Lazy Days at Home

Time here has slowed almost to a stand still.

This week has been pretty much a week spent at home. There has been the occasional local outing and play date for Rhianna but otherwise it's just been doing stuff around the house.

Today Rhianna had a friend over to play and I realised I had almost nothing in the house for morning or afternoon tea.

I quickly whipped up this chocolate brownie from a recipe I found on Melissa Godsells Day to Day blog.

So easy and most of all yummy.

Yesterday we got stuck into some store bought craft projects. What I love about these projects is that I can leave Rhianna to complete them on her own while I get on with other things - mostly housework.

Rhianna has been begging me for pocket money this week so I have assigned her a list of jobs to do around the house.

Yesterday she cleaned the bath and vanity and swept the front drive of leaves.

As it was such lovely cool weather we also took Finn out for a walk.

Rhianna loves to hold him on his lead especially as we pass the house of her latest love interest.

This week Rhianna tells me she is going to marry Jedd.

Boy, I hope not. I can't imagine having a son in law called Jedd.

We learnt the fine art of tea making later in the afternoon.

Followed by a DVD before dinner.

Wasn't this on at the movies in the last school holidays? I can't believe how quickly movies come out on DVD now. Why would you bother blowing all that money to see these movies on the big screen when you only have to wait a few months and they are $5 at the local DVD store?

Of course, there has been a bit of op shopping now and again. But it seems there are no bargains to be had at the moment.

On the down side, we went to the local pool the other day to swim some laps and when Rhianna got out her chest, arms and back were covered in spots.

We had a trip to the doctors to rule out measles and chicken pox but the Dr said she just had a reaction to something in the pool.

I think we'll just swim in our own pool from now on.

And that's it. Just plain, boring old Christmas school holidays.

Crazy Christmas Time

It's getting crazy busy here and I bet it is at your place too.

Packages are arriving daily as I did most of my shopping online this year.

We have come to love seeing the courier and the postman cross our driveway.

For a bit of sustainable shopping there is nowhere on the planet like Etsy. If you have no idea

what Etsy is, well I'm afraid there is just no hope for you. Etsy is THE place for retro, recycled,

homemade and vintage loveliness.

Here is a crocheted afghan I received last week.

You know I am mad and obsessed with crochet so I couldn't wait till Christmas Day I had to

have it out and proud on my lounge today.

On Saturday we did a spot of fashion designing. Rhianna created the designs for her new bear

and I assisted with the sewing up of said creations. I LOVE that she loves craft the way I do.

Please notice the bears' earrings. Red felt hearts. Bet you want some now too right?

Is everybody eating as many cherries as we are at the moment?

One of my best friends came for a visit Saturday night. Here are the kids swapping presents

beside the tree. Then we all went out for dinner which made a nice change from eating in - and

so much less clean up. I might make it the new tradition.

Bill got a bit creative with the rope lights this year next to the pool. It says "LOVE" in case you

are having trouble deciphering.

Probably a good time to mention how much I love that man. Too, too beautiful for words.

And also from Etsy some Pyrex dishes. Just the orange ones, the white ones are from local op shops.

If there is anything more retro than orange pyrex I am yet to find it.

Recovering.

Back to the land of the living today - but only just.

The surgery went well but it does tend to knock you around a bit.

I spent yesterday in bed recovering but have managed to get up and about today for a bit of pottering around the house.

Most importantly I had a very nice, long warm shower.

Then off to the kitchen for a coffee and a bit of a read of the paper.

Bill has taken Rhianna and one of her little friends out for the day so I can have some quiet time to recover.

He got the bed sorted for me before he left so I could crawl back in if I need to - bless him.

But I have a little bit of energy, and I do mean a very little bit so I decide to wrap Rhianna's teacher's Christmas present.

I collect some supplies, paper bag, cardstock, paper doily, vintage yoyo and a button.

I cut a circle of cardstock. Sew the yoyo to the doily and glue the whole lot to the paper bag.

Do the same on the back but instead of a yoyo I sew on a large pink love heart button.

Inside the paperbag I have a couple of things made by my friend Emma.

Some lovely papergoods that all teachers love to receive.

After putting them in the bag though, they look a bit meagre so I'll buy a box of chocolates through the week to pad it out a bit.

A nice little Xmas bow to finish things off.

Back to bed now for a little midday sleep.

Diaries, Donations and a Day Out.

The diary

One of my friends that does a lot of travelling gave me the idea to keep a travel diary in our car.

In it you can write a mini review of the places that you have been.

I was keen to make one to keep in our new camper van.

Of course, I had to craft it up a bit first. I gathered my supplies. Notebook, contact and some colourful pages from one of my vintage caravan magazines.

Here is the finished product. I knew all those years of covering books for school would come in handy for my own projects one day.

One of the pages I have completed already.

On one side of the page, I wrote the date we went away and the camp site we had.

I include details about the amenities and what was good to keep Miss R entertained (crucial info as far as I am concerned as a bored child equals no relaxation for Mumma).

I put in the best and worst things about the place we stayed as well as any site we would prefer to have next time so if we ever go again we might get a better spot.

On the opposing page I put any paper work that relates to the park we stayed in.

In this case, I've included the park site map and the rules that apply in the park.

I hope it will be a handy reference in the camping years ahead.

The Donation

Miss Rhianna earned herself $300 through a challenge she did this year.

At the beginning of the year I promised her $100 if she did not eat nor ask to eat McDonalds fast food. When her Dad heard of this challenge he said he would throw in a further $200.

Well, I am happy to say she made it easily through the year with not one cheeseburger crossing her lips.

She was super excited about having $300 in her hot little hand and we talked about a trillion things that she could buy with the money. I tried to talk about savings accounts and the like but got shouted down with cries of "No, I want to spend it Mum".

