The Funniest Book Ever & Other Childhood Gems

My friend and I were op shopping when she came up behind me and exclaimed “Look at this disgusting book I found!” I was intrigued; she is not the type of person who would generally call things ‘disgusting’, and it’s an unusual term for a book (let alone a childrens book!) We are forever sharing funny op shop finds (the type that you laugh about but don’t buy). This one, I had to buy. For $1, it was too amusing to pass up.

It all starts innocently enough, with interesting facts such as “Silver tabby cats usually have good temperaments” (not sure how this assumption rests on colour, but anyway) and lovely vintagey artwork:

And then things start hotting up:

It goes on to show the birthing process in graphic detail.

Even a picture of a tongue is made somewhat raunchy, with the “cross section” featured on this page (I was like, what on earth is that thing!?):

Whoever said that children weren’t educated about the birds and the bees in the 70s clearly had not seen this childrens book. I don’t think I’ll show it to Bub, because she is liable to describe it at daycare to the poor unwitting ladies there (and even the other children) but I have no doubt her reaction to this book would be hilarious.

I really really need to get my hands on Purnell's Lifecycle Book of You - the version about people.

This all got me thinking about my favourite books when I was a kid, those childhood gems which hold lovely memories.

(1) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Judith Viorst

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." 

(2) Clive Eats Alligators - Alison Lestor

While Frank eats muesli for breakfast and Rosie enjoys eggs and bacon, Clive prefers to eat alligators (alligator shaped cereal). Follow a delightful group of children through a day as they discover and celebrate their individual differences.

(3) The Faraway Tree series - Enid Blyton

 I have lovely memories of having a chapter read to me from one of these books every night in bed.

What are your favourite books from your childhood?

My Sister's Creative Space

I wanted to share my little sister's creative space, because it is so cute. Have you bought into the owl craze? She certainly has – as well as having several owl necklaces, she has decorated her bedroom with owls. I do like owls, but I think I have seen a bit much of them and prefer more unique and unusual treasures.

 Super cute desk space, all bright and happy and cluttered (but in a good way)

 

 Pin board with fashion shoot pics and … an owl.

 Owly wall art

 

 Owly pillow

 Wooden wonderland - she made the box

  A mirror and shelf that she made herself, with 3 ceramic owls resting on it

 

Cute hand painted boxes, and a very hungry caterpillar

More creative spaces to come soon :-) I hope everyone has a lovely weekend planned ahead...

Summer Lust Have: The Dip Back Skirt / Dress

I am lusting after the dip back/scoop back skirt or dress at the moment.

Given my penchant for polka dots, I am devastated that I missed out on this super discounted (reduced to 12 pounds) dip back dress from Dorothy Perkins (all totally sold out, and has been for weeks – I keep checking and it doesn’t look like there’ll be any stock added):

I also love the look of this ‘Waterfall’ skirt from Glassons, but I think I need to try it on before committing:

What is your lust have for summer, and have you seen any other dip back skirts or dresses that you can direct me to?

The Suncream Artist

Daddy was supposed to be looking after Bub. I arrived home and Bub ran to the door to meet me. “Where’s Daddy?” Bub puts her finger to her lips- “Shhh! Daddy’s sleeping” (Silent eye roll from me). I ask her what she’s been doing. Excitedly she tells me “I’m drawing a picture, with sun cream, with my FEET!”

At this point I am thinking - Uh oh. This is not the kind of thing you want to hear from a 3 year old.

Our lovely fluffy colourful rug has had half a litre of sun cream emptied onto it and smooshed around. “And then” she tells me, “I made a WATERFALL!” Sun cream is cascading down a stack of DVDs and off the side of the TV cabinet.

Very creative. Daddy was promptly woken up to rectify the situation. I wish wish wish I had taken a photo of the damage, as it’s so funny in hindsight. But I think I was too annoyed at the time...

It appears others have been in a similar situation. This photo is a still from this Youtube clip:

And a final thought - why is it that Daddy gets to sleep on the couch but I would be woken up within minutes?

Asos purchase, and a warning about their customer service

I boycotted the Asos website for a few months, but I have decided to give it a try again because they now offer an Australian returns address.  Here is the (way too long) story of Asos's terrible customer service....

It all relates to a purchase made way back in the vintage era of January 2011. I ordered a lovely Vila one shoulder dress, and what arrived was a horrible Asos maxi dress. Completely incorrect item, and by then of course the dress I wanted had sold out. 

