Where do you go to my lovely....When you're alone in your bed?

We work hard, play hard, think a lot, laugh a lot, live life and look for new opportunities…daily. Are you exhausted already? I am!

So at night when my head hits the pillow I want that deep warm slumber that I had as a child that makes me feel refreshed in the morning and helps me to bounce out of bed, but somehow, some days it seems to allude me.

My brain wont turn off, I wake at 3am thinking about the job deadline for the next day, the cat wants to go out at 4am and I cant go back to sleep so by 6am I am now bleary eyed. Where is that peaceful 8 hrs slumber and how do I get it back?

Everyone has points they like to offer but here are a few I have tried and found work for me…..most nights!

A 20 minute siesta mid afternoon between 1 and 4pm if available will boost your energy levels and allow you to function better and sleep more soundly later that night. 

Think about what you eat and drink during the day and don’t have your evening meal too close to bed time. Cut down on the alcohol, sugar and carbs when possible. Make sure you see sunlight for around 20 minutes a day to boost your Vitamin D levels.

Have a “to do” list and de-clutter your mind before bed rather than toss and turn on the events you can’t change at 1am!

Choosing the right pillow as mentioned before is crucial to a good nights sleep

Go to bed when you are tired and try to keep to a routine. If you don’t fall asleep get up for half an hour then try again. Don’t keep tossing and turning. Remember we did it for our children and it worked then!

Sometimes adding more calcium and magnesium to your diet or taking supplements will help calm the mind and muscles.

My husband loves his shower before bed and I like to read. We both find when this doesn’t occur our sleep is not as good…..Do we favour routine for a great nights sleep umm I think we do! 

Happy sleeping

Jane

What's in a Colour?

As a parent you never stop helping your children even when they are adults, so on the weekend my husband and I found ourselves helping to build a picket fence.

Now we have done this before but the tricky part came when colours were being decided.

Desert sand posts with white pickets….. easy. No it wasn’t! The discussion on white, off white, and antique white was long and vocal.

In the end the antique white won and it does look good but it made me wonder where we go when we aren’t sure and need some assistance in the ever changing world of colour.

Many years ago houses were painted white, then beige. Who remembers mission brown architraves?

Nowadays we want a feature wall or two in a bright bold colours or antique white walls and ceiling with white furniture, with splashes of color in rugs or cushions.

You will need to decide which colours combine well, whether they are toning, harmonious or complementary. By coming to grips with the rules of colour, you can give any room a professional look.

Primary colours are three key colours - Red, Blue and Yellow. They cannot be made from any other colour.

Secondary colours: Your Secondary colours if you mix equal amounts of the primary colours, are- Purple, Green and Orange.

Red + Yellow = Orange
Red + Blue = Purple
Blue + Yellow = Green 

Tertiary colours: If you mix a primary with a secondary colour, in a ratio of 2:1, you get a Tertiary colour. Red-Orange, Blue-Green.

Cool versus hot Yellow, red and orange are 'warm' or 'hot' and blue, green or mauve are 'cool' or 'cold'.

This is useful when you want to create a mood or feature in a particular room or need to make your space cosier or lighter.

Neutrals Neutrals are one of the easiest groups of colours, or non-colours to work with. They don't appear on the colour wheel and include Black, Grey, White and sometimes Brown and Beige. They all go together and can be layered and mixed and matched. No neutral colour will try to dominate over another.

Accent colours and Feature walls. An accent colour is a colour used in quite small quantities to lift or to add punch to a colour scheme.

• An accent colour should be in a complementary colour. It works best if it's a bright, vibrant colour. Accent colours are perfect if you're scared of using strong colour - simply add a splash of an accent colour with a cushion, a vase or a throw or go all out and do one wall in a room.
• Keep most of your room in shades and variations of one single colour. Choose a number of items in a harmonious colour. Then your feature wall or furniture piece will be the room statement.

So now back to painting the fence! Enjoy your painting and never be afraid to use different colours as you can always paint again!

Jane
www.ecosleepaustralia.com

The GREEN Thing!!

