iPad 2 Giveaway

Smart Apps for kids are giving away a wifi and 3G capable iPad, go http://www.smartappsforkids.com/2012/09/ipad-no-16.html?utm_source=Copy+of+ConstantContact%3A+Historypin+%26+Beginning+Phonics&utm_campaign=CC1&utm_medium=email

Shopping and more

So I have searched high and low in my house for my over locker foot control to no avail. I have called a place in Geelong that can hopefully help me, I just have to wait a few weeks and he will get back to me.

I went to the op shop today and got heaps of jocks (am planning on toilet training Michael starting Monday as it is school holidays), socks and a board to kneel on while gardening. I also went to a garage sale and scored a Black and Decker Multi-Mix Blender and heaps of wool and some cotton. I plan on making more dish/cleaning cloths with the cotton and socks with the wool.

What I got from the garage sale

 I tested the mixer out by making bread. It wasn't so good with the bread but the I do have a bread maker so will just keep using them. Not sure if it was the machine or me as I have tried to make bread in the past and it turned out flat then too. I also made some beef stock (in the slow cooker over night). I now need to make vegetable stock and then I will have a full draw full of stock (have chicken and beef and a little vegetable).

Beef stock made 7 cups

To top it off homemade pizza for tea

Organizing and other stuff

I am back. I forgot a few times to do my blog and I have fallen way behind the challenges, so I am saving them for another time as I need to be doing other stuff at the moment. Still organizing the house bit by bit but in my own way.

Birthday card folder

Extra cards leftover after organizing
my birthday card folder

Sewing desk

We also celebrated Michael's 3rd birthday. He is now 3 so no more babies in this household. We held it at Kaotic Kids (an indoor playground) and the staff were great.

Birthday boy having a ball

I also made a calcium supplement for the chickens.

I have also sorted out my snaps as the kids tipped them out ages ago and I haven't had a chance to sort them out until know.

Tea for tonight was a ginger and orange corned beef and it was very yummy along with a sauce.

20 days to organise & clean your home challenge Day 1

Well today was Day 1 of 20 days to organise & clean your home challenge. So what is the first challenge? To clean the kitchen.

Nothing like cleaning the fridge or stove or anything like that, just the normal everyday stuff like dishes, cleaning the microwave and dusting etc.

So first up is wash the dishes, which I do with my regular routines anyway (I leave them to dry in the rack and I put them away before I do the next lot), then to do the benches and the cupboard doors.

Next is the microwave, give it a good clean (mine hasn't been cleaned in a while), wipe over the walls and the windows and windowsills and then to dust the light bulb (I don't have a light fitting over my lightbulb in the kitchen as yet).

The next step The Organised Housewife recommends is to declutter. I did this when I did my Pantry cleanout and organised cupboards so I will skip this one as I know it is satisfactory.

Organising is the next step, I want to get some baskets as The Organised Housewife has here. I have to do groceries today so will try to get some then. They will come in handy for a few things.

My new habit is to do wash the dishes before I settle down to relax of the evening and today I will try to spend 5 minutes tidying one of the bookshelves in the lounge.

Before lounge bookshelf cupboard

I will post pics on tomorrows blog of the afters of everything I have done.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 2 of the challenge.

yeserday I took advantage of the nice weather we have been getting and have done some gardening.

Front garden Before

Front garden After

Dishwashing and more

I just tried to make my own dishwashing detergent of sorts by filling my tea infuser with some grated soap I had made and grated ahead of time.

It worked well. I opened it up as pictured below and scooped up the soap with the tea infuser until it was that full that it was still open a little. I then pushed it down (the soap is grated finely) so that the soap was packed firmly in and then I held it  under hot water. When there was enough water in the sink I also swished it around in the water, keeping it under the running tap until I had enough water in the sink. This resulted in a lot more bubbles that stayed longer (they were still there when I finished the dishes).

I am very happy with this, although I will still buy dishwashing liquid otherwise hubby will not help with the dishes and we can't have that.

I also finished my dishcloth, although due to the holes and the fact that I am only new to this, I am thinking of making this into a cleaning cloth.

All I need to do know is get either a tapestry/darning needle or a crochet hook and weave the ends in and then I am done.

