How To Detoxify Our Home

We all love a clean house. A clean house is free from odour and germs. And so  for the sake of keeping  our home immaculate we go to great extent in buying chemically made products which instantly remove dirt and stubborn stains from our favourite furniture, carpet or any other household articles. Using these kind of products may leave our home spick and span but at what cost?  Ignorantly  or fully aware of the fact that detergents and all purpose cleaning products pose a huge threat to our health, we  continue to depend on these ‘cleaning agents’ to help us maintain a spotless home.These products contain toxic ingredients or have irritants that can cause   severe damage to our body. Inhaling too much of air freshener, carpet cleaners and laundry detergents is the starting point to respiratory problems.Why should we jeopardize our health using toxic chemicals for cleaning when  we can find  non toxic substitutes that are extremely safe , right  in our kitchen cabinets. These   household components  which are accessible and affordable, help detoxify and clean our home. They work as effective as the chemicals but without any exposure to danger. Baking soda and vinegar are basic household products that we use for cooking on a daily basis. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and has a number of useful constituents. Besides helping in diminishing the effect of acidity, it also acts as a   deodorizer to freshen homes and douse grease fires in the kitchen. It can also be used in the refrigerator and pantry cupboards to reduce the effect of odour. It soaks up unpleasant smell from carpets and upholstery and help in disinfecting the drains and sinks. In addition, it can also bring sparkle to old jewellery, porcelain, and stainless steel.

I do a lot of baking and there is always a tendency for spills. I avoid using harsh oven cleaning powder or detergents as the smell of the chemical triggers a nagging cough. To clean the oven  I wet the interior of the oven  surface and  sprinkle a fistful of  baking soda on the  sodden portion  and scrub with steel wool,which I can assure is strong enough to clear up any stubborn food deposits .The steel wool  also comes in handy whenever we need  to scour  greasy pots and pans. Tiles and floors could be cleaned by using bicarbonate soda with wet sponge and rinsing afterwards.Soured apple juice  is used, to prepare vinegar.Vinegar can get rid of greasy mold and can be used as a polish to clean floors. It can also revive your coffee pot, the tea pot and your cookware. Vinegar can be used in a solution with water or straight without diluting.

 

On the whole, without any doubt, it is extremely safe to use household substitutes like vinegar and bicarbonate soda to clean almost everything and anything in our home. In point of fact,these household products were utilized even during the time of our great –grand parents and they had been maintaining cordial relations with their immune systems for a long time unlike the present generation.Thus to be free from health hazards we need  to steer clear of  harsh chemicals  and consequently   switch over to  inexpensive substitutes from our ‘kitchen cabinet‘ to maintain an exclusively  hazardous free and  hygienic home .

 

 

 

Dealing With Computer Bugs And Viruses

Even though we knew something was wrong with our computer,it was  only after for a while  we   realized  we needed to  get our computer  upgraded. It had been giving us a lot of problem lately. Subsequently we decided to send it to an experienced person,who detected the issue and rectified. It was discovered  that too many viruses had invaded the  computer and nastily crashed the whole system. This left me wondering who could have possibly pushed or encouraged these virtual microbes into our computer.

After a lot of evasive answers my sons  eventually spilled the beans.The youngsters admitted they had downloaded some video games from some unreliable sites. I don’t know how this  could have gone passed the ‘security mama’s' eyes. I have always advised them to  stick to their regular game sites and have cautioned them to keep off sites that was not recommended. But somehow they had been lured in. Due to this unfortunate incident, I lost a large amount of my folders  stored under my ‘documents’, as most of the data  had  being swallowed by the bugs. Apart from that, some  important pictures which I had saved on the computer disappeared after we had the computer upgraded. Fortunately I had backup pictures saved on my Picasa  account. Wasn't that  some relief!

Many new innovations have surfaced in technology. Though I  am not tech savvy, I am keen to learn new things about computers and everything  about them. Thanks to the various articles and information I get via the internet. Just the other day a  friend asked me If I had installed the blu ray burner on my computer.I was clueless.Later  I gathered  what it was all about.Blu ray disc is a video  compressed technology  very much comparable to a DVD.However,the quality of blu ray  is  much supreme  with  superior picture  quality.More over, they have  a good amount of storage than their counterpart DVD, allowing your storage  to grow higher.And for  someone who has just lost all the archives,it wouldn’t hurt too much if I  consider installing a  blu ray burner  on my computer.

 

 

 

 

Back To School



School  has  re-opened  after the summer  break.And to be honest it didn’t start  off well.We all ran out of patience  on the first day itself  since the usual van which takes the children to school didn’t turn up as the driver is still on  vacation.As a result,within a short period of  time,we took into service  an alternative  school transportation  to shuttle the children back  and forth to school.It wasn’t an easy task.

Though the long  break from school has  revitalized the kids,they are  still not ready to go into studying mode right away.I guess it will take  a few more days  to get adjusted to the swing of things  and get back to the customary  routine.Moreover,it’s just a matter of days before their summative exams start and I have no idea how to get them back on track from their present  frame of mind. Being away on vacation and from the hustle and the bustle of the morning mad rush,had a great impact on me as well.I had  totally elapsed the usual school rules and regulations.It had completely slipped off my mind that my youngest had to be attired in Scout uniform every Tuesday.Though he reminded me just before the school van arrived, there wasn’t enough time to run upstairs and change his uniform,so I had to do a bit of sweet-talk to cheer him up before  sending  him off to school.

