On the road

A picture says a thousand words...

 

Teen 1 got her licence about six weeks ago (at long last) on her first attempt, which is a BIG deal...

 

...and now she has got her first wheels, complete with GPS! 

Her Man sure knows her!  Her total lack of spatial ability is well known to all who know and love her... Last  week she got lost on her way to her first day of uni FOUR times.  It is only a fourty minute drive up the highway and we had shown her the way in January!   The Man has just bought all of us the best peace-of-mind possible with her now roaming on her own in the big world.  I am so impressed!

Oh yeah... it's a Peugot 306 XRN5, whatever that means.  To me it's a cute little blue car wth a good safety rating. 

Play Time

It's time for the girls to get together and play!  I am visiting a new friend with one of my not-so-new friends (I am not allowed to say old).

We are making a happy creative mess, staying up too late, crawling craft shops (spending $) and enjoying a little drink (or two).  What is even more impressive is that we are having lovely meals made for us by the clever hubby of my new friend.  A girl could really get used to this...

Note to self - do more of this.  I highly recommend regular instalments of girl time and all that goes with it! 

 

  

 

 Now I better get this up before I am found out.

beauty

I made these little sweeties yesterday at a craft group which I have been attending.

Beaded angel bookmarks

I have been attending a craft group on a Tuesday morning for a few weeks and have been beading in the hope to get enthusiastic about beading again.  I didn't.  I did get to meet some lovely folks though.

My new adventure will be smocking.  I have done lots of differnt kinds of embroidery and have always intended to do smocking but never quite got to it.  When my teens were babies I bought the transfer dots to create hand gathered smocked wonders for my little people.  Time passed - quickly! and those little people grew up and outgrew the stage for wearing anything even remotely resembling a pretty smocked dress.

If I start now, I just might have it down pat in time for grandchildren... No I am in no hurry for grandchildren, but if it took me over 18 years to get to begin to smock, who knows how long before I actually manage to produce anything even remotely wearable.  Maybe I will discover just how much work it really is and will have a reality check on actually making anything wth that much work in it for a small person who will only get it grotty...  oh the possibilities.

One pleasant surprise at the massive craft group was this:

 

Seconds from a local flower farm.  how nice. One of the men who comes along to play cards live next door to a flower farm and they givehim their seconds to take to craft for the ladies to take some home.  gerberas are such happy flowers and I have been smiling at them each time see them.

A Cat's Tale

The postie arrived early this morning bringing a "get well and stay safe" gift for our Eddie cat. (Who is still wearing his bucket and still has a bandaged tail)

 It's a door-stop in Eddie's likeness, it even has a short tail. Now our front door won't blow shut on an unsuspecting cat's tail.

  

Eddie's first meeting of his new likeness.  He was quite timid, just sniffing and running away.

Charlie on the other hand grabbed it with both paws, pulled it to him, sniffed it and went back to sleep still holding it. Teen 1 had to call him several times to get him to look up for a photo.

Yes teen 2 didn't make her bed this morning... but that's nothing unusual 

Thanks heaps C for the thoughtful and appropriate gift. :)

PS just checkd on the cats and sure enough charlie is asleep still holding the new cat...

Gen Y & Z

This is socialising if you are aged 12-16...

We had dinner at a friend's house tonight and as we were walking out the door teens 2 & 3 were carrying their laptops.  Hubby commented asking, how can they expect to socialise if they were taking a computer?  They insisted that it the BEST way to hang with their frineds. 

Here they are at the dining table - six kids - six computers - six dinners - six glasses of softdrink.  We decided that it was an expensive table top indeed.

Yes they all hang out together, laughing and talking about what they are doing.  They were playing games and Youtube.  In moments of extreme concentratoin it would go strangly quiet, before the noise would again burst forth. 

This evening was mostly girls, the older boys were all out elsewhere). The boy featured evenings are similar, with one major difference - they network their game and try to kill each other.  The girls however whilst all playing the same game were chatting and sharing tips on how to get to the next level...



It is soooo not my world.  

Us oldies did it the 'old fashioned' way... we sat and ate and talked and laughed and told the stories of our week, work, worries and wins.  (had to keep the "W" thing going)

... and a good night was had by all. 

Fab fake

There is a distinct lack of green inside our home.  Outside is VERY green, we are fully surrounded by gardens, palms, trees.  I decided to begin to address the lack of green and bought this little plant.

 

Teen 1 was admiring it and was offering the plant her condolences on coming into our home only to have to suffer a slow and indignant death.  She was about to take bets on how long this one would last...

when she saw my funny grin. ;) she knew something was up.

