a post about nothing

This is a post about nothing much. Things have been going on as normal around here: busy and busier.

We get up at the crack of dawn every day (actually we get up before dawn these days as winter creeps in) and get home as the sun goes down most nights.

My office still looks like a team of burglars went through it. Even the dogs avoid it these days, no room for them to lie at my feet any more.

I do plan to tidy it up. I do. I have big plans for it. Once I list a million things I need to get rid of on ebay.

As part of the tidy up and organise project I got rid of an ugly set of plastic drawers I had and bought this groovy little cabinet from Shiploads (a cheap and cheaper store). Its only chipboard but its so darn cute. I can forgive it being a fake. I made little labels for the drawers and sorted things into them, like 'pens' and 'more pens' etc. I love my little cabinet.

Now to bring it out of hiding by actually getting rid of a ton of crap from in front of it.

We do have some huge news actually. I went shopping today. (Nothing new there) Only this time I bought a car.

Ok. I didn't just go out and buy a car. Its something we'd planned to do over a year ago. The plan was: when I sell my house we'll buy a new car. Of course, who can afford a new car? We sure can't. At least not the kind we wanted. A dual cab ute (truck to my american friends), preferably with a canopy, diesel, 4x4, powerful enough to tow a horse float and carry wood from up the hill on our property.

I always do my research. We found that the Mazda and the Ford Ranger kept coming out at the top of the comparisons, too close to pick a winner between them.

I don't know what the price of a new Mazda ute is, but the Ranger was somewhere in the vicinity of $45,000-$poop-your-pants range.

So we decided to do what any sensible person would do if they have a healthy respect for their hard earned money... we decided to buy 2nd hand. Something newer than my car and with considerably less klms (wouldn't take much. I think my poor old car went around the world a couple of times according to the odometer reading).

We looked around. We compared what kind of prices we'd be looking at. We looked online. We looked locally.

Then on Thursday we went to a dealership in town which had 3 cars in the lot which fit our requirements. Two Mazda's and one Ranger. We test drove them all. We took one home one night, one home the next night.

Freaked the dogs out no end, coming home in a different car every night.

We talked about it. We talked about it more. We weighed up klms vs year of manufacture. We compared the minute differences. We compared the added extras or lack of. We discussed practicality and our needs. We looked online some more.

Then we decided that everything aside, we could NOT live with a brown car. That narrowed it down to two, one Mazda and the Ranger. Same engine, different cars.

This morning we were no closer on making a decision than we had been on Thursday evening.

Basically the Ranger was cuter, sexier. I love the look of the Ranger. Its ME. Its a newer model but it has a lot more klms on it. And the seats are lushious. Its more expensive by a couple of thousand and it doesn't have a canopy or a cover on the back, both would mean spending more money as we need at least a cover - we carry stuff in the back all the time. Moisture sensitive stuff like horse feed.

The Mazda is not so cute. Its the difference of a ute that looks like a 'ute' and one that looks like a truck. I'm all for the truck look. I like chunky. Big. High. Tough.

Nice.

But the Mazda had a canopy. It was cheaper. Older in years but less in klms. It has spotlights that can blind oncoming cars 5 towns away. Exactly what you need when to spot wildlife when driving at night. Its a smoother ride, quieter inside...

This morning I left home with Wayne's blessing to pick the one I wanted. Either one would suit us. He'd be happy with either.

I had no idea when I got to the dealership. They offered me tea with 'say yes' juice in it they said. I was planning to say yes anyway, but not sure on which.

In the end practicality won over my heart. I love the Ranger, but the Mazda is what we need. I called Wayne and he was surprised. hehehe. I can still surprise him. :)

So, next week we do the paperwork and get a new/old car. Maybe not the sexy one I hoped for, but one which will suit our needs better right off the bat.

Gotta share this as I still laugh when I think about it. Both Wayne and I are clowns which may be why we get along so well. Well, most the of the time...

Anyway, whenever I answer any questions of the "I need to ask you some questions before we can sign you up to a 224 month contract on a new phone" or "I just need you to answer these questions before you apply for this job" type, I channel the Blues Brothers:

"Do you have any convictions?"

"Convictions? ...........ummmm.............. No."

Wayne did way better than that.

When asked if he had any photo ID on him he asked, "Will the Wanted poster at the Post Office do?"

I'll leave you with some gorgeous antique poodle photos I found.

z

felted poodle hair necklace

 

Remember the Poodle National I went to at Easter and the dogs I groomed there?

Well, as I scissored I collected the hair and, instead of putting it in the bin, I felted it!

Did you know that poodle hair felts? Well, it does. I know someone who weaves it as well.

Anyway, I've never tried this before but a couple of years ago I did a workshop on wet felting and I love felt ball jewelery, so the decision to try it was easy.

