Things that go "BLAAAAAA" in the night & Why do men panic in an emergency?

Well, I'm not sure if that is how you'd spell it, but it sure made one hell of a noise. Saturday night, busy counting zzzzz's, 3.25am, when all of a sudden "BLAAAAAAAAA".
I leapt out of bed like I'd been shot, my DH, of course, was still snoring. I knew straigt away it was his car, the little Excel. It has a horn all it's own!
Rushed out the front of the house to make sure it was his car, then raced back inside to wake him (still snoring!!). How in Heaven's name can men sleep through things like that? Just as well the house wasn't on fire! You have no idea how loud a constantly blaring car horn is at 3.25 in the morning.
Okay, so he stumbles out, turns every light in the house on, (I'm soooo wide awake by this time anyway it doesn't matter), almost falls over one of the dogs, who is obviously wondering what the....?
Then he proceeds to yell at me because he can't find the shifter to disconnect the battery. No hope of finding the right wire at this particular time. Talk about running around like a chook with it's head cut off!!
I, by this time, am laughing my head off. What else could I do. This did not go down well with my DH, but it was funny! Maybe you had to be there, but I'm not sure all the neighbours it woke up thought it was funny.
Anyway, finally he gets the thing disconnected, throws the shifter back in the garage cupboard & marches back to bed, muttering nasty things about car horns & people who have a weird sense of humour. Surely he didn't mean me!
The next morning he & our nextdoor neighbour spent a whole hour peering into the motor, trying to find the right wire to disconnect. I did volunteer the information that maybe they could disconnect it from inside, where it is connected on the steering wheel, but that was pooh-hooed. Stupid woman, what do I know? (lol).
Anyway, you guessed it. No wire found in the motor, not one they could get to anyway, so eventually it did get disconnected, from the steering wheel, but not until my DH had driven to the local shops and back, with the horn going "Bleep" every now & then. hee hee hee.
So today it's off to the car hospital to get fixed, a man can't live without a horn to Beep at us stupid women drivers, eh.

Anyhooo, on a brighter note, because we had lots of sunshine yesterday after a week or more of rain, rain & rain (which we desperately need), I took some pics of our little coffee nook on our back patio. Recognise the table, Sue? I've planted blue & white Potato Vines (sound ugh, but they are really pretty) on the sunny side of the lattice, and they are growing like crazy, so soon we will have gorgeous bunches of flowers hanging down all over. It's becoming my favourite place to collapse after working in the garden. And yes, the little yellow bird is real, that's my canary, William, and he whistles beautifully. Bit of competition for the cockatoos in the noise department, but much nicer to listen to.




Hope you all have a lovely week.


Hugs, Coll :-}

PS: Anyone for tea & a cupcake?

Vinnie's Sale & some great buys

Shannon & I went to the Vinnie's sale this morning. Tracey, my eldest daughter, came along later & conned Mum into buying her some stuff too - lol. Vinnies only have this sale once every 6 months, so we get all excited the week before, wondering what bargains we'll find. Well, we weren't disappointed. Shannon got some great things she will work her magic on, with some paint & her beautiful roses & also bought herself some pretties for her house. As we know, you can never have too many pretties.
I also bought some pretty bits for myself, but mostly things to put on ebay.
Two pair of beautiful old silver candelabra, a couple of really pretty tins for my kitchen, the most gorgeous heavily embossed silver dresser set, mirror, comb & brush, just exquisite. The sweetest little tea set with pink roses & blue edging, two so pretty cups & saucers with pink roses (anyone would think I had a thing for pink roses), a pair of bunny s & p shakers (Amy, you'd love'em) & two vintage talc tins with pretty country scenes, for my bathroom. Also a white Marcella Q. Size Doona cover, white Damask large tablecloth with a rose pattern & a round crocheted white cloth. The linen has some stains, but a good soak in the old Sard's Eucalyptus and they will be better than new.




