Wordless Wed

I knew it was coming....

SO let me start this post off by saying that we have lived in our ward for 2 years now, and have somehow excaped without a calling! Well, I actually had one right before we moved last year for the summer, but I never got put in, so it didn't count! Well, this morning the executive secritary came a knocking on our door..... The bishop wants to meet with you tonight at 8:15.... so we have 20 minutes left of life as we know it! Hehe
so now lets have a poll to see what everyone thinks our new callings will be!!!
DH thinks Sunday School Teachers...... (I HOPE NOT! hehe)

Crunchy Tuesday- Family Cloth

Well, You all either loved the cloth diaper post or hated it- so here is another one to make you think. Let me start off by saying we don't do this at my house, but I would! I don't think it is a big deal and it really would save a ton of money, but I just haven't acted on it.

Ok- Family cloth is washable toilet paper. That is it. It basically means that by using wash clothes to wipe your bottom instead of toilet paper, and you save hundreds of dollars a year! So what do you think? Do you do it? Could you? Would you DH go for it? Does the idea weird you out? I really want to know what people think about this or if most of you have even heard about it!

p.s. just for Devon I will be posting a begining sewing tutorial soon- (I have about 100 things to do before I get to it, but hopefully sometimes this week! My birthday is on Thursday, so we will see what I get done by then! :) )

Think about it Sunday

Sorry- We decided to run out of town and go go surprise my MIL for mothers day! So I am a little bit late- but here is the question of the week!

What are 3 really weird habits or things about you?

I must say I have a lot of weird things about me! lol!!
1. I have to tuck my socks into my pj pants and my shirt into my pants when I am sleeping anywhere but my own bed- I guess I am scared of the dirt and the bugs hehehe!
2. When I pluck my eyebrows it makes me sneeze! It is really quite a funny chain of effect!
3. I have never had a broken bone or stitches!

Your turn! :)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

I hope you all have a great day!! You deserve it!

Its funny.....

.... How many strange looks you get when you are moving the lawn with a baby on your back.... hehehe!

Im having a bad day....

Well it actually started last night with a KILLER pain in my left lower abdomen. I mean, I didnt even sew, knit OR cut anything out while I sat and watched Ugly Betty, Grays Anatomy AND the biggest looser- that is how you KNOW it must have been bad! SO I kind of got some sleep- actually, it took me like an hour and a half to fall asleep and I was just tossing and turning the whole time! I woke up at 7:30 to the baby crying. (Better than 6 so I cant complain!) I got her up and she had pooped and had a terrible diaper rash! Ug- so anyway, I get all my stuff gathered up to go out in the mail, but I dont have a box big enough to send all the diapers I sold to a lady in Canada. SO I just decided to put them in a bag and throw them in a flat rate box at the Post office. SO I run upstairs to throw some velcro on the minky cover and I hear a big crash- yep, Bailey threw her high chair tray off- scarrering food all over the clean CARPETED kitchen floor...... So whatever.
We leave the house and got to the PO, where I realise I have forgotten the address. So I run home and grab it, then decided to run over to Walmart to pick up my late mothers day cards and then I can do a 2-in-1 stop at the PO. Well I get clear out to the car when I realise they didnt give me envelopes. So I unbuckle the baby and march back in the store to demand some envelopes. "We dont have any" Is the response. OK! WHY THE HECK DID I BUY A CARD FROM YOU IF I CANT MAIL IT NOW?!?!?!?!?!?! So I was super mad! I get back in the car and head back over to the PO (The po, walmart and my house area all in like a 2-3 block square). I get there and look at their flat rates to Canada- $25!!! Are you kidding me?!? Even if I am not the one paying for shipping, I refuse to do THAT! So I go out to the car, dump all of the babies toys out of the box they are being stored in, and truck back in to pack it up. I buy some of their tape because I didnt bring my own, and it does not stick to the box AT ALL! Isnt that what it is for? sheesh! While I am using $3 worth of tape just to get this thing to close up, the baby is running all over the place (at that age she wont sit nicley on my lap or the counter) and she is throwing the envelopes on the floor and stomping on them and then she figured out how to open the door....... OH MY GOSH! SO she is running out the door and laughing and running to the outside door. She did this about 20 times, which made it even more hard and time consuming to get this thing mailed! So after about 17 people jump in front of me in line I am finally done and get it all mailed off. I am starting to feel ok because I know that it is nap time when we get home. that is until I strap the baby into her seat and realise that there is an itty bitty white AI1 (the lady payed $6.50 for it....) sitting on the seat next to her! OH MY GOSH! SO I should have tried to stuff it in there and redo everything, but they had already taken the package and the lady at the PO hates me! SO anyway- here is hopeing the rest of this day takes a turn and goes better!

Things im working on Thursday

These are suposed to be at the end..... so just pretend they are! lol

Sorry I am so late! I have been rushing around and trying to get stuff done! I am VERY excited to say I have been selling some diapers! YIPEE! Here are 5 newborn/small AI1's That I made custom for a mama in Canada
This is the inside- all fleece
Minky/PUL cover! My first and I LOVE it!
4 fitteds for the order

I also made a bunch of hand painted AI1's for Bailey too! (Well, then I ran out of snaps!)

