Confession of an Op Shop Addict

Came downstairs this morning to this funny picture.  Kids dancing to "I see you baby shakin that .... " with bowls as bottoms. Guess what Bowerbird dad was doing?

 HOT!

Now for some sordid truth.

If you read my post yesterday I mentioned I didn't need any more stuff in my life .
It was time to hold back on this buying business,
Well I think I have a problem,
In fact I know I have,
I went to the op shop yesterday,
And couldn't help myself,

I bought old, 

In fact, a lot of old,

I came home with the red, white, and blue bag!

 This is me exercising restraint! $47.24! ouch.

Poor middle one said their is nothing for me.  But then had a great time reading books and playing with magnets with the little one.

I was confessing to mum on Skype last night, she was laughing at me and telling me I'm hopeless, and then had a few confessions of her own.  I know where I get my problem from - she's just been travelling and has come back with an old ink well, cigar case, cigar cutter (she doesn't smoke), batik, and bought a new skirt and pants. She lives in a flat full of Indonesian treasures and is hopeless at resisting old gems and crafting genius. 


I think collecting is hereditary - fulfilling some deep primal urge - however we should be gathering berries and roots - feathers and rocks - not clutter.


As punishment for my sins I am filling that red blue and white bag to the brim with stuff to go back to the op shop. As I have two new jumpers, I have pulled out all my jumpers and found a maternity one at the bottom, been a while since I cleaned that shelf out. 


Still staying true to the Buy Nothing new Pledge, and Blogtober - on the home stretch now.


Don't forget to enter my giveaway as part of Blogtober, especially if you like birds.

When Playdough goes Bad

A speed blog, 15 minutes before midnight, can she get in a Blogtober post for the 12th October? 

Lots of hide and seek going on here at the moment.  Little one said peekaboo 100 times to me in the car on my way to Melbourne today, ah surprise, you're still in your car seat sweet heart, fancy that.

Our house is currently adoring the sweet tunes of Elizabeth Mitchell.  The little one adds in our local birds - Wattle Bird, Watlle Bird, Magpie, Magpie.  Love it that the seven year old sings along too.

I was going to add a funny nit treatment picture hear but that would be a bit cruel on poor Bowerbird kidlet. Bad mummy, stop laughing at your children's misfortune. Do you ever laugh when your meant to be giving sympathy? I have to cover my mouth sometimes.

    Mummy this playdough feels a bit dry.

Yep, I don't think it's much good. 

More fun with spaghetti. 

OOOOh, even better with water! 

Making boats

 Painting with playdough

 Making play dough scene at the beach - sculpting wet sticky play dough.  We later added some sprinkles and the a little bit of soup mix, then finally, after hours of fun, we scraped it all up and popped it in the bin.  This play dough has lasted since Xmas and it was great to give it one final Hurrah before we ended it's days.

Big Bowerbird chick has been getting creative on our new chalk board. All three were fighting over space today so I introduced the tray and tin to the mix. Pics another day.

Raspberry and chocolate muffins for afternoon tea.

Done! With a few minutes to spare, please forgive any typos or nonsense.


Post 99 makes me feel all 80s.

Speaking of balloons, I am shamefully enjoying the Cadbury balloon Bubbles add. Sorry I'm waffling, should go to bed!

GIVEAWAY and Buy Nothing New Month

I am now 10 days in to Buy Nothing New Month, we had bought nothing new until this weekend, then Mr Bowerbird went and bought some chain to hold our gate closed - $5.  This was an essential repair to prevent our dog from wandering, however, I'm sure we had chain around our house that might have been able to do the job.  Ah well, a small glitch, I am proud that I have bought nothing old either, my true weakness is Op-shops and we really need to de-clutter.  


The 10 year old has been good at keeping me honest, she said I couldn't buy the 50c water sprayers at the supermarket - you know the type you use to spray concoctions on your plants to keep the bugs and black spot away. Mostly I haven't missed buying things, however, it's a strange feeling saying to myself that I can't.  A bit like giving up smoking, buying stuff we like can be such a reflex action, used to lift our spirits or distract us from our thoughts.  I most probably wouldn't have bought anything much so far but there's a niggling feeling I'm missing out - I think it will fade as the month goes on.




I have also posted on my Blog everyday as part of Tinniegirl's Blogtober, and have been trying to continue the Spring Clean my sister began. I am almost at 100 posts so it's time to celebrate.

Now the Giveaway bit.  Once I went to a garage sale, and found a whole box of prints of beautiful parrots. It was the end of the day, and the garage sale sellers just wanted to get rid of them, so they sold me the lot.  I looked at them, admired them, and then put them downstairs in our mega junk room. My sister found them during the big clean up and helped me put some of them in frames, replacing the tired faded prints I had in them. They are on beautiful paper and exquisitely painted with water colours. After a little research I have discovered they were painted by Jacques Barraband for François Le Vaillant's Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets.  I'm assuming they're reprints of the original as they seem in far too good condition to be old. They both sound like fascinating characters and worth studying http://www.audubonhouse.org/barraband/barraband.cfm
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2009/04/19/penny-olsen-francois-le-vaillants-histoire-naturelle-des-pe
Some of Francois' parrots have never been recorded in nature.

If you would like a parrot print for your house let me know your favourite colour and make a comment on this post before the 27th October 2011 - can't promise I can match a parrot to all colours but I will try. I will give away two prints, this competition is for Australian residents only due to the cost of postage, sorry. Actually I take that back - I think I can cut down some of the parrots to an A4 version which wouldn't be too expensive to post - so if your overseas and would like a smaller print let me know.

I am about to go through some seeds and will choose some of them to give away as well - a bit cheaper to post. I know I have a lot of beans and Giant Russian Sunflower seeds. Anyone overseas is welcome to enter for these if their quarantine laws will allow it.  


Winners will be randomly drawn on the 28th October 2011. Good luck.
For more Blogtober giveaways visit Curlypops .