It's time to get....... NAKED!!!


Isn't it good to stumble upon something? I stumble and trip around a lot......but this was for the better, with no grazed knees!

Whilst looking for a website of kids bathtime washing stuff, that I had not saved to favourites,(a bad habit of mine...why I don't remember to click just one button is beyond me) I came across this great company called NAKED . How come I never saw them before? Who knows?

I have been gradually changing my bathroom toiletries to SLS and Paraben free over the past couple of years. That and my cleaning products, which have been a little easier to get hold of. It's not always easy to find body cleaning stuff that are not loaded with all sorts of not so good chemicals for cleaning your bod with and are sensibly priced too. (you know me and a bargain ~ we live hand in hand)

Naked body washes, foam bath soaks, face masks, body creams and face scrubs are just the ticket They smell wonderful, do what they say on the bottle, SLS and paraben free and all within my budget. They are striving to source all their ingredients within the UK and whack it all in recycled packaging. I was so impressed by the stuff I ordered, I got some for my mum's birthday and sent them off to France. (yeah, yeah I know, carbon footprint and all that....but sometimes things are so fab you have to share the secret and send them anywhere!) Don't tell the old dear, but I nearly kept the Manuka Hand Cream as it smelt so good.

No.....this company haven't paid me, lured me with gifts, begged me to write about them........I went creeping to them to ask them for a photo to add to my blog and they took the time to reply to me and sent the photo above, probably the poshest image I have on here! I am just impressed with what they have to offer.

All I want them to do now is invent something wonderful to moisturise my face with. I hope it's in the pipeline. I'm still on the hunt for something nice to whack on my skin to keep it from looking like a piece of sundried leather. I am beginning to look like an old prune ~ all be a squeaky clean prune. If I have wrinkles at least they should be moisturised happy ones!

I say tomato, you say to- mate- o.....

More like too many-toes....I have a LOT of plants!

In the dash to get just a few things put in at our little patch of land up the road and around the corner, me and my mate had a bit of an over zealous planting spree.

Resulto....enough tommy plants to open a small garden centre.

Well, at least we can spread them around, some here some there and some to give away, or flog at one of the village sales coming up.

We also have 55+ sunflowers to deal with, I am sure we could set up an oil refinery with the amount of flowers we have too. They will look stunning towering above us as we toil away, keeping the pesky weeds at bay.

Things are looking good at our little patch. We have French beans, spring onions, beetroot, (which SJ hates, but I am going to try and convert her with my many delicious recipes, I have up my sleeve) courgettes and carrots. We also have a sizable chunk of rhubarb that my aunt dug out for us. It's thriving. I am sure by the look of the courgette plants that we are going to have a bumper crop. Lucky we both like them and all the delicious things you can make with the huge amounts we are likely to get. We were musing about how we were going to have to find freezer space elsewhere to store the overflow of ratatouille meals in.

It's really encouraging to see the overgrown area that we had, transform into something we can be proud of in such a short time. We usually take the boys (large and small ones) to help out. Digging did cause some concern, as a battle of witts with land and tool hogging went on for a while,from the shorter members of the contingency. So much space and they want the same 10cm patch to churn up! Peace has now thankfully reigned and watering has been quite a hit. The secret is to have MANY watering cans, so no one gets left out!

If you are still having trouble in finding an allotment (they are becoming as rare as hens teeth, with the greed of major house building going on these days) lobby your parish or local council. We are hoping for replacement allotments to make a come back in our village after the old ones were built on about 20 years ago. Have a look at the link below to see how you can try and get one in your area.

National Society of Allotments


Good luck!

Ooooh Suits You Sir!

Kids.......they are the optimum challenge and me being the super duper mum that I am has risen and conquered the latest one thrown at me. I'm positively brimming with smugness to be honest!

Whilst in town today, I get a text message from my son at school. 'I nd a suit for my yr 11 dinner on Sat, cn u get me one, soz x'. Text speak. I hate it.

So here I am standing in the street thinking 'Yeah right'.....like, just a day or so to find one, no pressure then?. He won't be coming home until Friday night and I have to sort one out.

Quick thinking, I start racking my brain for just where I am going to acquire a skinny little tux for a whippet sized teenager, at such short notice. I have one hours free parking. Mission Impossible, eat yer heart out.

