Going "no poo"

 I've been thinking about it for a while now: I am going to stop washing my hair with shampoo.

I have read a lot about the "no poo" method for hair, where you stop using traditional shampoo and conditioner and instead "wash" with baking soda and "condition" with apple cider vinegar (not white vinegar, as pictured above). As I read about it over the years, I saw a lot of people complain that it doesn't work unless you have fairly curly hair. Since my hair is pretty much stick straight, I had assumed it would not work for me.

Then my friend Rebecca (who is, like, my medicine woman!) tried it. She has hair that is straight, just like mine. Her hair looks great! You can't tell at all. She said that sometimes it takes up to 3 months for the hair to regulate, but that's OK with me. Her point is that we can always just start washing with shampoo again any time we feel like it.

So, I am on Day 2 of Not Shampooing My Hair! Day 1 (yesterday) I think I used too much baking soda and it got super crunchy in the back. Christian said it looked completely normal but the crunchiness drove me a little crazy. Today I used less baking soda and a ton of vinegar, and that seem to balance it out. It's much softer than Day 1, although still kinda crunchy-ish. I don't have any greasiness yet. My hair looks and smells normal.

I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Related: See all "no poo" updates, including the one where I quit "no poo"!

Looking back on 2011 To Do List

Thanks to Jennie at She Likes Purple, you might remember that I made a 2011 To Do List in lieu of resolutions. Frankly, I forgotten about most of it until I saw her post on how hers faired.
Let's see how I did on my list this year:

2011 To Do List

• Complete redesign of this blog (already in the works), including logo and business cards. I am basing the design on the work of an awesome sculptor who has graciously given me his permission to use his work as inspiration for a graphic designer to build on. I can't wait for you all to see it! Not sure yet if I'll have to convert to Wordpress  DONE! Did not convert to WordPress. I love what my husband did!
• Get all the cross-stitch pieces people have given me re-framed into corresponding/compatible frames that also mesh with our modern-ish decor, giving them the ability to be displayed in main rooms of the house rather than stored away somewhere. Um, nope. Still have not done this. 2012?
• Rebuild my wardrobe once I return to my pre-pregnancy size. I've been pregnant or post-pregnant for over 2 years straight now, so I own hardly any non-maternity clothing - and what I have is 2 years behind. Time to start from scratch! No again. We kind of ran out of money, what with going to one income and buying a house.
• Keep growing out my hair. Nobody let me cut it all off again, I don't care what I say!!! What was I thinking?? It's pretty long by now! Not wanting to cut it off - Little Lady loves to play with it!
• Continue blog posting and Twittering regularly, despite whatever life changes we are going through. Long silences are bad for traffic! Plus, having this non-mommy blog forces me to think about non-mommy things when the mommy-ing gets overwhelming. I think I have done pretty well, especially NaBloPoMo!
• Keep myself open to alternative part-time career opportunities that do NOT involve sales. Maybe social media? Maybe an off-shoot of something blogging related? I am open to ideas and suggestions! Well, I did get a part-time social media job this year. Not sure how good of a fit it is for me right now, but it works. Will have a to-do related to blogging in 2012.
• Consider entering into sponsorship partnerships with companies I love, to further the blogging thing. I don't know much about this stuff. I am not promising anything. Um, no. I am still to chicken to do this. My numbers are so low that I am embarrassed to share them with advertisers for fear of being laughed at.
• Figure out how to babyproof our cabinets which have no handles. Did that and then moved.
• Turn all my blog posts on the family blog from 2009 and 2010 into physical books using Blog2Print.com - this is the only way our family will ever own a "scrapbook" and it's so much easier because I've already done the work! Did it! Love my books! Will be doing a 2011 book too!

So, that's where last year stands. Stay tuned for next year's "To Do" list!
What's yours?

Merry Christmas!

Our family is excited about celebrating Christmas here at home, hosting our various family members and celebrating the amazing Christmas miracles we've been blessed with. Since our original Secret Santas and Christmas miracle, a second Secret Santa has also visited us with more gifts for the kids. We are humbled and blessed. There are lots of gifts under the tree for our kids, despite the fact that we didn't spend anything. We are thankful for the blessings that have been provided for us. It does make me wonder about why I don't hear these Santas coming and going outside my house, though!

One thing I love about not traveling on Christmas Eve is that we get to attend services at Watermark (our church). Little Lady is currently running a fever from either teething or a cold, so we couldn't put her in childcare. Rather than be discouraged, as I have in the past, we decided to just bring her in and sit way up high in the upper level. She enjoyed hanging onto the rail (very secure, don't worry!) for a while and then took a nice little nap while Todd spoke.


You might remember that our first Secret Santas gave us some cash to go see Santa Claus in the beautiful outfits they gave the children. We went to see Santa at A Real Bookstore in Allen a few weeks ago, and here's the picture:


Thank you to our Secret Santas, who are "the hands and feet" of the God that we are celebrating!
I feel like this has been the least hectic and the most meaningful Christmas that I can remember. I hope that we can continue to take this spirit of humility and peace into future Christmas seasons and teach it to our children.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thank you for following along with our journey!

Our Christmas miracles

I have been trying all day to think of how to write this post that would express how thankful we are for the wonderful blessings that have been provided to us in the last 24 hours. I know that not all of my readers believe in God, but I have to say that for me, I see God in all of this. It's probably trendy to attribute blessings to God, especially at this time of year, but I have seen blessings like this all my life - enough to believe that it's not just random and that God is not just a great big Santa Claus in the sky. I don't know if He gives us trials so that we can trust Him, or so to show us that we are powerless and He is powerful. I feel like it's probably both.

If you read this blog much, you know we have been facing some tricky times with our unbreakable lease and dual rent/mortgage after buying our new home in November - so much that we cancelled gifts this Christmas. We were amazingly blessed by a Secret Santa who brought us wonderful gifts we can give to the children, for them to see Santa (which they did - pic to come soon, I need to scan it!), and a gift card toward our Christmas meal (got it today!).

In the last week, a potential renter has come along. We are very thankful that it is someone Christian knows, so the house would be helpful in reducing this person's commute and hopefully beneficial to both parties. The only catch is that, in order to make it affordable for this person, we would have to pay their rent for January plus an incentive equal to one more month. This person would move at the end of December (we've already paid December even though the house is empty), meaning that we'd get out of the lease after paying 2.5 months rent while someone else is living there. There is also an additional fee for breaking the lease. The total amount was very daunting for us, but just barely workable. We knew it was our only shot, because the other potential tenants have just not been working out in the last month. So we took a deep breath and prepared to let go of pretty much everything. We actually felt OK with this. My husband, for all his theological interest in unbelief, actually has an amazing faith. He encouraged me that we would be OK and I agreed.

As soon as we had decided to move forward with this arrangement, we received a very generous gift from some friends at our church. Which might seem weird, except that it's sort of something we believe in. There's a passage in Acts 2 of the Bible that explains how the early believers in Jesus came together and shared everything they had - people who had more gave to people who had less, and that way everyone had enough. You know, kind of like socialism! (that was a joke) When we were dual-income-no-kids, there were times that we gave similar gifts to our friends. It felt weird to be on the receiving end at first, but I remember being on the giving end and I know that we'll be there again one day. I can't wait!

