I want money...

That's what I want...
But just seem to spend it instead...

My husband works Saturdays. That's what happens when you work in the car industry...
So most Saturdays are spent doing chores, lunching with other car dealers wives (many of my girlfriends) and having some 'me' time.
Saturday this weekend was no different. Amongst the gym, chores and stuff, I had some waxing done (can't see past my tummy anymore) and a lovely facial.

Sunday finally we didn't have any plans. No one to see. Nothing to do! The first time since moving into the new house.
We went to the tip to get rid of a whole heap of boxes from all Buggy's furniture, Bunnings for some bits and pieces, Spotlight for some ribbon for a little DIY project I'm thinking of... (more on that another day) and then to get a little something for Dear Husband:

Dear Husband is mighty happy with his ipad 2! 

He needs it for work more than anything... But at least now I can claim the Mac and he can have the ipad!!!  

While at Birkenhead point, I made a detour past Seed and we picked up this cute little vest for Buggy! $69.95 reduced to $29.95 and then there was a 25% discount! It will be prefect for next winter.

So it was gifts for Daddy and gifts for Buggy and nothing for me :-( 

Lets hope the Powerball ticket in my wallet comes up trumps and I can buy myself a little gift or two!

I'm having the morning off today to go to a doctor appointment at RPA for Buggy.

Then it's off to work and to a lunch to celebrate a 50th birthday... I don't see much work getting done today! Happy Monday to me!!!

Smells like.... Paint!

After day one I came home to this:

Sanding back - Filling in the gaps - what shocker of OLD walls we have!

Day two - Morning before heading to work - first coat over the red! 

Looks a little something like this:

Day 3 I missed because I was away. And thank goodness for that!

Because when I came home on day 4 to the finished product...

The whole house smelt like paint. It was bad! 

And for the extra smelly senses I have at the moment it was not great...

Then Friday morning before heading to work (casual Friday) Dear Husband took this shot of me! 

30 weeks down! Around 10 or so to go!

Look! (Can I just say he is not the greatest of photographers)

Wearing Jeans West maternity skinny jeans in blue, white 3/4 sleeve top $10 from K-Mart! and my stripy Saba cardi! I did have on some cute flats from Nine West that are a purple pink type colour... But just getting one quick and half decent photo from Dear Husband is hard enough! 

And my arm looks big and fat in this shot too...

Hard to believe that 4 weeks ago I looked like this:

People didn't even know I was pregnant back then! There is no mistaking it now...

This final shot I have just taken.

Looking very bleak and bare at the moment. Not a single picture on the wall, mess on the table and lots of decorating to be done! 

Red Nose Day

Don't forget that today is RED NOSE DAY.
Support a very very worthy cause.

And visit rednoseme.com to make a cool picture of yourself and donate.

I did.

I am 30 weeks pregnant today... I can't quite believe that I am on the home stretch now.

Toys on Sale!

Want to be prepared for Christmas?
Got some birthdays coming up?
The K-Mart toy sale starts on Thursday the 30th of June....
But you can view the catalogue on-line from today!!!

I'm keen to get a few things for Buggy for Christmas (not too much though - she will only be about 3.5 months old!) But we do have a few other children to buy for so any saving is welcome! 

And I would much rather buy now while I am still working and "have the money" 

Good luck! Let me know what you think and what you buy!

Know of any other sales? I'd love to hear about them!

Cupcakes

You know when you have something like a birthday dinner to go to, but you don't buy gifts for each other, but still feel like you have to take something?

What about a cupcake?

On Saturday evening we were going out for dinner with 4 other couples and it was for 3 of the girls birthdays...
I think a nice small gesture is always nice.
So what should I do?
Macaroons? - Um... I might live within walking distance of the best Adriano Zumbo macaroons in the world! (well maybe Sydney) but I am not going to line up for an hour to buy them.
Off to the cupcake factory!

And when I told the guy there what they were for this is what we ended up with!

Individually boxed and cased in tissue paper cupcakes!

There was a blue one too, but I couldn't get a good photo of it.

For a grand total of $10.50 for the 3 I was extremely pleased!

And they were very much appreciated too!

What a great token gift idea! 

Yes, I know I could have baked them myself.... But they would never have looked this good!

What other ideas do you have for token gift ideas?

I might be needing some more soon!

I want... Bunting

I have been tossing up different ideas for Buggy's room.
Last night when I couldn't sleep I was googling and looking up all different types of things.
I think I have decided what I want to do!

Grey walls. White furniture + antique oak dresser I need to restore. Plus accents of pink.
Not too much pink. Just a little. She is a girl after all!

Now... I want BUNTING!
I feel like everyone is doing the wall decal things. And although they are cute... I want to do something different... So I'm thinking bunting!

