Stuff I Do

This weekend was wildly exciting. WILDLY! 

You will never, ever in a million years guess what I did this weekend. And you're going to be insanely jealous when you find out.

Because guess what.

I cleaned out my kitchen cupboards.

I know. I am wild. I am a party animal. I have such a compelling social life. 

But to be completely honest, it was quite satisfying. 

We live in a small rented house. It's actually no bigger than a Kleenex tissue box. When we moved in, in order to be able to move around, we just put things away - thinking "We'll come back to that and organise it once everything's unpacked."

And it's been four years. And we never did. Until this weekend. 

I sorted out my vintage vases. Yes. I have a collection. I found all this old paperwork, warranties etc, I find little pieces of family history. I tossed out some things. Like vitamins dating back to 2009. I made a few cupboards look pretty, yet I am still not finished. 

BUT on the way home from doing a little family walk, I saw an antiques store closing down. This is basically like walking a cat past an open tin of sardines. I had to have a look around, though the words from Matt rang in my ears. "Lexi, we're meant to be decluttering. You can look, but you can't buy anything. AND we don't have any money."

Well that bit was true. And yes the other bit was true too. But vintage things are my weakness. I love other people's old stuff. This is well documented from my bin diving days. 

So Tiny and I went for a quick snoop around, and in just 35 minutes I fell madly in love with these vintage shelves. Well I knew we barely had any money in the bank. But they were pulling at my heart strings. 

Everyone got really mad at me (everyone in my family, not the shop) so I took everyone home. Then (shamefully) asked Tiny if I could borrow some money from her money box, and pay her back with interest. That little dolly let me. 

So I snaffled one row of those tin shelves. And yes, Matt told me they were dysfunctional, nothing fits in them properly, but I got them. I know I am ridiculous. 

But I really love them. 

Finding Flowers In The Garden:: Bored At Home

I've had three days in bed. Do you know how bored I have become? I sleep. I wake. I sleep. I wake. I blow my nose. I have a cup of tea. I watch some iView. Then I fall asleep again. And then I do it all over again. 

Today was the first time I'd stepped foot outside during these past few days. That sunlight - wow! And kapow! 

The highlight was getting up to put some washing in the washing machine. High times friends, I am telling you what. Except, really, the highlight was as I was walking back inside - I found these orchids growing in what I would classify 'the ugly part of the garden'. This is the section that the landlord thought might look good with native flora - and it might, if every year it wasn't covered in a camellia heads, a wasteland of rotting petal corpses.

But these orchids were like a gift. Highlight of my day. 

What's been the best bit of your day?

PS - Sam Stone, how was P!nk??

Selling Stuff

So my in-laws have sold their house. Which is good. And it's also a shame. Because we had a whole bunch of stuffIdidn'teverwanttogothrough sitting over there.

And have I ever mentioned we now live in the smallest house in the world? Shoebox size.

So now all the stuffIdidn'teverwanttogothrough is sitting on our verandah. In our living room. Under our house.

I am waiting for Hoarders to come a-knocking.

While I am waiting for them, I am half going through things, half avoiding going through things.

I feel like I am drowning in my crap.

So I've decided to list things on eBay. Like an old Olivetti typewriter. Someone might want that, right?!

Which brings me to my next quandary. Baby clothes. I've kept them, in the hope we will have another baby. But.. Well.. Who knows if that is going to happen. So now we are living in a swamp of baby clothes.

What to do people?

I want non-hoarders to tell me what to do with all these darn baby clothes - besides cry into their tiny-ness and mourn that my children grew up quicker than I can eat a block of Cadbury Marvellous Creations chocolate (which BTW - I just inhale - and BOOM it is gone).

PS - I know it's upside down. I am too tired. Too Gone with the wind to be bothered to fix it. Just turn your computer screen upside down. Or your head.

Skater's Dream House

Did you ever draw dream houses when you were a kid? I did. I spent hours drawing floor plans, a really big bedroom, an indoor swimming pool - and by indoor, I mean it was in the heart of the home, large wardrobe, big kitchen, probably a spa, all the bells and whistles. I loved drawing those little floor plans in multi-coloured textas. A wannabe architect.

Well imagine my glee this morning when I stumbled upon this ace house - the PAS House. Everything in the house is skate-able. The walls. The furniture. The whole kit and kaboodle. But you can only skate in there if you're a pro-skater. The PAS House is only a full-scale model of one room of the house, but I'm already saving my pennies.

When the Doctor's bigger, I think we'll invest in this home (ahem). I can imagine teenage boys digging on this idea. Heck, I dig on this idea. Uber cool!

Do We Stay. Or Do We Go?

A couple of weeks ago I was standing in our minute living room and could smell the unmistakeable stench of dead possum.

