Eco-shower pics on Flickr/Family blog

For those of you who are following the eco-friendly part of this blog but might not be so interested in the baby stuff, I have a post on the family blog about my eco-friendly shower this weekend. It's up to you whether you care to visit. My friends did an amazing job!! I am so blessed. Here is an exerpt from one thing that struck me about this shower in particular:

The theme, as mentioned before, was eco-friendly. I was so excited that as I opened gifts I didn't amass the dreaded "mountain of tissue paper" that I remember having at my wedding showers. Everyone wrapped things in reusable bags, baby blankets, and boxes that I can use to store items in the nursery.

So, take a look at the blog post or the Flickr pictures if you're interested. Also, per the invite in my previous post - everyone used the half of the invite provided for encouraging notes that served as gift tags. Now I have a whole booklet of encouraging notes!

And if you're wondering where I've been, I've been hanging out with my friend Millie this weekend, who flew in from Kansas City for my shower. We got to do a lot of fun things on my 2 hours "up" in between my 2 hours "down". She was also awesome enough to do some cooking and cleaning for me when I was down. I am so thankful! We also had time for some good food at some of my favorite spots.

She is also so artist - she created these unique onesies for the baby:

This one is Christian's favorite:

Those are motion lines from a speeding unicorn...yes, that is what they are...

Follow the baby on Twitter

I know some of you who read this blog don't read the family blog, and that's fine. If you care, though, I wanted to give you the heads-up, though - we've started a Twitter account for updates regarding the baby. We'll be using this during labor to keep anyone posted on the progression. Before we go into labor we probably won't use it too much.

Here it is: follow afamilyisus on Twitter!

Make sure you follow early because this is a protected account, we have to approve you to receive updates. If you wait until we go into labor, we might not have access to a computer to approve you at that time.

Don't forget, you can always sign up to get text messages whenever we update!

Homemade green shower cleaner

*recipe updated 02/2013*

A while back, I reviewed store-bought green bathroom cleaners, and then later revealed my ongoing battle with our old, old, old bathroom grout. It gets mildew really easily because it is no longer sealed in any way. Old, old, old.

I still do use the Clorox GreenWorks bathroom cleaner I reviewed previously to get the soap scum off my tub. However, between scrubs I was using one of the Tilex-type shower sprays to keep the old, old, old grout in our shower from getting all moldy after showers. After a while I became a little suspicious about what exactly was in that spray, so I started attempting to make my own.

Per the "vinegar is amazing book", vinegar is a good mold killer. For a while I was using just vinegar and water. I began adding a few tablespoons of Wave Jet natural/biodegradeable dishwashing aid (it's like Jet Dry, only the natural version) to keep it from streaking. I found this solution to still allow some mold to grow, especially on the cloth shower curtain liner I had substituted for our previous plastic liner. Also, Christian was always complaining about how the shower smelled like pickles.

Then, just the other day I started reading some green cleaning web sites talking about tea tree oil and how it has natural bleaching powers. I actually like the way tea tree oil smells - is that weird? So I went to a local natural food store and got a bottle of tea tree oil and added that to the mix.*

Here is what I've been using so far and I believe it is actually the most effective so far:

Jenny's Homemade Green Shower Spray

24 oz spray bottle
1-2 tablespoons Wave Jet Rinse Aid
1 teaspoon tea tree oil (if you are using therapeutic grade Melaleuca Alternifolia, only 10 drops)
white vinegar - just a few tablespoons
11 oz hydrogen peroxide**
water - fill the bottle the rest of the way

Shake it up before spraying on the shower each time. I spray shower walls and tub directly after using the shower, and the solution is also safe for white cloth shower liners. Do not inhale or let it come in contact with skin (see notes, below).

It smells like tea tree oil more than vinegar now that I've adjusted the recipe. I like the way it smells!

* Now that I know more about essential oils, I recommend therapeutic grade tea tree oil sold under it's biological name, Melaleuca Alternifolia, by Young Living.

** As of late 2009, I added food grade hydrogen peroxide to the mix to help bleach out previous mildew stains. It also seems to help prevent mildew on the cloth shower curtain liner. However, mixing hydrogen peroxide and vinegar creates a solution that should NOT be inhaled or sprayed on skin, so don't get too close and make sure to dilute with plenty of water as instructed!

7 Quick Takes Friday #1

--- 1 ---

I have been following the Conversion Diary blog for a while as a lurker (I admit it), and I would highly recommend it. It is very thought provoking. It is so thought-provoking that I don't follow in my Google Reader because I can't handle reading it unless I am in the right frame of mind. Also, I rarely comment because Jennifer gets so many comments that mine are rarely needed. Having no kids yet and not being Catholic myself, I usually don't have anything to contribute that would be helpful anyway. I learn more from the comments others make.

--- 2 ---

I am still online for work right now, I have 5 more hours left in my shift. Things have been slow the last few hours, but I expect that means that all hell is about to break loose and I'll be online past the usual quitting time of 10 PM. Is it a full moon? Full moons have been proven to correspond with my co-workers' craziness increasing.

