Tuesday Stuff

The bath bombs were a great success.  Yesterday I got busy washing bedding, I took off our newish doona cover and pillow cases and washed them and aired the doona on the clothesline, washed the sheets of course and put everything back on in the afternoon after the mattress aired for the day.  I should have turned the mattress as it hasn't been turned since we bought the bed a few months ago but I couldn't manage it on my own.  We can only turn it end to end anyway since it has a pillow top thingy.  So I had to have a bath to get into my nice clean bed last night and I tried one of the rose bombs.  It fizzed nicely when we put it in the warm water so that was a good sign.

The fragrance was nice and the colour not too strong so we got the ingredients right.  The nicest thing was the sweet almond oil.  I had never noticed oil in bath bombs before but this one gave off just the right amount to soften and the other stuff cleaned my skin. We didn't use pot pourri although I might try that another time.  It does tend to make the bathtub messy.  I wouldn't use made up pot pourri as I put orris root powder in mine as a fixative and I wouldn't want to be sitting in that.  I'd just use dried petals.  You could open up a chamomile tea bag and put it in too.  I wonder how mint leaves would go in the peppermint ones?

Here is where we got the recipe.

Bath Bomb Recipe

I put an oil treatment through Em's long hair last night, mostly just on the ends and we really noticed the difference.

To Chapter Forty, the body scrub was just oil and raw sugar with some essential oils, I didn't measure it just mixed it together until I felt the consistency was right.

And "Mom" I laughed at your suggestion that my oil and vinegar hair treatment made me feel like a big salad.  Em wished she'd thought of that joke.

When we were at the lake last week the kids grabbed a big handful of the clay mud that was under the sand in the water and brought it home and sculpted it into a bust of "Bumblebee" (Transformers).  They let it dry in the sun for a day or so then painted it.  I think they're very clever.

Last night I made nachos for the kids and me.  I made the meat sauce a bit differently than I normally do it, more like a chilli con carne.  I fried the mince with the spices and some tomato paste then added the water, but I also put in some red wine vinegar and some cocoa powder, an idea Josh and I saw on a cooking show recently.  I put some red kidney beans in towards the end, and of course some puree broccoli.  It turned out really well, you couldn't taste the chocolate as such but it really gave an extra depth to the flavour.  I made my kick arse guacamole to go with it.  I used chilli powder and bottled minced chilli for the meat but used some fresh red chilli in the guacamole and as a garnish.  Later the kids had a chilli eating contest to see who could eat the most without catching on fire.  They're so funny, but it's great that their palettes are changing and they are enjoying different tastes, and hotter food. 

I booked our cabin yesterday for our family weekend in March.

Where we're going

Check out the Captain's Cabin, that's the one I booked.  I hope it's as lovely as it looks.  That area of the south coast is beautiful, we used to go there a lot when we lived in Sydney.  The beaches down there have white sand.  We're going to try to go on a dolphin watch cruise.  Emily was thrilled to see photos of rays in the water at the resort.  I won't be going in THAT water, I'll stick to the pool I think.  Ali booked their cabin as well, we're all looking forward to it so much and I'm thinking I might try to get an extra day or two if we can manage it.  I offered to collect Mum and take her home, we have to go past there anyway and my sister was greatly relieved that she didn't have to drive down there to get her.  She does so much for Mum and I do nothing due to the distance we live from her.

The kids and I were talking about the new school year.  I was really happy to hear from them that they are actually looking forward to it.  Emily is really excited to be starting her distance education and even Josh said he's not going to let the bullies bother him this year.  I really believe that situation will get easier for him as he gets bigger and older, and as I told him, he's going to encounter fuckwits wherever he goes as he moves through his life and he has to learn strategies to deal with them.  I have encountered bullies throughout my adult life, indeed I am married to one, and it's a constant learning curve to be able to stand your ground and not let them walk over you.