Repurposing...

So, I'm not so much into cleaning (apparently) but I am into repurposing. So, when my daughter decided she wanted an Alice in Wonderland theme to her birthday party, I went to the thrift store looking for something I could transform into a dress/pinafore.

I bought a pair of king sized muslin pillowcases with a printed design on the open end... and managed... without a pattern... to tranform one of them into a pinafore!


The dress is actually made from a t-shirt we had that never got worn, and some fabric I had from a previous project that never got done... *sigh*... Oh... and obviously we're thinking outside the box... Alice had to be pink instead of blue...

It was fun! And somehow (I guess because I wasn't fighting with a pattern) I did both the dress and the pinafore in ONE DAY! That's my kind of sewing!

Progress... or lack thereof...

OK, I just have to admit it... that after several months of this blog... with sporadic posting at best... I'm just not making any real progress toward a cleaner home. It may be slightly less toxic... but only slightly as I had given up most of my cleaners eons ago.

My biggest problem... right behind keeping up with laundry... is that I have a clutter problem. I don't have spaces for everything... and so things pile up... and drive me crazy. It's a short trip, I assure you!

I need help... maybe professional help... unless one of my 2 or 3 readers has some suggestions... I just need to figure out how to control the mounds of precious materials that come home from school, the kids' toys, the bazillion and one projects I want to work on but don't really have time for so I'm storing them until I can do them for my grandchildren...

Why isn't anyone else's house this out-of-control? I don't understand why it just seems to be me??? Or does everyone clean before people come over?

Trade offs...

So, all this talk about strawberries (I hope you wrote your representatives!) has a lot of people wondering how to afford them. Organic strawberries just aren't in many budgets! No doubt... for me organic is usually a trade off...

Here are my strategies for saving money elsewhere to justify the organic strawberries, and no doubt everyone will do it differently... it's all about where you can pinch to reduce your exposure to pesticides... it's thoughtful consumption. Anyway, I have shaved grocery dollars by not buying as much cereal (hubby and I have started eating oatmeal for breakfast... raw oatmeal... not instant... that stuff is expensive too... and too mushy for my tastes... but, I digress). I am also trying to recommit to my bread machine because a loaf of bread is over $4! Yikes!

So, if you want to buy only some of your fruits and veggies organic to save money, here's a chart that will help you decide which ones are most important to buy organic, and which don't tend to hold a lot of pesticides... so maybe those don't have to be organic.

[I meant to post the great chart I found at the above link right here, but for whatever reason it isn't in a format to do that... sorry... you'll have to follow the link and scroll down just a bit to a multicolored chart. You can print it out and carry it with you to the market.]

Strawberries and the environment

Warning: I'm on a soapbox this afternoon about pesticides in our food supply! If this doesn't interest you please skip this post... but if you feel strongly about clean food/the environment/workplace safety... then please do read on... and don't forget to make sure your voice is heard by writing to your representatives!

The State of California is under pressure to allow the use of methyl iodide on strawberry crops. California provides about 80% of the strawberries grown in the U.S., so many are affected by this decision. Despite a letter written by Nobel prize winning scientists, and the fact that other countries have already banned methyl iodide because it depletes the ozone layer, and known carcinogenic properties (it's used to induce cancer in laboratory rats for experiments), California is considering rescinding its ban on methyl iodide.


This is a travesty on multiple levels. It creates a less safe environment for agricultural workers (who will be in direct contact with methyl iodide residue - here's what the EPA says about direct contact), it makes our food supply less safe (strawberries are notorious for absorbing whatever is sprayed on them because they are so porous), and it is one of many chemicals that destroys the ozone layer.

I encourage you to write to your representatives... I wrote to mine this morning. This isn't OK, people's health and safety cannot be compromised for agri-business profits.

OK, off my soap-box now!In case you're interested in what fruits and vegetables are most important to buy organic... check out this article called "7 foods you must eat organic".

Just FYI...

