Monday, June 24

what is...



phenoxyethanol ~ an ingredient primarily used as a preservative in cosmetics. can be an extreme irritant to the eyes and skin. in animals, it causes cell mutation.
~ benzyl benzoate ~ a chemical that mimics estrogen in the body.
~ methylparaben ~ an antifungal and preservative. many studies have found a link between parabens and breast cancer.
~ alpha-isomethyl ionone ~ a synthetic compound used as a perfume. the ifra banned it from use in fragrances because of its possible side-effects, but it's still found in many other products.

so where does this little list come from? these are some of the ingredients of a face mask (marketed as natural) that i used last night. i know that an unpronounceable name does not necessarily mean the ingredient is evil. but really, this is not good. it is time to change things.

Sunday, June 23

and yet more crawling



i do start to wonder how many more of these i will be making...

Monday, June 17

my monday: fridge



what is it about fridges that makes people want to look in them, even if they belong to people they hardly know? (just for the fun of it, i looked up "what's in my fridge" on youtube: it gave 14.500 results. so 14.500 people have supposedly bothered to film the contents of their fridges for the world to see. the best-watched fridge got 180.000 views. well, today you can see what's in my fridge, since i just cleaned and organised it.

Sunday, June 16

project garden: flowers



people seem to sense that i am working on a garden-upgrade: all of these were lovely and unexpected gifts. so beautiful.

Saturday, June 15

wrapped up



in my opinion, the best part of giving a present is wrapping it.

Monday, June 10

project garden: christmas tree



remember our tiny tree? it turns out to be a brave little tree that started to grow like crazy a few weeks ago. so i decided to buy it a bigger house, after which it started growing even more enthusiastically, making our garden a little greener with every new bud. hopefully we can move it back into the living room for a few weeks coming december, and have quite a big christmas tree this year. after which it can move back into the garden again for another growth spurt.

Thursday, June 6

a time to play



those crazy days are truly over now. the days on which i didn't know when i'd find the time to shower, to cook dinner or to basically do anything for myself for just a few minutes. when my tea was always cold by the time i got around to drinking it and i was always too hungry by the time my sandwiches were ready. the days when little imp was a baby imp. the strangest thing is that i can't even imagine what it was like anymore. it seems ridiculous now that there was so little time for anything but him. i guess nature plays that trick well, or nobody would ever want another baby after the first one. so now there's time for all sorts of things again. especially for the little, insignificant things that i like most of all. 

Monday, June 3

little takeaway



his meals are all ready to grab again for the week to come. liquid additions will of course be provided for on the spot if i'm around, no matter what time of day - or, preferably in his case, night. (and that freezer needs to be defrosted...)

Sunday, June 2

june



look, here comes the sun.