I'm glad I don't drink the stuff if it does all this!

Thanks to the Mumatron, I have some excellent tips for you. I'd love to stop and chat, but I'm just popping down the Off Licence...

14 Uses for Vodka

Now this, some will say is a travesty. Vodka is to be drunk and enjoyed. Others (like me) will say that they're glad they don't drink the stuff. If it does all this, what on earth is it doing to the stomach?! Take your pick, but you may save yourself a couple of quid on a product or learn how the big V can be even more indispensable around the house!

1 - To remove a bandage painlessly; saturate the dressing with Vodka. It dissolves adhesive.

2 - Clean the caulking around the bathtub; fill a trigger-spray bottle with Vodka, spray the caulking, let set 5 minutes then wash clean. It kills mold and mildew.

3 - Clean your specs; wipe with a cloth moistened in Vodka. Cleans glass to a shine and kills germs. Use on household glass too.

4 - Prolong the life of razors by filling a cup with Vodka and letting your safety razor blade

soak in the alcohol after shaving. The Vodka disinfects the blade and prevents rusting.

5 - Spray Vodka on wine stains; scrub with a nail/scrubbing brush and then blot dry.

6 - Using a cotton wool ball, apply as an astringent to your skin. It cleanses and tightens pores.

7 - Add a shot of Vodka to a bottle of shampoo; The alcohol cleanses the scalp,removes toxins from hair, and stimulates the growth of healthy hair.

8 - Fill a trigger-spray bottle with Vodka; and spray Bees or Wasps to kill them. Bearing in mind that if you kill a Bee in any way you will burn in hell for eternity, but crack on with the Wasps.

9 - Pour one-half cup vodka and one-half cup water into a Ziploc freezer bag; and freeze for a slushy, refreshing ice pack for aches, pain or black eyes.

10 - Fill a clean, used mayonnaise jar with freshly packed Lavender flowers, fill the jar with vodka, seal the lid tightly and set in the sun for three days. Strain liquid through a coffee filter,

then apply the tincture to aches and pains.

11 - To cure foot odour; wash your feet with Vodka.

12 - Vodka will disinfect and alleviate Jelly Fish stings and Poison Ivy.

13 - Swish a shot of Vodka over an aching tooth; Allow your gums to absorb some of the alcohol to numb the pain. And I don't suppose swallowing the rest would do you any harm if you're in agony - just don't drive afterwards!

14 - In really low temperatures, top up your windscreen washer bottle with Vodka and there's no way your bottle, or it's contents will freeze.

Well I think we've all learned something new today, haven't we?! I'm going to give several of these a go very soon indeed and I will report back.

Teenagers Scare the ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EQAOmJrbw

I'd just like to say, for no real reason, that I love teenagers. They are amazing. So many people are so happy to shout down our "young people", but I love them. I know I'm lucky with Meg's friends, but the teenage development years are the most important and informative of a person's life. As teenagers we experiment, learn about ourselves and our world, things we have control over and things we wish we did. It's stressful and the foundations upon which our adult lives are built.

As adults, we like to belittle our teenagers, with comments such as "teenagers think they know it all" but isn't that the case throughout our whole lives? We can rarely imagine knowing more than we already do, and when we think back to 5 years ago, we thought we knew everything, regardless of our age. We constantly think we now it all and for some reason are surprised when it transpires that we don't."If only I'd known then what I know now" should really be "If only I'd know then what I'll know when I shuffle off my mortal coil".

Teenagers are amazing. But I hated being one myself, so I need to tap into your fountainous head knowledge for my book. I am SO LOVING what I've already had from you all; we are such richly decorated individuals. What pseudo-name would you like me to use for your acknowledgements? Does anyone know anything about getting published?

Assistance Needed for My New Project, Please!

I've always wanted to write a book. Now appears to be the time, but Ladies, I need your help.

This is the brief:

I'm going to put together a book entitled something along the lines of "Survival Guide for Young Ladies". Remember when you were a teenager? Did you love it or hate it? I know I hated it, but whether you loved it or hated it, if you could time travel back to your old self, what would you impress upon them?

What bit of information do you think most young Ladies could most benefit from? What would you teach your self to do or not do? What do you think are important things for our young ladies to learn or be able to do? What advice would you give them? No matter how trivial or superficial or complex and insightful - I want to hear it all!

Feel free to comment below, but I'd prefer an email to bethanbrunell@gmail.com or a Facebook message. Really looking forward to your input Ladies and seeing as I generally achieve what I set out to, I will, of course, credit your input in the book!

Whensa Your Dolmio Day?

Today I have been mostly making homemade Italian tomato sauce. The "young people" scoffed the last batch the other week after the Blackout!, so I ordered a crate of tomatoes from the food co-op last week and after school today Meg and I embarked upon a marathon sauce making session and the results are marvelous, if we do say so ourselves.

There has been much thriftiness, creativeness and gardening-ness since I've been away.

Ms. Brooks cordially invited my good self and a couple of mutual friends around for a lentil-fest on Friday night. I'd not been out for a while so was rather looking forward to some tasty home cooking and good company, I just needed something new to wear.

(Cue a pair of Steve's old jeans and a big gorgeous wrap my Nana gave me)

I un-stitched the inside legs of the jeans, shortened, and made a lovely grey denim skirt. Then I stitched the end of the wrap to the side at the other end and made a gorgeous grey fluffy knitted poncho that everyone admired. It's incredibly warm too and a great use of the wrap as it was a bit big to be a scarf, and I don't really use wraps, so now, it's a lovely jumper type thing. Hey presto, a whole new outfit for nowt.