I must admit that I  will  definitely miss  the daytime noise and the clamor,the fun and the frolic  and anecdotes of my children that re-energized me during the lazy summer  mornings.Hence,halfhearted and  reluctantly,I  unwind  and   bid  goodbye  to the  holiday vibes.
 

 

A Toast To Summer!

The family vacation maybe  over but the  holidays for the children is still on, as schools reopen only in September.Despite the fact that we all seem to be thoroughly exhausted in the company of summer,we are  in some way coping  the hot and humid weather.With the  prevailing  weather condition in this part of the world,there is n’t much outdoor  activities  to  get occupied  except take part in religious activities like  reading the holy book and offering   extra prayers as this is the holy month of Ramadan,which  by the way,will come to an end in the next few days.And soon, we can expect some fair weather.It is always the case during the latter part of summer time,when the holiday spirits begin to wear off and all that extra time that you hold so precious,seem to drift so soon.And almost immediately  you start to brood over the lost time.

Summer makes me wonder,ponder and  beyond.At the onset,as  much as the season brings with it  the  holiday spirit,goodwill and cheer, it also ignites a lot of physical strain on us during the closing stage.By the way  I am not  being unreasonable,I still  hope to enjoy the rest of the holidays in  optimism.

Looking on the bright side,it’s apparent that Summer has not  been very harsh on me.In addition to  the exhilaration of our three week vacation to the pearl of the Indian ocean( Sri Lanka),I am also ecstatic at some of the other  things that summer has freshened me up with.It has  enabled  me to  mentally remove a few  redundant anarchism and enjoy the rest of the season with a clear mind set.My sugar level  is  well under control and the daily exercising has  brought in  some good results.I have lost a few more pounds and have gained high  energy levels.So you can just  imagine  alongside the hustle and the bustle of summer,how contentedly I am marching around the house with equally energetic children.

This Summer I also tried my hands at new recipes catering to the family’s tastes buds.Some recipes came out quite well while a few didn’t turn out as expected.That didn’t give me a reason to sign.I gave the dishes  a new name and felt happy about my achievement.On the whole,Summer has taught me to approach things  in a positive manner and I am grateful for that.


Please feel free to take a peek at Summer Skies- pictures taken during the vacation

Celebrating Summer

Happy holidays-Have A great Summer!

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.
- John Lubbock-

Obesity In Children

Reading the book the ‘Blood Sugar Solution’ not only endowed  me with helpful information about diabetes,but  also opened my eyes to another serious disease that is progressing fast  all over the world. I was brought to my attention  that  Obesity  is one of the underlying cause for diabetes and also for  various other   diseases that could assault our body and bring significant harm to our system.What is even more alarming is that childhood obesity  is drastically on the rise especially among school children. Evidently it has become a cause of concern. A fad for junk food  or  fast food is increasingly  growing amongst children which  sooner or later will   bring  catastrophic results when  the diseases related to it sets in.Junk food may  tantalize our taste buds  but does more damage to our digestive systems.The extra fats  in them  not only make us gain weight but are  notable to  damage the liver and heart.Adults should start promoting and creating awareness about eating healthy food so as to encourage school children develop healthy eating habits.Children should be encouraged to eat more of cereals,green and leafy vegetables,fruits,milk,eggs and curds and yoghurt  as a part of their daily diet.Green salads have a lot of fibrous  elements  that will do good for our health.As parents, we must work effortlessly to  set  boundaries for  eating foods like  hot dogs,pizzas,burgers,sweets and candies,as they  are the culprits that cause obesity.Furthermore,it is n’t too  late to turn around  eating habits.To prevent  further destruction from this epidemic called 'obesity' ,the foremost thing we got to work on  our part is to  convince children  to indulge  in eating home cooked meals as foods cooked at home  are  packed with nutritious values and not as much of calories and fat.

Green Salads have fibrous compounds and are good for the digestive system

The Blood Sugar Solution

For the last couple of months I have been  deeply engrossed in  ‘ Doctor Mark Hyman’s  ‘Ultra Wellness blog’ and  have gathered so much of  information about ‘Diabesity’-a merge between diabetes and obesity. I also enjoyed reading all the rants and the reviews about his latest book.However,since recently,I  have not been able to  do so habitually due to a defect in the computer.I guess our computer system cannot handle more than one program in one go.The computer keeps crashing and I can no longer have several internet applications running at a time.However I am not  tech savvy  to  identify the  hitch.So until this  issue is rectified,I  have  to  patiently bear  with the  slow loading and the sudden crashes which  to some extent is disrupting my social networking.

On the other hand, to my surprise, a couple of  days ago,my dear hubby had  checked in at   the   bookstore in the vicinity   and got me the hard cover. Now I am all set to read….

And so, without further ado,let me  break away   from  the frustrations   generated by this   faulty tech system and the mayhem caused by  an equally faltered immune system and discover some techniques  to get things back to normal with the guidance   of the  ‘Blood Sugar Solution’ .