Get On Up!

Oh, I forgot to mention, while I was in the Oppy I was singing James Brown's 'Sex Machine', in my head, for no apparent reason. I was looking through the linen and sung 'shake your money maker' ..... not in my head, it just slipped out! One of the old girls was putting stuff away next me - how embarrassment! I imagine when I left she went out the back and said 'you know the one who always buys that 60's crap - mad as a hatter!!'

Op Shop Tuesday

Some 70's prints on board, lovely colours, in great condition, least they were till the op shop slapped the price tag on with sticky tape!

Boxing The Pleats

Ahh, box pleats ... love the look, and although they aren't hard to do, they're time consuming, all that marking out, turning in and pressing, blahdey blah.

I think I only swore a couple of times making this skirt, so on the whole, well worth it!

Backyard is covered in these perfect Autumn Leaves, great fun to kick around and throw about, we salute them for having the decency to fall on time.

Parker took this photo.
I like it, cause she held the camera up, rather than just taking photos at her own eye level. I like Big D's speedo's on the line - he wears these underneath board shorts, perhaps to avoid getting anything stuck in the Velcro? Or any wardrobe malfunctions that may occur?
And some op-shopped embroidery hanging up there too!
Quintessentially Australian I reckon.

Dear Granny and Grandad

We wrote to our Gran and Grandad from the minute we could write.

This letter is from me, slipped in with my Sister's on 11 January 1974.

Translation:

Dear Granny and Grandad.

Rene is barking at the Africans but the icecream boys mostly sow we smack her.

Now my Daddy is making Tim a fort for hes army to play in

we are haven OXTAIL soup.

I have just finishd and we had a loveley timen no HOLIDAY.

biddy granny and grandad.

see you next timer i rite a letur.

love from Leah Tim and I.

LOOK AT the dack.

.... and on the dack? Why drawings of course!

I am plucking up the courage to post some of the teenage ones I wrote when we first came to Australia, they are just so incredibly cringeworthy though.

Goodnight Uncle Arthur!

As promised, here are a couple of photos from the vintage book my big sister (Leah) sent.

Some are really sweet, like this one below.

And some are just weird, like this one below!

'As Daddy reached for his Bible, a deep scowl came over Vivian's face'.

(LOVE the chairs!)

Green Scream!

A gorgeous surprise birthday package from my sister, along with a hand made card.

A silk slip - love this, it comes in a fabric covered box, from gingerlilly. a yellow apron and a vintage bed time book, not show, as I'm going to scan that to show later, (along with the detail of the pini).

A close-up of the card (cause I love it). It reads:
'In Glad School parlance, Wattie, otherwise Nona Watson, was a scream; which meant that her friends found her irresistibly, if not unconsciously, amusing'

Big thanks sis!



Calico Kitty, made for Mirabel and going to Pip in the mail.

This is from cherryskin, thank so much, very generous to share this pattern. So sorry about the blurry photo - it's the camera you know!

League of Gentlemen?

Just a special thanks to everyone for putting face paints in lolly bags!

Tales from the Sandpit

So today I:

Took Parker to Pre-School, stayed for 2 hours for 'Mother's Week' which consisted mainly of attending a tea party in the sandpit, funny, we all think our own children are brilliant, natural born leaders, who are destined for greatness, we all do, and it's ok. Today put things into perspective:

Parker to one of her little friends "You want to come play a game?"

LF: "Sure"

P: "OK - you be the Mum and I'll be the dog"

Bless her little socks, she stayed in character for a good 1/2 hour, one of the teachers mentioned how much Parker loves being a dog (and she does) and then said that she's given her more than a few bones this year! She particularly likes retrieving sticks, whilst wagging her imaginary tale and barking, gets hard on the knees though, so I can see why she likes to be a sandpit type of dog.

After my morning pre-school lark, I went to the bank, paid some bills at the Post Office, grabbed a coffee, and came home.

I had some Sao's with vegimite and a cup of tea for lunch, put a load of washing in the machine, hung that on the line, put Parker's doona and sheets (don't ask) in the washing machine, dicked around on the computer, reading all the blogs I love. Hung out doona and sheets, washed a load of dishes, vacuumed the carpets, swept the floorboards, put all my clothes away, picked up Parker's room - then picked up Parker. Made 'Special' fried rice for dinner, played a Charlie and Lola memory game, ran a bath. Big D put her in the bath, took her out dried her, played a Charlie and Lola memory game, read 3 bedtime stories, tucked her in to bed..... and now she sleeps.

After all that, I can see why Parker would rather be the dog then the Mummy.

NB: (photo of dandelion taken by big D)

Just in case you thought it was MY photo, cause I was reading somewhere about how scrap booking has become so competitive in the States, one lady, who was described in this article, as being a bit of a scrap booking anomaly, outspoken with tattoos, etc. Any way she was disqualified because some of the other 'ladies' found out that she had used a photo taken by someone else in her work. SHOCKING NO??

Op Shop Tuesday

I found a bunch of mis-matched playing cards at the Oppy today, love them.

This is/These Are

My favourite shoes. 70's red/orange leather

And here they are on. You can bury me with these on!

Theme this week from hip hop and banana bread.

Fiona Hall at the MCA

'Medicine Bundle'

We went to see the Fiona Hall Exhibition today at the Museum of Contemporary Art, I was blown away!

The above piece is knitted from strips of coke cans, along with a 6 pack of bottles from cans - incredible in real life.

Her work is so intricate and varied, there are some amazing 3 dimensional objects knitted from strips of VHS tape in the exhibition! If your'e in Sydney, go and check it out, it's on till 1 June, and it's free.