Week 20 of #Project366 - A photo every day for a year!

We have had another week of much of the same as we've had for the last 8 weeks. The kids have been slightly better and more willing to do their school and college work which has made life a lot more pleasant. I wasn't planning on getting another shopping delivery until the end of my month but saw Iceland had some available and we are running short of some freezer things like onions, chips, potato waffles and fruit. I suppose it's the joys of having the kids home and eating more.

Now for a photo every day!

130/366 - 9th May

Swizzles Drumstick Squashies and Black Jacks are my favourite sweets. These didn't last long at all.

131/366 - 10th May

I was sent an anti-snoring ring to review on here, the post is coming next week but on Sunday I was taking some photos for it.

132/366 - 11th May

We hated the window in the dining room. Next door have been getting a lot of work done with an extension being built over the last 6 months so builders and workmen have been passing by having a good nosy if the curtains were open so we decided to get some frosted glass film to put up. My fella got it off ebay, £10 for a big sheet and there was enough to do the upstairs window facing next door too.

133/366 - 12th May

Usually Ellie will sit at her desk or the dining room table to do her school work which involves writing but on Tuesday she had no motivation so I brought her in the living room and the change of scene worked and she cracked on with it.

134/366 - 13th May

Becky doing some of her college work. She had a Zoom meeting with her tutors and classmates and I sent her upstairs because she was moaning about everyone being too loud and how we couldn't be trusted not to speak. lol

135/366 - 14th May

I saw a tag thing on Facebook about asking your kids about Coronavirus and decided to print it out and use it as some work towards Ellie's home learning. She thought it was great fun.

136/366 - 15th May

The job of putting clean washing away is never ending! Ugh!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This week my Word of the Week is: Same! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is: 

This past week has seen us doing much of the same as the previous 7 or 8 weeks but this week has felt different and by the end of it I felt more settled and relaxed than I have in ages.

I spent the weekend feeling anxious about what Boris Johnson's big announcement was going to be and he just reassured me that I am right to think he's a waffling idiot. It was all a bit confusing and the "Stay Alert" slogan is ridiculous. Haven't we all been doing that for months? I just hope people are being sensible with the new rules about being able to go outside more which I personally think is stupid. I can go and sit in the park with tons of people nearby but can't sit in my own garden with my dad's partner and have a cuppa (of course keeping our distance). Madness and like my teen says "it's not fair!".

Nothing has changed for us. We're still staying home apart from the odd bike ride, walk out and walk to the local shop. I went to the shop yesterday just for milk, bread and loo rolls and found it so stressful. I won't be rushing to go again anytime soon.

Stu did get a phone call from his boss on Monday saying he can return to work next week but then we had another call saying hang fire, the return to work is postponed as Stu's workplace needs to be made safer. His boss said he needs to work out how employees are going to share work spaces, tools and stay safe.

The kids have been pretty good with doing their school work this past week. I have been changing things around and doing different things with Ellie instead of following exactly what the school says. She's written letters to relatives, designed a mansion on the Sims instead of just drawing it and baked some fab Swizzles cakes.

So far we've not had any word about Ellie returning to school. From what I've read there is little chance of her year group going back before September. Becky's college has said they will have a face to face meeting with each student at the end of term before the summer holidays start to discuss their end result of the course and what they plan to do next. Becky is going on to the higher level health and social care course so it should be pretty straightforward.

Becky was in a group chat with some of her tutors and classmates and they got on about Student Finance and how anyone receiving it should be getting payments each week. 99% of people at Becky's college claim the financial assistance to some extent even if it's just the free bus pass. Becky said she wasn't getting it and her tutor said it was an automatic payment to her bank account. She checked and she had almost £90. lol She'd been getting a payment every week during lock down. That has taught her a lesson to keep checking her bank account. I said she could keep half and give me the rest. She's already planning on what to buy with her share. 

The only big change in our week has been that Ellie convinced me to play Roblox with her and now I'm hooked! I don't see the point of games that you just run about and jump with but I do like the tycoon games especially restaurant tycoon & pizza tycoon. I have also spent a good couple of hours running around growing pets on Adopt Me! I take back all the negative things I've said about Roblox now I get it. lol

So despite the rules around lock down changing our life is staying the same. We're all staying home except for bike rides, walks and shopping and I am getting used to this way of life. I hope you are all keeping well and are staying safe.

Have you been cleaning and tidying more recently?