There's only one place to start............and that's the charity shops. I start trolling through the first two. Not my favourite ones, but they are on the way to my 'regular' charity shop. No luck in those two. Mmmm....I find my way down to it and it's jumping. Market day is always busy in town. I squeeze myself down the narrow aisles of bargain hunters to the DJ section. There's a few, I am heartened, but there seems to be nothing in the sylph like sizes. I nip to the back of the shop where there is an extremely kind lady who helps me out. On raking through the wodge of DJ's they have she comes up trumps. Oh joy....a perfect tux set for 35 quid. I try the jacket on as a rough guide, my son is taller than me, wider on the shoulders, skinnier on the waist, but I am confident it will fit. Virtually new, cheaper than hiring and she throws in a dickie bow for free, along with a nice wooden hanger and suit cover. How about that? And...if it's not exactly the right size and doesn't fit (oh please God lets hope it's perfect!) she'll refund my money on Saturday morning.

Tah da!

Make room for less brrrrrum!

Blimey oh Riley....if it ain't yer nosh bill going up at a scary rate on a weekly pace, it's the rocketing cost of the ol' go juice.

Crikey, I've really noticed it, even in my poxy little 1.1 'er that I've recently downshifted to. These days I am filling up on a fortnightly basis with the princely sum of 20 quid. Every time I pull up on the pumps, hey presto the pence per litre has gone up at least 2p! If they sold petrol in nice old fashioned gallons you'd notice the price hike even more. It's bonkers.....especially as the oil giants have been making oodles of profit in the last three months. They're alright Jack.

There is one good thing that I can console myself with ~ the fact that for a number of years, I've been cutting back on virtually everything in my life. Having to cut back even more isn't going to be such a terrible shock. It's not nice, but less of a punch on the nose than it could be!

Anyhow, I'm now planning even harder to reduce my fuel consumption and making my trips out and about etc even more worthwhile and fuel saving. I am trying to do a 'town' day within my week to see if I can make the 'go stuff' go further. I'm hoping to get all the jobs I need to do, groceries I need to get in one fell swoop. (I'll probably be even more shocked by the jump in cost next time I fill up!)

I mean, just who is kidding themselves in those high places in the big smoke, that inflation is running at 4% or so? I have to laugh at their ignorance/arrogance/ blatant lies or I'd be filling up my boots with hysterical tears of despair. Anyway...'nuf of the bleating...I can't leave the country/planet,(imagine the fuel costs into space?) I'm far too brassic, but Mars is looking pretty inviting at the moment. Chin up countrymen and at least smile....we're breathing today aren't we?

I found a useful website Petrol Prices that can find you the cheapest fuel in your area. Not exactly the B all and end all of answers to cheaper fuel, but it may help. It's a useful place to find information on motoring and getting the best out of yer wheels.

In the meantime, I'm off to enjoy the day, smile and eat some freshly baked melting moments. I'm gonna stuff my face with the delights of my kitchen and forget the greedy business of the outside world!

Get Peddlin'!

With our youngest son's birthday coming up in a few weeks time, we thought we'd treat the little fella with a brand new bike. (he's had a 20 quid second hand one for sometime now and he's grown out it) I really should stop feeding him all that good food and hopefully the next bike will last longer! My son's both love their peddling about the village, so encouraging them to use their bikes is a good step in the right direction for future short haul travel. My other half, a cycle mad type bloke, has been searching on his most favourite 'cycle anoracks' website for a new and suitable bike for our little cherub. Whilst scanning through the oodles of pages on the site, he came across some info on RIDE 2 WORK
(yeah he got distracted ~ but this was a good find!)

Now, I don't need to ride to work, as I do my work from home, but I thought what a great idea if you don't work a million miles away from your house? These days, my husband works 23 miles away, which is a bit of a problem.(hence us doing our bit by downshifting our 2 motors to smaller cars this year to save on fuel etc). One down, one to go. He used to cycle 16 miles to work and then back again after a 12-14 hour shift at the ambulance station. Boy, he was mighty fit and incredibly slender! But now at nearly a 50 mile round trip per day, that's asking a bit too much of him, me thinks. If you have a do~able ride to work, it may be worth thinking about.

I thought that I'd share the info on the Ride 2 Work scheme as it's got a great incentive of a nice discount on having to buy the whole kit you'd need in order to cycle to work. Bike, helmet, gloves, rain gear...yeah...rain gear! Still, it's a great idea.

