Hmmm. I’ve just been watching the boldest, chunkiest rat while I did the washing up. He/she/it was waddling around the path in the garden, popped up the apple tree and sat looking at me then waddled back down, had a sniff around the drain and the rubbish bin (no lid and generally [...]]]>

Hmmm. I’ve just been watching the boldest, chunkiest rat while I did the washing up. He/she/it was waddling around the path in the garden, popped up the apple tree and sat looking at me then waddled back down, had a sniff around the drain and the rubbish bin (no lid and generally has refuse sacks containing the week’s waste complete with holes made by a mystery creature) then waddled back to where I presume it sleeps in the ex-outdoor toilet which is now used as a garden store.

Until I came upstairs I thought little of the latest visible wildlife in our garden other than a fleeting ‘Gosh aren’t they sweet looking, nimble and intelligent too’

Turns out they have nasty diseases, nasty habits (like popping themselves up nearby sewage pipes and into one’s lavatory), can cause nasty things to happen (especially if they chomp through household electricity cables) and the only thing to do if you have signs of rats living near your premises are to kill the blighters. The best way to kill them is apparently with a rat trap.

Great. It wasn’t something I had on the to-do list but here goes – better start getting rid of them before they get the better of us and start being really cheeky like coming into the house. I’m a bit scared of traps though as I imagine they would hurt A LOT if it went off on a human finger or toe and with two daft five year olds living with us I guess we’ll have to wait until after their bedtime to set the things up.

The following advice is taken from the very helpful page at King County:

Rats are dangerous! They can ruin your food, destroy things in your home and start electrical fires. Rats and their fleas can carry disease.

Where do rats live outside?* Under wood piles or lumber that is not being used often
* Under bushes, vines and in tall grasses that are not trimmed or cut back
* Under rocks in the garden
* In cars, appliances and furniture that has been put outside and is no longer being used
* In and around trash and garbage that has been left on the ground
* In holes under buildings

Where do rats live inside the home?

* In the insulation of walls or ceilings
* Inside the crawl spaces
* Behind or under cupboards, counters, bathtubs and shower stalls
* Near hot water heaters and furnaces
* In basements, attics and wherever things are stored in boxes, paper or cloth

What foods brings rats into my yard and neighborhood?

* Garbage that rats can get into, like garbage cans with loose lids, plastic or paper bags, and litter.
* Food for pets and birds that has not been eaten. Birdseed on the ground, pet food in pet dishes, bread crumbs, etc.
* Fruits and berries that have fallen to the ground.
* Compost pile or worm bin that isn’t taken care of the right way (do not put meat, fish, poultry, or dairy in the compost)
* Dog droppings

What do rats eat when they get inside the house?

* THE SAME FOODS WE DO!
* Foods, fats, oils that have been spilled and left on counters, floors, appliances and tables
* Grains, like cereal, oats, rice and vegetables like potatoes and carrots that are in cardboard boxes and plastic bags
* Pet food in boxes or bags
* Any garbage that is not in a can with a tight lid

Keep rats away from your home!

Do not give food and shelter to these most unwanted guests!

* The time to act is before the signs (droppings) of a rat or mouse.
* Stack fire wood 18 inches off the ground and away from all buildings.
* Birdhouses and seed should be on poles and in trays rats can’t get.
* Keep garbage can lids closed tightly.
* Plant bushes so they will stay at least 3 feet from your house.
* Keep yards and alleys clean. Take junk to the dump!
* If you feed them, they will stay. Pick up fruit and vegetables in your yard.
* Do not compost any animal products (fish, meat, chicken, cheese, butter). Keep lids tight.
* Use only rodent resistant composters.
* In basements keep any food in closed containers that rats can’t chew through.
* Cover all openings to your house. Rats can get into very small places.
* Do not leave your pet food outside. If your pet doesn’t eat it, the rats will.
* Roof rats get into your house from tree branches that hang over the roof. Keep trees cut back and cover any openings in the eves.

Keep rats out of your sewer pipes!

Rats live in sewers and can follow the food in pipes up to your toilet.

