YAY!!!!!!

WOooHooo! The auction for the ginger jar ended last night and I won! I'm over the moon! I was secretly increasing my maximum all week cause I was scared I would be outbid in the final minutes. I even went to bed really early so I would sit and watch in case I missed out.

A couple of people had sent me supportive messages during the week which was great. Even some of the ladies at work were asking "hows the auction going?"

The ginger jar was released in large and small but I am just happy to have one in my collection. There are three 'hard to get' pieces, the toast rack, a small square platter and the ginger jars and now I have all three which just leaves me with the elusive search for a Mason's Red Vista Dressing Table Box. I haven't ever seen one I have just read that they were released so to find one of those........anyway I won't worry if I can't find one just having the Big 3 is enough for me (at the moment anyway).

What a great day!

When I got home tonight I received an exciting email. It was from eBay....why would that be so exciting?

Have you read the rolling list of 10 things I want to do this year? What about the last post, 8 things I want to do before I die

Now check this out!

MUM: Just run your pointer over the "this", see how it is a different colour? Your pointer will turn into a hand, just click the mouse when you see the hand.

Talk about exciting!!!!!

Now here are just some silly photos of Kitty helping me with some sewing.

The Big 8!

The Big 8 MeMe.....
Ali over at Our Patch tagged me for this Meme. Eight is a lot, not sure I'll have enough answers LOL.

8 Things I Am Passionate About.

1 Jamie
2 My Family
3 My Animals
4 Soap
5 Sewing
6 Antiques
7 Gardening
8 Mason's 'Red Vista' English Transfer-ware!

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die.

1 Give up my day job!!!!
2 Pole Dance
3 Aquaponics
4
5 Purchase a Mason's Red Vista Ginger Jar (large)
6 Go to Tasmania on Holidays
7 Buy a house with an inside toilet
8 Eat my weight of Jamie's Spaghetti Bolognaise

8 Things I Say Often

1 Excellent!
2 That's giving me the POX!
3 Yeah, really well thanks.
4 You?
5 I love you Boubba (my pet name for Jamie)
6 Do you want smacks?
7 Serious.
8 No way!

8 Books I've Read Recently.

1 The Complete Urban Farmer by David Wickers
2 Backyard Self-sufficiency by Jackie French
3 Country Wisdom & Know-How by the Editors of Storey Books
4 The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency by John Seymore
5 Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Recipe Book by Carla Emery
6 Towards Self~Sufficiency by Bill Conner.
7 Offal, A cook book from Time Life
8 The Clean House Effect by Robin Stewart

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over

1 Hallelujah
2 Constant Craving
3 Fast Car
4 Romeo and Juliette
5 Wham Bam Boom Wha (?)
6 Come on Eileen
7 Bridge Over Troubled Waters
8 Rosemary and Thyme (?)

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends

1 Sense of humor
2 Intelligence
3 Compassion
4 Integrity
5 Honesty
6 Hygiene
7 Out going
8 and Happy

I am suppose to tag 8 people to complete this meme but I thought I would leave it open...If you want to give it a go Go For It!!!

Mason's Red Vista

Isn't collecting a funny thing? So many people collect such a varied array of things with such varied reasons for collecting. My boyfriend collects vintage tractors. I think I could tell you any thing you need to know about John Deere Model D's just by association. He often takes me to tractor do's, tractor pulls and displays. Often there are also vintage engine displays and men who collect vintage tools etc. all displaying their collections proudly. The picture above is my darling boyfriend on his restored 1925 Fordson F (gee I hope I got that right!).

The whole point of my ramblings is I'm trying to live as frugally as possible. I re-use and recycle as much as possible, grow my own veggies and have chooks for eggs. I do all this to save enough money to pay off my loan and be debt free. That is my number one goal!

Why then am I thwarted in my efforts by my collecting addiction? I don't know the answer to that. All I know is that I'm driven to acquire all the Mason's Red Vista that I can.

I know that if oil runs out and petrol prices increase, food becomes scarce this china will not help me! Still I search through dusty antique shops an eBay just hoping to come across a piece I don't have. I am writing about this in the hope that seeing it up on the screen will hopefully give me the shot in the arm I need to stop this pointless spending!

Does anyone else face this battle or am I alone? Have you overcome your collecting addiction and if so how did you do it? I really need help LOL!