To Do List 2012: How did I do?

Oh look, it's almost 2013! Time to look back at my To Do List from 2012 and see if I accomplished any of it.

1. Eat better.
To make this a little more measurable, I'll just say that I want to get back to eating at least 5-7 whole fruits and veggies per day.
Sort of done. I have been doing a lot better as far as cutting out the extra sugar and carbs but I'm probably still not up to 5-7 veggies a day. Mostly because I give all the fruits and veggies in the house to my kids, and there are rarely any left for me. Those things are expensive! But I am still drinking my NingXia Red, which is packed with antioxidants, so I think that helps.

2. Resume meal planning.
I did pretty good with this probably 6 months out of the year, off and on.  At one point, I got depressed about how much money we spend on groceries and stopped even trying. Then we found out that Little Sir is dairy and soy intolerant and that threw another wrench in the planning because I can't use Food On The Table or eMeals since they all contain dairy ingredients that I can't always substitute. I am currently off the wagon. This is going to show up on the 2013 list again, dang it.

3. Regular exercise.
I want to aim for 3 days a week.
Oh thank God, one that I can actually cross off the list. Thanks to becoming a Lagree Fitness instructor at Ultimate Pilates Plano, I am now in better shape than I was before the kids. I actually do have six-pack abs, not lying. I would love to take pictures but that seems really indecent for a family-friendly blog. OK, I did take pictures in the mirror once but I haven't shown anyone. However, this is not bragging because it is very hard work and continues to be very challenging. It's not like I am saying "oh look, I have magically great abs! Whee! Be jealous!". Nooooo, I write routines that are specifically heavy on moves targeting my transverse abdominal muscles and my obliques, and I do those routines for 50 minutes, at least 3 times a week. And I must mention, I teach these routines in my classes so if you want to work on your post-baby body like I did...you know where I am!

4. Attempt monetization of this blog
"Attempt monetization" is not a very measurable goal, but let's just say I'll research and apply for some ad networks and work on ways that I could increase my readership. Such as participating in blogger link-ups.
First of all, I would like to give yet another shout-out to my wonderful sponsor Tanya of Happy Feet, Healthy Body who has an Etsy shop selling handmade bath and health products that are completely free of toxins but also provide the natural healing powers of essential oils. Please consider supporting this blog by purchasing her products! She has an excellent headache remedy and an amazing lavender lip balm that I use every night. And if you are in the Dallas area, she can even arrange for local delivery rather than paying for shipping.

I feel like I have done some positive work in this direction. I have also joined up with a number of other green bloggers via The Green Sisterhood and some closed Facebook groups. I actually don't participate in a ton of link-ups, but that is because I am very picky about my topics and I don't do a lot of giveaways. I feel like I am heading in the right direction and I'm looking forward to 2013!

5. Start potty learning with my son
This is pretty much done! Now that we've addressed the stomach issues of dairy and soy intolerance and provided both negative and positive incentives (positive alone did not inspire him), he has very few pee or poop accidents. Well, thank goodness that only took about 7 months.

6. Decorate the kids' rooms
I think they look a lot less bare now. I put the animal and letter decals up in my son's room and hung his name picture and handprints, and he accumulated a number of additional toys and books to fill up some of the extra space. I put up a lovely tree decal in my daughter's room and bought some curtains. She also got a bookcase with bins like brother's and a bureau for her clothes. I am sure I could do more but there's not a ton of space. I like what we have right now!

7. Plant a garden
Hahaha, that was pretty much a failure except for the bell peppers, but there is a good reason that I didn't specify that it had to be a successful garden. I ended up getting enough bell peppers that, when chopped, fill up a plastic baggie (I know, PLASTIC, I lose my green cred yet again) in the freezer. That is a significant crop considering how small they were. But they died in the snow on Christmas Day, so that's done. Since we have such a nice raised bed setup now, I'll try again next year.

Merry guilt-free Christmas!

We were excited to have a white Christmas this year, and so many things to be thankful for!

We celebrated here at our house with our family of four plus my brother-in-law, Garrett. For pictures and info about what we do as a family, you can always check out my family blog, which I am terrible at updating.

We had a great day full of presents and food, and while we spent very little money and chose the childrens' gifts conscientiously, there are a few that were plastic, and therefore not terribly "green". The majority of my son's gifts were actually secondhand, if that helps any. I'd rather not expose myself to green blogger criticism by going into detail about what we gave them, but be aware that we chose even those toys conscientiously because we felt that the experience outweighed the risks.

I don't have a beautiful picture of our entire family together wearing matching anything near a tree because I was unable to corral my children long enough to get anything like that, and honestly, they spent most of the time arguing and fighting (keepin' it real, here). Instead, I have this delicious picture of  the (vegan, soy-free) birthday cake they decorated for Jesus. Obviously, artificial colors were used in the toppings but no trans fats, dairy, or soy.

I hope that each of you had a wonderful, delicious, and guilt-free holiday! I'd love to hear your not-so-green confession in the comments.

I'll be back later this week to review the success or failure of my To Do List from 2012 and explore my new To Do List for 2013!

7 Years

Today marks 7 years since Christian and I said "I do" in a tiny private ceremony at a Justice of the Peace that is now less than a mile from our house!

December 23, 2005

I've never seen the movie "The Seven Year Itch" but I understand that it's based on the idea that this is about the time in a marriage where things can solidify into negative patterns. I can totally see what they mean by that. Marriage is hard work and I have a pattern in my life of giving up when things get difficult. When I made that promise, I meant it, and divorce is not even an option for either of us. But there are many ways a couple can live in a marriage that are "un-divorced" but not in unity of mind or heart. Where you can give up but not actually leave. That is where the 7 years becomes dangerous, and we have really seen that potential since having our kids. This year, I am thankful that we made the investment in our marriage to attend 20 weeks of ReEngage at Watermark. It was 20 weeks where I had to get my kids up to church by myself  and put them in childcare for the second time in one day, and it was stressful sometimes but definitely worth it. We met 3 other couples who were such blessings to us as we all talked about the issues in our marriages and how we can each take responsibility for our own side. I can't believe we won't be seeing them every week going forward and I will miss them a lot as we move on to other commitments in 2013.

I hope that in this 8th year of marriage, we take the lessons we have learned and re-learned and continue to actively apply them with the help of God and our community of friends.

Here's to many more years - I love you, Christian!

Last minute teacher Christmas gift

I just wanted to do a quick post on my favorite teacher "thank you" gift, since I know we all love to thank our childrens' teachers at the holidays. Instead of some trinket that might break or sweets that they might otherwise try to avoid (my son's preschool teacher is gluten-free so I wanted to avoid anything that she couldn't eat anyway) -- how about flowers?

My favorite place to get beautiful, unique, and inexpensive flowers is Whole Foods or Central Market. In fact, I got the flowers for my wedding bouquet at Central Market!