Mmuuuuum. Why are you grinning like that?

This beauty won't die - it's a FAKE!

I was tickled.  She couldn't tell it was a fake.  that'll do me.  Maybe I will get another fake plant or two.  It has got to be cheaper than my other habit....

I am sure my fake plant won't even mind that I have put it in a planter that a plant which I had managed to kill had once called its own.  oh yes, I earned my reputation as a house plant murderer.  What is worse is that if I didn't kill them by forgetting to water them, I managed to water them too much or they didn't get enough light or, or, or...

Well there will be one less dead plant in our house.

Can I have a hand?

Tonight I am enjoying my pretty nails and the fact that for the first time in many weeks I can make a fist (gotta love drugs that work).  For the last few weeks every time I look at my hands, I have felt sad.  So I decided tonight to do something pretty to make me smile at my hands instead of sigh (or worse, cry) and to mark one small progress.

The light was tricky, but here are the best pics I could manage (with a little help from hubby).

 

  

  

 

Base-coat, two coats of Avon Speed-dry "Feisty", fun with decals and clear top coat.  Ignore the bubbles and little oops and enjoy.

Now I will try to keep telling myself nice, positive things about my hands and to celebrate all that I can do.  I will do it, even if I cry.

Last Thursday I dragged my unwilling self off to the doctor.  I described the pain that I have been experiencing in many of my knuckles and diminshed strength, along with inability to make a fist etc, over the last little while.  It started off just before Christmas with one knuckle, then another.  I put it down to all the embroidery that I was doing trying to get stuff made for Christmas.  Early in the year, when I was doing less embroidery, it was still sore, and more knuckles were joining the party.  I muttered about it, saying that I am too young to develop arthritus and besides I have many many things I would like to embroider.

The doc told me that what I was describing was "classic symptoms of early Rheumatoid Arthritus" and ordered a blood test to check my rheumadtoid levels.  In the meantime, I was to take anti-inflamatories and come back a few days after the blood tests.  Istill haven't had the blood tests and I have cried heaps.  yes I know, it's not even confirmed.  I know there are worse things in the world that could happen.

I keep picturing ugly, deformed, bent up, arthritic, swollen, useless hands which can't hold a needle or open a bottle or do much of any of the things that I love to do.  yep grief.  Soon I will push myself past this denial/avoidance and get the bloody blood test and confirm my fears, I truly don't expect any other outcome.  Then I will pick myself up and get on with it and make the most of whatever it is that I can do to slow the progress and to enjoy as much as I can while I still have pretty hands which are talented and useful.

where women glow...

I come from a land down under, where women glow and men chunder (aussie test... do you know what chunder means?)              from men at work song "Land Down Under"

You know you are in Queensland in summer when...

you get out of the shower and you can't get dry no matter how much you towel yourself.
you give up on make-up as it just sliiiiiides off.
sunscreen is a handbag essential as is deodorant and mosquito repellant.
going to the toilet involves peeling damp clothing off of damp skin, then trying to get it back up and in place again. - yeah too much information.  o
three showers a day still isn't enough.
changing clothing several times daily is not only acceptable but necessary.
worn clothing must be hung out to dry before going into the washing basket.
sleeping in past 7am is impossible (unless one has airconditioning).
the cat looks dead - except it's breathing.
the dog can barely manage to do more than a pitiful wag.
it is a relief for it to finally rain.
31 degrees & 93% humidity is better than 36 degrees & 81% humidity - go figure.
it actually CAN rain 55mm (2") in 30 minutes.
the rain is so LOUD that one can't hear the radio/tv/kids etc
conversation over coffee includes topics such as the best anti-fungals or anti-mould treatments (yep I over-heard that one in a coffee shop recently... and paid attention)
the only way to bear a hot cuppa is to go to the air-conditioned shoping centre.

Got any more to add to the list?

De-cluttering benefits

We are now a little past half way through February and my dee-cluttering has continued.  I have turned my focus to our undercover area outside.  It is the saving feature of our tiny house as it more than doubles our usable living space.  It also is the space where we dump put all other things that we don't know what to do with. This means that it gets sorted and nicely usable and then messed up again.  It has been in the messed up again state for some weeks now.

When hubby and I cleared the family room to make it work as a craft and office space, the excess furniture and stuff all came outside.  Thanks to freecycle I have now re-homeed an L bookshelf, six folding chairs, a large suitcase and our no longer needed but in perfect working order second printer.  

We have also made the hard decision to sell our oringinal dining setting so that it doesn't get ruined being outside in the undercover area.  Here in Queensland in summer it is very humid.  Today we are expecting 81% humidity - urgh.  We have also had our wettest summer for many years and finally our dams are at full capacity or near - yeay.  But all that means a lot of water in the air most of the time. 

