On Holidays – Yay!

I wanted to inform you all that I am on holidays.  Friday was actually my last day at work  but we don’t offically leave for our holiday until Monday.  As we will be heading overseas, this blog will be quiet until I return back in the office on the 3rd of December.

I thought I would leave you a slide show, of example wedding photographs that I have captured as a photograper.

Hope it gives you some warm and fuzzy feelings.

 

Sydney’s Red Dust Storm

Like every Sydneysider today, I awoke and looked out my window and thought ‘Oh my goodness what is going on?’.

The huge dust storm that swept across inner NSW then Canberra, reach Sydney early this morning. 

With the rich reds you couldn’t help yourself being amazed at the colour of the light (and I don’t believe it is just a photographer thing).

 This photograph was taken from our front room office at 8.00am this morning.  May I add no enhancements have been added,  just the wonder of light in a red dust storm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mini & Cooper (my dogs) as per usual were jumping around the front door to be let out so they can play on the grass.  They were white fluffy puppies when they left but returned with a noticeably yellow tinge.  It will be bath time for them soon (as well as their yellow dirty coloured bed).

 

Loving Natra-Kleen

Eighteen months ago Tim Pharo from Pharo Cleaning Services mentioned to me his desire to only use environmentally friendly products in his commercial cleaning company.  He shared about his concern for his staff and the environment with the chemicals found in commercial cleaning products.

Eighteen months on, I am really proud of Tim as he has achieved his goal.  Tim now not only uses the environmentally friendly range ‘Natra-Kleen’ but was so impressed with them, he is now a distributor for their cleaning products range.  Let me give you a little run down on Natra-Kleen as I spent this long weekend testing these products in my own home:

* Australian made products by an Australian owned company.
* Containers are recyclable.
* Products are PH neutral so will not harm water supplies.
* Can purchase products concentrated so it is more economical. 
* Safe for children if they accidentally swallow the products.
* Non toxic.
* Safe for grey water systems.
* Insect repellent.
* Bio-degradable.
* Environmentally safe.
* Non-abrasive.
* Non-corrosive.
* No residual.
* Choose from sphere mint or no fragrance.

 

Natra-Kleen products contain NO: ammonia, animal fats, bleach, borates, phenol, chlorinated solvents, inorganic alkaline salts, nitrates, phosphates.

I purchased a 1 litre concentrate bottle of the ‘all purpose cleaner’ from Tim.  What I love about the all purpose concentrate is the flexibility of the product i.e being able to use the cleaner for many different purposes.

Firstly I used the liquid as laundry detergent.   The instructions stated to use approx 4 pumps (using the pump included) of liquid for a really dirty, full load inside a top loader washing machine .  Unfortunately however my dogs ‘Mini’ and ‘Cooper’ ate the pump (naughty little monkeys) so I had to improvise. 

One pump is suppose to be 4ml of liquid.  Using a very small measuring cup I worked out that the cap for the container itself, held about 12ml of liquid.  Therefore one cap full of liquid worked out to be approx three pumps.

So now I decided to start with my smelly karate gees (really stinky) with just one cap of concentrate liquid.  The 2nd load was another full load but this time it was our dogs beds, blankets and towels (again very smelly).  This time I decided on two caps of liquid.  Both loads came out smelling & looking clean but I preferred the two cap’s load, as I liked the stronger smell of sphere mint.

Next I used the ‘all purpose cleaner’ as dishwashing liquid (by hand).  I used about a 1/3 of a cap (one pump) which would of been approx 4ml of liquid.  Nothing unusual to report.  The product worked just as well as the dishwashing liquid we were using before except I didn’t have to use as much liquid.

Then using a 500ml spray bottle filled with water and 16ml of liquid, I could use the product as a surface spray.  Therefore I used the spray to clean the kitchen benches after cleaning the dishes in the sink.  My benches weren’t really dirty but I was happy with the clean and I love the sphere mint smell in the kitchen.

