Get Your Fix At The Library

Hi, my name is Miki and I am a Magazine Addict.

I love magazines!  There's something about the oodles of great pictures and assortment of articles that encourage me to exercise, show me how to organize, teach me new recipes for gourmet dishes, give me new ideas for decor and crafts...that I find irresistible.  

But I don't subscribe to any right now because...  

• We've moved too much in the last few years to maintain a subscription easily
• I've run out of room on my bookcases
• The budget hasn't always stretched enough for the one ten that I enjoy reading regularly

With three children, I don't often have the luxury of catching up on the latest editions at a bookstore or the library.  BUT, I have found an economical, practical way to savor a variety of magazines at home...the free magazine table at my library!  What a huge blessing!  Though the selection isn't always current, I find that as a plus since the articles/features are still valuable and may not be accessible online.  I take a few that interest me, peruse through them at home, keep the ones that I like and may rip pages out of for reference, and return to the table the magazines I don't want in case someone else may want to read them.  I greatly appreciate the people who share their subscriptions by donating their magazines to the free table, and I contribute when I can.

The library is a fantastic resource for books, music, magazines and events.  Check out your local library!  

Gotta Do Something You Love

Quite a number of interviews that I've watched recently, 

as well as random quotes that have crossed my path,

have stated the same truth over and over (though applied to different areas):

Do Something You Love.

Whether it's a career path or a form of exercise.

Life is for living,

and you might as well enjoy it,

right?

I'm teaching a photography workshop today,

and one of my main points:

Photograph what inspires you.

Why would you photograph anything else???

I've never enjoyed any of the workouts I've done at a gym.

Two activities that I discovered by chance that I really like 

and feel great after I've done them?

Pilates and Running.

And I've always enjoyed dancing,

so I've instituted "Friday Night Dance Party" at home.

Me and my Ipod dancing away to my favorite tunes,

which include everything from Disco to Swing to Salsa

and a huge dose of 80s pop.

I feel like I could dance forever,

and the bonus?

I'm exercising!

The moral of the story is: 

in all areas of life,

in the big areas and mundane small areas,

though we all have responsibilities and not everything is fun and games,

it's important to sprinkle these various areas of our lives

with a generous dose 

of things we really enjoy.

Gotta clean the house?

Do it with music that really gets you movin'.

We can't escape the not-so-fabulous areas of life,

the hum-drum 

or the roller coaster dips that catch us off guard.

But passion, inspiration, 

the spark that lights up your face,

are key ingredients of a life well lived,

a life that's enjoyable.

Time well spent.

© Attila Huszti 

Rest.

"Freedom from activity or labor.  Peace of mind or spirit."

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

It's been a month since I last posted here (my sincerest apologies!),

but I've been engaging in the activity mentioned above.

Resting.

As a busy mom of three, currently work inside of the home.

Besides the daily upkeep, I also direct my children's education.

Time to clear my mind and recharge is a necessity.

Here's link to a fantastic article about rest.

Resting.

It does a body good.

Two Valuable Resources

Kids get sick.  Sometimes the parents caring for the kids get sick.  Today I'd like to feature two resources that have been invaluable in our home:

The first one is Take Charge of Your Child's Health by George Wootan. M.D.  Written by a medical doctor and a father of eleven children, this book helps parents be a more effective partner in managing their children's health.  As Dr. Wootan states in the Introduction:  "It is my belief that you, as a parent, are best qualified to head up your children's health care team.  You know your child better than anyone else...  Every step you take toward becoming an educated consumer...helps to ensure the continued health of your family."   

The second reference is called Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C.  It is full of information about principles of health and nutrition, common disorders and nutritional recommendations for them, and treatments to go along with the nutritional approach.  

If I have a headache or the kids have stuffy noses, I prefer to try natural remedies before using an over-the-counter medicine or running to the doctor.  Neither one of these books replaces a doctor's care.  But they were written by medical doctors to help inform and share alternatives.      

The Dangers of Cleaning

The topic of this post came out of a recent conversation I had with another mom of young children.  As we chatted about the demands of this season of life (potty training, time-outs, public meltdowns, the wonder of the world around them, lots of hugs and kisses...), she mentioned CLEANING up after her family.  Little kids are...messy.  And they touch everything, then quite often put their fingers in their mouths.  My friend jokingly referred  to herself as "the Queen of Bleach."  Which gave me pause.