All scrubbed and outside to photograph for sale.

I have twice scrubbed the mildew off of the pine setting this year.  At that rate it is only a matter of time before it gets past the varnish (which needs re-doing) and into the timber and ruining it.  The table is over 50 years old and is truly solid timber.  We had the stools made just over 11 years ago to slide under the table.  I am quite attached to this piece of furniture and don't want to see it ruined.  Decision made - time to re-home it.  I told the table that it was for its own good.  

I am working on one section at a time, sorting and clearing.  I keep asking my self  "Do I need this?  Do I love this?"  I keep surprising myself just how many things i really don't NEED.  We have so little space to store things for "just in case we ever need it"  and I am still finding it so freeing and liberating.

Hubby recently said a couple of things that I consider priceless words.

"Since you have been doing the de-cluttering thing, the house feels free-er and I feel less stressed - not that I realised I was feeling stressed about the house but the change has actually revealed something I hadn't realised."

Go figure!!




He was carrying stress about all the stuff we owned and he didn't even know it until it was gone.  he has beenthe biggest opposition and resistance to de-cluttering and has held on tightly to everything that has ever come into our home. 



On the weekend he also did something for which I am very proud.  He said NO THANKS when offered some stuff, mostly books, from his dad as they are preparing to sell and move.  He has never done that before.  I am so proud of him.  Now this is even more remarkable when put in context.  Hubby is a book hoarder.  He loves books.  We still have many books, but used to have about 800 more than we do now. 


De-cluttering the physical stuff somehow makes not only more physical space, but more emotional and mental space too.  Even hubby now feels the benefit and has begun to make different decisions around stuff. 


I truly never thought the day would ever come.  AND I am sooooooo grateful.

personalised coasters

 

Simple sweet personalised coasters

Teen 2 made these coasters today becasue she grew tired of not being able to tell which glass was hers lined up across the ledge behind the sink.  Now each member of the family has their own spot to place a drinking glass and won't have to worry about sharing each other's germs. : )


We only wash up once most days and so we don't end up with 20+ glasses to wash, we use the same glass for water throughout the day and place them on the space behind the sink.  Since our glasses are mostly the same it becomes difficult to tell which glass belongs to whom.   Now each person can place their glass on its own marker.

they were very simple to make.  simply choose desided decoration and mount on plain card and laminate.  Teen two used a sticker set, a photo, and scraping paper.  The base was 10cm x 10cm with the double one 20cm x 10cm (teen 1 is happy to share germs with the Man).  You could use anything thin as the laminator is best suited to 1mm or less.  

We had a set previously but they had become yucky over time since the laminate hadn't sealed properly and water had eventually got into the designs.  You need to check that it has fully sealed before cutting. the laminate.  We ended up running this batch through the laminator twice to be certain of a good seal.

Here is my original coaster.

Teen 1 had made the original coasters.  She had drawn pictures on cardstock representing the interests of each person in our family.  They alway made me smile as she had captured each person's interests and personality well.

Animal tribulations part 3 ...or is it 4?

You guessed it... yet another post about the trials and tribulations of the animals in our lives.  Tell me that it gets better...

Today we got not one but two trips to the animal hospital.   I now know most of the staff by name and they know who I am as soon as I walk in the door and greet me by name.  They are nice folks, but I sure wasn't keen on getting to know them all on first name basis.


The other day I recounted the story of the big lizard in the back yard bailed up by Buddy the Lab-X.  Well the lizard didn't leave.  This morning hubby found lizard and dog again in a stand-off only this time the lizard was in a much worse shape than a few days ago.  I now suspect that he had been injured last time and hadn't eaten for a few days nor had he climbed to safelty.  In the meanwhile he has been further hassled by our dog.  sigh.


We scooped up the now-too-weak lizard and took him off to the vet.  It looked like there was some damage to his front left leg.  He was muddy, but this time I snapped his picture.   Meet the poor sad Water Dragon...

 

60cm Bearded Water Dragon - take a look at the length of those claws.  they are climbers.  you can also see his injured front leg which is just sitting there limp.

I found out how he was faring when we made trip number two for the day to the animal hospital.

The good news - the vet couldn't feel a break to the leg, but he was dirty, hungry, cold and dehydrated so has been cared for and on a heat pad for a couple of hours.  One of the volunteers who care for wildlife has collected him to take him to Australia Zoo about 40mins up the road from here where they have reptile specialists who will be able to nurse him back to health.  They actually thanked us for bringing him in.  I just feel bad that I didn't think to check on him a few days ago to see if he was ok and that my dog had been hassling him.


