Diaper Sprayer Mayhem

So, we've been doing cloth diapers for awhile now. I am still really liking them! We do use disposables for going to church, but I think that's mostly because I don't have a wet bag yet to put the cloth diapers in.

I hope you don't mind me mentioning it.... but when it comes to messy diapers, we at first did a lot of rinsing and scrubbing. This was getting to be a bit tedious, so my amazing husband installed a DIY diaper sprayer. I was so excited! Until the first time I got to use it. The water pressure was so hard, even with the water flow turned down on low, that it sprayed poopy water everywhere in the bathroom. Not cool!

But today I tried a new tactic, because I was not going to give up the diaper sprayer! We had a medium-sized unused tub we used to do our dishes in that was just sitting around. Now, I keep the tub under the crib where we put the soiled diapers during changings. Then, we use the tub to carry the diaper to the bathroom to rinse it out. If it's a dirty diaper I carry it over to the bathtub and using the diaper sprayer, spray the diaper down in the plastic tub while it's sitting in the bathtub. If it sprays everywhere, who cares! It worked amazingly! I am really excited. Man, the things you get excited over when you're a parent. Sheesh! :-)

Decluttering

I have been in a serious decluttering fit lately. We just moved into a smaller townhome and we've had to seriously start to evaluate all the stuff/junk that we have been hauling around on these moves. Thanks to a kick start from Miss Minimalist's blog I have been going to town!

I find that being thrifty, frugal, and having a go at minimalism is an interesting balance. So, here are two tips that I've discovered so far.

1. "Tools of the trade" - I'm a baker/cook and homemaker. Any books or tools that help me out are things that I keep. Granted, I could get rid of a cook book or two, and evaluate the effectiveness of each of my tools, but I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So, I have a lot of tools. The key is to keep them organized and if any are collecting dust, send them to the thrift store for another lifetime of use by someone else.

2. Keepsakes - I am the queen of holding onto memories. It was getting to be pretty painful with all the junk I've moved around in my lifetime - useless stuff that was just memory incarnate. Over the years I have been slowly letting go. The following trick, so far, has proved to be the best way (and the least painful) to get rid of memory objects. If I have something that holds a special memory, but isn't a family heirloom or is something that just sits around taking up space (usually in a box!), I take a picture. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but they don't mention that pictures also take up a lot less space! Once I take the picture, the memory is in effect transferred to the picture and I can get rid of the object without guilt or too much regret. Someday I might create a digital photo album full of discarded keepsakes and be able to flip through the pages reminiscing. I'm still in this memory "archiving" process and as soon as I get my camera back I think my wedding shoes will be the next to go...

Do you have any tips or tricks for being frugal, thrifty or cutting down on junk?

100 Ways to Simplify Your Life

Love this!

http://www.missminimalist.com/2010/08/100-ways-to-simplify-your-life-and-make-yourself-happier/

A Sad Little Garden

This year my little container garden was a huge bust. The harvest has been pitiful - 3 bulbous cucumbers and a handful of tomatoes with a few more a slim possibility. I've been plagued with caterpillars munching my yellow pear tomatoes, most of my plants have been dropping their flowers and all my tomatoes are malformed and small. I'm pretty sure they're been lacking in vitamins and minerals. I just haven't been up on feeding it to them. And the early start of severe thirst probably wasn't helpful. It makes me so sad! I guess I'm just not a good container gardener. I do much prefer stuff in a raised bed or in the ground. So, next year we're putting in a raised bed and I'll be much more prepared! I'll just have to forgive myself for being so neglectful this year. New baby, moving, you know. Stuff like that. Life. When the cold months set in, I'm going to start planning my garden for next season, order seeds early, and get to work early in the year. In the meantime I really am desperate to find someone who is desperate to get rid of their tomatoes. I really need to can some salsa for the winter. We can't live without it!

"Paper" Towels!

Thanks to a suggestion from one of my readers, Julie, I made some paper towel replacements from old clothes - in this case old t-shirts. T-shirts are perfect because you can cut them up and they don't ravel. They're washable, but you don't feel too bad if you have to throw one away. Yippee!

A Ball of Roving and a Spinning Wheel

A long time ago, in a land not too far away - Indiana to be exact - I learned how to spin on a large walking wheel. Within the depths of Conner Prairie, they taught me that valuable historical skill of spinning, then set me to work in the historical village, Prairietown. Dressed in an 1830s work dress, with sloping shoulders and only slightly puffed sleeves, I stood at the window and spun. The wool stretched and pulled, running its soft fibers slipping across my fingers as it wound itself sinuously around the spindle in uneven clumps and threads. While I wasn't that good, it was relaxing work and I liked gazing out the windows at passerby on the dirt road as I paced back and forth, spinning, spinning...

I haven't spun again since then - until today! Today I finally put off all pathetic excuses, pulled out my friend Mairi's borrowed spinning wheel and started spinning. Well, in reality I didn't start out quite that easily. First, I had to research how to make my big bundle of wool into roving for easier spinning. (Beautiful wool which I got from Mairi's generous fiber expert sister, Heather. Oh, and their sheep. Thank you!) I found a lovely instructive video on youtube. Then, after a half-dozen frustrating failures at starting I figured out the darn tension on the wheel and then I started spinning! Aaah, all the memories came flooding back with the wool running through my fingers. It's good to be spinning again. Now, all I need is a good audio book.

What do you think? Quite imperfect, but not too bad for starting again!

I need to learn how to ply this stuff too. Plying scares the heck out of me!

P.S. Check this story out. It's about a Sheep to Shawl contest and it sounds really intense! I think I'd go to pieces under pressure like that!

Garden Status

My poor little garden is suffering. My potted tomatoes took a hard hit when we moved because they were stuck at the old place for awhile and didn't get watered for a few days. They've made a small come-back and I harvested my first black cherry tomato a few days ago. It's mid-August already! Pretty abysmal harvest so far. We've picked all of 2 tomatoes. I think we just got a late start with the seedlings and planting them. There are a few tomatoes growing right now, and I'm hoping to have enough for a half-dozen salads before the chill winds of autumn kill them off. I just might be having a FRYday featuring fried green tomatoes. I guess that's not such a bad thing! Aaah, well. It's not like I had a baby and moved within 6 months of moving out here to Maryland or anything. ;-) There's always next year!