Blogging Break

Hello, I am taking an indefinate leave of absense from blogging.

My stepfather is critically ill. He has Sepsis, basically a massive infection in his blood with no positive outcome even if he does survive it.

So far he has not responded to the medication that he is being giving intravenously since last Thursday.

He is in a semi conscious state and has suffered some brain damage due to the severity of the infection.

It is a terrible thing to see this happen and the speed it happened is shocking.

I need to support my mother and my youngest brother who is closest to my stepfather through this horrible time.

Thank you all for your kind messages and prayers.

Rachaelxo

A Busy Week

I have been working all week, no not milking cows . . . . at Babes work. I go down there when their stock shipments come in and help unpack and put away the new stock. Very physical work, I enjoy it because I don't have to do it day in and day out!

Babes grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary party plans are coming together. We are doing a lovely luncheon for them this Sunday. Imagine being married for 60 years !!!!


My stepfather is very, very ill and is in hospital. If you could say a little prayer for his well being and comfort it would be very much appreciated.

I am off to pick my Princess up from school. Two weeks school holiday starts on Monday yahee!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Bye . . .


Rachaelxo

p.s. spring weather, sunny!!!!

Daily To Do List

Thank you so much to those of you who left comments on my last two posts. I hope the bloggers who have been affected by the 'nasties' got to read your extremely supportive comments. Actually I hope any 'lurking nasties' read them as well!

To show how much I appreciated your comments, I made a little certificate, well actually 'doctored' a little certificate I found on the Graphics Fairy's blog (Thank you Graphics Fairy). Please take the certificate and put it on your own blog if you would like to!


Before I go on, I have put a photo of my boots on here for you Sherry! Got them in Australia 4 years ago. I love them, and wear them a lot, still. I do love a little faux animal print!!!



Speaking of Sherry, I followed her link to RhondaMum's blog who is having an amazing give away.


One of the conditions of entering her giveaway is to go to the Breast Cancer site and click on the Free Mammograms button. I am clicking daily!


Also in my never ending quest to become an organised (I was once!) on to it Domestic Goddess I have joined Brocante Home's, Vintage HouseKeeper Circle!!!!

So watch this space, come October when it starts I am going to be positively dangerous in the home!!!!

As for my Daily To Do List, well . . .

It is humongous this week!!!

Tom has exams that need him to taken and picked up from school at odd times, I am working at Babes work tomorrow, at The Princess's school this afternoon and organising the Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary luncheon this coming Sunday as well as cleaning their house, cleaning my house, which is now not clean or tidy, loading heaps of stock on Trade Me and my Website and doing masses of paperwork. Finish the furniture I started painting yesterday and finish my little garage playroom so I can start to CRAFT again!!!

Jen, my clean laundry needs you!!!

But on a bright note, my gardens still look fabulous and I am still happy and positive, just a little tired!!!

So I won't be posting a daily to do list this week, instead I have it hand written in my Brocante Home Domestic Goddess folder I set up. I need to carry the list around with me at all times!

Ok, off now to stack the dishwasher and generally get on with it!!!!

Bye for now!

Rachaelxo

Keeping it Real!

A huge thank you to all of you who left comments on my post yesterday. We are all on the same page regarding our blogs. I always say treat others as you want to be treated. Works for me!

Nastiness is a topic that gets me very hot under the collar as you will have now guessed. It is hitting a nerve at the moment as my Princess is witnessing bad behaviour and bullying of children in her class at school. This is having a deep impact on her own behaviour and attitudes at home and at school. We are on to it and working through it very quickly. It saddens me that at 5 years old she has to witness this and that it is 5 years olds who are doing it!

Yesterday I read two blogs that brought tears to my eyes. One written by Mary at Isabellas Closet asking for prayers for the family of Poppy a 13 month old baby who tragically died and the other was written by Corey of Tongue in Cheek asking for prayers for one of her readers whose daughter in law was killed, leaving behind two little children. And then of course there is the Nielson family tragedy.