Since my son's teacher spends more time with him than my daughters' once-a-week Mother's Day Out teachers, I also added a personalized May Books lined notebook to her gift. May Books are hand-sewn without using plastic or synthetic glue with nasty chemicals. The covers are cloth-based so that they wear to a soft finish.

It's not too late to buy some fresh flowers today!
What is your favorite teacher gift to give or receive (if you are a teacher)?

NOTE: I did not receive any compensation or product for the mention of May Books, although the owner is a personal friend of mine. I just love her products, and I pay for them just like everyone else!

Thoughts on Sandy Hook shooting

I never post late on a Sunday night but, according to various bloggers, either tomorrow (Monday, Dec 17) or Tuesday, Dec 18 is a Blogging Day Of Silence in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. I don't know which day it actually is, but I will just go ahead and forego posting either one of those days.



I've been thinking all weekend about what I should post about this.

First of all, of course, I am sad. There are no words. Many of my friends' kids are starting school and these children were the age of their children, whom I see every week. The age of my niece, the very first child I have watched grow up from a baby.

I have read the I Am Adam Lanza's Mother blog piece, and I have thought a lot about what it must be like to have such a violent and unpredictable son that you nevertheless love, and for whom you want to believe the best, and then you find in your last moments on earth that your trust was misplaced. Even before I knew he had documented mental issues, I was thinking about the kind of society we have created in which his mother and those around him were so isolated that they were not supported and he was not known well enough by anyone to be stopped. What a terrible isolation we have allowed in this society.

And, of course, the gun issue...why in God's name does any private citizen need a semi-automatic weapon? Why do we even allow these to be sold to private citizens? For the armed services, understandable. For police officers. But a private citizen?! Do not even tell me that it is for hunting -- a deer is not going to shoot back, you don't need a semi-automatic weapon to obliterate a deer. No one can hang a rack of antlers when there are no antlers left.

Twitter was not a good place to be these past few days. The words that I would use to describe the reactions would be: horror, fear, despair, hopelessness, panic, followed by blame and anger.

I'm going to backtrack a little in my own life to give you some context for my reaction before I attempt the ridiculous task of trying to describe it. Most of my life I believed that I had to do and be a lot of things in order to control the world around me, so that things would go the "right" way -- my way. The way I felt in my head that things should go. If something went wrong, it was my fault. If someone else was upset or unhappy or anything negative, I internalized it and blamed myself. Control is an illusion. It was always out of my grasp. After wallowing in several addictions for a few years, trying to cover up my inability to control everything, I let go of my stranglehold on life and gave up control. Gave it up to, as the 12 Step Programs say, A Higher Power. Every day since then has been tiny baby steps to continue giving up the need to control things. To let go and trust God more. It's been an awesome journey, as He has never disappointed me. He is always there, and He is always enough.

I know that not everyone who reads this blog believes in God or Jesus, and I hope that this a place for everyone to learn to live consciously rather than a platform for my beliefs. But I will tell you that I did not panic, and I was not incapacitated with fear about the future when I understood what happened at Sandy Hook even thought it is indeed very close to every one of us. After all these years of practicing trusting in a God who is powerful and in control, when the unthinkable happened and we were all swamped with feelings of sadness and horror, I did not feel responsible for fixing it all right now or everything would shatter, if that even makes sense. My mind wasn't overwhelmed with thoughts of the hundreds of ways I need to protect my own children from anything like this every happening because I know that I cannot. Nothing I can do can keep them safe from cancer, car accidents, or random acts of violence. These are evil things, but our God has overcome evil. If something like this happens to me or my family, my heart and mind might explode but my God will remain the same. My life will change but He never will.

Please hear me say that this does not mean I think what happened was OK or excusable or that it was "God's will". Hell, no. Literally. The heart of the God I read about in my bible was broken along with the parents and friends of those children on Friday. He knows what it is like to have a Son who He loves die a horrible death at the hand of evil men. But He also loves every human being so much that He allows us to have free will, despite how terribly we misuse that gift. Adam Lanza had free will. He used it for evil. God has an ultimate plan for evil, He will not allow it to continue forever. Adam Lanza is accountable for his actions, as we all are at the end of our lives. Perhaps Adam was mentally ill and incapable of making that kind of decision, but I also trust that God knows his heart.

I guess what I am saying is that, although I spent all weekend with a heavy heart, hugged my kids more tightly than ever, and had more than a few thoughts about gun control laws and mental illness, I felt comforted by God. Not that He has made anything better or that things will get better, but just that He is there. Crying with us. Sad for us and what we have done to this earth and this society. In spite of it all, He is present for my family and my community, no matter what evil is out there. Our job is to just keep fighting that evil, whatever that looks like for us our everyday lives. I also trust that He will show us how to fight that fight, and give us the strength to do it.

For me, for now, I think that means to keep showing my children how to live as Jesus lived, in love and peace and wisdom toward others. I will raise them that way as long as God sees fit for me to have them in my house. I cannot control if they choose to believe what I believe, but I can live in front of them and share with them. I guess a lot like I do with this blog. You can choose to do whatever you will with the things that I share. It's OK. I trust that it is not my job to control the outcome.

As you can see, this is a post about my own personal state of mind, and not the way I think anyone else "should" feel. I am just sharing with you a small victory in my own life as I am slowly moving from a place where my mind was out of control to a place where, now, I can see peace seeping in. I pray this kind of Peace for everyone in our nation and our world.

NOTE: I have disabled comments on this post. If you have any questions about the faith aspect of this post, please feel free to contact me directly jenny {at} conscientiousconfusion {dot} com.

Green Wish List 2012

Everyone else is doing it, it's THAT time of year...when bloggers publish their gift guides. While a lot of bloggers are paid to list certain products, I am not, so I am free to make an incredibly unrealistic wish list and no one can stop me, BWAHAHAHA! Here, in no particular order, are things I highly recommend or drool over:

• Plastic-Free Gift Pack - includes Beth Terry's book Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too, packaged together with a DVD of the documentary Bag It in a handy fabric non-plastic reusable gift bag. I actually already own this, but I want to recommend it to anyone on their "green" journey. I am in the middle of it, and so far it's great! Which reminds me, I should probably write a review some time in 2013...

• NatureMill Automatic Composter - it's a pipe dream, but I include this every year because it's awesome. An under-the-counter composter that does all the work for you and just spits out beautiful compost! Of course, considering my kitchen layout, this gift would have to come along with a kitchen remodel.

• Cuisinart 12 cup food processor - ever since I started reading my friend Stephanie Moram's blog, Good Girl Gone Green, I've realized that my 3 cup processor just won't work for vegan treats. I actually have the 7 cup version on my Amazon wish list, but if we are going to be unrealistic, let's just go for the 12 cup, huh?!

• Rain barrel - I've seen ways to make rain barrels out of trash cans on Pinterest, but when I clicked to the instructions they require a lot of messing around with tiny hoses, leaf grates, rubber seals, etc. Phrases like "cut a hole with a miter saw and use a plastic sealant" are used... Neither my husband or I are that handy. So my wish would be for a rain barrel that is ready to go as-is, that we can just hook our hose right up to!

