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!

A colourful winter...

In Sydney we don't really get to enjoy the change of the seasons, it is something that I really miss about living in Canberra and the UK. However, we do have a lovely mild winter and are able to enjoy the garden all year round!



Sidewalk chalk can be used all year round:






Summer flowers...still popping up:

Even the Begonias!

Rainbow Lorikeets, little bursts of summer colour, come and visit every day :

Summer in Sydney is truly lovely, but winter is spectacular!

Baby Pirate's Digs

Now for the little one's room, this is still a work in progress so please excuse the cowboy/nautical theme clash and the lack of toy storage. Not sure if I want to go down the expedit path again (see the Captain's room), but I am not a huge fan of toy boxes either. Off to google toy storage ideas now!

The Captain's Bedroom

After seeing The House that A-M Built's (I don't know how to post a link otherwise I would!) beautiful boys bedroom and playroom, I decided to take some pictures of the Captain's room. I am now a bit sad that I never thought to take photos of his room at Clovelly or Seaforth. Tomorrow I will take some of Baby Pirate's room, although his room has more of a baby Cowboy theme. If I could get The Captain to part with the cowboy night light I would put that in The Baby's room but N adores it. I totally understand his reluctance to part with it though, it is one of my favorite things in our house!