The Modern Housewife

Recently my auntie who was moving gave me, among other things an old book called "Here's a Hint" it was printed in the year I was born (1977 shhhh).  Its a book of hints for all parts of the house, easy way to do things, different homemade chemicals to use and ways to reuse things and save money. Yet again it reminded me of what a throwaway society we live in.  People buy disposable wipes, disposable nappies, disposable cleaning cloths, disposable containers for the kitchen, disposable wraps. Basically everything comes in a disposable version.  But do you know what....... we don't have to follow the norm and all the advertisements selling us another throwaway product.  Because although they may say they are disposable they are only disposable to us, not to the environment, hell half these throwaway products will still be hanging around the dump in 30 years time.  So not only do these products cost us more to buy but they are going to cost us and our environment in t

I decided that I would start a diary, sorry to disappoint but it wont be on here.  I don't think you actually need to know how many loads of washing I did and if the kids took a poop or not.  I randomly decided to write a diary yesterday after I found an old book that I used to write poetry in.  Suffice to say there is plenty of room as I only used two pages with my creative writing. Where did this idea come from?  Sorry it wasn't in a bid to record my oh so exciting, jet setting lifestyle.  No, while I was at my parents place my mum pulled out and old diary she had written when I was young.  It wasn't feelings and grumps and fluffy dreams, it was what had happened in that day, what the weather was like, what us kids were doing, what happened on the farm, meetings etc.  I realised that it was actually quite useful, not only was it an interesting read 20 years later (yes I am that old and I was no baby when she wrote the diary either) it was a reference to things we often

Who would have thought that after a few months I would still be making bread on a 2 day basis.  NOT ME.  Granted we have had a bit of brought bread (still haven't used a whole loaf of brought bread since starting the challenge, it sits in the freezer for emergencies). I went away with the kids for a week and hubby was disturbed to find there was no homemade bread left for him, so he had a piece of brought bread only to find the taste so horrific that he called me to find out how to make bread himself.  I hate to say it but he did a dam good job, so good it made me try harder.  We now have two lovely puffy loafs of bread made every second day.  Just to give you a giggle each bread tray has two little balls of dough in them so when the bread rises it looks like someones bottom bursting out from under the teatowel.  If nothing else it makes me smile. Today after trying to find snacks for the kids in a house with not to much food left in it (grocery day tomorrow), I stumbled across