Spicy Sourdough Fruit Loaf or Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

(makes 3 loaves or 2 loaves and one batch of hot cross buns)

2 cups buttermilk
3 cups sourdough starter
1 tsp salt
¼ cup honey (3 oz)
2 tbsp butter
Around 6-8 cups flour (about 2lb)
1 lb mixed fruit
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp mace
1 tsp nutmeg

1. Put buttermilk, sourdough starter, salt, honey and butter into a large bowl.

2. Mix.

3. Add fruit and spices and mix again.

4. Gradually add flour and mix until it turns into dough.

5. Knead for 5-10 minutes.

6. Divide into three tins. (Or into two tins and one batch of buns.)

7. Bake at GM 3 for 1 to 1 ¼ hours. (Buns need less time - around 30 minutes.)

8. Turn out of tins immediately and cool on wire rack before slicing.

If you need to convert any of the units of measurement, try Gourmet Sleuth.

Books, books, books

Get this picture at AllPosters.com

I've suddenly realised how far behind I am at reviewing the books I've been reading. The last one I started writing about was Stand and Deliver which I finished in June (I still have a half written review sitting in my draft posts). I'm going to try to catch up but I'll probably do them as auto posts so that they are spread out rather than all at once.

In the mean time I thought I'd post this book meme I found at Buffy's Salon:

The list is from a survey done by the BBC in 2003. They asked everyone in Britain to nominate their favourite books and compiled a list of the top 100. Apparently the average adult has only read 6 of them.

In bold are books I have read.
In italics are books I intend to read.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. I reread this quite recently so there's a review in the pipeline.
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman. At the time I didn't realise that it was deliberately anti-Church, anti-God and anti-Christianity - I wouldn't read it again)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. My head of year used to read random parts of this out in assemblies. They never made any sense and it kind of put me off a bit.
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling. I read the first four Harry Potter books in 2001 because my brother was really into them and I wanted to be able to have intelligent conversations about it with him. To be honest I didn't think they were that amazing and never bothered to read the rest. The only good thing I can say is that they got my brother reading (albeit only seven books in a continuous loop).
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. I can't remember much about this but I did read it when my brother was studying it at school because we watched a film of it.
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne I have no idea why I never read Winnie the Pooh - we had the books on the shelf at home when I was growing up.
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell I'm not so keen on it now but when I first read it this along with Tess of the D'Urbervilles was one of my favourite books. I actually did a piece of GCSE coursework when I was 15 comparing them.
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë. This is one of my mum's favourite books.
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks. I have never heard of this book.
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame. Well technically I think I may not have read the whole thing as I found it incredibly boring.
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens. I read the first chapter of this when I was about 8 or 9. It seemed to be all about a boy called Pip Pip who was running through a graveyard so I stopped reading it. I eventually read it after watching a TV adaptation (probably by the BBC) when I was a student.
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres. I've seen the film but apparently they changed quite a bit.
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving. Not heard of this one either.
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson. I have read other books by Jacqueline Wilson and have seen Tracy Beaker on the TV. That is sufficient for me to know I do not want either me or any of my children to read any of her books.
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez. Not heard of this.
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett. Or this.
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson. This is on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I think I may possibly have read it years ago but I'm not sure.
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute. Not heard of this.
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen. I'll have to buy it first but I like the Jane Austen books I know so want to read this one too.
39. Dune, Frank Herbert Not heard of this.
40. Emma, Jane Austen. As Persuasion.
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery. I did get a bit bored earlier in the book by Anne's incessant monologues but if I remember correctly it did improve. I may try to get hold of the subsequent books but I want to finish reading all my current books first.
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell. I actually read this online in a couple of hours when I was a student. I have a friend who wouldn't consider reading 1984 because of how much he disliked Animal Farm so he e-mailed me a copy. It wasn't as bad as he made out but he had been shown a cartoon of it when he was about 7 which was quite traumatic and quite understandably put him off it.
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy. I have a review of this in the pipeline as I reread it last year.
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck. Not the most pleasant of books - I read it after watching the film with my brothers (who were studying it at school).
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth. Not heard of this.
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell. I did own this as a child but for some reason never read it (I would have unreasonable and arbitrary prejudices against certain books) but more recently I acquired a copy in a job lot of books and really enjoyed reading it.
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer. Not heard of this.
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman. Not heard of this.
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough. Not heard of this.
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton. I used to love reading all my Enid Blyton books again and again as a child.
67. The Magus, John Fowles. Not heard of this.
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding. I had to study this book for GCSE. It was a horrible book and whilst not wishing to offend anyone who likes it, I cannot understand why anyone would choose it as their favourite book.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind. Not heard of this.
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell. Not heard of this.
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding. I saw the film of this - it did not give me any desire to read the book.
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt. Not heard of this.
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins. I really like this book.
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith.
83. Holes, Louis Sachar. Not heard of this.
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake. I was given this for Christmas one year but gave it to a charity shop as I didn't really like the sound of it.
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy. Not heard of this.
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons. Not heard of this.
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist. Not heard of this.
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac. Not heard of this.
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel. Not heard of this.
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho. Not heard of this.
95. Katherine, Anya Seton. Not heard of this.
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer.
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez. Not heard of this.
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot. I've seen the film of this and would not choose to read the book.
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

