Cloth Diapers I Have Known: Cloth Diaper Reviews Part 2 and Baa Baa Black Sheep: How I Made Two Wool Diaper Covers From a One Buck Sweater

I want to get this out there, but I don't have time to write a full review of each one.  Please ask me if you want to know more about a specific one.

Wally Pop

Price: 12.50 new

Type: Pocket (they sell other types but this is the kind I had)

Description: size large, PUL exterior, microfleece and suede interior, cute colors, stuffed with the same as Fuzzy Bunz above, touchtape enclosures
These are the cheapest working diapers I have found.  If you are not making them, I recommend these.

Bella Bottoms-Worked great for a while, but then outer plastic disinigrated.  They are made of something different these days.

Cheeky Diapers- Very cute but totally wicked like crazy.  The lady was nice and even re-made my order after it got lost in the mail, and I really wanted to like them.  Oh well.  I see she does not make the pockets I had anymore.

Very Baby-This is a pattern that Maureen made for us.  They worked ok for girls and light pee, but my boys sometimes overflowed these.  Cute though.

KCK One-This is the one-size pattern I made my pul (from very baby) and microfleece all velcro pockets/covers from.  I made the first set, then altered the next one.  The teeny velcro peices on the front were impossible to lift open after a wash, so I left those off and the diaper fits my big boys 30-35 pounds better if it is not top stitched.  This is a great pattern though, and I had NEVER sewn anything from a pattern before this except a magic cabin doll kit.  Cheap and very worth it.  I was able to make pockets/covers for 7 dollars each.

Blue Penguin-got one of these used, it worked, side snap and nylon interior

Polar Babies-got one of these from my sister-newborn size, so it didn't last long, but it seemed to work and was super cute and fuzzy

Cotton Prefolds-we used these things folded into thirds under KCK one covers exclusively for the last two years, plus for newborn times with Cal AND cousin Patrick used them a bit at night.  They are just now starting to show wear.  Eventually we can use them as rags.  I got the diaper service quality ones online though, not the cheapies from the store.  A very good buy.

Pro Wrap Diaper- these are some serious covers, don't leak, and are super cheap.  They don't have fold back tabs and don't breath well, but we used them a lot, and they never wore out.

Zorb-This is a "revolutionary"new absorbent fabric to use for sewing diapers that does not work.  It looks like felt and doesn't really absorb much.  Too bad.  Also from the same Wazzodle manufacturer, a wicking fabric that actually makes water bead up and roll off of it.  Booo!

I am currently making wool recycled sweater one-size covers/soakers from the thrift shop and fitteds made from old flannel baby blankets and towels.  I hope I can review these well if I ever finish my set!

Poop! There It Is!: How I Clean My Cloth Diapers

Here's how I clean my cloth diapers:

Before Solid Food: poop or pee toss into a dry bucket until ready to wash including wipes.  Then on wash day dump the bucket in to the washer, cold rinse, hot and heavy wash with a scoop of country save powdered detergent, cold rinse.  Dry on high.

After solid food: pee-see above, poop-spray poop off into toilet with a sprayer that attaches to the toilet water supply line, then same as above.  Sometimes when the poop is extra stinky after age 2, I spray it with bio-clean bac-out.

It isn't that hard-the worst part is changing the diaper, and you have to do that anyway (unless you are doing elimination communication -or something that looks like an unsuccessful version of it while potty training except the baby is just going all over the floor/grass-yes this is us right now)

Fun Stuff in Red Bluff: Field Trips With Young Kids in Red Bluff

Here are some fun trips we have taken in good old Red Bluff (and some surrounding areas) with the kids.  In the spirit of me writing instead of not, I will be making a list instead of writing a lengthy review for each one:

The Aquarium Pet Store-surprising amount of animal variety for a small town-free, unless you get suckered into buying pet stuff :)-main street

The Sacramento River Discovery Center-cute little museum-free, but I'm sure they would take donations-sale lane

Ide Adobe-peek into the little one-room cabin to check out the furnishings and walk around to see the well, garden, farm animal housing, the carriage house, and the adobe brick making.  Visit the little museum.-I think you have to pay for parking on a trust basis, but the rest is free-adobe road

Rosser's (I think that's spelled wrong) Bakery- They told us how they grind wheat to make fresh bread and pointed out the ovens.  Bread's tasty-free, but I felt like we should at least buy a scone after they gave us a tour-antelope blvd.

