I went shopping!

So we've been doing some shopping lately.  And luck has been on our side.  Leading up to getting married almost two years ago, I started gathering.  I managed to fill our entire house with furniture which cost me a total of $50.  Sure everything was mismatched but we had everything we needed.  About a year ago we lashed out and bought a LCD TV and TV unit.  But up until recently, we persevered with our hand-me-down furniture.  

Then about two weeks ago we bought a dining suite.  It is second hand, but in really top condition.

 

(Excuse the fact that it's stuffed up in the corner cause we're storing other crap in our dining room ATM)

And then a few days later, our Landlord installed AC!  Upstairs in our bedroom and in the living area downstairs.

And while the Landlord was at it, he put in a brand new cooktop/oven!!

And then we were went to The Good Guys (whitegoods appliance store) and we were taking a look at new fridges.  We were given one for free when we got married and it is VERY old.  It was very much on the way out and needed replacing.  And we were probably spending a fortune running it.  2 hours later we accidentally bought a fridge...

And I of course have already adorned it in our 'stuff'.

You would think we would be satisfied with what we had so far.  But no.  We went shopping again.  A few days later I found something we'd been looking out for, for a few months now.  A shelf for all our DVD's!

The thing I love about it most is the fact it's leaning....

 And then that night, we were doing the groceries at Aldi, and they happened to have deep freezers as one of their specialty items.  So we bought one.  We had made plans to buy a deep freezer in the upcoming months, but couldn't pass this one by!

And then when you thought I was done.  A few days ago husby and I were sitting in his study chatting.  He was fiddling a little on his computer and then all of a sudden he had this freak out moment and couldn't speak and grabbed for his phone and I was confused and asking what was going on.  He muttered something along the lines of "can't talk must text free piano".  He had spotted a FREE antique piano online.  He texted as fast as his little fingers would go that we wanted it!  I hadn't even seen a picture of it until after the text was sent.  We didn't hear back from the lady that night so assumed we were too late and went to bed sad that we'd missed out on such a beauty. 

Then the next morning husby was downstairs in the kitchen making our lunches for work while I was still upstairs finishing getting ready.  Then I hear this man scream "WE GOT IT".  The lady texted back and the piano was OURS!!  Husby phoned around to piano removalists and managed to find one that was available that very same day!! (piano delivery day was the same day as my flood clean up day in Fairfield).  Luckily my dad needed to leave right after lunch so I had an hour or so to re-arrange all of the furniture in my whole downstairs!  It only cost a small fortune for the removalists, but it's OK because the piano was FREE!!

 

As you can see, it's an Emerson.  I hadn't heard of Emerson before, but husby had.  (might have something to do with the fact that he's American and Emerson's originate from the USA).  The delivery guy took an interest in my new piano.  He had never seen one before, and he was an a piano enthusiast (fancy that).  He said it would be worth my while to look into where it came from and when it was made.  We have done a little bit of research and my little free piano is known as "the sweet toned Emerson" and is potentially worth a small fortune.  I don't think that lovely old lady knew exactly what she was just giving away.

She's all settled in and looking pretty.

And then you thought I was finished again.  But I'm not.

Husby found a washing machine online too.  9.5kg Simpson.  Only used 30 times.  

So he went and got it after work :)

And now I'm done.  

Well for now.  Landlord is having tradies come in and give quotes for a paint job inside and new carpet upstairs.  Oh how I look forward to the rent increases that will result in all these improvements!!!

I'm feeling super dooper lucky!!  Loving all our new treasures. 

And just a little something extra.  I took this while cooking dinner tonight.  Thought I'd experiment with some of my macro settings :)

Have a good weekend everyone.  I'll be spending mine making people's hair beautiful for a wedding, going to the reception, doing more cleaning out in the flood affected areas and going to church.  While I am out cleaning tomorrow, I will be trying to make contact with families who have children who have lost everything.  Hopefully these families and children will become the new owners of all the beautiful Softies that are being made for my Softies for Smiles appeal.  It's not too late to join in! 

I'm also still looking for 5 lucky people to Pay It Forward too!

See ya later!!

Big day!

What a day!  I went out to Fairfield with my dad today.  It was one of the suburbs that was hit the worst.  They were told they would not flood.  But they DID flood, up to their ceilings.  I think they started evacuating as they watched the water come for them.  So they didn't have much time.  Most people lost everything, accept what they could stuff in their cars as the waters rose up their ankles.  My dad was lucky and yesterday he was able to help people empty their houses and get started on the big jobs.  Today was more of a follow up on that.  I was ready to get dirty!!  But I didn't get very dirty :)

I only took a couple of photos.  I felt guilty, like I was there to be a tourist, and not a volunteer.  So I snuck one photo while still in the car, and two inside a house when I was the only person in there.