Baking soda works great on cleaning toilets! That's my new find of the day...

That, and it turns out that when I start cleaning the kids want to help! So, they vacuumed while I cleaned the bathrooms. It's a bit spotty... but better than nothing... and somehow they managed to do the whole house in one fell-swoop... which is something I've NEVER managed to do. Hmmm... I'll have to ponder this.

My next plan is to see about the anti-mold properties of tea tree oil, and to organize my cleaning system. Right now I think that part of my aversion to cleaning is that it's a hit-and-miss proposition in terms of finding the right tools and cleaners... and so it's daunting just to pull together the necessary items for doing the job! Stay tuned for that excitement! :)

Laundry... *sigh*

I often feel overwhelmed by my laundry... and I only have two children. I can't imagine how much laundry moms and dads of more children do... it's a primary reason I can't have more children... I just can't face anymore laundry. Someone may still find me suffocated under a pile of dirty clothes someday... it's a real possibility!


Anyway, stains are my new trouble. My four-year-old talks incessantly, is staunchly against following rules, and has a knack for getting her clothes REALLY dirty. Sometimes, if I can address the issue right away we're OK, but sometimes I can't... and it turns into something that is a real problem. Lately the biggest culprits are paint at preschool and whatever food she splattered all over her favorite new orange t-shirt.

I found these tips on Inhabitat (a REALLY cool website I'm going to have to look around more later)...

First, DON'T rub! Dab, blot, scrape, etc... but rubbing makes the stain deeper...

And the most interesting part to me, KNOW THY CHEMISTRY!

Tomato, oil, and fats: Try pouring boiling water over the stain in a bowl, cornflour or baking soda can also help absorb and lessen the stain

Ink, blood: Soak in milk (!!!) Hydrogen peroxide also works wonders on dried blood

Gum: Freeze and chip off (my aside: you can also apply ice if it's on something you can't throw in the freezer... like hair!)

Grass stains: Hydrogen peroxide

Berries: Vinegar works for these acidic stains (also try for coffee, tea, wine)

They had others on their Green Laundry 101 page if you're interested, I just posted the ones I run across most! I may actually print this list out and post it in my laundry room so that I can easily figure out what I need to deal with the latest catastrophe.

Now... if they could just figure out a way to get out stains that make it all the way through the washer/dryer without being noticed until I'm folding laundry... *sigh*...

Making my own chicken stock today...

I happened to have a whole chicken (which I rarely do... good grief, I must've had something special in mind when I bought it), and decided that once we used the meat I'd make chicken stock. I put chicken, onion, celery, a carrot, and some fresh herbs into a large pot, and presto! - two hours later I had chicken stock!

So, now you're wondering why on earth someone would bother to spend two hours making something you can pick up at the store for a few bucks (although if you're buying organic free-range broth you could be looking at $4-$5). And here's the thing... I looked at the label on my organic free-range broth and realized that there's a lot of salt in it (duh)... but there's also a lot of stuff I can't put my finger on. Reading this label made me wonder what was wrong with the organic chicken broth that caused them to think, "this needs more organic chicken flavor", and so to make that a second ingredient... what? Then that wasn't enough, they had to add more natural chicken flavor, and at the VERY end they put in more "organic flavor". What???


Next up, did you notice the sugar? I'll repeat myself... What???

I followed this video by Derek Allen on YouTube which was awesome... he suggests something I think is even MORE brilliant than just making your own broth... but reducing it afterward to a glace and freezing it in ice cube trays. Then, you can reconstitute your broth with 1 cup of water per ice cube! GENIUS, I say!

Turns out this is a recipe that takes some time, but is REALLY easy. I say... let the kids play and boil those chicken bones!

High fructose corn syrup...

OK, so I know it's not cleaning related exactly, but it's along the lines of reducing processed chemicals that my family comes in contact with.

Now, I've been avoiding high fructose corn syrup for a long time... but I've finally found the study that confirms my suspicions that it's bad for you... (actually a friend brought it to my attention - thanks Laura).