Gaumers- Wow! I was not expecting there to be a full scale gem and mineral museum in this little place. Really cool!-free, but Cal got a polished rock souvenir for a few bucks-antelope blvd.

Fire Department/Police Department-  When they weren't busy we snuck in with someone we knew and those very nice firefighters/officers gave a little tour-free, and included plastic fire hat and sticker police badge.-that street behind Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Main

Tehama County Library-I can not write this with out mentioning the library.  It is far better than it should be for such a small town and the 9:30 pre-school story time on Wednesdays with Miss Sally is spectacular!  Stories, music, marching, crafts, educational topics, guest appearances, puppet shows, animal visits, snacks, prizes...awesome.-free!-unless you check out a book and bring it back late or completely loose it for 6 months behind the bed or under a pile of cr#p.-behind the jail-no affiliation

Red Bluff Garden Center-tons of different plants and knowledgeable staff-free, but it never is for me-I can't resist new baby plants :)-antelope blvd.

Coleman Fish Hatchery-lots of different aged salmon swimming around, some being smacked over the head and gutted for their reproductive goodies.  Informational boards too. -free-anderson/bfe

The worm farm-ok, it's in chico, but we had so much fun on the tour and this is where we got our worms for vermicomposting-free-chico

That's it for now, but I know there's more.  I guess we did more this year than I thought!

Drills Are a Dangerous Thing: I Just Got Screwed Again :(

You may remember the last time I screwed myself.  Well, I've done it again.  This time the drill wasn't even on, and I wasn't even holding it.  I have been a bit drill shy since the last incident, so I had Scott use the drill on the bathroom remodel.  Then, the drill was lying in wait on the floor near the bathroom and I walked right into it's trap.  You can see it made a little x or cross puncture wound.  That ankle is already painful and swollen with some sort of tendon problem this week.  Maybe I need a padded cell.  

Also, I would like to publicly apologize to my worm friends.  As I sit here typing, I can smell a stench coming from my home made double decker deluxe made-from-found-materials worm vermicomposting bin that smells a bit too close  to the smell of worms that used to be.  They were really well taken care of and creating all sorts of compost when the weather was cool, but with the recent heat, I am afraid to look in the bin.  Sorry worms :(.  Rest in...a 110 degree plastic bin...and then in peace in my garden once I get the nerve up.

Additionally, do not use drywall sand paper on your toilet, I think it has been scratching mine.  It IS 55 years old, but I don't want to ruin anyone's precious pot.

That is all.

You May Have Noticed...: Why I Haven't Been Posting

So...you may have noticed I haven't posted since March.  If you are a friend of mine who has been checking, sorry for the lack of updates.  If you are just browsing the net for information and happened on my blog, enjoy! I have a whole bunch of post ideas that are in my head and even in the draft area of the blog, but I'm not even sure they will make it out into the public eye.  I realized that the reason I never write is because I HATE writing.  I love sharing information and chatting with friends and/or strangers, especially about the topics on my blog.  If you are a real life friend of mine and want to chat about anything, please call my phone (I will be happy to talk to you pretty much 24 hours a day :)).  The problem with writing a blog about my favorite topics is that I have to write it.  I did well in college, but I am not looking forward to ever going back.  It's because I hate writing papers.  The second reason I stopped blogging is that when I was blogging, I was spending every precious moment of my "free" time blogging which made it so I never had time to actually live life.  I kept feeling stressed out that I needed to blog, so I would spend time doing it and fall behind on everything else like: homeschooling, cleaning the house, researching stuff online, reading, enjoying the kids....  I took a bunch of photos as I was doing some great blog-worthy stuff, but they are still on my desktop because I didn't feel like writing about them.  Thank you for following me this long.  I may get back to it some time, but I hate feeling stressed about something that is supposed to be for fun :).  Phew! I feel better now :)

