hello!

We have had the best week.

Mick and Les came to visit and we had a wonderful time.

A big post about our week is on it's way...............

one more sleep!

online class!

Ben purchased a spot for me on Elsie and Rachel's online class.

It is an 8 week course, and over those weeks I will get to do 30 different types of projects.

1. Color Me Happy Rainbow Scrapbook

2. 'X Marks the Spot' Picnic Blanket

3. Felt Teepee Village

4. 'Hide them Here' Journal Covers

5. Not Your Grandma's Doily Throw

6. Spring Buds Jersey Scarf

7. Family Portrait Felt Wall Art

8. Panda Bear Plushie

9. Paint Your Own Pillow

10. Say Cheese Embroidered Photo Art

11. Sorbet Surprise Needlepoint Art

12. Don't Be Shady Felt Sunglasses Case

13. Happy Thrifties (Tips & Tricks for Reworking & Remaking Vintage Clothing!)

14. Vintage Tray Calendar

15. Hand Carved Stamp Tutorial

16. Springtime Apron Pattern

17. I Heart Handmade Mobile

18. Tank Tops + Doilies = True Love

19. Textile Reconstructions from Flea Market Finds

20. Color Block Chair Cushions

21. Plushie Sewing Machine & Camera Doll Patterns!

22. Small Space Makeover Tutorial

23. Cherry Blossom Spring Garland

24. Protect Your Adult Furniture with Embroidered Linen Coasters

25. Perfect for Spring Broach Patterns

26. Shiny Shoes Makeover

27. Wood Grain Wall Art

28. Fancy Dress Doily Necklace

29. Use It Or Lose It Patchwork Pillow

30. 40 Brand New Embroidery Designs by the Red Velvet Girls!!!

The class starts on the 15th February and you work at your own pace and post your finished products onto the flickr group.

My nights will be very busy from the 15th Fed.

Thank you hon. You are a wonderful husband.

thank the lord...he's finally gone!

so pretty

I love this scarf from Fringe. The flower and the colours are so beautiful.

I may very well have to learn how to knit, because at $132 us dollars, it is a little pricey to buy with the exchange rate and all.

Fringe's knitting is amazing. No wonder her accessories are expensive, with the time and effort that goes into making them.

Just another craft to learn. There are not enough hours in the night.

free!

Cookie magazine has three free printable party invitations.

Just save the pdf to your computer, and when your party comes up, print the invitations out on heavy card.

the 80's

I was watching 80's hour on channel v this morning and Rick Astley came on and I had a flashback.

I went to see Rick Astley in 1988 at the Perth Entertainment Centre and it was the best concert I went to. I didn't admit that to anyone for about 15 years.

The venue was half full and everyone (99% females) had crammed themselves into the space in front of the stage.

I even remember what I wore. Black chunky shoes, white and black striped knee high socks, black pants that finished at the knee and a rick astley t-shirt. I looked like the Hamburgler from MacDonalds.

You could get away with so much in the 80's.

sewing

After sewing in squares, making soft toys and completing one top for Auds, I am now going to attempt to make my first piece of clothing that won't be worn by a very adorable 21 month old.

I saw this t-shirt on Replicca and have decided to give it a go. I like the bow on the top and the ruffles along the bottom and after studying it, drew a pattern on some paper.

I will give it a go.

mr p.

came over on Saturday night and we busted out the monk wine.

Poor Dave - he was just supposed to touch his lips with it....not have a swig. It's 90% proof.

4 more sleeps....

until Granny and Pa get to see these two faces.

Elton was not happy here. Auds was stealing his seat. He was not impressed.

hair

My hair is past my shoulders (the longest I have ever had it in my life) and I am wondering if I should keep growing it or get it cut like the picture?

Last night I showed Ben and he said "that would look lovely" but today I have woken up and my hair is falling just right. It's like your hair knows that you are going to cut it, so it decides to give you a good hair day.

If I get it cut, that is how I am going to show off my new do. Sitting in the chair sideways with my head thrown back.

robots

Elton has two loves - trains and robots.

When you say his name, he wants us to say robot on the end....so he is Elton Robot and he calls us Daddy Robot, Mummy Robot and Sissy Robot.

When he falls over or pretends he is hurt, we have to change his limbs over for new parts - just like a robot.

At the moment, any movie we watch has to be about a robot or a train. Ben is happy though because it means we get to watch Star Wars. Any excuse.

It could be worse. When we went on Puffing Billy we purchased a dvd from the conducter which we thought Elton would love. He does love it - but we don't. It is a 2 hour video with no commentary of the train journey from Belgrave to Gembrooke.

2 hours.

very organised

We still have 11 months to go, but we have booked the Gold Coast for Christmas.

We are going for 10 nights over the Christmas holidays from the 19th to the 29th December.

We want to take Elton and Audrey to Wiggle World and Wiggle Bay, Seaworld, Australia Zoo and spend time at the beach.

It's far away and I felt ridiculous when I booked the hotel, but the lady assured me that it is best to book months ahead because it's over Christmas and rooms are snapped up.

It's something really fun to look forward to......and this way we will be in another state and Ben won't get called in to work over Christmas. Yippee!!!!

slumdog millionaire

I am really looking forward to seeing this movie.

new quilt

I have been working on a new quilt. Just for practice.

It is a little larger than a double...not quite a queen size.

I think it will look really lovely on Audrey's big girl bed that will come this year.

pie

My cooking is getting so much better.

Yesterday I made two pies - beef and guiness with mashed potato and an apple pie. I made the pastry for both pies from scratch. I know!

Ben was so proud of my pies. This is the apple pie in his hands. Look how high it is!