* Keep your kitchen sink rinsed clean and use garbage disposals as little as possible.
o Rinse out your kitchen sink once or twice a month.
o Use 1 cup of bleach (an alternative to using bleach, 1 cup of baking soda followed by 1 cup of vinegar) and rinse with boiling water.
* Never throw grease down the drain.
* Keep your toilet lid down when not in use.
* If you find a rat in your toilet, flush it! (hint: squirt a little dishwashing liquid under the lid into the bowl, wait a couple of minutes then flush)

To kill a rat, use a rat trap!

The best trap is the large, simple, cheap wooden “snap trap.” They are sold in hardware stores.

To use the trap:

* BAIT IT with pieces of apple, potato, raw bacon or with peanut butter.
* ATTACH IT firmly to the ground or solid place to keep the rat from dragging the trap away.
* PLACE THE TRAP near where you have found the droppings. Make sure the trap is safe from people, children, pets or animals who could get hurt from it.

POISONS ARE NOT RECOMMENDED for rat control, because children or other animals may eat it by mistake. Also, poisoned rats can die in hard to reach places causing a very bad smell.

DEAD RATS must first be wrapped in newspaper, or placed in a plastic bag before putting it in a tightly covered garbage can. Injured or sick rats must be killed, then wrapped and put in the garbage can. Try not to touch the dead rat. Use gloves if possible.

WASH YOUR HANDS WITH HOT WATER AND SOAP AFTER GETTING RID OF DEAD RATS! (even if you used gloves).

How do I clean an area where rats/mice have already been?

If you are cleaning out a building that has been closed up, such as a cabin, shed, or garage, or areas where rodent nesting material have been found, follow these steps.
1.

Air out the building for at least 30 minutes by opening windows and doors. Leave the building while it is airing out.
2. Wear latex or rubber gloves and a dust mask while cleaning.
3.
Avoid raising dust that may spread the virus through the air: Do not vacuum, sweep or dust. Carefully wet down areas with disinfectant before cleaning.
4.
Use rags, sponges and mops that have been soaked in the disinfectant solution to wipe down counter tops, cabinets and drawers, mop floors and baseboards.
5. Mix a solution of 1 cup bleach to 10 cups water or use a household disinfectant.
6. Steam clean carpets, rugs, and upholstered furniture.
7. Thoroughly spray or soak any dead mice, droppings, or nesting areas with disinfectant or bleach solution.
8. Wash clothes and bedding in hot water and detergent. Set the dryer on high.
9. To dispose of contaminated items, including dead mice, put them in a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put it in another plastic bag. Seal the outer bag and put it in your outdoor garbage can.
10. When you are done, disinfect or throw away the gloves you used. Wash your hands or shower with soap and hot water.

Our little baby daughter is now 12 weeks old but for the first 10 weeks of her life she has been in obvious discomfort/pain. She has cried an awful lot especially when put down on her back for nappy changes, naps, in the car seat. She has also suffered with [...]]]>
Happy now… 

Our little baby daughter is now 12 weeks old but for the first 10 weeks of her life she has been in obvious discomfort/pain. She has cried an awful lot especially when put down on her back for nappy changes, naps, in the car seat. She has also suffered with what appears to be highly acidic regurgitation of small amounts of digested milk. The only time she was not crying would be the first half an hour of the day when in fact she was a very alert and incredibly smiley little thing.

Apart from be worried about her and defend her when my husband nicknamed her The Bad Baby I was pretty sure there was nothing much I could do for her as when I took her to the GP they checked her ears, throat and temperature and declared that she was fine. She was gaining weight at a very good rate, being breastfed we knew there were no allergies to cows milk causing her pain and I just hoped she would turn a corner as she grew, became more sturdy and upright and her stomach became more mature.

Every nap time was taken in my blessed sling which she was constantly carried in as there was no way I could leave her crying on her back to do even the smallest household chore. If I stopped moving for even an instant she would wake up with a start and the crying would resume. Unlike my previous babies she did not nod off instantly in the car but if she did she would only stay asleep while we were moving and traffic lights caused her to wake up howling again.

