Food swap

The girls and I attended our first food swap today, at Manifold Heights Primary School.  I took a big bag of lemons, and 2 dozen eggs.  I came away with a big piece of pizza, some chillies, a lemon/lime cross, a jar of jam, and some Jerusalem artichokes.  I'll plant the artichokes so we can grow some more.  I wasn't sure what to expect in the middle of winter, but I think we did allright, and got to meet some lovely like minded people.

Op shop finds

I like to see other people's blogs about their op shop finds, so I thought it was high time to share a few with you. Since making my no new clothing pledge for the year, I've been on a roll. This is what I've found lately for Evie: Mini Metalicus pink star tights (new, $2), Columbine pink spot tights ($1), Fred Bare Jeans ($5), pink /red stripe socks (50c).
2 gingham school skorts ($1 & $3), navy school skort ($1), navy school tights (50c)

2 gingham school uniforms (around $5/$6 each, found last year)

Earth Hour and Costa

Two exciting events are on tonight- Earth Hour, and Gardening Australia's return for the year, with new host, Costa Georgiadis. You can watch Gardening Australia at 6:30pm, on ABC1, and then switch off your lights, TV's, computers etc for an hour (or more!) from 8:30pm

New door snake

I was inspired by Lara's new door snake that she made from her screen printed (Ink & Spindle) fabrics, and whipped this up before lunch today. My old door snake I hastily made just after we moved in here in Winter 2008, I have had to fix many times- it was made of quilter's cotton, and I didn't double stitch it (rice explosions were frequent!). So this new one is made from hemp/cotton fabrics, a bit more durable than quilter's cotton, and all double stitched. This should see us through many a winter.

Tree Day photos

My Dad

Andrew

Mum and Evie

Evie

Gwyn & Gus

Brown toilet paper :)

This is one of my favourite environmental tips for around the home: use recycled paper toilet paper. You see, if you're going to go to the effort of recycling your papers, bottles, jars, cans and so forth, you also need to close the loop and buy products made from recycled goods. Brown toilet paper is an easy way to get started, it even comes packaged in recyclable brown paper. Recycled paper toilet paper has come along way, it is no longer scratchy, and you can even get it in white and I think peach, if brown doesn't suit your toilet decor :) It's quite cheap too, and Aldi (in Australia) sells it for nearly $1 cheaper for 6 rolls than other major supermarkets. All those trolleys filled with velvety soft, aloe vera infused, gardenia scented, white and printed toilet paper make my stomach churn, people wiping their bums on virgin forests is just not an option these days!