Around here - DIY Dishwashing Powder

I have been making my own laundry powder for over 10 years now and on the odd occasion I have attempted to make dishwashing tablets for the dishwasher as they are very expensive.  These days most tablets have plastic around them which is supposed to dissolve and sometimes half of the tablet and plastic ends up sitting in the compartment after the wash.

I have given another recipe a go and started making dishwashing powder which is working perfectly.  There is nothing left in the compartment and the dishes are clean so I'm really happy with this particular recipe.  I have opted however to use the Finish Blue Rinse Aid still at the moment as it was half price at the supermarket so I bought a couple of bottles for $5 each instead of $10 each.  Once I run out I'll see what I can use in place of that.  Other dishwashing powder recipes I've tried out weren't successful however this one is great.   Here is a slightly different recipe but similar on the Lectric Washing Soda website.

DISHWASHING POWDER

• 2 x Cups of Bi-Carb Soda
• 2 x Cups Washing Soda
• 1 x Cup Citric Acid
• 1 x Cup Salt
• Essential Oils [ie lemon]

• Combine all ingredients in an airtight container.
• Mix well until incorporated.
• Use 1-2 teaspoons per load.

You know how much I love the Additive Free Lifestyle sisters and their courses.  This is their DIY Made Easy Course which you can have life time access for $49 and can get you started on lots of recipes and how to make lots of non-toxic home made cleaners.  If you have ever wanted to try to make better choices for your home I can highly recommend this self paced course.  It's not a heavy course so you can start and finish it in a few hours and then print out the recipes and get going.

If you are in Australia I can highly recommend getting your supplies for spray bottles and ingredients or DIY kits from Vitalia in Brisbane.  The online service is great because I order from them and my delivery comes in a couple of days.  They ship all over Australia and have everything you need to get started.  They have some good blog posts as well so check them out.  As an example here is a starter kit however there are lots of different ones depending on what supplies you need or buy individual items as you go.

As an example of how easy these DIY products are to make you can check out this blog post on Vitalia.

Apart from being better for your health, the cost of making these items once you have your spray bottles etc. is very minimal compared to buying supermarket floor cleaner, glass cleaner, all purpose spray, toilet spray, shower power, jiff, toilet gels, the list goes on.  It is so much easier than you think and you can make half of these things in less than 5 mins each.  Would love to hear if you try the dishwashing powder recipe and how you go.

Around here

Around here it's the 2nd week of the Queensland School holidays and the rain is back again.  NSW looks terrible again and some places are flooding for the 4th time this year and it's only 6 months in.  Such difficult times and so disheartening for everyone concerned.

Last week I did my photo project called "Week in the Life" for 2022.  This is the brain child of Ali Edwards, Scrapbooker in the USA and once a year for 7 days you document your life.  Daily activities, food you eat, books you read, places you go anything you want to document in your life.  I first joined in this project in 2008 and have done it every year since with exception of last year when the kids being teenagers don't like having their photos taken anymore so I gave up the thought last year.  In 2022 Ali did her WITL the week of Monday 20th June however my kids weren't with me that week and since they are both on holidays from University and School I sent them a text and said be prepared to get in photos next week as it's Week in the Life.  Whilst grumpy about it I did manage to get them in some photos and I know in 10-20 years time they will love looking back on what was happening during a week in 2022.

Here is a post from Week in the Life in 2014 (8 years ago) so both kids were in primary school and life was very different.  This project is so special because it's documenting history in our lives.  This is a blog post from Week in the Life 2015.  I remember in 2018 WITL Sienna wanted me to go to the shops on Saturday night to get ice cream for waffles and I needed tissues so off we went.   Here's a few photos from the week.

Morning Coffee

Winter slippers

Sienna works at a beautiful cafe and brought this home at the end of the day.

Washing drying in the sun.

Finally had my hair cut and coloured after missing my appointment due to Covid.

Yeh, finally planted some bok choy and corriander in the garden.

Whenever I do hard boiled eggs I put a smiley face on them and put

them in the fridge so I know these are not normal eggs.

Brisbane city across the river.

Me at South Brisbane after driving around for 30 minutes finding a carpark after

 the 3 main carparks underneath GOMO and the Museum are closed.

GOMA - Gallery of Modern Art foyer.