Alcoholic Hands: A New Plan For Hand Sanitation

I have quite a relationship with hand sanitizer.  As a total germaphobe I love to slather it on as soon as we get to the car (or sooner if we are eating before being able to wash our hands).  I do of course prefer washing with soap and water, but hand sanitizer makes the ride home less stressful for me.  When I was teaching kindergarten, I put it on all of the time.  At that point I was using the Purell-type sanitizer.  When I switched over to natural products and realized that the kids lick the sanitizer off their hands and supposedly get drunk, I started using Cleanwell.  It is made with thyme oil and is supposed to kill germs while being non-toxic.  I just recently ran out of my stockpile of it so I started looking at other options in case I was missing anything.  Some sites claim that Cleanwell doesn't work as well as it could and other sites say that the kids can't get drunk off the licking alcohol.  Alcohol based sanitizers are the best type for germ control, but they have all that other stuff besides the 60-70 percent alcohol.  Some people make their own with aloe vera gel, alcohol and essential oils, but the aloe vera sounds expensive and Essential oils on skin over and over can sometimes cause unintended problems.  Quentin is less likely to eat his hands these days and seems to understand that soap is for washing instead of drinking, so I have a new idea for sanitizer.  When the Cleanwell spray bottle runs out next week, I am going to replace it with a tiny bit of 60%-120 proof (or more) grain alcohol.  I don't want to fill it completely in case someone gets into it.  Any alcoholics out there know where the cheapest, most disgusting tasting, strongest grain alcohol in Red Bluff is?  I can see the cashier now, "Suuuuure, you are going to make 'hand sanitizer' out of it...hey, aren't you the chick that always buys the petroleum in bulk?  You're disgusting. Even for Red Bluff."

UPDATE: After fruitless hours perusing the liquor section in several stores, I was informed that 120 proof is not sold in California.  I guess I will have to drive to Nevada to make my own sanitizer.  The cost per use is going way up.

Why I Buy Petroleum Jelly in a Giant Tub and Other Unnatural Confessions: The Many Cosmetic Uses of Petroleum Jelly

Yeah, I know, petroleum jelly is not natural, it's a man made petroleum product.  But, I have tried all of the natural subs and they are just not the same.  And it's so cheap, especially when you purchase it in a tub.  And besides the obvious pure petroleum, there are no other weird ingredients. So, yeah, I use it for stuff.  A lot of stuff:

1. hand and body lotion
2. lip gloss
3. smoothing down the little hairs on my hair line that are growing back from being pulled out by a baby (like hair gel)
4. eyebrow shaper on special occasions
5. boo-boo cream on teeny paper cut sized wounds
6. and to quote something Scott found online "Yeah, we use petroleum jelly for sex...we put it on the bedroom door handle so the kids can't get in" :) just kidding we don't really use it for sex, but I do wonder what the cashier thinks when I buy it by the tub

If your skin isn't as dry and needy as mine you may be able to do all of this with a natural alternative like a olive oil, jojoba oil, shea butter or even "Un-petroleum"(available at health food stores).

And now for some more unnatural confessions...my other guilty pleasures:

1. paper towels-I try not to, but some things are just so much less gross to clean up with them
2. generic zip lock baggies-I have tried to eliminate these before, but they are SO convenient
3. tissue-handkerchiefs work great until one of us has a cold (which is often) and needs to take care of some serious snot while attempting to not infect other people
4. disposable diapers-just at night or on trips, these things have snuck in like chocolate at a chocoholics anonymous meeting- so bad, but so good
5. candy-not the 70% organic fair trade cocoa bar, but the nasty red #40/PGPR/high fructose junk that the kids get in their halloween bag that I sneak when they are sleeping

O.k., I feel better to have all of that off my chest.  That's what she said. :)

Update: Something Stinks and It's Not A Dirty Diaper: My Natural Deodorant Quest

Just when you though you'd heard everything about natural deodorant, I have an update.  I was running out of the Tom's (24 hour no propylene glycol) and was thinking about picking up more when...it failed.  To give Tom some credit, it had been a super long day complete with building a desk from scratch and heavy sweating caused by almost passing out from the hole I drilled in my thumb (see previous post).  I should have reapplied, but instead I went straight to the first ladies night out in 6 months.  A great place for the deodorant to fail, a room packed with 50 ladies I don't know who now think I usually smell like
B.O..  Nice.  Thanks Tom.

It could be that even the best deodorant would have filed on such a day though, so I'm giving Tom another chance with his other recipe.  This time I got the clear roll on 24 hour citrus liquid.  It has potassium alum and zinc and seems to be working well so far.  I will let you know if there is a part 3.

One more thing I forgot to mention... One time I was visiting with friends and wanted to be extra fresh.  So I thought, "If baking soda works and that crystal rock thing works, why not combine them for twice the stink fighting power?"  Let me tell you, my friends, this is not a good idea.  The combination immediately began to make a very strong ammonia cloud waft out of my armpits.  Apparently the two chemicals make ammonia.  Who knew?

