Untitled @theclotheslines - Tumblr Blog

A Wish for The Girl Child

Its International Day of the Girl Child, it’s the sixth year of the UN led day to recognize the difficulties that millions of girls around the world and to try to galvanise the world to take action to empower girls to reach their full potential. “The day aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights”…

View On WordPress

Things I Love of Late- Sleepy Lotion, OMGWACA , My Kids Shoes and Daniel Tiger.

I love this time of year. I am readjusting quickly to some blissful quite hours alone every day. My kids are fighting about conkers and I have the heating on. Other things I am enjoying, I have listed below, some mini reviews if you will! With the exception of a Netflix subscription all items were bought and paid for. Nothing sponsored just my thoughts on things I have liked, loved or enjoyed…

View On WordPress

Baby Steps out of Babyhood

My smallest child is always with me. From day one. I used to carry her everywhere, at first, she was so tiny I could just scoop her up on one hand and bring her with me wherever I had to be. Then into buggies and slings or on my hip or her small hand in my hand. Things were slightly different in her first years than with her siblings. I haven’t been back to work since she was born and even…

View On WordPress

Gangster Pigs, Skip Diving and My Quest for a Hobby

I go through stages of things I am interested in. At the start of the year I was gung-ho into cooking all the meals, meal planning, cooking all the days, making 700 meals a week. I got bored quickly and then moved unsuccessfully onto break making. That didn’t work out. Then came cakes. I mastered making a cheesecake. I made about 24 in one month. I don’t eat cheesecake. I realised it had to…

View On WordPress

Swearing like a trouper

A while back myself and the seven-year old had to make a last-minute dash to the GP surgery on a Monday night. A sudden onset of something that the pharmacist said needed a GP. We got to the surgery a couple of hours after it had closed but our doctor works late and I knew he would see us. It was after 8pm on a dark wet night. One too bright florescent light was glaring and the usual noise of…

View On WordPress

My Nana

She always carried me. When I was a baby, she carried me. She would sit me on the back step or the front step so I could watch the world go by. She brought me to the library and got me my own library card when I was a toddler and carried my books home. She carried me on the back of her bike all over the city. When I couldn’t walk the last few steps crossing the field in front of her house, even…

View On WordPress

The Quest for Domestic Greatness - Bread Making.

The Quest for Domestic Greatness – Bread Making.

I didn’t really make any new years resolutions this year but I did decide I was going to stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on eating out/ takeaways and we were all going to eat better and I was finally going to get a grip on domesticity. I dug out my slow cooker ( bought in 2011 and seal taken off plug in 2017), I reset my online shopping password and I bought all the vegetables and all…

View On WordPress

Dublin Herbalists are an Irish skincare brand, who since launching three years ago, have now grown their 100% natural skincare collection to over 20 products and oh what lovely products they are.

Claire Gardiner is the creator and maker at Dublin Herbalists. Claire is a qualified herbalist who has a deep understanding of the medicinal and therapeutic value of plants and used this knowledge to develop a moisturiser wholly from natural products in her kitchen at home. That moisturiser proved so popular with her friends and family that Dublin Herbalists was born.

Every ingredient in the collection is hand blended and carefully considered for each skin type and purpose and are 100% natural and chemical free.

Dublin Herbalists sent me out samples of their entire collection and I have been trying them over the last couple of days. I will fully review in time because I haven’t got to all of them yet but so far I am seriously impressed. I started to pay more attention to my skin in the last year or two as I freefall towards 40 and have been drawn towards natural products so I was delighted to see an Irish company creating and producing such a lovely range. My early favourites are the masks particularly the Restorative Gel Face Mask with lavender and papaya extract, it smells amazing and it left my skin really clear and I like to think I could pass for a twenty-seven year old today……..

I have also just used their Mango Body Butter and I smell amazing and my skin feels really soft.

As well as their skin care range , Dublin Herbalists have also created a range for children. They are named Baby products but I have been using them on my children, I am late to the natural skincare game myself but the kids are not and I much prefer to and try hard to use all natural products on their skin. Again, they smell amazing and are really absorbent and lovely.