Hopefully the water dragon will make a full recovery and be released.  The vet tells me that we must have a healthy creek if the wildife is all so big and well.  Until we moved in with our big dog. 


That brings me to todays second episode at the animal hospital...


Eddie, cute, 11 month old, shorter-tailed, bucket-headed, stitched up tail grey tabby cat, was due to have his stitches removed on Wednesday.  Wednesday.  I was beside myself in the anticipation of it on tuesday night.  We were nearly at the end of the cat tail tale.  ...alas Eddie was impatient and ripped the stitches out himself on Tuesday night while we all slept.   Mmmhhmm.  yep we were awoken early Wednesday to an open wound at the end of the cat's tail.  NOOOOOOOOO!

Off to the vet agin.  It was decided to try the wait-and-see approach for a few days.  bandaged tail. fingers crossed that it would heal on its own.  It was a long-shot, but by this stage we were all looking at a long shot and hoping that it was fnally going to be our day.  You know like in those movies where the long shot comes in...

It was not to be.  Sigh.  The vet checked it today and it has not healed even one tiny little bit.  On Monday Eddie goes back to the vet for futher surgery.  How much shorter his tail will be this time is anybodies guess at this stage.

It has gone from a drama and turned into a mini-series.  It had better not turn into one of those long-running day-time soaps.  Are you as over this saga as I am?  Dare I say Stay tuned for the next installment?

True love

"See how much I love him!" says teen1 through teary, onion-chopping eyes.

I love him enough to chop onion AND handle raw meat!!!!

That is certainly the mark of true loooove - to overcome one's biggest hang-ups for the sake of the loved one.

Our darling teen one has avoided the  kitchen for most of her 18 years. She has no problem with cleaning up, just don't ask her to cook.  She immensely dislikes chopping onions but will do it if there is no other option... like a daddy to chop them for her.  She NEVER, ever touches raw meat, even with tongs and at a distance.  There have been occasions when just looking at raw meat would leave her gagging and going pale.

Our family has many stories around her immense dislike for meat especially in its raw state.  We have battled with her since she was tiny to get her to even eat meat at all.  So you could imagine my amusement as she has been preparing to cook dinner for her Man for valentines.  "Wuv.  Twooo wuv" as the old priest in "The Princess Bride" says.

Do you remember feeling like that?  Do you still feel like that about anyone?

I love my hubby, but I don't remember feeling so much in love that I was prepared to go to extreme lengths to do something special for him, where I was prepared to overcome myself for him.

I have without even a moment's hesitation put myself in harm's way to protect my children, but that is a different kind of love.  That is that deep, primal, institnctive, parental, sacrifice-all-in a-moment-without-even a-thought-for-one's-safety kind of love.  And  I would do it again.

But a deliberate, planned, acted out, struggle to over-come one's hang-ups (is phobia too strong a word?).!?   Perhaps I was THAT in love once... I do recall moving city; quitting my job and leaving my friends to be with him... but that was for me too.

What about you?  what out-of-the-usual things have you done for the sake of your beloved?  In what ways have you overcome yourself for your beloved?

Following

How does one end up following one's own blog? 
yep my little blue and yellow pic is now there as a follower on MY blog!

It's funny but I also feel the cringe factor.

Here is the story...
Yesterday I wanted to email "This Plate is Full" to say THANKS for the lovely matt.  I got a message telling me I needed to sign in and so clicked the appropriate icons and what do you know... I am my own follower.  Now how to get rid of me... nothing I have so far tried seems to have worked.  So I cringe, smile and shrug my shoulders.

speaking of stories about followers... yesterday I was reading one of my favourite blogs, F8 hasit.  Nancy was talking about followres.  Do yourself a favour and have a read of what she had to say.

the post has arived...

Look at what the postie has brought me...

Sweet 8x10 Matt handmade by K at This Plate is Full.  The matt is collaged with lots of lovely papers, ribbons and pretty bits like paper hears and bling.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

She also surprised me and sent me this cute postcard of a painting by Adolphe-William Bouguereau called "The knitting girl".  What better way to photgraph it than to sit it inside the matt? :)  The postcard is going on my bedroom door so that when I see it I will smile.

Many thanks to K.  I will get much joy from this gift.

I have happily decided what to do with the matt ...  it has been on my mind since discovering that I had won and it was on its way.  Teen1suggested that I put a pic of hubby and I in it, but I don't have a recent one that would work.  In my Dee-cluttering yesterday (yep talk about timing) I finally threw out a favourite pic of hubby and I that has been sitting in a frame that I made many years ago when we were first engaged (ohh so many years ago).  Today I have had my brain wave. 

