CIF Express Direct to Floor Antibacterial Review

I wanted to take part in this test via Mumsnet as we have dogs, a cat and a small person who likes nothing better than throwing her food on the floor. CIF Express Direct to Floor Antibacterial cleaner appealed to me as I hate mops, the floor takes ages to dry. I had a Vileda a spray 'mop' which was brilliant but after a month the spray stopped working. So I wanted to find something I can use to clean the floor which is quick and easy.

I used this on the floors in the kitchen and the utility, both of which are tiled floors. I liked that you could just squirt it straight onto the floor and could use it without putting it into a mop bucket.  The product didn't have any fragrance which was a shame as I like things to smell nice when they are clean. It was fantastic not having to rinse afterwards, so quick and easy! 

I tend to use my Vileda 1-2 Spray Mop which I loved but it stopped spraying after only a couple of months so I have just been using floor wipes. This is a lot quicker than floor wipes and although it is probably as quick as the Vileda mop, it is a bit less messy and doesn't take as long to dry. It was perhaps not quite as effective as using disinfectant in the Vileda mop as the Cif is obviously not as wet unless you used a lot or diluted it which defeats the object.  However it therefore doesn't take as long to dry. It is designed more for your in between cleans as I don't think it would do a really thorough clean. I used a tesco sponge mop but I think I would look at something which has a washable mop head as the sponge never seems to get completely clean.

£2 for the 750ml bottle is a good price as it did go a long way, the nozzle doesn't let loads of product out so I probably would buy it if there is a fragranced version. I would recommend Cif Express Direct to Floor Cleaner to my friends/family if there is a fragranced option.

Rum walked on the floor virtually as soon as I had finished and didnt leave any pawmarks which he normally does when I have used the Vileda :)

These opinions are my own.

Dizzy - Sleep Tight

I haven't brought myself to post this on any of my social media channels as I just don't think I could cope with seeing all the comments of RIP, sorry etc etc. Am not ready for it and have only just brought up the courage to post this here. We lost Dizzy earlier this month, we miss her terribly, we do have Sweep who takes our minds off things and makes us laugh again but he will never replace Dizzy.

Dizzy was probably a month or so short of her 15th birthday. She had been a shadow of herself for a little while and had not been able to manage walks but she did still want to play ball even though it took an hour to fetch! She was happy and pain free.

She was gradually stopping eating until she stopped completely and couldn't move at all.  We made her comfortable and had to say our goodbyes.

She did really well for a dog with a metal rod in her spine since the age of three! We never had a good go at agility as our first year there was foot & mouth and the next year she was retired.  Heelwork to music involved constantly checking the audience were watching and obedience was what she really did well at.

Diz only had to be shown how to do something once & she knew what she had to do. I never really trained her, just showed her what I wanted. She was a great first dog, I had wanted a dog for years.

The only thing she ever hated unfortunately turned out to be Cas & vice versa, till the end. Luckily when I moved out we could split them so they were both a lot happier.

I am glad I stayed with her until the end and I know now she is happy to run and be free again. I feel a sense of relief, I was dreading the day, but now she is gone I do feel relieved that she is free from pain and happy again.

I am sure she was part human, there will never be a dog as clever as Diz. Sleep tight Diz dog, go and keep Missy company.

 

 

Puppy!

Introducing Ferrous A Touch of Danger, no pet name yet! He has come as a bit of a shock (in a good way) as mum had been thinking July time for a pup. However I had seen a photo of this boy and thought he was gorgeous then his breeder announced that his new home had fallen through. Mum and I talked and we just couldn't let him slip by as we didn't know where to start looking in a couple of months and I liked the breeder and lines of this pup. You feel guilty for recently losing Diz but he will never replace her and she wouldn't want us to stop living because of it, she hated seeing us upset. She loved collie boy pups too!

So pup came home, I am a great believer in that everything happens for a reason and what is meant to be is meant to be.

For the collie people out there he is a mix of canen and locheil lines.  He is bred by Donna Thorpe, he is a lovely cuddly, friendly boy.

