fish lady: melbourne
There was a good deal of Palacely Achieving this weekend: fridge cleaned, floors steam-mopped, endless stairs and banisters vacuumed, garage tidied, ironing, washing, tons of cooking, bathroom scrubbing & many things which I’ve probably forgotten. And hey, ThePalace(OfLove) is sparkling and minimalist flat surfaces beyond all get out.
What there was not a lot of was carolbaby personal stuff.
Yes, I ran a couple of times, but really that was about it. I need to learn to take some time on the weekends to be somewhat selfish and focus on ME.
I’m going to try and make it a mini-goal for the remainder of June (and perhaps July), to do ME things. I have no idea what these things are … maybe sewing, maybe knitting, maybe reading, maybe taking photos … but Holy!Goodness! they will be done.
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Because it is all cold out, most of the herbs in the garden have died off and we’ve been forced to buy the less superior cut options (don’t even get me started on the storage life of cut coriander [cilantro]). But recently we realised we could buy wee potted plants, store them indoors and just cut off what we need.
homesteading: basil and coriander(1)
homesteading: mint and coriander(2)
They don’t have an extremely huge shelf life, but it is more than enough for a couple of recipes – and doesn’t end up a soggy, wilted mess after a day in the fridge. We’re on our second coriander plant in 3 weeks and I’ve shoved the remains of the first in a pot on the lower balcony. I have no hopes for its survival.
Clearly we need a green house or cold frames or … something, probably spring.
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For a long while I’ve been reading about the value of having clothing altered, but such a thing was really not in my budget or experience.
And I was paralysed by the fact that hey, I’m experienced sewist, surely I can do these sorts of alterations myself? But of course I did not do these alterations myself, because you know how it goes.
Now that I have spent a not insignificant sum on all the pretty dresses and I have dropped a-size-and-a-bit, some of my earlier purchases resembled sacks. So I thought long and hard and took a dress to some Surly Russian Ladies for taking in. The alterations cost almost as much as the dress, but Holy!Goodness! they did a spectacular job.
I was so thrilled that I took another sack-dress in two weeks later and the result was equally as pleasing.
I’ll be taking in some new pants for hemming this week. And I have at least two more dresses requiring SRL assistance.
I cannot even convey my delight of the results, not having to cast the ill-fitting sacks into the charity bag, having super-flattering dresses, the relief of outsourcing to professionals. Wonderful!
And I would rather like to focus my sewing skills (such as they are) on new garments and on simple repairs. Though in the frugal times ahead I may need to compromise.