1 month in

So, it's been about a month now and we still have food in the freezer. This lasted really well and mostly worked ok. Some dishes weren't really to our taste, so we wont make them again, some turned out perfect and will make it back on to a future list.
I definitely saved loads of money and haven't been near the big supermarket since I last did the big shop. I just go to the local place to buy milk and bread. That's all we needed.
Now it's coming to the end of the pre-cooked meals, we are starting to run out of a couple of things. Grated cheese, cat food, bacon and some spices. Not bad at all.

Next week it will be shopping and cooking again. By then the freezer will be empty. So in total my investment of £138 lasted me 6 weeks. That works out as £3.28/day, laundry powder and cat food included. Can't complain. And we haven't thrown any food away (apart from a bit of rice or pasta where we cooked too much). I am actually looking forward to next month's session.

Now we just need summer to start and I will be happy!

Nom Nom Nom

I apologize for the lack of pictures about the cooking part, but I was exhausted. I did it all in one day and due to a small cooker and lack of cooking pots, I pretty much had to do one dish at a time, so I needed 11 hrs. And that's just cooking dinner. I know some people also make breakfast things and lunch snacks on top, I can only say "wow"! But my freezer would be too small for that anyway, I just about managed to get it all in.

Things I have learned:
1) one can never have enough plasters
2) do not freeze in plastic bags - I have no idea how some of you manage to get these flat, mine are round, and they get stuck in the freezer and I had to defrost a whole drawer the other day, just to get one dish out.
3) I have to buy freezer boxes / containers - annoyingly they usually come as a set, and I only need 2 of the sizes. I already have 2 sets and I really don't need the large and small containers. I might try take-away containers and freeze single portions. This would also be easier for when my daughter has a friend over for dinner
4) Freezer cooking finally helps with my portion control - I have none. But as I only defrost one bag, there is a limited amount of food I can eat. So I finally stick to sensible portions and so far, so good. I have been left a bit hungry some days, so I will go down to the market tomorrow and see if I can get some salad bits.
5) It is lovely to come home from work and find that child has "cooked" dinner, ready on the table. I have put some simple instructions on the fridge what to do with each meal (I didn't want to have to write it on each bag) and we now have home-made dinner every night!

I am loving this and I am already thinking about things to make next month.

The shopping is done

Here comes the chaos - the shopping is done and I really struggled to get the meats and dairy things into the fridge. But the first couple of things have already been added to the freezer - yay, it feels nice to know, I can eat these in a couple of weeks now, rather than having to eat them immediately before they go off.

Total shopping costs for everything (and the couple of bits that jumped into my trolley and the bits that I had forgotten to add to the list): £132.83 - that's not bad at all for the amount of food there is, especially meat bits and the fact that this also includes my laundry powder, cat food and some kitchen cleaning sprays and even 2 bottles of wine - don't worry, not for drinking, they are for cooking. That stuff is related to paint stripper...

The calm before the storm

Here is what my kitchen looks like before the mayhem starts - just cleaned it (well I did a tidy round, there doesn't seem much point in doing a deep clean before I start cooking).

Oh, did I tell you, that I have a tiny kitchen? Hardly any storage, but less to clean....

Here is the new freezer - all clean and empty

And here is my kitchen, all tidy

I am back!!!

I am back....it took a long while and sadly I have to say, that I am still smoking, although it is down to 10 cigarettes a day. I just can't seem to kick the habit.

I have started to sort out my life and my house and everything is falling into place and I love being so much more organized. I always knew it would be a time saver, but I just never had the energy to tackle it all, so now I am making small steps, one corner after another until it is all done. My bin-men have put me on the "most hated list", as my bin is always overflowing at the moment, while I de-clutter. There is just so much stuff that has been moved from house to house and never used. I guess I could give it to charity, but a lot of it is broken or of no use to anyone any more, so in the bin it goes. 

My biggest investment was a new freezer. I haven't had one since moving into this house 3 years ago, there isn't really any room for one and I had to put it in the dining room, where it doesn't look too great. But I am tired of cooking every day. I run out of ideas and shopping and cooking after a 12-hour-shift is just not very pleasant. Brain goes to mush and we end up eating pasta or chilli every other night, as I don't have to use my brain for cooking or shopping. And then there is the dishes to do.... So I decided to spend my birthday money (thanks dad!!) on a new freezer and a month's worth of food in one go. And tomorrow I will cook. 

