Today…

is our 4th wedding anniversary. I was going to put a wedding pic up, but you’ve seen them and anyway, I much prefer this pic of HP striking a silly pose. 99% of the time, if you point a camera at him, that’s what he’ll do. He’s a good one. xx

Babies!

For those of you that don’t Facebook, look what Lola delivered us last night between the hours of 6 and 9 pm. Hurrah! Everyone is doing well, although Ozzy (the dad) is a bit perplexed.

Happy stuff on couch

stuff on couch, originally uploaded by drewzel.

A pic I took on Saturday night, happy things on my couch. My ye olde ipod, some fab new zines and badges from Sticky, and my new fave thing, my “new” 2nd hand laptop which HP revived for me. Hurrah!

Happy week at Mikes.

On my wall

Hollie tagged me for this one, so here’s some pics of what’s on my bedroom wall right now:

Framed vintage Needlecraft mag.

Vintage Chinese cigarette advertising poster, birdy prints from Etsy.

Lyrebird mirror and ballerina requistites-t-t-t-t-teeeeeeets…

Above dressing table, more ballerinas and op-shopped Eiffel Tower watercolour.

And a bonus pic of china doggie friend for cuteness:

If you’re reading this, then you’re tagged, take some pics and show us what’s on your walls!

Park the car at the side of the road

And take a picture of our house, Mr Google Maps.  As Google is my homepage, I noticed on Wednesday night that they had updated their maps to "street level", so of course I had to go have a look at the Portionvilla, in all it’s junkyard glory.  But what really made me laugh is that they had driven past just as HP was wandering around on the nature strip, and took what is possibly the most unflattering pic of him to date – he looks like he has no legs and a huge pot belly.

Here you go, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent:

And for a prettier pic, here’s the parental homestead:

[Dad has a nice rose garden]

While I’m fascinated to be able to take a virtual "drive" around suburban and city streets, I also find it somewhat disturbing as it seems so insidious. 

Last night when I got home from work, my next door neighbour said to me "Stephanie! Have you seen Google maps?"  and she was all excited.  I said, yep, I know there’s a picture of HP on there.  And we had a good laugh.  I’m not sure I would be laughing though if it was a pic of my bargearse out there doing the gardening.  Hmm.

Domesticity and op-shopping

Kitchen Apron, originally uploaded by Playingwithbrushes.

Round the portionvilla, we’re still in the process of decluttering. Yesterday I put 6 bags of assorted clothes, bedding, kitchen stuff and Tupperware into the boot of the car to drop off at the oppy tomorrow. (In addition to the 5 bags I left there on Thursday.) So I’ve had a bit of a break from the ‘puter, and am still working on some overdue (hi Anthea!) stitching projects.

I’m thinking I might have to avoid the op-shop for a few weeks, to avoid the tempation of buying back the stuff I donated, har har. I did pick up some odds and ends on Thursday though… a vintage rectangular frosted mirror, some 70′s writing sets, a cute coffee cannister, a nice 50′s choccy tin, more doileys for The Project, more white pillowcases for stitching, a new ironing board cover, a odd little birdie bakelite ashtry and a old tin letter rack with pics of vintage cars on it. I had to restrain myself from buying a 40′s dinner set, it was pale green, with a rose motif in the centre, and had scalloped edges with gold trim. Most of it was there, but I decided not to get it, as HP is very wary of using my old china for everyday meals (except for the Beryl and Iris pieces), so there was really no point in getting them. And I decided the bowls were too small and shallow. Added to this, it was being sold by the piece, and the price tags were just too high! Of course, now I’m thinking about it, I’d wish I’d bought it, but NO I don’t need it.

Tin and birdie ashtray on coffee table.

(Crappy photo of mirror, not in perfect condition, but still charming.  My mother had a diamond shaped one with the same design.)

(Little coffee cannister in a fave colour combo.  And I like the fact that the base proudly states “Made in Australia”.)

After an experience with no money and a blue wren traced linen tablecloth recently, I’ve decided my first rule of op-shopping is: IF YOU LOVE IT, BUY IT, RIGHT NOW ‘CAUSE IT WON’T BE THERE WHEN YOU GO BACK!!! So when I found these hanky sets the other week, I swallowed my pride and asked HP to transfer some money.

Hand stitched on Irish linen.  Pretty, and I love the 30′s design box. So far the theme for 2008 seems to be “out with the new, in with the old”…for my homewares anyway.

In the front yard this morning

Couple o’ pics taken while HP was bashing the dead car (not the Rover) this morning.  Here’s daddy and one of the baby magpies, they were up the road, hunting for breakfast.  Even though the little ones are big now, they still squeak to be fed.

 

And here’s a banksia growing in our front yard.  It’s a prostrate one, hidden in amongst the weeds.  It’s the first time it’s flowered, so I’m rather pleased.

Drewzel (the real one) sees me out the front with a camera, so she starts rolling on the footpath like the hussy she is.  Why do cats do that?  Here she is, lovin’ the morning sun on the concrete.

Good morning!

Random stuff round portionvilla this morning.

This was the sight as I was walking out the door:

Rover is getting some medical attention at the moment:

Tried to take a pic of baby magpies for KateyB but could only see one, and then when I pointed the camera at it, it made a croaky froggy noise and hightailed it back to the nest.  So here’s the nest:

And our tree that they live in:

At work this morning, this was waiting on my keyboard for me.  Yikes!  It’s a bit scary before I’ve even had a coffee!

