momentum

Can you believe how quickly Christmas is coming?  I find that I have been more organised other years. This year has been very trying and I haven't been nearly as organised. I am still working on the hamper and I try to find things every week otherwise I will be visiting my friends with it incomplete.  I am trying to work out what would be good presents for family and friends. Normally I have this sorted not so this year.

The children are happily getting in the Christmas spirit. This year there was a requirement for an Advent Calendar.  I thought well a chocolate one would work well and then realised that dairy free was not an easy option so we changed tactics and went for a Star Wars Lego one. My Petal was not that interested in the concept, she doesn't like having to commit herself to something on a daily basis.  My Hurricane is a different story. He is so excited and has been trying to understand how it all works.  Not really sure that he has to wait firstly till December to start this and then he can only do ONE door a day.   It should be fun to see what happens.

I have been a lot busier with my massaging I have a couple of regulars now and this certainly is greatly appreciated just before Christmas.   I want to do a Hot Rock course. I have seen one that I think would be great, see how many mums would like that.

Enjoying the rain today. I hope your gardens are enjoying the water too.











 

sometimes the planets line up for the Op Shopping.

Lately I have not been not just wondering in and looking for what I can find I have been going to op shops with specific requirements or things that I would like to find from a wishlist.

A missing piece or replacement piece of a dinner set, a clothing requirement, a pair of boots that are needed, pretty cake plates, a skirt and material. All different things from a wish list, some practical others not.

Well amazingly enough I have found everything that I have needed or wanted to date.

A soft grey top to go with my skirt, something made in Australia if possible. (Tick). I found this straight after the visit to the farmers market in Collingwood, the children love this market and I got to see Daylesford Organics although they were all sold out. Always so very nice to have a little chat.

The skirt I bought on ebay.  I love skirts that have a different cut, this one is shorter at the front and longer at the back. i know there is a technical name for it, I have no idea what it is.  I am going to make some very soon, stay tuned.  (Sorry about the black on black but I think you get the idea.)  I also found a ring that covers most of my finger and some other accessories.

A pair of gumboots or something that I can wear to the farmers market in Winter. (Tick) I did even better than that, they are beautiful equestrian boots made in France and just gorgeous.  I was totally thrilled with this find. I have been dreaming about the lovely ones in England that are too many hundreds of pounds to even consider.   Happy dance happening even if it's too warm to wear them.

A little foot stool that I can change if I want to (Tick).  I was watching one on Ebay however the price went up and up and I stopped watching.  This one was $5.00 at the Op Shop.  I just couldn't pass it up.

A couple of vintage cake plates (Tick)  nothing too fancy just something pretty to pop on the table.  i knew what I wanted and I was thrilled to find exactly the sort of style and pattern.

A fascinator. I have never owned one and well this is my first and probably only purchase.  I like it, it's subtle.  It doesn't get stuck in doors when I leave the room like some of the really big ones that are amazing but how do you wear them!!!!  I had a lovely work function that required dressing up for and well this was just perfect, I didn't have to spend a small fortune either.

I am wondering what I will find next from my wishlist.  A wingback chair would be great for the bedroom and something to go at the end of the bed, totally french and beautiful.

Enjoy I hope the Op Shopping has been good for you too.

November and I am being dragged along to Christmas kicking and screaming in protest

Today I hit the ground running well actually being dragged along fighting and kicking. I didn't want this week to happen. I didn't want to actually get back into things. I had a massage lined up, a new person and an experienced client. Well this normally sends me into a cold sweat at the best of times. So I didn't want to go, I had a headache, nothing bad just stress.  I knew this wasn't an acceptable excuse and by the time came around to leave I just didn't have anything except that I needed to catch up on housework and even that wasn't tempting. So I set off.  I did it and I felt great afterwards energised and ready to go. I was back into the swing of things, paid and another booking WONDERFUL.

So now I have to keep the momentum going. I have asked a couple of regulars if they need a massage and I am sorting out my week. I have plans to do some sewing again not sure if I will make a dress or 2 for my Petal or a skirt for me. I am cleaning like a women possessed and went outside to do some sweeping in between things.  Back to sorting and culling again. I have collected some lovely things at the op shop that we have needed now to get rid of somethings that we don't.

I have even started on christmas things.... I don't want to but well it is happening.  I have started on a hamper for our country cousins which I am very pleased with the progress this time, last time I struggled a bit. I am also working on things for the caravan for our holiday.  I have also had a bit of a find at the op shopping on the weekend.  We found some lovely water glasses, you can never have too many or enough in our case, also 2 tops for me.  We found a Thomas train set for my Red Headed Hurricane, a couple of video's for my Petal and a nice Boutique Beer glass for my other half too.

Bit tired after the activities today I will try to get photo's soon.

Making something for My Petals birthday.

It has become a tradition that I make something for my girl just before her birthday normally for the day although in this case it was for the day before as we have another birthday at the same time as my girls. A good friend smiling in the photo that we visited for lunch, Yum Cha down the coast.   Lovely meal,  I want to do chicken and ginger parcels now for our lunch on the weekend.  Everything was so good!

I decided that a headband or scarf just wasn't going to cut it and I had some lovely O'lily material that needed to be turned into something cute.  So a skirt it had to be.  I do still have some leftover that will probably be a headband, some buttons and anything else that I can think of.

Thank goodness I follow MADE otherwise I think this would have never been done.  Her blog and tutorials are wonderful and it would seem very easy to follow. So that was decided.  I raced to spotlight, bought some elastic, (also some 1/2 price hallowe'en material with the promise that I would turn it into something for the children)  then dashed home to start.

