and so it ends...

a month of blogging and photo taking and many other things...
if there's one thing having something to photograph everyday has done, it's been to make this month go super quickly!!!

today's a a month of prompt is multicoloured.



so i thought i'd share this little snippet of my big granny square.
it's a mostly neutral coloured blankie, with a couple of rows of this multicoloured wool
it spices it up a little bit ha ha!

in terms of my goals for the month, i think i did ok...
there was definitely lots of meal planning, but not much bread making... i did put together a sourdough starter, but i'm not sure with how it's coming along.
plus, i'm not sure that i can handle the responsibility of another thing to feed ha ha!

the granny stripe has come along in leaps and bounds



but i barely did a skerrick of home work!
my oven got a great clean, and i made it to a couple of pilates classes (though not as many as i wanted to...)
my lunches got a little creative, but only towards the end of the month...
i got one of the beanies finished, and definitely got my blog on but no new pj pants for me!
maybe next month huh?

i also got knitting on some dishcloths last night



i always forget how differently cotton knits up compared to wools, the change is good though!

do you think this month has gone super quickly too? how did you go with your monthly goals if you made them?

meal planning monday.

i'm very lucky to have today off from work, and i'm going to use it to my full advantage...
once my meal plan is sorted, i'll pop over to the shops and get everything that i need, and then come back and get some prep done too!
as well as dinner's this week, i'm going to try and get some foods prepped for breakfasts and lunches too!!
spicy chicken noodle for lunch and little breakfast muffins to grab on the go!
oh, and i should do something with the sad looking bananas in the fruit bowl too! banana bread? i think so!



tonight, bb has put in a request for lamb. seeing as i'll be home all day, and the oven will be on for most of it, a roast will be perfect. maybe even a roasted rack... it's been ages!

tomorrow night, i'm NOT at home all day unfortunately... hopefully my local butcher will have some nice looking steaks, which i'll pair with some wilted cabbage with onion and bacon and maybe some steamed green beans. yum!

wednesday night, i'll pop on some teriyaki chicken. again, it's been an age and it really is super delicious!

thursday night, i think i'll grab a mini kangaroo roast out of the freezer, two roast dinners in a week, why not? it'll be the perfect thing to throw together, and then leave to cook for 45 minutes while i get other stuff sorted!

friday night, i'm going to pop some ribs in the slow cooker, like i did last fortnight. they were SO yummy! the perfect meal to start the weekend after a long night at work.

plans are minimal for saturday and sunday at this stage... but i do have a lovely lady popping in for dinner on saturday night. i think i'll spend the day being a homebody and put together a pot of delicious slow cooked bolognaise. and maybe i'll even whip up some fresh bread... we'll see how i'm feeling ha ha!

sunday, i've already made some plans in my head, to get myself organised for NEXT week foodwise. i'll make sure there's something delicious for us to grab and go for breakfast, and whip something up for lunches as well.
oh and i'll probably organise dinners for the week too... well that's the idea anyway. i guess only time will tell ha ha!

today's a month of prompt is tan



i thought i'd share the shoes i bought myself a few weeks ago. i went into the shop, with the intention of only buying myself new shoes for work, and walked out with these too... when they're this adorable, and more than half price, how's a girl to resist?

how do you go buying shoes? what are you eating this week? how do you go with organisation?

sunday snippets.

a couple of snippets from my sunday... mostly catching up on my a month of prompts for the last couple of days.
i'm not such a strong finisher for these types of 'every day' challenges ha ha!



day 26 - lilac.
i put a little colour on my toes this morning in preparation for a party this afternoon.
i ended up wearing stockings and shoes so it was a little for nought... oh well.



day 27 - mint green.
i love the old taps we have in our bathroom.



day 28 - pink.
a PINK and orange card i put together for the birthday girl today.



we had high tea at the ngv in celebration.
it was pretty fantastic actually...



when i got home, this guy took a shining to my pearls.
what a legend jerk.

i spent the evening trying to put together my meal plan for the week
i'm going to try really hard to eat healthily this week. i've eaten wayyy too many foods that are no good for anyone over the last couple of weeks and i can feel them taking their toll on my body!

what are your plans for the week ahead? how was your day today?

my creative space.

today's a month of prompt is kelly green.
this is all sorts of appropriate for what's going on in my creative space today because i'm working on this...



