Lego Storage: shout to Twitter and it shall answer

Once upon a time if you had a storage problem that needed a storage solution you might have walked around your local mall or shopping strip, made a few phone calls, asked a few friends and one month later purchase something that doesn't fit when you get it home.

Now, however, there is Twitter.

This was our living room floor last week. An inch thick in Lego. This does not do the Lego problem justice as you can make out the beginnings of a sorting system (the very designer-looking ice cream containers).

Later that week the Lego was looking a little tidier but we realised we needed a real storage system because the all.in.one.bucket approach is no good when the 8yo wants to re-build Darth Maul's spaceship and it takes two hours to find the pieces.

On Sunday I sent out the following cry for help via Twitter:

I need ideas on how to store Lego. Not all lumped together. Sorted by colour, transportable from room to room for rampant 8yo fantatic.

And Twitter answered.

Thanks to Ikea aficionados H&B and Kim and a non-Ikea idea from DancingMorganMouse I had plenty of ideas to start with and then the Ikea blog This is Home wrote this post based on my tweet with even more ideas.

Today I went out armed with my new knowledge and now looky at our Lego storage system:

A slide out box for each colour.

And sometimes two interlocking Trofast boxes. I love these smaller Trofast boxes and next time I schlep all.the.way.out to Ikea I will get some more. But that will be in another, oh, two years so I have a while to wait. That place is crazy. Even on a Thursday morning people line up outside waiting for it to open.

For the itty bitty wheels, cockpits, clear bits and rarer colours this partitioned tackle box from Howard's Storage. Mind you this box cost as much as all the Trofast boxes put together. Bleh.

On top of all this a yellow Trofast with all the unsorted Lego because sometimes one cannot be fagged to sort RIGHT NOW.

All these boxes can slide right out and be carried from room to room. The boxes are quite big and shallow because one needs to see all the Lego pieces at once, too deep and you never find them. You will also notice no lids (except the tackle box). I'm not good with lids, I like to throw things into boxes from a distance and this is the technique I've taught my kids.

And of course, one has to have a place for all those manuals. Really we are growing out of this box and will need a larger one very soon.

Now that I've done this I just hope the kids can honour the system. Perhaps that's the next shout into cyberspace - how do I get my kids to put things back where they're supposed to go?

Two Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

Who would've thunk that a tentative entry to the world of blogging two years ago would've seen me start six blogs (three remain active, one is private for immediate family only) and meet so many wonderful members of the blogosphere.

My blogiversary is actually the 25th April but given that it is ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand I feel our minds should be with those who have given their time to military service. So today I celebrate instead.

In celebration I am offering the above hand-crocheted washcloth to one of my commenters. It has been crocheted in 100% cream cotton yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills and is hanging artfully from a trophy Firegazer won at a corporate ice-skating event (trophy not included, sorry).

So leave a comment and be in the draw! Giveaway is open worldwide until next Sat 2nd May.

The filing is done

I say enough! to filing.

You can iron a tutu? Who knew?

Yesterday I found out that you can starch and iron the netting on a tutu. This I didn't know. I imagined it would just shrivel up and burn.

Now the tutu Blossom has borrowed for this year's Eisteddfod will have the appropriate amount of perkiness and bounce.

Not to mention the shimmer and the sparkle.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered and Spent

After years as an over-worked and unpaid mother I will, next week, re-enter the world of paid employment. And thereby become an over-worked paid mother. I signed my contract over the weekend, filled in a gazillion different forms and posted it today.

Yesterday, as a pre-celebration, I spent a goodly proportion of my first pay cheque on re-invigorating my work wardrobe because methinks a denim skirt and t-shirt will not cut it in the office.

I went with the express intention of buying dresses in any colour other than black.

Not successful on that front. I tried on outfits in red, green, grey and multi-purpley numbers but all were just a bit meh . I think I must just accept that black is my signature colour and run with it.