I had made a fabric covered heart frame with a magnet on the back and slipped the engagement photo in  it.  It lived on our fridge door for many years and has suffered for its years of service to the point where I had retired it when we moved.  One particularly memorable event was when one of the teens was learning to bake some years ago (I have forgotten which kiddo is the culprit).  Dear kiddo took the beater out of the mix before stopping it.  Hmmm kitchen covered in creamed butter and sugar.  The photo was not behind glass since it wsa a simple heart shaped frame on the fridge.  I wiped it down but it was never the same again.  the photo had faded from years of exposure and now was decorated with greas marks.

when dee-cluttering I had conceded that it no longer looked so good and had removed it.  It took me some time longer to finally admit that it was only fit for the bin.  I was finally able to let it go by telling my self that I have the negatives and can print another one!

Now I have an incentive... I will print out a new pic and mount it in the matt.  stay tuned for the happy event as I will surely blog that one.   ... since it was only yesterday that I finally tossed the old one i may be able to still find it in the bin and can do a before and after...  I am off to rummage through the bin.

Happy Day.

animal trouble - again and again

my animals are ganging up to stress me out!  well that's my story. 

Today I had animal troubles - again.  Eddie the cute 11month old now-shorter tailed catten is still wearing his bucket (i am soooo longing for the stitches to be removed in the next couple of days).  He loves getting the bucket off at every opportunity and knows that if he comes and sits on my lap, I will remove the bucket to allow him some grooming time and happy pats. He purrs so much and I go all mushy - sad cat lady in the making.  He follows me around and as soon as I sit jumps up -  yep pathetic but still kinda cute. 

Blurry but tells the story.

This morning he was enjoying some bucket-free time on my lap.  I was feeling sorry for him so thought I would give him his antibiotics and breaky whilst his bucket was still off.  It seemed like a good idea -boy was I WRONG!  While I measured up his antibiotics, he tried to pull at the stitches in his tail.  This hurts him a lot and one would think that he might have learned this after nine days, but hey he is not the brightest animal in the world.  ...just as well he gets by on his looks.  Long story short... small cat running around to get away from the pain, stopping to chew on stitches and cry/yelp and run again.  It would have been comical if it wasn't so darn frustrating.

I chased him into my daughte's bedroom where he was hiding under the bed and got down  on the floor to drag him out from under the bed.  That's when my troubles escalated.  I got stuck.  Yep stuck on the floor, unable  to get up, with a distressed, crying cat in my arms.  

I need to back up a little here and say that I smashed my right knee cap in an accident some years ago and since I am too young for a knee replacement I have to manage as best I can until it gets unbearable.  This morning seemed pretty unbearable to me!  I did eventually manage to get up but had to let the cat go and naturally he did his bite-stitches-cry-and-run-around-like-a-mad-animal thing again. 

SIGH

You may laugh.  It wan't so funny when I was stuck on the floor with visions of needing to be rescued, but now I am slightly amused. 

As if that wasn't enough animal trouble for one day...

This afternoon I was allowing the cats some supervised play time outside, packing up my sold beads and throwing the ball for our insane Labrador to keep retrieving when a large frill-necked lizzard happened to wander into the middle of the yard.  Lizzard are you trying to get killed?!!!  There are two cats and a dog here! 

Yep you guessed it.  All three animaals were in for a go.  charlie cat surprisingly gave up quickly and sat watching as Buddy took over with the lizzard.  Buddy the Lab ignored all my yelling to leaving the lizzard alone and I was trying in vain to catch and haul away a 40kg dog that didn't want ot be caught or hauled away! 

Now this was a VERY LARGE frilly.  It was about 70-80cm long with about 40-50cm of tail and 5cm long clawed toes.  It was the biggest one I had ever seen.  Seems living next to a creek and nature reserve means living with plenty of wildlife.  I like wildlife.  I don't like having to take wildlife to the vet to be euthanised due to my animals attacking them.  see this post for that story.

Now anyone who knows a bit about lizzards, especially frilled ones, may know that they run fast and climb and have big claws.  I have seen them run up a person to get away from danger and I sure didn't want to have this monster run up me to get away from my dog!  I was trying to catch said dog but keep enough distance from the terrified lizzard so as to not look like a 'safe place'.

Hence one crazy lady running around the yard trying to catch dog and  not  lizzard.  yep laugh as you picture that casue even I must acknowledge that it IS funny... NOW.

