Materially Yours

Friday was Simba's 5th birthday. So in my excitment I put together a little birthday party for him. There wasn't too much fuss made during the day, given that I was too sleepy to get out of bed before he left the house, but after Mum got home from work we had a little celebration to mark the birth of my favouritest little animal. He had balloons and streamers and even a candle in his dinner, not to mention the singing of "Happy Birthday" and the party hats. Oh, the party hats. Doesn't Simba just look the epitome of birthday spirit? Poor baby. He only let us leave it on long enough for a picture (and Mum had to hold him pretty tightly even to get that) then wrestled around until it came off. I stamped and embossed all our names on our own hats, so now we have them for all those special occasions. I know, no wonder the cat hates me.

Then on Saturday morning we went to the recycle markets, where I scooped up many more things including an old leather stool that was ripped up and in need of some TLC. This meant I needed to buy a whole heap of other things that I would need to fix it, including a new staple gun and white spary paint, which lead to Bunnings, which lead to buying even more things that I probably don't need ($82 worth of things actually).

I'm suppose to be de-cluttering what is fast becoming an over-furnished house, not accumulating more things. So now I have a stool with nowhere to live, to go with the box of uni books with nowhere to live, and the piles of magazines with nowhere to live. Oh, and my new record player that has taken up residence on the floor in front of the TV. What I did buy specifically though for organisation was a piece of wood and three wooden door knobs, which have now become a series of hooks hung on the pantry door. I thought it was a pretty clever idea, though I maybe should have used green paint instead of blue to co-ordinate with my apron and the rest of the kitchen. So those and some sticker numbers for the front of the house (because people seem to be finding it harder to find our house) and a new pot and garden stakes for Mum's sweetpeas were my weekend's projects, and I'm all out of motivation to do anything to fix this messy house.

There ain't no romance around there

I know - two posts in one day.

I had a dream last night, one of the sorts you wake up still feeling and wish you could go back to sleep and finish. There were all these people from high school, the cool kids, though I'm not sure they were actually them or just them in theory. You know, how you can't see faces. It's left me feeling lost all day.

It is super cold at the moment. 13 degrees celcius below average cold. I couldn't get warm today until I went on an hour walk with Jade around the beaches this afternoon. All morning I just sat in front of the heater with three layers of clothes on and was still freezing. Now I'm sitting in front of the computer with two layers of clothes on and my hands are so cold... well, they're just really cold! I wonder where my mittens are.

It's funny me and Jade. I met her at uni through another semi-uni friend and then Jade and I often saw each other on the bus and then had a class together (Forces of Change in International Politics I believe, and one of my most favourite classes ever). Now that we are finished uni we are keeping in touch and Mum and I run into her and her mum everywhere. I mean everywhere. Every time we're at the shops we see them. They were even helping run the school/church garage sale the other week. Even though I think we're entirely different we are so similar. We have the same tastes - she has the same shoes, earrings and wallet that I do (though I think we both just like to shop at KMart) - and we both live just with our mums. It's nice to have a friend around here, because I was running out of them.

My internet wouldn't work for two days. I couldn't figure out why and as a last resort turned the modem off and on, and now it works. Salvation!

Spot the Difference

I reframed a picture of my mum that I keep on my duchess and rather like the new result. The frame was thrifted the other week and I used pink cardboard as a backing. It makes such a difference to the look of all the things living together on my duchess. These pictures remind me though that the little frame is still without an inhabitant and must be feeling lonely. The photo of my mum was taken at Bulcock Beach, which is here in Caloundra, when she and the family were here one summer on holidays. I don't know how old she is in the photo but I guess four or five. I like the photo even more because in the background you can see the diving boards that use to be down at the beach. Mum fell off one of them one summer and cut her chin. She still has the scar. I think it's lovely that my mum and her mum and dad and brother and sisters use to holiday here, then they moved here when Grandma and Poppy came to manage the Pearl Hotel. There are lots of stories still told about Poppy working behind the bar at the Pearl and the fights there and how all the regulars would step in to defend Poppy, and one time where I think someone was thrown off a balcony. I remember the house that was behind the Pearl, where they lived. I mainly remember images of the front cement stairs and the pool being surrounded by white lattice. I was tiny then so I don't remember much more.

