Home and Gardens

We have been making some more small improvements to the house, via garage sales, trips to Lily's cottage and the Caboolture Markets. My mum has had sundays off this month, so we've been up nice and early and trouncing around the place! Last week we went to Caboolture bright and early, then Lily's cottage and then onto North Lakes and it was a day full of excellent bargains!

This week we went to the Redcliffe Markets and then out to Bunnings to get some things for us to do over the Easter Long Long weekend. We are going to Spotlight on Wednesday so I can get some backing for the curtains in the art deco room, thats my task for the weekend, backing some curtains and making some cushions.

We then went to the Redcliffe Botanical Gardens which are lovely, for Harmony Day, it had dances and acts from all different countries and lots of stalls, it was really quite good. I ate myself silly with Krishna food, love love love kofta balls!

We had some good news regarding some organising when Judy and Jim and the girls are here, we are going down to Pottsville the week starting the 15th of December and as Aunty Marion and Keith and the girls are going to be there the week before from the 8th, we decided that it would be fun if we are all down there, so we've got the caravan and we rang up to book the spot behind the caravan, and it was one of only two spots left for that week! In march! So it was meant to be!

I'll post some pics of some things that I've come across which have made their way into our home.

The pink garden stands i got for a $1 each from a garage sale and sprayed them the same pink as my flamingos.

The big owl planter i got from a garage sale for $10.00 and the hanging one I got from Lily's cottage. Stevie got me the small owl when he went to Sydney.

Most of the New Guinean masks we got from Collectarama last year and a mixture of Garage sales and some from family. The cat ashtray stevie got in melbourne and our longue book case is becoming very full with red and orange glassware from the 70's.

Mum got the vintage Matador poster which was beautifully framed for $3 last time she was in pottsville, its awesome! The palm tree wall ceramic needs to get hung, and I got that for a few dollars at a garage sale.

My mum got the rose bag holder from Pottsville for $3 and I got the gold and cream bag from Caboolture last week for $5. I have too many bags now and have them spread over three rooms! The little girl hanging I got for 20 cents at a op shop and it hangs from the light switch in our room, it has quite a japanese feel to it.

All we need to do this year is finish the painting of the windows when its cooler! Get the bathroom done, and some air conditioning later on in the year, we also want to get a Balinese like cupboard for the back deck.

Pretty much all the rooms are completed and the place is looking good!

Our holiday.

Well Brisbane greeted us back from our 7 day cruise through the Whitsundays and Tropical North Qld with a 41 degrees day! Sooo amazingly hot. Stevie played at the Soundwave festival (another big notch festival for them: this one was a 30,000 festival at Brisbane's riverside stage at the Botanical Gardens in the city). They had only been told of this on the Tuesday/Wednesday when we were away (and we had only one day of phone reception in the middle of the big ocean) so there was some panic organising things. We docked in Brisbane at around 5am, and got off the ship at around 8, Mum picked us up and at 8am it was already 33 degrees. We drove home and stevie picked up his guitar and we took him into the city, Mum and I decided to escape the heat by spending money and we firstly went grocery shopping, and then to Dolphins leagues club for lunch, mum put $20 in the pokies and came away $1200 richer! She gave me $20 and I won $100. Not bad! We had a lovely lunch and was home at 3pm where had reached 40 degrees! Soooo Sooo hot. You can't explain how hot it was, it was both humid and the air was boiling aswell. The beaches were packed.

Back to our holiday.

We went on a 7 night cruise with P&0 on the Pacific Sun, with nearly 2000 other passengers. We pretty much ate, slept and relaxed our way through the week basking in air conditioning. The first two days the weather wasn't the best, we haven't updated here for ages, but pretty much the drought in QLD has been broken with EL NINO which has brought huge amounts of flooding through 60% of QLD. It was gloomy and rained the first day but that didnt matter, The whitsundays and Airlie Beach was pretty rough and they had to cancel all the shore trips. We had shore trips booked for Cairns which we spent Tues and Wed there, Cairns is Australias 16th biggest city, had about 150,000 and is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, it also has a backdrop of amazingly lush rainforest mountains and volcanoes and mangroves. It also is super dooper hot and pretty much all day sits on 90% humidity. You are drenched in sweat within 5 minutes.

