Father's Day is on hold....

...until The Boy gets home this afternoon. He works every weekend, so we knew he wouldn't be here today, but it's still kind of sad.


The upside is however, is that I have had ample time to get things done for his return as today's honoured guest.


His one (reasonable) request was for me to make him a Lemon Meringue Pie. I have never made said pie, or any dessert pie as far as I can remember. My most successful attempts at baking have all been in the vegan arena, not, for example, in baking requiring copious amounts of eggs. Having said that, and also being aware of the notorious reputation this pie has for it's difficulty... I was quietly confident.


I have a tendency to be blissfully unaware of things that can go wrong with undertakings I have never attempted. I have the odd problem of being more nervous about things I should know I can do or have done many times. Take labour, for instance. No matter how many times I was asked if I was nervous about giving birth, or even warned about it, I thought to myself; "Piffle! Birth is a natural part of life! As if it COULD hurt THAT much!". I went to calm birth classes where I learnt to visualise my happy place & breath deeply.


Needless to say, I was quite surprised by the actual event.


Lucky for me, making Lemon Meringue Pie & giving birth are not at all alike, and it seems my confidence this time was not unfounded... it looks damn good! I went just a *little* bit snap happy when I got it out of the oven, as proud as punch as I was, but here is just one of the photos....




Looking at the pie all nice & puffy like it is, I entertained the idea that I was a super wifey after all, and then I realised;

a) I'm not, officially, a 'wifey' at all and
b) Super-wifies are probably still not in their PJs (sorry FLYLady!) while whipping this & boiling that... (underwear on the outside of their clothes maybe, but not PJs...)


All that remains is the taste test, cross your fingers for me! It has to live up to that fabled childhood pie, you know the one, the dreaded pie that "Mum used to make..."!


Have also wrapped everything in Le Punk's gorgeous hand painted wrapping:

(See that big fat red package? Shhhhh.... don't tell anyone, but that is 'Drop Dead Beautiful' Jackie Collins' latest adventures of Lucky Santelago.... he LOVES those books! *guffaw*)

All that AND I managed to win a prize... ;)

I have been drooling over this book online & was super lucky & managed to win a copy! Thank you to Justine over here!

I actually feel quite blessed to have won this book, as I do to have won the purse & tote - I have only entered giveaways which I really, really, would like to win. I don't enter just because I can, or because I love the thrill of winning, but because someone is giving me the chance to own something I quietly, or not so quietly, covet, and, in all honesty, I wouldn't own otherwise.

The truth of the situation is I really couldn't afford to buy this gorgeous book, that stylish purse or original tote, but they are coming to me all the same... that is just amazing to me! I feel so incredibly lucky - and as I wrote in my email to Justine @ mixtape earlier, I have never thought myself a particularly lucky person. I am having to re-evaluate my luck status!

I hope everyone is having a gorgeous Fathers Day with the special Daddy in their lives.

xoxox

50 Cent Fathers Day Pressie....

...and it doesn't suck! Really it doesn't!

If it were Mother's Day, I would be thrilled to receive such a cute mug from Le Punk!

I got the mug for the princely sum of 50 cents on clearance, and had some porcelain paint in my crafty stash from god-knows-when, add some Punky art & you have an adorable yet functional Dads Day gift.

Annnnnnnnnd.... we're ALL about DIY hair around here - we were painting more 'wrapping paper' today, as the last lot is somewhere where I don't know where it is (I know, I know... I am a terrible mother, just as well it ISN'T mothers day tomorrow...), and somewhere along the way Punky ended up with some funky red & green highlights....

Haiku Ambulance

Another of my 'A Drawing A Day' sketches. My favourite auther, nay, the best auther, ever.

Richard Brautigan.

Haiku Ambulance

by Richard Brautigan

A piece of green pepper
fell
off the wooden salad bowl:
so what?

My First "Drawing A Day"

Through the new Meet Me At Mikes forum, I stumbled upon this adorable blog, and found this meme... A Drawing A Day.

I hereby pledge to DO a drawing a day, but I doubt I'll post one everyday. Perhaps the occasional one & a 7-sketch set at the end of the week? We'll see.

