Today's Treasure

I found this silver teapot today. I've seen them around in a few shops, but haven't bought one until now. I really do like it! It needs a really good polish, although, I do like the tarnished look. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it as I'm not a tea drinker. I have somewhere to display it, but it just seems a waste if it isn't going to be used for anything. Leave me a comment if you have a suggestion for how I can use it.

Crochet and Knitting

A good friend of mine has started teaching me how to crochet. I've never been interested in learning until recently. I have a dream of making one of those granny blankets from crochet squares. I love them and it would be great to have made one myself. I have to say that being a knitter and then picking up a crochet hook is quite frustrating. Below is a photo of my progress so far. Three rows of loops that took over half an hour to do. It was VERY slow going and I felt like I had very little control over that hook. I slowly got the hang of it, but still need an awful lot of practice to feel comfortable and have a steady flow going.

 

I will not give up the knitting though. I'm not a highly skilled knitter. I only know the basic knit stitch and haven't a clue how to read a pattern, but I am going to learn. My friends mum is a skilled knitter and is very happy to teach me everything I need to know about knitting. Stitches and patterns included. I'm very grateful to her for wanting to help me as I was going to start going to knitting classes and that costs money that isn't really in the budget at the moment. The three of us will be able to get together and knit and crochet to our hearts content.

The squares in the photo below are a few years old now. I haven't done much knitting since the kids came along, but I am very eager to pick up those knitting needles and get back into it. These squares are supposed to become a blanket. I have quite a few more to make before there will be enough to put together for a decent size blanket. I won't be using the green ones because I just don't think it would look good with the other colours.

 I'll have to show you when I finish it.

This Weeks Bargain Finds

                                                                                     
                   Just a few photos of this weeks op shop finds. I have been banned from visiting any op shops for the next couple of weeks because I can't seem to just browse. I can't help myself. If I find a bargain, I have to buy it. Anyway, I found this aluminium pot for the grand total of $1. I think it will make a lovely pot for a plant. Maybe even a little herb garden. We'll see.

These shoes looked brand new and I knew when I saw them that they would be great to throw on with a pair of jeans to do the school run or pop into the shops. They are very comfortable and warm. I actually bought them last week and have worn them a lot since then. I quite like them!

I have a light blue jacket that I love to wear with a white, collared shirt and jeans and when I found this jacket I knew it would look great too. Who wouldn't love a nice jacket for only $6? Actually, it will go nicely with a knee length skirt and my new high heeled, knee high boots that my darling bought for me as a Mothers Day gift.

And last, but definately not least, a very cute, 100% wool hat for the bargain price of $4. Seriously, I may never shop retail again! Oh, except for underwear. Gotta have new underwear.

Thriving Cyclamen

Just wanted to show you my vintage plant pot. Mum gave it to me last year. It was her mothers. I love it! I struggled to find somewhere to put it, but since we have moved it looks very much at home in this old house.

 I bought a lovely, bright pink cyclamen to put in it. I'm not very good at keeping cyclamen flowers alive, but the plant seems to be thriving in this filtered light position in the dining room. I have also learned that they don't like to be wet, so a light watering once a week seems to be doing the trick so far.

I think a home needs inside plants. It just adds that little something. I have another spot in the house that needs a pretty pot with a plant in it. I will have to keep my eye out on my treasure hunting trips for just such a pot.

Ladies Room Treasure

I've never really taken that much notice of the vending machines on the wall in the ladies room at shopping centres, but I did today. There are more things to choose from other than just sanitary bits and bobs. Curiosity got the better of me and these are the little treasures that popped out the bottom when the correct money and correct buttons were pressed. Yes, Monkey had to press the buttons and took great joy in doing so.

We have here, a survival kit, lip gloss, perfume, breath freshener and mints in a cute little tin.

All very handy items to have in ones handbag and they are very cute too. I will have to hide them from the kids.

                                                  

Still Messing with My Blog Look

I'm still messing around with the look of my blog. I think for me to be truly happy with it I am going to have to learn how to create my own template. Who knows how long that will take. There are free tutorials available, so I should be able to work it out...maybe. So, what do you think?

New Look Blog

You may have noticed that I have changed the name and look of my blog. Yes, I am one of those people that gets bored easily and likes to change things around. The name came to me like a bolt of lightning yesterday morning while I was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom putting on my makeup. I had to stop what I was doing then and there and go to the computer and change it. I had been trying to think of a new blog name for a while.
I've been messing around with colours and header pictures too. I'm not sure if I'm totally satisfied with this one, so don't get too used to it. This header is a bit wide for the blog and I don't know how to shorten it, so I had to make the header frame wider to accomodate. I don't know my way around HTML very well, so I don't even know how to make the actual blog wider. I suppose I can work it out by trial and error. That's how I work out most things on the net.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. I love comments!

Savers

I am learning the joys of op shopping. The joy of finding a treasure! A bargain! I op shopped when I was living in Brissy, but I'm enjoying it much more here in Melbourne. There is an op shop here called Savers. It is an op shop superstore. There are several of them in Melbourne and on Sunday after we had finished at the zoo we popped over to Brunswick so I could check out the Savers over there. It's an op shoppers heaven. Racks and racks of clothes, shoes, bags, scarves, bric-a-brac, underwear, toys, books, furniture, manchester, all in an orderly fashion. Everything is hung in type of clothing, size of that type and then in colour of that size. Very well organised. I was only supposed to be browsing but walked out with 7 items of clothing and a pair of shoes, all for the princely sum of $50.02.

These are two of my purchases. A vintage denim, fitted jacket and a fitted cordaroy jacket. The cordaroy doesn't look much until I put it on. It's a great cut and I love it! I love both of these jackets and I'm sure I'll get a lot of wear out of them. I also bought another cordaroy jacket. It's a UK brand that is fitted and lined. Really nice, but sadly it is a size too big for me. I'll have to try and find a home for it, but am not sure who will fit it.

Monkey even scored some new clothes. A cuddly, warm hoodie, a pair of Milkshake jeans and a cute, green cordaroy shirt. I just can't believe the treasures you can find when  you look through everything. All the clothes I bought look barely worn, if at all. Seriously, nothing gives me more of a thrill than a dead set bargain!

Japanese Garden

The Melbourne Zoo is fast becoming one of our favourite places to visit. We bought a 12 month family pass that gives us access to all 3 zoo's down here as many times as we like.

We visited the zoo again yesterday and finally saw Mali, the baby elephant. We also walked through the Japanese garden, which we hadn't done before.

I love gardens and took some photos yesterday and thought I would share them with you. Of course my little pocket camera doesn't do the garden justice, but you get the general idea.