Ways with wipes

Having run out of dettol wipes and discovering the cloth and antibacterial spray were not getting rid of the marks from potty training and having a visitors due any moment I grabbed for the baby wipes and within seconds had a lovely gleaming bathroom and it made me think of all the things you can use baby wipes for so having asked some friends heres a quick list......

1, Cleaning my pc desk
2, Cleaning keyboard & PC at work
3, Cleaning laptop screen

4, Cleaning inside of car
5, Cleaning toys

6, Parachutes for barbies/power rangers

7, Cleaning shoes
8, Wiping down tables etc when eating out

9, Wiping public toilet seats
10, Cleaning the chalk and white board
11, Cleaning laminate

12, Cleaning marks off laminate flooring and tiles
13, Wiping my windows and frames

14, Cleaning crayon off leather sofa

15, Cleaning ink off leather sofas
16, General cleaning leather sofa & chairs

17, Cleaning Stainless Steel Appliances

18, Cleaning wooden blinds!

19, Cleaning the leather sofa
20, Dusting awkward areas like lamps etc
21, Cleaning the wall and skirting

22, Cleaning the gas fire
23, Cleaning mirrors
24, Cleaning dirty marks around door/cabinet handles

25, Cleaning high chair/floor around it
26, Dusting tv/window sills/dvd cabinet and dvds

27, Cleaning paint from edges of the walls/skirting that have caught when decorating
28, Use dried one to wipe TV, dashboard as they collect dust like nothing else

29, Use dried out(unused) ones when washing the bathroom

30, Cleaning hands

31, Cleaning faces

32, Cleaning bottoms

33, Cleaning feet

34, Cleaning necks

35, Cleaning clothes

36, Cleaning make-up off

37, Cleaning grease things off your hands, such cooking oil, suntan cream etc.
38, Refreshing faces on a hot day or long car journey
39, Cleaning spillages off clothes

40, use them on the BBQ grill
41, Cleaning off the climbing frame
42, Cleaning muck off shoes
43, Cleaning patio table & chairs
44, Cleaning runny noses
45, Cleaning off the dogs
46, Holding around the bottom of lolly sticks when its hot to stop them turning into sticky monsters
47, And of course wiping various body places!

And of course things to do with the hard plastic boxes some of them come in.....

48, Storage for anything small i.e. Buttons, seeds, rock collections, screws.....

49, Baby toys  - Feel with something like material or hair roller and you’re baby should find this lots of fun.

50, Food travel! Well we put the dog food in but sandwiches or fruit would work great and stop them being squashed.

51, Crayons, paint brushes...

52, Toy boxs for the car.

53, We use them as an alternative to the good old glass jar in fishing in the river

54, On holiday pot in book, keys etc and stop them getting soaked in the pool!

55, Storage for anything you don’t want squashed. We have Christmas angels in one box!

Peg Bag in 5 Simple Steps

A simple start for homemade sewing would be a peg bag. Do you find your back sore after bending down countless to fish more pegs out of the bag? Well all you need it an old tea towel if you don’t feel like using the tea towel you can use it as your template, a sewing machine and a hanger.

1,Simply take the tea towel and give it three folds as below.

2,Add a slit in the middle of the top fold.

 

3, Fold the top down and the bottom up (inside out!!!)

 

4, Then stick up about a centimetre in up and down and each side,

5, Turn inside out, pop a hangar through the middle hole and up through the slit in the middle and voila you have a new peg bag! Decorate how you like!

And hopefully it'll loko something like this from Port Meriorn but at a fraction of the price!

Quilting...the start

So after saying at the start of this month that I was going to buy the “quilts in a weekend” book and start small I got distracted in a local lovely fabric shop (Natures Threads for any one local) and ended up splashing out on a “jelly roll” which according to the owner and my mum will mean creating the quilt will be nice and quick. Hmm that was over a week ago!

The jelly roll or noodles and strips consists of loads of strips of fabric 46” which you sew up in long lines and then chop into squares and then sew into a strangely named pattern. The main trouble comes in deciding which strip of fabric you want to place for eternity next to another. Well I’ve always been attracted to art and colours and it’s been a nightmare! I had the blues and creams and reds (ok sounds horrible I know but I promise it’s really quite lovely!) all laid out pretty quick and went to find my mum to show her. I should have sewn it up then. Having walked away and come back I decided to “tweak” a week later and I’m still tweaking! Not so quick as I had in mind.

So I’ve started at least and if you keep tuned I should have something more than pretty fabric to show you soon!

Forgotten Pudding

We’ve just spent an idyll afternoon with family in Kent. Sun shone, birds sang and blossom perfumed their garden and all topped off by a rather delectable dessert their teenage daughter served up. It was wonderful and easy apparently so I thought I’d share the delights with you.

Forgotten Pudding by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

·    6 egg whites

·    1/2 teaspoon salt

·    250g caster sugar, plus 2 teaspoons

·    1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

·    1 teaspoon vanilla extract butter for greasing

·    250ml double cream

·    175g blackberries

·    175g strawberries, quartered

Method

1.   Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until peaks begin to form.

3.  Gradually add the 250g of sugar, then the cream of tartar and vanilla, whisking all the while at speed, until the whites are stiff and glossy.

4.  Butter a swiss roll tin then spread evenly with the meringue mixture.

5.   Put in the oven, close the door, then immediately switch off the oven and leave overnight, without opening the door or even thinking of peeking.

6.  When you want to serve it, remove to a large plate.

7.   Whisk the double cream until thick but still soft and spread over the marshmallow meringue.

8.  The blackberries over the top. Toss the quartered strawberries in the remaining 2 teaspoons of caster sugar and arrange them on the cream, too. Cut into slices; I cut 3 down and 2 across to make 12 squares.

Serves: Makes 12

Clementine & Almond wheat free cake!

One evening on holiday we were strolling down Fowey high street and came across a delightful cake and tea place, www.thedwellinghouse for those that are interested, the only problem is my kids have food allergies. Milk and gluten! So we adored the fact that this place offered gluten and dairy free cake. Yum yum, my 10 month fussing eating baby ate a whole slice to himself. The lovely owner then proceeded to write out the recipe on a scrap of paper.....very exciting! Here was an old secret family recipe I thought!  I

Just discovered its Nigella Lawson!! However it is a yummy cake regardless of allergies and so here it is.....

5 large or 7 medium  Clementine’s

6 Eggs

2 ½ cups of ground almonds

1 cup & 2 Table spoons Sugar

1 heaped tsp  (gluten free) Baking powder

A cupful of blueberries

Pop Clementine’s in a pot of water (enough to cover) and boil for two hours. (steam for about half an hour if you’re in a rush)

Preheat over to 180c/375f 

Drain Clementines

Pop Clementines, eggs, almonds, sugar in a food processor and blend till smooth.

Tip mixture into a 8inch pan and bake for about 40 mins. If you prod with a skewer and it comes out clean its done.

When cool, heat the blueberries in a pain with the 2tbsps of sugar and a little (splash) orange juice and tip over cake!

I’ll post a photo when I’ve finally made it!

Holiday in the UK?

I have just come back from an amazing holiday with my boys. It has beaten every trip we’ve ever had including 5 star in South Africa, the French Rivera, New York, you name it!  We spent an idyllic 7 days building dams, floating boats, exploring tropical and hidden gardens and playing it and out of the sea. So where did we go? Cornwall, England! That’s right 3 hours in the car down the road (and the odd motorway)

With over 32 million visitors coming to England on holiday we must be doing something right and I have to say I agree with them. Why cope with a stressful flight (it is with my two!) and head to a country where if you have kids you have to pack for every emergency in case they don’t sell what you’re looking for or battle (unless you’re fluent that is) with the language or idioms.

Holidaying in the UK be it in a caravan, tent, hotel or self catering has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years. Is it because we have so much to offer? While you can’t guarantee the weather you can choose from spending a week in a boutique hotel in the city, a log cabin by the lakes, a farm or cottage by the sea!

 

We choose a particular farm where the boys can feed the animals every morning after breakfast and we can spend the day doing two or more activities without having the stress of car travel. For example mothering Sunday we spent exploring a tropical garden (Heligan – definitely worth a visit!) and then in the afternoon on the beach chasing boats down little streams and round rock pools followed by a meal at a lovely child friendly hotel.  We went to stately homes, boat rides around private islands, steam train trips, surfing the waves, boutique restaurants and babbling brooks and all I have to say an a small budget!

There is not just the convenience side of it to consider but also the economic side? Yes you’ll save a great deal on emissions but what about the tourism side if you don’t use British transport? Well 4/5s of the UK tourism industry (£74 billion!) actually comes in from abroad. And the weather? Well we were incredibly lucky this week after all it was the first week of April but as climate change occurs experts are predicting that such cheap getaway places like the Costa de sol will in half a decade or so become too hot for us!

So why not support our tourism and stay in a castle in Scotland or a log cabin by the lakes, a cottage by the sea and explore the wonders our country has to offer before it gets to over run!