Moving the blog

Hello Dear Family and Friends!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am going to be shifting our personal blog over to The Feel Good Foodie (and Family) site.

As much as I love this little blog, I would much rather share my thoughts, recipes, and photos on a site/blog that I'm paying for already. More bang for my buck that way :).

So, If you want to stay in touch with all our shenanigans, do one of the following:

-subscribe to The Feel Good Foodie (to receive email updates)

-"like" The Feel Good Foodie on Facebook (to receive updates in your newsfeed)

-bookmark The Feel Good Foodie, so you can check it periodically, without getting annoying emails from yours truly.

OR do all of those things!

If you have issues commenting on The Feel Good Foodie site, be sure to let me know!

Love Ya!

Abbie

**To retain a bit of anonymity on the site, please refer to Josie as "JBird" when you comment. Thanks**

Going Green in 2012

Tis the season to reflect back on the year. Since becoming pregnant with Josie, I've been on a personal journey of "green-ness". It started with cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and homemade baby food, but has evolved into a far grander transformation.

Here are some of the biggest "Go Green" changes that I (and we as a family) made in 2012:

Thrifting: 

In the beginning of 2012, we made a commitment to buy nearly everything used. Remarkably, we stayed true to this goal! I think we only bought a handful of things brand new (like, maybe 5 things). We've become expert "thrifters". It's actually a lot of fun. We've easily saved thousands of dollars this year; just by buying used! We buy all of our clothes at Goodwill or St. Vinnie's. All "big ticket" items have been purchased through Craigslist (TV, Couches, etc). When it comes to home repair, we've been having amazing luck at the ReStore (by Habitat for Humanity).

(Failed Attempt at) Gardening: 

My container gardens failed miserably. However, it was not for lack of trying. We just didn't have enough (or any) pollinators at our old apartment. Luckily, we did enjoy some fresh herbs early on in the season. 2013 will definitely be a better year for our gardens. 

Moon Cup: 

I absolutely LOVE my Moon Cup. I highly recommend it to any lady. Total life changer! Want more info? Check it out here. (warning: it's a reusable "Feminine Hygiene Product"...so if that grosses you out, just skip that link) :)

Homemade Laundry Soap:

I LOVE our laundry soap recipe! Since switching to an all-natural, local soap from LuSa, our clothes (and diapers) have come out even cleaner than before! Plus, ZERO chemicals!

Homemade Deodorant:

I will never go back to conventional deodorant. This recipe is amazing. Even Tim uses it!

Homemade Toothpaste/Mouthwash: 

After several months of making our own toothpaste; I just bought a tube of conventional toothpaste from the store (I have been way too busy to keep making toothpaste once a week). I'm still waiting on my dentist appointment to see if it helped my teeth remineralized at all (I had to reschedule our appointments for January). The mouthwash is still working great (baking soda, water, peppermint essential oil...boom). 

Homemade Face Cleanser/Toner:

I wasn't a fan of the oil-based cleanser BUT the Apple Cider Vinegar toner has totally healed my face! Now, I use a Burt's Bee's Facial Towelette and ACV toner every night (followed up with Young Living's Frankincense Essential Oil). So far, it's working great (and still, ZERO chemicals)

Coconut Oil:

This stuff is a game changer. We use it for EVERYTHING! Sauteeing, Baking, First Aid, Lotion...it's amazing.

Essential Oils:

This is still a VERY recent change (since my Young Living Essential Oils just arrived on Monday), but they are already being used on a daily basis for health and first aid!

Did Away with (nearly) all Plastic Toys!:

This was possibly one of the most liberating "green" move for us this year. It's amazing how beautiful a playroom can be when you remove the "junk" and focus on all-natural toys. Plus, I no longer feel totally overwhelmed with toys! 

Switched to all Cast Iron and Stainless Steel cookware:

So long Teflon! All of our cookware is officially cast iron OR stainless steel!!

Single Car Family:

Still going strong with only 1 car! I can't imagine it any other way!

My 2013 Green Goals:

-Do away with paper towels

-Switch to reusable 'Swiffer' sweeper pads

-Invest in reusable produce bags

-Swap our our plastic electric tea kettle for a stainless steel one. 

-Do away with all plastics in the kitchen

-Slowly switch to all wooden utensils (including forks and spoons).

-Compost

-2nd attempt at gardening

-Invest in a Silpat (reusable silicone baking sheets to replace parchment paper)

-"Unplug" from devices more often (or at the very least, "unplug" from Facebook more often)

-Start diffusing essential oils on a daily basis.

2012 has been a truly amazing year for our family. I cannot wait to see what 2013 brings! 

November Photo Shoot

This afternoon, I tried to take advantage of the beautiful light outside (and warmer temps) and snap some photos of Josie.

The moment I put shoes on her, she was OVER it.

10 minutes later, I had a handful of shots that I think turned out pretty good (despite the stink face in half of them).

Oh, Josie. Your refusal to do absolutely anything that wasn't your idea is endearing and exhausting. I'm sure it'll serve you well one day.

Some Josie Photos

Dyeing Playsilks

For Christmas this year, Josie is going to get a stocking full of playsilks. Online they sell for $15-20 a piece (for the 35x35 ones), but when you are savy (like me) you can find un-dyed ones online for $5 a piece and dye them yourself!

I decided to use Kool-Aid (because it's cheap and you can buy it nearly anywhere); but I was definitely intrigued by the use of Easter Egg Dyeing kits (from the posts I read, the colors seem to turn out BOLDER with the Egg Dyeing kits).

