An 'A, B, C' day!

I've had an 'A, B, C' day today!! No, I haven't regressed to my Sesame Street or Playschool mentality (tho some would argue I've never left them!!) I had A - "A morning free of appointments and committments"; B - "Buddies to share it with"; and C - "Cake and Coffee"!! My dancing buddy, Lynda, has her birthday exactly two weeks after mine, so we usually have two coffee shop lunches a fortnight apart to celebrate. However, with my birthday falling so close to Easter and hers falling so close to the school holidays, not to mention Deb, the third member of our belly dancing trio, has been kept out of the social loop with a training course - the Triple Trouble Trio hasn't had a chance to catch up and probably won't in the coming weeks. So ... we grabbed onto this morning where all three of us were free and we hit the Coffee Club!

Deb and I were very organised and had bought Lynda's pressie in the post-Christmas sales. Of course, Deb then had a job to keep me from giving it to Lynda straight away!! I'm shocking - if I buy something for someone as a gift, I want to give it to them NOW!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! We were a bit naughty, though and made Lynda carry the rather large wrapped parcel into the coffee shop! Here she is with her weighty surprise!


You can see why we made her carry it! Tee! Hee! Hee! And after she'd wrestled the paper and raffia ties off she found ...


Lynda enjoys cooking and is a great baker of biccies etc for school lunches, so I'm sure she'll make good use of them, but these great mixing bowls are also pretty!! Pretty and practical! How clever were we! Lynda is a bit of a pink freak - to balance out my predominantly "anti-pink" colour selections - so the bowls will look great in her kitchen, too.

We all had sinfully sweet goodies with our coffee and waddled out after a couple of fun hours of chatting, catching up and laughing. I really am blessed with some quirky, but wonderful friends!!

And nicer still, Lynda gave me a late birthday pressie of some play money with instructions to treat myself to something from Kerryanne's Shabby Art Boutique! Woo! Hoo!! My friends really do know me well!!! Lynda remembered me saying there were LOTS of pretties from Kerryanne's site that I would like to have in my lounge room! I'm already looking forward to drooling over Kerryanne's pretty creations again - I'll be sure to add photos when my pretties arrive!!

So ... that was how I spent most of my Saturday - how did you spend yours?? Hope you were having fun whatever you were up to, or at least felt you'd been productive!!

Ooooooh!! Before signing off, Linda of the pretty birdhouses has said she'll play "Tag" so I'll wait with baited breath to see what her seven weird and wonderful factoids will be. She says she has to give it some thought to come up with strange facts about her that won't scare people! Tee! Hee! Hee! I think most of us in blogland are pretty shockproof!!

Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Back on the air!!

YAY! I'm back on the air again after all of my electronic dramas! We're now with the new internet provider and I have my internet access back again without all of the rigmarole of using my beloved Geek Boy's spare notebook computer. (What is it about boys that they need TWO of everything - two notebook computers cos you never know when one will have problems; two fridges cos you need somewhere to keep the drinks; two TV's cos you might want to watch it in the office once a year ...)

And what did I find in my email 'In' box? An email from the delightful Kerryanne at Shabby Art Boutique telling me I've been TAGGED! Uh! Oh! I never could run fast enough to avoid being tagged! Tee! Hee! Hee! So ... apparently I now have to share 7 weird/strange/unusual/random facts about myself that people may not already know. Hmmm ... somehow I have to pick just seven out of the many!!

Here goes...

1. I collect movie quotes. When I was at uni, a friend and I would alleviate the boredom of dry and dusty lectures by trading movie quotes - one would write a quote and the other had to try to guess the movie it came from. It kept us extremely entertained, though may explain our low exam results!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! My brother also collects quotes and our phone conversations often revolve around which movies we've been watching and our fave quotes from them. I also remember great one-liners/come backs in TV shows. One of my fave quotes is: "It 'aint the years, honey, it's the mileage!" Can you guess which movie it's from?!?!?

2. I was part of a small performance team that toured QLD with former astronaut, the late James Irwin when he did a speaking tour of Australia in 1988. James Irwin was one of only a handful of astronauts to walk on the moon and was part of the Apollo mission that brought back the Genisis Rock (oldest carbon-dated rock scientists have played with!) The team I was part of would visit primary schools during the day and perform hour long sessions including singing, drama, puppets, mime, chalk-boarding and story-telling and give kids brochures for their parents inviting them to James' speaking engagements in the evenings. Exhausting month travelling the length of QLD, but great experience. (We could all quote James' speach by the end of the month!!!)

