Clean Sheets

My designer peg bag!

Almost every stitch of clothing in our house is clean and line dried! This makes me very happy. I love drying clothes outside. It's better... for them, the environment, my purse and my spirit.

I told a friend recently that I wasn't romantic, too practical you see... but she pointed out that my love of drying clothes on the line is romantic and to see a load of colourful washing fluttering in the breeze against green grass and blue skies, I'd have to agree! It's certainly a pursuit for the eternally optimistic in this part of the world.

I made this peg bag out of an old shirt. A child's hanger is ideal as an adults one would be too wide. Happily this purple one matched the shirt. It really only involves 3 lines of sewing, and a colourful shirt. If you're tempted to try making one, leave a comment and I'll do my best to give you some tips.

It's a Tommy Hilfiger shirt, I guess that makes it a designer peg bag!

Vegetable growing update

Tomatoes planted 10th March. The pots are the bottom of 2 litre milk containers with holes put in them.

The rugby player carefully transplanted these from their seed tray. A rugby player with no rugby to play at the end of the season can achieve alot, our garden has never looked better - thank you!

Spinach planted 10th March. I've two window boxes of it. I won't be thinning these out as I'm really growing them for the baby leaves. Love 'em!
 

 

Getting on the vegetable growing bandwagon...

It's impossible to open or turn on any medium these days without someone extolling the virtues of "growing your own" There are workshops, courses, book, articles and  reality TV programmes all dedicated to the topic. A colourful display in a bookshop attracted me to this book " Grow it Eat it" Published by Dorling Kindersley. We won't be self sufficient by harvest time but I am going to try some small scale vegetable gardening. There was compost in the shed, and some miscellaneous pots and window boxes already in the house. The seeds were bought on a recent trip to town so our first planting took place on Wednesday.

Having learnt a little from previous gardening attempts with the children, they wore wellies and waterproofs, went to to the loo before we started and I gathered everything we needed first!

We mixed some soil and compost and filled two window boxes and planted a row of spinach in each, as suggested in the book. I love baby spinach leaves in salads, sandwiches and omelettes. They will spend some time on the kitchen window sill until the frosts disappear. As will a tray of tomatoes we planted. These are tumbling cherry tomato plants which are suitable for tubs and baskets, to grow outside so they will be transplanted in time.

I intend to plant some rocket and red lettuce too. I am looking forward to using wooden vegetable boxes lined with a black bin liner as a container for the lettuce as suggested by the book. Yogurt containers, egg cartons, and even newspaper are all suggested as growing vessels in the book, it doesn't advocate spending a fortune on equipment, rulers, lollipop sticks and other household items are pressed into action as tools.

Even if there are no kids in your house, I think this book is worth a look it's very accessible and I'll let you know if it works, our tomato seeds should germinate in the next 14 days. The Princess checks daily for progress and tells me she can see them growing, but she said this 24 hours after they were planted!

 

Be careful out there.,.

We are off on holidays on Saturday (keep logging on to cleansheets, there are posts already to go that will be published next week) it's a skiing holiday, the irony of this is thatI have already slipped on ice an fractured my left arm right here at home while walking the hound! We're still going to go. Better to be there having my cooking and washing up done for me than here trying to do it with one arm. Pity I won't be able to ski but i look forward to enjoying the Alps and  being the support team for those heading off to ski school every day.

The local A and E was bordering on comical the first 5 fellow patients I encountered all had slings, ranging in age from about 7 to 70 all of us were victims of the conditions.

You cannot be too careful, wear your most sensible shoes, check on neighbours and just go slow - better to arrive slowly and cautiously than broken. Take it from one who knows.

Golden Leaves, Golden Moments...

This post is for Michelle who, at this time of the year, like me, is drawn to the woods.

Parenting is not all about sleep deprivation, permanent untidiness, dried on breakfast cereal and thinning patience. Once in while an image like this occurs, perhaps momentarily. These peaks on the rollercoaster that is, parenting restore us and our confidence. I'm so glad I captured this one.