Maybe something like this?

From Etsy shop - Giggleberry

And then a wall growth chart - been searching trying to find the right one...

I like this one, but I can't find it in pink...

Found in my Real Living Mag from - Kindred Gifts

And finally I was thinking that above the bunting or somewhere? I could get the letters to spell out her name and paint them a very light pink?

So far it's all in my head... I am still not sure how it's all going to come together?

What do you think?

How did you decide the way to decorate your nursery or child's room?

Are you happy with it?

Got any ideas? Suggestions? Places I can search?

Leggings as pants...

Yes. You got it. I have a wardrobe that is getting thinner and thinner by the day...
Today we had a lunch booked in at some very good friends house around the corner.
Although I do love my Jeans West maternity jeans - it's nice to wear something different.
I didn't feel in the mood for a dress... So I decided to try the leggings thing.

Leggings as pants - 29.2 weeks pregnant

Yeah, so you can't really tell from the photo - I really need to start getting dear husband to take the shots. And look at all the crap in the background! (embarrassing)
BUT they are a good pair - Yes only from Sportsgirl. But not at all faded and fit well.
A longish top ($5 from Target - need to show a better photo of that one day) that covered my butt and a long cardi from Country road that was even longer than the top.
It went ok. The other girls said I looked good. So the leggings as pants is here for the remainder of my pregnancy - but maybe just to be kept at home and out to friends only.

We have had a fairly productive weekend.
Friday I put our pram together! LOOK!

And today we put together the bassinet and change table.
No photos of those yet. We will wait till the cot is done and the room a little more tidied and then crack out some photos to show you all!!!

One thing that dear husband wanted and was never going to say no to, was one of those old rockers that we all seemed to have as little tackers.
Here is me in mine!

Hope you all have had a wonderfully lovely weekend. I sure have.
Painter will be here at 7am tomorrow morning!
Jeepers!
Will have to take a few quick before photos before the red disappears!

How "Buggy" can you go?

So...
How "Buggy" can you go?

Stunning mobile for the nursery from Flensted (Thanks Desert Darling for the link)

A Samsonite - Sammies Ladybird Trolley case - from Peters of Kensington?

A funny looking, but cute outfit from Little Styles?

A bouncer from LINK (Thanks Nat!)

A cute umbrella through POK again

But my all time favorite "Buggy" thing is:

And I'm bookmarking that one for Christmas or her first birthday! 

Of which I have already posted about HERE

The things you can find are endless... just search "Ladybug baby" on Google! 

I'm just not sure how "Buggy" we are going to go?

She bakes!

Oh yes I do!

And I am oh so proud of myself too!!!

My mum made this the last time I was in Melbourne and I just LOVED it! 

I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it....

A girlfriend from works birthday.

Lemon Meringue Baked cheese cake:

Base and filling baked and a little one for my Mister! He loves baked cheese cake (and not many other desserts) so I just had to make him a little one in a ramekin. He loved it BTW!

Meringue on top and popped back into the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Out of the oven (I nearly forgot them!) I really should learn to use the timer on my oven.

Crappy cutting. Too scared to take the base off the bottom and ready to eat!

The image from the website! I reckon I did alright! 

And really it all comes down to taste and it was AWESOME!

And now for the recipe.

Good luck! Let me know if you decide to give it a go!!!

New drawers

Yesterday I finally bought a chest of drawers for our bedroom!
I spotted them on Ebay a few weeks ago, but really wanted to check them out first before making the purchase.
So I had a little free time and headed to Carlton in Sydney to take a look.

I am really really happy with them! We will go and pick them up on Saturday.

I ended up paying $440 (advertised for $580)

Made from oak they are very old, but in such lovely condition. 

They do have another set there too... And I am seriously considering getting the other one for Buggy's room... I think I am getting scared off the little reno project I have given myself (More on that another day)

And can I also say how happy I am with the invites for my baby shower in Melbourne! 

A month to go today! Just need to start thinking about what food we are going to have...

I stole found the picture on Google images, wrote up the invite and then my sister just printed them out as a normal 6x4 photo at K-Mart!

Here is my copy on my fridge!

(Picture removed for now - I didn't realise you could read the address and phone numbers... Not a great idea, will fix and add back later)

I am still constantly thinking about the painting... So I have put a few things on ebay to try and raise some more funds to make my purchase seem fair and reasonable.

I am finding it hard though... I finish work in 8 more weeks and there is no maternity pay.

It is a lot of money to spend and I am scared... Thinking and decisions...

I found it!

Remember about a week ago I posted about the painting behind Nina's bed (Offspring)
HERE

Well an amazing angel named Emily (no blog link) posted that the artist was Rosetta Santucci!
I looked on her website and all it had was SOLD SOLD SOLD on all her art work.

