Peg doll fun!

We've been busy! How about you? Our homeschool co-op had a great little  Thanksgiving program. And I forgot my camera! So no photos but just know it was sweet with a handful of toddlers, preschoolers, and a few kindergartners.

 We had our obligatory turkey nap at Grandpa's house.

Visited Santa at his workshop.

Fought bears.

Played in the snow.

And mostly just had a lot of family time and togetherness. And opportunities to show our individuality.

We've also between getting ready for Christmas. We're trying to focus on giving instead of what we get to receive this year. It's a though sell for kids this age, but everything takes a little practice. Yesterday, we went to the Library Station's "Holiday Store," where the big kids could spend a little allowance money on gifts for family and friends. They would even wrap the items up for the kids. Such a good experience. But kids being kids, they still wanted things for themselves. I'll let you know how the experiment works, but we already plan to do it again every year.

As for me, I love making gifts for my children. Some may need to be purchased, but there's something really special about a gift handmade by Mom. One year I made hobby horse type animals (a unicorn and a giraffe). These are still wildly popular around here. This year I found the idea for making peg dolls and I love them!

They are many for different sets of children in the family. And they all have different characters they love. Two of my girls will be receiving a set of their own and I'll probably add a doll house to at least one of them. I wanted to make a turtle van and a castle and an X-wing or something for the different sets, but I just don't have the time or energy for those right now. These are still a lot of fun anyway! My littlest caught me in the design phase and started playing with them, so I know they'll be a hit with at least one kid. ;-)  The bridal set was originally all was I going to make, since my girls are really excited about weddings right now. I remember lovely weddings and brides and all, but surely I was at least 7 before all that craze, right?! Anyway, I've had a lot of fun with these! What projects are you working on?

Field Trip Shirts and ID cards

Thursday is our co-op day.  Since it's summer time, we expect to do even more field trips. One day on a field trip this year, it occurred to me I couldn't remember exactly what my children were wearing.  What if they got lost?!  It was a pretty busy day at the zoo that day and completely possible, but a lot of the children there were in large school groups with matching shirts.  So I've been thinking on this idea for some time.  If we had matching shirts, I could easily see my kids from a distance and could describe what they were wearing if we still managed to be separated.  My sister-in-law has a cutting machine so we designed our school shirts, cut out the stencils, and painted the shirts.  The kids had a nice time finger painting, too.  Ms A wasn't in to it and I was, frankly, afraid to let Ms K have a try.  But Ms Z enjoyed exploring paint possibilities.  We just used the craft paint since we had quite a stash to explore with.  And it washed off their hands easily.

 I think the shirts turned out nicely.  Each kid has the same front.  The back has their initial pretty large on the back and their hand prints, for those who didn't mind touching the paint. I look forward to calling to the kids "Put on your field trip shirts!" and seeing the look of wonder at what adventures we would go on today. :)  Bonus:  I bought 5 shirts for about $8 and only used 3.  I already had the paint and my sister-in-law already had her cutter and paper.  That means this craft cost me about $2 per shirt and I have 2 extras!  Whoot!

Said sister-in-law also has Adobe Photoshop, so we designed some pretty swanky ID cards.  The QR code goes straight to our website, in case there's ever question about the validity of our school, and it lends a certain professionalism to them, I think. We'll update cards and photos each year, probably in the summer so there's little rush and excellent opportunities. Feel free to copy our design.  The black bars are for privacy of our information.  We had such a tough time finding a free download for a Photoshop compatible template that we designed our own.  We had to leave her house before we could finish making a generic template, but once we can, I'll post it here for anyone else who wants one with all the layers editable. We plan to order these cards as photo prints and laminate them for protection.   In case you don't know, ID cards are great for getting discounts at museums, movie theaters, and more.  If you bring in your report cards, many companies offer free or discounted items for As each semester/term.  The cards serve as identification for obtaining your own library card.  There are probably other advantages to making your own identification cards for your homeschool, but these are a few that come to mind. Bonus:  I ordered these from Walgreens for about 21 cents each!  Extra whoot! What do you think? Do you have "official" t-shirts or ID cards?

