Painting time

Noah has been a little ill this past week. He started with a rash that spread all over his back, front, a little on his face (with bright red cheeks on one of the days) and a bit on his legs. He seemed a little moody, but not ill. The rash had a distinct sandpaper feel and when I Googled "sandpaper rash" all that kept coming up was Scarlet Fever! Well, if that's what he's had then we got off lightly - he had one day where he was unwell and had a little fever that came and went and one day where he was quite cheerful but off his food ("I'm not hungry, fank you.")

A couple of people said I should take him to the doctor to find out if it was Scarlet Fever but I decided not to. I know that SF is highly contagious and I didn't see the point of exposing him to a bunch of people in the waiting room just to be told yes or no - I mean, what could the doctor actually do for him? Nothing, and it's not like he was really ill.

So we stayed home for a few days and on one of the days I got the paints out. Luckily it was a slightly milder day and the house was warm because I prefer the boys to paint topless (and they prefer it too, becuase then they can paint themselves!) It's easier than trying to remove a paint-covered top, smearing it in their hair as it goes over their heads.





Recycled plastic egg carton:

First signs of spring

Normally I watch eagerly for the first spring bulbs to poke up through the cold soil. But this year, because they are my very own bulbs that I remembered to plant in autumn, I am worried that they are up so early! Won't they freeze and die through February? One mild week does not spring make.

Anyway, nothing I can do to stop them, so here are some pictures of my hyacinths, crocuses and snowdrops (I think my tulips were smart enough to wait a while!)

Better bubble baths

I wanted to share a little tip that I learned from my parents as a child. When running a bubble bath, pour the bubble bath mixture right under where the water flows. Then, using your thumb, cover the spout of the tap to try to block the flow of the water, leaving a small gap for the water to run out. This will force the water out in a hard jet, which kicks up way more bubbles. It's what works for me! Head on over to Shannon's for more great tips.

Quote

"Between the ages of twenty and forty we are engaged in the process of discovering who we are, which involves learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is our duty to outgrow and the necessary limitations of our nature beyond which we cannot trespass with impunity."

W. H. Auden

Running

Turns out that I can actually run for 20 minutes in a row - who knew? And nobody was even chasing me.

Of course, if they were, they would have caught me since I was only on the treadmill.

Turns out that if you have an MP3 player (even if it's a cheap junk one off eBay) and some good music that makes you want to move, it's actually fun to run. Kind of like dancing, but without the flailing limbs and humiliation. Actually, kind of like dancing when I was young and foxy and still enjoyed dancing.

Never thought I'd voluntarily run and do so with a smile on my face.

Now to figure out where to put my MP3 player while I run, 'cause it was getting all sweaty and wet in my sports bra. (You're welcome for the visual.) Any ideas?

Two houses ago - the yard

As you can see, we didn't have much outdoor space in that house. We did, however, have a tiny yard which backed onto industrial yards. Here's how it looked shortly after we moved in:



I actually took these shots as the official "before" photos - how forward thinking of me!



Back door and kitchen windows (the right one's seal had broken and there was limescale from condensation in between the panes). The window on the left is to the living room:



Facing back towards the house. Living room window right ahead, master bedroom window above:







View from back door:



The bit around the back - old outhouse with non-functioning toilet in. Grant later razed it as it was falling down and quite a hazard as it was solid brick with slate slab roof.





My very first gardening attempts in England - unfortunately Daniel broke the buds off these Asiatic lilies as soon as they appeared (grrr):



I learnt to put the pot up on the patio table (that we were given) so he couldn't reach them.



Take a look at the back wall - it had anti-climb paint along the top that the rain had washed all down the brickwork - the clear patch is where Grant had tried out the power washer:



After power-washing the whole wall:



We later added a shed in front of that wall. Here is how the yard looked when we moved out (please excuse the half-naked Daniel):





View from the back door:



Facing the living room window - hello, Grant!





View from living room window:



View from kitchen window:

Cool links

The dumbest invention!

Wonderful series on frugal living.

How to cuddle in bed.

Recycled leather belts.

Interesting idea - a removable sink.

A solar recharger.

Love this - an air quality checker.

And a patio table that helps power your home!

Inspiration for decoration

I've started a new blog in an attempt to organise the literally thousands of inspiration pictures I have. You can find it here and I'll be adding new pictures constantly. If you happen to find one of your pictures on it and want it removed, please email me and I'll do so immediately.

