images from my hard drive, discovered today when searching for a file, one that I had forgotten what I had named it. That fact, and these images which I had forgotten about entirely, are quite indicative of my scatty brain at the moment. So, here I present, absolute fluff, may you find it inspiring.
(The last two photos: I believe it was the windmill as wall art on the left, and the paving treatment on the right, that caught my eye).
Ok, off to find what's left of my marbles. Hooroo!
you know, by getting back into some sort of day to day normalcy, that is not disrupted by phones ringing non stop and fires and school camp sleepovers and packing bags for short holidays and trying to keep on top of everything else.
School started back today, but before that the kids had a last hurrah at Granny's place whilst I went and helped The Grumpy One muster and draft the weaners off the cows, and move them to a fresh paddock. This was not without grumpiness from either party and dirty looks and mumbling under ones breath.(I only know of one married couple that manages to work together in hot and trying conditions without some sort of misunderstanding or difference of opinion! We call them Barbie and Ken - Toy Story 3 anyone? which they take with good grace.)
I took my camera but didn't even get it out of the bag, it was so dusty, which is a pity as there were many a cute little wobbly legged calf to photograph, or the starkness of the blue clear skies against the burnt to a crisp, right to the tree tops, burnt country (although it wasn't dusty there, I was on the motorbike and cannot vouch for the safety of the camera on said vehicle, I am flat out maintaining safety of self whilst also watching cows, let alone the camera bouncing around as well!)
So, the other day, before I went out chasing cows and when I was procrastinating and pretending that there was nothing to do around the place, I came across this little number, which I shared a link to with some other bloggy friends wondering why I felt the need to own it...well they did too. Sales of this little beauty went up as at least three were purchased from that one email! (even though the postage is a killer if you live west of the great divide!)
I can see it at Christmas filled with a fruit punch or Sangria, or even with some orange crush cordial and ice for the kids on a hot day.
And, of course as it always happens, I found this other BIGGER glass dispensing beauty, which is bigger in capacity but on the other hand doesn't have a very wide opening at the top for putting in the good stuff. And it doesn't have the cute little stand base. But they would both look as equally as cute when full! (although what do a bunny and presents have to do with a glass drink dispenser?!)
So of course I look forward to the mailman bringing me a nice not so little parcel in the near future, which I hope he doesn't drop, or throw the mailbag into the back of his vehicle with gay abondon only to hear the tinkling of glass....
Fingers crossed!
look what found its way home with me after my recent trip to the city.
Isn't she purty? Not overly expensive, certainly not leather, but certainly bright and cheerful and ready to brighten up an outfit and my day.
And fortunately, I already have shoes to match!
and this too:
Tis indeed that sort of day...my efforts in child slavery are today proving to be most difficult, its a full time job to be getting them to do ANY of their chores without supervision. Little stinkers. Like its hard to 1. clean your room and 2. tidy the bathroom and 3. unpack the dishwasher.
Yep, cranky mum is in the house. Best get back to cracking the whip.
and inside too, truth be told. Our old, roomy, breezy house with its 12 ft ceilings isn't the warmest of buildings in winter, especially this cold and CHILLY one!
I've even gone and ordered a wood fired heater/stove thingy. I shudder to think of the power bill will be like running the electric heater, and with timber being in plentiful (free) supply we have decided to go for what will be kinder on the pocket in the long term (fully expecting the power bill to be the same price as the heater!). It hasn't arrived yet (of course as soon as it does we'll get a wonderful warm spell!) and despite the fact that I will have to re-arrange the whole house to make space for the darned thing, I am looking forward to having a warmer living area with that lovely wood fire smell wafting about.
One thing I have been enjoying are these little babies. They have been keeping my toes toasty (and allowing me to get a decent sleep!) at night. Perhaps not so attractive, but so so cosy. And no where near as silly as a snuggi.
They don't look much, but are the cleverest little bed sock ever - they stay ON! and have little non slippy things on the sole like baby's socks, so those middle of the night wanders to the loo or a kids room are done without going leg up.
I'm even contemplating another pair - so when the first one is in the wash I can slip on the second pair and still slumber in peace!
Does anyone else find if they have cold feet they just don't sleep well?
If I could follow a crochet pattern I'd even contemplate making some:
School holidays start tomorrow afternoon. Hoping that I will be able to gather my thoughts and all of the stray tissues from around the house, and breathe freely again. (and I mean literally!) We are all recovering from our little virus cold thing, which hasn't been all that bad at all actually. Here's hoping we manage to avoid anything flu like, but with a trip to the city scheduled next week, I am not holding my breath.....
Posting with more substance, sense and interestingness will resume soon!
