Being Mrs C

Supersoft Kids and the Smurfs

My first of the Supersoft Kids range was our postman handing over a very sodden package (inside one of those "Royal Mail are sorry plastic bags") and saying "I've no idea what this is,but it's damaged and smells delicious!"

I was kindly sent the Tropical Surge 2in1 shampoo and conditioner and the accompanying detangling spray to try and the postman was right, it smelt delicious - something like the sort of cocktail you might enjoy whilst lying in the sunshine on a sun-kissed beach - not the kind of thing I'd expect to think of when washing Little Miss C's hair!

The 2in1 works really well and certainly cleans LMC's hair and gets out all of the food that she's insistent to rub in at each meal. The detangling spray isn't something I'd usually use, but made combing her hair post-bath that bit easier. The bright coloured bottles also provided entertainment when she was in the bath and she also loved looking at the Smurf characters on the bottles - she's obviously not been exposed to many blue people locally!

Supersoft Kids 2in1 shampoo & conditioners offer a fresh and fun hair care range specifically designed for children, with an Intensive Care-Vitamin Complex. Available in two fruity varieties, Strawberry & Milk and Tropical Fruit the range also includes two detangling sprays, for use after washing.

The new The Smurfs movie was released on August 10th 2011.

Treasures from Trash

With it being holiday season Little Miss C and I are really doing the days out thing at the moment and our adventures this week took us to Luton and more specifically Stockwood Discovery Centre. 

If you're local and have not been before then it is a lovely free day out. The museum is vast, covering a wide range of exhibits from farming machinery to horse-drawn carriages, and there's also a lovely cafe, playground, grounds and the wider Country Park to explore.

The reason that took me to Stockwood this time was having heard about the Treasures from Trash exhibition that is on at the moment. I always like finding out more about environmental issues, and recycling is something that I'm particularly interested in. The exhibition looks at all the different ways in which new objets are created from what others might throw away. Some of the things featured were recycled objects that I was familiar with - reusable shopping bags from old carrier bags, art objects from old drinks cans and jewellery from bottle tops.

For me though one of the most fascinating parts of the exhibition was the videos showing recycling in some of the poorer parts of Africa. There people take whatever they can find and look to repurpose it, either for their own benefit, or to sell for money to help their families. Watching how hard these people were prepared to work to help their families was inspiring and really made me think again about the recent riots and looting in London and other British cities.

These people in Africa were poor. Properly poor (if you can use that term). Some of them didn't know where their next meal was coming from and their homes were very, very basic - especially by Western standards. However, they were prepared to do whatever it too to try to make their lives and family lives better. Cooking pots were made from old beans cans. A children's cart made from old plastic bottles. Toys made from old car tyres to be sold for money. You certainly didn't see them helping themselves to a new plasma TV or pair of trainers because they felt their Government has let them down. Why can't some people in this country realise that they can't have everything just handed to them. Have we really brought up a generation that isn't prepared to work for things? If so it's a sad state of affairs and I'm not sure how we reverse it...

The Treasures from Trash exhibition is on until 25 September 2011 at Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton.

Watching the units...

A couple of months ago I had a bit of a winning streak and was lucky enough to win three different blog competitions within the space of about two weeks. It was probably all my good luck for the year used up in that fortnight, but still, at least I got some good luck!

One of the prizes that I was most excited about came from the My Zero Waste blog and was an Owl Wireless Electricity Monitor. I've been after an electricity monitor for years (in fact since first starting on Green forums and blogs back in 2006/07) but the cost of one always put me off. When you look at how much energy bills are rising though the cost of one actually pales into insignificance!

 

This Owl monitor is so simple to use. You just clip one part onto one of the cables on your meter and then the second part can just be in the house with you; there is a wireless connection between the two. The house unit stores data on how much energy you are using and you can also connect it to your PC via USB and download the data to your computer so that you can examine it in more detail. Unfortunately the software doesn't work on a Mac so we are yet to use this functionality, but I can see that it would be super useful if you want to study just how much you are using and work out why.