Shortly after that miracle, another miracle came along in the form of a bonus for Christian's work that was much larger than we anticipated. We really do not count on bonuses or even expect them, so this was amazing. Especially in this economy. We are blessed that he works for a company who is doing very well at this time.

We are in awe of God's amazing goodness. I would like to thank each one of you for your prayers, and even all your help in spreading the word to rent our house. So many little encouragements along the way.

We definitely do not deserve all that has been given to us. But isn't that really the message of this season? We do not deserve the baby in the manager who was born just to die in our place. And yet... there He is.

Thank You.

Pinterest project: bathroom baskets

I cannot believe I did it, but I did: I completed a Pinterest project!
We don't have a ton of storage in our master bathroom in this new house, so this basket project was perfect (this is the original pic of whoever posted it):

Source: myhomeideas.com via Jenny on Pinterest

I already had some curtain clips from a previous house, and even one of the baskets. All I had to buy were 2 new baskets and the curtain rods.
Here's the final product:


The picture looks like one of the bars is bowed, for some reason, but it isn't (I blame my iPhone camera).
I think it looks really neat and it gives us a lot more storage!

7 Quick Takes Friday #30

--- 1 ---

We slacked off on the unpacking for a while, but I'm getting re-motivated since pretty much all our family will be visiting or staying with us at some point starting in the next week. Fortunately, my BFF Millie is the first to visit and she is bringing me LOTS OF WINE!

--- 2 ---

Which leads me to ask: What is wrong with you, Dallas?! We were supposed to get a Trader Joe's some time this year but apparently the city has been bickering and negotiating and overall no one has decided where to put it. This is why I am having to have a friend from OUT OF STATE bring me Two Buck Chuck. Get on the ball, Trader Joe's! I am just sitting here, waiting to give you money!

--- 3---

I am selling things on eBay and Craigslist. Sometimes when I unpack I realize I need to get rid of even more stuff than when I packed. Also, we could really use the money. Anyone want a fencing jacket, an armoire, or some gender-neutral, eco-friendly nursery decorations?

--- 4 ---

The house has still not rented. We've had several people say they are going to rent it but they never follow through or maybe they are putting it off. I continue to vacillate between being OK that we are going to go completely broke and being terrified about it. I know that the correct response is to trust and have faith. But sometimes seeing everything slip away slowly kinda freaks me out.

--- 5 ---

I am excited about some possible blogging opportunities in the upcoming year. However, they will require a lot more writing time and I am still trying to figure out how to do that without having to pay for babysitting, since I don't make enough off the writing to cover the cost of childcare.

--- 6 ---

Oh no the baby is waking up.

--- 7 ---

Yes, she is up. Have a good week!


~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Sneaky eating: Lentil and Carrot Spice Muffins

Before I had kids, I always said that I would NOT be hiding veggies and fruit in food - I would make those kids eat fruit and veggies and learn to like it! Because I was so wise in the ways of children.
HAHAHAHAHA!

Little Sir actually loves all fruit and will willingly (although sporadically) eat a good deal of veggies. However, he does not eat: meat of any kind, soy, or beans of any kind. Where does he get his protein, you might ask? If you find that out, please let me know. Maybe dairy? (All the natural mamas out there are having heart attacks - truly hardcore "green" and "natural" people say dairy is the devil.) I don't know how he isn't dead, actually. Possibly the PediaSure we sneak into his milk helps (and the natural mamas have now left my blog... cause yeah, I know that stuff has sugar).

Here is a recipe I got from my mom in which I hide lentil beans. He really does like muffins so this seems to work well and it they are very yummy!


Lentil and Carrot Spice Muffins

1/2 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c. oil

1 c. lentil puree****

1 c. shredded carrots (I shredded mine in a food processor)

1 c. flour

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

 

Mix all moist ingredients.  Mix all drys.  Add together till incorporated. Depending on how watery your lentil puree was (or wasn't), you might need to add a little bit of apple juice to make the batter muffin-consistency. Spray tins or baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.

***Lentil Puree  Rinse and drain a can of lentils (original recipe said 19 oz but I used 15 oz and that was perfect but I had to add additional juice to the batter); puree in processor with 1/4 c. water till like baby food, adding water as needed.  Can use fruit juice if desired.

Our Secret Santas

Last night I was washing up bottles and sippys downstairs while Christian was bathing Little Sir upstairs. Little Lady had a really drippy nose and hasn't felt well for a few days so she was already asleep. I guess it was around 8pm-ish when the doorbell rang! It startled me a little because it was so dark outside. When I went to the door, there was no one there but there was this big red box with a gold bow!

Imagine this is on our doorstep, I didn't take a picture until it was already inside

I looked up and down the street but didn't see any cars. It was pretty cold, though, so I didn't try too hard. I figured if they wanted me to catch them they wouldn't have left. Christian said, "What if it is full of bees?!". I can only assume he watches some kind of weird killer bee movies on TV after I go to bed at night.

I brought it inside and once Little Sir finished his bath, we let him help us open it. Inside the box was a note that said, "The Bradford Family: Have yourself a Merry little Christmas in your new home. PS Open the boxes now :) You may need what is inside when you do pictures with Santa. Love, Secret Santas". There was also a Sprouts gift card (a local supermarket that I really like, right near our house, it carries a lot of nice natural and organic stuff often cheaper than Whole Foods). There was even a little envelope with some extra cash that said, "For a picture with Santa? Or maybe just for baking cookies :) Your call.". I am DEFINITELY going to do one or both of those things.

Here is a list of the things inside the box: a Christmas dress for Little Lady, a Christmas shirt for Little Sir, a doll for Little Lady (I am so excited about this! I wish she had been awake! I should wait until Christmas to give it to her, though!!), a Melissa '&' Doug musical set, a Melissa '&' Doug pizza set, a set of crayons and coloring pad, and the rest of the greeting cards that the note was written on.

Since Little Sir was with us when we opened it, we did let him open up the pizza. However, he will most likely forget the crayons and coloring pad so I am going to wrap those up to put under the tree for Christmas. IF we are lucky and he forgot about the musical instruments, I am going to wrap those up too. He has a scary good memory sometimes, though! It's OK because I have some BlogHer swag left over that I was going to wrap up for him but I didn't have anything for Little Lady.

I feel like we are so blessed by our friends. Maybe I will find out who it was, or maybe not. I am almost sure it is someone we know from church. Which does not narrow things down at all since most of our good friends go to Watermark. Still, I believe this is a God thing. He knows what we need and what we want and He works through others. It is humbling to think that we would be recipients when there are so many other more needy families out there. But I also know that we have done similar things for our friends in the past and how much we loved to be able to do things for them. And we look forward to being able to do it again! It is a great big circle of giving and sharing and that is how it should be in a family.

So, to whoever you guys are: we love you, and thank you for loving us! We are so thankful and excited! I am loving the Sprouts gift card too, because it turns out I will be cooking Christmas dinner on Christmas Day so it will come in handy! Thank you!!
{See the YouTube video of us opening the box here - it's over 6 minutes long, so beware}

Merry Christmas, everyone!

How to subscribe to my blog!

