As a blogger you're kind of used to your life being rather public. Not that I blog about everything, but people who read Being Mrs C do generally know about most of what I'm up to. There has been one exception over the last month though - and that's to do with my hair. Now, if you follow me over on YouTube you will know what I'm up to as I've been publishing a series of videos over there about what I'm doing, but this is the first time I'm making it all a bit more public. On the 31st May I washed my hair for the last time with conventional shampoo and conditioner. I'm now going forwards ... read more
Home technology that can help save the planet
When I think about technology in the home I instantly think of the kitchen. The advances in technology in this most domestic of rooms have been revolutionary in so many ways. The recent BBC Two series Back in Time for Dinner gave a really good overview of these changes and what they have meant for family life as well as the food we eat. Starting after the war the kitchen has seen the introduction of refrigerators, freezers, electric ovens and microwaves, as well as all the labour saving devices that modern housewives and househusbands would struggle without. Washing machines, tumble driers, ... read more
The search for greener electricity #BritainsBrightestStreet
If money was no object this is exactly what I would like the roof of our house to look like. Just ignore the grey skies and rain! The tea rooms at Fairhaven Woodland and Water Gardens in Norfolk I've written before on this blog about my love of renewable energy and for years now I've been slowly working towards a time when as a household we can be self-sufficient in as many ways as possible. Having solar panels fitted would be one such step and it's one that I really want to take. I know that as you drive around the country you see more and more farmers' fields that are now filled ... read more
When wind turbines are beautiful
When we went on our family holiday to Cornwall last summer Master C was absolutely obsessed with all the wind turbines that we saw whilst there. Every time we drove past one there would be a shout of "windmill" from the back seat and in a way it became the saying of the holiday. Back home there aren't as many wind turbines around Hertfordshire, but trips north always seem to find a few and once again the familiar shout goes up from the back seat. The thing is - I'm actually rather fond of wind turbines. Not only do they do a wonderful job at producing green energy, but I actually think ... read more
Switching suppliers and embracing green #PowerToSwitch
In my dream world this is what the roof of my house would look like. Solar panels and possibly even a small wind turbine too. I dream of being self sufficient when it comes to electricity and as I sit here on a sunny and windy day it frustrates me so much that I can't be powering the laptop I type on with renewable energy. But, I am. Well, sort of. You see, last year I finally got round to going on to a utilities price comparison site. For some reason I'd been putting it off for years as I'd just always assumed that it was going to be a really tedious process to go through and that I was ... read more
A Secondhand Christmas
I try to keep out of arguments on social media. Life's simply too short to go wading in every time you see something you disagree with. Last week though I saw an exchange which just left me speechless. Some blogger friends of mine are taking part in a campaign with the Salvation Army to raise the profile of doing your Christmas shopping in charity shops as a way of supporting charities at this time of year. One particular blogger tweeted about the things that she'd found this year for her family's Christmas presents and someone else (who I refuse to give a link to here - don't feed the ... read more
Featured Post: Mr C daydreams about a new car
There was a time, before children, when Mr C and I had a bit of a gadget thing going on. New bits of technology would come into our home regularly, after crazy amounts of online research by Mr C to make sure he understood exactly what it did and how it did them. When we needed a new car he just considered it like buying a new gadget, albeit a big one. These days our crazy gadget buying days are somewhat behind us, but Mr C still likes to daydream and many a time I find him doing some online fantasy car shopping. Here he has a bit to say about electric cars which are now a real option for many ... read more
Imaginative play with Fafu
Before having children I had a dream about how I wanted to bring them up. Inspired greatly by SouleMama I dreamed of long days with them playing outside in all weathers, ignoring anything with an electronic screen in favour of spending hours and hours lost in games of their own imaginations. The reality is a little bit different, but I do still try to take things back to the simpler way of doing things and to encourage Little Miss C in particular to just let her imagination lead her play whenever it can. I'm always on the look out for products and brands that work in this way - ... read more
Two months into my Year of Thrift
Amazingly we're already into March and 2014 seems to be rushing past as quickly as last year did. I had been meaning to write something about the first month of our Year of Thrift, but time's run away somewhat. Two months in though there's a fair amount to say and catch up on. What's actually been the most successful thing, but the hardest to keep up, is writing down everything that I spend. For nearly all of January I managed to do this and it really did make me think about every single purchase and question whether it was absolutely necessary or not. I was also somewhat ... read more
Garden preparations
Recently I've been doing a lot of looking back at old blog posts and it's fascinating to see how much has changed over the years. Before I was doing as much commercial work here on Being Mrs C I really did use the blog to capture so much more of what was going on day to day - both in terms of our lives and also what we were doing with the house and garden - and I really miss that I'm not doing so much of that any more. It's always been fascinating to look back and see what I was planing or doing with the kids a year or more ago and I fear that in future years when I look back ... read more