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Category Archives: Life

The Week from Hell

This week has seen Australia’s north east devastated by the worst floods in living history. Indeed one of the problems for the survivors  is going to be how to learn to live with the memories of this awful event. Tough military helicopter pilots were pictured tenderly holding in their arms babies, toddlers and children whom they scooped up to safety. Some of these children witnessed the deaths of their parents or loved ones. The same military personel are now searching for the dead bodies who may well be related to those they rescued.


There is just too much to write about…the event came about due to a confluence of events but what remains in the minds eye now is the amazing spirit of our fellow Australians. They are calling today Salvation Saturday …twelve thousand volunteers came to help strangers with the cleanup of their homes and businesses. And that is not counting the thousands of others who are helping family and friends… twenty five thousand volunteers registered to help.

There was no Australian untouched by this…the television coverage was brilliant and kept the nation and the evacuated informed. Vanessa Trazise on Sky News was persoally affected by this as her brother lives in one of the areas which was decimated. She covered teh news and was almost ghost like in her appearance…teh next day she told her viewers that her brother and family lived there and she had not known then whether he was alive or not.

 

 

Fall From Grace

 

 

Popped up yesterday to Westfield Bondi Junction to meet a lovely lady who bought one of my pieces of LIBERTY by ROBERT GORDON china. I started collecting this set around my 50th birthday …so almost five years ago. I asked DAVID JONES if they would still have it for a few seasons and was assured they would but as always next season there were a few rogue pieces and that was it. So I was stuck with a few pieces and I had been so looking forward to collecting it but apart from my local coffee/homewares shop and occasionally at Vinnies I have not seen it again. It is even scarce on ebay so I am pleased that a piece is going to someone who really wants it.

What is it with these places putting out new ranges…..or several new ranges of china every year? If you cannot buy it all then, including spares, you are really stuck. Not everyone can buy entire sets all at once and like me not everyone wants to…where is the joy in collecting in that?  My son had a similar experience with a gorgeous coloured willow pattern which was on a huge display in the David Jones city store next to the Portmeirion. When he started collecting it every time he went shopping he asked if it would still be available in future. You can guess what happened, he is stuck with one serving of everything and a strangely untraceable brand, PALATE. I mean try googling palate…its ludicrous!

 

While I was at WESTFIELD I took some time to think about the poor Jewish man who took his life there a few weeks ago. I was also thinking about the appalling response to the tragedy by a member of their upper echelon.  It is in the newspaper reports what Mark Ryan, Westfield Group Director of Corporate Affairs, said about the gawkers …and not moving the gawkers along or shutting the centre. Heaven forbid that someone’s death might get in the way of anyone spending a dollar….or thousand.  Apparently lots of people were filming and texting as I imagine it was unusual to see a fully Orthodox Jewish person in such a situation. Maybe they were interested in seeing how the police handled it. A young chap who caught the whole thing on camera put it on Youtube because he was so appalled by the apathy of the staff. Not the …splatter…but the awful last minutes of this man’s life and the camera person clearly asking why Westfield were not moving the public out of the way. Do pay careful attention to the comments on the first link I have highlighted here…among these comments are those by workers and others who witnessed the event.

 

While we are talking about Westfield and David Jones, good on the ex CEO of DJ’s resigning today for “inappropriate conduct toward a female staff member” at a function. As regular readers of my blog know, not all companies admit when there is any form of harassment and this guy named and shamed himself. Perhaps it was all about to come out and he got in ahead of time but we know that is not always the case. Some companies turn it around and blame the  victim.  Well done David Jones and let us hope the young lady manages to go back to work and that her case is managed well by her lawyers. Another mistake we made apparently…..not getting lawyers involved before we made our complaints.

 

laura in stitches

Have been super busy selling especially this past week and am almost through my many sizes of clothing which I have had stored in vain hope of getting into them one day! I am so pleased that so many women are wearing and loving my  clothing. This stunning outfit above is a mixture of LAURA ASHLEY USA and STITCHES AUSTRALIA. During the five years I have had this skirt I only wore it once and since I bought the jacket earlier this year my friend borrowed the outfit for an event so it is almost new. Silk and cotton the jacket is fabulous quality as to be expected of LAURA ASHLEY and the skirt is just that little bit different…I think the outfit works well so I am selling it as a set.

I found lots of great things in Vinnies today..it was 50% off clothing which was great and I also bought some fabulous beaded jewellery to gift with my clothing sales…yeah! Ted Noffs was also a success as I found my friend a lovely HOT OPTIONS jacket to go with a PER UNA skirt which arrived today from ebay.uk! I also pointed out to the volunteers at One Noffs some pieces by a designer [VICKY VALE] which I felt would work well in their more exclusive designer store. I found several pieces and they are very current, Victorian Gothic style in black velvet, yum!

What's the deal with these thrift store primadonna's part two

Had an interesting experience in Vinnies today….after having such wonderful and positive experiences on ebay it was a real eye opener as to perhaps why so many people are going the ebay route. As you know I have had a few problems before...only ever in a particular store ..usually I prefer to encourage and praise the workers but after my husband’s case of workplace bullying was found in the favour of his supervisor and my own complaint was on balance disbelieved I guess I simply cannot take any crap from them anymore.