We had a day trip up in Kuranda which is in the mountains where we went on the Skyrail (why I booked this when I am petrified of heights!) which is pretty much a group of 3 cable rides about rainforests, Barron Gorge and Waterfalls and the Kuranda rail track. It takes 45 minutes and is mind boggingly scarey (also quite beautiful: I wouldnt know as I spent 90% of the trip looking at my feet praying that the cables wouldn't break, especially over the Waterfall) It goes from Cairns to Kuranda which is a mountain top town, and then we linked up with the famous Kuranda rail back to Cairns. The train goes through mountains and is very scenic and was built in the 1890's. Whilst on the train you can see the cable car's going over the waterfall! I couldn't believe I went up on them!

That night we had a great dinner at an Indian restaraunt called Marinades which we followed up with Lunch the next day, it got stevies vote for best Indian food he's had in Australia.

I'll update some piccies and will write another blog tommorow.

p.s the 4th picture of Cairns isn't one we took! It was too hot to carry anything around!

...more can be found about the Railway here http://www.kurandascenicrailway.com.au/

Hot hot heat

Boiling Hot! Today was soooo sooo hot, I had to have three cold showers whilst cleaning the house, doing 5 loads of washing, and putting up the Xmas decorations. It was 32 degrees here and must have been over 80% humidity. This week it's definately hit summer! Its taken its time though as previously we have had warmish but not oppresive heat. I remember my birthday last year was sooo hot, and its only got that way nearly a month and a half later this year.

All the decorations are up, we've kept it a little low key this year, the tree and our tin decorations and wooden nutcrakers are all in the front tiki room and apart from a small tree and some reindeers on the kitchen table, its much smaller than last year. I'm not a huge fan of many xmas decorations actually, I don' really like the red and green and gold colours, so again our tree is pink and we have a flamingo as the 'angel', I think it looks cute in all its silver, pink and purple glory.

I went and finished ALL our Xmas shopping for the year, so I'm all organised and wrapped already. I am just awaiting a few things in the mail (please come soon! I ordered and paid for these things ages ago, I'm a little dislussioned with ebayers who don't answer their messages every day..grr). I had the worst sale staff at myers whilst I was picking perfumes and putting some on layby for myself, she didn't understand, I'm 'ok looking by myself thanks!' and proceeded to follow me about and then comment on my choices, she worked for versace and kept on trying to ram their perfumes down my throat. I don't like to be rude, but I was like, look I have a huge amount of perfumes and I'm really particular with what I like, I have researched what I want and I am just happy going about myself please. She still didn't get it, so I quickly got out of there and went down to David Jones where they will be getting my buisness more often! I was really looking forward to my perfume shopping! Funnily enough I was in Myers two weeks ago where my tattoos were visible and they gave me the wide berth, this week I was wearing a really beautiful lacey dress and cardigan and had the pearls on and they must of thought...hello! Next time the tats will be out!

I am actually going to write a letter tonight to the customer service department as it really really peed me off and considering I work in the same sector I won't take shoddy service.

We got a new big item of furniture last week, a corner unit for the 70's room, it looks really good. We got the qoute from our upholster on saturday so I am going to send that away, my replacement flamingoes for those that got knicked should come this week. Despite the last ones being concreted in, I will have to think of something else to keep them in MY yard!

I have our xmas party for work this saturday, and on sunday we're all going out to Sitars indian restaraunt for stevie's birthday: all of us being mum, dad, stevie, me, marion and keith and the girls. Stevie has been going into the spare room shaking up his presents for the last two weeks!

I cant believe how quickly this year has gone, two weeks and its xmas, we go on our cruise not long after that, and soon enough everyone will be coming over for xmas next year! As soon as the new year starts, I'm going to spend a month on each room, our room and the shabby chic room are pretty much done, I wanna renovate the bathroom a little, make curtains for the art deco room and enclose the front and we should be done! I think we are going to get air conditioning as everyones present for next xmas:so you don't all melt~!

Our poinciana tree has been beautiful and blooming the most beautiful red flowers for the last month, we have the largest on the street! Its made a awesome red carpet on our footpath.

Calamity Jane.