I am surprised that the average person has only read 6 as I have read 34 (and intend to read another 4) and 7 of them were in the course of my education.

If you do this book meme be sure to leave a link in the comments.

In the Footsteps of Paul by Ken Duncan

I received this gift book as part of the Thomas Nelson book review blogger programme. The book takes you through the life and journeys of Paul the Apostle. Each double page has a similar format of a Bible quote (usually from Acts), one or two beautiful pictures and then some relevant comment which gives you a bit more information. Sometimes the comments by the author are replaced with quotes by a variety of people including CH Spurgeon, CS Lewis, Phillip Yancey and Billy Graham.

Right from the introduction (which included the Gospel) to the final page I was very impressed by this book. Because it picked out relevant verses to show the journeys of Paul rather than including all of the events, I found it a useful overview of his life. The stunning pictures helped to bring the world he lived in to life. In particular I was surprised by how rich much of the countryside was as I had imagined it to be barren and desert-like. The comments and quotes greatly enriched the experience of this book as they helped me appreciate the great faith, dedication to evangelism, and sufferings of Paul and his contemporaries. This would be a good gift both for Christians and for non-Christians who are interested in the historical aspect of the Bible.

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

• Moda Bake Shop: Braided Rag Rug

  How cool is this? I read about making these in a Bobbsey Twins book once and always wanted to try it out - now I can.

  tags: homemaking, crafts, sewing

• Mother Gives Birth to Girl After Nine-Month Ectopic Pregnancy, No Abortion

  Thanks to Brenda at http://abortionknowthetruth.blogspot.com for this one.

  tags: pro-life

  • In an amazing development, one Australian mother delivered
    a healthy baby girl after going through a nine-month ectopic pregnancy.

  • For
    nine months, Thangarajah carried her baby Durga in her ovary instead
    of her uterus. Following a Caesarean birth, both mother and baby are
    fine.

    
    

    Doctors
    are calling Durga a miracle baby and say the chances of both mother
    and baby surviving are a million to one.

  • Neither
    doctors nor the couple expected anything other than a normal pregnancy
    and it wasn't until the planned Caesarian began that they discovered
    something amiss.

