Lookey!...

How cute are these buttons????

I just made my first Etsy purchase.

I'm sure Hayley will want to get her hands on the babushka buttons, she'll have to fight me for them. Just wait til she sees the barrel of monkees necklace I also found.

Glad to see the back of you...

Whilst I was having my hair cut today I was reminded of something my mother always used to say when she saw a new haircut.

"The back looks really nice"

The sensitive part of me always took that to mean the back view was better than the front!

The hairdresser today also told me that she thought the back looked really good, & now that Cal has taken a photo of the rear view I want to run down the shops & get another hair dye!

I had a lovely day off today, the sun was shining & the weather was mild. I was able to throw open the windows & get lots of little jobs done. The beautiful day has really boosted my mood & I feel very organised for the week ahead.

Strawberries...

After our lovely bike ride today I took the girls down to the 'Pick your own' strawberry farm to get some lovely fresh strawberries. At $8 per kilogram I was worried our tally would come to about $20! but we managed to restrain ourselves & come away with some really fresh delicious berries.
The strawberry farm is located at the end of the Avenue of Honour in Bacchus Marsh & seems to be a thriving business. The sweet aroma on a warm, sunny day was heavenly.

Erin brought her new friend Laura along with us. Laura is new to her school & now sits next to her in the same grade & happens to have moved in right next door! I am lucky to have Erin's two closest friends very close by (Tayla lives across the street!) It will feel like good luck as long as they are all getting along, girls are pretty fickle & this friends utopia may not be permanent. The other down side is the constant questioning for sleepovers, which I have put off until the holidays. I find if Erin has a sleepover on a weekend she doesn't get the refreshment she needs to face another week at school.

Shadow shot Sunday #4

Something fun for todays shadow shot.



Check out the other shadow shots on Hey Harriet

Just about to go out on the bike on this glorious sunny day, maybe I'll find another shadow!

Earth hour...

We turned our lights off at 830pm, did you???

I hope that it helped, it wasn't a big ask, pretty easy actually.

Some people may say turning off the lights for an hour won't do anything but I did anyway.
I saw this on another blog today, originally credited to Mother Theresa, it resonated with me, the go for it attitude.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow;Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,it is between you and God;It never was between you and them anyway.

So choose to be happy! Choose to ignore the negative, the doubters. Go for it!!!!

A hard days work...

I had a very productive day at Louises today, it feels good to be creating & doing something I enjoy.

I raced home to add a few finishing touches & photograph the layouts & upload. I am quite happy with my results, so here they are...


One for Erin, of her recent sports day & all her efforts in the running races.

One for Hayley, from a night in 2000 when she, Lucy & David dressed up & performed.
Another for Erin, from our Grampians holiday when we visited the wildlife park & got to hand feed the animals.
And lastly one for me, a blast from the past. In 1979 my sisters & I had portrait shots done as a Christmas present for our parents.
There is a definite trend here, an obsession for flowers!

Hayley was quite upset last night because her besty Lucy was in a car accident, thankfully she wasn't hurt but her car is a wreck. It has shaken Hayley, it could have been much worse & she doesn't want to think about that!

Wednesday share...

A layout to share today, not that I made it today!



A funky tree, a couple of fabric yo-yos & some felt mixed up with Kathleen's inspiration makes for quite a cute layout I think.

Otherwise just spinning my wheels doing the weekly routine of work/school/meals/laundry/dishes/blah blah blah.
Hope your week is smooth sailing,
Jo XX

Crush...

I have a little confession to make...

I have a weeny crush on Ewan McGregor.

I think he is really handsome & rugged, & whilst I don't always think all of his movies are fabulous, I enjoy him regardless. I particularly liked his motorbike adventures with Charley Boorman through Russia & Africa. (Have you seen him in Miss Potter?)

So when I saw that he is endorsing Davidoff's new fragrance aptly called 'Adventure' I thought I had to try it.

I caught a whiff of Adventure on the weekend & it smells divine - on a man. I bought some today, when I was in the big city for a forum, for my Ewan/Chris.

Chris can dab some on & I can lie back & think of England oh..er..um..of ?Scotland & an adventurer named Ewan.

