Winners and a partial house update...

And the giveaway winners are…

Manu wins the measuring jug!

Lien wins the book!

I'll be in touch with you both shortly to organise the logistics.

And now for a house update…  OK so this is a limited house update since my camera battery went flat mid-way through my last visit to site.  

The claw foot bath is now sitting in the bathroom.  It's obviously not plumbed in at this stage but it gives you a bit of an idea of what it will eventually look like.  Originally I had planned to paint the outside of the bath black and put very dark tiles on the floor.  Now that the bath is in-situ I think I actually like it pale blue and I might even just leave it shabby.  I kind of think the rustic look suits the big timber window.  I'm in the process of hunting for floor tiles and I'm honestly completely confused about what I want.  Does anyone have any thoughts?

Meanwhile, this is our enormous evaporative cooler that is currently squatting in the lounge room, before it finds its permanent home on the roof.

The main toilet has some plasterboard up and will hopefully be installed soon.  Our workforce is getting a bit inpatient to have proper facilities!!  The picture on the right is the view from the toilet.

The big changes are on the outside of the house, as much of the cladding has gone up - but of course I don't have any pictures of that.  Stay tuned!

Giveaway!

Ok today is very exciting because… wait for it… I've got, not one, but two giveaways for you!  But before we get to that...

Aren't these just the most amazing cakes you've ever seen?  They're made by my very good friend Jennifer who runs a little custom order bakery in Lawton OK.  I've known Jennifer since our first year of high school when we used to sit together in class scrawling little pictures to each other and coming up with little stories to go with them.  Amazingly, despite drifting apart at various times over the years as our lives took different paths, and now living on complete opposite sides of the world, I'd still count her as one of my closest friends.  She's an amazing artist and she has an incredible talent for translating this across into edible form!  Anyway gush, gush (could I be anymore of a groupie!?!)  You can check out Sugar+Butter on Facebook or at Jennifer's blog It's Wonderful Here.

The point of this story was that I spotted a particularly attractive measuring jug on her blog (see the pic above), happened to mention in passing how lovely I thought it was and Jennifer (generous soul that she is) sent one out to me.  But Phillip Island appears to be a bit of a Bemuda Triangle when it comes to postal services and the package got lost.  In the end the kitchenware place sent out a second one, only to have the first one turn up a few weeks later with the package opened and resealed with a big 'customs' sticker (because presumably measuring jugs look suspiciously like drugs or bomb making equipment).  So now I have two beautiful measuring jugs, and I'm giving one of them to one of you lucky readers.

Here is Minty modelling the measuring jug.  She likes to be involved!

Today's second giveaway, is a book I bought when Minty was a toddler and I was going through a bit of a Steiner phase.  It's called  'Creative Play for your baby' and it's full of all sorts of toys you can make for babies (ages 3 months to two years).  Since both my children have now outgrown it, I thought I'd move it on to a new home where it might get some love again.

To enter today's giveaway, simply leave a comment telling me which of these you would like to win (jug or book) and I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner.  Entries close on Friday 3rd Feb.