So Feast of Trumpets is right around the corner (yay!!!) and we are gearing up for a great celebration!
The kids have made the trumpet centrepieces and I've been working on a couple of things myself; one is a little booklet which we'll give to those who come here to celebrate and the other is a song set to the words of Micah 7:18-19 (which we read each year at this appointed time). I want to share them both with you. The song I'll try my best to record (dodgy video mind you!) tomorrow but I'll share the links to the booklet tonight. I had to do two separate links but they all go in the one booklet. You fold them so they just fit into each other (landscape a4 fold). There are Scriptures to read together, a find-a-word I made and a couple of little colouring in pics for the kiddos while the verses are being read out.

 

Ok so the first part can be found: HERE

Second part can be found: HERE  

 

Hope that someone can find these useful :)

 

You can also check back through past posts about how we celebrated this feast in 2010 and 2011 and HERE ALSO.

 

Are you celebrating? Have you got something special planned?

Are you new to the feasts?

Yah will lead you! Leviticus 23 is a great place to start.

Our favourite thing about the feasts is that it is a time to remember, a time to read through the Word together and a time to look ahead to the promises we have in Yah through Yeshua.

 

Love and blessings to one and all,

Lus x

Cleaning Naturally {Part 2} and a Free Printable

{You can read Part 1 in this series
HERE WHICH IS ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF KEEPING A CLEAN AND ORDERLY HOME}

Part 2 today is about some of the natural cleaning methods I have been using around our home.
Now please don't get me wrong; these things are NOT things I do each day or even each week. Some I use more often than others like my vinegar spray and my bicarb to clean the toilet but other things I mention here might be once-in-a-blue-moon kind of cleaning experiences.

Anyway, the reason I like these are:

* They are less toxic than store-bought cleaners which means they are safer to use in my home

* Because they are less toxic, it means my children can also safely use them and be involved in learning the skills of keeping our home clean and orderly

* They are MUCH MUCH more cost effective!

* They are MUCH better for the environment around us

So I thought I'd break down what I use to clean different areas.

Here goes!

I'm sure many of you already use these but thought I'd write them out here and share what works in our home in a kind of basic way.

ALL PURPOSE CLEANER:

My all purpose cleaner around here these days is vinegar and water.

In a spray bottle put 1/3 cup of white vinegar and about a cup and a half of water.

Vinegar is great because it neutralises smells, is an antibacterial and actually CLEANS so many surfaces from bench tops, bathrooms to mirrors and glass!

I have a spray bottle of it in each bathroom hanging over the shower screens plus one in the kitchen.

Because I don't have to worry about nasty chemicals that my children might breathe in when they use these, they can help by cleaning the glass windows or mirrors.

IN THE BATHROOM

TOILET CLEANER:

Sprinkle some bi carb soda (baking soda) into the toilet bowl. Scrub away with your toilet brush.

Spray the seat and surrounding areas with the vinegar spray.

The bi carb helps whiten, deoderise and stabalise ph levels which are all great things for the toilet bowl!

In our ensuite, I have a box of bicarb sitting on the window sill with the vinegar spray next to it.
Seeing it there reminds me to actually use it; to pour some into the bowl, swish it around with the brush and spray with the vinegar too.



TOILET CLEANER FOR TOUGH STAINS:

I use Borax and vinegar to shift really tough toilet bowl stains.
Borax is a natural mineral compound and is apparently a great mould inhibitor. I've also read that it has a Ph higher than baking soda!
You'll find Borax in the cleaning aisle at your local supermarket.
I poured about a half a cups worth into the bottom of the toilet bowl, let it sit there for a while (overnight is not too long) and then scrubbed with the toilet brush.
Once again, I used the white vinegar to freshen the toilet area once I'd finished scrubbing the bowl.

CLEANING THE GROUT:

Now I confess to not having the nicest of shower recesses when it comes to mould stains in the grout.

And over the years I have tried ALOT of things to get rid of them. I've even tried to re-whiten the grout with a grout whitener...which did not work!
The number one thing I have learnt is that you can't get rid of the stains without re-grouting but you can kill off any live spores/bacteria there before they do any further damage.

