Happy Holidays folks!!!

Just popping in quickly to say "Happy Christmas" to you all and may 2010 be a wonderful year for everyone.

We are spending our first Christmas in our new home with my parents and my Grandmother. It will be the first time my Grandmother, or Granky as we call her, will have seen the house. She turned 89 last Sunday and she still drives, lives at home and has a bigger social life than we do!

I've been "checking the list" off gradually today - the silver is polished, the crockery washed and ready, and the ham has been cooked. I really wish I could tuck into it today it smells so YUMMY!!!
I shall leave you with some pics from around the house.
The boys did the paper chains and most of the decorating.
My Dad made the Nativity scene a few years ago and it takes pride of place.
I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas and New Year.
See you all again soon.
Love, Kathryn. XX

Rusty.....

This is Rusty.

She was given to Master 8 as a baby and she is the most loved teddy in the world.

Master 8 has slept with her every night for 8 years and she has lost some of her "plumpness" from being squished to death everynight.

He takes her on sleep overs and doesn't care what the other boys say. She has been for show and tell, a teddy bears picnic, on holidays, on planes and on a train.

For the first two years of her existance in our family Hubs and I thought "she" was a "he".

But not so!

I have a feeling that when Master 7 came along, that is when we found out that Rusty was a girl......

I wonder why?

Anyway, with scene set, Master 8 (soon to be 9) said to me the other night, whilst squishing his teddy,

"Mummy, I wonder what Rusty would do if she were on TV?".....

I said, "Maybe a Ballerina?"

"Then she would have to have a tutu and pink ballet slippers" he replied...

The cogs started turning.......Perhaps Rusty would need her own Christmas Stocking this year with her new ensemble?

Now, you have to realise that this son of mine, master 8 is a real boys boy. He loves Footy, soccer, running, climbing, wrestling, tennis and watching "Wipeout".

So his genuine cutesy love for this teddy often amazes me.

So, at craft group last night, I put the finishing touches to the tutu and made the other girls giggle about the funny story! One also suggested I should make a head dress. Is that going a bit too far?

Maybe. Just the slippers to do then.....

Kathryn. XX

Getting Stoned......

Now, that I have your attention.....it isn't us....

No, it's the fireplace!

Finally the stone was delivered and Hubs had some spare time....gasp!

Did you say "Spare time"?

This is some of what he did over the weekend......

That, of course was in between, tennis, a soccer semi final (Master 7's team did a fantastic job but lost) and Hubs' Mum's birthday - what is it with December birthdays? We have 7 in total - perhaps it was the onset of the colder weather in March? Mmmmm...
I did some sewing for the family room....

And I got stuck into doing some more painting. I do have an incentive - we have some curtains ready to hang.......and waiting....
And we said "goodbye" to friends who are returning to Namibia.

They have been here for 4 years and we befriended the family through school - they have children the same age as our two boys.

It is very sad to see them go, when we thought they would be here for good.

They have been wonderful friends.

Thank goodness for internet!

Few! I bet everyone else has been just as busy as we have.

It so hard to enjoy the festive season when everything is so frantic.

Stop, smell the roses - if you have any!

Kathryn. XX

Listing some new stuff

......on EBAY.

It has been months since I listed anything on ebay - it's a wonder how I remembered to do it!!!

All listings are at BUY IT NOW for Christmas shopping so you don't have to wait around for auctions to end.

Just click on the collage below to see what's on offer. I post worldwide too!

I spent yesterday in my home town for my Mum's birthday.

We went out for lunch and it was a wonderful day.
Quick one today, I hope everyone is well?

Kathryn. XX

Finally we have a decent table to sit at!

Look what arrived yesterday! The new dining table, chairs and buffet!

For the last 11 years we have been sitting at a round four seater table which does make it hard when you want to invite friends or family over for a meal!!!

Poor Hubs had to rush home from work to meet the truck because I had a prior engagement with Master 8 who was participating in a "Travel Expo" at school.

(They had to research an Australian town, present it in brochure form and then try to sell their town for a holiday!)

I'm glad Hubs did come home becuase that meant he could put the table together while I unpacked the chairs.....
The amount of packaging was incredible.
Slowly getting it all unwrapped!

Et voila!

We are so pleased with how it all looks and fits into the dining area. We really wanted a chunky farmhouse look for the kitchen and couldn't find anything remotely right here in Ballarat - and things were so much more expensive here too.

We ended up going to Geelong to the Early Settler store, we bought the buffet to match for the same price as just buying a table and chairs here.

I think I could have bought out the entire store, it had so many lovely things that would fit perfectly in our home.

Slowly it is coming together.

Kathryn. XX

Haywire.....

Some of you may have noticed that the website has gone a little haywire, ie. photos not appearing where they should be, text not in the right place etc...

I spent a good few hours yesterday trying to upload a stack of Rachel Ashwell and Cath Kidston buntings (see pic below) only to find it did not work after about 10 attempts. Frustration.

Anyway, as soon as hubs walked in the front door, last night, I pounced! He is pretty techno savvy but even he could not figure it out! End result, he deleted everything from the website and uploaded everything again, only to find that some things were fixed, whilst others were not.

So, if you are looking at the Home Decor or Newly listed items pages, the little pictures are not what they should be, but if you click on the images, you will be in the right place.

This pic was taken at the end of our wonderful dinner last night for our craft group.

It was a really wonderful night with lots of laughter, yummy food, Kris Kringle presents and great company. Thanks girls!

L-R Rachel, Annie, Janine (blogless), Alison (blogless) , and missing from the photo - Christine (blogless), Jeanette, Sue (blogless) and, absent Jodie.

After readng yesterday's post again, I realised that I have, in fact, made a few Christmas gifts this year.

Using Amy Butler's "Nigella" fabric, I made a few zippy purses/wristlets and a notebook cover for a few teachers at school.

It's blowing hot north wind (I should say gale) here today. I wonder if the kids will come home, from school, a little crazy this afternnon?

Kathryn. XX

More ticked off the list....

Last year, I stupidly decided to make something for everyone for their Christmas gifts. I nearly drove myself mad at the sewing machine and consequently didn't go near the thing for a month!

This year, however, I have bought everything.

And, I am well under budget and stress free!

I popped into Spoils (a local discount variety store) the other day, just to see what they had, and I found these cute little Kokeshi dolls. They were only $4.50 each! So, I bought 10!

Lots ticked off the list now - only two more to go.

I am off to my craft Christmas dinner tonight which will be fun. I have missed the last few catch up's with the girls. I must remember to take the camera!

Kathryn. XX

The outside.....

I was meant to show you these pics last week, but, with our rainy weekend it would have looked a bit miserable. I won't go into any techinical details here - if you would like to know more about what products we used pop over to hubs blog.
Side view - you can see that the high pitched roof is only at the front of the house - pretty much for "looks" and to accommodate the two top rooms.

This window, at the top of the roof, is the window that lets light into the vestibule.

Taken from the boundry at the back. Where I am standing will eventually be a shed.

That's my sewing room window on the left.

And, the front porch.

Quick one today, lots to do....

Kathryn. XX