Tuesday, September 13, 2011

We're Moving!



The Lavender Experiment has shifted to a new home! You can now find us at Slow Your Home, where I'll be adding tonnes of new info and features over the coming weeks.

I'm really excited about the move, but I know there's a lot of work to do and bugs to iron out. If you visit and happen to see anything that is truly awful, please let me know.

Thanks for coming this far on the journey with me - I'll see you over at our new home!


Brooke xx

Friday, September 9, 2011

Happy-Making: Yellow




Sunshiney. Citrusy. Zingy.

Hooray for yellow! Hooray for the weekend! Hooray for catching up! With friends, with laundry, with cleaning.

This week has been a real mixed bag and I can't wait for the weekend. I hope yours is wonderful! xx

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Green Living: Make Your Own {Green} Dishwasher Powder


I'm usually skeptical of "green" dishwashing powders or tablets sold in the supermarket, as they seem very expensive, less effective and only marginally better than their commercial counterparts when it comes to their ingredients list. And my only other foray into making dishwashing liquid was very, very stinky. And messy.

Recently I came across a recipe on Re-Nest (and cannot for the life of me find it, but I will!) that called for just two (and an optional third and/or fourth) ingredients. Brilliant!
You need: 
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda (or bicarb soda, but I used washing soda)
a few drops of essential oil* (teatree oil is perfect as it's naturally antibacterial)
white vinegar*


(*optional)

Just mix the borax and washing soda together in a jar or container. Take 1-2 tablespoons and put in your detergent dispenser in the dishwasher.

Put some vinegar in the rinse dispenser, as well as a couple of drops of your essential oil.
I've tried this a couple of times and have been generally really pleased with the results. It costs next to nothing to make, leaves the dishes nice and clean, plus it smells so so so much better than those faux citrusy dishwasher tablets.

Confession: I didn't have any vinegar so I haven't tried the rinse thing yet. So I just put a couple of drops of oil in with the dry ingredients. It all seemed to work fine, but the oil did cause some of the powder to set hard like concrete and I had to dig it out with a fork (!!)


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Play Time! Rice

 


Playing rice is on high rotation around these parts. It's easy, fun, and the imaginative and learning possibilities are endless.

It's basically the same idea as water play, only this gives a different sensory experience, is good in colder weather and makes great sounds when poured into or over different surfaces.
You need:


plain, uncooked rice (a cheapie bag of No Frills white rice is great to have on standby in your craft cupboard/useful box)
various cooking instruments/noisemakers - whatever you have on hand really:
mixing bowls and measuring cups
wooden spoons
funnel
containers
aluminum foil
baking paper
Let the kids explore and find their own fun with it.

Just a tip: I set this up on a picnic blanket, which makes clean-up really easy. Just fold the rice up into the blanket and tip it in the bin!