But the best of all was this fabulous, beautiful, divine vintage piano stool, covered in gorgeous pink velvet, which only cost me $15. There is some wear to the velvet (from years of bums, I guess - lol), but who cares. I may re-cover it, don't quite know yet. I'll wait & find out what my DH thinks first, he's gonna love it. What do you think?

Actually, Shannon is not quite talking to me yet, because I found it before she did - hee hee. (Just kiddin, sweetie).
Ok, now that I have spent all that money, I'd better get some photos done for ebay & get some of it back.


Hugs, Coll :-}

RAIN!!!!!! AND A PRAYER FOR ALL THOSE IN THE US AFFECTED BY THE FIRES.

I am just about to go to bed, but i have to tell you, "IT'S RAINING"!!!!
We've had "Mountain Mist" all day, but this afternoon it got a little heavier, and now it is rain. Just heavy enough at the moment to make a difference, good soaking rain, I can hear my garden jumping for joy!!
I hope & pray that the farmers who need it the most are getting some of this delightful dampness.
I also have to add our prayers for all our blogger friends in California affected by the terrible fires. I have watched them on the TV and I'm horrified to learn that most of the fires were started on purpose. What in the world is wrong with people? How can anyone do this to their fellow man.
I hope & pray that everyone in harms way is delivered safely.
Hugs, Coll :-}

Better late than Never, as they say

Well, I have just been going through some comments on my older blogs & I have discovered that, while I was MIA, I was very remiss (love that word) & missed out that I was tagged for a couple of things. Alison of Creative Art & Craft, tagged me for the "Name Game". So sorry Alison that I missed it, but just for you, I'll do it now. I don't actually have a middle name, after eleven kids (lol) I think my Mum & Dad gave up trying to think of one, so I'm just plain Colleen. I really wanted to be Linda (Lord knows why), so we'll use that.

L: late, I quite often am, although I hate to be, but there's always so much to do before I actually get out of the house.

I: independant, sometimes too much, I'd rather do things myself than let someone help me. Makes John mad.

N: nosey (well, there's no harm in a little healthy curiosity, is there?)

D: doting (yes, that is a word & I couldn't think of anything else). I dote on my kids & grandkids, the big people can fend for themselves.

A: angry. oh boy, I can get VERY angry (Irish temper, thanks Dad), you don't want to be around me when I am.

There you go Alison, all done.

Hugs, Coll :-}

A walk in the garden

It has been a pretty quite few days, apart from visiting Shannon & Sam and helping with the Halloween decos. The old knees have made me take it easy, so I've been pottering around, doing some tidying up (Spring fever - lol) & pulling out the odd weed in the garden. From a standing position, it ain't easy gals.
Anyway, grab a cuppa & come for a walk with me.
Considering we've had NO RAIN forever, the garden is coping reasonably well, although some things just refuse to come out of hibernation. My Easter Daisies, which are normally pushing their way up by now, are just sitting there.
However, lots of things are well established, so they are still doing their thing, with a little help from the times we are allowed to water by hand.
My Wisteria was glorious, until those pesky Crimson Rosella's got hold of it. C'mon guys, let me enjoy it for a little while, pleeeese. Does anyone know a way (harmless, of course) to keep them off the flowers?
And don't you just love the border of Forget-Me-Nots. We had a few in the garden when we bought this house and,


of course, me being basically a "blue" girl, I spread the seeds everywhere. Now they do it all on their own. Divine.
Hope you all enjoyed the little walk.
Hugs, Coll :-}
PS. eeek!! I have tried everything to move the pics, it is just not happening today. Sometimes this blog thing has a mind of it's own. :-}

Been MIA, but I'm back

Okey, a short explanation as to why I've been MIA for the past month or so. I have osteo-arthritis in both my knees, which has now become severe, to the point where I have to have surgery (eventually). AND I HATE HOSPITALS WITH A PASSION. I've never had anything much wrong with me, so this past month or so has been a bit difficult, coping with the pain (not well), the drugs (hee hee) the doc has me on, which send me to la la land & make me sooo tired I don't want to do anthing at all. Then I can't sleep properly because of the pain - vicious circle eh. Then, to top it all off, John (my DH) had to have surgery on HIS left knee due to a fall at work (nope, he wasn't drunk, even though he works in the liquor industry-lol). He is improving & is back at work now.

