Playing Photographer

I have been playing with the camera on my phone recently just because I can & I wanted to share some of the photos I took with it.

My gorgeous boy looking all trendy in his cap. He looks like he could use a sleep from the look of this eyes. Hmm looks like his glasses could use a bit of a clean too. I'm forever telling him to clean them (and yes they are the expensive glasses I mentioned a while back).

This was a scrumptious hot chocolate that I had last week when Mark & I went out one morning for breakfast. We went to this little cafe here in town. It was the BEST hot chocolate EVER! I will definitely have to go back there and have another one just to make sure that it was as good as the first one.

I took this one while waiting for Brodie as the bus stop last week. Of course I had a little fun cropping and framing this one. I don't think it turned out too bad. At least every thing looks nice & green, well except for the Traci Tree (that's what I call deciduous trees because Traci just adores autumn and all of its colours) there in the middle of the photo but that looks pretty any way.

How about a self portrait? I took this one yesterday while I was waiting for Brodie at his bus stop. Of course I had to crop this photo. I didn't want to show everyone my double chins :P Thank goodness I had my sunnies on or you would've seen the bags under my eyes too. Considering how much I hate having my photo taken I thought I was very brave to even share this one being make-up free and all. Not that I ever really wear make up, except for maybe the lip gloss I had on that day. I'm not really a girly girl who dresses up a lot.

I think I take some pretty good photos with my phone :D

Crochet Sombrero & Cape

How cute is this little Sombrero? I would never have thought to make something like this up for a bottle of sauce. It would be a great way to use up some of those leftover bits of yarn though.

Finished Item - Baby Blanket

Ta Da! I have now finished the baby blanket that I started the other day. I'm not really someone who likes a lot of green but I really don't mind this one at all.

Here's a bit of a close up.

I went shopping again. I couldn't help it. You see, someone delivered a catalogue in my letterbox and I looked inside. There was this colourful yummy-ness on one of the pages and it seemed to be calling my name. I'm not trying to make excuses or anything but I swear that is exactly how it happened when I looked that the catalogue yesterday afternoon. Sam's Warehouse had acrylic yarn on sale, two balls for $4. I just had to get some. I know I didn't really need it. I probably don't truly have the room for it but I just had to get it! How can you ignore something that is talking to you?

So I went shopping. The colours were so pretty. I could have stood there for ages trying to decide which ones to get. I honestly could have spent a lot more money than I did. I have absolutely no idea what I will make with it, not yet any way. Do you have any ideas for me?

And of course just to make sure I had it stored properly I bought another plastic tub to keep it in.

I've Been Tagged ..

I've been tagged by Poetess. Thank you very much :P lol

It's not a bad thing really its not like we are really playing tag. If we were I wouldn't be able to run very far and I would ALWAYS get caught because I am so unfit such a great catch ;)

Of course for this game of tag there are a few things that need to be done, like answering some questions, but this is a fun way of getting to know each other better :)

Do you think you're hot?
We're heading towards winter right now so unless I am sitting in front of the heater I would have to say NO I am not hot :D It's a bit on the chilly side today

Upload a picture or wallpaper that you are using at the moment
I only change my wallpaper last night. I was using a Doctor Who one but changed it to Star Trek Voyager :D


When was the last time you ate some chicken?
We had take away from Seven Noodle the other night. I had Combination Noodle which has pork, chicken, beef and prawns in it. It was absolutely delicious and the best thing about takeaway is I didn't have to cook. You gotta LOVE that!!

The song/songs you listened to recently
I had the radio on in the car when I dropped Brodie off at the bus stop this morning. He's on respite today. He's off bowling & dancing. Oops I got side tracked. I have no idea what songs were playing but I did listen to some music last night. Some Rascal Flatts songs (From Time to Time and I'm Moving On ) they are one of my favourite bands ever! I also listened to Jericho Road (Testify To Love)

What were you thinking while doing this?
I'm not sure if it means while I was listening to music of while completing these questions so I'll answer for both. While listening to the music I was wondering what to cook for tea. While completing the questions I was wondering if the washing machine had finished its load.


Do you have any nicknames?
Yes I do. Apart from being called Mum or Hon I am known as Blossy, Bloss or BlossyBoots. All are short or variations of Blossom. Cos I love flowers. What can I say.


