my cover story

I'm one of those weird people who can't sleep in an un-made bed.

If I forget to make it during the day, I have to make it before I get in it -- and if Fabio isn't home, I'll even put all the cushions on before taking enough off to climb in.

AND a wrinkly bottom sheet will wake me up, and I have to rustle around till I get it stretched smooth again.

He calls me Princess With The Pea, but I know it's a joke (right, honey?) and that he greatly appreciates my efforts in the bedroom.

He lives away from home most of the time, and his bedroom experiences are lonely and uninspiring. He has a single bed with motel style bedding.

When he comes home, though, things are considerably more exciting.

I've kept right away from florals, preferring a pretty but very tailored look, and until today, I was keeping to a white, taupe and black scheme.

For the last few months, I've been wanting to move to a very glamorous grey, white, black, silver and glass theme. (Think 50s movie star.)
Hampered by living in a rental, with a cream/peach/grey colour scheme, I won't get what I want till I have my own home, but I can at least dress the bed.

And today, my parcel from I Love Linen arrived, beautifully wrapped in brown paper and string (some of my favourite things).

You might have seen this business being discussed around the blogosphere, but I know some of my personal friends and family wanted to hear what I thought of it. So here we go:

the linen is GORGEOUS, and VERY reasonably priced.
We have a KS bed and sheets usually cost an arm and a leg, IF they have any in stock. And forget bed runners. They only stock for QS in most places.

I bought some white sheets, with a self-stripe. (which won't be going on the bed till the nannie flannie sheets just get too warm.)
I quite surprised myself by buying striped. Normally I feel I have to lie at attention all night on stripes, but these are very subtle and I can't wait for warm weather to try them out.

I also bought a charcoal doona cover and a damask bed-runner.

And here they are!

Things I love?

The pillowcases are HUGE. I fitted our big fat 'display' pillows in, no dramas.

The doona cover is actually KING SIZED!
I can't tell you how annoying it is to buy a KS cover that doesn't actually fit your doona.
Apart from being hard to fit, it means you get a lumpy edge and ... you know... Princess With The Pea....

This one is really generously sized, with loads of drape on either side, so we won't be fighting over who's got all the doona.

And?? TAILORED EDGES! *swoon* -- everything sits flat and straight and looks 'finished'.

Plus, the cotton feels luxurious, and it makes *that* sound when you swipe your hand over it. It IS 1000 count, after all.

I really love how my bed looks. I will definitely be buying from this company again, and I'm happy to recommend them to you.

I'd like to point out that I'm not receiving any payment or inducement to write this post. I just love good products, and I'll recommend them when I find them.

tweet tweet

I sat in my lounge room today, dreamily listening to the birds chirruping, and thinking of spring. How it will soon be warm, and the flowers will be out, and the washing flaps so nice on the line, and we'll see more of the neighbours, and I won't have to wrestle with the fire anymore...

.... and then realised the chirruping was coming from my daughters' game on the iPad.

Spring is still coming, though, thank goodness.

Friday Frivols -- Audrey

Meet Audrey.

She introduced herself to me this morning, and begged to be taken home.

Her handle is white, but her insides, and her saucer and side-plate, are a lovely rich pinky cream colour.

She makes a truly lovely cup of tea.

put your hand up if your kitchen is full of ammo boxes

You know that moment when your husband asks you to paint a couple of ammo boxes for him?

And then it turns out that they are covered in stickers, that have to be scraped off with a paint scraper, and glue that has to be scrubbed off with eucalyptus oil, and then that has to be washed off with soapy water, and then they have to be spray-painted (white!) bit by bit, because you only have a cardboard box to use as a spraying booth, and then he wants you to stencil peoples' names on them, in red?
And there are ten of them to do?

Or is that just me?

imagine this

My little girl can't tell me a story while standing still.

She hops, she jumps, she twirls and pirouettes. She's full of Big Stories and they don't come out quietly.

Right now, she's making a canoe for her best friend, Gingie (a stuffed cat). Gingie is going to visit CatLand, and usually she goes by a portal under the Princess' bed, but today she's in a canoe, with a lunchbox and oars and a seatbelt.
She's chatting away to Gingie, who obligingly meows back in all the right places, and there is a big long story about why she's going and what she'll do when she gets there.

I love this about her, how she's full of dreams and adventures.

Yesterday, she was telling me some huge tale of mystery and excitement, and I forget what I said but it was obviously some flat, grown-ups comment, because she looked at me and said, "I have a theory. If you take the imagination out of the child, you don't have the child. The child might as well be dead."

Floored. Me.

Somehow I think she just might take the world when she grows up.

the price of a colour

Bess Price:

"You turn a deaf ear to those who are most vulnerable, to the most marginalised, to the women and children who are suffering so much in our communities and town camps," she said. "You take no notice of the NPY Women's Council although they speak for the women who have 60 times the chance of dying from domestic violence than those in mainstream Australia. You go out of your way to deny their voice a hearing. So much for human rights.

"When Aboriginal women in Central Australia ask for help, when they are killed, raped and beaten, when they cry for their abused children, you ignore them and you support those who are oppressing them. When the government tries to do something for them you call them racist and you blather on about the UN."

Ms Price said the best that could be said of Amnesty activists "from rich families in southern cities" was that they were well-meaning, but young, idealistic and naive. She ended by demanding some answers from the Amnesty activists, including: "Who are you and how long have you been in our country?"

Now whoa. Read that again slowly. Especially this line:

women who have 60 times the chance of dying from domestic violence than those in mainstream Australia

60 times.

Look, I'm about as white as you can get. I nearly glow in the dark. I have no idea what it's like to grow up Aboriginal.

Here's what I do know:

* a woman on the Goldfields of WA died of internal injuries after being raped with a star picket. Yes, a metal picket.

* another woman died after being beaten with a hammer. By her husband. He was drunk.

* a young single woman in a community used to have all her pension money taken by her male relatives for grog, leaving her with nothing for food, rent etc. She asked to have her money quarantined so that all her payments are made for her, and she never has money in her house to tempt anyone.

Not one of those events made headlines.

Unless you've lived this life, or worked with those who do, you really can't come up with glib policies or fancy ideas about how to solve the issue.
You have no right.

The problems plaguing indigenous communities right now, today, as you're reading this blog and sipping your coffee, are not those being faced by educated Aborigines (or Fauxborigines) living in the city.
Why then, are so many claiming so much money in funding and grants? and then setting out to verbally destroy anyone who questions their right to the public purse based on colour rather than need?

If you want to read further, you can find articles and opinions here and here and here.




Sixty times, people.

friend of a friend of a friend... where does it end?

Are you on Facebook?

If not, click away now. This will make no sense.





Right -- first off, we're not going to talk about Timeline. It's happened, get over it.

Second -- I've been noticing that friends of friends can comment on your stuff, if I comment on it.
Which sounds confusing, so let me put it this way....

I have a friend called Spot. I comment on Spot's Facebook post. My friend Fluffy sees Spot's post. He doesn't know Spot from Dot, but adds a comment anyway.

How do we feel about this, Internets?

I'm seeing it happen a LOT, and no-one has said, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU COMMENTING ON MY STUFF?"
But I get an uneasy feeling, sometimes.

Is it polite to comment when you don't know the person? And they're posting about their life, not their shop or their business?

What do you think?