I've had a few friends tell me that since Google Buzz has gone away, they don't get my blog posts in their email anymore. This is true, so I thought I'd give you a few other ways to get the blog without leaving your Google email/Gmail. I am going to list them for you based on how you use the internet.

If you really only read this blog.
Aw, ya'll are sweet! Really, though, this mainly applies to my family. If you liked getting the blog posts in Google Buzz so you can keep up with me, all you have to do now to keep getting only this blog in your email is subscribe to my email feed. Here's a special box:

Enter your email address to subscribe to Conscientious Confusion:

Every time I publish a blog post, it will be emailed to you. Almost exactly the same as Google Buzz except without the "Comment" feature right at the bottom.

If you are keeping up with several blogs and no longer have time to visit every one individually.
I'll tell you my secret: Google Reader. It's an RSS reader, but don't let that terminology worry you. All you have to do is go to reader.google.com when you are already logged in to your Gmail. It is part of your existing Google account, so you won't have to register - you just tell it what blogs you want to follow by using this button:

Just type http://www.conscientiousconfusion.com into that box and you've got my blog!
You can even copy-and-paste that bold text above if you are having trouble spelling "conscientious"!

I hope that Google Reader helps you discover and follow lots of new bloggers - I know it's been a lifesaver for me as I've discovered more blogs that I love over the years. I also love that it works great on the iPhone or other smartphones - you can access reader.google.com from your phone and have the exact same interface that you have on the computer.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

We aren't doing Christmas

You might think that since we are Christian (I hate that word for some reason, it is way too generic and it encompasses a lot of people that I don't think follow the Christ of the Bible), we would be all about Christmas. And in a spiritual way, of course we are. We celebrate thankfully that God provided a very difficult and painful sacrifice on our behalf so that we don't have to try and earn our way into heaven (SO thankful, cause I've done a ton of things that I know disqualified me, especially in college...). That's kind of a thing we do in our hearts and that we'll talk to our kids about in more detail when they are old enough to understand. But we don't celebrate standard religious institutional traditions, in general.

Our plan was always to give them gifts at this time of year, just like nearly every other household in America. We also planned to give reasonable gifts to our friends and family. We knew we are a one-income house and were going to scale back this year more than in past years when we were dual income.

However, this inescapable lease has changed things.

Because we'll be paying both rent and a mortgage for the unforeseeable future, spending any money at all is no longer an option. We made the decision not to. Not to buy anything for anyone.

In many ways it's a good thing that our children are so young, because they don't expect anything. Little Sir does not remember last year as significant. Little Lady, of course, will only be 10 months old so she has no idea what is going on. Obviously, it's OK with them.

But I have to tell you, I have struggled with this. It's not that I wanted to go overboard and buy them a ton of things. I am the one that has to clean up the things, and since we haven't purchased any kind of toy storage yet, we don't really have room for more things! Right now I just stack toys in piles on the floor when I want to clean, or throw them into the beds. (the plan was to buy storage at Target or Ikea but that costs money too!)

I think it's more that I wanted to give them gifts. Little Lady especially, poor thing, has hardly any of her own toys. All the things she plays with are hand-me-downs from Little Sir. I was really looking forward to thinking of some good toys for her that could be her very own.

I am also grieving the loss of our ability to celebrate our anniversary (December 23) in some kind of special way. It's only our 6th year, but we pretty much skipped our 5 year anniversary last year because I was pregnant with Little Lady and couldn't take any vacation from work or it would impact my maternity leave. Even if we had wanted to go out for dinner one night, we didn't have any childcare for Little Sir. So we didn't celebrate at all. Before all this happened with the house, I was hoping that we could just have a "do-over" of our 5th anniversary this year.

Then two things happened:
1) one of the pastors at our church did a message on Thanks-living this Sunday where he talked about how we should be so thankful for the spiritual gifts we have been given that we are literally willing to let go of everything we own.
2) I read this post about giving up Christmas presents and realized that we are not alone in our decision not to celebrate in a monetary way.

We are very blessed to have this beautiful new home, and we have a Christmas tree and clothing to wear and plenty of cloth diapers (so thankful for cloth diapers! we don't spend any money diapering!). We'll stop paying the rent before we stop buying food, so we aren't going to starve. We have each other, and we even have lots of fun music on iTunes and DVD's! Once I get unpacked, I think we can do some fun Christmas baking together. I was considering this cinnamon applesauce ornament recipe from Adele, which would also give us something to gift to the grandparents.

I sort of blame Twitter and Facebook for making me doubt our decision... if I wasn't seeing all the updates from my friends about Black Friday, online shopping, and what they're getting their kids and how excited their kids are about opening gifts, I might not be as tempted to compare. Hopefully, this kind of un-Christmas will give us a new perspective on people who are really and truly hurting and don't have a warm house, nice clothes, and plenty of food. If all we have to give up is some kind of doll or some kind of truck or a nice dinner out... I think we can handle that!

Zombies Can Eat Your Brain, but Can They Save Your Soul

A review of the book The Christian’s Zombie Killers Handbook, Slaying the Living Dead Within Written by: Jeff Kinley  Review by: Millie Minor-Gibson
** Please note this is a guest post although I think it is awesome and I wish I did write it! **

Over the years zombies have fluxed in an out of popular culture and have been part of folklore since around the 19th century. There are two main types of zombies: 1) the crazy, brain munching, soul-less reanimated corps that bite people turning their victims into a crazy, brain munching, soul-less reanimated corps, like in Sean of the Dead, Zombieland and all those George Romero  movies.  2) Someone dead or alive who is controlled by a sorcerer or Voodoo priest. The 2nd kind isn’t as popular, but was used in 1932’s White Zombie staring Bela Lugosi. (Personally, I feel #2 is a great metaphor for the way we allow sin to control our lives.) There is also interesting zombie folk lore regarding the Haitians and some very potent pharmaceuticals used on patients in the 1930’s. Some say Haiti is where zombie lore originated.

Since the reanimation of zombies in pop culture (pun intended) there have been zombie flash mobs, zombie parades, zombie proms, zombie walks, zombie movies, zombie TV shows, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and now a Christian Zombie book. It was only a matter of time before the Christian market monopolized on the popularity of zombies in pop culture.

It has always been a pet peeve of mine when Christian pop culture monopolizes off of whatever is popular in secular pop culture, but will not fully commit to it because it is too secular. Zombies are still popular, but defiantly on their way out; much like flash mobs, at least this is what the cool kids are saying. I suppose a zombie flash mob would be the most passé thing you could do, other than being really into Lost, (that’s a joke, for all of you who are like, WHAT?!? Lost, Flash Mobs, Zombies…they are still cool!)  I feel that if the Christian market would come up with original, creative, mind blowing ideas the secular world would sit up and notice. Great example, Veggie Tales; Yes, it has been around since the mid 90’s, but it is still great and I know even non-Christians watch and enjoy the talking vegetables with Christian morals.

