Just a minute ... in September

A confession: I missed the August "Just a minute" meme being hosted by August Street. The kids got too sick and I became too disorganised. I thought of doing a late posting earlier this month. You know: better late than never. Instead I thought I'd skip straight to September and see if I can pass myself off as being early.

So here's my snapshot of September ...

Growing
Beautiful yellow and blue spring irises and a bed of blue-faced pansies. The pansies have finally flowered - 12 weeks after I planted out the seedlings. They were on notice; destined for the compost bin when I saw the first flower. Lucky for them. I'm tough on the offence of failure-to-flower. I am also waiting for the silvery plants pictured above to flower. I have no idea what they are: they were in unmarked pots at Bunnings and going for a song.

Reading
Mostly sewing and craft magazines. Actually, I do have to use the word "reading" loosely. I'm mostly just looking at pictures. But a picture tells a thousand words right? I bought a copy of Ottobre Design and a Japanese boys' clothes sewing book. So to be more specific, I am now looking at diagrams; some of which are in Japanese.

Watching
Wire In The Blood on Friday evenings. I'm a bit of a fan of Robson Green. The series has me convinced, however, that the ratio of serial killers to law-abiding citizens (read: victims) in Bradfield UK couldn't be any less than 2:1. Dodgy.

I'm also enjoying the English-dubbed, Japanese show Iron Chef on a Saturday night. What's not to love about these mid-90s episodes featuring a flaymboyant brocade-wearing, capsicum-eating host who wants to encounter new, original cuisines which can be called true artistic creations? And this week I picked up 8 new ways with Chinese carp. Handy that.

Planning
Did I ever mention that I am an Avon lady? Not really your fully made-up, door bell ringing, successful sort. More your unkempt, lazy type. I doubt I'd know a 159% instant moisture boost or sizzling summer shade, if I tripped over it. When I fill in the little box on the order form that says "customers served" its generally 2: just me and my mum. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with Avon: the products are all decent and very well-priced. You just need to put a heck of a lot of work into it to make money. And be prepared to wear colours called Baby Blue, Lagoon and Frostiest Mauve. This month I have been weighing up whether to stick with this gig and give it a bit more effort (ding-dong) or to admit defeat and jump ship.

Dreaming
Predictably my much-dreamed of Hoppo Bumpo childrenswear shop is as empty as it was two months ago. If I'm not careful, at some point Etsy are going to come along, board up the virtual windows and stick up a "For lease" sign. I do have a custom order for two pairs of Hoppo Bumpo trousers: will they be the catalyst for a flurry of sewing?