I can see clearly now

I thought I'd have a little giveaway today, seeing it's Wednesday...and well, seeing I can.

A little while ago, like a couple of years, I started my own little business. I called it: "Too Many Shoes", because that's exactly what I had! But I couldn't find the darn things

I'd always liked the idea of being able to see exactly which shoes I had. I'd seen the clear boxes around, but they were pretty expensive, so I found a manufacturer right here in Melbourne, made up a design...and voila!

If you would like a boot box, 2 shoe boxes and some boot supports, then leave a comment and on Sunday, I'll put the names in a little jar and draw the winner.

Hope you like them...Good luck

Relief - Cats Win Flag In A Tight One!

For those of you unfamiliar with Australian Rules Football...what does that mean?




It means that my team: The Geelong Football Club, won the Grand Final...it's sort of the equivalent of the Super Bowl in the USA.

Geelong defeated St.Kilda by 2 goals and I can now finally relax. The game was so close and tense I was up and down like a yoyo and couldn't sit and watch it with MONT.

I have watched it since though and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, football's over for another year...now we're into the Spring Racing Carnival and Cricket season...I much prefer the footy though.

Another Life

I love my Life at Number 10...but Once Upon a Time, I had another life at Number 3

Some years ago when I was moving around with work, I bought a small cottage in a provincial Victorian town...it was pretty awful. No, let me correct that. It was HORRENDOUS! Most of the advice I got was to demolish it and start again because it wasn't livable...Even my Mum, who doesn't mind the odd renovation and a bit of hard work was not enthusiastic. In fact, she was downright miserable regarding my prospects of getting this house to a point where I could live in it, with you know, electricity and running water.

But I had a vision...and not much money and I was determined to make it better. I also did some research into the property and found that it dated back to the 1850's. How could you demolish that?

The ceilings are the shape of an upturned boat...I had them sand blasted to get them back to the original timber. The walls were all pieces of packing boxes and plywood held together with newspaper and old wall paper...I pulled them out, with some help and plastered the place.

The kitchen still has it's little wood stove which I used to cook with and to heat the house. It was fabulous!

I saved like crazy and was eventually able to extend the house, with another bedroom...

...and another living area

I spent quite a few years in my little cottage, and when I moved interstate I didn't have the heart to sell it, so rented it out.

But this past weekend MONT and I had to pay my little cottage a visit because it needs some major work done.

You see, the general way to build a timber house is to lay foundations, then lay the joists and bearers so the floorboards have something to be nailed to...not this house. There are no stumps. The joists and bearers lay directly on the ground with the floorboards on top.

The small bedroom at the front of the house measures around 3.3 metres by 2.6. It was just big enough for a double bed, a small bedside table and a small wardrobe. Unfortunately though, some water has been getting in and the floor in there is now rotten...or should I say, it was rotten. It's now gone and the room is back to it's original state of having a dirt floor....just like the 1850's!

So, what next...maybe pour a concrete floor in there and replace the carpet...not entirely sure yet. Stay tuned.

Glass Art

I picked these up at a store a few weeks back and MONT hung them for me in the loungeroom.

They're a sort of frosted glass with French images painted on them

At least that's what I was told they were. Whatever, I like them and they fit in perfectly above the small, skinny table.

Right, well it's Grand Final day and my team's playing. While I hope they win, whatever the outcome, I'm happy they made it to today.

Prada on the Catwalk

I love fashion and catwalk shows. I've never been one for labels, but designers' parades can give you some great ideas....sometimes it can be like watching movable art. Sometimes, not so much.

These are from Prada's Ready to Wear Spring collection and I do like these tops.

I really like the fabric in this outfit....greys and creams, of course. Not sure I'd be comfy walking down the street in my undies though

I love a bit of bling. When "G" and I are shopping we always stop in our tracks as soon as we see a bit of "bright and shiny"

Ahhhh... gotta love a trapeze top. It hides all manner of little sins. The shorts though...not for my chunky legs.

More bling and more shorts, bermuda I think.

...and ummm... more undies...the top is nice though.

Now, is it just me and my more traditional tastes (read: old fashioned) or does the trend of not hemming things becoming more prevalent? Is it lazy, fashionable, trendy...what? I don't get it, but then, I'm probably not the best person to consult on the most fashionable way of doing things...Let's face it, I'm still looking back at fashion from the 1970's thinking it's still "in"

All images taken from Womens Wear Daily.

Gangster vintage

More fashion from the pages of UK Magazine, 19.

"19" Circa 1974

I love this look. It's the sort of thing you would have no trouble putting together and you could wear it just about anywhere...dinner, work, winter party.

When I first saw these images back in the 70's, I fell in love with calf length pencil skirts, figure hugging knitted tops and berets. I copied the look and even bought a beret and used to wear it every now and then. In fact I've still got a couple and don one on those bad hair days that I seem to have pretty frequently.

Oh Dear......

Sorry...more silliness. I can't help myself.

I now present more entrants for the coveted "The Worst Album Covers of all Time" award.

This is Freddy Morgan, who used to be with the Spike Jones Band.

Happy fella isn't he?

...and then there's The Faith Tones...



Enough said.

A Pattern is Forming

Yes, I'm still on a grey theme. Can't help myself. This time though it's not gorgeous, floaty, dove grey fabric, transformed into beautiful gowns. It's rooms.

This bedroom's pretty special. It has just about everything I could ever need or want. I especially love the little fire place and the soft grey wallpaper...not to mention that beautiful dress hanging up. Lovely.

This room's rather nice too......

...as is this one.

