Already. *yawn*
Started late at Le Cottage – got all the tacking ripped up & the smallest, teeniest smidge of yeechy rubber removed before Miss Punk no longer wanted to play.
Now that we’re home I’m tired & can’t find the motivation to finish packing… still!
Instead I’m doing what so many people do when making a valid attempt at procrastinating; looking at pretty pictures.
Wow yesterday was a busy day! Instead of continuing to pack & ferry boxes from here to The Cottage, like perhaps a normal person would, I took Punk ‘sailing, went to an auction & ripped up carpet….
The garage sales yesterday were nothing to write home about, but, the auction… my FIRST auction… oh. Yeah.
It was SO FUN. And interesting as far as people watching goes. And CHEAP. Punky was awesome for ageeeeeeeeeees, but when she had finally had had enough I had purchased a whole bunch of goodness for $25.
We were a tad late so things had already commenced by the time we got there. I went & registered & bid on the first thing up when I got back – a box of ‘knitting’ stuff, for $1. I hadn’t looked in the box but I thought I could give the wool to Gran… imagine my delight when I got it back to the cottage later & found a ye olde kiddie’s craft book, some more copies of Golden Hands and a super cute sweater someone had made on their knitting machine that was a PERFECT FIT. It was such a weird yet marvellous coincidence.
I also got some more enamel ware, a pretty old sifter, cookie cutters, this gorgeous old lamp:
…and a PRISTINE portable record player… yum.
After lunch I decided to see what was under the carpet. There was happiness – joy – surprise & disappointment! I tell you… this house has it all.
Happiness – that the boards in the first room look fine & solid. Not very pretty but better than carpet…!
Joy – that the hall & Punky’s room had different, BEAUTIFUL, wide plank floorboards. I held my breath, hoping that it was only the first room that was different….
Surprise – that not only was the ‘lounge’ different… it is painted… black.
Disappointment – That our room has most of the sticky black rubber backing from the carpet underlay adhered to it….
The good news is that it comes off easily with some paint stripper, which is today’s job, after I rip up the rest of the tacking.
The Boy wonders why I have more enthusiasm for ripping up carpet & pulling out nails than I had for painting pickets (which he had to do because I kept ignoring it…)… or for packing even… He doesn’t understand that I’m actually making a difference over there. That the smell has diminished. That it already feels so much more open. That this, is my thing.
“Before” (…or “now”) photos….
Hall….
Punky’s Room:
Loft:
Lounge Room:
Our Room:
“The Kitchen”….
….The Bathroom?!
Laundry.
Bungalow/Playroom. Yes… it has grass growing in it….
….AND, the wardrobe & drawers were gone. Pfft.
I only got the keys at 4.30, so the light wasn’t that great. We’ll be moving in slowly – over the next week & a bit, so it might be a bit quieter here for a little while. Or it might not. Knowing me.
….is in here somewhere.
Is it ironic that the only time lately I have REALLY, REALLY felt like sewing is when everything is boxed up & waiting to move? Or is it just, as Ed Burn says, ‘Alanic’, like having 10,000 spoons, when all you need is a knife (ironic would be that you get a knife, but find out later that a spoon would have done - like if you wanted to open a paint tin. "What do you need a knife for anyway? To stab the guy that keeps leaving spoons all over your house?!")?
I found the quilt I WILL make in an opped copy of Better Homes & Gardens yesterday (yes, more), I’ll show you later, or tomorrow, maybe. It’s somewhere where I don’t know where it is… meanwhile… WE GET THE KEYS TOMORROW!!!!!
For infinitely more creative Creative Spaces, Kirsty has got you covered.
Well. Seems my hunch was correct. (Hi Mum!)
I really think it does. It’s clogged up or something – I am the queen of forgetting things… or remembering and then forgetting, several times in a row. Something needs to be done.
Lovely Lola reminded me this morn about a blog award I was given recently by this sweet gal.
I’m not really into blog awards – they seem related somehow to chain letters – but it WAS nice to be thought of as someone who’s blog brings a little sunshine, even if it is just to Katy…!
I’m not going to pass it on to anybody in particular – but if you feel like sharing some sunshine then you go right ahead & consider yourself tagged, ‘cause each & every one of you whose blog or comments I read, make everything around here seem a little brighter… (…and I say I don’t like schmaltzy….)
I just watched ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ – it’s not a favourite or anything, it’s much to schmaltzy & I have an unreasonable dislike of Julia Roberts, but it was on telly & I couldn’t be bothered changing the channel.
ANYWAY.
There’s a bit in there, or two bits, where they talk about “their song” & it reminded me of “Our Song”, The Boy’s & mine, and made me wonder what it is about a particular song that makes it worthy of being a couple’s special “our song” in the first place…
Ours is “Love Her Madly” by The Doors. Truth be told, I had never listened to The Doors before I met The Boy… I fell in love with him & Jim Morrison at the same time… The Boy sang this to me once, in his terrible singing voice, probably trying to be earnest but just making me laugh.
This song reminds me of crazy times that seem both so long ago & not that long ago… of getting to know each other & starting out on our rather eventful journey together. It’s a beautiful song (on an amazing album) & I’m glad it’s ours. Much better than the other song he sang to me once… ‘Blue’ by Eiffel 65….
Do you have a song?
Just doing a bit of Ebay perusing – I’ve run out of boxes to pack with since I have only been asking/begging my darling boy to bring home more since, oh, I don’t know, December, and he hasn’t had a chance… – and I came across these cases – yeah, they’re cute, but oh my god – look how much they’re up to already – with 5 days still to go….?! People are NUTS.