3. Particularly strange in light of the previous point's association ... I have a fear of deep darkness, particularly space!! Water deep enough to be dark scares me because of what may be lurking in its depths (too many Jaws movies!!!) but film shots from space looking out into the vast expanse of 'nothing' or particularly back at the Earth REALLY freak me out! When Lynette and I were in Townsville years ago, we watched a short film at the Imax theatre that began with LOTS of deep space shots and this was even worse than usual, as I really felt like I was being sucked into space! I think I left fingernail marks on the arms of the chair - Lynette laughed at me! What are friends for!!!

4. My brother, Paul, says I'm a left-over hippy. He points out that: I live in tiered, flowing skirts; have long hair; wear unusual and tribal jewelry with lots of dangles and bells; loooooooove windchimes; have a very healthy and well used herb garden; usually have an oil burner or incense burning to make the house smell pretty; am into natural and alternative remedies and therapies; am a bit of a greenie; and the belly dancing definitely confirmed it for him!! Hmmm, OK, so maybe he's right - peace, man!!!

5. The team I was part of made it to the state final of the Apex School Debating competition in 1985. We beat a VERY exclusive private school that had three debating coaches to make it to the final and they were NOT happy!!! We were a team from a little public school in a little country town that no one had even heard of and had one over-worked English teacher coaching all three of us! We were beaten in the final in a split decision, but were very proud of how far we got. Of course, my Dad says he wasn't surprised, as arguing is a natural talent I inherited from Mum's family! But his mother, my late Nan, had the best argument technique, I think. She'd finish an argument by saying, "We won't argue about it any more - but I still think I'm right!!" Tee! Hee! Hee!

6. I have had many nick-names over the years, but none has ever really stuck! The printable ones (!!) include: Smiley, Kitty Cat, Kermit, Pugsy (cartoon character), CJ (Court Jester) and George! George actually stuck the longest, as I worked part-time in the local chemist when I was going through Senior and the Pharmacist couldn't remember my name - so I was George!! Better than some things he could've called me, I guess!!!

7. I once won a runners-up prize in a Woman's Day romance writing competition - I got a HUGE bottle of Charlie perfume (which I couldn't wear as it made me sneeze!!). And not having completely lost my literary interests, I have two mystery/romance stories, a fantasy fiction story and several children's adventure stories in various stages of completion. Perhaps one day I'll finish them and get them published. Well ... I can dream, can't I?!?!?!

So ... there you go. Seven random perhaps previously unknown facts about me - I've always said I didn't intend to grow old gracefully because I'm going to be one of those eccentric old ladies who are an embarrassment to their families and the life of the party!!!

And now I have to tag 7 other people. I tag: Laura from Lilly Cottage (cos I know Linda has already been tagged! Tee! Hee! Hee!), Lynette Anderson, Rosalie Quinlan, Gail Pan, Birdhouse designer extraordinaire Linda, Jane at Quilters World and Lisa of Button Bliss.

Here’s the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

There you go ... it will be interesting to see what they come up with!

Before I sign off this post, I thought I'd introduce you to another new bear addition in the Meares Madhouse. Her name is Violet.



She's a sister to Ruby and Cherry, with a couple more family members in the pipeline - something special happening with them all soon ... but I can't tell you yet!!

I hope you all have a relaxing weekend and get a giggle or two from my seven random facts - make sure you check out the people I've tagged to see what fun factoids they come up with, too! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Good Intentions ...

Have you ever stopped to think about just how dependant we are on electricity? I know there's a lot of talk these days about our carbon footprint etc, but have you REALLY thought about it?!?! I have to confess that, despite upgrading our lightbulbs to the more energy efficient versions, turning off lights when we're not in a room and taking power usage into account when buying new appliances, I haven't thought too much on this - until this morning! (Oh, and that little incident not so long ago involving a leaking tap and safety switch, but that's a WHOLE 'nother story!!!)

