Hello all! So happy that hubby found my other power cord for my laptop! Actually, he's found quite a few things for me around the house lately, stuff that I've been tearing up the place looking for. What's really odd (at lest to me anyway) about this new development is that it's usually just the opposite...I'm usually the one finding his stuff that he's misplaced. I guess it was about time for that shift to happen, I mean I'm chasing after two little ones all day, stuff is bound to fall through the cracks so to speak. It's also a little humbling...I'm used to being the one who knows where everyone else's things are...kinda lets me know that I'm not supermom and that it's ok cause I'm not expected to be.
In other news, I've made a couple of executive decisions about things around the house. The first one (and the one everyone's most on-board with) is that I'm instituting "Meatless Mondays" at home. I read a little blurb about the movement in a magazine that I subscribe to, so I decided to check it out online. The site is fairly user-friendly, so that was a big plus, especially considering I was researching this durring naptime (update: my son is actually starting to nap more durring naptime, which is just awesome for me, considering that his sister is starting to sleep for a good stretch at around the same time). Read a little more about the whole deal and checked out some of the recipes on the website...most sound very delicious, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like a whole lot of vegetables. So I decided that since I make the monthly menu for the household and do a good majority of the cooking around here, we'd try it out for a couple months, just to see how it goes. If you're interested in seeing what this movement is all about, check out the website: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ . The second executive decision, and the one that's gonna be the hardest for everyone around here (especially my mom) is that I'm trying to lessen our reliance on paper towels. I know, I know...it seems crazy that I'm trying to do this, with a house full of people and two kids under 3, but I really think we can make it happen. I've already been trying to use towels and dishrags to clean up spills and do general cleaning around the house instead of paper towels for a while now, so for me I don't think the transition will be too terribly hard...it's the rest of the household I'm concerned about. My cousin who lives here is totally on board with this too, so at least I have one person in my corner...I think that's what they did a lot at her mom's house when she was living there, so it shouldn't be a difficult transition for her either. And the kiddos, well, they're kids...they'll pick up the new habit faster than anyone else I'm sure (my son anyway, my daughter can't even sit up on her own yet lol). We bought a pack of barmops at the store last night (we were picking up a couple other things anyway), and they're pretty good size to try and replace paper towels with, 12x12, plus they were pretty inexpensive...about $4 for an 8 pack, averages out to about 50 cents per towel, not including sales tax of course. I figure that if we pick up at least one package every time we go to the store (which is a LOT) or even every other time we're there, we'll have a stockpile of them in no time flat and then we can pretty much just stop buying paper towels altogether. Sure, I'll probably keep a roll or two hanging around for really grody cleaning jobs and the rare occasions that we fry something or cook bacon to absorb the grease, but barmops can handle everthing else quite well. I even used one earlier to soak up my soda that little man spilled in my room...worked famously! And after I was done soaking up the spill, I just rinsed it out in the kitchen sink, wrung the water out and hung it on the dishwasher handle to dry so it'll be ready for the next spill or to dry freshly washed hands. Simple!
I don't really know why I've been all about changing things around the house lately...I guess the woman crazy has just been leaking out a little more lol. I know when I was pregnant with my daughter I went a LOT woman crazy about things around here (mostly just nesting though lol), I even swore off all commercial cleaners except for laundry soap (hubby, the kids and I all have very sensative skin when it comes to laundry soap...seriously, we have to use one that's hypoallergenic and free of dyes and fragrances otherwise we all get super itchy) But I found some recipes for natural cleaning products on what is now one of my favorite blogs, so I mostly use those...there's one on the site for laundry soap too, but I'd hate to make a batch of it only to find out that one or all of us are allergic to it. So my cleanig supplies consist mainly of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), warm water, vinegar and a good helping of elbow grease. The baking soda also acts as a mild abrassive, so it's really good for scrubbing off dried on gunk (highly technical term there, right?), but it's still gentle enough for me to use on our ceramic cooktop (it's one of the early ones, from back when they were the newest, greatest thing and the technology was still really new...you're not supposed to use any kind of soap on it at all). I still use pretty much just that to do the cleaning around here and it gets everything very clean, plus there's no dangerous chemicals with two small children around the house. So I guess on a small level, I'm subconciously trying to go a little bit greener...maybe that's part of it. I've actually been thinking about the paper towel thing for quite a while now, just had to approach it in a way that the rest of the family wouldn't run me off lol. Well, I guess that's about all for now...naptime is almost over and I've got a bit of cleaning to do. Until next time!
I grew up with a single mom and a sister, and my mom did not buy paper towels at all. She wasn't trying to be green at all, it was just a way for her to cut corners economically. We cleaned up everything with bar mops, and when a bath towel began to get old, frayed, and worn, mom cut it up into dish rags. I didn't get addicted to paper towels until I lived with S. It's funny how your habits can change depending on who you live with!
ReplyDeleteI'm checking out Meatless Monday. Thinking about implementing it. I already don't cook beef or pork since I am allergic to it, so it would be very easy to go meatless for a number of meals during the week just by dropping the chicken, turkey, or fish. The only reason I'm not a full-on vegetarian is because I worry about dropping meat entirely while I have a preteen boy eating in my house. I want to make sure he gets enough protein to grow (he's allergic to milk and doesn't get much protein from his rice or coconut milk), but dropping meat on Monday is a good way to make a difference while still not being concerned about his protein intake for the week. Thanks for sharing the link!