I took some before and after shots of an area on our bath step that needed to be cleaned:

Here is the BEFORE shot...

I applied a thick paste made from bicab and vinegar to the area and left it to dry for about an hour or two...

then I wiped it off with warm water and toothbrush and cloth.
Here is the AFTER shot:

As you can see hopefully from this shot, it came up nice and clean!
However, this has not worked in my shower!I have read about replacing the vinegar with bleach but still haven't tried it as yet.
Keep in mind that the bicarb/vinegar paste will work on less mould-infected areas so if you see that pink coloured mould appearing, use it on there and see if it helps kill off the bacteria and maybe you can avoid the nasty black stuff that I now have! lol!

Below, I also mention a little about cleaning the soap scum ring in the bath and also what I find works best for cutting through nasty soap scum build-up on the shower doors.

Moving on though now, what about the kitchen area?

IN THE KITCHEN

Well my number one spray for counter tops here is the vinegar all purpose spray that I mentioned right at the top of this post.

Here are some other tips and things I use to clean my kitchen.

CLEANING GREASY AREAS

Some of you may remember when I posted recently about cleaning OUR VERTICAL BLINDS NATURALLY using cornflour and water and how stoked I was with the result!

I then tried out the spray (a spray bottle filled 3/4 of the way with warm water and 2 flat teaspoons added to the water - shake the bottle and there's your mix!!!) on a different kinds of greasy surfaces and was AMAZED at the result!

Here is my stove splash back after cooking a stir fry in an open wok recently...

and here is that same area after a few sprays of this cornflour and water mix!

What about the stove top after it's had a thorough cooking-workout?
This is how mine looks sometimes after one meals worth of cooking!
BEFORE:

and again, here is that same area AFTER using the cornflour spray!

No chemicals floating around the house.
No hard labour.
And it's SO cheap!

It keeps so well in the cupboard.
Once the warm water cools down, you don't need to add more warm water - just use as is.
The important part is just making sure you use the warm water at the start when you make your mix otherwise it will turn too thick and pastey.

OTHER PLACES TO USE THE CORNFLOUR SPRAY:

Walls

The top of the rangehood came up BEAUTIFULLY after using this to cut through the dusty grease that seems to accumulate up there!

The cornflour spray also cleans the top of the fridge too and of course the vertical blinds!

I've also taken to the soap scum ring in the bath with it and it shifted it extremely well.
I did try to use it on the soap scum on the shower doors and it did work to a degree but not as good as the CHUX MAGIC ERASERS do! They are incredible on cutting through the soap scum on the glass doors in the shower however they are expensive and I have seen warnings around about NOT letting children or people with sensitive skin handle them. That makes me slightly nervous because there must be something in there that is quite dangerous. I must say though that for now, I keep a stash in my cleaning box and I can't find anything that compares to them. My biggest tip is just don't let the kids use them, wear gloves or if you don't at least wash your hands well afterwards to get rid of that chalky residue.
I'll post another shot below of how the Magic Erasers are wonderful for taking permanent maker off walls!

CLEANING TARNISHED SILVERWEAR:

We don't have too many fancy pieces of silverware but we do have these lovely old forks. I picked them up from the op shop a while ago but they were quite tarnished with black marks on the prongs.
I picked up this cleaning tip over at RHONDA'S BLOG 'DOWN TO EARTH'. Click on that link and it will explain how she got hers clean. It's super easy + cheap too!
Thanks Rhonda for the tip :)

FOR BAD OVEN SMELLS:

Place a bowl of vinegar in the oven (fridge/microwave/whatever you are wanting to deoderise) and leave it there overnight.  The vinegar absorbs the bad smells like fish etc.

FOR CLEANING THE OVEN:

I must say that when my oven is semi-clean, all I do to keep it that way is the following:

1. Wipe down the oven with a cloth while it is still warm (not hot of course but just warm!)

2. Then if there is some baked on stuff say on the inside of the glass door, I put some cooking salt straight onto it and let it sit for a while until the oven cools right down. The salt, with a little elbow power, acts as an abrasive.

