i will be your shoulder, as you grow older...(courtesy of Mr J. Blunt)

me and my 'pretty sweet' wedges went out today. i was armed with my band aids for the inevitable blisters and felt pretty good...after several yards of walking i realized i needed to have brought my zimmer frame as well...suddenly the grocery store entrance appeared to be further and further away. i knew if i could just make it to the door i would be able to prop myself up with a shopping cart...i successfully accomplished the grocery shopping in twice the amount of time it usually takes me...but the real horror unfolded as i was paying my bill. as i looked down, i realized that the 'putting it on in a hurry this morning, fake tan' was doing a very nice job of appearing in splodges of orange all over my arm...this has taught me a very important lesson about fake tanning moisturizer, it is indeed as 'evil' as the original fake tanning creams and it does not go on well if you are trying to juggle breakfast, feeding pets, answering emails.

and what ever you hope by applying it, everyone knows you are trying to look like you haven't lived under a rock for the past six months...

anyway, i know that you did not come here today, dear readers to hear about Tif and her grocery traumas, oh no, i know that you were anticipating an exciting post about 'boxes'. this is the first of many 'boxes' this week..(silent prayer has just been sent out to my mail man to get all the said 'boxes' to my house pretty darn fast...) so let us begin...

"what's in the box, Tif?", well i thought you'd never ask, but since you have, it really does require a bit of explaining (surprise, surprise) before i reveal (doesn't that sound so exciting..) so brace yourselves it's another long haul...

i was born the youngest of four children and my diet consisted of two things, Chocolate Spread on toast and Luncheon Meat...this is not because my mother was an "ill trained parent" rather because i refused point blank to eat anything else...by the time i was nine they insisted i ate a boiled potato before i could have my Luncheon Meat...there were always tears that followed.

i have eaten this food all through my teen years, just adding in Mars Bars and French Fries for good measure. then i met my man, who proceeded to tell me all about the "fish that had been fed solely on Luncheon Meat and that they had started to grow extra bits to their bodies" article that he had read. needless to say, i haven't touch a slice since...but i do have a passion for chocolate spread on toast, and this had been my breakfast up until we moved to the states, seven years ago.

when we arrived it became clear that there were two things my man had not enlightened me on before we moved...#1. we were living in an earthquake zone (i did not find this out from him, i discovered it in the grocery store, as the earthquake hit) and #2 they do not have chocolate spread...they have 'nutella', but that is not CADBURY'S CHOCOLATE SPREAD...

and so for many a year i have existed on token jars that have come via family who came to stay (god bless them), i hide them so the kids can't find them (not the family, the jars, silly)...

but a 'happy day', the best kind of 'happy day' came last friday...a box for me sitting on the porch...my man told me it was to celebrate the success of getting into the newspaper...and this is why i choose to live with a man who often says "Tif, i haven't got any clean underpants", "we need to talk about the dinners, Tif" or phones me late on Christmas Eve, while standing in Antropologie with 'man blinkers' on and says "Tif, i can't see anything in this store that you would like"...

"living in fear, now she has laughed in the face of 'Mr Bad Luck' "~ Tif

me, my sundress and some pretty sweet wedges...

i know i said i wouldn't be back until late Monday, but quite honestly i couldn't keep away...it's warming up here big time and as the heat has wiltered me i just wanted to share these 'finds' i had in Target...late last night as our #1 was perusing the make-up aisle, i ended up in the teen department (dangerous i know, after all it is a long time since i was a teen)...not sure whether it is the hot weather we're having but i think it all went to my head. they had some very sweet sundresses...next thing i knew i was in the changing rooms trying them on...and i ended up with this little number, very pretty and made out of cheesecloth (the price is so darn cheap that it really does beg the ethical question of how these clothes are made...). i also stumbled upon these lovely cream wedges, once again cheap as chips (and leather at that price..ummm)...and for someone who spends most of her days in flip flops, 'stumbling' is the perfect word.

now i tell you my tale, as this little number is a classic example of what to do with a dress that 'every man and his dog' can see through...

of course most of you already know what Tif will do, but for some of you who are still 'sitting on the fence' about wearing a slip in public...i give you a few pictures, (this is where i could do with the lovely Emily)...not exactly well 'set up' as i would have got rid of the 'cat scratching box' in the background, but just like my friend Tasha says, "try to focus on the foreground and not what's behind it"...

and i know it's bad luck to put new shoes on a table...but i laugh in the face of 'mr bad luck' because i know 'miss lady luck' is shining on me these days...(i have just touched wood as i typed that bit!!) if you would care to look at them on feet (please bear in mind my feet are not pretty and the nail polish is in desperate need of redoing..) then here they are
after seeing this, you will either be wearing a slip next time you 'don' your summer dress, or you just fell off the fence...

i shall leave you with 'eye spy with my little eye something beginning with C '

it's all about the 'boxes' this week ...Tif

EDITED ~ so i asked my man what he could see in the picture that began with a 'C' and he immediately said "CHAOS"...i guess it's true!

Tif, her wee strawberry daiquiri and some tagging...(about blim'en time)

ah ha, once again the weekend is upon us and you find Tif sitting at her desk drinking a wee strawberry daiquiri, (it is safe to proceed as i have only just started on it). so strange, as in my younger 'youth' years i was a 'pint of cider' kind of girl...but through the years of child rearing i turned away from the drink. it just truly did not mix and so now i choose to drink those 'pop' alcoholic drinks, you can't taste the alcohol but they do the 'job' just fine...

it's been really quite a surreal week, it started off quiet and slow after the article, but as each day passed it has become more and more hectic...and as i was sitting at Mrs. S. Machine this morning i started thinking (i do all my thinking while sewing, it's a bit like therapy but cheaper)...i started my little blog to talk about creative things and people that inspire me, but all i seem to have done is talk about myself and the things that happen to me...and although i haven't stayed true to my intentions, it has really enabled me to see the funny side of things where before it would have seemed frustrating or tiresome. it's made me take more notice of things that are happening to me and my family and best of all i have got to know you 'dear readers'...so if you are happy to keep on reading it, then i am happy to keep on telling it...

this morning everything felt a bit overwhelming, but as the day is finishing i have caught up on things, even managed to list a few new slips and finish up some custom orders...all around me is chaos, which will get picked up tomorrow, possibly the day after or just never...

and on days like this, i get that feeling like when you were a kid and your mum could make it all better. even at my age now, i know if she walked through the door, she would make it better...but she lives across the pond, so instead she sends me 'care packages', not one, not two but three...so when you walk around in your 'dottie angel' slip you can be sure it has been made by me, but a lot of the materials that go into it have been sourced 'with love' by her...

like all mothers, she asks for nothing in return, but winging it's way across the pond is 'a bucket bag' made just for her...

and before i leave you i shall pass on the 'tagging', i've taken so frigging long over this that most of the blogs i read have been tagged weeks back, but here is my list...some maybe new to you, and some old, but please visit, they are all good people doing good things...

mrs eliot books ~ janet clare ~ english vintage ~ gigibird

so tread softly ~ go green, go barefoot ~ hear tasha roar

thinking i'll see you on 'late Mon, early Tues' next week...hope you don't mind ~ Tif

(blast those pesky lines, they always have the last laugh)