Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Love should be appreciated and cherished everyday. Not just romantic love, but the love we have for our family and friends too.

There are so many beautiful vintage images online, even with their corny sayings.

Here are some of my favourites.

Tell someone you love them today!

Baby Clothes Needed

I am a member of my local Freecycle Group and I came across a Wanted: Baby Clothes email.

As I read the email, I thought it was such a brilliant and thoughtful idea.

Thanks to all the generous freecyclers who have donated baby clothes in the past for new mums and bubs from poor villages in Papua New Guinea. We have just sent off 24 packages so are looking for some more donations. Please email me if you have any baby blankets, wraps, booties, socks, jumpsuits, pants, tops, singlets and hats. Drop off to Croydon Park, Botany or Epping or I can pick up from most inner west suburbs. Thanks!

That was the email message from Kirrilly.

I thought about when I had my son. He was swamped with gifts before and after he was born. He was very fortunate.

Many of his clothes were passed on or put into the charity clothing bins and they were hardly used.

There are babies being born whose parents cannot afford an outfit for their new bundle of joy.

I contacted Kirrilly to ask her if I could get some more information about donating clothes to the poor, rural newborns in Papua New Guinea.

Here is what she said:

My parents worked as teachers in Papua New Guinea and I was born there, so the country and its people have a special place in our lives. We have a really good friend Irene who lives in Mt Hagen in the highlands of PNG.  

She is a lovely lady who does a lot in her community - often has new mums or homeless people living in her house. We try to support her as much as possible as she does not have a lot of money herself.  

When she came to Australia to visit us a few years ago she was shocked with how many baby clothes and assorted things my sisters had! Just from my sisters alone they had so many baby clothes given and handed down to them and Irene was so keen to take them back to her town and give them to new mums.  

So she has started visiting new mum's in the local hospital and giving them a gift pack. She especially gives them to women from rural areas and those with nothing to dress their baby in to take them home. So its not a formal organisation or anything, but worthwhile nonetheless.  

At the moment we collect second hand baby clothes and put them together in bundles with a face washer and bar of soap, as well as a card for the new mum.  

These are sent up in boxes just via regular post.  The post is very expensive so we need to look into a more sustainable option. So, basically, its just my family supporting one lady in PNG as she supports many new mums! We have been doing this for the past two years.

 Great idea, isn't it?

 Donations are needed for the following items - in sizes 000-1:

• hats
• singlets
• socks/booties
• baby blankets
• wraps
• jumpsuits
• cot sheets
• pants
• jackets
• jumpers
• tops
• any other clothes

Donations of new face washers and bars of soap (non-fragranced) would also be appreciated.

The cost of postage to PNG is ridiculously high so we are seeking some people or businesses who might like to help in that way with money or anyone who has contacts in the shipping industry.

It would be so fantastic if a company could help out with delivering these donations to Papua New Guinea. Do you know of anyone that could assist?

If you have any baby clothes you would like to donate or if you know of someone that can help with the delivery of the donations to PNG, please contact kirrillydabinett@yahoo.com.au

Want. Want. Want.

Loving some of the gorgeous furniture that is now available in Australia.

These Tretchikoff inspired bedside tables by Old School Industries are just beautiful.

A great statement piece. This Union Jack - Chairman of the Boardchair chair is available at  livingExclusive

I need your help!

I am writing a blog about International Women's Day (March 8).
I'd love to have your input. I am asking women of all ages - "What's the best thing about being a woman?' Just a paragraph would be lovely. I will include it in my blog (www.retrogoddess.blogspot.com). I will include your name (let me know if you don't want your full name included) and age.
Please send your response to racheljane73@gmail.com
Thank you so much.
Regards,
Rachel

Kewpies

Whenever I see these gorgeous little dolls, it takes me back to being a little girl and going to the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Remember when it was at the Sydney Showground?

You could get a kewpie doll with a little tulle skirt, on a stick.

These gorgeous girls will be returning to the Showground, well actually, the Horden Pavillion, for the Love Vintage Fair, March 23-25.

They are a modern take on the old kewpie's from carnivals. Beautifully decorated and available on a stick if you prefer.

My 50's Closet will be there, selling their kewpie's, along with other goodies.

If you can't make it to the Fair, My 50's Closet has a store at 40d Point St, Bulli, NSW.

Gidget

As a child, I loved Sunday afternoons, especially when one of my favourite old movies was on at midday.

I loved, and still love, Gidget and Elvis movies.

Gidget films were over-the-top corny and so innocent.

The surfing scenes were so blantantly fake, but it didn't matter and the romance between Gidget and Moondoggie was so sweet.

What were your favourite old movies when you were a child?

The Wacky World Of Baby Names

I asked my Facebook and Twitter friends of some of the weirdest baby names they had heard of and it was actually quite surprising some of the hideous names parents are inflicting on their offspring.

ABCD – pronounced ‘Abseedy’. The first four letters of the alphabet. It’s not cute and it isn’t clever.

Ca$h – that’s right, with a dollar sign. It’s understandable that people who are fans of Johnny Cash may want to name their child after him. However, the dollar sign in the name is just reeks of materialism.

Metalli – As in the band ‘Metallica’. One of my Twitter friends, came across this name at a McDonalds. The father, clearly a fan of the group, had his daughters name tattooed on his arm, just like the Metallica logo.

Akuma – doesn’t sound like an awful name but in Japanese it means the devil. This name caused a huge kerfuffle in Japan.

Ice – As in Ice T and Ice Cube and the drug.

Teapot – This was the name of a girl in my dancing class when I was little.

Lee_a – pronounced ‘Lee-dash-a’. However, it doesn’t have a dash, it has an underscore, so it should really be Lee-underscore-a.

Siblings – Diamond, Emerald and Ruby. I also know of a family that named their children Pepe, Salty, Rosemary and Herb. I also knew of twins called Mickey and Minnie.

Banned Names

In New Zealand the following names have been rejected and parents are simply banned from calling their offspring the following names:

Lucifer

Messiah

Baron, Bishop, Duke, General, Judge, Justice, King, Knight and Mr, all deemed too similar to titles.

Single letters: C, D, I and T, however Q and J were accepted.

Punctuation marks are out - . (Full stop), * (Asterisk) and / (Slash)

Benson and Hedges (twin boys named after the cigarette brand)

Violence (apparently this is a boy’s name) as is Number 16 Bus Shelter

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. She was so upset with her name that she had it legally changed when she was nine.

Fish and Chips

Yeah Detroit

Sex Fruit

Stallion

Twisty Poi (a staple food in Polynesian cuisine)

We can all look at this list and have a bit of a chuckle at what strange names people call their children, but let’s just take a moment to think about the burden of having one of these names would be.

Imagine roll call: Michael Brown, Isabel Jones, Fish and Chips Smith….

That would be just awful for any child.


What are some of the worst baby names you have heard?

Rockabilly Barbie

I came across this FABULOUS Rockabilly Barbie image on Pinterest tonight.

I would love to get her and add her to my Barbie collection. She's perfect.