Super Scrimpers Top 10!

I have never been one for daytime television, mostly because all that is ever on is an antique auction show or a very similiar variation on that theme! Over the past week I have loved watching SuperScrimpers: Waste Not Want Not. At first I thought it was going to be a show about useless tips which you may not ever be able to put into action but I was highly mistaken. Below I have listed my 10 favourite tips from the show and their website, I am yet to try them all but I am working my way through the list!

1. Lime Ice Cubes
Instead of using just one slice of lime and then having to throw the rest away because it's become dried up, Cut the rest of the lime into cubes and freeze. Next time you'd like some lime in your drink, pop a frozen cube in and it not only adds flavour but acts as an ice cube too!

2. Left Over Wine
Similarly to the lime cubes, if you have any left over wine in the bottom of a bottle simply freeze in an ice cube tray and add them to your next meal or gravy. I would recommend adding it to a bolognese!

3. Left Over Milk
If you ever have any milk you are going to chuck out because it's out of date and off. Instead of pouring it down the drain, mix it with some water and use it to feed your plants.

4. Cheap Pot Scourers
All you need is the netted fruit bags which they package oranges and lemons in. Rather than throwing them away simply use them as a pot scourer.

5. Speedy Jacket Potato
After preheating your oven, simply put a metal skewer through the middle of the potato (lengthways), pop it in the oven and it will take half the time to cook!

6. Thick Lashes With Cheap Mascara
Firstly put a coat on of your mascara, then put some talcum powder on your hand and with your finger coat your lashes in the powder. Then put on a second layer of mascara and you will have instantly thicker lashes.

7. Descale The Shower Head
All you need to do is unscrew your shower head, let it soak in vinegar over night. In the morning rinse, re-attach and you have a lovely new shiny shower head.

8. Silver Cleaner
Rather than spending money on expensive silver cleaners and polishes, use a banana skin instead, it works just as well and is a much cheaper way to clean your silver.

9. Bird Scarer
Rather than throwing away the rubbish cd's or dvd's you get inside a paper, thread them onto some string and hang them in your garden. It's a cheap and easy way to hopefully ward off the birds from your garden.

10. Use Up The Space To Save Energy
Always make sure your freezer is full up, if it's not simply fill it with newspaper.
As well as your freezer, when using your oven to save energy always make sure the oven is full. Either batch cook meals in advance, freeze and then heat in the microwave, this will save you having to heat up the oven twice. Or if you don't want to batch cook, simply fill the empty space with roasting dishes/baking sheets/cake tins.

On sunday I am looking forward to watching the Jubilee special, SuperScrimpers Hot Summer Tips on Channel 4 at 8pm.

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Homemade Scented Bags

Today I have been looking up those little scented hanging bags/hearts which you can hang around the house or put into drawers or wardrobes to make them smell nice. I guessed they wouldn't be that cheap but was quite surprised to see some of them costing £10, and that was just for one! Most of them averaged around £7/8 each.

Wanting to save money as everyone does, I decided to make my own. Making them your self can save a lot of money, they'll only cost you a fraction of the price or if you have everything you need already lying around the house somewhere then it will cost you absolutely nothing!

All you need to make them is:
- Old material/bed sheet/flannel
- Fragrance oil
- An old pillow's stuffing.
- Sewing needle
- Sewing thread
- Scissors

To make my first one I used an old flannel, from just one flannel you could make about 3 regular ones or about 5/6 minature ones.

• Firstly I cut a third off of the flannel (or whatever size you'd like but doubled), this should be folded in half. (fold it so that the outside of the material is on the inside, this may not matter depending on what material you are using).
• Secondly you need to put your thread through your needle, remember to tie a not at the end of the thread.
• Now sew the 2 longest sides leaving a gap at the top.
• Once you have an empty pouch, get your pillow stuffing, sprinkle a few drops of your favourite fragrance oil, (I used lavender) then gently stuff it inside your pouch.
• To complete your scented bag, sew together the top of the pouch.
• You now have your completed scented bag, this can be put into drawers or cupboards to make them smell lovely. If you would like to make it a hanging bag, simply use some of the excess material, make a loop and sew it to the top of your bag.

For my first attempt I have just made a simple one using a plain white flannel with blue stitching but there are endless possibilites to what you could make, using coloured materials, stitching buttons on or shaping them as hearts would make very pretty and beautifully smelling hanging decorations for the home. All in all these are a fantastic bargain,cheap, easy and fun to make!
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Burn Baby Burn!

