Ms Fifikins

I have been a bad My Place and Yours-er! I haven’t joined in the last few weeks, even though I have thought about it!

This week’s theme is the last thing you bought yourself.I wasn’t going to play along because I couldn’t think of the last thing I bought just for me. I have gotten into the trap of buying things for me, but also for other people- my new veggie garden will service everyone. My new kitchen gadgets will help me cook (actually, I don’t know when the last time was I bought a kitchen gadget!)

But yesterday, I decided I needed a new earring for my cartilage piercing at the top of ear. I went in to the place I had it done over 12 months ago. I ummed and ahhed and then decided to go for a bit of bling (I have been wearing a hoop for ages!) The piercer put it in and then asked if I had considered having another one put next to it. I hadn’t and she put a dot where she thought would be nice. As an aside, she said that I should consider a conch piercing as that would suit my ear. And she put another dot down!

So I just said go for it! I decided on the conch yesterday and will have the other top cartilage done in 6 months or so. I may even get a tragus on the other side and perhaps a nose piercing- MIML™ has suggested a chicken bone through my nose

So spur of the moment and all and yes, it is a little painful, but it looks pretty cool! And I am really happy with it!

Head over here to check out everyone else’s submissions this week!

This week’s My Place and Yours has asked us to share our favourite pair of shoes.

I have a bit of a confession. I actually don’t like wearing shoes. I would so much prefer to go around bare footed. But to pick a favourite pair of shoes… I actually couldn’t decide between the following two:

1. My runners.

2. My bike boots

Yes, both of these pairs of shoes are comfortable, but it is the function they serve when I am wearing them and the activities associated with them that makes them favourites as without them I would not be able to work out at the gym, nor ride my bike.

You may note a stain on the left runner… I ride my bike to the gym most times and a few months ago I had a small oil leak through the gear stick! All fixed now and I should thrown them in the washing machine!

I am so glad that this week’s My Place and Yours is the outside of your fridge as the inside of mine is a little like a horror movie at the moment. Either that or a science lab. I think green mould that has turned orange is bad, right?

See this is the front:

See, next time you go to buy a fridge, make sure you take a magnet with you and check if it sticks. Sigh. I do have some sticky things at the top that magnets stick to, but I try and save them for notices. Being early in the term there aren’t many yet! The kids weekly chore charts are up there, some postcards and at the bottom are my Queensland Right of Entry permit and WHS Entry permit. Actually, although they have been sitting there for a while they are now in my purse this evening!

The side is magnetic…

And has lots of magnets on it! I do heart my magnets!

Last week’s theme was your kitchen, and I took pics but never posted them. So here is a quick peek at my kitchen seeing I wiped down benches and did dishes and stuff to take them:

See we were having corned beef that night in the slow cooker and I had just chopped veggies! Oh and I do have a clutter pile just by the back door of mail and bills and stuff.

Why not join in and show us what’s on your fridge this week!

Figure I might as well join in this week’s noicities that recap last week. You get that, right?

See last week was a noice week, despite everything! See parts of last week were good…

1. I turned 38. See. I admit it. I had a lovely relaxing day. I was spoilt by MIML™ with a gorgeous bracelet and ring*. And dinner at our favourite restaurant!
2. Also received some awesome gifts from my mum including some tea (always goes down well!) a bag, some lavender hanging thingies to make my wardrobe smell noice and some drinkbottles.
3. My brother sent me a voucher which I will use to buy a book (should have gone to Myer whilst the stocktake sale was still on…)
4. My ‘MIL’ sent me a gorgeous charm/bead bracelet she had made herself and also a book of her favourite recipes! I suspect MIML™ is more excited about some of the recipes as they are those of his childhood!
5. It was noice that I ate really well all week. I really feel I am back on top of the eating thing at the momrnt!
6. I burned 1143 calories at boxing at the gym yesterday! And I didn’t blow it on chocolate or cakes or anything
7. Both kids are home after trips interstate to see their grandparents! So glad they got to go, but it is noice having them home.#

Yes, I suppose there are some not so noice, but bearables…

1. MIML™ was on nights. Say no more!
2. *My ring isn’t back from being resized yet and I want it like yesterday!
3. # Yes, the kids are home which has meant the constant peace and quiet of the last 2 weeks has been interrupted with bickering…

So onto this week! I’m sure it will be as noice as the last one, even more so that MIML™ is no longer on nights.

Perhaps I should have posted a warning… This week’s My Place and Yours theme is ‘What you look like when you get out of bed…’ I did choose a morning when I needed to wash my hair and I have 4 huge pimples on my face, but still, this is about normal!

Must admit I am loving wearing my dressing gown in the mornings!

So there you have it… I dare you to post a pic of yourself first thing in the morning.

This week’s My Place and Yours theme from Hello Owl is ‘3 Things you do everyday.’

Doing things everyday would kinda mean you had some kind of routine. Yes, I pack the kids lunches most days, and some days I do some laundry. I feed the fish and the rat and teh kittehs! And I play with the said kittehs if they are in the mood! I like to veg on my hammock if I have time…

I think the closest I came to each day was showering and toileting… And I’m not going to snap pictures of either! Then there’s food, and you can see what I am consuming each day over here!

Most days I check in on my Zombie Farm… as you do!

it’s actually doing rather well, even if it looks a little cluttered! I could actually link to a lot of the apps I use on a day to day basis, but perhaps that is not really what I want to dwell on when I think of My Place and Yours!

So I got to thinking of the things I do on a semi-regular basis. Some people might laugh, but I do sometimes make my bed…

if only so the cats can use it as their bathroom…

I also try and take care of my pots and my plants. It is quite relaxing standing with the hose (on the right days of the week for our side of the street, or else attached to the bore!) and watching these plants bloom and grow.