• Another Stokke Tripp Trapp - these aren't just high chairs for babies, they are also great toddler, big kid, and adult chairs, depending on how you configure them. I really wish we had a second so that both my kids had one. My 3 year old hates the booster seat and I hate that all booster seats are a) unsteady and b) made of plastic.

• New windows upstairs in our house - I'd always heard that installing more energy-efficient windows on a house can save on heating and cooling but now I know for sure. The previous owners replaced all the windows downstairs but none upstairs. In the winter, even though heat rises, it's actually warmer downstairs than upstairs because the downstairs windows hold the heat in so much better! My son's room upstairs is freezing cold sometimes, poor guy. I'd love to have some windows that would keep him more cozy and save us money on heating the whole house just to keep him warm.

• Nest "smart" thermostat - we've drooled over this since long before it was available, but now that it's out on the market and even in 2.0, we can't really afford it. Any programmable thermostat would probably be preferable to our old-school manual model but this one can also be controlled from your smartphone and "learns" your heating and cooling habits. Fancy!

• Green Apple workout clothing - being a Pilates instructor, I am in my workout clothing nearly all day at least twice a week. I like this brand because it is made from natural (eco-friendly) fabrics. We also sell it at the studio and I get it at a discount, so that makes it pretty handy! My wish would be for ALL OF THEIR CLOTHING.

I'm sure there are more, but I'm going to stop there for now.

What items are on your "green" wish list?

*NOTE: I was not paid by anybody to list their product, but it would be totally awesome if I was. Two of the links to the food processors are affiliate links, so if you click on them and actually buy a food processor, I think I get $2. Oooo.

Unconventional reuses for wire hangers

When we got married, my husband and I agreed that we hate wire hangers. Now that I am all crunchy and whatnot, I am sure that wire hangers are probably the most "green" choice, but I still hate them because they put weird dents on the clothes. Also, they look tacky. Which are very shallow reasons, but there you have it.

So we got rid of ALL our wire hangers and replaced them with wooden hangers. We bought huge packs of wood hangers from IKEA and from Bed, Bath & Beyond with coupons.

Occasionally, wire hangers would come back into our lives via consignment sale purchases and I would promptly donate them to Goodwill.

This week I realized that I probably shouldn't have given all those wire hangers away.

First came the Pinterest project. Being our first year to decorate our house for Christmas, I figured that we probably needed a wreath. I was horrified to find that wreaths cost something like $70 at Hobby Lobby? What?!! So, of course I went to Pinterest and found that you can make a wreath out of Christmas ball ornaments and...a wire hanger. I dug around in the garage and actually found one that escaped Goodwill. The result:



Not too bad!

And then...

I managed to outdo myself in the "weird" department today by flushing and entire cloth diaper down the toilet. You may have seen this tweet.

The kids were napping, so my husband was all set to leave work and buy a toilet snake (whatever that is? we are definitely the least handy homeowners EVER) and/or call a plumber when Facebook and Twitter suggested that I try a wire clothes hanger.

Guess what?

Yes, that is the previously flushed cloth diaper, a wire clothes hanger, and a needlenose pliers.

And there you have my eco-friendly reuse ideas for wire coat hangers: wreaths and fishing things out of toilets. Let me also pass along a little advice: do not throw out ALL your wire clothes hangers, no matter how ugly or annoying they are!


*NOTE: I was not paid by anybody to mention IKEA, Bed, Bath & Beyond, or toilet snakes. 

Green find: Squooshi reusable food pouches

When I saw my friend Calley post pictures of a new reusable baby food pouch on Instagram a few months ago, I practically heard angels sing! As you may or may not be aware, at least one of my children is an extremely picky eater and a) will not eat fast food or restaurant food, and b) has trouble eating his veggies. Not saying who it is. Our solution for the last 3 years has been to buy the disposable baby food pouches and carry them along whenever we go out to eat so that he has some kind of nutrition other than rolls or rice (the only other things he'll sporadically eat while out). It's also a good way to sneak in some extra quinoa protein or amaranth grain. I would wait for the pouches to go on sale at $1 apiece and buy them in bulk. I always have a stash in my pantry.

I'm sure you know where this is going...oh, the guilt over throwing away plastic pouches with big plastic lids that are never, ever going to biodegrade! I would throw them away and cringe, thinking "I am sorry, earth!". But even though I'd tried a silicone version of a reusable pouch (HORRIBLE), I could not find an alternative.

Then...Squooshi!

I am totally in love with these adorable reusable food puree pouches! What is even better is that they come in completely plastic-free packaging:

There are four adorable characters in The Animal Series and two sizes: 4 oz. and 6 oz.

Of course, the #1 question is: do they leak?
I have been using them for about 2 weeks and my answer is NO! I even put (goat) yogurt into them for our car trip over Thanksgiving and no leaking at all. The bottom is sealed by a VERY STRONG ziplock-type zipper. The trick is to make sure that you swipe away any puree from the zipping mechanism before closing. This tip is included in the insert that comes with the Squooshi pouches.

What did my kids think?

They both give Squooshi a thumbs-up!

One more item to address: yes, Squooshi pouches are made of plastic. However, at this time there is no plastic-free alternative to the not-so-disposable pouches and in my opinion these are the BEST as far as functionality for reusable options. The plastic used in these pouches is BPA-free, phthalate-free, PVC-free, and lead-free. In addition, since you will always hand-wash these pouches, they will not be exposed to the high dishwasher temperatures that could facilitate plastic chemical leaching.

For an additional viewpoint on Squooshi, surf on over to my friend Nancy's blog, Surviving and Thriving on Pennies.

If you're ready to let go of the "disposables" and take a step toward environmentally friendly nutritious snacking on the go, you can head on over to the Squooshi store and pick up some cute stocking stuffers!

NOTE: I was given the four pouches show for free in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.

Aprons: solution to the tiny holes in shirt issue

I still get a lot of blog traffic on my post from March about the mysterious tiny holes in all my shirts. Believe me, I am still suffering the results of that mysterious epidemic -- now that the cold weather is/was here (and then it left and the last 2 days have been 80 degrees...TEXAS IN NOVEMBER), I am particularly feeling the loss of at least 10 of my long sleeved shirts. I am having to replace the shirts slowly in a process which involves shopping for clothing, which I hate.

In the end, after much debate, I concluded that the culprit was: our sharply beveled granite counter tops cutting into my shirts as I leaned over the sink and counter to wash dishes and prepare food.

I do think that I've stopped the bleeding now by taking the following steps to prevent the holes going forward:

1. Ghetto solution: duct tape on the edge of the sink. I did not take a picture of this because, seriously, it looked pretty tacky. My husband put duct tape on the edge of the granite counter top where I tend to lean when I'm washing dishes. This solution was in place for about 7 months until last month when corner of the counter finally cut through the tape. Which kind of proves the theory because if the sharpness of the counter tops can cut through duct tape in 7 months, it was certainly cutting through my shirts.