I went into the store with intent of finding some plus sized clothes…a mammoth job as most clothes there are in standard sizes and it takes forever to go through all of the ladies and also the mixed clothes downstairs. Out of the whole store there may be around five  plus sized items…and the store has two levels of women’s clothing….that is how big a job it is.  Also problematic are the racks which are stuffed to the max with clothing…one rack over another one and the racks are full of clothing on really flimsy hangers which constantly snap in one’s hand. So after checking out a third of the downstairs I popped upstairs to check the ladies shirts and jackets etc. By then my hands had gone.

A little explanation…due to my silly arthritis and accompanying stenosis of the spinal column in my cervical and thoracic vertebrae I have trouble raising my arms above waist height …my hands go all pins and needles …and they hurt…and then they go numb and I  start to drop things. I dropped several tops which I was buying but I left them at my feet as I knew I would only drop them again and I was still looking through the lower rack.  A man I took to be a volunteer …he was wearing an apron and was muttering to himself as he went through the store  repeatedly….I kept getting out of his way as there is no room to manouvre in this shop anymore. Anyway he came upstairs just as I dropped the shirts and I heard him say…as he looked at the things at my feet…okay just drop them there ..that’s the way to do it…or words to that effect.

I must say I was chagrined and mortified to be spoken to like that and when a few minutes later a worker I know came upstairs and asked if something was wrong I said yes…. I did not like being spoken to by the volunteer that way. I said I felt he was a little unusual and had been rude. A booming what has this particular volunteer done came from behind me and  bugger me if he was not directly behind me …totally invading my body space and I felt inappropriately questioning me about what I was discussing with the worker. Well, not one to back down, not after our previous experiences….I repeated I did not like to be spoken to like that. He said he was telling someone else to leave donations somewhere……even though he was looking at me and I saw no other person…although there could have been one….I did not see one however.

Well then I apologised and said I was sorry …that it was bad timing that it happened as he said it to a customer but he was very shirty and kept saving aggressively…I am so over this …it is gone it is nothing etc etc. Well it was not over as I felt both  my body space and my disability had been poorly treated. I went downstairs and saw him chatting to the workers on the cash register and he then went upstairs again brushing past me in quite an unusual manner.  I asked the workers if the manager was in and they said they would get her. She came down and apologised and said something like …you know we have problems with some people not being able to talk to people properly. I said …yes but I felt that you should know as if it happened to me it could happen to others. I also explained a little about my health and how difficult it is to shop there since the new overstocking of the racks came in. She said to let her know if they could help get anything down for me…which was sweet but not really the point.

So all in all a good day as my clothing order from the US came in the post…trust me you have never seen the like of these jackets etc…silk and embossed, embroidered or quilted! The whole experience was pleasant even picking up the parcels! I did however find a stunning Liz Claiborne handbag and two lovely shirts for myself in Vinnies….I think it was worth it…..I hope so anyway…it just leaves  a nasty taste in the mouth. Where is Mary Queen of Charity Shops when you need her?

Healthy New Year

So it is 2010 …can you believe it is ten years since everyone was carrying on about the millenium bug? It seems like much, much longer.

Ah well Christmas is over…and with it almost the  worst case of the flu I have had in ten years…well the only one I have had in ten years! And to top it off a headache so bad I could not get off the bed for many many many hours…..but that is a dim memory now…mostly because it kind of knocked me senseless! I think it was all part of the same virus…nasty bugger especially considering I had my swine flu shot recently.

Okay to show that this is still an occasional sewing blog….

something I am planning on sewing

and look…

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half hexi quilt top… almost finished

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A whole lot of thrifting has been going on over the break…but through ebay…oh my… the fat person’s lifeline! I cannot believe the things I have found and the new labels I discovered in the process. There appears to be a movement of plus sizes to affirm themselves with quite revealing gear…and now I know the names to avoid for me but to look out for at the local shop to resell as these brands are going like hotcakes but at platinum prices!

So I do hope you are all well and that you had quality time with those you love over the break…I will be updating the blog in a more chatty way this year and showcasing fashion labels and designers as well as the usual quilting and thrifting. See you soon!

Reflections

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I find myself very reflective at this time of year. Maybe it is all that is involved in getting ready for Christmas or maybe it is the excess that is so prevalent.

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I have trimmed down my life to the essentials…my friends and my immediate family are what is important to me and my friends have indeed become my family. We live modestly and try not to overindulge at this time of year.

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My son and I went to see the David Jones Christmas window displays earlier this month and I had almost as much fun watching the children and the parents and the grandparents faces as I did looking at the scenes myself! Maybe it is because as the child of migrants we had very little in the way of family…especially grandparents so I love to watch the interaction between them today.

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My son has had very little actual time with his grandparents …he does not remember really the times when his British grandmother spent the holidays with us and my family…well let us say they would rather be with my brother and his family at Christmas…nothing new there.

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So here is what is important to me…the nativity…and my own little family. Sharing in children’s joy of the time of year …school concerts and the delight they find in the lead up to Christmas. I also love spending time with my closest friends and their families…..but I also love spending time alone sipping a flat white and reading the fashion, art and design magazines at my favourite coffee shop in Randwick.

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I love our tree decorations, such simple pleasures to be found in the decorations of yesteryear and in finding fabulous new hand crafted ones like my new found hand painted one above and the four hand painted ones my son gave me for Christmas last year.

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I love sitting watching the reflections on the wall cast by the tree lights.  I would love to know what Christmas means to you.

Oh by the way…if you look closely at the first photo…or click on it and make it larger on flickr you will see little old me reflected in the window…purple top….grey hair!

All photos courtesy of cjwriter [my son]

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