Happy New Year

Well it has just gone midnight, so Happy New Year to all, we went to the beach it was fun, here are some pictures of Sydney harbour fireworks at midnight...

Hello 2011 xx

Last day of the year

     Well today is New Years Eve, it is extremely hot & we are mooching about not really accomplishing anything atall, I'm not keen on new years & only go out cos I feel I have to, that said we are getting picked up by some friends & going to Manley beach to meet up with other friends for wine, nibbles & to watch the fireworks so am looking forward to that, the girls will love it too. I made some pesto to have with crackers, we have so much basil in the garden, I wanted to use some of it up, I also added some sundried tomato's for something different, quite delish if I may be so bold as to say!!

   



Dr Milli

Milli had the Dr's coat & a few implements from Kenya for christmas & yesterday she bought the Dr's bag with some of her christmas money it too has stuff inside, but we love the glasses, how cute!!

smiley & sunny

I planted a whole heap of sunflowers a few months ago but unfortunately only one sprouted, to be honest I think the seeds were a little old, I found them in amongst some other seeds that had been stashed away in a tin, but the one I did get was beautiful, it is always happy & smiling at me whenever I look at it, next year I am going to plant lots & hopefully they will all be a success.

This is a beautiful orange Lilly, Carolyn, my pottery teacher gave me about 5 plants from her garden & we planted them in the spring & now they have flowered, she will be pleased!!

This is my latest side of the road find, a fabulous butchers block, it was already that colour, I absolutely love it, it has pride of place in my kitchen, I have put various bowls on there (some I have made in pottery) to store all my eggs & veggie's!!

Its amazing what people chuck out, its true what they say one mans trash is another's treasure.

home made

I made a little tutu for Jo's little 3 year old Abigail for christmas, it was very simple just length's of red & pink tulle tied onto elastic then I mixed in some spotty tulle I found in the remnant box at spotlight for $1, I sewed on the bow & then I put a small piece of satin on the inside so it wasn't scratchy on her legs. Its a little rustic but not bad for my first attempt.

I also made a heart hangey thing for my friend Michelle for christmas I glazed & fired the hearts in pottery & then I used fuse wire, ribbon & a couple of beads to jazz it up abit, it didnt come out too bad in the end, hope she likes it.

Have a lovely christmas x

Christmas Spirit

I finally got around to getting a tree, the girls decided they didnt want a twiggy tree this year so after looking around for an artificial one at a reasonable price, "to no avail" am wondering why everyone is buying artificial tree's this year arn't they supposed to last forever!! so we got a small live real one in a pot so hopefully it will last till next year & grow bigger too. 

With lights on

Santa's little helpers

We got these costumes for Milli's gymnastics christmas party, the sizes were really weird though, Kenya's was size 9-11, but the top was really tight so she ended up wearing a white tshirt & Milli wore Kenya's top, had a great time at the party, lots of yummy food.

The new leotard

I have made a few things this week been very busy!! but unfortunately I can't blog any of it as they are christmas pressies, so you will have to wait... so instead I am showing Milli off doing her gymnastics, I sent away to America to get her two new leotards, as the US & Australian dollar are pretty much equal at the mo & its cheaper to buy them in the states, this is one of them she put on before I took her to gym today..

Here I go



side splits



getting ready





Handstand



I thought I'd chuck one in of Angel too, he looks cute but he's a terror!!

                               

My New Sofa

Wanted this sofa from ikea but because the new catalogue had already come out, the fabric I wanted had been discontinued, I wasn't best pleased!! but a friend put me onto a secondhand site called Gumtree where you dont have to bid, you just buy it,  the second sofa I saw was the very one I wanted, so rang the guy who was at the airport moving back to the uk from a year out here working & he had left it for his neighbour to sell, so he got her to contact me, so Bill, {my man with a ute} & I went to Bondi today to get it which was left in an undercover car port & I just had to put the money in her letterbox, very trusting I thought!! so it was all a little bit cloak & daggers but the end result was fab I love it... x

Nostalgia

Today is December the 1st, "Advent calendar's", although now they have chocolate behind the window, whereas when I was a child it was just a window!! a very nice sparkly one though! I do make sure it is at least christmasy & doesn't have tinkerbell or ww wrestling on the front!! the girls were very excited to open #1, after breakfast though, I insisted, dont think I have ever seen them eat breakfast quite so fast...oh the joys of being 6 & 8..

There was lots of things I loved about christmas as a little girl, but  in particular there were 3 ornaments that were special, the first being  Angel Chimes, I loved them, each christmas I would stare at them for hours fascinated by the angels going round by the heat of the candles, making a soothing tinkering sound as they passed the cymbals, I also loved the advent candle it was a candle with 1 to 24, each night you would light it so the number of the day dissappeared & then blow it out until the next day, sometimes though we would forget!! & be devastated. The last one was another candle but as it burned lots of different colours would run down the holder to a waterfall of gorgeous colour, back then in the 70's it was a mateous rose bottle because of its shape.