Flats Challenge Day 7: What did I learn?

Day 7: What did I learn/How did it go?

Final day in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.

Here's what I've learned so far, in no particular order.

• I was surprised to know that I had PLENTY of flat diapers for daily hand washing: 28 diapers, 6 covers, and 3 pockets!  I'm going to make a bundle of flats, covers, soap, and a camp washer for emergencies and when we go camping.  It's one less thing I'll have to gather for those occasions and it's so low-stress knowing I can totally do this with 2 covers and 8 or so flats.
• Flats are way more absorbent than they look.  Just because it's only one layer of fabric doesn't mean you only have that one layer between baby's bottom and the world.  Depending on the fold you could have 8-12 layers of fabric just in one flat.  Then you can add a pad-folded flat as a doubler and that's even more!
• Washing by hand took a lot less work and time than I thought it would, but experimenting with the right amount of soap and soaking times was a little frustrating.
• You can't trust the weather!  I had expected to line dry everything all week long, with few exceptions.  But I had to learn to roll with the punches and let things dry overnight hanging from curtain rods, hangers, and chairs since it stormed half the week.
• If you over stuff a pocket diaper, it's much more likely to leak.
• There are DOZENS of ways to fold a flat and each is good in it's own way.  There is no one RIGHT way to fold it and very few wrong ways.  So long as all the cloth is stuffed into the cover (or you're a really observant parent) it's probably a fine way to do flats.
• I actually like flats. More than some of my other diapers.
• Once you've used flat diapers for a week, you start evaluating all the cloth in your house for diaper potential.  I look at my towels, dish cloths, and clothing differently now.  During this challenge, I added two blankets and a t-shirt to my stash. This has put my husband on alert!
• My daughter is a diaper escape artist.  Snappis were not a barrier to her curiosity.  Covers were, however.
• When hand washing, a "wet bucket" was almost indispensable.  You probably could get away without using it if you washed as soon as a "dirty" happened, but if you've got diaper laundry, you probably also have children who need watched and sometimes it's just not convenient to wash right then.  Especially not for as long as is needed without soaking.  So I change my stance on the dry vs wet bucket controversy from "absolutely not" to a "yes with cautions."  I put my laundry right into the wash bucket which stays in the bath tub, except when people are bathing. While it's possible someone could still get in there and cause mischief or drown, I also keep the lid on the bucket that is nearly adult-proof and that helps me feel safer about it.  I still don't let kids play in the bathroom, and I'm in there washing diapers at least twice a day, so I know it's not always full of water.  I'm cautious about it.  When I go back to using my washing machine and dryer I will stop using a "wet bucket."
• When hand washing in a camp washer, less really is more.  Wipes, 2-4 diapers, and a cover wash just fine.  Don't even try to do 5+ diapers because you'll be rinsing FOREVER.  They don't get as clean in your usual cycle, so you'll end up washing them again.  And again.  It's way better to plan on washing twice a day.  That way it takes 10 minutes from first rinse to hanging up.  And it's a good excuse to visit the sunshine. ;)
• If I didn't have a washing machine, I could totally wash my diapers every day in my camp washer.  But I'd rather spend all day at the laundrymat than try to hand wash and dry the mountains of clothes these kids wear!
• Every time I turn on the water to wash diapers, my littlest daughter chases me down asking for a "tubby."  Every time I go outside to hang up or take down diapers, my bigger girls chase me down and want to play outside.  Maybe we need to play outside more often.  (That was several things I learned, but they're a bit connected, you know.)

The important point, here, is that this is POSSIBLE.  It's not roses and I MUCH prefer using my washing machine.  But if I had an emergency, I am confident I could hand wash and line dry as long as I had to.  If I was in extreme economic trouble or without a washing machine, I would be content knowing that I was doing what I could and that I didn't have to worry about buying more diapers.  I would probably be looking around to "evaluate things for diaper potential" when I got behind on washing.  And that's okay.  Because so many things can be used as a flat.  You could probably get your entire stash at a yard sale or thrift store (minus the covers unless you're super lucky!) for $10.  If you knew what to look for.  We need to spread the word that this is a viable solution!

