My house smells like cloves

I have been thinking about trying some more natural cleaning products for a while now after seeing and reading a few things and also having a speaker on it at baby group recently. It seems to make a lot of sense and it does make me more comfortable to be using natural products around the Monkey and also with the HTC and his asthma which has been playing up.

I used to use vinegar and bi carb on the shower but got out of the habit, so I have restocked. But after seeing Shannon Lush on one of the Current Affair programs recently I also decided to try give Oil of Cloves a go on some mouldy parts of our shower and bathroom. The ventillation sucks in there so it is a constant battle.

I just did the first application and quite a bit came off which was impressive! But I have reapplied the spray and now have to leave it for a day or so. This will be the true test I think.

Only down side is I hate the smell of cloves but oh well. The HTC hates the smell of bleach but loves cloves so hopefully he will be happy at least. And even so, if it gets rid of the mould in a natural way I could care less what it smells like really!

Stay tuned....

And while I am at it....

The study.

Before....

And after!

I am loving the study now it's all tidy and mostly organised. A couple of things have been packaged and moved to the shed for storage, a lot has been thrown out, although most of what has been thrown out is mine, the HTC is a shocking hoarder and it drives me bananas.

It is getting more difficult though, since having the Monkey we suddenly have a whole heap of stuff we want to keep in case we decide to try for a Monkey sibling - big stuff like her bassinnette and clothes and rocker and so on. Lucky we have a huge storage space in the shed, although that needs a huge clean out as well, but all in good time!

Unfortunately we still have more books than bookshelves, which has been a problem in this house forever, which is while there are still things on the floor. The problem is we actually want to install a heap of shelves in this room, but still haven't gotten around to doing it, and we don't want to just buy one shelf that won't match the rest when the time comes. So it's not perfect but on the whole I am happy at all the space I have created and that it is a functioning study again!

Oh and to be honest, the desk didn't look quite that bad when I started (although nearly!!!), I had already started sorting the filing cabinet when I remembered to get the camera out.

Queen of productivity!

As much as I am missing the Monkey today and as quiet as our house is, it's amazing how much you can get done without a little one underfoot!

I have spent a lot of today doing some digiscrapping which has been great. Unfortunately I think my version of Photoshop (PS Elements Version 2 - at least 6 years old I think!) and/or my computer are on their last legs so it has been rather frustrating dealing with files that won't open and close when I want them too. But even so I have managed to get three pages done and am working on my fourth.

Again they are all Monkey based as they will be going into her First Year Digiscrapbook. The 'Headstands' one incorporates a Jessica Sprague tutorial on overlays that can be found here. I have been wanting to do this for ages so it was once again good to see how easy it was.

And in other news, I am very proud to say the study is almost perfectly tidy now, will upload some pics tomorrow as proof. I forget how lovely it is being in here when it's all nice and organised.