• http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search

  tags: Nutrition, Reference

• Food Storage Made Easy

  tags: no_tag

• Buffy's Salon: A Garden of Thoughts

  tags: Christian

  • An interesting post based around Luke 8:14 painted a mental picture for me of our minds as a fertile garden wherein our thoughts grow like plants.
  • Of course, the verse is talking specifically about the word of God, but for me the analogy seemed especially apt for that activity that influences us the most: what we are thinking.
  • A garden needs a gardener whose job it is to root out and throw away the negative thoughts, prune those thoughts which are taking over and nurture the good thoughts that might not be able to grow strong without help.
  • And minds, like gardens, are easier to maintain with a little work every day than letting them do their own thing for weeks or months and then having to bring in the bulldozer because you've let things get so out of hand.
  • To carry the analogy still further, a good gardener doesn't just yank out the weeds, she plants new seeds and youthful plants that she knows will be good in the garden.
  • What are you growing in your garden?

• Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread

  tags: Bread, Baking, Recipes

  • The Secret: Keep Dough Refrigerated. It is easy to have fresh bread whenever you want it with only five minutes a day of active effort. Just mix the dough and let it sit for two hours. No kneading needed! Then shape and bake a loaf, and refrigerate the rest to use over the next couple weeks. Yes, weeks! The Master Recipe (below) makes enough dough for many loaves. When you want fresh-baked crusty bread, take some dough, shape it into a loaf, let it rise for about 20 minutes, then bake.

• Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

  tags: Recipes, Baking, Bread

  • Mix up a lightning-fast batch of moist
    no-knead dough, save it in your refrigerator, tear off portions over
    the next week or more, shape, and bake.

• Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful

  tags: decorating

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Frugal "Hamburgers"

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb mince (ground meat)
• 1/2 lb lentils and rice
• 1 cup (1/2 lb) mashed potato
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup grated cheese
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato puree (tomato paste)
• 2 tsps basil
• a tiny bit of chilli powder (depending on your taste)
  

Method

• Lard a baking tray or roasting tin (I use a roasting tin because it has a lid so saves using aluminium foil to cover).
• Put all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Mix thoroughly - this is best done with your hands.
• Use your hands to shape into about eight "burgers" and place in roasting tin (or baking tray).
• If using a baking tray, cover with foil.
• Cook at 350F/GM4 for 45-60 minutes.
  

Digital Decluttering

Since we probably won't have internet access straight away after we move, I will be limited to an hour a week online at the library. In preparation for this I decided it was time for some long overdue digital decluttering.

To free up the time needed to start off with, I stopped reading blogs. I then started by working through the messages in the inbox of one of my e-mail accounts. If it required any action (such as a reply) then I took the action and then either filed or deleted the e-mail. If it was from a mailing list then I unsubscribed. Each time I logged on I would start with the most recent e-mails and work backwards. Eventually I got through then all although it was embarassing to find I had an e-mail from December I had never replied to. Next I went through all the folders deleting e-mails I no longer needed and consolidating some of them together. Now I have five folders instead of about a dozen and when I log on I don't have a mountain of e-mails to delete. I must have been on at least thirty mailing lists mainly from having online accounts for things like amazon, photo printing companies and various other random things.

Once I had sorted out that e-mail account, it freed up more time online so I started reading blogs through the blogger dashboard (which is quicker than reading through bloglines) and went on to my other e-mail account. This time I went through the folders first deleting and organising (do I really need to keep hundred's of e-mails from e-bay and Amazon going back over five years?) as I knew there was more stuff to clear out. I also switched all the yahoo groups I'm subscribed to to web only except for Freecycle.

Now I am trying to work my way back through the inbox and then I will move on to replying to all my Facebook messages. Having an empty inbox in the e-mail account I've dealt with definitely helps me to deal with things more quickly rather than leaving them to sit and get lost for months.

Digital decluttering works for me.

I am a Snapdragon

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

• Fever and Temperature Taking

  tags: children, health

  • What is a normal temperature?

    
    

    Now that you’ve taken the temperature, check the following chart to see whether your child has a fever. The normal temperature range varies, depending on what method you use.