Given I am a country girl, I can identify the stench of dead animals at 10 paces. My parents taught me well. I know dead possum when I sniff it. And dead fox. And dead dog poo.

This was that gassy smelly of a dead possum. A common dead possum. In our ceiling.

So I called our real estate agent to report the dead animal and request some back-up. She called back and told me the landlord would come over the next day.

Great. Dead possum be gone.

So the next day the landlord came over. I expected him to sniff around the house. Smell gassy dead possum and remove dead possum.

Instead he said: "I have a possum cage, shall I set it?"

Well, not unless you're Bill Murray from Ghostbusters, I don't think you're going to trap this dead possum. I can't imagine it's hungry for anything.

And me being the pushover went, "Oh, oh, ok, yep." And let him set the trap and leave.

Now let's time warp ourselves to today. The now. The right now. And right now, we've got disgusting, and I am talking deee-skust-ing big. Fat. Blowflies. Flying in from the airvent thingie. Seriously. One day they were just loitering there, at the air-vent thingie, and flying in and out. Filth.

Now fast forward to right this very second, and I've just checked my emails and surprise! I've received an email from my real estate agent, my very favourite pen-pal!

Did I receive their correspondence back in March? No. No. No I did not. Well surprise! We've reached our 1 year anniversary, and to celebrate they're putting our rent up. Who wants to blow out the candles on that one?

Now I'm not Bill Gates. Or Steve Jobs. Or even Brynne Edelstein. So where am I going to pull this extra cash out of? Tell me that real estate agent? Selling blow-flies on the backstreets? Hocking possum skins to NZ fashion designers?

What to do? Cough up? Or look for an alternative abode?

De-Gluttoning

I have exciting things planned this year people. Exciting things. I read my friend, Carrie's piece about decluttering that was in Health Smart . It has given me even more impetus to live more simply. Live with less. And I love that idea.

So far I've been going through baby clothes and being ruthless. I've gone through our crockery - and have boxed up some pieces that give me the creeps and I don't use. I've started on the toys. I'm filing like it's nobody's business.

Watch out people, I'm paring back. I'm getting organised. 2011 is going to be the year of declutter. De-lovely. Delightful!

Image via Apartment Therapy - check out this piece on organising drawers. I need all the help I can get.

Not As Funny As Me Forgetting To Pay Rent. Right?!

I spent about a million hours today tidying our house for our real estate agent to come and inspect.

She was meant to be here at 5pm.

At 5:22pm she was still not here.

I called her. She told me she had the flu. OH! And she'd written the appointment in the wrong day. WOOPS!

Now no one can touch anything in the house until she comes tomorrow. Everyone must sleep in the car, or camp, or something other than mess up the house again.

This week visitors are welcome. The house is incredibly tidy.

Don't look in the car.

(I need Peter to come to my house and make me let go of some clothes and well - stuff - that I hang on to. Because I just might need it!)

image via KITKA - how great is that plant wall? Me likey!

A Beautiful Day

Ah - it's such a beautiful Autumn day - and the first weekend when we've had nothing much to do except twiddle our thumbs. And rake up leaves.

We're loving this space of ours.

The house we lived in previously was very, very private. It would be a rare day to hear any kids playing next door. And that's what I'm finding strangely comforting here. I love the sound of kids playing next door. It could hold the promise of new friendships for my own smalls.

Back when I was four my best friend was James. We were inseperable. I remember climbing through the fence to go visit him. I remember hiding in a bush giggling madly with him. I vaguely remember jumping in a swimming pool when he was in swimming. And I couldn't swim. Subsequently my Mum had to dive in to fish me out. Oops.

Other things I am digging about this new place.. the crepe myrtle that's smack bang in our garden. I love crepe myrtle. They remind me of my grandmother's garden.

The small space I am thinking might be prime position for a wee cubby house.

The oak tree with it's old branches - prime position for a swing? Even if our driveway is littered in its leaves (they're so last season), it's such an enchanting tree.

The fact that we're on the flight path for Mr Whippy. This is still high on our love list.

image is from jprowland's flickr stream

I Came Back To Tell You...

I am madly blogging from my old house because the infamous Telstra have taken 13 days to connect our home phone after a virtual version of telephone ping-pong whereby they ask if the previous tenants have disconnected blahblahblah, elongated, add a few more terse phone conversations, a few Twitter exchanges et voila. We have phone line. But no interwebs.

But I'm here ever so briefly to let you know I am alive. Even though we've been sleeping on a futon base. With a cot mattress. And two couch cushions. Not terribly comfortable. Not terribly conducive to a good night's sleep. For seven nights. On Wednesday I will be a new woman because we're getting a new bed, and I'm feeling ever-so-excited by this notion! High five!