in fact, i've been working on it a lot the last couple of weeks

melbourne's weather has finally turned autumnal so i've found myself most nights in the last fortnight, hunkered down in my armchair with the heater on and my granny ripple strewn across my lap.



it's growing a little bit each night, and it's slowly getting longer and longer, creeping towards my toes a little more every evening!

are you playing along with kootoyoo and her my creative space game? what are you creating today?

makin' over.

last thursday, i posted a picture (as part of the a month of challenge) of a little ikea stool i had ideas about fancying up over the weekend



well after a very lazy day on saturday, i pulled on my motivated boots on sunday!

i pulled the tops off the stools and gave the bases a couple of coats of white paint
while they were drying, i raided my vintage fabric stash for some suitably sized pieces and then, after a quick press, glued them onto the tops!

fast forward a couple of drying hours and...

TA-DA!!







two completely made over stools!

i absolutely love how they turned out! but i am a little worried the fabric will get destroyed... i painted them up with a thick layer of PVA on top but i think they might need a gloss varnish or something.

oh, and today's a month of prompt is gold



a close up of my new glasses. I LOVE them!!

any suggestions on protecting fabric topped stools? have you performed any furniture make-overs recently?

playing catch up.

i've been a little slack the last couple of days with posting my a month of pictures here... well not only here, anywhere really...
i had a little catch up session while i was preparing dinner tonight, so you might just sense a little theme...



day 20 - ochre



day 21 - orange



day 22 - brown



day 23 - silver

tomorrow's colour is gold, and i've got absolutely no idea what i'll do yet... hopefully inspiration hits at some point ;)

are you playing along with the a month of challenges? how are you going with staying motivated?

meal planning monday.

oops! kind of falling off the 'blog everyday in april thing' hey? oh well, weekends are for relaxing, spending time with family and getting stuff done around the house, which is exactly what i did this weekend!



enough talk about what's already happened... more talk about what will be happening this week! more specifically, what'll be happening in the kitchen.

tonight, i'll pop a nice bit of pork in the oven. monday night roast, it could become a thing...

for tomorrow night, there's some marinated chicken in the fridge. it'll be perfect with some fresh and crunchy salad and maybe even some brown rice.

wednesday night, we're off to a birthday party! i would imagine we'll probably get something on the way to line our tummies, it mayyyyyy be a big night...

thursday night, i think i might get out my griddle pan and cook up some steaks! it's been ages!

bb has volunteered to take care of dinner on friday night as he's planning to take friday off from work. an extra long weekend for him the lucky thing! i'm working late on friday, nothing new there, so it makes sense for him to organise food! hopefully it's something delicious and not just takeaway...

the weekend just gone, all of our plans to catch up with folks fell through, so i'm hoping we can catch up with some people for dinner on saturday! weekends are also for catching up with people ;)

on sunday afternoon, i'm heading into the city for a friend's birthday celebration. there'll be afternoon tea served so i'd put money on the fact that i'm not going to feel like eating much for dinner. maybe i'll have bread and cheese... a cheese platter for dinner never goes astray ha ha!

now i'd best drag my butt out of bed and make myself some breakfast... oh and i'd best feed my sourdough starter too!

what are you plans for dinner this week?

friday night knitting.

tonight, when i got home from work, pyjamas were promptly donned. knitting was pulled from my bag and stitching progressed post-haste!

today was one of those days, that from the moment i woke up, all i wanted to do was to get my stitch on, and this morning, i did everything but...

a quick shower, a doctors appointment, two loads of washing, a whirlwind tidy up of the house, bread baking, pasta bake cooking, slow cooker preparations, oh and a load of dishes!
it was a busy morning, but not in the ways i wanted it to be!

but tonight, tonight i got to do exactly what i wanted to!



last night, i finished up the ribbing, and i find that once that ribbing is done... things move along a LOT quicker!
particularly with this pattern... the triangle pattern is 10 rows in total, and i can't possibly stop knitting halfway through the pattern repeat...

also, today's a month of prompt is beige



well i guess it's yesterday's prompt now...
when exactly did it get so late?!? no wonder i'm exhausted!

happy saturday everyone!

my creative space.

necessity, the mother of invention.
tonight, i've been working on protecting the new power cord i bought myself to keep my laptop running...
sampson seems to ignore any disciplinary action taken against him when it comes to chewing any cord... or jumping on the bench, my dresser, biting... well lets just say i'm thankful i'm not the parent of a toddler! i'm much too soft!!