This will be my first OAMC (once a month cooking) post, but I am hoping more people in the UK might get interested in this style of cooking and we can start some kind of recipe exchange. Most of the recipes I find online for OAMC or Freezer Cooking are US based, which is a pain in the neck, as they use ingredients we can't get or packet sizes which leave me completely stumped. (A stick of Butter anyone?) and I also don't like measuring in cups. It's just plain weird. (If you also cook a lot of american recipes, Ikea has a set of US measuring cups in metal which are perfect)

Now a lot of stuff I read online about OAMC is the cost saving. I didn't think it would be much, as we don't have coupons in the UK (I love that show about the coupon hoarders in the US and it always leaves me jealous) and the likes of Costco and Makro aren't really much cheaper than the supermarkets in the UK, just handy for buying bulk, as Tesco and Asda refuse to sell large amounts to individual shoppers. But I was surprised to see how much it adds up to. Normally I go shopping for 4 days worth of food, so it doesn't make sense to drive around 3 different supermarkets (4 if I include Lidl) just to save a couple of pennies on a can of chopped tomatoes. I hit them in rotation and figured it evens out that way - one gets kind of used to what is on special deal when and where. But making a shopping list for a whole month, it is shocking, how much can be saved and it is well worth it driving around and going to several different places and how much those 20p here and there add up. For example chopped tomatoes in a tin. 

I will need 8000g of tinned tomatoes for all the cooking I am going to do (scary amount, isn't it) - I figured that one out by counting the cans and it came to this amount (20cans of 400g). Yikes!!

But what I normally do, is empty them into a liquidizer and turn them into Passata. I assumed that was cheaper. Not so.... 

1 can of chopped tomatoes (400g) = £0.31 -> total price £6.20

1 pack of Passata (500g) = £0.29 -> total price £4.64

Before checking packet sizes, I never realized that Passata was packed in 500g packs and works out a LOT cheaper. And once recipe needs 2 packs of Passata as well, so I will be buying a total of 18 packs. 

Tesco Price for 18 packs of Passata - £5.22

Asda Price for 18 packs of Passata - £15.36!!

That was a shocker!! It doesn't work out a lot per meal, but over a month/year the savings are immense. So I am going to go to Marko, Asda and Tesco. The bulk will be bought at Tesco, as I will get 5p off a litre of fuel if I spend over £50 and so I am saving again. I think this freezer will pay for itself in 2 months at this rate! Once I am more used to the whole thing, I will add Lidl and Iceland to the list, but they are both a bit out of my way so I keep it simple for my first try of this. The total of my shopping bill should come to £133.76 (I love online shopping lists), but that includes next month's chicken breasts as well, as they are on BOGOF at Makro and it also includes washing powder (currently on half price at Tesco) and Cat Food for a month. We will see how it goes. 

This post is getting a bit long, so I will post photos and progress reports in a separate entry. 

Wish me luck - I am off to hit the shops (did you know, that I hate shopping? It's my definition of hell!!)

Ok, nothing quite so dramatic – but I decided to give up smoking. Actually that’s wrong. I decided to stop smoking. I have been reading the Easyway Book and I am trying to convince myself that I am not giving up anything, as cigarettes do not give me anything, and therefore I am merely stopping to smoke.

Cravings have been bearable today, although I have a severe case of the munchies and am starting to feel slightly sick now from eating too much. I have found that drinking ice cold water helps quite a bit when my lungs get confused and wonder where the next tar coating is coming from. I have felt dizzy a couple of times as well today, similar to breathing too hard when blowing up a balloon. I guess my body is just not used to all this oxygen.

I do catch myself on planning my next cigarette before I realize that I no longer smoke. That is quite annoying. But it’s to be expected, habits just need to be broken and formed into something else. I am also slightly fidgety and find it difficult to concentrate.

It’s only day one, and I am already whingeing for England!! Early night tonight me thinks…

I have AAADD Disorder

AAADD

KNOW THE SYMPTOMS......PLEASE READ!

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.

Somehow I feel better even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A..D.D. -

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway,

I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,

I notice mail on the porch table that

I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table,

put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,

and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back

on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think,

since I'm going to be near the mailbox

when I take out the garbage anyway,

I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,

and see that there is only one check left..

My extra checks are in my desk in the study,

so I go inside the house to my desk where

I find the can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks,

but first I need to push the Pepsi aside

so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Pepsi is getting warm,

and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi,

a vase of flowers on the counter

catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Pepsi on the counter and

discover my reading glasses that

I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,

but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,

fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.

Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,

I'll be looking for

the remote,

but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,

so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,

but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,

but quite a bit of it spills on the floor..

So, I set the remote back on the table,

get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to

remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed

the bills aren't paid

there is a warm can of

Pepsi sitting on the counter

the flowers don't have enough water,

there is still only 1 check in my check book,

I can't find the remote,

I can't find my glasses,

and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,

I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day,

and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,

and I'll try to get some help for it,

but first I'll check my e-mail.....

