diapers of cloth

"You are using CLOTH diapers?" This was the phrase I heard quite a bit once I decided to use cloth diapers instead of smelly, expensive, garbage filling, thin and non absorbant disposables. I think when most people think of cloth diapers they get a mental picture of a baby with a soggy cloth diaper, falling down to his knees and smelling terrible. Also, the picture of struggling with safety pins and having to use plastic pants-where can you even find those nowdays? After a lot of research and having to learn the cloth diapering "language" (AIO, pocket diaper, diaper cover, prefold etc.) I decided that I was going to use the Bum Genius 3.0 which is basically like a disposable diaper but you can wash it. It has two pieces but the insert fits into the outside, waterproof liner so it is one piece when it goes on. After using them for 6 months, I am definately sold on them and bought some more just last month.
     Of course, there are pros and cons...Cons being that they do have some smell, after being used for six months and being hung in on my drying rack to dry but it is mostly if the diaper is really wet. (it bugs Jeremy a lot more than it bugs me) The other con is that they are expensive if you buy them new...around $20 a diaper, so if you go out and buy a whole bunch to get started it is kind of a big commitment. But then you are all set for at least one kid...hopefully a couple...but since this is my first, I don't know for sure how long they will last. And if you buy them on ebay, you can really save a lot of $. I started off with 12 diapers, which isn't really enough, but I made it work. (with a few of a cheaper brand that didn't work as well) I now have another 12, but I am not even using them all...I put some of the pink ones away for later. :)Another con is that you have to wash them every other day...but that really isn't all that hard.
     Now for some pros...you don't have near the trash to haul away, you don't have to worry about blowouts, you save money (yes, you do...you really do! Not as much as if you used the old kind of cloth diapers, but you still save a lot!), they have some really great colors and look quite cute on a little bottom :) and they are so easy to put on-my husband will change diapers if asked and doesn't complain about the cloth part at all.
     For some reason my pro list seems shorter than my cons list...needless to say, I would definately recommend Bum Genius to anybody as a great way to save some money when having kids.

These diapers actually got some sunlight today...the first time in a very long time. Spring is coming folks!

Spring Fever

I think I am getting spring fever or something. All winter, I have been content with being mommy to Jensen in my little house with several feet of snow all around it outside. I'm not sure what did it, but I think it might have something to do with the picure of blooming crocuses my MIL sent me last week. I looked outside and thought, "are you kidding me"? Maybe that will be us in about two months but for now, it looks like the snow will be sticking around for a while yet! It's been a great winter and it went by surprisingly fast, considering that I wasn't really "busy" as many of you out there would define the word. But now, all of a sudden, I don't know what to do. Of course, there are all the normal, mundane things that I do every week but other than that, I'm not sure what to start next. I want to paint and redo the living room, bathroom and our bedroom but with the big shop project coming up, the house is just going to have to wait. I would like to work in my garden and flowerbeds but right now they are buried under at least a foot of snow! I could sew, but I'm not really sure what to sew. Mel, where is that fabric swatch so I can get working on a dress???? :) I could scrapbook, but I don't have any scrapbooks started right now and I'm not sure I really want to get started on that.
     In other news, I've been wanting to learn how to cook dried beans, since they are cheap and healthy. So the other day I found a recipe on the back of the bag of navy beans called "creole beans and shrimp". Needless to say, I've been the one eating those beans every day...my wonderful husband is not too sure about the whole bean thing! They aren't  that bad...but I'm not sure that I'm ready to give up my meat(protein) for beans (protein). Does anybody out there have a good bean recipe to share?

Here is another window that I finished a couple months ago...this isn't a very good picture but it was a 3 paned window that I painted with chalkboard paint and added some corkboard. I also painted the frame with the special "crackled" look, which you can't really see on the picture, but the frame wasn't painted and I wanted to give it an old look. Any ideas about anything else that I could do to this one? Oh, I am planning on adding about 3 hooks on the bottom edge of the frame.

a plant and a sewing machine

I know, the title is a little weird, but it is basically the essence of what this post is about....two of my accomplishments for this week. It all started with a huge purple african violet, received from my cousin about 8 years ago. It has been transplanted before but it was way past time to do it again. So instead of one huge plant that wasn't blooming, I now have 8 small plants that hopefully (fingers crossed!) will bloom someday. And if anybody wants an african violet, let me know. Just don't expect me to mail it!

The other thing I did this week was to make pajamas for J. Because of his chubby legs, it is really hard to find pjs that fit. Did you know that there was actually a law passed in 1971 reguarding flame retardant sleepwear? And then was revised in 1997 to allow "snug-fitting" sleepwear instead? Read here for the whole story...http://www.achildgrows.com/2009/02/09/fire-resistant-pajamas-and-sleepwea/ After reading up on it, my dilemma with what kind of fabric to use was solved and I got to work. Here is my favorite model with his new pjs that he wore last night. He seems to like them-he broke them in by pulling on the feet (which are a little long) and chewing on them. I also made a pair of pj pants from some leftover material that mom used about 15 years ago to make pjs for my brothers. As soon as I get a little shirt made to match I will post that one too. Oh, and the cost was about $2 for the half a yard of material that I bought from the clearance corner at Joanns. The pattern was given to me by my MIL and the bright purple zipper was contributed by my mom.

6 months...what happened to my little baby?