At the cash register of the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own shopping bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations. You didn't have the green thing."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycling. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every shop and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wrapped up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn.. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank water from a tap when we were thirsty instead of demanding a plastic bottle flown in from another country. We accepted that a lot of food was seasonal and didn't expect that to be trucked in or flown thousands of air miles. We actually cooked food that didn't come out of a packet, tin or plastic wrap and we could even wash our own vegetables and chop our own salad.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, city people took the tram or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.

10 Tips for a Better Nights Sleep

10 Tips For A Good Night’s Sleep Naturally

1.             Stick to a schedule. Mum was right when she set a time we always had to go to sleep as kids. Sticking to a schedule allows your body to set its internal rhythm clock so you can get up at the time you want, consistently, every single day. Also, make sure you try to keep the same schedule on weekends too, otherwise the next morning you will wake later and feel overly tired.

2.             Sleep only at night. Avoid daytime sleep if possible. Daytime naps steal hours from nighttime slumber. Limit daytime sleep to 20-minute, power naps when needed.

3.             Exercise. It’s actually known to help you sleep better. Your body uses the sleep period to recover its muscles and joints that have been exercised. Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise every day can help you sleep, but be sure to exercise in the morning or afternoon. Exercise stimulates the body and aerobic activity before bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.

4.             Taking a hot shower or bath before bed helps bring on sleep because they can relax tense muscles. Try a lavender soap for the calming aroma.

5.             Avoid eating just before bed. Give yourself at least 2 hours from when you eat to when you sleep. This allows for digestion to happen (or at least start) well before you go to sleep so your body can rest properly during the night, rather than churning away your food.

6.             Avoid caffeine. It keeps you awake and that’s not what you want for a good nights sleep. If you need a warm drink try a soothing green tea or warm milk with honey.

7.             Read a fiction book. It takes you to a whole new world if you really get into it.  Then take some time to ponder over the book as you fall asleep. I find as I read more and more, regardless of the book, I get more tired at night and so find it easier to fall asleep.

8.             Have the room slightly cooler. Your body temperature does not need a warm room and bed covers so turn off the heat and allow the night air to circulate in and out of the windows. If I get cold, I wear warmer clothes or use a heavier quilt in the colder months.

9.             Sleep in silence. I find sleeping with no music or TV far more restful. I guess others are different, but sleep with no distractions is best for a clearer mind.

10.                Avoid alcohol before bedtime. It’s a depressant; although it may make it easier to fall asleep, it causes you to wake up during the night. As alcohol is digested your body goes into withdrawal from the alcohol, causing nighttime awakenings and often nightmares for some people.

 

 

Ecosleep The Home of Coshee: Terms to help you shop for bedlinen around the wor...

Ecosleep The Home of Coshee: Terms to help you shop for bedlinen around the wor...:                                                                    The beauty of shopping for bedlinen online or in store…...

Terms to help you shop for bedlinen around the world

                          

                             The beauty of shopping for bedlinen online or in store…

                       Here are some helpful terms to assist and make the shop worthwhile!