Over the weekend I was showing my sister and we did a search.
I found a place in Sydney that had one of her paintings left!
SoHo Galley

This is what they had:

LINK

I emailed them straight away! I love it!

92cm x 92cm oil on canvas.

They got back to me really really quickly too!

Bad news.... It's $4500

Now I would have been happy to spend about half that.

My parents and sister still owe me a 30th birthday present and I always said I wanted a piece of art, I just have to find what I want.

But $4500 is a lot of money. Well out of our/my price range.

I shouldn't have been surprised.

Oh well... Back to the drawing board.

Someone lovely out there, please buy this painting. It's lovely.

Rain and Rocking the Kazbah

This weekend it rained and rained and rained and............... You get the idea.
Seriously I am just waiting for Noah to come down my street on his Ark...
Maybe because I am in the process of "re-producing" he will let me on and save me?

A crappy weekend for it to rain too. My sister and her husband came up from Melbourne to see us.

Cheeky sister! I sent her an email Friday afternoon asking if there was any 'special requests' for their visit... Fine wine, cheeses, caviar and a bowl of blue only M&M's...
Cheeky indeed....
But look at what I actually did have in the cupboard at home

I have no idea why, but last week I bought a bucket of the State Of Origin Blues M&M's

They arrived Saturday morning and we headed home for a little brunch (danishes bought from Adriano Zumbos) and a catch up.
Saturday night we had some guests over for a delish lamb roast cooked by yours truly!
Many drinks were consumed... And I ended up with a few extra overnight guests too...

Sunday we awoke to MORE RAIN.
A lovely breakfast at home and then we mozied around for a bit and then went to a few old antique places and the auction house up the road from us because well it's fun and because my sis and her mister and looking for a dining table.

Another trip to Zumbos (it can be bad living so close) home for some afternoon tea then we went to the movies! Gold class tickets to The Hangover 2

I liked it. It is funny. It's mindless 'crap' that you can watch, laugh and talk about later without having to think too much. But I would have been just as happy to wait till it was out on DVD.

A bit to eat at one of out favorite Asian places (Satasia - Balmain) afterward and MORE RAIN.

Monday was getting a little better... That was till we decided to leave the house and had MORE RAIN...

We had booked breakfast for 10am at Kazbah on Darling and went with a few other friends and their baby.

We all had the Breakfast Tagine. YUMO! 

We all couldn't help but sing "Rock the Kazbah" for a bit and because the rain held off for a bit we decided to go for a walk!

Bad move... First stop... Witchery... I ended up with a dress and a cardi. But with $50 off for any purchase over $100 I only ended up spending $109

Then further on and into Seed.... VERY bad move.

I did pick up a cute little top that I am going to give to my uncles child when born (boy or girl) (due this week!)

Their surname is Seed...

I thought it was very cute! And on sale for $19.95 

But then I saw this:

Buggy needs it I said (I'm sure she doesn't) and it's so cute! And it's on sale!

Ok! Ok! And we bought it home.

Very lucky for sissy's mister the Collingwood V Melbourne AFL game was on TV so a little afternoon at home before the boys headed to the pub for a bit then it was home for some homemade pizzas, Master chef and all tucked up in bed by 9.30pm

They headed off home this morning. It is always sad to see them go.

But we head to Melbourne in a few weeks so it wont be long till we catch up again.

They actually made it home too! No volcano issues (just Crapstar delays) today.

Did you all enjoy your long weekend! Love the Queen! 

What did you get up to?

And did you stay dry?

The pub with Guinness!

A big congratulations to our very good friends Rene and Philippa!
Today it became official that they are now the new owners of The Commercial Hotel in Balmain East!

We are super excited for them!
It's going to be a great adventure.

They won't be running it.
That will all be left to someone else.
They just own it (the land, the building the free hold too - I think it's called?)

I see many a champagne bottle being opened there.
I see many a beer being poured/pulled.
Rene is especially happy because not all pubs serve Guinness... This one will!

Here is an old photo I found on Flicker via Google images.

Randomness when working at home

This morning I have been working from home.
Soon I need to leave and drive to Goulburn then Moss Vale then home late tonight (for work)

What do I get up to when working at home?

I bake! White Choc and raspberry muffins!

I admire my new $99 bedside tables from IKEA! And try to work out what else I can put on them.

I blog! And drink tea. (And actually do some work!)

And I take a photo of myself to show that I have a 'bump' nearly 28 weeks... It's about time!

I also find lovely quotes like this: 

"Before you were conceived, I wanted you. Before you were born, I loved you. Before you were here for an hour, I would die for you. This is the miracle of love"

It made me well up and cry, it is beautiful and a true indication of how I feel about our little Buggy.