Do me a favour.

Forward this message to everyone you know,

because I don't remember who the heck I've sent it

to.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

Testing

I am just trying to see if this new function works the way it should. Hopefully I can soon write to this blog from anywhere and I won’t be absent for so long again.

Well, long time no posting, but a least one of my plans has come into action and OH has left the building. He moved out in September. I did feel bad as I threw him out a week before his birthday, but there would have always been a reason for "not right now", so I just stuck to my guns. He has been back a couple of times, actually only just left after staying with us for 3 days, but it's getting less and less and I still like having him around in small doses and sober.

Now it is time to sort out my business. I did take the job I was talking about, so we have a little bit more money coming in, although not too much, as all my benefits were cut instead. Can't win in this country. Due to that, I will really really have to make this soap business work. I have been planning lots and lots of things and need to revamp my whole line-up and I want to change the way my stall looks as well. And I need to sit down and do some serious business planning, like proper on paper, so I can't keep changing my mind. Like about the fairs. I wasn't going to do markets and fairs any more, as they aren't really worth it, but I had so many invitations on the back of fairs I have done and they have become better and bigger (and more expensive) as well, so I decided I give them another year and see what happens. It is just difficult to fit them into my work schedule as I work 4 weekends in a row and then have 4 weekends off, so I cannot do any regular markets and I think to really make these work, I need to have regular market stalls. I am now mainly doing one-off events.

Next year I want to start doing home-spa-parties and corporate tables, as I am also off during the week a lot.

Well a lot of planning ahead of me and streamlining my offerings, then it's all go.

The postcard above is our goal this year (my darling daughter really is a big help)

Have made a decision, at least in my head. Now trying to put it into action. I will get there, slowly but surely

I really do need my head examined - why the hell to I stay with him ?

Sorry Folks that I am a bit antisocial at the moment. I have a lot of stuff going through my head and will be back very soon.

And here we go again…

So, what is new since last time…(yes I know, I am not the most prolific blogger). I have a new job. Not the one which was miles away but was a pretty good job, one closer to me and finally being an IT support Role. I wanted to get into IT for a while and hopefully this is my first baby-step into the realms of geek-dom. It is only a 6-month contract, but for now that suits me just fine, we will see what happens afterwards. It is relatively local (30 mins drive by car – in London that counts as just round the corner) and the working hours were what I wanted, although now everything is up in the air again. It is 24/7 shift, the boring 4-on-4-off pattern. Now don’t get me wrong, I love shift work. 12-hour shifts mean I will be spending the same amount of hours in the office as the 9-5s, but over less days. That can only be a good thing. I don’t mind working, and when I am in the office, I like to work hard, but I also love my off-time. Shift work always seems to get the life-work-balance right (12-hour shifts that is. I had a job where they tried to cover 24/7 with 8-hour-shifts and that was awful, the worst of both worlds !)

So, where is the problem ? Well, you might have guessed it – OH. He is running on a drinking-bender again and I just cannot take it anymore. We are so short of money, I am currently trying to play dodge the bailiff. He spends every spare penny he has down the pub. He does give me a monthly amount towards the bills, but according to him, everything else is my problem. The rest of his money is his to do with as he likes. Now that sounds fine, if you are a student and don’t live with your GF, but here it is grating and driving me up the wall. Especially as he is a pain in the neck when he is drunk. I will have to stay up half the night listening to him talking crap which is slurred so much I don’t understand anyway. Do I want to do that ? No. Do I get a choice ? No. Not only will he follow me wherever I go, so I cannot escape his rantings, he is also prone to peeing on the floor when drunk, pretty much wherever he stands when the need arrives, sometimes against a wall or a shelf. So I need to be quick on my feet to steer him towards some more suitable locations (I have been known to lock him out into the garden, but then he starts annoying the neighbours). I have been talking to his mum, as I really don’t know what to do with him anymore, but she didn’t know either. She said to sit him down when sober to talk about it, which was the plan for tonight. Last time he was drunk out of his head was last Saturday and it took me until today to get over it. So I thought we’d have a nice evening in and talk about it, but he hasn’t come back from College, so he is obviously out drinking again.

I really cannot take this anymore. I am tired of it. But if I want to take this new job, I kind of have to keep him around as I cannot work a nightshift and leave the child alone at home. Her dad cannot help as he works nights himself, but I will speak to him to see if maybe his GF could help out. She, apparently, is a bit of a nutter herself, but her and DD get on well, so it could work. At least she doesn’t drink.

