Jikana Damaru

Monster goodness

Hooray! Twenty five little pieces of joy are complete. They are so cute as a gang that it seems a shame to distribute them tomorrow. But distribute we must.

Each softie has the child's name written on a little heart on the back.

Tomorrow we've arranged a treasure hunt with clues from one area of the garden to the other. The last clue directs us to Maxi-Taxi's pocket where there is a note from the monsters letting the children know that they are looking forward to being found and being friends. I'll let you know how this goes post-party!

Mirror mirror on the wall

Living etc, Nov 2003

Multi-faceted mirror by Graham and Green

Square multi-faceted wall mirror

Recently, I have been going through my magazine tears for kitchen ideas and came across the top image. I adore it! Sadly, we don't have room for a dresser in our house but if we did I would have that one. I love the square marks on the mirror - so distressed and vintage but oh, so glamorous!

For a modern glamorous kitchen you could try mirror wall tiles and for a modern but decadent dressing table, how about the multi-faceted mirror.

Have a sweet day!

Ever Wondered What Your Home Would Look Like...

... if IKEA came to style it for you?

Well folks, my dream becomes a reality tomorrow, when a team including a stylist, art director, photographer and god knows who else descends on Maison Cleary to do just that!

What the hell am I talking about, you ask?

A number of weeks ago, a mate of mine in the UK forwarded me an email he had received from a previous associate who works for a media production company in London. The email said that Ikea was looking for homes to feature in an Ikea customer lifestyle magazine called IKEA FAMILY LIVE (check out this website for an idea of the kind of features in the mag). He said the magazine was "all about showing real people in their real homes - it is still aspirational, giving readers great ideas for their home, but we want to show how people actually live at the same time".

My gorgeous friend put in a good plug for me (he is aware of my hidden obsession with interior design), and next thing I know I was submitting photos of myself, our family and our home. Next, I had to fill in a questionaire describing everything from my decorating style to my unrequited childhood dreams!

And then, I kind of forgot about the whole thing.

I even went to Ikea to buy some stuff we needed.

Then, at about 8pm one Friday night a couple weeks back, the phone rang. It was the media company in London (well, of course it was!) and would I be free for the team to come and shoot the home (and us) on the 15th to feature in the magazine?

Can you even believe this story?

It gets better.

Last weekend, a knock on my door produced a courier who said he had a delivery for me from Ikea! I told him to just "bring it up" and he looked at me kind of strange. I probed him about what it was he had in his van, and he hinted there was more than one item and didn't seem at all keen to bring it up the stairs for me. I sighed and agreed to come take a look in his truck. Once there, I peered inside and asked which bits were for me?

His answer? ALL OF IT.

I've never seen so much Ikea in my life outside of the showroom! Chairs, tables, rugs, prints, lamps, a cot, a play kitchen, coffee tables and god even knew what else just kept on coming! It was like Ikea Christmas!

And the best part? Apparently I get to keep it afterward!

So, it all happens tomorrow and I'll be sure to post a full report straight after! Off now to plan my costume. What to wear that screams casual yet looks amazingly amazing? And what is Ferny going to wear??

Come Sit in Our Garden!

As promised, come and visit our so-close-to-100%-completed-its-not-funny backyard!

I'm super proud of it; for 3.5 years I stared at a patterned concrete wasteland and a few (too many) hedges. Back in October last year, I posted some pics of our new backyard and entertaining areas, but it's taken me another 6 months to get around to properly finishing the job!

Thanks to my unruly Labrador, there were a few unsightly holes in the new garden that I've been meaning to fill with giant rocks. And when we built the deck, the new level presented a slightly larger drop to ground level than we had anticipated and we had been meaning to get around to investing in a sandstone step. Then there was the outdoor sink, which my husband has talked about FOREVER. And so on. Anyway, this week we finally completed all these tasks... and for a good reason!

Wanna peek over my back fence at a few of the new additions?

ps. I've dropped some not so subtle hints about there being a big reason to get the backyard into ship-shape... but think I might hold the suspense out a few more hours. Here's a little clue to get you thinking, and I'll be back with the full story tonight. Maybe.

Things I learned this week including uses for a banana

So, I put the Friday rant thing out there last week thinking that I'd just, like, rant each week, but I don't like it. Last week I was in the worst possible mood and this Friday is different. Today is sunny, I'm working from home (look at me working!), the house is reasonably tidy, the children are all tucked away in their real lives, life is good. So, I think the rants will be occasional and haphazard - just as rants should be.

Instead, each Friday I'm going to record the things I've learnt in that particular week. A good thing to remember. So this week, I've discoved...

1. You can't substitute bread flour for plain flour when making chocolate chip cookies. The biscuits go flat and biiiiiig. Taste yummy. Look not-yummy.

2. Small girls should not be allowed to decide that they will wear a size 3 snugglesuit (all in one) to bed when they are 4 1/2 years old. Remember body-suits that buttoned below? Image if that bodysuit was 2 sizes too small and you get the idea.

3. Elwood moved its t-shirt manufacturing offshore to the child-labour supporting Philippines so we don't buy Elwood anymore.

4. Jennifer Garner doesn't shave her legs.

5. There is an American website called Please Rob Me that uses information from Twitter, Four Square and the street directory and lists the houses that are not currently occupied - just in case you want to rob them. They claim they are "raising awareness about over-sharing".

6. You should bury banana skins around the root line of your roses to improve the bloomage factor.

7. Express Post doesn't necessarily deliver metro to metro overnight. And there's nothing you can do about it.

8. No matter how particular you are about keeping finance records, if you use a shared spreadsheet with your colleagues the spreadsheet will not match the actual spend.

9. It is possible to do nothing and things will turn out okay in their own good time.

10. Waking your child in the middle of the night to go to the toilet so they don't wee the bed later is a total waste of time.

Now, back to work!

Happy Fabulous Friday

Mr A has returned safely so we are looking forward to a fun family weekend.

Happy Friday everyone - hope you weekend is full of fun and happiness.

Jumping for Joy

I apologise for my lack of being around - Mr A is still away tripping around the wold for business so I have been rather busy keeping up with all that is going on here.

Tomorrow morning however sees his return so I am jumping for joy - it has been a long few weeks - hopefully I will find something more exciting to say upon his return.