So, here we are with a The Christian’s Zombie Killers Handbook by Jeff Kinley. This book alternates between a zombie story and a Bible study. I will explain a bit about the story later, but first I I want to start with the Bible Study portion. I had never heard of Jeff Kinley before, but with a bit of internet research I have found that he runs a ministry on www.mainthingministries.com and has written around 15 books. This book is intended to be a study guide, or a devotional of sorts. There are even packages you can order for a church youth retreat. Jeff Kinley has a lot of good things to say. As a Christian devotional writer he writes in a manner that is honest and easy to understand. However, I felt the metaphor of “the zombie inside us” was unnecessary for the message he wanted to convey. It was a gimmick; something to get the “on the fencers” who love horror and zombies sucked in. I get the monster inside of us that is trying to destroy and sabotage who we are intended to be in Christ, message. However, I am not sure the metaphor of zombie was best used here.  I found the metaphor to be distracting and somewhat confusing; as if the author couldn’t fully explain it himself. I also did not understand how the story, described below, fit in with the Bible study portion. It seems they just both talked about Zombies.

The other portion of the book told a story about Ben Forman: A normal guy who doesn’t have a relationship with God, is living in a world of zombies and is engaged to a woman named Crystal who he loves very much. The author goes into a bit of detail about the zombies: Some people are bitten and some people have the gene living inside of them since birth until one day, POW! You are a zombie. There are a few story developments I do not want to ruin in case anyone want to read the book that were mildly intriguing.  Despite other comments I read about this book this story is not horror. Yes, it is a zombie story, but it is not graphic, it is not scary, it is hardly suspenseful. There would have to be enough character development to become invested in the characters for you to be scared for them. The main character, Ben Forman, had a difficult time believing in God, but his struggles seemed undeveloped and watered down. I am a Christian; most of my friends are not. The author’s depiction of non-believers in the story and in the devotional part seem unrealistic and one dimensional. In the end he depicted non-believers to be something you should run from and fear, like a brain munching zombie. How are we to be a light to the world, if we are not out there influencing it?  I suppose that is a different topic for a different Christian book. Tinker Bell type fairies maybe.

Conclusion: This would be a fun book for a church youth retreat taken around Halloween. Jeff Kinley, though I don’t agree with everything, has many good things to say. I hope this book has touched someone less critical than me. 

~~
NOTE: This book was provided to me free from BookSneeze in exchange for a review. I made Millie review it because it seemed so completely ridiculous to me that I was unable to read it myself. Obviously, the free product did not influence either of our opinions.

Ruby's Studio: The Feelings Show

After 30 straight days of NaBloPoMo and now the holiday season, I am sure that you are thinking, "I wish Jenny would tell me about some products she loves so that I can go buy them". Well, you are in luck. Here is one for you.

When I went to BlogHer this year, I was given a copy of Ruby's Studio "The Feelings Show" DVD. Ruby is a [very heavily made-up] babysitter-like character who appears to run an art studio for kids. She has magical powers to sprinkle sparkly dust that generate animations illustrating whatever topic she's discussing with the kids. Since there's only one Ruby's Studio DVD so far, the only topic is Feelings.

Receiving this DVD in August was actually pretty good timing since Little Sir was really frustrated for quite a while when he was learning to talk. He had a lot of feelings that he could not express, apparently. He yelled a lot and threw tantrums. Oh wait, he still does that...

Do I think this DVD helped him identify his feelings? Maybe. He did go around saying "happy!" and "sad!" and "mad!" shortly after watching this DVD off and on for about a week. He can identify expressions on characters and on his sister as happy, sad, or mad. In that way, I do think that it helped. And he does pay attention to the show. It doesn't move too fast but it does keep him interested. It's a nice, calm pace.

It hasn't necessarily helped him manage his feelings, but that isn't something I'd expect a DVD to do anyway. That's probably more of a maturity thing. We do practice trying to take deep breaths when he is mad, but it doesn't always work. I think the point is that the DVD is helping to remind him to identify his feelings. Some day he will be able to apply that knowledge and learn to manage them.

The message is distinctly non-religious, so if you are of a particular belief system you might want to talk with your child yourself about aspects of feelings as they apply to your faith. I am not worried about it being religion-neutral because I believe it's my job to talk to my kids about faith and not the job of a DVD.

Overall, I have enjoyed this DVD and would not mind seeing more episodes of this show. The only criticism I have heard is when Christian remarked that Ruby wears a ton of makeup. Definitely true, but I realize that the goal is to make Ruby a kind of caricature of a person, like a magical realistic cartoon, so she isn't supposed to be real-looking. Also, I am sure they are creating a persona that can be recreated with makeup and costume on any actress so they aren't restricted to the one actress that they used for The Feelings Show.

Ruby's Studio is produced and managed by The Mother Company, a female-owned small business.

If you are looking for a positive DVD to put in your toddler or preschooler's stocking for this Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus, I would recommend Ruby's Studio "The Feelings Show"!


NOTE: I received a free copy of Ruby's Studio "The Feelings Show" at BlogHer with the hopes that I would review it, which I have. The Amazon link is an affiliate link which gives me like 2 cents if you buy the DVD. All opinions are my own. If I would have hated it, I definitely would have told you because I like to mock things.

Last day of NaBloPoMo

 I made it! The last day of NaBloPoMo!
While I think that I might have lost some of you along the way (FeedBurner says otherwise...), I am also weirdly proud that I did it, even while buying a house, renovating a house, moving in 10 days, finding out that we have an unbreakable lease, and the usual part-time work and full-time mom-ing to non-napping kiddos. And I still have most of my sanity (if not less money and sleep)! Woot!

I wanted to reflect on a few posts that I really liked from this month and therefore ignore the crappy ones like the one from last Saturday.

Posts worth reading:

• Safer hair products and a rant
• Packing with less plastic
• Old crushes
• Klout: I hate you, but I need you
• Budgeting with cash
• SAHM malaise: I do not haz it

What do you think? Are you still with me? Did you have a favorite post?
Are you as glad as I am that this is over?!!

Related: I am possibly going to take a few days off now, if that's OK with you.

Blogging from my iPhone

…sucks! I can't wait to get out internet back, hopefully tomorrow! So far, my iPhone has survived it's bath, although the music no longer plays. It's a good thing it did survive because the wait for a 4G is apparently still around 2 weeks, even though there are something like 4 Apple stores within 15 miles of my house. I've also tried Radio Shacks, AT&T stores, and Best Buy. Hasn't this phone been on the market for around 3 months?! Why the shortage, Apple?!

I dropped my iPhone in the bathtub

...again. You might remember that I did this once before. Only that time the toilet. So I guess this is better except that we don't have internet here at the new place until Wednesday so I've been blogging and doing my parttime work from my iPhone. And there are 2 days of NaBloPoMo left! Holy crap!!

Safer hair products and a rant

photo by Evil Erin

I recently had a friend and fellow blogger ask me what I "green" products I use on my hair. A good question but also a complicated answer.

The "ideal"
It would be nice to be able to go to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database and select a shampoo/conditioner/hair product that gets a good rating from them. Unfortunately, I have noticed lately that their standards have become so strict that they give good ratings to fewer and fewer products and companies. The products they do recommend are a) very expensive b) very difficult to find (i.e.,  must be ordered online from Canada or something), and c) come in very small quantities. Since you must order them online, there's no way to try them out without spending some serious cash. Just not an option for me at this time.

