Cozy or clutter?

Periodically I need to dig myself out from under all the stuff that we have collected. Rather than things going missing (like in the children's story about the Borrowers), I find things that I have no idea what they belong to.

When you live by yourself you have a pretty good idea of what everything is. But when you live with people who put things in their pocket, you have no clue where stuff came from.

So, from time to time I do a declutter, and try to find places for things. My latest job has been our bedroom.

So not too bad, the bed's even made. 

As is common for most of the old Queenslander houses, there are no built-in closets. So we use this wardrobe for our hanging things.

Continuing around the room we find Dave's table for his stuff. Lots of shoes and boots. It's actually an older desk. We could be kind and call it an antique. :)

My clothes are on this shelfy thing.

 Now we come to my side of the room and the clutter.

I suppose there isn't any ladies dresser without a bit of excess cluttery stuff (at least that's what I tell myself).

This room is kind of interesting because it has two entrances, a sliding door and french doors on the other side of the room.

So, I think I'll go for the cozy definition and stick to that. Our lives are full, and our house is too.

Sometimes the man is right

I think sometimes I argue with my husband about who is right, just because it's fun.

But sometimes he comes up with an idea that is so simple and perfect that I just have to say "Wow, I never would have thought of that".

We have a family of 6 people, all of whom are avid users of technology. We all have mobile phones, laptops, desktop computers, and various other trinkets that all need chargers. Each gadget has a similar looking charger cable. So multiply that by 6 people and that's a lot of cables.

About a year ago Dave started putting labels on everything label-able. I thought he was being a little obsessive, but I have to admit that its made it a lot easier to keep everything straight.

iPhone, iPad, iPod...i give up!

Tend to your knitting

When my grandmother used to get too nosy for him, my grandpa used to say "tend to your knitting". Generally wise advice, but I don't think he meant it literally. :)

Since finishing the PhD I've been using the opportunity to do more fun stuff around home. One that I've picked up again in knitting. I was never any great shakes at it, although Grandma taught me how to knit a pair of slippers. It must be required I think in the Grandmother Code of Ethics for county women.

Anyway, I hereby present my first, less than perfect effort. It only took me a month. And several ripping outs and outbursts of colourful language that Grandma wouldn't have approved of, but Grandpa would have appreciated.

The button is a bit off center, much like me!

Dave will be the recipient of this comfy pillow, I hope he likes it.

Cultural note:
In Australia all yarn is called wool. The old saying to "wrap someone in cotton wool" means to protect someone (usually kids) supposedly in soft cotton fabric. So is it cotton or wool?

A yarn, is a story or tall-tale, although here yarning is a description of what we would call "shooting the breeze".

The big One-Two

After much waiting and hinting, Brynley's birthday finally arrived with the presents.

His birthday fell on a Thursday so we had his party after school. We could have put it off to the weekend, but that's too mean.

Quite a haul this year!

Its a joint effort, and older brothers can't resist explaining everything.

The trouble with really great presents is that everyone wants a look.

And I do mean EVERYONE!

Hmm, what's that?

"Personally that looks dangerous to me"

"I was right. Flying rings, humph. I wonder if
they taste nice".

Apparently netting is in this year.

Happy Birthday, Dear Brynley!!