No matches? Try spaghetti

We spent the weekend in a bach on Waiheke Island and I'm pleased to say my novel is ready to go. I've got it with my daughter Hannah for a read, as she will give me the final sign-off and some good notes.
While we were there Paul went off for takeaways and I suddenly decided it would be nice to light some candles. Problem was, I had candles, but no matches. I asked my friends on twitter for advice and Wendy Lester came to the rescue suggesting I roll up a bit of paper, hold it to the stove element and use that. Worked a treat. And on Monday she sent me this link __which has a great suggestion for using spaghetti - really good for reaching into hard to light places like vases etc.

Friend advice

One of my favourite columnists is Caitlin Moran who writes for The Times in the UK. She wrote a wonderful book called How to be a Woman which I thoroughly recommend. At the weekend she wrote a lovely column about advice for her daughter she would leave if she died. Which, as a columnist myself, I thought reeked a bit of "I've got nothing to write about this week so this will have to do." But I particularly loved her advice about friends:
"Choose your friends because you feel most like yourself around them, because the jokes are easy and you feel like you’re in your best outfit when you’re with them, even though you’re just in a T-shirt. Never love someone whom you think you need to mend – or who makes you feel like you should be mended. There are boys out there who look for shining girls; they will stand next to you and say quiet things in your ear that only you can hear and that will slowly drain the joy out of your heart. The books about vampires are true, baby. Drive a stake through their hearts and run away."
I used to do a lot of mending but as I've got older I've chosen friends who can look after themselves and leave me the mending energy I need for my five kids.

Brazilian? No way

Speaking of columns I wrote one last week for the Herald about the godawful trend for women to wax all their pubic hair off. I think it's time we stood up for ourselves and said, "This is me, take it or leave it." Everywhere I look is a service offering to remove, inject, re-shape, change colour or modify women's bodies in some way to make them more acceptable. To whom? I'm not sure but let's tell each other we look great just as we are. You can have a read of the column here if I've got you interested!

Moth Proof Blankets

I recently found a great old recipe while researching my Green Goddess column for the NZ Women's Weekly which you can use to moth proof blankets. We'll be putting them all away soon so why not make a jar of this up and have it ready. Scroll down to Recipe of the Week for the recipe or find it here on my website.

Birthday Special

It's my birthday tomorrow and so it's time for a discount, as I do every year. This week only, I have taken 30% off all my products so that you can stock up. Please note that the 30% discount only applies to my Wendyl's Green Goddess products, not other products that we stock. The special is only live until Thursday next week so don't forget to stock up and I hope you have a great week's shopping as my birthday gift to you.

Give diet drinks a miss

As you all know I'm not a fan of soft drinks, as they are empty calories giving you no nutrition whatsoever. And I'm also not keen on diet drinks which contain chemical sweeteners. Believe me, I would love nothing more than a gin and tonic or a rum and Coke, but I've just trained myself off them and when I do feel like something fizzy and sweet I reach for one of my home-made ginger beers. And when I have a vodka I pour it over ice, squeeze in a lemon or lime and add a bit of soda. Just as nice really and so much better for you.
I found this really good article on why diet drinks are not the best option. You can read it here.

Changing your email address

At last count there were more than 10,000 of you receiving this every week. It's lovely to know how many of you enjoy reading what I write. But, some of you need to change your email address and unfortunately with this new system there is no easy way to do this. But emailing me means I spend quite a lot of time changing all of your email addresses! Instead please unsubscribe clicking the link at the bottom then resubscribe on my website home page on the left. I'm sorry it's not a litte easier.

Moth Proof Blankets

We’ll soon be putting away our blankets and it is always a good idea to wash them before storing. But this goes one step further as it moth proofs them as well.

2 tbsp eucalyptus oil

1 cup methylated spirits

225g soap flakes (Lux flakes are good)

Mix together in a screw-top jar until all the ingredients are dissolved. Add 1 tbsp of the mixture to every 4 litres of water and soak the blankets for an hour then hand wash or wash on your wool cycle in your machine, but do not rinse. Wring them dry or put them through the gentle spin of your washing machine then dry outside on a windy day out of direct sunshine. Do not rinse as the eucalyptus oil needs to stay in the wool to soften it but also deter moths.