So, what did you learn?

Day 1: Why I took the Challenge
Day 2: How did I prepare?
Day 3: Dealing with Overnights
Day 4: How am I doing with hand washing?
Day 5: What's working? What's not?
Day 6: Babysitter/Outings

Flats Challenge Day 6: Babysitters and Outings

Day 6: Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry

This challenge could have brought some interesting issues for babysitters and outings, so I wanted to share my experience planning for and adapting to them.

Babysitters

I'm blessed to have some great flexible babysitters and to only need a sitter once or twice a week.  During this challenge, I had to be away from my girls for a prenatal visit with a client.  This sitter is great.  My kids adore her and her kids.  They always have a great time.  Plus, she's cloth diapered her kids in the past and has been following me on this challenge and knew to expect this.  Even still, I wanted things set up and easy, so I stuffed pad-folded flats in my pocket diapers and was ready to go. My little lady woke up wet from a nap just before my friend was expected to arrive, so I changed her to a clean diaper and gave a tour of the bathroom and a quick overview of my diapering routine.  I showed her where the diapers were kept and where to put the wet/dirty diapers. No problem.  Then I found I wasn't actually gone long enough for a diaper change to be needed, so that was even better.  :) The kids had a great time and knowing everyone was safe and happy meant I could focus my attention on my client.

Outings

Normally, I reserve my AIOs for outings and babysitters because they're so simple and require no skill except the ability to snap the snaps.  For this challenge, I packed two diaper bag-folded flats and a cover and one pocket diaper with pad-folded flat insert into my diaper bag/wet bag.  This arrangement was fine, except that I didn't do a good enough job stacking the flats so they would keep their shape and ended up having to refold at a diaper change. Not a huge deal for me, but the Boy Scout (my husband) probably wouldn't have loved it if he were the one doing the change and dealing with the tangled flats. In the future I'll either clothespin the flats in place or only bring pad-folds. Also, I was warned that using flats in a pocket diaper might mean leaks, but this was not my experience.  I would think a heavier wetter would have a problem and we never did pockets overnight, so maybe that's the difference?

I still have two days to go (counting today), and it's important to realize we all learn as we go. So far I haven't had any poo diapers while on the go, but I do have a homemade double pocket wet bag for my clean and dirty diapers that works nicely.  I usually keep a disposable shopping bag in it, too, in case of extra smelly diapers that may have to wait a bit for a wash pail.

Some day I may give a tutorial on how I made this, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with inspiration to make your own and probably make it better. I've learned a few things since putting this one together. The white side is the PUL layer of this material I got from Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.  That made it about $6.50 a yard and I used a bit less than that to make this bag!  The white-lined pocket is for the wet/dirty diapers and the white/flower-lined pocket is for the clean.  I despise sewing in zippers, so this just closes with hook and loop, but it works nicely for a usual day outing.  It has been used for an entire day out but that's when I augment with shopping bags for the poo diapers to keep a handle on the stink.  Since it's PUL, I wash it with my diapers as needed.

What about you?  Did you expect any special challenges you had to plan for?  Or did you come upon a challenge that you WISH you'd planned for?

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge! I'll certainly keep flats in rotation with my diapers, but I won't be hand washing except in emergencies and while camping.

Day 1: Why I took the Challenge
Day 2: How did I prepare?
Day 3: Dealing with Overnights
Day 4: How am I doing with hand washing?
Day 5: What's working? What's not?

Day 7: What did I learn?

Flats Challenge Day 5: What's working for me?

Day 5 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry

To those of you who have starting following or reading along since the flats challenge, welcome! It's an honor to have you here and I'm so excited to share future posts with you.

