Easter bonnet

Sophie had her Easter bonnet parade today and she spent a lot of time choosing her new additions to her bonnet for this year, which included little chicks, a must have and some eggs of course.

Po-Tolo plan bee from outer space


Are you sitting comfortably then i shall begin. This is a story all about a little space man called Po-Tolo and his friend Lop and they have travelled many miles in their space ship called Nommo.

Soaps

Busy, busy the last few days getting ready for all the spring and summer fairs with more soaps to create for my new collection, with all the hot weather there is more of a preference for people to what to smell more fresh and fruity than warm and snuggled with the caramels scented soaps that are popular in winter. Above is a lemon grass and lime soap bar.

Nettle Soap

This Sunday was spent foraging out in the woodlands for the first of the young and tender spring nettles.  nettles contain some amazing healing properties and i consider to be a super plant.

Home made Goats cheese


Lunch today was French stick and home made goats cheese.  I was surprised at how easy this was to make and how tasty too.

I used 1 litre of goats milk that i bought from the supermarket but you can use normal full fat milk if your not keen on goats milk, but i would advise to try goats milk as it is so much more nutritious and doesn't have a tangy flavour that many people think it does.
After heating the the milk to 32C i added some MO starter which is a culture to ripen the cheese, i just put the tip of a teaspoon of culture into the milk and left it for 10 mins to ripen.
After 10 mins i added 4 drops of Rennet this is used to make the milk set to cheese and i had to stir constantly for 10 seconds to make sure that all of the milk got mixed with the rennet.  I then left this again and the milk set.  See how easy this is so far.  Starter and rennet can be bought from the internet.
 When the milk feels firm pour this into a muslin lined colander and fold the cloth over to cover it and again leave it for two hours, Phew what hard work cheese making isn't.
After two hours the whey will have dripped through the cloth which you can throw away and has left the curds behind this is your soft cheese. Tie the cloth in a knot and place in the fridge over night in the colander and leave a bowl underneath there should only be a few drops of whey that may come out.  The next day tighten the knot bringing the cheese together and then tip out of the cloth and enjoy.

if you like riper cheese you can always move the cheese to a dry cloth and keep at a temperature of 18-21c for 3 days.  Day 1 cheese which Sophie is eating is a lovely delicate fresh flavour and great for a lunch treat. 

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Bottle maracas


We recently took advantage of innocents juice offer and bought a couple of bottles of the fruity juice. Being a bit of a apprication of design nerd i noticed when we drunk the contents that the bottles were nicly formed around the neck and lid area, what a sad o i am. So instead of putting them in the recyler i thought Sophie and i could make some musical maraccas with them.

Cubby Kits


Just wanted to share with you all some fab news from Cubby Kit they are giving a FREE craft box if you subscribe with them.  You saw in the post i wrote recently cubby kit outer space how Fab these kits are and how engaged Sophie was with the big box of crafting goodies. 

In a box there are 3 different craft activities to complete with all the materials and tools you would need to create the master piece,  plus Cubby kit put in loads of extra crafting materials just for your little ones to get creative with too.  One of these boxes could easily last you a month if you did one activity a month, they also make a great gift too and if you had a play date there's so much in one box it would keep all the little one busy and quite while the mums got a nice cup of tea.

If you want to try these creative crafting boxes all you need to do is hit the Cubby kit banner on the right hand side of my blog and subscribe, even though you have subscribed you can cancel at any time.  When you get to check out enter this special code BODINI which will last until the end of the week and you will be given a FREE Cubby kit craft box now how great is that !!!!


About me

A lucky lady who is able to be a stay at home mum married to a wonderful husband Ali and is enjoying the tender years of our first child Sophie as she grows up.

When i say good life mum i don't mean we keep goats and chickens in our back garden and i wear dungarees, just that being a mum is a change in life style and a good change that opens up a whole new world of experience and activities.

I don't profess to being an expert in anything i do but i have a can do practical mentality and dabble in baking, crafting, being frugal'ish, foraging in hedgerows, growing our own vegetables, technology and gaming and learning the ropes of motherhood.

I am available to do reviews that are relevant to our lifestyle and interests and if you wish to contact me please do so through my email underdownh@hotmail.com

Facebook me on The Good life mum

Follow me on twitter #thegoodlifemum

See my Soap Facebook page Bath Food Bath Food  or my online shop Bath Food Bath Food





Super Saturday sports and soap

Well Saturday was super sports day and it all started with Sophie and daddy heading off to football where Sophie yet again was the ringleader of all the trouble in the class leading all the children in a long row crawling under the chairs so their fraught daddies couldn't catch them. i think they may make a rule soon NO GIRLS ALLOWED at football.

Toca Boca House

Here is another video blog about the Toca boca house Ap, this is Sophie's latest ap and its all good clean fun.  As its mothers day tomorrow Sophie promised to clean the whole house, i was very impressed, maybe i should of asked which house.  Again another great little Ap from those smart Toca Boca people.

Spring and Sunflowers


With Spring finally in the air Sophie and i are busy working in the garden planting more seeds and preparing the boarders ready for the year ahead.  Sophie is so much more competent this year as she already has a year of gardening under her belt and she knows how to plant a seed and is the main person that does all the watering in the garden, this is great child labour to have around the garden as i can set up the next task or get on with my own activity and we work side by side talking about what we are doing.

Chocolate chip soap

The house is smelling scrummy today with a new batch of chocolate chip soap that has been cut.  This is a new recipe as the batch contains Shea butter as well as other lovelies in it to nourish and protect your skin.

Bath-Food 

Weather girl

Every day Sophie and i have a conversation about the weather. After all, that is what the English do. We peer out of the window and discuss what we see.

Crystal crown

Here is a nice 20 min activity to keep little one occupied and out from under your feet.

Cubby Kit Outer space

Today was a raining day and Sophie was rather bored but that was to change as there was a knock at the door and a parcel was delivered named to the littlest member of the family, Sophie.  She couldn't believe her eyes as this enormous package was just for her.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownies

Well its March and i still have some Christmas nuts rattling around the house so decided to turn them into brownies.

Table top sale, National Autistic Society

This morning i was up bright and breezy ready for my first fair of the year in Fairford leys working with the lovely people from the National Autistic Society.  The foot fall was steady which was impressive as this is the first fair the society have done and the room i was in was bright and large and held a great number of craft people. I held a promotion on some of my soaps to help raise funding for a couple of soaps i want to make in this new year.