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July 13th, 2010
As you know (because I may have mentioned it once or twice before) we took our Cheeky Wipes to Glastonbury where they were brilliant for keeping us fragrant and clean, even when the showers were switched off due to the hot weather.
Which got me thinking about other uses for Cheeky Wipes, aside from the usual baby changing / face & hands cleaning ones?
Make-up removal
Cheeky Wipes are brilliant for taking off your make-up as you don’t get that ‘tight’ feeling that baby wipes leave you with. I’ve got super-sensitive skin and they’re great when used with the Lavender & Chamomile Fresh Wipes Oil.
Alternative Therapies
I’ve got a reflexologist friend and she has a extra set of Cheeky Wipes which she uses on her clients feet with the Mucky Wipes Tea Tree & Tea Tree Lemon Oil prior to a client treatment. The antibacterial nature and lovely clean smell of the oil really set the scene well for a tip-top treatment.
Household Cleaning
Obviously, wiping up after meal times is a standard use. But I’ve also used my Cheeky Wipes to help clean a soiled mattress. Again the wipes were soaked in the mucky wipes solution which helped kill any odour from the mattress.
Dog Wipes
I kid you not, but I had a lady in the USA buy a kit specially to wipe her dog’s feet after she’d come in from outside. She said they worked a treat!
I think this is possibly the most unusual use for Cheeky Wipes that I’ve come across, but if you’ve got any more, please leave me a comment and let me know. There’s a prize of a set of extra wipes for the best answer left by next Friday, 23rd July.
Tags: cheeky baby wipes, natural anti-bacterial household wipes, natural make-up removal wipes
Posted in Green Living, Hints and Tips | 1 Comment »
June 3rd, 2010
As I may have mentioned before, my husband plays in a band part-time called Carnival Collective and over recent years he’s been lucky enough to play at Glastonbury.
Last year was the first year that I was able to go with him, as in previous years I was either pregnant or due to give birth. I wasn’t sure what to expect having only his viewpoint on the whole 4 day extravaganza that is Glasto, but I can honestly say that nothing prepares you for it, there’s just so much to see and do everywhere you turn, it’s almost overwhelming.
Last year I suffered mini-agonies trying to work out what to bring clothing wise (which is a whole other post!) but in terms of essential kit you’ll need, I thought it was worthwhile doing a list….see if your list compares!
Essential Camping Kit
- Tent – preferably a pop up version which doesn’t require major guy ropes which piss everyone around you off when they’re trying to make their way back to their tent in the dark
- Torch / torch on head – invaluable
- Blow up mattress – the self inflating ones are fine and save you having to blow them up
- Sleeping bag
- Camping stool / chair – essential if it’s muddy and you want a seat
- Toilet roll
- Baby Wipes – I took Cheeky Wipes last year but soaked them in mucky wipes tea tree lemon oil which meant that even after 4 days without a shower I still smelled great!
- Rucksack – for carrying from car / coach to the campsite
Optional Extras
- Depending on your budget you might want to bring along a small stove (even for doing coffee and tea). Packet noodles are so easy to cook up on one of these and they’ll save you a fortune if you can be bothered to carry it.
- Booze – again if you want to save yourself some dosh, bring in your own booze in a plastic container and then just buy mixers. Or bring a wheelbarrow and wheel in some beers!
Other essential kit
- Wellies. Because chances are at some stage it will rain and it gets very muddy very quickly.
- Poncho – as above., will double as a ground sheet for sitting on
- Paracetamol / Condoms / Tampons – you can buy them at Glasto but they’ll cost you a small fortune
- Suncream – if it is sunny you want to avoid the lobster look at all costs
- Hat & sunglasses
If I’ve missed anything, feel free to drop me a line…..
Tags: baby wipes festivals, baby wipes glastonbury, festival kit list, glastonbury kit list
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May 4th, 2010
I know I’ve mentioned a couple of the many uses of Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda) before (home-made deodorant and cleaning soiled mattresses. But I thought you might be interested in a few more things that it can be used for…
Removing Odours and Reducing Smells
Bicarb is fantastic for removing smells, so use it anywhere you’ve got a stinky problem. I use it for washing out the little compost bin in my kitchen and my bigger bin too.
I also found that the stainless steel flask which I use for my yogurt was getting a bit manky if I left the lid on it. A good wash with some bicarb sorted that out quickly!
My wooden spoons were really starting to absorb cooking smells but washing with bicarb paste got rid of the lingering aroma of curry.
And don’t forget your dishwasher – chuck a bit into the bottom to remove smells, or give a thorough clean by running it empty with just some bicarb in the main wash area.