That is what I mean by Keeping it Real!!! That is real and offering your support through prayer, donation or just stopping to acknowledge someones pain is important, not the small petty stuff!

This is very real, my pretty Princess dressed for Mufti Day this morning! She is such a poser!


And I certainly won't be plucking the hat I showed you yesterday, many of you seemed quite indignant that I would consider it.

However, this one has plucking potential!!!!


Pretty, but no where near as gorgeous as yesterdays. I paid an extraordinarily ridiculous amount of money for it on Trade Me for the sole purpose of plucking it!

Today at the Rose Room . . .

I need to:

• Clean Bathrooms
• Vacuum Kitchen and Dining Area
  
• Hire Movie
  
• Fold and put away GIANT pile of clean laundry
• Tidy House
  

I am wearing:

• Blue jeans, black top, Khaki light weight jacket, fake fur Leopard skin boots with a heel, perfume and jewels (I have been out shopping!)

State of the House

• Clean but a little messy
  

State of the Garden

• Weed free

Currently at home

• Coco the Cat and Me

I am crafting:

• Nothing :(

I am reading:

• Nanny by Charlotte Bingham (novel)
• Time Out by Diane Levy (parenting book)
• The English Home magazine (bought today)
• Romantic Homes magazine (arrived in mail today)
  

I am cooking tonight:

• McDonald's for The Princess - its Friday, I don't cook!
  

The weather is:

• Raining and overcast
  

My mood is:

• Happy and positive

Bye for Now

Rachaelxo

To blog or not to blog, that is the question . . .

It would be easy to become very dis-enchanted with blogging at the moment and that makes me feel very sad.

We all have our own personal reason for blogging and I have been giving serious thought to why I blog.

Well, I blog for quite a few reasons actually. I blog because I love looking at other peoples creativity, I love little insights into other peoples everyday lives, I love looking at other peoples homes, I love seeing others thrifting finds. Some blogs are inspirational and some I read because they make me laugh!

I write my own blog because I like the online friends I have made around the world, it is a good marketing tool for my website (lets be honest here!), not that I have pushed it much . . . yet . . . and I blog because it has become my online journal, my diary.

I also blog as a form of escapism from the dreariness and sameness that is sometimes part of everyday life. Blogging has also been very supportive at times.

Recently I have been aware of some under currents in the blogging world, maybe some cattiness, some falseness, nasty comments left on blogs, copying of others art work etc.

For this reason some people have taken blogging breaks, some people have had to turn their comments off. How sad is that, when they have had to leave a medium, a form of communication which is supposed to make you inspired, happy, supported and creative!!!

The real world can be a nasty enough place, do we really have to bring it our enchanted little world of blogging. Too sad!

I am going to continue blogging FOR ME, because I need to blog. However, I have been spending too much time blogging recently and not enough time doing the 'real' stuff.

For a while I am going to use my blog as my daily motivator, my to do list. To get me back on track and to try and get my creative mojo back.

After all it is my blog, my journal, my diary. If you want to still visit I would love you to, but if you don't, well that is ok too.

And if you are guilty of any of what I mentioned, please stop it, go away and be the nice person you should be!

I do have to say that I haven't been directly targeted by this but I am upset that other people who I like have!

Anyway, I have said my piece, enough of that, on to why I am really here!

Before I type out my today's daily list I thought I would show you one of my vintage millinery confections. It was actually given to me and I forgot I had it! How could I forget this???

Is it not gorgeous! Karla, would you pluck this??? I don't think I can do it!!!!


Today at the Rose Room . . .

I need to:

• Load Baby Clothing on Trade Me
• Bank Cheque
• Post Swaps

I am wearing:

• Blue jeans, black t-shirt, purple cardigan, pink polka-dot slippers, perfume!

State of the House

• Clean and Tidy

State of the Garden

• Weed free

Currently at home

• Coco the Cat and Me

I am crafting:

• Nothing :(

I am reading:

• Glamour by Louise Bagshawe (chick lit)

I am cooking tonight:

• Chicken Casserole and Rice

The weather is:

• Raining then sunny, raining then sunny . . .

