Tips for Good Teeth

Beauty & Personal Care, Health

So it’s a bit late for me as I’ve already had a shed load of fillings and even an extraction (and need another) but I have learnt a lot of stuff from the current TV series ‘The Truth About teeth’.

Most notably some of the things that I didn’t realise, that they have been talking about are this – after you eat, for about 40 minutes your tooth enamel is softened by the acid in the food that you have been eating – to the point where if you brush your teeth straight after eating you will be brushing off the enamel – how many people knew that? And to think that I have purposely been brushing my teeth straight after breakfast for years in order to clean off the food from them. In future I will try and do what the recommend and brush my teeth before breakfast.

The next thing which I am totally guilty off is continually snacking throughout the day. This never gives your teeth a chance to recover as they are constantly being attacked by food acid all the time. I need to get that one sorted too as I am a terrible snacker all day long.

They are also recommending that you brush your teeth for 2 minutes each time, twice a day. Now I tried this with a little kitchen timer that I have and 2 minutes feels like a really long time! Particularly when you have a small toddler demanding your attention. So I have allowed myself to only do one minute in the morning (and even that feels long!) and to do 2 minutes at night time. Hopefully that will at least help a bit as it is longer than I had been brushing for!

I noticed when I went to the app store today that a lot of people are taking note of this fact as the second most popular trending search was for a ‘tooth brushing timer’! At least people are taking note although like I say, for many of us it is a bit too late. But if I can get my toddler into the right habits then hopefully he won’t have such bad teeth as myself and his father.

The rpogram also shows some really innovative dental techniques that are starting to become available – like transplanting one tooth to replace a lost front tooth that has been knocked out. There could be many innovations like this in the future which means our children don’t have to live the with horror of bad teeth like we did in the past.

Another interesting thing was the test they did on home teeth whitening kits. I was interested in this as I had been thinking of getting one but the truth was that none of them (and they tested quite a few kits from the cheapest ones to more expensive ones) seemed to make any difference in the testing that they did. Only one kit came out half a shade lighter. Shame 🙁

Although they did a test on home tooth whitening kits and none of them seemed to get any results, I have to say that I am tempted still to try them for myself. There are so many available online for a reasonable price that i can’t help but think maybe there must be at least something to them. The one shown on the left has hundreds of reviews and still ends up with an average of 4 stars. Surely hundreds of people can’t be wrong. Maybe I’ll give these ones a try and come back with my own review. Watch this space!

‘The Truth About Teeth’ is currently showing on Thursdays 9-10pm on BBC1 and will be available on the iPlayer shortly afterwards.

The Easiest Dessert Ever!

Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Lifestyles, Recreation,

This really is the quickest and best tasting dessert in my humble opinion! Anyone can make it and look like a great cook.

Really quick, easy and tasty dessert!

I made up this recipe a short while ago when I wanted to do some individual desserts for the adults at my son’s birthday party. It had to be something quick and easy as I had loads of other stuff to prepare and I was running short of time! What I came up with was not only simple but also really tasty, easy to make in small or large quantities but also made use of the old baby food jars I had saved for just such an occasion!

dessert-ingredientsYou can also make this dessert in ramekins, old creme brulee dishes (you know the glass ones that you sometimes get when you buy them) or just in any small bowls you might have. You could probably do a large one in a flan dish too but I haven’t tried that yet.

What you need:

  • butter (optional)
  • digestive biscuits
  • yoghurt
  • squirty cream

Quantities obviously depend on how many you are going to make but you need about a small knob of butter, 1 digestive biscuit  and about 4 large teaspoons of yoghurt per serving, plus a squirt of cream.

How to make it – well there are 2 ways, the quick way and the really quick way!

digestives and butterWell the really quick way is to crumble a digestive biscuit up into the pot you are going to serve it in. The slightly less quick way is to put a small knob of butter in the microwave for 10 seconds and mix the crumbled digestive into that. if you are making a batch, melt about an ounce of butter in the microwave or on the hob and add half a packet of crushed digestives to that. Put the biscuit mixture into the bottom of the dish and press it down. If you have used butter you may want to put this in the fridge for an hour but you don’t have to as it tastes just as good if you don’t. 🙂

yeo lemon curdNext step is to choose your yogurt – basically any flavour will do but may favourite to use for this is Yeo Valley Lemon Curd Yoghurt – it makes the end result taste similar to a lemon meringue pie. But really, any flavour will do as the end result is just like a cheesecake too.

biscuits and yoghurtAdd your yoghurt into your pot – if you are using the baby food jars then add until it’s just over half full so that you can still put the lid on for transportation if required.

baby-food-jar-dessertThen just squirt some cream on top and it’s done! The beauty of using the baby food jars is that you can see the layers of the dessert through the sides, and of course you can transport a bulk load in a box if you have all the lids too. If you want to do this as a desert at a dinner party then use ramekins or small glass pots to look even better.

Great use of old baby food jars for a dessert
Use baby food jars with lids for easy transportation if you are taking these desserts to another venue.

How Much is the Average House in England?

