Tutus And Tattoos

The title came to me this morning in the shower. Highlight of my day really.

Anyway, I bought myself a skirt, that does look quite unashamedly like a tutu. I walked on past it hanging up at first, knowing full well I was too old. But I thought about it so much on my errands that the bugger-it part of my brain turned on. It so happened I had the exact amount of money I needed kicking around in my bag in the form of vouchers, so really, it was meant to be eh?

We went out today to see some stuff, and the International Buskers Festival was on. I commented to my family that it was okay to wear a tutu out because people would just think I was a busker having time off. What do you know, we had just walked out of the carpark, when a man came up to me and asked "Is the buskers festival up in Queen St?" Ha! He looked a bit perturbed when I replied that I had no idea.

Anyway, long story. Short tutu. Which I reckon is fine teamed with leggings and stompy boots, even if you are very old. (Not sure why photos from this angle give you the girth of a small warehouse, but I'm sure it's just an optical illusion thing. Well, kinda sure.)

But of course, visible tattoos would help me not look like mental fairy. I umm-ed and aah-ed about doing the tattoo design reveal photo, because surely it would be cooler to show them actually on me? But my tattooist lady is out of the country at the moment, so I'm having to be very, very patient. Which is not my strong point. So here's an annoying half-reveal:

Still going with crazy is better than boring.

Proxy Birthday

Thanks to our kind friends, L&P had a proxy birthday today. They even brought cake.

You'll note there are no photos of the mums looking dorky doing Just Dance.

Smart, mums are.

When It Rains. . .

I knits.It's going to be a bowl. It's not a very deep bowl, so I think it's going to have to be a half cream-coloured bowl, as I have no more of the lovely super-chunky blues left.

Boxes and Ashtray Crowns

Made it. Happy birthday Mutti.

Here she is looking very birthdayish. It's a good husband who makes you a balloon-holder with a twirly wire and a wooden handle.

I'm afraid some gremlins crept in my camera, and the pics are decidedly,

um. . . well crap. Nothing to do with taking it in the sea yesterday I'm sure. Anyway, we'll call them atmospheric. My attempt at capturing the cake bit:

Okay, crap then.

Handily enough husband had the hipstamtic thing going on, so here is Mutti's birthday cake, retro-style.

Slightly more successful pic of the cutting bit, still managing to get completely the wrong angle and missing all three faces:

Being nice grandparents they spent a lot of the day playing with cardboard boxes. Pretty pimped up cardboard boxes by the end:

Yep, it hoists.

When Mutti was a little girl, she reportedly spent quite a bit of time with this silver ashtray on top of her head:

Aunty Iz and I had a good crack at it in the 70s too, but today it was P5's turn.

It was a rather wet day, and you did have to do a fair bit of running around after us I'm afraid, but I hope that the little things like boxes and ashtray-crowns made it special, because you Mutti are one special mother and grandmother, and we love you.

xx

The Wet Stuff Dance

It was hot. Nothing for it but to lounge about in water.

Or to hurl yourself about wildly in water. Whichever suits.
Embrace those waves baby!

My Toilet Window

Not because you really need to know what I see when I'm on the loo, but just because I keep thinking how very pretty it is, so I'll share. How that bougainvillea protects our modesty.

Sometimes things are better fuzzy. Like maybe that image I just gave you in words should have been more indistinct.

But the pic is pretty eh?

Self-Portrait And Castle

by PIcan'tbelieveshe'sfivealready

I did warn her that taking a wet sponge and wiping it over her picture would make the colours run and smoosh together, but she was adamant. And also right. I like its fairytale quality.

Perennial Games

First thing in the morning. . .

"ATTACK DADDY!"

Even Baboo pulled a dagger.

Fortunately it was cardboard.

My Familiars

Yes, it is possibly sad and tragic to stand out in a storm and take photos of your chickens. But I have had them for days and haven't introduced them to you. Of course, if you are counting (what - you're not??) you'll notice I'm up to eight and I'm only allowed six.

That would be because two of my chooks were just not getting on, so I gifted one to O10 and his family as he is the world's biggest Bird Fan. But over the course of their holiday the T family managed to LOSE my bird! Yes, bird-nappers and the neighbours were firmly under suspicion.

O10 was sad. I felt bad.

So I gifted them my rather beautiful punk chicken Fifi Trixibelle, who was also rather noisy in the mornings (shhhh!) and pecky towards our friendly frizzle Caramello. Ah, cue nostalgic pic of Fifi T and M15. . .

And then O10 and his tenaciousness kicked in. He made Lost Chicken posters to hang around the neighbourhood, and lo and behold, Flossy AKA Pekin, was returned home. By then, of course, I was half way to driving to Franklin to pick up my two new chooks, so the T family was stuck with two kinda stroppy chooks. (Aren't you glad you are not my long-suffering friend?)

