Celebrate the chenille!

I am now the proud owner of a gorgeous chenille bedspread. I am ecstatic! I am kinda kicking myself for not checking the current dollar rate though, I only realised it was so low when PayPal provided me with my AU total. So it scraped in just under AU$150 which is still considerably cheaper than the cost of my last doona cover. Oh well, not to worry, let's have some pictures, shall we (from eBay listing)?

The next thing I need (ok, want) is a cast iron bed frame. Something along these lines, but in white (I think that will go with the pastels of the bedspread best):

The problem is, I already have a perfectly good silver bed frame from Fantastic. I bought it in an $1000 package that pretty much entirely furnished my apartment while I was at university over five years ago. It's still going strong, and while it's not the exact style I want, I have a problem with replacing something that isn't broken. So I'm thinking, can I paint my silver frame just to tide me over until I can afford a $500+ antique bed frame? I'm not very crafty by any means, but I guess all it would need is a spray of my chosen colour, and then a varnish or something to seal the colour to stop it from chipping/peeling? I will investigate with my tradie brother.

Now, instead of studying this morning, I have chosen to bake! It feels like a baking day, as the weather is very dreary and it's quite chilly. Can you guess what I'm making from my ingredients?

If you guessed Anzac biscuits, you were right on the money. I tried this recipe from Taste.com.au for the first time, as I prefer a chewy Anzac to a crunchy one.  They've just come out of the oven and they're delicious... nice and soft on the inside and just a tad crunchy on the outside. I can see they're not going to last the day!

Unearthed treasures

It has been one hell of a week. I've had to travel to Melbourne three times in five days (it's a three hour round trip), I've presented at a library association forum, I've had tough jobs sprung on me at the last minute, and I've been to more meetings than I can poke a stick at.

But it's finally the weekend. And I have a lot of work to do. Essays, namely. 7500 words woth, to be exact. In two weeks. Leave it up to me to leave everything until the last minute!

Over the last few weekends I've finally finished cleaning out the old storeroom next to the house. It was full of junk and rubbish, pretty much, but we did find some gems. One is a postcard sent to my great-great-grandmother from a chap spending his first night on the troopship leaving for the battlefields of the Great War (1916), the other is a copy of the December 1943 edition of the magazine Lilliput. I also found some great mason jars to add to my collection. No idea why I'm collecting jars, I just am.

See my vintage ruffled yellow umbrella and pink knit sweater? They're both from the Mill Markets in Geelong. The sweater is a recent acquisition - only $24! Jeans are from Freddies of Pinewood. And see in the far right hand corner of that photo a beer bottle holding a rose branch? J is attempting to cultivate a rose cutting in water. Just water. This is his second try, and I don't think it's going to work. Don't you need something special to cultivate cuttings?

I've also been working on my no-dig vegie garden, which is half done. It may look pretty exciting, but what is actually growing is oats, from leftover seeds hiding inside the hay bales I used for mulch. Oops. Note to budding gardeners - use lucerne or pea straw, and not your average hay bale!

We are also being disturbed nightly by our livestock. There must be foxes or something around at the moment, because they are very, very vocal. Tonight may be especially bad, as they've currently set up camp in the paddock right next to the house. I took this photo from the back door, that's how close they are! (Well, I did use a bit of zoom.)

Spam

Hi all, just a quite little ditty to let you know I'm moderating comments now, because I keep getting Chinese spam! Random, and annoying. So still keep leaving me love, and I'll publish your comments up straight away. I'm just sick of deleting horrible spam.

1950s films

I have a thing for 1950s films. Particularly sci-fi and horror movies. J and I started hiring them from our local video store, but we quickly exhausted their supply, so that's when I purchased the two box sets of 50 movies each, one sci-fi, the other horror. We're working out way through them slowly, but I simply had to place another order from Deep Discount for the film 'Rebel Without A Cause', so why not make it worthwhile and buy some cheap sci-fi flicks too? Here's what's coming my way:

Granted, I've already seen a few of those, but they come in two-packs, and it's always good to have a copy of your own! I also purchased 'Cry Baby' after I read about it on Solanah's blog... I always love hearing about more recent movies set in the 1950s, so I'll give it a go!

