The New Couch

So, I've mentioned before my desire to replace the daggy old couch in the corner of our lounge room with something brown and leather.

We had been on the look out for something second-hand to get the worn-in look but... yeah, Brisbane. There just doesn't seem to be much nice furniture around on Ebay or Gumtree second-hand here. Every time I saw something I liked the look of I could almost guarantee it was in Melbourne.

Every. Single. Time.

Anyway, I had been watching a couch on sale at Freedom for a while, but it was just a little more than I could justify. Until it went on SALE!

So here's the new couch, arriving next week:

In A Jam

It started with a box of cumquats, grown in a friend's garden and left on the doorstep. What do we do with these tart little fellas, we asked ourselves?

 

They were finely chopped...

and blended with a little sugar (or more than a little)...

Reduced...

And turned into 10 jars of cumquat marmalade.

Yum!

In additional news, I sampled the block of farmhouse cheddar I made recently. It was JUST AWFUL. I am so disappointed. I have no idea where it went wrong or what to change next time...

Have you made anything delicious lately? Or terrible?

Striped Cushions

In my last post, I mentioned having bought fabric for a second skirt for Lucinda. Only, the more I thought about it, the more I decided it might make a nice cushion. 

I went back and bought a little more and this is the finished product:

We have the daggiest old couch in our living room. We keep meaning to replace it but have a very specific thing in mind that we want to put there (brown...leather...aged) and until we see one come up for sale second-hand, we're sticking with our craptastic one. 

Still, with these babies brightening it up, it's almost bearable for now.

New Skirt

I woke up this morning and decided that it was time to dress Lucinda in a skirt. Only, she only owned one skirt and it was too big. 

So, we went to Spotlight and then got busy sewing. 

By "we", I mean "I" of course. I made her a matching headband too. 

I'm feeling super inspired now. Luckily I brought another lot of fabric so I can make a different style tomorrow...

Pot Garden

It's been a beautiful couple of days here in Brisbane, so we took the opportunity to get out in the garden.

We had planned to put some raised beds in soon, but that plan is on hold for the time being -- so I hit Freecycle to gather new pots instead. 

Lucinda got in on the act of planting up our official pot garden.

We've put in corn and beetroot and moved them into the sunniest corner of the garden. Can't wait to see them come up soon!

Happy Friday everyone.

Road

We're back now from a long weekend away and some pondering and thinking and eating and discussing of our situation and where to go from here.

The weather was a little crappy but we did manage to get some wandering and exploring in and Lucinda even got to pat a cow (my camera was not at hand, sadly).

As Lucinda clearly understands, life's a long road and some parts are downhill and some parts are uphill. You just have to keep walking.

Keeping On

Well, after much uncertainty, it looks like it's official. The company my husband works for has gone belly up which makes him considerably more unemployed than he was before.

100 percent more, actually.

He's feeling reasonably positive at this stage, so I'm trying to as well. My three days a week will just about get us over the line for the short-term while he finds something new. There is work out there, it's just a question of surviving in the interim.

More cheese making today!

We're off tomorrow for a long weekend on a farm-stay at Yandina, which will be a nice chance to get away and think things through for a few days. Maybe pat a cow or two and soak up some country air.

Life hey. Sometimes you've just got to keep on keeping on.

Dollhouse Renovating

This weekend, I finally got around to picking up work on the dollhouse again. (This was an op shop find from last year).

I managed to get about half of the front facade properly clean. Not a huge achievement, but a step in the right direction.

It was pretty slow going, a job tackled with a toothbrush and elbow grease. You can see how well the timber is coming up on the upper wall here...

Parts of it are unbelievably filthy, like the side porch here. I haven't made it to that part yet. Yuck.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to paint the exterior but I think I may have been kidding myself. A coat of white enamel will really make a difference... once we get to that stage, anyway. There's plenty of hours of toothbrush-scrubbing to go first.

Once outside is done, there's inside to work on... Did I mention how big a job this is?

I've heard there's a dollhouse shop in Brisbane too, I can't wait to go and have a look around and start picking out a few bits and pieces for the interior. 

Then and Now #2

Time for part two of the 'then and now' shots.

Then...

This is the deck from the real estate listing. The people who owned this place before us really seemed to like the combination of red and black, it featured heavily. Everything about this photo is awful.

Now... 

This is the deck after we finished renovating it a few years ago. It looks slightly less pristine now but far more functional as a living space.

Then...

This is the retro chic kitchen. Lovely, no?

Now...

Interestingly, the yellow greens we picked for the splash backs are almost a nod to the colour scheme of the original kitchen. This was not intentional.