Last (but by no means least), sprinkle some bicarb into stinky training shoes to get rid of the potent odour of sweaty feet – yuck!
Cleaning
Bicarb can be used for a number of cleaning purposes and it particularly good for greasy surfaces, especially in conjunction with white vinegar.
I recently gave my Microwave a spring clean, heating a bowl of water with a teaspoon of bicarb in it for 5 minutes until it was boiling. The steam loosened the grease and it cleaned up a treat.
But it’s not just microwaves. Try using bicarb and white vinegar on your oven or Barbecue racks. Alternatively, sprinkle dry bicarb onto your stainless steel hob and clean with a damp cloth. Brilliant!
If you’ve got any hints and tips you’d like to share, or alternative uses for bicarb, feel free to share them…
Tags: baking soda, bicarbonate of soda, cleaning bicarb of soda
Posted in Green Cleaning | 2 Comments »
April 8th, 2010
OK, I know when you have kids your social life tends to ooze away until it resembles a collapsed pavlova. And I know that when you’re still in the sleep-deprived early days you just can’t be assed to see anyone in the evenings as you could be spending that precious time catching some much needed sleep.
But, as your little one get a bit bigger it’s still really important to have some sort of social life. It reminds us that we are people in our own right, not just someone’s Mum or Partner. We can drink wine and chat about what the heck is going on in LOST, moan about the lack of decent baby-sitters (where are all the teenage girls looking to babysit???) and generally relax and enjoy ourselves.
Ideally of course, our OH’s would be quite willing to look after the kids whenever we fancied a break for a girly weekend. In my house however, this doesn’t happen too often although because my husband plays in a band and goes away for weekends with them, he’s happy to swap to accomodate me.
If, like us, you don’t have babysitters on hand nearby, here’s a few tips for reclaiming a semblance of a social life:
Get your children used to sleeping in different beds from an early age
From your little ones are little, just take them with you and pop them into a travel cot at the other end. If you’re like us, you’ll find that you get more use from your travel cot with other people’s children in it, when they come to stayover, rather than taking yours away with you. If you get your little ones used to sleeping in other beds, you can either visit friends and stay-over, putting the little ones to bed as normal. Or you can visit and put your little ones down for the evening, before all returning home together after you’ve enjoyed some quality adult time together.
Invest in a ready bed / junior camp bed
This gives you the option of putting slightly older children down for the evening / overnight. We love this Kampa Junior Air Bed as it has sides to stop little ones rolling out – you can use their gro-bag / sleeping bag or duvet with it.
Give the kids time to wind down
If you’re going to visit friends who also have children, arrive an hour before bath/bed time so that the kids can have a play together and wind down. Arriving and expecting to put them to bed immediately just doesn’t work as they’re usually way too excited.
Share Baby-sitters
Our best friends live about 35 minutes away. We usually visit and stay-over, enjoying a night in but recently we hired a baby-sitter to look after both sets of kids in their house. We had a proper grown-up night out in a restaurant no less. Safe in the knowledge that a qualified nursery nurse was looking after the kids and best of all, we split the cost of the baby-sitting, so instead of paying £25 each, it was just £12.50.  Bargain!
Have a plan B
Sometimes things just don’t go to plan. One of the kids won’t settle, or keeps getting up because they can or whatever. Don’t stress, just have a plan B. Stick a DVD on and wrap them up on the sofa if they’re old enough to watch TV, or just cuddle them on your lap while you eat.  Ether way you’ll still be able to enjoy your evening and you can deal with the tiredness consequences the next day….unless of course you’re too hungover to do so…
Tags: cheeky wipes
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March 26th, 2010
We’re in week 5 of our ‘Meat-free March’….and I know there aren’t 5 weeks in a month, but it falls over 5 shopping weeks if you know what I mean.
Week 4 was probably the most balanced week’s menu – it wasn’t overly focused on one food group so it worked really well. We started last Friday night with big, juicy, mushroom baguettes. Fabulous, breakfast mushrooms slathered with garlic butter and fresh, crispy french bread. Perfect Friday evening food which has to be easy to make, easy to clear up and suitable for drinking with red wine!
Saturday we had falafel burgers. These were OK. Good texture but a little bit lacking in flavour. I’ve tried to make these before and I’ve never succeeded in making them well, so if anyone has any tips for me, please feel free to share.
Sunday we worked up an appetite with a trip to Bodiam Castle and then had this lovely Veggie Shepherds Pie. It was GREAT! Although the tin of lentils which has been lurking at the back for my cupboard for (cough) 4 years turned out to be french cassoulet – sort of beans and sausages. So it wasn’t exactly completely vegetarian, but was darn tasty anyway.