Also a shirt for a clothing swap I am doing

As promised- my woodland creatures! hehe- I still have a brown owl and a mouse to make! They are an owl, a squirrel, a hedgehog and an acorn if you were wondering!

Wordless Wednesday

Crunchy Tuesday-

Cloth diapers-

I hesitated putting the title in the title bar because knew it would instantly turn people off from reading this post- but I assure you that if you do read to the end, maybe something I have to say will change your mind!

I decided to cloth diaper my baby before I even knew what we were having. My MIL bought me 3 packages of the plain white Gerber diapers, and I thought I was set!

(Fastened with a snappi- not pins)

We could NOT for the life of us, find a pair of plastic pants that were under size 18 M, so I took my search to the internet and almost instantly got pulled into the wonderful world of cloth diapering! Cloth diapers are NOT a big white towel folded oragami style and held on by pins with a crunchy paur of plastic pants. The cloth diapers I made and use look exactly like disposibles- let me scratch that and they they are a million times CUTER than disposibles! (Who wouldnt rather have a princess or football diaper rather than a plain white crunchy one....) They are fastened with snaps or velcro and can be washed and dryed in about an hour and a half- no more running out in the middle of the night to buy more!

When my Ray Ray was about 2 1/2-3 months old we moved to a new town and a house that was- well, not the greatest. I had her in disposibles while I was trying to get things settled and set up, and that kid ruined at least 3 outfits a day! I couldnt keep anything inside those diapers! I would put on one of my homemade diapers and she was fine! That was when I vowed that I would get that washer hooked up and start using cloth full time- and I must say, I have done a pretty darn good job at it! lol. One of my favorate things was to take all the newly washed, itty, bitty, diapers outside and hanging them on my clothesline to dry!

Let me start off by saying- have you ever read the back of a package of disposable diapers? Along with all of the terribly irritating and downright scary chemicals they use it clearly states that you should dump all solid waste into a toilet before throwing it out. Did you know that it take 500 years to decompose a diaper complete with poop in out landfills? I bet that is something you never though about!

The other day my husband and I sat down and were talking about how many diapers 1 baby uses in a year, and how much those diapers cost. We came to the conclusion that an average baby uses about 6 diapers a day. One pack of diapers holds about 40 diapers and costs about $12. So an average baby uses about a pack of diapers a week, making it about 4 ½ packs a month. So at $12 a pack, that equals $54 a month, or $648 a year- and 6 diapers a day is minimal for a baby! So when an average child is in diapers for 3 years, that means you are spending at least $2,000 on diapers PER child! Now imagine being able to buy a whole “stash” of diapers, lets say 15 per size (so about $150-$200 per size) which means about $500 for the entire time your child is in diapers- PLUS they can be used by multiple children! That is only paying ¼ of what is the norm for diapers, and that is for just one child! How could you pass up a deal like that! So all you “deal seeking mama’s” out there need to take a chance and use cloth!

Even if you just get cloth diapers to be worn at home, while you are just hanging out, you will be more than going green. Not to mention that switching out just 2 of your diapers with CD’s would save you hundreds of dollars! How could you go wrong with saving the environment AND saving money!

People pretend like it isnt work the extra cost of washing the diapers- that is just rediculous! All I do when I wash diapers is put them in a cold soak with a spoonfull of oxy clean, a splash of viniger and if they are REALLY stinky, a little capfull of bleach. Then when they have been on the soak I put them in a hot wash cycle with a little bit of arm and hammer laundry soap- 1/8 as much as you would normally use) and let them go and just run an extra rinse cycle. Then they can go in the dryer or be dryed outside. It is no more work or more energy that a regular wash cycle! You will NOT be scrubbing out poop stains all day, that is just rediculous! Newborn stuff and any stuff that wont come off in the toilet with a little shaking can be thrown right into the washing machine!

Cloth diapers can be made out of flannel or any kind of fabric, but they will need a cover. I am getting more into the AI1's which dont need anything- I hope to get some PUL for my birthday! Anyway, I urge you to give cloth diapering a try. Even if you just had 3-5 and used them once or twice a day you would save SO much money in a year! They are so easy to use, and so fun! To prove my point, I am giving a 20% discount to any mama who wants to try cloth diapers! That comes out to be like $5 a diaper- you will NEVER find a deal like that on brand new AI1's! So send me an email and leave me comments and let me know what you think!

ANd check out my website for more frequently asked questions and to see some of my stuff!
http://myclothaddiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/faq.html

Tutorials for tonight! - Cloth diaper burp cloth

Ok- well This is my 100 post, and since I dont have anything exciting going on and just did a gievaway I went for the next best thing- I figured it was about time I posted another tutorial.... I havnt had time to do the usual hemstitched burp cloths I normally send with my baby gifts, so I have been doing these instead. I will start with the easy method and end up with the more difficult, but much better method!

