GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

I have been tagged by the lovely Cait to write some HOUSEHOLD TIPS - here goes then.

Housework can be such a negative thing, no matter how many times one dusts and cleans, at the end of the day one never really has anything to show for their life's work, but we like to keep our home spic and span.

I like to keep a tidy home, but not a show home, I like it to be well lived in with rugs, numerous cushions, huge amount of artwork with jugs of flowers in each room. Another importance for me is table lamps, I do not have a passion for stark bright ceiling lights. Many a day or evening you will be able to spot heaps of books and Magazines strewn all over the floor, when they should be back in their pile on table or side by side on various book shelves.

I am allergic to certain chemicals so try to use natural remedies if at all possible. White Vinegar is always to hand, this I use to wash glass windows, and always get a smear free finish.

I have always used Lemon Juice for stain removing, good for using on carpets, or plastic, I usually dilute the Lemon Juice, but one can use neat also.

My furniture which is mainly Walnut and Mahogany, is rubbed over with a good tin of Wax Polish, but one can use a solution of Vinegar and Water first, then just buff up after with the Polish.

Although the dishwasher which is used quite frequently, now and again crockery does end up in the kitchen sink. To keep your stainless steel sink clean and shiny just use some Olive Oil on a soft cloth. Again by using the Lemon, this can make your taps shine and sparkle.

There is nothing worse than a grubby toilet, we all might loathe cleaning them, but of course vital they are kept clean. Many bleaches are used I know, but if you use Borax for cleaning out the toilet, it is environmentally friendly, anti-bacterial, helps to remove stains, and is effective also a deodoriser. Sorry chaps, but men always have a habit of keping the toilet seat up, best to keep it down, as by doing this it avoids catapulting germs around newly cleaned bathroom when flushing the loo.

Lastly, rather than Air Freshener, if you place a fabric softner sheet in the wastepaper basket, or add a dab of fragrence on a light bulb, this gives good effect, also when lightbulb is switched on, the heat releases the aroma, this good tip given to me by a very good friend of mine.

Now after all that cleaning think you deserve a glass of wine, and feet up with a good book, oh nearly forgot, white wine is very useful for keeping your glass shower doors free from stains and limescale.

Happy Good Housekeeping everyone, a chore I know, but someone's got to do it, and what better way than to stick an Ipod in your ear, and listen to a favourite piece of music while you are whizzing around in your Pinny and Marigolds.

Note Books and Journals

I dont know about others, but I cannot do without my Note Books and Journals. I keep a Dreambook also where I jot down daily things which take my fancy, and maybe snippets of Magazine cuttings. These books are stacked on my writing desk, together with pretty jugs of various pens and pencils.

My desk in the Study is a little too small for my liking, and eventually I do hope to purchase a new one, good idea also perhaps would be for me to go to one of the Auction Houses to see if I can pick up a lovely Antique one. I like the idea of a desk being owned by some other, to know that many hours this piece of furniture was used in it's entirity for some creative piece of work.

This brings to mind about our lovely Crystal who now owns her beloved Father's desk, I can understand how she feels so much affection for that desk.

Happy writing everyone.

Camilla.x

A BOOK MEME

BOOK MEME

I am to do a Book Meme, I have been tagged by the lovely Muddie, I like a bit of fun so here goes:

1 Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2 Open the book to page 123
3 Find the fifth sentence
4 Type the next five
5 Tag five people

Drum roll please, ta da....

I have picked up:- The Gowk Storm by the Author Nancy Brysson Morrison - published by Canongate.

I found the fifth sentence which says:-

'None of us can expect', he said, more pleasantly, 'every day to be a picnic. The calendar is made up of commonplace days, and after all that is best - the plain things of life are always best and last longest'. He looked urbanely from one to the other. Better to be married to - shall we say? - a minister like your father, the highest calling in the world, and pass your days in the homely atmosphere of a sheltered manse than be the dupe of false excitement and wordly show which cannot endure.

The Gowk Storm - I first heard this on BBC Radio 4 when I was travelling to work one morning, I loved it, and could not wait to order from the book store. It was first published in 1933. I was intrigued to learn what the word Gowk stood for and discovered that Gowk Storm - A storm of several days at the end of April or beginning of May; an evil or abstract obstruction of short duration.

It is a story of which the title predicts, an untimely fall of snow in early Spring - a fitting symbol for the anguished story that unfolds. Nearly a hundred years ago, three girls were born to a minister and his wife in remote Highland manse; the rigid patriarchal structure of the times is set against their approaching womanhood and growing awareness of life beyond the safety of home.

This award winning book was a Book Society Choice, went into eight impressions and was succcessfully dramatised.

Thank you Muddie for the Tag. Now I have to tag five others, but if you have arrived at my blog, you are truly tagged. So it's over to you. Enjoy.!!