Some portraits on a park bench before we headed to the carpark.

My 16 going on 21 year old and forever my muse.

Around here

Around here we are in Winter in Queensland and we have had [for us Brisbane people] some very cold days although this week it's been lovely and after so much rain I'm enjoying putting the washing out on the line and it drying in the sun.  It's Queensland school holidays on Friday and this week my daughter is away on school camp in tents and was she was so excited.  University is on a month's break so my Son can catch up on some sleep, chilling out, working and seeing his friends.

A couple of weeks ago I was struck down with Covid and the first afternoon I had to curl up in bed and I felt like I did 24 hrs after my Covid Booster shot.  The first two jabs were a non event but the Booster knocked me around the day later however only for that day.  Since I felt exactly like what I did after my booster shot I did a Covid test and it was negative however the next day I got a faint 2nd line so tested positive and that was followed another by 7 days of ISO.  Luckily for me I didn't have any breathing problems and only a slight headache at two times and I think I took a total of 4 Panadol over the 9 days.   The first couple of days I didn't even turn my computer on so that shows you how sick I was, as in no interest or energy to do that.  I experienced sneezing, runny nose, deep voice but not a sore throat and late on day 6 I turned a corner and on day 7 I felt good.  Lots of people I know are catching it now.  My son had it a couple of months ago and my daughter so far hasn't had it although going on school camp there is a good chance she could catch it but we will see.  She didn't want to get it before school camp and miss out on all the fun.

After the first afternoon and night of curling up in bed with blankets the rest of the week was spent on the couch watching Netflix.  I think I watched 12 hours straight and then went to bed most days.  I watched Good Girls which was sort of like Bad Moms which I enjoyed.  Three Mum's accidently got caught up with a drug dealer so that kept me occupied for a while and then I watched Jane the Virgin which also light hearted not real life drama very Mills & Boon.  Times like this you need to watch light hearted nonsense and I enjoyed every minute of these two series.

I'm going to make this overnight no knead focaccia which Beth from Baby Mac blog posted about her teenager making this a few times.  Mix it up and leave it in the fridge overnight and bake the next day.  Add some fresh rosemary and sea salt and such a simple recipe.

We are currently babysitting Billy our friend's dog who comes over on the school holidays and he's like part of our family.  When they bring him over as soon as he sees our house he gets excited as it's his other home.  Here he is having a little nap.

Yesterday afternoon I made Lasagna which always takes about two hours even though you are not cooking for the whole two hours.  It was a WW Beef & Veggie Lasagna using fresh Lasagna sheets which I haven't used before.  One thing with the dried hard sheets is you can never shape them into a dish that has rounded corners and they snap off and you waste a lot of the dried sheets trying to do this so I was curious to see how the fresh ones were.  I used these fresh sheets and used scissors to cut the shape of the dish which was super easy.

I also made a new recipe of marinated chicken which was 1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinegar, 2 Teaspoons of Garlic Infused Oil and 2 Teaspoons of Italian herbs and then marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.  Such simple flavours and it was so delicious.  I'll be making this marinade again as it takes 1 minute to mix together and then you just pop the chicken in.

 Pasta & Salad for dinner.

My lights are currently out of action as the lawn mower

went over the cable so I need to attach a new set.

An out of focus [on purpose] pic of the Trumpet plant with it's bright orange flowers.

Around here - Rhonda from Down to Earth Blog

Hearing the sad news today that Rhonda's husband Hanno passed away yesterday.  Thinking of her and her family at this very difficult time.  Hanno had been in hospital for a while and then palliative care passing away yesterday.  I think even if you know someone is at the end of their life it still comes as a complete shock to the family.

I came across Rhonda back in 2008 when I was staying with in-laws in Melbourne reading through their gardening magazines.  Rhonda was a contributor on simple living in one of the magazines which is no longer published.  This lead me to her blog "Down to Earth" which lead me to starting a veggie garden, getting chickens and generally looking at life through a different lens.

Whilst her website isn't updated any more due to Rhonda looking after Hanno over the last year or so, all her recipes, budgeting tips, and posts about simple living are still available.  She has a wealth of information on how she went about giving up her career and staying home to have a better quality and simple life.  Rhonda and Hanno have two grown up sons and grandchildren who live close by.