When Ben cut into it, the apple had deflated slightly. I don't get it - I had to place the pastry on top of the apple, so when the apple flattens how do you stop the big gap inbetween the apple and the pastry? Maybe I should cook the apple first next time.......

new favourite movie

Yesterday we went to Richmond to Dave and Bron's for Laksa. It was goooooooood!

Last night Ben and I watched Waitress.

My goodness. I love it! It is one of my favourite movies. You have to see it. It's a wonderful movie.

I'm off to make pies.

excited!

I am very excited.

I have enrolled in a Millinery Course at Louise Macdonald's school in the city.

It starts in July (a bit of a wait) and it is an 8 week course every Monday night. Ben will come home from work, and then I will train it into the city to do the course. The school is just opposite Flinders Street train station.

I have always wanted to learn how to make hats and if I was to become good at it, I could sell quite a few over here with the racing and all. I would start off small with my etsy shop.

Between now and then I am going to keep quilting and get my sewing skills up. I have a beginners quilt class that is on Saturday mornings that starts next month.

I want to be able to make something with my hands, from home, that I can earn some pocket money on and still be able to be with Elton and Auds.

p.s.

Anne when you come over to visit, you will get a special Toni's Personal Pamms Tour Guide to all the shops.

You wait until you see the book. You will be drool.

savings

It has been a week so far of good savings.

Our beautiful friends - Andie and Dave came to our house and gave us a christmas present. They are so wonderful and the present was fantastic. A enviro-friendly bag full of goodies - a beach towel/tic tac toe game, sand toys (which Elton and Audrey play with happily in the bath), ice-cream molds with fridge magnet recipes, handmade magnets, colourful plastic bowls and tumblers. It sure made my white christmas in a popcorn bucket that I gave them look very sad indeed.

Andie and Dave also gave us a fantastic discount book called the Pamms Guide. It is full of places to go to save some money.

We tried out NQR which is in Boronia. A discount food store for goods nearing expiry dates. We got sippa straws for .69c. They are over $4 at Safeway. We got an armful of things and it came to $7. Ben and I looked at each other like deers caught in the headlights.

It is the best book and I have highlighted page after page of what I want to go to. Thank you so much Andie and Dave. You are so wonderful.

On Saturday we were wandering past the local library and they were having book sale. I could buy a enviro bag for $5 and fill it to the brim. The lady actually said "go and get your car and back it up to the door".

I filled the bag up to the very top and counted 29 picture books. They were in the best condition and Elton and Audrey are so excited about all the new books we are reading.

If you contact your local library you can ask them when they do sales and go and get yourself a whole heap of bargains.

The lovely owner of Timeout (the play centre where I take the kids) also keeps slightly flattened balls (the little size that are used in ball pits) in garbage bags out the back and gives them away. She said that most play centres do this and you just have to ask if they have old equipment and you will most likely get it for free.

I love a good bargain!

why did you move to melbourne?

That was our most asked question last year and I don't know if we have ever answered it.

Ben and I have always wanted to live in another city or even another country. We still haven't ruled out going overseas.

When we just missed out on the 3 year posting to Tokyo to work for the embassy (they picked the single guy) we were sad. Ben still has nightmares about it. We realised that it was something we really wanted to do.

It is sad to leave behind our family and friends, but Ben loves computers and he really wanted to live in a big city and learn as much as he could and do as well as he could. Perth was a little small for what Ben wanted to do and because the IT field is always changing, a bigger city always throws you a new challenge.

We were also quite isolated in Ellenbrook and it just wasn't for us. We didn't want to raise our kids to only know the insides of the Ellenbrook gates.

I remember when we got our first land and water rates for our house (and nearly died at how expensive it was) in Ellenbrook, Ben and I looked at each other and went "Is this it? We just pay these huge rates and sit in this house until we die?"

We didn't want that. We wanted to look for a place that was cheaper and rather than be tied to our mortgage and just sit in the house because we had nothing extra to spend, we wanted to be able to do things.

By finding this home, we still have a mortgage but we can afford to do things and go to places and it doesn't feel like your home is a prison you are paying off until you die.

So I guess the move came down to three things - for Ben's work, so that we could broaden our horizons as well as our children's and so that we could live more wisely and enjoy our life.

You only get one.

the shepherds

I sing this made up song about my little shepherd boy and my little shepherd girl, and when I sing it, Elton and Audrey stand in front of me and want their blankets tied around their heads.

You have to be there.

painting

We finished our painting yesterday and it looks like a whole new room.....or rooms.

We painted the walls yellow and then all we had left to do was paint the window frames white. I have no idea why the previous owner thought mission brown was a good interior colour, but it has now left the building.

Everything looks so clean and fresh and homely and the window looking out at our backyard looks ten times bigger.

no blogging

This weekend Ben had a long 3 day break to make up for the time he worked over Christmas.

We went and looked at tents at camping stores. We would like to buy one this year and go camping. We think the kids would love it and there are so many places to see here. I only have 2 rules for the tent - it has to be high enough to stand in and very airy. I don't like midget tents they are claustrophobic and I don't think anyone should try and get dressed sitting down.

We looked at the Jayco camper trailers at first, and we almost talked ourselves into one, but after we thought about it, it seemed too expensive for just a bed. The one we looked at was $17,000 and it had bedding for all of us, a kitchen and a table, but in the end you use the bbq's at camping grounds and the money was far too much for the exact same thing we can do in a tent.

We will save the caravan for when Ben and I are old and grey. We have already picked out the one we want - TAB caravan. Ben and I saw these at the Caravan and Camping Show and they are so great! They are made in Germany and are just for two.

It reminds me of The Simpsons for some reason.

gift

It warms the heart when you see your children love something that you made for them.

This is our rest time that we have after lunch. They snuggle with the quilts I made for them for Christmas.

So nice.