I woke this morning with a list of things in mind that I wanted to acheive today, after a week of visitors and the long weekend. I had REALLY good intentions ... until the power went out! Now, in light (no pun intended!!) of my little drama with the safety switch, my first thought was that something had thrown it again, but I decided to flick a light switch to make sure. Hmmm, lights not working - no power at all. So ... I couldn't load and start the dishwasher - oh darn! I couldn't vacuum - oh dear! I couldn't do the washing - what a shame! I couldn't update my blog - I can do that later, no time limit. I couldn't do the machine sewing I'd planned - there's always later, I guess. So much for good intentions. Hmmm, wait, there's more ... I couldn't blow dry my hair - uh oh! That's more serious, but I just wouldn't go out in public for fear of scaring small children. Oh well, being an optomist, I thought I'd sit down with a cup of tea and read for a bit. WAIT A MINUTE!!! THE KETTLE IS ELECTRIC! AAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!!! Catastrophe had struck! Tee! Hee! Hee! WOW! For someone who describes herself as a technophobe, I really am very reliant on electricity!

The happy ending to this little scenario is that the power was only off for an hour and a half, so I actually did get around to doing all of those things on the list and following through on my good intentions - including finishing a new bear friend.



Meet Cherry Bear - for obvious reasons!! Tee! Hee! Hee! She is a cutie and I find it so interesting that despite the fact that I've designed the pattern and sewn both Cherry and Ruby - they look so different! That's what I love about hand made bears!! They have their very own character - and I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I saw it. YUMMY! I have a little something in mind for Cherry and Ruby, but won't spoil the surprise yet!

And speaking of surprises, I had a 'sweet' surprise today when I received a late birthday gift from my friend Mary at Fresh Hope Patterns. I think a drawn out birthday where pressies arrive in dribs and drabs is even more fun than getting lots of goodies on the 'big day'! When I unwrapped the pressie from Mary, I found ...



Aren't they gorgeous!! Mary knows my weakness for all things cupcake related and found this sweet smelling cupcake soap (mustn't eat it or I'll be foaming at the mouth!!) and these too-pretty-to-use cupcake papers. Since the papers are too pretty to use (at least until I have a special afternoon tea!) I've put them on display with my scented cupcake - right beside the wonderful tea cup and saucer/plate set I bought at Lilly Cottage.

So ... after a slightly eventful, unexpectedly interrupted, yet still productive day, I'm feeling a little weary, so think I'll toddle off to visit my pillow. Hope you had a day of fulfilling good intentions! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS Have just had more electronic dramas when I went to post this! Our internet provider had a little hissy fit about us changing providers (due to poor customer service!!) and cut off our service early!! Aaaarrrgghhhhh! So, had to copy the post, save it to a memory stick and transfer to my beloved Geek Boy's notebook computer to use his you-beaut portable internet connection thingy - that's the technical name for it, of course! tee! hee! hee! SIGH! Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit simpler to deal with!!! BH! KRIS

A new friend!

I have a new friend, today - her name is Ruby. Would you like to meet her?


Here is Ruby playing amongst my lavender - which is flowering like crazy at the moment near our front gate. (Hmmm ... please ignore the ugly letterbox - it's on the list of things to replace, but I feel faint every time I see the ridiculous prices for plain, boring ol' letter boxes and decide to keep the old one a bit longer!) Isn't she a cutie?!! Here's another photo, a bit closer.


Scott's on call for work this weekend, so I've been playing in my sewing room. This was one of those "I wonder what would happen if ...." experiments. I shrank one of my bear designs and made it up in some pretty floral fabric rather than my usual fabric of choice, towelling, and I have to say, I'm pleased with how this one turned out. She's got a little bit of an olde worlde, shabby chic aura about her! I have a little something in mind for Ruby and her soon-to-be-created family, but won't say anything yet - I'll keep you in suspence a little while longer!!

While I was outside, I took a few photos of the pond which now boasts a newly operational waterfall, thanks to my beloved Geek Boy installing the pump he gave me for my birthday.


This one is a close-up shot of the waterfall, but between the overgrown ferns and the fading afternoon light, it's a little hard to see well. You do get a nice close up of our duck who had to have emergency surgery to reattach his head after a tussle with some of our nephews! He's recovered well from the delicate surgery and tries to warn all new garden ornaments of the dangers of tackling energentic boys!