The same fingers that are touching all the germs and dirt and bacteria are also touching surfaces cleaned with very harsh chemicals.  Danger: those chemicals are hazardous to their health!

I recall a story a nurse shared about her teenage son.  Her husband had sprayed a bleach solution in the bathroom to combat mildew on the ceiling earlier in the day.  They had aired out the room and kept the fan on, and the son had used the bathroom prior to going to bed (hours after the spraying.)  In the middle of the night, the nurse was awakened by the sound of her son gasping - he was having a difficult time breathing.  The situation seemed to continue getting worse.  Not knowing what else to do, she dragged him outside where the cold air seemed to help him, and they waited for the ambulance there.  Her son had never had breathing problems of any sort...until that night.  After numerous consultations with various doctors, she realized that the cleaning solution triggered this response in her son's body.  She cleared her house of all harsh chemicals and only uses natural means to clean her home.  Her son has not had any problems since.

My mom used a lot of bleach and harsh chemicals in our home growing up.  She even mixed them on occasion out of ignorance, though there are severe warnings about the potential hazards of doing that.  Besides ruined carpet and clothing, have I experienced any direct damage or suffered a health crisis as a result?  No, not that I am currently aware of.  And we don't hear on the news about the percentages of children harmed or the long-term danger or effects of many things we use on a regular basis.  

BUT, I am not willing to take the chance with my children's health.  The list of warnings on the sides of the bottles give me enough information to decide I don't want them in my home.  Breathing in the fumes, accidentally swallowing a colorful chemical, a careless splash onto their skin or into their eyes...it is not worth the risk to me when I know there are products that would not cause them harm if these same things happened. 

We've used all-natural products as much as possible to clean our home. There are many products readily available, though they often cost a bit more than the commercial products.  But in the long-run, the cost and effect on our health and the health of our children could be far more expensive...  I strongly encourage you to consider investing in natural products to clean your home.  Yes, it can be a more costly investment compared to the more common products that are readily available...for now.  But the long-term effects of breathing in clean air, NOT having chemicals interact with body functions are priceless.  

I am not listing the products we use intentionally because I am not promoting any one product, and there are many options available at the store and through mail order companies (though you are free to e-mail me if you'd like to know what has worked in our home.)  I am not a health expert or a scientist - I am just a Mama who reads labels and am sharing my concerns, experiences and thoughts on this topic.   

Have A Party!

Photographer: graur razvan ionut

What's so green about having a party?

Well, it all depends on the kind of party you have!  

Several years ago, one of my daughter's closest friends asked all the friends attending her birthday party to bring a gift for children in shelters instead of a birthday gift for her.  Touched by stories of children less fortunate than her, this little girl wanted to do her part in helping others.  Her fourth birthday party was a touching and memorable one.

Another cool party idea: a "Wedding Gift Re-gifting Party."  Chatting with girlfriends about some of the interesting wedding gifts we'd received, the general consensus was that we all had items that weren't our taste or things we couldn't use...but they were too nice to throw away.  So we had a party and swapped these items!  A huge platter in the shape of a fish mortified one friend, but it was the perfect serving piece for me, a Japanese girl!

Earlier in the summer, my church held a Ladies' Accessory-Clothing-Handbag-Shoe Exchange, which was a blast!  Everyone brought nice items that they were ready to get rid of and exchanged them for "new" things.  I was thrilled to get these practically new shoes!

Being frugal, saving money, and doing our part to re-use/re-invent things to keep them out of landfills can be (and should be) a lot of fun!  An elegant spin to clearing out our closets of those "nice items I'd like to keep but haven't worn for years" is to have a party.  Some of my favorite items that I use frequently are things that were given to me.  What a blessing!

Swagbucks

Have you heard about Swagbucks? 

Swagbucks is an online search engine that allows you to earn virtual dollars that can be redeemed for various prizes including gift cards for Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Amazon, iTunes, etc. I was so excited when I "bought" my 1st prize recently: a $15.00 iTunes gift card!