In winter, my footwear changes - on the days that my feet are just too cold - from my standard wear of thongs, to something with slightly more coverage.
Some days though, when a public outing is required, I step it up a little.
Let us appreciate my own boots again:
And the way the orange hem on my jeans matches my boots! :-)
Small things amuse small minds. Sigh.
what else does one do when the laundry baskets appear to have vomited all over the laundry floor (albeit in organised heaps of: denims - school clothes - towels - other clothes - underwear and pyjama's). And cobwebs are overtaking the house (I think it should become a the decor fashion) and the couch grass is rallying for a second invasion on the garden beds after a rather successful first attempt. And my legs need shaving and toenails need painting. Which really aren't high on the priority list, but I just skipped a few of the boring ones involving toilets and cleaning etc.
Why, one trawls through ebay looking for non-frilly dresses for 6 year olds and non-hooker looking dresses for the tall and bigger than her age 8 year old.
And then one makes a little fashion board thingy just for fun.
The reason for this dress shopping fest? A wedding in July, down the coast in Bowen. Its a tricky time of the year - although its the coast, it IS winter, and it IS further south. So strappy summer dresses will probably be a little chilly.
I've managed to get the little navy spotty number for steal on ebay, and if its cold can pair it with some red leggins that we already own (or white? but with this child not a good idea!) and little silver sandals, and a red (or white) hair pretties.
I'm bidding on the top dress at the moment, and I tell you, for the "pre-teen" age group its hard to find something that isn't grungy and black, or looks like a 18 year old going to a night club should be wearing. This dress meets my criteria even though it is black.
And yes, I do realise that I have to share our fishing adventures (lets say you WON'T be seeing a lot of fishy photos!) - I'll do that tomorrow once I've gathered my thoughts and emptied it of laundry. We've had a busy few days (not just fishing, although I haven't picked up the camera since) and plenty of social dilly dallying to come over the next.
Do let me know what you think of my fashion choices?
Sometimes living closer to the shops would be easier. but possibly not as fun for avoiding long mental lists of chores!
I've been eyeing off those lovely pendants that are around at the moment, you know the circle ones, with names engraved. Never bought one, as lovely as they were, none of them really felt like me.
This version, however, may be it.
I do like the little hanging peal charms I've seen on others similar. I think I'd like just one charm.
Ah, other heavy and important things for me to think about! ;-)
for a fun little christmassy swap thing a couple of friends and I are doing. I can show you these things, as I didn't make them AT ALL, even though I had grand plans of sending off a couple of parcels of lovingly and beautifully crafted christmassy things.
And then I got a grip on reality and realized it probably wasn't going to happen. ;-)
But maybe you guys out there might be inspired by these crafty goodies!
Hope you've found this inspiring!
Well, I did get some work done today, but am now thoroughly sick of looking at numbers and reconciliations. I'll finish it off in the morning when my head is not feeling so empty of brain power!
I just wanted to share this gorgeous little project that I came across when trying to find a crochet pattern that I could actually follow (yet to succeed, I do believe it is something to do with a lack of brain power!)
Lucy at Attic 24, over on the green side of the world :-) has a charming blog full of photos of the English country side around her home, her wonderful crochet projects, and amusing musings about her world.
I found this proejct that she did with her kids. Well, her kids must have the same crafty gene as their mother, as I am fairly certain that if my kids were to undertake this, the finished result would not be QUITE so charming. Still, a great little craft project for a rainy morning or school holidays. Start collecting the toilet paper rolls now (if your place is anything like ours, it will not take long at all!) and each kid could make their own version of the family.
She had her kids practise doing their faces on a bit of paper first, so they could work out how they wanted to look. (and distance ed. mums: you know who you are - wouldn't this be a great tie in to ABOUT ME units?)
Of course, girls will probably find this more fun than boys, but boys tend to be more about bashing things with a stick than sitting down and being creative.
But then again, that could be just MY boy.
One project earmarked for the Christmas holidays! Go to Lucy's blog (link above) if you need more information on how she and her kids carried this out.
and images that are inspiring me.
I sort of want to print these out and have them as pretty postcards on the fridge. Funny how the simplest of things can please my tiny mind!
Blues and yellows. This colour scheme matches my unmade little strippy quilt.
(if I didn't have kids that like to touch and feel and RELOCATE I would find some buttons that match one of my granma's old china plates and put out an arrangement like this just to make me happy!
Dunno what I would do with coloured doilies, but certainly I love how these look in their pretty colours!
And that's it. Might not be a lot of creativity coming out of here for a little bit, as I knuckle down and get some bookwork done. Unless I get distracted and start surfing, but I am going to be strict with myself: just get it done already!