anyway...
new power cord in hand, crochet hook and yarn in the other...



and then a couple of hours later...



and voila! it's done!
keep your fingers crossed for me that it actually stops him biting it!
i really don't think i can justify buying another one!!!

oh, and today's a month of prompt is khaki...



this "khaki" stool from ikea, though it's not going to be khaki for very long...
i've got a weekend off, a tin of paint, some pva and an IDEA!
but that's for another creative space ;)

what are you getting up to in your creative space today? are you playing along with kootoyoo too? any tips for dealing with unruly, bite-y pets?

navy.

is today's a month of prompt.



i snapped a quick picture of my snoozing kitty, snuggled up to my navy bamcal blankie.
i'm still working on getting it finished... one day it will have a big ta-da post. maybe.

today was a pretty great day off from work for me.
i took another little trip to run the 1000 steps in the dandenongs, though there wasn't much running done, there was mainly walking. very slow walking ha ha!
i also got a whole heap of housework done, dealt with more hot water service issues (gah!) and worked another couple of rows onto my granny stripe. it's coming along verrrrrry slowly, but covering a little bit more lap with each back and forth row.
though i put it down for a bit this evening and cast on another beanie. a little different to the one currently on my needles.
it's the terzetto pattern, and i've pinched some wool from my granny stripe blankie, the grey one, to knit it up.
it's a little gift for a gent who found himself with a little less hair atop his head over the weekend...

i also came across this website today, after the adorable creature above destroyed his third power cable! suuuuuch a turd!

how was your tuesday? do you have any aaaaalmost finished, un-finished projects? any great ideas on how to keep kitties from destroying powercords?

meal planning monday.

today's a month of prompt is lime green, which did influence our dinner tonight...



a bowl full of pasta, with roasted cherry tomatoes (from my mum's garden) and a big spoonful of lime green rocket pesto! it was delicious! just what i needed!

tomorrow night, i'll pop a little roo roast into the oven. some roasted vegies and some fresh steamed vegies. perfect!

wednesday night, i think i'll whip together a curry... there's some chicken in the fridge that needs using...

thursday night, i'll make a tomato-ey sauce with the rest of the tomatoes i came home from mum and dad's with easter weekend. and serve it with some pasta. naturally.

friday night, late night at work, i'll throw something into the slow cooker. bb's vote is this recipe. luckily my local butcher has just re-opened after renovations! huzzah!

saturday night, i'm hoping we'll be able to head out for dinner, with some friends who have been overseas! it'll be great to catch up!

plans for sunday aren't set in stone yet... i'm hoping to catch up with some other friends, potentially for lunch, potentially somewhere fabulous in the yarra valley. but these are just my hopes... we'll see what happens huh?

as for lunch plans for the week... i've got all the ingredients to make myself a yummy, spicy noodle salad to take to work for the rest of the week.

what are your plans for meals this week? making anything new? or something old that is an well-tested favourite?

sky blue.

today's a month of prompt is sky blue...



which has inspired me to pull out this very cute pair of earrings.
maybe they'll get worn to work tomorrow!

despite confessing my love for daylight saving's ending just the other day, today, it's kinda getting me down...
my first full weekend of work, that is almost entirely taken up by work, due to it being nearly dark by the time i get home... ho hum!
i've got to make sure i get out and make the most of next weekend, a full weekend at home!

what are you looking forward to? have you had a good weekend?

saturday night in.

once home from work, pyjamas were donned and a couch nest was created.



lit up by a newly purchased stand lamp, i crocheted the night away.
dinner was cooked by bb, and the football was on the screen.
turns out, it's not so bad if you can crochet without being complained at about the room lights being on...

this helped too...



a summerberry cider, with a pink label! today's a month of prompt is neon pink, and well, this pink is about as neon as it gets!

how has your saturday night been? or what have you got planned if it's yet to happen?

yellow.

today's a month of prompt is yellow...



this is a sad little peppermint plant i found during my trip to sassafras.
the nursery guy was so convinced that it was on it's absolute last legs, he gave it to me for free!

my fingers are crossed that i can give it a little love, and see it flourish again!

what are you growing at the moment? have you got your hopes up for something?

my creative space.

it's been a while since i played along with my creative space...
there's nothing new happening in my space today,



i'm just working on my granny stripe. it's definitely a slooooow burn project, one that gets all the more love on chilly nights like tonight.
now i just need it to grow a bit longer so that it can cover my legs a bit more!

