Never in my past life did I think I would cry over spilt milk. But this evening, after a long day that had me almost screaming into a pillow, cry I did when I walked into the meals room and observed that Angus had spilt milk all over his high chair and the floor. And you know what – the cry was fantastic. It lifted my spirits even more than SYTYCD. So despite what Confucius may say, I highly recommend crying over spilt milk. (I’m Asian, so I’m going with Confucius.)
Anyway, a new couch arrived today. And as they say: a new couch means new beginnings. (That one’s from me, not Confucius.) Yes it’s true, we are moving. Again. Somewhere around the end of this year or the beginning of next. And while I’m aware that’s at least two months away, that does not stop me snapping up a good bargain on eBay when I see one. Even if it means giving up our corridor space and having to jump two feet to get into our bedroom. Rick actually likes the couch as much as I do (good taste, that man) and is trying hard to convince me that it should go in the living area rather than my studio. We’ll see, hubby, we’ll see.
If you’re an observant type of person, you may have noticed that the style of photography is changing on the blog. Yes, another new beginning. While I love my snapshot photography (and rest assured there shall still be the occasional snapshot post), I have to stop kidding myself: my iPhone 4 lens is so badly scratched that if it were a diamond, it would be laughed at by all the other diamonds (kind of like Rudolph). Plus, I actually have a new Canon lens that I love so why not put it to good use?
Here’s to exploring a new way of documenting life as it unfolds around me.
I’ve been spending the day at my parents’ place, while Rick’s been looking after the boys at home. I guess you could call it a ‘day off’ for me.
It’s been drizzling a bit, and it’s been cold. Despite the thick socks I’d brought with me, I’ve needed to borrow my mum’s Ug boots for extra warmth.
It’s been rather surreal, sitting here in my old bedroom. None of my old furniture remains, yet the room still seems strangely familiar. It’s like we’re old friends.
I’ve brought along my scrapbooking and my computer. The plan is to sort through some 6,000 photos from the last few months, as well as finish some scrapbooking that I’ve been working on in the past month.
I’ve been drinking cups of tea and eating lots of food from my parents’ pantry. I’m looking forward to my mum’s cooking tonight – it’s been too long since I last had a meal here.
I’ve been walking around in mum’s garden, admiring her many pots and plants. She’s a hard worker, my mum. You can tell by how well the garden is maintained. Every day of the year.
I’ve been thinking of my friends who lost their baby girl early this morning. My heart is heavy, knowing the hard times they have ahead.
I’ve been missing my little boys. Looking through their photos reminds me of how precious they are, and how they grow up all too quickly.
Most of all, I’ve been taking it slowly. Coming home to my old home has been exactly what I’ve needed, without even knowing it.
(More creative spaces over here!)
Say hello to our retro sideboard. It’s been wanting to meet the internet for a long time now.
It lines one end of our main living area, next to our ‘bar’ – ‘bar’ being in air quotes because it’s actually just a glorified storage space for our everyday essentials like the big vacuum cleaner and the small vacuum cleaner. It’s also Rick’s ‘locker room’ because there’s a narrow bookcase in there which I make ask Rick to put his bags in.
But I digress.
This sideboard was an eBay find when we moved into our home last year. It has a smooth teak finish and rusty, golden knobs which I just adore. It’s actually a very ‘mid-century modern’ sideboard, though you wouldn’t be able to tell from the way I’ve unskilfully cropped the image.
The fan (see below) was also from eBay, and it actually works. So don’t go sticking your fingers in there when you come to visit. I just love the colour of the fan base – it’s the perfect shade of pastel blue if you ask me. In my humble opinion, retro fans are just awesome. They look far better than the modern ones that line the aisles of your local appliance store. And they’re not expensive to acquire either – which is the biggest bonus when you’ve just spent hard-earned cash shipping a sideboard up from Melbourne. Oh, didn’t I mention that?
Rick chose the radio as his father’s day gift last year. He told me he liked its vintage look, which is ironic seeing as it’s a digital radio. I love its rounded edges and also how it perfectly completes the space on the sideboard. Sometimes when I’m home with the boys by myself, I like to have the radio on to remind me that there are other people out there and that I’m not alone in the world making bottles and changing nappies (think ‘I am legend’).
The thing that looks like a dinosaur egg was an engagement present from a dear high school friend. You’re meant to put a candle inside it to create a polka dot pattern on the walls though somehow I’ve never managed to do that. The egg went into storage during our two years at Newtown but I brought it back out last year, believing it to be the perfect complement to the IKEA Stranne lamp – which, incidentally, is the best fake designer lamp you will ever find for about $50. It is seriously groovy. (There’s that outdated word again – someone please give me a better vocabulary.)
Anyway, introductions aside, if you wish to get to know my sideboard better, feel free to follow it on Twitter at @ronniesretrosideboard.
(Just kidding, I have boundaries you know.).
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A moment to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Amanda.
Remember this polaroid collage that I did for the boys’ room?