Good evening,
This is my first blog which is about something a bit different, lets just hope somebody out there finds it interesting! After being out in the garden for the last couple of days with this sunny weather I thought I'd let you know about a recent purchase my dad made but we've only just used.

 A couple of years ago we bought a Chimenea for the garden, It has lasted well (gone a little rusty) but we will still use it. This year however we wanted to buy a fire pit, which is more sociable and you are about to sit around it. So we bought La Hacienda Firepit from John Lewis for £149.

After using it for the first time last night, we were extremely pleased with the product, all sitting around it after the sun had gone down, it's a great centre piece and almost made you feel like you were in the forest sitting around a camp fire! It does kick up some big flames at times so make sure you're not sitting too close! After the flames had stopped and whilst the embers were still hot we actually cooked some crumpets on it, we put them onto the mesh, after a couple of minutes each side it was ready, they were rather yummy I must say!

As we had the chimenea before and it was higher of the ground, we didn't take the time to think of what it would do to the ground beneath it! The fire pit is so close to the ground that this morning as we moved it we saw that the grass had been completely burned, the patch of ground is ruined and we have already had to plant seeds to make the grass grow, let's just hope it doesn't take too long. Next time we use it we'll either need to raise it off the ground a bit or use it on the patio (Hoping that it doesn't burn that too).

Apart from that set back due to ourselves not thinking, it is a brilliant product and we are looking forward to using it with friends and family as the summer nights continue.

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Homemade Bath Bombs

Today I have been experimenting with making my own bath bombs, after finding recipes on the net I decided to gather the ingredients and try to make them myself.

The things you need to make the bath bombs are:
- 2 Parts Bicarbonate of soda
- 1 Part Cream of Tartar
- Fragrance oil of personal choice
- Witch hazel
- Food Colouring
- Moulds ( I used silicone cases which you buy for cupcakes)

First of all you need to blend the bicarbonate of soda and the cream of tartar together so they are completely blended together.

Then add a few drops of your favourite fragrance oil to the mix, blending in fully. I used lavender oil.

Then a couple of drops of the colouring, this will have a little reaction with the powder mixture, just be sure to blend it in until the powder is completely coloured. Do not add too much colouring as the colour will intensify when the witch hazel is added.

Next add the witch hazel, either through a spritz bottle or by just adding a small amount at a time and blending thoroughly. You want the mixture to be able to mould and hold it's shape but not be too wet. A bit like a sandcastle, you need enough witch hazel so that it doesn't fall down but not too much that it's soggy.

Once the mixture is ready, put it into your moulds for about 4-6 hours until it has fully set. You can then take it out of the mould.

For a first attempt I don't think it went too bad, but the proof was in the bathing. Once they were full set I decided to run myself a nice warm bath and test them. The outcome was good but I think I need to tweak with the measurements slightly to make them even better. Once they have infused with the water the smell of the fragrance which in my case was lavender was lovely. It's a nice and relaxing aroma to have whilst bathing.
I am definitely not calling myself a pro on these and they may not be perfect but I have definitely caught the bug for making them, I'm already excited about making more, testing out different shapes, colours, fragrances and maybe even with some dried flowers incorporated into the mix!

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Family Guy

This weekend on BBC Three they have been showing the best episodes of Family Guy whilst leading up to the new series which is starting tonight.

I'm a massive fan of the show, I don't know how they get away with some of the stuff they say but it makes me laugh so much. I don't think one episode has ever failed to make me laugh.

The episode that came in second place was the one called "I dream of Jesus" (Ep.2, Season 7) personally this for me shoud have been in first place. This is my favourite episode ever! It's the one that features the song "Surfin Bird" by the Trashmen.

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Scratch Card Crazy!

Hey!

So this afternoon I was just relaxing watching some television and suddenly had an extreme urge to have a little bet or do the lottery or something like that.

 I don't do the lottery on a regular basis just when I feel like it, and when I do I only do a lucky dip. I think that if you were to do the same numbers every time you have to make sure you do those numbers every week forever! Could you imagine if you forgot to put it on one week and your regular numbers came up, you would be distraught!

So today I decided to do some scratch cards, I brought 15 scratch cards for £15 hoping that my luck was in. Unfortunately it was only slightly in, I only won £11 over the whole 15 cards!! However I suppose it's better to have won something back than nothing at all!

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Sacred Heart Diet

Evening all,

I thought I'd tell you today about a diet I tried a couple of weeks ago.