This past week has been hectic for all the wrong reasons, on monday night, I told stevie that I was really really tired at 7pm and I had accidently touched my throat and it was really sore, so I went to bed with a pretty depressing book about the beheaded journalist Daniel Pearl. I had also gone to the toilet about 50 times that day, I have been drinking alot of water since my detox and thought it was just the miracle of detox, but by about 6pm I started getting the uncomfot associated with a urinary infection. Within 10 minutes I was asleep but woke up at 10 freezing cold (despite it being about 25 degrees at night) covered in two doona's and sweating profusely. I couldn't swallow at all and was in so much pain I went and gargled disprin, three times through out the night (i can't stand the taste of disprin, so for me to even think about doing it was quite unusual) and swallowed about 3 nurofen tablets. I still couldn't sleep and watched my alarm clock dreading the stocktake I had to do the next day, thankfully I was able to get into the doctors at my work at 8am, the fact I could barely talk:the receptionist was like, lets see if we can get you in straight away. I was given big big doses of anti biotics for what ended up being a kidney infection :( pain pain pain and acute tonsilitis. The doctor was like, I'm not suprised you cant swallow your' tonsils are three times what they should be and you have hardly any windpipe. Long story short, he gave me a sicknote for 3 days off, I went to work that day and worked from 8am to 10.30 at night stocktaking...nightmare! Had the wednesday off and then had to work the rest of the week because I couldnt get cover. I was behind with work every single day, and like the girls at Lily cottage, Friday brought in the nutters. I didn't have any food or drink until 3pm and at any one time I was trying to do 5 things at once. I brought home 'homework' every day that week when I should have been tucked in bed. I didn't feel better until Saturday, but low and behold today my tonsilitis has turned into a cold!

On saturday, dad picked me up at 5.45 to go up to Nambour for collectorama. We got to nambour super early, so we stopped at a few garage sales. My dad is starting to collect planters like myself, and I picked up two at one garage sale for 50- cents each for his b'day pressie and also a gold glomesh bag for myself for $1.00.

We got to collectorama at 7.30 and there were quite a few people waiting, I had my trusty trolley with me, and they let us in at 7.45 as there was a crowd. I went with $300 and had quite specefic things I wanted, tiki things for my front loungue room, new guinean things for my back deck, planters for my front deck: but as this is over flowing I was being picky!, a hat box for my art deco room, vintage maps for my study and any flamingoes or babushka's. I was also on the look out for red and orange milk glasswear for my 70's green and brown loungue room.

I was a little disapointed overall, Collectorama is good for those who want to do their collecting at one place and not b e bothered with price. I on the other hand enjoy the thrill of the chase at garage sales, and op shops and paying hardly anything! I did get a few bargains: which I unfortunatly can't photo until stevie brings home the camera charger. I actually got most of my things from the one stall~

I got: a miss prissy cat creamer set (funnily enough miss prissy has been my nickname on yahoo and my old email address since i was about 15!) its a cat head japanese 50's milk jug and sugar bowl and is very cute. The guy selling it was really gruff and said his mum collects them. It has a matching teapot which I'll be on the look out for. They are in excellent condition and I was happy paying $20 for it, it will be great for tea parties. The teapot is going for $60us on ebay at the momment, and there are salt and pepper shakers aswell! I want!

I also got a red milk vase and a tiki hawaiian cocktail set from the stall I got everything mainly from: it was all half price and I got the two for $15.00. Most other places were selling the red glassware for $40-50 plus! I have gone to the caboolture markets many a time where they are $5!

I wanted new guinean things for our back deck, I have already two masks from cameroon and two blue clay masks. My dad has a huge lot of new guinean masks from his childhood and it is really collectable now, and he was going to be on the lookout for stuff for me. At the same stall there were masks which ranged from $38 to about $60. I was going to go back after I had checked out the rest of the stall. My dad was pretty funny, he was going around going.....I picked up this from an opshop for 20 cents! My dad and I are pretty alike in alot of ways, mainly with ocd and collecting!

Our hall way is full of vintage religious images, I was given a gaurdian angel picture when I was a baby from my nan which has been in all of the kids rooms when we were young. I had asked mum for it a while back but she didn't know where it was, and weirdly enough I found the exact same picture for $20 which I snapped up.

We went back to the newguinean stall and they were moving/packing them, I was like..ohh no are you getting rid of them? and they were like...are you interested in them? And offered to sell me the whole lot for $50! The whole lot was about 7 masks, a bird of paradise and a statue! I was like hell yea! Then dad came and stood next to me and was like...thats such a good deal and told the lady he was from new guinea and that he had been looking for stuff for me as he wasn't giving up his own stuff. She was very pleased it was going *home* as she said!

I shouted dad some breakfast and we were out of there by 8.30!

We then visited one of his friends at her lovely house at palmwood and met her very cute kittens, one of which was a boy blue point siamese and a lil ginger girl called sissy.