Then, the other night I was tucked up in bed reading the latest Woman's Weekly when a brochure fell out regarding World Vision donations. Rhianna picked it up and asked what it was all about. I explained that you could buy a gift for a family in another country such as a goat or a piglet.

Rhianna read the whole brochure through before announcing she was buying a cow.

A cow for $265.

I thought for sure it would be a two minute wonder and the next morning she would change her mind. But no, she was committed and today a cheque for $265 was posted to World Vision for a cow to be bought and given to a struggling family in a third world country.

I hope we can afford to do this every year and make it a new family tradition.

I can't tell you how proud I am of my daughter as she is not usually one for selfless acts.

Maybe the tide is turning.....

A Day Out

I've had a day out planned with one of my besties, Linda for a while now so when I was up half the night with Rhianna and gastro I thought the day would have to be cancelled.

But lovely girlie days out are few and far between so I bit the bullet, bundled up the girl and headed to Castle Hill, Sydney.

It's about a 40 minute drive from our place and my girlfriend Linda and I used to be neighbours there many years ago. Now I live in the mountains and she has moved to Mona Vale which is by the sea but we catch up at the midway point of our two houses as often as possible.

Of course it had to be pouring with rain and we ran into a traffic jam caused by a road accident but we soldiered on.

Rhianna keep my company by singing me lots and lots of Christmas carols. Did I mention that I made sure I took my anti-anxiety medication BEFORE I left the house.

First stop a coffee and a muffin to fuel ourselves for the fun bit - gift buying for the people we love.

Three hours of shopping later we met said bestie for lunch.

I didn't get time to take a breath let alone a photo of us shopping.

If you haven't started your shopping yet, it might be time to get started - it's getting really crazy out there now.

After a delightful lunch at our favourite cafe Rhianna and I headed back home.

Love, love, love the girlie day out.

Retro Dining

As well as loving all things retro, I am also very much about the making, the making do and the thrifting.

Today, I thought I'd show you our little dining room.

Here she is in all her glory.

Such a mishmash of colour, style and kitsch. Just the way I love it.

I think you've seen the dining room table and chairs circa 1970 before. They were a second hand furniture store find and in perfect condition.

I had quite a little collection of tins that I've been picking up mostly in op shops and when I saw this old pot holder stand in a local antique store I knew it would be the perfect thing to store my tins on. And the tins are useful too. Rhianna and I can cram quite a lot of craft bits and pieces into those tins.

Some tin love.

This plaque was found in an op shop up near my Mum's house. I've never seen or heard of this saying before but it works for me and it has that genius retro orange trim that I do so love.

This is an Etsy buy but it was in plain old wood grain colour when it arrived. I do love to spray paint and yellow just suited this piece so well. I love it, love it, love it.

This pillow was handmade by myself and honestly, I got the idea and design out of a kid's craft book. I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Very vintage crochet cushion purchased for around $10 from Frou Frou in Springwood.

This stool is actually a WIP. It was just a plain wooden stool from our last (boring) house that I spray painted and I have a lovely lady crocheting a nice little cover for the top of it.

Finally, Finn wanted me to tell you all that he is loving this return to winter weather. The fire is on, the comfy pouffe has been dragged right next to it and we are having lots of cosy hugs on the lounge today. Furthermore, he's just been told that some baking will be happening shortly.

He does so love my sultana pound cake.

The New Cubby House

We've been flicking through our craft books again now that the weather is cooling down a bit.

We've seen this type of cubby in a couple of books so we combined a couple of the ideas to create our own.


We already had an old plastic picnic table in the back shed. so we cleaned that up and bought it into the lounge room.

I bought some cheap laminated tablecloth cover for the feature walls ($20).

The other walls and curtains were made from an old checked flat sheet we no longer used.

The whole project took just under 2 hours and about $20 all up.

Here's the inside view. You might remember the flooring as the first quilt I made using Rhianna's old clothes and the orange pillow is one Rhianna made during the school holidays at Christmas.

This is one totally home-made project.

I think I've got my crafting mojo back.

February 6th 2011

We had a late minute change of plan today as something we thought we were going to do didn't pan out.

Never mind, always a Plan B to fall back on.

The school swimming carnival is on in a couple of weeks and Rhianna is busting to compete.

Not sure if she is eligible or not at this stage but this morning she begged Bill to take her to the local pool to "train".

I said it was a good opportunity to see whether she could swim 50 metres of anything.

While Bill and Rhianna headed to the pool, I took some "me" time and went for a nice long walk.

I was so hot by the time I got home, I was dripping in perspiration. I jumped in our pool fully clothed :: well, I did take my joggers off first!!

So we hung around home today. I am trying to use up some of the multitude of art and craft stuff we have around here.

I had a canvas behind the door in the laundry and Rhianna asked if she could paint on it.

We even got the easel out so she could paint like a professional.

A whole afternoons worth of entertainment and I didn't have to leave the house or open my purse. Yah!!!!!

Then the southerly hit and we walked around all afternoon smiling at each other like idiots saying how nice it was to finally be cool.

I did some long overdue housework and we just sat and chatted about our trip to new York.

We are going to the travel agent tomorrow and need to decide on all the activities we want to do and book them now. For instance, you can walk to the top of The Statue of Liberty again but it is a 3 month wait list so we'd need to book that now if we wanted to do it. I think we do.

Since it's cool, I finally dared to put the oven on again and cooked Tuna vol-au-vents. Basically a cheese sauce with a tin of tuna and all the old vegies left in the crisper and poured into a pastry case. Yummy.

Even Finn likes Tuna Vol-au-vent night.

He's in there somewhere.