The Height of Summer

I enjoy reading Julie's blog over at Notes on Paper and this August she is running a series called The Height of Summer Winter :-)  Have you ever corresponded with someone and then finally met them and you were surprised by their height?  I remember going to Madame Tassauds and standing next to the wax figure of John Wayne and being absolutely SHOCKED at his size!!!  I also didn't realise just how petite Kylie Minogue is.  Size is hard to picture at times and as bloggers we sit behind our computers/iPads/Smart phones and never really consider each of our heights.

As taking a photo with my family would just be too easy (and besides only The Princess is still smaller than me) and I really wanted to think of something different.  So I came up with this ... I just hope it works!  

I am just a smidge taller than 120 distress inks stacked one on top of the other :-)  So how tall does that make me?  (It turned out smaller than I had hoped. The sign says 10 = 14cm = 5.5")

Chipper

P.S. I used the stop animation app Stop Animator by Samuel Adams.  It was free and super easy to use.

Craft Storage

You may be asking yourself why I was so excited to receive an Ikea kitchen cupboard for my birthday?  Well, it is the answer to my storage problems :-)  I had an epiphany one night while sleeping and the next morning I tested my theory and it worked, so I have been planning ever since!

I use the Artbin Super Satchels for my craft storage.  We sell heaps of them at the shop but we do get the odd cracked one and then they become mine.  Over the years I have accumulated quite a few and even with HUGE cracks they still work perfectly!  So, what is an Artbin Super Satchel you might be asking yourself?

I find them very useful especially as we move semi-regularly and the house gets quite dusty with the air-con on.  The double deep ones have removable dividers and they are very useful for embossing folders, 6x6 pads, paints, sprays and other bulkier items that you might not want falling all over the place.  They also do narrow ones with lots of divider for smaller items.

But the main problem I have faced is with storing them.  Artbin do make a cube for them that they slide into on plastic runners, but over here they retail at $104 and only hold FOUR!  I just refuse to pay that much for a cupboard for them to sit in (even at cost!) and hiding them in a big cupboard with doors is a waste as I like to see things (and I also don't have a spare big cupboard with doors!).  So mine have stood proudly in the corner of my room in a HUGE stack, with others dotted around the place.  The problem with this solution is that I inevitably want something in the BOTTOM container and to get to it I have to unstack them all and then re-stack them once I have the item I am looking for.  It drives me just a little insane at times :-)

I had planned on just making my own 'Artbin cube' style storage for them but time is always against me.  We built our shop counter out of Ikea kitchen units and as we wanted it narrower we used the wall cabinets and just put legs on them to make them the right height.  They are fabulous under-counter cupboards as they aren't too deep (they are 35cm deep).  I never thought to see if they would hold the Artbin's until a few months ago when I dreamed about it.  The second I walked through the shop door the next morning I tested the theory and it worked perfectly!  So I asked for the Ikea 40cm wide wall cupboard for my birthday.  No doors or anything, just plain.  Here they are $45.  And so my mom bought be one for my birthday :-)  LOL

Here it is made up.  I chose to put in the wall fixing bracket (the silver bit) while I made it as one day when we do buy our own house again I will probably mount it on the wall.  My dad gave me money for my birthday and so I went to Ikea and I didn't realise that they also make one the same width and depth but LOTS taller.  It was even better value so I bought one of those with his money.  I believe it is meant to be a broom cupboard or a shallow pantry.

Today I ended up with an unexpected whole day off!!  I set off to the hardware store after dropping the kids and school and bought a BIG box of shelf brackets and away I went ...

See how the Artbins sit rested on the little brackets.  They fit perfectly!  It would be a little easier to slide them in and out on a rail but the only ones I could find were plastic drawer rails and they were $5 a pair!!!!  I haven't had any problems with them so far but if I find one is a bit too heavy to get in and out easily I will just get a thin piece of wood and glue it to the mini brackets as a guide rail.

And out one slides from right in the middle!  It is pure bliss!  Not all of the containers are full as I didn't get to choose which ones got broken. LOL  Some are deep where they could be the narrower ones, but over time I may get some more and then I can swap things over to get the most from my space.

And here they are all finished.  I added a shelf to the middle of the tall one to put my plain Bazzill on.  I had them on the floor behind my desk in Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage Holders (like magazine holders) but I prefer to pull my paper out from the front, not the top.  So I turned them on their sides and slid them onto the shelf.  I think it will work quite nicely.

The Artbins with green clips hold my Cricut cartridges.  I have run out of room in these cupboards so you can see a few stacked on top.  I shall just have to save for another one.  The next few I get will probably be short ones as I want to eventually build my craft room using them.  That way they can go under counter tops, or hung on the wall above counters.  The other nice part about them being Ikea units is that you can get very cool drawers to fit inside them (as in they don't have a front in the same way as an under-counter drawer does) that are designed for holding tins in a pantry.  I think they would work very nicely for punches or sprays.  However, at $50 a drawer they can be added in the future :-)

If you ever find yourself using Artbin Super Satchels, here is a much cheaper way to store them!

