[ sunscreen SPF ]

sooooooo... i always kept a bottle of kids sunscreen in my car & i was shocked when i found this out the other day. when your bottle of sunscreen gets hot it can cause the ultraviolet absorbing chemicals like avobenzone and oxybenzone to degrade right in the bottle. crazy i thought, as these products are meant to be used in hot weather...

when you use a degraded sunscreen, you are not getting the SPF indicated on the bottle and in some cases might as well be applying a thick moisturizer.

the ideal temperature to keep SPF products is no hotter than 77 °F (25°C), your car can get up to 120° (50°C).

also they have a shelf life of around 3 years ~ so I'm thinking it's time to have a sunscreen clear out! all those bottles i hang onto because lets face it they're not cheap

i thought this was a great idea ~ to store it in the cooler when you go to the beach/picnic etc, that will stop it breaking down & feel refreshing.

personally I think the lotion is far more effective than the spray which I hate breathing in!  (obviously I don't do this intentionally!) & apparently if you do use the spray it is less effective if you rub it in.

be good to skin...

[ what a pong! ]

sooooooo... finally we have this beautiful spring weather! ~ once more we can enjoy being outside watching nature burst into life! literally... i swear the tree in our garden got blossoms in under 2 days! it was like popcorn!

so why oh why does this have to be ruined but that disgusting smell of yuck yuck yucky mulch??!!

as soon as the weather gets nice steaming truck loads get delivered everywhere & every inch of earth is covered... tree bases turn into mulch volcanoes... flower beds into seas of the stuff! it's an obsession!!

the concoction smells like it's made up of hippo & baboon pee infused with lizard poop!! (no i'm not familiar with any of those!)

my friend basit would say it's because my nose is too big!! but i have a few things to say to that but will limit them to 2:

1 pot calling the kettle black

2 & it takes one to know one ~ seriously!!!

apparently ~ sour mulch smells like vinegar, ammonia, sulfur or silage. GOOD mulch smells like freshly cut wood or has the earthy smell of a good garden soil. mmmmmm ~ no-one appears to be using the good stuff!

mulch that is not aged properly will also have a problem with smelling bad, as organic matter decomposes it gives off heat and it will also give off an odor. if there is too high of a nitrogen to carbon ratio then you will get a foul odor from the mulch as it ages in the pile.

most of the really cheap ones cut corners to produce the mulch by using some shredded bark and adding sawdust to the mix, then add some sort of nitrogen source to it from either animal waste or solids from a municipal sewage treatment plant ~ nice!

isn't the states where artificial flavors & smells were invented?? add some to this stuff pleeeease!!!



*COCOA MULCH can be toxic to dogs

[ blog-a khan! ]

sooooooo... i have to admit that since starting this blog, when i sit down to type, chaka khan 'i feel for you' seems to pop into my head... but with the words 'blog-a khan'!

i can usual shake this after one verse! [ should i be going to see someone about this? ]

writing stuff down [ & wine ] is my therapy & i have had lots of very positive comments about my blog... thanks ever so!!!

so really this a BIG thank you to those who read & support this ~ a sorry! to all those i've cheesed off with my emails to announce a new posting!! ~ don't suffer! just unsubscribe!

i really am trying to get this out there so hopefully someone will start following this, like it & want me to write a column in a newspaper or something. i could be like carrie bradshaw!! expect i have 2 kids, don't live in the city, seldom get out of my comfy sweats... but we both use a mac!!! & the more people this reaches the more of a chance this may happen.

soooooo please keep reading! give me feedback! i promise i will give you acting parts when this series of blogs gets made into a film!

as the everly brothers & roy orbison would say: drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream

a lot of email providers block links that contain 'blog' as they immediately think it must be spam... so heres the link [  in case you want to forward it on to anyone ; )  ]

www.519design.com/readme.htm

[ mad hatter ]

sooooooo... i've always had a soft spot for alice in wonderland. i think it comes from spending hours as a child looking at the book we had at home, being fascinated with the pages where the type was like a path or making another shape.

my husband mike & i decided, on a rainy saturday, to take the boys to see it at the cinema. i called beforehand to check that it would be ok for a 4 & 2 year old. the guy that picked up the phone very 'helpfully' told me he hadn't seen it ~ & that some people said it was really scary while others said it wasn't scary at all...

we went all the same but did notice that our kids were by far the youngest ones in line!! oh well... whats the worst thats going to happen, we'll just have to leave!

i know i'm going to sound like an old person now... i haven't been to the cinema in a while but i was quite surprised how much it cost! 2 adults, a 4 & 2 year old came to $52, but we were doing the whole imax thing. so great... if it is going to freak the boys out it'll freak them in 3D!

we get in our seats shuffling round the 'sack' of popcorn & 'buckets' of drink!! only in america!!

oscar was totally at home straight way, munching away cross legged with his 3D glasses on... even before anything was 3D.

flynn kept shouting random phrases & words out. i know this is a total mom thing that i thought that was funny, i'm sure it was really annoying everyone else. oh well! & his glasses kept falling off...

all in all we enjoyed it ~ the boys watched it right through to the end. [ fanfare! ]

i was in the library the other day & overheard a very 'proper' mom telling someone that it's not for children under 10... oops!!

as a side note... [ about the mad hatter: ]

mercury was used in the making of hats. this was known to have affected the nervous systems of hatters, causing them to tremble and appear insane. a neurotoxicologist wrote 'mercury exposure can cause aggressiveness, mood swings, and anti-social behaviour.' mmmmm ~ i know a few milliners although i've never seen their hats!

mercury poisoning is still known today as 'mad hatter's disease'.