Thursday, May 19, 2011

Pile O'Crap

Since we need to furnish an entire holiday house as cheaply as possible without lowering our standards, we have, naturally, turned to eBay. So far we've managed to pick up a TV stand, chest of drawers and outdoor setting. The last 2 we bought from a storage company in Port Adelaide that were selling off a defaulter's storage cubicle to recoup their costs. We've been watching their new auctions over a few weeks and are kicking ourselves that we didn't bid on the washing machine and fridge but that's another story. Anyway, the last lot they had up for auction was assorted junk - was difficult to tell exactly what was in it but there was a sound system and some kitchen stuff that we thought would be useful so decided to bid if we could get it for a song. (There was also some gaming stuff that we thought we could re-sell.) Ended up paying $56 and Mr G went down to collect it last week on his day off.


Well. This would have to be the best $56 ever spent.

We're still sifting through the stuff and a lot we'll throw away or give to the Salvos, but so far we've salvaged:
  • a 4 piece dinner setting identical to one we already own, so now it's an 8 piece
  • a small rice cooker
  • an electric frypan
  • a small deep fryer
  • assorted Tupperware
  • Sony bedside clock
  • various kitchen utensils - beater/whisk/potato peeler etc
  • Breville toaster
  • stab mixer
 And all in excellent condition.

Score!!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

Am I the only person in the universe that thinks Mother's Day is a commercialised bit of cr*p and would rather ignore it altogether? Seriously, once my own mother is gone, I'll happily wipe the day off my calendar forever.

In other news, I've been busy sewing curtains for the holiday house and have only 3 left to hem. I finished the quilt top for Auntie S's Xmas present a few weeks ago and have pulled some Ikea fabric out of my stash for the back, but haven't gotten much further. Won't be tackling 2 1/2" squares again for a while though, very time consuming! Am scouting around for my next project and am tossing up between something easy that will be straightforward and quickly finished, and something a little more challenging like paper piecing stars. Yep, I think I'll stick to option A.

Still have my "Kitchen Windows" quilt to machine quilt too; I put that aside back in February because it was too hot to be quilting, but I don't have the excuse anymore. My philosophy is to finish one quilt in its entirety before starting the next one....I tend to have an 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude which will result in many, many unfinished quilt tops otherwise.

We had a busy time over Easter, moving furniture into the holiday house and getting it sorted. Discovered that the plumbing to the laundry is definitely dodgy and the question now is how much to we spend to fix it? There is a shower in both the laundry and the bathroom but limited cupboard space - perhaps better to remove the shower in the laundry altogether (seeing as how the hot water doesn't seem to work) and use that for cupboard/storage space? Also discovered that the air conditioner in the lounge doesn't appear to work, so Mr G is heading down there tomorrow to meet with a repairman to see what needs to be done. Hopefully something simple but we're anticipating a new unit will be required....seems to be the way our luck runs lately. Although on the plus side, we've been given a second hand fridge that will do nicely in the short term.

I took Miss R and friends to see Justin Bieber in concert last week. Thankfully I was able to sit out in the foyer as she was chaperoned by 2 Year 10 girls but a kind usher did allow us to sneak inside for a quick peek. It did look amazing, and Miss R screamed herself hoarse.....came out absolutely glowing with joy. I think she's still walking around on a cloud.  She has NAPLAN testing next week but I've exempted her for many reasons but mainly because she was stressing about them and we won't gain any new knowledge regarding her progress from them - just call me a conscientious objector. She's been much happier since the decision was made.

Rehearsals for the school play start next week and unfortunately they are on Wed after school. Same time as the speech therapist.....what are the odds, eh? It's taken us all year to get a time with her, and now I'll be cancelling - speech is important but so is the play. First time she has ever put herself forward for this type of thing and she's rapt to be in it.....we don't care if it is only the dance chorus!.....so speech will have to wait until term 4.

Again, no photos, sorry about that but I never remember to take the camera with me anywhere. I do have some photos on my phone but still have to find the cord to be able to download them... Next time maybe.