The cure for eczema, and moving house.

Maybe that's a wee bit ambitious, but since I've started using Wendyl's Laundry Liquid mine and Mr 2's eczema has improved dramatically.  I've also been a little more onto it with moisturising, but most winters that actually doesn't make much difference and I'm still cover in angry, red, burny scales.  So I'm a total convert and will be using my sludge fulltime now.   Even Mr Neats was squeezing a blob into the machine today instead of using our usual powder.

Those of you who know me IRL may remember how we accidentally bought our house almost 2 years ago.  I hated the house and was completely overwhelmed with the amount of work it needed.  I also hate moving with a passion, so couldn't believe we were putting ourselves through that ordeal to end up somewhere I didn't even really want to be!

Then, not long after moving in, I won an awesome kid's bedroom makeover competition for Mr 2.  I sent a room design (drawn in high-tech crayon with stuck-on pictures) to Little Treasures magazine and won $1500 worth of Resene paint and cash to make my vision a reality.  I LOVED the entire process, and everyone loves his room:

Since then I hate to admit it, but the house has kinda grown on me a little.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a tip - apart from his room all we have done is paint the lounge and get halfway through the bathroom (sigh), but I don't hate the place anymore.  I get attached to memories, and this place already holds a few for us.

Sadly, I got made redundant last year, and although I now have another job which I love (more on that another time), I am earning much less and financially we seem to be treading water.  So we're moving out.  But we're not giving the house up completely, instead we are moving in with Mr Neats' mum for a while.  "What???" I hear you scream.  "Are you mad - living with your mother in law?!".  Well no, at least I hope not.  I get on well with her, and since she recently lost her husband there is mutual benefit in us pooling resources for a while.  She'll have company, help with the bills and looking after the property and we'll have a chance to save some money to improve our house when we move back, at this stage in about 12 months.  And both Mr 2 and his Nana will have a wonderful opportunity to spend some very precious time together before he is a big school boy.

So I am a bit sad, a bit nervous and a bit stressed (afterall, we are moving again!), but I can see this being a really positive opportunity for us.  I'll keep you posted.

Look at me!

Here I am, blogging again.  Not that I think I have anything vaguely interesting to say, but a couple of people asked me to carry on with the Live Green for a Week blog.  I was flattered, but I think there's a limit to how much I can blather on about trying to be "green", so here's a modified version.

This is a place for me to get my thoughts out, hopefully in a manner that is somewhat coherent.  It'll be about me, my life as a community worker, wife, Mum, Volunteer Firefighter and Bellyful volunteer, as well as some of the other random stuff I get up to now and then.  And it'll be a bit about me trying to tread lighter on the planet, pay off a mortgage and still manage to have a bit of fun.  Phew. I've tired myself out already.

Since we last chatted, I've FINALLY had my heat pump prize installed.  It wasn't worth as much as they promised, and if I were paying for one I wouldn't choose that installer (they were terrible at keeping in contact and letting me know what was happening), but it's in and it's pretty great.  Mr 2 thinks so too:

Personally though, I still prefer the fire.  And Consumer's research found it to be one of the cheapest and, as long as the wood is dry and the fire efficient, one of the cleanest heating options too.  Nothing beats the warmth of a woodburner, but on those nights it's just too hard it is GREAT to have the lazy option of a heatpump.  And we have the timer set to come on 30 minutes before we're due to get up in the morning - bliss!

The Hastings branch of Bellyful has managed to complete our first cookathon too!  This means we have a freezer full of meals ready to be delivered to struggling new Mums or families dealing with serious illness. Wicked.

Check out some of the awesome Bellyful Hastings crew!

I've also done a bit more "cooking" - of cleaning products from Wendyl Nissen's recipes.  I made some laundry liquid (more of a sludge really), some more dish liquid and cleaned the oven with a mix of washing and baking sodas.  So far, so good.

I wasn't actually going to write this tonight.  I was going to have a nice hot bath and a glass of cider as Mr Neats is at work.  But Mr 2 decided sleep was over rated and has been out of bed 3 times since I tucked him in.  I think he's finally asleep, but I'm not going to jinx it by trying to run a bath now. Sigh.

Til next time.