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Friday 29 August 2008

Natural Stain Remover

Earlier this week, not only did Little Girl manage to get pork casserole all over the white T-shirt she was wearing (despite the apron and bib we put on her) but neither Hubby or I realised until after he had dressed her the next day in the same T-shirt.

Given what was in the casserole and the fact that it had dried on I didn't hold out much hope for removing the stain.

I did my usual cold water and rubbing with soap treatment before washing but this did not remove it. It already had a yellow pepper stain on it (who would have thought that yellow pepper would stain?!) so I figured it could just become a rough T-shirt for when she was likely to get messy.

As I was hanging the washing outside, I thought I might as well hang it with the stain facing the sun as I figured it might at least reduce it. Although I knew that the sun could help with stains, I was amazed when I brought the washing in to find that not only was the new stain gone but also the old yellow pepper stain!

So, the moral of the story is: try hanging stained clothes in the sun before you give up on them completely. :o)

Tuesday 26 August 2008

Profanity and Coarse Language

I read an interesting post by Stephanie on profanity recently. It got me thinking as I had not appreciated that the term "profane" specifically means treating that which is holy with irreverence. (Having said that, I've just found that the OED does include "obscene language" in it's definition of profane language but that is probably a change caused by usage rather than the original meaning.)

If profane language specifically means language which treats that which is holy with irreverence then what about other swear words?

We live in a culture which views certain words as being "wrong". Most people use at least some of these words and there is a variation in how "bad" a given word is perceived to be. However, we are not supposed to just blindly follow the rules of our culture but to seek what is right in God's eyes.

Personally I do not swear. This is mainly because I was raised not to. I have only known each of my parents swear once - my mum one time when she missed a turn off on a dual carriageway and my dad stuck his fingers up at a speeding cement mixer which had just nearly run me and my brother over. Because I did not hear them swearing, swear words did not enter my spoken vocabulary and therefore I did not swear.

However, even though it is not a pressing practical issue (I wouldn't start swearing if I found it wasn't wrong), I wanted to know whether what had been ingrained into me all my life ("swearing is wrong") was really correct. It is important that we have our thinking right and I did not want to be thinking that something was wrong if it wasn't.

The verses I found were:
"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

"Filthy communication" is also rendered as obscene speech, abusive speech, obscene language, shameful speaking, unclean talk, filthy speech, vile language and foul mouthed abuse. The Greek word used is αισχρολογιαν which according to this online translator means "obscenity" in modern Greek.


"Corrupt communication" is also rendered as filthy talk, unwholesome word, corrupt speech, evil talk, evil speech and corrupt word. The Greek word used is
σαπρος which my online translator could not find however, this page defines "σαπρός" as "rotten" and this translator gives the meaning as "putrid" or "putrescent".

My own personal conclusion from these verses is therefore that swearing (or "coarse"/"bad" language) is wrong. The difficulty which follows is defining what actually is bad language as this is man made and culture specific. There is also the issue of using "alternatives" to swear words where a distorted version of a swear word is used in place of the swear word. If we don't use swear words but we use the "alternatives" in exactly the same way as those who are swearing then surely we are doing the same thing and therefore being hypocritical?

An area which I have had to make an effort not to use certain words is with words which have become acceptable as non swear words or alternatives to swearwords but they have undesirable origins. These include words such as "cor" which comes from "cor blimey" which is a corruption of "God blind me" and "gosh" which is a corruption of "God".

In conclusion, I would have to say that "swearing" is wrong but it is hard to define what exactly is a swear word so it is up to each individual to judge for themselves whether the words they are using is good and right. (Although of course just because the actual words we are using aren't bad doesn't necessarily mean we are saying things which are good and right but that's a whole separate issue.)

(I am happy for this to be a discussion so please feel free to comment regardless of whether you agree or not.)

Friday 22 August 2008

Frugal Friday - CrockPot Yoghurt

I've been making yoghurt for about eight months now and I only just realised how much money I save by doing it.

I use organic milk which is £1.50 for 2 litres (a litre is roughly equivalent to an American quart) meaning that for 1kg (just over 2lb) yoghurt it costs me 75p which I'll round up to 80p to allow for cost of electricity, wear and tear on utensils etc. If I bought organic yoghurt ready made it would cost £2.09/kg and even if I bought the very cheapest non-organic yoghurt it would cost me 96p compared with about 65p for yoghurt made with non-organic milk.

Originally I used a recipe I found elsewhere but I found that it produced very inconsistent results and was usually much runnier than bought yoghurt. Over time I developed my own recipe which I have found produces a nice thick yoghurt every time:

Equipment
  • Crockpot
  • Time switch
  • Ladle
  • Spoon (any old eating spoon will do)
  • Pint/Half litre jug for mixing yoghurt and milk the first time
  • Insulation for crock from crockpot (I use one of these but a large towel would do)
  • Containers for storing yoghurt (I usually use a couple of old 1kg/2lb ice cream tubs and an old 500g/1lb yoghurt pot)

Ingredients
  • 3 British pints/2 litres/2 American quarts whole milk
  • 1 small pot natural yoghurt or a cup of yoghurt left over from the previous batch*

Method

1) Put 3 British pints (or 2 litres or 2 American quarts) of milk into your crockpot.
2) Set the time switch for 3 hours and turn the crockpot to low. (You can do it without the time switch but the time it is on for is a critical part so if you don't have one, make sure you set yourself an alarm to remind you to switch it off.)
3) Wait at least two hours after the heat has been turned off. (I usually aim for 2-4 hours but have left it for seven without affecting the results.)
4) Put the yoghurt in the jug
5) Ladle in an equivalent amount of warm milk.
6) Mix well and then pour half of the mixture into the crockpot.
7) Stir the warm milk (which now has some yoghurt added) and then repeat steps 5 &6 a couple of times before adding all of the yoghurt/milk mixture to the crockpot and stirring thoroughly.
8) Insulate using either a solar cooker or some large towels and leave overnight.

