Thanks for your interest

I just wanted to say how overwhelmed I am at the interest I'm getting for my Wendyls Green Goddess products on Trade Me. Thanks for your support everyone and for helping kickstart a new business. We're looking at going into retail soon on the strength of our sales and repeat orders.

Keep any eye on my website www.wendylsgreengoddess.co.nz for weekly newsletter updates and links to my columns. Also any news about my world. The newsletters will resume at the end of January but there are a few there to read meanwhile.

Have a great New Year's and a good start to 2010.

Wx

Launch of Wendyl's Green Goddess range.

Very excited because today we launch Wendyl's Green Goddess range of natural cleaners at the Home Show. We've been making these products in the kitchen for the past week, my son Daniel designed the labels, daughters Hannah and Pearl helped stick them on and husband Paul and I spent hours stirring, sifting, pouring and bottling. A great sense of achievement and feedback so far has been amazing.

The difference between my cleaners and commercial ones is I say what is in them. As in soap, water, essential oils rather than the mumbo jumbo they put on their labels under terms like surfectants, humectants and non ionic this and that. Even the eco labels are doing it. I particularly like one range which says it is 99% natural. What's in the other one percent? Cyanide? Arsenic?

Wendyl's Green Goddess cleaners contain things like baking soda, washing soda, borax, essential oils, soap. All natural, all clearly on the label and all smell delicious. I'm particularly proud of the anti-bacterial spray which smells amazing.

Here's a sneak peak at the range -

Spray cleaner 1 litre

+ contains anti-bacterial, antiseptic and anti-viral oils

+ leaves kitchen and bathroom surfaces clean and refreshed

+ spray on kitchen cloths to clean and deodorise

Glass cleaner 1 litre

+ leaves glass and mirrors sparkling

+ easily removes soap build-up

+ pleasant natural fragrance

Anti-bacterial spray 250ml

+ contains anti-bacterial, anti-viral and antiseptic essential oils

+ nature’s ingredients, safe to use around children and pets

+pleasant natural fragrance

Lavender Laundry liquid 4 litres

*32 washes

+ no more white soap residue on black laundry items

+ leaves clothes soft and scented

+ green, natural product - no pollutants going down the drain

Bluing powder 500ml

*50 washes

+ Removes unsightly grey and yellow tinge from whites

+ All natural ingredients

All products come with no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee

Orders and enquiries: greengoddessnz@gmail.com
phone: 027 652 9800

Let's talk traffic jams with a hybrid.

So I'm a bit amazed at how many people don't actually know how a hybrid works. It's easy. There's an engine and it's powered by petrol - just like a normal car - but also by battery as in electric car. And the Prius swaps between the two as it needs to depending on your needs as a drive. So, put the foot down and it's petrol, coast along and it's electric. You can actually push the EV button and make it drive totally on electric power but you can't go over 40km or do any mad acceleration. So...sitting in two traffic jams recently I smugly switched to EV and sat there not using any gas, not emitting much CO2 if any and feeling less frustrated at the wastage of it all.
I'm also averaging about 5 litres per 100km consumption around town which is pretty good and will fill up the tank for the first time since I got the car two weeks ago today.
Bloody marvelous!
Off to the caravan on Friday so the big test will be in consumption and performance on the open road...will report back.

Prius - the Man Magnet

Incredibly girl-like observation number two since getting the Prius is that men stare at me. All the time. I began to think my new diet must really be having results until my husband pointed out that they're looking at the car...not me. I realised he was right when I came out of the supermarket and found three guys huddled around it muttering words like "hybrid" and "electric." I took great pleasure in demonstrating my no key unlocking technique, and I was right about that, men really do prefer keys.
We took the Prius for a Sunday afternoon drive today, like everyone used to do in the old days, except we skipped the bit where you visit old people for endless cups of tea. Pearl was already looking dismayed enough at the prospect of a drive. So we headed for Miranda taking the long route through Clevedon so that we could stop at the market. Unfortunately the oyster shop wasn't open but we did have fantastic fish and chips at Kaiaua. We left Pearl in the car and she said the group of guys over the fence were talking about the car, just like the ones at the supermarket. The Prius drove beautifully although the Sat Nav woman, who I'm beginning to dislike because she's very British and quite bossy, gave us a few wrong turns, but I think that may have had something to do with my destination inputting technique. We opened up the sun roof and let the fresh air in rather than use the air con, and the long drive was a great chance to see how my eco driving skills are developing. I managed to keep the graph on the dash mostly on the eco side, but it was pointed out to me that I was driving like a Grandma. There's definitely less foot to the floor and more gradual pedal pushing. But I like it!Who needs to hurry on a Sunday. Tell that to the cars backed up behind us, said my husband.
Forgot the camera, so thanks to R Abraham on the net for the shot.