Tumble dryers and my tiny laundry

Does anyone have any recommendations for a tumble dryer?

My old Simpson died last year and I've been thinking about getting an Asko, to go with my washing machine, but an Asko has to sit either on top of the machine or next to it on the floor. It can't be mounted on a bracket on the wall.

ASKO side by side-perfection in my eyes

Now, I only use my dryer to finish things off, rather than completely dry something. I usually put things on the clothes line or airer to get them started, then bring them in of a night and put them in the dryer for 10 minutes or so, just to soften things up like like towels and MONT's work clothes.

My laundry-extremely small

My old Simpson dryer is vented out through a hole in the wall....but despite this...and despite cleaning the filter regularly, I was still left with dust and fluff in the laundry

This beautiful and very functional little laundry above is one of my favourites. Small but oh so doable...and not much smaller than my little room.

ASKO-I love this 

So, do you have a dryer that you swear by...or have you had some issues with yours, as I have with mine

Electrolux Dryer

Housework

I recently had my first encounter with a person who cleans houses.

My house to be precise.

Since I started working again...yes I now work each day - from home - I felt like I didn't want to spend all my spare time cleaning the house or thinking about cleaning it.

I'm only going to have this amazing person come in once a month...in between visits I'll do the basic stuff like vacuuming and washing floors etc...but I just wanted someone who'd look after all the "nooks and crannies" around the place

Her first visit was terrific...she and her husband arrived, I showed them what I thought needed attention and then, I left

When I got home that afternoon the house was SPARKLING!!! ... and it smelled good too

Which brings me to these little beauties.

While I hate housework, I do like nice smelling products to use on the odd occasion that I do get stuck into it

I was checking out Ness's blog, Marley and Lockyer a while back and she was mentioning these gorgeous Murchison Hume cleaning products.

Lo and behold...there they were featured on the Temple and Webster updates I get each day/week.

So I ordered some and they were delivered this morning

Have you checked out Temple and Webster yet?

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Lot's of gorgeous things on sale...everything from cushions and floor rugs to throws and homewares.

Worth a look.
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My second favorite household chore is ironing.  My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.  ~Erma Bombeck

Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy.  ~Author Unknown

“Excuse the mess, but we live here.” 
~ Roseanne Barr

Street Invasion

Seen in our street, our front garden and in our trees this past week



INVADERS!!!!

They're noisy....

Destructive...

...and very funny to watch

Take a bit of this and a bit of that...

It's pretty neat what you can come up with when you want to use up a lot of stuff that's hanging around the shed....

So.....Take an off cut from an old solid timber kitchen bench

An old, spray painted Singer sewing machine frame...

Add some decorative timber trim....

...and what have you got?

Well, you've got a new table top. That's what

Once the top is painted I'll show you how it looks

Sadly, after that burst of energy to get the sewing room/studio finished before Christmas, it's fallen in a heap...as have we in this shocking Melbourne heat wave.

Hopefully we'll get back into it again once it's a bit cooler.....

Plastic fashion?

I'm no "fashionista"...nosiree. Nor am I a fashion snob. I say whatever works for you, then go for it.

I do like looking through some of the slide shows of the fashion parades that come into my "inbox" every now and then though

But when I saw some of the offerings from Celine's RTW Fall 2013 Collection, I couldn't help but think of this

I mean, really?

I love a nice coat...but this just doesn't do it for me

Nor does this combination

...makes me think though that some of the things I've made myself in the past, aren't too dissimilar to these styles...the fabric is WAY different though

Word verification

Sorry all, but I've done something I said I would never do!

I've switched on the word verification thingy for a little while.

I was being inundated with crappy, anonymous comments that were driving me nutty!...as if I'm not nutty enough already

It'll only be for a little while to try to deter the beetles...so please, stick with me for a while until they get tired of me and head somewhere else....

...actually now that I think about it, there are a few blogs I visit fairly regularly that have switched on their word thingy too...maybe they've been getting inundated with anon comments as well

R & R

These are some of the guys I've been spending some time with lately.

MONT and I have been on our annual two-week-pilgrimage to a very quiet beachy spot where we camp in our old caravan and catch up with friends.

MONT gets to go fishing, I get to eat what he catches and these guys get the left-overs.

A perfect arrangement

Actually, we sold our old 30 year old van and are going to look for another one through the year....Nothing too fancy shmanzy, just a little more modern with a better bed.

It's going to be fun

Breakfast in Bed

I had a birthday recently and my girlfriend "G" surprised me with this

A couple of years ago she gave me the wonderful Jasper Conran Cup and Saucer...a year later, the beautiful plate.

This year, it was this.

A lovely tray, teapot, milk jug, some jam and even a teaspoon

Oh...and she also bought me the tea.

Where's the toast?

Still in the toaster...so I'm back to bed

Jam

Many years ago I ate some of the most delicious jam I've ever tasted. it was red currant jam and unfortunately I've never been able to find the same brand again.

Then the other day I was given some rather gorgeous, freshly picked  red, black and white berries and asked if I'd make some jam? They were currants.

Now I know this isn't the weather to be making jam, but hey, the fruit was calling

So I said yes.

Easy process, throw everything in the pot with equal amount of sugar and let it boil till it reaches its setting point. When does that happen? I'm not sure, I just boiled it till I thought it would be OK.

It looked and smelled pretty good, as jam goes. Fruity and sugary.

I'll keep the small jar and give the rest to the person who picked the fruit...

Limoncello... again

Did you make it?

How did it go?

This is how mine turned out...

Empty. Well almost

I gave the three small bottles away as gifts and kept what was left, which was almost 700ml

No, I didn't drink it all. I shared.

It was lovely!