After a long weekend of driving, a funeral, family and lots of people, I am tired out and ready to just sit at home and do nothing. So my dirty clothes will stay in my bag, my dishwasher will store my clean dishes, my counters will continue to hold all the "stuff" that counters hold, Jensen's diapers will just stay in a laundry basket and get folded as needed, and I will sit on my couch and drink coffee (wait, the coffee is all gone, snarfed by my hard working husband who had to go back to work early this morning).
     Going to a funeral is something that nobody wants to do but everybody has to do once in a while. This funeral was such a sad funeral...a young life taken in the "prime" of life seems so different than an older person who is "expected" (?) to die. I was taken back to a funeral eighteen years ago that was for four teenagers from our church who were killed in a car accident (there were actually five, but one funeral was held separately in a different community). I don't remember much as I was only 9 but I do remember the huge number of people who were there and that whole row of caskets. And the families who were all of a sudden small, a youth group that was missing four members and a community that was so united in grief. I can only imagine the grieving that happened at that funeral.....
     .............and life moves on.......Jensen is 6 months today-half a year already! I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like he is learning so much right now...he sits up by himself, rolls all over the place, reaches out his hands to us and absolutely loves it and gets so excited when daddy gets home from work. He likes bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, cereal and trying to drink out of a sippy cup. He's even been practicing his talking...saying things like "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma" etc. He's gone from being eight lbs to being somewhere between twenty and twenty-five lbs!
     One thing that I've been doing more of this winter is knitting...here are a couple of hats that I made for Jensen...I'd like to make some to sell as well, but who knows if or when that will happen!

It's that time of the month again....

to make granola. For the last year or so, I've been making granola instead of buying cereal. I just love going to the grocery store and not having to fill my cart with all those things that other people have to get every week. I am still trying to figure out how to not have to the grocery store at all, but unless we start our own farm and have a cow, some chickens etc...there will still be things we need almost weekly. And then there would be the small problem of toilet paper, but then again, there would be substitutions for that as well. Not that I want to go there though! But, back to the subject of granola....it is a wonderful way to save a little money, have a healthy breakfast and not have to eat three bowls of cereal in the morning to fill you up. It is especially cheap if you have a bulk store close by where you can get all the ingredients in bulk. That is one thing I definately miss about good 'ole Iowa and Stringtown Grocery!

Here is the recipe:
12 cups regular or quick oats    
2 cups wheat germ
2 cups wheat bran                    
2 cups powdered milk
Optional add-ins: coconut, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds
     Mix all these ingredients together in a large roaster pan or whatever pan you have that is big enough. You can also use a couple cookies sheets or jelly roll pans but if you are going to stir those tend to make a mess.
     Boil together:
2 cups brown sugar                  
2 cups oil
1/2 cup water (September 2012 edit-so sorry I forgot this little detail! Hope there weren't too many burnt messes to clean up)
     When boiling, add 2 teaspoons of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of vanilla flavor or maple flavor for something different. The baking soda will make it foam up so hold pan over roaster pan of dry ingradients so you don't have a mess to clean up!
     Mix liquid into dry ingredients and put in a oven at a really low temp. Somewhere around 150 F should work If it scorches on the bottom it is too hot or you may need to stir more often. Bake for about 4-5 hours, or until it seems dry. Heat 1/2 cup honey and pour over granola when still warm. Add raisins if you want. Stir and enjoy!
     Speaking of which, I am going to go and enjoy a bowl right now....so long for now!

The Saga of the Window

So in August, 2009, while still living in Iowa, Jeremy and I went out on a limb and bought a house in Minnesota. Northern Minnesota at that-pretty much the end of the world to a lot of people. Anyhow, it is an area of mostly very small, very old houses that really do not have a lot of thought or imagination put into them-of one of these, we became proud owners of. We knew before we bought it that one of the first things that would have to go was the windows. They were definately antiques, in various stages of decomposition. One thin pane of glass, rotting wooden sills, and about five coats of varying colors of paint. Obviously the previous owners had survived winters with these windows but we didn't really feel like paying to heat the outside as well as the inside this winter. So our hunt for the perfect window began, which is a story in itself, one that I do not have the time for now....but we did end up with about eight windows before we moved which we knew was not enough but would be a start. As the cold started creeping in, Jeremy was blessed with some time off work and he started tearing out old windows and patching holes, trying to get as many new windows in as possible, leaving a pile of old windows sitting outside and needing a new home. This is one of the ways I recycled one of the kitchen windows and there are more that are being worked on.

I sanded the frame, all the while trying not to think about all the lead paint I was probably disturbing, until I got the desired smoothness and look. Then I sprayed everything with a clear spray paint, since I didn't really want paint chips falling into my food. Added the hardware (chain and hooks) and I was good to go. The corner where I put it was kind of a boring corner in my kitchen, with just the stove and a chest of drawers to make up for my lack of drawers on the other side of the kitchen. This really adds the warm, homey touch I was looking for and also makes a great place to store my pots! Just one of the ways I will be reusing the old windows!

New at this (kind of)

So, I've been thinking for quite a while about starting a new blog since it seems like the thing to do...but it also seems to be a thing that doesn't last very long either...only until the newest and best something else is developed in the technological world. Unfortunately, this isn't my first attempt at a blog but those attempts have gone the way of the dinasour so I shall try again.

As to the topic of this aformentioned blog, that is still up for grabs...but I do know it will not involve fashion tips (something I know nothing about) or fancy writing (which I am terrible at) or art (fancy art, that it). Although I love looking at the cute outfits that fashionistas can put together for next to nothing, I know that if I was to try that I would have absolutely no followers, unless it was to see how not to do it! And although I enjoy reading, especially writings that have thought and emotion and smoothness and flow....I have tried and just can't quite get that either. As far as art, I pretty much failed that grade in school, especially if it had to do with drawing (oh, why couldn't we just trace?)

On a more positive note, I can cook, bake, sew, knit, garden and a few other things. I especially like to do those things if I can save some money here and there....so, hopefully, that will be enough to keep me going for a while...I will be posting some pictures of some of the projects I've been working on this winter.

But for now, Jensen is calling so I must be on my way....tada for now!