One of Dublin Herbalists bestselling product is their Deep Sleep Baby Oil – its lighted scented with lavender and bergamot to assist with a good nights sleep. I have been rubbing this into my younger daughters arms the last couple of nights and on my own too and will be buying this as soon as my sample bottle runs out.

Dublin Herbalists also have gift sets on site – a facial collection and a baby collection, both of which would make a lovely Christmas gift. Their last shipping date for Irish online orders is December 19th and you can see their full list of stockists here.

Dublin Herbalists also sent me two of their bestselling products The Deep Sleep Baby Oil and a 100ml bottle of Mango Body Butter to giveaway!

To enter :

Follow The Clothesline and Dublin Herbalists on Facebook and comment under the post

follow The Clothesline and Dublin Herbalists on Instagram and comment under Image on The Clothesline page or do both to double your chance to win.

Winner will be randomly selected on Thursday December 15th and in the post Friday morning.

Good Luck and do have a good luck on the Dublin Herbalists site and see their full range of products, I am really impressed from what I have used so far and so is my skin.

The winner will be randomly selected from a list compiled of all comments on Facebook and/ or Instagram. This competition is in no way endorsed by Facebook or Instagram. Entries open only to those in the ROI. GOOD LUCK.

Dublin Herbalists Skincare Giveaway Dublin Herbalists are an Irish skincare brand, who since launching three years ago, have now grown their 100% natural skincare collection to over 20 products and oh what lovely products they are.

It's Getting Kind Of Hectic

It’s Getting Kind Of Hectic

My head is not in the game at the minute. I keep feeling like I am going to miss something or forget to do something. Its been going on for months this feeling. I could say its baby brain but I don’t have a baby, I have a toddler and also is baby brain a bit of disservice to women? Or do all parents suffer from the same? The husband has the same affliction. He needs reminding daily of which…

View On WordPress

The Irish Fairy Door Company Worry Plague Giveaway

The Irish Fairy Door Company are an Irish company who help fairies relocate in homes and gardens all over the world through their fairy doors. I have watched the rise of this company over the last three or so years and two fairy doors hang in two bedrooms upstairs. The provide a little bit of magic and I am all for a little bit of magic in a child’s life. The Irish Fairy Door Company don’t just…

View On WordPress

I am always wary of people who don’t drink coffee. Especially parents of young children. How do they survive without it? Are they secret coke fiends? All questions I ask myself when I hear someone say “no thanks I don’t drink coffee“. I realise this says more about me than them.

Me? I am a caffeine enthusiast. Some days I a made up of two parts human, two parts coffee. Its my fuel. Its drags me into wide- awakeness. It allows me to sit and be still for a few minutes. It wakes me up again later in the day when I really want to climb into the pile of warm clothes straight from the dryer and sleep. I like coffee. Proper coffee.

I photograph my coffee almost as often as I drink it………

We’ve had a Nepresso machine for a couple of years. I used to love it. The coffee was hassle free to make and it done the job. It has its faults though. Nepresso- Nestle. Nestle the company with morally repugnant practices. Also coffee pods are really awful for the environment. Nasty. On a more selfish personal level, Nepresso pods are only available online or from the Nepresso store, so not easy to buy when you run out. I think every supermarket have its own brand of Nepresso compatible pods now but none of them are as nice and I am fairly sure they damage the machine and they definitely invalid the warranty of it.

Then I was told of the Aeropress and it’s wonders by my parenting blogger friends Mind The Baby, The Airing Cupboard and Proper Fud and as I am easily digitally influenced I bought one the same week. I was converted within 24 hours.

The Aeropress makes seriously seriously good coffee. It is a little bit trickier to use than a pod machine but only marginally and you get used to making it after a couple of uses.

