100th Post and a Giveaway to Boot.

Prepare for the fanfare and pull out your leftover New Years Eve poppers y'all. This is it....my 100th blog post in this little patch of Blogland that I like to call my own. Who knew I had so much useless information to prattle on about ? Um...actually...I think one or two people may have had a fair idea, but do we listen to those who put their hands on their hips and say "We told you so," No, we do not.

I thought my 100th post would be the perfect opportunity for my first ever little giveaway. Sadly this will not consist of gold bullion or a new home decked out in naff but no doubt expensive furniture. For you, my dear reader, is something much more personal and well...sort of useless...but darn cute nonetheless. The ever-so-clever Ms Loobylu gave away some gorgeous tree ornaments just before Christmas, and I was so taken with these little darlings that I rushed online and picked up some wooden Dolly bases for myself.

There's something about little pieces of smooth painted wood that makes me smile. I like the way they feel in my hand and the gentle tapping noises they make when Le Artiste and Petal play with them. This may possibly make me a little strange, but I have an inkling that there are many other wooden toy lovers out there, am I right or am I right ?

So here she is, my little gift to you to say thank-you for stopping by and reassuring me that I am not, in fact, just talking to myself.

Now to the giveaway part, it's super easy, all you have to do to be entered into the draw, is leave a comment. Make sure you leave your email address if you don't have a link back to your blog and pop back in next Friday when I shall announce the winner. Too easy right ?

And who knows, I might even have a couple of little runners-up prizes.....a set of super sharp steak knives ? Well you'll just have to wait and see.

Thank-you Peeps, without you all it would just be...well, me. xx

What's Hot + What's Not

Thought I'd jump in quickly again this week and play along with Claire's What's Hot + What's Not meme.

NOT

Post school swim carnival colds. Have we not had enough coughs and sniffles for this year ? Urgh.

Ticks. Ticks on cats. Big ticks on cats. Silly cats that won't let you remove the big ticks. *Sigh*

HOT

Getting the Christmas tree up. Yay. I can't help but smile each time I glance over at the tree.

The teeniest, tiniest vegetables in the world. Is that not the cutest little green bean you have ever seen ?

Cucumbers. Do you love a Greek salad ? Mmmm, we do.

They're green tomatoes, but they're not fried. Grow my little beauties, grow.

A day for painting. That's what today shall be, just as soon as I finish typing. Painting is hot, don't let the kindergarten kids have all the fun. Pick up a paintbrush and join in, you can't help but enjoy it.

So what's hot + what's not at your place this week ? If you want to play scoot over to Loobylu's and join in the fun.

What's Hot + What's Not

It's the middle of the week and I am in a serious creative slump. It's a bit like having teeth slowly extracted, but with a pencil...and some paper....and well, actually it's nothing like having teeth extracted, but it is causing me some serious angst and I need a pick-me-up quick smart. Luckily, as it is a Wednesday, Ms Loobylu is hosting another week of What's Hot + What's Not, so I am going to join in whilst I wait for my creativity to return.

NOT :

Planting lettuces just before a heat wave. They have gone straight to the giant salad bowl in the sky.

Humidity. It's great if you have a flowing mane of ringlets. I don't have a flowing mane of ringlets. Humidity is not my friend.

Fat Cat scoffing her dinner so quickly that she proceeds to regurgitate it all over the kitchen floor. Sheesh Fat Cat, how many times have I told you, chew every mouthful one hundred times, at least.

HOT :

Finding new and inventive ways to stay cool whilst watching the television. Yes, that's Petal's foot. She's catching the breeze with her toes, but I'm sure you already worked that out for yourself.

Watching the vegies grow. You may think I'm a dork but I will have the last laugh as I feast on my organic produce. Nom nom nom.

Exercise. No, that's not a typo and I haven't accidentally put that in the wrong category. I'm embracing exercise again, but just to be clear, not that jumpy up and down sweat inducing exercise, oh no. I'm talking calm, controlled, work up a light glow kind of exercise. Thirty minutes of Pilates puts me in a much better head space, must be all that deep breathing and building my inner core strength.