That’s the other thing, even if I do not throw OH out (and he does deserve it), I cannot trust him to be sober to look after DD when I am off at work. So there isn’t really much point on relying on him anyway. Ok, DD is old enough to look after herself and only needs an adult in the house as she refuses to stay by herself (she is 14), but she shouldn’t have to cope with a drunk adult. I guess I don’t have a choice, he will have to go. He is lovely when he is sober, but his drunken escapades are getting so much, I don’t get enough time to recover in between anymore and it’s dragging me down.

Started something
Thought could be fun
Started something
Couldn't go on
Danger, heartache
I always knew
There's no winner
In this game you lose
But I still want to know
How she got in the door
Uninvited
Oh, oh, oh, I've gotta rocket
Oh, oh, oh, you're going on it
Oh, oh, oh, you're never coming back
Cliches, secrets
Stories unfold
Fooled by a passion
Losing control
Danger, heartache
Something has died
No good pretending
I'm leaving this time
But I still want to know
How she got in the door
Uninvited
Oh, oh, oh, I got a rocket
Oh, oh, oh, you're going on it
Oh, oh, oh, you're never coming back

Goldfrapp - Rocket

Lazy Weekend

I was supposed to do so much this weekend, but the sun was shining and it has finally warmed up a bit (is spring really coming ??), so I just had a really lazy weekend.

I have a job interview tomorrow and I really do not know, if I should go or not...the location of the job is great, the payment is not and it doesn't necessarily sound like something I want to do. I have another interview on Wednesday for a job I would love to do, the payment is ok, but the location is pretty awful and it involves weekend work, which would badly interfere with my little soap empire. So I am very very torn. Not sure what to do. It also doesn't help that I am doing a temping job as Market Researcher again (now that's a job I truly hate, but bills need paying) and if I keep taking time off, they'll fire me. I have already booked wednesday off, but didn't find out about tomorrows interview until Friday and it was too late then.

I wish I had won the lottery over the weekend. I need to pay the bills, so cannot really afford to turn down interviews and the job does pay more than McD, it even pays more than Market Research (not very difficult), so I should really go for it. Arrgh - I will see how I feel in the morning.

I just found this List on the Indie Business Blog and had to share it. It made me chuckle, especially as I think I am already half way through the list and the business hasn't even proper started off yet (4 more weeks - panic)

Here is the link to the original (I don't know how to do trackbacks, sorry)
Indie Business Blog - 99-small-business-mistakes-and-how-you-can-avoid-them

1. Relying on your son’s friend’s cousin’s father to design your website.
Nope, have to do that myself. Thankfully I have found Joomla as HTML and me are not compatible

2. Not getting some kind of smart phone.
Had one, hated it. I am back to basics and loving it - for everything else there is Netbooks

3. Using other people’s money without a plan to pay it back.
Guilty - long story but will hopefully be sorted soon (and wasn't related to the business)

4. Not delegating enough.
According to my teenager I am delegating far too much

5. Abandoning your email newsletter (or not launching one.)
umm - guilty, another thing to plan

6. Not exercising.
don't swear at me - I am far too cozy here

7. Resisting new technologies.
I hate smartphones ?

8. Expecting to receive before you give.
nope - cannnot say I've done that one

9. Burning bridges, then trying to rebuild them without an apology.
Burning Bridges, yes - rebuilding them ? Nope. Wouldn't have burnt them without a reason in the first place

10. Asking someone you barely know to be your mentor.
Does reading business-start-up-blogs fall under this ?

11. Trying to get rich quick.
Of course - thats why I play the lottery every week. Can't fault a girl for trying.

12. Talking about what you’re going to do instead of doing it.
oh yes - that's me down to a tee. But have a plan and need to stick to it, soon...

13. Constantly comparing yourself to your competitors.
I am, but with a smile and a "One day I will be there as well". I admire at least some of my competitors and see them as an inspiration

14. Being a poor follower.
I follow everyone and anyone, I do anything to avoid doing any "real" work

15. Letting cobwebs grow on your blog.
ok - I do, sorry. But it really isn't that interesting to blog about my cat's flea treatment or last night's dinner. Some of us just have a boring life, ok ? ;-))

16. Not giving your blog enough time to “catch on.”
Oh I've given it time...wonder if anyone will come back with flea treatment tips...

17. Complaining and whining.
yup - sometimes, especially when grocery shopping...I hate it

18. Bad mouthing your competitors.
I try not to, see point 13

19. Not participating at other people’s blogs.
Not guilty, I do

20. Asking for help before you’ve done some legwork of your own.
yes, sometimes I am lazy and "forget" there is a search-button on most Forums...

21. Giving when you cannot afford to give.
But the guy's dog was cute and he looked like he needed a cup of coffee

22. Automating too much of your social media outreach.
You can automate it ??? Please don't tell me I need a smartphone for that ?

