Christmas Traditions

Things have been super busy in the Edmonds household lately. Remember all those rennos that I've been complaining about not getting done? Well, they're finally done! And they all happened at once. It was total chaos. But more on those in an upcoming post. 

Today I thought that I would talk about our Christmas traditions since Christmas has yet again crept upon us. I know, I know, most people think it sacrilege to do anything Christmassy before December 1st but hear me out...

Growing up in my family we always woke early on that mid November Saturday morning to attend the John Martins Christmas Pageant (now the Credit Union Christmas Pageant) where people line the streets to welcome Father Christmas to Adelaide. Once he is here, Father Christmas goes to the Magic Cave (now at David Jones) where he remains until Christmas so all the children can visit him and tell them what they would like for Christmas and have a photo opportunity. Later in the day when the pageant is re-played on TV we would watch it as we decorated our Christmas Tree. When it was finally done my dad would turn on the lights and my siblings and I would gaze at it in awe and breathe in the smell of tinsel. 

In my husbands family, the Christmas tree didn't go up until after his birthday (he's a December baby) I get it  - however, my husband has been kind enough to allow me to continue my family's tradition of decorating the tree on pageant day with our munchkins. Yay!

Oh what fun letters - idea from Honey We're Home

Not only do we decorate our tree on pageant day but I pull out our Christmas book basket and swap out some of our decor to include a lot of red to make the place more festive (much to my die-hard Leeds United football fanatic of a brother-in-law's disgust).

I've always given my children new pjs to unwrap on Christmas Eve so that the Christmas morning photos turn out amazing. However, thanks to the Internet I'm going to tweak this and do a Christmas Eve box which will contain not only the new Pjs but also some microwave popcorn, a Christmas movie and the night before Christmas book.

Before bed on Christmas Eve we leave out a bunch of carrots for the reindeer, shortbread biscuits and a drink for Father Christmas - the drink varies from year to year. Growing up we left him Coca-Cola but I've heard that he prefers some good quality scotch these days. Then we hang our Christmas stockings and it's off to bed. This is another tradition that I am considering tweaking. I recently read that some people leave out a sack for Santa and fill it with old outgrown/unwanted toys. Santa will then take those toys away and fill the sack with new toys. I do think it silly to have a stocking and a sack so I think that in my household Santa will fill the Christmas stockings and take away the sack of outgrown toys.

2011

This year I've made myself a promise to place a gift under the Kmart wishing tree. In previous years I've gone over budget with gifts and left myself short for extras. Since Christmas is about giving I'm going to make it a priority to buy the wishing tree gift before I purchase any gifts for my loved ones.

Oh and at some stage I'll sleep under the Christmas tree next to my munchkins.

Christmas lunch is spent with extended family. Before the meal there's always an abundance of antipasto, cherries, and Cadbury Roses chocolates setup on the table which everyone snacks on. The main meal usually consists of a prawn cocktail followed by a selection of various roast meats, roast potatoes and salads. For dessert, Christmas pudding is usually on offer as well as brandy snaps and pavlova. By then we're all in a food coma and we waddle to the Christmas tree together to exchange gifts. Later in the afternoon we all start nodding off one by one. Christmas isn't Christmas without an afternoon siesta in my family.

What are some of your Christmas traditions? I'd love to hear from you.

xoxo, Bianca

When your husband says no...

Ever since I spotted Jen's amazing Lego storage system over at iheartorganizing I've wanted to do something similar in our playroom.  

Source: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/organizing-legos-part-3-creating.html?m=1 

I had already purchased some clear drawers for the IKEA trofast system and was waiting until I could make another trip there with my husband so he could do the heavy lifting whilst I watched both of our munchkins. I think I may have perhaps caught him on a bad day as he took one look at the display, raised his eyebrow and exclaimed "you've got to be kidding me! What a piece of cheap, overpriced and nasty crap! Bianca! Can't you see that it's falling apart?!" (There was a profanity thrown in there but I thought that I'd omit that to keep things PG rated). Admittedly the display was looking a little tired and at $79 (for the frame only) I could see his point. Fun Fact: We pay more for IKEA items in Australia than anywhere else in the world. Ok so not such a fun fact.  But  now I'm coming up crickets with what I'm supposed to do with the trofast drawers that I already have. I had planned to get two of the low line 99cm x 56 frames and use one as a Lego table much like this one:

Source: http://thatcraftyjuls.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/our-new-lego-table.html?m=1

I had also planned to use the other to hold playsets and a dollhouse on top whilst the shallow drawers could be used for figurines etc. I even contemplated pushing them back to back in a coffee table type formation much like the one below and using them for the purposes described above.