It's called the 'Sacred Heart Diet'. It is supposedly a diet which was originally designed for heart patients who needed to lose weight quickly for surgery. How true that statement is i'm not too sure as there are a lot of different comments about this diet over the net. It has been named on some sites as a "Fad" diet which I suppose it is but nevertheless I thought I should try it for myself before I comment on it.

The diet is based around a "fat burning soup" in which the more of it you eat the more you can lose. It is stated that you could lose 10-17 pounds in just one week, however if you are inactive during this diet you will not lose as much.

Here is the diet plan for the seven days which should be followed strictly to achieve the best results.

Day 1 – Fruit Day

Eat only soup and fruit.
Any fruit except bananas.

(Cantaloupe and watermelon are lower in calories than most fruits.)

Day 2 – Vegetable Day

All vegetables. Eat as much as you like of fresh/raw/canned vegetables along with the soup. (Stay away from dry beans, peas and corn.)

At dinner time reward yourself with a jacket potato and butter.

Do NOT eat any fruit.

Day 3 – Fruit and Vegetable Day
Eat all of the soup, fruit and vegetables you want today. (Do not have a jacket potato today.)

If you haven’t cheated over the last 3 days you should have lost between 5-7 pounds.

            Day 4 – Bananas and Skimmed Milk Day

Eat at least 3 bananas and drink as much skimmed milk as you can today as well as the soup.

Day 5 – Beef and Tomatoes Day
You may have 10-20 ounces of beef today or chicken (without skin) if you prefer. Eat as many as 6 tomatoes.
Eat soup at least once today.

10oz = 283 Grams

20oz = 566 Grams

Day 6 – Beef and Vegetables Day

You can eat as much beef and vegetables as you like today. You may even have 2-3 steaks (grilled) with leafy vegetables if you like. No potatoes allowed.
Eat the soup at least once today.

Day 7 – Brown rice and Vegetables Day

Today you can eat Brown rice, vegetables and fruit juice.
Also eat as much of the soup as you can.

Here is the recipe for the soup which is to eaten everyday, the more you have of it the better.

 

·       3 x tomatoes

·       2 x Large cans of chopped tomatoes

·       1 – 2 x Large cans of Beef Consommé

·       2 Cups of water

·       1 x Tablespoon of Bouillon vegetable powder

·       2 x Chicken OXO cubes

·       1 x Beef OXO cube

·       1 bunch of spring onions

·       1 bunch of celery

·       2 x Cans of French beans

·       2 x Peppers

·       1 x Kilo of carrots

Add more water if you want it thinner.

If you lose more than 15 pounds in the week and wish to do the diet again, have two days break from the diet but still eating healthily and then start from day 1 again.

After being on this diet for several days if your bowel movements have changed then eat a cup of bran or fibre.

Alcohol, bread, soft drinks of any kind, oil and fried foods are not allowed on this diet.

The drinks you are allowed on this diet are:
Tea/Coffee (No sugar and skimmed milk)
Cranberry juice
Unsweetened fruit juice
Skimmed milk
Water

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On completion of the diet after a very long seven days I had lost 7.5 pounds, that's just over half a stone so I was very pleased with that. I didn't cheat on the diet but I didn't do any exercise at all over the week, so if I had done exercise of any kind I would have probably lost even more. But 7.5 pounds over a week is a lot of weight to lose.

The soup itself wasn't actually too bad! It has a sort of a beefy/tomatoey flavour to it which I really liked. The only problem was that after a couple of days of the same flavour soup it becomes very boring and much less appealing than it was on the first day.

All in all I probably would do it again some time but not straight away, I think it was a fantastic kick start to helping me start to lose weight (and boy do I need it!) For now I am just trying to eat healthier and do a little more exercise. Hopefully I will still manage to lose some weight even if it was at just at 1-2 pounds a week. If not I will have to make myself return to this diet to lose some more weight.

So if you are going to give this diet a go then I hope it has good results like it did for me, it's not a healthy diet to be on long term but for a kick start into losing weight I would definitely recommend it.

Good Luck!
x

Ben & Jerry's

 My favourite Ben & Jerry's ice cream has always been 'Cookie Dough' but recently I have tried a couple of their new flavours.

First of all I tried 'Oh My Apple Pie'. At first it tasted lovely, but after quite a few spoonfuls it became really sickly. So I wasn't converted to this new one over my beloved Cookie Dough. On a positive note it was probably good that it became sickly after a while otherwise I may have finished the tub like I have many times before with the Cookie Dough.