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Measurement method	Normal temperature range
    Rectum	36.6°C to 38°C (97.9°F to 100.4°F)
    Mouth	35.5°C to 37.5°C (95.9°F to 99.5°F)
    Armpit	34.7°C to 37.3°C (94.5°F to 99.1°F)
    Ear	35.8°C to 38°C (96.4°F to 100.4°F)

• Large Family Mothering: Slavery

  tags: homemaking

• A Beautiful Life: Day Two & Blouse

  tags: Modesty

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Cheap Risotto Rice

In December I started keeping a price book. If you don't have one already, I would definitely recommend doing so - I did not really appreciate how significant the savings could be before I started.

It was very interesting to see how different foods compared to each other and one that particularly struck me was the huge difference in price between "pudding rice" and the special risotto rices such as arborio and carnaroli. The cheapest risotto rice was £2.16/kg which was more than double the 96p/kg for pudding rice.

After much unsuccessful searching on the internet to find out the difference, I decided to take the plunge and try out pudding rice in a risotto (pea risotto to be precise). I am pleased to report that the only difference was a slight reduction in the cooking time - other than that, there was no apparent difference. So if you like risottos, I would definitely recommend using pudding rice instead of the more expensive "official" risotto rice.

Keeping Kids Rear Facing For Longer

Well our trip last month was successful and we now have a rear facing car seat which will last at least until Little Girl is four and hopefully longer.

In Sweden children are kept rear facing at least until age four. Here in the UK (and most countries except the Scandinavian ones) children are usually turned to face forward when they are around one. We actually moved Little Girl on when she was nine months and only just at the legal minimum weight for forward facing (9kg) because she was too tall for her first car seat. Although we would have kept her facing that way longer if we'd been able to, we did not know how significant a difference it makes and we also didn't know that it was possible to get rear facing car seats in the next stage (Group 1).

I just happened upon the information when someone linked to UK Rear facing campaign on an online parenting discussion group. The statistical difference is quite significant. The following graph shows the deaths and injuries per 100 000 children in Sweden vs. Great Britain.

As you can see, for under ones (who are rear facing in both countries) the figures are fairly similar. This illustrates that the difference for older children must be because of the car seats and not a difference in cars used. You can see quite clearly that children in Great Britain aged 1-5 are more than twice as likely to be killed or injured in a car accident than their Swedish (rear-facing) counterparts.

Unlike an adult (who's head makes up just 6% of their body weight), a toddler's head can be up to 25% of their body weight. This combined with less developed bones puts the neck at much greater risk when forward facing. In a frontal impact a rear facing car seat will support the head and torso together. A forward facing seat holds the torso (by the straps) and the head is unsupported potentially leading to serious neck injuries

I found this video to be particularly helpful in illustrating the difference because being in the same test, the rear and forward facing seats are subject to the same conditions and you can clearly see the difference in effect on the crash test dummies.

For more crash test videos, see Car Safety for Kids.

BBC News Video Clip about UK Rear Facing Campaign

One concern that people have about older children in rear facing seats is that they won't have enough leg room. This is actually not the problem you would expect and I was surprised at how much leg room there actually is. We have also found it is easier for Little Girl to get into the seat herself as she can stand right in front of it and then sit down whereas for the forward facing seat she had to climb into it over the side and then turn around in the seat (which would always take a very long time so we tended to put her in ourselves rather than waiting). Another issue with legs is that people sometimes think that having the legs like that is dangerous but in fact bent or crossed legs are not dangerous.

As you can see in this picture, Little Girl had plenty of space on the journey home:

In fact, she was so comfy that she fell asleep:


Obtaining a rear facing seat for an older child
Although it is possible to get rear facing Group 1 seats on import, there is one - the Recaro Polaric - which is specifically available on the UK market. We bought ours from Babyworld because they were the easiest for us to get to but we were very impressed with the service and would definitely recommend them to anyone who is UK based. The person who fitted it for us talked us right through how to fit it and the reasons for everything and was clearly very knowledgeable about car seats in general and about why rear facing is best. He said the reason they only stocked the Recaro seat is because if they got others on import then they would not know if there was a safety recall so we were glad we had gone for that particular seat in the end.