So, let's talk about what's working for me, and what's not.  I'm still perfecting which folds work best with which diapers. I located a couple receiving blankets to add to my stash, so that makes for more things to play with!  The t-shirt flats work very well in the t-shirt fold and the pad fold. Most of the other folds simply don't work with them because of their shape.  They might work on newborns, though since they would fold down smaller.  The receiving blankets work with the kite fold, airplane fold, origami fold, and another fold I may have invented.  I'll have to research around to see for sure! What I do is take my square flat (or make my rectangle into a square) and fold corner to corner to make a triangle.  Then I do a sort of accordion fold across the crotch area, so it's like a combination of the origami and the triangle fold. Then fold up the tip a little to adjust the rise, or not.  Then fold into your diaper.  And bring in the wings.  I do better with pictures, so try to follow along here.

This fold is especially nice for those flats that are just not quite the right size for the other more complex folds.  In the picture above, I took a very large, but very thin, receiving blanket and folded into quarters to do this fold.  But I also have a flat that's too small to do anything but a pad fold, or this fold.  The absorbency is as good as most folds, but it doesn't form a "poop pocket," so beware of that. And because of the padding fold, it can't be just pinned on.  The waist would fall off.  So, there are drawbacks, but I like that it has padding where it's needed and I already use my covers all the time anyway.

The covers have been working fine since I bought them years ago.  I love that they are one size, so they can fit my newborns up to my potty-learners.  For other families with bigger potty-learners or smaller newborns, they may not work the whole diapering time, but they sure last a long time. The camp style washer works great to agitate.  The jury is still out on how the dish soap is working.  Other bloggers suggested using it exclusively and I'm just not sure how well it cleans the poop diapers.  I may try my regular detergent again on the next wash and report back to you.  Line drying is working beautifully.  Inside drying takes considerably longer unless there's a fan blowing right on them, but they still usually dry by morning.  Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised how much I really like flats.  They're so adaptable to needs, which, to me, is a major bonus.  A decent flat could be used as a blanket, nursing cover, burp rag, or diaper.  And that diaper could be adjusted to fit a newborn, toddler, or potty-learner, with or without a cover.  It could probably be used for other things I've not noticed yet.  I'm so glad I took this challenge!

Being on the computer most of the day everyday to edit photos, ask and answer questions on the facebook group, write blog posts, edit blog posts, comment on various blogs and so forth is NOT working well for me.  I did much better with posting a couple of times a week and sometimes even scheduling a posting ahead of time.  This meant I was able to spend more time with my kids and budget my internet time a little better.  The house is not in order, meals are barely getting cooked, school is a little behind.  But on the flip side, I've enjoyed seeing more people visit my blog, reading more comments, and I'm learning a lot, so I recognize this as a good thing. I need to learn to roll with what I get, I guess. ;)  Oh, and schedule better.  Maybe only write posts during nap time or set a timer for an hour while the kids play quietly or work on school work alone.

In other news, I feel like I've spent a lot of time looking at many of these views: wash bucket, line dry, change diaper, line dry, new fold, wash bucket, so I figured I take a moment to play with my new CollageItPro software.  Would you like to win a code for a free upgrade?  There are many different layouts, changeable options, you can crop pictures to fit, or just dump in and randomly re-order your pictures.  It's a nice, easy way to make a quick collage, if you want.  Or if you put a little more time into it, you can get a great customized collage, too.  Enter here:  a Rafflecopter giveaway .  There are low entries and TWENTY (12 windows, 8 mac) winners! Giveaway ends May 31 and winners will be selected June 1.

Day 1: Why I took the Challenge

Day 2: How did I prepare?

Day 3: Dealing with Overnights

Day 4: How am I doing with hand washing?

Day 6: Babysitter/Outings

Day 7: What did I learn?

Flats Challenge Day 4: How am I doing with Handwashing?

Day 4: How am I doing with handwashing?

 Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry

We're on to the fourth day of the challenge.  It's actually become just a touch boring.  Using flats is very simple.  It's very much like using prefolds, but in some ways it's way better.  I've been handwashing in my camp-style washer about twice a day.  I'm still working out the kinks on using soap, but so far it looks like poop diapers need to agitate immediately then soak in detergent and baking soda.  I haven't timed the soaking.  I just set them in the bucket to soak and go about my day.  After an hour or two, I may have another diaper to toss in, too.  Then I do my usual, agitate 1 minute and drain.  Add hot water and soap, then agitate 5-10 minutes and drain.  Then one or two more rinse cycles.  I twist the wet flats to  get out the excess moisture then hang in the sun, if I can, or in the laundry room if I have to.  Within 3 hours they're dry, sometimes faster if the wind and sun are just right.

Yesterday I had to get inventive since I had my regular clothes laundry drying in the beautiful day, too. They still dry, though it would be faster if they were hanging on the line.  Luckily, I have more than enough flats and covers clean and available.

And, bonus, I got my hubby to help out with washing when I was out one day. :D

A special note I will add is that I decided to handwash the AIOs and microfiber inserts that were stinking up my diaper pail and it was a LOT of work.  They smelled awful and I think it's the microfiber.  I washed them many times and when I thought I finally got them clean, I decided to just toss them in the dryer since they have so many extra layers and we've had some humidity.  When they came out, they STILL smelled.  That's a real puzzler for me!

Tune in tomorrow to find out what's working for me and what's not.

Day 1: Why I took the Challenge
Day 2: How did I prepare?
Day 3: Dealing with Overnights

Day 5: What's working? What's not?
Day 6: Babysitter/Outings
Day 7: What did I learn?

Flats Challenge Day 3:Overnights

Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry

Day 3: Overnights

Let's be honest.  When I first started this challenge, I was SURE that we would need some serious overnight help.  I was determined to use just flats, though, so the first night I put two padfolded flats into her cover and put her in her wool longies, expecting a mess to clean up in the morning.  Ms. K is 16 months old but on the small end for her age, but I really thought she was a pretty heavy wetter at night.  When she woke up in the morning, she wanted to eat instead of a change. I'm a pretty easy going mom, so I let her, but I didn't want to push things too far so made her get a change after that.  I was surprised!  She had wet the first flat, but the second was only barely touched.  Although it was certainly time to be changed, the first wasn't even completely soaked.  I was amazed.  I didn't realize just how absorbent these flats could be. So then I thought, "Well, maybe today was a fluke.  Tomorrow it'll be heavier."  The second night I put her in one t-shirt flat using the "t-shirt fold."  I expected this would get soaked through.  Nope!  To my surprise, she woke up with a normal wet and the shirt wasn't fully soaked.  Maybe if she were older and a heavier wetter, I might need 2 but I would be surprised if she needed 3, even as an older toddler.

I just can't get over how doable this is.  I wash the diapers twice a day in a bucket in my bath tub.  It takes me ten minutes, tops.  They dry on the line or hanging in my house. They're wonderful, soft, and absorbent.  

And look how cute!  I made this diaper from an Angry Birds shirt.  It matches her face at this moment.  She was not thrilled with being a model, much less being out of my arms!

Many people have great success using a Snappi and no cover when at home, but as you can see here, my little escape artist is far too interested in this thing within her reach.  Within seconds of this picture, she was crawling away from the diaper.

What about you?  What have you tried for overnights?  Have you tried flats?  If not, why not?

Day 1: Why I took the Challenge
Day 2: How did I prepare?

Day 4: How am I doing with hand washing?
Day 5: What's working? What's not?
Day 6: Babysitter/Outings
Day 7: What did I learn?

Flats Challenge Day 2: How did I prepare?

Day 2 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.

Well, I've already told you a little about how I got ready for this challenge, but I'll give you a few more details.

Camp-style washer and clothes line

This is my camp washer without the lid on the first wash of
the challenge yesterday.  Doing well so far.

