Not your 1960's washing machine...

 Did you know that it is 2010...and along with all the great advances we have had in medicine and technology we also have great washing machines.  No, not the fancy pants ones that wash, dry and fold your clothes, but the regular ones that we all use.  Apparently our washing machines are so efficient these days that most of the work is done in the way it spins and swishes and not in the ammount of washing powder you use.  

Choice magazine conducted some tests and found that you can get just as good (sometimes better) washing results by using a 1/4 of the washing powder reccomended on the box.  So apparently we are all using too much washing powder/liquid! 

And if you use more than the recommended dose (just cause you are feeling generous that day) it will actually make your washing machine work inefficiently.

So do something for the environment and your wallet and try using a 1/4 of the powder/liquid that you would normally use in the wash.  

You can be even more brave and use no washing powder at all...its called a strip wash and I will test it myself and let you know how I go.

Nature and Nurture...

We were all struck down by a horrible virus last week, and in attempt to get some fresh air we headed to our favourite local park.  It is always fun to go to the park, but is now so much more fun that baby boy is big enough to actually 'play' at the park.  He played on the slide, with the music area and on the swing.  

I was listening to a radio program last week that talked about how our kids are really in danger of never having a relationship with nature.  The speaker said that because of a lack of green spaces that our kids can own and explore they will lose the chance to really feel comfortable with nature and all the gifts that that brings to a child.  I know how much baby boy just loves to go outside to play and I am so glad that we live in a country with weather that allows him to do that most of the time

My goal is to try and regularly take baby boy into nature so he can develop that 'relationship' with God's beautiful creations.  Does that mean camping?  I hope so! (hint...hint to man of the house)

My little blue cow

This is a very bad photo of my little blue cow 'delft' handpainted milk jug.  He looks a lot better in real life!  He was purchased in a cute little antique/shabby Chic store on Mount Tamborine.  I love antique stores in little villages.  

I love the idea of owning something that is really old and has not been mass produced.  One day, when we renovate our kitchen, I will have white benchtops and cute white shelves to display my antique finds.  But until then I have my little cow (which after searching the internet I found is not very old...and may not be very authentic) to remind me of sunny white kitchens where the dishes are always done and there is always time for afternoon tea.

Lights out and fairtrade chocolate

OK, So I know it was a few weeks ago now, but I haven't got to the blog in a while so I thought that I would fill you in on my spearmint green activites this month. 

The first was participating in Earth Hour on 27th March.  It started out great with me doing two Enjo Demo's during the day and encouraging everyone that I saw to turn out their lights that night at 8:30pm.  I really like Earth Hour because it is so simple to do and really reminds us that we don't have to be so reliant on electricity.  (Not that I am going to move to a power free home any time soon!).  When it came to me actually carrying out on my Earth Hour plan it was a little harder than I thought.  One reason was because it was just me and baby home by ourselves (and who wants to sit in the dark by themself), and the second reason was that I had a slight headache....which wan't helped by using the scented candles to light the room I was in.  I made it to about 45minutes and decided that having one small light on (so I could blowout the smelly candles) wouldn't be so bad ;0)  In my defence I am pretty power consciece anyway e.g. turning off standby appliances at the wall and making sure the minimum ammount of lights are on.  I mainly do this to reduce our electricity costs...which seem to be spiralling higher with each bill.  So that was Earth Hour.

The next event was Easter and me signing up to a facebook group which promised to only buy Fairtrade chocolate for Easter. (I probably should have reminded myself that joining a facebook group is not a binding legal contract).  Well it really wasn't easy to find fairtrade easter eggs...so most of my family received blocks of plain chocolate...and very little at that.  Man of the house and I also baked Easter Cookies which were a lot cuter than chocolate also.  I really agree with fairtrade principles, but am stuck by the fact that most fairtrade products aren't made in Australia...so it is a bit of a balancing act when trying to decide what brand to purchase.

So those were my two little greener projects this month.  It feels good to find a cause you identify with and try to contribute to it in even a very small way...

Reuse...

Last week I did something I have never done before.  I took two pair of trousers that don't fit me to a seamstress and had them tailored to fit.  After I had baby I lost a bit of weight and my body shape changed, which has resulted in none of the trousers in my wardrobe fitting me.  This has been so frustrating over the last six months as I have attempted to use belts or find new trousers with not much success.  So in the spirit of using less stuff (see previous post), I had my trousers tailored and they now fit like a dream, better than they ever did!  The whole process cost much less that buying 1 new pair of paints, and they wouldn't have fit this good anyway.  So tick one off the list of using less stuff...see a seamstress, I highly recommend it!

The story of stuff

I caught the end of an interview with Annie Leonard and thought I would check out her short movie "The story of stuff".  It was 20 minutes well spent (which I convinced man of the house to watch with me)!  I am really interested in the whole lifecyle of products and consumption, and often pick up products (like halloween glowsticks) and wonder if the world would be any different if we didn't make some poor kid in china make this so I can use it for 30 seconds at my once a year halloween party?  

I would love to be better at using less stuff and finding a better hobby than shopping and watching tv.  Watch the movie and let me know what you think...I am inspired...now what do I do?

Sunday morning's

February has come and gone already and I am trying to remember where it went?  But this month I did use my very quiet Sunday mornings to make baby boy a cute shirt to where to church.  There are a lot of tutorial's on the web for tie onsies, but since he is now one I used a shirt instead of a onsie and one of his Dad's unused hancherchiefs as the tie (which I think worked out great).

Plus it made a really cute photo!

I ironed the tie on with fusable interfacing (I think that's what it is called), and I hand stitched around the edges, which was a lot quiter than pulling out the sewing machine (and waking up sleeping baby).

Finished product: one cute baby boy in a white shirt and tie!