command delete GIVEAWAY!

In case you didn't already know, I really value all of you who take the time to read my blog. Thank you for reading my posts and for your informative and encouraging comments. By doing this you are keeping me on task and excited about my goals to provide a more sane environment for my family.
So, to say 'thank you' - and also because I'm feeling
a bit festive - I am running a giveaway!

I am excited to be able to give one lucky reader a brand new Boon Frog Pod. Valued at $69.95, this funky bath toy storage system will keep your bath more organised and tidy than it has ever been. It's drainable scoop lets you gather and rinse toys, helping to prevent scum and mildew issues. The wall-mounted base, with built-in shelf, holds all your essential bath products. And it sticks really well to bath walls with semi-permanent adhesive strips, but won't harm tile or wall surfaces. (There's also an option to screw it onto your tiles if you prefer.) 

Bonus: With the Frog Pod your child may actually want to help clean up!

How to enter:

If you would like to go in the draw to win this prize, simply comment on this post, and tell me; what is your child's favourite bath toy? 
OR what is your own favourite bath toy?

Make sure you include your full name in your comment so I can identify and contact you if you are the winner. (If you have been referred by a friend, please include their name as well.)

This giveaway is only for people who have an Australian postal address.

I will be randomly drawing a winner on Thursday 1st of December after 2pm. 

Good luck!

loving lentils

Goodbye meat!

Not forever, though. Just sometimes.

Our family is as carnivorous as they come. My husband's parents are well known for their top notch barbeques. The vast array of perfectly cooked meats they serve up is amazing. My family are into their meat too. Last Christmas my dad fired up the barbie and cooked Kransky wrapped in bacon. What better thing to wrap meat in, than more meat!? (boy was it tasty, though)

With that extremely brief history in mind, you may understand our excitement in making some very yummy meat-free discoveries lately. We never really thought to do anything other than include a meat with every meal. But, I am so glad that my husband suggested that we try branching out a bit.

My latest effort was pasta with lentils and feta. Yummo! Everyone shoveled it down within a matter of minutes. It didn't look half-bad either.
I loosely followed the recipe, adding in any fresh vegies we had in the fridge; mushroom, zuccini, onion, carrot, capsicum and a few cloves of garlic. Also, I used Australian Feta. mmmm

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni has been another favourite.
I have also made an Indian Korma with chick peas and a lentil spaghetti bolognese. These meals have been super-easy to make and are delicious.

One of the boys' swimming instructors suggested I make mushroom rice where you cook arborio (or basmati) rice in vegetable stock and add vegies. Thanks 'swimming lady'! - I'm going to try that one next week.

I think I was expecting to feel like something was missing by removing the meat from a meal. How wrong I was! Why didn't we think to try these things sooner?

I am smiling at the thought of how much money we are going to save by not having to buy meat for every single meal. And we will have much more space in the freezer too! Hooray!

I'm keen to find more recipes. So, if you have any yummy vegetarian meals that you would recommend, please let me know.

Oooh. And make sure you check back in to Command Delete next week. I'm going to be having a giveaway! And that doesn't mean I'm going to be giving away my unwanted, used junk - it's something brand new and really cool!
So, look out for it - you've gotta be in it to win it!

a morning in Fänland

I just spent the morning being treated like a VIP in Tempe
at the brand spanking new
Ikea store! 

I entered a competition on Ikea's Facebook page to win tickets to Fänland at the Tempe store's grand opening. You had to submit your best fan photo or video to enter. They must have enjoyed my crazy photo, because I was lucky enough to be one of the winners!

So, after an early start - which was totally worth it, by the way - my friend, Jacqui, and I were treated to massages (!), hot drinks, a spread of yummy treats, goody bags, and gift vouchers. And all of this while sitting in a luxurious tent decked out with comfy Ikea furniture, cushions and rugs. No lining up in the rain for us. 

We enjoyed listening to some live acts on the stage nearby, including Abba tribute band 'Fabba'. It was great fun. We also got invited up on stage to spin the 'Wheel of Flatpack'. We each won a hotdog. Yeah! haha. I might pass that prize on to my husband. He's a huge fan of the dollar hotdogs.