I should be back online in the virtual world real soon. It's been chaos - moving on Matt's birthday, the Doctor's birthday shortly after. But we're moved peeps! And it's ace.

Say hi to your dog.

Supreme Talent

I had a hectic day today picking up keys, getting my very first parking ticket (parking inspector I shake my fist at you!), and sitting opposite someone on the train eating boiled eggs and making me want to vomit in my mouth with each of his/her (I couldn't tell) boiled egg burp.

I'm serious. It should be a crime to eat eggs in public because I do not like it. I don't like the second-hand egg smell. And third-hand egg burp. Oh man, that just makes me want to vom a little more.

Other than that, I came home to something supremely divine that someone supremely talented has made. See that bear up there. Oh man, he is seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. Jess (supremely talented and supremely humble) has made little Donut. He makes my heart melt. For realz, if it's even possible, this little dude is even cuter IRL (that's geek-speak for In Real Life). I bought him for a friend. But I might want to keep him.

I've told you about Jess at Teddy Bear's Wednesday before. I'm telling you again. She's one smart cookie.

Jess I hope you don't mind, I used one of your images without your permission.

Today I Am Ridiculously Excited!

Gather 'round friends, everybody get close, listen up, I want to yell something out. From the rooftops, into everyone's chimneys, sneak up behind people, I have something to share.

We are moving house next week.

Right at this moment I am feeling so giddy with excitement. I have butterflies fluttering about in my stomach. I can't stop thinking about where everything's going to go (and fit) in our new digs.

And it doesn't really matter, because for the very first time in our marriage, in our history as parents, we're going to have our very own home to call our own.

This is big peeps. I feel so damn excited.

This may or not be the house. If it's not, I am ok, it's probably really dusty and the lawnmowing would take us weeks. Here ends today's blog post.

Slaying Dragons & Drinking Flagons

This has been a wildly emotional rollercoaster ride of a week. I am ready to get off.

I feel as though slaying dragons would be preferential to living through this week, it's been that rough around the edges.

I'm not drinking flagons, though I do feel as though I could be sitting under a bridge near you, with my brown boxes in tow. We have one sleeping bag and one swag, so the kids are right.

Our house is semi packed up. Tiny is totally out of sorts and is requiring a whole lotta cuddles. Which is fine with me because I need them too.

I know this is a blessing in disguise, but it's getting through this time before we move, with half our lives in boxes, this stagnant living, well it stinks.

image is of St George.

What's For Dinner? Tourettes Anyone?

This week I have developed a hard core case of Tourette's Syndrome. Seriously. I am PottyMouthMama. Hear me roar. Matt has been on the receiving end of much of my foray into Tourette's territory.

You may well be wondering the reason.

Well allow me to show you through my home. Oh wait. You can't get in the front door? What's that? Big brown removalist boxes everywhere? Junk piles they spilleth over?

Ahem. Excuse me friends, but while some people have analogies for tidying up their blog, I really am in the midst of packing up our house. And here's the funny part. We haven't actually got anywhere to go.

I took the advice of my Mum and sister to pack everything away instead of having to tussle with weekly tidy ups. The house is on the market and my FIL has requested our house to look like it does in the photo.. What has been neatly edited out of the photo is my leaning tower of ironing, the kids stuff, and well, dust bunnies, and everything else in between.

It's not easy packing up a house with two small kidlets running amok. I have major Mummy Guilt for not hanging ten with them more. Tiny has been going bananas, but there's nothing to be done, except pack, play intermittently, and pack some more.

For now I am self-medicating. High doses of choglud. Some wine. And a hefty dose of sleep is on the cards. If Tiny plays nicely.

This week I am hoping, praying, wishing we find a humble abode to call our own.

What are you hoping for this week?

PS. After having Poladroid on my desktop, I've finally figured out how to work it. Et voila.

What's Doing?

You may well be wondering what we're up to this weekend? Probably not, but I will tell you anyway.

• Shopping for a big girl's bed, well a mattress at least
• Cooking a curry. It's been on my radar for the week, this weekend I need to fulfill that promise to my taste buds
• Watching at least one good movie (have you watched any good ones lately?)
• Continuing the house hunt. I thought I found a good place this week, only to have the real estate agent not call me back - er thanks
• Crafting with the smalls for a little bit of Easter lovin'
• Ironing, because that's the way I roll

And you dear friend, what will you be up to?

A personal message to Sal at Georgie Love - I feel we may have two kindred spirits in the form of our Makka Pukka, Iggle Piggle lovin' little ladies. We've got the books - dog eared, and Makka Pukka. Loved. And there's the stitching I started on. Yep I realise it's not much, but it's all the strength I could be bothered mustering.

When I Decide Not To Have a Heart:: Revelation (I am the Tin Man)

This week is one of those weeks that I'd rather sit out it's looking so messy. Even thinking about it makes me stressed and tense. I know what lies ahead. EEK!

