Review: Philips PerfectCare Aqua

When my boys were younger, I had a weekly ritual. Friday night, after they had gone to bed, I would get out the ironing board, pop it in the lounge room and iron while I watched whatever movie was on. Now, I'm pretty sure back then, I was ironing things that didn't really need it - sheets, tablecloths, t-shirts etc, but I found that little weekly ritual relaxing. I had always been an ironer. It was one of the first "big girl" jobs that my mum let me do.

When I was asked to try the new Philips PerfectCare Aqua, I wondered why I stopped this ritual. Was it that I didn't have as many things that needed ironing, did I not have the time, had it become a chore? I do remember that about two years ago, my ironing board got put out in the hard rubbish as it had seen better days and I replaced it with one of those smaller table ironing boards.the plan was to use that on the bench in the laundry, but everyone kept popping stuff on the bench, and I had to clear it every time I wanted to use it - annoying! I even bought one of those steaming irons thinking that would be better, but I couldn't really use it in my laundry and if I set it up in the kitchen, of course that would be the time that everyone needed to be in there so it was just inconvenient. So, apart from Josh's work shirts, I stopped ironing regularly.

When the Philips PerfectCare Aqua arrived after I agreed to test it out, I freaked out a little - what on earth was I going to iron? I'm sure just ironing two or three work shirts for Josh wouldn't be very interesting. So began the hunt. Opening my wardrobe door and having a good look, I found a few shirts that I always bypass wearing because after I wash them they need ironing. Hmmmm, I think I accidentally found a whole new summer wardrobe in there without going shopping!

The Philips PerfectCare Aqua is the latest in a range of revolutionary steam generators and makes getting those annoying creases out of your clothing a speedy and simple experience. What I loved about the Philips PerfectCare Aqua was I could iron any item of clothing without having to worry about the temperature setting. I used to sort the clothes into piles of temperature settings – delicate through to denim so I could adjust the iron accordingly. With the Philips PerfectCare Aqua, I was able to iron the shirts pictured above (viscose, cotton, silk, polyester) without worrying about the pre-sort.The Philips PerfectCare Aqua maintains a perfect combination of temperature and steam using OptimalTemp technology so there was no need to adjust temperature settings or worry about burning clothes. It has a SteamGlide soleplate so it glided across the clothes without sticking.
The Philips PerfectCare Aqua iron only weighs 1kg so it was also nice and light compared to my iron. I loved how quickly it was ready for use (2 mins) – no more waiting for the iron to reach the temperature needed.being able to use the iron 3 ways was an added bonus – ironing without steam, steam ironing using the steam trigger and steam ironing using the steam boost function. The only issue I had the the iron overall was the position of the steam button. I found I was accidently pressing it occasionally as I normally hold my iron up high on the handle. I’m sure that’s one thing that I would used to after using the iron over a period of time.

For more information on the Philips PerfectCare Aqua head over to the Philips website
*Disclosure: I was sent a Philips PerfectCare Aqua to try for this review. Images and video, other than my own, were supplied for use in this review. All opinions are my own.

Making a Bed – It’s Simple, Right??

Last November, we finally found our new bed. It took a while to find it, but I’m so glad we didn’t rush and get the first thing we saw. There’s nothing like jumping into a beautifully made bed and snuggling in for a sleep.  Making a bed isn’t rocket science. It’s as simple as getting out of the bed, turning around and lifting the doona, giving it a good shake and laying it back down on the bed. Then you simply pop the pillows where they are supposed to go. Honestly, it’s less than a two minute job, free and a simple pleasure I love. This is the bed my husband gets into every night, whether on not I’m working night shift.

Seriously, it’s so easy, even my kids do their own.  After a night shift, this is what I look forward to on the way home – jumping into bed and curling up for a darn good snooze. Hubby has already left for work when I get home so I know that I will have the whole bed to myself.  So, if it’s so easy peasy to make a bed and if it’s a little pleasure that doesn’t cost a thing, how come I always come home to this?????

