Small Purple Plarn Basket

This small plarn basket was made from about half a dozen Lincraft plastic shopping bags, so it’s mostly purple with some flecks of white.

I used a 7mm hook and single crochet (UK double). I did a little on this project every now and again, as it hurts my thumb to work with this tough yarn. So from start to finish this project took a couple of weeks.

I finished this basket to decide if it’s something I want to continue doing, or should I just discard my collection of plastic bags? I don’t know if I can find a use for this small basket, making larger ones might be more worth the effort. And it does require effort, the making of plarn baskets is not enjoyable, but the one consolation is that the material is free.

Knowing how to make a basket from recycled plastic bags surely will prove to be a useful skill at one time or another!

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Yes, it is true. I am having a hot and steamy secret love affair – with my sewing machine!

Of course, this does not mean I love David any less, how could I? “He da man!” (pretty much, pretty much). And there is no law written that a happily married woman must not love her trusted sewing machine dearly.

What an absolute treasure my old sewing machine is, and oh so lovely. A much-loved well-worn relic, it always works like a smooth charm whenever I feel brave enough to venture near it. I’m not sure why I don’t use it more often, this wonderful refined beast intimidates me with its perfectness. It simply purrs as it glides the seams all my itself, all I have to do is turn it on! But so patiently it waits for me, never pesters me for attention. Just is always there for me when I need it.

And just like a good friend, if I’m making a mistake sewing something the wrong way around, it Knows it isn’t the sewing machines fault. So it says nothing, and just keeps sewing, trusting I will see my own error sooner or later. My sewing machine ain’t gonna tell me I’m wrong and remains silent. I’ve known people like that!

This machine came to me second hand by a friend of my mother who I believe didn’t use it much, and I didn’t realise straight away just how precious this thing truly is.  It’s had two services so far, one in Darwin and one in Brisbane, I should try and find someone I trust here on the south side to do it, but I’m a bit nervous about that! We all know how I have ‘trust issues’! How I would be lost without my Husqvarna, no other could possibly replace it.

Oh, I love my sewing machine!
/smiffle!

My Blue Skies

This is my first post for the blog party called Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally!

No matter how down I might be, a clear blue sky always cheers me up without fail.

It makes me count all the good things in life and brings a smile to my face!

It was such a stunningly blue day yesterday I just had to take some photographs.

I enjoy looking up at blue skies through the leaves of trees. The contrast of green against blue is eye-catching.I hope you like my blue sky photos for Blue Monday.
❤ ❤ ❤

Some highlights from this week’s party

• very pretty blue bells at Dancing Matilda
• an architect’s vision is finally realised at Applestone Cottage
• photos of Mount Warning by an Australian retiree at A Tapestry of Life

Flowering Lavendar and a trip to the Museum

In preparation for my solo train trip to the city for an appointment on Monday, I did a trial run last Friday and ended up going to the Queensland Museum alone! This is my post for Outdoor Wednesday which I do every week to motivate me to post something about getting out of the house. Included are some images of my beautiful potted lavender which I’m so happy is flowering at the moment.

It was my first trip alone using the Go Card. As I left the station at South Brisbane, the station attendant looked at me so I asked her if I did the card thing right. Well, that was a mistake! I thought I did it wrong so touched on again, then she exclaimed ‘don’t do that!’  I told her I was new and didn’t know how to use the thing so she helped me to the machine to clear the second touch on. Luckily, I found it funny, LOL!

Travelling on the train was fun, I used to do it all the time when I first got to Brisbane years ago, now I’m really wondering why I haven’t been doing it these last couple of years? I thought to take myself to the art gallery but they were closed, and the museum wouldn’t open for another half hour so I went to a cafe, got a cappucino and rang David on my new phone while I waited. I spent about an hour in the museum, its fairly small but still good, and because it didn’t cost me anything, I bought a little specialist book on local birds. Because no pets are allowed on our complex, lots of different birds visit our garden and I’ve started looking up which ones they are and thought this book would be handy.
Thanks for listening ❤ ❤ ❤

A trip to the Library and Lincraft

Every Wednesday I plan to post on my blog about venturing outside, sometimes tagging along with Outdoor Wednesday. Today I’d like to include some pictures of a particularly spectacular snowflake bush which is currently flowering and welcomes you as you drive into our apartment’s complex.

When I turned up for my Monday morning ‘meeting’ I was unhappy to report that I had not managed to leave the house for the week, having found an excuse not to visit my family on Saturday as planned. So after the meeting I went to my local Lincraft store, and while I was there I poked my head in the library which is in the same building.

My visit to Lincraft went ok, it wasn’t too busy so I was free to potter around in peace, and there was no waiting at the counter, which is a bonus for me. I bought some brightly coloured wool which was on special, I plan to make some children’s beanies with it. In the photo you can see my first attempt which is too big and has to be undone. I also bought some new cotton for edging face-washers! They didn’t have any white, so I chose a nice lilac-grey. I bought 1.7m of stretch velvet which I plan to make a skirt with. I also paid a couple of dollars for some crochet patterns, knowing I can get crochet patterns off the internet for free, but I liked this particular collection and want to try making the bolero.