I made my camp-style washer about a year ago.  We are of the "prepper" mind-set, so we like to have back up options for catastrophes.  I got my bucket and lid for free from Walmart bakery.  I know some of them still give them free.  Others charge $1-3.  Either way, it's still cheaper than buying one from Lowe's or wherever.  I drilled a 1 1/2" hole in
the lid for my new, clean plunger handle to go through.  That was a year ago, so I don't recall the price, but I believe it was about $5.  I drilled 1/2" holes in the plunger to let the water flow more easily through it. I use the same laundry soap I've been making for a while.  You'll use a LOT less in this camp washer.  Start with about a teaspoon and see if you need more or less. Start of my preparations was testing out the washing and drying time, as well as the effectiveness of the washer.  It's pretty awesome. My clothes line came with my house.  It's just a simple line, but it works.  The clothespins were about $1.

Total cost: about $5

One of my t-shirt flats. One layer of fabric.
This is the back of the flat.

Flat diaper supply

I already had one cotton hemp flat that came with some pocket diapers I bought and a few Gerber bird's eye flats I bought before I knew anything about cloth.  I went through a pile of shirts I was going to donate or throw away and decided I could get great use out of it.  Simply cut the shirt along the sides so you have a front piece and a back piece.  You can remove the sleeves if you want, but I find they add absorbency right where Ms. K needs it.  Plus they make the wings extra long, so you can actually just tie them on instead of using a Snappi or Boingo.  So I now have 20 flats. A friend gave me 2 Snappis.  Another is loaning me a couple Boingos. Total cost: about $2

Covers

I already had my one-size Econobum covers I've been
using for years.  I dug out my pocket diapers for the baby sitter.  I decided not to use wool for this challenge.  I just love my Econobums! I bought them from Cotton Babies for about $4 per cover.  The pocket diapers I got used for $3 (including the insert).  I also have an Alva pocket diaper I got through a co-op for about $4. I saw no reason to limit my cover supply for this challenge.  I'm sure I could get away with using 5 or less, but I didn't reduce my current supply. Total cost: $30

Total cost of my supplies: $37 including what I purchased in the past
Total cost to do this challenge: FREE!



Can you see now how this would be completely doable for someone in diaper need?  For about the cost of a month's supply of diapers (or LESS), you could have more than enough flats, covers, and washer to get by.

Day 1: Why I took the Challenge

Day 3: Dealing with Overnights
Day 4: How am I doing with hand washing?
Day 5: What's working? What's not?
Day 6: Babysitter/Outings
Day 7: What did I learn?

Flats Challenge Day 1: Why did I take the Challenge?

Day 1 of the Flats Challenge

Boy, I sure love a challenge!  Taking on a good challenge is what usually helps me overcome some fear or hiccup. So, I'm doing the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  I was AFRAID of using flats!  But given this challenge, I thought, "Hey, I can do anything for a WEEK!"  And, like doing cloth in the first place, if I hate it, I'm not out anything, and if I love it, I'll use it!"

What is this challenge? For one whole week, you use only flat diapers (a single piece of material, usually about 32" square, folded into a diaper) and some sort of cover.  You also have to hand wash them.  Part of this challenge is bringing awareness to those in diaper need that this is a viable option instead of reusing disposables or going without food or other necessities.  Handwashing takes about 10 minutes and flats are the cheapest option out there.  Plus, flats line dry SO fast!  On a decent sunny day, they're dry in 2 hours tops.  I haven't tried drying inside yet, but with the storms due all week, I may have to get inventive!

Day 2: How did I prepare?
Day 3: Dealing with Overnights
Day 4: How am I doing with hand washing?
Day 5: What's working? What's not?
Day 6: Babysitter/Outings
Day 7: What did I learn?

Wonderful Uses and Benefits of Coconut Oil

I told you in this post that I could make an entire post about how much I love coconut oil, what's so great about it, and what I use it for.  Well, here it is!  The Marathon Mom made her own list of 23 uses for coconut oil and I agree with it.  Plus, she links to yummy recipes.  But she skips on telling WHY it's so great other than that it's so versatile. So I'll start by telling you what I know, then direct you to people who are way smarter than I am. You should definitely check out The Marathon Mom, too.  She's pretty amazing.

