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Busy all day! |
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By Linda on
31/05/2008 16:46
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Busy day today, I was helping at a plant sale for the church this morning and £800 was raised. This afternoon it was back to the Art and Craft fair for the final day and packing everything up when it closed. I am off to Inverness on Thursday for a Summer Fayre and Loch Carron on Friday. Do you find that the weeks seem to fly by? Here we are half way through the year already!
I was thinking about reusing things and reading some blogs on the subject recently. I don't know about you but I seem to have lots of things like margarine tubs, yogurt pots etc and I have been reusing them recently for freezing. I recently froze apple juice in cream cartons and big yogurt pots are brilliant for soups and sauces. Margarine pots make good containers for the bird cake mentioned in an earlier blog. Here is another idea, if you are like me pieces of withered fresh ginger are frequently to be found in the bottom of the fridge. But not any more if you peel it and freeze it k ...
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Aspartame - Best Avoided |
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By Linda on
30/05/2008 16:20
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Lots of driving today! My car was due a service so off to Inverness, as I like to do as many things as possible when I drive down I had my hair cut and did the shopping as well. All very tiring I am not very fond of driving it's more necessity than pleasure as far as I am concerned.
I received a very informative email the other day about Aspartame which is an artificial sweetner found in drinks labelled 'sugar free'. I remember some time ago a doctor that I worked with telling me what an unpleasant substance it was and I have avoided products containing it ever since. My email concerned a woman in America who became very ill after consuming this regularly in diet sugar free drinks. Her symptoms were very severe and it was thought that she had multiple sclerosis, she was wheelchair bound and was convinced that she was dying. Her sister had read an article about aspartame and urged her to stop drinking sugar free drinks. Within 36 hours her symptoms had improved. Apparently this was by no mea ...
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Soap and water - still the best way to clean hands |
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By Linda on
29/05/2008 16:42
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Rather an action packed day today. Shula had to go for her booster injection and as we were half way there I decided to take both dogs to Loch Fleet which is a really lovely place for a walk along the beach and dunes. Shula was swimming alongside as I walked down the shoreline when suddenly I noticed three large seals in the water. They seemed quite unafraid and popped up to watch us several times. One started to swim toward Shula and she noticed when it was about six feet away I think she thought it was a dog with fantastic swimming skills! I had to call her in because I'm not sure what would have happened if they had got any closer.
On the way back we went in to see Sian, Douglas and the children my youngest son Chris was also there helping them to do some building work. Tristan seems to have grown so much in such a short time. According to Jacob he only eats and sleeps a bit boring really! He is absolutely lovely, in fact they both are. I have finally bought a digital camera after trying ...
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My Newsletter has gone out!! |
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By Linda on
28/05/2008 15:24
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Phew! I have finally managed with many anxious moments and cutting and pasting like mad to send out the first Sones newsletter. A simple enough task you might say, but not for yours truly! Never mind it can only get easier(I hope!). So to all those of you reading this who have received this mammoth missive I apologise for any mistakes you may find. I plan to send out a newsletter every quarter with general news about Sones so if you would like to receive a copy just drop me details of your email address.
As you know I have been at an Art and Craft fair the last few days, some of the talent in this village is amazing really beautiful work. I have been toying with the idea of putting some of the work on the website and have just found a company which sells organic material so I may be a step closer!
I found this idea recently for the kids to make their very own bird feeder, fun to do and lovely for them to watch the birds feeding.
Materials:
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Organic cotton a bit more information |
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By Linda on
27/05/2008 16:17
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I have been in Dornoch today being 'orientated' as a bank community nurse so have just got to my computer. We still seem to have the north/south divide in the weather its been quite sunny here but there is a cold wind about. I hate to say it but my vegetable patch could do with some rain!