2. Apron solution: I pulled out an apron I got for free for donating blood and started using it every time I was in the kitchen. I had to get into the habit, so I hung it on a cabinet pull where it obstructs my access to the counters unless I put it on.

Result: a growing apron collection.

Now I have become kind of fascinated by aprons and I think I'm going to start trying to collect vintage and handmade aprons. My first apron was just a free apron I had lying around the house, which looks like this:

My first actual purchase was from FlirtyAprons.com* using a Groupon. Some seriously cute aprons here! I finally chose this one and I am loving my choice.

After that, my mom sent me this festive winter apron.

So, there are only 3 so far but my BFF, who is an excellent seamstress and sewing artist, is making me another for Christmas which I am sure is going to be amazing. I am also considering making my own, despite my dread of sewing ruffles. What would be ideal is if I could find vintage aprons at thrift shops locally.

How about you, readers -- do you have aprons in your kitchen, and if so, where did you get them? Any tips on acquiring vintage aprons?


* NOTE: I bought the Flirty Apron with my own money using a Groupon, I was not paid to promote their site and I doubt they even know that I exist.

SIDE NOTE: Apologies for the crappiness of the pictures. I actually had my iPhone on a tripod and my 3 year old "took" these pictures. I attempted to wear vintage June Cleaver-y shoes but the heels sank into the dirt. Awesome.

7 Quick Takes Friday #46

--- 1 ---

I am super, super excited to have a new sponsor for this blog, Happy Feet, Healthy Body -- a local reflexology business and essential oil products Etsy shop. If you are looking for local, handmade and safe soaps and essential oil remedies such as her popular Headache Relief or Pamper Pack, please support her and this blog by clicking and purchasing her products! Reflexology is also a great way to help boost your immune system and recover faster from respiratory issues at this time of year. She is a wonderful source of essential oils knowledge -- she has given me advice several times in the past!

--- 2 ---

We have 3 new chickens who have not been eaten by a bobcat yet. They are young and haven't started laying yet. Just this week they started "talking" to me, so I have hopes they'll start laying soon.

--- 3---

I spent an hour scanning anti-dandruff shampoos with my GoodGuide app yesterday to get my ridiculous scalp under control. I tried a natural/organic scalp shampoo for several weeks and my scalp has gotten so, so much worse. This area is still a great big Green Fail for me right now.

--- 4 ---

Speaking of selecting responsible personal care products for ourselves and our families, please head on over to my post about chemical safety in our personal products on Dallas Moms Blog. This month, the contributors are having a contest to see whose post gets the most views and I'd love to win one of the prizes!

--- 5 ---

I have found an amazing new product that is really going to reduce the waste we produce for the kids' lunch and I can't wait to tell you about this week!

--- 6 ---

I think I am finally on the end of this ridiculous respiratory whatever-it-is that I have had for a week. I did take some OTC meds but I never had to go to the doctor, so I am hopeful that I can go a full year without any kind of antibiotics. I really need to break that cycle.

--- 7 ---

I just have to leave you with this amazing and wonderful video that will make your eyes explode. It is 4 years old but I still think it is the best. Too bad the band broke up and we will never see anything this cool again.


brite futures (npsh) - sophisticated side ponytail from thatgo on Vimeo.


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

Apparently, I don't clean

This is how I clean. Obviously.
photo by stephcarter on flickr

Has your family got the upper respiratory thing that's going around? Well, both my kids were sick for less than a day thanks to Thieves Oil, apple cider vinegar, and elderberry syrup, but by the time I got it we were traveling for Thanksgiving and I was not nearby any of my trusty homeopathic and essential oil preventative treatments. I got clobbered!

Not only that, my house is a wreck. In case you have not heard the sad news, my beloved EcoMaids closed their doors a few weeks ago. When my friend told me about it, I was all "Hey, I will try cleaning my own house! I can do it! I used to do it all the time!".
Yeah...before I had two kids, I did! 

What actually happened was: I went 4 weeks without cleaning my house. You would not believe the state of the floors. I started just kind of kicking the chunks out of the way. I know, right?! It's not that I didn't WANT to clean. I really did. Mentally. But physically, there is only so much of me. It turns out that vacuuming and mopping my floors is right below painting my fingernails on my list of priorities.

I finally gave up and hired one of the former EcoMaids. She is wonderful, and I love her. Now I have to actually decide on a good floor cleaning product -- it had been so long since anyone had mopped my floor without EcoMaids patented products that I had an old product that ended up smelling waaaay too strong for me. If a product smells that strongly, it can't be "green", right? When I actually do clean my floors between EcoMaids visits, I use a water-only steam mop, so I don't have to use products at all.

How about you? Are you able to clean your own house or am I alone in my incompetence in this area?

Happy Thanksgiving with turkey bentos & food art

We have been enjoying celebrating thankfulness and turkeys over the last few weeks!

Here is a short list of things I'm thankful for and then some turkey-related food art.

1. My husband, Christian! We have been going to ReEngage for the past 16 weeks or so and it's been really great. He is such a great dad and good at his job. I am particularly thankful that he gets my weird sense of humor, since very few people do in real life.

2. Sleep. I am so thankful that this is the first Thanksgiving in 4 years that I have slept through the night. AMAZING.

3. The kids, of course. No matter how crazy they drive me, they are amazing little, funny, happy people who make me laugh every day.

4. Our extended families. They don't live near enough to babysit or anything, but we still manage to see them about every 6-8 weeks and we always have a great time. I'm excited to be spending the day with my in-laws.

Since I'm blogging remotely today, I don't have control over where the pictures appear. Below will be a series of two bentos that I made for my kids preschool/Mother's Day Out and then a veggie appetizer tray I created for Thanksgiving today as my contribution to the meal.

Buy Nothing Day 2012

In case you haven't noticed, I don't really promote Black Friday deals of any kind on this blog. Obviously, I'm not a "deals" or coupon blogger. Although a lot of my essential oil remedies and cleaners can save money, and I always do let you know on my Facebook page and Twitter if any of my favorite organic and natural brands have sales or coupons, or if organic grapes/strawberries are on sale locally in Dallas, you will never see me extreme couponing or doing "anything" to save a little money. You know what saves money? NOT SPENDING MONEY ON STUFF.

So this Thursday night and Friday morning, you will not see me at any stores. In fact, in the past my husband and I have joked that we participate in Buy Nothing Day.

Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism celebrated annually just after Thanksgiving.

Technically, I don't think we've gone the 24 hours without buying something because we usually have to go to a grocery store and buy milk or eggs or something. But no, we don't get started on our Christmas shopping. I've never gone to a store at some insane hour, and I don't plan to start now.

In fact, this year we plan to do very little Christmas shopping. Not because we don't celebrate Christmas, but because we do. We celebrate the birth of Someone who is special to us, and we don't do it by spending a lot of money on stuff. Did Jesus have stuff? From all accounts, Jesus was nigh-homeless.