This shot shows the full length of the pond. Yes, it really does need a little bit of TLC! Between the drought and the brainless-but-usually-loveable Border Collie, the garden surrounding the pond has taken a bit of a beating. The fish who reside here, however, are extremely happy. Each year we see a new generation of baby fish born in our backyard - obviously we have VERY happy fish! Tee! Hee! Hee! And you can see that Ruby was helping me with my pond photo shoot - she really seemed to enjoy the garden - a bear after my own heart!!

Hope you're all having a lovely break and getting to spend time doing what you enjoy most, whether that's playing in your sewing room, pottering in your garden or just kicking back having a few quiet drinks with friends and family. Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Never work with kids or animals!!

A famous performer is much-quoted as advising to 'never work with kids or animals'. After a little photo session tonight, I'm inclined to agree! You see, Mum and Dad are visiting this week, along with Mum's 'baby' - a long-haired Chihuahua called Sunny, which my brother Paul and I bought for her 8 years ago. Paul and I joke that Sunny is much more spoilt than we ever were!! So ... I decided I wanted to get a photo of the 'tall and the short of it' with Sunny and our boofy Border Collie, Wombat. Easier said than done!! It probably would've made a great entry for "Funniest Home Videos"! Poor Scott had difficulties galore! Imagine if you will, me, kneeling in the middle of our lounge room with Sunny tucked in the crook of one arm, with the other holding Wombat in place to stop him eating Sunny's dinner and Scott trying to get all three of us looking at the camera at the same time! The results were not Pulitzer material, believe me!! Here's the best of the bad bunch.


Not the most flattering photo for any of us really! I look like I've been dragged through a tornado backwards and the dogs' glowing eyes make them look like they're possessed!! You do, however, get the general size difference I was trying to show. Sigh! Sometimes ideas are so much better than reality!!

Mum and Dad have been here for a few days and have incorporated several things into one visit - Dad's annual heart specialist checkup, Mum's shopping fix, Easter and celebrating my birthday - which is today! Happy Birthday to me!! We discussed going out for dinner to celebrate then decided that since it's the Thursday before the Easter weekend, everything would probably be crowded and driving today led us to declare it official "Idiot Driver Day", so we were all happy to stay home. Mum took charge of the kitchen and as you can see, took her task seriously! Tee! Hee! Hee!


We enjoyed delicious steak, fresh steamed veges and a berry cheesecake for desert - all for much less than a restaurant would have cost and Dad said the best part was that he didn't have to get all gussied up!! My Dad's from the bush!! Tee! Hee! Hee! However, I didn't take any photos of this yummy feast, because it disappeared far too quickly!!

I've received some lovely gifts - isn't it nice to be spoilt for at least one day of the year?!?! Scott's Mum and Dad are currently tripping around Europe, so my early present was a Victoriana style heart-shaped cushion and a beaded potpuri hanger which both look right at home in the previously featured spare room.


Mum and Dad's gift was a promise that they'll pay for me to travel with Mum later in the year to visit my aunt who lives outside Adelaide - Yay! She and her husband have a small farm and raise alpacas (and a managerie of other assorted animals!), which I've been dying to see in person, but haven't been able to save up for the airfare before this.

And from my terribly romantic husband????


No, you're not seeing things - it's a new pump for the pond waterfall! The old one burned out some months ago and it's been on the 'must replace that one day' list ever since. Apparently, I was heard to bemoan the fact that it still hasn't been replaced so my wonderfully practical hubbie decided to kill two birds with one stone! He may not be romantic, but he is mine!! Tee! Hee! Hee! While not what I was expecting, it will be nice to have the waterfall working again. We've nursed the pond through the drought to save the fish and water plants that we've been nurturing, topping up with precious tank water to keep the mini-ecosystem thriving, so seeing the waterfall in action again will be nice, as I find water very soothing - must be a Pisces thing!! Will include some photos once the pump is installed - hope that was part of the gift or I'm up the creek!!!

While I haven't done anything very extraordinary for my birthday this year, I have to say I've enjoyed it a lot - some lovely pressies, lots of SMS messages and phone calls from friends, a delicious home-cooked meal and surrounded by the people I love most - does life really get much better than that!!! Of course the down side is that I now have to remember how old I am - it's taken me the last 12 months to remember last year's increase! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And as this is so close to Easter, I'll wish you all a Happy and safe Easter break - hope you spend it with those you love and if you're travelling, take care. Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS