Monday 27 July 2009

Summerhouses and the Tooth Fairy

Well good evening/morning all. I know this is a strange time to be writing on my blog but I am just about to go off to bed and suddenly thought of something to write and thought it best to get it down before I forget!

My youngest was at hospital this week and had 3 teeth removed. Her back ones had taken such a battering and with the vitamins the hospital put her on when she was first born (pure sugar really) they were on their way out. So the poor wee thing went and had her first operation and she was such a brave wee thing. I was the one in tatters! So the tooth fairy had to pay her a visit and then tonight my oldest came through from the bedroom and presented me with 2 teeth! So I suppose the tooth fairy had better visit her too!!!

But hubby was busy today and erected the kids' summerhouse in the garden. I will add a photo or two tomorrow after we replace the windows and give it a lick of paint. It was donated by my best friend who had it in her garden and it was only used by my kids so she told us to take it for our garden. So we now have 2 sheds, a summerhouse, 2 compost bins and a herb garden!

We are getting there slowly - I just wish the weather would stay nice!!! But it is typical Scottish weather. Sunny one minute and thunderstorms the next!

So it's off to bed for me and then off in the morning to see the nurse about stopping smoking! That should give me some spare pennies to put in the fund for the dreams!!!

Goodnight all, sweet dreams xxx

Tuesday 21 July 2009

Composting for Newbies!

Well good evening all! I have decided to add this for any newbies who may stumble upon my lovely blog and are in need of some information or advice on home composting. I know I certainly found that when I started composting at home, I was unsure about what to put in the bin and what to dispose of in other manners.

Whilst browsing on the internet one day I stumbled upon a really informative site and wanted to let you all know about it. The website is www.gardenorganic.org.uk/composting and it is full of really useful information. I really devoured the section on home composting innovatively called "How to make compost"! Yes it really is that simple!

Anyway, I read this several times, and now I have a list pinned up on the wall of everything that can be put into the compost bin so that I never have to wonder and I just check the list if I am unsure about anything or if the kids ask what to do with their rubbish!

The article itself is pretty self explanatory but goes into details about exactly what can be composted and what cannot. In fact I'm off to my next door neighbour tomorrow to ask that the next time she is cleaning out her hamster, can she let me know and I'll put the waste sawdust into my compost bin to help the process along.

I was going to put a long list on here about what can and cannot be composted at home but I would really just be writing down what is already written on the website to won't go into too much detail. Although suffice to say I was surprised to find that hoover contents can be composted if it is mainly dust and that tumble drier fluff can also be put in as well! Needless to say, my tumble drier fluff is currently being collected in a spare kitchen caddy that I had lying around! I hate to bin anything that can be re-used!

I'm lucky that I have all girls as the clothes tend to get passed down, and we have managed to get quite a lot from freecycle lately. So once the little one has outgrown them, they really are not worth doing much with! Although I do tend to take them down to the fabric bank if they really are that bad. I have taken a lot of her stuff down to the charity shop but am going to start keeping it all for a massive car boot near to christmas, to see how much I can get rid of and make some money towards the kids christmas. My books get listed on play.com and that is being kept towards buying books for the kids for christmas. Same thing with DVDs that we don't need any more. I must get round to getting shot of the old computer games as well. I have several cameras that do not work any more that I must list on a certain website to see if I can get anything for them.

I'm even knitting towards christmas pressies! The two little ones only have one teacher each so they have a hand made scarf each so far. I'm in the process of knitting a jumper for my best friend and am making more scarves for various other people as well. I really must make a list and start ticking things off when they are done. I'm also making mobile phone cases for the two oldest and for a few other people too. They are so easy and are really done within a day. In fact I made 3 in one day and that was just going back to it a few times. I will take some photos of the finished articles and post them just for some extra artwork!!!

Right I must get my behind off to bed as I have the dentist tomorrow morning so really need to get myself some sleep!

Night night all, sweet dreams to you all xxx

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Oops - Big apologies!!!

Well it has been around 8 weeks since I was last on to post any messages and I feel absolutely awful that it has been so long. But all that has been going on at home has really taken up our time and left me pretty much no time for much else. Just the odd checking of emails and thats been about it.

We did have some good news. Because hubby is ex-forces, SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association) agreed to help us get the things that we just could not afford to buy. So in the space of 2 weeks we had carpets fitted on our stairs, hallways and 3 bedrooms AND got a brand new cooker. The cooker we had was given to us and was really not big enough for our family but it was keeping us going. Now that we have a brand new one, the cooking is so much quicker and easier and better. And I felt so good when we got the carpets and the cooker, although the house is still recovering!!! Mess everywhere lol.

And then 5 weeks ago we got a kitten from our next door neighbour and she has been named Sapphire on account that she has blue eyes. However she is now about 12 weeks old and a complete and utter psycho!!! My hands are bitten and scratched all over!!! The kids are loving the kitten and she has certainly become a part of the family very quickly but she uses me like a scratching post lol.
My dad gave me a huge bag of shredded paper for my compost bin which is starting to look like a compost bin. It was about half full by the time all the paper went in!! But it has certainly started mulching down as we had a few days of rain and I left the lid off the bin for those days as the flies were starting to annoy the heck out of me lol. I do have a fair collection of tumble drier fluff to put in but am waiting till there is more veggie peelings to go in before the fluff goes in. We did put all the paper in but I made a large pot of exceptionally strong coffee which went in as well to wet it all down! Hubby said it was a waste of good coffee but it was the value cheapy stuff so when he found that out he sure changed his tune!!!

On the down side we got an electricity bill for over £1000 for 6 months!!! Have now spoken to the company and established that we have been on the wrong tarriff since we moved in and they have admitted it was their fault that none of our calls were actioned. So in the process of writing a stiff complaint letter and will see what happens with that!

There has been other stuff happening but not going to go into those just now lol. Am in the process of writing a complete list of all that I put in my compost bin to help others who are new to the process and are not quite sure of what can go in other than veggie peelings. I know a few folk who are a bit unsure of what else can go in their bins and their bins are not getting on the same as mine. I do have two but am only using the one at the moment. Am considering getting another one and getting it delivered to my mum's house so that I have 3 going. One to fill, one to mulch down and one to use! But it will take a while to fill one so will wait and see how it goes!

Right, am off to try and get this list into some kind of order. I think I will just have to add the link as it would be much easier lol.

See you all very soon, this time I intend to keep up with this, it's quite therapeutic lol.