23. Expecting your use of social media to perform miracles for you.
Everyone needs miracles...maybe I need to move to 34th street

24. Buying or hiring without comparing pricing and offers.
Not guilty - supply-shopping would be so much faster, if I wouldn't check at least 15 sites for each article and then work out shipping costs...

25. Not learning HTML.
I tried - honest, we are not compatible. But thank the geeks, there is Joomla. I am finally on the way to a website

26. Using your logo or pet ferret (or cat or dog or goldfish) as your avatar.
Guilty, guilty and guilty (but my Apistogramma was a real beauty)

27. Doing things because you said you would do them, even when they don’t work.
Nope - don't see the point...

28. Taking stupid chances.
I don't do Rollercoasters...too scared...

29. Failing to distinguish between what your business needs and what it (or you) wants.
Oh yes, but I always talk myself round and say I did need it...

30. Not creating and using a Twitter account.
Doing both

31. Spending too much money.
Don't we all ? I buy "Extra Value", that does mean I can buy twice as much, doesn't it ??

32. Not spending enough money.
Nope - not guilty

33. Not setting basic work hours.
Basic work hours ? I am glad to be out of the 9-5, I love having erratic work hours (maybe that's why I always loved working shifts)

34. Forgetting to say, “please” and “thank you.”
Sorry - I do. I am working on it

35. Passing the buck.
Noone to pass the buck to - I do ocasionally blame the cycle of the moon though..

36. Not understanding the laws that affect your business.
Not an option in my business

37. Not laughing at yourself.
Not guilty - as you can see from this blog entry

38. Underpricing your products and services.
No way (I hope)

39. Thinking that all you need to be successful is a good idea.
Isn't it ?

40. Maintaining non-performing employees because you like them as people.
Hmm - got no employees, but the OH is still here...(actually he did text over xmas, but my phone didn't receive the message until 5 days later)

41. Being a bit too easily offended.
Nope - definitley NOT guilty. Quite the opposite, I don't get the hint sometimes

42. Not using YouTube because you don’t like how your hair looks.
or my face, my shoulders and my neck...No Youtube from me for a while yet

43. Analysis paralysis.
Not sure what that is ?

44. Doing things when you feel like doing them instead of creating systems.
yes, guilty as charged, I thought that's the point of being self-employed ? (Tax Office may disagree)

45. Thinking people will buy your products just because they are great.
They don't ??????????

46. Requesting social connections and endorsements from people who don’t know you.
But I know them, is that not enough ?

47. Putting your smart phone in the washing machine.
Thankfully it was a cheap Nokia at the time, but it would have been a deserved death for my Smartphone - mine made close contact with my Office-Wall instead...

48. Going to a pot luck dinner empty-handed.
My local Kebab shop doesn't expect me to bring anything ? But it is pot luck what's in the meat

49. Believing there is any such thing as an overnight success.
There isn't ? But X-Factor and Big Brother tell us there is ??? It must be true...

50. Lowering your prices because of a poor economy.
Nope, not yet

51. Not MasterMinding.
I am blonde, this sounds scary..

52. Failing to ask for the sale.
Guilty - I suck at sales...Something I definitley need to work on

53. Committing before you know what’s involved.
That's called a marriage ?? (you think you know...)

54. Not standing up for yourself.
Not guilty - ever

55. Being mean.
I try not to be, unless you are a cold caller from India. Sometimes I just sound mean, as I have a German Accent (shame that the cold callers don't get this though)

56. Trying to kill too many birds with one stone.
I got a cat for that

57. Not killing enough birds with one stone.
He usually misses

58. Not introducing yourself.
Before or after the cigarette ?

59. Mistaking “hobbying” for being in business.
Guilty, but getting there

60. Failing to accept your position as a publisher.
Not sure I understand that

61. Not opening a business bank account.
Can't too expensive for now, banks are mean

62. Not consulting an accountant.
I wish my business was accountancy - they charge a fortune !

63. Not getting help with the kids.
More like not getting the kids to help enough ;-)

64. Not scheduling regular business hours.
I am strictly a non 9-5 girl.

65. Not celebrating small victories.
The hangovers are a killer though

66. Giving up.
No chance

67. Not giving up.
I know I should, but I am allergic to Nicotice patches

68. Going to a pot luck dinner empty-handed.
He does expect me to pay..

69. Diluting your brand with Google ads.
Can't afford them (phew)

70. Thinking that doing nothing is not making a decision.
Doing nothing is like playing dead

71. Not tooting your horn.
toot toot - need to do that more, but scared of boring people to death

72. Failing to nurture connections in your own back yard.
I have a familiy of Foxes and at least 4 stray cats there...might have to do a fundraiser for the RSPCA...