How I Get Anything Done While Simultaneously Homeschooling: My Favorite Playdoh Recipe

Ok, so most of the days I either get homeschooling done, cleaning done, blogging done, OR sewing done. This is because I swear the kids can make a mess faster than I can chase them around to clean it up.  In a conversation recently with another homeschool mom, we discussed how the kids just spend all day undoing what we are doing (getting unhungry, pooping in diapers, getting out toys, making bodies muddy, making dishes dirty, making laundry dirty, etc.).  Every Friday I think, "Yikes! How can I ever get the house clean WHILE the kids are stationarily (I know spellcheck, it's not a word, I made it up, get over it) enjoying something "educational" (besides T.V.)?"  And then I remember, PLAYDOH!  When will two little boys voluntarily sit still long enough for me to temporarily catch up with them?  When they are playing with playdoh.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  "But, Beck, that makes a huge mess and the 19 month old will eat it!"  Yes, it makes a little bit of a mess (less if you always insist on the playdoh staying on a plastic cutting board or if you play outside), but not as much of a mess as regular boy activities do.  And the  mess is hopefully contained to one area.  And yes, the 19 month old tried it once, and thought it was too salty, so he stopped.  I can't stand the smell of that awful "real" store bought playdoh, and that stuff can get pricey so I make my own.  When I first started making it I got a great recipe from my mother-in-law but it required cooking the playdoh in a pot (aka burning a sticky mixture of wet flour and salt to the bottom of one of my cooking pots that requires chipping off later).  Then I found the no cook recipe in More Mudpies to Magnets: Science for Young Children by Sherwood, Williams and Rockwell (our science curriculum) and fell in love.  I do add a bit more water because it is a little crumbly.

1 cup flour
1/3 cup salt
1/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Put dry in first and stir, add wet in a nest, stir again, and mix with hands.

And now if you will excuse me, the magic of the playdoh is over, the dishes are not done (I was blogging instead) and Quentin is shaking the contents of a bag of Grapenuts all over the kitchen floor.  Happy doughing!

Now I'm Screwed: Our New Homeschool Area and A New Hole In My Thumb

I am preschool homeschooling my 4 1/2 year old son this year.  We got a bit off track around Thanksgiving and I think part of the reason was that we didn't really have a designated place to do and keep homeschooling stuff.  I had to search for his curriculum books and supplies every day and it was getting exhausting (before we even started trying to learn while his little brother pushed everything off the table).  So I decided to start moving everything homeschool related to one corner of the living room.  This is a work in progress because I have yet to move the books and stationary supplies around, but I wanted to show off the desk I built for it and the Ikea wire I hung up for the posters.  We had some untreated douglas fir wood scraps left over from the bed frames my husband put together during Christmas time.  I really didn't want to bother him to cut the wood because he is pretty busy teaching.  I wanted a desk for Cal that fit the Ikea chairs under it, allow Legos to be swept into a lower bin when playing was done, hold cups for pencils and such, store tubs on the side, and have a tabletop the same size as the plexiglass I had already had so that he can write and paint on a smooth non-markable surface.  I pieced together the scraps very carefully to make the desk and I only had to cut two pieces with a hand saw.  Unfortunately, halfway through the project I screwed myself...in the thumb...at the base of my thumbnail...there is a new hole that was bleeding and making me want to pass out.  I had to call up my friend and ask her to distract me so that I didn't.   It gives me the heebee-jeebees just thinking about it.  I am proud to say that after staring at the half-done desk for an hour, I got back on the horse, "cowboyed up" as they say in Red Bluff, and finished the desk and hung the wire with the very same "safe" power drill that scarred me for life earlier.  Yay me! The post would not be complete without photos of the excitement, so here they are!

There's the lego tub.

Does it look like a preschool instead of a living room yet?

The desk

And that's how I screwed myself.

Lady in Red: How I Became an Unnatural Redhead Naturally With Henna

There's me pretending to be a wolf.  Aroooooo!

