nesting

an example of a **keys in office** property.

for the last month, heng and i have been on a bit of an adventure (downer) as we've been going head to head with the fierce rental market. it's been interesting (but mostly soul crushing) and we've had some laughs (between fits of tearing our hair out).

here's a run down of some rental language we've learned...

• **keys in office now** is code for 'this place is a complete dump'.
• cosy means small and claustrophobic.
  
• low maintenance garden means smothered in gray cement.
• close to public transport means so close that the house rattles every time a train goes past.
• position, position, position means there's nothing positive to say about the house.
• a very smiley and helpful land agent should sound alarm bells as it's extremely likely he's clocked you as a couple of suckers and will attempt to offload problematic properties onto you.
  
  allow me to elaborate...

we found an absolutely stunning and spacious 50s house that won our hearts immediately. our application was approved by the super friendly land agent who appeared to bend over backwards for us. the final hurdle before signing, was to meet with the owner... who turned out to be a bitter old tyrant with an enourmous chip on his shoulder. his outrageous and non-negotiable 'conditions' included his coming over every weekend to mow the lawn and to throw away any of our stuff that he thought looked untidy. he was insistent that he'd kick us out if anyone else came to live in the house and we were required to call him every time we had visitors. he made a point of warning us that he'd enlisted the neighbours to spy on us. we ran a mile!

my creative space

i received this delightful package from kirsty- thankyou! it's part of the quilt project she is coordinating. I have a few ideas for the design of my square and can't wait to get stuck into it.

more creative spaces over at kootoyoo

my creative space...

in my creative space nothing goes to waste. lately i've been turning my fabric scraps into strings of colourful bunting. now i need to find a use for the really tiny scraps left over from the scraps.

more creative spaces over at kootoyou

my creative space...

today all i see is red.
tomorrow i'll see green.
this week it's all systems go.

more creative spaces over at kootoyou

struck gold

i couldn't believe my luck recently when i wandered into an adelaide op shop and found this beauty. it goes to show, channel what you need and you're likely to find it.


it's a vintage cast iron grill pan with a gorgeous wooden handle and has barely been used (the original sticker is intact).


i also picked up this 70s kids cook book.


and this happy, 70's orange and yellow stoneware tea set .

just sharing

i don't know where it came from but i got this urge that i would like to become a teacher... perhaps a secondary art teacher or maybe photography or multimedia... the thought of doing a one year teaching diploma doesn't sound too daunting... on the other hand being afraid of teenagers may work against me. it might just be another of my passing whims, we'll see.

photo credit: cjohnson

my creative space...

this week in my creative space i'm diligently attempting my taxes aided by cups of tea.

more creative spaces over at kootoyou

purging my childhood

the main purpose of my recent trip to adelaide, was to do a stocktake of remnants from my childhood and youth. these boxes of things were taking up valuable real-estate inside my mum's garage and it was time to discard a lot of it. digging through the layers was exciting but rather exhausting. i excavated all kinds of forgotten treasures and so many memories flooded back. while it was sad to let go of some things, overall it was quite liberating to be free of all that stuff. i kept the really precious things and am glad that other things will find new homes.

some of the curios i found...


felt organs left over from a rouge art school project


all the gang


someone has written all over the covers of these magazines in a foreign language. i found them and hoped to one day discover the story behind it...