A vintage stationary suitcase

Ok, I have said it many times before, we live in a very little house. So small in fact that we do not have an area for a desk. It suits me though, because if I had to sit at a normal desk, I wouldn’t. I would never get anything done. So I have to come up with ideas that are completely portable so I can work where I am happy. One thing that I have come up with is a vintage suitcase that has become home to all of my stationary.

It holds all of my envelopes, writing paper, notebooks, tapes, cards, etc.

It is perfect because it is only 35cm x 35cm & 20cm high. It is very portable so I can take it outside on a sunny day to write letters or I can even take it into my bedroom to get things done before bed.

This suitcase started off it’s life as a grey, plain suitcase. But with a couple of coats of “Creation Blue” spray paint, some fabric & ribbon for the lining…. it now has a new lease on life.

Now I have somewhere to keep all of my special stationary!

I keep it under a small side table that I have behind my lounge. I also keep our picnic baskets there too. The draws are full of all of those annoying cords & chargers for the gazillion gadgets that we have.

I have another smaller vintage suitcase that I am going to turn into a sewing centre with all of my scissors, needles, pins, tapes, etc.

I really love vintage suitcases & I think that they have an endless amount of uses,

Do you have a quirky way of storing your stationary?

We are lost and it is not my fault!

Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes a little crazy?

On Saturday, our day went completely haywire!

We packed up the family into the 4wd & headed to the Sunshine Coast.

After only a couple of minutes I knew that nothing about that day was going to go to plan.

Mr P was driving. Maybe that was the first bad move.

After only 5 minutes driving, we ended up at the local racetrack.

We had to watch 10 minutes of the cars racing around the track before we could officially start our trip.

Hmmmm, detour number 1.

We headed off to pick up a gift voucher that I had won in a competition.

The office that I had to pick it up from was not open on Saturdays.

Hmmmmm, detour number 2.

Then we headed off to visit Mr P’s Mum.

Hmmmm, after playing on my phone for around 30 minutes or more, I looked up.

Yep, I had no idea where we were. Mr P had driven straight past the exit & just kept on driving!

I think that because he drives such long distances that he should not do the driving of a weekend.

But, he insisted.

We did however come across a castle.

Yes, it even has it’s own dinosaur!

We then came across the Cable Skiing

Hmmm, so that was detour 3 & 4.

We finally made it to lunch {1 hour late!}

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing goes to plan, everything is completely random but you will never forget how much fun it was?

P.S. Mr P is now banned from all weekend driving!

A night at the drive ins

Last night I took the girls to the drive ins!

They had never been & I had not been since I was a teenager. {yep, many moons ago!}

Thanks to Yatala Twin Drive In Theatre, I was one of 10 lucky people to win a car pass through their Facebook page.

So I packed the back of the Navara with all the blankets & pillows to prepare for a cold 8 degrees.

We stopped at the supermarket for supplies.

And we headed off for the adventure!

We grabbed some popcorn from the old style diner at the drive ins.

and settled in to watch the movie.

We saw the new animated movie brave.

Brave

It was a great movie! Better than I expected. It was perfect for my girls. It was animated but not really for the little kids. More aimed at tweens & teens. There were plenty of P plate drivers with their girlfriends on dates! Georgia chuckled the whole way through the movie which is so much better to do at the drive ins as when she chuckles, we all chuckle! She has a very infectious laugh.

I have to say that if you prepare yourself well, you will not be disappointed about going to the drive ins.

We took food, blankets, soft drinks, a flask or 2 of tea (for me!), plenty of pillows, jackets, hot water bottles & a battery operated radio.

It was awesome!

I think we will take Missy the Navara on another adventure to the drive ins again soon!

If you are looking for something to do on the school holidays, why not take the kids to the drive ins!

What colour is your front door? This is mine.

What colour is your front door?

This question got a rainbow of answers when I asked it on Facebook.

The reason that I asked it was because I had decided to repaint the front door to our home. I have done this many times & in many colours.

This is my newest colour choice.

I love it!

It is very calming, very blue & absolutely perfect for our home.

I believe that the front door of your home should represent what is inside your home.

Inside our home is very relaxed, very comfy & has a beach shack feel to it.

The colour that it was just did not suit at all.

