Frock on a Friday

This one has featured before.. but it is one of my all-time favs..

Out the back of our place this afternoon was a school gala.
Yay. 
We Love Galas.
(Arlo has a crust dangling from his mouth,
in case you were wondering!)

Leo + candy floss.

Iris + candy floss
I was taking a break from rummaging!

Gil showing Daddy what he got for 50c. He is stoked with that army tank.
He says he has ALWAYS been looking for one.

This was only phase 1 of our schedule this avo.. we went off to John's work family party straight after the gala.



Happy Days!

And evenings!

I hope you watched the song about ROMAN SANDALS in my last post.
Watch it if you didn't!
Thanks for the Romies love in your comments!

Roman Sandals and the Best Kids' Music EVER

Summer feels like it's well and truly kicking off down here..

First official day is on Saturday - but I've broken with (my) tradition and busted out my 'ROMIES' early...

Roman Sandals song (was s'posed to be at bottom of the post but Blogger not letting me..) By Mr Roberelli. WATCH IT - it's cool!

My feet in my romies.

Roman Sandals are an institution down here. We all had to wear them as part of our school uniform (most schools) and some schools still insist on them..
I think I may have been one of the only gals at my school who REALLY loved them!!! Ours had to be blue, to match our blue tunic and sweaty white blouses...

But as you can see they come in a variety of colours..

Source via google images

This lovely illustration was on the Emma Makes website, where she also put a desperate plea out to us all to buy some to stop Douglas Sandals from going under..
Oh dear - such SAD times... Is nothing sacred?!

Side note: On my google image search, I also found an hilarious post (and a great blog) called Fashion Westie.. 

I sometimes used to decorate my romies with vivid markers.. Imagine my delight when I found these beauties already decorated at Hannahs shoe shop approx 15 years ago!! They are still going strong. Built to last. 


I must also mention the lovely Georgia and her busting -out-the-romies post..




I am going to now SHAMELESSLY PLUG the best kids' music ever...
The band at the top is MR ROBERELLI and if you ever have to buy a present for a little person (or slightly bigger people) YOU will not go wrong with these guys!

Intelligent, not pop-musicy, not condescending, fun..
just plain GOOD LISTENING.

All the adults I know that know these guys love them too. We can even cope with listening to them in the car!! You can listen to their music on their website.. 
Fineprint: (I did some of the BVs on the 3rd and 4th albums.. 
you'll hear me clearly in Mr Poe's Garden lol)

(Oh yeh and my brother and sister-in-law are 2/3 of the band lol - 
biased - but I think you'll agree it's excellent kids' music!)
Happy Days

Tell me your Roman Sandal stories!

Recently Found - (Part 2) and a partay

A topical find, obviously! Love these old ones... I have a couple of projects in mind for these, potentially..

Crown Lynn plates and Johnson plates (pink)
* These are incredibly useful as they are the smaller size of dinner plate (much harder to find and perfect for my kids) and the bowls are larger and flatter than the regular ones. (perfect for pasta, or 4 weetbix, as opposed to 2 lol!)

Cute book about a lady called Jessie who takes all her 'small animals' for a visit to the city.

There they are freaking out at the pace of the big smoke. Iris was practically in tears. 

Cute little sewing box.

My fav tea towel ever. I'm putting it on the wall somewhere.

Finally found the right cabinet for this space!!!
Seriously, this is exactly what I had been hunting for. Yuss.
So stoked.

 My oldest nephew turned 21 today.. we went to his party last night..

Summer is here!! Yes!! 
John busted out one of his Hawaii shirts to celebrate.

 That's my ne-phew right there..

Me and my sister and brother-in-law.. (I'm sure they won't mind featuring on my blog!) 

Hope you've all had a great weekend too.

Happy Days!

Recently Found (Part 1)

I realised I haven't shown any recent op shop finds for a couple of weeks. 

I also realised that there appear to be quite a few (ahem)

So here is Part 1.

please note: I am an op shop cheapskate so nothing you see in these photos was over $2, except the first thing.

That's how I roll..

If I have to part with more than a couple of bucks I have to do some serious thinking. It has to be really good/coveted/valuable etc!!! 

Unusual picnic cups..

And these ones in glass..