I felt so so sorry for her. My mum was concerned for her as she remembered my brother being in a similar state when he was an infant and she claimed it (a) broke her heart and (b) held him back developmentally as instead of people cooing and interacting with a baby who is crying so much they are just in their own world of distress.

I chanced upon a leaflet at the local baby weighing clinic for a local osteopath which mentioned the benefits of treating ‘unsettled’ babies with cranial osteopathy as traumas from the pregnancy or birth can leave some babies with constant chronic pain such as headaches, stomach disorders, and can even hinder them from establishing breastfeeding if their little jaw bones haven’t popped back into the position they were designed to be in.

As a complete and utter sceptic but having reached the end of my wits having listened to my poor poor baby scream in my ear for so many hours each day especially when a bit of milky sick came up I made an appointment and trundled her down to the osteopath clinic.

Peter the osteopath took many details about what had brought me to his door, the baby’s symptoms, what kind of pregnancy I had and how she was born (by emergency c-section due to her being entagled with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck). He explained that every time she had moved in utero the cord around her neck would have yanked her stomach where her belly button is and also she may have stayed in an awkward position to accomodate this discomfort.

He lay the tiny tot on the huge treatment couch and very gentley placed his hands underneath her back, then her pelvis, then her neck and determined that he could indeed feel areas of treatable tension in one of her shoulders (the side she hates to lie on when being fed) and around her pelvis. He then worked with tiny tiny movements to release this tension for her.

While she was being treated the baby stopped crying, looked intently at the nice gentle man and smiled her beamiest smile (meanwhile I was blubbling into my hanky). For the rest of that day last week she then cried more than she had ever cried, refused to feed or to sleep at all, she conked out at bedtime as she always does and then ever since has cried only when hungry or tired just like normal babies do. She now naps in her own bed with just 5 minutes of ‘I am not sleeeeeeepy’ tears before she nods off. We no longer have to rock her vigourously for hours just to help her find a comfort enough to sleep.

I was still slightly sceptical and thought it may just be the coincidence of her growing and may have been much improved without my paying £40 for the cranial osteopath session but then Bealers my husband found himself at the same osteopath when an old recurring back complaint flaired up. Bealers purposefully witheld all the details of the back injury but the osteopath’s diagnosis was consistent with x-rays he has had in the past and the massage/manipulation he performed on him has left him feeling much better if a little sore.

Somehow his faith in the powers of osteopathy has made me come to terms with the fact that I am so extremely grateful for this man’s work with my newest 12 week love and only wish I had found his leaflet in the post-natal ward the week she was born rather than her be in pain for the first 10 weeks of her little life.

Further reading:

http://www.cranial.org.uk/page3.html

The Mooncup Menstrual Cup – An Innovative Alternative to Tampons

“3 days after using my mooncup for [...]]]> [This post is for the girls...Blokes - look away now as not much here in this post for you other than persuading your women to use these two fabulous new products]

The Mooncup Menstrual Cup – An Innovative Alternative to Tampons

I can’t remember how I discovered the Mooncup I think it was reading a post on the ever-wonderful www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ forum. An environmentally friendly way of dealing with monthly menstrual periods which happy users were saying were better (cleaner, needing to be changed less frequently and more comfortable to wear) than any of the disposable sanitary protection products on the market? It sounded too good to be true so I read up on the manufacturer’s website and very shortly afterwards bought one (for about £15 I think).

The claims were absolutely spot on. One small silicon egg-cup shaped product is used in place of a tampon and collects the fluid. The fluid is then tipped away down the toilet and the Mooncup resinserted. It can be washed in water and between periods it has its own discreet little unbleached cotton bag with pretty pink ribbon to store in. No more shelves of bulky sanitary protection or being bamboozled by the bewildering array of choice in the ‘feminine hygiene’ aisle at the supermarket. No more spending good money on disposables products which clog up landfill every month of your reproductive years (how much does that add up to?!)

It holds more than an tampon so needs to be changed/dealt with less frequently, it is made from hygenic soft supple silicon and so one is less aware of it than other products.