My husband has always told me how cute he thinks I am, just the way I am.  The fact that we met while both working at a Boy Scout camp says something about level at which the bar of my appearance was set.  If he fell in love with me while I was only allowed to wear olive Boy Scout shorts with a turquoise men's t-shirt.  And it's not like I was spiffing myself up much.  I guess I did wear powder-this red dust that covered the trails at camp was almost like a self tanner powder.  Despite all of this he often said, "You look great the way you are, but if you ever want to dye your hair red, I won't complain".  I had NEVER died my hair.  I liked my natural color, I felt like I would giving in to the beauty myths of the teen/women's magazines, I didn't think it was worth the money, and it supposedly fried your hair with toxic chemicals.

This year we were both apart for the weekend before Valentine's Day.  I was at my parents house and my sweetheart of a mom offered to watch little Q so I could get a much needed real hair cut funded by her.  As I was making some pretty big changes to my hair already, I thought maybe I could do a couple of red streaks for Scott as a Valentines Day present.  I headed to the health food co-op in Davis and there  I found the perfect solution: henna! The whole box was only about 6 dollars and I only used half, it will wash out gradually over 4-6 weeks (no roots) and the only ingredient is organic henna leaves ground up into a powder.  No toxic chemicals  AND it is GOOD (conditioning and protective) for your hair instead of bad.  True, it only adds color instead of subtracting, so I couldn't go blond with it, and my black haired friends are not going to get much change.  But, I thought it would be a fun change and I knew my husband would be happy with the gift.  I picked the "Bright Red" color which had a wolf on the front (see photo above).  Each color featured a different animal and I was briefly tempted to pick the cutest animal, but the wolf color was a good match.  I had reoccurring nightmares as a child about coyotes/wolves, so, needless to say, this is not my favorite animal.

I took it back to my parent's house and got started.  First I microwaved some hot water to boiling and added half of the powder until it was, as the directions said, "the consistency of already stirred yogurt."  Then I waited and hour or so for it to sit while we took the kids to the park.  Next, I put on gloves and very carefully applied the mud to just the bangs of my newly cut hair.  It was helpful to have my mom to assist as the henna will dye all sorts of things.  Then, while my bangs were clipped to themselves, I alternated between blow-drying them and using the henna to make all sorts of crazy henna temporary tattoos on me, my mom, and my son (he wanted a heart on his hand for Valentines Day). After about 2 1/2 hours of mostly eating dinner, my mom said, "you'd better wash that stuff off!"So we rinsed and dried my bangs and washed off our skin.  When it was wet, it was hard to see any difference, but once it was dry, it was VERY red! Once I saw the effect on the bangs, I had so much left over, I thought, "oh, why not," and did the same thing to the rest of my head.  The first 24 hours, I wasn't supposed to use shampoo.  Then, the first time I washed it I accidentally used the new light blue organic cotton towel gifted to me by my dad to dry it.  I would not recommend this.  The first 3 days the color is pretty bright which changes into the more subtle color you can see in the photo below.  My hair is just as soft as ever, I am having fun being a redhead for a few weeks and Scott is enjoying the Valentines Day gift.  More fun than the tongue piercing my 1 year old son got on Valentine's Day when he fell of the bed and caught his tongue on some thing sharp on the way down.  The poor guy couldn't nurse for 12 hours and still has a bit of a slice.  :( Boo!  And yay for unnaturally red hair dyed naturally!

Stayin' Alive: Landscape Plants That Survive Red Bluff

If I was a plant, I would be O.K. in Red Bluff until about May.  At that point I would head somewhere I wasn't literally melting from heat and lack of water until Halloween.  I can't say how much money I have wasted on plants I *hoped* would work in Red Bluff.  If I had only had this list when I started.  Sure, the Red Bluff Garden Center is a great place to get plants acclimated to Sunset Zone 9 and advice to go along with them.  They are, however, still selling plants after all, so they can't be completely unbiased.  My philosophy on plants is: if they don't survive my current climate and general lack of care, it wasn't meant to be.  Here's the list of magical plants that have somehow managed to stay alive despite the odds:

Annuals:
(I don't plant annuals unless we can eat them-not enough bang for my buck.  I also water these a lot more than other plants who are just looking pretty)

Spring/Summer
tomatoes (technically a biannual-some of these have even come up as volunteers in the yard!), pumpkins,   zucchini, peppers, sunflowers, green/string beans, eggplants (from a seedling, not from seed), basil, snap peas

Fall/Winter
onions, garlic, lettuce, broccoli, chard, spinach, cilantro (from a seeding).

