Ebay...

Subject: Re: Ebay... Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:21 pm

I have to say I adore the British English language - I mean snogging sounds much more fun than kissing, doesn't it? It sounds mysterious and naughty and just as scrummy as it is!!
LOL

I think my favorite British phrase has to be "at the weekend". Here we say what are you doing on the weekend? But it indeed should be "at the week end" because it indeed is the end of the week.

Anyway - I loved the story Laura!

So glad I got the definition right and didn't look like a complete fool! LOL

Hope your feet stay dry. The pyjamas sound so cute!

Subject: Re: Ebay... Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:53 am

karlanee

When you make your longed-for trip to France, you simply MUST find a little extra time to come to Britain too!

Scots English is a whole language apart from English...! ;-)

When people say that despite differences in how we phrase things, people are people the world over, that we're all the same under the skin, for some reason in Scotland we say "We're a' Jock Tomson's bairns"! There's some debate about who Jock was, but apparently he was a 19th-century man who took in lost orphaned abandoned children; most organisations wouldn't take you if you were the wrong religion, but he would take anyone who needed shelter and care... so we're a' [all] Jock Tamson's bairns, whether we say on or at the weekend!

The pyjamas are totally scrummy; I grew up sleeping in my Dad's old school jammies from the 1950s, so I've been hunting a long time to find the sort that feel and fit right and will outlive me by a good few years!

I also was looking at vintage lingerie, drawers and bloomers with lovely lace and pin-tucks and embroidery - and had to report a bondage and spanking website to eBay!!! NOT what I expected to find at all, especially the photographs... yikes!!!

laura

Subject: Re: Ebay... Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:27 am

Laura

Your very right there - scots english is totally different. My husbands gran is scottish (Newton Grange just outside Edinburgh) boy it is hard to understand some her sayings and Glasgow is totally different again.

Then again no one understands our welsh accents either, lol.

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:35 am

Laura -

Are you kidding? OF COURSE I'll come to Britain!! That trip is way more of a dream than going back to France. I really do dream of coming to the UK. My soul aches almost literally to be there, see it, hear it, experience it. Some days my day dreams are filled with scenes of me in a little English cottage with its wonderfully wild garden. Ahhh - now that's a vacation!

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:18 am

Karlanee, you'll either love me or loathe me for this next bit but I hope you'll enjoy it!

This isn't an English cottage; it's a Scottish Victorian villa built of golden honey-coloured sandstone. I'm sitting in the bay window of the ground floor room and glancing over my shoulder I can see the front garden...

- the tops of the rosemary that grows in a low hedge under the windows, buzzing noisily with bees
- the sun darting out and back in, trying to make its mind up
- my old 'Miss Marple' bicycle leaning against the old stone wall of the garden, with the ferns around its front wheel and the purple clematis just coming into flower beyond it, climbing up the lamp-post, an old nineteenth-century gas-lamp converted to electricity years ago; the bike stands on gravel planted with creeping pennyroyal, several thymes and with golden marjoram and lemonbalm to the sides, so that when I wheel my bike in or out, with its wicker basket on the handlebars, the scents surround me as the plants are brushed or stepped on
- the redcurrants ripening in amongst the bottom stems of purple clematis; lots of redcurrant jelly to use over the winter and spring!
- the birds chatting and gossiping and conversing so loudly - there must be a major scandal going on with such excitement!
- the St John's wort blooming its golden flowers like dozens of suns shining
- the wild strawberries fruiting everywhere, tumbling down the walls and sprawling across the path. Our postman loves to have a couple to refresh him as he plods onwards on his round!
- the pale blue-purple of the stonecrop almost covering the far end of the wall in a waterfall of flowers
- the foxgloves, tall and purpley-pink or white, wild ones, looking exactly as Beatrix Potter painted them in Jemima Puddleduck

And what's this... oh look, it's Karlanee waving as she walks down the grey stone cobbles of our tiny lane. Morning, Karlanee - shall I put the kettle on for some tea?

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:40 pm

Oh please do - you've simply made my day! The image of your lovely home is ever burned into my brain - I remember the photos of your living room and with this stunning word picture to add, I can see it clearly!

I can make a quick batch of scones if you'd like me to bring some for tea time!

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:41 pm

Laura - on a different note - I wonder if you have any books on aromatherapy and making your own natural products (for skin care and household use) that you'd recommend?

Your knowledge on the topic is amazing and inspiring.

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:44 pm

I'm glad you liked it, Karlanee!

Books... gosh, no, it's mostly been trial and error!

There's one called 'Sloe Gin & Beeswax' that my aunt gave me for Christmas one year - I like to look through it just for the pictures, never mind the recipes; it's beautifully arranged by season, Late Winter, Spring, Early Summer and so on.
I think it has some recipes for hand creams and hair-rinses. It also has food and household recipes.

Most of them, though, are so simple that you can make them up!