How It Works: 

1. Sign Up by clicking on the banner to the left or under my Swagbucks referral code (that way I earn additional Swagbucks too!)

2. Earn Swagbucks by searching the Web via the Swagbucks Search Engine as well as Finding Swag Codes, Voting in Daily Polls, Inviting Friends to Join, etc.

3. Redeem the Swagbucks for various prizes!

The website, Swagbucks.com, has a toolbar across the top that is very helpful and easy to navigate. The FAQs thoroughly explain each step and and the Winning Tips explain how to maximize the Swagbucks opportunities to earn!

Christmas is coming up as well as all of our family birthdays back to back!  I am building up Swagbucks to purchase gifts;  it'll be interesting to see how little we spend out-of-pocket. Saving money, frugal living, stretching our resources - that's all a part of green living!

A Girly Twist with Fabric Scraps

A fun project that can express itself in so many ways.  And of course, it's green because it's made with recycled fabric scraps (or for a more fashionable take: "reinventing fabric remnants with a creative flair."  Ha!)

The basic directions for fabric rosettes are:

1. Cut strips of fabric (an inch wide or so), longer strips if you want larger rosettes, shorter for smaller ones.
2.  Tie a knot at one end of the strip, then begin twisting and wrapping the fabric around the knot, placing a dab of glue between the layers occasionally to secure.  Try to dab the glue closer to the bottom of the rosette so that none of it is visible on the front/top of the rosette.  
3.  Either using a circle of the same fabric or a piece of felt, glue the rosette onto the backing and then to a barrette or pin or whatever you are making with the rosettes. 

I attached several rosettes to headbands.

This is a rosette pin, made from burlap.   

For another trendy accessory, rosette bib necklaces, here's a tutorial over at The Scientific Seamstress.  

The rosettes don't require a lot of fabric, so you can recycle your fabric scraps and clothing including t-shirts, skirts, scarves, pants, etc.  A friend used small pieces of tulle to make tiny rosettes to dress up a card.  Other fun uses,  besides hair accessories and necklaces, include a lovely wreath (like this one from Decor Chick), pillow accessories like this giant rosette pillow from Lemon Tree Creations), gift wrap decorations...the sky's the limit!  And the best part, bringing it around to why I love making these so much, is that you can repurpose textiles that you already own that may be heading for the trash and use them to make something lovely.  Being green is about so much more than being an environmental activist (which we are not).  For me and my family, it is our way to reduce waste and to save resources, including our money!    

Gone Fishin'

Inspired by this post from my friend Christianne (Little Page Turners), who was inspired by this post that was inspired by this post (I want to make sure I give credit where credit is due), I decided to throw my hat "into the fishing bucket" and make some fish.

A green fish project as a birthday gift. 

According to this resource about textile recycling, approximately 12 million tons of textile waste is generated each year in North America (amounting to approximately 68 lbs of waste per household per year), and 5% of all landfill production is textile waste.  Another article about clothing recycling states that "...the average American throws away 67.9 pounds of clothing and rags each year. With some 20 million people in the state of Texas, that’s 1.4 billion pounds of clothing thrown away each year in Texas alone!"

I went through a box of boy's clothing that was given to me by a friend and pulled out shirts that were either too small or too worn, ones that my boys wouldn't wear that had some life left in them.  But not a lot.  

 

I printed out fish clipart from the web and traced around them onto the shirts.  

Several important notes:  

1.  I forgot to turn the shirts inside out.  

2. These are not the fabrics in my final product - my sewing machine died, and I used a combination of fusible bonding and hand stitching on the first batch of fish. It was not pretty.

So I found some more shirts to recycle, turned them inside out and traced the fish templates onto them.  As you can see in the images above, the outline of the fish is larger than the templates.  That was done purposefully to give additional room for the seam allowance so that the fish wouldn't end up too small.  (Thank you to my dear friend for coming to rescue and letting me borrow her sewing machine!)

Next, I sewed the fish up (leaving an opening to turn them inside out), added some fill (you can use fabric scraps, etc.), looped ribbon through a metal washer and sewed the mouth shut.  Exhausted from my previous attempts at hand stitching, I opted to use the sewing machine to seal the openings at the mouth (and sometimes the tail), though a slip stitch would look more polished.  