Tim gave me the Natra-Kleen disinfectant spray to try.  Tim’s professional cleaning tip about disinfecting kitchen/bathroom surfaces, is to spray the disinfectant onto the surfaces after cleaning and then let it dry naturally.  The reason?  Because often the cloths we use to wipe down benches are not 100% clean and hence we contaminate the surface.

Personally I always worry about using disinfectants on kitchen benches (in food prep areas) as I am concerned about the chemicals contained in these types of products.  After reading about Natra-Kleen disinfectant, I was not concerned about spraying it onto my kitchen surfaces as I knew it was non toxic.

Lastly I used the ‘all purpose cleaner’ to clean the toilet and bathroom.  As I have been unwell lately the shower had some mould on the tiles as it has been awhile since it was cleaned.  After spraying the glass shower screen and tiles and left it for about 5 min, I then used a hand scrubber to go over the surfaces.  In the areas were mould was found (corners and in between the tiles) I used an old tooth brush with pure concentrated liquid. 

In summing up I will definitely use these products again for all these scenarios (and try other products and other uses) however I think a cream cleanser would work better on really dirty bathroom surface.  I believe Natra-Kleen are in the process of inviting a cream cleanser that meets the standards as all their other products.  Until then I might use bicarbonate soda (as a cream cleanser) along with Natra-Kleen’s ‘all purpose cleaning’ product.

This product is safe for restaurants, hospitals and schools and I can recommend it for the household.

For more information or to inquire about purchasing any Natra-Kleen products please contact Tim Pharo tim@pharo.com.au

A Time to Reflect

“Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional” I heard a young female paraplegic say.  Her words are humbling as the pain she speaks about, God forbid I would never have to experience.  It puts any of my struggles into perspective.

 

Recently I have been pondering this very topic of dealing with hardships but not in the physical sense but emotionally and in particularly within the current global economic situation.  No one really likes change but individually we all must face the reality that life is change.  Don’t you feel however the whole world and every person living is currently been forced to change together because of the times we find ourselves in?

 

Those who know me well, will testify that I am someone who ‘lands on my feet’ or who can change and move creatively in the hardest situations.  Very few people however will know that there is a period of time before my ‘creativity’ where I am a mess and will fight the need to change.  The blessing for me, is my years has provided past history  and knowledge.  I now know that once you except change as a gift or an opportunity, then eyes are clear to find really creative possibilities that would not have been visible before.

 

In my office at work I have been adding phrases or statements to my wall that I can regularly reflect upon.  The most recent addition to these proclamations is the phrase “Celebrate Life Now”.

 

Lately I have had the tendency to feel overwhelmed with the current times, because of the media hype and the changes at my company/work.  In these stressed, overwhelmed, anxious and sometimes melancholy times, I stopped myself and ask “What am I grateful for, at this very moment?” 

 

Sometimes the answer may be hard to find but I don’t allow myself to progress further into my day without a positive and honest answer.  Once my answer was that I was grateful for the sun shining on my back while another time I remember thinking that I was grateful to have comfortable shoes on today.

 

The answer always makes me smile and brings a lightness to my heart and outlook.

I Still Love You!

Oh my beautiful regular readers.  I have not forgotten you and I am sorry I have disappeared for a bit with this blog.

Telecommunication nightmares!  I wonder if I could write a book but my wows when it comes to problems with running a business when you are so reliant on the Internet?  I guess most companies these days are in the same boat.

Thank you to my IT guys who have worked hard the last two weeks so no apparent disruptions were seen (except for my absence on this blog and my Wedding Planning Tips blog).

This morning I uploaded a new post to my Wedding Planning Tips blog about me having a hair and make up ‘make over’ (as it was just this morning that I could access the internet again from our computers). 

I thought you might be interested to have a little look.  If nothing else it is good for a laugh (tip: listen into the footage!). 

Now that I am back online again I will be adding new posts about a new Australian cleaning product I have been testing and an update about Reflex recycled paper.

I have missed hearing from you all and reading your blogs too.