 Coconut oil is full of nourishing goodness.

My favorite unrefined
coconut oil. I hope you try it!

• It has anti-microbial/anti-bacterial properties.  
• It helps you to detox by dissolving toxins into itself.  
• The unrefined varieties smell amazing (if you like coconut) and they taste amazing.  
• It moisturizes skin, hair, and nails without getting greasy, if used sparingly.  
• It heals broken, dry, sunburned, and  scarred skin, whether consumed internally or applied topically.  
• It can be used as a sunscreen.
• It can be used alone as a make up remover, cleanser, and moisturizer in one.  
• Alone or combined with baking soda and other ingredients it works wonders as a natural deodorant. 
• Alone or with baking soda and flavorings, it can be used as a toothpaste.  It can also be used in "oil pulling."  Search for "oil pulling" in your favorite search engine.  Pretty cool stuff.
• It can be used in place of any oil in baking and cooking, though it usually needs melted since it's usually solid at room temperature.  
• While it is a saturated fat, it actually helps you lose weight because it's mostly short and medium length fatty acids, which your body can use more efficiently.
• If a tablespoon or so is swirled into a smoothie, you get this amazing taste and texture, with the added health benefits.
• You can use it to make your own "Magic Shell" ice cream topping.
• You can use it to "cut" essential oils.  In this way I have made my own "Vapor Rub," bug repellent, bug bite remedy, baby bedtime food rub, diaper rash ointment, and headache treatment.
• It can also be used alone with good effect for bug bite remedy, diaper rash ointment, and various forms and thrush and yeast infections.
• I can't say enough how it helps skin issues!  It helps burns, psoriasis, eczema, dandruff, ringworm/thrush/yeast infection/athlete's foot, dry/cracked skin, ingrown hairs, diaper rash, scrapes/scratches, and so on.

Seriously, the list goes on. Basically, if there's a health issue, I usually think about whether coconut oil can help it.  My next step is homeopathy.  I use it in much of my cooking, though I still use butter, olive oil, and canola oil for various purposes and benefits.  I even love cooking my popcorn in coconut oil.

For a really good list of benefits from coconut oil, check here.  A good place to buy and to learn about the great benefits of all forms of coconut, check here. You should also check their facebook page.

Unfortunately, there are some, like my sister-in-law, who are allergic to this miracle food!  I currently have no direction for those people.  I feel so bad for them because this stuff is AWESOME!  So, since it's possible, I suggest you start slow.  If you feel any itching, burning, nausea, or stomach upsets when using this product, it's possible you're allergic.  It's pretty uncommon, but still possible, so you've been warned.  However, if you're like most of us and can use it, whoot for you!

Refined, no odor/flavor,
but still has great benefits.

One I'll definitely try in the future.

Don't forget to enter my CollageItPro upgrade giveaway!

Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links, which will take you to the Amazon website where I make a small percentage of your purchase price.  It also contain links to other bloggers whom I respect, as well as some pages I only visited for reference. Do your own due diligence on whatever information you find there, please.

3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge!

In response to my friend's assurance that flats are OK, I've decided to take the Dirty Diaper Laundry's 3rd Annual 7-day Flats and Handwashing Challenge May 20-26.  Basically, you commit to exclusively using flats and covers (and to handwash them) for a week to show the world that it's possible to cloth diaper no matter your financial situation.  This challenge was started to bring awareness to families who were reusing disposable diapers because they couldn't afford to buy new ones.  How sad!  Find the rules here and sign up here. It's only a week and you have plenty of time to get ready.  And maybe you'll love it!  Or maybe it will encourage you to cloth diaper part time.  Let's do this!  To make your own flats from t-shirts, try this.  Or you can use flour sacks or buy your flats, or even use towels.  You WILL need covers for this challenge.  I'm excited.