I listened to a good debate on Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour yesterday about how ridiculous it was that was too much choice of products to buy for this bodily function each month. Apparently there are even scented products available now, tampons with ‘skirts’, panty liners for g-string wearers and panty liners for days when you haven’t even got your period (surely that’s what pants & their gussets are for…). According to the person who wished more people would become aware of the Mooncup and similar products female society have become disengaged with their bodies and many may be uncomfortable trying a product like a Mooncup as it requires the user to put it in place. But surely there are many women out there who are not at all fearful of their own bodies, don’t like throwing away money and used disposable products and would be more than happy to have a personal product for life?

LilyPadz® – Reusable non-absorbent breast pads for nursing mums (LilyPadz® Putting The Glamour into Breast Feeding and Taking the Frumpiness out!)

I’ve been breastfeeding our new baby for the 38 days she has lived outside of me and thankfully we both love it . I know some new mothers and babes have trouble with feeding and despite there being a lot of pressure from health professionals to breastfeed it is something many women give up on or don’t attempt at all.

One thing I remembered from breastfeeding my other children was that it was a hugely messy business with duvet covers, pyjamas and baby saturated in milk by the morning due to milky leakings/pourings.

Having become environmentally aware since I last breastfed I bought myself a pack of 4 washable breast pads which I hoped to use instead of disposable breast pads (filled with the same kind of gel crystals found in disposable nappies). They were all sodden within the first few hours of the day, got lost in the wash and curled up into awful scrumpled-tissue shaped things after drying. I reached into the box of pricey disposable pads I’d been given by a kind friend who no longer used them and was relived that they were far more absorbant but often got scrumpled up in my bra and looked awfully lumpy under t-shirts. Was there nothing available for a breastfeeding woman trying desperately to feel ‘normal’ again after the birth of her baby and not constantly sporting circular wet patches on the front of her tops!?

Thankfully I chanced across mention of LilyPadz (again on the blessed, life-saving Mumsnet forum) which sounded amazing as they claimed to stop the flow of spare milk from the unutilised bosom whilst yet being sleek, hygenic, comfortable and almost invisible under clothes. Obviously I bought a pair immediately and have been delighted since they arrived last week as they do indeed stop leakage and so there is nothing to keep dry. The pads work by placing gentle pressure on the nipple stopping the let down of milk and preventing the leak. The most amazing thing is you can wear them without a bra so even in bed they are in place and hooray – no more daily washing of bed linen on top of looking after the new baby and the house!

Like the Mooncup they are made from flexible silicone. They are very thin and lightweight. One does not feel them at all once they are in place and the marketing from the LilyPadz website tells us that as they just need a quick wash in water each day and ry so quickly they are even better than being ‘reusable’ products as they are ‘constantly usable’.

Instead of cooking a classic dinner such as spaghetti bolgnaise, fish fingers and mash etc with vegetables and then battling with them to eat up and finally, defeated hoovering most of the left overs up [...]]]> I’ve just realised that I’ve stumbled upon a new improved way of feeding my children which has been mighty successful.

Instead of cooking a classic dinner such as spaghetti bolgnaise, fish fingers and mash etc with vegetables and then battling with them to eat up and finally, defeated hoovering most of the left overs up myself. I now don’t know what I’m putting on the table until a few minutes before and just raid the fridge for ‘grazing items’ bearing in mind that a good meal will have representation from the major food groups (carbohydrates, protein and of course the all important fruit n veg).

It seems to me that both children are now eating far more fresh fruit and vegetables than before as they prefer raw snacks and as there is a wide choice of things to pick from both are eating their fill of things they enjoy but occasionally tempted to try something they would not have previously entertained eating. They are also rarely eating processed food.

As an example tonight for tea I opened the fridge and grabbed the following and a delicious spread was provided by the time they washed their hands and sat down:

• Half a corn on the cob each (microwaved) with a big knob of butter next to it
• Half a pitta each
• Cherry tomatoes for Edie
• Sugar snap peas for Mo
• A wedge of Edam cheese
• A slice of ham
• A glass of milk
• Chopped apple for Mo / orange for Eden
• A fromage frais

Yum!