Then there's this dining room. It's a little more formal than what I'm used to here at Number 10, and I don't think the chairs would stay white for very long, what with the animal kingdom around here...but they're nice to look at.

Not Dull, Grey

As far as colours go, I have to say that grey is my favourite.

Dove grey, Charcoal grey, Gunmetal grey and all shades in between. Gorgeous.

Even actress, Anne Hathaway thinks it's pretty good.

I saw this vision of utter gorgeousness on Cavania last week. It's an Ellie Saab creation. Divine.

I'm fortunate that grey doesn't look too bad on me....and it got me thinking that, I've got a couple of big events coming up over the next few months, so it might be time to warm up the sewing machine and the overlocker, dig out the patterns, find what fabrics I have in my stash in a shade of grey, and get sewing.

Thanks Karen for the gorgeous frocks and getting me thinking about this beautiful colour again

September + Melbourne = Footy Finals Fever

Footy Finals Fever... It's a bit of a well worn cliche I know, but Melbourne really does change at this time of year. It gets a little bit crazy and even if you're not a football fan or follower, you can still get caught up in the excitement of it all.

This past weekend saw St.Kilda and Geelong make it through to the AFL Grand Final. The Saints haven't won a flag (as we call it) in 43 years. It was 1966 when they last got the Premiership Cup, while Geelong won their last one in 2007...before that it was 1963

I don't mean to sound greedy, but I'm a cats supporter so I really hope they win. Again.

It's not just the football that's on though. It's also the start of the Spring Racing Carnival and the Royal Melbourne Show has begun...plenty of things happening here in Melbourne in September.

Take 2

OK, so my girlfriend "G" and I didn't get to do our coffee/lunch/shop wandering thing last weekend because she woke up with a shocking migraine and stayed in bed most of the day. Poor thing.

So it's on today and we'll hit the shops with a vengeance!

Last night, MONT and I went to the football to watch his team, The Western Bulldogs, get beaten in the AFL Preliminary Final by St.Kilda. They played pretty well, but kicked too many points instead of goals. So, it's curtains until next season.

Tonight, my team, Geelong will take on Collingwood in the second preliminary final for a place in the Grand Final next Saturday. Go Cats!

Also last weekend, I didn't start on the re-organisation of the sewing room. I was, kind of otherwise engaged, on the comfy seat in the loungeroom with a cross-stitch birth sampler that has to be done for a Christening early next month. I always leave things to the last minute.

Here's a nice photo though of a sewing room that someone's put together....it's missing something though. It's missing the "used look" To me, it looks like a sewing room that's never been "sewn in". It's too ordered and neat and well, stark. It's very nice and all....and you'd be able to find everything as you need it, but it's not how I work. Then again, maybe that's my problem? Too messy and no order.

Yep, sounds like me

Wherever you are and whatever you end up doing, have a great weekend!

Devastation

We have a half acre block at Kinglake, which was one of the small communities devastated by the February 7 bushfires in Victoria.

It only had a small shed on it and a lot of trees, so we didn't lose anything of any value. Not like many other families who lost everything.

MONT took these photographs on one of his many trips to Kinglake to see what needed to be cleared from the block. There were a lot of burnt and dangerous trees that needed to come down

This is the view from our block to the neighbours, whose home was destroyed. In fact all houses along our road were razed.

All of the large trees have now been cut down so they wouldn't cause any problems for the neighbours who are going to rebuild.

The job now is to cut them all up and clear the block so we can start again.

Total devastation.

Black, as far as the eye can see.

Natures' Jewels

It's a bit damp under foot today in Melbourne...drizzly in fact.

But it's making the silver birches in the front yard look like they're adorned with small crystals

It looks quite beautiful now that the trees are starting to "green up"

We've got 5 Silver Birches in a little copse in the front yard and it's funny how they start budding and leafing up at different times. One of the trees is almost all green, another is barely showing any leafy stuff.

We got our water bill today and it was a bit of a surprise. We Melbournians are being encouraged to use just 155 litres of water, per person per household a day...that's for showering and washing etc. and today was the first time our water bill's shown that we're under that amount.

We're definitely not water wasters. We have 3 water tanks for goodness sake. So I'm not really sure why we've been over the limit (not much over mind you) for all this time and now we're under.

Wednesday Giggle

Don't be scared. This is not me!

I was surfing the other day...electronically, and I came across some rather funny images. Well at least they tickled my fancy

They were headed "The Worst Album Covers of all Time"

I don't think they were exaggerating.

The very hirsute Saveta... what was she thinking?

Gorgeous hairstyles galore! How many cans of VO5 were used to get these styles to stay in shape?

...and of course the Christian Crusaders, who I am sure are... no, nothing more needs to be said. The picture speaks for itself.

Can't say I don't have an eclectic mix of things here.

Floral dresses

More vintage from the pages of 19 Magazine from the UK, circa 1970 something...

It all looks very Bonnie and Clyde.

I really like this look: floral dresses with dark tights and shoes. It's me.

Dangers in Suburbia

Our backyard's been the scene of a lot of violence this past weekend...there's been a lot of cracking and popping and shooting going on, in fact the backyard has sounded like a shooting gallery.

But it hasn't been coming from a gun...it's been from these culprits.

Wisteria's may look innocent, but don't turn your back on them at this time of year or you'll regret it

This Wisteria's growing along the side of the carport. It's a gorgeous thing but it's also very sly and strikes at any chance it gets. I've been shot in the head on more than one occasion by the seed pods bursting open in the sunshine and propelling their brownish black, button like projectiles across the yard and straight into my noggin.

On Saturday, the temperature here got to 30 degrees and the popping pods made it sound like cracker night

The end result's pretty darn good, but the journey can be painful.