Besides, I won't be dressed in black from head to toe because look what I found this morning. When I want to go home I'll just have to click my heels three times.

These shoes even come with Tween approval.

Easter Show EasternMax style

Easter in Sydney means the Royal Easter Show. It is where the country comes to the city and where families come to spend their $900 stimulus cheque. Or so you would think by the number of people straining under the weight of their showbags and overpriced novelties. Mind you not a bad place to stimulate the economy - at least the carni operators and showbag stallholders will

eat this week.

We took a more frugal approach. Well frugal, that is, after we forked out $100 to get in and $20 to park. By frugal I mean we let the kids have one showbag each and then drag them around to all the 'free' events we paid our $100 to see.

We are all fun in a bucket.

Our approach is to arrive just as the show opens and head straight for the showbag hall. This year Firegazer and I took a child each and agreed to meet outside when the loot had been purchased.

Big mistake.

I took Blossom into the showbag hall and came out with this Moove Backpack from Dairy Farmers. Contents: 2 x flavoured milks, beach racquet set, groovy sunglasses, ice pack.

M wins mother.of.the.year award.

Firegazer takes PL and comes out with an Army bag containing 3 x military assault rifles.

I was expecting a Ben 10 bag or perhaps a Spongebob bag.

Firegazer does not win father.of.the.year award.

Luckily my nerves were soothed by watching the dog shows. Or, more precisely, watching the people who own the dogs on show. Have you seen the movie Best in Show? If not, you must see it.

Then off to my other favourite - the district displays. What is not to love about seeing apples and pears lovingly arranged in a sea of grain and wool. Each district in NSW plus South East Queensland puts on a display symbolising their local produce in a creative way. It amuses me that, apparently, even the driest part of the State is able to produce a bounty of apples of all varieties...

A quick trip to visit the arts and crafts section and then ...

... the woodchop! The Easter show hosts the WORLD WOODCHOPPING CHAMPIONSHIP each year. This means that in addition to competitors from most Australian States the occasional New Zealander, Canadian and American competes. This year even France sent a competitor. Of course they were all rubbish compared to our rough tough Aussies. We fool them with our hard Eucalypts.

By now the kids are begging for fairy floss or some deep fried atrocity on a stick. We offer them a water and forge onwards...

... to the main arena for the precision driving and the narly boys on motorbikes. Excellent stuff.

Last of all we head to what is possibly my favourite part of the show...

... the working dogs. Just love a border collie that wants to run, jump and herd sheep.

The show is 'done' by 1pm and we head home with nary a deep fried cheese.on.a.stick being consumed.

Like I said, we are fun with a capital F. Who wants to come with us next year?

Are you a scoffer, or a hoader?

Exhibit A: This is what the Easter Bunny brought Firegazer this morning. It is now 9pm and all contents are still neatly in place. Firegazer is a hoarder.

Exhibit B: The Easter Bunny brought me the same loot. By 9pm all the loot is gone. M is a scoffer par excellence. Chocolate egg for breakfast, bunny for lunch, carrot umbrellas for tea.

Are you a scoffer, or a hoarder?

Sydney Bloggers are evicted from restaurant

... well sort of. We were given loads of hints, and a five-minute warning; and they wouldn't serve us any tea even though the other table had tea. Apparently we were outstaying our welcome, or they wanted to go home, or some other lame excuse. ;-)

I am most pleased with this photo as I am half-hidden, my favourite pose.

And that was even though Fi Fi had struck up a rapport with the lovely Japanese waiter by comparing foot sizes with him.

Luckily the food was delicious and the company most excellent. As has become commonplace with blogging dinners there was lots of laughter, much silliness and perhaps one or two more glasses of wine drunk than was advisable.

We may not have set the 23+ person record set by a recent Melbourne bloggers dinner, and we may not have been able to convince Eleanor to belly dance BUT we did stay on until the collective staff of the restaurant grabbed each one of us by the arm* and ushered us to the pavement where we continued talking for some time.

