Scrubby bubby chunks!

I've come up with a solution to..... my baby wipe...solution...problem (thesaurus please). First of all, there is a limited shelf life to anything water based that does NOT contain a chemical preservative. There are oils that can help. But, nothing that will make it last a significant amount of time. Since there are people who do purchase my baby wipe solution as baby shower gifts that will, therefore, not be used for awhile, I'm in a pickle (which are preserved with salt, btw).

I've scoured my local resources and special secret online resources to find a natural, handmade soap that will produce the most bubbly, yummy-smelling, bottom-soothing concoction EVER! This particular batch contains oatmeal to sooth dry and irritated winter skin. For now, I'm selling this in small (yet high yielding) quantities of 12 nuggets, which will make 24 cups of solution.

To use, just dissolve one nugget in 2 cups of hot water, then pour over your wipes. Avoid making too much solution as it will start turning musty after a few days. I only make one cup of solution at a time. You can either slice your nugget in half (can't wait to see what google searches THAT phrase comes up in) or take it out of your hot water when it is about half dissolved and then let it dry.


Cloth baby wipes and my homemade solution are better for the earth and your baby than chemical-laden, expensive disposable wipes. Even if you don't cloth diaper or your children are out of diapers, you can still keep a box of cloth wipes and solution on your kitchen counter to clean up dirty hands and faces.

eco-love,
Shanell

Resolve to go green - simple steps

Okay, so to re-energize your efforts to go green this year, I thought I'd remind you of the reasons to do so. These are taken from my favorite book, "The Green Book" by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen. We'll focus on just a few things a week to work on. Here we go....

On average, you create 4.5 pounds of trash each day. Over the course of a lifetime, you will leave a 90,000 pound legacy of trash for your grandchildren. If every person in America simply seperated the paper, plastic, glass and aluminum products from their trash and placed it in the recycling bin, we could decrease the amount sent to landfills by 75%! Right now, it takes an area the size of Pennsylvania to dump our waste each year.

Americans use at least twice as much energy and water per person as anyone else in the world. If every American simply replaced just five of their traditional lightbulbs with CFL's, we'd keep more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air. That's equal to the emissions of 8 million cars!!!

By 2025, the world must increase its water supply by 22 percent in order to meet its needs. Every two minutes you save on your shower can conserve more than 10 gallons of water. If every American saved just ONE gallon of water, over the course of a year, it would equal twice the amount of fresh water drawn from the Great Lakes (the world's largest source of fresh water) every day.

By setting your house thermostat for one degree warmer in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter, you could save $100 per year! If every home in America made this small change, we'd save enough energy to provide a year's worth of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas to every person in Iowa.

Recycle
Change your lightbulbs to CFL's
Take a shorter shower
Change your thermostat by just one degree

These are really easy things to do and will save you money too!

Peace

I'm not sure where I stand on fertility treatment. I know as a Catholic I'm SUPPOSED to have an issue with it. I know that I thank God daily that I was able to have 4 beautiful children on my own. I can't say that if I had problems conceiving that I wouldn't have sought outside help. And, it might or might not surprise you that I used to think about over-population. My husband is a card-carrying Sierra club member that used to want to have just 2 children. Well, before we ACTUALLY HAD children. Then, he thought 3 or 4 wasn't going to have catastrophic consequences on our planet.

I'm surprised and saddened at the outrage people are feeling towards the woman that just had octuplets. She's in hiding now because of death threats. Seriously people! She didn't KILL 14 children!!! She gave birth to 14 children. I think that this is a perfect example of the rampant "nose-in-everyone's-business, opinion-on-everything" disease plaquing our society. How much time is wasted every day with people thinking about, commenting on, or judging other people? I bet the same amount of time we waste wishing our asses were smaller.

Here is what I do:

I wake up in the morning and take care of my kids.
I work on my business when the kids are occupied, playing, sleeping, etc.
I do charity work as the need arises.
I spend time with my husband, sisters, or good friends in the evenings.
I do not watch a lot of television.
I do NOT read tabloids or People, because I don't CARE what celebrities do.

That's it. And, I try really hard not to judge or gossip about other people. I don't tell people what they should or should not do. I don't tell them what I think God expects of them. They can seek that out for themselves and have THAT convo with God after they die. I have no hate in my heart. I sleep well at night. People like me. I like them. I have peace.

Tutorial - Matchbook notepads

This is what I made for my girls' classroom Valentine parties. It's something unique and handmade and that will last longer than the traditional "to you, from me" Valentine! This is also a cute party favor or "thank you" gift for online sellers to send out in their packages. It works best with thicker, double sided scrapbook paper. The heart and polka dot ones I have listed in my shop have single sided scrapbook paper mounted onto my recycled cardstock. But, it looks nice to have the inside be decorative too. These make 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch notepads when done. You can adjust them up or down if you want.

You'll want to cut a 2.5 inch by 6 inch strip of your double sided paper. Then, you'll score it or fold it about half an inch from the bottom and then again 2.5 inches from the top.



Next, you'll want to cut your inside paper. I use recycled printer paper. You'll cut 10-20 sheets of paper in 2.5 by 2.5 inch squares.



Then, you'll just insert the paper and staple and you're done!! It is really easy once you find your measurements and then your groove. Happy crafting!!