Except it's not ideal
I have a dry scalp issue. There, I said it. Tea tree oil products do not work at all for me. What I need to use is a dandruff shampoo. In the past, Neutrogena's T-Gel and Head '&' Shoulders Classic Formula have received OK ratings from the EWG. Recently, that spontaneously changed although the formulas of the products did not change. What is going on, EWG? I can only assume that they changed their standards for what is safe. But if you delve into the site, you'll find that they don't qualify their ratings. They only tell you that the product is going to give you cancer, make you infertile, and cause neural damage. It doesn't say what they are basing these assumptions on. Are they saying that because it contains phthalates? Parabens? Formaldehyde? No one knows. All I know is that some guy at the EWG used to think Head '&' Shoulders was OK but now he's starting to think it's going to give me cancer. And he doesn't have to tell me why.

The reality
I got really frustrated with not being able to discern the EWG ratings and not being able to afford what they suggested anyway, so I started using GoodGuide, which is both a web site and an iPhone app. The ratings it uses are a little looser, and take into account the social responsibility of the company and the environmental impact of the corporation as a whole (not the environmental impact of that particular product). Both of those things are important to me when buying products.

One word of caution if you do use GoodGuide for determining the safety of a product: make sure you look at the breakout of the score. If a company has great social responsibility and environmental impact but makes a really toxic product, they can still get a good score because the overall score is an average of the 3 scores. So make sure you're paying attention to the "Health" score.

The result
Right now, I am using mostly Aveda products* because they use essential oils instead of phthalates for fragrance, and their products are salon-quality while also being natural. I use Head '&' Shoulders shampoo, but the rest is Aveda. I have to be honest, most of the "natural" brands I've tried leave my hair too dry. Aveda is also easy to find, I don't have to order things online from Canada if I run out - I just go to the nearest store or even the mall.

My advice
What I told my friend is this: pick what toxins are most important to you to avoid and focus on finding a product that works and doesn't contain that ingredient. For me, avoiding phthalates is the most important. For some people, it might be parabens or sulfates. Pick what matters to you, and base your search on that criteria. What works for one person's hair might not work for another. Or what hasn't worked for me (ahem, J.A.S.O.N. products from Whole Foods) might actually work for you!
Good luck!


*NOTE: Aveda did not compensate me in any way for mentioning them. In fact, I pay them. A lot. But if they read this: hey, Aveda, I would be more than happy to review your products!

Countdown whining

Oh my goodness, only 4 more days left of NaBloPoMo! I have never been so glad. What was I thinking, doing this while renovating a house, moving, and traveling for Thanksgiving?! I do not even have internet access right now, since they can't re-install our AT&T until Tuesday.

What I learned about renovating

Aside from the fact that the freaking renovations on our new place have (of course) cost more than we thought, there are other things that I have learned about constructor workers and contractors that I did not know before.

Here is what I have found out in the last week:

• Home Depot is usually playing very feminine pop like Celine Dion, Michael Buble, and whoever sings "How do I liiiiiiiiiiive without yooooooou? How can I breathe without you here in my liiiiiiiiiife?" or something like that.
• The 4 painting/remodeling guys also seem to enjoy some good power love ballads. I don't know for sure because it was all in Spanish, but the songs involved a great deal of strong feeling on the part of the singer. I would not have expected that.
• If you bring your kids to Home Depot, even if they act like perfect angels the entire time, the male Home Depot associates will ignore or patronize you.
• If you are a woman at Home Depot who is about to drop several hundred dollars on paint, but you are, nevertheless, still female - the male paint associates will still ignore or patronize you.
• If you are a woman and try to go into the insulation part of Home Depot because you will be dropping hundreds of dollars on insulation in the near future, you might get asked to leave because "this is a contractor area". It's not. It's insulation, anyone can buy it. What the guy means is "we think this is a male area".
• If one contractor doesn't agree with how another contractor is doing something, they get really girly and snippy about it. They will both call and talk to me about the other person, and then one went so far as to do some work anyway despite the other guy telling him not to, because he claimed that the first guy was going to do it wrong. Which also delayed a third guy doing a totally separate job. Am I in middle school again?!
• They will do totally amazing things to your house and then explain how great a job they did, and just as you get super excited about how awesome it is, they tell you that it cost several hundred dollars more than you thought it would. Then you kind of wish it was maybe a little less awesome.

So, lessons learned. Of course you know that I have also learned that some leases cannot be broken. Since that is still the case, I would still appreciate everyone passing on our Craigslist ad to anyone who might be looking for a house in Richardson!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am truly grateful for each and every one of my readers this Thanksgiving! I hope that you have a wonderful day full of love and family and gratitude!

This kid is saying "Oh turkey, I love you so much that my Daddy is going to chop off your head and we are going to eat your dead body with great thankfulness!"

6 Things - My Past

Since it is NaBloPoMo and I am pretty desperate for topics, I am going to take a cue from my Twitter friend LaurenACarlton and do "6 Things" which, as best I can tell, is 6 random facts about yourself that people possibly do not know.

These 6 things are about my past because I think some of those things are more surprising than anything from my present.

1. I have two tattoos and I still like both of them, despite the fact that they are faded and need to be redone, and one is in the stereotypical "tramp stamp" location.
2. The guy I dated in high school was eerily similar to my husband in personality, life experience, and even religion. I really believe that I was so attracted to him because I was looking for Christian and didn't know it yet.
3. There was a time in my life where I smoked a lot of weed, basically in lieu of antidepressants.
4. I also smoked menthol light cigarettes for 3 years. People were always surprised when they found out I smoked menthols, like that was hardcore or something but I thought they tasted good. Now cigarette smoke makes me nauseated.
5. I bailed one of my boyfriends out of jail for a DUI. He was driving less than a mile from the bar to his apartment, he could have walked.
6. In my 20's I had a job at a luxury automobile dealership where I got to take home a Porsche several times and once a Mercedes SLK convertible. I used to know a lot about performance cars during that time in my life.

Questions?

Old crushes

 Here's a NaBloPoMo writing prompt from last week:
Make a list of everyone you've ever had a crush on in your life, then choose one from the list and describe him or her in great detail. 

Instead of doing that, I would like to explain why I don't do things like that. Yes, part of it is that I am married and I feel like it's just not respectful to my husband for me to go around thinking about past crushes. And another part is that I can't even remember most of them because I was 12 years old. But mostly, it's because I don't really believe in looking back like that.

What I mean is that I don't really agree with the practice of looking back at something I "might have done" or I "missed out on". I don't think I've missed out on anything. Each one of the relationships I had ended for a good reason. Each one of the crushes that was never returned was for a logical reason. Sometimes it might have been fate - had anything turned out differently, I would not be where I am now. Sometimes it was because of incompatibility and I'm so thankful that one of us realized that and ended it. Sometimes it was because we learned what we were meant to learn from the time we were (or weren't) together, and we took that knowledge and experience with us, and it has formed us into the people we needed to become to find our ultimate life's partners.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't have a lot of regrets, even though I had some difficult and hurtful experiences. I believe that all of them were for a reason and they were all helpful.
I am thankful for the experiences.

The dangers of renting (help?)