Source: houzz.com

So now I guess it's time for plan B. I just need to figure out what plan B actually is.  I'm hoping that that my husbands "no" is a blessing in disguise and that I'll have a major brainwave any day now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

Xoxo, Bianca

To keep or not to keep...

One of the things that frustrates me about renovations is that whilst you are working on one room, another room has to work twice as hard because it has to take on the function of the room that you are renovating as well as its own function. For the most part of the year our living room couches were tipped on their sides in our master bedroom until our living room was finished enough for the couches to go back where they belong. Everyday when I woke up the first thing I saw was those upturned couches. And again they were the last thing that I saw before I went to sleep. My bedroom had become a dumping ground and I had lost my haven. In case you cannot tell it did not do wonders for my mood. When it became apparent that we were not going to finish renovating the lounge room by my December 2014 deadline I rearranged all the furniture in my room so that I could put the couches up the right way and actually use them. {insert huge sigh of relief here}

When we finally moved our lounge room furniture back to its rightful place I started emptying my home office into the master bedroom where it will reside until we finish renovating the office. The thing is though I haven't found a place for everything and I now have piles of boxes and stuff on the floor. Sometimes I have to clear a path to the bedroom door by pushing those boxes aside with my foot. Other times I'll want to have a clear floor so I'll start piling everything onto my bed and see if I can put things away from there. The trouble is often those things end up back on the floor as before I know it I'm tired and it's time to go to bed but then there's all this stuff on my bed getting in the way of me and my sleep. It's a vicious cycle. But here's the thing, today I noticed that it's always the same things that I leave out to trip over/clutter up the place. But why? Why do I have two boxes labelled keep and donate (as many professional organisers tell you to do) that are sitting there empty? Why  is the keep/donate/toss thing not working for me? To find out I had to take a closer look at what these items are. Ready for another list?

• A baby monitor
• A lidded hyacinth file box
• Old letters
• Programmes/ticket stubbs from theatre or dance performances that I've attended 
• Keepsakes from my dancing days, even old dance shoes
• Kiddos art work
• Keepsakes from my wedding
• My wedding dress

Wait, what? My wedding dress?! Er why? Why is it shoved in a white gift box with tissue paper instead of hanging up in my wardrobe? Oh that's right, not much space in there. Also I believe that I may have left it in a plastic dry cleaning bag for too long and hastily moved it to the box once I learnt that the plastic can turn your white dress yellowish. But why am I keeping it? It's not like I'm ever going to wear it again. And surely by the time my daughter gets married it will be so out of fashion that she wouldn't want to wear it. Besides, I'm a Kylie Minouge height, it's likely that Chloe will take after her dad and tower over me in the not too distant future. I'm obviously keeping it for sentimental reasons but do I really need to? It's taking up space. Should I go all Marie Kondo and thank it for serving me before I let it go - to the salvos...or even eBay? I have plenty of photos to remember it.

See?

Have you kept your wedding dress or have you let your wedding dress go? And more importantly are you happy with your decision or do you have regrets.  I'd love to hear your advice.

xoxo, Bianca

12.5 months in the making...

Part of me is happy :) but the other part of me is peeved :( The happy part of me is doing a happy dance because we finally have carpet installed in our living room! For those of you who don't know, we started the living room in August last year in hopes to get it finished in time to put the Christmas tree up in 2014. No such luck. Fast forward 12.5 months and we finally have carpet in the living room.  Unfortunately the living room is not finished yet but having carpet means that I could start to put our living room furniture back where it belongs rather than in my bedroom. Hooray!

And now for the before so you can all see what I was dealing with...