today's a month of prompt is white, so i snapped a quick picture of my dinner



white, white goat's cheese, melting into the steamy risotto! it was delicious and the perfect thing for a chilly night!

what are you doing to keep warm tonight? are you playing along with my creative space too?

a great day.

around this time last week, i was posting about how shitty my day had been... not this week!

i started the day with a little lie-in before setting off with a work colleague to get some exercise in for the day.



we headed up to the dandenongs, to run the infamous 1000 steps!
we ended up walking, at quite a slow pace, the lyrebird trail...
turns out, we're not very good at reading signs...
we walked DOWN the 1000 steps on the way back



there were a LOT of tired looking people heading up. eep! i do still want to try it out though... glutton for punishment! luckily, it's a pretty beautiful place to be!

after we'd traipsed back down the steps, we headed a bit further up the mountain, in the car this time though, to sassafras, for brunch.



i had this delicious looking baguette! we then had a bit of a wander around, looking around the local shops.
it was great fun!

a bit of work to get done in the afternoon, both around the house, and for my job, and then i was off for a bit of a knit and natter at a fortnightly craft group, where i had another delicious meal out!



oh, and some dessert!



not a bad day at all!!

oh and before i forget... today's a month of prompt is cream...



this is a dress bb's mum bought me for christmas! isn't it gorgeous? i've got it hanging up so i remember to take it and get it altered... 4 months into the year, i still haven't remembered... oh well!

how was your day? have you got things lingering on your to-do list you keep forgetting about?

melon.

today's a month of prompt was melon and i searched and searched the house for something to photograph...



not realising that the perfect subject was right in front of me! cheeky devil that he is!

last night was a late one for me... my reasoning for doing absolutely nothing productive at home today!
i had a little trim...



ok, quite a bit of a trim actually...



i'm loving my new do! and you know what they say about a change being as good as a holiday...

have you had any big changes recently? or had any awakened moments when searching for something?

meal planning monday.

on time this week! well, kind of... i have grand intentions of getting these meal planning posts done in advance, never happens!



tonight, i've got some chicken teriyaki in the slow cooker. i'm at the hairdressers though so i'll have to wait until i'm home to enjoy it! hopefully it's yummy!
i did have it planned for last friday, but we had a heap of leftover dumplings from thursday night so we ended up having that on friday night!

tomorrow night, i think i'll whip up some carbonara! there's leftover bacon in the fridge that needs to be used, but we're out of parmesan! i'll have to put that on the shopping list!

wednesday night, i'm off to craft with some lovely ladies so i think i'll grab dinner out. the cafe that we frequent is under new management and they have an all new menu! i was absolutely drooling over it last time we were there!

thursday night, i might throw together a risotto. it's been AGES! chicken, spinach, fetta. perfection.

friday night is my late night at work, so i'm thinking i'll pop something in the slow cooker... maybe a curry! sounds good! this one looks delish! though i mayyy have to restock some of my spices...

saturday night will definitely be bb's department. i'm working all weekend! hopefully something delicious!

sunday, again, i'll leave up to bb. i might put in a suggestion of a roast. it's been a while...

today's a month of prompt is peach.
and this is my favourite peach coloured item ;)



my whole life is in this little book!!

what are you cooking this week? is there anything that you haven't cooked in ages? what's your favourite peach coloured thing?

samplin'

early on in january, i signed up to the frosted pumpkin woodland sampler.
every month, they email through another piece to work on. there's a space for every month



i've been trying to keep up to date with them, and have managed to get the large majority of the stitching done before the end of the month...
but i'd been missing a floss colour to put the finishing touches on a couple of months. until this afternoon that is!

here's january's block



and february's...



it's still missing some sparkly stars. my local spotlight doesn't seem to stock the floss they recommend for it!

here's march's block



i loved stitching up this little terrarium

and this is april's block



finished within a week ;)
i tend to be a bit like a dog with a bone with these patterns. as soon as it lands in my email, it's all i want to do!

oh and today's colour prompt for a month of is black.



which is the colour it is outside already. at 7pm.
i love the end of daylight savings! it means it's time for cosiness. hot chocolates, big bowls of steamy soup with crusty fresh bread, wooly blankies and socks and for the first time, warm kitty snuggles :D
it also means, for the next few weeks at least, i won't be getting up to go to the gym in the dark! huzzah!

are you a fan of the end of daylight savings too? are you stitching up a woodland sampler?