Last year, we were in a weird situation that caused us not to buy gifts at all. And you know what? We didn't miss it, and our family didn't miss it. I made some things for our close family. This year we will be buying small gifts for our nieces and nephews. But I don't think any of us adults are planning on spending money on each other. We all have everything we need: food, clothing, shelter.

If you aren't up for AdBusters' version of Buy Nothing Day, you can always host or attend a Black Friday "Snuggle In"! Get all comfy cozy, watch some Christmas movies, and tell the shopping stress goodbye! Are ya with me?

R.I.P. Bocky and JuJu

R.I.P. Bocky and JuJu

It's ironic that my last post was about our chickens, because they were both killed last night by a bobcat in our area. We had never heard of the bobcat coming this far from the creek or this close to a major road (which our alley backs up to), but apparently it does and it was able to get in our 6 foot fence, into the chicken run, and into the coop. It is partially our fault for not closing the coop securely. I am very sad to think about their last moments and that we were not able to protect or save them. I wish I had played with them yesterday so I could have said goodbye. The kids are at school right now so I am going to have to tell them that Bocky and JuJu are gone when they get back. I was in the backyard cleaning out the feathers and, uh, blood, and it is so quiet and lonely back there without their little bock-bock-bock sounds. I hope that we can get some new chickens soon and that we can make our yard more secure this time.

Taking our backyard back from the chickens

When we got our backyard chickens, we had rosy dreams of chickens roaming freely and happily throughout our large backyard just the way nature intended and the way that factory farmed chickens are never allowed to live.

Then we got the actual chickens and the amount of poop kind of blew me away. I mean, two chickens -- how much could they poop? And surely they'd mostly poop in the grass, right? The answer to those two questions is: an astronomical amount, and NO.

Those dang things poop aggressively anywhere they can squeeze their fluffy bodies into. Inside the garage in the 5 minutes that the door is open before I back the car out. On top of our picnic table. Directly on top of the back door mat so you step into it as you exit the house. And how they hide the poop in the garage when they manage to get in there so that I step in it on my way to the washer and dryer. NOT COOL, CHICKENS.

We thought we had it under control with our dogged dedication to handwashing and by purchasing backyard-only Crocs that were always taken off at the door to the house so that if anyone stepped in poop it never made it inside the house. We covered every dropping with loose sand from the sandbox and swept it away when it dried. We bought a power-washer for the concrete.

Despite one of my previous commenters' disparaging remarks, I really do not think it was unreasonable for us to assume that two chickens in 1/8 of an acre in full sunlight was a natural breeding ground for all kinds disease. In agrarian societies, humans and animals co-existed for centuries and still do on operating farms today.

Nevertheless, I think it was the sippy cups that really did us in. I like to make sure my kids are well hydrated so I let them carry their sippy cups with them wherever they are playing. Which, unfortunately, included outside. It never occurred to me that they might have been dropping those cups in infected areas and then touching them with their mouths and hands. Even after washing their hands, re-touching those cups again later might have been the cause of what happened: salmonella.

At least, we think it was salmonella. It was 2 weeks of diarrhea with no other symptoms for both kids. When we took Little Sir to the doctor (he was the first to exhibit symptoms), she mentioned that it looked a lot like salmonella but that since he hadn't been touching frogs or turtles, that couldn't be it. Then, either she or someone else casually mentioned chickens later...and I started putting it all together.

My first thought, of course, was to cook those chickens for making my babies sick. But I am a vegetarian and ethical slaughter would probably be expensive and time consuming.

Instead, we locked those chickens up in their coop and power-washed the entire back yard and some of the garage floor. SO MUCH POOP. The chickens were indignant and loud about it. I told them that they were lucky that they were not in a soup already.

This weekend, Christian built a little chicken run around their coop with some chicken wire.



I love it!

Another thing I love, unrelated to this post, is my new screen door for the backyard.



The weather is just now getting cool here in the Dallas area and the kids have been enjoying playing outside in their now-poop-free environment. The screen door makes it perfect because I can even work on dinner with the door wide open to hear them and the bugs won't get in. Both of them have even learned to open and close the door themselves! Big kids!

And that is the story of how we reclaimed our back yard from the chickens.

Need feedback: Future posts?

If you haven't been following this blog long (and a lot of you are new, thanks to Green Sisterhood, CottonBabies, and Dallas Moms Blog - hi! welcome!), you might not have noticed that since my last BlogHer, I've really been trying to focus the intention of this blog to be less random stream-of-consciousness, Jenny's-personal-thoughts-about-today and more eco-friendly and green. More Pin-able and less philosophical. Which is a smart and noble endeavor, I believe, especially since I really want to grow my blog to something more than 50 people that I've met IRL at some point in my life and who think I am weird enough to be amusing.

But then, things like last week happen. Where I have a lot of random thoughts in my head but none of them are relevant to my green living endeavors or long enough to be an entire blog post. In fact, a lot of them are probably bemoaning the ways I'm failing and can't seem to gain traction. So I just don't post at all. How is THAT helping my blog? To not post? Probably not much.

Yet, I have a lot of random things to share, which I often do on my blog's Facebook page (make sure you've "Like"ed me!).

• The defeat of Proposition 37 in California and what does that mean for our ability to be conscientious consumers? I think I am too unhappy that this failed to see a way out right now. The truth is, Prop 37 failed because a lot of big corporations have a lot of money and they had the advertising and lobby power to convince people in a tight economy that their overall health and ability to be informed is going to cost them too much. When the opposite is true. It's another case of Big Corp and Big Money winning and I am just so dang sick of being optimistic about that battle when it seems unrealistic.
• What is going on with my garden: it is actually currently producing a fairly good crop of tiny but healthy bell peppers! I think I will collect the entire crop, chop them up and freeze them, and make a stir fry. For one person. I already made these cute bell pepper eggs once. Only the pepper was so small that I made a little flower with all the rings instead...it's hard to describe and I didn't take a picture. Sorry.
• Free shipping with Shaklee. I buy some of my green cleaning products from my friend Jessica's Shaklee business, as you will find out if I ever finish my "Green My Routine: Cleaning" post. That's going to be a long one.
• Going dairy and soy free, in addition to already being vegetarian. OK, it's not me that's dairy and soy free, it's my son. Since we've taken him off dairy and soy his potty training poop issues have suddenly improved. It's been almost 5 days since he's had a poop accident. But, since he already refuses to eat meat of any kind or beans of any kind, removing dairy and soy presents seemingly insurmountable obstacles when it comes to his nutrition. He's already in the 40th percentile for weight. Shoot me now. I have no idea.
• Giving my children salmonella by mistake. It wasn't actually me, but our stupid backyard chickens. I swear, sometimes I consider cooking those chickens for dinner and I don't even eat meat. I believe what happened is that my children's sippy cups came into contact with the chicken poop that is EVERYWHERE in our backyard because those stupid birds are aggressive poopers. As in, you leave something out there for 5 minutes and when you come back there will most definitely be poop on it. Aggressive pooping. So we have confined them to an area of the yard. Pictures to come. And maybe I should blog about the salmonella you can get from backyard as a cautionary measure for other potential chicken owners? It's just all so embarassing.
• Operation Christmas Child. It's a worthy cause, we are excited about it. I took an emergency trip to Target and Whole Foods to get a ton of suitable and conscientious items and then we left our stupid box at home so we might have missed the deadline. Nice.