The best part? It’s really cheap. Most independent coffee shops stock the Aeropress and you can buy online on Amazon or I found a couple of Irish online stockist’s – Coffee Angel, Badger and Dodo and Java Republic all have them in stock, at the time of writing, at around the €32 mark which includes filter holder and 350 paper filters.

I’ve had my one almost three months now and the old coffee machine has been fully retired. I have had two incidences where in a sleep deprived state I haven’t attached the filter properly so have had exploding coffee in my eyeballs/ ceiling/ counter – everywhere but bar that its been smooth coffee sailing. Also it makes two small cups at a go so as the husband gets up before me some days it’s waiting freshly brewed when I come downstairs. They are the best days.

The Aeropress is a truly wonderful invention and its making the best coffee I have had at home. Strong, non bitter, fresh, tasty coffee. I buy ground coffee and there is no need for a grinder but I still want one. It’s on my list. Also coffee shops will grind coffee beans for you at no charge when you buy. The smell of freshly ground coffee is unbeatable and also I have found since switching to the Aeropress I am drinking less coffee and am down to 3 cups a day. 3 delicious cups.

Any ground coffee can be used with it and ground coffee is so readily available in any supermarket for when my coffee store ground coffee runs out. I have also discovered loads of tasty Irish coffee brands and have different coffees for different times of the days. I’d highly recommend Red Rooster, 3FE and for supermarket brands Supervalu have a good Java that s less than €3 per bag.

For less than €40 you can buy the Aeropress and a bag of decent coffee. I can’t recommend it more highly, it’s the perfect gift for the caffeine enthusiast in your life and it’s currently my most favourite possession.

My favourite mug

Caffeine Enthusiasts – The Aeropress I am always wary of people who don't drink coffee. Especially parents of young children. How do they survive without it?

Where Did All The Pee Go? Pampers Baby-Dry

I have been buying nappies as part of my weekly shop for over ten years and Pampers have always been my nappy of choice. I have used Pampers on my four children so when they got in touch to ask would I be interested in trying out and demonstrating an upgrade to their Baby Dry product, I was happy to take part and to find out more. (more…)

View On WordPress

Shop Independent - 9 Irish Online Kids Stores

Shop Independent – 9 Irish Online Kids Stores

I am going to mention the C word. It’s a month to go, its acceptable now. I have a couple of Christmas recommendation posts on the way. Not sponsored just shops and brands I buy from or want to buy from. As much as I love wildly discounted black friday bargains from gigantic retailers, you can’t beat a beautifully gift wrapped online shopping purchase arriving from a independent Irish shop. …

View On WordPress

Konmari - One Year Later

Konmari – One Year Later

Spoiler: The image above? That’s not my gaf. So I am late with this one, the final chapter. You can read about my adventures in The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up here, here and here. I thought I would have finished the magic tidying a lot quicker than I did. This time last year I had 90% of it done but there were two things I never got around to konmari’ing a corner press in the kitchen…

View On WordPress

Gilmore Girls: Teaching My Daughter The Joy of the Binge Watch

One of the things on my Summer goals list this Summer was for myself and the first-born to watch all seven series of Gilmore Girls. We didn’t make it by the time the Summer holidays ended despite our best efforts, we finished it a little over a month ago and there has been a Stars Hollow shaped gap in our lives since. I watched Gilmore Girls when it was first released in 2000 but never properly.…

View On WordPress

My Favourite Five

My friend Kate of Kate Takes 5 is celebrating six years of blogging and 1 million views with a listography so I thought I would join in with a list of some of my favourite blog posts. This blog is five years old now and its views are just a little short of Kate’s. It continues to surprise me that people read my ramblings, it astounds me when I look at the analytics and see how many have read…

View On WordPress

Masterbaker.

The husband was 41 yesterday. I was going to write a blog post about Love and The Older Man – My year of living and loving a man in his 40s with a Daily Mail type headline but that would be fully leaping into oversharing wouldn’t it? So I will tell you about his birthday cake instead. I am not a baker. However over the years my children have tried to make me be one. We make the odd cake.…

View On WordPress

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Untitled