I managed to drag and lock up an unwilling dog, catch and house two disappointed cats.  That only left the somewhat unhappy lizzard to deal with.  Find a nice Loooonnng stick to encourge it to climb the fence and find a better hiding place safe from domestic animals.  sigh. 

I have had enough animal enduced adrenaline for one day! 

Oh and I did think of getting pics of the lizzard for you to see but I was already running late to pick up my daughter from school so left he Lizzy to it. 

Pushing through the creative slump

How do you get through a creative slump? 

I have tried various things with mixed results.  As I have mentioned, the last few years have been tough and last year was particularly tough.  My creative endeavours have helped me to manage stress and to keep somewhat sane through many years.  I had found that if I kept something creative happening I could keep most other things in balance.  I knew something was wrong when I was no longer feeling creative.  I was finding it harder and harder to create and was not getting the sense of pleasre or satisfaction that I used to get.
I would sit at my craft desk and just not have any ideas. 

I tried all kinds of things and the one that I had the most success with was to simply push through the slump.  I would make myself do a little of something.  often after a while I would feel my creative mojo return. 

I did find that doing a stocktake of some kind helped.  Yep I am a loony to actually like this and find it helpful, but it works for me - mostly.  I would tidy my supplies, note what I had, write down possible ways  to use them, read my old notes, look over what I had done and work out from my previous notes what I was thinking when last creating and where I was up to.  Often that would get the creative juices flowing again.

Another of my tricks is to read creative magazines or books or to read stuff online.  

I enjoy many crafty things:
embroidery - I design, stitch and teach silk ribbon embroidery as well as general embroidery
scrapbooking - I am years behind but have been working on albums for each of my kids.
beading / jewellery making - Most of my jewelery is handmade and I get many comments and compliments
card making
sewing
occasional piecing of fabric stuffs loosely called patchwork
and just about any other creative pursuit that I stumble accross...

Last year I did very little craft of any kind.  I did an album for  my 40th and a couple of little bits of scrapping.  I was still teachinng for the first part of the year but had little design inspiration.  I didn't touch my beads or cards or sewing machine. 
 
It is time to get creative again.  BUT  It isn't coming easy.  My usual tricks aren't working.

 

stocktake of a scrapping album

I sat at my beads for quite some time last week, sorting, tidying and hoping for inspiration.  I was thinking all throughout and concluded that it was time to let this craft go and promptly took a few pics, made an add for eBay and waited.  They have now sold and I will pack them up and post them off.  That feels good.
 
To get back into my embroidery, I signed up for a LARGE project.  It is someone else's design and I purchased all of the beautiful silk threads and ribbons for it.  I am following the instructions in the book and actually loving stitching again.  I am teaching myself new techniques and getting ideas for how I can incorporate it into my designing.  Embroidery had become a chore.  I want creativity to be a pleasure - not a chore.  So it is nice to have that area getting going again and since I am creating but not designing it feels ok. 

My designing mojo is still out there somewhere...  I don't even feel especially inspired to teach right now.

Last year I went through all my sewing patterns and culled 2/3 of them.  The only ones I kept are the basics, the classics.  I went through my fabrics and donated most of them too.  I have kept my quilting cottons and a few special pieces of fabric.  I have found that with the introduction of cheap overseas made clothing in the last 10-15 years it is usually cheaper to buy clothing than to buy fabric, pattern and then add hours of labour.  The only clothing worth making now is what can't be easily bought due to fit or specialty items.   

Now what to do with my scrapping?

That is my current dilemma. I have hundreds of dollars worth of tools, paper and accessories and am struggling to do much of anything with them.  Today I pushed myself to work at it for a few hours.  I got two pages done.  They are very basic, but they are done.  I am pleased to have finished them, but it was a struggle the whole time.  I didn't have any of the old thrill.  No sense of anything special... and that bothers me.

I will persevere and see what happens over the next little while.  Maybe it will jsut take a while...

here are the pages I did today from 2008...

 

  

really simple, little/no journalling - that is where inspiration ran out.

 How do you get past a crative slump?

Lesson learned

When it rains here in Queensland it really rains.  A short dash from the house to the carport leaves one WET. And I am not talking a few spots of rain on my head and shoulders wet, I mean, where is the dry patch wet?!  We have had a drought here for many years and it has now officially ended.  We have had our best rain this summer for many years.  The farmers are happy because we have had good rain and then good follow up rain with the right interval and again.