As you are probably aware I wrote a piece about sustainable organic materials recently so I was interested to find this definition of what sustainable organic means-
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Cleaning using natural ingredients |
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By Linda on
26/05/2008 13:59
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Another lovely day here, I have been doing my duty at the Art and Craft show stewarding but it has been very slow, everybody must be in the garden enjoying the sunshine. While the sun is shining it shows up all the dust and dirt which is under wraps in the winter and udoesn't get noticed. So here are a few idea's to clean your house without using loads of chemicals.
Living Room:
Dusting: When picking up dust use a damp cloth. A dry cloth only stirs up the allergens.
Furniture Polish: Mix Olive Oil and vinegar in a 1:1 ratio and polish
with a soft cloth. (I think any oil and lemon juice would be good
substitutes.)
Windows: Mix 3 tablespoons of vinegar per 1 quart of water in a spray
bottle. For extra ...
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An early blog! |
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By Linda on
25/05/2008 13:07
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It's an early blog today because my youngest son is coming to visit this afternoon and I haven't seen him for about 14 months. He has been travelling in Ausrailia and Thailand and working as a film extra I am really looking foward to seeing him! We have just had lunch outside because it is a really lovely day, very sunny I have been hoeing my veggie plot. My peas are shooting!! High excitement!! Only drawback is that we have had no appreciable amount of rain for about 6 weeks so I have had to fill watering cans from the burn. This brings me neatly into what I wanted to talk about today which is water conservation.
One of the most fundamental needs that human beings have is fresh water and there are so many people in the world who don't even have that necessity. Anyway I found an excellent blog with some suggestions on how you can save water.
By
practicing water conservation at home we encourage our children to
accept that natural resources are not in endless supply - a r ...
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One very proud owner. |
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By Linda on
24/05/2008 15:39
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Shula had her last class at the dog obedience today and guess what she got her bronze certificate and immediately took her silver and got that too!! What a clever dog, I felt really proud of her and may go on to see if she can get her gold. She also has a rossette but was not very impressed by it! We came back exhausted and starving after having been there for about 3 hours.
I was reading a blog today which seemed appropriate for me as it is very close to the dreaded 'midgy' season here. It was about the unpleasant things to be found in insect repellent.. Most sprays use DEET,
and the second most-used repellent is permethrin, or pyrethrin. DEET is
more effective than pyrethrin, but pyrethrin causes less problems than
DEET. Symptoms linked to pyrethrins are coughing, difficulty breathing, asphyxia, vomiting, and upset stomach.
DEET is a little more serious, with hiv ...
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Baby Skincare |
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By Linda on
23/05/2008 13:53
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A cloudy day today and a cold wind but no rain! We went for a long walk with our friends and the dogs and stopped off for lunch. Popped into the craft fair on the way back and it seems to be going quite well. Our local primary school children had made exhibits for the show and they were very impressive and colourful.
I wanted to share with you some questions put to experts about baby toiletry products. A new study has apparently shown that baby shampoo's, lotions and powders may expose infants to chemicals that have been linked to possible reproductive problems. Because there has been little research done in this area it is very confusing for parents. Should they stop using the baby shampoo they have always used. Switch to phthalate free products? What are phthalates? These are chemicals which are unknown in nature and there are no good studies on what a lot of these chemicals do to babies and pregnant mothers says Dr Lev Linker an American family medicine practitioner. Paediatrician Dr Ben ...
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Here is a recipe for you! |
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By Linda on
22/05/2008 15:13
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I spent the morning putting the finishing touches to my stall and although I say it myself it looks quite nice. We have friends coming to stay tonight they have been touring the Scottish islands and are due to get to Ullapool about 4.30 so I have been getting a meal ready and tidying up as well.
All this gave me the idea of sharing with you one of our favourite tried and tested recipes it comes from Mary Berry and is called Chicken Normande. I always use organic free range chicken for this but you can use whatever you usually have -
Ingredients
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
6 small chicken breasts
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 garlic clove crushed
1 dessert apple peeled and coarsely grated
1 teaspoon redcurrant jelly
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
400ml (14oz) creme fraiche (I use half fat)
1 tablespoon cornflour slaked with a little apple juice
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