Tag 8 blogger friends
Gosh now this is hard. I don't know if I could call them friends (yet) maybe good acquaintances, these are blogs I visit often apart from Poetess's blog :) ... okay here goes ...

Tina from Tina Gray {dot} me
Kate from Picklebums
Maria from Aussie Maria
Corrie from Retromummy
Candy from Candy's Family
Naomi from Seven Cherubs
Marita from Stuff with Thing
Pammy Sue from Scotty's Place

Who is listed as number one?
Tina is at the top of the list. Her blog is one that I read all the time. She is one fun lady! I like finding out what she gets up to with her family.

Say something about number 5
I met Candy on twitter via a #followfriday tweet and started reading her blog. She is one awesome lady with lots of beautiful children.

How did you get to know number 3?
I met Maria via Knit 4 Charities in their yahoo (email) group. K4C was organised by the amazing Pamela Tatt. Its for people who love to knit & crochet that like to donate what they make to charity. If you would like to know more about K4C click HERE.

How about number 4?
Gosh I don't really remember how I met Corrie. It may have been twitter or it might have been through Stumble Upon. I really dislike having brain freezes and not being able to remember :(

Leave a message for number 6
Naomi, you are one super Mum & oh so talented. I love finding out what you are up to with your family. Sometimes I wish I could be just like you or that we met in real life. I am sure that I would tap you for lots of ideas from FHE to cooking. You are an amazing lady.

Leave a lovey-dovey message for number two
I'm not a lovely-dovey kind of person. Just as anyone that knows me. How about .. Kate, I adore your family & what you get up to. Adore is pretty close to love right?

Do number seven and number eight have similarities?
They both have children. They are both creative. Marita likes to create some amazing meals and Pammy Sue creates some amazing crocheted pieces (and food too).

I cannot believe how incredibly difficult that was. I thought I could do this. It seems easy but then I got stumped with the bloggers. Sorry ladies. Its so hard to select only 8 bloggers who you like. I didn't wish to choose the same people who had already been tagged. It would have been much easier if I did.

Anyway. If you are one of the fantastic bloggers mentioned above guess what?!?! You've been tagged too! I would love to see what answers you write for these questions :)

My Latest Acquisition

I did it again. I bought another Jean Greenhowe book. This one is called Jiffyknits.

I got it on ebay (again) from a seller in England. I have bought from her a few times now. Its a lot cheaper to buy from her than it is to buy it from a shop here. Including postage it was less than $10 compared to $15 in the stores here.

The lady even included this little printed card with all the Jean Greenhowe books on it. That way I can check at a glance which ones I already have :)

If you wish to check out some close up photos of the book you can go HERE on Jean's website.

Thankful Thursday

Here's what I am thankful for this week...

• that Brodie has gone back to school after a couple of days off. His wrists are much better than they were a few days ago.
• for Mark, he is my hero. He rescued his damsel in distress this morning when I was stuck at the chemists when the car wouldn't start. He knew exactly what to do & I am so grateful for that.
• my health, even though I am not the fittest person there is I am still well enough to do the things I need to do.
• my Dad. Even if he tells me the same stories every time I speak with him on the phone I am really glad that he is still around for out little chats. I can't believe he is 83 but I think he is beginning to show his age now.
• for my sweet Spirit Sister, Traci. I am truly grateful that she is safe & well especially after those storms & tornadoes that have been happening all around her. (You know the situation is bad when they show footage of the storms/tornadoes in the US on Australian TV) I love you beautiful lady!
  

What are you thankful for this week?

Work In Progress - Baby Blanket

Here's what I am working on at the moment. A little baby blanket for one of my nieces who is expecting her first child in October. It's called a Diagonal Comfort Blanket and the pattern is on the Lion Brand Yarn website. I thought the greens would be safe for a girl or a boy. Although my niece will be finding out in about 2 weeks or so what she is having. If it was me I would love to keep it a secret and not know but my niece said she wants to find out.

I had to share this photo. Brodie is actually doing some school work. He almost never does work at home. I had to have proof that he was working (hence the photo). He's got some Maths work to catch up with. Even though he is playing with his phone he is still working so I can't really complain.

I'm A Little Ticked Off

I am feeling a little peeved right now. I know I shouldn't be but I am. You see, we live in a set of 4 units with a shared driveway. The driveway is for tenants only (there is even a sign stating that its tenants only) but the visitors for the other three units never, ever park on the road like they are meant too, well some of them do but its extremely rare. There are times, like right now, where there are four visitors cars in the driveway and I am unable to reverse my car out without the fear of hitting them.