The screen can tell you how much you are using at any one time and as well as measuring in kW (which are the units you will see on your electricity bill) you can also display the data in terms of the amount of carbon you are producing. Also displayed is the amount used since you last reset the device - a scary figure. The device also has the ability to program in the cost per unit so that you see how much it is all costing you. This works fine if your electricity company has a flat rate. If you (like us) get charged a different rate for the first X kWh it is a bit more tricky, but some simple maths can give you an average cost to put into your Owl.

Since having the Owl in the house I have really been thinking hard about what I am using when and am also much more aware of what devices are particularly energy hungry. The first time I looked at it when the kettle was on really scared me. Although I tried hard to be good before now I really do make sure I only boil enough water for what I need and also make sure I'm there to use the water as soon as it boils, rather than coming back five minutes later and reboiling the kettle to get the water up to temperature again.

I now wish I hadn't quibbled about the price of an energy monitor before as I am already seeing financial returns from this one in just two months of use. It won't be long before it has paid for itself in terms of savings on my bill, and there is also the positive effect on the environment to consider too. If everyone were to take steps to reduce their electricity consumption then it would make a huge impact in terms of the overall amount of carbon produced. It may only be a small step for each household, but all those small steps add up to quite a journey.

This is NOT a sponsored post - I just liked my Owl monitor so much that I wanted to tell other people about it. If you do want to buy a monitor yourself then please consider doing so via Amazon and this link, as doing so will not cost you any more, but will give me a few more pennies towards my electricity bill. Thank you.  

Gran and her biscuits.

When I started blogging here over three years ago I had no idea if people would actually read my blog or not. I certainly had no idea what would be popular with readers and I'm still amazed when I see what people searched for to come across my blog.

There is one post seems to attract more hits than all the others though - Gran's Ginger Biscuits. Now I know that they are completely delicious, but I didn't realise how many people were in search of ginger biscuit recipes! I've had some lovely comments and messages from people saying how much they like them, so if you haven't tried them yet make sure you do soon.

Yesterday would have been my Gran's birthday and it is the first year that we're without her. Quite what she would have made of all this fuss I have no idea. She always knew that her family loved her biscuits and she made sure there were always some in the tin for visitors. The idea of people around the world following her recipe and making them would have probably been beyond her comprehension. I just wish she was still here so I could try to explain it all to her!

Rainy day drawing

Entertaining an active toddler on a rainy day when you're stuck in the house is not an easy thing. Little Miss C loves nothing more than running about the garden so when it starts raining at breakfast and continues in a monsoon fashion all day it's tricky to know how to keep her occupied.

At 14 months she's not really old enough to do any drawing herself yet but that didn't stop me getting out some paper and wax crayons earlier today. Whilst she had a few problems coordinating holding the crayon and making contact with the paper she was completely fascinated to see me drawing pictures. It's years since I did any drawing and I found I was really enjoying it and she seemed to too. 

As is always the case with small children the most fun seemed to come from putting the crayons back in the plastic tub. If it hadn't been for my enjoyment I might not have bothered with the paper next time!

Animals, water and Pooh

Since receiving a copy of Kiddiwalks we've been enjoying some lovely days out at local places that we hadn't even realised existed until now. This week's adventure took us to Aldenham Country Park on the outskirts of Elstree. Aldenham is council owned and run (at present - I hear rumours that may be to change early in 2012) and as well as there being plenty of green space there is also a large lake with sailing and a small farm.

One of the big benefits of a council run place like this is that it doesn't have the steep admission costs that many of the children's farms do. Instead you just pay for parking - making it quite a cheap family day out.

Little Miss C goes completely mad for all animals these days and she was completely in her element going round the farm. At each enclosure she stood there pointing through the fence and saying so much either to or about the animals or birds in there. I just wish we understood what she says more!