I find going to the library a little overwhelming, which I know is silly! I went and picked up some brochures, one is a very helpful map of the local nature reserve which I hope David and I can go to soon before it gets too cold. I walked around the whole library then wondered what to do next so made myself sit down as I feel stupid walking around aimlessly! After I looked through the brochures I noticed some quilting magazines, so got up to look more closely to see if there were some crochet ones but they only had knitting. I then went and had a look at some more information displays but couldn’t find anything about the craft group that’s supposed to be there at the end of this month. I didn’t feel up to asking anyone about it so I left. I hope to go back to the library again soon, it would be great if I could sit in on that craft group in a couple  of weeks.

Wish me luck!
❤ ❤ ❤

Free Jazz and Shiraz Concert

I’ve heard of Outdoor Wednesday, which is another tag-along blog which would be good for me to participate in. Go to “A Southern Daydreamer” for more details.

Every week I would like to write about my progress with getting back outside to do stuff on my own again, and I’m happy to say last week has been a good start! The highlight of out-of-the-house activities for me last week was the free Jazz and Shiraz concert put on by the Logan City Council at the Kingston Butter Factory. I had so much fun! Although of course I didn’t go on my own, David came with me.

The mellow crowd were just our style, the food was better than your usual hotdogs and hamburgers, and shiraz was for sale by the glass so I got two! We had oven-fired pizza which was made with a portable pizza oven right before our eyes! We also tried the “roo on a stick”, which was a succulent sample of kangaroo fillet skewered and cooked to perfection. This was particularly good for me, it’s been very hard to get good kangaroo steak since moving to Brisbane. The outdoor event reminded me of Darwin, but thankfully no real home-sickness to speak of, although these kinds of concerts  are something I do miss from my old home. Even though the food was a little on the expensive side, it was well worth it, and the concert itself was free so it was a cheap night out all up.

Then of course, there was the music. We only got to see three of the four acts, we saw all of the performance by The West End Composers Collective, which funnily enough isn’t mentioned on their website. It’s a pity as I was trying to find out the name of the vocalist, with whom I was very impressed and that doesn’t happen often with vocalists! I figure if I can sing something, its a bit ‘meh’ for me, but in all my time singing, even at my most prime, I Never sounded as good as this vocalist. Her quality of tone was outstanding, like liquid honey, and she was very apt at the jazz scat, which I found hard to do myself when studying it. I thought her name was Holly something… but maybe it was Hannah? I’m not sure, but well worth the effort to get out of the house to hear this live! Another good thing about this trip was that we tried out our new Go Cards for the first time when we caught the train, and my verdict is that it was terrific! I’ll be getting back on the trains on my own in no time, I’m sure!
Thanks for listening ❤ ❤ ❤

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It’s one thing to get given rubbish that you have no practical use for so it merely adds to the junk in your life, it’s quite another to source free stuff that is actually practical and saves you money.

I’ve been getting Coles Online for 12 months now, and although it’s helping me avoid the outside world, I absolutely love it! At least I have to shower and dress a minimum of once a week when the delivery guy comes 😛 More times than not, the delivery contains a free sample, some of which are pictured here. I’ve also tried signing up for free samples from Mysavings.com I’ve only done it a couple of times, and only sent away for samples from companies I know, like Palmer’s and Nestle. Both companies sent the samples, although each took a couple of weeks.

And don’t ever pay money for a calendar! Many businesses hand them out for free, like Robin’s Kitchen which we used in 2009. This year we’re using a calendar from our local Turner’s nursery. It’s useful because it has extra gardening info month by month, and best of all, it was free! ❤ ❤ ❤

Journey Back to the Outside

I guess I don’t have to say what happened to get me to this point, needless to say the life I’m living now is in stark contrast to the frenetic and busy life of my past which was full of people and activity.  I think posting about my progress here would really help me for a start, it’s so easy to loose track of what I’m doing to manage change. My goal is to get out of the house on my own at least once a week for a couple of hours..

Progress made in the last few days include ordering my “Go Card” as buying train tickets is annoying and an excuse to not get on a train, but now I’m looking forward to using it. Hopefully I’ll get to the point where I can get on a train by myself to go to the doctor instead of making David take the day off work to drive me and wait for my appointment to finish, which I know is absolutely ridiculous. Knowing how silly this all is makes me annoyed at myself, hopefully enough to move myself into action, but knowing its silly doesn’t make it any easier either. The other bit of progress was to make an appointment with a new local psychologist. Oh, /sigh! so boring as I feel like I’ve heard it all before, but I know I have to go and give this new one a chance. It was particularly hard as the receptionist made me wait a while, but instead of putting me on hold I could hear a baby crying in the background. It was very tempting to hang up and give up, but I didn’t.