 

It no longer matched the feel of our house. I don’t even know why I had painted it this colour. Maybe the paint was on special or something because I don’t even like dark green!

I needed a new sign for the door, something that told you what to expect when you walk inside.

I made this sign & framed it.

I think that it says it perfectly!

And yes, I had to have aqua on my door somewhere!

{I am addicted to the colour aqua! Yes Meli, I said it!}

I am really happy with the colour of the door & it makes me smile everytime I look at it.

I went looking on Pinterest for some more fabulous front doors.

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I love this pink colour!

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This whole front of the house looks awesome!

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Ahhh, now that is nice!

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That, is one classy front door!

So, I would love to know, what colour is your front door?

Wordless Wednesday

Baby it’s cold outside

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday

An easy DIY necklace holder.

If you are anything like me, you have a stack of necklaces. I have a mountain! I love weary a bright, bold necklace but it is what to do with them while I am not wearing them that had me a little stumped.

But not any more!

I just put some hooks in the wall & hung a short curtain rod!

You just open the clasp on the necklaces & hook them over & do the clasp back up.

Easy!

I also put some little hooks on the rod for those necklaces that don’t have a clasp.

Now I no longer have a jumble of necklaces in the draw or a pile on the bedside table that ends up on the floor.

All of my necklaces are easy to see, easy to find & I am able to easily match them to the outfit that I am wearing when they are all in one place!

I have been organising my whole house over the last week or so & it feels so good! I have done trips to the tip to throw out those things that are broken or no longer used. I have donated bags & bags full of clothes. It feels awesome to get rid of the clutter.

I need to learn that more is not necessarily better.

I have to be happy with what I have not what I think that I want.

We live in a very little house. We have added on as much as we can & now I need to utilise the space better. As much as I would love to buy a bigger house, I can’t see the point in having a bigger mortgage. I like the feeling of having the girls close. It is the intimacy as a family that comes with living in a small house that I love. We are also lucky enough to have a big yard where the girls spend most of their time.

I will be sharing a few more storage ideas that I have come up with over the next couple of weeks.

Embrace your winter blankets, don’t hide them!

This year, I am embracing my quilts & blankets!

Instead of hiding them in the linen cupboard, I have them on full display in my lounge room. When I saw a bamboo towel ladder at Target a couple of weeks back, I knew what I was going to do with it.

I stuck it in the corner of my lounge room & put all of our fave quilts & blankets on it.

I also found the cute little wooden pot plant holder at my fave little handmade furniture shop & put some

blankets in it!

Now there is more room in the linen cupboard & I am not yelling at the kids to stop shoving the blankets back in.

I have also noticed that since I put all the quilts in the lounge room, we have not turned the heater on once! That is because the kids have been snuggled up on the lounge under their fave blankey.

I even think that we are enjoying winter just that little bit more because we snuggle up on the lounge every night & spend time together.

Do you snuggle under a blanket on the lounge during winter?

Do you pull on your ugg boots & embrace the cooler weather?

I have to say, I do like summer the best though!

Zucchini slice

Zucchini slice is one of my fave things to stock the freezer with. It is perfect for lunches, brunches & dinner. With this cold weather that has hit across Australia, it is perfect comfort food that is healthy. It is a great way to get your kids {hubby too!} to eat vegetables.

It is the type of slice that you throw it all in, cook & serve. Easy as! You can serve straight after cooking or cut it into wedges , wrap tightly with gladwrap & freeze for later. Serve with a salad or on it’s own.

Grate the zucchini & carrot.

Chop up a handful of fresh herbs. I used flat leaf parsley, curly parsley, chives & thyme.

Put all of the zucchini, carrot, herbs, grated cheeses & flour into a large bowl. Stir well so that the flour covers all the ingredients.

In a separate bowl, crack the 6 eggs.

Whisk the eggs with a fork & pour into the bowl with the other ingredients.

Stir well.

Pour the mixture into a greased silicon cake round or a lamington tray.

Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

I cooked this in my Turbo oven for 1 hour on 175 degrees.

I love how the top goes all nice & crispy.

Let stand on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then cut into wedges.

You can play with the ingredients with this recipe and add diced bacon, onion, capsicum, corn, tomato…anything really!