20 days to organise & clean your home challenge Pre Challenge Task 5

Last night I finally filled up my container with vegetable peelings (go here to see) so I put them in my slow cooker and filled it with water to nearly cover all the peel and then put some salt in and gave it a stir. I then put it on low and left it to cook overnight and in the morning I got up to the smell of vegetable stock. I then bagged them up and put them in the freezer. It made 5 cups of stock.

Beef stock bagged up and ready to go in the freezer

Filling up that container was the perfect amount for vegetable stock, but if I was to do beef or chicken stock I would need half or less vegetable peelings. Next time I fill up the container I will make sure I have a chicken and beef bones available for the stock.

Todays Pre Challenge is to set goals and to get sorting containers for when I go through each room. I need one for the items I want to keep, donate, sell and for the rubbish.

Really, when I clean I use shopping bags for items I want to donate and large garbage bags for the rubbish, so that leaves sorting containers for the items that I want to keep that are in the wrong area and items I want to sell. Not sure about the selling items as most things I just donate to charity. May give that one a miss at the moment.

I ended up picking up this from Bargain Basement.

MY GOALS
I want to feel content when I am at home.
I want to spend more time with my kids, in the garden and doing craft.
I want an area in the home where I can sew and do craft without distraction
I want to organise my whole house
I always lose my keys
Something that I don't need anymore, but am having trouble parting with is my makeup and other facial cleansing items (I can easily make do with half of what I have and I don't wear makeup) and some of my clothing (have way more then I can wear in a year.

Stay tuned Monday for Day 1 of 20 days to organise & clean your home challenge.

Todays routine is as follows:

MORNING ROUTINE

My room 7.00 – 7.05am

6.00am  Make bed

6.03am  Open curtains

6.05am  Take dirty washing out

Bathroom 7.10 – 7.15am

6.10am  Swish and swipe

6.13am  Tidy

6.15am  Take dirty washing out

Dining room 7.15am

6.15am  Open curtains

Lounge room 7.15 – 7.20am

6.30am  Open curtains

6.33am  Tidy

6.35am  Take dirty washing out

Laundry 7.20am

6.20am  Put a load of washing on

Kitchen 7.25 – 7.40am

6.25am  Make bread

6.28am  Make breakfast for boys

6.30am  Make lunch for school

6.33am  Put dishes away from last night

6.38am  Wipe benches etc

6.40m  Sweep

Boys room 7.40 – 7.45am

6.40am  Make beds

6.42am  Open curtains

6.43am  Get school clothes out

6.45am  Take dirty washing out

Dining room 7.45am

6.45am  Wipe table

Other 7.45 – 8.20am

7.45am  Change Michael’s nappy

7.48am  Get dressed and do hair

7.50am My breakfast

8.30am  Hang washing

WEEKLY HOME BLESSING 8.30am - 9.30am

8.30am Remove cobwebs

8.40am Dust house

8.50am Strip & remake beds

9.00am Vacuum house

9.10am Clean bathroom & toilet

9.20am Sweep and mop kitchen, bathroom and toilet

9.30am Clean fish tank

AFTERNOON ROUTINE

Kitchen 12.00 – 12.30pm

12.00pm Lunch

12.20pm Wash dishes

12.25pm Wipe benches etc

12.30pm Sweep

Dining room 12.38pm 12.35pm Wipe table

12.38pm Vacuum/carpet sweep under table

Laundry 12.40pm

12.40pm Sort washing if needs to be done

Other 12.45 – 3.00pm

12.45pm Study

3pm PUPA whole house

Boys room 3.15pm – 12.38pm

3.15pm Make bed

3.18pm Open curtains

Other 3.20pm

3.20pm Get washing off line

EVENING ROUTINE

My room 5.00pm

5.00pm Close curtains

Boys room 5.05 – 5.08pm

5.05pm Close curtains

5.08pm Put heater on

Dining room 5.10pm

5.10pm Close curtains

5.13pm Wipe table

5.15pm Vacuum/carpet sweep under table

5.20pm Tidy room

5.25pm Take dirty washing out

Kitchen 5.30 – 5.45pm

5.30pm Start dinner

5.35pm Wash dishes

5.40pm Wipe benches etc

5.45pm Sweep

Lounge room 5.50pm

5.50pm Close curtains

6PM EAT TEA

Kitchen 7.00pm

7.00pm Dry dishes

7.05pm Wash dishes

7.10pm Wipe benches etc

7.15pm Sweep

7.20pm Meat out for tomorrow night

Will see how it goes and what needs to be changed.