This is how the previous owners had the room set up

This is how it looked when we moved in 6 years ago (second hand furniture and all)

And this is what I lived with for far too long!

Ok so you've heard about the good part, what about the bad? I'm peeved because we were supposed to get new flooring in the entryway, dining room, kitchen and playroom. We even got as far as ripping up the old flooring in preparation for this but the vinyl layer (when he showed up) put a big hole in that plan by telling us that our floor is unsuitable for the type of flooring that was recommended to us. Not happy Jan. So back to square one. Who knows how long this round of flooring will take!

On a brighter note, we've been able to cross a couple of things of my "Hubby to-do list." I am hoping that we can tackle a few more items this weekend.

1. Get the Internet for the house!
2. Brick up holes in front wall
3. Fix kitchen step
4. Lounge room lighting
5. Dining room lighting
6. Drop cable for outdoor light switch to a more convenient area
7. Blue board the weatherboard areas ready for render
8. Get rid of ivy!
9. Pull down old cornice in entryway
10. Remove old skirting in entryway
11. Install new cornice in entryway
12. Plaster the entryway
13. Install new skirting board in entryway
14. Install new front door
15. Do something about the entryway flooring
16. Paint entryway
17. Install bench, hooks and overhead cupboard in entryway to create a mudroom
18. Paint laundry
19. Tile laundry floor
20. Paint interior doors and rehang them

I've also made a start on my list by de-cluttering toys and clothing. At the moment I'm in the middle of transferring my office into the master bedroom so that the office is clear for rennos to begin there too. As I'm so sick of concrete floors, I was ready for this yesterday. In the meantime I have to catch up on my filing - it has gotten out of control. Unfortunately that whilst I have systems in place for all the paper that comes into my house, some things are just not working so I'll have to revisit them and make adjustments accordingly. I've put it off for far too long and this move is the perfect time to begin as I'm starting with a blank slate again.

So how about you guys? Is there anything that you've been putting off for far too long? I'd love to hear your stories.

xoxo, Bianca

Keeping it real

Guys, I have a confession to make. My home is not always spick and span. (Gasp!) In fact there's an ecard that sums this up perfectly... 

(Source unknown)

But the thing is, I function much better if I do have a clean house. My head is clearer, I'm much happier and relaxed, I smile more, I don't seem to lose my cool quite so quickly, I get to 'stop and smell the roses' instead of feeling guilty or distracted by the things that aren't done. I like to call these things that aren't done visual white noise. The thing is, as a visual person this white noise is very distracting and makes my 'blood boil'. All the more reason to have a somewhat clean house am I right?

Unfortunately there's so much to be done at the moment that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and just want to hide under my bed cover for several days. Case in point:

(no judgement please - this is my happy place after all)

On top of this there is the very real possibility that my family will have to move to New Zealand within the next few months and we have to prepare our house for rental but also prepare to stay.  The unknown is 'doing my head in' as we say in Australia and I just can't seem to get motivated to do well, anything. But hang on, don't I have a blog now? Didn't I state that this is the place where I will share my projects and hold myself accountable to finishing them?  Why yes, yes I did. So that is what I will do. But first, coffee I need a plan. So that means it's time for one of my favourite things... A to-do list!

Pre-to-do list,  to-do list

1. Make bed
2. Throw open the curtains and open the windows to let in some light and fresh air.
3. Light my Bordeaux Glasshouse candle to make my house smell divine.
4. Scan every room and work out what needs to be done.
5. Turn on my Podcasts of Dan and Maz episodes http://www.2dayfm.com.au/shows/dan-maz/podcasts/# (love those guys) take a deep breath and get cracking.
6. Start a load of washing 
7. Unload/load the dishwasher 
8. Pick up playroom
9. Clear countertops
10. Sweep kitchen and bathroom floors

Completing these should get my home in good enough shape to begin any other tasks. Otherwise the
decluttering I've got planned won't be as effective as I'll be piling mess on top of mess and therefore I'll get overwhelmed and therefore I'm most likely to eat chocolate and procrastinate on Pinterest. It's a bit of a vicious cycle but I'm glad I've worked out that this is how I operate.

And now for the real to-do list... 

