Not so in love as before....

Well, it seems that cloth can't handle the overnight shift. I had to change Ronan's diaper, jammies and sheets last night at 1:00 in the morning....

I will be brave and try doubling the inner cloth tonight. If that doesn't work, we will have to do disposables at night. We will see.

Oh boy am I brave or what?

You Voted,

and we listened.

We have braved the world of cloth diapers.

And it is a lot less horrible that I have been told.

Gone are the days of the wet diaper pail. Gone are the days of pinning diapers together.

Say hello to BumGenius!, and yes they really are.

I thought it was a little presumptuous of the company to call themselves genius until I got my pack of diapers in the mail yesterday and tried them out today.

These bad boys are so soft I wanted to snuggle my own cheeks into them, and I am not talking about my bum.


They are expensive at $18.00 each, but before you crap YOUR pants, take these things into account.

1. These cloth diapers are adjustable. They will fit your baby from 8 to 35 pounds.

2. You only have to buy them once and they have a year warranty.

3. They are super easy to use. Just like disposables except for two extra steps. Dumping the yuck in the toilet and washing them each evening.

4. A box of 244 diapers costs $48.00 at Costco. That is $0.20 each. I buy about one box every three weeks. That costs me $832.00 a year. Wipes run me about $200.00 a year. Kids are in diapers for about 2 years.

That is $2064.00 per kid.

5. I need only 12 diapers a day.

$216.00 gets me a daily supply of cloth diapers. FOR LIFE! They may even make it on to the next kid. We will see how gross they get over time. And yes I am doing cloth wipes too.

So why pay that much money for your kid to sit in uncomfortable rash giving, chemical filled diapers. That is just nuts.

Ronan took two uninterrupted 3 hour naps today for the first time ever. Coincidence? I think not. I mean if I had been sitting on one of those hospital maxi pads 24-7 for the last 7 months my butt would not thank me. So imagine how babies feel. They wrap up just like disposables. So if you have a poopy diaper you dump the solids into the toilet, and chuck the diaper in a DRY diaper genie.No gross wet pails here. No smell either thanks to the air tight diaper genie.

At the end of the day you chuck them in the wash. I throw them in the dryer right before bed and wake up to a fresh batch the next morning.

So non-believers, give it a try. You may save yourself a bunch of cash, and your baby from a bunch of rash. You may even get some better sleep in the process like me!

Save Some Green!

This week there are a lot of things on sale.

Did you know that the weekly ads overlap every Wednesday and you can get double the savings.

Sunflower Markets

Fresh Express Organic Green Salads 2 for $5.00

Organic Garnet Yams or Sweet Potatoes $1.49 lb.

Organic Romain Hearts and Grape or Cherry Tomatoes (3 packs) 2 for $5.00

Smith's Marketplace

Organic Bananas $0.79 lb.

Baked Kettle Chips 2 for $6.00

Sprouted Grain Bread 2 for $5.00

Harmon's

Clif, Luna and Mojo Bars 4 for $5.00

Pacific Soups 4 for $9.00, $2.24 each

Organic Fuji Apples $1.19 lb.

Large Navel Oranges $1.19 lb.

Green Make-up Monday.

Some people don't believe me. They scoff at me when I say it. But they are being nice.


The truth is I have wrinkles. Lots of them. Deep ones.


I realize that I am only 26, but I had horrible, social life crippling acne as a young teen. I used a lot of prescription creams and treatments to combat the explosion of yuck on my face. The plus was that I got it under control and didn't suffer from scaring. The negative side effect was wrinkles from all the havoc I put my face through.


I have been hesitant to put stuff on my face that is supposed to fix it because I had no idea what the heck it all was made of. I mean really. If you put something on your face and it tingles, burns or pulls tight you would freak out and take it off. Unless it was a beauty product. Are we nuts?


I have tried that lip plumping stuff (i have a complex about my thin lips) and it stings and tingles like crazy. It only works because the chemicals in it irritate you skin to the point of swelling. And we put this stuff on. Who knows what chemical is put there to do that. Yuck.


Skin can absorb 60% of what you put on it. It is our body's largest organ. That's right, organ. So with that in mind, would you rib some chemical on your lung that would inflame it? I think not.


But a girl can't walk around looking haggard and ugly. I am not going to be a make-up free, dread locked hippie either. I am too superficial.


So the hunt began. I needed something natural to fix the canyon of forehead wrinkles and those caverns around my eyes from sleeping on my stomach.


I ran across this.


It was $24.00 a bottle. Outrageous right? But I used blogger as an excuse to splurge. You know what made me buy it? It was the last one at Walmart. Yes, yucky old Wally-world. The masses have got to know what they are talking about, right? I mean it looked like everyone was doing it, I mean using this.
So in the name of my readers and my wrinkles I dropped 24 big ones on what looked like way too little of a jar.


