In General

Blogging – What makes you tingle?

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 22 Comments

During the Blogger-Fail, all over Twitter have been cries of outrage, irritation, dismay at the thought of losing content. I can’t say I blame them, I’d be horrified if I thought some or all of C&C could disappear (and be somewhat pissed off I imagine too!).

No-one’s cries hit my ears harder though than J’s. J is a friend of mine who set up a blog on Thursday night. She’s never had a blog before but long since wanted a way to record and share the trial and tribulations that go with being a single mum AND being a Corporal in the British Army! Life smacked her around the back of the head a few years ago and life went from a joyride, to the most terrifying rollercoaster imaginable, but all is calm again and she is enjoying life with her gorgeous daughter, whilst building a future for them both. Her excitement at seeing the blog live and her first post up there was so touching, more so when she had that eyelash in her eye that made her look like she’d welled up. This was what she had needed, an outlet. A way to put everything together, for herself and her daughter and, being the person she is, to share with others who might find themselves in similar situations.

THIS is what blogging is. I am firmly in the “blog for the reasons you want to, blog how you want to” camp, but this was a shining example of someone really getting a kick out of just seeing what they’d written “published”.

I could tell she’s caught the bug when I received these amongst numerous other texts today.

“Urm, I can’t log in to Blogger. It say the blog isn’t there anymore!!!!”

“How long will it be down for?”

“It’s a good job I’m new else there would be a lot of disappointed followers lol”

“Urm, It’s still saying blog not found?”

“I can wait I suppose, I have had so many ideas for what I want to post about. You’ve created a monster”.

These were a select few. For J, the love is seeing it all in black and write, the achievement almost of getting it out there. I love that. She isn’t ready to share with everyone the blog, wanting to go get a few more bits and pieces on first, but when she does, it’ll be well worth the wait!

What makes you tingle about blogging, do you still tingle? Is it that someone has taken the time to comment, is it seeing your blog move up the rankings? Is it seeing how many people visited last week?

For me, I still get that buzz when I know I’ve written something good and I see the words “Post Published”, it’s out there, it’s live, and where it will go, who it will touch, I have no idea. I love that feeling! So come on then, tell me about YOUR tingle!

In Candidly Cleaning

E-Cloth Clean Green Challenge – Wk 3

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 2 Comments

Week 3, and I have a confession to make. I did vow to go completely chemical-less but then, Kieran was ill. A lot. In many different places. The disinfectant and what not had to come out, so yes, I’ve “broken” the challenge, but seeing as all my other cleaning has been eco, I’ll keep going!

This week I need to tell you about:

The Deep Clean Mop.

This mop is blinking fabulous. You don’t need any liquid cleansers or chemicals, the special fibres are designed to break up and hold grease and dirt, it’s pretty absorbent so no soaking floors and it is very easy to use. Basically, the mop is a long cloth (see pic) which attaches to the velcro on the bottom of the base. No screws, funny clips, or fastenings, just pop the cloth on the floor & the mop base on top and go. The handle is adjustable so even my lanky husband can wash the floors, and the base swivels so that getting around corners is easy. Being flat it is ideal for getting under the appliances! The head you can literally wash/rinse out in the sink, wring to get rid of excess water and pop back on again. I have also had mine in the washing machine and it is as good as new.

Will I replace my pre-challenge mop with this one? Most definitely! 10/10!

Bath & Shower Pad

The website states “Ideal for the bathroom and kitchen, this cloth is designed for cleaning wet areas around sinks, baths and showers. The padded construction gives it very high absorbency and it has three sections for flexibility“. This is the only product I’ve tested so far that I’m not convinced about. It doesn’t seem to have enough “scrub-factor” for me. Perhaps I just have a muckier bathroom than some. I could be missing something however as it did win a Good Housekeeping award in 2009. My advice on this one is try it for yourself.

General All-Purpose Cloth

This however really does do what it says on the tin! Brilliant for all round cleaning I keep this in my kitchen for constant use. Use only with water, no chemicals, and it really does seem to just lift dirt and grease. This one gets thrown in the washing machine everynight (a real test of it’s durability). So far it’s had 21 washes, and is as good as it was was when I first started using it. £4.99 seems a lot for one cloth but one that you use time and time again, does the job, that doesn’t need chemicals….. a winner for me.

So, three weeks in and I’m still enjoying exploring Eco cleaning (apart from when people vomit ahem) and my way of thinking is definitely changing! Come back next week to hear about the last of the eco-products and how I’ve been using natural cleansers as bic of soda, vinegar & lemon to get the job done!

As alway, all the E-cloth products and more information can be found on their website and you can contact them via Twitter.

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