Our back door and Miranda Kerr

Vale to our distressed back door.

The inside of the back door is white. And check out the new pane of glass in the windows. It is the clean one.

It is now white.

Who is our major competition in the Best Australian Blog Competition 2011?

Given the scandalous events of the past 24 hours, Make mine Mid-Century compiled a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of our Blog-go, Brismod-a-go-go campaign. She's a savvy one, I grant you that.

She idenitified our major threat; our main rival in the competition. It's Aussie super model, Victoria's Secret Angel, founder of KORA Organics and author of Treasure Yourself, Miranda Kerr. (She is also married to Orlando Bloom)

Yep. I am not kidding...for once.

Arrogantly, I wasn't paying too much attention to our rivals. I am now. That's a pretty major threat. Sadly, our campaign morale has gone from rooster to feather duster.

Miranda Kerr image from here
So far, her blog has 100+ votes

Brismod
So far, her blog has a handful of votes

I jumped onto Miranda's blog and read that they were nominated 13 000 times. Oh dear. I stopped myself from leaving a comment saying you only need to be nominated once to be in the running...and you could self-nominate too. Bleh!

But that would be petulant.

My friends, please don't think this will be the end of us. Team Fun and VJs is up for the challenge. It will mean we have to bring out the big guns. We will be putting our campaign efforts into full throttle.

Jason said he'll come out of hiding and face the music about the ikea nudie run in 1996. Tracy Grimshaw's producer has been calling non-stop for a tell-all interview. There could be some Jason tears. And we'll quash those rumours about Jason's secret wife in New England. (Thanks for the heads up about that rumour Jo!)

Is there anything else we could do to pip Miranda at the post for the Best Australian Blogs 2011 People's Choice Award?

Barkcloth cushion and Best Australian Blogs scandal

A groovy new cushion led Son #1 to clean up his room. Hallelujah!

He sorted his toys and books, threw out old school work and removed all the forgotten bits and pieces he had stored under his bed. We can now confidently walk into his room without trampling on a colony of Storm Troopers.

Groovy barkcloth cushion (are they Roman horses or Greek?) with new polka dot pillow case

Keeping it real with the crinkly covers.

The new cushion cover was a gift from Jo at Desire to Inspire. Vintage Roman/Greek horses on barkcloth. It looks fantastic. Thanks Jo!

As you can see, I also got my package of polka dot cushions a few weeks ago. They have worked out brilliantly and I would be happy to recommend them if you were looking for affordable polka dots.

Day Four of the Australian Best Blogs Competition 2011

It is day four of the Campaign and all is not looking well.

My Campaign Manager, Make Mine Mid Century has been busy strategising, but her good work could all be for nothing...We could not have prepared for the breaking-as-I-type scandal.

Yes, you heard. A scandal.

Apparently some old pictures of dear Jason have emerged on the Internet. It's just dreadful timing.

This is not the forum to go into the specifics. Let's just say photographs of an alcohol-fuelled nudie run through ikea in the late 90s have somehow managed to rear their ugly head.

I now understand why Jason is always reluctant to accompany me to ikea! Oh the embarrassment! It makes Kevin Rudd's strip club adventures look positively tame.

Jason has ceased all go-go dancing lessons and has gone into hiding. If the media get whiff of this, I would suggest our certain victory is looking less certain.

This is a time when we need to bunker down and focus on policy, policy, policy. How will we get the popular vote to win Best Australian Blog 2011?

Glazing casement windows

If you can make things with play dough then you can glaze a timber casement window, according to our Latin-speaking builder, Mr Rooney.

It is so true. Jason replaced a couple of panes of glass on some windows and it was probably the easiest job he's ever had to tackle at the Sow's Ear.

Jason removing the windows.
I told him to take off his shirt because no one would recognise him otherwise, but he didn't listen. He said he was busy...

The first task was to take the windows off its hinges and remove all the old putty and broken glass.

The measurements of the replacement glass was just right, allowing a few millimetres gap on each side of the space.

Glass fitted into the casement window. Checking to see if the size is right. The glass is fitted into the window via the external facing side

This was the moment of truth for me because I was the one who measured the windows and ordered the glass. Phew! Can you imagine the grief I would've gotten if I had stuffed that up?

A bed of Special Putty was laid around the window rebate. The putty is linseed oil based and similar in texture to plasticine.

We used special putty. It costs about $24 for a large tub from the hardware store.

Putty is used to keep the glass in place.

Jason centred the glass onto the bed of putty and made sure it was a snug fit. Another layer of putty was moulded around the glass to seal it in; fingers were used to spread the putty out. Hi-tech we are not.

Afterwards Jason used his 'blunt as his knob' chisel to smooth out the putty, running it along the edges to remove the visible finger indentations.

Smoothed out putty on the casement windows. You can see the excess of putty on the underside of the glass

Some putty oozed out onto the internal facing side of the windows. Jason used his BAHK chisel again to remove the excess. We let the window putty dry out for a couple of hours before re-installation.

The windows are up and they look great. You'll have to take my word for it because I forgot to take a photograph before it got too dark this afternoon!