I wonder if my husband will ever learn to simply get out of bed, turn around and shake that doona?

Making a house fit a fridge!

Ok, I know most “normal” people measure up the spot they have to put a new refrigerator before buying one. What do we do - find the one we want and then MAKE the house fit it!

Yup, that’s my poor hubby up there tearing apart the cupboard that used to house the old gas water heater. It’s just inside the laundry by I had a plan to make it part of the kitchen :)

That’s right - knock out the doorway!  When you have a vision of how something is going to look, sometimes you just have to go for it (after you convince your husband that it was his idea!)

I’m pretty impressed that this was the only casualty of the weekend! And just like any good loving wife, I whacked a band-aid on it (so he would get blood over the nice white wall) and told him to get back to work - I love supervising :)

And here is the finished project - well nearly. Still need to put back the skirting boards, but I have convinced hubby that “his” idea to continue these nice sleek lines to the pantry and replace the doors :)

And since I am soooooooooo in love with my new fridge, here is a much better picture of it.

Been wondering where I’d gone????

Well, remember this post. I’ve been head down, bum up ever since my last post. Between home, family, work and school, I have just had no time to do anything else. It’s taken me a while to get everything sorted, but I’m back on track :)

Rubbermaid "Reveal Mop" Review & Giveaway!

When you work nightshift, you find that there are not a lot of household chores that you can do quietly while the rest of the house sleeps on your nights off. And just because you can’t do them, doesn’t mean they just go away - there still there to do when you’re awake in daylight hours. A simple thing like mopping over the floors would involve filling up a bucket to drag around the house and a mop that wherever you leant it up, it would be sure to slide down the wall and clang on the floor - right. Well, not anymore!

I was lucky enough to test out the “Reveal Mop” by Rubbermaid. A very cool all-in-one system that eliminates the need for that bucket to be dragged around the house. Instead of the bucket, the “Reveal Mop” has a refillable bottle attached to it that you can add your favourite floor cleaner to. The spray trigger is conveniently placed on the handle so you can spray as much as you need.

With both tiles and floorboards in our home, I love that “Reveal Mop” is suitable for both - it’s also suitable for vinyl and laminate. Having five boys, a hubby and tiles in the bathroom (you know where I’m going with this), I can tell you that the “Reveal Mop” got a pretty good work out here. It was easy to manoeuvre around the toilet and got right up to the skirting boards thanks to the swivel head! And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it does!

The “Reveal Mop” uses a washable microfiber pad so there’s no extra dollars wasted on buying replacement pads that you throw out after every time you mop. And it’s not a skimpy little pad either - it’s a nice wide one. Microfiber is fantastic as it can pick up “50% more dirt per swipe than traditional sponge mops”. If you want to see the mop in action, check out Rubbermaid’s video below.

The “Reveal Mop” is available at selected Bunnings stores and has a R.R.P. of $39.95

Now for the best bit. The lovely people at Rubbermaid would like one of my readers to have a mop of their own! To enter this giveaway, leave me a comment below telling me what favourite floor cleaning solution would you use in the “Reveal Mop’s” refillable bottle.

Terms & Conditions
* Be a follower of my blog
* Open to residents of Australia only
* Winner will be chosen at random
* Entries close Thursday 3rd February, 2011 at 5:00pm AEDT
* The winner will be announced on my blog to be sure to check back!

**Disclosure: I received a complimentary Reveal Mop courtesy of Rubbermaid Australia via Aussie Mummy Bloggers. All opinions expressed are purely my own.**