The flavour I have tried this evening is the new 'Core Berry White'. It has vanilla ice cream on one side, raspberry on the other, white chocolate chunks and raspberry pieces and a soft chocolate truffle core. I'm not usually a fan of chocolate in desserts or ice creams but with this you only get a small about of chocolate and plenty of raspberry and vanilla ice creams. It's perfect for a chocolate fix without having too much. If there was anymore chocolate in the centre it could have been too sickly but Ben & Jerry seem to have got it just right with this one!

Even though they are all heavily calorific, I can't help but like them. There is nothing better than snuggling up on the sofa with a good movie and some yummy ice cream! Not something for every week but everybody needs a treat every now and then!

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Long loved Boots Products...

Evening...

After having my boots delivery today, I realised that I forgot to order my miracle foot cream which i'm running out of! The product is Gorgeous Feet - rapid cracked heel repair cream. It's fantastic, I usually use it quite liberally all over my feet after having a bath or shower just before bedtime. I put it on just before I go to bed and then put socks over my feet so that it allows it to soak in overnight!

It's only £4.99 from Boots.

Another product from Boots that I have used for many many years is their Coconut & Almond Intensive Hair Mask. I use it about twice a week after shampooing and let it soak into my hair for atleast 5 minutes before rinsing and then conditioning. I've just stocked up on a couple more tubs of it to make sure I don't run out again.

This product is an absolute bargain at only £1.99 for the tub.

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Celebrity Bracelet

Dad got home from work today and surprised us with these lovely 'Celebrity Bracelets'.

Mine has lovely deep purple/blue stones. Mums has the classic silver and my sisters are a bright orange!

Thank you daddy!
x

Movies...

This week i've watched quite a few movies from my collection.

Starting off with the Urban Legends boxset...

Urban Legend:
This one is my favourite of the three but I suppose the first ones usually are the best. It's based at a university where there are killing's all based on Urban Legends. It has a brilliant start to it, it puts you on edge from the offset. I'd definitely recommend this one.

P.S Always check the back seat!

Urban Legends 2 - Final Cut:
The second movie in this trilogy is also quite a good one, not quite as good as the first one but still worth watching. It's based at a different university but Reese the security guard is in both movies, she plays a good part and is pretty funny considering all of the murders going on around her.

Urban Legends - Bloody Mary:
This is one movie I doubt I will be watching again. It's mainly set around the Urban Legend "Bloody Mary" and granted her face is pretty scary but the acting in the movie didn't make me feel as though it was real like the others did.  It didn't seem to grip me much, I actually fell asleep after about 40 minutes and still haven't bothered watching the ending.

Some films which go onto become trilogies or even more do a really good job but in the case of this one I think they should have stopped whilst they were ahead adn stopped production after the second.

If anyone thinks different about this and thinks the ending is any good and worth watching then i'd be happy to give it another chance.


Paranormal Activity 3:

Now this is what you call a trilogy, all three are good and well worth watching. I actually think as you go through the trilogy they actually get better everytime. This one is showing you how all of the paranormal activity began tormenting sisters Katie and Kristie when they are just young girls. The whole way through the film it keeps you on edge not knowing whats going to happen next. It's a scary film and if there was the possibility of a number 4 i'm sure it wouldn't fail to scare you!

I purchased mine from Asda,
Paranormal Activity 1: £4
Paranormal Activity 2: £4
Paranormal Activity 3: £12.97


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TRESemmé... c'est fantastique!

Evening all!

Up until a few years back my favourite shampoo and conditioner was Herbal Essences,purely because of the amazing smell of it. TRESemmé often used to make an appearance, when it was on offer or when Herbal Essences wasn't available. But then a few years back when herbal essences changed their bottle designs, and I think they changed something in the ingredients as I can no longer use them because it makes my scalp sore and itchy! Especially the red bottled one, which annoyingly happened to be my favourite.

This week i've been trying these new products of the TRESemmé range. I'm not too sure how long it's been out but i've only just discovered it. Its called Breakage Defence and it is fantastic, even whilst washing my hair it made my hair feel instantly silky and smooth. Its made of a formula that includes Vitamin B12 and Keratin which is used to revitalise and strengthen weak hair.

I thought it may take a while until my hair started to feel stronger and looked healthier, however after just one use of these two products together I was told by two people in one day that my hair looked really healthy with a lovely shine to it.  

So I would highly recommend the use of TRESemmé Breakage Defence daily as well as Soap & Glory's Hair Supply once a week. With these two wonder products used together as part of your hair care regime, you cannot go far wrong I promise you that!

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Katie's got a brand new bag

Good evening,

Thought i'd update you with my new bag that came today.