These were actually $5 from memory. I really love them!

MASSIVE piece of fabric for the stash.

I'll never get round to sewing these but LOVE the pix!

20c kitsch as heck thingies. Far too cool for pot plants.

LOVE these colours. 20c the lot.

You can't beat this old cotton.

There is an op shop here that has a free box outside. This is what I took out of there today!
We always had our christmas cards hanging up with those teeny pegs!

This will most likely NOT be used for dishes!


Happy Days!

Strawberry Yum-ness

Strawberries are a certain sign of Summer.. which is well and truly on its way down here in NZ!!! 

My sister gave me a try of this dessert and I just about died of yummy-ness.

It's the easiest, yummiest, quickest thing you could make, and is relatively low fat. It also will be sure to impress as a take-along dessert to those Summer BBQs! 

Thanks to my sister, and Annabel Langbein, here we have 

STRAWBERRY CLOUD CAKE

(I got this Kenwood food processor from an op shop for $8 about 7 years ago, just by the way!)

I did it by hand mixer unfortunately - I'm still waiting for the Kenwood Mixer to present itself at an oppie or garage sale!

The cloud effect is far greater in a mixer (vs hand mixer)

Please try this at home!

That's what Annabel's looks like!

And now for something completely different...

 Thought y'all might enjoy this song and video about our favourite thing - 
thrifting/op shopping!

 I love it!

Happy days

Jumbling On. This Morning.

( I'm still behind on my loot posts, but I'm jumping to today!)

It is right in the thick of Jumble/Gala/Fete season here.

Yesterday's paper promised approx 7 church/school/fundraiser sales..

As it is my boy's ACTUAL birthday today, a big mission was not to be..

but I KNOW the Cats' Protection League ones ALWAYS deliver. Previous haul posts from their sales here and here!

THIS MORNING

I am NOT JOKING!!!
The woman was almost apologetic looking at my huge boxes and bags of 'junk' and asking me for a tenner..

ALL OF THIS for $10: 

I don't do teddy bears. I got this one for the outfit, and she's in the op shop bag already, sans outfit!(sorry teddy lovers!)
I knew Iris would love the 'Toot toot' on the funny pink one.

* I have always wanted an electric knife!!
* Cutest pair of leather shoes
* Yeh cool shades for one of my cool kids
* Water balloons - one of my kids is OBSESSED with these things!
* A purple 'puffle' (If you have kids you might know about these!)

* 2 pairs cool shoes (need a bit of a clean but don't smell and that's what I care about!!)
* Pair of brilliant football boots.
* Large pink woolen blanket
* Also in the box are 2 cotton flannelette FITTED singles sheets.
Never seem to have enough of those.

Large bag of leis. Got a few projects in mind for those.

Old christmas stuff.
Plus a roll of red ribbon
and a kitsch-as-hell bunch of roses candle. 

* Wire storage basket
* duplo giraffe ( We have a duplo set that I have collected ENTIRELY at op shops and garage sales,  piece by piece, like this! It costs a fortune bought new. It's large lego, for the uninitiated!)
* tiny bag of tiny buttons
* tube of beads
* 1963 GIRL annual. Not in great nick, but very entertaining.
*Nice little shelf thing

* 2 fairy wings
* 2 fairy hairbands
* 2 pink wigs
* 2 wands!!!!!

* Loads of clothing for kids/babies of all ages! A couple of items for me but mainly the kids.
* My 3rd son (Gilbert) is very fashion conscious (how the hell did that happen?! ) and he LOVES accessorizing. Those hats are the kind he's always harping on about. Plain beanies, and a peaked beanie, and a cap that is that particular shape (he described it in great detail!)
*Ooops that other pink photo is in there again.

Fabulous dress!

Loads of togs (swimming costumes) and fabric. Incl matching scarf for the dress above.

A page from the 1963 Girl Annual.
I can't help but wonder how many girls' self esteem was ruined by such  labelling. They were encouraged to put themselves in boxes like that, and no doubt tried to follow the 'rules' for trying to make themselves look beautiful.

ANYWAY!!

If op shops as we know them disappear, the old fashioned Jumble Sale might see us through!!!

Get out there and into it!!

And by the way, as of today, I've been a mama for 10 years.

Happy Days!


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