 I've rented a lot of places in my life. In fact, since neither Christian or I have ever bought a house before, we've rented ALL our residences for the past 14 years or so. We have typically found all leases to be the same regarding the penalties for breaking the lease. Maybe we were lucky and we've always rented from good landlords, or apartment complexes that were well-resourced. But we have never encountered a lease we couldn't break by simply paying a fee. In fact, when I accidentally found myself being stalked by a crazy guy in my first apartment in Dallas, I broke the year-long lease there after only 3 months. Yes, I had to pay a fee equal to 3 months rent, but it was worth it to get rid of the stalker.

It turns out that the lease on the house we are currently renting is different. There is apparently a clause in this lease specifying that if we leave before the lease term is up, we are still responsible for continuing to pay the rent every month throughout the remainder of the lease period unless we personally find someone else to start a new lease. What?! Yeah. In this case, that means through May.

Needless to say, we aren't exactly resourced in a way that will allow us to pay both our rent and a mortgage for 6 months.

I am asking a little favor from my blogging friends who live in DFW or might know people in the area - please help us rent this house!


Here is a link to the Craigslist ad. I am changing the link every day so I can re-list the house at the top of the rental results, but I will also update this post to the new link. Please pass it on, and I appreciate your help!

Portabella Pizza Recipe

 The other day I found two portabella caps at the grocery store on sale, and remembered this simple recipe for portabella pizza!  We had it tonight and it's really yummy. I would recommend it!

Ingredients

• 1 large portobello mushroom, stem removed
• 1 tablespoon spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon sliced black olives
• 4 slices pepperoni sausage
• 1 clove garlic, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place the mushroom on a baking sheet, and bake for 5 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven, and spread spaghetti sauce in the cup of the cap. Top with cheese, olives, pepperoni and garlic.
3. Bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn

 On Thursday night I went to a midnight showing of the most recent movie in the Twilight series, "Breaking Dawn".

Let me preface this by saying that the only reason I read the books was because I was put on bed rest when I was pregnant with Little Sir in 2009 and that was the exact time the books were becoming so popular. Therefore, I ended up reading the books.

What did I think of the books? I will be honest with you, I found them pretty fluffy. The thing that bugged me most was how Bella got her ass kicked most of the time and had to have someone save her. The third book was my favorite because that is when she actually started kicking some ass herself. LOVE THAT.

So I have really been looking forward to the last movie(s) because I am thinking that this is when the female starts striking back and it's all awesome and stuff.

Not so much this movie. This movie was one long Edward-and-Bella lovefest with the usual Jacob drama and then a very unrealistic pregnancy thrown in. The thing that bothered me the most was that they kept showing Bella laying on her back while 8-9 months pregnant. WTF?! Anyone who has been pregnant can tell you that there is no way you can lie on your back past about 6 months without suffocating yourself or the baby. As the baby gets larger and heavier, laying on your back causes the uterus to rest on the major vein that supplies blood to the rest of your body. Laying on your back causes you discomfort but also lightheadedness and eventually you'd even pass out if you did it for too long. And as the movie and the book stated, apparently Bella's monster baby was much heavier than the usual human baby. Logically, every time she rolled even slightly near her back she should instantly pass out or cut off the baby's oxygen supply in the womb. But nooooooo she was laying on her back most of the time. Aaaggh!!

Did I like the movie? Well, it is of course visually stunning like the other movies. And I do enjoy the storyline, as I did with the books. I wanted to see Bella be a vampire for a significant amount of time so I was disappointed in that regard.

I will say this: I am just really looking forward to the third movie when the ass-kicking starts.

It's 9pm and still NaBloPoMo

...therefore I am posting. I don't have a lot to say except that I've spent the last 3 days over at the new house a good deal of the time talking to Jose, who is doing all the painting and handyman things, and the general contractor for the other work. It is insane the number of people I have to call and text all day long just to coordinate things. I even had my kids nap in the empty dining room today so we could meet with the carpet people since that was their only time slot.

It's iffy right now as to whether we will make our expected move date of Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. We can't delay it by one day because Saturday is the birthday party of our niece, Mazzie, and we can't wait to see her!

I did finally pick paint colors. Most I am satisfied with, but there was one that I picked out of desperation and exhaustion because I just wanted to have a freaking color for that room. Hope it works out!

Packing with less plastic

I have about 5 seconds to write this but I have to tell you that I dislike plastic bubble wrap, although it is often necessary when moving. Instead of using bubble wrap or even newspaper when packing delicate items, here is what I do: I use all my linens (towels, washcloths, bedsheets, blankets, etc.) to wrap vases, glasses, and to put between plates. Of course, I run out of linens eventually and have to resort to traditional packing materials but using the linens reduces what I use by about half!

We are homeowners, and I might go insane

We closed on our first house and got the keys yesterday! Then, later that night, we showed our current rental house to a nice lady who is interested in renting it. This is great news because if she rents it as of December 1, it will keep us from having to pay a month of double fees. It is also scary news because that means I will need to pack and move the entire house in 10 days or less. While we are packing we will also be coordinating all the remodeling that is going to happen in the new place before we move it. Paint colors, buying a dog door, buying garage doors, buying insulation, picking out carpet, picking out some new fixtures, babyproofing everything... Then I will also have to clean both houses from top to bottom.

Did I mention that neither of my kids sleep through the night yet?
And I work around 8 hours a week part time, which takes up all the times that they are sleeping and some times that they aren't.
Oh, and also it is still NaBloPoMo for the rest of the month.
HOLYCRAP. What was I thinking?!

Books: can't live without 'em, can't keep moving them

The picture above is one of our full-wall bookcases. As you can see, it's full of books except for a few shelves we had to clear because they're within reach of the kids. There is also an Ikea Expedit in the "office" that is half full of books, and the top of a bureau in the kitchen full of cookbooks.

You can imagine how fun it is to pack up all these books and move them. You can only put a certain number of books in each box before it gets too heavy to lift, so it creates tons of boxes just to move our books.

I have tried getting rid of books - only one shelf on this bookcase is actually my personal books. The rest are either Christian's from before our marriage (meaning they are off-limits to get rid of), or ours from during our marriage.

As much as I hate moving them, I am reluctant to re-buy the ones I love on Kindle. How am I going to lend them out to my kids when they're in high school if they're all on Kindle? Who knows how long Kindle will be the format, anyway? Plus, that is really expensive.

So I guess it's back to packing 100ish boxes of books. Sorry, movers!

We quit our organic co-op

photo by marioanima on Flickr

 You might remember that we joined an organic CSA co-op about a year ago. However, I'm sad to report that after putting it on hold when Little Lady was born, we haven't rejoined.

I really enjoyed it while it lasted! Things I liked about it:

• Fresh, organic fruits & veggies picked and assembled for me automatically
• Supporting farmers directly rather than through large (and expensive) distribution channels
• Experiencing new and different foods, being forced to learn how to cook new things!
• Having fresh organic produce on hand for the kids

Things I didn't like:

• The amount of food was often more than we could eat before it went bad
• Sometimes the food wasn't fresh, so it's shelf life was shorter than usual
• I did have to drive out to the location and pick up the bin every other week, which took away one of my "free days" (days of the week with no scheduled activity) with the kids
• The bins were set out for pickup in the direct sunlight, which caused a lot of wilting in the summer months
• Some of the food in the share no one in our family would eat - like lettuce. I am the only person in our family who will eat lettuce, and I was never able to eat 2 giant bunches we always got before it went bad in 4-5 days. I could put it in the bin for others to use, but I was still paying for all the things no one in my family would eat.