We have discovered that our house was built during the drought.  There are several places where this is evident now that the drought has broken.  One that seems minor at first is our carport.  It is a free-standing structure about four metres from the house with open sides and garden on two sides.  There is no chanel or drain between the garden and the carport.  When it rains, the water runs off the gardens and straight through the carport and anything on the floor of the carport gets wet. This hasn't been a problem until recently since we only had the occasional shower. 

It rained last night.  really rained.

Late last week my sister gave me a tall boy which needed minor repairs to give to our daughter and her fiancee who is a cabinet maker.  They are preparing to marry and collecting things to start their married lives. A 'free' tall boy which only needs minor repairs is quite useful.  Sadly I had put it in the carport until 'The Man' could collect it today.  Now it is only good for the scrap heap.

 

  

Cappilary action at work.

  

 All this damage was just one downpour!

What I thought was a pine chest turned out to be pine veneer; thin pieces of pine over  MDF.  The only real wood in it is the drawer fronts and sides and cover strip on the top and bottom.

Any suggestions for what I can do with six pine drawer fronts?

18th Glass

A few days ago I posted about the 18th party and the celebration wine glass that teen1 wanted to give her friend.  We compromised between spending a small fortune for one at the gift shop and making our own.

Here is the result...

 

 

Personalised 18th Glass - mini cooper, name, date.

Total Cost = $8.95

Glass $1 at Op Shop

Set of Glass Paints $7.95 at Riot Art - lots more paint left for next time.

comparison - Impersonal 18th Wine glass from gift shop $18

Teen1 painted the gllass for her friend and it looks FAB.  She had lots of fun and is really happy with the result but learned a lesson for next time - use masking tape to get a straight line.

Next was to present it so that it looked professional and not home-made or tacky.

 

Shoe box painted black, big silver bow, scrunched tissue paper and glitter. 

Cost negligable as we had all the materials, the bow was bought on sale after Christmas set of three for $1.40; tiue paper used two pieces from a pack of 5 for $1.  total cost for presentation - 75cents. hmm that's less than a sheet of wrapping paper at $1.

I am going to link this post - never done this before so here goes...
Linking to to frugalicious friday.

Now

This morning, whilst I was procrastinating, I was reading a few blogs and came across this one.  check it out, I especially liked her cupcakes.

I really liked her blogging idea and so am shamelessly copying it.

I am...

• enjoying a chat to a friend on the phone - good distraction from lesser tasks.
• writing this blog - well duh
• nursing my sore arm after the blood test that I had this morning - the reason that I was procrasinating earlier
• patting myself on the back for finally going and getting the blood test done - I put it off for several weeks.
• celebrating that the pathologist only had to stab me twice this time to get blood out of this stone
• keeping an eye on teen 2 and encouraging/nagging (sigh) as she works through her tasks
• washing some towels
• making yet another specialist appointment
• helping teen 2 to assemble her keyboard stand
• trying to keep a small flexible cat from chewing on the sore end of his tail despite his bucket-head
• making a vet appt to remove sutures
• wondering  what to do about the car air-con that died yesterday in the middle of a QLD summer, bummer.  These things never happen in cooler weather
• reading a few more blog entries whilst I procrastinate a little more.
• wanting to do something fun... 
• making a shopping list - nope not fun
• still wanting to do something fun
• happily anticipating the weekend with teen3 home again
• sorting and putting washing away... does this sound as dull to you as it is to me?
• getting ready to go out and pick up a few essentials.
• fending off a telemarketer - what gives???
• wondering how to decorate this patch of wall in my bedroom (spotted it when putting washing away)

• contemplating how to get this tall boy out of my car?  it would have been a good idea to do it this morning before the blood test. 

• smiling at the masses of small purple flowers in my front garden... gotta love reward for little effort

 yep that's my day.  Just another day in paradise.  Let's hope yours is more interesting.

The origins of this story begin several years ago when i visited my mum to give her a hand to sort and de-clutter her kitchen.  I gotta put this in context...

 My lovely mum is the BEST hoarder one could hope to meet, she even eclipses my darling hubby.  My parents had a large family and a large home. Once we had all grown and left home they continued to hold onto all the stuff needed for a large family, as well as gaining bits from their own parents after they had died.  Are you getting the picture?

Mum's kitchen was BIG and FULL.  Mum and I spent several days sorting her kitchen in preparation for selling their home and moving to a smaller home in their retirement.  We filled  many boxes for charity as well as making phone calls to siblings to ask if they would like such and such piece... there were a even couple of times I near begged one of them to take soomething so mum would let it go.  I suggested that if they really didnt need, love or want it they could eventually thrift it themselves and so they agreed to 'assist' in the reduction of STUFF in mum's kitchen.  Of course quite a few things came to my home too.  And that is where the story begins...   Of course, I have kept the pieces that I LOVE and re-homed the rest. 