Monday night a friend came round to share this wonderful Greek Pie. It was really simple to prepare and coating the filo pastry with the oil from the sundried tomatoes made it really savoury. Will definitely be doing this one again.
Our Thai Noodle soup on Tuesday was great too. Again, quick to prepare, with clean, refreshing flavours. My eldest son loved this, although I made his without the chilli.
Wednesday’s Puttanesca sauce was lovely and a winner with all the children also. The lovely sweet-sour taste of capers, olives and tomatoes makes such a fantastic supper and it’s a great left-over packed lunch the next day.
We rounded off the week with a larder feast of bulghar wheat and sardines. This is a quick and easy meal and my sister in law who had never tried bulghar wheat before really enjoyed it.
So now on to our final week:
Friday – veggie pizzausing the pizza bases I froze a couple of weeks ago
Saturday – we’re out for dinner, so just fish fingers and chips for the kids!
Sunday – Butter Bean & Broccoli Salad This recipe is similar, but my recipe contains broccoli rather than olives, which soaks up all the lovely lemony dressing
Monday – Tuna Empanada
Tuesday – Salmon & Miso Noodle Soup
Wednesday – Pasta with tapenade and goats cheese – similar recipe here
Thursday – Freezer Surprise, probably Thai Fishcakes again!
I’ll post next week with a review of this week – but I have to say at this point I’m looking forward to a nice juicy steak!
Tags: meat-free March
Posted in Green Cleaning, Recipes | No Comments »
March 5th, 2010
Week 1 Review
Well last Sunday saw the start of my ‘Meat-free March’ with the delicious Lemon Butternut Lasagne. The adults and the baby loved this, but 2 middle boys were extremely undecided. Too bad, it made an extra one which is now in the freezer and will be produced later this month!
Monday night I made Thai Fishcakes which were gorgeous. I’ve got a mental cooking block when it comes to standard potato based fishcakes which I’ve never managed to make successfully. In fact the last lot were so horrid I threw them out before my husband got home and he had cereal for tea! These were YUMMY. Easy to make with a gorgeous slightly sweet / sour dipping sauce that I could have eaten on it’s own. Because my eldest got fed on a playdate, I’ve got a meals worth of these in the freezer to look forward to also.
Tuesday was a storecupboard special for the adults as little ones had been fed at nursery -Grown up beans on toast. These garlicky, salty beans were just yummy on toasted baguette and Mr CW got to take some to work on Wednesday too.
Purple Spouting Broccoli, Anchovy & PastaThis was the meal that I was unsure about for two reasons. One, I didn’t know how tasty it would be and two, would my littlu’ns balk at just pasta with broccoli? I was worrying unnecessarily. They LOVED it with eldest son having thirds and the baby gobbling it up too. A definite winner.
Thursday was Bulgar Wheat & Sardines. I’ve made this one before but I’m always amazed at how tasty it is. I have to say I’m a little squeamish about the bones, but a good dollop of pesto really makes this a flavoursome meal – cheap as chips too.
Tonight (Friday) was planned to be veggie Pizza, but I’d forgotten we’re out for dinner tonight with friends as a joint birthday treat to Newick Park which I’m really looking forward to. So the veggie Pizza is relegated and we’ll have it tomorrow night instead.
Budget: Last weeks grocery shopping came to about £110, but it was my week to do a big shop for cat food, there were a couple of bottles of wine and washing up liquid and washing powder bulk buys too.
Week 2 Meal Plan
4 of the recipes from this week are taken from the April Week 3. Our Sunday lunch forms the basis for our meals on Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday evening, meaning less cooking for me on those evenings (yippee!) And I know that there’s bacon in a couple of the recipes, but as I said last week as long as meat doesn’t form the main ingredient in the dish, then that’s acceptable.
- Saturday: Veggie Pizza
- Sunday: Smoked Haddock, Peas, Bacon with Jacket Potatoes & Mustard Cabbage (similar recipe here)
- Monday: Fish Pie (using leftover haddock from Sunday)
- Tuesday: Stuffed Baked Potatoes with spinach, bacon & cheese (using leftover jacket potatoes)
- Wednesday: Pasta with bacon, pea and parmesan (bacon and pea sauce left over from Sunday)
- Thursday: will be ‘freezer surprise’, in this case, the Thai fishcakes from last week.
If you’re following me, why not join in and let me know what you think? Or if you’ve got any favourite meat free recipe’s you’d like to share, please feel free.
Tags: budget, meal planning, meat-free March, veggie meal planning
Posted in Green Living, Recipes | 3 Comments »
February 13th, 2010
I really shouldn’t try to do two things at once. I knew we were almost out of yogurt, so thought that I would put some milk on to reduce down, while I was answering my emails. I did briefly think about setting the oven timer to remind me that it was on, but completely forgot.