I will post his diary on my Disco Dogs Blog

Apley Jousting Fair

Apley Jousting Fair - yeah!  Have been waiting all year for this event, due to suffering from SPD this time last year I never made it, so ever since I have been looking forward to it this year.

So, Apley is a local farm shop with and indoor soft play area, cafe, some local shops and a bit of an animal farm with donkey rides.  The cafe does some lovely food and they hold some nice craft fairs there.  They also offer a cookery club, photography course and more.  Take a look at their website: Apley Farm Shop

So onto the Jousting Fair, we arrived at 11am in time for the morning's schedule of displays which were then repeated in the afternoon.  The lurcher display was on in the main ring which I took part in with Rum and let's just say, he won't be joining their team any time soon!  We walked round the stalls and displays - circus tricks the children (and adults) could have a go at, archery and sword fighting they could also give a go, finally donkey rides.

There was a display by Ben Potter with his eagles and vultures which was amazing.

Finally what everyone was waiting for, on came Knights of the Damned Jousting Stunt Team.

They were amazing and it was well worth watching, just wish it could have lasted longer!

The only thing I would say is we couldn't have a proper photo with Mike the Knight as it was a bit of a free for all.  Lots of food available including a lovely Hog Roast (my favourite).  All in all a great day out!!

Bank Holiday Fun on the Farm!

Just had to share this photo taken over bank holiday :)

Morrisons Mum - The Food

I made a few things myself, such as a couscous salad, potato salad, halloumi kebabs, chicken tikka kebabs and Eton Mess.  The rest I bought Morrisons own branded food and went for the Morrisons Signature range which is the premium food that Morrisons offer.  I wanted to compare their meat to that of my local butcher who we use for our BBQs.

The burgers I chose were Signature Mature Cheddar & Sweet Onion Quarter Pounders, they looked a good size burger as I can't stand burgers that are tiny and fill half the bun.  I have to say I was very disappointed as these burgers shrivelled to nothing on the BBQ.  The burgers we buy from our butchers work out at about £1 each, these were the same as a pack of 4 was £4, however if you bought three lots it worked out at £10 for 12.  They tasted okay but I wouldn't rave about them, they were nowhere near as tasty as our local butcher's burgers which also don't shrivel up on the BBQ.

I chose Signature Thick Pork & Caramelised Onion Sausages which came in a pack of 6 and you could buy two packs for £5.  Again they were okay, they weren't chewy, the skins weren't hard, they weren't lumpy but again taste wise there was just no comparison between them and the sausages from our local butchers.  In terms of cost, again about the same as the butcher.

Finally we had some Signature Spiced Lamb Kebabs with Apricot, these were part of the three packs for £10 deal and contained 5 kebabs.  They were nice but I have had nicer lamb kebabs from Sainsburys for similar sort of money.

For dessert I had been looking forward to making my Eton Mess but I came to open the strawberries and this was what I found!!

Mouldy as anything, these were 2 days old, kept in a cool dry place and they looked like this, couldn't believe it as normally strawberries will last longer than that!!  I ended up walking down to our Co-op who had them on offer and mixed them with Morrisons Double Cream and Morrisons meringues which were really nice and light.

We had non alcoholic punch to drink which consisted of Morrisons fruit which was nice and fresh and priced well, a bag of lemons for £1.  Morrisons orange juice and lemonade which I couldn't find fault with. I also used Welch's Grape Juice which I have since found in Sainsburys for only £1, it was £1.39 in Morrisons.  Sainsburys also do their own brand grape juice which works out cheaper but Morrisons do not offer this.

Soooooooo, no I won't be shopping at Morrisons, I will continue to do my online shopping through Tesco and obtain my meat from the local butcher. The thing is Tesco have got me, the more I spend, the more vouchers I get and Morrisons just don't seem that much cheaper. Tesco have sent me a £15 off a £50 shop this week and I have been collecting money off petrol with them too.

