Restyling.....

Today along with my sister and a good friend we headed out on a day of trawling some op shops.......

In all we managed 5 with some lunch thrown in the middle and managed to be back to collect kids on  almost on time.

The mission for me was to find some gems that I could REinvent.....

Unfortunately those red boots were a touch too large....

I did however buy a pair of shoes and a couple of skirts that will undergo some transforming soon.

The things you can find when you have the time to "really trawl"....

I never cease to be amazed at the sheer amount of treasures that are sitting inside these stores......

Barbie anyone??????

 

In the second last shop we visited....I was excited to pick up this flyer on the counter.....

Now I am not becoming a fashion blog by any means....but my recent flirting with REinventing has seen me keenly become interested in what I can do with something
pre loved that may not necessarily be instantly obvious.

So I have been investigating some local blogs that are taking the "30 Day Restyle Challenge"

Check them out here.

Maybe you could try the ...

"Buy nothing new for the month of August!"

I intend to keep working on a number of projects in progress.
I will share as I go.

Do you do Reward Cards?

This week I received an email from a company that I have a rewards card with......

spend the points or they will expire at the end of the month.

I use this rewards card when I fill up for petrol and do my grocery shopping  and not much else.

I take bonus points when they are offered but very rarely think about using any of the points accumulated.

I am not one to go out of my way to use the card but it fits with my usual shopping habits.

Still with all that we spend on food and fuel the points still don't add up all that fast .

...and when old points expire faster than the new ones accumulate it can be all a bit pointless.

So I took the email and did some investigating yesterday and with some quick discussion with the hubbie on whether to take an overnight stay somewhere or to find a  gadget we really did need or would use .......

we settled on a 

and I even had enough points left over to get 6 months worth of this.....

I now have a pretty much zero balance and I am thinking it will be some time before I think about what else I may be rewarded with......

Do you do reward cards? Have you had any cool rewards gifted to you?

Shopping Solo

Over the weekend we got the great idea to update our Lounge room....firstly we tried moving furniture from around our home....this resulted in a lot of moving and a less than ideal situation.

Next up we reached for the IKEA catalogue......

HMMMM dangerous

So after  lots of researching and measuring we had a new game plan......

...this game plan involved me volunteering to head to IKEA this morning...

unable to enlist any shopping buddies at such late notice I ventured on my own......

...it would  be fine...I had the clear shopping list and knew exactly what I was getting.....

so only three calls to my hubbie at work - just to clarify! I finally enlisted the help of  a lovely salesperson to help me with the heaviest load I have have ever purchased there.

Some quick mental picturing of how I was going to load it all in the car, I talked myself into having it delivered....hmmm I think if I had taken a deep breath I could have managed  and saved on the cost but not the way I went.

I learnt something today .

that as much as I love Ikea and the ease at which you can spend money there and the inspiration that you can come away with......

It is no fun to be there on a mission by yourself!

No -one to chatter too, discuss colours,shape, form or function with 

and no-one to encourage you to try and get it all in the car.

Attire Dilemma over???

There was another reason to head out yesterday afternoon...remember my wedding attire dilemma? Well with the wedding just one week away, I was still undecided if my plans were going to come off....A while ago I saw a shop mentioned over here and thought I would check it out one day....well that day was yesterday and too my lovely surprise there was another fantastic shop right next door.....

With half expecting to not have any luck I headed inside ...and look what I found....

My size perfectly...a little sleeve which was a must.....long (not a mini) which was another requirement for me....now just to find my girdle the perfect under garment!!!

I couldn't resist this crocheted cardigan either...

...the boys waiting to give there once over and stamp of approval.

Meet Me At Mikes

There was one thing on my to do list that would require the rest of my holidaying buddies to indulge me on........

Visit Meet Me At Mikes!!!

What a great part of town and the store didn't disappoint me.

I

Unfortunately Pip wasn't in the store but I did meet Cam. I just loved the way he wrapped my purchase......I would have expected nothing less.

To do list

Should I have been making a mad dash to IKEA today???

Well probably not but once I have an idea it is hard to push it aside. After my little display at the weekend, I had lots of interest in my orange and black apron.

So I set out to grab some more fabric to fill some requests for friends...now just to schedule some sewing time in a crazy week.

Retail Therapy

A trip to IKEA was in order today......I did have a list with something in particular on it....

I was after some of their fabric so that I could attempt a creation for a competition the store is running...

and we all know that even if you have a list there are always other things to pick up along the way that were too much of a bargain to walk past.

and who would have thought that we could also do this while at the store.....

 lucky I had some help with this as I needed a decoy right at the busy intersection.

Now off to come up with a suitable entry.

