It is 2011 isn't it?

...we haven't gone back to the good ol' days when we mere females needed the permission of our husbands or fathers to make decisions have we?

I ask because I had a rather interesting and amusing thing happen to me this morning that made me think we had.

To explain:

MONT and I are thinking of getting one of those clear PVC blinds on the side of our back deck to minimise the wind and give us a bit of protection against the rain...so I rang a company on their 1300 number to organise someone to come out and give me a quote.

After the consultant had been rather nice to me on the phone and got most of my details, she then asked if I was married and what my husband's name was

The following conversation went something like this:

Why do you need my husband's name seeing he won't be here?

We like to meet with both the husband and wife for the consultation and can arrange to be at your home in the evenings or even the weekends. We find it works better that way

No, that's OK...I'm quite capable of looking over and deciding on a quote seeing I'm the one who'll be paying for it so it'll just be me

Yes, I understand, but we like to have both people there for the 45 minute consultation.

45 minute consultation? I just want a measure and quote for one side of the back deck of the house and if it's going to take 45 minutes for the salesman to measure the height and width of the wall, then maybe I could measure it myself and you could give me an estimate over the phone.

Now, there's no need to get defensive, we just like to meet with both people and can arrange to be there when you're both home

(now this is the point where I realised that whoever turned up on Wednesday at 3pm wasn't just going to be here to give me a quote...no. He was going to try to not leave here without a signature)

I don't need my husband here to help me make a decision. I've never needed my husband with me when I've purchased a house or a car, so I'm sure I'm quite capable of choosing and paying for a Cafe blind.

We can be there on Saturday or even Sunday if that suits you both better, we don't mind at all and it does work better that way.

(She was persistent, I'll give her that)

No, Wednesday afternoon suits me better

(This is when she gave in and realised I wasn't going to budge, so we arranged for someone to come out at 3pm...she didn't even say goodbye, just "have a nice day" and hung up)

I had this conversation at work and my colleague couldn't believe what he was hearing!

I've heard of this sort of selling shtick before, but thought the old "get them together to play one off against the other and pressure them into signing on the dotted line" was well and truly in the past. Obviously not.

I've got someone else coming to give me a quote on Wednesday as well. It should be interesting to compare the different selling styles.

Number 10 Visitor of the feathered variety

Look at this little guy

He flew in yesterday and stayed around for a little while

Something must've tickled his fancy because he couldn't stop laughing

More Winter Food....

Winter's a time to stay indoors and tuck into some warming casseroles and stews...and that's mostly what's been on the menu at Number 10 these past couple of weeks.

If you like rich, tasty dishes then this is the one for you.

Oh...and it's really darn simple too.

It's a lamb, walnut and pineapple casserole and it's delicious and no, not too sweet, despite the use of pineapple juice.

If you'd like the recipe it's over here

Winners!

I'm so glad to announce I have finally chosen the winners of the gorgeous Cavania card sets..

Congratulations Tracey from Romi and Bob....and Sarah from Molly's Maison.

If you email me your details I'll get the cards in the post for you.

I know you're going to love them because they really are beautiful!

Thanks again to Karen from Cavania for giving me these beautiful cards to giveaway.

New Resident at Number 10

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our menagerie here at Number 10

MONT's elderly Mum and Dad have had to leave their home and go into care...so their pets have come to live the high life with us

As you can see, we're trying to toughen him up a bit.

Yep...this boy is doing it tough...

Being part of the tribe at Number 10 is no life on easy street.  Just look at these two "living rough".  It's tough I tell you. Tough !

Pizza ...and giveaway reminder

If you like pizza I've just posted a great recipe for a pizza dough over here

It's easy and delicious... great for Friday night dinner in front of the TV.



....and don't forget my Cavania giveaway...it's still on and well worth entering because the cards are simply gorgeous!

Just lovely!

Cavania - Giveaway

I'm sure if you looked up the word gorgeous in the dictionary, you would find the word CAVANIA

Yep...Cavania = Gorgeousness

Cavania is a blog I came across ages ago...can't remember where I first saw it but as soon as I did I was hooked.

Karen Sanders and her team design gorgeous cards and gifts. Did I say they are all GORGEOUS?!

She was based in London...but has recently moved her family to Western Australia and is now settling in and waiting for all her beautiful things to arrive from the UK

I was fortunate, a couple of Christmas's ago, to win a giveaway on Cavania and now, Karen and Paul have kindly offered some of their beautiful cards as a giveaway here.

I have two sets of  9 of these wonderful cards and envelopes.

All you have to do is:

a. leave a comment and tell me why you love them
b. become a follower of Number 10
and ...
c. link back to here.

That's it. Easy peasy really.

Thank you for your emails asking about where I've been hiding of late. I'm afraid life just got in the way of blogging but I'm back now (at least I think I'm back for good) and hope to catch up with what everyone's been up to these past few weeks.

Another little restoration...

I'm almost completely over the "bug" I had and am back into painting and restoring a few bits and pieces that have been sitting around and getting in the way

I bought this on eBay for a song a few weeks back and thought I'd paint it and add some new knobs and either sell it or use it.

As you can see, it has a nice little feature on the back

At the moment, I'm leaning towards using it as a bedside cabinet but will have to wait and see how it looks in the space. I don't want our new bedroom to look too crowded, if you know what I mean.

If it does fit in it'll be terrific because it'll give me a little more storage space and we can't have too much of that can we?

Actually, I bought two chests of drawers on eBay. (both were very cheap and in keeping with my Dottie Angel Challenge). They're similar but not identical and I think will look rather nice all painted and spruced up. This one might be for MONT if it looks OK beside the bed

I haven't touched this one yet...but I'll get around to him eventually

Ooh....I just got a delivery in the post and that means a great giveaway coming soon...and of course it's gorgeous!!!

An easy chicken recipe

Poached chicken with a home made tuna mayonnaise and potato salad may not sound too inviting, but believe me, it is!

You can find the recipe over here

It's a great dish for a lazy Sunday lunch....and it's also pretty healthy.

Hope you like it

Life as a newspaper editor

Hi all...I'm slowly on the mend. Still not 100% but feeling a little better each day.

I mentioned that I was going to read Bruce Guthrie's book, Man Bites Murdoch...

It's all about his life as a reporter, international correspondent and editor and his  time at the Age Newspaper and the Herald Sun.

I'm no book reviewer but I will say it was an extremely entertaining read.

Bruce grew up in the housing commission homes of Broadmeadows in Melbourne and eventually went on to work for Time Inc.....editing the Herald Sun, Age newspaper and Who Weekly, the Australian equivalent of People magazine

He details his life with the various employers and his falling out with News Limited and the hatred directed towards him by former Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett. That little episode is extremely interesting.

If you get a chance, have a look at this very entertaining account of Bruce's professional life in the newspaper game

I really enjoyed it.