Because of the waste factors described above, the co-op cost became prohibitive in relation to what was actually usable for us. Instead, I just make it a point to go to our local organic grocer and by plenty of fruits and vegetables that we will actually use. Since I'm

I'd love to start it back up again maybe when we have more disposable income, or if I could find a co-op that would let me specify what kinds of produce I did and did not want to pay for.

I also have high hopes for the possibility of building a garden in the back yard of our new house in the spring!

Anyone else have a co-op they love? I'd love to hear about it!

What, I have to pick out paint, too?

We are officially closing on our first house on Tuesday! We're excited, but I'm also starting to get a little overwhelmed with the amount of things we have to do to the house before we move in.

One thing we'll be doing ASAP is having the whole interior and exterior painted. The exterior isn't that difficult, we only have to pick one main siding color and a trim color (which is currently the most horrible olive and poop green from the 70's and most of the reason that the house was on the market so long). It's the inside that's freaking me out.

At first I thought, hey, all I have to really do is pick a color for the living room and dining room and I'll just paint the rest a kind of off-white. Oh, but then there's also the kids' rooms...which I don't want to paint pink and blue because those are gender stereotypes that I don't believe in, but I want them to be bright and welcoming - not white. And also our bedroom, with new duvet and pillows in grey and yellow. Need to paint that so that it creates an nice soothing feeling... Then there's the new office/guest room of completely undetermined color scheme because we've never had a room like that before.

We have 2.5 baths now! So do I buy new accessories/towels for the new bathroom and coordinate the paint color to the new things? Or just pick something randomly right now because I don't have time to buy new stuff before we move? Aagh! I give up!

It's not that I don't care about the paint, but I kind of just want someone to come in there in and pick it for me. You know, like on HGTV! Only I need them to do it by Wednesday. Any volunteers?

The color I'm thinking of painting the living room: Benjamin Moore paints for west elm

Source: westelm.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Antibiotics! Antibiotics for everyone!

I wanted to write something really great and provocative and insightful today, but no. What you have is an update about my family's sickness. Sorry about that!

I caved and went to CareNow first thing this morning since my cough is progressing and I can't afford to let it turn into full-blown sickness while I am caring for two kids all day. Fortunately, I don't have bronchitis like Christian - only an upper respiratory infection. The doctor gave me antibiotics too, but not the insane amount that she gave Christian, just regular pills. She wanted to give me steroid cough suppressants also, but I declined those. So far, the homemade cough syrup works just fine for me.

We also went ahead and took the kids into our pediatrician's Saturday clinic this morning just in case. Little Sir actually seems fine but has a cough that I was afraid might be contagious. Poor Little Lady sounds much worse, but since she's only 8.5 months old, they can't really give her anything. It's back to humidifier/nose saline/Nose Frida and the Kick-It Immune drops for them, I guess. She can't have the homemade cough syrup because it contains honey. I do love our pediatrician and her partner doctors, because they never over-prescribe antibiotics. They told us that we could fill a prescription if we wanted to for Little Sir, but they'd recommend just treating the symptoms and letting their immune systems battle it out for now, since it's not a full-blown infection yet.

Well, gotta go - the kids just got home from the doctor!

Everyone gets sick

I am so out of random ideas due to NaBloPoMo that I can't think of 7 things for 7 Quick Takes Friday this week.

What's new here: for the first time since I have known him - including while we were dating and the last 6 years that I have been married to him - my husband got sick. Seriously, I was starting to wonder if he was Unbreakable or something because I have never seen him truly sick in all that time. But when the whole family got the flu mist vaccine (except the baby, she got the shot), it took down his respiratory system and ultimately turned into bronchitis and sinusitis. They gave him what is called an "antibiotic bomb" which is a small jug of liquid that you chug, it's pure antibiotic. Then they gave him something that is actually stronger than a Z-pack of antibiotics in addition to that, and then some high-power cough suppressant. Even with all that, he still sounds slightly like death when he coughs. It was a really bad infection!

Now you might be saying, "but Jenny, you are all green and stuff - why so many harsh meds?". For one thing, I draw the line at the point where someone is going to die or be hospitalized. You totally do need medication before that happens. But if you think you can beat it with homeopathic treatments, I say try those!

We did try some neat natural remedies before it got to the horrible scary phase.
One is that I made my own cough syrup and it wasn't half bad.

Source: redandhoney.com via Jenny on Pinterest

He also tried taking tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. And, of course, humidifiers, vaporub, and herbal tea.

Now that he's been diagnosed and treated, my main concern is that the kids don't get it. Unfortunately, they've both got coughs now. They were sent home from Mother's Day Out an hour early yesterday because Little Sir has random red dots on his chest (?). They don't seem to itch or hurt and they haven't changed at all in 48 hours except to get lighter. So I was actually kind of annoyed about that because I think he is fine.

Here are some things I'm doing to help keep them healthy:

• I bought these Kick-It Immune herbal drops from Natural Grocer and am trying to get them to take it. Of course, the baby doesn't know enough to protest but the toddler... he spits that stuff right back out.
• I brew Kids Cold Care herbal tea and refrigerate it to put in the toddler's sippy. He thinks it's "juice".
• Everyone is sleeping with humidifiers.
• Everyone is sleeping with vaporub.
• Daddy wasn't allowed to hug or cuddle anybody much the first 24 hours until his antibiotics kicked in.
• We are making Daddy use hand sanitizer.

Are there any other things you'd suggest to help keep the kiddos healthy?

Klout: I hate you, but I need you

What is your Klout score?
Mine was 55+ before they reconfigured their algorithm and now it's more like 48-49.
Jerks.

Klout.com is a company that compiles and monitors the interactions you have in all the social media channels in which you participate. When you are online, Klout is watching to see how many times you tweet, how often you update Facebook, how often you post on your blogs, when you use Instagram... Not only that, but it's measuring how many people comment on your blog/Facebook/Instagram/Flickr and how many people @ you back on Twitter. Also, the content of your tweets and updates matter: you have to have a certain ratio of links that you are sharing in each medium, not just talking randomly. And the people who follow you in each social media channel need to re-share those links fairly regularly for your score to be good and stay that way (proving that you are "influential").

In order for your score to stay high and steady, you can't go more than a few hours without updating multiple channels. Whenever I go more than 3 hours without Tweeting, updating my Facebook page(s), using Instagram, or publishing a blog post, my freaking Klout goes down. You can imagine what happened this weekend when my husband got sick and I was taking care of 3 people rather than 2 for a few days. For some reason the kids don't like it when I am using my iPhone to check Twitter/Facebook/Google Reader instead of playing with them. Go figure.

Why should I care about Klout? Why should anyone care?

According to all the "how to monetize your blog" panels I attended at BlogHer 2011 this past year, the largest PR companies realize that Klout is flawed and not necessarily a good measure of how truly influential a blogger is when it comes to public relations campaigns or selling advertising. For example, Klout was convinced for a while that I was influential about zombies and spelling. Ok, zombies I understand, but spelling?! I do not recall ever tweeting or blogging about spelling.