It is a quote by Maureen Hawkins.

I am lucky that I have the bonus and benefit of working from home a bit. And I really do work! I actually am more likely to get more done at home than when I am at work...

Do you have that added bonus of working from home?

Do you get more or less done when you do?

Buggy Shopping

So when mum and dad were up on  the weekend, mum wanted to see all the stuff we have so far for Buggy.
We actually don't have all that much (I will have to take a whole lot of photos and post them one day) and mum was horrified!
You have hardly anything she tells me!
Well! I say... I was going to leave it and see what we get as gifts etc...

But, today I decided to pop into DJ's while at Bondi Junction for work.
DJ's are having a bit of a sale and especially good is a 2 day sale of 50% off Bonds, Bebe and Pure Baby.

Buggy was very spoilt today!

A cute teether toy, a Max and Tilly top, and 3 x Bonds singlets

2 x grow suits (or 'onsies') Bebe and Bonds

2 more grow suits - Pure Baby organics with bib and hat and an already reduced one from Unicorn

A fitter cover for the change mat and a mattress protector reduced to $14.95 each!

Well over $200 retail value and I paid $132.29

Very very happy! And so was mum! 

Wow! Buggy has some clothes now she says... Well she does have some, but not much... 

And then there is this thing called the kindness of others...

A lovely lady at work popped over to see me today and bought me a cute little summer hat that she had for her daughter and never used. 

It's from Cotton On and I'm sure it will look perfect with her little swimmers (bathers) in summer!

I am always touched by the kindness and generosity of others.

New car & Weekend family fun.

I'm getting a new car.
And it looks a little something like this.

I didn't really get much say in the matter.

It was just done.

It's a 2010 Mercedes Benz B180 in Black. Some AMG options (like the wheels) only 6000 km's and it has this thing called self park! ("Hopefully" this means no scratching of the wheels by me!)

In other news, we had my mum and dad come and stay for the weekend and it was lovely!

Thank you so much to Sydney for putting on some brilliant winter weather.

We went to Terrigal to see my uncle and his wife on Saturday, Sunday was spent at the Rozelle markets where mum and I bought some books and dad bought a pile of records, which he is very proud of!

I'm talking Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, and Johnny Cash... Sad I know.

They left this morning and I'm sad.

But I have my sister and her husband up for the long weekend!!! Yay! It's going to be fun!!!

What do you think of the new car? I'm not convinced...

But it was a great deal! And really I don't get much of a say these days...

More importantly! What have you all been up to?



Painting / Print ?

Do you watch Offspring?
Well we do!
Did you watch Monday nights episode?
We did.

at the end of the episode Nina walks into her room, sits on the bed, makes a phone call....
Anyway... All that is not at all important.

However what is important is the painting or print that was hung above her bed!
I am in love!
But who is it by? Where is it from? How can I find out? Help me!

Look! what do you think?

Now. I'd better get organised! My parents are flying up to Sydney from Melbourne to spend the weekend with us!
I am so happy and so excited!!! And then my sister and her husband come up next weekend for the long weekend!

Pick and Choose

It's been a very busy few days in our household.
And it's going to get even busier!

Work Work Work it has been all week.
Today I had a dentist appointment (yay - not) then I had to go and do the glucose test and have a blood test to check for gestational diabetes.
Dr thinks everything will be fine, but it has to be done anyway.

We have my mum and dad coming up tomorrow afternoon for the whole weekend!
I am super excited! and can't wait to show off our new house!

We emptied another 3 random boxes last night and my dear darling husband has decided it's finally time for at least half of the magazines he has been collecting since the 80's to go! WOO HOO! You have no idea. My house is currently breading magazines... (and no. there is no porn!)

We bought a beautiful dresser off Ebay for Buggy's room for $46
Dresser
It needs some restoration - but we feel we can do it and are pretty excited about it too...

A few more things still need to be decided:

We can't find bedside tables for out bedroom anywhere... But then I spotted these at IKEA

They are only $99 so if we change our mind after a year or so it isn't so bad.

I am going to look at them this afternoon and if they are any good I will just grab them.

I have also spotted this dresser on ebay which I really like

But we are talking $400-$500 here so I want to view it first.

Going to try to do that tonight or Saturday morning.

Have you now noticed that I like mixing old and new?

Well we also need a buffet or something (for storage) for under our stairs... Reading my current Real Living magazine the other night when I couldn't sleep I spotted this

Sorry for the crappy photo. It's the only one I could find on Google.

I think the white/timber combination will help to break up the fact that our dining table is all old timber and quite heavy...

We are going to see if we an view one somewhere.

But at the moment I can buy online from Click On Furniture for $999 plus $65 delivery - cheaper than I have seen anywhere!

So that's what I have been up to this week...

What about you?