I went to the doctor's this morning and as usual I'm probably fine. I say probably because I'm not sure I believe her, though I see two doctors and both have said nothing is wrong. Apparently stress is causing all of my ailments, the latest being pain where my ribs meet my breast bone and that is because of stress changing my breathing and the cartlidge there is moving differently. Anyway, I walked to Mum's work after this and told her I was fine and then went to the thrift store next to her shop. I just wanted fabric but ended up picking up stuff all over the place and had to make myself leave. I really love the fabric I found, which I picked because it has a little birdy in it and it only cost $1. Then I found old party hats which I needed to buy anyway for Simba's birthday on Friday (he will be 5). I might decorate them a little more and put his name on one. They cost 10c, and the flanellette pillow case cost 60c. The books were each 50c - Charles and Diana in Australia and Materiallly Yours: A handbook on dressmaking, textiles and related topics, for secondary schools, which also includes topics on grooming and etitquette (hehe). There was also a book on James Dean which they had just got in but they'd put $30 on it and I ain't paying that much, even for Jimmy Dean.

Ooh, yesterday was lots of fun. I went to Grandma's to finish my aprons, which are all done now, because my machine still won't work properly and I'm afraid will have to go back. Anyway, when Grandma picked me up we went down to KMart to get Aunty Vicki a maternity top for her birthday, and ended up having lunch at the Coffee Club. A Queensland Tropical open grill and chips went down very well. Grandma and I are creature of habit, and I obvioulsy get that from her, as we always order the same thing. We went home to her place and sewed and watched cable. I love and adore television and cable is just too much fun for me to bear. First was Without A Trace, then Touched By An Angel, Dr Phil, Little House on the Prairie, then Ursula came to do Grandma's hair and I realised that Martha was on, but only the last two minutes of it. In my new life as a crafter and design-obsessed person I have a new respect for Martha Stewart. All I got to see though were her tips on how to discard olive pits and tooth picks at a party (leave an empty bowl out, dah!) and her explain that she is creating a craft room in her new house in Bedford that is in the attic and runs the length of the house. Jealous! Then though, World Movies was showing One Day in September. While I'm already in love with television, couple this with documentaries and history and I am in heaven. It was so well done and interesting and moving, and I ended up feeling for both the Israeli athletes and the Palestinian terrorists. I don't think I can speak highly enough of it. Then I realised I had it on tape at home, after it must have been on TV some other time and I'd never got around to watching it. So while I love spending the day with Grandma, I also love her cable TV.

Flickr

I've made a new flickr account, seeing as I can't get into my old one.

Aprons and eBay

These are the aprons that I have spent the last few days fighting over with my sewing machine. I've finally given up and am going to go to my Grandma's to use her machine to sew the straps on. I got the neck strap on the lemon apron but it just refuses to do the side straps. It's such a shame because the machine was working fine when I made the green one on Friday and it's the one I'll be keeping for myself (because I refuse to part with the fabric). But now the pink and lemon ones are the ones for giving away and they're the ones with missed stitches and messy stop/start hems. If my sewing machine would allow me I'd be finishing these off like a production line because they're just so easy. By the third one (the pink) I gave up on doing the rounded corners at the bottom though because I can't be bothered gathering them. The lemon and pink polka dotted fabrics are the ones I bought yesterday at Spotlight and the green is from an op shop. It is really hard for me to buy new fabric from a store when I can get metres from op shops for a dollar. After I had bought the two from Spotlight Mum and I found some cheaper and even prettier fabrics on the other side of the store. At least we know where they are for next time.

Whoever said selling things on eBay was easy was a liar! And you have to pay selling fees?! Bugger off. I want to sell some books that I have more than one copy of (ones I've been given and already had) but I'd have to sell them for a lot more than I'm comfortable with to get back my money. This is one of them (I accidentally deleted the picture I took of the other, Australian Political Institutions). See, I even put the pretty fabric in the background and took pictures of the insides and spine. They tell you to take lots of pictures for better chances of selling your stuff, but then they want 50c a picture. Anywho, I think I will just continue to be an eBay browser.