Any moisturising lotion is a mixture of hard wax and liquid oils, done in a bain-marie; just remelt it and add more wax if it's too liquid once cooled, or add more oils if it's too hard; when you've got it right, then let it cool a little and add essential oils; always stir as it cools to keep it mixed.
For a light quickly-absorbed "mousse" type body lotion, add a little rosewater and use an electric egg-whisk as it cools.
I use variations on this for furniture polish, hand cream, body-lotion, everything!
Waxes can be beeswax (I melt down candles), carnauba wax, coconut oil, neat lanolin if you don't react... oils can be Calendula for healing, olive oil, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, any of those kinds of things.

For my face, I use Calendula Infused Oil, with a few drops of healing lavender and rosemary.
I make a face-water from about, oh, call it 2 parts witch-hazel, 2 parts rosewater, 2 parts water, and ten drops of essential oil in a 100ml bottle; pour a little into my palm, rub hands together and pat it all over my face like men do with aftershave; let it evaporate a little before putting my face-oil on.
Lovely if you're ill, actually, or in hospital and can't wash!

Hair-washes are like making a huge cup of tea, only you use a big bowl, a whole kettle of water, and leave it for a day or two, stirring sometimes; sieve, refrigerate and pour through your hair over a basin, scooping it back up to re-pour a dozen or so times. Different herbs do different things to colour, dandruff, etc.
You can do the same thing and pour it into a bath; or tie a big bunch of fresh-picked herb-leaves into a bunch and float it in your bath (bang it a few times against your leg outdoors first to dislodge any stray insects!!!)

Unless you have allergies, and avoiding known irritants like Rue, just experiment and have fun!

laura

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:46 pm

Wow! I'm going to print this out as a reference guide. Thanks!

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:22 pm

It's great fun! Oh, one other thing - when you're making lotions&potions, wear a short-sleeved top and a skirt or shorts with bare legs... as you test to see if the consistency is right yet, you end up moisturising all over, rather than wiping it on a towel to clean your hands!

There are lots of household ones too, but they tend to occur to me only when I need them - bless my grandmothers...

Things like dissolving washing-soda (NOT caustic soda!) in a basin of hot water and adding lemon essential oil (my Gran used squeezed-out lemon-halves) before you tip it down your sink's plughole to degrease the drains - it adds a lovely zinginess!
And when I was in France, I loved the rosemary washing-up liquid but can't buy it here - so I unscrew the cap and add 2-3 drops of rosemary essential oil.
Muslin is terribly useful stuff - another of my Nana's tricks was putting squeezed-out lemon halves in a square of muslin and tying it firmly so it made a loose bag and popping it in the washing-machine... years before fabric-fresheners were invented but makes the clothes smell lovely! You could just use cotton-wool and lavender oil in a muslin bag if you prefer that scent.

I use a 1-litre plant-mister filled with water, a teaspoon of vodka or gin (to make the oil and water mix a bit!) and 8-10 drops of essential oils as an air-freshener but also to squirt over washing hung on the line.
I've got one with lemon and rosemary and thyme oils for a fresh smell; one with relaxing bergamot and lavender and rose geranium oils for my bedroom and pillow; in winter the lemony one is replaced with cedarwood and just a tiny bit of ginger and that's a really cosy winter Christmas-feast curtains-shut-against-the-blizzard kind of smell!

You can mix up bicarbonate of soda with a few drops of essential oils, sieve it to mix it right through and put in a flour sifter to sprinkle onto carpets, leave for an hour and then vacuum to stop rooms smelling stale.

And a plant-mister with water, cider vinegar and essential oils makes great window-cleaner that's smear-free... I could go on for some years... ;-)

Just experiment - very few natural things are going to wreck the finish on most furniture (unlike the harsh chemical ones...). Just don't use it on your priceless hand-embroidered chairs or Sheraton sideboards until you've tried it on a corner that doesn't show!

laura

Subject: Re: Ebay... Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:28 pm

Laura,

More great ideas - I was glad to see a few I already do - like the homemade air fresheners, the baking soda carpet powder, and I also use baking soda sometimes in my wash when things are a bit odorous (like my towels).

Great tips! Thanks so much.

Subject: Re: Ebay... Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:40 am

Hello!

Well, it's not ebay but I just opened up an etsy shop..take a peek!

www.myhools.etsy.com

Subject: Re: Ebay... Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:18 pm

Hi Amy

Love the shop hun, thats whats been keeping you busy lately. I hope you'll have some items left by the end of the month as I don't get paid until then.

Rhian xxx

I just have to say...although this is a rather "older" thread on the forum I have had a delightful time reading a part of your posts and will be sure to come back to reading more when time permits.

I can feel and almost smell the beautiful garden you describe, Laura. You've got the most wonderful way with words. It's been a real feast and an indulgence to browse the forum this lazy Sunday afternoon.

Thank you ladies.

Jacquie x