Change of Pace

The weather had really set in today so all plans for outside work were put on hold...probably a good thing as Derek really needed to give his back a rest.
So we wanted to give the kids something to say thanks for being so good all week...we decided to let them chose a movie to buy and go and do a little retail therapy.
So movies were chosen..Meg-Nancy Drew Movie, Fraser- The Lego Movie( surprisingly good)
Derek purchased a new WII game and me I was happy with some new wool from Spotlight.
We did have some other fun along the way....

This really was a beanie we found in a very trendy surf shop!!! No we didn't buy it !

Meg's choice for trying on was much more conservative.

What is a morning shopping without the coffee break!

Something Old Something new

We have been waiting for the rain to visit us for awhile and it appears that it is here at last. What that then makes us realise is that we have no or very little warm clothes. This was especially the case for one 5 year old who has quite the growth spurt over the summer.
So what better fun than start searching on eBay for some bargains...these arrived today and they were a hit. Sometimes it is hard work to score any kind of bargain but other times it comes easy and we are rewarded with some great buys.....Fraser actually couldn't care less where they came from ....I think he is just pleased that he hasn't traipsed around a dozen stores looking and trying on.

Choices

The purple or the pink?
We had an invitation to a 50th birthday for last night and had the dilemma at what was to wear....not ones to go out anywhere semi formal very often my wardrobe was looking very under-suitable. So a mad dash to my favourite and always good for a quick rescue dress store, I found a choice of two tops both on the heavily reduced rack (even better of a rescue job)
Then to decide which to wear...I went with the purple although my first choice would have been black but that wasn't in the final equation.

My next dilemma flat or heels...I so don't do heels at all very well so I decided I would arrive in heels and then quietly change into my flats. But I did surprise myself and managed to stay in my heels all evening and successfully dance with my handsome husband on a very slippery floor!

As for the pink top we managed to have another free night to dine on our own thanks to very generous grandparents and so I had my opportunity to wear my other pleasing bargain!

Popping Rocks...

I found these at the supermarket while shopping the other day.I don't normally buy "gimmicky" things but this caught my eye and appealed to my childhood days. I put it on top of the ice cream tonight to see if it would live up to the memories.
It brought a smile and giggle to all of us as it popped and crackled in our mouths.
For Derek and I remembering it as kids and for the kids having it for the first time..

Go ahead and see if you can find some and have a giggle to!

Thankfulness Day 15

Day 15
I am thankful for grandparents who are willing to have the kids for the day so we can Christmas shop.
Life has been so hectic that we had the first opportunity today to start and finish all the present buying.
So we hit the shops with our list in hand and away we went stopping only for some quick lunch and a coffee fix...pleased to say we have almost done it.
Then it was home to get it wrapped before the surprises were spoilt.

Thankfulness Day 12

Day 12
I am thankful for ..a pantry full of food.
This is something we so take for granted. As each member of the household takes their turn to stand at the door and says what can I have to eat as they stare at a mountain of choice.
We need a constant reminder of the many in our world who stare at nothing for days on end.

As you can see I am no "Tupperware queen" when it comes to pantry organisation.
After that very serious thought I ought not grumble at having to actually complete the weekly chore of tackling the supermarket.

It's Here!

I am finding myself thumbing through this "book" a lot making mental lists of all I could do if....
I bet I am not the only one who ran to their letterbox to make sure it hadn't been spoiled by the rain!

Giving and Receiving

I have been busy preparing all the contents for our annual Christmas in a Shoebox Project. There is an opportunity for our church community and wider community to fill a shoebox with all sorts of "goodies" that will be sent to far flung countries. They will be handed out to children who need to be lavished with both practical and fun things for Christmas. I have so much fun gathering all the contents and then seeing generous people get on board with the packing...

These guys headed off to the Kindy Father's Night.....there was much excitement even the hair had to be spiked! "Are you cited daddy" was heard many times as they headed out the front door.
I was pleased to hear the reports of good singing and performing as Mummy missed out due to one little boy being too shy in May for the Mother's Day morning tea....he really is growing bigger.

Gadgets and Good Food

Meg had very kindly organised for her and Fraser to sleep over at Grandma and Grandads tonight so we could go out for our belated anniversary dinner. So in fact we dropped them of at lunch time and headed (at Derek's decision) to the Ikea super store which we had yet to visit.
Super store indeed half the population of Perth must have been there and amazingly enough the store was almost able to cope with so many people...that is until you get to the checkouts. That is why you just have to purchase a few token things to make it all worthwhile tackling the queue.

We did come home with a list of measurements and ideas of things that we would love to add to our already overflowing home.

It was then off to dinner...we wanted to try somewhere different so we headed to the Little Creatures Brewery. It was a fun place to grab a light dinner. We finished off with waffles in Fremantle then headed home.
Tonight is the start of Tour Fever in our house that will dominate then next three weeks TV watching.
And all is quiet in the house!