The Next Day

9) Remove slow cooker from insulation.
10) Ladle about one cup of yoghurt into the old yoghurt pot** and then put the remainder in the other tubs.
11) Place yoghurt in fridge.

* The longest I have kept yoghurt for the next batch is three weeks. Of course you should check for signs of mould and smell it to make sure it is okay. If in doubt, it is better to buy some fresh starter yoghurt than to risk getting ill.
** The cup of yogurt in the yogurt pot can be used for the next batch of yogurt. The milk can be mixed direct in the pot removing the need for a separate jug to be used.

Thursday 21 August 2008

I belong in London...




You Belong in London



A little old fashioned, and a little modern.

A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock.

A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything.

No wonder you and London will get along so well.

Feeling Better

Just a quick post to say I'm feeling much better now and am back to normal. :o)

Tuesday 19 August 2008

EC Resources

For anyone who is considering Elimination Communication.

Websites
Please note that many proponents of EC are evolutionist and make reference to this in their writings. I disagree but just substitute, "We have evolved to..." with, "We have been designed to..." in my head.
Diaper Free (Ingrid Bauer)
Diaper Free Baby
Infant Potty Training (Laurie Boucke)
Dr Sarah J Buckley
Natec
Tribal Baby

Books
The same disclaimer applies to books as to websites.
Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene (by Ingrid Bauer)
The Diaper Free Baby (by Christine Gross-Loh)

Equipment
The EC Store (US based)
Clear potty
Mothercare (UK)
Training pants
Happy Heinys (UK)
Green Baby (UK)
Twinkle Twinkle (UK)
Baby Legs
Amazon
Baby Kind (UK)
Big Mama Slings (Europe)
Little Eco Warriors (UK)

Online support
Mothering.com EC discussion board
Yahoo UK based group
Yahoo Late Starters group
Yahoo group ("Big" list - OT discussion allowed)
Yahoo group ("Small" list - no OT discussion)

If you have any questions or know anything else I should include, feel free to comment.

Monday 18 August 2008

Urgh

I don't know if it's a bug or something I ate but I woke up in the night feeling really sick and have been feeling ill all day.

Fortunately I am not behind on any of the housework and I don't need to make bread this week as we were given a loaf yesterday. I managed to get most of the stuff which needed to be done this morning and then this afternoon it was raining so Hubby came home (he can't work if it is too wet). He looked after Baby Girl while doing various bits and pieces he needed to do so I could have a rest. I had planned dinner to be omlette so that was nice and easy and pudding was strawberry cheesecake which I made on Saturday.

I'm doing a few bits and bobs on the computer now and then once Baby Girl has gone to bed hopefully we can sit down together and watch a DVD.

Although I (obviously) don't like being ill, it is quite amazing the way it has been worked out so it is a day where I have been able to rest and not do a lot without it having a huge impact on anything so I am thankful for that and praying that I will be feeling ebtter tomorrow.

Thursday 14 August 2008

Finally

I can log into my account, approve comments, write comments on other people's blogs etc. Based on the fact that everyone else has been posting and commenting away, it obviously wasn't a problem for everyone but for the last week up to just now I haven't been able to access Blogger for some reason. I hope to get caught back up sometime over the next week so please don't think I'm ignoring you if I haven't responded to something.

Thursday 7 August 2008

Children

Crystal just did this post about having children and reasons people choose not to have them. I liked it so much I thought it worth posting about here.

What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In?







What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In?
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Republican




Republican



83%

Anarchism



75%

Green



58%

Socialist



50%

Democrat



25%

Communism



8%

Nazi



0%

Fascism



0%

The results don't suprise me too much except for the anarchism!

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Search phrases

We've had family visiting for the past week meaning I haven't had time to write much so I thought I'd share this list of terms people were searching for when they found my blog:


Wonderwash

wonderwash durham

aborted babies uses for vaccinations

basic cook broad bean

broad bean pancetta tapas

how does a sinner get saved?

a child lives what he learns, wall

women apparel

slow and steady get me ready activities for baby

saved scripture

tapas broad beans bacon

wonder wash

contented baby evangelical

saved or sinner

i am a sinner saved by god

ideas for snacks with broad beans

weaning babies and marmalade

living without a washing machine

apology invitation

sinner saved

i've climbed durham cathedral tower

wonderwash manual

christians vaccinations aborted

what to do without a washing machine

out of the mouths of children

sausage and leek

do men prefer homemakers

homemaker washing machine manual guide

christian living with girlfriend

how to wash without a washing machine

slow and steady get me ready activities

ways with broadbeans

tapas broad bean and pancetta

durham cathedral bookshop

broad bean tapas


I think my favourite has to be "weaning babies and marmalade".

If you want to find out similar information for your own blog, try Stat Counter.

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