 

I absolutley love it! It's nice and roomy, a perfect bag for the summer. Practical as an everyday bag or to take to the beach! A bargain too at only £30 from Next. 

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Oh my lordy, it's Soap and Glory!

This post I must dedicate to my obsession of Soap & Glory! I first came across the range a few years back when I was given the Soaper Heroes gift set for Christmas. The smell of the products is just amazing and for what they are I think they are excellent quality for a reasonable price! Buying them from boots is a bonus too as I get the advantage points which add up quickly over time!

My all time favourite product is the Clean On Me shower gel, it leaves skin feeling so soft and smelling absolutley gorgeous.

Along with Clean On Me I also regularly use Hair Supply which you can only get from the Soaper Heroes gift set as far as i'm aware. You don't need to use much of it, I use roughly about the size of a walnut once a week. I first shampoo my hair normally and then apply it all over my hair before leaving for about 5 minutes. I then rinse it out and condition my hair as normal. I'm left with soft and silky hair! Lovely jubbly.

Another two of the products I use are Hand Food and Flake Away. I use the mini version of Hand Food as it is easy to pop in your bag for anytime you want to soothe dry or chapped hands! Flake Away is brilliant, I use it with an exfoliating glove and massage it in until all of the grains have almost gone.

My most recent Soap & Glory purchase was the Eau De Soap & Glory Original Pink Perfume Spray 50ml. It was £15 from Boots and I absolutley love it, It's a nice light fresh perfume for the daytime.

If I add anything to my collection of products soon i'll be sure to update you.

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Britain's Got Talent

Since the start of this years Britain's Got Talent for some reason I wasn't that into it! I suppose with all the excitement of The Voice it was just ignored but just in case I had set the Sky+ series link to record BGT. Until this bank holiday weekend I hadn't watched any of them. Over the last few days however I have managed to catch up on the whole series, with the helpful use of the fast forward button so that I could skip through to just watch the acts. I'm now completely converted back from The Voice to BGT! The Voice was great whilst they had their backs to them and those spinning chairs but ever since the chairs stopped spinning my interest for the show has severely dropped! So tonight's the third night of the live semi-finals and I have completely fell in love with the Lovable Rogues, as from the name of their group...you can't help but love them and I hope they win! Next came the Twist and Pulse dance company who were fantastic! I suppose I wouldn't mind them winning either. I watched who wants to be a millionaire the other night with Twist and Pulse AKA Glen and Ashley.I think it's fair to say they're not the brightest sparks but they can dance, and they've also proved this week they can teach too!

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Nails!

After 19 long years of a horrible habit of biting my nails I have finally stopped! A few months back I stopped, with the help of a few products which have become an absolute necessity for me to grow and maintain healthy looking nails!. 
The first product I used was Stop and Grow, I thought I would need to use this product for a long time before it managed to stop me from nibbling away, however after a couple of uses the rather vile tasting stuff it worked it's magic and I stopped.

I then moved on to several Sally Hansen nail varnishes to keep my newly long-ish and unnibbled nails strong. I use all three at the same time,whether you are supposed to i'm not sure but it is working for me so i'm sticking to it!

First of all I apply Maximum Growth, then I add a coat of Hard As Nails with Nylon and then finally a coat of Hard As Wraps.

All in all with out these three lovely products my nails would still be boring little stubbs which you could barely even call "nails".

Well that is my first actual blog and i'm already excited to write my next!

Until then, ta-ta for now.

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Brand Spanking New

So i'm sitting here watching the Blackburn Vs Wigan game, rather bored as nobody has scored yet so i've decided to start a blog. About what? Well i'm not too sure just yet, but i'll figure that out soon enough. Maybe a bit of everything, what i'm liking, loving or completely loathing.

Maybe I should tell you a little bit about myself.
The basics... I'm Katie, 19 years old and from Surrey, just outside of London.

I absolutely love my movies, I have hundreds of dvd's and always love catching up on the latest movie. I'm sure i'll be blogging about some of my latest viewings soon!
Also another love of mine is cooking and baking, always like to try new recipes or maybe bake a nice yummy cake!

I also like my holidays too, I wish I was able to go on many holidays a year and travel the world like I guess everybody does! Hopefully one day that's something I will be able to do. I have been very lucky in my life so far to have been on some really lovely holidays including, Mexico, Antigua, Cuba, Dominican Republic and New York to name a few! I can't ever imagine myself backpacking though, if I ever have the chance to travel the world then I would like to do it properly, seeing the sights of the world but at the end of the day being able to stay in a nice hotel.

Well that's a little bit about me, enough for now. More to come soon!
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