On the way home, we dropped in at two garage sales at north lakes. The second one was at a Christian Missionary....its a place where missionary people who go and build places can come and stay after there work. It was crazily big and crazily good, I got an embroided purse, a black glowmesh bag, another planter for dad, a metal cup which had roses made by the swallow company(i have two tin trays from them) and a magazine all for $2. and then I went into the furniture shed where I got an awesome huge coffee table which is eames like for $5. I am going to contact some furniture restorers about getting a black glass top on it to match another table we have in our 70's room. The coffee table is massively long and has a lovely shelf for magazines. I hyperventilated as it had a display cabinet/wall unit for $8 which was totally out of a mid century modern magazine! It was unfortunatly already sold though and I wanted to cry! It was exactly the right size for our record player and our quickly amassed library of furniture books. I will have to keep looking, I passed one up which wasnt even as nice on ebay a few weeks back for$200 as it was a little too big and would have looked squashed next to our matador bar: but this one was perfect! They are having another sale first week of febuary so I am so there!

I woke up early to walk down to the Lion's markets this morning which have moved to the showgrounds which are on my street, it was boiling hot at 7.15 already and it took me pretty much 40 minutes walking at a fast pace to get there. I was all gross and sweaty but that was forgotten when as soon as I walked in, my friend who does planters had a beautiful bird one for $12 with cactus's already in it and had kept a flamingo ceramic for me. $20 later I had a planter, a flamingo, a bottle of water, another glomesh bag and a tin tray with poinsettia's on it, and a crotchet bag with bamboo handles. I also had the walk home which I wasn't looking forward to, my shoes were killing the back of my feet and I was listening a little too enthusisatically to my new i'river mp player when I went head first into the pavement and smashed my lovely planter into 10 peices! :(

I am a resourcefull lass though and got the superglue out at home and managed to peice it all together and you can't tell the difference! Yay!

I've cleaned the house, done 3 loads of washing and now am ready for a little read of my book. The pictures of miss priss are from ebay. I'll hopefully will be able to post some pictures of my stash tommorow.

Babushka!

Thank you Judy, Jim, Rach and Lou for your lovely singing voices and birthday wishes! Sorry we didn't catch you last night.

I had a really good birthday, stevie gave me some awesome presents, The gwen stefani perfume which is great: very rosy, an i-river ipod, a lucero dvd, a summer heights high dvd (my fav show on tv) and an interpol cd I also got a bright pink cover for my i-river. I got a loooooovely leona edminston blue and white spotted silk nightie from judy and jim, and my mum got me the make up bag from the luggage set I have got from Spencer and Rutherford. I have now got the beauty bag, the large upright traveller, the onboard luggage traveller and the overnight bag. Dad got me a babushka.

http://www.spencerandrutherford.com/store/index.php?target=categories&category_id=30&sort_by=&sort_order=&page=2

Aunty marion and keith got me two flamingo pots which will join my deck: I have some jade trees to plant into them.

I had a pretty relaxed day, caught the bus to north lakes which is really big now and got an hour and a half massage, cupping and this ion foot detox. The massage was pretty sore..ouch! had to try to keep quiet during it, I have come out with two big cupping bruises, one where the guy found about 20 knots and spent about 20 mins killing them. I am quiet tender still on my back. I then had some sushi for lunch and caught the bus to my work to pick up some pressies that had arrived and some amazon books including one on turkish food and one on cake decorating. I start my cake decorating course in january which will be fun.

Mum came and picked up stevie and myself and we met dad at Sultans which is an awesome turkish restaraunt. My babushka cake that dad had gotten made for me was there and was sooo cute! Another lady on a table wanted to get a babushka made for her sister....no my babushka!:)

We all had some great food, they messed up my order of a spinach pide without cheese but were super good about it, and brought me out free turkish burgar rice and salad and made me a new one within minutes.

They have turkish belly dancers and a one man band who plays turkish music there on friday and saturdays, so when the belly dancer came out, they brought out a turkish dessert with candles and the whole place started singing happy birthday (i had to stand up! I was pretty mortified!).They say the name scarlett quite weird in turkish :it was sung in turkish and sorta sounds like sccccaaaarlllleeeeey! There was another b'day there, a guy called david and they did the same for him, and then we had to go up and learn to belly dance for about 10 mins infront of everyone! Eck! Its quiet hard and i was stuffed! I was also very embrarssed and very unco! Mum and dad and stevie all thought it was amusing. They must love birthdays there, they get free entertainment from the bad dancers that their customers are!

I offically finish my holidays today :( In that time I have painted both sides of the house, only windows to go, painted 4 coats of decking paint on both the front and back deck, went to lilys cottage with stevie (such a good husband), went to northlakes twice and had one day where i relaxed and read new books/atomic ranch magazine. Next saturday is collectorama market up at nambour, dad is taking me! I can't wait!

I'll post some pics of the night and from Taste of Chaos the festival that stevie played the night before.

I've got a big package to send on monday, so it makes it for three lovely ladies b'days...so keep an eye out for it.