Where's the rain? We're sandbagged-to-the-hilt and ready to go.
What's your opinion about blogs with sponsored posts? I find them contemptible. Strong words. Yes. I don't think I follow any blogs with sponsored posts. I'd feel like the blog-author was merely using my attendance to make money for themselves. Akin to a Tupperware party where you invite all your friends and hope they spend a lot of money so you get some sort of incentive prize. Is that a harsh assessment? Thoughts?
Korean au pairs like to make origami.
And a lot of blogs now are so 'twee' and they all read the same. Thoughts? Maybe it's just me. I like a blog that's unpredictable and uncontrived.
I forget this plant's scientific name, but for the sake of it, let's call it 'Douglas'. I spent Friday evening wiping all the scale insects off it. Look at the poor thing. Dejected. Infected. Neglected. Definitely not protected.
Saturday night saw me on tippy-toes pulling this recipe book from the cupboard and not to whip-up some cauliflower cheese as I'm usually wont to do ...
instead I made tuna mornay. Korean S says our cooking is 'dericious'. She's currently on the driveway skipping (she says she needs to shed some kg's).
This is another good recipe book.
You can't find it in the shops.
Here's my brother and his new car.
Off he goes in a cloud of smoke.
He's a good uncle. The Solid Gold Dancers love him.
If it wasn't for Deb in Canada, I would never have tried l'occitane soap. In a non-sponsored declaration, it's "the best soap I've ever used"!
And look who used to be snug as a bug.
Pity about your current jaundice captured I might guess by #3
ReplyDeleteWhite oil for the scale and polish for the leaves.
Does the cook book have a colour-in page?
Muscle cars from the past allow those romantically inclined to live it again OR for the first time.
Who's jaundiced? I think I will have to get white oil. I was wondering why it was so sticky. The insects wiped off easily. I sprayed the plant with Mortein which isn't really recommended, I'm guessing.
DeleteI think the picture of you with the yellow face may perhaps be the jaundice?? My brother-in-law is called Douglas. I do quite like him though so will resist the temptation to spray him with Mortein.
DeleteAh, of course! The Lego picture! Very jaundiced and stiff! Don't spray Douglas with Mortein. Doesn't appear to do anyone by the name of Douglas any use.
DeleteUnpredictable and uncontrived ... well I think you've nailed that genre sister.
ReplyDeleteYes, they're over-doing this rain predicting I think. Fearful of the backlash after last time's under-predicting.
Why is it that mower-failure and grass-growing are directly proportional? I shall have to take a scythe to my backyard.
Looks like Martha will become a great little blogger with that trusty camera.
This certainly isn't the best blog on the planet. It would be great to be able to do a daily post that's interesting to people though.
DeleteI have to agree with your take on the weather. The powers-that-be have been caught out before not forewarning the public, and now it seems they're going to the other extreme. Mower-failure and grassgrowing is definitely directly proportional ... in a similar way to having fabric-seated dining room chairs and sloppy-eating children.
I picked up that cookbook (fab food retro classics, not Year 1) in the op shop the other day- and put it back, thinking 'who'd buy a cookbook with no pictures!' Oops!
ReplyDeleteBec, whoopsy. I like it. Though whomever dropped it at the Op Shop mustn't have thought it much chop. Your right about it not having pictures. That would help. I just cast my mind back to the 70s and hope it pulls me through.
DeleteI get a bit of 'do a sponsored post' in my inbox a fair bit lately, I press delete and send them to the rubbish heap in the sky! I can help your plant but you'll need to send it and that planter to Melbs! It will take at least 6 months of intensive rehab to turn it's fate around! ...but I would do that for you....and your planter!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a cool Uncle, mini ouch has one, he rocks out in his Valiant...me I kick in my Getz!
Love you and your blog allways xx
Pippa, if Great Dane or something similar emailed me with a 'do a sponsored post', I might change my opinion (I need a Danish chest of drawers). It might be different for those people who inject everything into their blogs. I don't object to ads on the side of one's blog, if that's how people want it, but sponsored posts have only one purpose and that's to spruik some product and con people into thinking you love it.
DeleteI've had ICT cable items and sunglass companies approach me, they are just generated messages trialling the Internet for bites! ...no biggy :)
DeleteBut let me tell you about insurance.......... Lol
Sponsored posts don't bother me. I must admit I rarely read them though so that may be why!