73. Going to a pot luck dinner empty-handed.
lol

74. Trying to be someone you are not.
I do try to be posh and sophisticated, but I fail every time...I should give up and be scruffy old me, I guess

75. Not listening.
Huh ? You said ?

76. Trying to be all things to all people.
Isn't that what all mums do ?

77. Believing that there is no power greater than yourself.
Ask my OH - there isn't ;-)

78. Not carving out specific areas of expertise that you are known for.
Swearing in 4 different languages ?

79. Not admitting your mistakes.
Not guilty, I hope

80. Inappropriate use of Flash technology.
Lol, I am too old for that

81. Not sharing.
The Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough is mine....get your own ;-)

82. Not calendaring.
I do, but then ignore the reminders

83. Not planning.
see above

84. Not setting priorities and non-negotiables.
Mum of a Teenager - this point is NOT optional !

85. Small thinking.
Never, I already think I am as big as McD, just surprised that the people down the road have never heard of me, they need to get out more ;-)

86. Having a “launch and lunch” mentality.
Lunch ? Someone said lunch break ??

87. Being too hard on yourself.
Otherwise I'd never get out of bed before midday

88. Not learning from your mistakes.
Hopefully not guilty

89. Not setting up the best profile page possible.
One day I will get my head around HTML

90. Thinking that social media is just idle chatter.
Tweet... ;-)

91. Thinking you don’t have enough time.
More like thinking "I have loads of time....and then panicking"

92. Failing to include your spouse or significant other in your business.
I try, but apparently it's illegal to make soap from human fat ;-)

93. Not blogging.
Sorry for not blogging often enough

94. Semi-spamming people.
There is a semi-spamming ?

95. Not exposing yourself.
See point 80..

96. Not using spell check.
Guilty

97. Taking on work you hate or are not qualified to do in order to get work you like.
Bills need paying...

98. Not giving credit where credit is due.
I hope not, but if I have forgotten anyone, please say and I will correct it

99. Sending the one type of email message that is worse than spam.
There are worse things than Spam ??????????

Hello All and a Merry Christmas. I am in Germany, so we already had all of our presents last night. My daughter got a new Netbook, so the PC is back in my hands. It was a very quiet christmas, which is nice. Everything is closed here in Germany until Monday, it feels a lot more like a holiday.
The BF seems to have forgotten about me, not even a text for xmas, so I think it's finally time to forget about him. DD and me had such a nice time together, no arguments, noone complaining about things, I am dreading going home.
Ok, time to go and watch the pope delivering his xmas message, no queen's speech for me this year...
Have a nice time and enjoy the holidays

Yay some more fragrance oils have arrived and I am slowly making my way round website coding, so hopefully soon we will have a working website and new goodies. I need to get started making lotions, my next challenge as they would go so nice with soaps and I think I want to start experimenting with natural surfactants as Liquid soap doesn't really work for bubble baths.

Having a lazy day today, but sorting out the rest of the house tomorrow and then back to making cosmetics. Can't wait !!! But I promised myself that I will sort out the house first before I do anything else. As xmas season is nearly over (as far as selling things goes) I will be working on Valentines / Mother's day to be fully up and running. That seems a lot less stressful rather than rushing something along right now which may not really look the way I want it to. I am still really unsure about packaging. I keep changing my mind about the company colours and the way to wrap my soap and label the other things. I see so many good designs where I like this or that about and then I look at my lables and feel they don't look good enough. Does anyone else get that ?

The BF is working at the moment. This is so nice, I get the house to myself. It's only voluntary work, so no riches for us yet, but it keeps him out of my hair, which means he is less likely to get killed, which is a good thing, I guess.

yeah, of course it couldn't last. He is back to sitting on the sofa, putting his feet up (with his shoes on !!!) and I am back to coming home from work and spending the rest of the evening cooking, cleaning and doing general housework. I know it's a hard life to sit in front of the TV all day but at least a bit of effort isn't too much to ask ???

Apparently it's all my fault as I didn't cook the last 3 days when I was at home with a cold lying flat out in bed with every single bone hurting and generally feeling totally washed out. I am really getting fed up here.

Hello all

we have finally moved house. The new place is absolutely georgeous and we are slowly settling in. Way too much stuff is still in various boxes and the kitchen is in chaos as we ran out of moving boxes and ended up just emptying things everywhere we could find a space. So currently the pepper is between the plates and the olive oil was found hiding behind the salad bowls. We are still re-arranging our kitchen-gadgets, as soon as they have found a permanent place we can move the rest of the things around.