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

The sad thing is that it won't change unless the government stops subsidizing corn products. HFCS is actually cheaper than sugar, so if you're on a budget (there are so few of us that aren't), then healthy food has to be something you really think about and prioritize. I know that (should anyone be reading this) I am preaching to the choir, but I've been thinking a lot about food lately. School cafeteria food is on my radar for future work... and we've started doing a lot to eat organic and local over the last two years.

Great resource

Funny thing... I got an email from the Environmental Working Group (I love their cosmetic lists and amount of toxic ingredients!), about green cleaning! I'm posting the link here so that you can read it if you're interested...

http://www.ewg.org/healthyhometips/greencleaning

I think my favorite tip is using baking soda on toilets... that was my last cleaner that I just couldn't figure out. However, I have really hard water... and we get deposits in the toilets really bad... so that I end up using the pumice stone on it. I'm going to hope that baking soda can help with this... and I'll let you know what happens... and in the meantime... if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear it!

Preservatives in food...

I found this article online about preservatives in food... not necessary to read it unless you're interested, but it sure made me think about some of our food.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/8045/8045sci2.html

I like gardening, and I like to grow our food, we get a box each week during the spring/summer/fall from a local Community Supported Agriculture farm, and I buy organic whenever possible. But I've also taken a liking to the idea of preserving a bunch of our own food. This is new for me, but I like the strawberry jam we're still using from last year, and we recently made applesauce. I think I'll take a class on canning over the summer!

I did find this great online tutorial for making your own applesauce if you're interested...
http://www.pickyourown.org/applesauce.htm

For now... here's our applesauce from our family canning adventure a few weekends ago...

Fresh air!

Ahhh... gotta love spring! I opened my windows today and was happy to have the fresh air flowing through! It's still a little cool, but it smelled so good I couldn't help myself. I like it when things smell good, but because I've heard so much lately about the potential hazards of artificial air fresheners, I decided to try out a tip a friend gave me.

I put a couple of drops of lemon essential oil on my vacuum cleaner bag when I was vacuuming today. It was really nice while I was vacuuming, but it didn't hang around for long. Maybe next time I'll use a little more... at the very least it was a nice fragrance while I was doing the work.

Next up, the wonders of vinegar... but I need to go to the store and get some more first...

Microwave

My first cleaning project was my nasty microwave! I don't know what happened... it never really looks that bad (no, really!)... although I will admit that there were lots of times that I used it and said "oh dear... I really need to clean that"... and then once I was done using it I promptly forgot. My mom even came over, noticed how dirty it was, mentioned it to the kids, said she was going to clean it... then promptly forgot. I guess that's what happens when you close the door... maybe that's the problem with my refrigerator. But, I digress... I heard somewhere that a good trick for the microwave was lemon and water.

Fill a mug 3/4 full of water
squeeze half a lemon into it
microwave it for two minutes

It steams the inside of the microwave and makes it easy to get all that gunk off. It's TRUE! It's my favorite new trick!

Next time I clean something like that I'll take before-and-after pics! :)

Introduction and goals

Hi, my name is Jill and I am a stay-at-home mom with two children, ages 5 and 3. I have never been much of a housekeeper or a cook. About 10 years ago I started to teach myself to cook, and mostly I enjoy it. I've learned a lot over the years about organic food, eating locally, and the importance of small farms. I am now trying to teach myself to be a better housekeeper as the organizational demands of the belongings of two children and my increasing awareness of the potential of chemical exposures in the home are changing how I see the products that I use.

I'm no expert, and I don't ever intend to sound like one... this is just a blog of one mom educating myself about the stuff I use in my house, and trying to make my home a safe-haven from chemicals for my family. Honestly, I'm also using this blog to motivate myself to keep moving forward to reduce the harmful chemicals in my house and to organize all the info in my own mind.

So, welcome... thanks for joining me on my journey!