Natural Face Scrubs - Green Tea

Gosh, I feel like I haven't had the chance to research, make and try anything new for the past year...Am safely back in the game now!

There was a pile of used green tea leaves so high, that I was determined to do something with them.

Green tea is an antioxidant inside AND outside the body, so even in teabag form, it is worth saving to reuse.

What I am learning is that adding water into the mix is what might reduce the shelf life of any fun products that you might make, but in general, ANYTHING from your kitchen can work well as a home-made scrub...ANYTHING!!


Green tea, oatmeal, honey (worth mixing in a blender)

Green tea, lemon juice, honey

Basically anything with green tea would work....green tea + sugar, green tea + baking soda.....

What this teaches us is that we have everything we need and we do not need buy any of the high street store, mass-produced crap on the shelves. So much of this stuff contains palm oil, which is the main cause of rainforest destruction in Indonesia....more on that in the next post!

Keep it natural,for you and for the rest of the world.

My Reggio Lifestyle...

I have decided to collate the school / work blog posts on a new blog...(I now have four, but at least they are in organised!)

My Reggio Lifestyle will continue here with ideas and crafts, mostly for my future reference, but hopefully the blog can be enjoyed by others too.

Crafts away!!!!!!

La tomatina! (My Reggio LIfestyle...)

Talk about sensory overload!

 We ordered 14kg of tomatoes in order to create kindergarten-friendly version of the Spanish festival...!

Castle! (My Reggio Lifestyle...)

One of the first challenges I faced at the new job, was when my boss suggested building a castle!! My vision had been plain and more 2D....I should have realised that the bigger the better and I have set a precedent for future projects now too...(Looking forward to them..!)

We decided to build a castle for the England theme, although now we have overlapped into the next theme of Spain...not a problem!

We have five towers, add some small domes and it becomes MontJuic in Barcelona! Phew.. Ihave even made some tickets, to remind them and to use wisely!

One of the concepts of the Reggio approoach is getting the students to work together on big projects. It creates an instant sense of teamwork, involvement and any ideas contributed get put into the final concept.

From this...

For example, I am hedging my bets on this not being a regular brown or even grey castle...we have had requests for rainbow towers and the like...! And, why not! After all, this is their work, not mine...I am just making sure there is paint in the pots for them to use!

To this.....

...with lots of this......

...and many times this!!

tickets!

Finishing up!

 And there is the rainbow...!

Proving that the Reggio concept is colourful, rewarding and FUN!!!

Home made bath bombs! (My Reggio lifestyle...)

So, at work, I guess I am very lucky. I get to work in a wonderful, Reggio Emilia inspired school, which is basically a dream come true. The children are the leaders in their own learning, and I just guide them on their way! 

During the first month at the school, the theme was England. which was very appropriate for me!  We put places, animals, historical monuments on our big map and made anything from Stonehenge, Roses, bath bombs and a massive castle project that will continue for a few more themes too.

The finale was our bath bomb making session, putting the famous LUSH on the map (which the kids, aged 4-6 knew and told me was in Japan too! The power of advertising!)

I followed a simple recipe with corn starch , baking soda, salt, some squirts of food colouring and essential oil ...oh, and lots of kids helping me!

  The finished product ended up looking and smelling so good! It was certainly a great way to end a theme!

The Other Side of the Story: Guest Author Susan Arden: NaNoWriMo. Got Pants? Do...

The Other Side of the Story: Guest Author Susan Arden: NaNoWriMo. Got Pants? Do...: By Susan Arden, @romancebysusan Join me in welcoming Susan Arden to the blog today to chat with us about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writ...

Norman, the ginger ninja

Two weeks ago, we found an abandoned kitten just behind our house. 

What brought him there, we can only guess and it makes for a horrid world if someone just placed him there. He was frail, left for dead, had a cold, fleas and enough flea poo on his body to make him look as though he had rolled in mud.


We took him in and shared a great ten days together, including with Elbi. Norman grew strong and unabashed and very friendly but in need of endless hugs and love. 

This Wednesday, ever so suddenly in the morning, it took a massive turn for the worse and we had to rush him to the vet. There was little we could do for him - something was ravishing him from the inside out. He had a massive infection and as much as he got better on the outside, he was getting worse on the inside. We took the time off work to be with him and he passed away at 2.45 on Wednesday 18th September 2013.


We are praying for him and putting him to rest today.

I know there are many more cases like this in Japan, and that makes me even sadder.
At least we did what we could for this little cutie. xxx RIP NORMAN xxx