I've spent the last few days with my sewing machine, trying to sew aprons. They're actually incredibly easy but my machine and I aren't getting along very well. It misses a stitch or snaps the thread and I scream obscenities at it. It goes along fine for a day and then the next time I want to use it it just won't work and leaves me in such a bad mood. Today Mum and I went to Spotlight to buy more fabric for aprons, because I've got an order in from a friend for one, and I also got some wadding tape and bias binding for the apron straps. Lots of pretty colours, I'll take a picture tomorrow.

I'm hiding in here tonight and avoiding the TV because Ghost Whisperer is too spooky for me. But in thirteen minutes I will be watching the Law and Order/SVU crossover and eating apple pie and custard.

This was just a short post so my blog won't think I've completely abandoned it. I'm just spending too much time sewing!

Cloudy. The sky is grey and white and cloudy.

It has rained for the past three days and it's starting to feel very wintery. I was caught between the above, "The sky is a hazy shade of winter", and "Hey sunshine, I haven't seen you in a long time" for the title of this post. It seems it rains alot where Simon & Garfunkel are from too.

I had my trial yesterday at Eckersley's. It went okay, though I'm pretty sure I'm just thinking about it too much and making myself believe I didn't like it or it didn't go well. It was scary because I knew absolutely nothing and there is so much to know! I helped one man find spray varnish for his beer coaster and that was easy enough because I knew what spray varnish was and it said good for paper on the can. I also learnt how to use the cash register and eftpos machine and had to ring a few customers to tell them that their paints were now in the store. The worst part of the whole day was walking from there back to the shopping centre to catch the bus in the rain with three blisters on my feet. Ouch! My pretty pink (and suede!) shoes didn't like getting wet and decided to punish me.

My new sewing machine is playing up. It seems to be working alright now but the other day it was missing stitches and sometimes just plain not stitching at all. If it does it again I am taking it back. But then I will have no sewing machine!


I am now looking for a pattern to make an apron. Just a simple one. I have two patterns in my own books, but one is for kids and the other says to trace around your old apron. I don't have an old apron. But now that I'm looking online I'm finding all these fancy ones that I'll never be able to make but have to have.

For you, whoever you are

Heidi from Eckersley's Arts, Crafts and Imaginations rang me this morning and is giving me a four or five hour trial this Wednesday for a job. Yay. I've never been there so I don't know exactly what it is like but it's an art shop so it can't be bad. I sent my resume there the Friday before last so she got back to me quickly. I should have applied to them three months ago, but then it might not have been meant to be. The thing is though, that I haven't done any one thing for four or five hours since high school, and even then I was going to a different class every 70 minutes and could spend the time passing notes and writing letters. I'm scared that I won't be any good because I don't interact with people that well and I'll have no idea what I'm doing. But I think it might just be instinct. When Heidi rang I found myself saying all the right things and being polite and friendly and I'll be okay if I just try my hardest, right? Eek!

Mother's Day yesterday was lots of fun. I gave Mum her presents - a letter writing set, licorice from Darrell Lea, the cusion I made and was going to give to Grandma, and the poem I wrote. That went better (or worse, or just different) than I expected because it made her cry. And when I gave Grandma hers it made Poppy cry. I didn't think it had cry-worthy material in it. We also gave Grandma some potted crysanthemums, pink slippers and the Doctor Zhivago DVD, which is her favourite movie. She even named her last corgi Lara after the character in the movie (or who I assume is a character in the movie - I've never seen it). I took Mum out to lunch and then we went to Grandma and Poppy's for dinner - fish and chips (though I had a hamburger). Poppy is definitely the best cook.

The other good news from the weekend is that I got a sewing machine!! Grandma was rather impressed with this news as she is a qualified seamstress and can teach me lots of things. Not that three years of Home Ec or everything she's taught me before has been any help. I have shockingly appalling sewing skills. But the machine is very good, with 24 stitches and three different button hole stitches, and a whole heap of diffrent feet that I have no idea what to do with - a zipper foot, a button foot (it can sew on buttons itself?!) and some other ones that were too confusing I don't even remember. So far I'm good at sewing the straight stitch straight (not in circles around what was going to be a pincushion). I already broke a needle - the second day I had the machine!! And I've found that the thrift store is the best place for 30c zippers and cheap bed linen that can be used as fabric. I just need something to make.

