Help a sista out....

If anyone can respond to this post from Cloth Diapers written by Jen owner of Cotton Babies (bumgenius diapers) it would be great! Thanks!!!!

How much waste does a baby wearing disposable diapers really generate?

Cotton Babies has long been frustrated by the lack of information available about how each baby wearing disposable diapers impacts landfills.


We are working on a project to collect data about how much used disposable diapers weigh. The goal of this project is to estimate the approximate weight of the waste generated from a child wearing disposable diapers full time. 


To participate, please have your baby wear one disposable diaper for a normal length of time (as you define it). At the next diaper change, please weigh that disposable diaper.  You can submit the information about that diaper using this form:


http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2vcyg3lg8kjrgtb/start


After the data is collected and summarized, we will publish the results here on this blog for the benefit of the entire cloth diapering community.  Multiple submissions per family are welcome, but please sure that each submission reflects the information for one diaper only.  Thank you in advance for your participation and for telling your friends so they can help too!


Kindest regards,


Jennifer Labit, Owner
Cotton Babies, Inc.

Ants Be Gone.

This is a totally random but useful post.

We get ants in our house every.single.summer. I hate them. Most of the time I can find their colony outside, stick an ant killer stake in the ground, and call it a day. Great, but it does not work when they get in my kitchen. With 3 kids eating and dropping crumbs everywhere the ants get BAD and it is so hard to get rid of them. A few weeks ago a friend taught me a way to get rid of them that is all natural and wont kill my kids.

Killer Ant Butter Balls

- 1 tsp. butter

-1/8 tsp. borax

-1/4 tsp. sugar

Mix the sugar, borax, and butter together. Roll into teeny tiny balls and stick it where ever the ants are coming in.

This is great for us because there is such a small amount of borax in the mix that if one of my kids eats it I dont have to freak out and call poison control but it is strong enough that it will knock out the colony of ants in less than a week.

Thanks Megan!!!!

Happy Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day!!!

I personally think Earth Day should be everyday but I don't make up the calendar so......

Here are 5 totally realistic, simple, things you can do EVERYDAY to celebrate and RESPECT our home and keep it healthy.

1. Reduce your water usage. This is so easy it should be illegal. Just turning the water off while brushing your teeth, cutting your shower down by 2 minutes, push the energy saver button on your dishwasher.... I know you hear it everyday but so many people don't do it because they think it does not matter. It does. I guarantee it.

2. Use reusable bags. They don't have to be dorky and rock the name of your local grocery store on them. There are tons of funky cool bags out there. Like these from The Container Store and these from Pier One or just head over to Etsy and buy some one of a kind handmade ones. And don't just use them for groceries. Use them at Target or take them to the mall with you.

3.) ONLINE BILL PAY. Don't be lazy you are already on the computer. If your excuse is it takes to long to set up than set up one account everyday or even one a week. Before you know it you will be paperless.

4.)Recycle. This is a no brainer. Just do it.

5.) Use compact fluorescent bulbs. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. On top of that, for every incandescent bulb you replace with an approved compact fluorescent light bulb, you will save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. How many lights do you have in your home? Uh huh...that's ALOT of green. Pun intended.

See simple. Its the small things that count. If we could just find enough people who cared.....

The Worst Week. Ever.

This was the WORST week in the history of weeks.

SO......

Thank you Quaker for putting crack in my kids strawberries 'n cream oatmeal. They have been cracked out all week and when it is bed time they are so strung out they cant settle down.

Fabulous.

Thank you malicious teenagers for going down my quiet cul de sac and reaping havoc house by house. We all appreciated cleaning latex paint off our cars, calling our car insurance companies to report break ins, theft, and body damage, and for the one poor family who got their dining room window broken- we all feel sorry for you for having the pleasure of dealing with your home owners insurance.

Good luck.

Thank you same stupid teenagers for leaving paint on your front porch, leaving finger prints all over the empty can of paint you left on my husbands car, and for dropping your paint covered keys in the street.

Real smart.

Hope you enjoy jail.

Thank you hubby's work for loading him up test after test so that he is grouchy and cranky when he gets home hours after our kids have gone to bed for the night.

Your awesome.

Thank you teething baby for keeping me up between the hours of 2:30 and 5:30 am. I really enjoy that. Let's do it again tonight.

NOT!

Friday oh Friday, I was hoping you would be better. You were until I dropped a tray of seedlings on one of the only floors in our house that is carpeted. I wanted to get a pic of the mess but I was literally fighting Ellie off with all I had.

She wanted that dirt.

BAD.

Since there is no redo, or start over button for life, Im hoping, hoping, hoping that this coming week is better.

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!!

Beautiful disaster.

This was my kitchen counter this morning.



You're probably thinking

"So what. My kitchen looks like that every morning."

Lets take a look at the pic again.






Beautiful disaster.

**note I cleaned up this beautiful disaster right after I took the pic. Don't want anyone to think I leave my kitchen looking like that all day.

CJKidz

Check out CJKidz.

Sisters Diane (an artist) and Janet (a writer) created CJKidz as a resource for books, products, adventure, learning and fun.  The site is loaded, I mean LOADED, with parenting information, tips, book suggestions and craft ideas as well as hand painted chairs and tees by Diane, fictional stories written by Janet, and TONS of other cool stuff.

I LOVE the families giving back section.  We are big on Mitzvot at our house so families giving back is right up my ally.  I'm also partial to all the books suggestions on going green ;)

This week CJKidz is celebrating Earth day (April 22nd) by featuring books about recycling, the environment, and going green, gardening tools, products about birds, bugs, butterflies and more!

Please support this awesome site by becoming a fan of CJKidz on Facebook here.

***edited some of the links were broken. I fixed them. sorry.

I'm doing it all for the Nook.

I want one of these

BAD!

So bad that I am tearing my house apart finding fabulous junk stuff to sell so I can come up with at least half of the $260 it cost to buy one.

Can't you just see me laying on the beach in Gulf Shores, AL reading ALL my favorite books on my new Nook?

I can.

Why the Nook over other eReaders?  

Let me tell you....

-Its from Barnes and Nobles. I heart Barnes and Nobles.

-It is compatible with the St. Louis County Library's electronic book lender. How cool, easy(and lazy) will it be to not have to request a book, wait for it, go pick it up, read it in a day, then go and drop it back off?

-You can download hundreds of older books for free.  Some of my most favorite books are on that list.
-It can store up to 1500 electronic books. Have more than 1500 books? No problem! The Nook has a memory card.

- WiFi, touch screen, E ink display, adjustable text size....the list goes on and on.

I cant wait!!!!