i know i shouldn't encourage this kind of thing with photos...

...but i couldn't help myself;)

the local schools have been out all week.  jim is still gone, (but he should be home tonight.)  most everything i'd plan to keep us busy got cancelled, but i'm not feeling as stir-crazy as i thought i would.

before more snow fell on tuesday i took the kids to the library to stock up.  i was a little nervous having both kids there by myself in the snow, but james slept in his sling, and i didn't have to carry that crazy heavy carseat around.  dylan was well behaved, so i took her to get a treat at the bakery after dumping our book tote in the car.

dylan took my hand and we stomped around happily amid the snow flakes that were falling fast.

we each picked out something when i realized my wallet was in the car.  i told them i'd be right back, and they graciously said not to worry about it, and that i could pay my next time in.

"don't worry about it.  we know you; you're in here all the time."

busted:)

our neighbor nikki came over yesterday to take dylan out to play in the snow.  i was so thankful, since i wasn't really about to bundle james up in the snow.

in the second picture you can get a sense of how big these drifts are.  the snow is really much too deep for dylan to really play in.  i think they mostly just flopped around:)  and then we all had hot chocolate.

other neighbors had us over for a wonderful dinner last night. i wished i'd had my camera with me. their eight year old son loves babies, and he couldn't have been happier to sit and hold james, who smiled contently right back. they were both so cute!

seven days after the first big snow fell, it is still snowing, and we're supposed to get 6-8 more inches monday. this is getting a little ridiculous!

how to make powdered laundry soap {natural recipe}

when i became pregnant with my first child, i began eliminating conventional cleaning products and synthetic chemicals from our home, and discovering this homemade alternative to pricey green detergents was music to the ears of this stay-at-home mama.

it's inexpensive, gentle on sensitive skin and the planet, and once you gather the ingredients, putting it together is easy.  there are only three ingredients:  borax, washing soda, and a grated bar of soap. 

borax is found on the bottom shelf in the laundry aisle of supermarkets.  there is some disagreement in the natural community about the safety of borax, but after doing research, i feel comfortable using this traditional, naturally occurring mineral salt in my home.  like many things, borax should not be inhaled and must be kept out of reach of pets and children.

washing soda is sometimes sold in the laundry aisle.  if you can't find it there, it is also called "soda ash" and stocked with pool care products or sold at hardware stores.  it can also be purchased online.  although washing soda is chemically similar to baking soda, baking soda cannot be substituted in this recipe.

you can use any bar of soap you like, as long as it isn't a "beauty bar."  fels naptha is often recommended, and using regular soap would make this recipe extraordinarily inexpensive, although you may want to be wary of using your food processor or grater on anything not completely natural.  i use dr. bronner's castile soap, in lavender and mostly followed the instructions given at healthy vegan blog.

1 bar soap, finely grated (makes ~ 1 c soap dust)
1 1/2 c borax
1 1/2 c washing soda

that's it.

store it in a lidded contained, and use 1-2 Tbsp per load.  one recipe will clean up to 64 loads.

if you're accustomed to using traditional laundry detergent, doing a load of wash with 1 Tbsp of soap sounds preposterous, but the truth is, most conventional detergents have a lot of fillers in them (as well as questionable ingredients like brighteners, enzymes, and a host of synthetic chemicals).  when we use too much soap, residues linger in clothes, which can trap odor and cause skin sensitivities.  we use 2 Tbsp on heavily soiled loads, but 1 Tbsp is sufficient for most.
 
using 1 Tbsp of laundry detergent wasn't that foreign to us, since that is the measurement charlie's soap calls for, too.  charlie's soap is the most recommended detergent for use with cloth diapers, which brings me to my biggest question:  could this homemade soap get diapers smelling sweet?

we've been using it for several month, and i've been really pleased:  our diapers look and smell clean.  (we also use a scoop of off-brand oxygen powder--natural and cheap!-- in every load and sometimes a little baking soda, vinegar, or biokleen bac-out.)  i appreciate the mild fragrance of essential oil instead of synthetic perfume on our clothes--especially for my kids' sensitive skin.

DIY laundry soap is a completely do-able step in "greening" your home.  the planet--and your wallet--will thank you.