And what is quite possibly the best part of a great weekend is that I found Australian oranges whilst doing the groceries. No offence to imported American oranges, but can't we grow our own?! See, the label on the apples and oranges says in big bold letters AUSTRALIAN. But since when do oranges have seeds? Oh well. I've spent the last few weeks of cold weather looking for oranges but refuse to buy American ones. I get more than my fair share of Americanisation from CSI and McDonalds. I think I can eat Australian fruit. There, that's my rant done.

Thrift store jungles

I spent this morning thrift shopping with my friend Stephanie who is home from uni in Brisbane while she is doing prac (for special ed teaching) nearby. I don't have anyone that will go thrift shopping with me so I only get to do the proper shop from one end of town to the other when my high school friends come home, which is rarely. When I think about it, and when I visit them, there are actually quite a few thrift stores in town. (*Counts*) About 8 I think. It takes a very keen eye to find a bargain as they aren't really that cheap for what you are getting. I picked up these curtain (the red, orange and yellow fabric) for $4, the green fabric for $1, the book and frame for $1, the zip for 30c and the buttons for 50c. I also got a little green milk jug to go with my collection of dinnerware for 40c, but I forgot to put it in the picture. And Steph and I went halves in another large piece of fabric but she took it home to cut it. She had to catch the bus to get the train at 11 so we didn't get to all the shops, which meant we missed out on the one that is next to the retirement home and hospital and has lots of cheap goodies. They also have lots of fabric which is why I wanted to go today in the first place, but that will have to wait until another day.

This is my cousin Fergus. I have to show this picture, which Vicki emailed up yesterday, because it shows all his shiny white teeth! Fergus turned one in March and when he was visiting a little while after that all his teeth were coming through together and he was not a very happy boy. He is the cutest thing ever though, and I miss him terribly because he is two states away. He may have to give away his title of being the cutest ever though when his little brother or sister is born later this year. Fergus is the first baby in the family in 9 years so he gets lots of attention. He also ruined the three generation tradition of one boy and a string of girls. My grandma has one brother and five sisters, my mum has one brother and three sisters and I had one boy cousin and four girls cousins. Until Fergus. We're all secretly hoping Vicki will have a girl, and that will even it out a little.

One thing I miss about livejournal is being able to put in what you're listening to. And so that you know, I am listening to my brand new Martha Wainwright CD, which I like very much so far.

Don't try and understand what you can't comprehend

I have started to be a Mystery Shopper. I'm only on a trial basis and thus the pay is less, but it is still money. By tomorrow, so probably I'll do it tonight (Thursday = late night shopping!), I have to "mystery shop" the local Sanity (music) store. This is fine. In fact, I spend a lot of my time there for free so being paid to do it is so easy. I have to buy something that costs at least $5, and albums, especially at Sanity, are usually $30. So I will be getting Martha Wainwright's ablbum, and am being paid $15 towards it. Yay! Except, the thing is that I have to ask a question. Not just a "do you have this album?" or "what section is this album in?" type of question, but a "it's my sister's birthday and I would like some help choosing what to get her" type of question. Firstly, I don't have a sister so would have to use someone else, and second, I don't need any help in a music store!! If there's any place that I am most in my element it is a music store. When Mum can't find me when we're shopping, I am in a music store. And how am I suppose to ask a question that would direct them towards recommending Martha Wainwright? I can't think of a single question to ask or way in which to ask it that doesn't make me sound like a music fool. And I can't be seen as a music fool. I know music. I can't even just ask what section it is in and to be shown it because everything is together alphabetically, and I can spell. And I can't say that I'm looking for Martha Wainright's CD for a friend and don't know who that is, can you help me because I'm proud of my musical tastes and like to show them off, especially to the people who work in music store. What a dilema!