So maybe some of those bullet points deserve their own post but I'm feeling overwhelmed. Help me out. Which would you like to hear more about? And thanks for hanging in there with me!

Eco-friendly party favors: racecar edition

A few weeks ago, my Little Sir turned 3 years old! He requested a "racecar" birthday party. He likes all racecars, so he wasn't really picky about a Disney theme, just cars in general. You can read more about the specifics of the birthday party on our family blog. I am really not much of a party planner, but it was important to me, as always, to keep our ecological footprint as small as possible with this party. I did go with some disposable plates, cups, and napkins. Sorry, earth. At some point I do plan to purchase bamboo plates and utensils. Expensive. Later.

So, OK, I had to focus on only one thing to "green": the favor bags. If you have young kids, you know that favor bags are typically full of plastic things that are thrown away eventually and never, ever biodegrade. I was determined not to contribute to that kind of waste.

For the bag itself, I bought a yard of Disney Cars fabric from our fabric store and made simple drawstring bags with grosgrain ribbons. There were only 4 seams on each one, so it really didn't take much time. Here is a picture of what was inside, pictured laying on top of one of the bags:

1. Cars Halloween themed pencil erasers
2. Car shaped crayon that I made out of our old, broken crayon collection using this tutorial found on Pinterest.
3. Each guest got a Hot Wheels racecar. The metal kind.
4. Cars temporary tattoos. This was also an activity at the party - I had a sponge out and everyone got to apply tattooes.
5. Not pictured - most guests did get one of those paper party blowers, I just didn't have any leftover. Hopefully since they were paper they were biodegradeable.

Now that I look at the list, it could have been more eco-friendly, but this is a good start. We'll try again for Little Lady's birthday!

Fluffy wheat bread with a bread machine

It's been several months since Ashleigh found us a bread machine for $5 at a garage sale, and now we've transitioned to completely homemade bread. At first, I used her recipe, but then my husband started buying store bought bread on the secret. When I asked him why, he said he missed how fluffy store bread is. He just didn't love the density of wheat bread in the bread machine. So I went on a search for a lighter, fluffier wheat bread recipe.

Wheat bread is, by definition, a denser bread because the flour is ground from a more complete kernel. White bread is lighter because density (and vital nutrition!) has been removed from the grain before it was ground. So really, you can only make wheat bread so "fluffy".

I ran across this recipe for fluffier bread machine bread on AllRecipes.com. Using the comments, I made a few tweaks to it and substituted wheat flour. The trick with this bread is actually allowing the yeast to grow a little in the machine before baking. This is a big "no-no" with bread machines, typically, but in this recipe it works! I promise!

Important for cooler temperatures/climates: I made this recipe for the first time since it got cooler here in Texas (in the 60's, woo hoo!) and the yeast did not work as it did during the summer. I ruined an entire loaf. The yeast should be frothy and bubbly after 10 minutes.

Ultimately, I ended up popping the bread machine inner canister into a warm oven for a few minutes before adding the warm water/yeast and that seemed to fix the problem. My recommendation is that you do warm the inner canister of your machine if it's any cooler than 75 degrees inside your home when you are making the bread.

Fluffy Bread Machine Wheat Bread

1 cup warm water (I microwave 45 seconds)
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp yeast (I use Bread Machine Yeast)

Add warm water and honey to the bread machine and stir until honey is dissolved. Add yeast and stir a little. Close bread machine (not plugged in) and let ingredients sit for 10 minutes. Set a timer. Letting it go too long can also cause problems.

1/4 cup oil
1 cup Better For Bread flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup white flour OR wheat flour (white will be fluffiest but that's a lot of white flour! I typically use half white and half wheat for this final cup)
1/2 tbsp sea salt

I use my white bread setting for this loaf. 2 hours and 40 minutes to light, fluffy wheat bread. Yum!

I'd love to hear if you try this recipe and how it turned out for you!

Election Year Personal Facebook Hiatus

Hey guess what? I voted this morning!

If you are Friends with me as a person (not a blog page "Like"er) on Facebook, I will be taking a personal Facebook hiatus effective RIGHT NOW until 2 days after the election is over. Don't worry, I will still be checking my blog Facebook page, so please feel free to leave me comments there. I'll be posting a great wheat bread machine recipe later this week. Let's have a conversation about something other than Republicans and Democrats! Canadian readers?

I did the Election Year hiatus in 2008 and it was a great idea. It made me stop wanting to punch everyone in the face because we don't always agree on politics. Back then most of the political things came via email, not Facebook, so it was actually an email autoresponder. Nowadays, Facebook is the culprit.

Here is the thing: you are not going to change my mind and I am pretty sure I'm not going to change yours based on some infographic or quote you shared. I have firm beliefs and convictions in these areas which, no, I don't want to discuss. I am OK with everyone else having their convictions because this is a free country.

I will leave you with this verse from the Bible which I think is a good sentiment even if you aren't a Bible-believing Christian:

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Eph. 4:2-4

P.S. It is not my general policy to delete comments from people who disagree, but if there are any negative comments I reserve the right to delete them and turn off commenting on this post.

7 Quick Takes Friday #45

--- 1 ---

Haven't done one of these in a while! My first random thing is: we have been taking Little Sir to the chiropractor to investigate some tummy issues he is having that might explain why he still won't poop on the potty after being pee potty trained for around 6 months. Also, we are about to get kicked out of preschool if he can't learn.

The chiropractor has pinpointed that he seems to have a sensitivity to soy -- all soy, including soy lecithin (which is in everything) and soybean oil when used in a food. We also think he might be having trouble processing cow's milk. He's not lactose intolerant, but cow's milk and cow's milk products, especially cheese, seem to really make his tummy react. So we are going to try to go soy and dairy free for 2 weeks. This is way more difficult than I thought with him being in some kind of childcare or preschool for at least an hour up to 4 times a week. He has already been fed Goldfish (cheese) twice at church.

--- 2 ---

To try to solve this issue, yesterday we took a trip to the craft store and made this Pinterest inspired allergy bracelet for him to wear.

--- 3---

Speaking of things that Pinterest made me do, we also made these fun owl rolls last night!

I used Immaculate Baking crescent rolls which are soy and dairy free, and used soy-free dairy-free Enjoy Life chocolate chips for eyes and raw cashew halves for the beak.

--- 4 ---

Do you have any idea how many things contain some form of soy? This is disturbing considering that most soy is a GMO.