Useful Links
Keeping Kids Safe in Cars (North American car seat safety site)
Rear Facing Rocks (Illustration of the difference in head size at different ages, statistics on types of crashes, lots of links)
Joel's Journey (Joel was in a car crash in September last year. He suffered internal decapitation and now is Grandpa is trying to raise awareness of the risks associated with putting your child forward facing compared with rear facing.)
Pictures of kids in rear facing car seats.

Watching Paint Dry

Well technically it's ink but near enough. After wrestling open some of my jars of ink (it's a long time since I last used them) I'm *finally* making my Pay It Forward gifts and I'm doing a bit where I have to wait for each bit to dry before doing the next bit because otherwise the colours bleed into each other. I'm writing this post in the waiting gaps to avoid being to impatient and messing it up. Just one more bit to do and then I'm done with the waiting bit and will be half way through the second one. It's almost time to get Little Girl up from her nap though so I think I'll be doing the third one tomorrow.

New House Cleaning Plan

Since we're hopefully moving house in the near future, I abandoned my plans to update my Home Keeping Guide as so many things will be changing it is not worth doing it before the move. Instead I have been working on plans related to the move.

Since the house is a repossession, it needs a good clean. It is certainly not as bad as some that we viewed while looking for a house but obviously when your house is being repossessed you don't worry about making sure it's clean when you leave and then it has also been sitting empty for a while.

I have tried to come up with a comprehensive cleaning plan so that I can make sure we take all the things we need with us to clean the house and we can do a decent job. Also since there's going to be more than one person doing it (me, Hubby, and a friend has offered to help us) it's useful to have some kind of checklist so things don't get missed out or done twice and everyone can find something to do.

So far I've done a first draft for the living room, kitchen, bathroom and each of the bedrooms (which are just the same as the living room except for no fireplace to clean so I haven't posted them here):

(

Living Room

Feather dust cobwebs. Feather dust windowsill. Feather dust ledges. Feather dust fireplace.	Feather duster
Wash down walls. Clean windowsill. Clean ledges. Clean fireplace. Clean radiator. Clean skirting board. Clean door. Clean door handle.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves
Clean lightswitch.	Baby wipes
Clean window.	Vinegar spray Cleaning rags
Clean carpet	Vacuum cleaner Bicarbonate of soda Spoon Tea strainer Carpet stain remover

Kitchen

Feather dust cobwebs.	Feather duster
If everything is very dirty do preliminary quick wipe down with old towels and plain water to remove excessive dirt.	Old towels and warm water.
Wash down walls. Clean tops of cupboards. Clean fronts of cupboards. Clean windowsill. Clean radiator. Clean skirting board. Clean door. Clean door handle.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves
Clean lightswitch.	Baby wipes
Clean hob. If encrusted, cover with damp old towel for an hour to soften then clean with soapy water. Make bicarb/vinegar paste for any remaining dirt.	Old towel Warm water Vinegar/bicarbonate of soda Spoon Old mug Old toothbrush Cleaning rags
Clean oven. Put bowl of hot water with lemon juice in for 1-2 hours until almost boiled dry. When cool enough, add bicarb/vinegar to water and use to wipe down oven. Wipe out with plain water.	Pyrex bowl Hot water Lemon juice Spoon Vinegar/bicarbonate of soda Cleaning rags
Clean sink Draining board/sink - make paste of vinegar/bicarb, pour over, leave to soak then rinse. Drain - 1 tsp bicarb and ½ cup vinegar down drain, leave for ½ hour then flush with water. Wipe over with soapy water.	Vinegar/bicarbonate of soda Spoon Cup Soapy water Cleaning rag
Clean inside cupboards. Clean with soapy water first then with bleach.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves Bleach spray
Clean worktops. Clean with soapy water first then with bleach.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves Bleach spray
Clean window.	Vinegar spray Cleaning rags
Clean floor Use mug to pour water onto floor for scrubbing then use old towels to mop up dirty water before adding more fresh water.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Old mug Old towels Washing up gloves Scrubbing brush