So now I try to have a load of fresh salady items in the fridge (carrots, celery, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber) and a fruit bowl full of fruit (apples, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes), a few different cheeses (cream cheese, cheddar, Edam), some meats (ham is a favourite, so is beef, tins of tuna in oil), a few bready/cereal options (pitta, sliced white, tortillas, crackers, rice cakes) fruit juices, milk, yoghurts. My son also loves dried fruits such as apricots, banana chips, prunes, cranberries.

One of my kids loves rice, noodles and potatoes but the other hates them so as a result I never cooked a kids meal with these things in. I do however cook extra rice or potatoes in the evening if I am cooking them for myself and Bealers, pop the leftovers in the fridge and have a very delighted child when they are presented with a small, cold bowl of beloved carbs to munch on.

This morning saw another flash of foodie inspiration. It was Day 4 of kids being ready to leave the house for school by 8.20am. Yesterday I was charging around the house at 8.19 looking for hairbands, flannels to wipe faces, shouting for them to get their shoes on etc so I told them today would be different. They were to get dressed BEFORE they went downstairs (a first) I told them this was because they are now Big Children and I know they won’t spill cereal on their school uniform. They were then to brush teeth and then they would be allowed to watch TV but only until 8am when we would all do final last minute bits & bobs before leaving the house (ie. not gawping at the telly until the moment we were due to leave the house and then announcing they needed a wee).

It worked like a dream and as an added bonus they were sitting at the kitchen table chatting to me pleasantly and looking at their reading books (what angels!) while I merrily made their daddy’s lunchtime sandwich. I asked them if they’d like some bread or fruit. They both ended up eating half an apple (one chopped in half to share as , some milk and some nice warm crusty baguette. I was pleased as am not convinced that they’ll last until lunchtime without a snack at school.

Mealtime grazing seems to be the way forward for the younger members this family especially now that they are having hot school dinners of a traditional nature (shepherds pie, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken neopolitan, vegetable korma this week).

I typed in [...]]]> Wow, I’m truly amazed. I have had a sore throat that has been getting steadily worse and worse for a few days now. It is getting to the point where I can’t swallow and even my ears were beginning to hurt and I was worrying that I might have full blown tonsillitis.

I typed in ‘sore throat remedies’ into Google and came across this wonderful little gem. I decided to try it immediately especially after reading all the happy ex-sore throat sufferers feedback comments *and* knowing that I live in a house where cayenne pepper is never in short supply (in fact only yesterday we planted two rows of chilli plants into the vegetable garden, one row being cayenne):

#1 REMEDY: Cayenne Powder Cures Sore or Strep

We think the best remedy on this page for a sore throat (whether viral, bacterial or strep) is cayenne pepper. You may still need to continue the remedy for 2 – 3 days to see final results, so be patient! This remedy works when antibiotics do not and is excellent for those weird sore throats that don’t seem to go away after 4 weeks (the ones that possibly lead to chronic fatigue syndrome). This remedy works so well (and so fast), you will probably grow bored reading all the positive reader feedback below!

190 Yea 12 Nay

http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/sore_throat.html

I’m literally gargling cayenne pepper water as I type this and only started doing so about 5 minutes ago but ALREADY I feel like I might be able to get some sleep tonight as my throat feels strangely better (and yes a little warm). I used a very small amount (five shakes) of spice and about three eggcup’s of water.

One testimonial on the above site states that ‘I even have cayenne pepper in my bathroom cabinet now so I don’t need to go to the kitchen for it when I am ill in the middle of the night’.

How can it be that I’ve never been told of this remedy after 20 years of having tonsillitis several times a year? I shall continue to gargle with this over the next day or two and will report back as to whether it really has stopped me from having to visit the doctor with a pair of infected, green toncills!

Next time I get the first tingle of a dodgy throat I’ll be shovelling cayenne pepper down my neck instead of sucking on throat lozenges which only dull the pain for as long as I’ve got one in my mouth.