I have finally managed to find most of my clothes which is a good thing, I got a bit bored with one pair of work-trousers and one pair of jeans. I really hate moving house and hope we will stay here for a long time.

I am now on a cooking-strike. I am fed up with working (evne though it's only a 6-hour-day) and then coming home to housework, cooking and cleaning while the BF sits at home all day doing nothing. I showed him where the cleaning stuff is, what a dust bunny looks like and I have placed the cook-books on a living room shelf, next to the TV, so he can't miss them. If he wants to eat, he will have to cook. Well, that worked until his mum gave him about 100 pot-noodles as a moving-in-present. Grrrr.....But, I have to say, so far we had lovely dinner every evening. I am hoping it will last as my patience is really wearing thin by now.

I took some photos of our lovely garden today, but completley forgot that I don't yet have a graphics program installed on my PC. Not usually a problem, but all my software CDs are ina box somewhere, and I can't be asked to go and find them. They could be anywhere !!! So I decided to download Gimp. With a 10meg connection, much faster than finding my PSP CD. But I am struggling. I can't get it to do what I want when I want and it takes me ages to do even simple tasks. I guess rooting round the boxes it is...

I gotta go, as I have some soap to pack for a Halloween swap and as a samle thingie at work tomorrow. I can't find the lipbalms, so they will have to wait and I still need to work on my website and get my head round Dreamweaver. Sigh, will the geeky stuff never stop ???

ok, I haven't posted for a while. Things are up and down as usual. We are trying to move house and things are going wrong at every corner. This is why there hasn't been any news for a while. As soon as we have settled in the new place I will be posting more regularly, promise ! But for now, everytime I post something it is old news a couple of minutes later and it would far too confusing to keep up with the inns and outs of our local council's housing department.

But I felt I had to post something today. I accidentially stumbled accross a website promoting greem living and thought I'd find some interesting articles on there. Interesting they may have been, but they contain so much pseudo-science and scaremongering against the "cosmetic giants", that it caused me to write them a lengthy email and shout at my poor monitor. The cat has decided to sleep outside now and the OH has gone for a walk in the park until I finished ranting, lol.

Here is a copy of my email. I will break it up into chunks, as it is rather long and I don't want you all to fall asleep while reading it. Feel free to comment, I may have gotten some things wrong myself...

From: Sabine Haller [mailto:sabine@blueyonder.co.uk]
Sent: 19 September 2009 18:55
To: 'laura@theecologist.org'
Subject: Articles on your website

Hello Laura

I came across your website while surfing the net and got stuck on some very interesting articles, or so I thought. I am a maker of natural cosmetics (100% Natural and Natural with synthetic Fragrance oils). Initially I thought the articles on your site contained a whole load of information I can use to explain to my customers why natural cosmetics are better than industrial ones, but the more I read, the more I just wanted to scream at my monitor as a lot of these articles are based on scare-science and badly worded explanations to run down major cosmetic manufacturers. Not something I would like to be associated with and the reason for not registering on your website and simply commenting on each article.

Yes, there are some valid points but I would have to research each point again due the fact that so many other arguments are so badly misleading.

In your articles you make many recommendations for alternative products. If you would like to promote truly natural cosmetic products and help small UK businesses, can I point you to this website http://www.soapmakers.eu/ ? Not all makers are certified organic, but all make natural cosmetics, avoiding petroleum based oils. Some have palm-free products, most avoid Parabens and PEG emulsifiers (not all, but each supplier has a small statement, so you can check this first)

I don’t make any money from this, but it irks me when you only promote the large pseudo-naturals in your recommendations. Most of these manufacturers are no different to P&G or L’Oreal and are neither based in the UK, nor make their products in the UK, so adding to the carbon footprint.


Behind the label: Listerine teeth and gum defence (click on this to read the whole article)

Argument: Long-term use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes dries and changes the pH of the mouth and throat and is associated with an increased risk of mouth and throat cancers.
Question: What is constituted as long-term use ? Where is a link to this study ? Mouthwash is in your mouth for about 1 minute (if you can stand it that long). How about the effects of drinking alcohol ? Does Mouthwash contain some other alcohol than for example Vodka ?

Argument: Flavourings and aromas are basically perfumes. At best they mask odour temporarily; and since they are composed of volatile solvents, they can also alter the basic flora of the mouth in the same way as alcohol and may cause dermatitis around the mouth
Question: Flavourings and aromas are actually not perfumes. They made by strict guidelines and have been tested to make sure they are safe to be ingested. This is also an INCI label and therefore aroma could also stand for essential oils, which are anything but synthetic. Large manufacturers sometimes call Essential Oil blends “aroma” if they don’t want to give away their formula. These are not volatile solvents (some do damage certain plastics, but none can be used as paintstripper).

