir crazy after a while, but we are lucky enough to live here, in the land of the sunshiney winter, and although it's raining again today, we've had a week of glorious sun filled clear winter days, just perfect for packing a picnic and heading off to the city like we did on sunday.

we went to the olympic park, which is a strange and interesting kind of place. The kids took full advantage of the bike tracks and the two biggest boys even managed to fit in a skate/scoot at the monster skate park. Picture a room full of metal ramps with 50 or so kids on scooters going all over the place, including upside down. I had to really concentrate just to keep track of where fin was (one must be watching at all times in order to be able to make appropriate comments later on).

Sometimes I forget how easy it is to get in the car and go. Leave the dirty dishes, the washing and the unmade beds, and just go. Get out in the sun and forget about it all. The housework will still be there later, and the same again tomorrow, so who cares? And, besides the obvious benefits of just being outside in the sun, kids will eat just about anything if it's at a picnic.

a(nother) thrifty tale

I was struck by a moment of panic recently whilst driving down "the high street" (as our main street shall hereby be known thanks to my dear friend helen), when I noticed from the corner of my eye that the doors to my local vinnies were not open at a time of day when they most definitely should have been. In fact, the shop was quite empty, devoid of all its mysterious contents, and it

had quite the air of abandonment about it. Oh no, I thought to myself, could it be gone? Was the competition just too fierce (there are three other op shops in this town, which should give you some idea of the amount of crap that people have to offload around here). Upon closer inspection, I realised there was a little hand written sign taped to the door ... reno's in progress, back in three weeks. Phew. But, seriously, three weeks? What the heck were they going to do, put in turnstiles and door security?

So, for three weeks we waited patiently. It wasn't easy, but luckily, like I said, there are other places that one can go to in these parts. And then, as I was leaving the supermarket the other day, I noticed the magic doors were once again open and off we went, jasper and I, to see what we could find. Little did we know, but it was actually the grand re-opening day, and there was a bit of a frenzied atmosphere about the place. You see, the people were keen to see the fresh white paint, the new glass shelves in the windows, and the new racks full of clothes swapped from other vinnies. I wonder what happened to all of our tired old stuff...maybe it's in taree or some other far off destination.

So, we wandered, jasper and I. We wondered past all the shiny new stuff, thinking maybe there was a nice little vintage coat or even a dress just perfect for me waiting there. Wishful thinking. Poor jasper, I could see the disappointment on his face. We left the linen till last, didn't want to rush things.
just as we were about to leave, I cast one last look over the shelves. There were the usual suspects. The faded cotton kmart sheets so common at this time of year, having been cast aside in favour of their fluffy flanelette cousins. But there, on the bottom shelf, sat three baskets full of undisturbed linen, just waiting to be rummaged. That red and green sweet thing found it's way into my hands first, then the hand embroidered butterfly number which will be just the thing for my next garden party, and then, oh joy, three juicy yards of grey and yellow vintagey rayon. I see a new dress in my future after all.
And, as if that wasn't enough, a perfectly lovely tea cosy in just the right colours for keeping my tea warm on these chilly winter mornings.

Needless to say, we came home from our little adventure feeling quite pleased with ourselves, had a "coffee tea" (as jasper likes to call it), and remarked to one another how good life really is, especially with an op shop within walking distance of one's home.

sweetness

it finally ocurred to me recently that: a) I have so much fabric in my shed that it's overwhelming and indeed sometimes stops me from being able to make rational decisions, b) there is in fact some fabric that doesn't appeal to me as much as it used to, which seems to throw a little cloud over my head when I go looking, and c) that there are probably some other crafty folk out there who would like to get their hands on some of what I have, and this would be a good way of sharing and also might add some much needed funds to my "buy a little farm" fund. So, in the spirit of offloading sharing, there are now fabric packs available in my shop from time to time. These packs consist of six large pieces of vintage goodness, which can be cut up for patchwork, etc. Whatever you like.

speaking of the shop, there has been a recent spate of sales...a small and somewhat short-lived spate, but a spate nonetheless. And, you know, that farm might take a while to save for in this manner, so I decided in the meantime I might just buy some shoes.

and fabric. And a new book. These things will definitely help me wile away the time.

the shoes are from oxygen, although I bought them here because they were much more helpful.

jasper, please be careful...

when riding your scooter very fast around the house. There are obstacles.
(I've had to explain this bruise about 100 times this week. It keeps changing colour every day and each brilliant shade looks more gruesome than the last. I've seen some eggs in my time, but I think this one may just be the best one yet.)