Oh my...sincere apologies for my slackness...

I have to apologise to everyone for the Manca Un Bottone giveaway. I got up to week two but the last two weeks have been pretty horrible....and busy....and unpredictable.

A brief description:

• Parents fly out to Turkey for a fortnight - nice, have a good time parents, stay safe.


• Grandfather gets bitten by a cat and ends up in hospital - oh...this is not good. Concerned.


• After 24 hours in the hospital Doctor informs Grandfather and family that the cat has in fact saved his life and he was about to have a fatal stroke. - Loving the cat at this moment but concerned as to what happens next.


• Parents unable to be contacted as they left no flight numbers, accommodation or destination details. - This is not alright. I want to kill them. (Nicely)


• Transfer hospitals from rural NSW to Melbourne. Surgery, hospital for 10 days, me travelling back and forth to Melbourne for a week before Grandpa is fixed and taken back home. - Good outcome, thank goodness, love your work Professor Surgeon man.


• Realisation that the Daylesford Maker's Market closing date has closed in on me and it's 10pm on the night of application closure. - Argh! I'd better explain myself and hope there is still some places left.


• Acceptance into Maker's Market - yay, something good has happened!


• Balancing work, exciting new job application, button making, housework and drawing Manca Un Bottone winners - some of this just did not happen....ho hum.

So there you have it folks...I've been very busy, and scattered and crazy. I'm terribly sorry about my lack of communication and prize drawing.... but enough of my rambling....

The 3rd Winner of the button bling competition is Comment Number 2: Sharon

and last but not least....

The 4th Winner of the button bling competition is Comment Number 9: Mishia

Please email me with your postage details and I will get you prize out as soon as possible!

CurlyPops - You are the winner!

Week Two of the Button Givewaway....

CurlyPops is the lucky winner....just email me @ thereisabuttonmissing (at) hotmail (dot) com and I will have your prize in the mail!

This week's winner is...

The first winner for Manca Un Bottone's bracelet competition is...

Comment Number 3 which was randomly drawn thanks to random.org

cdziuba
I like purple and fuschia. cdziuba@aol.com
May 3, 2009 12:41 PM

I will contact you in the next few days to grab your details...Congratulations...

First Manca Un Bottone Draw tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the first draw of my May competition....don't forget to tell your friends...and remember...make sure you follow the instructions...

Kiva.org

Today I joined Kiva.org.

Kiva's mission is 'to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty'.

All the entrepreneurs on Kiva are real people from across the world in need of money to set up their own businesses. They pay the loan back over a period of time and the lender can then loan the money to someone else. You can choose who you lend your money to and I think they send you updates on how their business is going. $25 US dollars is the minimum amount you can loan (some people may need $600 so lots of people join in on the loan). You can also pay with your PayPal account. I donated some of the money I have made from Manca Un Bottone on the MadeIt site.

The above picture is a picture of Deborah from Nigeria. She needed a $350 loan, unfortunatley I couldn't lend her the full amount however I was the last person to donate so she will now be able to buy more produce for her store.

'Deborah Ibe sells foodstuffs. She hopes for a loan amount of N50,000 to purchase more foodstuffs to sell. Deborah is 38 years old and married with a child. She promises to repay her loan promptly. She says Thank You to all Kiva lenders.'

Soup, Serena and Spring cleaning in Autumn

This morning I had a wonderful sleep in which soon followed by some soup preparation (potato and bacon - hello!) and pumping some tunes out while I cleaned the house. The cleaning is still in the progress however as I explored some old CD's (classic case of procrastination) I discovered my Serena Ryder album.



I first saw Serena in 2005 when I went to see Missy Higgins play at The Palais in Melbourne. She was the support artist and I instantly fell in love with her music...she was also the funniest chick I had seen perform in a long time. I have moved house twice since buying her album which obviously became lost in my massive collection....but today she was found again. YAY!

She has since released another 2 albums and so I am about to order them from Maple Music.
Check out her Myspace page and let me know what you think! Now back to the dreaded dusting and wicked washing...ho hum...

New Donna Hay Cookbook - YAY!

Today I ventured to Castlemaine which is about a 20 minute drive from my house.

I had to endure a trip to the dentist. Actually, to be truthful, I don't mind the dentist. I think it is because my Mum always had me in the dental chair for regular checkups when I was little and it was always a reasonably pleasant experience. So anyway...after sitting in the chair for an hour what better way to reward myself than to stop off at the local bookstore.

I picked out two books for our nephew Jackson, two books for our niece Jasmine (who both have May Birthdays) and decided it was best I buy three copies of Donna Hay's 'No Time to Cook'. Mother's Day is officially covered and I get a copy for myself as well...how lovely!

I would recommend checking out this collection of Donna's recipes...simple, quick, delicious and most of the ingredients you will find in the cupboard. If I get creative over the weekend I may post some pictures...

Famous...

Check it!
The Daylesford Maker's Market certainly was a great day....although I am hoping to be more prepared next time. More items, bigger table and a market umbella...I was burnt to a crisp which is rather unusual for Daylesford weather...heehee.

Also, if you are in the Northcote area, check out 'The Local Shop' at 262 High Street, Northcote, Melbourne, VIC. You can also find my button delights there.
At this stage I dont think that they have a website however her daughter runs their other shop 'I dream a highway' which you can find here. They have some brilliant stuff there including wallets, clothes, winter hats, jewellery and wicked little hair accessories.

Manca Un Bottone May Giveaway...

This month I have decided to have a few little giveaways. The lucky winner will receive a button bracelet in a colour of their choice.

Simply subscribe to my blog and leave a comment on this post and tell me your favourite colour. (I promise to do my best to match it and if you can't make up your mind then you can always go multi-coloured!)

I will post to anywhere in the world so don't let that stop you from entering. Entries will be drawn at random each Sunday night until the end of May (10th, 17th, 24th, 31st).

What a nice way to finish a weekend!