I drive a big station wagon and I don't always feel that confident about reversing it (Although Mark said that I drive the care more confidently than I think I do).

We have mentioned it to some of the visitors about parking somewhere other than the driveway but they look at you like you are a demented idiot or they tell you to @#$! off. I am sure that if my car was to hit theirs they would scream their heads off at me. Sometimes we have asked the visitors to move their cars so we can get out. Gosh the looks that they give you its just easier to walk back inside and wait for them to leave. I don't like to stir the pot nto do I want to cause any tensions between us and the other neighbours.

All I wanted to do was go to the supermarket to get a few bits and pieces for Angus for his excursion to Ballarat tomorrow. Looks like I will have to wait for some of these cars to disappear... I just hope that it wont take too long for them to leave.

Meet Me On Monday

hosted by Java from Never Growing Old

Questions:

1. What is your favorite bagel flavor?
2. If you had an extra $100 right now, what would you spend it on?
3. What is the last thing that you felt guilt about doing?
4. Soft serve ice cream or hand dipped?
5. Are you allergic to anything?

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My Answers!

1. What is your favorite bagel flavor?
We don't have bagels where I live. So I can't say that I have a favourite. In fact I don't even recall every trying one either.

2. If you had an extra $100 right now, what would you spend it on?
Yarn, knitting and crochet patterns. What can I say I am addicted to the stuff :)


3. What is the last thing that you felt guilt about doing?
Telling Angus off the other day. I felt bad about it afterwards. I can't even remember what it was for. I just know I felt bad and I am sure he did too :(

4. Soft serve ice cream or hand dipped?
Both. Call me greedy :P I really like butterscotch or liquorice or spearmint choc chip or caramel or ... okay I like just about all of them.


5. Are you allergic to anything?
Yes I am. Apart from housework I am allergic to penicillin.

Pretty Kitty Crochet Appliqué & FO's

As you can see I have been hunting through YouTube again. I managed to find two of my favourite things .. cats & crochet! What more can a girl want? Other than chocolates & flowers that is :D
Its a fairly long video, about 30 minutes in total, but look at that cute little kitty you get at the end of it.

I thought I would show off a couple of Finished Objects. I love crochet & how I can make things so much faster than knitting :)

Here's the fingerless gloves I made for Angus in one of his school colours. He loves them. Funny thing is that once I had made these the weather warmed up & he didn't need to wear them.

This beanie is for one of my nieces. She asked me yesterday if I could make her a beanie in her football teams colours. I didn't really want to make it but I did. You see her team isn't the one I follow. Angus made such a fuss stating that I shouldn't make it because its not in our teams colours. You gotta love kids lol. Anyway, its made now & I just need to post it off to her.

Farmers Market

Angus and I went to the Farmers Market today. I love going every month when its on. You just never know what bargains they might have there.
The weather was absolutely perfect for an autumn day. The sun is shining and it was a lot warmer than it had been for a while. Although the weather is meant to change tomorrow. Back to cold & wet :(

This is one of my favourite stalls. Helen & her husband sell these amazing soaps. I always love checking out which soaps smell the nicest and buy them. It doesn't matter that I still have 5 or more cakes of soap in the bathroom cupboard I still get more. I can't help it. Who wouldn't like soaps that smell like frangipani, gardenias, chocolate, lemon scented tea tree, strawberries, pineapples, lemon, coconut or vanilla beans. Those were the ones I could remember there were so many more.

Angus was eyeing off the jackets in the back.

Some of our spoils.... yummy locally grown pink lady apples.

From Des's stall I bought some fresh green beans, brussel sprouts, sweetcorn and zucchinis. Des grows them all on her little farm.

I did the Mum thing too and bought the boys some more socks for school. Although I do wish that they would actually CLEAN their room. I know that they would be able to find ALL the socks and other items of clothing they say they can't find. I know its all in there. Its that silly 'floor-drobe' they insist on having! I will NOT go in there and clean it.

This stuff is from another favourite stall. I mentioned them last month. These guys sell all sorts of amazing foods such as lollies, curried sesame peanuts, fruit & nut mix, soy crisps, dried cranberries, cashews, almonds, dried pineapples, pumpkin seeds and a heap of other yummy goodies. I could honestly spend a lot of money there.