My mood is:

• Happy and positive

Bye for Now

Rachaelxo

Designing For Your Life

Today, I am joining Kari and Kijsa's Designing For Your Life party.

Kari and Kijsa invite us to share YOU & your design for life... by simply posting a picture of your favorite room or area in or around your home(gardens are filled with personal style too!) and share these three things...

1. Where it is in your home...
2. Your favorite style (eclectic, Traditional, Cottage, retro, unfinished, Shabby Chic...)
3. A favorite item in the room (a story about it too, if you want!!)


So without further ado, welcome to my bedroom!!!

Our bedroom is my absolute favorite room in our home as it is my sanctuary, my haven.

It is where I retreat to at the end of a long day. I love our bed, I love clean, crisp cotton sheets, sun dried, ironed and sprayed with lavender water. I love our electric blanket and tucking the pillows around and behind me.

This room is where I read my books and magazines each night, watch TV, blog, write, plan and dream.

It is where Babes and I lie and talk, where The Princess will join me on Saturday mornings for stories in bed while Babes brings us our breakfast. It is the calm in the storm!

Our bedroom is the one room in the house that is always tidy, no toys, no daily debris! It the where I have my most treasured items on display and it is the room where most of my cherub collection lives.

It is decorated in a rich romantic style as you will see.

This hangs on our bedroom door.


Our bed, my night table is on the right. On the floor by my side of the bed is a stack of my magazines and the books I am currently reading. There is a little enclosed balcony off our bedroom, reached through a sliding door.

A vintage and somewhat tatty, but still very pretty, pink feather eiderdown sits on the end of our bed and at the very foot of the bed is my Granny's glory box.


My dressing table has special treasures on it given to my by loved ones and photos of The Princess.


One of my favourite cherub pictures is this 'R' found in an op shop (thrift shop) in Melbourne, Australia.


I love this little vintage French looking table tucked into a corner. It has more cherubs and a pink washbowl and pitcher given to me by my very first Rose Room customer.


My little ensuite is off our bedroom. Babes doesn't use it so I have my own very girly bathroom.

This is to the side of the vanity unit, I like to have my jewellery and make up on hand!


This little shelf holds some favourites, vintage bath salts, miniature perfume bottles, pink glass and china dolls.


My grandmother painted china and on my bathroom wall are two of her pieces.



My favourite item in my bedroom, in fact the whole house, is my vintage print by Italian artist A. Collino. I bought it in a Op Shop in Melbourne during a very bad time in my life and to me it signifies purity in life and a fresh start. I had it in the shop for a while and was offered crazy money for it.

To me it is priceless and not for sale!


Thank you for visiting me, do pop over to Kari and Kijsa and visit everyone else participating.

I hope you visit again . . .

Bye . . .

Rachaelxo

Extreme Makeover

No, no not me, not yet anyway!

This is what I looked out to when I stood at my kitchen bench, ate at my dining room table and sat in my living room.

I hated it!


Two days of intense physical labour, single handedly by yours truly!!!

I love it!




Weather update, springs back, actually today is more summer like, hot! Love it, I have three loads of laundry drying in the sun. Love that!

Oh and my toe colour is still black!

Bye!

Rachaelxo

Pretties from Kitty

I have a thing about Paper Dolls and am slowly building a collection of vintage Paper Doll books.

A while ago Kitty from Reflections from the Stone Nest, posted here about some of her vintage finds including this fabulous Tom Tierney Paper Doll book. I was lucky enough to snaffle this one from her Etsy.


It arrived yesterday and not only is the book just divine but Kitty's packaging is beautiful.

Sweet printed out labels in the shape of an envelope, a thank you note with a vintage image and a little package tied with a vintage ribbon and millinery, of which contained some sheet music medallions, vintage sticky labels and a glittery sparkly button!

In case you didn't know, Kitty is the mother of Pretty Petals Heather! Like Mother, Like Daughter!!!

Thank you so much Kitty!

And just before I depart to make beds and whip up a little dust storm by dusting, its still raining and my toes are still black! I must attend to that!