Here we all are enjoying some good food, even though the sun wasn't shining!  All in all probably worked out about £8 a head which was a burger, hot dog, lamb kebab, veggie kebab, chicken kebab, corn each, punch and salads.  The couscous salad was probably the favourite.

Recipes - all from BBC Good Food

CousCous Salad - £0.63 per person

Ingredients
100g couscous
200ml hot low salt vegetable stock (from a cube is fine)
2 spring onions
1 red pepper
½ cucumber
50g feta cheese, cubed
2 tbsp pesto
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

Method
Tip couscous into a large bowl, pour over stock. Cover, then leave for 10 mins, until fluffy and all the stock has been absorbed. Meanwhile, slice the onions and pepper and dice the cucumber. Add these to the couscous, fork through pesto, crumble in feta, then sprinkle over pine nuts to serve.

Lemony Potato Salad - £0.52 per person

Ingredients

900g halved new potatoes

3 tsp olive oil

juice 1 lemon

1 tsp each toasted black mustard seeds and toasted cumin seeds

1 finely chopped green chilli (optional)

½ finger-length piece grated ginger

pinch turmeric

4 sliced spring onions

Method

Boil the new potatoes for 15 mins until just slightly overcooked but still holding their shape. While still warm, toss with all the other ingredients. Season. Can be made up to a day ahead and chilled, but take out of the fridge a good few hours before serving.

Halloumi kebabs with thyme & lemon baste - £0.75 per person

Ingredients

For the kebabs

2 medium courgettes

1 large red onion

250g low fat halloumi cheese, cut into 16 chunks (we used Cypressa Halloumi Lite)

16 cherry tomatoes

For the lemon baste

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (preferably lemon thyme)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

Halve the courgettes lengthways, then thickly slice. Cut the onion into wedges and separate into pieces. Thread the halloumi, cherry tomatoes, courgettes and onion onto eight skewers. Cover and chill the kebabs until you are ready to cook (You can do this up to half a day ahead.)

To make the baste, mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, mustard and seasoning. (This can be made ahead and chilled too.)

Preheat the barbecue or grill and arrange the kebabs on the rack. Brush with the baste, stirring it first to make sure the ingredients are blended. Cook for 4-5 minutes, turning often, until the cheese begins to turn golden and the vegetables are just tender.

What I did find with this recipe is the halloumi tended to split as soon as you pushed the skewer through it so I ended up squashing the cheese between two bits of courgette to hold it on!  These kebabs were divine though!

Morrisons Mum - The Shop!

Thanks to Britmums & Morrisons we received some vouchers to spend this Bank Holiday weekend. We intend to have a family BBQ - hope the weather is kind!!

We made our way on a drab, grey, drizzly day to our second closest Morrisons as our closest one doesn't have fuel and I needed to top up (knowing Morrisons are offering 6p off a £40 spend). It's the Kingswinford branch and its probably about 7 miles away.

As I had my daughter with me we nabbed the closest (and last) available parent & child space. I wouldn't mind if these weren't right by the doors as for me its having the width so that I can open the door fully and get Macy out of her car seat comfortably. Never really understood why they have to be so close. 

There were loads of different types of trolley available and all parked undercover so Macy didn't end up with a wet bum! 

The store was bright and colourful and I do like the idea of having market street for all the fruit and veg, it was laid out nicely.

Service in store was fantastic, I asked if they had any wooden skewers to which the manager said no but he could get me some from the meat counter with no charge - excellent! I walked up to a completely empty checkout of which there were several & the helpful checkout assistant packed my shopping for me as she scanned.

I usually shop online with Tesco and did find that Morrisons are probably about on a par price wise. The only downside being that they don't brand match like Tesco and also I usually get lots of vouchers each month with Tesco's clubcard - as far as I am aware Morrisons don't offer a reward card? If they do its not very well advertised.

Everything was sensibly laid out and easy to find. The only things I didn't manage to buy were the wooden skewers and non alcoholic wine. I picked up a honeysuckle plant but when I looked at it, it was half dead which was a bit disappointing so I put it back.

Now the cooking and tasting begins!!