All about laundry

I am constantly reading online how much most women hate laundry. It seems to ignite a passion of distaste that (in my eyes) far exceeds the chore. Another way of saying - I just don't get it?!

Laundry is one of my favourite chores. No, honestly. How many other chores are done by machines without much help from you? Even the dishwasher has to be loaded and unloaded piece by piece, whereas your washing machine has everything chucked in in one go. And yes, you have to fold the clean clothes, but how many other chores can you do while sitting watching TV?

I suspect that the hatred of laundry stems from the sheer amount of it; the neverending aspect of it. Here are my tips for making laundry manageable.

Firstly, own fewer items of clothing. If you have 10 pairs of jeans then you are likely to let the laundry pile up because you just keep reaching for the next pair of jeans, until you have one or two left and then it's panic stations - and a huge mountain of laundry.

If you only have 3 pairs of jeans then you'll be doing your laundry a lot quicker! Here are all of the clothes that we own in our household.

The top drawer in the boys' room contains the following: belts (that they actually never wear), a little bag with Daniel's money in, Noah's creams and asthma stuff, a pile of Noah's shorts, a pile of Daniel's shorts.



The second drawer is Daniels and contains vests, summer pyjama tops and bottoms, winter pyjama tops and bottoms and undies.



The third drawer is Noah's and contains the same as well as nappies (diapers) for night (because I'm too lazy to tackle night training). If you recall my "containing piles" method that you can read about here, I don't fold underwear - it just gets tossed into the basket or compartment.



They have a wardrobe that is 40 inches wide with two hanging rails with shelves above. The top hanging rail is all of Noah's clothes as well as Daniel's t-shirts. The bottom rail is all of Daniel's clothes including his school uniform.



My wardrobe is also 40 inches wide with two hanging rails and this is all of my clothes except for some tops in Grant's side and a few items packed away because they are too small (you know the ones, the "thin clothes" you hope you'll get to fit into sometime).



This is all of Grant's clothes including his uniform - the tops on the bottom right are mine.



Besides our wardrobes we each have underwear, socks and pyjamas in our drawers.

We also wear our clothes more than once unless they 1) are visibly dirty or 2) smell. If the item of clothing passes the look-and-smell test it gets worn again.

So without huge piles of clothes we need to stay on top of our laundry or we run out of things to wear. We generally do a load of laundry every single day. Grant and I probably do equal amounts of laundry.

I have to shout out about my laundry hamper because I LOVE it. It has three compartments - one for whites, one for colours and one for darks / reds. When the clothes approach the top of each compartment it is one full load - no sorting necessary.



When it's time to do laundry we have to take the clothes down two flights of stairs to the washer in the cellar. How I wish I had a pretty laundry room, preferably on the same level as the bedrooms!



As you can see, I didn't have a full load of whites or colours so I mixed the lighter colours with the lights. When I mix loads I put one of these in:



They look like dryer sheets but they go in with your wash and absorb any excess dyes floating around so they don't taint lighter clothes. You can throw one of these in with a load of whites and one red sock and your whites won't turn pink (okay, don't sue me if you try that and it doesn't work!)

On top of the washer is a basket containing the colour catcher sheets, washing tablets and fabric softner (I've just switched to an eco one because have you ever read the ingredients of regular softner? Holy Batman chemicals!)



Another eco / frugal tip: we wash everything on 30°C and with only one tablet instead of two, unless the load contains a particularly soiled item such as pants Noah's had an accident in, or clothes that are muddy from working in the garden. Our clothes and towels come out just fine and clean.

Once the clothes are washed we then carry them up three flights of stairs to hang up on clothes horses to dry, rather than use the tumble dryer.



Once the clothes are dry we take them back down one flight of stairs and fold them and put them away within 24 hours.

My most favourite part is folding the clean washing but for some reason I really dislike putting them away. Luckily Grant doesn't mind this bit so I sometimes leave it for him - but usually I just go ahead and put the clothes away because it won't kill me and I hate to have piles of clothes lying around.

So, my tips would be:

1) Reduce how many clothes you have to wash in the first place.
2) Wear clothes more than once before washing, unless visibly dirty or smelly.
3) Do a load of laundry every single day.