Now...I really must show willing and get my wheels out, to enjoy the countryside around us, Spring is surely here by now?!

Where's the beef?

With the cost of food in general hitting the roof ~ how about a few more veggies on yer plate? You won't fade away, start wearing canvas shoes, or have to go and live in the woods...

Even though we love a bit of meat for our supper, we don't go overboard on it.

I do enjoy the weekly or more often now, fortnightly visit to my local butchers. I have a bit of a 'jaw' about life in general with the fellas there. They are always cheery and provide service with a smile. (along with a huge knife in their hands!) I usually get a free range chicken, pork chops or some steak and kidney or what have you. I admit it's not organic, but it is local.

They don't do plastic trays of meat, looking pristine and shiny. They have a big table with huge bits of fresh meat being prepared. You ask for what you want and they cut it, trim it, de-bone it, straight from the carcass. I think if most people these day saw just how it gets butchered, I think it would open their eyes.What the majority of folks see, is the ultra neat piece of meat sitting in a tray on a supermarket shelf. I like my visits to be honest. Call me whatever, but I was a vegetarian for more than 20 years. I gave the ol' chops and stuff up after working in a meat processing plant for about 9 months. That was enough to put me off it for all that time. Processed meat is, well....... just disgusting! I suppose any veggie would say the same about meat in general, which is fair enough.

It was the lure and downfall of many a veggie - the delicious smell of a bacon sizzling under the grill and then whacked into a buttie, that got me back on the meat eating track. I weakened and that was it! Shame on me.

These days I do eat a moderate amount of meat, but most evenings we have a vegetarian dinner. Theres's not a peep about 'where's the beef' at our kitchen table from the family. You can make a delicious supper from vegetables, lentils, cheese or eggs and the whole family will nosh it with relish, without a doubt.

Tonight we had a cheese and lentil wedge, grated celeriac, an easy salad, homemade salad dressing and freshly baked rolls. Simple and delicious.

If you're an avid meat eater, but feeling adventurous, like the idea of eating wonderful, tasty meat free meals, one of the best veggie 'resseep' books you can invest in is The Cranks Recipe Book. It's possibly the best book I have ever possessed for great meat free recipes.My edition is incredibly tatty from over use and incredibly old too. I use it for inspiration every day.

So, you don't have to totally turn to a meat free diet, but you'll notice that your weekly shopping bill won't be as hefty and you'll probably feel better for all those veggies and pulses you're packing in!

Pack yer bags....

...........nothing exciting...not pack your bags to go on your holidays, just everyday shopping bags. How do you do yours? Or in this case....you could be lucky enough to have a little Beaver to do it instead.

If you are like me, you'll have a hoard of re-usable bags in a corner, in the boot of your car or under the stairs,(where you nearly always forget to take them out with you when you go shopping). Most of the bags I have are donations from my aunt, so I've been lucky enough not have bought them either! I have taken the step to have mini stashes in lots of places, so there's no excuse to use the dreaded plakky bag. Last week, I had the chance to check out the checkout and see what's going on in the incredible world of shopping bags. Whoo hoo!

On Saturday I went with my youngest son, a little Beaver Scout to pack bags in our local supermarket, to raise funds for their group. I'll not mention the name of the place, as I try not to shop there too much and they might get all haughty with me if I add them to my stay away list of places. I try very hard to avoid it as far as food shopping goes. (I know, I know, it's almost impossible to get everything you need locally without having to step into a supermarket, basically because they've driven most small shops into the ground). I digress...

Me and my mini scout get to our checkout, where he was to pack bags for half an hour for the customers, if they so wish. In return for this good deed and some very wide blue eyed angelic looks, a donation is given. Everyone was incredibly generous, even those who wanted to pack their own bags. Pretty understandable as having your eggs, bread and potatoes being slung in a bag by a 7 year old could be quite painful to watch, especially if the eggs go in first!

It was an interesting 30 minutes ~ I had to help a little as the products were flying through the till like greased lightening, but it gave me a good idea on just how many carrier bags were being used. Surprisingly, it worked out at about 50%. That's pretty good to be honest....I must say that it was the men folk who let the side down a little, with most of them coming in for a few bits and not bringing a bag. (how uncool and unmanly is it to be seen with a shopping bag?) On the whole it was very, very encouraging to see that re-usable bags are on the increase.

Enough from this ol' bag.