Keeping it real.....

I read this post yesterday (another absolute favourite blog!) and laughed so much that it inspired me to go and investigate the contents of my own bag.  I was actually horrified when I emptied it out!!  My obsession with home organisation clearly has not translated to my handbag.  The shame.

1.  The bag itself, can I blame the bag for this, it is huge?
2. Sunglasses, (in a stolen case, EYEBIZ feel free to take this one up with boy number 2)

3. L'Occitane lip balm (gift from flight attendant friend, possibly also stolen from an inflight amenities pack....)
4. Bracelet and necklace (was wondering where this bracelet was actually)
5. Lego bits (x 17)
6.  Loose change ($4.70)
7. Rubbish/Receipts/Tissues (planning to dispose of all this appropriately....)
8. One sock (boys x-sml)
9. Ferry tickets and 1 x Ferry Timetable (all out of date so technically more rubbish)
10. Jewellery bag, contents missing..... (boy number 2 again?)
11. Eco-shopping bag (carried around 2673 times,  actually remembered to use: maybe twice?)
11. The other 11, the one in red. (Apparently I can't count... ) a plastic knight wielding a sword, minus his horse.
12.  First Aid Kit containing:

Transformers bandaids x 12
Rapaid Tea tree Oil first aid spray (this is actually very good, one of my desert island list thingys)
Stop Itch 
Nars lip gloss - Oasis (a first aid kit essential)
Revlon lip gloss - 160 (just in case)
Weleda Pomegranate hand cream (very soothing)
Chupa Chup lollipop (for genuine emergencies only)
Sewing Repair Kit (for fashion emergencies only)

13. Wipes
14. Tissues
15.  Purse

Underneath 14 and 15 is my notepad, contents include:
2 "To Do" lists (by me)
402 drawings (by the little one)


16.  Two pairs of "days of the week" (Sunday/Thursday) underpants (boys size sml)
17. Numerous paper bags, previously containing items purchased at the French Patisserie next to the Captain's art class.  Obviously, if I want to lose weight I am going to have to find him a new art school.
18. Two Matchbox cars and one Matchbox plane.

Lastly.... what I discovered once I had pulled everything out.  The offending pen is of course absent.  Not sure whether to call it art or google how to remove ball point pen from suede.

Hello to all my new followers as well! I will be along to visit you all soon.  Now go read Loosy's bag contents, seriously funny!  Emma xx

Pantry organising....

I had an email from a lovely reader asking about our pantry and how I organise it!  Ah, if only you knew... I don't really.  R does most of the cooking Chez Pirate.  Yes, I have been blessed with a husband that is an amazing cook.  I know, very lucky.  Nevertheless, despite the fact that he is the cook, I am the chief shopper and cleaner, so I guess the pantry organisation does come down to me.  Pantry design though was all husband.

Anyway, for Kirsten (and anyone else that might be interested),  here is how the pantry is organised:

On the left hand side we put in floor to ceiling shelves.  It is hard to take a photo of them without a special lens but they are big and deep.  On the top shelves, which you can only access with the kitchen stool steps, I keep this sort of stuff:

I am sure you all understand why the paints et al are treated in the same manner as other dangerous good items like First Aid Kits and Chemicals.

Below the Dangerous Good items are mostly shelves full of dry goods and other miscellaneous kitchen items. The glad wrap, alfoil and plastic baggies live in an Ikea basket together.  

Shelves look mostly like this (a pretty shelf):

Or like this (not so pretty shelf):

On the other side of the pantry is my favourite bit, the appliance shelf , all the appliances used regularly are stored here:

In the drawers/cupboards below are:

R's coffee supplies.

Lunchbox bits and pieces.

More appliances!

So there you have it, that is how the pantry is organised and please don't think it always looks this.  I did a big tidy up before I took the photos!  Now, someone ask me about garage or wardrobe organisation or something to motivate me to tidy up elsewhere!  

Project Organise: The Car (plus some photos of the wall mounted TV for Rachael)

                As the back seat of our car always seemed to look like this:

I decided that some Project Organise was necessary.  A quick trip to Kmart and I purchased this little canvas storage unit to put in between the boys car seats.  I measured the space first as there is not much room between them.  I know this as I had to squash myself in the back the other day when we were dropping my MIL home... to the other side of Sydney!  Anyway, inside I put all the various items that the boys use to entertain themselves on car trips.  Books, colouring-in items, a couple of puzzle toys and a few small matchbox cars and planes. 