PS I have this ad inside my locker so I can have a little dose of, sigh, Ewan everyday.

What fragrance on a man does it for you?????

Shadow shot #3

I've tried to capture the shadows the rickety fence threw on to this old house. The shot hasn't turned out quite like I'd hoped but I like it anyway.

I think the house is currently inhabited, what was that saying...Don't judge a book by its cover, its probably is magnificent inside, I didn't want to linger too long out the front.

Growing up...

Something strange is going on in our house.

Our children are growing up & becoming independant, & it feels quite strange.

Erin went to a friends house to play this afternoon & then rang to ask if she could stay for dinner.
Hayley has gone down to the pub with a girlfriend & Cal is going out to a friends house.

Each child goes out the door with a similiar but unique set of parental instructions...have fun, use your manners, be safe, be careful, don't drink too much, don't do drugs, be careful, don't get into any trouble, ring me if you need a lift home, be careful.

So I'm sitting here wondering how I got to this point. It's a good (inevitable) thing that they are growing up & I'll keep telling myself that until I believe it.

A little carrot...

Erin is involved in a gardening program at school, they plant, water & tend to vegetable gardens. They have been learning about the environment & cycles & seasons.
They even won first prize in the scarecrow building contest at the recent local Harvest Festival.

Erin bought home this carrot from the last crop

It would be a good incentive for her to eat more vegetables but....

its a little small!

Celebrating...

Three significant things celebrated significant anniversaries in the past few days.

Barbie turned 50 (so is it a birthday or an anniversary????)

Either way I loved Barbie when I was a little girl & longed for clothes for her from the shop, not appreciating the handmade clothes our Mother painstakingly made in the days before velcro.

My daughters both loved playing Barbie & Erin still likes to even though some very slutty Bratz dolls have tried to encrouch on Barb's territory, some tough Action Men have tried to muscle in too.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar also celebrated a 40th anniversary, that's a lot of munching through colourful pages. Its a delightful book & you can learn more aboutEric Carle here.

My older sister & her husband celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary also.
Congratulations!!!!!!
Bridesmaid fashion is timeless isn't it.....ISN'T IT!!!???!!!

Agony...

I've been doing my crafty thing.

I would like to say I whipped these layouts up in no time...but that would be a lie.

Sometimes my crafty thing is agony. It should be a pleasurable pastime but sometimes when the creative juices aren't flowing I need to walk away for a little while. I usually end up happy with the end result but it feels wrong to want to fast forward the process.

These are not particularly complex but I can make things quite complicated, dragging out the choices of paper, photo placement, which embellishments to use, whether or not to use some stamps....blah blah blah.

So here they are, I'm going with the less is more theory.

Hayley thought this layout of Erin was a bit too plain, she suggested some stamping along the edge. It may get some before I put it away.

I was happier with this one

And this one took all of Sunday to complete!! Why oh why you ask....I have no idea

I won't even go into the 4th layout, it may never see the light of day in its current form, I dislike it even more now that I am home from Louises & am going to pull it apart.

Maybe if a certain sister would scrap with me instead of sewing (!) the results would improve!

Toilets...

One of the images I captured whilst riding through Williamstown last weekend has stayed in my mind.

This picture of the housing commision flats reminded me of when Chris & I first met.

How you ask...

When I first met Chris I was a student nurse at the Alfred Hospital, 'living in' at the Nurses' Home grandly named 'Fawkner Mansions' on the corner of Punt & Commercial roads. It was not actually a mansion just a two storey building purpose built in dormitory style with large bathrooms & a small kitchenette on each floor. There was a small office in the foyer with a caretaker to keep an eye on us, not that in the early '80's there were many rules for us to comply with.

Chris was working for a reprographic services company cleverly named RSA, Reprographic Services Australia, in Bank St, Sth Melbourne.

Sometimes I would meet Chris for lunch. We would walk to a small park near to his workplace & spend half an hour together. The park was actually the grounds of a housing commission building similar to this one (maybe bigger). I don't think its called the housing commission anymore, its probably got a fancier, slightly confusing name now.

One day over lunch whilst gazing up at the multi story building Chris came up with this gem

"Imagine how many toilets are in that building."

