pom poms and poodles

Yay! I did it!

I finally made myself a little pom pom posie!

 

I had made this bedspring vase a little while ago and really wasn't happy with it.I think it was the pink flower that got me.

 

And when I saw the little pom pom flowers at Ecclectically Vintage, I knew they were exactly what I needed!

Since I have a passion for blue, purple and white flowers, I chose some purple and cream wool for my flowers and used florists wire for the stems.

The pom poms really are quite easy to make, using a fork to wrap the wool around, but when they come off the fork they really were the ugliest pom poms I'd ever seen. They really did need a haircut.

Lucky for me I'm a whizz at trimming pom poms as my poodle showing days will prove!

 Ahhh... I do miss poodle hair!

z

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cheap and nasty pantry organising

I did threaten to share my pantry organising with you, don't say I didn't warn you.

Thing is, I didn't go with the whole mod podge up to my elbows recycling cardboard boxes to store tinned goods in. I have a collection of boxes I was going to make over into the rolling out type of can storage, but when push came to shove I just couldn't start a project which would take forever the way things are going with projects around here.

Of course walking through Kmart and finding these baskets for $3 and $4 respectively helped lubricate the shift from recycling boxes to just forking out some cash.

Of course I had to make labels for them, cause what pantry organisation is complete without labels? I had some leftover chalkboard from an earlier project... so risking my fingers I cut it down to small pieces using the circular saw (the jigsaw is broken - and I was careful, but I still don't recommend it!). I then drilled holes into each piece, wrote on them and tied them to the baskets with jute string.

I bought a few baskets in each size to see how they'd go, and I'm liking them. They're not imaginative or pretty or perfect, but you know what? They work. I can look into the pantry now and know exactly what I have or how low I'm getting on something.

And Wayne wont break his back searching for, and not finding, the baked beans, forcing me to get off the computer and go find them for him.

Win win.

I do need to make more labels. I may make them using cardboard though (as I did in the workshop), unless I buy another jigsaw...

z

the best laid plans

You know what they say about the best laid plans?

Well, I can tell you its true. I had such big plans for the weekend. Then they were all changed on me. I got home from training on Saturday to find we had visitors and that Wayne had made all kinds of plans for my weekend.

None of which included time to work on the house!

But, somewhere between the 504 loads of washing I had to do, the 412 dishes I had to wash and the zillions of other 'everyday' chores, I managed to get some painting done on the house!

First step was to remove everything from the deck. Second step was washing down the walls.

Its not easy to see in the photo but, after a trip to the supermarket I hadn't planned, I finished painting the south side of the house where it needed a 2nd coat, and started on the front.

I didn't do it all. Basically I had only planned to undercoat the beams under the roof and all the new timber of the railing today, but I had a bucket full of the pale grey paint and I had to use it up, right? So I only painted the lower part of the walls till I ran out of paint.

My next job will be to undercoat all the bits that need that. Naturally I expect I'll run out of the 3 in 1 sealer/undercoat/prepcoat before I run out of things to undercoat, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

The job wasn't without casualties... There used to be a shelf on the side of the house which became a bench when the deck was added on. I removed the timber from the 'bench' and asked Wayne to remove the brackets for me today. I wanted to use them to move the shelf to above the electrical box under the kitchen window.

He removed them alright. In multiple pieces... sigh...

So, I'm feeling a bit better about myself tonight, having done at least one small thing towards finishing the job I had meant to do over the Christmas break.

Feeling better about myself, not actually feeling better, cause my back is killing me. I was using the sealer/undercoat paint tin to sit on while painting those low bits (cause man, getting old sucks... I'm finding it harder to paint cross legged on the floor like I used to!) and when I went to get up I realised I could hardly walk.

I repeat: getting old sucks!

On a separate and really embarassing note.... a friend gave us this copper artwork last year. I don't really like copper artwork... but I figured if I can get a patina on it - you know, those gorgeous greens - then I'd love it. So I left it outside in the weather ... 

Where she found it and put it on display on the bench.

Ooppps. I noticed it there when I went to hang clothes up this morning. 

How embarassing. I hadn't thrown it out there, I had placed it there to encourage it to get crusty and green. Unfortunately it refuses to. I think it may have been coated with some kind of protective varnish I should have removed first.

I think I'll have to actively work on it to patina it. Any ideas? Pinterest, where are you?

Oh, and while I'm at it... any idea what the problem is when a top loader washing machine keeps mucking up dark clothes? I'd never had this problem before with this machine, but lately my blacks are coming out covered in what looks like lint. Lots of it. In streaks and patches.

I washed the washing machine, gave it a good scrub inside and then turned it on, adding some bleach, to clean it. I'd done vinegar before but that hadn't fixed the problem. The problem is a BIT better, but not gone. 

I can't find a filters and no one ever mentioned a filter to clean when I bought it. Its an old Whirlpool, a basic model. Simple, no push buttons and flashing lights.

Any ideas on how fix the link problem?

z

no rest for the wicked

I was so looking forward to a couple of days at home, back to normal, no more guests, just me, Wayne, the dogs and the endless chores.

He's back, so tonight I only have to do half the chores. Phew. Soon I'll get up off my butt and go feed the dogs, go down to feed and rug Ben, then return to let Wally out of the corral where he eats his dinner.

I thought I had a couple of days of catching up ahead of me. Time to clean the house (again). Do some washing (again). Attempt to organise the office (again). Finish the painting of the two dogs (finally). And start a new crafting project or three.

For my sanity - you know. Me without some crafting project in my hands is a recipe for disaster. Bad things happen when I get crafting/decorating/DIY withdrawals.

I have some yarn lined up to attempt fork pom pom flowers as inspired by Ecclectically Vintage...

I mean, how cute are they?

I want to tidy my pantry using the 99.99% method of recycling and upcycling and doing it the 'el cheapo' way... using jars, plastic containers and cardboard boxes and lots and lots of labels.

But no.

I'll be going training tomorrow.

sigh.

At least its a fun day of Safety Circle (are YOU inside the circle of safety? Hell no. I use chairs to reach high places and paint the house balanced on the top rung of a ladder...) and Sign Language. Both great topics.

I don't mind training when its something interesting... I get to spend time with people I actually like, cause really, I like almost everyone I work with... and even the ones I might not want to invite over for dinner, I like enough to spend a day with.

Meanwhile, I found a great blog while following links today.

Mandi. I love her! She's me in a parallel universe, with kids and a much better sense of humour.

Or maybe she's who I wanted to be.

Minus the kids.

Or maybe we were twins, separated at birth and born years and a continent or two apart.

Who knows.

All I know is she's my hero! I do believe her blog will help me sort out my own life in some strange way.

z