IGNORE THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE at all costs!!!!!

This is a message with no reason and no meaning. it is a message that must be said. It is a message that cannot see the light of day, so read it in the dark, behind closed curtains. When this message reaches you, you will realise that the message I sent to you last time was more important than this message. This message is completely useless. When you have read this message, do not bother to read it, please dispose of it in an environmentally  friendly way. If you do this, this does not mean that this message has a green message, as this message means nothing. It will just mean that when you ignore my suggestion, to not read this daft message, it will not even cause a blip on the earth to cause any damage. Thankyou for ignoring this message.

Recycle my heart

Its interesting with all the talk of the three R’s: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, it wasn’t until earlier tonight that I realised the most important thing that needed to be re-used or recycled was my own heart. I had always looked down on myself and my own needs, putting many of them on a back burner, ignoring my own heart. I don’t see myself as a martyr, merely as someone that didn’t value himself very much, pushing others’ needs higher than my own. Often I would wear myself out to the point of breaking and beyond, ignoring warning signs to health issues, both mental and physical.

For the past 15 months this has been changing, slowly but surely. The way I see myself has been changing for the better. It took a very special person to bring this change about. This special person now shares my life, home, good times and sad times. With him in my life, I have been learning to see myself through his eyes.

They say walk a mile in someone’s shoes in order to understand them, but I take size 10 and he takes “nearly” an 8, so that couldn’t work. I see the sparkle in his eyes when he looks at me. I feel his love for me in every word he utters, his caress sends electric shivers across my body.

My heart has found a new use, one that is so intense and amazing that it overflows from me,  and filtering out to others. I see myself through his eyes, and I’m beginning to see myself in a new light. I accept myself and feel complete.

Don’t be settled with second best, hold out for someone that can recycle your feelings and create something new and strong. Go on, you’re special, you deserve it too.

xx

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,200 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 53 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

eyePad 2 (pack) easier on the eyes

Well, yes, I’ve done it again, first it was the eggs-box £3.60, now its the eyePad2 (pack)

eyePad 2 (pack)eye-aps

It even has its own eye-aps, all designed to stop eye strain.

eye-aps

Nice packaging which contains the eye-pads, two of them… hence….eyePad 2(pack)

cleansing eye pads

Don’t you love playing with words……I DO

 

 

Obviously this is purely for a giggle for a friend, not to be sold, re-distributed for any monetary gain. There is no intention to infringe on any copyright laws. 

Money saving tips No5- “recycled scoop”

It’s funny how things come to you when it’s needed. I was in the kitchen, thinking of writing another money-saving tip, I was doing the washing, the washing-up, as well as half a dozen other jobs all at once. I was about to put the washed tins and bottles in the recycling, when an idea popped in my head from the past. i can’t remember where the idea originated, probably some children’s programme from years ago.

The empty, clean, plastic milk bottle triggered the memory. With a little bit of scissor-work this could turn into something useful…..”where is Edward Scissorhands when you need him”.

Use some nice sharp kitchen scissors to make a slit in the side of the bottle, take care as the waxy plastic can slip against the scissors without cutting it. Its important here not to be tempted to use your best sewing scissors, as the plastic could well blunt those precision blades. Then insert the scissors and cut at an angle as in the picture.

Make sure you keep the bottle lid on, this will not only strengthen the scoop while you cut it, but will stop anything falling out when using it as a scoop. Finally, once you’ve trimmed and sharp edges, you can always use a little fine sandpaper to remove any sharp bits, your scoop is ready to use.

It is great as a cat litter pooper scooper, or, not using the same one obviously, as a dry pet food scoop.  Depending on the size of the bottle, you could use it for horse pellets too. The small one could be used for flour, sugar or any other baking ingredients.

Something i just realised as I started to write this blog, it can also act as a funnel for whatever you scoop, just tip the funnel back, with the bottle cap over any jar or bowl, and carefully remove the cap, easy!

I took my new scoop to my partners garage, and a good idea too, because unknown to me, that morning he had flattened the scoop that he used for the oil spill soak-up grit……perfect timing, Job done! 

I think I’ll make one for a friend of mine that likes gardening, should be good for potting the compost…..without any mess.

Tell me what you use yours for……

Money Saving Tips No4- “Maximise your Motorised”

Today with the cost of living on the increase almost daily, its easy to miss simple ways we can save money. One area that is extremely costly is motoring. Modern civilization is built around the car. Having one is expensive, not having one is at best awkward, at worst downright impossible.

There are many obvious ways to cut down the costs of running a car. In the UK you could get a small engined car with very low emissions, thereby reducing or in some cases legally avoiding road tax altogether. A smaller engined car can have better fuel economy. A diesel engined car can be more fuel-efficient, but diesel is more expensive in the UK.

Well here are some simple tips to get the most out of your car, while spending as little as possible on fuel.