Chipper

Catch up :) (photo heavy)

I had so much planned to post over the past few weeks, including details of the BEST DAY of the YEAR!  So here goes all be it a bit late ... :-)

While my previous posts about Hiro were auto posting The LOML and I went away for the weekend.  I had made wedding invitations as a friend for a gift last year and they bought us a voucher for a weekend away as a thank you.  They also offered to babysit the kids too!  It has been three years since we went away together so we were very excited.  Thankfully the place we stayed was only an hours drive from home and we set off on Friday evening after work.  It was right on the harbour in a very pretty holiday/vacation town.  So we did touristy things and ate until we needed to be rolled back to the hotel.  We even went to a place with a miniature village, mini golf and a maze!  The weather was perfect and it was so relaxing and wonderful.

Our view from breakfast :-)

The miniature village

Me after we arrived at the miniature village

Entering the maze ...

Will he find his way out???

Devonshire Tea anyone???

Looking out over the ocean before dinner

Those photos were just from Saturday!!!  But so you see the dreary dusk sky?  Well Sunday was stormy, rainy and awful!  So we decided to drive home after we checked out of the hotel.  We couldn't have asked for a better day on Saturday and we enjoyed getting home early to spend some time with the kids.  They were spoilt too all weekend.

Midway through the month it was my BIRTHDAY!!!!  So of course that means that it is the best day of the year in my book!  I love birthdays.  It's not just about the presents, but that it is a day special for each person where they should be treated like a princess (or prince).  My order for breakfast was poached eggs on toast - YUM YUM!!!!  I was supposed to have the day of work crafting with a friend, but we had only just sat down to start when I got a call from The LOML to say that I needed to come to work straight away as he wasn't well.  Thankfully he didn't need to go to the hospital again and we were able to come home after lunch.  He improved over the afternoon and he instructed the kids on the preparation of my special dinner.  I had requested crumbed steak, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and gravy.  And it was YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!

I chose not to have a cake this year as I really craved warm brownies with vanilla ice cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup.  While the brownies were cooking I made The LOML call the health line to confirm that a trip to the ER wasn't warranted as he had a Dr appointment two days later.  He tried very hard to act like nothing was wrong as it was my birthday, but that just made me more worried.  So better late than never we enjoyed our brownies.  They were also YUM YUM YUM!!!

In the end I chose frosting and not Hershey's syrup :)

For my birthday I got a Sizzix Eclips (spoilt aren't I??) and some Tim Holtz background stamps.  I also got something a bit unusual from my mom that I had asked her for ... an Ikea kitchen wall cabinet.  I will have to show you later what that is for :-)  I am giddy with excitement and I just hope it works!  No, I am SURE it will work ... but you will just have to wait.

The LOML hasn't been able to drive since our weekend away.  He was constantly unsteady on his feet and light headed.  The Dr was increased his new medication from his last visit to the hospital and he was getting worse, so without telling me, he went off the medication.  Within two days he felt better!  He went back to the Dr and now he is almost back to himself.  It is crazy, but it seems that he had a delayed reaction to the medication.  As it built up in his body it was getting worse.  I was starting to get very worried and all of it was caused by a nasty tablet!  I hope that it is now the end of it and he stays better this time.  It was all very worrying and has made for a busy and chaotic month.  Hopefully he is cleared to drive again really soon as he makes a TERRIBLE passenger!

All in all I think we are headed into a pleasant September :-)  The Extrovert turns 15!!! Oh my!!! I suddenly feel old :-)  If I don't see you before, I will be back for Storytelling Sunday this Sunday. Pop back then for all the details and enjoy a story or two.

Chipper

Adventures with Hiro - part 3

Monday saw the kids all return to school (this was a few weeks ago now LOL).  That night Hiro went with the boys to cadets.  I wonder what he thought of it all?  There was another Japanese student there that night from yet another school (this is the popular time for Japanese students to visit as they are on summer holidays and don't miss school).  I wonder what he thought of it all???  It was hard to tell but the boys said he took lots of photos and the cadets all made him feel welcome.

Wednesday was Hiro's last day with us.  They had organised afternoon tea at the school with a performance by the students.  They sang a song in English and Japanese.  You can see Hiro in the back row, just left of the middle.  They were swaying from side to side and The Thinker stood up on his chair to get the shot.  This was the only time I got to see the students all mixing with each other.  You would never have know that there was a language barrier.  Each of them just re-phrased things until the other understood.  It was great to see them all hanging out and being silly together.  It made me feel just a little old, as that was once me!!!

During the presentation each student gave a speech in English thanking their host families.  Hiro was the last to give his and his was the longest.  He said the nicest things about us and it made us feel really special.  I am glad that we were able to have him stay with us and I would be very pleased to have him stay again.