Thanks to Ms. Fleming, the growing is going good too. I've now potted up my apple seeds that are growing beautifully and the leeks, onions and tomatoes are all sprouting. I've gratefully accepted the gift of a whole load of gardening stuff, along with enough jars to make my Syn free sauce. I've had to transfer them to another window sill too as I ran out of space on the other one.

So the "Mumatron" has promised me two lovely emails of hints and tips in keeping with my frugality/anti-consumerism. One of them is about different uses for Bounce tumble drier sheets. I'm looking forward to that one, I must be honest.

The crochet is coming along beautifully and I've found some lovely inspirational thought for the day type words that fit in nicely with the theme of the blog. Stand by for inspiration.

Preparation and Planning Continues

There's a recurring theme in all this. Effort. Effort and me don't necessarily go hand in hand, but, they're having to a bit more these days and I don't think that's any bad thing.

Resisting the lure of "new stuff" doesn't necessarily have to be detrimental, but it does take a bit more thought, planning and ingenuity to not feel like you're missing out.

I must be honest, I'm enjoying the fact that some of my favourite clothes are getting a proper look in, wear wise. It's nice to wear nice things and it's a really nice feeling knowing that you're using things to their full capacity and enjoying them. I've got to start planning now, though for the first of the two events of the year - the two festivals. What do you mean which two? THERE ARE ONLY TWO! - Download and Sonisphere.

Being slightly older than the average Downloader means that I pay considerably more attention to comfort than "the youngsters". Comfort wearing, comfort walking, comfort in varying weather conditions and comfort carrying around all day. Of course, however, the aesthetics are rather important too at this showcase for rock'n'roll people.

The fact that I've lost the weight (thanks for my Slimming World Magazine Kath!) does make things a little easier. Last year I was more than a little uncomfortable in my gear. This shouldn't be the case this year. Footwear is going to require some planning though, I don't want blisters like last year, and getting the comfort and look right with what I already have is going to require some ingenuity, preparation and planning. And some crochet. There's going to be some crochet involved.

Anyway, thanks to a spot of insomnia I made good progress last night on the cardi I started over Christmas. It's looking really nice and I'm enjoying every stitch. I look forward to wearing it for the first time, even though it's a way off yet.

Exciting News Afoot

Had an email today from a BIG national magazine. It is proposed that an article be discussed for the July issue as the June one has already been put together. That would be great if it came off. Not done anything with a magazine yet.

So I'd better start writing something decent.

I put in an order from an eco-product site the other day so I'm eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I ordered biodegradable poo bags (we use A LOT having 3 gorgeous hounds so I thought it was about time I did my bit on the plastic front), borax and a big box of bicarbonate of soda, so I never need to fall for the marketing propaganda of flash/cillit bang/jif for my house and caravan cleaning needs, and some environmentally friendly disinfectant for the same reason as the poo bags. Only I could get excited about that.

I paid less than £4 for the boxes of borax and bicarb, which, by my reckoning, will clean everything in the house (except glass - for that I have white vinegar) for at least 6 months. That can't be bad. And I doubt you can buy a product that's as good as borax in the supermarket.

I did indulge on one product I bought, sort of. Due to a period of severe messing about with the colour of my hair last year, I have to fairly regularly put a colour on to even it out. I've really gone past the time that I should've done it, but I was deciding what to do. What I decided seems appropriate an a few levels, which, to me, proves that resisting the lure of the shiny packaging and celebrity endorsement can be beneficial all round.

I bought a henna colour. It's organic, fairly traded and completely natural. I have used them before many years ago so I know they work. It genuinely works with the colour you already have, it actually conditions and protects your hair, and now comes ready mixed instead of having to mix it yourself like you used to. I think it'll last longer than the chemical rubbish too.

So being mindful of the environment and consumerism does not have to mean being less glamorous!

Staycating is the New Rock 'n' Roll

I love London. It's fab. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I love a city break. The anonymity of wandering the streets crammed with gorgeous shops, the architecture, the museums and art galleries. I'd like to be able to do it more often, but it's so expensive to stay up there and then you've got the travelling. I wish we had a city with all that to offer and more just 40 minutes and £5 away on the Ebbw Vale Parkway train. Oh, hang on ...

We all have SOOO much on our doorstep that we don't utilise. Believe it or not, people who live in London go to Cardiff for a weekend away!

City breaks might not be your thing, but it really doesn't matter. There's so much to do and see out there, we just take it all for granted, unfortunately. We're very lucky here in Wales that a lot of our attractions have free entry, thanks to the WAG. I know for a fact, though that I haven't taken advantage of all that I should.

Husband's family all live in the North East and whenever we have a visit, we take them somewhere locally, and, I'm ashamed to admit, it's very often the first time I've ever been.

In this year of frugality and consumerism busting, I intend to get to know my local area quite a bit better. I'm going to visit the attractions, drink tea in the tea shop (help to boost their turnover - that's my excuse!) and tell you lot all about it. I'm going to loiter around the art galleries, investigate the museums and stroll around the visitor attractions. Staying home really is the new going out.

And hopefully that'll take my mind off the fact that I'm desperately craving a vintage fitted denim shirt ...