Perennials/Trees:

Sun

Desirable
rosemary, lavender, vinca (does spread a bit but is cute), all my fruit trees have been doing great unless they were knocked down by a 2 year old and crepe myrtle (if ants "get all up in here", the aphids leak annoying sap on your car, so don't plant it near your car).

Weed-like
(All grow way too fast even with out water.  Additional disadvantages listed)
fire thorn (pyrocanthia)-thorns, California privet-grows back from nothing and spreads seeds everywhere, mulberry-fruited drops berries on pavement and both male and female roots wrap around pipes, quince-thorny, but does make little sour fruits and fun winter flowers, oleander-VERY poisonous especially if you have kids, ivy/boston ivy/orange trumpet vine-climbs stuff like houses and leaves marks plus climbs trees to strangle them, and of course just random weeds like dandelions somehow do super well here.


Shade/North Side of House
lilly of the nile (agapanthus) regular and dwarf, strawberries, lemon scented geranium, roses and mini roses, dwarf nandia bamboo, sweet olive bush (my favorite, flowers smell like apricots year round), camellia, lilly/tulip/daffodil bulbs, rhododendron (but this is poisinous if kids eat it as are the bulbs), ornamental garlic, shasta daisy, sage, columbine and carnations.

Happy Planting!

Cloth Diapers I Have Known: Cloth Diaper Reviews Part 1

I have a love hate relationship with cloth diapers.  But, I have the same sort of relationship with disposables.

With cloth, the price, the cuteness factor, the convenience of not going to the store, the stick-it-to-the man-ness, the tree hugger thing, the early potty training, the reduction of cancer causing chemicals next to the baby, having the baby wear something that you made, the choices...but then there's the night time leaking, amonia (or worse) smell, the extra laundry, the changing every 1 to 2 hours instead of 4-5, the poop spraying, the inability of children's clothing manufacturers to create a pair of pants that contain a fluffy cloth bum, when you get a poorly made one for big bucks and realize it totally leaks but you can't send it back to the really sweet WAHM that made it, the elastic or fabric or thread failing, my gigantic 100th percentile kids growing out of "one size" diapers at age 18 months, the dog taking off with one and running to the back of the yard to chew it to threads as I shout "NOOOO I paid 18 dollars for that!"...

With disposables only changing them after 4 hours or poops, the sterility, no extra laundry, a bit more reassurance of no leaking at night or on car trips, easy to pack on trips, don't have to convince others when they graciously staying at their house that the best place for the baby's poopy diapers is the same place they clean their own clothes, good for diarrhea moments (you can just throw it out), fits slim under clothes, kid doesn't have to walk like they "just got off the horse"...but then there's the 20-50 cents a piece depending on how much chlorine you want the baby exposed to, the chemical smell instead of the baby smell, wondering if you should change a diaper before it's dragging on the floor to get "full use" out of it, the extra garbage, deciding to change it and 10 minutes later the baby poops in it- they could have just saved 50 cents by pooping on top of the pee, feeling like the big corporations own you, getting a bad batch in which every diaper's right tab rips off as you try to wrestle a baby into it, wondering where a polite garbage can to put a poop bomb in is when you are out, paying that much for a disposable and having it leak all over the sheets you just changed anyway, more blowouts (yuck), buying a whole package right before a growth spurt that you can't use, using 47 disposable wipes on a poopy diaper that would have taken 3 cloth wipes...

So basically, diapers suck no matter what type- you are still dealing with poop and pee either way.  Since full time disposables are cost prohibitive, and I have a soft spot in my heart for cloth we mostly use cloth and have since Cal was a newborn 4 1/2 years ago.  I realize every diaper works differently on each child, and boys leak differently than girls, but I thought it may be useful to review the diapers I have used.  There are some great cloth diaper sites such as Diaper Pin that I spent way too long on while the babies were nursing.  There are reviews and great descriptions of what cloth diapering is all about there and all over the web.  For now I'll just review the one's I have used, and there are a lot.