Hanno

Rhonda, myself and my friend Karin at a local Library talk on Simple Living

A few of Rhonda's recipes are her home made biscuits which are super economical.

Rhonda's book call The Simple Home.

I made some soap after reading Rhonda's blog posts on the subject.

I made Ginger Beer following Rhonda's instructions.

Rhonda's post about the NYT Five Minute Bread recipe.

Flat breads from Rhonda's book.

Around here - Mother's Day

Just posting one of my favourite photos of the kids and I at the beach on a very early morning, hence why I'm in clothes and not togs it was too early to swim.  My sister snapped this for me November 2008 [yes 13.5 years ago] and it's still one of my favourite pics of us.  Happy Mother's Day to all the Mum's out there I know it's not really a rest day but still it's nice to be acknowledged.  

Around here - Anzac Day 2022

Today is ANZAC Day and for the past 2 years the traditional crowd gathering services have been cancelled due to Covid.  This year was the first year since 2019 that the Anzac Services and marches went ahead.  In lieu of these services during Covid the "Driveway Service" was born and even though this year services were back the Driveway Service in some suburbs are still strong and is a new tradition.

In honour of ANZAC Day I made ANZAC Biscuits which is in fact a weekly staple in our house anyway.  My daughter usually makes them however she was at work today so I whipped up a batch.

Later this afternoon I went down to our local memorial and took a few photos and it was lovely to see all the crocheted poppies draping the fences.  Here's some photos in honour of Anzac Day 2022.

Around here

Around here it's Queensland School holidays and having one still in school, our year pretty much runs by the school terms.  The thing is my kids are now 18 and 16 have social lives and part time jobs so they are out and about a lot.  I do miss the days when we would hang around the house in our pj's, do some baking and watch movies on school holidays.  I can honestly say even though the earlier years of Motherhood are hard, time just goes by so fast and before you know it they'll be out in the big wide world living with their mates.  I do know they will be welcome to come home for dinner any night of the week and they love my cooking so that's a positive.  My family went to Mum's on Sunday night for roast dinner for over 30 years and has been such a treasured family tradition catching up with everyone once a week.

Last weekend I went down to the Gold Coast to stay with my friend and we had a lovely time walking on the beach, catching up and chilling out.  The weather was amazing given that most of the early part of the week it was raining but it wouldn't have mattered although it was lovely having a few sunny days and watching a beautiful sunset.

In Australia ASIC [Australian Securities and Investment Commission] have just released new guidelines for Financial Influencers. All the IG accounts and Blogs I follow who share their money journey about paying off their mortgage, investing in shares and any talk about money in general will incur hefty fines and/or jail unless they are a qualified financial advisor.  I totally get where ASIC are coming from to protect the average person from taking advice from people who aren't qualified.  However the majority of the bloggers are not scammers and are providing ordinary people with tips about how they did things and navigated through their own personal finance journey.  New guidelines are warranted however banning people from sharing their own story about money does seem over kill.

You can talk about cooking, home renovation, fitness, travel and recommend anything with respect to these topics so you might buy recommended cookware because a cook uses it which means they are influencing you to buy something.  You are allowed to do that however you can't say you went with a certain mortgage company because of their rates and great customer service.  It is designed to protect people being scammed and losing money so that is a good thing however banning talking about money so people don't have access to ordinary people's journeys is not necessarily a good thing.  So many of the people I follow are either going to shut up shop, they have to delete all their posts where they give their opinion on a share broker, bank etc. or they will be fined and go to jail.  Here is a blog post from Strong Money about the new guidelines.  These guidelines only refer to Australia.

It's nearly time for Easter so I got in early and whipped up some lovely Hot Cross Buns for the kids and I and it didn't take long before they were all gone.  The time line with proving is long however the hands on time with mixing is very short so we had them for afternoon tea. 

Hope you are all staying safe and have a Happy Easter.

Home Made Hot Cross Buns

Could eat one right now with loads of butter!!

A beautiful sunset at the Gold Coast.

Afternoon coffee at a cafe.

My friend's coffee.

Beautiful sunny weather.

Who doesn't love a Black & White beach photo with trees.

A cosy little Mexican Restaurant bar we had dinner and listened to some live music.

These tortillas were so delicious, one was steak and the other chicken

however the flavours of the things that went with it were amazing.