seedling update and OCM

Hello all!  I have an update today on my seedlings I told you about last time.  The seedlings had grown big enough that I thought it was time they spent a little time outside, to bask in real sunshine and soak up a bit of the drizzle that we were having that day.  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...I soon forgot that I had put the seedlings outside and that drizzle we had turned into a downpour!  It wasn't until a while later that I remembered they were outside (after I passed by the spot inside where they used to be) and went out to move them...they were soaked!  Like, standing water on the soil and some soil washed away soaked.  After moving the flats to a dry spot under our carport, I still had hopes for them, and they did dry out after a day or two, but they sadly didn't make it much longer.  Ironically, after the soaking the peppers started to finally sprout (I had all but given up on them), but the local bird population decided they'd make a nice snack, so they also are no more.  Luckily, I still have some seeds left, so I can plant some more. 

seedlings and coconut oil

Hello all!  I've got a couple of new things to tell you about, the first being that the seeds I planted a little while back are sprouting!  I'm super excited about this!  All 10 starter pots of tomatoes, my dill, basil and cilantro have tiny little seedlings...another week or two and they should be ready to transplant into the garden.  The only things that haven't sprouted yet are my peppers (hot, not sweet or bell peppers).  I also have some peas, cucumber and carrots to plant still, but they'll go directly in the ground when I transplant the seedlings.  The corn will have to wait a bit, as it's not quite time for them to be planted.  Also, the sunflowers that little man planted last week have begun to sprout as well!  He just loves coming out to water them daily, though I think there are a couple that might not come up because he got a little overzealous with the watering can lol.  Once they're a little bigger they will be transplanted too and when they're fully grown, we should have a pretty good supply of sunflower seeds to munch on and to plant next year. 

it's not easy being green...but it's not that hard either

Note: This post was originally from Feb.  I was trying to edit it to include a jump so you wouldn't have to scroll down as much to view older posts and accidentally moved it up higher on the list.  The newest post (3-5-12) is actually the one right below this titled "small changes".  I appologize for any confusion this has caused.


Hello all!  In my last post, I updated everyone on the new (and new-ish) steps my family has taken in our journey to be more green.  In this post, I wanted to explain a little bit more about the reasons why I've been leading us in this direction, because to be fair there's more than just wanting to do our part involved. 

"small changes"

Hello all!  So I really need to start making a better effort to update this blog more regularly...there's just a lot going on right now.  But with two toddlers running around, when isn't there a lot going on lol.  I also have several new "small changes" in the natural/green department that I'm trying to implement around here, so I'll be sure to keep you posted on how those are working out for us.  I'm going to try to post more frequently so I can split the details of them into several different posts, which will also serve to make my posts a bit shorter, at least in theory.  Those readers who know me know that I have a tendency to ramble on about a topic if given half a chance lol.  But for now, I'll just talk about a couple of recent small changes that are working out well for us here. 

Hello all!  Today I would like to talk a little about gender stereotyping.  As some of you may remember, I have a little boy and a little girl, so this topic is definitely something that I think about quite a bit.  And by think about, I really mean worry about, as in "Am I projecting these gender-specific roles onto my children?".  Admittedly, my kids are still very young, so for the most part they don't have gender-specific interests yet, but it is something that I try to be very aware of, even now.  Now that's not to say that all toys that come into my home are gender neutral...far from it!  Little man has plenty of toys that are traditionally "all boy", like cars, trucks and superhero action figures.  Baby girl has "girly" toys like a tea set, a purse and pretend make-up.  The key difference is that they both play with all these toys...there have been many times when I've walked in on baby girl playing with her brother's cars and action figures or little man playing with his sister's toy picnic basket.  Some parents may be bothered by this, but it actually makes me quite happy.  As a mom, I try really hard to not force my kids into gender roles...not to the point that they have the same non-descript haircut and wardrobe so that people can't readily tell which one is a boy and which one is a girl (that's far too confusing...on several levels), but I'm not going to tell my son that he can't play "tea party" with his Nana just because he's a boy.  I say let him eat a teacake!  On the same note, I'm also not going to tell my daughter she can't go out and "help" Daddy if he's working on the car because she's a girl and little girls don't do that kind of thing...it just doesn't make sense to me.  I think part of it's because my parents didn't do that to me either...if I wanted to go help my dad build something in the garage, that was fine.  And if I wanted to help my mom bake or cook, that was fine too.  I guess what I'm really getting at is this: don't feel like you have to push your children to do (or NOT do) certain things just because society tells us that it's the "traditional" role of a boy or girl.  Let them decide what roles they want to take on in life...otherwise, you may miss out on your son becoming a world-class chef or your daughter becoming an expert mechanic. 

In other news, cloth diapering is going very well!  I made several more pocket style diapers for baby girl...this batch with snaps instead of velcro.  She figured out how to undo the velcro very quickly, so when she's in the velcro diapers I have to make sure she's wearing either bloomers or pants over them so she can't take them off.  So far, the snaps seem to have alleviated this problem, at least for now.  She seems to prefer the cloth, as do I...now, on the occasions I've put her in a disposable, she looks like she feels very uncomfortable in them and is more likely to fuss or try to get it off of her.  I think she's gotten used to the cloth and really doesn't like how the paper-y disposables feel against her skin.  Hopefully, this will also help her to potty train faster since she'll make the connection of that "gotta go" feeling and being wet, which is something that doesn't really happen in disposables.  Well, I guess that's about all for now...until next time!