• Empty your boot/trunk: It is a fact that the more stuff you carry around in the car, the harder the engine has to work to carry it, and therefore more fuel is burned. I’m not suggesting you leave the kids at home on their own to cut down on fuel, though you may enjoy the journey more without backseat arguing lol
• Remove roof racks and top boxes: These cause excessive drag on the car, again making your engine work harder. Only fit them when you need to use them. If you use it to go on holiday, once you arrive, remove it and keep it in your accommodation.
• Ensure that your tires have their correct air pressure: low tire pressure will also decrease the fuel efficiency of your engine.
• Turn off your air-conditioning (if you have the weather to use it lol): Your aircon and all the electrics in your car put more demand on your engine too. If you’re lucky enough to live in a warm climate, open the windows on both sides of the car to let the air flow through.
• Drive efficiently: If you are more careful when driving you can reduce the amount of fuel used. If you can avoid busy times, you will miss the traffic jams and avoid wasting fuel sitting around with the engine running. When on the motorway/freeway, allow yourself more time and reduce your speed to 55mph, this is the speed that you get the best fuel consumption figures out of your engine.
• Change your fuel: If you drive a diesel engine car, consider using bio-diesel, its cheaper and is less harmful to the environment. The performance of your car may reduce slightly, but its worth it. (seek professional advice first).
• If you’re waiting to pick a friend or family member up from somewhere, they may take some time saying their goodbyes, turn your engine off and save fuel.
• Get you car serviced regularly and keep the oil topped up, make sure your car is running the best it can.
• Combine journeys: If you need to go shopping, time the trip to coincide with dropping the kids off at school or with other errands. Reducing the amount of journeys and mileage covered.

I’m sure there are other ways to reduce fuel consumption, I hope at least some of these are of help to you.

xx

Money saving tip No3- “pickled again”

Well I’m back again with more money saving tips. This time the idea came from my last posting about jars. I absolutely love pickles, and often have a large jar of Gherkins (dill pickles) or pickled onions in the cupboard.

As soon as they are finished, I pour the vinegar away down the sink…..WHY…it’s perfectly good pickling vinegar. I now give it an extra couple of goes before I throw it away.

Clean the jar and fill with the vegetable of your choice, onions, cauliflower, even wild garlic. Strain the vinegar through muslin, to remove the bits and pieces, add mustard seeds and a few cumin seeds for a spicier flavour, and pour over the vegetables in a jar.

Hey presto….more pickles.

Money saving tip No2- “Unscrew your screws”

Whenever I am doing any DIY jobs around the home I always seem to spend haf the time looking for the correct screw, bolt, drill bit or rawplug. I recently priced up one of those sectioned boxes with a lid and also a small set of craft drawers to keep all the DIY fixings in and decided that as good as they are, I would need several of them to keep all the bits I needed, separate and sorted. Then I remembered back to my childhood and a trick I came up with to help my Dad keep his home workshop tidy.

Glass Jars

You might say..” obvious!” but the idea doesn’t end there, The important thing is to collect the jars that have metal lids. The lids are stronger than the plastic ones and won’t buckle under the weight of the jar when filled with screws.

Once you have your jars unscrew the lids and, using an appropriately sized screw, fix the lid underneath a cupboard or shelf. Then it is a simple matter of screwing the jar back onto the fixed lid.

Presto instant free, adaptable storage. The bonus is that you can see what is inside, you can label the jar with the screw sizes, and it is a simple job to remove the jar to take it to the DIY task you are doing, in the full knowledge that you have the correct size screws.

A friend of mine adapted this to a slightly different use….

Instant shelf mounted vase.

Have fun and see what uses you can come up with for your old jars.

Recycle, re-use, adapt……save money by being creative.

Money saving tip No1- “From bed to flower bed……”

I was going to post this in my space-saving series….but decided to start a new category, “Money Saving” series. All we hear at the moment is how much everything is increasing in cost, food seems like it’s increasing by the minute…..well there are many ways to save money, create money and make things just plain cheaper than the shops can do it. This series of blogs will look at ways to recycle, alter, make, change the use of all sorts of things from the home.

This first blog in this series is entitled “from bed to flower bed….”

I recently came to the conclusion that my long-suffering sofa bed was probably coming to the end of its life, after several years of good service. A few of the slats had broken, leaving gaps under the mattress that could cause you to slip down between the good slats. I won’t go into the reasons behind the broken slats, needless to say some of them are down to the passions of my new relationship. Also the foam mattress, which was only meant for occasional use has been squashed and compacted to the point of no return.

I had looked up alternative sofa beds on the internet, ones that were modern when in sofa form, and provided a nice comfy double bed when deployed……nothing less that the £400 mark could be found anywhere.

Then a friend said she was getting rid of her double bed in her spare room so she could turn it into a full-time office for her photography business: http://www.caffimages.co.uk/ . She had already removed the bed base, was selling the mattress and was preparing to use the slats on the garden fire. When she heard my plight, she offered me the replacement slats, which were greatly received.

I spent a day removing the old slats and rather flimsy fixings. Then fitted the new wooden slats to the metal frame using a drill and self-tapping screws. The bed has been fixed and is stronger, and a lot quieter lol.

The old slats were going to take the place of the new ones on the garden fire….until I had a brainwave……WOVEN FENCE panels!

I had enough slats to make two panels, they even have the legs which will easily slot down into the ground for support. I just need to add a retaining screw in each corner and they are done. They should last a good while in the garden because of the gluing process used when they were laminated.

FREE: newly revitalised sofa bed frame.

FREE: new ornamental garden fence panels.

The new fence panels will be on their way back to Chriss as a thankyou for the fixed bed, as well as some tasty yellow courgettes she gave me from her beautiful garden. Thanks Chriss,hope you like the new fencing XXXX

Ikebana – the art of Japanese flower arranging

 

IKEBANA

 

Perfection picked,

The beauty of nature laid before kimono clad figure.

Creation blooming from within,

A mirror of inner peace.

Dexterity guiding life, yet

Contemplation and “wholeness” moulding form.