Of Books and Abby Shoes

Yesterday Mum and I popped into a couple of op shops for a bit of a browse. We came home with a few nice finds. Mostly books. Old classics. I now own a copy of Doctor Zhivago, a Dickens, a Plato and Socrates, a Shakespeare, an Oscar Wilde and a David Copperfield(the writer, for those of you as naive as I was until yesterday morning). All for 50 cents each. Mum got hold of a few oldies too. Mostly Shakespeare and a couple of poetry books.

That, however,  is NOT what I want to show you today.

 I want to show you a pair of shoes I found at a little, almost hidden away op shop. I held them up to Mum with a big smile on my face and announced that I wanted to buy them. She looked at me in surprise and said, "You're not." I laughed and said, "Yes, I am!"

I have dubbed these shoes my 'Abby Shoes'!

 See why? They are Demonia shoes. A UK brand. I looked them up online this morning and apparently Abby Scuito wears this brand of Goth shoe. Or boots mostly. If you don't know who Abby is, then I'm very sorry, we can no longer be friends.

Kidding!!!!

Can you believe these were only $4.50? I can hear some of you saying a rather emphatic, YES! I know they are not everyones cup of tea, but I rather like them and I shall wear them. I told Mum I was going to wear them to church. I got another look of surprise and another, "You're not." I may rethink that one. Don't know if it's entirely appropriate to wear a pair of shoes with Demonia printed on the inside of them to church.

Even if I don't get to wear them very much, at least I'll have something to wear to a dress up party. I'll finally be able to unleash the Goth within. Yes, it's in there, but has never reared it's ugly head as I'm not into the whole satanism, gore, weird stuff that goes along with it.

Thanks Mum for the new shoes...yes, believe it or not, she bought them for me. I totally love my MUM!!!

~ Ky x

Easiest Cheese Muffins Evaaaaah!!!

I made pumpkin soup and cheese muffins for dinner a couple of nights ago and thought this recipe would be a good one to share. It's too easy and too yummy! I was given this recipe by a lady who is a fantastic cook, about 16 odd years ago when I was working in a cute, country cafe.

My little family just love this recipe and these muffins go great with any type of soup. Even good as a snack. I've even had them as a midnight snack when the house is dark and everyone is quiet and sleeping. Shhhh, don't tell anyone I'm a midnight snacker.

What you will need to make these muffins are as follows...are you ready? Got your pen and paper? Don't want you to miss anything out! Ok, let's begin.

First of all you need to preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius

2 cups SR flour

2 cups grated cheese ( I use tasty cheese)

1/2 tsp cayene pepper

pinch salt

fresh parsley chopped (I currently don't have any in the garden, so there isn't any in these muffins.
 Makes it look much prettier though)

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

Just bung it all into your mixing bowl and mix it on up.

Spoon it into your muffin tray. This mixture will do 12 muffins.

Put them into your preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Then you need to eat them! This is the most fun bit! Well it's my favourite bit anyway.

I'm sure you could throw other bits and pieces into the mixture like corn kernals, olives, maybe marble it with some pesto. I've never bothered to experiment like that cos I like 'em just the way they are.

~ Ky x

Just Stuff

Following on from yesterdays post, I thought I'd share a few more things I found last week. So exciting! A couple of them were for free.

So, without further ado...

A gorgeous straw? handbag.

A green, glass bottle which came with a white, plastic lid so you can actually keep liquids in it. I don't like the ugly, white lid though. This bottle is sitting on my kitchen bench at the moment until I decide what to use it for. It will probably become a water bottle for the fridge.

Now this trunk was a special surprise from my hubby! He came home with it last week. He spotted it in a pile of someones council pick up rubbish on the side of the road. I was SO excited when he pulled it out of the back of the ute. It needs a bit of a clean and some new hinges, but other than that it's completely usable. Yay! More storage! I love that he gets what I like...old crap, with a story to tell.

This was another freebie. Dad and I picked it up from the side of the road last week. Yes, council pick up is happening in our area too. It's in perfect nick! I can't believe the stuff people throw away. It's a perfectly good mirror, in a perfectly good frame.

Mum and I also picked up a kids wooden table and four wooden chairs. All they need is a sand back and some new paint and they are as good as new. Seriously!

So, I do actually have some little projects to work on. Will show you them when they are finished. Note the orange chairs the trunk is sitting on. Well they are going to have removable chair covers made for them so that they actually look nice. They were also a freebie from one of the schools my hubby is renovating at the moment. Very comfortable, but very ugly. They are our outdoor furniture.

So, better get cracking!

~ Ky x

Our Royal Family - An Op Shop Treasure

So I was able to do a little bit of op shopping last week while Mum and Dad were visiting. I hadn't stepped foot into an op shop for a couple of weeks. I had a splendid time searching for that special treasure that I just had to have.

Thought I'd show you one of the treasures I bought on Friday.

Our Royal Family by Stanley Brogden.

Published for The Sun News-Pictorial, Melbourne

I googled this book to find out when it was published as there is no date written in the book. Apparently it was 1949...and it smells like it.

I actually bought this book as I thought Angel would like to see photos of kings and queens and princesses and crowns. She's very much into all that kind of thing. Always has been.

So, now it's your turn. I've taken some photos of the pictures inside the book. I love to look at old photos. The fashion, the hairstyles, the decor, all of it really.

King George and Princess Elizabeth

Princess Margaret with Bob Hope

The coronation of King George VI

There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to fashion.

Yeah, I know. Not my greatest photography ever.

I have to admit that I am a bit of a royalist. I've always loved to read about them and look at pictures of them and hear about them in the news. It's been great looking through this book. I don't think I'll ever get around to reading it. I just couldn't stand smelling it for all that time. But I've enjoyed learning a little bit about King George. I think he was quite a handsome man. Apparently he was a lovely bloke too.

So, that's about it for today.

~ Ky x

Some Pink for Spring

Today was as close to spring as it gets in Melbourne at the beginning of September. I was thrilled when I looked out the window this morning and saw a clear, blue sky. Full of happiness and promise of a great day! It has been a marvelous day! The sunshine does wonders for my soul, especially after weeks and weeks of gloomy, grey skies with only the odd day of sun to try and recharge ones mood with. It is very cold today, but I don't care at all cos it's a sunny one!!!

I was finally able to stop here and there to take some photos of cherry blossoms and magnolia blossoms. I've been wanting to do it for 2 weeks, but the weather has been just appalling for taking photos.

These two pics were my attempt at taking photos last week on the coldest, most bitter day I have experienced while living here. It was raining, windy and very, very cold! The cherry blossums all looked beautiful, but it was too miserable to be in the wind for long and I didn't want to get the camera wet, so this is all I have.

In the photo below you can see that there is a long row of pink all the way down the hill. It was so pretty!

 Below are the photos I took this morning. A much nicer day for taking photos. Unfortunately, the magnolias are starting to drop their petals and the cherry blossoms have grown leaves since last week. I really wanted photos of just pure pink trees. Next year! I will get them next year!

There you go Nic. Do you love them?

How about the rest of you? Do you love some pink flowers? I do! And red ones and yellow ones and white ones and blue ones and purple ones and orange ones and ALL the colours!

BTW my Mum is visiting again, with Dad this time. She bought me some jonquils and daffodils today and my whole house smells just divine! Thank you Mum for making the house smell happy! xx

Happy Spring to everyone in the southern hemisphere! Happy Autumn to everyone in the northern hemisphere!

~ Ky x