Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I have been looking for a mirror for the hallway for a little while now, and eventually found this beauty on ebay one day. It just happened to be missing the mirror part.

Only thing was that I wasn't overly taken with it being gold. Never being one afraid of a challenge, I decided I could change it rather easily with a tin or two of spraypaint.

I loved the detail in the mirror so much more when it was white, especially as some little fiddly parts couldn't be painted.

Once painted I took it to a local framers to have a mirror insert custom made. I have to say, I was glad I didn't attempt to do it myself, as they did such a wonderful job on the finishing of the mirror. As soon as the husband returned from a week away with work I made him hang it in the hallway for me.

I love having it in the hallway, not only does it reflect light more, it means I can quickly check my reflection before running out the door for work without having to go to the bathroom (the only other mirror in our house!)

For the grand total of $90 I have a beautiful mirror that I am more than happy with.
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30 Weeks

So, 30 weeks. I now look like this

Actually that is a lie, I look slightly bigger than that, and that photo was only taken on Saturday. I have an awesome waddle going thanks to some even more awesome public instability. I walk at the pace of an 80 year old lady. I was most upset last week when I was walking a few doors down the street for work and a little old lady with a walking stick overtook me! My obstetrician has sent me to see a physio for the remainder of my pregnancy, which will hopefully help. It's not only walking I have issues with, I struggle with lifting my feet high enough to put pants on, climb into the car or bed, and I get stuck in bed on a nightly basis. My poor husband has been woken many times to help me roll over in the last few weeks.

I was told somewhere along the way that I was an extremely high risk for Gestational Diabetes, however managed to pass the 2 hour test by the skin of my teeth. We're talking I passed by mere points. Either way, a pass is a pass in my world, and I was happy with that. My doctor will now monitor it in his rooms - just to be sure.

Baby is doing well, it now has it's head down into my pelvis, with its feet sticking into my ribs. We have started asking people to guess what the baby is - my physio has predicted girl, my mum still says boy, I still have no idea! Guess I will find out at some point between now and the next 11 weeks.

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Felt Owls

I love Plushka Felt Owls, they are so cute. Thanks to Chrissy, from A Country Wife, for mentioning them a little while back.

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Cute Bird Artwork for Nursery

I found Sugarloop's etsy store via I Sometimes Obsess's blog, and thought it was terribly cute, especially if I went with a Orange themed nursery.

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You wouldn't read about it...

But our kitchen is finished!

It is not without its faults, but I am trying to look beyond those and focus on the good parts. The bad parts can't be changed, so no point in focusing on it.

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Cot Valance

I always had grand plans of making a cot valance following John and Sherry's tutorial on how to make a cot skirt. It was all sorted in my head. I measured the height I required for the cot, and ordered the fabric and waited for its arrival.

There was just one small detail I forgot: to measure the width of the cot and make sure the material was wide enough. Opps! I was adamant that the stripes had to be vertical.

So a join would be required. But I didn't want the join on show - so I went to Plan B.

I figured a simple box pleat would be fairly simple and easy to do, and I managed to get it so that the seam was hidden behind a pleat. I just measured the required width of the cot, added an extra 30cm for the pleat, and made sure the seam was in that section. Easy peasy!

Not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself.

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In other news...

I got a full time job!

Now, before you start thinking I am more wacko than you already think I am, yes I did have a job, and now that job is mine.

Confused?

Ok, lets start at the start. I have been with my employer for 3 years now, and 18 months ago I was asked to fill a role for 4 weeks whilst a lady in another department was on leave. I agreed, taking on the role as well as my usual role. 18 months later I am still filling that same role. The lady who took leave sadly had cancer and passed away late last year, which meant that the role was up for application.

I applied, and today I had an annual review, and interview, and a meeting afterwards where I was offered the role. Which opened a whole new can of worms with the fact that I go on maternity leave in 6 weeks time! Luckily, there was another applicant who was more than willing to take on the role for 12 months.

Best thing about this, is I was previously employed part time, but this new role is fulltime, and at a slightly higher pay - meaning my maternity leave is paid at full time and higher pay! WooHoo!

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The brown fluffy stuff

Another installment of the spare (babies) room renovation started way back in mid January. Whilst I was on my summer holidays, I decided to get a price on carpet for the spare room.

An easy enough task, I needed the match the carpet in our bedroom, so the colour and style was settled. I was worried that our carpet would have been discontinued since we renovated our bedroom 16 months ago, but luck was on my side.

