Limitations

I read a blurb the other day that basically said this:

"What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

Interesting.  I think we tend to limit ourselves to what we think we can do.  Or think won't be too much trouble.  Or probably won't embarrass ourselves with.

But what if we knew we could succeed at whatever we put our minds to?  And who's to say we can't??  I guess I need to think harder about what I want to accomplish.  I definitely put my plans in a certain sized box and don't let them grow any bigger.  I need to get out of that mindset.  And DREAM!

Experiment in progress

Wow - it has been a month already??  Oops...

So, the experiment is underway.  I think it's going well.  It could be better, but at least it's going.

What is it, you ask?  Well, I started thinking how ridiculous it is to buy toilet paper for the express purpose of getting rid of it.  We used cloth diapers and wipes on both kids.  Why on earth couldn't we use the same principles to do away with toilet paper (somewhat)?

So, first rule in my house - cloth wipes are for urine only.  There is to be no poop anywhere near them.  Yes, we used cloth wipes on poopy diapers, but I'm just done with it.  I'm fine with just using LESS toilet paper, not trying to get rid of it entirely.

There are web sites where you can buy "family wipes" for this purpose, but they're simple to make.  As a starting point for my experiement, I actually just cut up some old t-shirts that were going to become rags (not threadbare and actually very thick for t-shirts).  Because of the size/shape of the shirt, I ended up with wipes in the 6"x6" range.  After using them for a while, I would prefer something more like 8"x8", I think.  When/if I make more, they'll be larger.

I read others' experiences and they recommended a mesh bag to hold used wipes.  The air helps them dry out and NOT smell (really!).  I had a mesh bag, which is not the size/shape I would like to use.  But I didn't want my perfectionism to keep me from getting started, so I went for it.  If I keep it up (likely), I'll buy another bag - top opening and a little larger.

So, really, I like it for the most part.  The wipes are softer than toilet paper with no linty residue (I hate that!).  We have had two episodes of dropping wipes in the toilet which had to be fished out.  But only two.  Not bad.

I'm still working out the kinks, but so far haven't had issue with smells at all.  Washing is easy (I do them with the towels on higher heat, just to be more sanitary).  I recommend it!

Of course, we still keep toilet paper on hand for messier situations.  So we do not expect our guests to use our wipes or anything.  It's just an option, and used mostly by myself.

Now if I could just figure out how/where to compost, I think that will be my next project.  Getting greener takes some research but isn't really so difficult!

Shades of Green

With Earth Day this week, it seems an appropriate time for this sort of thing.  Although it was not especially Earth Day-inspired.  Just happens to be about the same time.

I have been rethinking our habits.  Our consumable items.  Our trash.  The whole she-bang.

The thing is that it's such an unruly can of fish - once you get into one area, another pops up that needs to be addressed.  (Can of fish???)

I don't even remember where I got started.  It may have been when I purchased toilet paper the other day.  I don't know about anyone else, but what else do we buy for the sole purpose of throwing it away??  What a ridiculous thing to spend money on.  Constantly.  (We have 3 girls in our house, and I work from home, so we use quite a bit.)

And then what about paper napkins or paper towels?  Why don't we composte our food waste?  Shouldn't I be buying more organic food?  Or at least food with ingredients we can pronounce?  And if I'm worried about what goes in our bodies, what about what goes on our bodies - shampoo, soap, etc. - it's all full of chemicals!  And then what about cleaning - more chemicals in the house, releasing fumes whenever I use them.  (Ah - a pitch to support my lack of cleaning!)  It's so hard to know exactly what items to change and the best way to change them.

So I'm trying to get a plan.  Or several plans.  Or some sort of baby steps to get to a better place.

I started researching my cosmetics, soap, etc.  I was surprised to find that on a rating scale of 0 (best) to 10 (worst), my cosmetics, soap, lotion, and lip balm (necessities) are all ranked 2-3.  My hair spray, which I love, is unfortunately ranked a 5 (as is my shampoo, but I'm not as attached to it).  But it's much better than I would have feared.  And leaves some room for improvement.

I have one experiment just getting started.  I don't think I'll share it until I have some sort of report.  That way the whole world (or my 3 blog readers) won't know if it fails miserably.  Or maybe they will - if that is the report I choose to give.

So, there it is.  Earth Day.  Trying to make improvements.  And hoping it won't hurt too much...

Finally...some P365...

I went through 2 months of pictures today (which included my Disney vacation, so it took some time) to pick my Picture Of The Day for each date.  So hard to choose from hundreds of vacation photos!

AND I managed to scrap one page.  Now this is from Week 2 of the year.  Sad, but true.  But now that I have chosen my photos, it should be easier to scrap them when I have a few minutes.  At least that's what I'm telling myself right now.

So, without further ado...



Credits:  Template - VW_BlockIt365, Alpha - Dream Big Designs Charity kit, Paper - Flergs Casual Attraction Kit, Drop Shadow Style - Jenn Barrette

I know - it took almost 3 months to get that done???  I'll improve.  I promise.

What goes up...

Once again, it has been a while.  Sometimes there are just so many things going on that something has to give. 

Right now, I feel that there are so many balls in the air in my life.  In fact, I'm pretty sure ALL the balls are in the air.  I can only focus on a few at a time, and I'm working really hard to keep the ball labeled "my sanity" afloat.  So the blog ball has perhaps fallen aside for a bit.

We had a nice trip to Disney World.  It was a bit sleep-deprived.  Not on purpose.  Just that we're not very good at changing three time zones.  We slept in some days, went to bed late some days (as if we didn't really change time zones at all).  But we had to be up early a few days, too.  And that was just plain hard.

But we went on all the rides we wanted to, had some nice weather, got rained on a bit, saw more characters than usual, and had a generally nice time as a family.  This trip was different, without much pre-planning.  But we made the most of it and I don't think we had less fun for "winging it".  I'd do it again if it got me to Disney World!

Here we come, Mickey!!!

Last year, we celebrated Megan's 4th birthday at Disney World.  It was a magical week, full of fun for everyone.  I've been feeling long overdue for a return trip to The World, but Mark has not agreed at all.  He feels waiting 5 years or so would be about the right amount of time.  I'm not sure why he can't see things my way on this. 

Around Thanksgiving, I started suggesting we go for Allison's 3rd birthday.  You know - to be fair and all.  But he wasn't budging on his anti-Disney stance.

Well, a few weeks ago, I saw him measuring Allison.  She's very close to 40 inches, which is the cut-off for many of the bigger rides.  I didn't say anything, but I knew what he was doing.

Just the past Friday he made a comment about "well, if we're going to be in Florida next weekend".  You know, as if it was completely normal to expect to go to Florida in one week without any prior plans.  But that's all it takes for me to get moving and planning.

We booked plane tickets and hotel on Sunday night.  I just finished booking a rental car.  We leave in 36 hours.  I wish I had more time to plan - meal reservations, picking what we're doing each day, etc. - but I guess it will have to be more of an "on the fly" trip.  I'm sure we'll all still have a great time.  I promise pictures when I return.

Where does the time go?

My oldest is 5 today.  In some ways, I hardly remember life without kids.  But in other ways, it just seems like she can't be 5 already!

We had a celebration at preschool today for which they request photos from each year of life, along with a short blurb of what the child was like at each age.  I put this together.  Nothing fancy, but they'll post it at school for a while, so I wanted to keep the language simple and easy to read.




Looking at the first photo reminds me how much I miss having a baby around.  You know, when they're asleep and cute like that.  :)