As well as the large lake to walk around (complete with ducks - another of LMC's favourite things!) there is also 100 Aker Wood to explore. Now I admit that this is a bit beyond LMC at her age, but she still loved having more outdoor space to explore and it gave Mum and Dad some more interesting things to look at. We'll just have to remember it for when she moves on to read Winnie the Pooh as I can see it being a pretty exciting place to visit at that stage.

After all - Christopher Robin wasn't in when we visited so we need to call again.

With No One as Witness - Elizabeth George

I have been so completely captivated by Elizabeth George's With No One as Witness recently that it's hard to remember reading anything else before it. It's a big book, with over 600 pages, but not once did I feel that it was dragging or anything - in fact, it was the complete opposite. I loved this book and didn't want it to end at all. It is one of the most engaging pieces of crime fiction that I've read in a long time.

There is a serial killer on the lose in London and Inspector Lynley and his team at the Metropolitan Police are trying to find him without much success. As the body-count increases so does the pressure from both Lynley's superiors and the media. These things are never straightforward though and this story has more twists and turns than you might expect.The pace throughout the book reflects the pressure on the team to find the killer and as a reader you are quickly made to feel like part of the police team working to solve the crime.

One thing I really liked about this book is that I was kept guessing about who the serial killer was right up to the last couple of chapters. Some books seem to feel the need to drop huge clues throughout, but this one didn't (or if it did they were so subtle that I missed them!) and I quite like the fact that I was kept in the dark. A real "whodunit".

It was only when I was a fair way through this book that I suddenly realised that I'd actually already read the follow up, What Came Before He Shot Her, several years back and thoroughly enjoyed that too. I guess this means I'll be looking out for more Elizabeth George books the next time I'm going round the charity shops so that I can find out what else Inspector Lynley has been up to.

The kindness of knitters

I've started attending a weekly knitting group here in St Albans and I'm really enjoying having company whilst knitting. The group comprises a mix of women of all ages and backgrounds yet there is one strange thing that bonds several of us together - bizarrely five of us are all called Penelope! Not something you'd expect with the name not being all that common.

Its been lovely to get to know these women and between them they have some fantastic knitting skills. The speed of some of them is also astounding. Each week more and more finished items are pulled out bags to be passed round the group for everyone to admire. It's also the only group I've been to where it's common for someone to pull out their own knitted tea cosy to put on one of the cafe's tea pots!

Last week one of these lovely women pulled some knitted baby clothes from her bag and passed them around to ask for opinions on what age range they would fit. She's had these in her house for several years and couldn't remember what size she'd knit. After some debate on sizes she then asked if anyone knew of anyone with a child that would fit into this lovely cardigan. Errr - yes I said, Little Miss C. So, home with us came the cardigan and it fits LMC perfectly. A very pretty pattern and knit with much, much more skill than I have. I just couldn't believe that this woman was happy to just give this away. Next week I'll definitely make sure I'm there in time to pick up the tab for her tea and cake order.

The pressure's going to be on for whatever I knit next...

Finally

I don't want to work out how long ago I started sewing this cross-stitch picture for Little Miss C's room. Let's just say that it's when I was still pregnant and leave it at that.

Finally though I have got round to framing it. Now the countdown starts for how long before it's actually on her bedroom wall...

Banana & Chocolate Chip Muffins

With a fruitbowl full of ageing bananas and a little girl who refuses to eat them I went about finding a recipe to use them up. Inspired by some yummy banana and chocolate cake that a local cafe sell I knew I wanted to combine the two, but I drew a bit of a blank with all my cookbooks. The internet came up trumps though.

I used this recipe for these banana and chocolate chip muffins and it all worked just perfectly. The muffins were light and tasty with an even spread of banana throughout. The chocolate chips were slightly gooey whilst retaining some of their structure so to give nice sweet spots of chocolate throughout. LMC seemed to enjoy them too, but it seems Mr C's never going to be a banana lover. Still - I guess that just means more for us girls ;-)