1. Declutter the munchkins toys separating them into four categories: Stuff to keep, Hand-me-downs, Donations and Stick it in the bin.
2. Declutter the munchkins clothing separating them into the same categories above
3. Declutter my own clothes separating them into stuff to keep, Donations and stick it in the bin
4. Declutter home decor items separating them into the above categories
5. Declutter crockery, glassware, cutlery and utensils separating them into the above categories
6. Declutter DVDs and books separating them into keep and donate categories
7. Empty lounge room, dining room, playroom, hallway and kitchen ready for the new flooring
8. Office: Get on top of filing, scanning and shredding paperwork
9. Office: Get on top of to-do pile
10. Sell pram and capsule 
11. Organise window coverings for master bedroom, lounge room and office

Hubby to-do list

1. Get internet for the house!
2. Brick up holes in front wall
3. Fix kitchen step
4. Lounge room lighting
5. Dining room lighting
6. Drop cable for outdoor light switch to a more convenient area
7. Blue board the weatherboard areas ready for render
8. Get rid of ivy!
9. Pull down old cornice in entryway
10. Remove old skirting in entryway
11. Install new cornice in entryway
12. Plaster the entryway
13. Install new skirting board in entryway
14. Install new front door
15. Do something about the entryway flooring
16. Paint entryway
17. Install bench, hooks and overhead cupboard in entryway to create a mudroom
18. Paint laundry
19. Tile laundry floor
20. Paint interior doors and rehang them

Nice to-do list

1. Install a barn door between entryway and lounge room 
2. Install moulding behind bedhead  (a la iheartorganizing - http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/basement-progress-master-bedroom.html) 
3. Paint wardrobes and replace hardware
4. Replace side fence and gates. Extend side fence further down to re-claim our land
5. Get the electricity box moved
6. Replace gutters and fascias
7. Turn rain water tank around as it was installed incorrectly by the previous owners
8. Get a bobcat in and clear the front yard and area by master bedroom
9. Install retaining walls to the east of our house, the north of our house and as far west as we can go without sacrificing our driveway
10. Replace back fence 
11. Get our roof sprayed to compliment the render colour
12. Move outside unit of roomie to the eastern side of the house so we can free up entertaining area
13. Redo bedroom lighting 
14. Replace pergola sheeting
15. Install cafe blinds in pergola area
16. Replace outdoor concrete area with new + stamp and stain it to look like timber or just replace with pavers if it's cheaper. Will need to build a new retaining wall to replace the existing one when we tackle this though.
17. Move veggie planter boxes and dwarf fruit trees to the area outside the master bedroom. Install vertical herb garden there too.
18. Demolish front wall
19. Make a path to the front door
20. Install artificial lawn on either side of the path but each patch is to have a garden bed of roses surrounding it - or other plants that are even more low maintenance.
21. Do a whole new pergola area
22. Gut Laundry room and start again

Phew! I think I need a nap now. It does feel better to get that stuff out of my head though. Hubby, if you're reading this can we get started please? There's far too much on this list for my brain to cope with.

Now dear readers, if you managed to get to here without zoning out or napping, you're doing really well. I'll keep you up to date with how I tackle these mammoth lists but it will take time. So bear with me, Rome wasn't built in a day after all.

xoxo, Bianca

Just checking in...

Hi guys,

I'm just checking in to say that I'll be back next week with a new blog post to share. There's a tummy bug that has been doing the rounds within my family and things haven't been much fun around here. Having said that, I do have a bit of a public service announcement in regards to vomit. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of an expert in that area (a couple of years dealing with seasickness in the RAN followed by enduring morning sickness in both my pregnancies will do that) so I think that I should share what I have learned along the way.

1. Toast is not your friend. (And neither are dry crackers) I say this because no one likes vomiting. However, the experience is much worse when the bread that you have just eaten clumps together and chokes you on the way up. Pasta is a much better alternative as it doesn't do this. Make sure it's plain.

2. Mistake number two that people often make is avoiding food and drink altogether. Bile comes into play if you have an empty stomach and its burn is nasty. Whilst we're on the subject of things that burn - avoid orange juice at all costs. Enough said. You must have something in your stomach so even though you may not feel like eating, at least drink some water. It tastes like nothing and doesn't hurt you on the way up.