Woods are magical this time of year - crunching leaves, and dappled shade.

There is something particularly photogenic about children in bright clothes among autumn leaves. Some spontaneous photos taken this time last year became our Christmas card images for last year, mmmm... I need to look through the archives for this years' soon.  

I wish you all a golden moment today (hopefully among some leaves), if you're a parent I wish you a rollercoaster peak today too!

 

New life for... an old duvet cover.

The hound is doing well these days. She was hit by a car 5 weeks ago and had to have surgery on her leg. This was an expensive business and if you have a dog but do not have pet insurance I recommend you consider it at least. You would be amazed how much 30 seconds of canine indiscretion on the road could cost. We didn't have insurance, we forked out. We were lucky to be able to but, there were lots of other things we could have done with that money. Suffice to say we will be looking for pet insurance as soon as she is no longer confined to a playpen in the kitchen.

What does all that have to do with the duvet cover in the title of this post? Truthfully almost nothing except that, the duvet cover became machine washable quilts for the hound, one of which she is lying on in this photo.

Sun shining, clothes drying, energy saving...

The world is instantly a better place when the sun is shining, apart from the incomparable unmistakable warmth it brings to my skin and through my bones I absolutely love line drying clothes. I get enormous satisfaction from it, it's free, not as hard on the clothes, environmentally friendly, and makes clothes easier to iron. We have a south facing garden which is very rarely wind free so as long as it's not raining it's a prime clothes drying location.

I am not a fan of the rotary clothes line. If it's fully laden I think the clothes are hanging too close together to dry quickly. What does work well in a suburban garden is the retractable clothesline, fixed to a wall or shed with a hook opposite to secure the line when it's in use. You can even put up a second hook opposite if distances allow and pull the line even further. When not in use they are discrete and don't interfere with lawn mowing etc.

Des Bishop's new venture with the ESB is a blog detailing his energy saving efforts. He has only briefly mentioned clothes drying so far, but it's early days. His focus has been lighting and predictably hot water heating (he brought the Irish obsession with the immersion to our own attention with a brilliant sketch several years ago).

It's worth a look and it's good to see Jim Curran from the ESB contributing as I am skeptical about armchair energy consultants!

The Rose of Tralee with kids!

Surviving Enjoying a Street Festival with Kids

On Saturday afternoon we (2 grandparents, 2 parents and 2 children) strolled into town to indulge in the delights of the Rose of Tralee Festival on the streets. Following a really lovely afternoon here are my tips for those of you making similar excursions.

1. Limit the pester potential.

New Habits

Starting to do something new is not easy. Changing anything is a challenge, and the first hurdle will usually be provided by ourselves. If we don't want to to something we won't. I am guilty of this... a friend would suggest I do something new or in a different way and I would be able to come up with several reasons why it was easier for her but,  if I was honest there was usually several different reasons why it would be easier for me, but I chose to ignore those.

If you really want to become more organised, get fitter, or learn something new then do it, if not, accept you don't really want to and let it go. I am afraid this realisation did not come from soul searching within, but a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness at a friends house where a pragmatic style coach made me confront the fact that the only thing between me and change was my lack of will to actually do it.

Since then I have found it much easier to dismiss habits or routines I don't adopt, with the knowledge that I just didn't want that badly enough right now and I have taken up new habits such as weekly menu planning with much less fuss. Less guilt, more action. Good for me and those around me.

Put simply:    WANT IT?       DO IT!

Quick and Easy Window boxes - update

A reader kindly pointed out that the correct spelling of lobelia is with an o not a u, I have amended the original post, and learnt that the spell check is no botanical expert! 

They also had the following tip: Scraping your fingernails over a bar of soap before gardening will allow you to easily remove any dirt and grime afterwards with an orange stick. (good to know how to keep them clean now that I have grown them!) Thank you, Mary.

The window boxes have bloomed despite my lack of gardening experience, see for yourself:

                                            

If you think they look a little wind blown from the west you would be right, that's the Atlantic making it's presence felt.