ReplyDeleteLove all your photos but particularly the dragon/dog thingy (hard to see in such a brilliant disguise) with its goggles and cap on.
Hope you don't need the sandbags - glad the dog/dragon thingy is ready to swim for it if push comes to shove though.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
That's good idea not reading them. I'm like a moth to the flame. Read the post, and then curse the author. You're astute picking the dog/dragon. A lot of people mistake it for an Olympic swimmer.
DeleteI knew I shouldn't have put those pics of me in my skirt on my blog!
ReplyDelete(now I feel twee-ific!)
I think it's okay for people to flog their own wares (stuff they've made, or vintage they've found, and want to sell) but I'm not a huge fan of sponsored posts on personal blogs (it's ok on fancy design blogs - I expect that)
Even I've had 'offers' to flog things! On mine! Get OUT of town! I always reply (manners) but (so far) in the negative.
I love your brother's Valiant. It's a great colour. No cool Uncles here. We had one, but it ended in divorce. We're not allowed to talk to him anymore...I still do, but it's top secret.
Your blog is certainly not twee. It's quite hilair. I don't have a problem with people flogging their own wares etc, but corny posts about Woolworths etc.
DeleteI also agree I expect sponsored posts on more design-oriented blogs ... they're a bit more like magazines anyway ... but on 'mummy' blogs?
Cool estranged Uncle!
So many thoughts, so little time! Firstly, I would pop in and read your blog even if you were road testing forklifts and trying to get me to buy one.
ReplyDeleteYour poor plant. The Mortein comment made me laugh out loud.
I hear you about blogs being abit all the same. I think it's becoming such a saturated blog market now, crossovers and twee ness is enivitable. Sponsored Posts - hmmm, I think it can work for some, but it's not for me. Some blogs seem to do it successfully without that squirming factor, like fashion/beauty blogs. Makes sense that they would trial products and do reviews etc.
I thought of you this weekend. We looked at a house to potentially buy (rather than extend) and the loungeroom stepped down ONE step. Does this count as a sunken lounge? Do you need a photo to make judgement? I have wrestled with it all day. x
one step = sunken :)
DeleteEven if a few tiles have subsided, I'd be flinging the 'sunken' description around. I'd like to see photos. I used to do the real estate write-up on the regional paper I once worked for. I loved doing it and adding a certain design slant to 'house copy'.
DeleteDonna, anyone can blog. If I had a monkey, it'd probably blog.
Sponsored posts ... I usually tend to not read them, even if there is a giveaway at the end of it because I usually find the situation has been contrived to write the post; not always, but sometimes. I now find myself reading only a few blogs regularly because they either always make me smile, laugh or think. Sometimes they make me do all 3. I wonder who does that to me ... :-)
ReplyDeleteSo contrived. I hear you sister. Now get on that unicycle!
DeleteI don't like those sponsored posts either. However, if one must make a living... Your brother's car is posh but the steering wheel is on the wrong side!
ReplyDeleteLoving you loving the soap.
xo
I love the soap. I almost ate it. It smelled so beautiful, but ironically, it was unscented. I really like unscented things. I've yet to bring myself to the l'occitane shop in the City. Last time I looked it was next to Ralph Lauren and across the road from Long Champ ... that's when I get into all sorts of problems. (Sassy will enjoy that anecdote due to the predominance of horse-logos).
DeleteWe don't have a l'occitane shop here it came from the horse's mouth. hee hee.
DeleteI agree with you on the blog things. The plant made me laugh, I'm very familiar with sights like that. It must be too hot in Australia for them!!! Here they collapse from too little daylight half the year, too much the other half. They get confused and die. (have to try that soap)
ReplyDeleteArtic Mum, sling shelves. That's all I say. Stay groovy.
DeleteI'm all for an unpredictable blog too, however I suppose some blogs are designed in a certain theme and tend to follow that due to their readership. Like kylie I don't mind peeps flogging their own wares. Your little plant looks like its been in the wars, but it's got that "I've lived to tell the tale" look ;) hardcore plant! Scarlett x
ReplyDeleteBlogs are unpredicatable when you disappear for sometime and then burst back on the scene with a baby!
ReplyDeleteI'm not crazy about sponsored blogs either. I love a blog that is informative, gives me a good laugh or is an interesting personal narrative, but I click out of anything that's too precious or tries too hard to be cute.