Think Pink

I spent yesterday at my Grandma's house. I was in charge of covering her dining chairs while she pressure hosed the cement out the back. The cement is now pretty and white and her chairs are all fancy after having recently been re-stained and now re-covered in a creamy-coloured fabric with a faint stipe and leaf pattern. Grandma then took me to Spotlight for a look around. She ended up buying me more felt, this wooden tissue box cover and the pink scrapbooking paper to cover it. She wouldn't let me pay for it, as it was my payment for the hard work I did with her chairs. I ended up with a sore knuckle from the staple gun, red raw hands from unsrewing all the screws, and a broken staple gun but it was all good. And Poppy was very pleased with the result, saying I should be nominated for Young Achiever of the Year as Best Chair Re-coverer. I just absolutely love my new tissue box though. The paper is fantastic, with two co-ordinating sides so I only had to buy one sheet. I painted the top in magenta to save having to cut around the circle opening, and then I covered an old plastic film canister with some of the left over paper. It's a see-through canister too, so from the inside you can see the smaller pink polka dots. I don't know what it can be used for - pills or M&M's or something. Skittles maybe.

I'm very inspired by these two pages in the new issue of Real Living. Actually, the whole magazine is very good this month. I think I'm going to make cushions like the ones in another picture and I have a whole heap of things to add to the list of things I want from Ikea. It was suppose to be my birthday present last year, to go to Ikea (which is over an hour away), but still I have never been.

And The Days is finished. I was worried that it wouldn't be on yesterday with all the coverage of the Beaconsfield mine rescue, but it was on and the timer worked on my VCR. It's such a good show. Why didn't they make any more?! I'm also now and then amazed by my good luck in flicking the channel just at the right moment, as I was in finding The Days last week. Today I was going through the channels and found Battleplan: Guerilla Warfare. One of my favouritre topics! Most particularly because it concerns my other favourite thing, the Vietnam War. It also covered the Soviet invasion of Afganistan (Sharyn, Russia always makes me think of you) and France and Algeria. It's also important to know that I can't just watch a show, I have to also tape it. But it seems that I have run out of video tapes. I only have 50 or so, but that is evidently not enough. I have filled 5 "Miscellaneous" tapes, and didn't have anything old to tape over so I had to put what I watched today on a "Kennedy" tape after the movie RFK. It's the historian in me that makes me have to keep these things.

Why is it that as soon as you find something new to love they take it away? Somehow last week I stumbled upon The Days while I was flicking through the channels, and I absolutely love it! Except, it has all of six episodes. Which means today's is the second last, and tomorrow's the last ever! Here I was thinking I had found something to fill in five afternoons a week and it is finished already. Pfft.

Mum got home last night from her work conference with a whole HEAP of freebies. We will never need to buy a pen again. And she also got paper samples, notebooks, post-its, a computer mouse, paper clips, jelly beans and countless other things. She said to pick what I wanted to keep and she would take the rest to work to give to customers, but I think I just about kept everything! I was very excited by the packing tape and a cute little notebook with a tree on it. Freebies are very nice.

To love you need to have a history

This is how my Mother's Day gifts for my mum and grandma turned out. They have my "Where I'm From" poem in the middle, and patches of paper made into a frame. The pink one is for Grandma, to match her bedroom, and the blue one is for Mum. They didn't take a lot of effort but turned out quite effective. I also made the little cushion for Grandma and it took all of two seconds (ok, maybe an hour or so) though it's not as neat as my first one. Maybe because it is smaller or because I didn't cut the squares evenly. I tried to find a website to teach me blanket stitch but couldn't understand any of it - it's all B to C and Ls, I have no clue. We also bought Grandma the Doctor Zhivago DVD and I am buying Mum licorice allsorts and have decorated a box for them to go in. I think Mother's Day was made for crafting.

Something is wrong with my camera. The pictures keep turning out blurry and not very bright. I don't think I dropped it again, though the two times I did drop it wouldn't have been any help. The first time was about two seconds after I got it and I was taking a picture of Simba when he pulled the arm strap with his claw and ripped it out of my hand onto the floor. And the second time was when I was up the headland on a rainy day and slipped straight into the mud, with the camera in my hand and on so the lens got a fist full of dirt in it. It also seems to depend on the batteries in it, as one set lasts longer than the other and apparently works better.