Bye............

Rachaelxo

Where did spring go?

Spring came, stayed for four days and went again. Back to rain, rain, rain, go away rain come again another day!

And windy, and cold!

Looking out into my bedraggled and un-springlike garden.


Maybe I shouldn't have painted my toes black, maybe I put a hex on spring! A pretty pink might have been more the go I am thinking!


We had a busy weekend, a big family dinner here on Saturday night to celebrate Babes birthday, his Dad's birthday and Fathers Day which was yesterday.

We had our usual strange mix of family members here, Babes and I (the strangest!), Babes grandparents who live across the road, my Mum who lives around the corner, Babes Aunt and Uncle and Babes Dad, ex son-in-law to the grandparents across the road. We had heaps of fun!

I set the table with a blue theme, blue being Babes and Babes Dad's favourite colour. They didn't realise it but I had tied the napkins up with blue ribbon that said "it's a boy"!!!!

It looked lovely with the candles lit and lights dimmed and I had other candles and tea lights burning all around the room.


Dinner was simple, spinach lasagna, big leafy green salad and nice bread. Dessert was chocolate birthday cake and cream.

Yesterday it was still spring, after cooking brunch for the two men I got stuck into my top garden, garden being a very loose term for it at the moment. I was going to finish weeding today and plant lots of 'spring' but alas . . .

Oh well, off to change my toe colour . . .

bye for now

Rachaelxo

Hello Spring!!!

Loving spring, it hasn't rained in 3 whole days, nothing short of a miracle. I have had ALL my windows open every day and have pegged laundry on the clothes line every day. Sweet!!!

The air smells so fresh, its given me spring fever, been cleaning up a storm, gardening and cooking yummy dinners to have with salad every night.

Did I tell you I love spring!!!

I have started buying a few little goodies for my house makeover. Its bye bye to Shabby Chic and clutter, still love it but the reality is we live in a modern apartment type thingy. So hello to a more sophisticated, less cluttered and more calming look!

I bought this iron cross for one of the walls, its heavy and I love the weathered look of it.


Also this plate rack which I am going to paint so that it looks more aged like the cross (and me!).

And a sweet treat, two delicious American mags, I won't tell you the crazy prices I paid for them but so worth every gorgeous glossy page!


I have been so lucky to be given a new lot of awards.

Pat at Just Between Us Girls gave me this one.


I'm passing this one on to

Barb at 123 lavender lollipop lane

Sherry at Espirt * d'Art
Brittany at Adelines Shabby Cottage
Amy at Bunny Rose Cottage
Natasha at Artistic Creations by Natasha Burns

The rules are:

• If you pass this award on please link back to the person who gave you the award which is me!
• Four of the people must be dedicated followers of your blog.
• One person must a blogger from another country.

Thanks Pat!

Barb at 123 lavender lollipop lane gave me this award. How cute is this!


I would like to pass it on to:

June at Bye Bye, Pie
Felicity at Fluffy Flowers
Kal at [i] LoveLife
Katrina at Katrina Chambers
Karla at Sugar Bear Designs

Thanks Barb!

And then Kerryanne at Shabby Art Boutique awarded me with this one!

The Smile Award - here are the rules:

1. The recipient must link back to the Awards Creator.

2. You must post the rules if you receive an award.

3. You must choose 5 people to receive the award after you receive it yourself.

4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award (see below).

5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.

6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.

7. You must thank your giver.

Characteristics for the Smile Award

1. Must display a cheerful attitude (not necessarily at all times - we are all human).

2. Must love one another.

3. Must make mistakes.

4. Must learn from others.

5. Must be a positive contributor to Blog world.

6. Must love life.

7. Must love kids.

I pass this award on to:

Barb at 123 lavender lollipop lane
Alison at Creative Arts and Crafts
Amy at Not So long Ago
Catie at Catiean & Co
Cheryl at Confections

Today is Babes birthday, Happy Birthday gorgeous Man!!! Babes is my toy boy, I am so excited, next year he will be in my decade!!!!

Happy Spring!

Rachaelxo