3. Rinse the area well and wipe clean.

Ok so that's what I use when the oven is semi-cleaned. But when it's got real baked on stuff in there, the only thing I have found to work brilliantly is SELLEYS OVEN PLUS HEAVY DUTY GEL. I would love to find something less toxic that REALLY works (I've tried heaps of natural things when it is really bad and nothing seems to shift it like this gel stuff. Anyone got any ideas to share for when your oven has REALLY baked on bad? Please share!)

CLEANING WOODEN CHOPPING BOARDS:

We have this great wooden chopping board that came from Ikea a while back. It has a lip over the edge and can be moved to sit over the stove top easily to create more bench space. However, it gets so much use that I needed to work out a way to clean it well.

I must say here that I never cut raw meat of any kind on this board.

Ok so to clean it, I do use a little warm water intitially but i try and wipe it dry straight away. Too much water can warp a board's shape and undo the glue.

I then deoderise it by rubbing a half a lemon over it. You can also use bicarb soda with this but I usually just use the lemon. It leaves it smelling nice and helps to lift stains too.

OTHER GENERAL CLEANING

DUSTING:

The best thing I ever did with dusting was ditch the feather duster which just seemed to spread the dust everywhere in the air and invest in some microfibre cloths.
I bought these from Coles (supermarket here) for about $5 a pair. I hung one of them on a hook on the side of our freezer which is also where we store our vacuum cleaner and broom and dust pan and brush. It's kind of a concealed area but still accessible....especially to the children!
Dusting is one of their daily rotational chores and the microfibre cloth is easy to reach, easy to use and doesn't make them sneeze! These are also machine washable so just chuck them in the machine when they are very dusty and they'll come up like new again!



WALLS

Well as I said earlier, I do use the Chux Magic Erasers to clean my shower doors of soap scum but I also keep them on hand for times when, say, I don't know....you put a permanent marker up high on top of the computer desk, leave the room then return to find your two year old has pushed a chair to the computer desk, climbed up it and reached with all her might until she has said marker in her hand, takes off the cap and doodles on the wall and computer desk to her heart's delight!

Like what happened here:
BEFORE

(notice that she got crafty on the desk top too?! )

I was so MAD - mostly at myself for leaving the marker around.

So here is the AFTER shot once I had gone through 2.5 boxes of chux magic erasers!

At least it got it clean!!!

REMOVING STICKY LABELS:

I rub some tea tree oil into a cloth or onto a tissue to take off sticky labels from jars and other places. It really removes that residue very well and then I just rinse it off under warm water.

CLEANING THE WHITEBOARDS:

We have a couple of whiteboards in our home and so far the best thing I've found that cleans them is alcohol free baby wipes. Wiping them regularly would probably help too but um...i kind of forget that bit! lol!

Ok, so I don't know about you, but I tend to read these kind of posts and then either:

a) get overwhelmed by what is shared or

b) forget it as soon as I've read it!

Please don't be overwhelmed! As I said at the start of this post, I don't use all these cleaning ideas every day - but I do use them when I need to.

I thought I'd try and help out by putting these things into a little pdf which you can print off.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE PRINTABLE.

If you do print this off, can you leave me a comment just so I know that you might have done that? I'm keen to see how many people print off the printables that I have shared.

Thanks!

Well, more to come another time.

Have a lovely day!

Love,

Linking up with HOMESTEAD REVIVAL BARN HOP :)

Family Planner Folder Challenge #2 Emergency Contact List

Edited to add:
The linky box has now been added!
Scroll down to sign up :)

So I am in the throws of getting on top of my FAMILY PLANNER FOLDER and have gotten to the part where I need to update our Emergency Contact List. I tape mine on the inside cover of my folder. I thought others might like to have one too. You could print this off and just fill in your own details if you like.

Why have an emergency contact list? Well, I think it not only helps mama to be organised and know where to find things quickly but it also helps our children. Think about what a person is asked when on the phone dialing for an ambulance when they are flustered and often can't think straight. Firstly they need to remember the number they have to dial to get the ambulance! Then they are asked what the address is, where the nearest cross street is, etc and that can all be written down in the folder, easily accessible for anyone to read (young or old) who needs to ring for help in an emergency. Hopefully that will never happen, but if it does I want my kiddos to be prepared and to know how to act quickly.