Straight to my mother-in-laws with the "help" cry.  I was still very unsure (being silly given how easy the tutorial is!) and needed her to overlock the top and bottom.  That done I was ready to go and later on that evening after we came home I set off on the next step leaving the remaining ones for the next day when I was fresh and the light was better.

I did it, I finished it and my Petal was so happy spinning around and around wearing it. I think I was happier than she was but that is alright, it's my first real project completed and being enjoyed. I have the usual amount of UFO's waiting to be completed and I also have the next skirt in the pipeline for Christmas.

The hot pink and butterfly material is for the next skirt.  The jug in the background was a wonderful op shop find. My mother left me a lovely dinner set that I am keeping for the children, I have a few items that I wanted to add to it, to date I have found nothing and then this wonderful jug.  We had a lovely time brainstorming all the great food things you could use it for.  Sticky date pudding with caramel sauce seemed to be the favourite.     I also have a plan to do Tapas soon.  So we are collecting little dishes to have our meal in.  I think this will be next week but I am not sure what ingredients I need.  A visit to the farmers market on the weekend should help.  These dishes all of them were from Op shop and Savers.

We also had the issue of making cupcakes or a cake Dairy Free.  I brainstormed with the family and we decided that Vanilla would be the easiest option and yummy.  After a bit of searching and not really finding anything suitable I then went to my ALL TIME FAVOURITE blog.  M.E to find something wonderful and yes we did.  The cake idea was changed for Cupcakes instead and what better ones that to have pink cupcakes.  So all i did was substitute the milk with soy milky, the butter with dairy free substitute and they were so yummy.  I am going to have to find a tiered cake plate or something suitable  for display of cupcakes when on the table, I did a big plate that was suitable but not quite right. (On my wishlist.)

My girl had her normal Non-Party day. This is where we do cake, we have visitors and presents but we don't call it a party.  We have people that normally visit and are happy for others to drop in, there is normally enough cake or cupcakes this time.

I think the smile says it all.

Happy Birthday my Beautiful Girls - ~Lily~ and My Petal xx

goodbye October nothing new.

I tried very hard to not let October overwhelm me and yet it always does, my boy was very sick.....my girl managed to sprain her wrist and I was working then a death of a close family friend.   Such a hard hard time and then we finish the month with Hallowe'en and our wedding anniversary.  I did manage to mostly Buy Nothing New that month.  I hadn't considered our wedding anniversary however that didn't prove to be such a challenge after all.  My other half was very happy with his present of a designer beer glass and I wanted a mixing bowl or 2.  Both were secondhand and we loved them no less.  Did they fit in with crystal well they did in our minds so that is all that mattered.

This is my anniversary present notice the butterflies very appropriate and the next one too.

An early present from my lovely Mother-in-law on a recent girls trip to Bendigo. What fun that was!

Just before our anniversary we attended a funeral of a close family friend.  I was meant to meet up with her that week and her birthday was coming up too. I was looking forward to seeing this lovely lady and listen to her amazing stories and her words of wisdom.  Talking about my parents whom she knew so well, her love and caring for me and my family.   Her wealth of knowledge and insight into people was wonderful, now gone........ 

so can you buy everything from secondhand shops?

I have been avoiding the shops lately well not all the shops but mainly the big shopping centres. I get so shocked at all the prices of things that I desire or like that I have been thinking can I get what I want from Op shops or Secondhand shops.  Do I have to add to the problems of landfill and consumerism or can I avoid this?

Is it possible to avoid buying new or is it necessary at certain times.

So I am testing my theory.  I have been looking for things specifically when I go to op shops or second hand shops.  So far so good.

Skirts for work, found.  Tops to go with skirts. some I already had, some I found.

I put in a request for blue as it's my favourite colour to wear and lo and behold they appeared.  I have never really got into looking at clothes at the Op shops until just recently when I realised that I could actually work through and find things that I required at a very reasonable cost and have money left over. Normally impossible if I went to Department store and usual shops. I have been very happy with my recent purchases probably more so that usual, as I am not confronted by super slim women trying to show me things that would not do well for my body shape or size.  At this stage in my life I tend to know what is going to work and more importantly what isn't, no false comments "ohhhh that looks so good on you, suits you so much" you know how it goes.

Fluffy jacket and/or vest for my Petal (managed to get both), so cute.

I think my favourite one to date is the one that I managed to with the help of my other half and my son get a better than hoped for car game. I had some mini micro's (funny) cars and I was saving them for the right moment.  I gave them to my Red Headed Hurricane last week and he was thrilled carrying them everywhere. When My Other half took him shopping whilst my Petal and myself had a girls day out to Bendigo (that is another story).  They went looking for certain items. One was a present for my boy for Hallowe'en a meat clever and the other was training wheels for My Petal's bike.  I found her a basket with flowers  and a cute flower seat so it has come up quite good.  My Petal hates it though, she cannot get her balance and after talking to her Occupational therapist and myself and my study buddy watching her we came to realisation that training wheels or at least one would be the best thing for her.

There are some things that she needs extra help with and this is one of them, it's as simple as that.

  There are so many things that you can get from Op Shops and Secondhand shops and i am just learning what you can get.  I found some accessories for my jacket so happy about the beautiful pins, knitting needles which are lovely and green, books, 70's glasses and bowls that match my set, (missing pieces are great to find) some hallowe'en things for my boy.  Now I need to go and look at a few more
things, wondering what I can find next!