We often laugh about this now.

It was a observation that when you actually think of the logistics of such a building, the details are staggering, not that such thoughts cross our minds very often.

So next time a new mega structure - hotel or shopping plaza- is opened, just think about how many toilets might be inside!

Go Braeside...

Despite our loudest barracking, despite Erin running in 3 events & doing her best efforts Braeside came in 4th at the Athletics carnival today.

In the 800 metre event Erin started off strong
Then she walked for a bit
Then she ran a bit more
800 metres is a long way.

Then she ran a 200m & a 100m dash. Athletics aren't her thing but she had a go & earned a few points for her house.

In the end Hilton came out on top & I got a little sunburned watching all the action!

Rainbows...

Today's find whilst browsing the blogs comes from Gina.

Surprise surprise my 'rainbow' is yellow!

Your rainbow is shaded yellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a joyful person. You appreciate optimism. You're good at getting people to like you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Try yours...

Edited to add: Hayley said to me after she read my rainbow comment "i knew you were Joyful Jo" !

Unfortunately...

Have you ever googled your name?
Ever had a giggle that you share your name with a professor or a published author or a whale saving greenie?
Well next time google 'unfortunately Jo' but insert your name & have a giggle at the result.
Fortunately Pip suggested this meme as a bit of fun.

Here what is unfortunate for Jo...

Unfortunately, Jo has been left with a lot of medical expenses she will be struggling to cover
Unfortunately, (Liu) Jo does not have an online shop.
Unfortunately, Jo has has completed Supernanny in the UK
Unfortunately for Jo, his owners moved him to the side of a road because they were unable to keep him in their house anymore
Unfortunately Jo very rarely responds directly to people's posts
Unfortunately Jo no longer models
Unfortunately, Jo now suffers from an undiagnosed illness that stops her from working
Unfortunately, (Mary) Jo doesn't dig for any dirt

I'm all good

Labour Day...

Warning: long post ahead...actually its a pictorial essay

I should have painted my door

Chris should have stacked his wood pile
But instead we celebrated the Labour Day public holiday not by labouring but with some deserved recreation - A RIDE...

Start off down the Avenue of Honour, note how Chris is obeying the speed limit

Past the orchards

Past the lettuce farm.
The workers were picking today, I hope they get penalty rates

No-one was picking their own strawberries

Seems to be a golden arches every few kilometres

On the Westgate freeway approaching the city, I'm glad I don't have to commute into the city each day for work

The leafy streets made a change from the busy roads

I saw some pretty homes

and some old ones

and some ugly flats

and some more pretty homes

And some more ugly ones

We ended up in Williamstown with what seemed like the entire population of Melbourne.

I liked this view of the Westgate bridge with all the masts in between

Lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine at Williamstown

Don't have to fight for a parking spot when you're on the bike
A latte, a stretch of the legs & off home again

How would you like to live with that in your backyard?
Not a great pic but that is supposed to be the wire 'sculpture' that hangs near the Westgate freeway. This also marks the spot where you have to hold your nose because the pong is unbelievable!
Grrr Australia Post truck...I'm still cross about my non-delivered parcel but I suppose it is a public holiday today & that driver is working

This is actually the back wall of home units that have been built right up against the Westgate Freeway

Pretty ugly eh? & way too close for my liking. I won't be buying one

Fill up with petrol

Back on the highway with a full tank

Winding through Anthony's Cutting

Still winding through Anthony's Cutting

Back past the market gardens with their rows of cauliflower. I don't know what they grow in those rows but it always looks like cauli

Back past the fruit stalls in the Avenue of Honour

Past the heritage home on Main St.

You'll have to excuse my photography, not so easy with motorcycle gloves on

Cruise down Main St...the trees look nice & shady today, soon the leaves will fall

Wave at the patron at Flanagan's Hotel, enjoying a lemonade in the shade.

That is the pub where the bikies usually meet, none there today when we went past, they're probably still at Williamstown

Through the roundabout

Up Stamford Hill towards home

Turn one last corner & we're almost home

There it is

Home

Now reverse the bike into the garage

All done for today.

It was a lovely day out, the gift of a public holiday.

Thanks Darl (he hates it when I call him that)