Cack-handedness

Yesterday I had to make a dash to the Post Office to Express Post a birthday present for my gorgeous niece. 

The fact that yesterday was her actual birthday and strangely the present had FAILED to transport itself to the post office, hop in an envelope, address itself, stand patiently in the queue (consisting of people doing anything BUT mailing a letter or package).

There I was faffing around with which envelope I could put it in and then reaching for my pen to write the address on it.  Of course this involved some multi-tasking as I manoeuvred myself into the queue whilst simultaneously writing the address details.........................and then............

S. M. U. D. G. E.

Cack-handedness strikes again!!

The definition of this affliction is as follows:

cack-handed [ˌkækˈhændɪd]

adj Informal

1. left-handed

2. clumsy

 

Yes folks, I'm a Leftie (not in the political sense) but in the brain predisposition sense:)

 

According to that universal font of information Wikipedia, I am part of the roughly 10% of the global population that is a Southpaw.

 

That would be 10% of the population that spends most of their life with an ink stain on the outer edge of their left palm.

 

The same people that develop a look of intense concentration when mastering the opening of a can of soup!!

 

If they're like me, they have acquired an appreciation of the fine tip pen (which unfortunately was not what I reached for at the post office) and can wax lyrical on the annoying habit of birthday cards to be made of that cardboard with the waxy/shiny finish that makes ink slip off it like a toddlers bum on a waterslide!!!!

 

You can therefore imagine my frustration as I'm standing in the queue pondering the smudged address label on my Express Post satchel.  The conundrum - do I leave the queue (to get a 2nd satchel) and therefore lose my place?  After all this is a take-no-prisoners lunch-time city Post Office!!

 

No, instead I presented myself at the counter in due course with my ink-smudged satchel and my ink-stained hand and inside cursed the stupid felt tip pen and my cack-handedness!

 

Consider this the first in a series of posts on the merits and not-so-meritorious aspects of being a Leftie:)

 

In case you're in any doubt this is one of the not-so-meritorious (is that a word?) sides of the equation!!

 

Come back next Thursday for my next instalment!!!

 

Are there any other cack-handers out there in my readership???  Come on, out yourself!!!

 

image from here

Annie's Coming My Way

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon the most amazing blog. 

Bec creates the most divine dresses.  She has a seemingly endless supply of fabrics and her gorgeous frocks spoke to me.

She has an etsy site and I've been hanging out for her to open it up to new customers...and the other night she did!!

I have now ordered my very own Annie dress in this fabric

I'm predicting there will lots of twirling that will happen when I'm wearing it!

I'm a bit apprehensive that it may not fit me when it arrives...but I don't think I'll care...it's so beautiful and such an expression of my individuality that I may just be happy to hang it up on my door and stare at it:)

bursting out

This wallpaper is currently winging it's way over to me from the US.  I bought a few metres of it on Etsy and am going to paper the wall outside our bathroom with it.

I am super excited about it.

The colors are just up my alley and as it's only a feature wall I figure I can get rid of it in a month if I hate it.

We're currently in reno mode and our bathroom and laundry are in various states of demolition and construction. 

As with all reno projects it's had it's moments but I am not going to dwell on the low points as we've waited five years to do something...anythin in the reno arena so I'm not looking the reno gift-horse in the mouth:)

My vision for the bathroom is a wall of green mosaics something in this tone

But only one wall - the one facing you...the other three walls and the face of the bath are in lovely big (30x60) white tiles. 

The laundry is accessed through a door adjacent to the alcove where the wallpaper will hang and it's splashback is going to be the same type of mosaic but in a lovely yellow something like this pantone color

I think the ladies at the tile shop were even more excited than me about my color choices...they get a bit bored with all the people wanting Hampton-style neutral blah (no offence).

I was on the phone to my sister in the UK this morning and I could tell my colour choices (as well as the planned use of wallpaper are not her cup of tea!!!!) 

In case you're wondering, Saint Mike is with me when I talk about wanting to create a 'happy' and energised space for our KATs...I have no room in my life for blah and he is totally on board (maybe a bit fearful of the yellow tiles in the laundry but it's just a splashback!!!)