20 days to organise & clean your home challenge Pre Challenge Task 4

I know have my cleaning kits all sorted until I think of something else to add to it.

Bathroom and general cleaning kit

Kitchen cleaning kit

I have also made some extra cheese sauce last night when I made tea, which is what I will try to do each time I make a sauce I will make double quantity so that when we need a quick and easy meal we can just cook some pasta and get the sauce out and it should defrost and heat up quickly and easily.

Extra cheese sauce I made up to freeze

In the fridge just in case we want it for lunch

Todays pre challenge task is to create an evening routine, so here is mine.

My room 5.00pm

5.00pm Close curtains

Boys room 5.05 – 5.08pm

5.05pm Close curtains

5.08pm Put heater on

Dining room 5.10pm

5.10pm Close curtains

5.13pm Wipe table

5.15pm Vacuum/carpet sweep under table

5.20pm Tidy room

5.25pm Take dirty washing out

Kitchen 5.30 – 5.45pm

5.30pm Start dinner

5.35pm Wash dishes

5.40pm Wipe benches etc

5.45pm Sweep

Lounge room 5.50pm

5.50pm Close curtains

6PM EAT TEA

Kitchen 7.00pm

7.00pm Dry dishes

7.05pm Wash dishes

7.10pm Wipe benches etc

7.15pm Sweep

7.20pm Meat out for tomorrow night

Stay tuned tomorrow for pre challenge task #5.

20 days to organise & clean your home challenge Pre Challenge Task 3

Todays pre task challenge is to develop a morning routine. So here is mine and I also made one for the two bigger boys and I will slowly get Michael to do one as he is not quite 3 yet.

My Morning Routine is as below:

My room 6.00 – 6.05am

6.00am  Make bed

6.03am  Open curtains

6.05am  Take dirty washing out

Bathroom 6.10 – 6.20am

6.10am  Swish sink

6.13am  Swipe toilet

6.15am  Tidy

6.18am  Sweep

6.20am  Take dirty washing out

Dining room 6.25am

6.30am  Open curtains

Lounge room 6.30 – 6.35am

6.30am  Open curtains

6.33am  Tidy

6.35am  Take dirty washing out

Laundry 6.40am

6.40am  Put a load of washing on

Kitchen 6.50 – 7.13am

6.50am  Make bread

6.55am  Make breakfast for boys

7.00am  Make lunches for school and kinder

7.05amam  Put dishes away from last night

7.10am  Wipe benches etc

7.13am  Sweep

Boys room 7.15 – 7.25am

7.15am  Make beds

7.18am  Open curtains

7.20am  Get school and/or kinder clothes out

7.25am  Take dirty washing out

Dining room 7.30 – 7.33am

7.30am  Wipe table

7.33am  Vacuum/carpet sweep under table

Other 8.05 – 8.20am

7.35am  Change Michael’s nappy

7.40am  Get dressed and do hair

7.50am My breakfast

8.00am  Hang washing

8.20am  Kinder and school drop off

Boys morning routine

Stay tuned for pre challenge task #4

20 days to organise & clean your home challenge Pre Challenge Task 2

So todays pre challenge task has been done ahead of time without me realising it. I have 3 cleaning kits already (minus a few items I am needing to get hold of). I have a bathroom, kitchen and general cleaning kit.

I got my cleaning kit from Rhonda's blog. In it I have a shaker with bicarb soda, a spray bottle with vinegar and also with window cleaner, rags, a toothbrush and rubber gloves. I still need to get scrubbing brushes of all sizes for these cleaning kits and I am also in the process of knitting cleaning cloths for these kits also, but in the meantime I am using whatever rags I have available at the moment.

