Saturday Mornings - Not So Quiet With 87 Children
What do you think of the new digs? I got a little bored with the old layout - my eye kept wanting to drift to the right. Very disconcerting when pushing a grocery cart, let me tell you. There are still some minor cosmetic changes to take care of (I am so thoroughly sick of looking at free Wordpress theme sites) such as a new header, and my eyes need to get used to not searching for that elusive second right hand sidebar, but me likey :)
Happenings in Chez Lizzie today? Well, it’s Saturday, which would ordinarily mean kicking back and pottering about the house doing the laundry and whatnot but this morning we have a cinema birthday party for one of Boofah’s classmates to attend. I usually don’t go to those but it so happened that I was going to take the other two Piglets to the same cinema session anyway and mentioning this to the birthday child’s mother somehow managed to score me tickets/birthday invites for them as well. I promise I didn’t plan that! I’ll slip the mum some cash to cover the extra.
So to recap: Birthday party at cinema during a specially-set-aside session specifically for birthday parties (meaning, we will NOT be the only group of screaming children there…sigh), watching a movie I’m not sure they will completely get (Get Smart…you have to book weeks in advance for these parties and it was originally going to be Narnia until they bumped the raiting of that to M down here….Get Smart was the only thing they could put up at short notice apparently). They stop the movie halfway through for a burger and a drink and then afterward, there’s cake in the foyer. For anywhere up to five different birthday parties.
My day doesn’t stop there. Talented Hubby is dropping us all off this morning but then has to go to work so I thought I’d take the opportunity after the party to drag the kids shoe shopping. I know. Hopped up on sugar. It’s going to be SUPER FUN. Then I wrangle them onto the bus and home. Where they’ll proceed to fight to the death over who has the next turn on the computer. And all this before I’ve even fit in a morsel of housework. Joy.
I’m thinking tonight is going to be Chick Flick Central. I bought a copy of Cold Mountain on sale a couple of weeks back and that seems just about perfect to me. With a hot cup of tea or hot chocolate and something covered in chocolate. Who’s with me? LOL.
Oh, and just to top my day off, I have a cold. 5-6 weeks of a cough-with-no-other-symptoms and not one week after finally kicking that to the curb here’s something else - ‘cept this time, there’s PHLEGM people. I can follow the illness’ progression through the Stages of Mucous. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with that. It’s also forcing me to reschedule my next blood donation which was meant to be on Thursday - you’re not meant to have a cold or anything else within a week either side of giving blood. Drats.
And with that, I’m off to round up the children. Sure you don’t want to come help?
Cheers,
Lizzie
It’s A Laundry Room Miracle!
Here’s what I’ve had to step over every day (who am I kidding - like three times a week, tops) since we moved in three years ago. Tonight, I decided to run a little experiment. Duly documented and photographed, of course. I’ll spare you the worst parts, LOL. I used the Aware Eco Choice washing powder as described in the previous post, in the amount suggested (three tablespoons).
This is the drain. We’ve tried to pry this little baby open innumerable times. I took this picture as a ‘control’, fully expecting to be knee deep in water by the second rinse.
I watched it like a hawk. Not a single trace of a bubble appeared…for the entire cycle! I took some pictures of the inside of the washing machine but once you’ve seen one of those, you’ve seen them all really, LOL. There were hardly any noticeable suds in the water and I was beginning to wonder if it was doing anything to the clothes at all. I wasn’t so concerned after I saw the drain water:
YUK. I timed the different parts of the wash cycle so that I would know when to collect the final rinse water if I ever decided to use it for grey watering. The sink is too small to collect it all and we’re not ready to put in any kind of permanent grey water system so it would be hand-collection for starters. See the little hole in the top right hand corner? That black hose hanging down usually fits in there and drains directly into the pipes under the house, leaving the sink (usually) empty. I’d set the timer (now that I know at what point in the cycle the water begins to drain) and drain it into some sort of really big container outside the door you see in the top picture, then fill the watering cans from that.
At first, I thought the black icky water can’t have been good for even the garden…until I realised that was just the first rinse. This is much better:
Question - this is the last rinse cycle, so is this okay for general garden use (it did have a small amount of suds, as you can see) and more specifically, for vegetables? I’m yet to research this fully but I was hoping I could do a little container gardening when spring hits down here in a few months but I don’t know how grey water affects things you’d later eat. Being an eco powder the ingredients are biodegradeable, but I don’t know.