So what's hot or not at your place ? Why don't you play along ? You know you want to.

What's Hot + What's Not This Week.

"Why Waffles," I can hear you exclaim in disbelief "You're joining in another Meme ?" Well, yes. Yes I am and this Meme is the brain-child of the lovely Ms Loobylu, so how could I possibly resist ?

I have decided to follow the reverse Not/Hot option, 'cause I like to finish up on a positive note.

NOT :

Sad, soggy, wilted herbage from the green grocer. I tended them with care, sang them little lullabies, but alas, my parsley seems to be heading to the great Vegie Garden in the sky.

Ticks. Ticks are never hot, no they are not. Especially when they are embedded in the heads of the bebes. Totally not hot.

An unidentifiable, not right, odour lurking in the fridge. Erk. Nothing worse then sniffing through shelf by shelf. Moving things, tossing things, then quietly tearing your hair out when the source remains hidden.

HOT :

Yours truly. No, no, I don't have tickets on myself. Quite literally I'm sweltering away from that fiery ball in the clear blue sky. Seems like someone may have decided we should skip Spring this year and launch straight into Summer. Phew.

Fresh, lovely green herby goodness, relocated this morning onto my kitchen bench. I love fresh herbs, just can't get enough I tell you. We also have a freshly planted up vegie patch just over-flowing with an assortment of herbs and vegetables. That is hot, yes it is.

Chocolate cupcakes, of course they're hot, especially when they have a birthday candle planted in them. Birthdays mean negative calories, which means more cupcakes, but I'm sure you already knew that.

Eye Spy....An inspirational person in my life

Have you ever been at the cross-roads ? As a person who harbours slightly neurotic and excessive planning skills, finding myself recently at the cross-roads was a whole new experience, one that I did not particularly enjoy.

Then occurred a series of very fortunate events. An email inviting me to join a crazy phenomenon known as Facebook. To which I dutifully replied and set up my account. Then out of the blue, a friendship request from an old school friend. An old school friend who had been sorely missed for many years. She had a blog, a very well known blog, and so it was that the world of blogs opened up to me. She mentioned Twitter, well heck, I was on a roll, why not ? Suddenly the world had expanded ten fold, old friends, new friends, bloggers, tweeps, peeps, artists, cooks, mothers, crafters and witty wordsmiths.

This new world has delighted and inspired me in a way I had never imagined possible, new paths are appearing before me and I'm terribly excited to see where they may lead.

But in particular it has taken the words and actions of one extraordinarily talented, kind, generous and down-right delightful gal to get the ball rolling and my creative juices flowing. She rocks. She inspired me as a teenager and she down-right knocks my socks off now.

To find out who she is, click here.

Thanks again to the lovely Cindy for hosting eye spy and to Sally for this weeks, stop and think, theme.

My Creative Space

I'm not quite certain who began the 'My Creative Space' post idea, but if I'm not mistaken it may have been Kootoyoo. I have seen some lovely little posts pop up at Loobylu, Bugandpop and Hoppo Bumpo, so I thought it might be fun to join in.

My creative space is my lovely dining table (see Coach, I still love this dining table, it was worth every penny) which is also my work station, computer desk, nail painting area and.....oh yes, when the need arises, the place that we eat our meals.

Last week a picture popped into my head. It involved a young girl who was completely oblivious to a small black cat desperately trying to get her attention and a fluttering cherub taking aim on a balloon which housed a strategically placed love heart. Can you see where I was going with the idea ?

Today I had some time up my sleeve so I thought I'd try and sketch the image. I'm enjoying playing around with ink images with just a hint of colour. Unfortunately at the moment I'm limited by my felt tip fine liners (have I drooled over a lovely Rotring technical pen set ? Urm...maybe...) but as this is merely a hobby at the moment, I think that's okay. We are a family who loves to draw, oh yes we are, happy days in the Waffler home.