Useful

<p>The isolation madness has set in and as a family who thrives on routine, we are all struggling with losing them. All our sports have been cancelled indefinitely. My husband is working from home. School holidays are in the second week and the weather hasn&#8217;t been particularly supportive of outdoor activity. That, my friends, is&hellip;</p>

<p>Today&#8217;s activity needed to involve feeding my bottomless boys, as the Tupperware container I promised to keep full is now empty! Last Sunday I baked White Chocolate and Cranberry cookies and they are long gone! I was going to have a go at some artisan, no-knead bread (the last time I kneaded dough my arthritic&hellip;</p>

<p>It&#8217;s April 6th, 2020 and for the last couple of weeks my little family of four has been adjusting to a life lived inside our medium sized, one living area, 1970s home. The COVID-19 Pandemic, declared on March 11,  has changed life for most of the world, including us. Only my husband leaves the house&hellip;</p>

<p>One of the things I hear a lot of my friends saying is that its hard to keep track of all the to TO DO THINGS and that is something I’ve had a bit of success with so I thought I’d share. My to do lists are long, seemingly never ending. Messy, never in the&hellip;</p>

<p>I like to think of my diagnosis as something I have to care for, rather than something I am or have. It doesn&#8217;t define me &#8211; although its so consuming it often feels that way. Having a chronic diagnosis is like being given a badly trained, enormous, ill-tempered and exotic dog. Think Newfoundland crossed with&hellip;</p>

<p>Do you have your favourite essential recipes scribbled on Post-It notes? Written in 5 different notebooks (because you can&#8217;t find the first one again when you need it)? Do you have oil information about blends, properties, how-tos and other useful stuff you want to remember pinned, tagged, stuck, torn out or scribbled in the back&hellip;</p>

<p>In my experience, having a chronic diagnosis is like being given a badly trained, enormous, ill-tempered and exotic dog. Think Newfoundland crossed with a Mastiff. Now imagine knowing nothing about caring for dogs, having no time to train one and living in a small space with a your family of 4.  Your job is to keep it healthy, train it somehow, stop it from destroying everything, still do all your usual life stuff and leave the house dressed and with your hair brushed.</p>

<p>Essential oils are plants that have been distilled into a highly concentrated liquid. They therefore contain the compounds that keep plants alive and let them thrive. In humans they support body systems, health and well being. </p>

<p>I started using essential oils over a year ago now and since then there are been a quiet, but steady, revolution happening in our house. Oils are now are our go-to for cleaning, medicine, stress relief and pretty much everything else &#8211; but why did I choose oils?</p>

<p>Welcome to Creative &amp; Somewhat Useful! These are the recipes I recommend to fill you roller bottles with once my label sets have been applied. First, a few tips on applying the labels. They are printed on quite thick adhesive paper. To get a good application I recommend &#8216;curling&#8217; the label first, before applying it.&hellip;</p>

<p>5 Things to Do to Get &amp; Stay Inspired I was recently asked to give an inspirational speech, which left me at a loss really, as I don’t consider myself inspirational at all! Despite being far too normal to be inspirational, I have no trouble getting, or even staying, inspired. I have so many ideas&hellip;</p>

<p>We are big fruit and veg eaters around here and every week we clean out the crisper bin at the bottom of the fridge. Every week what we throw out most is the plastic bags the fruit and veg came home from the supermarket in. The good news is that we don&#8217;t have a lot&hellip;</p>

<p>&nbsp; Of all the things I imagined my children might have challenges with socks was not one of them! Despite that shoes and socks can be the cause of a 20 minute battle that our morning routine really can&#8217;t accommodate. Our oldest boy has Sensory Processing Disorder, a complex and frustrating condition that effects the way&hellip;</p>

<p>I recently had a conversation with a friend about her 4 year old son and his newly discovered kleptomania. He had managed to steal something from Bunnings during their last visit. &#8216;What should I do?&#8217; &#8211; she asked me. My advice was to put him back in the car and take him and the offending item&hellip;</p>

<p>I am a working mum of two loud, full speed, beautiful boys who are now 7 and 5. Just before Son One turned one I went back to work full time, because both my husband and I had been made redundant. It was the best choice for our family at the time. It was hard leaving him, and even harder&hellip;</p>