Bathroom

Feather dust cobwebs.	Feather duster
If everything is very dirty do preliminary quick wipe down with old towels and plain water to remove excessive dirt.	Old towels and warm water.
Wash down walls. Clean windowsill. Clean radiator. Clean skirting board. Clean door. Clean door handle.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves
Clean lightswitch.	Baby wipes
Clean tiles Clean with vinegar spray then treat with car wax.	Vinegar spray Car wax Cleaning rags
Pre-clean bath Pre-clean sink Pre-clean toilet. Wipe over with soapy water then clean with vinegar spray (leave vinegar for 5-10 minutes before wiping off).	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags Washing up gloves Vinegar spray
Clean bath Half fill with warm water and add a cup of washing powder.	Warm water Washing powder Washing up brush (to stir)
Clean basin Fill with hot water, flash and washing up liquid. Soak for at least half an hour then wipe out.	Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Cleaning rags
Clean toilet Spray with bleach then wipe over after 5-10 minutes. Put 3 Steradent tablets in before leaving to be left overnight.	Bleach spray Cleaning rags Steradent tablets
Clean taps. If buffing with vinegar spray is not sufficient leave a vinegar soaked cloth around the tap for half an hour. Run taps over with vinegar cloth then with a dry cloth.	Vinegar spray Vinegar Cleaning rags
Clean mirror. Clean window.	Vinegar spray Cleaning rags
Clean carpet	Vacuum cleaner Bicarbonate of soda Spoon Tea strainer Carpet stain remover
Clean floor Use mug to pour water onto floor for scrubbing then use old towels to mop up dirty water before adding more fresh water.	Bucket Hot water Flash all purpose Washing up liquid Old mug Old towels Washing up gloves Scrubbing brush

I now need to do a list for the hall, stairs and landing which I forgot to do before because it's not a proper "room": It will probably be pretty similar to the living room and bedrooms. I also want to make an overall list of what we will need to take and a list of things we need to buy (probably just a bleach spray since ours is broken). The other thing left to do with regard to cleaning is to go through my bag of old clothes and cut any suitable ones up for cleaning rags; I know there's more there that could be used but I hadn't cut them up as I don't normally need a huge amount all at once.

If you have any tips to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Menu Plan Monday #1

I've actually been menu planning for over a year now but this is the first time I've gotten around to posting one. We used to have a veg box delivered on a Wednesday so my plan usually goes Thursday to Wednesday and I usually plan it on Wednesday afternoon. Sadly the farm which delivers has had to fold due to a 55% drop in customers but this has coincided with a time when we want to use up various stocks and cook food for the freezer in preparation for our move so I have planned out two weeks going from 19th March to 1st April. Combined with what we already have in our freezer, by the end of the month we should have just over a months worth of dinners in the freezer.

Monday 23rd: Tomato rice with sausages (onion, red pepper, garlic, thyme, stock, olive oil, tinned tomato, bay leaves, basil, grated cheese and sausages) ~ 2 meals for freezer

Tuesday 24th: Veg casserole (whatever random veg I have around with some herbs and spices and tinned tomato all thrown in the slow cooker all day) with lentils and rice and possibly a bit of salsa (tomato, onion, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice) ~ 2 meals for freezer


Wednesday 25th: Spaghetti bolognaise (mince, lentils and rice from Tues, grated carrot, stock, tinned tomato, onions, garlic, Worcester sauce, basil, oregano, chilli powder, spaghetti, grated cheese) ~ 3 meals for freezer (bolognaise only)

Thursday 26th: Chicken casserole (chicken thighs, random veg, onions, coconut milk, black pepper, white pepper) served with boiled potato ~ 2 or 3 meals for freezer

Friday 27th: Tuna quinoa (quinoa, tuna, stock, onions, black pepper)

Saturday 28th: Lasagne (as spaghetti bolognaise except lasagne instead of spaghetti and also milk, egg, cheese and white pepper for cheese sauce) ~ 3 meals for freezer


Sunday 29th: Quinoa from Friday

Monday 30th: Cheesy pasta

Tuesday 31st: Spicy tomato pasta

Wednesday 1st: Cheesy pasta from Monday

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

• Itsy Bitsy Books

  tags: Education, Reading

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Alphabet song

A while ago I saw this video posted on Mommy Life:

I showed it to my husband who then managed to find this alphabet song by Barbara Milne:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9VPtz3EHQ (Embedding is disabled so I can only post a link and not the actual video.)

