dolphin pinata pics at last!

success

The pinata was a success. In total it took 11 or 12 active days. I didn't manage to finish it on Friday afterall. But spent the best part of Saturday finishing off the fringing. I was very happy with the end result and will be posting pics very soon. So stay tuned! The kids each managed to go through four rounds of beating it with a stick so they got value out of it too. I must start making the pinata's not so tough as it was the cord that ripped through the top that was its failing. The adult had to rip it to get the sweets out to a gang of rioting kids who quickly fell silent as the sweets spread on the ground. Very amusing.

Also on Friday night I found the awol pincusion so I shall be posting pics of this soon too. Just to prove that I am a crafty wee thing after all. I was most pleased by this discovery and of all places I didn't look was behind the TV, go figure! How the heck it got there I don't remember but it must have been on the shelves and been knocked off hiding behind the tv and shelves. It was only my moving the tv closer to me that I found it so I was very relieved!

Not much else to report but will be thinking of getting my act together and doing some home improvements that have been put off, like adding the second layer of paint to the bathroom walls. Painting the drawers that have been sitting waiting for the past year or two. Yes more procrastinated projects waiting in the wings. Surprised? I would think not!

Well have a great week~I know I am!

flippin great

Pinata update

Well the flippers and dorsal fin are attached. I had a go at the nose/snout but it seems too pointy. I think I'll have to pad out the lower jaw part where it meets the head. I think this is because it resembles a baguette stuck to a giant comma. It could pass for an Orca sans nose. But I'm really happy with the progress of this "sculpture" (I guess this is what I should really call them) I'm still in decisions over whether the mouth should be open or closed. I'm leaning towards closed for the obvious reason that it will be quicker and easier. The thought of making all those tiny teeth is just not feesible at the moment.

About this time I was kind of wishing I was digitally up to date with camera equipment but then that would reveal my very alternative supporting contraptions that I use when making these things. The first ever pinata I made I used a large colander as a stand and then when it was larger the drying rack we have for our washing. This time I have incorporated the washing basket and a very odd rigging of old panyhose and rope (our indoor washing line) holding the dolphin off the ground and, yes you're right I don't throw much out, tights/stockings/pantyhose are so useful for many things! I must also thank the heavens that we have an older house built in the 1950's (have to put the 19 nowdays don't I!) and the front part of the house is an old verandah covered in with a lino floor, perfect for my messy creations.

I think the biggest thrill I get out of making these elaborate pinata's is the achievement in turning a free local paper, a balloon or two, a bag of cheap flour and some water into a three dimensional object. And they are, if I may say so myself, pretty darn good!

I'm pleased that I am possibly almost a day ahead of myself at the moment and am looking to Friday as the decorating/fringing day. Usually I am up late the night before the party madly gluing the fringing and adding the finishing touches. Oh the helicopter I made last month was down to the hour, painting the entire thing right up until leaving for the party! That was cutting it fine and I did have to forego the minor detail of painting in the boys age and initials as the 'copters id. What they didn't know didn't hurt them right!

The weather was beautiful today, the greens are greener for a change after our bout of rain the other day which is just lovely contrasting with the yellow/red/orange autumn/fall foliage.

Well back to work, stay tuned.

tails to tell

The tail is on the dolphin! I even managed to semi-attach the flippers too but I think they are in the wrong position so thankfully I will still be able to move them. All on track for a Saturday finish. It is times like these that I am sure I would be more popular having pics to post of my progress but for now you will all have to imagine what I am doing.

Does anyone suffer from dogsbodysyndrome? I do. Unfortunately I think it is indemic to my position here at work.
People take advantage of the fact that I do night shift and therefore they tend to be of the mind that I don't do anything. I'm actually very busy tonight with jobs and on top of this I had a secretary ask me to do something for her. I wasn't planning on doing it but their manager also asked me to do this so I had to. It was a very simple job. Just pack some documents into boxes, no catalogging required. It took 30 minutes max and little stress aside the one where I mutter to myself that this is not in my job description and I am too old to be doing this sort of stuff and why can't the secretary just take half an hour out of her "very busy" schedule answering phones and do it her self.
I guess some reasons why they ask me, is because I don't wear expensive suits and outfits because of the nature of my job, they know I'll do it, I don't have anyone to pass their job on to, although I did have some help which I must say was most appreciated. It pays to be nice to others doesn't it! I just wish they would hire an office junior. Oh the funny things pride does to secretaries, their sense of jobs beneath them...also what amuses me is their frenetic pace they demostrate infront of others and especially when they are passing a job on, everything is in such a rush they have to pass their jobs onto other people lest they have to que for a coffee ormiss their bus even though there is another coming in ten minutes after it. And the worst bit is that I can't ask them to do anything for me as a favour returned.

Ok, a big sorry to any PA's out there in craftblogland. I just had to vent a bit at what I think is the injustice of it all. I can tell they don't want to do it and that they are asking me not because they don't have time, which is what they tell me, but because it is an undesireable task. OMG! I think when it is time for me to leave here I'll just say no and see what they do. he he

On other news, nothing much to report I'm afraid, still no sign of the pin cushion.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all you mum's out there. I wish you all the best brekkies in bed and hugs all round.

