New Leaf

I'm starting my New Years resolutions early, and one of them is to kick-start this blog.

In 2010, I plan to:

~ Lose weight. I aim to lose about 25 kilos by this time next year. I'll eat better, exercise more (even if it is "just" Wii-fitting. I plan to wear a pedometer every day, and upload the data into my laptop.

~ Craft more. More specifically, I want to produce at least one finished craft piece (and no cheating with easy beading) a week, every week. Crocheting, sewing, resin, learning to knit, I want to be crafty.. and good at it!

~ Start, and stick to, a "365 photos" project. I failed last time; let's try again, shall we?

~ Save more and aim to be debt-free (not including mortgage). Is ti cheating that I'm already halfway there?

~ Write more, both fiction and blogging to assist in the above goals.

Get out more: to the beach, the parks, the Gardens, the mini-breaks within a couple hours drive from here.

Here's to a happier, more productive, fitter 2010!

The Wombles

I bought wombat shaped cookie cutters at the Show. What else do you make but chocolate gingerbread...?





Mmm, spicy...

On the road again

A few months ago, we wrote off our Big Yellow 4Runner on the Black Spur (beautiful drive, terrifying thought of going over the edge) while were bringing home the wombat cage - about the only thing left standing at the Ranch after the bushfires tore through. After embedding itself in embankment (much better than over the cliff!), it looked a little like this:

with the chassis twisted and bits of steel poking through those nice yellow panels.

So we've been down a car since late March, and it's getting a little frustrating when we both need the car but have to go different directions. Sure, he's got his bike, but it's not always practical when it's bleak.

We've been looking at Subarus, ebcause they'ce got a reputation for sticking to the road like glue, but most of the good ones haev been put of our price range. Until yesterday. When we snaffled a 1997 Forester for not nuch at all. We won't get to pick it up until the weekend, but in the meantime, here's one we prepared earlier:


let's see the wombat try and push us off the road in THIS!

Birds Nests

I've seen a lot of "birds nest" jewellery lately on Etsy and other crafty websites recently, and they look cool. I like the relaxed, feee-flowing look of wire-wrapped jerellery. Rather than buying one and deconstructing it to figure out how it's made, I decided to dive in head-first this afternoon, and see just how easy they were.

Answer: very.

This was my first attempt, a study in underdstated simplicity:


Fits like a dream, and looks rather elegant on. Not very "nest"-like, though, is it?


Second try:


I think this one was N's favourite, as it's got the look of starling eggs. Or would if the camera picked the colour right.

Third time lucky:


Because even Goth-birds like a nest to come home to, right?

While rummaging through my beads, I found some larger ones, and thought: "wouldn't it be cool to make a necklace out of these?" So I did:


I'm REALLY happy with how this one turned out. The colour and contrast are PERFECT!

While experimenting, I decided to branch out from the "standard" three-eggs-in-a-nest and voila!


The cosmos in wearable form!

And lastly, I found these beads, which will go perfectly with the bungalow fabric:


I think they glow in the dark, too. But can I get away with wearing the matching fabric without feeling silly?

These are dead easy to make, and I love the concept that you can't actually go wrong making them. I wonder what other wire-wrapped creations are this easy?

==

Oh, and I'm still going strong with the Wii Fit. Last week was a write-off because of the plague/swineflu/cold N gave me, but I've stared back up on it again, and even half-sick beating my old scores. Yay competition!

Wii Wii Wii Wii all the way home.

Kevin Rudd bought me a Wii Fit.

I figured, if I get one, I'll have no excuse for not exercising - none of this "It's too dark, it's too cold, I'll get mugged" nonsense.

And it's very silly.

Competitive hulahooping, ski jumps (bend ze kneez) and tightrope walking coupled with sensible yoga, step and muscle workouts make for good all-round stuff.

Now, can I stick to a routine with it?  There's enough colour and movementon the screen so I shouldn't get bored, and you should see how competitive I get against myself when there's the pole position at stake.

The cats just laugh at me.

Kitchen makeover

* defibrillates blog*

I got it into my head to paint the kitchen this weekend. After five years of musk-stick-pink, a colour so vile I don't even have a photo of it on-hand, enough was enough. I wanted sunshiny springy colours, and spent hours (ok, an hour) poring over Dulux and Nippon paint chips online.

A Bunnings Run later, and we came home with Taubman's "Lime Frost". Under lights it looked soft, green-yellow, maybe a little cold, but otherwise everything I'd wanted in a kitchen paint colour.

This was the first coat:


A little bright, but could be worse. At least it's not nuclear yellow, right? A word to the wise: that fluoro stuff makes an awful drop-cloth.

The second coat went on greener, paler than the first.


I was much happier with the result, but it's still so YELLOW! Where's that soft spring-green-new-growth shade the chip promised?



The final outcome, after it's had nearly five hours to dry. Is that a bit of green showing in the light? Whatever it is, it does look so much better without the blue tape. Next job, woodwork, ceilings and cornices, oh my! (And maybe we'll finally get the skirting board behind the freezer fixed).