I love fine glass ware and china.  the kind that is lovely to use and breadks easily.  Mum gave me the remaining four wine glasses out of a set which were an engagment gift to her nearly 40 years earlier.  Unlike my mum I use the pieces I have and love and that means that breakagaes occur.  Mum had the set for over 30 years and only broke two, I have had it for about five years and also brok two.  Now I have a set of two lovley fine wine glasses.

At the thrift shop yesterday I spotted two more matching glasses to the two I have at home for only $2 each.  Oh happy day!  Well naturally they had to come home with me...

I have just taken over 50 pics of one of the old and one of the new-to-me glasses to show the difference/similarity.   Man is it hard to photograph detail on glass!   Below are my two best resullts.

 

 

What I wanted to show you was the subtle differences in shape and etching.  I hope you can pic it.  But if you can't that's OK too. ;)  I am hoping that the difference will be not so noticable on the table with a nice drop and company.

well I am not doing very well at No-Spending for February.  Perhaps that is why I haven't entered the challenge before...  Not counting household expences, so far I have spent:
$5 on beading class - tuesday social outing.  My excuse is my sanity (what little I still have)
$4 on the glasses - nice but not essential.
$8 on glass paints - could justify it as saving money since we did have to get a birthday gift... (yeah I know good try Dee)
$33 on scrapping papers - no good excuse here, what can I say, they were there on special and I was there too.  Yep not too good at this no spending thing.
$4.50 on coffee - now I could argue that this WAS essential...

so there you have my confessions.  Does it help any if I list all the things that I resisted buying???

Thrift shop treasures

Yesterday teen1 and I headed off to the thrift shop to donate our January dee-cluttered stuffs and to see what we could find by way of wine glasses.

Teen1 is going to an 18th party this weekend, the second of many since all her friends are now turning 18.  She started the pattern at the end of last year.  A couple of days ago she was shopping for a gift for her soon-to-be 18 friend and came accross this...

 

Teen1 declared it PERFECT for her friend!  

I declared it expensive clutter!

Time to find a budget friendly alternative me thinks....  off to the op shop we go...

After a couple of hours spent happily exploring three of our local op shops teen1 and I came home with our treasures.  

Happy teen unwrapping her goodies.

See my new craft space is getting lots of use...

 Lots of lovely wine glasses for $1 and $2 each.

  

 plus two nice vases for $3 and $1 respectively.

Is it just me or have thrift shops become more expensive?

I found lots of lovely things, but was quite surprised at how expensive many items were. The shops are full of donated items, stafffed by volunteers, in dingy sheds and many of the prices were similar to retail on sale.  I also looked at furniture pieces and decided to stick to eBay as I get way better prices there.

Any way back to the subject... I discovered that the glass paints at home are not the right kind, these ones are only suitable for non-washable, non-food service decorating.  Bummer.  the good news is that Riot has the right kind of paints on buy one get one free this week.  Lucky me, since today I will be going to buy a few paints.

  

Stay tuned for the paint applied to glasses  post...

And now for the Eddie update...  thanks for all you kind words for our poor kitty.

 

Eddie didn't like his bucket and the vet had told us that if he left his tail and bandage alone, we could remove the bucket.  For two days he was a good kitty and left it alone.  This morning he spoiled it by pulling the bandage off and starting to chew at the stitches.  back on went his bucket.  Here he is and as you can see, he is less than impressed at being re-bucketed.  In the back of the pic you can see his shaved, short tail.

Eddie Update

After two nights in hospital and a third of his tail chopped off, we have our Eddie back home. 

It is pitiful.  He just wants to be held most of the time.  He keeps walking into things with the bucket on his head.  He tends to walk backwards more than forwards as that seems a little easier for him to manage.  He is trying to get the bucket off and walks with his head down, I suspect that is the only way he can see where he is going. 

 

Short tail, shaved front paw, bucket-head kitten.

 

A picture of kitty missery - make it better.

 

Sad tail

Sitting looking out at the birds outside where he wants to go. 

It seems he won a few hearts at the animal hospital.  They commented on how soft, how affectionate and placid he is. 
Now if it was our other cat  charlie, they would have been commenitng on how LOUD he is.  Charlie is a chatterbox.  Charlie has been looking for Eddie for the last two days and started purring loudly as soon as he saw Eddie come in.  He sniffed him over fully and tried to groom him.  Charlie is following Eddie and keeping an eye on him.  It seems strange... are cats normally this affectionate and protective towards each other?

Thank you for humouring me on my sad kitty tail tale.