• Bed skirt (also bed ruffle, dust ruffle or valance): A decorative piece used to cover the boxspring and legs of the bed. It fits between the mattress and boxspring and hangs to the floor.
• Bed spread: A bed cover with sides that go to the floor. This does not require a bed skirt, and was particularly popular in North America after World War II.
• Bolster: A long, narrow and commonly cylindrical pillow filled with down or feathers.
• Boudoir pillows (or breakfast pillows): Small rectangular decorative throw pillows.
• Comforter: A filled bed cover that is quilted and usually reversible. Also referred to as a inner quilt or duvet by some countries. They typically are paired with a bed skirt to form a complete ensemble, as the sides only go about halfway to the floor.
• Drop: The length of a bed skirt.
• Duvet: A soft flat bag traditionally filled with down or feathers,silk or wool or a combination of both, and used on a bed as a blanket, doona, quilt or comforter. Needs to be enclosed in a cover to keep it clean.
• Duvet cover: A decorative and protective covering for a duvet or quilt. Most duvet covers have a button or tie closure at one end.
• European sham (or Euro sham): A decorative pillow covering which fits a large 26” x 26” pillow. These are often placed behind the standard size pillow shams as a backdrop, or on top of standard pillows as a coordinated set with a duvet cover.
• Feather bed: Feathers contained within a fabric shell and lay on top of a mattress as a mattress topper. The feather bed will normally have elastic straps or even have a fitted sheet on it so that it fits over a mattress and stays in place.
• Fitted sheet: This is the bottom sheet used to fit tightly over a mattress. Fitted sheets are available in a variety of pocket depths, which refers to the thickness of your mattress. 
• Flanged: Including a decorative band of fabric that is straight or tailored; often used to describe pillows or pillow shams.
• Hotel bedding: Sheets with a high-thread count and unadorned designs, marketed to replicate the bedding materials that hotels use. Hotel bedding is typically designed to be soft, durable and inoffensive to variable tastes, and the expansion of business travel created a consumer demand for similar products.
• Mako cotton: A high grade of cotton, the long staple or long fibre of Egyptian-grown cotton has more continuous fibres to use when creating threads or yarns. This yarn is smaller in diameter yet stronger than other cottons. Smaller yarn means that more threads per square inch can be used to create stronger fabrics which are lighter in weight yet breathe well. Mako cotton is frequently used to make up scale sheets and towels, which are marketed as a luxury product.
• Mattress protector:  Also known as a mattress pad, mattress topper, or underpad. This is typically used underneath a fitted sheet to add comfort, protect against allergies, and protect the mattress.
• Neckroll: Small cylindrical decorative throw pillows.
• Pillow shams: Decorative coverings for pillows, often designed with trims, ruffles, flanges, or cording. Shams are normally placed behind the pillows used to sleep on, which would be covered with regular pillowcases.
• Pima cotton: A high grade of cotton. It has the long staple similar to Mako cotton, which is what gives it its exceptional softness and brilliant luster, as well as its durability. Its superior characteristics improve with wear. Pima cotton is used to make up scale sheets, towels and clothing, which are marketed as a luxury product. Peru produces the most of the world's Pima cotton and of the best quality.
• Pleated: Material that is sewn in folds, like a fan.
• Tailored: Fitted closely, i.e. made to fit the bed exactly.
• Thread count:  The number of thread ends per square inch in a woven.
• Around the world we use so many different terms but in the end it all comes down to a bed, pillow, mattress, sheet set, duvet or quilt and the cover to go over them to give you a great nights sleep!

Sleep well :)

Jane

Bamboo Sheeting from EcoSleep

Bamboo SHEETING BY ECOSLEEP

Bamboo sheeting on our Coshee quilt covers by Ecosleep Australia® is made to be durable, but soft, wearable, washable and affordable.

       Bamboo is a natural and hypoallergenic fibre which naturally breathes. This keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer.

       Bamboo has antimicrobial and antibacterial qualities ensuring that body odours are minimised.

       It is machine washable and very easy to care for.

       Bamboo is grown without pesticides. It also grows quickly, requiring no replanting. It absorbs carbon dioxide, releases oxygen into the atmosphere and uses very little water to grow, leaving only a small carbon footprint.   This is the ethos of Ecosleep Australia.

What are the health and other benefits of using bamboo sheeting?

Bamboo absorbs moisture and unlike many man made fibres, it will wick perspiration away from your skin.

Bamboo has great thermal properties ensuring it is warm in winter and cool in summer.

Bamboo is non-allergic and is ideal for people with sensitive skins.

Bamboo does not shrink like other fibres, nor pill or lose its colour when washed.

Bamboo is a renewable easily grown plant that requires little water and no pesticides.

Bamboo has anti microbial and anti bacterial properties minimizing body odours in people prone to this.

Bamboo is very cost effective and easy to care for.

Bamboo sheeting can be washed in the washing machine gentle cycle and in cold water.

What is the best way to care for bamboo sheeting?

Bamboo sheeting can be used in all seasons. It is very easy to care for.
A good gentle laundry powder works well on bamboo sheeting in cold or cool water on a gentle cycle or hand wash.
Never use bleach on your bamboo sheeting. Dry normally outside and do not tumble dry.
Cool iron if necessary but most wrinkles fall out naturally when the sheeting is placed back on the bed.