I was relieved that I didn't win an allen key - because that was a possibility - we have about 50 of those at home already. Note to self: purge allen keys.

The friendly lady, who had been serving us food and drinks all morning, eventually led us and the other lanyard-wearing winners into the store through the back entrance. (So rock star!) We stood amidst a sea of yellow staff shirts and swedish flags while the 'official ribbon' was cut, then joined in with the crowd as they opened the doors.

We marveled at the beautiful styling of all the display rooms, while not really pausing to take too close a look (we were trying to stay ahead of the crowd), and I took many mental notes of the clever storage ideas I saw. I'm filing those away for future reference. We then picked up a couple of things we were after and were out of there. Proud to be still alive and in one piece.

That was one cool, yet slightly weird, morning!

(Last two photos courtesy of Jacqui. Thanks!)

here's an idea...

I have compiled a list of unusual household tips and tricks for you. Some ideas are from friends and family, others are my own. Enjoy!

• If crayon finds its way onto every visible surface, then use a rubber, aka an 'eraser', to get it off.
• Baby wipes will clean almost anything. (Even if you don't have a baby, I reckon you should have a pack of baby wipes handy.)
• Put a bit of Napisan in with every wash and you'll rarely have to
  soak things.
• If, for some reason, non-washable markers end up all over your 'older' bathroom sink, rub toothpaste (yes, toothpaste!) onto the marks and then wipe off with a damp cloth. Best!
• Store all cards / money / play pieces from boardgames in snaplock bags within the game box. Environmentally friendly? Not really.
  Sanity saver? Absolutely!
• If you spill rice on the carpet, or if it gets thrown there, wait til it dries then vacuum it up. So much easier than picking single, sticky grains of rice from the floor. Also, the sound of all those bits 'pinging' up the tube of the vacuum is very satisfying. "ooh yeah. so much cleaning happening right now"
• If you use jar sauces (hey, we're not all out to win Masterchef), rather can spending hours scooping and scraping the last bits out with a spoon, add a little water, put the lid back on, shake it up, then pour it into the pan.
• After chopping onions, rub your hands on the kitchen sink to get rid of that onion smell. It really works! Try it.
  (I must check if that works for other things too, such as baby poo. That smell never seems to wash off.)

And, one more from my husband:

• If you drop zucchini on the floor, rub your face on a tea towel.

I am yet to find a way of successfully removing lipstick from carpet and getting an umbrella stain (??) off our dining table. Who knew that umbrellas could stain things? If I find an answer I will definitely let you know.

Onya Weigh bags

I'm really on a mission lately to rid my life, and the world, of plastic bags.
(You may have noticed).

It's probably my guilty conscience about continuing to use disposable nappies that is really spurring me on right now. It makes me feel better about the nappy thing when I can tell myself, "well, at least I'm -insert eco-friendly thing here-".

I'm excited to share my latest eco-find with you: Onya Weigh Bags!
These mesh bags can each hold up to 2 kilos and come in a 5 or 8 pack. I bought these bags to use at the fruit and veg store. They have been so easy to use. Heaps of people have commented on how great they are and one fruit shop owner even asked where I got them because he wanted to sell them to customers at his shop. I bought my 8 pack on Ebay (of course!) for $16.95 plus postage. That was the best price I could find.

These bags can also be used to wash produce, or store it in the pantry, or not even for food at all! You could use it to store anything really - or use it as a laundry bag in the wash. I haven't been that creative with them yet. I'm just pleased that we've now got even less plastic in the house!

the laundry

The laundry is the smallest room in our house. It was also a dumping ground for all of our bits and pieces that didn't quite fit anywhere else. I'm sure you are fully aware of this, but it is really hard to use a space for its intended purpose when it is full of junk.

The state of the laundry was a major contributing factor to the clothes washing never being up to date. If I needed to use the sink, I had to move things out of it, onto the top of the washing machine. Then, when I needed the washing machine, I just moved things back again.

It was also becoming a bit of a black hole. I had completely lost track of what was in there. The time for purging was long overdue. Here is what I started with:

I know. It was pretty bad.