I added buttons from a huge collection that my mother gave me.  She always salvaged buttons from one item to use for other projects...I have buttons from an outfit she made me in 2nd grade!  Hot-glued googly eyes (try saying that ten times!) give each fish a distinct personality.

Ribbon accents on the tails above.  The fabric for the fish below had a pattern on it, and I used fabric paint on the reverse side to match it a bit.

With the addition of fishing poles made out of wooden dowels, twine and magnets, the birthday gift was just about complete and fit nicely in a bucket from the Dollar Store.

These cute sunglasses were in the clearance bin at Michaels for 60 cents and were the perfect touch to finish off the gift.  I was able to find three, one for the birthday boy and each of his siblings.

Isn't this princess adorable?!?  This is baby girl after she was cleaned up.  Evidence of a great birthday party - frosting all over the clothes and up the nose!

I Got Stoned!

Even though the evening temperatures have been dipping significantly here in Colorado, the daytime highs are still in the 90s.  When you step outside, it is inevitable that you will  perspire sweat.   I have been on the hunt for all-natural deodorants for several reasons:

• Concern regarding reports that ingredients in most commercial products can have negative effects on long-term health
• My skin has been irritated by many of the products I've used in the past
• The same products haven't been consistently effective 
• My two oldest are approaching their tween years, and I want to start them off on all-natural products

I must admit that I was skeptical about finding a natural deodorant that would work as well as the popular ones I usually buy.  The few natural products that I've sampled in the past didn't do the job, no matter what the labels promised.  Last weekend, I purchased a deodorant stone made out of mineral salts.  My husband started using one a few weeks ago and kept telling me how effective it was on him.  I decided to get one for myself, and it's been working great!

This is the specific product I've started using, and the one my husband has been using is the Sprouts store brand.  Here's an informative and transparent article about a woman's journey to find an all-natural product, with resources listed at the end of it.  Like the author of this article, I've tried a few products that didn't work for me.  Instead of giving up, I needed to keep searching until I found what did work with my body chemistry.    There have been many commercial products that didn't work either, and using one with simple, natural ingredients brings me tremendous relief.

Recently, when I went into Whole Foods to peruse their selection of deodorants, I was surprised at the variety of choices!  I picked a spray product for my oldest to try, and she's says it's working great for her.  There are many alternatives available.  

We may not be able to make drastic changes to our lifestyle, but every time we choose something that is simple and more natural, I believe we are making a choice that benefits our health. Like making the switch to an all-natural deodorant.

I am sharing my personal experience and have not been asked to review products and have not been compensated in any way.            

I'm Nuts (About Soap Nuts)

For the inaugural post on this green/frugal/repurposing/recycling/use-what-you-have/living-more-with-less blog, I wanted to feature Soap Nuts.  

This is what I have been using for the last six months or so to do the laundry.  You put about five of these in a small drawstring muslin bag, tie it shut, and toss it into the washing machine.  As an active family with three children...our clothes get very dirty.  And yes, it totally gets the laundry clean!

What are soap nuts exactly?  From the website where we purchase our soap nuts:

"...soap nuts are the dried shells (or husks) from the soapberry (or soap berry nut). These berries are the fruit from a quite unique tree species. These shells contain a substance called saponin that produces a soaping effect. Saponin is a 100% natural alternative to chemical laundry detergent and cleansers. It can replace many chemical detergents such as those ontaining sodium laureth sulphate (SLS) that are becoming well known by consumers for being a skin irritant and health hazard."

Not only is it all-natural and good for the environment, it's an inexpensive alternative to chemical detergents.  I did a quick cost estimate of a popular detergent vs. the soap nuts:

Popular Detergent priced at a discount store: 64 loads (100oz.) @ $13.57 = 21 cents per load

Soap Nuts at regular price (where we buy them): 480 loads @ $48.00 = 10 cents per load

I love using Soap Nuts!

Because of a job lay-off and vastly reduced income, family members with sensitive skin, and a desire to use all-natural products to benefit my family's health, I am thrilled to share about quality products that have been a great benefit to my family.  

To be clear, I am sharing my opinion and from my personal experience and have not been compensated in any way for this post.