My mum will be home from Melbourne this evening. She just rang before to say they are at the airport but have an hour to wait until their flight. I made the most of being home alone for the evening - watching Everybody Loves Raymond, Heartbeat and staying up late to watch a movie on SBS, Novo. It was French and with subtitles. I liked being able to say "no that's not what she said", remembering the tiniest fragment of my four years of French class. It was an unusual film, as most foreign films are. I only stuck with it because Anna Mouglalis was in it, and it turned out to have an ok story by the end. She's much younger than I thought, having only seen her in photos before in Vogue and Chanel ads.

Where I'm From...

I found this template, "Where I'm From", so decided to do it. I also like it so much that I'm going to give it to Mum and Grandma for Mother's Day next Sunday.

Where I'm From...
by Melissa Mason

I am from summer days at the beach,
From grazed knees and Bandaids.
I am from a home of love,
Of a mother and daughter.
I am from the frangipani and the hibiscus that bloom in the heat.
I am from barbecue dinners and long-winded stories of the past,
From Grandma and Poppy and my mum.
I am from games of Rummikin and Grandma’s roast,
From cracked knuckles and a dimpled smile.
I am from football and photo albums.
I am from seven grandchildren,
From “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my good time girl”.
I am from Royal Dalton and Red Door perfume,
From Santa and Mrs Claus, from cat scratches and Corgis.
I am from the seashore,
From stubbornness and temper, from tight hugs and lipstick kisses.
I am from you.

Who will love a little sparrow?

See the little bird pillow? Well I made it! For some reason I was inspired yesterday to cut out the shape of a sparrow and sew it on to felt, so I did. I must say that credit is due to Simon & Garfunkel, whose song "Little Sparrow" I haven't been able to get out of my head. I actually wanted the bird to be green, but ended up using the scraps of material I already had so Little Sparrow is paisley blue and the leaves are green. When I showed Mum my felt picture she said I should turn it into a cushion, so again I did. I'm very proud with the result as it is 100% me and my thoughts and I didn't copy from anyone. It's also 100% © Enfant unique 2006, although according to Australian copyright I don't have any right to the pattern, idea or thought process, only the final product. Anyway, as you can see Little Sparrow is now living with Turf, my teddy bear, on my bed.

This is a closer look at the picture as I was sewing the edges before stuffing it (with the stuffing ripped out of an old pillow). The bird is sewed with brown cotton, the leaves and edges with white and the leaves with yellow. I don't remember how to do blanket stitch so they are basically just tacked. I also cannot sew a straight line, as demonstrated by the seams but that's what makes it unique. Grandma also noticed as soon as she got home from being away that I had borrowed her scissors (seen here). I promise to take them back, preferrably before or on the day that I go over to re-cover her chairs. She has also said she'll take me to Spotlight sometime during the week, so that means more stuff! I should get more felt, some blue cotton and anything else that takes my fancy. I also need my own scissors that can actually cut through fabric, but I like our green Wiltshire ones. They just need to be sharpened.

Isn't it nice having a digital camera so I can take photos of nothingness everyday and put them in here? And having a new computer with a card reader so that I can just slip the memory card in and not bother with cables? Yes it is.

I posted Sharyn's parcel today of what I made her (it should get there in the beginning of the week ok Sharyn) and it cost $3.70. It weighed all of nothing! I remember when they priced it by the exact weight instead of anything up to 500g, then you only had to pay 70c or whatever it turned out to be. I also remember when petrol was 50-something cents a litre and am starting to feel old. I'm also cheap, as I re-use the post packs Sharyn sends me to send things to her instead of buying new ones.

I woke up at 4.30 this morning because Mum was leaving for Melbourne, catching a plane at 7am. She's gone to a work conference only until tomorrow. I went back to bed after she left and Simba tried to be a pain in the neck, running around the house stupid, but I fell asleep anyway and woke at 8.30. It took me another two hours to actually get ready and walk to the post office, where I picked the slowest line of all of them (ok, there are only two lines to choose from but it was still very slow).