I did a little looking around on the web and it seems that everybody is saying it is much easier for your skin to absorb all natural ingredients. Because they are natural, your body recognizes them, and lets them in a little easier. It is tougher for it to figure out what to do with synthetic crap.


I took a $24.00 gulp and started applying this Saturday morning after my shower. The shower was at 1:00pm mind you, I have a baby. Just keeping it real.


I noticed an immediate difference. To me, it looked like my skin was more radiant. I had more even tone, less redness, and my wrinkles were looking a smidge better. Most of what I noticed was in tone and color. I thought I was looking pretty good without make up. But you know, after dropping $24.00 on a bottle of face crap I was inclined to think it was working, even if it was just my imagination. So I kept my mouth shut about it to everyone, and kept putting it on every morning.


The difference I noticed was confirmed when my husband, out of the blue, commented to me that my skin was looking super healthy. He asked if I was doing something new.


Aha! If a husband can spot it, it must be working.


I swear by this stuff. I am shocked at what a difference it makes for me. Really.


If you feel inspired to stop putting who knows what on you face, but don't want to without finding a healthy alternative first, here it is.


I am not swiping clean my make up box. I am still using the gross stuff. I am just changing things one product at a time. I put on face location every morning, so that was the first to change.


I really recommend this stuff.


You can find it at Walmart.


But for you Utah readers, skip the Orem Walmart. It is filthy and stressfully crowded, but it also charges more for organic baby food options and doesn't carry any thing close to the natural beauty products that the Pleasant Grove location has. They have everything on the back row of the make-up section. We are talking like 6 all natural beauty brands. Including Burt's Bees, and this gem of a lotion.

Being Green Fitness Challenge

SO, WHAT IS THE BEING GREEN FITNESS CHALLENGE?

I've created a group called Being Green within the national Presidential Challenge .

It's a series of programs designed to help improve anyone's activity level. If we do it together, we'll be more inclined to keep working out. At least I will be because all of you will know about my goal and be on my case to keep it up. It's all about accountability and embarrassment, but whatever works right?

Plus I have to lose 20 pounds so I can feel ready for baby number two.

To learn more about the President's Challenge, go to: http://www.PresidentsChallenge.org

WHY JOIN?

I'm lining up a few fitness related green giveaways that you will want to win. And at the end of the year there will be some cool prizes for those who have achieved the most during the year.

HOW TO JOIN:

1) Go to http://www.PresidentsChallenge.org/login/register_individual.aspx2)

Fill out the registration form.

* Be sure to include the following info during registration

*Your Group ID Number: 79118

Your Group Member Number: use your email address, twitter i.d., or blog name. Just a way to keep track of who you are.

3) After registering, start logging your activities. As you log activities you'll be able to track your progress toward winning some green prizes. Fitness related green prizes.

Good luck!

organic living utah grocery savings

The local supermarket ads come out on Wednesday, and I love to scour them for good deals on the organic stuff while Ronan eats some junk mail. Yes I know the inks are probably bad for him to suck on but lets be practical. He loves it and it is cheap. I think of it as recycling.

We all know that organic is expensive. We also know this economy is in the pits. But if you look around online and in that junk mail you can find some great deals. Deals that are the same price as or cheaper on the good organic stuff. That is the only way I can afford it.

So if I am going to scour, I may as well let you in on what I find. Even though I am late this week, Wednesdays are going to be my weekly "Save Some Green" posts where I let you in on all the sales and even regular prices I have dug up.

This week we have some good stuff from the Sunflower Market.

They are at 1375 South State St. @ University Parkway in Orem UT and 6284 South State Street at Winchester across from Fashion Place Mall in Murray.

http://www.sfmarkets.com/

No, they are not paying me. I wish they were. Tell them I sent you and maybe they will. Right....

If you don't live in Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Texas or Arizona, I am sorry. I will get some nation wide chains on here as much as possible soon.

Now on to a spotted Walmart savings. I have a beef with Walmart being corrupt and bad for local business, it's employees and the environment, but I can't afford not to shop there right now so here is what I dug up on the baby food isle much to my surprise.

These bad boys are $1.12 a box of 12. All the time. They are NOT on sale. Ronan loves them, and they also come gluten free.

Gerber Biter Biscuits are $1.62 a box of 12. They are not organic and do not come in a gluten free option. Why the heck would you pay more for less nutritional value!

Woohoo! It is not often that the organic is cheaper that the regular stuff. Mommies rejoice!

And finally for this week we have an offering from Babies R Us.

They have Enfamil formula for $23.00 a can on sale. I buy Ronan the Lactofree kind, but a few other types were also on sale. Next time I well be more attentive as to which ones.

Also, Babies R Us sells Earth's Best Organic baby food 12, 4 ounce jars for $9.19. That is about $0.19 an ounce for Organic baby food. It also comes in glass jars which is better for the environment and contain no BPA.