Little Girl absolutely loves to watch it and sometimes requests it. She also often goes round singing bits of it. Although it does have some American words or pronunciations which we wouldn't use (such as cookie, undershirt and zebra) they are not significant enough to put me off and it is by far the best one I could find. If you happen to have a child of the right age I would definitely recommend it as it is also an enjoyable song which doesn't get annoying after you have heard it a million times.

Ultimate Blog Party 2009

Janice and Susan, founders of 5 Minutes for Mom, are hosting The Ultimate Blog Party. It’s a cool way to get to know some new mama bloggers and also a fun chance to win some prizes. If you want to know more about the party, click on the banner at the top of this post and it will take you to the party page.

Some people reading this will be regular readers but for those who aren't, I'd better introduce myself. I'm Susan a.k.a. Saved Sinner - welcome to my blog. I live in the North-East of England with my husband and my almost two year old daughter.

First and foremost I am a Christian - a sinner saved by god (hence the blog title). I hope that this comes out through my blogging and I aim to glorify him in all that I do. I hope that my blog can be an encouragement to other Christians and mothers and that those who are not Christians feel welcome and are able to learn something about my faith.

Although we would not consider ourselves "attachment parents", we do do a lot of things which would be associated with attachment parenting such as elimination communication, baby wearing, baby led weaning (baby led solids to Americans!) and extended breastfeeding. I haven't blogged as much about these things as I intend to so hopefully I will write a bit more about them in the near future.

Speaking of the near future, we are God willing move house very soon. For the last couple of weeks (and for the next two weeks) I have been cooking loads of meals for the freezer so that when we get down to packing, moving and unpacking I won't have to be cooking so much. It's been quite fun planning what to make and freeze and I enjoy cooking a lot. In the last year or so I have been learning to cook in the style of "Nourishing Traditions". I regularly make yoghurt in my crockpot and sourdough bread. I have just about finished developing a spicy fruit sourdough loaf (which can also be made into hot cross buns) which I will be posting before Easter.

Feel free to browse around my blog before you hop back to the party.

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

• Brazilian Anencephalic Baby Shatters Pro-Abortion Myths

  tags: pro-life

  • When Marcela was diagnosed with anencephaly, still in the womb, her mother was given the option to abort the child. Her doctor, she says, "gave me a week to decide if I was going to continue with the pregnancy. I responded that it is not right to be so cruel as to kill that small and innocent child."
  • Myths about anencephaly abound, and if Brazil's recent decision on embryonic stem cell research is any indication, factual scientific errors about the condition could lead the justices of Brazil's Supreme Court to condemn thousands of unborn children to an untimely death.
  • Abortion advocates promote several fallacies about anencephaly. The first and most obvious error, similar to the previous one, is that anencephalic infants are not viable outside of the womb. However they can, and do, survive for weeks, months, even years after birth. What may be the longest-living anencephalic baby, "Baby K", lived two and a half years in the United States, dying in 1995.

  • Risks of misdiagnosis may seem "insignificant" to a doctor, but parents tend to have a different perspective. A case in point is that of Brandon Kramer, who was diagnosed with a brain defect while still developing in the womb. His parents, Becky Weatherall and her boyfriend Kriss Kramer were told that their son's brain was malformed and enlarged, and that fluid had collected in his skull (see recent LifeSite coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022603.html).

    
    

    Doctors told the couple that their son would be deaf and blind, and was unlikely to survive long after birth. Although the pregnancy was at a late stage, they recommended an abortion, an idea that Weatherall and Kramer rejected.

    
    

    Contrary to the doctors' claims, the couple's child was born completely healthy, and normal.

