Party Party Party!

This is BabyCakes making a deal with the Devil! I'm not sure yet what deal he is making, but it might be for a Halloween outfit that doesn't involve make up next year....

We had a fun night at a friend's Halloween party, everyone was all dressed up and bought along delightfully gross food to eat... no end of eyeballs, toenails, boogers and brains! I must admit, I wanted to try one of the eggs, but millions of years of evolution made my brain very very much balk at eggs *that* colour... they looked so WRONG!!!

The punch was not only tasty, but had eyeballs (lychees with cherry pupils) and an ice hand floating in it!

I did my usual trick, of being just a little bit off centre with my choice of outfit, and went as a cereal killer.... my Weetbix were suitably scared of my giant spoon! My giant spoon also came in handy when I valiantly saved the house from being burnt down at great personal cost to me! - a piece of plastic decoration got too close to a candle and started burning (the whole house down), and I, and my spoon, swooped in to save the day! Unfortunately the giant plastic skeleton was not so keen to die again, and took a swipe at me, by means of dripping hot plastic on me... the spoon too, but spoons are strong and feel no pain, whereas I, I had to say "Ow ow ow" a lot, until I got the plastic off me....

Gee parties are exciting!! Mind you, one knows one is getting older, when one has been to a party, had a great time, and still home and tucked up in bed by midnight!

Saturday Morning Revelations

Ikea haven't forgotten to call me! They prize draw isn't until the 4th of November! Yay! Now that day can be more than just the day my council rates are due!.

Renters out there, whilst owning a home is a joy that is quite spectacular, enjoy the ability to quantifiable know every week how much it costs to put a roof over your head... When one owns a property the bills never really do stop, and as a unit owner I have the joy of not only the quarterly rates bills, but quarterly body corporate bills, and then there are the special levies to pay for things that haven't been budgeted for....

Don't get me wrong, at this stage, the ability to choose what happens to my space, the knowledge that the money I'm spending is for my future and the fact that I don't have any rental inspections, still puts home ownership into the positive experience, despite the never ending bills...

Sometimes I feel a bit like Marge Simpson when she is learning to paint, and she starts seeing the world as their base shapes that make everything up.... now I look at my flat in terms of dollars it is going to take to fix it/change it/modernise it. I can tell you now, there are a lot of dollar signs all over this flat! I think that for the past 30 years (since it was built), the previous owners of this property have closed their eyes when they saw those dollar signs, and only heeded them when they jumped out and smacked them in the face! I can't complain tooooo much, if this flat was maintained properly, I couldn't have afforded to buy it!

Today, I have a mammoth task of laundry (the washing machine decided to make very scary noises late last week, that I couldn't quite work out.... I took the back off the machine and tried to work it out, but gradually the noise got less and then went away again.... so I put the machine back together, but the laundry that didn't get done last week is a bit of a mountain....), I also need to make worm and booger tarts for tonight's Halloween party, make sure both BabyCakes and my costumes are in order, and work out how long it will take me, the make up impaired, to make up BabyCakes' face as The Crow....

Ikea VIP!

The day arrived! I was an Ikea VIP! We had breakfast at the largest Ikea in the southern hemisphere, and was offered a free shot of schnapps to toast the opening of the store (which I declined, apart from the drinking at 8:30 am thing, I wasn't sure if I needed to drive today).

It was fun to get an un-crowded if not rushed tour of the facilities, and see all those shiny shiny things! BabyCakes does not quite understand my Ikea fetish, but is accepting of it, and indeed facilitated my sneak peak today!

I'm not sure if the Ikea people know yet, but they forgot to give me a call to tell me how I can pick up my $10k Ikea voucher, because I'm *sure* it was my turn to win their competition...


This is a picture of their ceremonial, store opening log... un-cut, of course (does that make it ruder?)... Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the log cutting, as BabyCakes and his boss needed to get back to work.

(The log cutting is a Swedish tradition to bring good luck and good guests - I think)

Oh, and we learnt that in Sweden, it is pronounced ee-key-ah, not the eye-key-ah that we Aussies tend to say...

One more sleep!

'Till IkeaLogan opens, and I get to go to it....

Sushi is GOOD!

BabyCakes and I had sushi for dinner tonight, we're such suckers for it! I'm glad I wrote this post, because it reminded me to search the web for some information...

BabyCakes and I have a soft spot for Chicken Yakitori skewers, and BabyCakes would loooove to know how to make the sauce.

From a quick look around, it looks like a mix of sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, boiled and then simmered as the mixture thickens.... sounds pretty easy!

YUM! I can't wait to try it out!

You Know You Love Your Pets When....

BabyCakes and I had to take Missy Monster to the vet tonight... I'm not sure that she is very happy with us at the moment. We put her in the dreaded box, kept her in the dark, took her to a strange place, wouldn't let her explore, a strange lady felt her all over, jabbed her with a needle, shoved a pill in her mouth, blew in her face, and put her back in the box! (We didn't mind so much of that, it was the bill that kinda hurt).

We think she might have a urinary tract infection, so we now have pills for her, and have to watch her toilet habits and hope for the best!

You know you love your pets when their toilet habits become prime discussions morning and night!

My Unnatural Ikea Preoccupation

The largest Ikea shop in the southern hemisphere opens up its doors on the outskirts of Brisbane, and I am lucky enough to be going to the grand opening...

I've been playing the stupid Ikea game on their website, because I really want to win the first prize of $10,000 to spend at Ikea. My two bedroom flat will not know itself when I do! So much of my slowly gathered free and very cheap furniture, and even some that I spend a fair bit of money on, will be out in the cold the day I reassemble my designer flatpack furniture!