Gerber sells 7.0 ounces for $1.12 non organic and $1.69 for organic. That is $0.16 cents an ounce for regular and $0.24 cents an ounce for organic. And they are in plastic containers, which granted are BPA free, but more wasteful.

So why not spend the extra $0.03 cents an ounce and get organic? This one surprised me a lot. I thought it would be way more expensive to get organic baby food. I have only seen these 12 packs at Babies R Us in the back of the store on the bottom shelf. They have veggies, fruits, meals and grain packs in jar sizes 1-3.

That does it for this weeks "Save Some Green", check back next Wednesday for another installment.

The Corn Made Me Do It.

Do you think of sugar when you see this?

Me neither.

I think of healthy, yummy vegetables. Cozy summer BBQ's. That wholesome yellow vegetable filled with yummy vitamins and topped with a bit of butter.

But is that really what we are getting when we pick up a bunch of corn form the grocery store or even the local farmer's summer fruit and veg stand?

And what the heck does it have to do with sugar?

It all stated with the bio tech revolution, and one of the key players is a company called Monsanto.

Let me try to explain the basics.

Monsanto makes pesticides and herbicides. One of their most successful products is Round Up. You have seen it in the local home improvement store. It can kill anything and everything overnight.

Farmers struggle with weeds. They can strangle crops, steal water supply and cut out light. This all makes their yield smaller and so they get less money. Farming corn is already a losing financial battle which is why the government subsidies what the farmer loses growing it.

So naturally the farmers and the government want to get the best yield for their money. That means using something to kill weeds. It is faster to use one thing that will kill everything. Something like Round Up.

But if round up kills everything what about the corn?

Monsanto genetically engineers Round Up Ready corn seed.

In order to change the DNA of a living cell you have to get into the cell. Obviously cells ar pretty great at keeping things out otherwise we would all be strangly mutated creatures suseptable to all kinds of things. But one thing has a fantastic track record of breaking into cells. Thats the virus.

Genetic engineers attach their engineered DNA to a virus in order to penetrate the cell and engineer it with the desired change.

How do they find out if their genetic change worked? They also attach an antibiotic immunity to the cell. That way they can test their work by applying an antibiotic.

So we have viruses and antibiotic immunities in our corn? And to top it all off the spray the heck out of it with Round Up, and then we eat it?

Okay okay. Lets not get too excited. All we have to do is try to avoid corn, right? I mean lets just buy organic corn, and we will be fine.

Nope. Four words. High Frutose Corn Syrup. And it's in everything. Don't believe me? Check the lable of almost anything in the grocery store. I mean anything. That is where the sugar comes in. HFCS is the cheap alternative to sugar and almost every food company uses it becasue it is more cost effective. Now when you pass a corn field you can think of soda, candy, ketchup, pretty much anything.

Oh, and American cattle that were traditionally allowed to graze for years on hay and grass to make market weight are now packed into feed farms where they are fed up to 90% corn diets.

"As we move on into this so-called bio tech revolution and we start producing more and more transgenic manipulations, we'll start seeing pieces of DNA interacting with each other in ways that are totally unpredictable...
I think this is probably the largest biological experiment humanity has ever entered into."
- Ignacio Chapela

In the next few blogs I will elaborate on what I have found out about American Beef and also High Fructose Corn Syrup.

But for now, if you want more information check out some of these links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMO

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/websites.htm

Or better yet rent THE FUTURE OF FOOD from Netflix.

Go Green With Me

I have always had an interest in all things earthy. Even though I can't stand certain very earthy things. Like camping for example.
Back in high school my friends called me "the hippie". It was mostly because I have a weakness for 60's and 70's rock. Not because I didn't shave or refused to eat meat. But I would like to now make that nickname a little more credible.
I am from the San Francisco Bay Area, born and raised, but now find myself living in Utah. With Utah winters. I hate the winter. I need to grow things. It must be the Californian hippie in me.
I am a stay at home Momma of one little boy and I hope to have a ton more just like him as soon as I am no longer what I consider to be a whale. Going green seems sure to help.
I am bored at home. BORED.
Not that my child is boring. Nor are his poopy diapers or tantrums. But I am a creative person. And I adore gardening. So sitting at home this winter I have been dreaming of a vegetable garden. And because it is only February I can't do a dang thing about my agricultural fetish so I have been obsessively researching seeds on the Internet.
One thing has lead to another. And I found myself downloading Netflix movies onto my husband's lover (the X-Box 360) about organic farming, and the terrible state that America's food industry is in. And I say industry on purpose. The family farm is almost extinct. And so is the nutritional value of our food.
There are a lot of scary things I have been researching, and as a new Momma they freak me out even more because these horrible and dangerous things are in my little guy’s food everyday.
So, I am not a "granola", I am a prissy, fussy, whiny girl who is going to try her hand at the down and "earthy" organic way of life.
I am going to do it one small thing at a time.
Follow along and get informed along with me. Get healthy; get happy, get confused, get frustrated, get dirty, GET GREEN with little ol’ me.