We've been looking for places to rent and there seems to be very little.

Working stuff is stressing me.

Running about the city is stressing me.

Even tidying the house is just stressing me.

Stuff is just stressing me.

Dust is stressing me.

I've now decided that if I didn't have a heart life would be easier.

And then in a few years I can take a road trip to Oz and find me some Wizard to hook me up with one when I'm tired of being a heartless beast.

Good things are happening though! Good things peeps. Things to make you happy. To make you headless. To make you giddy right down to the cockles of your heart. Maybe even the sub-cockles.

I'll just give the stressful things a punch in the nose and be done. I have a heart and I'm not afraid to use it.

Buying Time

This afternoon we three went to the little shops. We enjoyed an icy pop together with Tiny wiping most of hers on my dress. Er thanks.

Then we went looking for a stranger's cat to pat. We always look in the streets for cats. Alas today was cat-less and we went home wanting. We meandered our way home through the back streets. The Doctor pointing out houses that we could buy (they weren't even actually for sale, and besides this, we're not in the buying market - boo hiss!).

My smalls tend to go a little berko when I'm prepping for dinner. Well particularly the smallest one. Tiny wants to be carried around which is not conducive to chopping and locking (sorry! I had to work in that lame pop and lock reference).

So I set up 'washing up'. When better to start your smalls on the domestic chores than rightthisveryminute?! They washed up their tea sets. I cooked dinner. They didn't want to come in for dinner they were having so much fun. If only real life washing up was so good.

Christmas:: In Slow Motion

It's real slow motion over here because I've been struck down by yet another dreaded lurgy. At least it's pre-Christmas, right? Because I for one do not want to be sick on Christmas day.

So things are slow-mo. Today we've constructed our gingerbread house. I've thrown away any concepts that I may have had in my mind and just let the Doctor go gangbusters. It's more fun for him, and less stress for me. Now I have to guard it from Tiny. She has been pulling candy canes off the tree and eating them like some crazed lolly goblin.

Decorating the gingerbread house was kind of like decorating the tree. Not that I have an over-stylised tree. We have a mish mash of decorations and each one tells some kooky little story of its own, and that's the way I like it. I love wooden decorations, I love glass too (but there's a time for those and right now for us, it's not now!). Back to the wooden decorations, the Doctor and I got busy back on the 30th November decorating, and he dropped almost each decoration, sending the delicate wooden frames hurtling in slow-mo no less, and smashing on the tiles. At least someone was having a night on the tiles, right? And then we finally got all the decs onto the tree. And then Tiny pulled the tree over. So now all the decorations are lying everywhere and no one can be bothered to put them back on. It's like the saddest Christmas tree in the world. Half dressed, half naked. Mostly dishevelled.

And that suits us. For now at least.

Eye Spy:: My Favourite Corner of My House

Here's something I prepared earlier. In one of my cleaning spates. I took a photo as testament that I actually cleaned. AND as a bonus, moved things around. While it's not technically a corner, I've taken poetic license, and here is my favourite non-corner of the moment. Since you're still here, you can also play eye spy, can you spot the:

1) horse

2) donkey

3) birdies

4) spots

5) something vintage (that one is a cinch)

For more favourite corners, or to play along, head on over to Bug and Pop and give Cindy a high five while you're there.

The New Digs

In the past I have tricked PMM readers. Shamelessly so. I have learnt from my mistakes and am willing to move on. Are you? I hope so, because I have something ridiculously exciting to share. After a lengthy live-in with my in-laws, we have a new abode. This would explain the lengthy tidy ups, chuck outs, eBay flirtations that have been plaguing me the last few months, wouldn't it? Uh huh.

My needs in a home are relatively modest. I don't want anything fancy-pants. I've no need for marble throughout, a butler, or even a bidet, but I am totally thrilled with this romantic new home of ours. THRILLED! It's small, and things will be a little bit of a squeeze (Matt, I promise to keep selling my whole life on eBay), but I am willing.

It's been a long-ish time in the works, and Matt worked tirelessly to keep it a secret, but this weekend he did the big unveil.

Here it is. Who cares if it's made of Lego? And who cares if it only has one wall? Matt made it, and he made it to cheer me up. I can't wait to get the door mat down on this place.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

July really isn't our month. Last night I woke up to some strange noises. And then realised that someone was trying to break in. Thankfully I have a sixth sense for the dodgy (is there a TV series in that?). Half frozen in fear and pumped up with adrenaline I woke Matt and we spent the next few hours awake. Watching. We called the police.

I'm not wishing away my life, just July. I'm over it already.

If you haven't got the new Donna Hay Kids Magazine, there are some tops ideas in there to make the smalls salivate.