Bottom line, I’m very happy the suds issue seems to have disappeared with this particular powder. Clearly the dirt was lifting even without the suds, although one item I threw in with this load as a ‘tester’ didn’t fare so well. It was slightly-more-than-average dirty including a tough stain so perhaps I was a little excited - next time I’d pre-soak. I’ll try another load using ‘regular-dirty’ clothes (spilt food, etc). On the fragrance side of things, I was quite used to the strong ’softener’ smell with the BioZet so it was quite refreshing not having that smell about. Tomorrow I’ll run a similar load with a similar amount of BioZet to confirm the differences but I liked what I saw tonight :)
And thus ends another scintillating Monday in Lizzie’s Home, LOL.
Later that evening…
I ran a load using our regular BioZet washing powder but I used exactly the recommended amount (ie, the same as the Aware Eco). There was the merest slip of a bubble just visible under the drain guard but none made it to the surface. Hmmm, confusing. I can’t help but think this was partly due to the very cold breeze coming in through the laundry room door…I could see some of the bubbles popping as if someone had blown on them. And yes, I’m aware that I’m probably developing a reputation as the Crazy Bubble Lady, LOL. Signing out.
Cheers,
Lizzie
Eco Washing Powders - Less Suds?
I rather like my small little laundry room. It’s got a lovely tile floor, some shelves, and Talented Hubby recently installed two rows of hooks opposite the washing machine. Let me tell you, I have suddenly discovered about a bazillion things I never knew I needed to hang. Good stuff. And yet, one thing pains me more than anything else about my laundry room.
I have to step over a big, fat nappy (diaper) bucket smack in the middle of the room. It’s half filled with water and sits atop a towel directly over the drainhole. In various forms, it has been there for three years now. It does the job (and what is the job? I hear you ask) but the Awkward Factor outweighs the ingenious engineering feat that is a bucket on top of a hole.
From the very first load in this new house, we’ve always had a big problem with suds rising up out of the drain. Somebody once mentioned to me that there was a product not unlike a ping-pong ball in a wire ‘cup’ that you hang inside the drain - the idea being, the ball would bounce up and down as the bubbles rose, and squish them so they never made it out of the drain - but we’ve asked two or three hardware stores now and nobody has anything like it in stock. We’ve thought about calling in a plumber but it seems like a rather trivial matter to be wasting a call-out fee on. I can just see it now - “Um yeah, hi. We’ve got a wee little (whispers) - bubble problem. Please send someone immediately!” Not to mention those plumber folk are a bit too snap-happy with the sledgehammer and we’d probably end up with a floor that needed a full re-tile anyway.
Um…sure. The drainhole cover is cemented in place. Short of ripping up tile to get inside the drain (even though that prospect is looking increasingly promising with each annoying load), we’re out of luck with that one. We’ve tried less powder and homemade washing detergents but decreasing the powder only left some stains and TH prefers shop-bought powder. For the last year or so I have been resigned to forever stepping over a big bucket to get to the washer.
This morning, however, I was doing the grocery shopping and thought I’d check to see if there was a brand labelled as ‘low suds’. For the record, we currently use this powder:
It goes on really, really good sale every few weeks and I still have a few boxes left, but when I discovered the Planet Ark ‘Aware’ brand (pic at top) I whipped out my trusty mobile phone and did a few calculations in the store.
BioZet with Softener, 1.5kg (3.3 lb) box is $8.29 (regular price - granted, the sales get it down to more like $5 or $6 and I would never pay full price, but we’re comparing apples to apples here). Their box says 30 washes, or approx 50g (1¾ oz) powder per wash. Per wash cost = 27.6 cents.
Planet Ark Aware Eco Choice, 1.5kg (3.3lb) box is $7.39 (regular price). Their box does not say how many washes but reading the fine print on the label they suggest 3 tablespoons per average sized load equaling 60ml or 45g. Close enough to call it on par with the BioZet, so I’m saying 30 washes as well (going by their figures, I should get more like 33 washes so the end result will be slightly better than this figure) Per wash cost = 24.6 cents.
So far, the Aware Eco Choice is coming out ahead. However - and this is the real reason I picked up the box in the first place - will an ‘eco’ washing powder produce less suds? Does it get the clothes just as clean as the other stuff? I’d heard that the eco-friendly stuff isn’t as ‘bubbly’ so I’m holding out hope that this may work. As I said, I still have heaps of the BioZet to use up but I’m really hoping if this does work out that the Aware goes on good sale regularly, as it would make the ’suds free laundry life’ just a little less sweet if I knew I was paying $2-3 per box more than I’m used to getting the other stuff on sale, sigh.
Does anyone use an eco powder (and especially you Aussies, if you use the Aware brand) and did you notice a difference in suds? Clothes still sparkly? Thoughts? I’ll take a picture of my laundry floor at the height of the next load I do.
Cheers,
Lizzie
Menu Plan Monday ~ June 23
Surely it can’t have been over three months since I did one of these? Seriously?
