I bought a videocam and I have no house to shoot

Kim wanted video of my new old house. "It will help me understand the layout." So I bought a Sony Handycam. (I actually wanted a kilim but Kim insisted!) Today was going to be spent taking photos, shooting video, measuring and drawing up floor plans. Ha! That never happened. (Read about it here.) So we went to breakfast instead, saw cafe friends for probably the last time, visited the local thrift shops for one last treasure hunt and came home to more packing. BUT ... the handycam works a treat. Here are two quick test shoots. The first is at the cafe's kitchen entrance where Mickey insists on waiting to chance his luck with stray flying pieces of bacon. That's Stix, the best chef around! You can also hear Kelvin's voice. His is sooooooooo Australian (nasal). And shit I don't really sound like that. I'm sure my voice is deeper, sexier.

And if that isn't bad enough friends at the cafe said Mickey looked like Barbra Streisand. Well that lead to the obvious next step ....

At last Kim you get to hear my voice. Perhaps I'll go back to silence now ;)

What's been happening this week ... besides packing

Mickey got his work ID badge this week. Each day he takes the train to work with Kelvin at the bank. That's him waiting at the railway station. Such a diligent employee. He gets to the office, checks out the staff he oversees, plays with his toys, sleeps, hoovers the floor of any food scraps and once even quality tested some sausage rolls he found hiding in an employee's handbag. (He said they tasted great but needed sauce.)

Notice that like every one of us his ID photo is most unflattering. He thinks he looks like a dork. Why couldn't it be as good as the top one? He thinks he looks handsome but world weary in the top one. Co-worker Andrea took this photo of Mickey hard at work herding crocodiles and supervising employees. It is a little known fact that soft toy crocodiles are in plague proportions in Australian banks.

Andrea also included some of her own pets. "I've also been trying to get some pics for your pets on furniture section on your website, but so far, have only managed the other couple of attached pics.  The bike is a Yamaha Big Bear, 350cc Quadbike and the cats are Mumma Puss (brown, yellow) and her daughter Smoky (cream, brown).  I'm still trying to catch the goat kids and lambs in the appropriate places, but they seem to be rather alert and a bit camera shy on the topic ... if I can manage some kids in the wheelbarrow, would that qualify?  It's an old Council wheelbarrow, and has certainly done some 'miles' in it's life.  Will keep trying." Mickey confided in me that these two girls scare the bejesus out of him. Big tough biker cats! He just hopes they don't start work along side Andrea!

Here's a pic of Mickey at breakfast this morning. Kelvin had headed into the office today but Mickey decided to spend his Saturday morning naked (no harness) under the cafe table, chatting to friends and eating bacon.

He had hoped for a leisurely day watching me pack and taking the occasional nap. Unfortunately it has been rather noisy here because of a couple of war birds buzzing the burbs. We live near an army barracks. Today they are practicing troop pick ups and drop offs (I'm sure there is a technical term for it). They really creep me out. I keep imaging what it must be like to see and hear these in a war situation. Funny thing is we are moving away from an army barracks to a city with one of Australia's largest air force bases. So more helicopters. And definitely fighter jets. Fun! Back to the packing :)

  

Will this work as a bathroom vanity?

Bought this vanity this morning at a thrift store. I would use it in my bedroom but I already have a lovely art deco veneer and mirror waterfall dresser but this was such a good bargain I couldn't leave it. Plan one is if the art deco dresser is too big for the room then I'll use this (after restoring it and replacing that god awful green curtain fabric skirt) or perhaps I can modify it and use it with a basin as a bathroom vanity. Think stark modern wet room box inside an old room and this as a counterfoil to it. Still working on this idea. We'll see. Maybe I'll just sell it after I work on it :)

My poor little workshop patio is full of ongoing jobs. I'll be so glad to move in a few weeks and have a larger space to work in!

I'm on a roll! Fibreglass and leather 2 seater and chair

In the 70s and early 80s the Queensland Government commissioned these sets for the public spaces of their buildings. Some of you from Brisbane may remember them from the Art Gallery when it first opened. Yesterday I got my hands on 2 of them, a 2 seater sofa and a chair.

  

I was coming home on the train on Wednesday when I saw them outside a thrift store. A phone call or two and they were mine. I have loved these chairs ever since I first saw them in the art gallery way, way back. Now they are sitting in my tiny courtyard waiting to go to my new house! The best thing was the price. $150 for both.

  

  

They are in fairly good condition. A couple of small holes in the fibreglass shells but I'll get those fixed and then have them resprayed. The leather is lovely and beaten up and will just need a clean. Before you say where am I going to put them Kim I know exactly where and you'll have to wait 4 weeks to see :P The move is on soon and I can't wait!

Addit: I should have known that Katherine would lead me to what I needed to know. Designer of the art gallery = designer of the chairs. Robin Gibson. Here's a picture I borrowed from here with the chairs in place in the water mall of the gallery. Too cool! Can I fit a water mall in my 1860 house?

A post for Anita

I have been sick all week. I vaguely remember going to work Monday then most of it is a blank. Unfortunately on top of a bad flu I developed a bacterial infection of my sinuses. Fun. Let's just say that antibiotics have kicked in and I feel just a tiny bit better. Thrifting has been on the back burner as my only journeys have been to and from my bed to the bathroom and once to the doctor's. Still I have a few treasures to share. Anita from Fun and VJs posted about Timo Sarpaneva's Festivo candlesticks last Tuesday and look what I found on Thursday after I visited the doctor ...

 

I think my favourite part of the doctor's visit was the thrift store next door and yes, I do choose my medical practitioners by their proximity to good thrift stores :) Keeping with the Finnish theme I found these cute little Arabia blue Anemone demitasse cups and saucers the week before just around the corner from work and yes, I do choose my workplace based on its proximity to good thrift stores :) The beauty of these little babies was the price - $4 for the pair while ugly bad ass coffee cups with no pedigree were going for so much more. This is the same thrift store were I found this Arabia beauty.

    

I'm finishing off my Finnish thrifting with this teeny, weeny Arabia vase. Truth be told I found this one a couple of months ago at, you guessed it, the Arabia shop thrift store around the corner from work. It was in the ten pieces for $1 throw out bin. For 10 cents! At least someone loves you now little vase.

    

If you'll excuse me now I'm off back to bed but before I go I was wondering if Anita would do a post on Ligne Roset's TOGO sofa. I need one to pop up in a thrift store near me!