Yep, I just love going to the Farmers Market!

Work In Progress - Hedgehog (Part 3)

Just a warning this post has a lot of photos. It may take a while to load.


You might notice some colour differences. The paler looking photos were taken with my phone. The brighter looking ones were done with my camera. The colours in those ones look more realistic.

I love how the hat turned out!

How about the curls on the side of his head? Pretty cool huh!

Even the bow on the back of his hair looks cute but I am biased :D

Off with his head!

With the hat finally sew in place.

You can see why I was reluctant about sewing his little arms on. They don't seem to sit right :( well one of the arms doesn't.

Here's a view from the top. I really do like the hat. It kind of reminds me of a pirates hat.

At least the hedgehog looks good from behind.

How about the side view?

I still have the bell to make & the Town Crier is finished, although I don't wish to make the bell. He still looks good without it. To be honest I am glad that this hedgehog is just about done. I like making the Jean Greenhowe toys but I seriously want to make something that wont take quite so long to create. Perhaps I can whip up some fingerless gloves for Angus in one of his school colours. I am so ready to pick up a crochet hook & put down the needles for a while.

Thankful Thursday

Here's what I am thankful for this week ..

• I went grocery shopping without the boys & I didn't have to buy any 'junk' that they wanted *bliss* (although I did forget to buy a couple of things - oh well)
  
• I got to meet @MissMamaBear in person :)
• I have almost finished making my cute hedgehog (more photos coming soon)
• Mark was well enough to go out on a ride to a "men's shed" yesterday. Click HERE if you wish to find out more about the shed (its to help promote men's health & general well being)
• the beautiful weather we have had recently, especially after the very foggy starts to the day

What are you thankful for this week?

I Went Grocery Shopping This Morning

My local Woolworths supermarket has a brand new type of broccoli for sale ....
what do you think is it worth buying?

I also managed to pick up some yummy pork chops :D
Poetess mentioned that she had some for dinner the other night and I realised that it had been such a long time since we had eaten chops (Brodie has sensory thing about food containing bones so we usually avoid them, its an Aspie thing). I just had to get some. We might have them Friday night because tonight & tomorrow nights menus were already planned.

Spring Cleaning, But Its Autumn ..

What a gloriously sunny day today. It was certainly a reprieve from the gloomy overcast days we've had recently. So what did I do today while the weather was nice ... I swept the floor, vacuumed, did two loads of washing, finally took some washing off the line that had been stuck there for almost a week due to the rain and picked Brodie up from school because he wasn't allowed to work because he didn't take his chef's shirt with him.

For some reason the hospital kitchen staff said he was out of uniform and wasn't able to work today. I didn't read anywhere in the contract that stated he had to wear his TAFE chef's uniform to his work placement. Anyway they (work) sent him back to school and school said they didn't want him there because he had no classes to attend. So of course I had to go and pick him up. At least the weather was nice and I didn't have to drive up there in the pouring rain. But that cut into my cleaning so I made Brodie help me a bit when he got home. Surprisingly he helped without moaning about it. I'm still in shock.

I had a visitor coming this afternoon which was one of the main reasons I was cleaning/tidying up this morning ( I couldn't let my visitor see how grotty the house was). I got to meet a twitter friend for the first time, @MissMamaBear & her LittleBear. They were coming to town to visit family and popped in for a cuppa. It was nice to be able to put a face to the name.

I even managed to get some knitting done this afternoon. The little hedgehog will be finished by the end of this week hopefully. Of course there will be photos when I am done.

My only problem now is to work out what we are going to eat for dinner. I am sure if I ask the kids for suggestions they will say take-away!

Meet Me On Monday

Hosted by Java @ Never Growing Old

Questions:

1. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?
2. What is your favorite color Rose?
3. Do you remove your shoes when you walk into your home?
4. What is your favorite season?
5. Approximately how many hours a day do you spend blogging?

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Answers!

1. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?


2. What is your favorite color Rose?


3. Do you remove your shoes when you walk into your home?
Not in this home but when we lived in a cabin in the caravan park we did. The roads were all dirt and your shoes would get covered in mud whenever it rained.

4. What is your favorite season?


5. Approximately how many hours a day do you spend blogging?
Reading or posting? I spend a bit of time reading other peoples blogs. I may not comment on everyone's posts but I do read a lot!