Honey Boys
Price: about 22 new (mine were a gift)
Type: All in Ones
Description: size small and medium, Windpro/windblock fleece exterior, malden mills microfleece liner, fold back touchtape enclosure, cotton absorber, stay dry liner kept bottoms dry, cute tabs, made by my sister-in-law (my order of 40 smalls and 36 mediums put here over the edge and she is no longer making them-sorry again Maureen)
The Good: super cute, worked well once the newborn legs grew out (penis and poop snuck out the leg hole for the first week or two), very absorbent and the windpro/windbloc worked well on the small (it eventually wore out on the mediums after a couple years of full time use), very well made and sturdy.
The Bad: take forever to dry in the dryer, mediums got a musty smell inside that wouldn't really go away because they never really dried, polyester next to the baby's skin, bulky fit under clothes (but cute enough to go with out pants in good weather)

Fuzzy Bunz
Price: 18 new, 7 used
Type: Pocket
Description: size large, PUL exterior, microfleece interior, snap enclosures, old style 2.0 with the pointy tabs, got most used and a couple new from actual storefronts in Davis, CA, stuffed with microfiber cloths from the automotive section of Costco or cotton babies microfiber inserts, white.
The Good: pretty darn leak proof during the day, lasted a long time, especially for used diapers, cotton babies inserts were very absorbent (microfiber cloths were just OK), slim fitting
The Bad: EEEKK! the ammonia stink! The combo the microfiber, microfleece and PUL made for quite a stinkfest; the snaps, although harder for a baby to pop open (they just pulled the whole thing down instead) are really difficult to get a good fit quickly on a squirmy toddler; still the polyester on the bottom thing, not a night time solution.

To be continued...

Something Stinks and It's Not A Dirty Diaper: My Natural Deodorant Quest

I don't know how many years I have been in search of a natural non-toxic deodorant that actually works.  My husband just laughs at me now when I ask him if he can smell my armpits and tell me truthfully if they smell like the freshmen he teaches after P.E..  I think I have finally found something that works as long as I don't wear a polyester shirt.  Here is the record of my odyssey with stink.

I used to use Secret Prescription Strength until I got pregnant with Cal.  At that point Secret made me break out in a horrible armpit rash (this is not the last time this type of rash would rear it's ugly head).  So I used a teenage deodorant/antiperspirant that made me smell like some sort of fruit.  Then I started looking at the Skin Deep/Cosmetics Safety Database.  Yikes! That thing will make you want to live submerged in mud on an organic farm for the rest of your life to avoid anything that might be cancer causing or cause reproductive harm.  I started to think about the chemicals in beauty products including deodorant.

I started with a yellow "natural" "herbal" deodorant available in the regular deodorant section of the grocery store.  Then I realized it still had fragrance, propylene glycol, and other stuff I didn't like.  And it didn't really work.  I just smelled like herbed B.O..

Then, the Crystal Rock deodorant which Scott refers to as my "magic rock" as in, "Look at me, I'm rubbing my magic rock on my arm pit and hoping the magic will take away the evil spirits there."  I also tried Laffe's Deodorant stone too.  These did work O.K..  Probably for about 12 hours unless I was really nervous (which is the exact moment I would really want my deodorant to work). The good thing about them is that you just add water and rub, so they were easy to take along in the deodorant-melting-110-degree-heat around here.  When it failed, I would just wipe the area with a wet cloth or tissue and reapply.  They have barley any chemicals and supposedly no bad stuff.  Speaking of bad stuff, the bad part about them was (besides the occasional fail) was that I dropped mine and it shattered into a million splintery shards, one of which got lodged painfully in my foot.

I tried the spray version of this which is basically the same thing with some very expensive water added and it did nothing.

I tried other various things like witch hazel, coconut oil, and cornstarch.  These were fails also.

Then I heard of baking soda (NOT Baking powder).  Just plain old baking soda applied to wet armpits. I had plenty of this lying around (oh, Costco), so I gave it a try.  It was amazing.  It always worked no matter how hot it got and how sweaty I was.  My pits were stink free, chemical free, and totally cheap!  I used it for a whole year and told people excitedly about the miracle cure I had found.  Then slowly,  that rash I was referring to earlier started coming back.  It got to the point that I was dreading putting on deodorant every morning because it would sting the rash so badly.  I looked online and it said I should have been combining the one part baking soda with up to 6 (!) parts cornstarch so that it wouldn't give me a rash.  I tried but it was too late.  Now my body reacted to any baking soda like an armpit invader.

So, on to the next thing- Milk Of Magnesia.  My only experience with this stuff was when I was 16.  My driving instructor kept a bottle in the passenger's side of the car and sipped it as I practiced driving.  So I gave it a big try.  It did work almost as well as the baking soda.  It was a bit wet, white and more difficult to apply (with a tissue).  But then the rash came back.  Hmmm...

