A little bit of everything

Was invited at a friend today and I did not know what to bring. She has great grand children and the weather was sunny today so I quickly whipped up some reusable crochet water balloons in the train on my way there. The boys loved them, the eldest was rubbing it against his face as they are so soft. Explained to them how to use them (like a sponge give them a good soak in a bucket of water until they are saturated with water) and within 5 minutes they were throwing them at each other. I used the pattern from left in knots and some Bernat blanket yarn. The balloons are washing machine washable and can be dried on low heat in the dryer. They are super quick and fun to make. 

My kittens have been living with me for almost a year. Everyday I have to clean the litter trays to avoid the dreaded smell of a multi cat household.  Recently with the high temperature, I had to clean the litter trays twice a day. Don’t know about you but it’s not my favourite job in the world. It’s messy, smelly and even if I buy non dusty litter, I still end up having problem breathing because of the dust. I also have been having problems with clumping litter transforming into clay after the cats use it. I have spend months producing different mixes of clumping and non clumping litter together to avoid this problem. Also I was horrified by the amount of plastic I was using to do it (2 plastic bags a day plus a big black bin bag when changing the whole litter). As I wanted to make cleaning the litter tray easier. I went on Petplanet and looked what they offered as a solution. I found a self cleaning tray for less than £40 and some flushable, organic, non toxic and 99% dust free l...

As I tackled the washing powder, I was still left with the problem of the clothing conditioner. Did some research, thanks Google, and found the wonders of distilled white vinegar. Tried it a few times and it worked. I got more adventurous and I added some lemon essential oil. There was a nice lemony smell when the washing machine was on but it did not last on the clothes. I used: 568ml of distilled white vinegar (Tesco’s own is 39p/bottle) 30-40 drops of essential oil Give it a good mix each time before using it, pour as much as you want in the conditioner draw. So I started to pour some essential oil on a wet rag and added it to the dryer and that worked better. At the minute I use lavender oil and it smells so nice in the house.

It all started in December when my washing machine decided that it was going to back up in the sink. In itself there is nothing major but the washing powder, full of chemicals, and the conditioner, full of chemicals and animal fat (did not know about that one until I did some research), were swirling in the sink. Did I forget to mention that my 2 fur kids like to play with water in the sink. I found them paws in the water, needless to say that I wash their paws as thouroughly as I could. I then googled what was in the washing powder and conditioner and like any parents I got scared. To start with I looked at the plumbing and there was nothing there. I also talked to a pumbler and he said I should get a pipe just for the washing machine running next to the sink pipe. Sounds like a lot of work and it is, it’s also pretty expensive. I thought I found the solution by putting a wash bowl in the sink except that little cats paws where still able to play with the water on the side of th...

One of the reason why I want to stop using chemicals in the house is my fur family. I share the house with 2 kittens, there are nice enough to let me share their space, and sometimes some cat houseguests. So let me introduce you to Piper. She loves playing fetch with hair band and crocheting. And Max, he likes food, preferably human food, and smelling flowers.

In the last year, I was surviving and not living. My life took a couple of turns that I did not plan and all I managed to do was keeping my head just above the water to breath. But I say no more of that.... it is time to take back my life and live not just survive. So I found a job closer to home and that is done, no more 3 hours commute everyday. I also decided to cut on my use of chemical products in the house.