However, when you have a blog as small as mine, you aren't working with the "big guys" who realize Klout isn't the best measure of a blogger's importance as a partner. I work with much smaller companies, including my part-time employer in my social media job. To smaller companies, Klout does matter. In fact, my employer requires us to attempt to achieve and maintain a certain level of Klout for all the clients we handle. So take all the updating and maintaining I have to do for my own personal Klout on my blog and social media accounts, and multiply it times 3 for the 2 other clients I handle. This is why I have trouble with work-life balance sometimes.


I would just like to take this time to acknowledge that I do understand why I must play by Klout's rules for the time being. But Klout is also the cloud that hangs over my head and lurks in the back of my mind any time I am having carefree offline time. If I am having fun outside, I know that while I am out of 3G or Wifi range, my Klout and my clients' Klout is dropping, dropping...

Klout, I hate you sometimes. I kind of can't wait until your reign is over and I can go back to my real life.

It's all about me?

Looking back on the past 8 NaBloPoMo posts, it kind of bothers me that this whole thing seems pretty self-centered to me. I hate that I am blogging only about myself! That is not really how I like to live my life. I wish there was some way for me to make the posts more about others, or helping others. I will see what I can do about that. Any ideas?

Budgeting with cash

 Since transitioning to a WAHM, I have to admit I've fallen off the wagon with budgeting. I thought I'd be waaaay better at it when full-time work wasn't distracting me but  I didn't realize that kids are much more distracting than work!

When I was online all day for work, it was no problem at all for me to track our expenses using Mint and to keep the categories of our spending up to date daily. But with the kids around all day, I rarely get to use the "real" computer, and the iPhone app for Mint won't split single purchases (like "Target") into multiple budget categories (i.e., I bought food, clothes, and home items in one purchase). Also, I just pretty much forgot to check Mint most of the time. At the end of each month I would be horrified and apologetic about how much I unintentionally spent on food and home items in particular.

Then my friend Sarah pointed out that I could actually try using cash for just those two categories. That had never occurred to me! We pay all our bills online, many with auto-draft, and I just thought there was no way we could do our entire budget with cash, so I gave up on the cash idea a long time ago. But I could handle just two categories in cash!

I have been doing this one full month so far and it's amazing! I was actually under budget for groceries for the first time in YEARS. Of course, I also got to the point where we had to eat sandwiches for dinner at least once because I stupidly spent too much money trying out a new recipe early in the week. But that is how we learn. Of course, the key is menu planning. If I can carve out enough time in my week to do menu planning, I can more easily stay within the budget.

It's a total miracle! Let's see how long I can stay on this plan!

Do you prefer to use a pen or a computer?

Yet another NaBloPoMo writing prompt.

Answer: computer

A long time ago, my typing speed surpassed the speed at which I am able to write with a pen or pencil. If you know me in real life, you know that I talk fast. I think fast, too. So if I want to get something written down quickly before I forget it or get distracted, the fastest way for me to do it is to type.

Another fun fact about me: I hold my pen or pencil weird. I hold it completely vertically.

 It looks really weird and it hurts to write that way for a long period of time. I have tried and tried to change it but I can't write the "correct" way. And why should I? That's what the laptop is for!

What is your favourite part about writing?

My favorite part about writing is that when I put what's inside my head onto the screen, it makes the running commentary in my head stop for a while. Or, it makes the commentary go off in another direction and stop hashing over that same stuff, around and around. Put it out in the universe and make other people think about it for a while!

Just because I write about my own adventures inside my head 24/7 does not make me crazy. Does it?

* This post is from a writing prompt as part of NaBloPoMo *

7 Quick Takes Friday #29

--- 1 ---

This week I failed at not one, but two homemade things that all moms should make: Jello jigglers and homemade playdough. I have actually failed at jigglers TWICE now. I cannot get those darn things out of the pan without ruining them!! What is the trick here, people??

--- 2 ---

The homemade playdough was another debacle altogether. My son's Mother's Day Out requires each mom to make playdough one month of the school year, and you have to make the color and scent they specify for that month. My month is November, the color: brown, the scent: spice.

My first attempt at 9pm on Tuesday night yielded playdough that was light beige, not brown, and smelled nothing like spice despite all the spices I put into it. Here's a tip: do not substitute wheat flour if you do not own any white flour. And despite what the internet says, equal parts red and green food coloring do NOT yield brown.

I completely ran out of ingredients so I couldn't try again until the next night. I asked Facebook how to make the brown color and the spice, and Jill and Michelle totally hooked me up. If you are interested you can find a Gingerbread Playdough recipe here. And for future reference, brown food coloring is made by mixing: 3 parts yellow, 2 parts red, and 1 part blue! This is straight from a hairstylist, per what they use to make brown in hair dye. Magical!!

--- 3---

I still hate Google +

--- 4 ---

I finally bought Einstein's Brothers Bagels' Vanilla Hazelnut coffee beans so I no longer have to pay them all my money when I crave their coffee. I was disappointed to find that you need about twice the amount of their coffee grounds to make the same amount of coffee I usually make. However, I am still excited about making it at home!

--- 5 ---

Related: last weekend Little Sir told one of our friends: "Mommy coffee, Daddy tea, Asher juice"
That boy has us pegged!

--- 6 ---

 Did you see my post about my new bag from The Keeta Collection by Vicki Ray? I love it so much, it really cheers me up when I'm having a rough day or the weather is cold and grey!

--- 7 ---

Finally, I just learned last night that Gina at The Feminist Breeder is going to the L.A. premiere of the followup to The Business of Being Born by Ricki Lake - More Business of Being Born on November 9. If you are anywhere near L.A., you can enter Gina's giveaway of extra tickets to the premiere. I would absolutely love to go, myself, but I know the odds are pretty slim. Still, I can't wait for the movie to come out so I can see it!


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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Keeta Collection by Vicki Ray: my new bag!

I used to be a huge fan of small purses, and even of not carrying a purse at all. Ah, those were the days...

Nowadays I find myself lugging around 2 cloth diapers in a wet bag plus snacks for the toddler, a sippy, and a bottle for the baby. As much as I have always loved my Petunia Pickle Bottom Touring Tote, I had to admit that it was still too small for this phase of my life, and also too heavy even when empty. What I really needed was an all-cloth bag that was tall and wide, but not overwhelming in size (I'm not that big of a person!).

I knew that Etsy was the best place to find cloth diaper bags and I'd also be supporting handmade goods, so of course I asked Twitter - "who is your favorite Etsy shop for cloth purses?". I got an answer back from Jennie at She Likes Purple suggesting The Keeta Collection by Vicki Ray.
I love their bags!

To me, Vicki Ray's style is the perfect combination of girly and modern. I really wanted a bag that would cheer me up when I carried it, and I was determined not to buy something black or brown again!

I finally picked this bag:

However, we ended up substituting a different fabric since they were out of the original bird print.
When I got the bag, it was wrapped so nicely!



And this is what was inside...



Here is the bag stuffed with a diaper wet bag and all the other essentials.



And it's sooo much lighter, therefore easier on my back. Plus, I feel great about the way it looks - it really cheers me up to see it sitting there in the kitchen!

*NOTE: I was given a discount on the bag in exchange for this blog review. However, I contacted Vicki Ray, she didn't contact me.