--- 5 ---

I could do a whole All The Drama On The Internets about how people suspect that Whole Foods is wavering in their support of Proposition 37 in California (a bill to label GMO's), even though their latest newsletter seems to indicate otherwise. I do hope they stand firm, since there is literally no viable alternative for me to find this depth of soy-free dairy-free products outside of Whole Foods. I can't really boycott them right now, guys. Sorry.

--- 6 ---

Another note regarding advocacy: there are a ton of great petitions and green actions going on right now within members of The Green Sisterhood, but I don't publicize them all on this blog. I know a lot of my readers are just beginning on your green journey and I am not going ask you to sign a petition protesting something every day. However, I would highly encourage you to visit the Green Sisterhood web site or Facebook page to get more in-depth information that I often provide on this blog. Also, if you ever think I'm a little overboard with my "green" lifestyle, check out those ladies -- they're way more green than me!

--- 7 ---

I got a massage at Massage Envy yesterday and found out just how much my shoulders are jacked up. Whee! All those wheelbarrow and other Pilates moves that put all the body weight on the shoulders and neck have done some serious damage, moreso even than during my pregnancies when I worked 10 hour shifts at the computer. Moral of this story: make sure you keep your shoulders away from your ears when doing Pilates, folks.

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

Green my Routine: Mornings

I have been thinking for a while that I'd like to document the steps I've taken so far to "green" my daily routine. Not just how I've made our lives more eco-friendly, but how I have tried to make it healthier by avoiding trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and phthalates specifically. At the same time, I need to acknowledge where I am failing and still need to take ground. As I thought through this in my head, I realized that a post like that would be reeeally long, so I think I'll make this a regular feature called Green My Routine. If you have your own blog, feel free to join in by linking up!

Today's Green My Routine is: Mornings

Showering
For bathing, we use two options: handmade soap bars from Whole Foods (to avoid phthalates, parabens, and sodium laurel sulfates) or Kirkland Body Wash from Costco which is surprisingly also free of those things, has a great citrus smell, and is very cost effective.

For shampoo, I have a Green Fail so far. I have such a dry scalp that I've been unable to find an eco-friendly shampoo that doesn't leave me with itchiness and flaking. I'm currently trying the Hugo brand but it isn't looking any more promising. For conditioner, I use Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Conditioner.

I also use hair conditioner on my legs to shave, so I don't buy shaving gel. I have another Green Fail when it comes to razors. Before kids, I removed hair using homemade body sugar, but now I don't have the time to keep up with it and I'm back to disposable razors (horrible, I know). According to Beth Terry, my best option would be to buy an old fashioned safety razor and refill the blades. I really want to do this!

Body care
After spending years and a ton of money on expensive organic and not-so-organic body lotions, I recently gave up on commercial body moisturizers and decided to try to make my own. I have been using this recipe for homemade coconut oil lotion bars to make my own solid lotion for the last few months and it works pretty well. I add some Peace and Calming essential oil blend for scent. I also have some Hugo Naturals body lotion as an option for when I'm in too much of a hurry to apply the coconut oil bar.

I've done a few posts about natural deodorant and how to use crystal deodorant, so that's what I use to control odor. I rarely wear perfume of any kind any more because it is all phthalates, phthalates, phthalates. When I do want fragrance, I use Aveda's Pure-fume which is specifically blended for me using essential oils.

Hair care
If I washed my hair, I apply a little Aveda Smooth Infusion Style Prep Smoother when it's wet. I blow dry and finish with Aveda Control Paste and, if I am doing a zig zag part, Aveda Control Force. I just realized that I am an Aveda whore. It's true. They are not paying me to talk about their products, but clearly I am addicted.

If I didn't wash my hair, I use my homemade dry shampoo. I got some free commercially made dry shampoo at BlogHer 2012 and after using it 3 times, my scalp reacted so badly that I had to invent my dry scalp mask treatment to restore the balance. What do they put in that stuff?! It can't be good!

Breakfast Food
Since my son recently exhibited a sensitivity to the organic cereal he was eating every morning, we have mostly cut cereal out of our morning food. Right now, I typically have oatmeal with brown sugar, raisins, and sometimes banana. Sometimes Christian makes steel cut oats with chia seeds in our rice maker overnight.

The kids have yogurt, which is a Green Fail because they will only eat naturally flavored yogurt (no HFCS or artificial colors or flavors, but they want it fruit flavored), which only comes in individual containers. It would be much greener if I could buy large containers and spoon it into bowls, but there is currently no brand that makes large containers of organic fruit flavored yogurt. WHY IS THIS?! What is so difficult about that?? I tried making my own yogurt but the kids absolutely hate plain yogurt. I tried flavoring plain yogurt with honey and fruit but they hated that too. Somehow they knew that it wasn't fruit flavored out of the container. I have given up. We kill the environment every day with those stupid individual containers.

In addition to the yogurt, they eat eggs from our backyard chickens and Costco. Another favorite is "honey toast", which is toasted homemade bread from my bread machine spread with coconut oil and local honey. My son would eat waffles every single day if we let him. To save money, I make my own. It was somewhat of a Green Fail for a while because I was using the Bisquick Heart Healthy mix which contains a lot of preservatives I didn't love. Still, it was the only Bisquick mix that didn't contain trans fats. Then I found this recipe for wheat waffles on Weelicious and we've been using it lately. I make a batch and freeze whatever we don't eat that day. I'm going to have to start making double batches because these kids can EAT in the mornings. We put maple syrup (cheapest at Costco) on the waffles, or even honey because conventional Aunt Jemima-type syrup from the store is made primarily of high fructose corn syrup and has artificial colors. No, thank you.

I have to admit that I do use a Keurig for my coffee. I didn't buy it, it was given to me by a family member who didn't like it. Since I am the only person in the house who drinks coffee, it's very convenient. It could be a Green Fail except that I use a reusable cartridge, which I fill with Trader Joe's Fair Trade Organic coffee, instead of K-cups. I only buy K-cups for guests, and I make sure that the coffee in the K-cups is also Fair Trade. When they finish with the K-cup, I peel off the top, dump the grounds into my compost, rip out the biodegradable paper filter, and recycle the plastic part. Hopefully that makes up for the evil of using 4-5 K-cups per month.

I could still take some ground here with breakfast. Honestly, most "green" moms don't allow their kids any sugar so the waffles and yogurt should be right out. And many consider wheat of any kind to be bad. That pretty much leaves eggs and oatmeal. I have not yet convinced my children to eat oatmeal. Yesterday my son told me, "Oatmeal is for Mommy and Daddy and LL. Oatmeal is not good for me."

How about you? Any suggestions for my Green Fail areas? Any other questions I can answer about our mornings?

Essential Oils for Allergies

In addition to preventing allergies by sinus rinsing, another great way to treat seasonal allergies without medication is by using essential oils. When I initially researched using essential oils for my allergies, I came across the following recipe:

Honey Lavender Allergy remedy

1 tbsp local honey
1-2 drops of food-grade Lavender essential oil

I put it on a spoon and swallow it. My kids actually LOVE this so much that my son lies about having allergies so that he can have it.

