Monday, December 21, 2009

Shopping For The Boys

The lovely Brooke from Velvet & Linen left me this comment on Friday. 'Millie, hope the shopping went well. I don't know how you get gifts for all of those boys.' Well I'd like to say dear Brooke that I shopped for them here
or here

or here

....beautiful chic & stylish homewares stores in Adelaide & the Hills, where I've been known to happily spend an hour or three. But no, I had to shop here

for this

and this



because of this.......

This gentle Readers is referred to as a Project Car. We've had a number of these 'grace' us with their presence over the years. There is no clear cut definition for what constitutes a project car. Finding the perfect one takes a lot of time, a keen eye & many issues of The Trading Post. And the thrill of the chase is most times far more exciting than what follows after. Often they have found their way to my driveway, being delivered in the dead of night, so I'm blissfully unaware of their arrival until it's too late to protest. This particular 'beauty' is no longer at The Hedge. It was moved to another location very speedily recently after I gave the Owner an ultimatum. 'You have 2 hours to remove it or I call the Wreckers & get them to send around a Tow Truck pronto.'


This particular Owner had previously experienced something similar a number of years prior. Following many requests to remove a certain 2-tone brown rusted out Ford Cortina from the driveway of our previous house, the Owner found out that Mum wasn't joking. In his absence, the Tow Truck was called, the Cortina unceremoniously dragged onto it & the nice Driver gave me $110 for my trouble. So this time, when he could see his Mother was on the war path, he moved rapidly. He made urgent phone calls to all his brothers & mates, who appeared in the blink of an eye with a car trailer & the heaps of muscle & grunt needed to push the engineless thing onto the said trailer.


The boys have been working on the white Ford wagon for years. It's become the focal point for all of their mates to gather around in the garage & drink copious amounts of beer for hours at a time. All the while discussing the finer points of vehicle 'restoration' & getting their girlfriends to duck down to Mickie D's for more burgers. Although they assure me that its almost finished, it looks no different to me than when they started. However, they reckon with the couple of above gifts tucked into their Christmas Stockings, the Wagon will be able to compete in the Concourse D'Elegance at next year's Classic Adelaide Car Rally. I look forward to that moment boys with great anticipation. Would you care to make a small wager with your long-suffering Mother on that?

21 comments:

  1. Oh my, motor-a-rama at the Laurel Hedge! Love it because it is NIMBY (not in my back yard)...yet.

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  2. uh hum.....nope.

    i reckon that baby will be there next Christmas.
    but, i will pray for you to have a Christmas miracle.
    just in case.....


    love xxx

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  3. Millie - I just flashed back to 1986 to a 'restoration' or a 1965 Ford Mustang that occupied my dad & brothers for some 3 years. Then, they got another one!

    It seems I was the only one who didn't understand why they just didn't put a new engine in it. Apparently, there's no fun in that.

    Merry Christmas to you and merry socket wrenches to your boys!

    xoxo!

    Nate

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  4. Oh, the joys of having son's, Mill's. It wasn't rusty old heaps in our house when our son lived at home but, on a smaller scale, reel to reel tape recorders in various states of repair, record decks, microphones, headphones and thousands (and that's no word of a lie) of vinyl records that we helped move from university to university to flats to houses. One flat was in a converted London brewery with 10 flights of STEEP stairs and no lift (have you seen Barefoot in the Park !!). I think that you have been a wonderful mother to have tolerated it for so long, Mill's.
    The things we do for love. Our daughter seemed to have slightly easier hobbies, although, I'm sure that some daughters like playing mechanics !! XXXX

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  5. That is very funny!! My turn will come... (I have two boys)
    Have a wonderful Christmas and I hope these socket to you boys get you something frilly/feminine/frivolous and indulgent!!
    Irene x

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  6. That's their THING.
    Boy's will be Boy's.....
    I can imagine you get
    Bugged at the whole mess.

    Happy,
    wrenches,spark plugs
    .Lots of motor oil.
    Hang in there
    Yvonne

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  7. Hi Millie!!
    Boy this post takes me back... 2 brothers and a father who raced old singer racing cars at Oran Park

    Well... I have to say a friend gave me a cordless drill one year... no particular reason other than I liked it...
    A wondrous thing for self sufficiency.. hehe

    Have a great Xmas,,, to you and MOTH and your wonderful extended family.. xxx Julie

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  8. Millie you are the best, the boys will be thrilled!

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  9. LOL! OH, I loved this! You are too funny and cute!

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  10. This is one of those stories we all have a good laugh over, so typical, so annoyingly BOY, so endearing in some ways, but mostly so GLAD its not happening at my place.

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  11. Millie,

    Boys will be boys. My younger brother likes doing this sort of thing. Can't say I understand it at all. Now you can't be too hard on the Ford Cortina, I had a mission brown one myself. To get me from A to B. It had a dent in the passenger back side and rust here and there. Of a morning I would drive myself to work and upon driving up the gravel drive-way (past the house, and down from the house the cowshed, which mum and dad would be milking when I was leaving)by the time I was going past the road gate I would be driving at around 60 k's and there was a dip in the road and mum and dad swear to this day that they could hear the car engine above the motor of the cowshed and when I hit the dip in the road, the car would become air borne!!!!! WHOA HAHAHAHAH Dukes of Hazard eat your heart out. Hence to say they love to retell this story to anyone that listens......mmmmmmm I wonder why they all break out in a sweat when I say I would LOVE a v8 car, gotta love the noise!!!!
    Take Care
    Janine
    XXOO
    N.W. Coast Tassie

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  12. Classic!

    If I don't get back to you before the end of the weekend Ms M, Have a beautiful and relaxing Christmas, your comments always put the biggest smile on my face, thank you!

    See you in 2010 xxxx

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  13. The boys will be so happy with Santa this year Millie...Have a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year, xv.

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  14. "Not the Kingswood!" Is that what I have to look forward to??? He's only 5 for now.
    Mind you - I wouldn't mind a decent drill for Christmas myself ;-) happy days to you!!

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  15. What a wonderful mother you are. These boys will be so thrilled to open their gifts and won't they be determined to finish off their long term dream finally. Mothers always know what's best.
    Hope they don't shop there for you though Millie!

    Merry Christmas you gorgeous girl!

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  16. Oh, gosh, I am so glad my boys are over the "project car" stage. Fun memories, though. Yours are working on a cool one! Warmest Christmas greetings to you and your guys. ~x

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  17. I have so much to learn from you when it comes to raising boys, oh wise Millie! Not sure I will be as patient with old wrecks of cars sitting in my driveway as you have been, tow truck and all. At least these Project Cars make your boys easy to shop for, even if the hardware store was a good as it got. I've got a few people on my list that I am struggling to buy for - all men!
    Clare x

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  18. Thanks for your nice comment sweetie.
    happy Monday!
    Federica
    xoxo

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  19. Ah yes, there's much talk around here of a Project Motorcycle. I've promised to knit a cover for it, which is as supportive as I get. Would you consider making patchwork cosies for all those lovely tools to spruce tp the toolshed?

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  20. I grew up with five brothers - so there was always some "heap" parked in the driveway. Boys and cars. You are a great Mom for giving them what they will truly love for Christmas. Have a Merry One!

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  21. What is it with boys and their toys - I guess we'll never understand! Merry Christmas Millie and a safe and happy holiday - look forward to many more Hedge adventures in 2010. Take care. Leigh

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And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
~W.H. Auden

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