However, on sad news, I am on a spending ban. Yes... another spending ban. I have to pay off my credit card and stop being bad with my pennies. I spent a shocking amount in the past few weeks, with $300 in Cat Stevens tickets (a necessity), $650 on a car service (a blatant rip off) and $100 on leather riding gloves (another necessity).

So the quest for the perfect chenille bedspread is on hold. I may have to break the spending ban though, because I've already found the perfect bedspread, and it's on eBay right now. Want to see it? Of course you do...

Sigh... it's so perfect. If I can get it for less than $100 including postage, I might try my luck in the bidding war. Pray for me, people. Next comes a white cast iron bed frame, but that will definitely have to wait!

Wye River

We're back from our weekend away at Wye River, so it's time for some pictures! The house was gorgeous but tiny - we estimated at around 5 metres square (so 50 square metres, or 5.3 squares... almost two whole squares smaller than our house!) - with some wonderful views and noisy wildlife!

We played Scrabble, drank clearskin pink champagne (seriously... why was I paying $10 a bottle for 'Pink' when the clearskin version is $6 and tastes exactly the same?!), went for a mammoth long walk along the beach because the roads were closed for the Great Ocean Road Marathon, and generally had a wonderful time.

I contemplated stealing the dining table and chairs and forfeiting our bond refund, but thought I'd better not! Now we're back in good ol' Clyde Valley, and we both have the rest of the week off work, so we're jumping on J's Triumph tomorrow and riding to Alexandra to stay with my great auntie and uncle for a night.

Today I went to the dentist. For the first time in many years. So not surprising I have a few fillings needed, as well as my wisdom teeth which must be removed. I like to think of myself as a fairly strong person, but when it comes to the dentist, I am a blubbering mess of nerves and fright. I almost burst into tears today when the dentist asked if I was alright. Thankfully my new dentist offers anaesthesia for any procedure, hallelujah! Now I just need to save up my pennies... since when did fillings cost $170 each?

No news is not always good news

Nothing has been happening in my neck of the woods unfortunately. I am extra-swamped at work, I haven't been buying any clothes, and we've done nothing overly exciting! So here are some not-so-interesting dot points to tide you over until I hopefully have an exciting photo-filled post early next week.

♥ This coming weekend is J and my anniversary, and we're spending two days in a house down at Wye River, on the Great Ocean Road. I have outdone myself with pressies for J... a little over our budget, but hopefully he shall love them.

♥ After our weekend away, we've both taken the following week off work, and we're going to hopefully ride up to Echuca for a night on his new bike, then stay with my great auntie and uncle near Eildon for a second night. Just praying the weather holds out.

♥ In preparation for our possible bike ride, I bought a pair of leather riding boots at the Geelong Swap Meet last weekend for $30, and a leather Marlon Brando style jacket on eBay for $60. The $100 Alpine Star leather gloves blew the budget a bit though.

♥ I am on a shopping ban. Again. It coincides with my added motivation to get back down to my goal weight. See, that's what happens when you can suddenly stop your very restrictive diet because you found the cause of your migraines! After a few months of gluttony, it's time to get real. And getting real I am. I'm even joining my local gym (yes, even the back woods have gyms now! Teeny tiny gyms, but gyms nonetheless.)

♥ Two months and no contact from Consumer Affairs about my dodgy panel beater. I called them yesterday and they still haven't assigned anyone to my case. Normally they contact you within four weeks... it's been eight. I'm losing hope of ever seeing my money again. Meanwhile, the FC sits rusting in the driveway, because I can't touch it in case they need photographic evidence of the work the panel beater didn't do.

Enough wallowing. I shall be taking my baby (the Nikon D90) down to Wye River on the weekend, so expect some pretty pictures early next week! Unless it's raining all weekend. Please don't rain all weekend.