I just noticed a tear in the sheer curtain so I'm going to go use my newly acquired sewing prowess to fix it.

I didn't make my bed or re-decorate my room. Every morning when I wake up there is a cat fast asleep at the bottom of my bed, cosily snuggled up in the blankets. Now that it's getting to winter and I have my most favourite blanket, which turns out to also be Simba's favourite, on my bed he has decided to sleep with me. Except he sleeps right next to me during the night. Right next to me. It's very annoying when I need to turn over, but then I can't complain because I love my animal. The thing is he sleeps on my bed all day as well as all night (he leaves the house after dinner then comes home some time during the night most of the time, dirty stop-out). This means I can't make my bed, because I can't make myself make him get up. Tomorrow though, he will be moved. I will be washing my sheets and quilt cover before bringing out the quilt from the cupboard after a long stint in storage. Then I will tidy my room. I will!

I made something today, but I can't say what it is because it is for Sharyn and she reads this now. I can't show pictures or even describe it because it is a surprise, except to say it's bright pink and green because she chose the colours. It's not perfect, but it is handmade. And the first thing I've made for someone else in my new life as a crafter.

I drank the other night. Me! It was strawberry champagne. Not pink champagne, strawberry champage. I didn't particularly like it and it went straight to my head. I'm such a party girl. I drank it and laid straight down on the couch with a headache.

Anyway, must be off. My grandma got home today and we have to go see her before she goes away again (but only for one night) tomorrow. This is the woman who never goes anywhere (except Sydney and Melbourne and Emerald and London and Singapore and Korea). Until tomorrow...

I have my books and my poetry to protect me

I borrowed out some books from the library today, some of them to do with home decor which makes me want to redecorate the whole house. I also got a book on how to make handbags, which I will try to make. The 'In Bloom' book is very good, with chapters on all sorts of floral styles like feminine, exotic and vintage. The 'Doing Up Old Junk' is a little amateur-ish - a little too folk art for my taste. And with all my junk, a book on storage is very good, at least in theory. I don't seem to be able to put any of it into practice. All my uni notebooks and text books that need to be put away now that I've graduated are currently living on the kitchen bench, and there's an ever-growing collection of books on the floor in the lounge room.

And while I may try to think I'm a country floral person, who can live in simple white with pinks and blues, I am most clearly a retro floral person (see collection). I need 10 different patterns happening at once with clashing colours and an eclectic mix of furniture. Nothing I own matches and retro allows for this, and even makes the brown curtains I've collected look good. One day I may even have my own space where all these things shoved in the cupboard can actually be used. You see, the buttom cupboard of the wall unit has become a treasure trove of dinnerware that I'm going to use in my own house, one day. I dream of a kitchen with open shelves to display my plates and cup hooks to hang mugs from.

I still haven't done any craft work, which I will blame on being still without the use of my left thumb. Maybe tomorrow I will finish cutting out pieces to make the coasters, and possibly rearrange my bedroom. Or at least make the bed.

The delicate art of:

Today has been rather unproductive. I slept in, which is becoming the norm lately. Then when I got up all I did was sit on the couch and watch TV for hours and hours. It was only supposed to be for a minute, but then I got hooked into a package about The Bold and the Beautiful on 9am, and then switched to Home Improvement, which lead to My Wife and Kids and then the news. The news was far too depressing so I had a shower and came back to watch two episodes of 8 Simple Rules and then got so hungry that I had to make lunch. What an adventure that turned out to be! Last night's leftovers of corned meat plus cheese and tomato on a sandwich ended with me slicing open my thumb and bleeding non-stop. I learnt in art at school to always cut away from you, but have never found that to be very practical. I guess I learnt my lesson. I have also learnt not to use the really big sharp knife. I must give the knife props though for being so sharp that it cut through my finger nail.