Home & Garden, Real Estate

With average house prices increasing at a steady rate, the average price of a house was just over £195,000 this week (June 2015). But what exactly can you get for £195,000 and what is an average house? We checked out various areas to see what the price of an average house could buy…

houseEast Anglia – prices varied quite a bit depending on if you were looking in towns or coastal areas and also how far away from London you looked. £195,000 in East Anglia could buy you a 2 bedroom flat in Norwich City centre, a 4 bedroom townhouse in Peterborough, a 3 bedroom refurbished bungalow in Whittlesey or a 3 bedroom semi in Stowmarket. So £195,000 could actually give you a reasonable choice of properties in this area.

North East – £195,000 could buy you a 3 bedroom detached house in Nether Edge Sheffield, a 3 bedroom semi in Howden, East Yorkshire or a 2 bedroom apartment in Leeds City Centre. So prices are a little bit similar to East Anglia but you will also find quite a few spots where you can find much cheaper property.

North West – for £195,000 you could buy a 4 bedroom detached house in Fleetwood, near Blackpool, a 3 bedroom semi in Nantwich, Cheshire or a 2 bedroom apartment in Manchester City Centre.

Midlands – in the Midlands you could buy a 2 bedroom semi in Stratford-upon-Avon, a 4 bedroom townhouse in Kettering, a 3 bedroom detached in Oldbury, West Midlands or a 2 bedroom flat in Nottingham.

London – Interestingly when I started this research I thought that I would have nothing to put in the London section! However, you can buy property in London for £195,000 and the selection includes – a garage in Knightsbridge (OK not exactly a habitable property!), and a selection of 1,2 bedroom and studio flats around the outskirts of London including Greenwich, Catford, Wanstead, Wembley and Walthamstow. The majority of property avaiable at this price was in the east and south east of London so if you are looking to buy in London on a small budget those might be better areas to focus on. The map bel;ow shows the distribution of properties between £190-200k in the London area available in June 2015.

London Property £190-200k June 2015
London Property £190-200k June 2015

South West – the South West also covers quite a wide area so a big variety of prices but £195k can still get you some good property. You could buy a 2 bedroom terraced house in Plymouth, a 3 bedroom town house in Taunton, a 1 bedroom apartment in Newquay,  or a 3 bedroom semi detached in Paignton.

South East – In the South East, once again as you would expect in a London commuter belt, there is a bit less choice for your £195k. You could buy a 1 bedroom flat in Redhill, a 3 bedroom end of terrace in Deal, Kent, a 2 bedroom park home in Hailsham, East Sussex or a 2 bedroom flat in Eastbourne.

So, looking at the research, £195k would in fact buy you a pretty average home (if we call a 3 bed semi an average home) over the majority of England. It is only really once you get to London and the South East that you won’t get anywhere near as much for your money for £195k and you will be looking for flats in London and flats or terraced houses in the South East (if you are lucky!).

Subliminal Messaging Albums

Beauty & Personal Care, Health

Subliminal MP3s – The Power to Change

If you have read the book “Think and Grow Rich” then you will know that the power behind getting what you want is the desire and the will for it. To quote from that book:

Repetition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.

This is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally, accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind, which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent, by the most practical procedure available.

Subliminal MP3s have been providing subliminal message albums that help with a variety of personal development areas. You can see on the right a selection of these. We have bought some of these albums and can personally recommend them. They are not a quick fix for your problems though, you need to keep listening to them on a regular basis. However, they do make the chances of you achieving your goals much more likely. For example, one of our editors likes to listen to the subliminals on an iPhone when just about to go to sleep. After playing through, the album will finish and this will give you a 12 minute blast of the messages that you can use every night.

Put simply, these mp3s are made up of messages that your conscious mind cannot hear, but your subconscious mind can. The key to subliminal messaging is that your subconscious mind is capable of picking it up, and storing it in your mind as normal.

You can listen to these mp3s while you work, study, relax and even while you sleep. The mp3s even come with a silent version so that you can play them without disturbing other people.

You can sign up to some free trial mp3s so that you can test them out for yourself.

Examples of Albums

These are just a few examples – there are over 200 to choose from!

Become An Actor Subliminal
Develop A Positive Attitude
Boost Self Confidence
Subliminal Weight Loss
Successful Children
Think And Grow Rich
Boost Your Memory
Law of Attraction
Attract Success
Become More Assertive
Sexual Confidence
Effective Public Speaking
Self Motivation
Organization Skills
Become An Extrovert
Think Yourself Thin
Make People Like You
Stop Smoking
Stop Nail Biting
Football Skills
Golf Skills Trainer
Martial Arts Training
Body Building Training
Get Ripped Abs
Save Money
Develop Leadership Skills
Stop Stuttering
Get Clear Skin
Stop Panic Attacks

Can I Use a Wallpaper Stripper to Strip Paint?

DIY, Home & Garden

So if you are in the unfortunate situation where you need to strip paint from walls (and this really must be one of the most hated jobs around!) then you may be looking for some easier way to do it other than scraping it off bit by bit.

Well unfortunately there isn’t really a quick solution to scraping paint off a wall but if you are wondering if using a wallpaper stripper will get the paint off quicker then the answer is yes! you need to be careful to not damage the plaster, just as you would if you were stripping wallpaper off the wall, but the steam from the stripper does make the paint a bit softer and easier to remove.

Remember to keep your scraper sharp as you continue the process as this will also make stripping the paint a bit easier and I also found that it was a good idea to steam some of the paint and then strip it as it was easier to remove the paint using both hands rather than just one.