3. This one is a no-brainer but avoid milk products. The curdled stuff that comes up is never pleasant.

So there you have my rather disgusting but hopefully helpful advice on how best to deal with vomit. I'll get back to my favourite things next week.

xoxo, Bianca

The Art of Re-purpose

I hope you all have been having a wonderful week. The weather here in Adelaide is finally starting to take a turn for the better and with it the promise that spring is just around the corner (cue happy dance). With spring almost here, it's time to start thinking about "spring cleaning." Oh who am I kidding? I never think about spring cleaning! But when the weather perks up like this I do get an urge to throw open the windows, crank some music and get my de-cluttering on. I like to have a fresh start after being cooped up all winter and what better way to get said fresh start than...getting rid of stuff! I don't know about you but there's something therapeutic about dropping off a bag or two at the salvos. I also like to go through my belongings and ask myself - how can I utilise this better? I had a couple of eureka moments this past week when I asked myself that exact question.

Ok so first up is a decorative bird cage that I found at Target a few years ago. It is one of those items that I didn't really know what I wanted to use it for but I knew that it would beautify my dressing table in the meantime. So into my trolley it went and has since been living in different areas of my home. I tend to change my mind (a lot) about where I want things to live and how I want to use them. The bird cage was no exception. But now it has a use that I believe that I will stick with.

Drum roll please...

Ta-da! All of my perfumes corralled in one place instead of scattered everywhere. I love it when a plan comes together!

Next up is a plain old magazine holder. They can have many more other uses than simply storing magazines. This week I was trying to come up with a way of organising the items that I need for ironing. Cue the humble old magazine holder.

Here I can store starch, a water jug (not pictured), and a lint roller. The bonus is that I know exactly where they are without hurting my eyes with their ugliness.

And there you have it, my two eureka moments of the week. I love me a good re-purpose and would love to hear your stories on how you've found a new use for something. You can either leave a comment below or drop me an email at justafewfavouritethings@gmail.com

Have a lovely week!

xoxo Bianca

All about Bianca

Hi y'all. Did I really just write that? I'm not American (although sometimes I wish that I could live over there so I can have unlimited access to Peanut Butter M&Ms) I'm actually an Aussie mum of two gorgeous little munchkins, (yes I am bias) Chloe and Harley. Also, in case you can't tell, I'm a chocoholic - although I much prefer the term Chocolate Connoisseur, it sounds much more fancy (I say this as I'm sitting here writing and wearing my trackie-dacks). I escape my very rewarding job as a part-time single mum (my husband's work is FIFO) working at my local supermarket a few days a week and I love it! Most people I meet are surprised by this but it allows me to have adult-conversations (or gossip sessions) which helps to keep me sane.  Plus my employer is quite flexible and generous when it comes to working hours and family time - family comes first!

My home is under renovation and (as a lover of beautiful and organised things) I'm frustrated that things in that department are not moving as quickly as I would like.  I've become aware that I spend way too much time on Pinterest looking for quick-fix ways to better organise and beautify my surroundings as a way of dealing with the construction eye-sore that is my home. If I'm not doing that you may find me at Target, or Kmart ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all their organising lovelies and knick knack type things that serve no real purpose except to look pretty. Many of these items end up in my shopping trolley and ultimately come home with me. Unfortunately this activity isn't very wallet-friendly and I soon become consumed with guilt. When I've had enough of that I like to rearrange furniture or reorganise all the cupboards in my house to make day to day life easier. My husband thinks that this is a sport for me and when he comes home from work usually has to play guess where Bianca has moved the coffee cups now. It frustrates him to no end. I suppose I'm lucky that he loves me and puts up with "my sport" but then again, I put up with his quirks love him too.

I've decided to start this blog to create a happy place filled with all of my favourite things and a place to brain dump all the crazy projects that I decide to start and more importantly to hold myself accountable to finish them.

So bear with me on this journey, I really have no idea what I'm doing but I aim to get there some day. In the meantime, I'm off to celebrate finishing my first post with some dancing to MJ in the kitchen with my daughter.


xoxo Bianca