Easy method-

First off, you need to buy a package of the 12 for $12 cloth diaper prefold that they sell at Walmart- they are Gerber brand. These things suck for actual diapers, but they work ok for burps! lol. You need to prewash them about 4-5 times because the inside is made out of a spongy batting, and washing helps loosen things up- BTW, all fabric should be washed before use to get it all shrunk and ready to use- then you dont need to worry when you throw it in the wash!
Now, get a cute peice of flannel fabric 6 inches by the length of the fabric long. (Cotton woven fabric or 'quilting fabric' is ok, but it about 1/2 as absorbant as flannel, so flannel is just a better fit!) Take your 6 inch peice and iron all the edges just a little bit because flannel frays very badly!
Lay the flannel right side up centered in the middle of the diaper. Pin all around so it doesnt move around much. You are only doing one side at a time, so one side will be covered and then you will have a big long tail on the end. Now sew with a straight seam all the way around the flannel, being sure to catch all the edges. Once the first side is done, repeat on the other side. Again use a straight stitch and make sure to catch all the edges.

Now you are done! How easy was that?!? Perfect baby shower gift and you can make it in about 5 minutes!

I like to add some ribbon, rick rack, a bow- whatever you would like to fancy it up! You can use decorative stitches or just a straight or zig zag.

Now for the more complicated method-

Start with a peice of fabric 20inches by 14 inches. You will also need an old towel and a peice of white flannel if you prefer.


Cut out 2 peices 20 by 14 inches of the towel. Or, you can do 1 peice of the towel and another peice of just plain flannel.
My two peices of towel....
now fold one of the peices of towel in 3, meeting in the middle. This is the soaker part of the burp cloth. Now take a wide zig zag stitch and go all the way around the tri folded peice.
(I tried to do it in green so you could see!
Now, once the trifolded peice is sewn onto the regular flat peice you can go ahead and assemble. Take the 20 inch by 14 inch peice of flannel you cut out and fold it in half right sides facing each other. Now take your towel peice and lay it on top of the flannel. Pin all the way around. Now take a straight stitch and sew 3 sides- making sure the side you dont sew isnt the side that is folded! (You need to be able to turn it inside out!)
Clip corners and bulky excess and turn it inside out. It will look like a fluffy blanket or pillow case. Turn in the seam that isnt sewn yet and pin it catching all the parts that arnt sewn yet. Now you get to sew all the way around the edge. A decorate stitch is fun but you can do straight! Be careful in the spot where the soaker is and in the corners that you dont break a needle! (I did!)
Now you need to sew down the soaker. Find where it is and put pins in a line or mark it with washable fabric marker or chalk. Sew a straight seam down the edge so it is in 3 parts.
All done! I hope my instructions wernt amazingly confusing! Send me pictures and let me know how it worked if you decide to try it!!

Caserole week!

SO guess what?!? I just went to open up my recipee thing I have on my computer- and oops, it is lost with all my other stuff! GrEaT......... So until I figure out what I am doing, uh- postponed again! hehehe- you are all going to stop reading since I keep making promises I dont keep... oh well! I need to get back to work.... Got a squirel, a mouse, a moose and a pair of pants to make- not to mention homework.... wish me luck and send me those recipees again!

Think about it Sunday

(This is just a dumb little fun one! lol)
Does your DH help around the house? What does he help you do? Does he do anything that bugs you (house cleaning/work wise lol) What do you wish he would do? What do you have to ask again and again for him to do? And what does he refuse to do?

My hubby helps on occasion lol. He gets in these moods where he is such a help, then there are days when he wont even pick up a sock.... He usually does the dishes and cleans out the car when he decides to help. (Which is great with me because I HATE dished!) When we were first married he would always be picking up and moving my stuff to places I couldnt find it! It drove me NUTS! Maybe that is why he doesnt help as much as I would like sometimes! hehe. I guess what I would have to keep asking him to do would be pick up his dirty clothes.... but what man would do that?!? lol. He refuses to change diapers. I have no clue why! It seems like the once a month he does change one it is a messy one! (serves him right lol!)

Anyway- let me know what yours does!

A year ago in our life-

Isnt she just sweet!
DH got his first Par! lol he was so excited

nearing 100

1. So I figured I would get you all up to date on some stuff! lol. First off- as you may have figured out, Casserole week kind of get messed up with test and such, but since school is officially out, I have decided that Monday May 4 will be the start of casserole week! If you have a recipe it is still not too late to shoot me an email and I will try it out! (Email on the sidebar!)

2. Next- I am quickly nearing my 100 post! This will be my 97! Wow it has sure gone quick! So what should we do to celebrate? Suggestions would be great!

3. Next- What tutorials are you guys interested in? Seriosly, if you want to know how to do something please shoot me a comment and let me know and I will get something worked out! I love suggestions because I never know what you guys want!

4. Next- What other things would you like for this blog- do you have suggestions for new features, things you want me to write my opinion on, things you want to know about me? Is there something you really like about this blog? Go ahead- shoot me a comment!

5. I cant think of anything else right now! lol Shoot me an email or leave a comment and let me know what you think! Have a great weekend!