After searching on the internet, it seems the City Councils have a lot of free activities on in the Libraries and Parks, so my short-term goal is to find something to do that is free or very cheap while David is at work. I’m going to pencil in the possibilities into my diary and see if I can get myself along to something. So far the most interesting is a free workshop with a local artist at the Logan Art Gallery. So today’s challenge is to ring them up and book a spot … wish me luck!

Horrors of the Grocery Store!!! (I

There is nothing more depressing in my mind than pushing a shopping cart (more likely than not to have a wonky wheel and a mind of its own) down narrow aisles blaringly lit by artifical neons, crammed full with products screaming ‘look-at-me, Look-At-Me!!’ And this all the while negotiating self-absorbed fellow shoppers determined to block the way too narrow for you and their trolley combined, topped off with a soundtrack of screaming children and cheesey pop music.

Oh yes, I detest the grocery store. Too bad that I’m supposed to make more of an effort to get out of the house. If I’m going to do that, I’d rather it not be listening to other people’s children screaming in the shopping centre because their parents are ignoring them and seem quite ok with imposing their life choice upon everybody unfortunate to exist anywhere in close proximity, say a 1km radius.

The whole grocery store experience is solely set up for the convenience of the capitalist shop owners and their willingness to use every trick in their arsenal to manipulate you into harried, rash or misguided purchases you will likely regret.  In the old days, you’ d take your list to the counter and the friendly assistant went and got the stuff for you, so no opportunity for impulse buys. That was before the greedies figured out how to get you to walk into their storeroom and get the stuff your goddamm self, all the while trying to distract you into buying more stuff. And then there is this business of pricing products in less than round amounts to make a quick calculation challenging. God dam you, I will stand there for 5 minutes if I have to, so I can figure out if its cheaper to buy the 145g or the 270g jar of vegemite, just to spite you! I hate supermarkets with an unequalled passion.

Of course, I tell myself there are sensible, financial reasons for shopping online and my distaste for supermarkets is not the only reason. If not,  I would be getting out of the house every week, right? I’ve used both Woolworths and Coles, and while they both have ‘unit pricing’ only Coles allows you to sort accordingly. This makes it a very straight forward thing to figure out which sized product is the best value for money, even when the specials are on. Coles is also better because they will charge your account on the day the groceries are dispatched and you will not be charged for out of stock items, unlike Woolworths. At Colesonline I have a record of every product I have ever bought, which after nearly a year is over 600 items. I can see when these are on special and time to stock up. I have a few days to work on my shopping cart, coming back to it as I need to change it, so there is plenty of time to make sure I’m getting what I need and not just what I’ve managed to grab in under an hour. This forward planning means I am able to stick to my budget and feed two people for just over $100 a week, and that includes toiletries and cleaning products. I’m more than confident I get my $5 in delivery fees back and then some. Also, I almost always get a cute little sample to try, which is a nice little bonus, like tasty new sauces, spices, tissues, frozen fruit, canned chicken, etc etc. Like these cute little toy trucks, which I can give to the nephews when I see them next.

So shopping online is not just for insane hermits like myself, it is thrifty and sensible. Impulse buys and budget blowouts are a thing of the past,  stocking up on specials are GO!

The best pets are free

One thing that makes me sad about living here is I can’t have a cat and I would dearly love one. They are such beautiful company, and for many years I’ve always had one around. My small collection of ornamental cats is a cheaper version of the real thing – they don’t need feeding or trips to the vet!

But everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Other than all the positives about being renters, like the reduced stress for example, living in a gated community that does not allow pets definately has it upside. We are never woken up by dogs barking at ridiculous hours, by whining distressed pets left behind by their owners for the weekend, like my old neighbours used to do on a regular basis. There’s no vicous barking everytime someone dares to walk past, insulting the animal’s delicate sensibilities.

Instead, there’s a host of beautiful birdlife that often comes to visit because there are no cats around hunting them. We put a bird bath in the courtyard a few months ago, and a small swallow regularly stops by for his morning wash. There is also a pair of doves that live here, they often hang out on my fence and come right up to my back door where I leave crumbs for them. They have a pretty pink tinge and a speckled neck, and coo-coo delicately and lovingly to each other. Sometimes, the male goes right off and won’t stop his insistent love song, so I’m forced to play some music to drown him out, which sometimes does not work!

And then of course, there is Lizzie the Lizard. Now, I don’t know how she managed it, but this lizard looks an awful lot like the one at my old place. Or maybe, there is a resident lizard in every house that does not have a cat? Recently I’ve seen Lizzie chase a smaller lizard across the house, unusually oblivious to me, their tails flailing wildly and comically in the air.

So I guess because I can’t have a cat, I’ll just have to enjoy having these less intrusive pets around. Pets who are free to come and go as they please, and bring no harm to the other wildlife around the place. Except for other lizards that happen to be smaller than them! A bird free to fly away as it chooses I find a much greater joy than one that is caged against its will. There is nothing sadder in my mind than a bird meant to fly, captured in a cage.