An hour later, I answered the door to a courier, thinking ‘What’s that smell??’ and found that my milk had not only boiled over but the remains had crusted onto the pan in a solid black lump. I’ve burnt a few saucepans in my time, but this one won the gold medal:
 OMG! How burnt is this? I did think for a split second about throwing it out, but I love this pan (and I thought you might be interested to know it’s not just you that burns saucepans….) Anyway I googled ‘clean burnt saucepans’ and came up with a myriad of ideas, but the most oft-repeated was to add some fabric washing powder (I used gel) to the saucepan and bring it to the boil for 15 mins.
This was the result after 15 mins:
 Looking much better but still.... As you can see it was a LOT better. So I gave it another 20 mins with some fresh water and washing gel, then applied a little elbow grease and scouring pad to finish it off…and the result is:
 A clean pan! So, if like me you occasionally try to do too many things at once and end up burning a saucepan, don’t throw it out…just get out your washing powder and make it sparkle again.
Tags: clean burnt saucepan
Posted in Green Cleaning | No Comments »
February 1st, 2010
I’m not a gadget geek. News about the new Apple iPad leaves me cold (who needs another netbook / games console anyway?) So why am I lusting after an Amazon Kindle / Sony Reader?
I LOVE reading. Books are my one luxury item. I tried using the local library but their selection was small and it was such a pain to get there. I had to drive there, find a parking space, get small children into buggy, get into library, stop small children demolishing the place….nightmare. I usually ended up putting off the return trip to the library and ended up paying lots of late fees. It was actually cheaper for me to buy books from Amazon or the local charity shops.
 Amazon Kindle But there are downside to my love of reading. The stack of books 3 ft high beside my bedside testifies to one problem – storage. I love to keep my books and reread them at a later date probably not for a few years. So in the meantime where do you store them? I have literally boxes full of books in my attic that I don’t have space to store elsewhere. I’d love to have them out on display but I’d need to build an extension. Much cheaper to pay £250 for an e-book reader!
There’s also the environmental benefit of reading e-books:
- saving trees and therefore reducing paper consumption
- saving the energy used in book production
- no need for packaging materials, and all the energy and cash costs associated with those materials
- saving fuel used for transporting books from the printer to the warehouse and then from the warehouse to the consumer
But against all these very positive benefits I have 3 concerns.
- The chances of me dropping the book as I fall asleep and breaking it are quite high
- The lack of availability – there are 400,000 books available in kindle format, just a drop in the ocean of all books out there
- And my main gripe is that unlike a paper book you can’t share an e-book. So if you love something and want to pass it to your friend to read, you can’t
So at the moment I’m still sitting on the fence. I’ll keep watching and waiting and I might get one at some stage…but then again I might not…..
As usual, if you’ve got any comments, please visit our facebook page.(we’re working on fixing our comments – apologies!)
Tags: amazon kindle, sony reader
Posted in Green Living | 1 Comment »
January 28th, 2010
I received my gym renewal reminder though the door last week. Now, I have to say that my gym was fabulous for getting off those post baby pounds. It was worth the money that I spent on a years membership and was my post baby no 3 treat to myself.Â
I LOVED going to the gym. It was quite a posh gym, with swimming pool, sauna, nice cafe etc. And they had a great range of classes. But I haven’t been going regularly for a while now because I just don’t seem to have time. I’m busy with work on the days that they littl’uns are at nursery and at the weekend, I feel like I’m skiving if I slope off to the gym for 2 – 3 hours. It also seems pointless to drive for 20 mins before I even DO anything. So I’m reviewing my weekly schedule to see where I can fit in some exercise.Â
 Trainers First off, instead of updating my blog while my eldest son is having his swimming lesson, I’m going to have a swim too. I started that this week and was very chuffed to do 30 lengths (but was pretty knackered afterwards!) So that’s one big tick off my list.
Secondly, I’m going to invest in a bike trailer for the two smallest children. On the days when they aren’t at nursery (but their brother is at school) we can do the school run by bicycle which should be interesting. I’m a little nervous about this but it’s a fairly quiet route to school so we should be fine. We can also do family bike trips at the weekend which should be fun!
Lastly, I’m going to dust off my running shoes. Although I was running fairly regularly this time last year, I stopped when the gym lured me away to funky weights classes. But I’ll dust them off and get moving again… and hopefully in a few months time, you’ll see a more toned version of me emerging!
Tags: exercise, Green Living
Posted in Green Living | 4 Comments »
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