Day Twenty-Six - 30 Day Meme

Day 26 – your week, in great detail
Monday - a fairly average day, full of general pottering around the house and pick ups and drop offs.
Tuesday - Zachary had an appointment this morning with the Hand Therapist. He has been working with them since he dislocated his finger during PE playing kick ball in August. I dropped him back at school and Joshua and I picked up Jacob from kinder and “did lunch”.
Later in the afternoon, I took Joshua and myself to the Doctors - Joshua to get immunised for his trip to Bali and me to get a skin tag removed (funny how it had never bothered me at all until my mother mentioned something about it hmmmmm). In the evening Zachary and I went to a meeting at school for the Presentation Ball next year.
Wednesday - Jacob had his first transition session at school. He absolutely loved spending time there, but was a bit concerned about missing kindergarten. Afterwards, he had his swimming lesson.
Did a few general things around the house, then while Joshua watched Jacob, headed off for a nap as I was working that evening.
Got up around 7:00PM, did dinner and headed off to work.
Thursday - Left work at 7:30AM and headed home. Grabbed a cuppa and got the boys to school - Joshua had his first Year 12 exam this morning, English. Pottered around the house until midday when I went to pick Joshua up from school and drop Jacob off at kindergarten. Back home to hit the sack zzzzzzzzz.
The boys caught the bus home and Joshua walked down and picked up Jacob from kinder.
Woke around 5:30PM and got dinner organised.  Headed off to kindergarten committee meeting at 7:30PM, got home just before midnight.
Friday - What a crazy morning! Dropped Zachary off at the hospital for his Hand Therapy appointment at 8:00AM, dropped Christian and Joshua at school, back to hospital to pick up Zachary, dropped Jacob at Kindergarten, dropped off Zachary at school, picked up Joshua and headed home - all before 10:15AM.  Put dinner in the slow cooker and had a sit down before heading off again.
Got Jacob from kindergarten at midday, made lunch, pottered around, picked up boys from school at 2:45PM. More pottering, served dinner and had a rather early night.
Saturday - See here
Sunday - We’ve got a hard rubbish collection in our area, so we tidied up the carport and put everything we wanted to get rid of on the nature strip so it could be picked up sometime after Monday.
In the afternoon, I headed out for a quiet wander around the shopping centre, where I picked up some cute little baskets and some ballet flats for $5.00!!! Got home, made dinner, played on the computer for a while and headed off to bed.

Day Twenty-Four - 30 Day Meme

Day 24 – where I live

I’ve already posted a pic of my home here Day Fifteen - 30 Day Meme so here’s a few more. 

 

Kids playing out the front

The backyard

The Beach :)

Our journey so far…

I’ve kept this on the sidebar of my blog since I started blogging, but I think it’s time to move it off there. So instead of just removing it, I thought I would give it it’s own special blog post. This way it’s still part of my blog. If you haven’t seen it before, press play……………

 

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Day Fifteen–30 Day Meme

Day 15 – your dream house
I love looking at real estate on the web, nosing through open houses’ and new estates and having little fantasy moments. But, my dream home is the one I live in. Since we bought it in 2004, we have slowly been doing bit’s and pieces and there’s still more to be done. When we were originally looking, we looked at sparkly new houses, but I wanted my home to have character and history, so an established home was what we picked.

Day Twelve – 30 Day Meme

Day 12 – something you are OCD about
There’s not really that much I’m overly fussy about. I like know where things are and what’s going on but, if things change, so be it. If I had to pick something, I would say my pantry. If things get out of “my order” in here, people might just starve :) I blogged about my newly organised pantry here.

Organised Pantry!!

OK I reorganised the pantry before Christmas so there's no before pictures, but hey, I'm really impressed they have stayed life this!


I couldn't get the entire pantry in one shot no matter how far I stood back so I've posted it in a few photos. The first two show the main part of the pantry. I've tried to assign shelves so a) it's easier to find things and b) so people know where to put things back! I couldn't get a good shot of the very top of the pantry where I keep things we have multiples of or refill other containers like coffee, cordial, tea, sauce and oil.


DH put these baskets on the doors for me, as we had so much wasted space that could be used.

On the right, I keep all the foil, glad wrap, baking paper and herbs and spices that we use a lot........


On the left, there are the spray oils, balsamic vinegar and any sauces/marinades.


So, that's our pantry. hopefully, by posting pictures of it, it will keep me motivated to keep it this wasy and not let it get away from me :)