Re-sizing jeans

I hate jean shopping.  I try on 20 pairs of jeans and none of them fit just right.  (Or I have to go into the size range this is not mine, just to get them on, but then they're saggy everywhere.  Or fit my hips by are so loose on my waist I could pull them off without unzipping/unbuttoning.  Or they're that awful low-rise fad that just increases my mama muffin top.  Not pretty.  Not sexy.  Just say no!  Well, when planning to go to Time Out For Women, I decided I really needed a nice new outfit that made me feel special.  It's been quite a while since I bought something new and just for me.  I really just wanted something that didn't have snot, peanut butter, or baby barf on it.  I know. It's crazy, but it was my plan.  So, I took a spare 30 minutes I had with a babysitter and went looking at the Surplus Store.  I also hate paying full price for things.  Knowing how much I detest jean shopping for the reasons I've already shared, I planned on finding a pair that was too big and hoping I could adjust it easily and make it work.  I bought a pair that were at least 2 sizes too big in the waist, but were just about perfect in the hips.  And they were only $13. Yes!  The legs were also bigger than the current style (see skinny leg jeans: blah!), but I adore the old boot cut/straight leg style anyway.  Basically, I bought these pants out of desperation and I was GOING to make them work.  When I got home, fed kids, and had a moment to myself, I started googling.  I came up with a couple DIYs that suggested ways to cut the jeans and resew the back seam, but that would put the pockets closer together.  For my wide bottom, I was worried it would make me look EVEN WIDER.  Then I found this totally brilliant tutorial.  I was giddy!  It was so simple!

Please look at her directions because they're well done for the beginner/intermediate. But basically you just cut a slit on the inside of the waistband and slip in a strip of elastic. Tighten it to the right place and sew it in.

Now, since my waist band was a bit large, it does look completely ridiculous when it's not on my body.  They're all scrunched up and funny looking.  But when I'm wearing them, I feel great and I look great.  We'll just cut out that absolutely huge number that was written on the jean size. ;-)

Don't forget to enter my CollageItPro upgrade giveaway!

Who needs McDonald's oatmeal?!

On nippy mornings like today, oatmeal calls to me.  I like to avoid most of the excess processed junk they put in cereals, even in ready to eat oatmeal, so I make my own.  McDonald's has nothing on this.  When I saw that they were selling their fruit and maple oatmeal as a healthy breakfast, I actually thought, "Hey, that could seriously draw me in."  Then I realized I have all those ingredients at home and could make it for PENNIES.  So I do.  I make my own.  And it's fabulous and exactly how I like it.  And it's adjustable.  So, yeah, no need to DRIVE to get my breakfast. In the time it takes the water to boil, everything else is prepared.  All I do is stir.  This recipe is for a single adult serving, though my children eat it well, too, so sometimes I plan for that.  It's extremely easy to double or half for you needs.

My Fruit and Maple Oatmeal

Start the tea kettle to boil.

Combine in bowl:

1/2 cup or 2 packets plain quick oats (I have an excess from my WIC days, so I use that)

1 slice of green apple, chopped (whatever is leftover from breakfast gets munched)

1-2 Tbsp raisins (and/or craisins, nuts, coconut, etc)

1 tsp real maple syrup (pancake syrup is just flavored sugar water, but you at your will)

1 pat real butter (I refuse to eat that low-fat plastic butter substitute.)

When water is boiling, pour about 1 cup over your cereal and stir.  The boiling water softens the raisins and apples to perfection.  Let the oats soak up the water for a minute or two, then enjoy!  Feel free to modify with cinnamon or other spices, but the the fruit really has a great flavor and sweet all it's own.  The maple syrup adds a little punch to it.

Since I woke this morning feeling the affects of yesterday's high pollen count, I added a pinch of nettles to my oats.  It gives a subtle wholesome flavor without overpowering anything.  And now I can breathe.  Win, win. Oh, yes, and the kids love it this recipe.  Triple win.

I love their morning hair.  They just got up from a living room "sleepover."