The dogs I groomed at the show were all different colours: a black girl called Tango, a blue girl called Jackie, a blue boy called Tyson, a silver girl called Britany and a white girl called Zena. The necklace has a felt ball or two from each poodle I groomed.

Luckily I'd made plenty of felt balls so I was able to make a necklace just like this for Iris. Hers doesn't include a black felt ball since the black poodle belonged to someone else.

I think this is the best way to honour and remember a poodle. I wish I'd made felt balls from Pagan, Scooter and Billybear's coats. I will from Montana and Romeo now that I've done this, that way I will always keep something of them with me.

z

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collecting junk on the porch

On the weekend I finally got a bit of work done on the porch.

I had planned to have the entire porch (and house) painted by now, but oh well... them's the breaks. I only got so far (to the high bits) before winter set in. Now its too cold and too damp to paint outdoors.

Oh gee.... guess I have to stop, huh?

So this weekend I moved everything back to where it was meant to be, instead of pulled out into the middle of the porch so I could paint.

Now that the sun isn't an issue (lack of it might be soon enough) I could move some of the potted plants to the front of the house. They spent the summer cowering under the shadow of the casita. Seriously... the only thing that survived the heat on our front porch is a cactus.

I collected the rusty, galvanised and just plain old bits and pieces and put them near the front porch where the ground is uneven and ugly. Now its just a collection of junk covering an ugly spot.

I am not above some fake greenery till the real stuff grows!

I also to around to putting the louvre doors I bought eons ago (and painted to match the house) on the porch to hide the hot water cylinder.

I hinged them together, put a hook on each side to hook them to the wall to keep them in place, and to keep the wind from blowing them into the dam. Now I have a huge big louvre door 'cupboard' on the porch instead of a smaller round hot water cylinder...

Maybe I should have just painted the water cylinder.

Still, I'm nothing if not stubborn. I planned to put it there so I will darn well put it there and LIKE it.

I have tried to make it interesting by adding some more of my old tool crates (collections of old hand tools on shallow old crates). And hung a few interesting things on the louvres as well... More on that in another post.

Meanwhile we now have 2 separate sitting areas on the porch. One is for eating - hence the higher table... sporting another rusty item with fake greenery (heheh).

The other is the bright/navy blue adirondack chairs with their small table. These are for sitting and relaxing. If its warm enough. And not windy. And not rainy and windy in which case the rain gets blown right onto the porch.

The birds meanwhile are still here. They haven't gone south for the winter. Or is it north when you live in Australia? I doubt they'd fly to the South Pole for winter.

Their presence has given rise to a new name for the porch - the poop deck.

z

everything looks better with numbers (I finished the wardrobe room!)

Its been weeks since I last posted. I've been busy. Life just got out of hand. I'd come home from work and most nights I didn't even want to turn on the computer and check emails. I think I had something like 144 email notifications from the blogs I follow.

When life gets too much, reading blogs is the first thing that goes. 

I've also been feeling a bit 'ordinary'. My backs been sore and so I haven't felt like doing much out of work hours. Just reading and watching TV.

And shopping.

I don't even want to THINK about the money I spent on clothes lately.

To be fair, I don't buy clothes often and I've really wanted a wardrobe makeover. I'm tired of looking boring and want to look nice, even if I'm not the weight I'd like to be. In fact I want to look nice despite the weight I am right now. No use waiting, right?

Speaking of wardrobe makeovers, however, I did a bit more wardrobe making over in Wayne's wardrobe room this weekend.

I'd bought another 3 industrial type shelf units and was itching to get the room finished for him. Naturally I when I got the room ready I discovered I didn't have a paint roller. 

So I skipped the painting part of the makeover and went straight to the wardrobe part. I figure I can paint later. Sometime. One day... maybe.

I did the same as last time, I had two 5-shelf units and I put two rods between them to create a double layer hanging space. This time around I added 5 canvas 'crates' for storage (socks, undies, etc) and, because everything looks better with numbers on it, I used a stencil to number them.

The numbers might help Wayne find things too... 

"Zefi, where are my socks?" 

"In box no. 2."

So the room is finished now (well, other than the paint... and perhaps a blind where the curtain is right now, cause roses are just so masculine...). There are shelf units and double hanging space on both sides, a chest in the middle to hold sleeping bags and other such items, and shoe storage behind the door.

I had thought that if I'd made this room into a wardrobe room I could even put my own clothes in it.

Dream on.

Its chock-a-bloc.

I swear, if Wayne vacuumed I'd have to question his sexual orientation.

I moved the boring old pine wardrobe that was in there before, and the boring old pine chest of drawers, into our bedroom my my own clothes.

Cause now I have nice clothes I want to hang up, not just jeans, T-shirts and sweaters.

Naturally every night before I drift off to sleep now I'll look at them and think about what I can do to pretty them up.

I wish we had bigger bedrooms....

z