When we arrived on the street we were working on, there were army personnel everywhere. 

They just helped wherever they could.  Ripping things out, taking away rubbish.  They were pretty awesome!

My dad showed me some of the houses he worked on yesterday.  One particular house, was emptied by dad and a few others yesterday.  The tenants are away in Sydney, and were there when the floods came in last week.  What a horrible thing to come back to.  A mud sludge house, and all of your belongings have either floated away or been destroyed and thrown out.  Her dad was there today to check it out.  He didn't want to go inside and see the damage, it was too hard for him to see. 

These photos were from inside this house.

It was just heartbreaking to see such a beautiful house destroyed. 

The water went all the way up to the moulding on the ceiling. 

After seeing this house we went across the road to help a lovely widow that dad spoke to yesterday.  He promised her he would high pressure hose all the mud off her house for her.  So he did!  I went inside and cleaned up all of the furniture she was able to get up high enough that it didn't get damaged.  She had beautiful antique furniture and doors, so I did my best to restore them back to their previous condition.  There were sparkies re-wiring the house while I was there too.  Poor guys had to crawl under the house in the sludge.

Luckily there were nurses roaming the streets offering free tetanus shots! 

We took a lunch break and found that a group of volunteers were putting on a BBQ on the street corner!  So we had delicious sausages on bread for lunch and some biccies that I had packed. 

Luckily the weather eased off a little today so it wasn't too uncomfortable. 

Well I think that's everything.  I really didn't do much.  I just sat in a house washing down furniture!  But when the lady came home after lunch and found out I'd just cleaned her furniture for her, I could see the expression on her face change.  It was so nice to see how much of a difference that made for her. 

****

Now for a few housekeeping things!!

Thank you everyone who has volunteered to make a Softie for my Softie for Smiles Appeal!! You are amazing.  It's not too late to join in!  Just pop over here to find out the details and let me know if you want to participate!!  (If you have already signed up and I have missed your name on the participants list in my sidebar, please let me know!! I think I have everyone... but is also likely that I don't :P)

Also on that note, I have been speaking with a few people and may have a place for all of your beautiful softies to go soon!  I don't want to tell you just yet, until I know for sure so I'll keep you posted.

My auctions are picking up!!  Yay!!  I'm so glad that my goodies will be going to new homes next week!  Don't forget to check them out here, here and here!  It's all for a good cause!!

Also on the topic of auctions, if you have a moment, pop over to Dianne's Little Corner.  She is a friend of mine who spent a good couple of days making lots of cute kiddies clothes to auction off and as yet, has not had much traffic to her blog for the auctions.  I'd love to see all her goodies go to new homes too!!  

Ok I'm still going.. sorry!

Don't forget to pop over to my shop!  Lots of goodies still available!

And last but not least... I have signed up to do a Pay It Forward this year.  Pop over here to learn more! 

PHEW!  Got through it all for now.  I have a list of all the things I need to blog about!  Getting a little behind :)  Life will be back to normal next week so I'll get a blogging again.  But to keep me accountable I'm going to tell you what I need to blog about.

- brother's wedding
- all our new furniture/appliances
- the piano (yes we got the piano and it's A-mazing)
- my flea market finds
- softies update
- summer photos

Just a few to keep me on my feet.

Hope you all enjoyed your day!

Pay it Forward

Can you tell that I'm using today as my Blog catchup day?  It's been crazy around here and it's nice to have a few hours to work on my blog.


Well I have this amazing blog friend over at The Clip Cafe who gives me fantastic ideas.  She is participating in a Pay it Forward.  And I want in!  Here is how it works.


1.  I promise to send something HANDMADE to the first FIVE people who leave a comment here.  


2.  To be eligible, YOU MUST ALSO POST THIS IN YOUR BLOG, offering the same thing to 5 other people. 


3.  Once you have blogged about it, let me know about your post.


So the rules are simple.  It must be handmade and it must be sent to your 5 people throughout 2011.

If you are playing along, it would probably be wise to you give yourself an approximate due date so the people that signed up don't get too impatient!!  

At this point in time I'm looking at having all of my PIF's out by June.  

Don't forget to let me know once your PIF post is up and remember to leave a comment if you want in!!!