I've Gone Nuts!

After years of reading and re-reading books, magazines and blogs dedicated to the subject of healthy and environmentally friendly living, noting the suggestion to stop using laundry detergent and start washing my clothes with soap nuts, thinking there was no way that could work and purchasing another expensive bottle of Seventh Generation laundry detergent (the only kind that didn't give Jordan a major eczema breakout), I've taken the plunge. Between this blog entry and this one I became convinced that this was something I had to try. So I headed to NaturOli and bought a sample pack of soap nuts. So far I've done three loads of laundry with them, and they seem to be working at least as well as the Seventh Generation detergent. Soap nuts can be used whole, ground into a powder, or liquefied for use as laundry detergent, all purpose household cleaner, shampoo, etc. For the laundry, I'm leaving the soap nuts whole. My sample pack came with a cloth bag containing five nuts. All I have to do is toss them in the washer with the clothes (after soaking in hot water for three minutes if I'm doing a cold water wash), then take the soap nuts out with the clean laundry and hang the bag with the nuts in up to dry so they don't get moldy. The soap nuts can be reused approximately five times. When they're used up, I'll throw them in the compost pile. Soap nuts grow on trees, are healthy, economical, and kind of fun to use. I would encourage all of you to go nuts with your laundry!

Hard To Believe, But True

Last night I was at the computer (working on this blog actually) while Jordan was getting ready for bed. He had just gone to the bathroom when he came over and informed me that his butt hurt. So I told him to bend over so I could see if anything was wrong. While he's bent over pantsless and I'm leaning over to see what's going on, our neighbor walks up to the front (screen) door to let us know that he put Jordan's bike by our garage door. So he gets a lovely view of me inspecting my son's butt. I started laughing hysterically, told Jordan it looked fine, but he could put some ointment on it if he wanted and thanked the neighbor. Meanwhile, Jordan looked up, startled, fell over and crawled behind the coffee table to put his butt out of view.

Later, Justin and I were having a friendly discussion regarding the dishes, and their need to be done on a regular basis. I maintained that I have been doing them most of the time lately, and he seemed to think that wasn't true (I knew I was right though). Then, he had the nerve to say that I should do them more often because I use more dishes. Yeah, I use more dishes than he does because I cook most of our meals! And then he added that I should also do the dishes more often because I feed the kids more often! Men!!! (I do have to admit though, that he saw the error of his reasoning, and we both had a good laugh).

Diapers For Sale

*Note - If you are easily offended by hearing about #1's, #2's, or the use of the word "potty" in place of the more formal "toilet" do not read this post.

Not to brag or anything (okay, yes, I am bragging), but Sasha has been officially fully potty-trained since about mid-June. That's right, day-time, night-time, at home, in public, no more "little potty" potty-trained. Although she still sometimes has accidents during the day when she doesn't quite make it to the toilet in time, or forgets to "scootch" back enough (causing pee to shoot out between the toilet and the toilet seat), she's never wet the bed. Sometimes she wakes up and cries until we take her to the bathroom, some nights she sleeps through. In case you couldn't tell, this makes me really really proud and really really happy. Not only are we saving probably $75 a month on diapers and what felt like hours a day changing diapers, but I can now leave the house with only my purse (as long as it contains a child-approved snack). Sasha even used the outhouse without much complaint on a recent camping trip, and after many failed attempts, managed to go #2 in the grass along the Kickapoo River while we were canoeing. Luckily there was a field full of cows nearby, and I convinced her that she should poop in the grass the way cows do. I give most of the tribute for her stellar training experience to the cloth diapers we used most of the time. She definitely knew when she was wet, and she definitely didn't want to be. I suppose the rest of the tribute goes to the fact that she's a girl. I remember that most of my sisters trained pretty easily, and Karlye was fully potty-trained by the time she started staying overnight at our house when she was two and a half. Jordan, on the other hand, didn't pee in the pot until he was at least three years old, and then insisted on pooping in a diaper until he was three and a half. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to start pre-school if he didn't get a move on. Poor Sasha doesn't start pre-school until a year from this fall, and can't wait to go.

Kids Say...

Karlye thinks the peacocks at the Milwaukee Zoo are in the enclosures with the other animals to watch over them. (Can I get a peacock to babysit my kids?)

Jordan loves pie and dinosaurs so much that he coined himself a "pie-ranasaurus".

Sasha calls the zoo the "kazoo", calls Grandpa Jake's Gator utility vehicle the "Gatorade", and calls parades "kaprades".