Our Big Adventure

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

And one of me

I figure if the kids get to be on the blog, it's only fair I post one of myself too. You probably haven't seen me in a wee while!

Such confusion, I can't work out where my follower box has disappeared to, or how to get it back, so I've linked up to bloglovin :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

The things that happen when you abandon your blog for months & months & months, huh...

Monday, September 16, 2013

Olive-isms

Such a hilarious wee lady.

"My torch has a flat tyre"

"My torch! It has a flat tyre"

???

"It's broken!"

Ahhh. The torch had a flat battery. Olive's bike has a flat tyre ;)

"What shall we have for morning tea?"

"Firecrackers"

Riiiiiiight...

"Firecrackers please Mummy!"

"Firecrackers with vegemite?"

Rice crackers. He he. We had a huge fireworks display across the road a few weeks back ;)

Hard to believe this lady will be two in a couple of weeks. Not a baby any more.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Fantastic Mr Fox

Oooh, who have we here!

It has been a fairly crazy week. Tomorrow is the Nelson Parent & Child Expo - this year I have a site, promoting my music studio (kind of vaguely intending to run a class or two in Nelson next year, so want a little exposure in the Big City ;) ), as well as getting a few of my crafty treasures out there.

I didn't really intend on making any bags for the expo, they take SUCH a long time & really I prefer doing custom work, that way you know someone is going to be insanely in love with it. Then, on Wednesday evening, Jarvis & I were reading Fantastic Mr Fox together. I came out of his room & really needed to make this bag.

Unfortunately now I love it so much that the thought of selling him makes me sad!

So, if you're in the Nelson/Tasman area, come along to the Nelson Parent & Child Expo, from 10 til 4 at the Trafalgar Centre tomorrow. I'll be there, so will lots of my lovely friends ; Katie from Made for Play, the lovely ladies from Educarents Nelson (I do my home based care through Educarents - they're fab!), the girls from Ecomoon, and Jako Nappies & More , and lots of other fab exhibitors. And a really really big bouncy castle. Gold coin entry - see you tomorrow!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Laundry Detergent!

Yesterday I made about seven zillion litres of laundry detergent!

With a family of sensitive skinned people, and me always trying to find ways of trimming the budget, I figured I should give it a whirl. I scoured the internet for recipe ideas, preferably involving things I had in the house already - buying more stuff doesn't fit in with the money saving aspect.

Frugal Kiwi had a winning recipe for me! I added some eucalyptus oil too, that stuff has super cleaning powers & smells good.

250g (1 cup) Borax (aka borax pentahydrate, sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate)
125g (1/2 cup) washing soda (aka Sodium carbonate, soda crystals or soda ash)
1 regular sized bar of soap around 85g (3 oz)

Grate the soap and put into a pot with about 1 litre (4 cups) of water. Heat the water until the soap is almost melted, but avoid bringing to a boil. Pour into the 20 litre bucket. Add 11 litres (44 cups) of warm water to the bucket. Add washing soda and stir until dissolved. Add borax and stir until dissolved. Your mixture will now look like soapy water. Cover with your bucket lid and let sit overnight.

Load number one is washing right now...will report back on my success (being optimistic here!)

ps...if you're in the mood to brew some up yourself, my wonderful friend who runs EcoFreaks has a splendid array of bulk chemicals for making cleaning products, along with loads of other very fabulous stuff. Check her out.