    
    

    "I feel incredibly guilty thinking that I could have killed him," said Weatherall, "and then I find myself wondering how many other babies are killed who would have turned out to be completely healthy."

    
    

    It is difficult to know how many false diagnoses of anencephaly and other birth defects occur annually because a high percentage of such children are aborted, resulting in a mutilated corpse that is not examined after the procedure.

  • Approximately 95% of anencephalic babies are aborted before birth, according to the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. This rate is similar for other birth defects. In northern California, for example, 95% of unborn children diagnosed with cystic fibrosis are aborted, according to the insurer Kaiser Permanente.

  • "Doctors will tell you that an anencephalic child can neither see nor hear, nor feel pain, that he or she is a vegetable," says Anencephaly-info, a website maintained by parents of anencephalic children (http://www.anencephalie-info.org/e/faq.php#14). "However, that does not match up with the experience of many families who have had an anencephalic child."

    
    

    "The brain is affected to varying degrees, according to the child; the brain tissue can reach different stages of development. Some children are able to swallow, eat, cry, hear, feel vibrations (loud sounds), react to touch and even to light. But most of all, they respond to our love: you don't need a complete brain to give and receive love - all you need is a heart!" the site's authors write.

• The story of Faith Hope

  tags: pro-life

  • When I was 19 weeks pregnant, I was told that my baby had no brain. This condition is known as "anencephaly." I was told that my baby was only alive because she was attached to me, but that she couldn't survive on her own. The doctor said that I could continue the pregnancy safely, but that my baby would die shortly after being born. Or I could choose to terminate the pregnancy then, which would mean being induced at 20 weeks and letting my baby die without ever seeing or holding her
  • Well, to some people this would be a difficult decision, but it wasn't for me. I knew there was nothing to gain by terminating the pregnancy and I already loved my daughter more than anyone else in the world. Even if she was unconscious like the doctors said and lived for only a few seconds or minutes --even if she was stillborn --it was worth it to me. And so we began our journey...
  • Today, as I type this, Faith is 20 days old. Apart from a sterile dressing on her head that needs to be changed once a day, Faith lives a completely normal life. She isn't suffering or sickly, like you would expect. With no tubes and no machines supporting her life, she continues to thrive. She functions at the same level as any "normal" baby.
  • I hope that by sharing our story, we can shed some light on this condition we call "anencephaly." It may seem like doom and gloom when you get this diagnosis, but there is hope and there is joy. I know that first hand. You can read all the text books and medical journals you want, but the truth is revealed in babies like Faith. This is real life, not a text book. When you see the pictures and watch the videos, you can't deny that this life is precious and worth protecting.

    
    

    Myah

    (Faith's mom)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Accepted

Our offer on the house was accepted this morning. The repossession company expect you to complete within 28 days so God willing we will be in our own home by 1st April.

Hubby spent this morning making phone calls back and forth to the mortgage broker, the estate agent and the conveyancing solicitor. While Little Girl is napping I have been printing off and filling in forms and now I'm waiting on a call from Hubby once he hears back from the mortgage broker about a query we have. Once that's dealt with (and I've got Little Girl up and fed), we'll be driving round to where Hubby is working this afternoon (he happens to be working for friends from church) so that he can sign the forms and fill in the bits I can't do and then hopefully I can get them off in the post today.

I think I might be abandoning some of the goals I set myself for the first quarter of this year as moving is going to take up a lot of time and be a high priority. I would love to start packing now to get what I can out of the way as soon as possible but I think that would be a bit counting my chickens so I am resisting that temptation.

I am so thankful for how smoothly everything seems to be going so far and I pray that God will continue to uphold us throughout this time.

Waiting...

... for the phone to ring. This morning we put in an offer on a house and we are waiting to hear back. It's a repossesion so if it's accepted, we will have to really get our skates on and there is a higher than average risk of being gazumped.

Please pray that if it is God's will that it will all go smoothly and that we don't get too stressed during it all.

Thanks.