MIML™ convinced me to start watering my staghorns and I am so glad he did! They are positively blooming!

This is my sort of kitchen garden!

And this…

is my blooming chillis!

Upstairs I have my hanging baskets…

Perhaps not everyday watering, but enough watering! And that is what is needed.

I’m getting in early, seeing this week’s My Place and Yours isn’t up on Hello Owl yet, but the lovely Linda at This Monkey’s Life has started the ball running!

Treasure. Interesting. There are lots of things around my home that I treasure. I treasure the solitude of lying in my hammock and being. I treasure time spent with the kids. I treasure time spent with MIML™ doing stuff or faffing. I treasure those mornings where I do get up early and sit on the deck with a cuppa preparing for the day ahead. I don’t do that last one often enough. Maybe tomorrow I will start it again.

Perhaps one of the reasons I don’t seem to get up and have a cuppa is choosing the right brew can be a challenge. You see I have so many treasures when it comes to my tea shelf! See:

Here’s a close-up of some down the other end…

And behind this front row…

Yep, my big tins! I actually have a system now- I work my way down the teas unless I have an absolute craving for a particular variety, usually a green or really flavoured tea. Don’t get me wrong, I am a user of coffee too, but I usually limit my coffee to going out, or sometimes a plunger in the mornings if I am at home. I drink tea all day round. I have bags at work and MIML™ has a collection almost as big as mine.

I don’t think I’d go as far as saying the tea is my treasure, as it something that can easily be replaced, however the art of making the tea and sharing it with others or taking time to enjoy it myself, that is the treasure.

I think getting in 6 days late for My Place and Yours is better than not getting in at all!

You see, this is one of the themes I had in the back of my mind if ever I get around to posting in the right week, or posting at all, and have the chance of being chosen, so I thought I just had to contribute! Of course the theme being ‘Looking out your window’ from Karin has meant that I have had to wait until daylight hours when I am not half asleep or yelling at kids to get a jiggle on in the morning or helping with homework or cooking in the evening has been challenging!

Then I had to clean some of the windows, well the kitchen window at least…

Yes, it is rather easy to do the dishes with this view, even though I often don’t! The ‘Peace’ sign is from Soweto in South Africa. The deck has just been gurneyed!

Then I have my favourite window- the bay window in the loungeroom…

The cats love it too, especially as I have opened it this week for the first time- no more air conditioning! It’s a nice place to sit and read and contemplate and the breeze is lovely!

I had to snap a pic of my bathroom window…

I like the butterflies etc on this window. They were here when we arrived and were done with window paint- someone took time to do it and I admire their skills!

I lived in a house once where I hated most things about it, except the bedroom as it had a gorgeous East facing window that let the sun stream in in the mornings. My current bedroom has north and west facing windows. At least they have nice views…

This is the north facer which is usually closed as it has no screen and I am scared the cats are going to try and escape!

This is the west facing window again looking out onto the deck. I have considered putting in a French Door, but it would muck with the wiring!

Japs has a nice view…

It looks out into the front yard across the front verandah.

Immy also has a front hard view…

Her view is mainly obscured by a plant though which looks just glorious when it flowers! Not sure what it is of course.

The dining room window looks straight into the neighbours place and didn’t think it was appropriate to snap that!

So thanks Karin for this theme! It has been lovely to participate.

This week Zoe over at A Boys Mummy chose the theme for My place and yours. And I find I have some energy to participate! The theme is pre-loved…

This is my music stand that Miss Immy now uses when she isn’t practising on her bed! I picked it up for a song at a second hand fair over 15 years ago. Now when it is not used for music, I usually place a recipe book on there. Note it is done up with cable ties. Thriftiness at its best!

Again, one of my antique fair pickups- a mirror from an old bedroom stand or something. It served well as a bathroom mirror in one place where I arrived and there was none. Now it serves partly as its original purpose in Miss Immy’s room. And that’s me poking through… no comments on that though!

Finally a trip to my jewellery box. My mother’s wedding ring, her first set of pearls and my grandmother’s ‘diamond’ broach. The pearls are far too short to go around my neck and I don’t get to wear the broach much. The ring is too tight even for my little finger. But they sit in the box and when I open it I know they were loved before and still make me smile.

I wasn’t going to comment on the slackness of posts here over the last month. Work has been a bit hectic (perhaps an understatement!) and I have been stressing about stuff again! So I have missed Hello Owl’s Monday Meme My Place and Yours (even though I have thought about it every Monday and answered it in my head!) and also Noice-ities, from That’s Noice.

But not today! I am going to think of what has been noice in my week…

1. I have tracked all my spending this week. This part of my 101 things in 1001 days project but it has given me an idea of where my money is going, and that is only after a week… But they do make awesome coffee!
2. I bought MIML™ a really nice ring for an anniversary present. We saw it in a shop and both really liked it. I may even snap a shot of it with a camera other than my iPhone, so keep an eye on my flickr stream!
3. I got my monthly reports in at work on time, and they were coherent, well as coherent as I could be!
4. I unlocked new levels in Zombie Farm! I have always ridiculed the FarmVilers out there, but now see what the addiction in cultivating parts of a computer screen is!
5. I received more postcards from PostCrossing. Going to my mailbox each day and finding these postcards amongst bills is a noice boost! Try it!
6. I did 1.5 hours of circuit and boxing class today and although at times I thought I was going to throw up, I burnt 898 calories! And although we had home made nachos for dinner, I didn’t use the exercise as an excuse to buy a block of chocolate!

So what’s been noice in your week?