So, all in all, it's been a crummy month, but hopefully things will improve. Now have to join the you beaut top-of-the-list (and price) Health Fund and wait 12 months for surgery, or cough up $24,000. Yep folks, that's what it costs to get 2 new half-knees. On the bright side, I have 12 months to convince myself that this is what I have to do.

In the meantime, on good days I'm good and on bad days I'll just hibernate-lol. If I go missing again, you'll know why.

So, enough of that.

At the end of last week I received a HUGE parcel from Lori of Pink Faded Roses, my "Cotton and Candy Swap" had arrived!!! Yay!! You have no idea how excited I was. Presents, just the drug I needed. This huge box arrived, decorated with the most gorgeous pink roses. Yep, I'm keeping them, Lori.

Inside were all the most amazing things, all wrapped soooo beautifully, my pics don't do them justice. It was getting kinda late in the day and the light was bad, so the pics are not what they should be. Johnthought I was nuts taking all the pics, but it was just like Christmas!! Lori, to say you outdid yourself is an understatement. This was sooo worth waiting for, I love every bit of it.

A gorgeous little gift bag with the sweetest card inside. I just loooove these teapots, don't you.

And just look at how beautifully all my pressies are wrapped. Sweetest little tags on everything too. (That's my DH lurking in the background, he kinda likes candy. Fat chance).

This is sooo very gorgeous and obviously made by hand by Lori. Gorgeous old buttons, decoupaged dresses & the sweetest lil cherub you ever did see. And inside the box, another surprise, wrapped in the most gorgeous gold cherub paper, this lovely plate is now hanging on one of my pretty shabby shelves. Thank you Lori, I will treasure this always. How clever you are.

A gorgeous tablecloth, the most divine pinks. It's on my dining table already. Also a replica vintage Whitman's chocolates tin, a sweet cupcake box full of the yummy things for making cupcakes, like little flowers for decos, colourings, cupcake papers, plus a pretty hand crocheted jug cover, a Hershey Kisses pot holder & some candy bars (yum), a sweet basket with licorice allsorts and the prettiest Milkglass Candy Dish you ever did see. I just love Milkglass, how did clever Lori know that? And last, but by no means least, a box of Chocolate Turtles from the South Bend Chocolate Company. To-die-4!

I think the pics are a bit all over the place, I hope they are all there and you can see just how gogeous everything is. Thank you soooo much Lori, I love it.

Hugs, Coll :-}

We had a happy Father's Day

We all went to my eldest daughter's, Tracey, for a Father's Day Barbecue on Sunday. We had a great day, the Dads got some nice presents and we all ate far too much. Mind you, Shannon's Dessert, a very large plate piled high with REAL CUPCAKES, was a bit hard to resist. Yep, she even makes great real ones.
So I thought I would share some pics of the day with you all.



Sam & my sweet 4 yr old granddaughter, Kaitlyn. Digging for buried treasure, maybe?




Sam, just digging, cos he can.




A very relaxed Tracey, after lunch.






Scuba Sam. Think the goggles might be just a tad too big?

Alexandra, my 16 yr old granddaughter, doesn't look pleased about having her pic taken.

Tracey's partner, Todd. Big, sweet, gentle man. Not half as scarey as he looks - lol.

You will notice that there is no group photo. Trying to get this lot to all get together in the one spot is like trying to climb Mt Everest, almost impossible. Also, there is no photo of me. I figure Shannon has posted enough ghastly pics of me to keep everyone happy.

Hugs, Coll :-}

PS; I did have a pic of Shannon & Shane, but she made me remove it and like an obedient Mum, I did :-}