I think I might have to pass it on to the Knitting Knazi for her office.

However, there is some good news on the poster front, yesterday I scored this from the blokes cleaning out the office next door:

Given that they’re standing in front of what looks like an XA Ford, I’m guessing this is about circa 1973.  The woman is either traumatised because of the car accident behind her or because of that blue eyeshadow, I’m not sure which.

Anyway, it will be the first thing on the wall in my new office!

Monday again…

So it’s Monday morning… you may note that I didn’t do Friday Fun Things last week, as I was in a First Aid Course all day.  Remarkable how things change from the 2 years ago I last did first aid training.  Now portable defribulators are all the rage.  We had to laugh at them too, because the recorded voice (who sounds just like the man on the time telephone service – “at the 3rd stroke it will 1245 and 17 seconds”)  tells you what to do, and then tells you to do CPR and “compress the chest in time with the tones…dong…dong…dong…dong…”  And in direct contrast to his plummy BBC voice, the tones are a funky electric bass.  Obviously I’m sure you wouldn’t find this remotely amusing if you were busy trying to save someone’s life.  Saturday my shoulders were quite sore from pumping those Little Annie dummies, because they’re so damn hard!

I also managed to do some tidying in my workroom on Saturday, as well as the requisite housework.  Still on a mission to rid the workroom of junk, thus improving my productivity due to feng shui blah blah.  My shelves have not collapsed yet, so that is gratifying.

Sunday the sun was shining so HP and I got to cleaning up the front yard a bit, as my Rover was under the gum tree and consequently filthy.  [As an aside, our magpie family have two nice healthy babies just out of the nest.] But we had to move a trailer full of engines to get it out. And mow the lawn.  And move boxes of junk.  And move the motorbikes. And I washed the outside windows. Argh!  Consequently the place looks somewhat tidier now, and the Rover is all sparklypegs again.  Still haven’t decided on a number plate for it.  HP pointed out to me that I should buy a number plate about me so that I can put it on any car I get in the future, not just the Rover.  Alas, all the good combinations of Steph are taken, and I don’t really want to get one with an obscure nickname, as I’ll get sick of idiots asking me what it means.

Anyway, here’s a man hard at work in the front yard:

The all-new-gas-powered-electric-trolley-mobile. Piddy wasn’t impressed really:

Then were so knackered, but went to do grocery shopping and I wore my ugg boots.  Luckily that makes me blend in with the locals here in Bogan County.

This was in my mailbox at work this morning and made me laugh out loud:

Just as wellI got a laugh really because the bloke in the office next door to mine was all in a dither because they’ve been told that they’re getting my office.  Looks like my days here are numbered.

Monday morning or too much Wikipedia

Ah Monday morning. Blah. On my second cuppa still, so not quite alive yet. Speaking of cuppas, you know you’ve got a jones for Ben Lee when you’re prepared to watch this:

Ah, Ben!

My weekend involved op-shopping (that’s thrifting to you Americans), sewing, snoozing and a jaunt in the country. On Sunday HP and I went to Newborough to pick up a motorbike he’d e-bayed for parts for my CB, as this one has electric ignition rather than a kick starter which is currently on my little bicyclelette. We took the Staffords with us, and they got to have a swim in Lake Narracan. I didn’t take any photos because basically I couldn’t be arsed. Sometimes you just wanna do things rather than document them. Lola went for her first swim (success!), and Ozzy fell off a slippery log and then promptly started panicking rather than just swimming to the shore. Staffords are not known for their buoyancy, so I always like to keep a close eye on them near the water. Lola, bless her, ventured in to try and save Ozzy when he was in distress. She quite likes water and often jumps in the shower when HP or I are in there.

Here’s a random pic of Lake Narracarn gleaned from teh interwebs:

We were round the other side I think…I’d never been there before. Lots of people there with new Commodores, loud music, Cougar cans, and speedboats. Someone at work said to me this morning when I told them I’d been there, that this is where they found little Jaidyn Leskie’s body. [But I told her she’s wrong as wikipedia says he was found in Blue Rock Dam] Alas, while the countryside around there is very pretty, I don’t think I could live out there, as it is the capital of Victoria’s white trash population (or whatever the Australian equivalent of that is). I’m not one for labelling people “trash” really, and in my eyes it’s certainly nothing to do with their income, appearance or education, but more about their values. But I suppose you get that everywhere. As Joy’s mum on My Name is Earl says “Don’t you judge me!”

 

Friday arvo I ended up doing some op-shopping and ended up with a nice array of linen tea-towels to turn into bags, a Gladstone bag for HP, and an old lady’s entire set of souvenir teaspoons (pic to follow). Things like that always make me a bit sad about thrifting really, as I’m guessing this was bundled up for the op-shop after her death. I think that’s why I bought them really, because I have no use for them and they’re not from particularly interesting places. There’s a nice Puffing Billy one though, and they’re all circa 1960, I’d say.

 

And so far I’ve got 6 bags in progress for Mike’s, 2 are finished already. Here’s a peek at the finished ones. I think I’ll name them after the songs I was listening to while making them, so we’ve got ‘You’re making me nervous’ and ‘Just like Starting Over’.

P.S. Hope you enjoy all the Wikipedia links. Ack! I just discovered that an ex of mine has a Wikipedia entry. It gave me a ‘High Fidelity’ moment.