HERE'S THE LINK FOR THE 'IN CASE OF EMERGENCY' SHEET FOR AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS

HERE'S THE LINK FOR THE 'IN CASE OF EMERGENCY' SHEET FOR AMERICAN RESIDENTS

{well I had a go at converting it from my American friends ;) }

If anyone out there actually finds these sheets that I upload helpful, I'd love to hear from you.

And if you think they are rubbish, well that's ok too - maybe you could still let me know why :)

I've made some of my tags for my folder too.

How are you going with your Planner?

More soon,

Love



ANZAC day, Sand Art, Pancakes, Books and a Little Break!

Yesterday was ANZAC day here in Australia. A day to remember the fallen. I am not a fan of war or conflict (who is right?) but I do believe it is important to understand our history. A time to be mindful of those who lost their lives fighting for freedom for our nation and for other nations too.

It was the first time we'd kind of introduced the kids to the concept of WW1. Since we have been doing more history this year, I decided it would be a good time to do a brief intro.

I made up a little booklet for the kids HERE with excerpts from a couple of differnt sites just giving some basic factual info about the ANZACS. I also found THIS SITE VERY HELPFUL. I printed off a couple of sheets from the bottom of the homepage - counting the poppies, colouring in the wreath + a page on the soldier. Over lunch, we did some of the interactive lessons about women in war, about various styles of uniforms worn over the years and about the historical timeline of which wars Australia has taken part in.

We also took the kids down to town to see if there was a march on but it had finished. They just had a look at the soldiers and then at the memorial. Each child then came to me one by one after lunch to dictate to me a reflective writing piece. I added a little box at the bottom of the page for them to draw a picture of something they saw that day.

We are not trying to glorify war in any way. We are just tyring to introduce them to historical facts that are apart of our nation's colourful history.

Love that the mountains are really showing off all Yah's beautiful artistry!

The kids used these SAND ART PACKS BY MONT MARTE that I had picked up for them last November. We'd been waiting for a really good rainy day for this one when the baby was in bed and that was today! A great homeschooling art lesson!

Making progress...

Finished! They had sooooo much fun with these!

When I was a kid, my dad would make these Fijian style chunky pancakes on a Sunday afternoon for an early dinner. Brett and I were blessed to be able to duck out together for a cuppa and date while mum looked after the kids and dad made these for dinner - a real treat and blessing! 

He even made a special one for Zippi shaped like a butterfly!

How cute!!!

Zip thought it was fab!

We went out to the cafe specifically to chat about a new plan of action to help us overcome Zippi's sleeping (or lack thereof) issues. I've been reading this book and it has got some really good ideas in it. We are implementing a couple now. Last night was a much better night - praise Yah for that!

Here I am today...22 weeks and 3 days...my tummy has really popped out! 

My back is still giving me some grief (have had to use the walking cane a couple of times in the past week) but trying to push through as best we can. I'm loving being pregnant and especially love it when I hear Brett telling people excitedly that we have bubba #5 on the way :) Have run out of my box of Spatone iron water and need to see the natropath this week anyway so will try and do that this coming week. We are seeing our beautiful midwife Hazel in a couple of days too. Today I managed to sort through a whole filing cabinet worth of papers. Feel like we've really tamed the paper beast in our house recently with systems that are actually working. This makes me feel really happy! I've been singing the Zemer Levav songs that I'm hoping will be some of my homebirth music this week. Bubby boy is moving around lots now! Big movements that I can see from the outside. Brett is still yet to feel him move but i don't think that will be too far away. I  found THIS WEBSITE CALLED 'HEBREW BABY' recently and am enjoying reading through some of the info and stories.

Oh and while Brett and I were out for coffee yesterday, we popped into a local charity book fair that is held every long weekend around this time of year. I go every year and forgot it was on this year until we walked past it! We ducked in a picked up some bargain books for the kids for homeschooling. Most of these were only 50 cents! Plenty of great read-aloud-material here!

 

Thinking I might take a little break from blogging.

Not sure for how long.
Will be back soon, I think.

Love,