Well imagine my surprise one morning when I walked in to discover that Angus had systematically ripped all the photos off the foam core board and had very carefully allowed the photos to slip into the very tiny crack that separates the back of the bed and the wall.
A crack so tiny that I couldn’t possibly squeeze even his fingers into it (not that I tried to do such a thing of course), much less my own.
To make matters more complicated, the bed had a backing board that ran all the way to the floor, which meant that I couldn’t even reach the photos from crawling under the bed (not that that was very successful in itself given my watermelon of a belly at the time).
As you can probably imagine, I was not all that impressed with the situation, considering that I had spent the better half of one entire day putting the photo collage together. Indeed, eight months worth of pregnancy hormones coursing through my body at the time had me almost flying over the edge.
More than anything, I was stumped as to how to retrieve the photos. For two whole weeks, I couldn’t work out how to get those photos out. Moving the bed was not really an option as it was too heavy for me, especially as I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time – I could probably have asked Rick to help me but I was rather determined to solve the problem on my own. I’m stubborn like that, you know.
One late afternoon, however, when Rick had taken the boys out to the park, I was suddenly struck by the solution to the problem: the mini gardening set that we had bought for Angus’ 2nd birthday! Why hadn’t I thought of it before? I raced out the front door, grabbed the mini rake from its hanging place and did a little dance for cheap toys made in China (bless my homeland). [click to continue reading…]
It rained heavily today. Rather relentlessly too. It meant that we stayed home all day, which actually didn’t bother me at all. It was nice to have some quiet down time with the boys. Far from being bored, Angus managed to entertain himself with activities like pretending to go camping in a tent and getting out his tool set in order to ‘fix’ his green car. There is no doubt that Mason blood runs through his veins. Meanwhile, Pete chased the big blue ball around the home and attempted to turn on the television to watch Play School every now and again. Scarily enough, he seems to be getting increasingly better at using the remote.
Rick decided to work from home today as well, so I kindly offered him the use of my studio whilst I set up a makeshift office at the dining table. I occupied the end next to the armchair, which is normally loaded with laundry waiting to be put away. Miraculously, today, I found the time to do this. Meanwhile, even though Jamie was in no mood to go down for day sleeps (this he made clear through high-pitched screaming), he seemed perfectly happy and content lying in his rocker at my feet, watching me as I paid bills and drank tea.
Not too bad for a rainy Monday.
In the midst of feeling overwhelmed with tiredness last Friday evening, I stumbled upon an unexpected moment of peace and quietness. I’d been on my feet all day running after Pete and looking after James. Then suddenly, at about five o’clock in the evening, I found myself alone in the boys’ bedroom. The sun was setting, the air was getting cooler and the birds were beginning to make their evening sounds. I could hear the boys in the living room playing with Rick’s parents, but it felt like they were miles away. And so for the first time in the day, I stopped. And sat down. And closed my eyes. And even though it was only for five minutes, that little moment of peace on the floor of the boys bedroom somehow gave me what I needed to get through the rest of the evening.
Needless to say, I think I have discovered a little sanctuary – right where I least expected.
This is the path from the boys’ play room to the front of the living room, where the television resides and the windows overlook the front yard.
Many times a day, Angus and Pete will walk past the danish teak cabinet, past the large black bookcase and past the black vinyl chair to reach one of their favourite spots in the house: the place where they get to watch Play School.
I’ve always been a bit of a homebody, and since having children, I’ve been spending even more time at home than before. So inspired by Sally J Shim’s blog, I’ve decided to share a glimpse our home every now and then – through both imagery and words.
Here is the first glimpse: my favourite chair in the house. It’s an old, second-hand chair that I found on eBay when we moved into our home at the beginning of last year. It caught my eye at the time because of it’s unique teal colour. I just love this pre-loved and oversized chair. It’s in a corner of the house which overlooks the front yard. During those rare moments of the day when the boys are all down and the house is all quiet, I like to come here to sit and just stare outside with a cup of tea in my hand…
Before Angus was born, I wanted to create my own nursery artwork. I read The Acrylic Artist’s Bible by Marylin Scott and convinced myself that I would be able to conjure up a masterpiece for my little boy.
So I walked up King Street, bought a blank canvas from a cosy little store called Art on King and lugged it all the way home by myself whilst seven months pregnant.
My goal was to paint a rubber ducky. So I started sketching a rubber ducky.
Two minutes later, I looked at what I had drawn and remembered why I wasn’t an artist.
I flipped through Marylin Scott’s book again and settled on something else that was significantly less impressive but a whole lot more achievable: stripes.
A few days later, we had this hanging on the wall:
Whilst I’m not proud that my rubber ducky got reduced to stripes, one has to be realistic in life and realise when one is incapable of painting a rubber ducky.
Not convinced? Reckon I could’ve tried harder?
Here is my so-called ‘sketch’ of a rubber ducky (I say that with air quotes because it almost doesn’t really qualify as a ‘sketch’).
Friends, I rest my case.