And you know what? This time I mean that literally.
We had the final inspection of Le Cottage yesterday afternoon – I was so excited… not long now kids! I have never had to wait this long to move into a house in my whole life… and it’s been playing tricks on my mind. The loft is still as resplendent as I remember it, Punky’s room cute & cosy… but the kitchen… oh the kitchen… and the bathroom… I think both of those words should have “these” guys around them, because they seem neither kitchen-y or bathroom-y to me. I knew they were bad. I remembered them as cruddy & told everyone about their cruddyness… yet… they are REALLY much worse. They made my heart sink a little. Especially when there is just so much to do everywhere & no immediate funds to do anything.
But that, is not even the ‘Crap’ part. Noooo, the ‘Crap’ part refers to actual, well, crap. Deposited on the lounge room floor. In front of the icky brown gas heater. By a possum. Bastard. The Boy saw it first & informed the real estate agent that we would not be paying extra for THAT. Eew.
So now I have added ‘block chimney’ to the ever-growing ‘To Do’ list in my mind… there is painting, plastering, carpet removing, floor laying, kitchen renovating, bathroom gutting and more to be done and I feel more than a little overwhelmed…
BUT. There is a teensy bit of good news – I rushed to check if the few sets of drawers & a wardrobe were still in the shed (I’d seen them on our first inspection) and YES, they will be mine! Hurray! It really does pay to look on the bright side. I’m all excited about the wardrobe now, the only thing that could put a downer on that is opening the door & having a rabid possum attack me… but we’ll beat that creature with a paintbrush when we come to it.
(Pics from WeHeartIt ‘cause I am kinda obsessed with that site at the moment & am also kinda glad I didn’t take my camera yesterday…)
Oh. Yeah. I’m ALL about the making up of words right now. Word.
Le Oppies were a plethora of crafty goodness today kids… something in the air, apart from some lurvly rain…
A massive bag full of crocheted flowers…! There are tonnes of them… I can’t crochet to save my life… but I have an idea about what I want to do with them…
An embroidery loop big enough for Le Punk to use as a Hula Hoop…
And a cute & funky Woman’s Day ‘Complete Book of Handicrafts’…
…complete with wonderful pictures such as this: Daddy’o teaching the young buck how to use garden shears.. in spunky polyester shirts no less….
….mwahahahahahahaha….
Swing by Sophie’s place for some more drool-worthy flea market finds… (‘cause if you’re drooling over this guy… erm… we can’t be friends.)
I want a quilt. A pretty, old school style patchwork number, with lots of different colours that will go with anything.
I don’t really want to make it.
I don’t want to be someone who quilts. A quilter. I just don’t think that’s me. And it seems hard… like a pain in the ass, to be quite frank… and… and… and… well I just don’t want to. I’ll suck at quilting. I know I will. I suck at all those traditional crafts – knitting, crochet, embroidery… I am not your heritage crafter. I’m a slap dash “it’ll do” move on to something else type of crafter…
However.
I might have to give it a go. Pretty, old school style patchwork quilts are EXPENSIVE. I am cheap.
There may only be one solution, and although my… “creation” won’t look anything like these beauties, I need to get revved up about the idea. Somehow.
All hints & tips re: cheaters quilts will be greatly appreciated!
…oh, just some of them… you’re all tops, you know, and make me smile, even when I’m a bit nervous & being daft. You’re pretty cool & it’s pretty cool to know you’re out there.
I thought I’d share the love & have been a-visiting. I packed up a couple of my glorious suitcases, including all the necessities of course; hat, gloves, teapots & birdie eggcups, and went knocking on the doors of some lovely peeps, whom I knew how to find because they left their calling card in that “Followers” box. There were also some chewing gum wrappers & a marble in there, but I’m going to let it slide.
First I tapped lightly on Caroline’s door. Then I knocked louder – I think she was having a nap. She has a lovely place don’t you know, if these ridiculously sweet on oh-so-many-levels heart cookies made by her wee one don’t convince you then… then… *insert insult here*
I left Caroline to her nap & continued on to Kylie’s place, munching all the while on a crunchy broken heart….
She wasn’t expecting company. But she let me in anyway. I felt right at home, truth be told, but the morning was getting away from me and I had a couple more stops to make.
The Doily was next on my itinerary – and it’s not all that far from here, which is nice.
I was kind of hoping I might get a taste of delicious apple cider… but it’s not ready yet… I’ll have to come back. If you hang around long enough… you might get a sip too!
A little thirsty now, I trudged on, perhaps Beck could provide a weary traveller with some refreshment?
I knocked & knocked & peered through the window… but she was out. I did manage to glimpse something rather pretty sitting on the table, but thought I better move on before a neighbour alerted the authorities to the presence of a rather tall perspiring woman with two very large suitcases loitering on next door’s porch…
Feeling a bit hot & bothered, I cut my trip short, to be resumed at a later, cooler, date….
xo
Pleasure:
Massive vintage trunks, $3 ea.
HUGE dollhouse, $5 (You should have seen me wrestling it into the car…)
Kitchy cute figurines & planters, 50 cents ea.
Enamelware & cake tins, $3 the lot.
Old mirror, matching teapot to last week’s tan one in orange, potholders…. $2.50
More potholders & pyrex $2.
Pain:
Being THIRTY SECONDS LATE for a vintage picnic set in a briefcase, marked $10 but sold to the (#$%^@!$) picky woman for $5 because “…it’s not a complete set.”
I could have cried.
I almost did.
If you ever come acrosS one kids, think of me won’t you, if you’re not the vintage picnic set in a briefcase type? I’ll love you forever!