Fits perfectly!  At the back is a Crayola Travel Turtle.  I am really hoping to avoid going down the DVD player in the car path, so this is my way of trying to keep the boys entertained on long car trips! Audio books on CD have been fantastic as well.

For Rachael:

Photo of the TV, it is wall mounted above the sideboard.  The bracket for the TV is not centered above the unit as it needed to be attached to a load bearing stud.  Something to think about if you are wall mounting!  The TV moves around on the bracket though so we can position it at different angles.  In the above photo it is pushed back to the right against the wall.

My paternal grandparents were anthropologists. I inherited many of the artefacts that they collected in the 1930s/40s.  These pieces are Aboriginal and Samoan and are hiding a speaker. The DVD player and Foxtel are also here, but when we renovate next month and this wall gets ripped out we will relocate these items into the sideboard itself.

At the other end of the sideboard, is the amp, another speaker, one of my WW1 ashtrays, an aboriginal knife and a painting by June Bird. 

Project Organise is in full swing!

This is what I have been up to for the past 24 hours.  Organising.  De-cluttering... (is that actually a word?) and Donating (8 garbage bags so far! )

As much as I loathe plastic, today I have admitted to myself that it has it's good points and just quietly it is fantastic for storing things in the garage and the laundry.  Never in my life would I have thought that I would say that aloud, let alone write it down, but it actually suits my slightly OCD personality.  I am loving that the plastic boxes are clear and I can see what is in them, although I have been wielding the label maker as you can all see (more OCD issues), and that the boxes are watertight and stackable.  Genius really! 

Am currently cullling items according to the if I don't absolutely love it, need it or use it rule.  Anyone have any further suggestions?

Project Organise: The Family First Aid Kit

The state of our first aid kit was embarassingly messy and as part of Project: get self organised in order to get child to school on time next year and also to not feel mortified everytime the baby sitter, a friend or indeed I have to get something out of the first aid kit, I decided to go through the contents and do a massive overhaul. As one of the boys has a hole in his heart and the other has asthma, it is something that I need to do regularly.

I found the box in an old junk shop located on the road between Bathurst and Orange about 10 years ago. I was on a road trip with a couple of girlfriends. Well, three girls and one border collie, squashed into a 1960s VW beetle. I had to sit with that first aid box on my lap the whole way home to Sydney. They thought that I was crazy, even the dog was rolling his eyes at me. I just love it though, it is big enough to store all the extras in and it looks fabulous!




It even includes a helpful list of items that should almost certainly be included:



After discarding anything that was out of date and re-organising the contents, my beloved first aid kit has been restored to her former magnificence once again:

Ahh, loving my first aid kit, it not only serves a very necessary purpose but also brightens my day with it's prettiness and charm!

Project Organise (also known as Operation get son to school on time!)

Look what I found to store all my cleaning products in!!! (Yes, I made sure to thoroughly sterilise it first!) I have been looking for a container to put all the cleaning items in for a while now and was thrilled with this find! I loathe plastic, (particularly in relation to storage), and so when I came across this lovely old chamber pot at our local antique shop it had to come home with me as a housekeepers pot!


And yes... that is a flatscreen stuck to my back deck window.... my husband is trialling sticky tapes for a project he is doing for a big fast-food chain. He figured if the sticky tape could survive the rigours of small children it would be fine in the drive through window!

Home organisation Chez Pirate

As this little guy starts school next year and we are about to renovate our house, I spent this weekend thinking about what I needed to do to get as organised as possible. Currently the Captain goes to pre-school 2 days a week and I rarely drop him off before 9.30am, next year he has to be at school at 8.30am... clearly, our morning routine needs a bit of streamlining! So whilst child in question lay around reading Tintin comics, I set to work and began a major overhaul inside the house.





I am trying to work out the best place to store art and craft items. I had lots of jars and bits and pieces in various spot so I collated all items used daily into a vintage (literally) harvest basket! I will pull it out whenever they need something and hopefully they will pop whatever is used straight back in, which will make for quick and easy clean up! Positive thinking people!!!


Recently our hall stand has gathered bags of items I have been planning to pass on and just have never got around to doing. As part of "Operation get the Captain to school on time" I decided to deal with it all immediately. The cloth nappies have found a home with a friend who is planning to use cloth on her new little one and the books are off to South Africa with a flight attendant friend who will pass them onto the "Our Kid Project" a charity that supports children with HIV/AIDS.

Look at my hallstand now! Hooray!!! Further tales from "Operation get child to school on time" to follow. In the meantime, if anyone has any brilliant ideas about how to get small children ready quickly in the morning I would welcome any tips or suggestions!