I was listening to a programme on the radio this week about how tsunami victims who have lost their homes and jobs are rebuilding a life for themselves with help from schemes supported by their governments. One example was of a group of women who are making baskets out of plastic strips that are used to secure parcels. Some of the baskets are being sold on ebay, one of which can be seen here.

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I have lost my voice, it went yesterday whilst teaching. Today I cannot talk normally at all, only whisper, and it's been quite thought provoking.

Of course it was the subject of great hilarity at work with comments like, "well it's going to be quiet in here today then!" and I'm sure you can imagine the rest. We had fun with it. It's amazing how many other people start whispering when in conversation with you, including Katie who is 3 1/2.

But it was also very inconvenient. If I wanted anyone's attention at work I had to go over and basically tap them on the shoulder. And if anyone did anything to help, when I said thanks they did not hear because they were looking at the thing they were doing. In the lift when you need the people standing in front of you to move over to let you out what do you do?

I had to go out to the shops, and it was fine in small quiet shops because the till operator could hear me, but I don't know what the person in the supermarket thought about me mouthing at her!

I hope my voice comes back soon, until it does I have Katie asking me every hour or so, "mummy, why are we being very quiet?"

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This article is a couple of weeks old but it seems that ketchup contains lycopene which helps protect you against a few different sorts of cancers. Well actually all tomatoes products do, but organic ketchup in particular has a high amount. Aparently the darker the colour the ketchup the more lycopene they are likely to contain.

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Should folic acid be added to all flour? Folic acid significantly reduces birth defects when taken before conceiving and during the early stages of pregnancy, but it seems that the rate of defects isn't dropping in the uk because people are not taking the supplements! Is it that people don't know (you need to take it before conceiving, so even if the midwife tells you at your first appointment, which may be as late as 10 weeks pregnant this is too late) or that people can't be bothered or can't afford to buy the tablets?

Read about folic acid here, although I think the headline and first paragraph are misleading, it would work if everybody was responsible and followed the advice. There also seem to be concerns over the long-term use of folic acid as a suppliment which have not been investigated properly yet.


Smiles differ according to which country you are from!


Why global warming is not natural - a report showing that global warming has been triggered by human activity, well duh!


"AN AUSTRALIAN man has paid £13,700 for a newly discovered island with beautiful beaches, rich gold deposits and a magnificent ruined castle." The island however is found in a virtual world, it only exists online! I wish I had that kind of money.

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This is the poncho that I knitted for Nicolette. I'm very pleased with the way it came out, I made it big on purpose as she is growing really quickly, and it is big enough to wear over jumpers now, and hopefully will be the right size to wear instead of a jumper nearer the summer. She was very pleased with it. Katie on the other hand will not wear hers as she is going through a stage!



I am recording the pattern for future use here if you are interested.

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Katie and Nicolette just love tv, so a tv dinner is a real treat!



Why play with the toys when you can sit in the box!



Posing for the camera!



That tiara really suits you Grandad!

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This is clever, a theif was caught by a webcam while he burgled a house. The story advises you to have the pictures automatically upload to your webspace in case your pc is stolen too!

Read about it here.

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The Motley Fool (which is a money advising website) has pledged to give 15 pence for every person who clicks on their link. Go to this page and scroll down to the bottom, and click on the word "here" that is highlighted. You do not need to register or anything, just a click will do it.

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Staring Katie and Nicolette

Steve has posted this on his blog already, but I wanted to put it here on mine as a record of our Christmas (which was lovely by the way). As a present for all our relatives my friend and I "directed" Katie and Nicolette in our version of the "Christmas Story". The girls mostly enjoyed making the video, and are certainly very pleased with the results, Katie at one point told Steve that we were making a new children's programme! :0)

Katie and Nicolette - A Christmas Story (Broadband)

Katie and Nicolette - A Christmas Story (Dial-up - lower bandwidth/quality)

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I am nice so I'll be looking out for some presents on Christmas morning. :0)

Kirsty Sparrow:
"Was pretty nice at times yesterday. Needs to practice picking up more often and making bed."

Go to Santa's Official Newsletter and click on "Sanata's List" at the top, put in your name and see if Santa will be visiting you this year!

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It's nearly Christmas and I'm getting really excited! The tree is up and sort of decorated - the girls tend to undecorate it again! We have started buying presents, and I am making Christmas cards with Katie. And there is a row of six houses just around the corner from us that are com-pletely covered with Christmas lights, including santa and his reindeer on the front lawn! I love Christmas.

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I am intrigued to read this New Scientist article which talks about research into nurture versus nature of people being nice, or put another way socially responsible. A survey conducted of twins seems to suggest that upbringing does play some part in this - which is a surprise to scientists. It seems most personality traits seem to be purely gene driven.

As a teacher I have seen that parents who are helpful, polite and take an interest in the school, tend to have children who do to. I had put this down to the parents modelling good behaviour, but I suppose the children could be genetically driven to follow the example. But then if parents adopt or foster, you can see the same "niceness" rubbing off on the adopted children after time - so I don't know.

Here's the article if you want to take a look for yourself:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996743

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I went on a trip to a sewage plant with work this week! (I have a wonderfully varied job!) It was fascinating. The water is seperated from anything more solid, and only takes 12 hours from coming into the plant, being cleaned, and sent back out into a nearby stream. And at the moment it is all done using only natural processes and no chemicals.
The non-water waste is put in a big vat to "cook" which takes five weeks and then farmers collect it to use as manure on grassy feilds that are used to graze livestock. This is the bit that I feel slightly uncomfortable about but there you are, I suppose it's a natural live cycle thing that would occur in the wild if we weren't all civilised living in houses with plumbing. :0)

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Well it is on my blog at least. We did have some snow one evening last week but it was all gone by the morning. Katie really wants it to snow so that she can make a snowman like she did last year.
Did you know that although every snowflake is unique they mostly fall into a category for their overall shape, and that it is someone's job to do this!

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm

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Cool - chocolate stops coughing, I'll have to try that! My throat does feel a little irritated . . . ;0)

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996699

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