A recent YouGov poll shows 49% of people are cleaning and tidying more now than before the lockdown! I know our house has never been cleaner! I started cleaning more deeply at the start of the lock down to get rid of germs but now I am back to my normal routine. A do one room a day and then the whole family joins in on a Saturday and we we tidy and deep clean the whole of downstairs.

There is an average 5,400 Google searches for ‘Mrs Hinch Cleaning Tips’ per month. In case you didn't know Mrs Hinch is the cleaning influencer who took Instagram by storm and gained millions of followers within a year.

It was because of Mrs Hinch I discovered how keep my mattresses clean and smelling fresh by using bicarbonate of soda.

Simply strip the sheets off the bed, sprinkles the bicarbonate of soda over the mattress and leave it for at least an hour. Bicarbonate of soda. is an odour eliminator so any smells that may linger in the mattress are just soaked up by the bicarb. After an hour use a hoover to remove any excess powder. 

It is also because of her that I put a couple of sheets of kitchen roll with a few drops of Zoflora on in the bottom of the kitchen and bathroom bin's to keep them smelling fresh!

I first discovered Zoflora in 2015 and it was because of my blog and being sent some to review. I have used it ever since. It has so many uses! I have a spray bottle with some in, mixed with water and use it on everything. For cleaning, spraying the kids stinky trainers, cupboard doors, on the fake flowers and I even have a bit in the toilet brush holder keeping that smelling fresh.

At the moment the top cleaning product in the UK is Zoflora with over a third of Brits saying so!

As much as I'm not keen on Mrs Hinch she does have some fantastic tips and I have learned a lot from her! 

Making cushions smell nice - Put a dryer sheets in cushion cover.

Remove hair from your carpets - Drag a window squeegee over carpets and rugs to pull up old fibres, pet fur, hair and dirt.

Spray Zoflora on radiators - When they are switched on the whole room will smell amazing!

The toilet roll curtain hack - You place a roll between each curtain ring so you have perfect pleats hanging. 

De-clogging plugholes - Pour three quarters of a cupful of soda crystals down the plug and leave for two to three minutes. Pour down a cupful of white vinegar and leave for ten minutes then pour a cap of Zoflora down and leave it for one minute. Finally, pour a full kettle of boiling water down the plug to wash it all away.

What is your top cleaning hack?

The information was supplied by End of Tenancy London but I was not asked or compensated to write this blog post. 

(Ad - Gifted) Making DIY easy with Sugru!

I always struggle with what to get my fella off the kids for Father's day. He doesn't really have many hobbies apart from spending time on his computer. He's always buying parts for it, upgrading and messing about with it. So when I was asked if I would like to try a kit from Sugru I thought, yes, that would be perfect! A gift for the dad who has everything!

Once described as ‘play-dough for adults Sugru is the best thing since duct tape and Super Glue. It is the world’s first mouldable glue that sets strong by turning into silicone rubber. It's specifically designed to bond permanently to almost anything including ceramics, metal, glass, wood, plaster, stone, most plastics, some fabrics and even flexible materials. It’s easy to use. Mould it like play dough into any shape or space you want to fill. You have 30 minutes to fix, bond, make, seal, mount, hang and customise. In 24 hours, it turns into a strong and durable, flexible silicone rubber that stays stuck.

Each Sugru kit comes with four single use packs of Sugru, a dinky storage tin and a booklet with step by step guides for over 15 inspirational DIY projects.

There is different kits to buy and try depending on your needs. For a crafting wizard there is the Create and Craft Kit, there's the Hacks for your Home Kit and the one we were sent the Rebel Tech Kit.

If your tech breaks, fix it and if it's not broken, make it work even better. Repairing and adapting your stuff is a sustainable choice and perfect for Stu! 

The booklet has some clever ways to organise wires even making cable grips for chargers and USB wires. Stu has a lot of wires around his computer which don't usually stay organised. There is also a clever idea to make a hanger for headphones which is very needed. Every time I sit at my fella's desk his headphones end up on the floor. Stu has some wires which are fraying and are close to breaking so putting some over the damaged part will extend their life. 

Sugru is not just for tech items it can be used all around the house. I have a shelf in the fridge which is cracked and it will be perfect to fix that.

The kits are normally priced at £11.99 and if you buy them between 8th and 21st June you can enjoy a 20% discount exclusively on the Sugru website.

We were sent the Sugru Rebel Tech kit free of charge in exchange for this blog post.