After last month’s disasterous attempt at quasi-OAMC, I’m back to regular ol’ weekly menu planning. My brain needs a rest. The week after Miss Moo and I got sick, our family left to visit relatives for a few days and there was above average food wastage when I cleaned the fridge on our return (chalk one up to horribly poor planning). This is one of the areas I need to focus on most and something I’ll be keeping in mind in the following few weeks. This week’s menu is basic, everyday, family-favourite meals we all love. I need to ease back into this menu planning gig folks, LOL.
A few considerations this week:
- I’ve given up assigning a meal to a particular day as we almost always swap them around anyway.
- Talented Hubby is on afternoon shift so he won’t be around for the evening meal. Therefore the meals need to be both easy to prepare and kid-approved because honestly, dinner-time stress? I could totally give that up, thankyouverymuch.
- The meals also need to be portable - I’ll portion off TH’s meal and freeze it so he can take it to work the next day. Everything on this list fits that bill, with the exception of the salad items (what can I say? I could send a separate salad for him, but he wouldn’t eat it - he’s a man!)
- We have heeeeeeeeeaps of eggs to use up, bought rather presumptuously right before the failed OAMC attempt. I have, like, less than a week to use up four dozen eggs.
For The Table
1. Lasagna (wedges, salad)
2. Frittata (salad)
3. Soup & Sandwiches (Tomato & Vegetable, toasted ham and cheese)
4. Beef Casserole
5. Chicken Stirfry (hokkein noodles)
6. Homemade Pizza (homemade dippas with ranch dressing, salad)
7. Roast Chicken (roasted potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, gravy)
So how to get back to reaping the rewards of freezer cooking without the massive drama that is OAMC in all its various forms? Here’s one of my favourite links ever - Lynn Nelson’s Busy Cook’s Pyramid. Loads of great suggestions but one of the easiest and ‘biggest bang for your buck’ tips is Level 1. I was really rather impressed with this method when I first heard about it. Hence…
For The Freezer (triple batch)
Vegie Cottage Rolls (these are more ’snackish’ rather than ‘mealish’ but oh-so-yum! I’m adding some extra chopped vegetables to this basic mix)
(and as a bonus, we’ll have leftover soup, casserole and pizza for lunches. And the lasagna does us for two family meals so I’ve automatically thrown an extra full meal in the freezer with no extra effort)
For The Munchies (I use these for the kids’ lunchboxes during the week as well as general snacking)
Apple Muffins (double batch)
Homemade Crackers (going to try this for the first time - might morph into homemade grissini or bread twisty things yet)
Fudge Brownies (double batch)
Scones with Jam and Cream (I have oodles of cream to use up :) I’ll serve this up for afternoon tea on Saturday, I think)
For more Menu Plan Monday fun, pop over to Laura’s place :)
Cheers,
Lizzie
Firmly In The “Slow News Day” Category
I made a start on my declutter project today and it felt GOOD.
I even glued our filing cabinet back together and sorted out some long-since-stuffed-behind paperwork. I can now tell you how much we paid for electricity in November 2004, if you really wanted to know. Which I suspect you don’t, so I shall refrain.
It’s a quiet kind of weekend. Talented Hubby is off work. I got a rare sleep-in this morning which was lovely. I nuked some leftover Brocciflower Bake for lunch (remind me to give you the recipe sometime). We watched Surf’s Up with the kids this afternoon (half the fun of watching these kids’ animated films is guessing who does the voices - we purposely avoid looking at the box) and we’re about to watch Premonition with Sandra Bullock once the kiddos are in bed.
Speaking of movies - we travelled to the south-east of my state over last weekend, and stayed with relatives who have Foxtel (cable for you American folk). How do all you guys who have all those channels cope? The lifestyle programs! The shows free-to-air TV just doesn’t get down here! Every time I happen to come across some of these awesome shows I want to cry and beg Hubs to have it installed, but then I remember about half the time we were visiting with our family we couldn’t decide what to watch. The other half of the time though - yay for Pay TV. On our last visit down we calculated what it would cost us to get a package comprising of all the channels each of us would enjoy, and it was something like $80 per month. Would extra channels be worth $20 per week to us? Why no, they would not, LOL.
In Australia, we have just five basic channels. Channels 7, 9 and 10, plus the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company that is, and it gets a hefty chunk of its programming from the BBC), and SBS (foreign language channel, but it also has things like Top Gear and Mythbusters, which the guys in our family happen to adore). With the digital television roll in, we have a few ‘parallel channels’ but at least some of the time they run the same programs as the regular version. And you need a set-top box or an inbuilt digital tuner in the newer TVs for these extra channels to kick in. Which we don’t have…yet.
I know. The humanity.
Back to the television…
Cheers,
Lizzie
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