Two caveats to this recipe:

1) Make certain that the essential oil you are using is graded FS (Food Safe) or GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) by the FDA. Most oils you buy at a retail store will say "aromatherapy use only" - do not take these oils internally. Of course, you know that I sell Young Living oils. YL's Lavender is rated FS and GRAS by the FDA. Another brand that is FS/GRAS is DoTerra.

2) You want to make sure that you use honey from local bees. This is because the pollen they collect is from the local species of trees and flowers to which you are having a reaction. Having the pollen of plants from another area or state is not very helpful in assisting your body with the allergic reaction to local plants.

We have been using the above recipe with a great deal of success, but when allergens got really bad it wasn't enough for me. I was still getting sinus headaches.

One day a friend of mine who had just bought some Lavender oil from me through Young Living texted me saying she'd accidentally swallowed 5-6 drops of Lavender, instead of 1-2, when making the Honey Lavender remedy. She was worried that might be too much. I didn't think it sounded like too much but told her to look out for diarrhea, which can occur when you ingest too much of an essential oil. Then she texted back a short while later saying that her allergic reaction was really gone (and no potty related side effects)! As a result, I started doing this myself intentionally.

Stronger Allergy Remedy: 5-6 drops of Lavender essential oil

This one tastes TERRIBLE, I am not going to lie. Have a glass of something next to you that you can eat or drink. I suggest a cookie and some water or lemon or honey tea.

I also researched other allergy remedies using my essential oils reference book and found this one:

Topical Essential Oil Allergy Remedy

1 drop Lavender oil - apply to the base of the throat
1 drop Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) oil - apply to the base of the throat shortly after the Lavender

Apply each and tap with your finger pads over the area where applied and then tap right over your heart. This is the thymus area, and tapping on it is supposed to activate your immune responses, which are stimulated by the Lavender and Tea Tree oils. I have no idea if this is true, but I know that when I did this it helped my allergies!

Now, go forth and conquer this weather. Let me know if you try these remedies and they work as well for you as they did for me!

Kidville Dallas: my fave indoor play spaces

As you probably know, I blog at Dallas Moms Blog and CottonBabies blog to empty my head of most kid-related posts, and I have my highly neglected family blog for random cute pictures of my kids.

But I do want to take a minute and tell all my local friends with kids (even nieces/nephews or grandchildren) about one of my very favorite kids' places: Kidville.

I learned about Kidville through my work with Dallas Moms Blog*. Kidville is an amazing place for kids where they can take classes (with a parent or caregiver or without), get a haircut, shop for toys and clothing, and even attend Kidville University (an alternative to traditional preschool).

I used my membership to sign Little Lady up for Run, Wiggle, Paint and Giggle, which is a once-a-week Mommy And Me class that offers songs and movement and art. She and I go to class at Kidville while Little Sir is in preschool on Tuesdays. It is a wonderful time for us to do an activity together, just she and I. This is something I feel like she really hadn't been able to experience as much as Little Sir did, since she is a second child and we always have him with us too.











Honestly, even if Little Lady didn't love the Kidville class so much, the membership would be more than worth it for access to the indoor play spaces at Kidville. My favorite is the Play Village, because it is open 9am-5:45pm every single day!



It's wonderful for days when it's too hot (all summer!) or too cold or rainy to play outside at a park.

The gym is also a huge hit, although the free play hours there are a little different each semester.

So there's my mom-related blog post and tip for the week/month: Kidville!
We love it!

*NOTE: As a contributor to Dallas Moms Blog, I did receive a free semester of classes which comes with access to all the play spaces. All opinions about Kidville are my own.

Sinus rinsing for seasonal allergies

A lot of people ask me about natural remedies for seasonal allergies, and one of my main responses is always: prevention through regular sinus rinsing. Of course, my favorite method is the neti pot, but if you have mental barriers to using the neti pot, a spray sinus cleanse is a good alternative.

Why sinus rinsing?
The key to preventing allergic reactions in the body is to stop the allergens from accumulating and incubating in your respiratory system in the first place. I might not be explaining this perfectly since I'm not a doctor, but here goes: allergens such as pollen, dust, or pet dander enter through your nose and mouth and are caught in the tiny hairs in your sinus passages. They hang out there, irritating your body. Your body launches "attacks" on these foreign bodies by manufacturing mucus, causing your eyes to itch and water, and a variety of other reactions meant to help your body rid itself of something it doesn't like.

To minimize these cleansing reactions, it is important to keep your sinus passages cleaned out as much as possible. A great way to do this is regular saline rinsing. Rinsing is the practice of sending a sterile  solution (most frequently salt-and-water) through the sinus cavities and back out, taking the irritants with the saline as it exits. The solution must be sterile so that you are not introducing additional irritants or bacteria via the rinse.

The options for rinsing
My option of choice is, of course, the neti pot. I have already written a post that covers how to use a neti pot, but the main advantages of neti pot, for me, are:

• inexpensive (I make my own solution)
• portable (I bring the empty pot and salt with me on airplanes in my carry-on)
• reusable (the neti pot itself can be reused indefinitely)

Disadvantages include:

• water used in the neti pot must be boiled (this is time consuming but I keep a carafe of pre-boiled water next to my bathroom sink)
• learning to use the neti pot takes a while (if you are doing it correctly the neti pot should not hurt)

If you find the neti pot difficult to use, another good option is a prepackaged saline nasal spray*. I actually use saline sprays such as Little Noses for my children since they are too little for the neti pot. However, many companies also make adult versions of a saline spray. With most sprays, you are moisturizing your sinuses, but aren't necessarily washing the irritants out. You're just making them wetter. If you follow a typical saline spray mist by vigorous nose blowing (which is what I have my kids do), it is a big help, but a better option would be to use an irrigation system that has a special nozzle creating a targeted stream (see illustration, right). The nozzle increases the force of the saline so that it shoots right back out of your nose, very much like a neti pot.

Advantages of using a prepackaged irrigation system include:

• Ease of use (ready to go out of the package)
• Solution is always sterile (provided you do not share containers to prevent cross contamination)

Disadvantages include:

• non-reusable
• difficulty in disposing of or recycling the container, creates a lot of waste
• more expensive

The things that makes me cringe about a saline spray option is that the end-of-life options for the materials are very bad. The entire container uses a lot of plastic, which can't be recycled. The canister itself utilizes compressed air of some kind, so technically you should not dispose of it in residential trash due to the danger of explosion from puncture in the trash compacting process. I guess your best bet would be to try and locate a facility that disposes of compressed air containers like hair spray, spray paint, and other similar products.

With that caveat, there is definitely a sinus rinse option that can help you this allergy season! If that's not enough, check back with me later and I'll have some essential oil solutions for seasonal allergies.


*NOTE: I was given a specific pre-packaged irrigation system for review for this post but the company was comfortable highlighting the disadvantages outlined. At their request, I have removed the name of their product from this post.  If you would like my recommendation on a pre-packaged irrigation system, please see the Amazon widget in the right column of the blog.