We had organised with my brother and SIL to meet up for a Japanese meal that night at an authentic restaurant in the city.  We had hoped the wait staff might be able to help us with translating, but they were very busy.  We also wanted Hiro to have the opportunity to share with us some of the food he was used to.  Other than sushi and a few other food court style dishes we had never had Japanese before.  My SIL loves Japanese food and she had recommended the restaurant.  The first thing Hiro said when he sat down was "I am so excited to be having Japanese food!".  It was definitely the right decision to go there.  While we were there we gave him his mini album and he spent most of the night looking over it :-)

The Extrovert (wearing his new glasses!) and Hiro

The main meal came as an set tray and you chose the 'main' part, so we asked Hiro to suggest our starters.  We tried lots of wonderful food and I would never have thought that I would have ever eaten raw beef.  But it tasted sooooooooooo good and I will definitely be having it again!  For our main course four of us (including Hiro) had the tempura with udon noodles and sushi.  Every main dish comes with miso soup, salad and beans.  Hiro said they have the miso soup and salad every day with their dinner.  Everything tasted YUM!

Tempura with Udon and Sushi

The LOML had teriyaki pork and rice and The Extrovert tried the sashimi.  The Princess had picked up a tummy bug that day at school and so she was unable to come.  She was very disappointed.  We will definitely be having Japanese again.  As we were leaving Hiro said it was his best night ever!

All of us at dinner.

He had to take family photos the next morning and Hiro was very sad to be leaving.  The boys said he cried when he got to school as he didn't want to go home yet.  We all had adventures with Hiro and we will remember them forever.  Remember, if you are ever given the chance to host an exchange student, seriously think about doing it!

Chipper

Adventures with Hiro - part 2

There wasn't any way we could avoid having to work Saturday so Hiro and The Extrovert came to the shop with us for the morning and at lunch time we let them go across the road to the shopping center for lunch and a brief look around.  It is important in Japan to buy souvenirs for family and friends back home and this gave Hiro another opportunity to shop for gifts.  The Extrovert was hoping that Hiro would want sushi for lunch as it is his favourite, but he opted for Chinese.  Thankfully there is also a place selling sushi in the food court so they both had what they wanted.

I have already said that we went out for Italian Saturday night and by the time we came home Hiro was looking very tired.  I think that the late night Friday at youth group and the intense week of study was catching up with him.  The Extrovert had hoped that they would both get up early on Sunday morning and head to church as The Extrovert was taking The Thinker's rostered spot helping out in Children's Church.  But we told him to just let Hiro sleep until he woke up as he really needed his rest.  As it turned out he must have been really tired as he almost missed breakfast.  He then asked if he could stay home and study for the morning so The LOML and Hiro spent the morning at home.

That afternoon we had planned to take Hiro to Fremantle for a look around the markets and stay for fish and chips with friends at a place right on the water.  My mom collected The Thinker from camp and after he had showered and cleaned up they met up with us.  We wandered around the markets with The Princess after sending the boys off on their own and tried to find something that wasn't the usual run-of-the-mill touristy gift for Hiro's parents.  We found a little shop selling prints and originals by a local artist.  They were somewhat quirky designs and we bought his parents coasters featuring Aussie animals.

A photo of their gallery

Fremantle is a port town and a famous tourist destination.  On the weekend and most days in summer there is plenty of street entertainment and this day we watched a crazy pirate sword swallower.  He was nuts!!!!  He is even in the Guiness Book of Records for sword swallowing.  After cringing at sword swallowing while on the top of a pole, we headed off to the small beach in Fremantle.  My kids took their shoes off and jumped right in (remember that it is winter here!) and Hiro looked at me as if to say "can I do that too?".  As soon as he realised that he could remove his shoes to splash too and he was in like a two year old!

Wandering around the marina.

The Princess and The Extrovert were first into the water!

What would a beach trip be like without writing in the sand?!?!?!?

The Extrovert and Hiro wandering  along the beach

Looking through the old jetty.  The Extrovert is running towards us.

The Extrovert being silly

The Princess playing too.

After a splash around on the beach the kids all cleaned their feet as our friends had arrived and we were off to enjoy fish and chips.  There are two very big fish companies in the marina and both catch their own fish.  It was left up to us to decided which one we went for and we chose Kailis Fish.  Their boats are moored right next to where we eat (you can just see them in the photo below) and at one end they sell fish to take home.  My friend also had an exchange student from Japan but from a different area and school.

We bought a family plate of fish and chips just for our four kids (four fish filets and LOTS of chips) while The LOML and I had snapper and chips.  It was sooooooooooooo YUM!  The kids polished off all theirs quick smart.  The three girls at the back hardly made a dent in theirs LOL.  My four definitely have huge appetites.

We went home later that evening after another quick trip to the markets for The Thinker to get some morish nuts (nuts covered with caramel).  This was a very close to perfect day.

Chipper