Happy birthday to our very own saint

Today is a special day.  It's Saint Mike's birthday.

We won't discuss his age, it's not considered polite conversation!

I told him yesterday that we were going to celebrate in a style that befitted him as a young at heart man of action....even if that's not exactly how he's feeling at this particular juncture given the amount of stress he's been under of late:)

So we hired a double kayak with a child seat for the youngest KAT and set off at 8am from the Spit to Balmoral...a leisurely paddle of about 25minutes.

Our older two KATs are returning today from Melbourne where they've been hanging out with their nana (my mum), cousins, aunt and uncle and having a super-dooper trip unencumbered by their parents!!

Anyway, back to our birthday adventure...

Once back on dry land I adjourned the beach briefly to purchase coffees and egg and bacon rolls (plus a chocky croissant for youngest KAT) and we sat and enjoyed a magnificent morning looking out towards the Sydney Harbour Heads.

When the rigours of life are getting us down we've always found respite in admiring this view and today was no different.

We paddled, we sang, we ate, we drank, we relaxed and we celebrated a special day for a very special husband, daddy, bestie and all round Saint :)

Once back home I have made a yummy stuffing, stuffed it up the clacker of a chook and made a birthday cake...in an hour or so we'll head off to the airport to pick up our unaccompanied minors and then come home to our building site of a home and get that bird a cookin!! 

Oh and there will be a few pressies for SM to unwrap:))

Youngest KAT having a great time making a kayak in the sand!

one-woman bandwagon for chrissie

The logies are always an after thought for me.  I don't watch them and I usually have minimal interest in the outcome.  This probably won't change in the near future!

However, this year I am retrospectively interested in looking at shots from the red carpet so I can see the lovely Katrina do her thang (yes thang not thing!)

In the process of trawling the interweb for shots of her (as she is yet to update her own blog!!!!!) I stumbled on shots of Chrissie Swan.

I've been warming to this lady for a while now. 

It's not because we're both from the "more than a handful" club in the boob or weight department.  It's more because she calls a spade a shovel (like me) and writes with wit and candour in her column for Sunday Life (even though this publication is the source of much blogworld anger today!).

Her dress last night is lovely (in my opinion) and I think she looked radiant...I'm such a sucker for a midnight blue frock:)

That's it, I want to sign up for her fan club!  Now!!

Now if only Katrina would put us out of our misery and do a post on her evening I could move on and forget about the Logies!

Easter Shenanigans

Easter 2012 is over but it's chocky delights are going to be hanging around for a while I think.

We had a stay at home weekend. Equal parts relaxing around the house, catching up with friends and participating in the craziness that is the Sydney Easter Show!

These shots are from our visit to Littlest KATs godmother on Sunday morning for an Easter egg hunt.  We love her to death (godmother that is) but she did go a tad over the top in the egg department...for our three KATs there was enough to feed an entire orphanage!!!  A great time was had hunting down every last one of those little suckers!

Even our Oldest KAT, approaching 12 got into the fun...may she stay this young for a long time:)

Combined with their haul from the Easter Bunny, our KATs have more than their fair share of chocolate.  I am fully intending to surreptitiously remove some of it over the next few days...a few little eggs here and there so that slightly less is consumed!!!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter :)

a bit of drive-in fun

We're off to the drive-in tonight.

It's an annual road-trip we do with the KATs.

Over an hour to get there...Blacktown is a bit of a trek from the Northern Beaches:)

The back of the territory won't look as glam as this although nana's quilts will definitely be along for the ride!  We pack the trundle mattress and when the girls get tired they climb over the back and go off to sleep.

Although this is a retro thing to do, we don't behave like our authentic retro parents....we do wake them to put them in their seatbelts for the drive home :)

Snacks and dinner will be bought from home.  This is not an indication of their healthiness just an indication of the fact we know how overpriced the food is at the Drive-In!!!

We're also taking our gorgeous chairs...there will be fight I'm sure to see who bags them:)

Hope you're having a nice Easter long weekend whatever you're doing.....