We know you're jealous, and with good reason. :)

Oh, and looky what I got from Frogdancer. Beautiful handmade coasters. Love them. All because I booked a restaurant.

*ok, so some exaggeration, but not much.

Is it just me?

...or is anyone else suffering from the change back from daylight saving? I'm starting to flag about 5pm and it's a downhill slide from there. The cats are driving me crazy asking for their dinner at 4pm because they think it is 5pm. Just goes to show how much our internal body clocks relate to light.

I haven't been on-blog for a while, but I have been on-Twitter. Twitter is the lazy woman's shout to the universe, so if you miss me here catch me there: www.twitter.com/easternmax

In other news...

Blossom has been baking. Once she worked out how to turn the oven on by herself I haven't been able to stop her. She got a baking book out of the school library last Friday and produced these on the weekend. I didn't have to so much as poke my head in the kitchen. Those pink and vanilla ones are actually quite complicated, involving a swiss roll technique.

Today as I was goofing around upstairs she made mini pizzas for her and her brother for afternoon tea, on plates, with accompanying glass of juice. I feel redundant, and free.

Mind you I've been cooking too. The first Quinces of the season arrived in our local fruit shop so I embarked on the Second Annual Quince Baking Marathon on Sunday. Not quite as good as last year's but tastes fine.

Yesterday was our local school's cross-country carnival. Children in the 8,9 & 10 year old age group run 2km and the 11 and 12 year olds run 3km. My Blossom was a little champion, coming second in the 11yrs race. She was the only Year 5 in the top 4 finishers. Now she goes to the Zone carnival next term.

Please do not be fooled. Distance running is not a gene she inherited from her mother. The last time I ran in a cross country event was at uni in 1985. I woke up, ate a Mars Bar for breakfast and joined the inter-college event. Firegazer, then my boyfriend, waited valiantly at the finish line wondering where I had got to - having taken sooo long to finish he thought I might have just run back to college rather than finish the race. The officials were packing up the event as I finally staggered across the line.

Moving right along ... I have been dipping in and out of these books lately. My brother sent the Malcolm Gladwell books to my husband for his birthday but I've swiped them to read first. The other book,Trick and Treat, is a controversial food book. Not sure where I stand on it yet, but I'll keep you posted. It's pro meat, pro fat, anti sugar (in all its forms, incl carbs) so if you're vegetarian I'd advise that you keep clear of it. Mind you, I know a person who, after 30 years as a vegetarian, started eating meat again after reading this book.

I've started a couple of crochet projects. Then unravelled them. Then started others. Then unravelled them too. I think I need lessons from someone learned.

Firegazer engaged in Extreme Window Washing on the weekend. This little known sport involves a squeegee, a bucket of water and a ladder that doesn't.quite.reach.the.second.storey.windows. I made it clear to Firegazer that he was engaging in this sport AT HIS OWN RISK and that I wasn't going to be pushing around his wheelchair and feeding him through a straw.

These books are on my TBR list. The Secret Scripture is my bookclub choice for May. I never read my bookclub books before I choose them so who knows what it will be like. The other two books I 've heard good reports about.

And I've bought this for Blossom. I love the idea of this book, so I hope it works out well. Here is where the author got her inspiration for the story:

How To Ditch Your Fairy was inspired by my friends Ron Serdiuk and Stephen Gamble. We were driving around the Sunshine Coast (in Queensland in Australia). It’s a very busy beach holiday area and there’s crazy amounts of traffic in many of the towns. Every time we needed a parking spot, if Stephen was driving we’d get one, but if it was anyone else we were out of luck. Ron declared that Stephen had a parking fairy, which got me thinking about what other kinds of fairies there could be and what it would be like if you had a fairy you didn’t want.

Now I'd better go down to start dinner. The clock says 5.21pm but it feels like 8.21pm. Sigh.