What do you do with your plastic bottles?

 

Here in the middle east, I find that I have more trash to throw out, mostly from packaged food items, and loads of bottles from bottled water. We are not too comfortable drinking out of the tap, even with the filters- we have been advised not to.

So for a while I kept feeling guilty as I drank a bottle and tossed it into the trash- to the point where I cut down on my water consumption in the hope of sparing a few more bottles.

Together with using the recycling companies that are making some difference, we have found our own alternative at home.

We cut the gallon bottles open, drill holes in the bottom for drainage and began planting.

    

So far we have basil- that made a delicious pesto, mint that is thriving- any ideas what to do with it? Because it’s just growing wild. Anyone want some for replanting give me a buzz. We also have aloe which is a great Medicine. After the summer we plan to start some tomatoes, carrots and more.

We are also experimenting with other sorts of planters and composting- more posts to follow depending on how we journey along.

I am so thrilled that we decided to utilize the bottles now towards a good purpose- and a new hobby has sprung 🙂 It started out as my need to grow organic, pesticide free herbs and veggies and is evolving into a great family past time- one that curly tops’ dad is loving too….shhhhh (he might just realize it and change his mind) 🙂

If you have more ideas on how you recycle some of your waste in creative ways please let me know…until then I hope that I have planted a seed for you as an idea to use your bottles.

Happy recycling

 

 

pLaY dOuGh- from the kitchen cupboard

Our play dough has dried up and curly tops really enjoys playing with it- she keeps at it for ages. Cutting, rolling, making animals (her version of them), and cookies in various shapes.

I looked for a new recipe today and planned to make one more rubbery- silly me- I scrolled through the ingredients, had them all and just began.

Rubbery Playdough Recipe

Only half way through I realised I didn’t have enough bicarbonate of soda 😦

So I went back to my old recipe,

Cream of Tartar Playdough Recipe

and tried to mix up my own concoction by merging the 2 recipes.

I added 1 cup of corn flour

1 cup flour

1 cup of salt

1 tbsp oil

2 tspn bicarb

2 cups water

and boiled it up

And it didn’t turn out too badly after all. Slightly rubbery, slightly sticky but good enough to play with. I added some red color to one piece, some turmeric to the other and I left the other plain

Curly tops made balls of different sizes as we explored numbers by counting how many balls, how many were big and how many small. She also made her own creations of what she called butterflies and caterpillars 🙂

Play dough is really so much fun, great for motor skills, creativity and role play

Beit Sadu, Gorgeous, Traditional, Tranquil

A few days ago I visited Beit Sadu for their chai dhaha event.

I have for a while been meaning to stop by but for some reason I just haven’t until just recently.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere, watching the lady using a loom to turn the wool into thread, the ambiance and the friendliness of those who were there.

The place felt very ethnic, rich with culture and tradition. Curly tops and I enjoyed sipping on chai, and dabbling into the yummy dates. I really loves these teapots, they weren’t for sale otherwise I would have bought one.

I would definitely love to visit again and I have been told that they will be starting again in September with free story telling for kids every Saturday morning.

Precious moments need to be captured, molded and kept for years to come

Curly tops and I have been busy this week. We made our own salt dough on the first day of the activity and saved her foot and hand prints in the mold. We then baked it in the oven until it was hard enough to become an ornament.

The next day we dappled in paint- messy, intricate and fun. She chose to use blue, pink and silver paints. We tried to keep it simple.

Tomorrow we plan to write messages on them for her grandparents, but shhh it is a surprise that we will give to them when we next see them. Oh and notice the holes in them, these were made while the dough was still soft and pliable with a straw. We plan to thread some ribbon through and it will be ready to be hung on the wall 🙂

Salt Dough recipe:

1 cup salt

1 cup flour

half cup water

** Mix all the above, go slow with with water and you will know when you have added enough. Knead. Then shape with a rolling pin, cutter, anything depending on the shape you choose. And then the fun part. Footprints.

Happy foot/ hand print making 🙂

I plan to also do these for all the newbie mama’s and babies I work with, it’s a special gift that can be treasured forever