Argument: methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen), eucalyptol (oil of eucalyptus) and thymol – even if they are naturally derived – are also highly toxic. Just 10ml of methyl salicylate can poison a child; 30ml can poison an adult.
Question: Of course they can be toxic. Even water is toxic in large enough amounts. 30ml of a pure essential oil is quite a large amount. Most essential oils are actually toxic if ingested and apart from a few, none of them should ever be placed on the skin undiluted. Thymol (well, thymian) has been used to treat teeth problems for a long time. It’s made from Essential Oil of Thymian and has strong antiseptic properties. From Wikipeda: The Blackfeet Native Americans recognized this plant's strong antiseptic action, and used poultices of the plant for skin infections and minor wounds. A tea made from the plant was also used to treat mouth and throat infections caused by dental caries and gingivitis.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymol) Nowhere in the Wikipeda article does it mention that this substance is toxic, although I am sure if ingested in large enough amounts it can be damaging, as everything else.

Argument: In addition, bright colours and nice smells mean that children find mouthwashes so intriguing that each year hundreds accidentally get smashed on as little as two ounces. So do adults; earlier this year an American woman was arrested for drunk driving after drinking three glasses of Listerine.
Question: I doubt it is 2 ounces and a responsible parent keeps things like that away from toddlers. Just like cleaners. Hundreds get “smashed” then ? Apart from the fact that this should teach them not to drink it again, 100s of what ? American children ? Worldwide ? That doesn’t seem to be a very large number to be honest. It’s not like it tastes very nice…And if someone really wants to get drunk on Listerine then I would say “each to their own”, Vodka is cheaper and tastes better.

Now the ingredient analysys:

Alcohol > Antiseptic, antibacterial > Dries and denatures mucous membranes in the mouth; changes mouth and throat pH; promotes mouth and throat cancer. –>> as above, what about drinking alcohol ? Were these tests done with pure alcohol or the concentration found in mouthwash ?

Sorbitol > Sweetener, tartar control agent > Mostly safe, but if swallowed can cause bloating, diarrhoea. –>> Mouthwash is not supposed to be swallowed and bloating and diarrhoea are common side effects of all sugar alcohols if consumed in excess ! The small amount of sorbitol contained in a swig of mouthwash won’t trigger Montezuma’s Revenge.

Aroma > Fragrance > Perfume by another name, composed mostly of solvents; drying to the mouth and potentially neurotoxic; allergic reactions may mimic common dental problems such as bleeding gums, mouth ulcers, gingivitis. – >>No, aroma is not the same as perfume. Some don’t even smell like they taste. Which aromas are neurotoxic ? And are these actually in this product ? If someone is allergic to an aroma / essential oil then they should obviously avoid it. Common sense really. Like not eating peanuts if allergic. But I see no warning messages on peanuts informing me I could die from eating them.

Sodium saccharin > Sweetener > Carcinogenic – linked to bladder cancer in animals. Banned in US –>> and declared safe in Canada and Europe. Saccharin has been around for quite a long time as is deemed safer than aspartame. I am glad to know that it is linked to bladder cancer in animals, but which animals, how much did they consume over what period and have any studies ever proven an increase in Bladder Cancer in humans ? There is no link to a reliable study.

Eucalyptol (Oil of Eucalyptus) > Fragrance, antiseptic > Allergic skin, nose and eye reactions, inhalation may trigger asthma; vocal cord dysfunction in sensitive individuals. Ingestion can cause vomiting, stomach pains, seizures, abnormal heart rhythms, bleeding, coma and death. –>> “Sensitive individuals” – yes if you are allergic to Eucalyptus it would probably be a bad idea to use this mouthwash. Doh. It CAN cause vomiting etc. That doesn’t mean that it will, and this is the warning label for undiluted Essential Oil. If ingested undiluted and in large enough amounts it will cause death…That’s why people need to learn about Essential Oils before using them. Mouthwash will not contain undiluted Eucalyptus Oil. And not even enough of it in a whole bottle to cause these symptoms, although there is a warning label on the back advising people against glugging it down like Gin.

Methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen) > Fragrance, antiseptic > Respiratory tract, skin and eye irritation; allergic reactions; small ingested amounts are fatal to young children; may cause reactions in aspirin-sensitive people. – Again no mention about how much needs to be ingested to cause these symptoms and people who are allergic to aspirin would know what else they need to look out for. “Small ingested amounts”, what is classified as small here ? 1ml ? 250ml ? 0.5ml ? And how much of this is actually in a whole bottle ?

More tomorrow
Cheers
Sabine