Asos instructed me to return the dress, and said they would reimburse me for return postage and refund me for the dress. I went to the post office, had the parcel weighed and took home a list of postage quotes. I emailed Asos listing the postage quotes for different types of postage and asked how they’d like me to send it. I noted that if I posted it seamail, it could take 3 months to arrive and was uninsured – I said I didn’t want to wait this long or take any chances for a refund, since the situation was their fault. Asos quickly replied, saying they would refund the postage and the amount for the dress upon receipt of proof of postage (not upon receiving the item). 

Perfect, that's fair, I thought. I wasted yet another lunch hour going to the post office and sending it off. I scanned and emailed the receipt to Asos, filling out their forms exactly as required.

What has followed was SIX MONTHS of emails back and forth between me and Asos, asking why I haven’t received my refund. Sometimes they wouldn’t reply, another time I had to resend my scanned postage receipt, every other time they would ask question which they would already know the answer to if they kept proper records, or I was promised that they would ‘look into the issue with the finance department’... Finally, after 4.5 months and 35 emails, I received a refund for the dress (but not postage). 

It took 1.5 further months and 10 further emails to get a refund for the postage.  I suppose because I had already spent so much time and expended so much effort in getting a refund for the dress, I was angry and wanted to get some sort of positive result to finally appease my anger. 

I don’t care if the first and second postage refund cheques supposedly went missing (this is what they eventually claimed), it doesn’t take this long to sort out a refund to which I’m entitled, and there’s no explanation for why it took me so long to be refunded for the dress when I was PROMISED that if I used the cheapest postage method, I would be refunded immediately upon providing proof of postage. I don't know anyone who would define "immediately" as 6 months later.

If they cannot be trusted to refund money rightfully owed and resolve a situation where the buyer is polite, rational and makes life easy for them by listing the events in detail in every detail sent (in recognition that a different staff member may deal with it every time), they certainly cannot be trusted with higher value items or problems. I am still very unhappy with Asos, and I will not be trusting them with much of my hard earned cash.

However, I could not go past these super cheap leather ballet flats when there was a voucher floating around for a further 20% off:

 $26 for a pair of genuine leather ballet flats? Yes please!

Final Perth Op Shopping Haul

Study, work, everything has been driving me insane these past two weeks. I feel very run down and exhausted. Thank goodness for the lovely weather this weekend, and for no plans (except for study). I plan to get as much sleep as possible, and enjoy the sunshine. Now, as promised, I am finally posting the last of my Perth op shopping finds.

On my final day in Perth, I decided  to check out 2 more op shops. At the first op shop I picked up this stunning set of 8 tea cups and 10 saucers for $25. They’re in perfect condition, and the brand is Essenbach (Bavaria). I didn’t realise at the time but it’s probably a pretty valuable collectors set (I buy things because I like them, not because I think they’re worth a lot). They are feather light, so obviously have a high percentage of porcelain in them. I have googled and googled but I can’t find any pictures of this pattern or indication of when it was made:

I have long wanted to start collecting vintage plates that have beautiful patterns. These will not be valuable or special plates (those ones will still be acquired if I see them, they might be for special occasions or wall decorations), but everyday use plates which may get chipped/broken and which I should be happy to part with if that should happen. When I move back to Perth, I want to have a kitchen stocked with mismatched, beautiful and unique vintage items. Being in Perth (and being able to leave my purchases at my parents’ house for safekeeping), I was able to buy a few nice ones:

And then there’s Australian pottery. I like it because it often features wildflowers and because someone has put a lot of effort into these handmade gems. I have a few pieces already, and I picked up a set of 3 more (again, perfect condition) for $4:

There’s also a little ‘herb’ pot in that photo which at 50c I couldn’t resist- it will look cute on the kitchen windowsill, surrounded by other vintage gems.

There was some Pyrex at the op shop I was at, but I passed on it. I’m not much of a fan of Pyrex, even though it seems to be very popular with vintage bloggers. Maybe my tastes will change as a result of this exposure in other blogs, but for now I’m going to stick with only accumulating items that really appeal to me.

Mid-Autumn Festival

An Asian friend from work invited me to a mid Autumn festival gathering. 

We....

Ate plenty of moon cake: 

Played in the courtyard with lanterns:

Marveled at the full moon.

Played with photography and the lanterns:

Read (and laughed) about the legends behind the festival.

And ended the night by watching a horror movie:

All in all, a lot of fun! I love being invited to experience another culture, it’s very special.

Happy (belated) Mid Autumn festival everyone!