Today I spent my first day home in 7 days of craziness that seriously kicked my butt. It was a much needed day of hiding from the world, resting up that ever tantrummy spine of mine, and getting some things done domestically. Oh gosh, that domestic stuf that keeps eluding my natural instincts…

Anyways. Thought I’d share some things that make me very happy when I walk past them in this house we’re slowly moulding into our forever home.

my bust/necklace holder

When I first brought this gorgeous lady home, S was slightly appalled. His raised eyebrow and “that’s not for the public areas of our house is it?” questions led me to the belief that he didn’t like her very much. I LOVE her though, and she has pride of place on my dresser, and helps me keep some of my necklaces handy. Pretty, AND useful!

my elephant!

A few months ago I posted a picture of this elephant statue I coveted. Imagine my joyous surprise when Anita already HAD it in her car as my Christmas present! Sometimes it’s a bit scary how twinsy we are. In fact, IN FACT when I showed her my wedding invite prototypes last week, it turned out she had bought the exact same paper with the exact same floral patterns for hers. From a different paper shop, on a different occasion. Oh, dear.

Anyway.

I love this elephant, and I love that when I kick back on my little arm chair in my reading nook in my office, I now have something cute to rest my drink on.

Hang on.

Did I say kick back on my arm chair in my reading nook?

That has only happened once.

Sigh.

Anyway.

our new iron

Okay, those of you who know me in real life can go and faint right now, or at least express some worry that I may have been abducted and had my personality switched over. Yup, it’s no secret I HATE ironing. Well, hate is a strong word. S prefers to profess that domestic duties are not my forte, and I’m generally a bit of a princess about things that involve assembling an unwieldy piece of equipment such as an ironing board.

The first time I ironed a shirt for S (it took 2.5 years of solid romancing to get to fine I’ll iron ONE shirt for you stage in our relationship), I nearly cried. Wrinkles! They are IMPOSSIBLE to remove! And buttons! And don’t even get me started on sleeves! And how are you meant to iron the REST of the shirt without creasing the bits you’ve already painstakingly completed?! That one shirt took me 22 minutes to iron. Over time, I managed to get it down to 13 minutes per shirt, but that’s still pretty pathetic.

In November, my mum came to visit and bought S a new iron. I say she bought S a new iron, because it’s patently clear to both her and me that I am NOT the ironer in the house. Poor S, he thought it was shoes when he saw the wrapped up box. Ha!

And can I just tell you, there are very few gadgets that have converted me to liking anything domestic like this. I actually offer to iron S’ shirts sometimes, because it is such a kick-butt iron. It laughs in the face of wrinkles and just glides over ANYTHING I want to iron and SO easily! And I was worried about it being heavy but WHO KNEW, it actually is much less tiring to iron now because it glides so gracefully. And I can now smugly boast that I can iron a shirt in just 6 minutes now. Still not great, but a huge improvement considering it’s not like I’ve worked on my TECHNIQUE or anything!

Now, I actually kind of like doing the occasional iron for S. (I don’t buy anything that requires ironing, and the few things that do… well S does them for me because he’s a good ironer who doesn’t wreck things!) It feels like a very loving act because through it, I get to notice what buttons are coming lose, if his clothes need replacing, and threadbare patches and holes that need to be fixed. Mostly, it informs me when I need to go shopping for more clothes for him. HA.

And yes, I can’t believe I just talked about an iron for 3 paragraphs either.

You may leave now.

Happy house things. What do you have in your home that makes you smile?