Now that I am officially a step-mum I was priviledged to receive a handmade voucher from D's daughter. It was for a housework-free day when redeemed. I immediately redeemed the said voucher and she set to work and made our bed, vacuumed and helped bring in the washing. I was pretty happy with this as I was hosting a Mothers Day lunch for D's family. We had BBQ'd portugese chickens with steak, potato bake and veges. Finished with a London cheese cake topped with passionfruit from Nigella Lawson. Tasty! And what wonderful leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

The dolphin pinata is coming along nicely. I have bulked out the tail section and will be adding the flippers and fins tomorrow. Should be ready by the end of the week!

Take care and put your feet up mums! That includes birdy/kitty/doggy mums too!

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all you mum's out there. I wish you all the best brekkies in bed and hugs all round.

Now that I am officially a step-mum I was priviledged to receive a handmade voucher from D's daughter. It was for a housework-free day when redeemed. I immediately redeemed the said voucher and she set to work and made our bed, vacuumed and helped bring in the washing. I was pretty happy with this as I was hosting a Mothers Day lunch for D's family. We had BBQ'd portugese chickens with steak, potato bake and veges. Finished with a London cheese cake topped with passionfruit from Nigella Lawson. Tasty! And what wonderful leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

The dolphin pinata is coming along nicely. I have bulked out the tail section and will be adding the flippers and fins tomorrow. Should be ready by the end of the week!

Take care and put your feet up mums! That includes birdy/kitty/doggy mums too!

Ready for the weekend

Yep I'm itching for this night to end so that I may get on with my weekend.

I don't have a lot planned but I was in such a good mood this afternoon walking to the station that I felt that I had just been a joke this week, lazing around, sleeping in, not doing a heck of a lot. I need it though, especially after hectic periods, I would call the wedding hectic enough to qualify for a whole month of lazyness.

But now I am officially getting over it and really need to do some stuff. I have the pinata of course, that is some sort of progress which I have been working on so this is a little tick in the good things done box. I'll be making some pin cushions this weekend for my mums and I think a needle case would be nice to go with them. Still no word on the AWOL pc.
I'm really digging needlecraft at the moment, I used to be an avid cross stitcher in my teenager- at-home- years. So this is something that needs to be looked at and satisfied I think. I also have thoughts of making a skirt out of some beautiful material I bought the other day.

Well will love ya and leave ya to wonder when the heck I'm going to get some pics up!

pocket money

A post or two ago I mentioned that I had earned some pocket money detailing a boat, I just had to elaborate on this for a few reasons as you will find out...

Detailing a boat is sort of like valeting a car except it is on water. D had the opportunity to earn some money by doing this for the owner of the boat.

I was of course roped into the job to clean the interior and thankfully D had done a whole lot of cleaning before I got there. It was a smallish trailerable boat with a half cabin with the seats converting to a bed and in the upper bracket of plush. Leather upholstery, all the surplus trimmings and a full enclosed canopy. The guy obviously had some money but he didn't know how to keep anything clean.

I was quite surprised at how unclean everything was. There was a layer of dust and grit and saltspray over every surface and things were left where they lay. It took me about an hour to clean the console alone, all those instruments and knobs and dials are very awkward to get perfectly clean especially when I didn't have a toothbrush to use, those things are indispensible cleaning tools!

At the back of the boat either side of the motor well there were two built in "eskies" (chilly bins/ coolers) . When I opened the hatches they were chock-a-block full of various bottles. Most of them had their caps still on, albeit rusted through, with some murky looking contents. From the design of the label on some of these they had been in there quite some time. There were whole six packs still in their plastic unopened full of beer with rusted caps. Of the ones that were loose and still full with their contents, if I grabbed them by their tops the caps would just crumble and leak all over the place. I was completely astounded. How anyone can be so wasteful of things is beyond me when there are people like us scraping together what we can. Well I suppose there is a downfall to having too much money. Never having to clean your own boat!

I was pretty impressed how clean I was able to make it after all the abuse the poor boat had been through, of course it could have been a heck of a lot worse. They could have consumed all that grog and then left the mess to be cleaned.

Anyways I still am unable to locate the pincushion, so I guess it has gone to the bermuda triangle heavens...

stay tuned

perplexedness

Well I'm afraid I can't find the pin cushion I was talking about last post. It is most perplexing to not be able to find what you have secreted away somewhere.

I'm so frustrated at not being able to locate its whereabouts. Does anyone else suffer these moments?

The last I can remember was moving it from the coffee table where a glass of wine had just been spilt by D's daughter. I remember taking it into the kitchen but after that I draw a blank. Several times since I have thought I remembered where I had hidden it but when I check there is nothing but the usual items. I do now have an idea where I put it but I don't think it is there now that I think again. It's like someone is playing a trick on me, moving things about and tormenting me but I have a feeling that this is not so.

The only up is that in searching for the pincushion I may turn up the mini plastic shot glasses I was hunting for around six weeks ago after hiding them. They too have mysteriously disappeared. So far I haven't located them either. The worst part is that I hunt and hunt and hunt and search and search and search and nothing. Everything else is where it should be. Where oh where do these things go? What do I do with them???

Does anyone reading this blog, if anyone does, have any experiences of the like?

Hmmmn will check again tomorrow and update...

Stay tuned