Merry Christmas

This year, I decided to make my nanna's Christmas pudding. A recipe that she used to make all of the time and that she gave me before she passed away. It's one of those ones that you make in calico and was always my very favourite as a young child! She used to put coins in it, so we all lined up for a piece in the hopes to find a tooth crunching silver treasure that she'd swap for new coins (we had to give back the old style ones so that she could reuse them the following year).

Unfortunately, I had no coins, but as you can see, the final results were still brilliant!
And eating it, along with her special brandy sauce (not pictured cause I forgot!) was a treat!
And we also had a visitor on Christmas Day...someone who was making sure that he wasn't on the dinner plate!!!!
Hope that your Christmas was excellent!

Retro Fabbo

Being on holidays means that I get the enviable (ha, ha!) opportunity of cleaning through hoarded boxes that have been shifted from our previous storage space/new study nook!

Although this is not a particularly fun job, there were some exciting moments when I opened boxes that held little treasures. Note the retro anodised canister set that was salvaged from my mother-in-law's house before she went into a nursing home (and consequently passed away....so the memory is a tad bittersweet!). We saved these canisters along with the cup sets, from the second hand dealer who came to take away most of her stuff. I have now washed them and have them on display, but as you can see from the picture, the black lids have a discolouration to them. Hopefully, someone can tell me how to fix this!
I also rediscovered these anodised cup sets...retro from probably the 50s or 60s. Once again, there is some staining that haven't come out with a simple soapy wash but it's probably more obvious in the photo than in the real!
And then there was this funky leopard belt that, back in the late 80s/early 90s, I thought was the absolute ultimate in fab!
And then I came across this little treasure! No idea how old it is and no idea if it is still good to drink, but it was a treasure anyway!!!

U2???? Me, too!!!!

Jay Z warms the crowd!
U2 appeared on stage!
Bono gets into it!
Singing up a storm in front of 50 000 people!
One lucky viewer got pulled out of the crowd!
The stage effects were amazing!
The crowd was packed in!
We bought cheap seats (at over $170!) but when we got there, they told us that our section had been closed and we were being reseated.....into corporate!!!! We took a millisecond to think about it before doing a happy dance!
Lights out and mobile phones on made a magnificent effect!
After a couple of hours of energy, entertainment and enthusiasm........
......they waved us goodbye!

I Love

I love my new Freedom Aiken cushions. But I think that I need a black one behind it instead of the beige. What do you think??

Btw, this lounge is looking way more yellowy than it is in real life. Weird photo colour thing!

Renovation Revamp!

When your children suddenly become so large that they can touch the ceiling with barely a stretch, you know that it's time to look for more room!

For a long time, we have ho-hummed over the best way to gain more room in our little house...not an easy task when you are on a budget of a pittance!

At the back end of our garage we had a space. On the house plan, it was marked as just a part of the garage and probably a work area but for years, we've used it as a storage spot. The corner had no window, one bare brick skin wall and one plastered wall, one power point and a whole lot of open shelves. The shelves were a total embarrassment and a certain someone (who shall remain nameless!) got into the habit of dumping any old thing on the floor in front of the shelves. You could see this mini dumping ground from the kitchen area and it always disturbed me!

So, after going mad with a measuring tape one day, we decided that that area would actually make a great little study nook. We knocked down the shelves (goodbye storage!) bought a window and employed a fantastic builder to come and install it, along with a wall along half of the garage opening (can't put a door in cause of a cupboard in the way, but meh, I can live with that.) He also lined the brick skin wall and organised for a plasterer to complete the job!

I have taken a pic of the semi-renovation. Stupidly, I did not actually get a 'before' shot. Don't know what I was thinking! You can see that the window now looks out to my clothesline so I might have to consider that one but it does let in an amazing amount of light. The room is now taking shape. The plasterer came last week but I haven't had a chance to photograph that yet. Now, all that is left is a light (electrician organised and waiting on fittings!), paint (us!) and floor coverings (not sure yet!).

I'll keep you posted on progress!