Charity begins at home.....

.....or at least that's what Jacob (5ys) believes as we gave him some money to give to a beggar on our trip to Bristol at the weekend and he kept the big stuff and gave the homeless guy the pennies!! We didn't realise till later when we found it tucked away in his pocket. I felt so bad and tried to explain to Jacob about how the man he'd seen had no money or home etc but I wonder if it wasn't all a bit too complicated for him. Meanwhile I hope the homeless guy managed to get rather more than Jacob saw fit to give him as the day wore on.

We had a lovely couple of days staying with friends in Bristol and enjoyed the use of the fab guest annexe with 2 bedrooms and an ensuite bathroom (posh or what?) Guests here generally get a blow up mattress on the floor of the lounge! We had a relaxing (well sort of) boat ride on the Bristo channel and were treated to lots of lovely homecooking and eggs from their chickens and ducks, not to mention wine at every meal except breakfast.

I felt so inspried that tonight I cooked a full roast and homemade crumble. Sadly no wine, just water with dinner in this house!

First Eco Party Since .......

.......the kids broke up for the summer. My brain has turned to mush, I've forgotten prices, stock levels and how to talk to a group of people all looking expectantly at me! It surprises me to say it but much as I love the sound of my own voice I must admit to being nervous nearly as much as i used to be when I first started the parties. Thankfully tonight's party is for a friend so it wont be so bad.

Loading the car was a long and arduous task. How on earth did I get all that stock? I really need to start selling rather than accumulating it. Half the problem is that if I do an eco party with very like minded and receptive people I get so engrossed in swapping ideas , thoughts and observations that I forget to promote my products. Still I have always advocated that the parties are all about spreading the eco word in a friendly achievable way rather than making money so I can't really complain can I? I just wish hubby shared my philosophy.

Where did the summer go then?

Well it's nearly over and passed in a mad blur of foreign students, day trips, screaming at the kids and stress levels off the planet! Hubby has been working his socks off with the business, summer being his busiest time. I have been challenged by hectic days trying to keep the kids amused long enough not to rip each others eye balls out. I've hosted 8 students in the last 6 weeks, 4 at a time. They have mostly been lovely particularly the 4 German girls (see photo of 2 of them with us) who I really built up friendships with and enjoyed their company but it's still been hard work cooking 9 cooked dinners every night and at least 5 lunch boxes every day, not to mention extra laundry and cleaning.
The evenings are getting darker earlier and there's an autumnal chill in the air when I walk the dog first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The school uniforms have been ironed and hung up ready for the new term. The eldest starts his final year at secondary school and the middle one starts year 1 at primary school. My baby will be going to preschool for 3 sessions.
This time next week we'll be away in our caravan for a few much needed restful days, the calm before the storm. I can't wait to get away.
As much as the school holidays have been hellish at times I'm dreading the start of the new school term. All that running around like a headless chicken to get them up, dressed and out of the door on time. The homework, the lunchboxes, the monotonous routine and deadlines to keep to. I love the freedom of the school holidays.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been such a long time since my last post. In my defence I have been ridiculously busy even by my standards!
Aunty Denise and Uncle George came to visit which was really fab. Despite my fears about the kids playing up they were lovely and really charming. My little girl decided to make her debut as a ballerina which was a surprise to me as I have never done any ballet with her. It turns out the childminder has been teaching her little ballet moves. It would appear she has a real talent for it ( my little girl, not the childminder).
I have had to do a major change around in the bedrooms as the first of my foreign language students have arrived today. They are two lovely 16yr old girls. they are here for a fortnight and then on saturday I have two german coach drivers arriving for 5days which takes the total number of people in the household to cook and clean for to 9, eekk! I may have to do dinner in two sittings. They are all full board so I have lunchboxes to do too! I also have two 13yr old chinese girls coming in august which is a bit daunting as they are so young. I'm hoping they wont be too homesick. As soon as the two german girls arrived today the cat decided to be sick in two different places along the hall, nice!

Cleaning frenzy!