Bathroom and general cleaning kit

Kitchen cleaning kit

I also have an old juice bottle filled with laundry liquid and all-purpose cleaner I got also got from Rhonda's blog to use for general cleaning purposes as well as a spray bottle (and bottles on the kitchen sink ready to be used) of this homemade citrus cleaner.

Citrus cleaner waiting to go in spray bottle

Ideally I would vacuum or sweep the main areas of my house (lounge room, dining room, sunroom and passage from sunroom to dining room) 2-3 days a week and the kitchen and under the dining room table minimum daily.

To mop I use either water and vinegar or if the floor is especially dirty I would use this floor cleaner.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Pre Challenge Task #3.

20 days to organise & clean your home challenge Pre Challenge Task 1

I have decided to take on The Organised Housewife's 20 days to organise & clean your home challenge. This means I will need a few supplies (will get them with groceries).
I will need:

• Ring binder
• Pack of 5 dividers

I have the other 2, which are 40 pieces of A4 paper and a printer.

So I have done pre challenge task #1 to get ready for for the 20 days challenge.

Tomorrow I will do pre challenge task #2, so stay tuned.

I took my soaps out of the moulds today and they look good.

I will clean up the stuff I used for the soaps and might make another lot, but add poppy seeds instead.

As I am doing groceries today I have done my meal plan for the week.

Monday - Beef casserole in slow cooker with rice.
Tuesday - Tuna pasta bake with veg
Wednesday - Slow cooker corned beef with veg
Thursday - Chicken chowder with scones
Friday - Steak and veg with semolina pudding
Saturday - Spaghetti bolognaise
Sunday - Quiche with veg

Soaps

I used the Creamy Scrubber in the Down to Earth and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!

This is how well the creamy scrubber works.

Soap making. I thought it wouldn't take long to come to trace with my electric mixer, but turns out it is quicker with a stick blender. I thought I got rid of mine but hubby informed me tonight that we still had it in the shed. YAY!!

The basic process is to obviously get everything you are going to use out, ready and then weigh all the ingrediants (checkout Rhonda's blog for the full instructions with copha, which is what I used or this one uses less Olive Oil and some Rice Bran Oil).

Everything out ready for soap making

All the ingrediant weighed out

I then added the caustic soda to the water (it will automatically heat up) and then put the saucepan on the heat to melt the copha and heat the oil. You want both the oil and the caustic soda/water mixture to be at 50 degrees celcius at the same time. I put the saucepan on high heat ane then once the copha is half melted (only half is left in the block) I turn the heat off and then when there is only a little bit left I take it off the heat (normally by this time it is around 65 degrees celcius) and then leave it until it goes down to 50 degrees celcius (once it is off the heat it wont take long to get to 50 degrees celcius), then make sure the caustic soda/water mixture is also 50 degrees celcius and then this is when you add the oil to the caustic soda/mixture and mix.

I used an electric mixer this time, but it took too long to get to trace so I will be using a stick mixer next as it only takes a few minutes with them.

Once the soap gets to trace (you will know when it gets to trace when you see ripples from were the spoon/stick mixer has been form and stay for a bit rather then disappear straight away. See the picture below) you can either add extras to the soap (I added 50g pumice powder for a gritty soap for my husband who is a dairy farmer). I would not recommend adding anything until you have made a few batches of soap under your belt.

Notice how the mixture has a slight indent from the beater,
this is what trace looks like

Now it is time to pour the soap into moulds. I use silicon moulds for baking as my soap moulds.

These are the moulds I have

I poured the soaps in the moulds and then put them in a safe place were it cans it for a few months (my dressing table) and then covered them with baking paper. I then covered them again with 2 rugs. You dont have to use rugs you could use small towels. Just something to insulate the moulds so the soaps can harden better.

Soap moulds

Soaps on my dressing table covered in baking paper

Soaps covered in 2 rugs

As all my moulds are small and I dont need to cut any of the soaps smaller, I will leave them for a few days (if I can be that patient lol) before I take them out of the moulds, but if you were to use a bigger mould like a cake or bread tin or something like that then it is advisable to check your soaps about 15 hours or so after pouring them in the moulds. If they are still to soft to come out you can put them in the freezer for about half an hour and then take them out of the freezer and out of the moulds. Once they are out of the moulds, you can then cut them up to whatever size you want.