Geraldine very kindly found me some Angel chimes & sent them to me, from the look of the box they came straight out of the 70's, they are from Sweden, very european, & the drippy candle I found new in its box, also left over from the 70's at a trash & treasure market, I couldnt believe my luck, would love an advent candle though, maybe I will look for one for next year, my girls too love the Angel chimes, I want them to feel how I did at christmas when I was little, feeling very nostalgic today x

Poor Kenya, Poor fish

Oh dear, couple of things, first of all, Kenya has broken her little finger playing Volley ball at school yesterday, luckily its on her left hand so all good to write, it was all bruised & swollen & very sore, saw the Dr today & he said it wasnt too bad so got it straped up, I remember you doing something similar too sis!!!

 

Next we woke up to the fish looking rather poorly, about an hour later he was a floater, poor fish gone to fishy heaven, wont put a picture of that on to view, RIP, Bubbles.

Emerson's prized tomato, he has been waiting for them to rippen for a week or two & finally today one did although it could have been a bit redder but nevermind, he put garlic home grown basil, chives, parsley, olive oil & cooked it in the oven for about 20mins & hey presto, very tasty it was too, well done Emo..

The Good Life!!

Have been out in the garden today taking photo's of our veggies, they are coming along really nicely, the tomatos I took a couple of weeks ago & are now turning red, have used some for fetta & cherry tomato muffins, very nice they were too, the sweetcorns are very impressive, we have loads.

Sweetcorn & Reddening Tomato's

Cherry Tomato's

Radish's

Lemons

Strawberry's

Yum x

Long weekend in Brisbane

Hello, well, here I am back from our few days away, had a fab time but shame about the weather it rained most of the time, Queensland weather is supposed to be hot hot hot!! luckily the bride & groom had a contingency plan out of the park & in under the shelter of the balcony in the reception room, not ideal but better then getting wet, so that was ok, Deidre looked absolutely amazing "greek Goddess" comes to mind & the day went off without any hitches, great fun had 

 Girls at domestic airport Gold Coast.

Waiting to go, the gorgeous bride...

The Bride & Groom!!

Emerson & I were the witnesses!!

Lastly, The girls having some fun, minus Milli who was upstairs at the kids club having a fab time..

Gutted

Well its tuesday night again & have got back from pottery, had a tragic disaster, made a wall hanging which had to be fired in a special way because of the colours I wanted, when I came back the first time I didn't like the colour, too green, so back in it went & when it came out the second time it was exquisite, copper's dark reds & in places it looked like oil & water mixed together, it was a long process but finally I loved it, took my pottery box from the car & at the time I did think to myself dont hold it by the handle in case it drops, well I did hold it by the handle just while I closed the car door, handle broke, box dropped on floor & gorgeous piece smashed into 4 pieces, I should have listened to my innerself...GRRRRRRRRRRRR, not happy. Having a glass of wine to commiserate!

On a happier note, I did get a nice Indian wall hanging from north rocks trash & treasure on sunday which I am going to make into a floor cushion for my hut which incidentally is nearly up!! all I have to do is back it will fabric & fill with stuffing, oh just another project for my lovely list, I have ticked a couple of things off list so thats good.

See you soon x

Too many projects, so little time

Well its saturday again today, where has this week gone, not much of a sleep in today as I got ejected from my bed about midnight from Emerson snoring & Milli spread out across the middle, I went into Milli's bed & had the sun streaming in through the window about 7ish & couldnt get back to sleep, i must fix that up no wonder she's always the first one up!!

 I have so many projects I want to do, I have a lovely list!!one of them being the Cath Kidston bag that came with the book that my dear friend Jo bought me, 'just because" we often buy each other little gifts, junk shop finds etc, as we are so much alike. Hope its not too hard to do it's so sweet hope to get on with it soon, but there's also christmas pressies I want to make  & havn't started yet, I really must pull my finger out!!

wed 10th

Really hot then we had a massive storm!! did clear the air though, wish it would stay dry long enough for my hut to be completed!! it has rained spiradically for about 2 weeks. whinge, whinge, whinge!! Black hawk helicopters still flying overhead, when I was in the school playground waiting for the girls they were so low you could almost see the faces of the pilots!! practising for rememberance day tomorrow.

 

Kenya at the garden sale with my homemade bunting that Fran bought at the end of the day for one of her girl's bedroom

Tuesday 9th

Had a lovely time at the jewellery party, all gorgeous chunky stuff, bought myself a cuff & it was only $25 bargain, have booked my own party for the 3rd Dec hoping everyone will buy some christmas pressies!! On sunday Jo Liz & myself all went to Fran's for a garden sale, it wasnt very busy but it was great because we ended up buying all each others stuff, made about $60 & spent about $30, followed by a bbq for lunch, the weather was hot & sunny so great fun had by all.

I have just got back from my pottery class & these are my latest masterpiece's a sculpture for the garden & my goldilock's bowls!!

Saturday 6th Nov

Today is saturday, I love the start of the weekend as I get to lie in for a bit longer, today it was about 9.15 when I got up, Rachel came to pick me up as we went to get our hair done together, another one of my favourite things, especially the head massage!! did a bit of shopping came home to tidy up & pick the last of the pea's from the veggie garden!! Tonight I am going to my friend Suzanne's jewellery party, hope there's lots of weird & wonderful's to buy, better get on with my christmas shopping, cant believe we are nearly there.