My trip to the flea market on Sunday was very fruitful, bringing home these two books for 50c each, 5 metres of beading thread for $2 and this blue vase for $6. It sort of makes my spending $7.50 on Frankie magazine seem a little extravagent. My mum thinks I spend too much on magazines and need to cut out Vogue. I doubt that's going to happen, and rationalised to her that I only get Frankie, Vogue, Real Living and Rolling Stone (which I subscribe to) regularly. And Frankie only comes out every second month anyway. And I doubt there's a cuter magazine out there. It has a section called 'I love my shop' and features independent store owners and (obviously) why they love owning their own shop. They also use polaroids a lot and give recipes for cupcakes and soups and write really funny, relevant stories. Plus it keeps my dreams alive of writing for a magazine, as they accept freelance articles and photos. One day I must get my act together and give that a go.

I was rather silly the other day and locked myself out of my Flickr account and can't remember any of my information to sign back in. I emailed them but they haven't replied, which makes me wonder if anyone ever answers an email asking for help. They certainly don't in my experience.

Anyway, all is well when I am listening to my Best of Motown CD.

My Favourite Things

Place to live: here, Caloundra and more importantly, Australia Drink: Coke, but I've been sworn off it by my doctor. Nowadays it's Orange and Mango flavoured mineral water Food: Mexican, or my Grandma's roast Person to call: I despise the telephone, but my favourite person to talk to in any way is Sharyn Boy: Fergus (oooh - my baby cousin, not the cat) Girl: Sharyn Album you've heard in the last six months: The Essential Simon & Garfunkel, or The Strokes First Impressions of Earth Material item: computer, magazines Childhood memory: swimming in the Kings Beach pool, which has now been smashed to pieces Pair of jeans: my new black wash skinny jeans Book: They've Killed The President Movie: Moonlight Mile Number: 30, 12 Animal: cat Line From A Movie: I don't remember the line at all but it's from But I'm A Cheerleader, I'll get back to you on that one. Or from The Royal Tenenbaums, Margot to Richie: "I think we're just gonna have to be secretly in love with each other and leave it at that, Richie". Thing to do on the weekend: eat takeaway, go to the recycle and/or flea market Takeaway: McDonalds Website: umm... I use imdb.com a lot

A literal enactment of a playful intrigue

This weekend was a three day weekend because today is Labour Day. It doesn't really mean much to me because I don't work anyway, but it means that my mum is home an extra day. I still live with my mum - it is just the two of us and always has been. So we are close and I look forward to the weekends when we can spend time together. Not that we did much extra with the longer time. On Saturday afternoon though we went to my Grandparents' house, as they are away, to check on the house and do some of their washing. They have cable so it is nice whenever I get the chance to be there and be able to chose what is watched. I chose Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. I had seen it once before - in the first class of 'Coast to Coast: Mystery Writing and the City' at uni we watched a short snippit from when the birds first attack at the children's birthday party. It was in a dark lecture theatre with very loud surround sound and I blame that for me being very scared. After that I had to get the film out on DVD to see the whole thing and was very impressed by my first Hitchcock experience. And being that this time it was a choice between it and Terminator 2, which is one of my all time favourite movies that I can watch a million times, The Birds did very well in being chosen first. That and Mum refused to watch Terminator 2 one more time.

I have done a little craft work over the weekend but really need to get my hands on a sewing machine. I have all the material cut to make more pinchushions but I will have to wait until Grandma comes home so I can use her machine. Also when she returns I have been enlisted to help re-cover her dining chairs, given that everyone was so impressed with the job I did on ours. I'm very excited that I get to use my staple gun! While sitting at my art desk on Saturday wondering what else I could make with my growing pile of material, I looked around at everything in front of me and spied the coaster my glass of cordial was resting on - a coaster from a set my aunty had sewn and given to everyone in the family a few Christmases ago. I turned it inside out and tried to work out just how this seemingly tricky thing worked, to find it was just a few folds and one bit of sewing. It's basically 36 (for a set of 4) 11cm x 11cm squares folded, ironed and stitched, with a bit of stuffing in between. The only hard bit is cutting out the squares - I can't draw two that are remotely similar in size, despite using a set square. So if in the end it all works out I will take photos and maybe provide directions.

It also looks like I've sold my old computer - for $250. It's not enough to make up the money drained from my bank account in buying the new one, but it will help towards a new printer, or even a sewing machine!