Anywho, without further ado - just a quick drawing I did last night while waiting for United States of Tara to start;

Crazy Collage Cupboard.... Craft?

So here is that other "thing" I bought yesterday. It was $10 and I couldn't resist, even though it had that delightful woodgrain laminate....

I didn't think until I got home about how I would actually get rid of that lovely laminated wood look... a quick google search revealed laminate paint to me - voila! 'Problem solved' I thought, I'll just paint it a lovely colour, probably red, as that is the colour I like to paint things... then I rang the local hardware stores & was told that the necessary primer was $47, the paint itself was $47 & they only had it in white.

Phooey.

I would not be spending almost $100 to paint my $10 bargain white. I would not.

So I sulked for a while & then.... remembered these;

Some time ago I revamped a tellie cabinet we found in the garabage room of our apartment block by decopaging pictures from 1950s magazines onto it, then, a couple of years after that, I did the same with a dodgey IKEA coffee table... So when I remembered I still had a stash of vintage mags I was doing nothing with....

I spent from 2pm to 9.30pm working on this - refused to make dinner, so The Boy & The Punk had to fend for themselves. I loved doing it all, was working with that crazy energy you only get when you're really excited by the idea for a project. Had to ride down & get some varnish for the final couple of coats this morning, if there were such a thing as an all-night hardware store, I would have been there...

I just LOVE it. I keep looking at it, which is easy since it is now pride of place in the loungeroom, and smiling. It has such a nice feel to it, in more ways than one. It feels nice, it feels "familiar" in that the images all over it have already been absorbed into the collective conciousness, but it also feels nice in the tactile sense, the different levels of paper & the satin varnish finish is lovely.

What do you think?

Op Shop Goodies....

Right. So. Yesterday, I got straight out of bed & got dressed - let me tell you just how weird that felt... I never do that. I tumble out of bed & shmooze over to the heater, turn it on full blast & watch cartoons with Le Punk for 5 minutes while the room heats up, then toddle into the kitchen to make coffee & toast.

Some days, I don't even make it out of my PJs.

But yesterday, to steal a line from Charlie & Lola's Lola; "I absolutely positively did." And it made a massive, surprising difference to how I felt. I felt like "Okay - what now?!" with energy & zest, as opposed to "Ugh... what now??" ....does that make sense to anybody else...?

Since it was The Boy's day off, I left he & Le Punk to have their cherished Father Daughter time & took of down the street on my bike to peruse the oppies.

Unfortunately, upon my return, my sink no longer sparkled, but my disappointment was offset by the goodies I found;




So, we have a blue Pyrex dish with scalloped edges, an ADORABLE handmade blue panelled half apron with pockets, a teacup (to make a pincushion out of... more on that later...), some books I was surprised to find (our oppies are goldmines of Sidney Sheldon & Jackie Collins, but not much else...), including 'The complete self sufficiency handbook" for The Boy, and this gorgeous little set;




How CUTE! As much as I want to keep the sweet oven mitt & pot holder for myself, I've decided to put them away to go with Punky's birthday kitchen - two less things I have to make, and probably much cuter than I could do anywho.

Also, this footstool, a whopping $2, and old case, with keys & all, also $2;




You may be wondering about that thing behind the case & stool... well... that was another purchase, but I'm doing a little sumpin sumpin with it that should be ready later today, so I'll show you then! ;)

What can I say? I'm a Winner.

That's all there is to it. ;)

Hehehe... nah... I woke up to the VERY exciting news that I won an awesomely awesome 'Map 29' purse from Crafty Girl With Ruffle!!!

I said in my winning comment (mwahahaha) that I'd choose the distant streets of Sydney for my purse if I won - just in case the homesickness ever starts to wane, but decided this morning that that maybe wasn't such a great idea... a tad depressing if you will, so have opted for the closer, colder streets of Melbourne, specifically the map with the Queen Victoria Markets on it, for a couple of reasons;

a) They are one of my favourite things about Melbourne and

b) 'Queen Victoria' has a lovely ring to it... (for those who don't know, that's my name... well, without the 'Queen' bit... usually.)

So, this unexpected & exciting second-in-my-life win, will go with my unexpected & exciting first-in-my-life win, the skully tote! A perfect pair, me thinks.

Thank you Annmarie! :D