UPDATE:  i'm back to using charlies soap on my cloth diapers.  after a few months, they seemed to retain odor (that even vinegar didn't eliminate), but it's still great on our clothes.

do you have a favorite green cleaning recipe?

shared with Your Green Resource, hosted by A Delightful Home, SortaCrunchy, Live Renewed, and The Greenback Gal.

on bootstraps and such

On Undercover Boss Sunday, the CEO of Waste Management spent a week incognito picking up trash, sorting recycling and scrubbing port-a-johns to find out what it was like to work there and how his policies played out in reality.

The premise is interesting, and I thought it was cool that the CEO would humble himself in that way.   If only all managers were required to work a week as an underling in their own company!  The show reminded me a bit of a shinier, happier Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America--such a good read, as is The Working Poor: Invisible in America.

Cameras revealed employees' various health problems and financial difficulties along with admirably strong work ethics.  In the end, the CEO, who seemed visibly touched by his experience, promoted some of the workers and vowed to enact policy changes.  Viewers are made to feel good when those four or five employees are recognized and rewarded, but I wondered about the thousands of other WM employees.

How much does a person earn sorting recycling? 
What is the physical toll of standing on your feet for eight hours a day? 
Do they have health insurance?  Does it cover chiropractic? 
Do the people who work at the landfills have greater incidences of asthma? 
What about cancer?  One of the featured landfill employees said she'd battled five types of cancer by the age of 25, and I couldn't help but suspect that it was an occupational hazard.

Next week the CEO of Hooters gets a front row seat to the sexual harassment that is tolerated internally in his company.


So, did you see this show?  What did you think?

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image:  flickr

love and war and a giveaway

i had never read anything by john or stasi eldredge before, but i admit to harboring a few suspicions based on things i'd heard.  john's wild at heart is a sort of manual for christian masculinity, and stasi wrote a primer for women called captivating.

i'm wary of prescriptive statements about gender identity, especially if cloaked in religious language, because they often don't mesh with my understanding of scripture.  narrowly defined gender roles presented as The Biblical Way can be hurtful, inaccurate, and unnecessarily limiting.

of course, holding opinions about something you've never read is unfair (and pretty lame), so when i was offered the opportunity to review the eldredges' new marriage book, i was interested.

john and stasi co-wrote love and war:  finding the marriage you've dreamed of, and i have to say, it was better than i thought it might be.

they argue that marriage is a love story, and the setting is war, specifically spiritual war.  in the bible, marriage is often presented as an earthly picture of the unconditional, sacrificial love that Christ has for the Church.  the eldredges put it this way:

God created marriage as a living, breathing portrait laid out before the eyes of the world so that they might see the story of the ages.  A love story, set in the midst of desperate times.  It is a story of redemption, a story of healing; it is a story of love.  God gives us marriage to illustrate his heart toward us.  It is the deepest and most mythic reality of the world--that love is true, that God pursues us.

the eldredges offer a lot of godly wisdom.  because of the spiritual significance God puts on marriage, it is especially vulnerable to spiritual attack.  God can use marriage to transform us into the people he's created us to be.  changing destructive habits and patterns within ourselves and our marriages is not impossible, especially with prayer.

all in all, i found it to be a practical and helpful book.  they humbly and openly share some of the struggles in their own marriage and some of the ways they've experienced God at work in their life together.  it's challenging and encouraging without being preachy.

of course, not ever single part sat well with me.  as i understand it (again, not having read other titles), the eldredges have a thesis that men have a need to "rescue a beauty" and women have a longing to offer their beauty and have it appreciated.  or something like that.  i hope that they're talking about beauty in the Larger Sense, but i don't really get it, and it kind of creeps me out.  the authors seem to emphasize beauty as the valuable thing women bring to a relationship [men offer strength], which is insulting, shallow, and pretty hard to defend biblically.  by "beauty" they apparently also mean inner beauty, but it's such a loaded word that they'd have done better to express themselves with another--especially for readers who have not read their other work.

in the book, stasi admits to struggling with her weight and says

Packing on the weight sent a message to John that was clear and strong:  You are not worth being beautiful for.

ick.

then, there is this little goodie, from john:

When I got home, I fixed the leaking kitchen sink--a triumph that makes a man feel mighty fine.  (I tried to help Stasi relate, "Imagine you just lost five pounds today.)

i think i threw up a little in my mouth just typing that out.

yes, several passages and lines fired up the feminist in me, but if you are willing to overlook them (and perhaps they wouldn't bother you), love and war does contain wisdom about growing a marriage that honors God.  i'd call it a worthwhile read, all things considered.

want to read it for yourself?  i'm giving away my copy.  just leave a comment by noon on february 14 and make sure i have a way to get in touch.  (U.S. addresses only.)