ReplyDeleteDon't read sponsored Posts. Dislike them immensely but don't care that people do them as long as they say so. There are many that I don't actually disclose what THEY are receiving and that annoys me just on an ethical basis. Are they contrived? Of course they are otherwise the blogger wouldn't write them and wouldn't receive their prize and couldn't provide the giveaway that they are allowed to provide only if they do write a "nice" post. I get asked to do them occasionally but never will - today I had the opportunity to giveaway Jamie Oliver 15-minute cookbook, valued at $50 and I would get one too. I would actually love that cookbook. But I would have to insert a specific paragraph about this particular property company - say what? So incongruous - cookbooks and a property company. However, I LOVE when bloggers show us what they are making or selling though. i think that's different. OK off my soapbox now :-) I totally adore your space here - one of my faves!
ReplyDeleteYikes. I do sponsored posts...some have worked out ok some are kind of awkward...depends on what is being spruiked. I tend to stick to posts which are renovating/house related but they are so few and far between. I'm just waiting for Marimekko, Iittala, Finlayson's Timber and Villeroy and Boch toilets to get in contact with me...they don't realise my influence amongst Finnish loving Queenslander house renovators with a penchant for luxe toilet suites.
ReplyDeletePlease don't hate me. xx
We are out there Brismod, how dare they not notice! xx
DeleteI'll put your name forward too, Brismod. Was thinking though along the lines of Kosta Boda & Georg Jensen ... ;-)
DeleteYikes I just popped in for a catch up and now I will admit I feel a bit like I've been punched. I guess it doesn't make it better that I am my own sponsor... In other words I'm always trying to sell something. My thing has always been if you don't like it don't read it. I never begrudge people trying to make a buck anyway they can as long as they are not hurting anyone. There are a lot of people that make and create and sell too doesn't it all fall into the same basket ? I've always worked for myself so I guess if I had holiday pay or sick pay or a paid day off occasionally I wouldn't have to use any means possible to make a buck for my family. But thanks for being honest. Xx
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I think I haven't put my argument finely enough. I'm specifically talking about third-party sponsored posts. When I think of the blogs who commercialise themselves in that way, I certainly don't think of yours. I follow, and enjoy, any number of blogs where the author is promoting something they've made or found (they are clearly merchants). Look at my blog roll ... there's you, there's Retro Pottery, there's KLT Works, there's Hi Happy Panda, there's Curly Pops, there's Mid2Mod, Era Home & Vintage. In fact, I'd say about half of the blogs I choose to read are selling something second-hand or something they've made. There's a difference between having a blog where one promotes oneself and what one does (as a merchant), and a blog where one is willing to sell oneself to third-party brands.
DeleteThe blogs I don't like are the 'family/mum-type' blogs where one post will focus on their family or home and then the next post will flog some third party's product (the author is clearly not a merchant but someone being used to market someone else's product) ... I've read any number of these blogs only to find I'm reading an article about finance, Brumbies Bread, Target, skin care, cars or some unknown clothing range with a competition thrown-in for good measure ... and the next post I'm then reading about how cute their kids are or what they had for breakfast. For me, there is a very fine line between being a personal blog or a pseudo-commercial blog which is exploiting one's family to secure readership and therefore a potential market for third parties.
I might be naive, but I enjoy blogging when I feel like I have a genuine connnection with the author as a result of a similar lifestyle or similar pastimes or interests. I don't feel comfortable when I suspect a blog is disingenuous in how the author treats its readers; are readers seen as readers for readers' sake or are they seen as numbers to attract advertising dollars? If that's the case, I'll go back to reading magazines.
Having said that, a blog author is free to do what he or she likes with their blog. He or she can sell what he or she wants, and then write about whatever they want. I'm also free to express my opinion about such blogs. I'm really not pointing any fingers. I only have 39 readers so I'd like to think I'd never be so bold as to tar any of those readers with any brush of criticism.
I agree re. the twee-ness of many blogs. SO many pedestrian, repetitive declarations and observations... But... whatever rocks your world, I say. If you write it, and someone else enjoys reading it - then more power to ya.
ReplyDeleteAs for your own eclectic meanderings, can I just draw attention to the piece de resistance of this post. Your portrait, entitled "Mummy". How cool is that - being portrayed as a plastic person with yellow half circles for hands?!
Your brother's car is pretty damn cool as well, btw.