Anyway, long story short - I have two new frizzles! They are called Kit and Kat (they live with Caramello you see) and I cannot look at them without thinking WITCH and FAMILIAR. Kit especially has a wonderful Elizabethan collar of feathers, edged with white. I completely failed to get a picture of her which does her any justice, but my excuse is we are deluged with rain flooding our city.

So maybe I'll show you later. Or maybe you'll be impressed with her just from this glimpse. Or maybe looking at blurry pictures of chickens is not why you spend time on the internet. Eh what?

Wolves, Kenny Loggins Ruining Christmas And Truffles Too

Wolves. It's funny.

And this is even funnier.


I also made chocolate truffles, which are not amusing at all but taste damn good.


It's been a productive day then?

How Much Waffle Can One Girl Write About The Colour Of Three Walls In Her House?

So once it was murky purple. Then it went tree frog green. Then I tried to be airy and delicate and did blanched pink. And hated it. Not so much in the day, when it looked sweet, but at night, lo and behold it transformed, as if possessed, into. . . BEIGE! So I decided to revert to green, but L&P weren't having a bar of it. We tried (testpots even - I'm so grown up, usually I just plump for it rather than waiting!) some lovely blues.





I liked then but they looked just plain horrid with the stained glass windows, which are very interesting but completely limiting. So I got talked around to red. I didn't want to do red. I've done red. If anyone wants to look bold, they do. . . . red. The girl at the paintshop said:

-nah, don't do red, GREEN is coming in.

-AAARGHHH! YES I WANT TO DO GREEN! My children don't want it again.

-Is it their bedroom?

-No.

-Can't you just say you are bigger than them?

-Well yes, but also is does seem a bit dumb to paint your walls then three months later paint them exactly the same colour they were before you changed them. Besides I'm nice. It's only colour right?

So we went with red. No testpot. I can't really get a good pic of it because it is dusk, even though I had done both coats by lunchtime today because I am awesome. Why thank you. It looks kinda orange. It is not orange in the pics. It is screaming red. Rock and roll in fact. I would link to it but the swatch looks absolutely unrecognisable on my screen, and probably yours too. So you'll just have to come visit, ok? (Thinks *lucky no-one has read this far!*)

Here is new lounge, hipstamatic style. Which really doesn't help.




And at night, which also doesn't help.




I'll try again tomorrow. If the fire department don't move in tonight. It's warm. And at least it's not beige.

Three Exciting Things

happened today. But I'm only going to show you one.

First, I got my tattoo design. Only it was too hard to choose one so. . . I might have to have two pretty arms. But maybe I'll save that until I actually have them, which would really make more interesting blogging than a pencil sketch.

Second, I just had to repaint the lounge. For the third time since we moved in last August. I really reeeeeeeeally wanted to go back to the tree frog green, but for some reason both children really reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally didn't. With more 'e's than me even.

"We will be the only family with silly green walls."

Yeah. And?

Anyway, nice mummy won out and I let them have some say. Then I hated what we ended up with as I put it on. Plus it was the hardest, drippiest paint in the known universe (maybe the humidity has something to do with it? Or maybe it is just dumb paint.) so I was very much begrudging giving them any power. Only now I kinda like it. But since I have only finished one coat due to aforementioned silly drippy issue, that's for another day too.

The third exciting thing was Blokey Husband got an iphone from work, which would not be exciting at all, were I not to immediately insist he get the hipstamatic app, as introduced to me by The Other Sarah. Which completely rocks my tiny, frivolous world. See?

Visit To Hicksville

I'm not being rude - she calls it that!

SB taught P5 to bead.

She supplies endless bubbles in the spa pool.

She can stack five beans, easily.

And she doesn't growl when you set her stove on fire and burn a family heirloom.

She has a great lake for three boys in a kayak to play in.

And she makes fabulous presents, that she modestly calls 'things'.

If you can't read it because of the light it says "Chickens are the new black".
Thank you SB. You are too sweet and lovely.

Spent the day catching up with one of Blokey husband's old mates and his family, which was very nice, but not the kind of thing you take your camera to, for fear of coming across like a nutter. So here's some more from The National instead, because I'm still not quite over it.

Also I'm going on a road trip tomorrow to see a lovely friend, and that's fun but also scary, because let's face it, I'm afraid of everyone.

Bugger

Two days before road trip too.

Went to The National

You should well be envious. Am happy despite song. Couldn't decide which one to put up, but since it's tomorrow now, I'm off to bed. Nightie night.

Five!

Blogger cheat - here's last year. I can't believe how small they look only a year ago. Because now, look - huge!

Present opening was a little delayed as we had to wait, and eventually give in and wake our sleepy teen guest. Here she is pretending she's fully alert but failing to notice me taking a pic. Sorry for the early morning M15.


My sweet daughter asked for a cake 'with raspberries on top'. Even I can do that. Bit easier than a lawnmower (or the strimmer!) cake eh?

The pinata almost got the better of us. Had to get Daddy to step in at the end.

Check out this lovely painting by Aunty Iz for my lion-hearted girl:




Happy birthday P5!