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i received a copy of this book but was not otherwise compensated for this review.

up to our armpits

when do kids grow out of giving terrible "CHEEEEEESE!" faces?

two feet of snow arrived just in time for jim to go out of town.  again.  but not until tomorrow:)  tonight, we're looking forward to watching commercials football and spending time with friends.

happy winter

when i was little, one of my favorite books was happy winter by karen gundersheimer.  my copy disappeared, but happily, my mom found another at a used book store, and now it's one of dylan's favorites, too. 

it's a delightful story about two sisters and snowy day at home spent making snow angels, drinking cocoa, playing make-believe, making art projects, reading, and baking with mom.  a perfect snowy day.

what a treat to snuggle under blankets with my favorite girl, reading the sing-song poetry and taking in the adorable illustrations.

 

it is out of print, but if you come across a copy, snatch it up!  it is such a wonderful children's book.

dylan usually requests "read happy winter!" but sometimes, confusing the title with what was her halloween greeting, requests "happyWEEN!"  which is pretty funny.

as is this picture.  james smiles ALL THE TIME, and yet i can't seem to get it on film.

what i did get is this:  dylan doing, what she refers to as "Jesus' mommy."  so there you go.

today i led a MOPS bible study.  dylan could have gone with the bigger kids, but she told the child care workers she wanted to stay with james, so she did.  she is so great with him--kind and tender.  my two little blessings.

love in a time of cholera

in high school i tried (unsuccessfully) to get through one hundred years of solitude by gabriel garcia marquez. 

i hate not finishing a book, so when we were supposed to read garcia marquez' love in a time of cholera for penny's book circle (in december--i'm still behind!), i made myself finish it.  i wish i hadn't bothered.

it's about a man (florentino ariza) who falls in love with a girl (fermina daza), and even though she marries someone else (dr. juvenal urbino), florentino carries a torch for her for more than fifty years.  his epic romantic obsession does not, however, preclude him from taking six hundred and twenty two lovers, including his fifteen year old grand-niece, so there is a substantial ick factor that runs throughout the novel.

none of the characters is particularly appealing, and the portraits of love are selfish, broken, and frequently misogynistic.

i just found a review on amazon, titled "at the end, i wished i'd died of cholera."

that pretty much sums up my feelings.

my experience did help me to decide something:  namely, not finishing a book isn't some sort of fatal character flaw.  i have two kids, limited free time, and a long list of books i'd like to read, so i'm not going make myself finish ones i dislike anymore.

take that, garcia marquez!

of course, garcia marquez is beloved worldwide, and he has won the nobel prize for literature, so clearly i'm in the minority in my lack of appreciation.

do you enjoy gabriel garcia marquez?  is there another acclaimed author that we're "supposed" to like that you just can't get through? 

what do you like to read?  any recommendations for me?

my wee two

we got our computer cleaned up and a new hard drive installed, so hopefully we'll be able upload pictures more easily than the slower-than-molasses pace of the past few months.  i haven't actually taken any pictures in a while, except this silly one.

(yes, dylan's tee shirt is pulled over her head.  how funny are tiny babe bathrobes?)

i'd wanted to enroll dylan in a four week class called "just wee two" at the Y for toddlers and parents that started today.  i thought it would be a nice thing to do just the two of us and a way to meet other families with kids her age.  yesterday i was disheartened to find out that not only was it forty bucks (!), only one child was registered, so we decided to skip it.

i was still bummed when i headed to a la leche league meeting with the kids.  the last time i went, i was the only mom there (besides the leader), and i was pleased to find a full crowd yesterday, including three moms i hadn't meet before.  LLL attracts mamas who tend towards cloth diapering, babywearing, natural childbirth, etc, and this particular group also has a number of Christians, which is another great connection. i'm definitely looking forward to getting to know people better.  i'm thinking about training to be a leader...