Even after moving or throwing out things that shouldn't have been in there, more storage was needed. So, thankfully, when I was looking for a storage cabinet for the bathroom, I found a person selling a pair of cabinets! I put the matching one ($60 on ebay) into the laundry. It now holds some cleaning products and chemicals up the very top, as well as beach towels, swimming accessories, enviro bags and left-over plastic bags.

I created more space for the broom and mops by moving the washing machine closer to the sink. It is so much better with them out of the way. I also found a small bookshelf that just squeezed into the space above the filing cabinet in the corner. ($19.95 from DealsDirect). That space is no longer wasted and now holds the dust buster, floor fibres, spare tissue boxes and paper towel, laundry powder, and two small Ikea baskets (donated by a friend) that keep the tea towels and cleaning accessories in order.

A fantastic contraption that I was already using - the only 'organised' thing in the room - is an over-the-door ironing board holder. (I think it may have cost around $10 from Aldi). It's great and frees up more floor space.

A friend also recommended getting a split laundry basket (Ikea Skubb laundry bag $17.99) which allows you to sort dirty clothes and linen before you are ready to wash. So, I got one and it just fit in the space that was left. I couldn't believe how perfectly it all fit in. I was very pleased. I love being able to have things there, ready to be washed but out of sight. So much better than when I was just dumping clothes and sheets on the floor in the doorway.

Well, here it is. Another completed room:

It took a while to find the right things to fit in this small space, but the search was worth it. It has been so much easier to keep the space tidy and functioning well because everything now has it's own spot.

When I walk into the laundry now, rather than feeling disorganised and annoyed,
I actually feel a sense of achievement. Another small victory!

The down side?
I now have one less excuse for not being up to date with the washing ;)

I am now taking a deep breath as I look at the rest of the house. Two rooms down, four big ones to go...

I found the laundry to be a challenging space to work with, so would love to hear what struggles / solutions / stories you have with your own.

the Bokashi Bucket - composting system

I received some great suggestions after expressing my concern about having to buy bags for our general household rubbish. A friend suggested using bread bags for rubbish. A great idea! Very resourceful. But it left me thinking, "that would last about two hours in our house before having to be emptied". The reality is that we just have too much waste.

There are different ways of reducing household rubbish, but one particular thing I noticed about our household is that half of our bin was always full of organic scraps! Cores, peels, bones, fat, uneaten crusts, forgotten fridge food, and more. But, since we live in a unit, I didn't think we had any option but to throw this stuff in the bin.

How wrong I was! Another dear friend introduced me to the Bokashi Bucket. ($69.90 from Todae online eco store for a single bucket and a 1.5kg bag of Bokashi Mix). This surprisingly simple product allows anyone at all to turn their food waste into a rich fertiliser. You can put ANY food scraps into this thing including citrus, egg shells, raw and cooked meats. You can even chuck tissues and small bits of paper in.


It doesn't take up much room and can easily be used on a balcony and even inside. And here's the best thing: it doesn't smell!

After I ordered our bucket, my three year old couldn't wait for it to arrive. He loves to help with our composting and even remembers to keep his banana peels out of the rubbish bin.

Here's how it works:
1. Place your waste into the bucket
2. Mash the waste to remove air
3. Sprinkle a hand full of the Bokashi mix over the waste

You just keep layering your food scraps in the same way until the bucket is full. The Bokashi Mix is made up of wheat, grains and microbes which aid the fermenting process. You can drain off any liquid if necessary from the little tap at the front. The liquid is called 'Bokashi juice'. When diluted it makes a really great liquid fertiliser for your garden.

When your bucket is full just bury the contents in your garden to allow it to completely biodegrade. After a few weeks you will then have nutrient rich fertiliser for your plants! (Or, in our case, for our families' gardens.) Then rinse out your bucket with water and start again.

We are loving our Bokashi Bucket and are excited that our rubbish is becoming something so useful. It has also been a great way for our boys to learn about the environment and how waste breaks down.
Who knew composting could be so fun!?

I have another organised room to reveal in a few days too! Stay tuned.