Nearly all the tutorial posts I read said to use the microwave to dye the silks. I, however, do not own a microwave safe bowl large enough to dye anything in. Solution: dye the silks on the stove using my enamel coated dutch oven. Genius! By dyeing them on the stove, I was also able to avoid the scalding hot water (and inevitable 2nd degree burns) that result from microwaving water in glass for 9 minutes.

Since I am no good at following directions, here is my (not so precise) method:

In a large bowl (or in my case, large stockpot), add about 6 cups of warm/hot water and a decent "splash" of white vinegar (probably close to a cup...but I have no idea). Add 2 scarves and let them soak while you are getting everything else ready. ** I only pre-soaked 2 scarves at a time, but you can do however many you'd like at once...probably next time I'll just soak them all at the same time**

In a medium sized bowl, add 2 cups of hot water and 1/2 cup of vinegar. Next, add 3 packets of your color preference of Kool-Aid (Grape = Purple, Pink Lemonade = Pink, Orange = Orange and so on....but don't get tricked by the packaging. The blue packet of fruit punch is, in fact, red. Classic Kool-Aid man trickery). Stir until all the contents are dissolved

Add the mixture to the dutch oven/stockpot/cauldron/what have you and heat over medium-high setting.

Fill up the medium bowl, that you used to mix the Kool-Aid, with hot water and add that to the pot too. *You want there to be enough water in the pot to cover the scarf*

Take one of the scarves, and add it to the dye pot. Using a large wooden spoon (the handle worked best), stir the scarf. Make sure that all areas of the scarf are submerged; otherwise you won't have a nice even dye (unless that's what you're going for).

Once all the dye is soaked up, and the water is (nearly) clear, move it to the sink and rinse it with cold water until all the extra dye is washed out. **The red dye took FOREVER to rinse clean**

Hang on a clothes line or drying rack and let dry overnight.

Iron on low to get all the wrinkles out (or as wrinkle free as possible) and Voila!

I am super happy with the way they turned out! I kind of want to order some more and do some color mixing to get really cool colors.

this picture has nothing to do with playsilks...I just liked it

Keeping Things Tidy

blue mason jars line the window sill in my kitchen.  lovely, no?

It has been almost a month (already) since we moved into our little home and I am loving it more and more each day.

Now that I have several more rooms to keep clean than before (2 extra rooms, plus an extra bathroom) I've decided to make a little "weekly cleaning schedule" for myself in order to not feel overwhelmed by cleaning tasks.

mixing pesto and cider....yum?

I should first mention that I HATE cleaning. Seriously, hate it. However, I also HATE having a dirty house. Quite a dilemma, right? This is where the cleaning schedule comes in.

art caddy that Papa Eric made for Josie.  settled quite nicely on top of a New Glarus  beer crate. ever the classy ones are we

I only clean a few things (maybe 10-15 minutes worth of work) a day, then do larger, room specific, tasks once a month. I'm hoping that by sticking to this I won't have those dreaded "all weekend long cleaning parties"; that make me want to gouge out my eyes with forks.

puppy had to nap (all tucked in) under the napkin during lunch

I plan on adjusting as necessary, but I'm hoping this schedule works for us (me):

Monday: Kitchen Floors, Countertops, Living Room Floor (Hardwood)

Tuesday: Bathrooms, Vacuuming

Wednesday: Laundry

Thursday: Mirrors and Windows

Friday: Dog Poop Patrol! (fun, right)

Saturday: Laundry, yard work (if necessary)

Sunday: REST!! (take that, house!)

i feel like 2 is too young for a fake smile. yet, here it is

I'm only on day 2...but so far it's kind of fun. I had Josie help with Swiffering the kitchen yesterday (Gotta love child labor, right). I plan on having her help with windows/glass doors too (since her little finger prints/tongue prints/face prints/boogers/cuteness is what covers the bottom half of all our doors).

daddy's tool case doubles as a booster seat

Once a month, I plan on doing a deeper clean for the "heaviest traffic" rooms and places that tend to get cluttered/unorganized/filled with random junk:

7th of every month: Bedrooms and Bathrooms

14th of every month: Playroom

21st of every month: Closets

28th of every month: Kitchen and Living Room

(apparently my monthly cleaning tasks also follow a generic 28-day menstrual cycle. Insert hilarious joke about the luteal phase....here)

Woo Hoo!!

 **I included some cute pics from lunch time today...because a cleaning post without any photos sounded so dull! Enjoy**

Josie-Pa-Looza 2012

This past Saturday, Josie turned 2! To celebrate, we turned the whole weekend into a "Josie-pa-looza". Mom and Eric arrived last Thursday to spend the week with our little family; so, it made our birthday festivities extra special having them here! (We originally planned on having a grand birthday party with all our friends....but with a delay in moving, and not being anywhere NEAR unpacked yet, there was no way I was throwing a party this year. Maybe next year).

On Saturday, we did all sorts of fun things! 

We went to Crema for lunch,

Visited some gal pals at Happy Bambino (and bought a few more last minute gifts for the JBird).

Went to New Glarus to tour the brewery (and for a pint, of course)....which probably makes us the coolest parents in the history of two year olds.

We had a tasty dinner of split pea soup AND pumpkin cream cheese muffins for birthday dessert (yum!)

And of course opened presents!! (This year, Josie got: some adorable clothes, a few books, a wooden "cutting" sandwich set, a beautiful handmade wooden art supply tote from Papa Eric, and her very own Bitty Baby!)

 

On Sunday, we had a big tasty breakfast then headed off for some grand ol' times at a local pumpkin farm. 

While we were there, we saw lots of cute baby animals, a weird "pumpkin eating dinosaur", a ginormous slide, and of course...pumpkins!!

 

 

 

It was a truly wonderful weekend, and I'm pretty certain that Josie enjoyed herself quite a bit.