I tried Hugo's extraordinarily expensive lime deodorant for a birthday present from the health food store.  It didn't work all the time, but most of the time I smelled A LOT like lime.  I like lime, but I was ready for something new and cheaper at the end of the bar.

I was cruising down the regular deodorant section at our local Raley's and noticed that Tom's of Maine had finally stopped putting in propylene glycol as it's first ingredient.  It is something that sounds a lot like the same thing in Latin, but they swear it is different and guess what? It actually works!  Only the very new one that says it lasts 24 hours and has no P.G..  They are still stocking the old kind hoping people will buy more of it before it heads to the Grocery Outlet.  It's not too expensive, about $3 or so and I don't have to drive to Chico or Redding to get it.

I hope the rash and skunk are finally dead.  We will see when the 110 degree summer comes in Red Bluff.

A Bun in the Oven: Egg Free Biscuits, Pancakes, and Muffins Recipes

Can't have eggs or just don't have any in the fridge?  Maybe just looking for a quick and easy recipe?  Here are my scratch recipes for biscuits, pancakes and banana muffins.  Sometimes when I'm out of fresh milk I substitute with dry milk or watered down plain yogurt.  One good thing about not baking with eggs is that you and the kids can eat all the raw/undercooked dough they want and there is no risk of salmonella. All of these can be made ahead and frozen to reheat later.  I hope you enjoy these treats!

Drop Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
pour 1 cup milk into a 4 cup measuring cup or bowl (add less milk for cookie cutter biscuits)
add 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil or butter
add 2 cups of any flour (white, whole wheat, half white/half wheat)
add 2 tsp baking powder
add 1/2 tsp salt
stir until all ingredients are wet
add other stuff if you want like cinnamon, garlic, grated cheese, chocolate chips, raisins, sugar or frozen berries
spoon heaping Tablespoons on to a parchment paper covered or oil sprayed cookie sheet
cook for 15 minutes

Pancakes:
pour 2 cups milk into 4 cup measuring cup or bowl
add 2 Tablespoons oil
add 2 Tablespoons water
add 2 cups of any flour (white, whole wheat, half white/half wheat)
add 1 Tablespoon plus one 1 teaspoon baking powder
add 1 Tablespoon sugar
add 1/2 teaspoon salt

stir until all ingredients are wet and most lumps are gone

add other stuff if you want like cinnamon, chocolate chips, banana slices or frozen berries

cook on a pan on the stove on med-low sprayed with oil (or butter) before every time you pour a new set of pancakes

pancakes are ready to flip when bubbles come through the middle of the pancake (they work their way in from the outside) and the bottom is tan

serve when the other side is tan too with syrup, honey, jelly, yogurt, peanut butter, applesauce or what ever your family likes on pancakes

Banana Muffins: 

this recipe makes two muffin tins full or 2 loafs of banana bread and can be halved

preheat the oven to 400 degrees

squish 4 ripe bananas at the bottom of a bowl with a fork (2 cups)

add 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon oil

add 3 Tablespoons water

add 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (watered down brown sugar may work here)

add 1/2 cup milk

stir well

add 4 cups flour (2 white 2 wheat, or all white)

add 2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

add 1 teaspoon salt

stir until well mixed and moistened

add other stuff if you want like cinnamon, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, or frozen berries

spoon into two oil-sprayed muffin tins or two loaf pans half to 3/4 full

bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or loafs for 45 min to an hour until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean

What Came First?: How to Replace Eggs in Recipes

A few years ago, I finally discovered that eggs were the culprit every time I felt awful.  Egg allergies can be tricky, but not as difficult as some other more prevalent foods.  One thing people ask me is how can I handle not eating any pancakes, muffins, cookies, and quick breads.  These foods are tasty and, it's true, I can't eat many store bought or someone else's homemade baked goods.  But, I have these things all the time because I just make those recipes at home with out using eggs.  If the recipe has 2 eggs or less I can usually substitute each egg with the following:

2 Tablespoons Oil
2 Tablespoons Water
1 teaspoon baking powder (I use aluminum free or make my own using equal parts baking soda, cream of tartar and rice flour-wheat flour may work, I have never tried)

Then I reduce the cooking time by about 5 minutes.

It doesn't work for flan, pumpkin pie, or omelets, but at least I don't feel as deprived.