P.S Thank you to everyone who has voted in the Best Australian Blog 2011 competition. We are still campaigning strongly spreading the Blog-go, Brismod-a-go-go message.

Jason's been practising intensive go-go moves as part of the effort. He's modelled himself on the shirtless dancers in this clip. Too funny.

The campaign trail

Yes, it's election time at the Sow's Ear. We've hit the campaign trail for the Best Australian Blog 2011 competition.

You'll be pleased to know, I've appointed Make Mine Mid Century as my Campaign Manager. We've already think-tanked the all important campaign theme: Blog do, Brismod do. (Our apologies to Campbell Newman). The mid century version is Blog-go, Brismod-a-go-go.

As well a being a great political strategist, MMMC comes equipped with a selection of cute kids to choose from and I will borrow her baby for the supermarket walk-throughs. Cute babies equals winner.

After thoroughly analysing the Neilsen data, I concluded the Cougar segment of the population is very influential at the polls. As such, If I Can Turn Back Time by Cher was selected as our theme song; shirtless Jason is our mascot. He is having intensive go-go lessons this week-end.

The Cougar strategy is two-pronged - we hope to win the gay vote too. Jason consenting to a chest and back wax impinges on our success.

Mr Rooney, our enigmatic builder, is part of the team. He will lobby the Nuns at Nundah for their support. Unfortunately, Holy Week is their busiest time of year. However, I believe Mr Rooney could distract them momentarily to get their vote, if he wears his short builder's stubbies.

I personally will court the Seniors' vote. The local nursing homes in our area will allow me to conduct internet tutorials for this largely ignored segment. I will help every resident practise internet voting skills on the Best Australian Blog Competition site. Computer literacy is a vital life skill in this day and age.

Working on my policies is the gruelling part. I fully appreciate how our PM Julia Gillard must feel. I need a winning policy platform. What do you think of this one? No Australian child blogger will live in poverty by 2020.

I know it's been done before, but I actually intend to deliver on this promise.

I'll be approaching Kerry from A Tranquil Townhouse to act as my Merchandising Manager. I hope she will rally a Granny Square Army to crochet and knit Brismod-a-go-go leg warmers. We're going for the indie/etsy vote and will be yarn bombing a street corner near you.

Typically, it's all about image when it's election time. I'm thinking of recruiting Faux Fuchsia to be my Stylist and Time Manager. If she can look immaculately groomed immediately after giving birth and still cook for a troop of people, then I need her on my team. Hell, everyone needs her on their team!

At the very least, she could impart some tips about touching up my mani.

As always, the international community has been watching my progress with interest.  My people on the ground in Canada, Germany, France, Ireland and New Zealand are mobilising computers ready for voting as I type. It's truly a global campaign.

And in breaking news, my Facebook friend numbers have jumped to 15. Things are looking up at Team Fun and VJs. It's too early to call the vote just yet, but according to the early indicators, we could very well be a shoo-in...

Now all of you, get a move on because the voting link for the Best Australian Blog 2011 is open. Vote HERE.

Best Australian Blogs 2011 Competition

You can't believe how thrilled I am to be nominated for Best Australian Blogs 2011.

The feeling to have such an  honour bestowed upon this little blog is just indescribable.

Never mind the fact that I nominated myself for the award. It is still an honour to be up there with the very best of the Australian blogosphere.

I know you guys were always intending to nominate me. After a few weeks when there was no email from the Sydney Writers' Centre notifying me of my nominee status, I bit the bullet and saved you all the trouble.

I get it. Life can become busy and sometimes you just forget to acknowledge one of your favourite bloggers.  Y'know, ME.

When it comes to the voting process for the People's Choice Award, I've got it covered. Jason promised he'd vote for me at work every single day that the voting is open. He said he will desk hop and use his colleague's computers too. Love that man to bits.

I'll also be visiting the Brisbane City Council Library religiously for their free internet access and voting on your behalf at each computer terminal.

I've always derived inspiration from elections where candidates receive 1200 votes from 1000 registered voters. Those candidates who go that extra mile get my vote, especially if I don't even have to go to the ballot box...

My Facebook mates will no doubt answer the call. If all 13 of them vote, I should be in with an excellent chance. I'm debating about whether I should tweet about it; I suspect it could become a one-horse race if I do. How unfair would that be?

I don't think I will have much chance with the judging panel though, since I haven't slept with any of them. They are probably legit and will be mainly looking at the quality of writing in this blog.

Lets' hope they turn a blind eye to the rogue apostrophe's, not goodly grammer and poor staccato-like sentence structure. The grand prize is a writing course. God knows, it would go to a worthy cause, if I happen to win.

What's the bet a very good writer wins the writing course...isn't that like Miss Universe winning plastic surgery? How much better can they get?

If I win, I'll use the prize to commence work on my autobiography My Life with VJs; my children's book Mr Rooney Renovates with Jason; my Fun and VJs cook book 4 Stale Ingredients; and pictorial coffee table book Shirtless Jason. Given that sex sells, the wordless pictorial book will be a a huge success.

And then we'll make that movie.