My Ikea obsession was rekindled yesterday afternoon with the delivery of the new Ikea catalogue... My lazy Sunday was spend snoozing and flipping through the catalogue, redefining all my home improvement plans around what Ikea offers...

OOPs

It is very rainy... I'm going to have a very soggy BabyCakes when he comes home...

I hope he doesn't catch a cold :(

BabyCakes' Night of Boyishness..

BabyCakes is off to be a boy, with a lot of other boys, the vast majority of whom will be 25+ year old boys...

Today in quiet, sleepy little Brisvegas, Gigantour starts its Australian leg... and BabyCakes, his friend, and one of my many brothers are off to mosh, thrash, yell, and make funny hand signals to bands that can't enunciate. They are so excited!

Thankfully, I didn't even have to look even remotely interested in going to this $85 a ticket festival to long greasy haired grunting boys in black.. (I might be overstating this somewhat, given that the three people that I know who are going do not fit that description... apart from the grunting and black clothes...)

The curious thing is though, it looks like it's going to rain, and its an outdoor gig at the beautiful river stage... and all that testosterone will get soggy!

I know the guys that I waved farewell to this afternoon will have a fabulous time, rain or not... but I can still snicker safely tucked at home with my cable TV, cat, and a bottle of wine!

I'm getting a brand spanking new door!

If one takes into account the money I get back from the body corporate, it isn't toooooooooo expensive either, for the difference it will make to my flat.

However, I have to paint my door myself. Apparently, if one stains one's door and it gets a bit of sun, it night need re-doing in as little as 3 months, whereas painting can potentially last for 20 years... and can't possibly cost me the $150 they wanted to charge me for staining/varnishing.

My odd size door does however require a 4 week waiting period, I guess I have time to pick a colour to paint my door!

After ordering a door, I went shopping for bits for Halloween costumes for my partner (now known on my blog as "BabyCakes", because I can, and because he'll probably cringe everytime he reads it! - that, and the fact that those who know him, will know he's not a very "BabyCakes" kinda guy)... so I went shopping for stuff to make BabyCakes and my Halloween costume. Who would have thought finding a Crow-esque long trench coat in spring, in the sub-tropics would be difficult?

Luckily, my costume is much easier to put together!! Unfortunately for you dear reader, I can't reveal my outfiit till after the party... Queen of cheese that I am, I can't be too literal when deciding on an outfit...

I'd best be off to start manufacturing BabyCakes' trench coat, and not wearing out this blog thing in the first day!

Happy Birthday to my brother hiding out on the other side of the world, in Amarillo Texas!
Have a Shiner Bock on me! (I learnt a new word - or beer!)

Doors! Doors!! Get your door needs!

I need a new front door....

Today is the day I go to order one! After months of looking, umming, ahhing, today I actually have enough money in my account to reasonably expect to be able to buy one.

Doors are expensive, especially if one wants some glass/stuff that looks like glass in it, and even more so if one has a no standard size door, and even MORE so if the door is on the larger size of standard.

I've discovered that my lovely home pretty much has nothing that is of a standard size, perhaps because the house was made metric (? well, perhaps....) , but probably because my place was built around the size of a besser brick (see pic if you're not sure of what one is) (? perhaps...).... or just perhaps because the size of the spaces within my flat which were so appealing pre-purchase, dictates that everything must be just *that* bit bigger than standard. Or smaller, if one is looking at the kitchen (really, who the hell thinks that a bench 45cms deep is a good size? or the cupboard that is40cms deep is a useful depth???). Admittedly, when looking at a kitchen devoid of any furnishings/clutter/a fridge.... the narrow workspaces did make the kitchen look big... When looking at flatpack/mass produced kitchen systems, I can now say with out a doubt, it actually is quite a small space... especially if one believes a dishwasher is prerequisite in a modern kitchen (and I do!).


Anyway, back to the door thing... I really liked a door with four glass panels... but when I went to look at it, I was told that although sold as an external door, it is actually made of a material that doesn't do too well if the door is not well protected and maintained rigorously (painted very regularly, on the edges i.e. take the door off every 6-12 months). While I am a new homeowner, and very excited about all things D.I.Y. at the moment, I do understand that this is not altogether likely, and once the water is into the wrong spots, the door is ruined... So, that leaves the (proportionally more expensive) option of solid wood. However, the solid wood door does not come in this particular design... it comes in one with seven panels of glass... which totally changes the proportions of the door... or you can replace three glass panels with horrible beveled wood panels... but not flat wood panels... The seven panel glass might have to do.

Yay! - One decision made (until the next rep tells me the first door I looked at is perfectly fine in the weather - a person with one watch always knows what time it is.... a person with two watches is never quite sure....)

So, at this point, I think I know that I want a solid wood door.. Then I think about the money... and the fact my body corporate will only pay for a basic door... maybe letting more light into my dark hallway is not *that* important... or is it?

Then there are the door handles/locks that cost a minimum of $100 from the door company... that cost $35 at the hardware shop next door.

...to install myself, or to pay someone....

...to paint? to stain?

So many decisions for me to make!


So... I'm about to head off to talk to yet another rep, and see what he has to say, and finally order a new door. Assuming that another decision does not need to be made...

Does this thing come with a manual?

I think I have to press some more buttons to see how things work here...

I created this blog because I wanted to post a comment on a friend's blog.

So HA! You're stuck with me now!