WOOHOO, I got a swop parcel!!!

This morning I came home from work to find a parcel from the States on my kitchen bench. For all you who don't know, I work 21 hour shifts, so I was away all night. If a parcel arrives my DH leaves it out for me, often with a cryptic note, like "what have you bought now"?

Anyhoo, I checked this parcel, it's from the States.

Now, I know I haven't bought anything from you gals recently, so this is very mysterious. Turning over the parcel, what do I see. It's from Joan of Joan's Journey's, my Parasol & Paper Swap partner.

She did email to say she had posted my parcel, getting in early because of new bubbies & stuff (helloo, Sydney Ann).

So, here in all their glory are my gorgeous swap items. Joan, they are sooo lovely, how did you know I would love all these pretties.

Isn't it so exciting, look at all that pretty rosey paper & a card, addressed to me.

Such a pretty card & envelope, with roses, & the prettiest (pink of course) little scrapping book, with a PINK PARASOL, & a pretty pink fridge magnet. Joan thinks the lady looks a bit like a parasol. I think so too.

Parcel number 2 held these goodies, gorgeous little French style booklet/journal. I shall keep this in my bag, I am always scribbling down stuff. A lovely mini photo album (yep, we still do have photos), just beautiful, & darling little napkins. I love the chocolate brown & pink combination, gorgeous. Can you read what it says? "So many chocolates, so little time". A girl after my own heart, is Joan.

Is this not the most gorgeous pile of goodies. Thank you so much Joan. Everything is just beautiful, I love it (big smiles).

I know you were early, but now, like the White Rabbit said, I feel late. (Hmmm, now where did I put that paper I was putting in with the Parasol... heck, where is the Parasol?)

Just kidding Joan.

Hugs, Coll :-}

Prayers to our friends in the States

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to send our prayers, blessings & love to all our friends in the States who have been affected by the terrible storms over the last couple of days. We have been watching the news on TV & were overcome by the devastation & heartbreak, in particular we saw film of Oklahoma, which distressed us greatly. We can't begin to imagine how you all must be feeling at this terrible time. Our hearts go out to all the people, particularly our blogging friends, who are affected by these terrible storms. May the Lord watch over you all.

Love & Blessings

Coll & John

Mother's Day, a little late

I know it's a bit late, but, better late than never, as they say in the classics. (Who is "they" anyway? or is that are they)? Oh, who cares.


Anyhoo, we all had a wonderful Mother's Day at my house. Unfortunately, my two eldest granddaughters couldn't come as they were both working at their part-time jobs. Alexandra, 17, is still in high school (her last year) & Rebecca (19) is at University studying Nursing. They are gorgeous, hard-working girls & I did miss them.


But, my lovely 15 yr old granddaughter Jessica (she prefers Jess) was with us & the twin terrors, Mr Sam & Miss Kaitlyn. My darling eldest daughter Tracey, Kaitlyn's Mum was here, my sweet SIL Todd was back from working in Darwin, and of course, Shannon & Shane.


We all had a great time, the weather was TERRIBLE, cold & wet, but who cares. Although, we were going to the lake to feed the ducks & the geese. Oh well, maybe sometime soon.



We ate a lot, drank some Champagne (just us Mums of course) & had a bit of a giggle. AND, I got some lovely pressies.

















Shannon made me a gorgeous box for my bits-n-pieces, covered in beautiful papers, flowers, vintage buttons & the cutest lil birdie (can you see him). She also painted me a lovely sign to hang on my wall & I got CHOCOLATES TOO(yummm). Mr Sam made me a gorgeous tissue box cover (he knows Nanny can't ever be without tissues), with maybe a LITTLE help from Mum. Dont'cha love it?




Tracey & Todd & the girls gave me heaps of the MOST GORGEOUS teatowels for my new kitchen, all colour matched, pink-n-pretty, with cuppies & sodas & stripes & things. I don't think I want any of them to get dirty, they're just too pretty.


Not only that, they also gave me MICHAEL BUBLE'S latest CD. We are going to see him in exactly 10 days!! Am I excited? You betcha!!


12 rows from the front!! WOOHOO!! (oops, excuse me).

And, of course, Shannon & Tracey, when they get together, are just as bad as the littlies, always up to something.




















Wonder what these two were up to while the grown ups weren't watching?

And, I know Shannon wants me to put this on my blog, even if she didn't say so (I hate all my photos). She looks gorgeous, anyway. (Do you think maybe the sepia hides my wrinkles?)

Hope you all had as wonderful a Mother's Day as I did.

Hugs, Coll :-}

How many makes a collection? And how many collections can you have before you get certified?

Before I start, yep, I know I've been absent for awhile. Did you miss me? Just had a little break because of a couple of health issues bothering me & also doing extra shifts at work due to staff shortages, so not too well & verrrry tired make me a mite touchy (lol) & I hibernate a little

Anyhoo, got to doing a bit of moving "stuff" around this week, now that the house is mostly back to normal & I realised that I have more "collections" than I thought.

First, there's my gravy/sauce boats. This is 3 of my favourites, but I'm fairly sure that at last count there was 26. But, in my defence, I have been collecting them for about 20 years. I'm a bit choosy now though, they really have to be worth it.















Then there's the cherubs. It wasn't until I started unpacking again after the reno that I realised how many I have. If you count the ones in pics & on boxes, I think it's about 18. That's not many, is it? I'll bet there's lots of you with more than that.


























































Gorgeous trios, well, I don't think they should be classified as a collection, you can never have too many. Who knows who might pop in for tea & scones. Oh, & teapots of course. Gotta have teapots to go with them.
















Sadly, I have just discovered that I'm acquiring a couple more collections (giggle). Pretty little Prayer Ladies (ok, I admit it, I'm addicted), gorgeous footed egg vases (there's a couple more of both in transit) & divine rose display plates for my walls. And the sweetest teapot next to my prayer ladies that I just bought from the lovely Alicia at Time Worn Style. Isn't it gorgeous.

























I'd better stop there, if I keep looking around I might find out that I really AM ADDICTED TO COLLECTING. I wonder if there's a name for the complaint? Do I need a doctor? A phsychiatrist? Or maybe just more room for more collections (hee hee).

Have a wonderful weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums.


Hugs, Coll :-}

PS: Please excuse the big spaces, the more I tried to fix it, the messier blogger made it. Aaarrgghh!!