Until the lovely people at my carpet company rang to tell me that my carpet was on backorder for the next 6 weeks. Seems I am not the only one who loves my carpet :(

So, after the longest wait of my renovating lifetime, the day finally arrived when it was to be installed, and I left the room looking like this

and my dining room looking like this - so much baby stuff already :S

and I came home to see this lovely sight

Oh how I love my new carpet!

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Fantastic Mr Fox

Isn't he the cutest little thing ever? Vanjakragulj on ebay has these cute little designs framed in a white frame, which would look lovely displayed on a wall in a vertical row.
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Nappy Basket

The Red Pistachio

Such a cute little storage tub, not entirely sure I need a heap of pretty burping cloths though. Surely a plain cloth nappy would do the same thing?

Feel free to correct me on that one though.

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Weekend Recap

Following on from last week, I am doing Weekend Intentions again, this time with an extra day to do it - gotta love a long weekend!

This weekend I wanted to:

• paint the door of my office, as it was really starting to annoy me - granted I did start this one random Wednesday night on a whim, but it needed another coat

• paint the skirting boards in the dining room and lounge - I got lazy when we renovated and only painted the skirting boards that weren't covered by furniture.
• make a large batch of chow mien for the freezer

• take a trip to Ikea to get the chest of drawers for the spare room and a bookcase

I am happy to say I achieved 3.5 of the four tasks, but today is a public holiday in Victoria, so I plan to finish painting the skirting boards on the lounge side today.

All in all, another successful weekend. I only wish there were more of them around the place

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Baby Blankets

I have a slight obsession with buying baby blankets. It is one step below my addiction to buying jumpsuits.

I brought this Amy Butler and minkey number from Baby Mae Botique

and this soft little creature from Able Mabel

and now I am about to make my own. I brought several yards of Amy Butler Full Moon fabric in orange, and just as much minkey material. I have plans to applique a giraffe onto the minkey side with the Amy Butler fabric. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to call on my mums help with this one.
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Shower Caddies

There are several things I have been meaning to do in our house for many many years, and fix our shower caddy is one of those things. I see it daily, but never think of it when I am crusing the aisles of Bunnings.

So, our shower caddy looks like this

The usual suspects live in our shower, along with toothbrushes and toothpaste.

 The annoying part that need fixing was the toothbrush holder: it lost suction daily, and on a good day it hung on by the bigger suction thingie, on a bad day it spewed my toothbrush into the shower. The other shit part was the tooth soap scum that bred in the bottom of the jar.

One night I was flicking through a magazine, and saw an ad for Everloc, and was intrigued by their claim that it wouldn't fall off the wall. Something my current holder does not do.

So, a quick trip to Bunnings brought home this goodie

I have to say, it was a little more complicated to put on the wall that I expected. There was twisting and turning involved, but eventually I ended up with this:

So far it has stayed in the same spot on the wall for three weeks - clearly Everloc stand by their claim! Am now investing their other products.
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Aviary Inspiration

Do you ever have one of those days where you click on a blog, follow a link to another blog, and then 5 hours later have lost track of a) time b) how on earth you managed to get to there in the first place. 

No? Me neither.

But I did manage to come across Rural Socialite who commented on the Joel Dewberry Aviary bedding made by Javis Davis ad I was in love.

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Weekend Intentions

On Friday a friend A posted about Chocolate & Bubbles weekend intentions. I was more than a touch busy at work on Friday and forgot to post about it, but thought I would do a recap on Monday.

I set myself three tasks:

• clean the floors - being home alone for 10 days meant I had neglected to vacuum since the husband left for work. It was beginning to show.
• paint the lounge room window - who knows how long the current good weather will last in Victoria
• make a large batch of something freezable for when the baby arrives. Some might call it nesting.

I am proud to admit I made a large batch of spaghetti sauce. And when I say large, I mean L-A-R-G-E

 That would be my 6.5Ltr Scanpan pot. I figure I made close to 5 litres of spaghetti sauce, using 2kg of mince, 2 large onions, and 4 bottles of sauce. And packed it all into little single meal containers for the freezer.

I did also manage to get the cleaning done prior to my dad visiting, and got one coat of paint on the window. I could probably get away with just one coat on it, but might as well do two - there is just enough paint left in the tin. Pictures of that to come at a later date.

So there you go, that was my weekend. What did you get up to?

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