Hubby anounced that his auntie and uncle who are visiting from Austrailia will be coming to visit at the weekend and staying over which is super as they are a really lovely couple and easy to talk to and have a laugh with but now I have been thrown into a wild panic about the atate of the house.
As those who know me will tell you housework isn't my thing. Not because I'm lazy or sit on my bum watching daytime telly but simply because I'm always doing things and my life is so busy. I simply cannot relate to people who stay in to do housework or say that they can't go out on such and such day as it's housework day. Life is definately too short.
But in honour of hubbys relatives visiting i've had to pull my finger out and actually get scrubbing, dusting, polishing and hoovering. Horrid!
I have made use of my collection of borax, sodium bicarb (bicarbonate of soda), vinegar and olive oil. Here are some of the things you can use bicarbonate of soda for;
Bicarbonate of soda neutralizes both basics ("ammonia smells", common in nappy buckets) and acidic odors (like the smell from pickles).
Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on your carpet before hoovering to eliminate food and pet odors.
After emptying the rubbish bin, sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda on the bottom of the rubbish bin ; this will neutralize the food odors.
Keep an open box of bicarbonate of soda in the back of your refrigerator and in your food cupboards replace every 3 months or so.
Pour bicarbonate of soda down your drain and pour white vinegar after it to clear blockages (though not after using a commercial drain cleaner)
Cleaning
Bicarbonate of soda causes dirt and grease to dissolve in water, so it is very effective in cleaning kitchen counter tops, refrigerators, oven and cookers tops. And sprinkled on a sponge or dishcloth forms a mildly abrasive scouring powder.
Use bicarbonate of soda dissolved in water to clean and freshen the inside of your refrigerator.
For stubborn coffee stains in cups, sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on the stain, wipe with a damp sponge, and rinse.
So all though I'm up to my elbows in cleaning at least I'm not up to my elbows in harmfull toxic chemicals that will detrimentaly effect mine and my familys health and also the environment. If you're not convinced then this article should make you sit up and take notice;
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/chemicals-out-of-control/chemicals-regulation

Composting

Finally I have gotten around to adding to my eco tips page on my website. Here's how it goes.
Home composting can be done in rather exciting things called wormeries www.wigglywigglers.co.uk , wooden or recycled plastic compost bins or you can make your own if you so desire and are a bit handy at that sort of thing.
I have fond memories of as a child taking the scraps down to the end of my grandparents garden and throwing it all in the compost bin which in their case simply consisted of a big heap of all the usual compostable stuff (more of that below) with a bit of chicken wire or similar around it. I remember being fascinated by all the little bug things milling around in it. I don't actually remember if grandad used it on the garden though I'm sure he must have as he grew tidy rows of curly kale, cabbages, runner beans and other lovely tasty goodies.
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't start my first compost bin till we moved to our present home approxiamately 2years ago. At the time the council were subsidising the cost of composters so I bought nice big one only cost us £5, bargain! It's a big recycled plastic container with a lid and a flap on the front to remove the compost to use on the garden. The thought of a wormery fills me with horror as I'm squimish about wriggly slimy things, yuck but they do look like good fun so do have a look at the website above . When I started tipping my compostable waste into it I was convinced it would be full within a month or so and remember discussing with hubby wether we should order another one. I'm glad we didn't as every time I lifted the lid to add more it seemed that there would be even less in it than last time I looked!
I have to say I'm a very lazy composter and I don't turn my compost nor do I mix it with a fork or add accelerator and I don't worry too much about getting the balance of greens and browns right. My efforts at composting are more to do with keeping as much of my stuff out of landfill and less to do with making super compost to put on my garden. So really all the effort it takes is keeping a compost caddy in the kitchen to put scraps etc in and then taking it out to the garden every day or so. Really, that's all! And the difference it's made to how much stuff goes in the wheely bin is great. Did you know that compostable 'stuff' sent to landfill is unable to decompose property because, squashed under all the other waste, it doesn't have any access to the air. So instead, methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is produced which contributes to global warming.
But wait here's the fun bit. If you thought you could only compost things like veg scraps and grass cutting, think again. I have been astounded to learn that these are some of the more bizzare things you can compost
Toenails, hoover bag contents if you have wool carpet, used guinea pig/rabbit/hamster bedding, loo roll inserts, woollen socks and jumpers, human hair and animal fur, coffee grounds, lint from tumble dryer filter, wood chips, ash from the fire. In fact the list goes on. And urine is a natural accelerant! As you can imagine the last fact has been somewhat of a talking point for hubby when we have friends over for a barbecue.

Social invite for myself and the spotty ones

After several days of being confined to the house because my children look so scary with all their chicken pox spots I finally ventured out with them to my sisters house for a bbq. All her children and the guests children have had chicken pox and so were happy to be in the company of my infectious two. Yet they were all still visibly shocked by the amount of spots my littlest one has.
One of the families there had a 7week old puppy with them which was a real sweetie and the source of great fun for the children until it started nipping tender little ankles with it's needle sharp puppy teeth. Perhaps we wont get a puppy after all. I have to admit to having more than the occasional daydream about adding to our menagerie. The possibility of chickens has cropped up again though but more about that another time.
It was a super afternoon and so good to get out and about. My three nieces and nephew are so good with my younger children and amuse them so I can have some quality time (drinking and eating too much). It's very easy to take family and friends for granted so I always try to remind myself how blessed i am with my family and friends.

I've been taking my supplement from Natures Sunshine for about 5days now and have to admit I do feel pretty good. I've had the best few nights sleep than I've had for possibly years (raging insomniac that I am). I've also found that I haven't had that mid afternoon slump that I usually get and quite bizzarely my eyes seem brighter so you could say I feel bright eyed and bushy tailed. The main test for me will definately be with my pmt, so watch this space. If there is an improvement it would be fair to say that it would be pretty life changing for me as I can suffer horrendously for up to two weeks out of every four and I'm not talking minor pmt either.