--- 3 ---

Last night we got to see RiffTrax Live with the original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffing on Plan 9 From Outer Space. I was a little tired but it was date night, and since our relationship was founded in part on our mutual love of MST3K, I considered it essential that we see this, and I was glad we did. I could never have made it through that horrible movie without the riffing, for sure. I love those guys.

--- 4 ---

I just watched the episode where SpongeBob Squarepants almost gets his boat driver's license. And now it is snowing under the sea. That makes no sense!

--- 5 ---

I am trying to get better about posting more frequently on this blog even if I have to go a little off-topic because I want to be interesting. I am considering using some blog writers' prompts from other sites on some days. If you know of any good ones, let me know!

--- 6 ---

My husband requested a main dish with fruit this week and I wanted to try this recipe from AllRecipes.com. Being a vegetarian, I don't buy meat much. I had to go to 3 stores trying to find free-range chicken that was less than $8/lb. I eventually gave up and bought regular we-torture-our-chickens-in-factory-farms chicken which was still $8 a pound just because it was organic. Ridiculous that it was 1) so difficult to find free-range chicken, and 2) so extremely expensive even for the regular kind just because they were fed grain instead of the parts of other chickens. They still grew up never seeing the sunlight and with their beaks and feet cut off. I do not miss meat at all.

--- 7 ---

In case anyone cares, the cat has started pooping outside the box again. Despite the fact that I gave up the green litter and went back to the kind that never biodegrades, we bought a new litter box, we took off the hoods of both boxes, and we bought a new mat, she is still doing it. I have no idea why. I am completely out of ideas.

~~~~
Don't forget to check out more Quick Takes at www.conversiondiary.com

Here is a turtle

Christian took this video of a turtle he found on the walking path around the lake next to our house with our new(ish) camera. He's a great filmmaker, I love this shot!

Eco-shower

I was so excited to receive an invitation to my own baby shower this week! I have three wonderful ladies doing the planning, to be honest I really don't know much about it or what will happen. I received my first clue when I got this amazing invitation specially created by Mica May Design! (and printed on recycled paper)

Front:

Back:

In case you missed that, it is Mica May Design, a boutique graphic design firm. You can see a better description of it on her design blog - for some reason my blog is shrinking the picture to where you can't read it. She does lots more than just invitations, of course - logo designs, books, print, and some web aspects. I just love the way she interprets things!
So excited about my "eco-shower"!

The post where I point you to another blog

You might have noticed it's a little bit quite over here on my blog lately. We're ramping up the preparations for the new little one and I'm still doing a few extra hours at work here and there to make up for some time off I might need before the baby comes. We've started our Bradley Childbirth classes, which are 2 hours at a time for 8 weeks and come with homework to be done every night. In addition, we're making an effort to spend any spare time with our various friends and family who we see less often, so that we see them a few times more before we disappear from the social arena for a period of time in October and after. Also, I do try to keep drama about pregnancy and pregnancy planning off this blog and on the family blog to spare you all.

In lieu of actual content, I wanted to point everyone over to a blog called My Inner French Girl, written by a friend of mine who I've been stalking following since we've met a few times at DFW Blogger events.

I particularly feel that her most recent posts from her "Frugal French Girl Week" series would fall into a category that readers of my blog might enjoy. She's done 3 posts about this so far:

• Beauty Products
• Frugal Fashion
• Frugal Entertainment

So, hopefully this will give you some good weekend reading and I'll try to come up with something interesting to blog about this weekend, hopefully non-baby-related!

Synchronized Napping

In honor of the weekend and napping, I post these pictures. You may have heard of synchronized swimming?
I present to you, our cats, who practice Synchronized Napping all day long:

It must be hard work, and I hope it pays off one day...

Spa Habitat Dallas: thumbs up!

I've posted in the past about how I switched to making my own body sugar and using it for cheap, "green" hair removal. If you'd like to start yourself, just follow the link. It's easy and, if you make sure to use baby powder on the clean dry skin first, relatively painless (in my opinion).

I was very proud of myself in July when I was still able to reach around the baby tummy and do the sugaring. But this month, there is no getting around it - literally. I can't see or reach anything that needs to be sugared, if you know what I mean.

Early into the pregnancy, I anticipated this happening and had scoped out local organic spas to find somewhere that did sugaring rather than using traditional wax. I found Spa Habitat, an organic spa with locations in Dallas (the West Village), and in Plano. West Village is nearby so I visited them on Thursday.

I want to highly recommend this spa! I have forgotten the name of my esthetician, but I have another appointment in 5 weeks so I'll remember then. This was West Village, so expected a little bit of uptown pretentiousness, if you know what I mean. But they were all very down-to-earth. The environment was relaxing, just as you would want a spa to be, while at the same time earthy.

The esthetician was very knowledgeable and does a lot of pregnant ladies. I felt very comfortable and it didn't seem pretentious to me at all. They had a good selection of products out front, but I was late and didn't have time to browse too much. However, she did recommend a product to me to help with my ingrown hairs on my legs (sorry if that is TMI...but this is a symptom of the pregnancy for me).

I was impressed by this product: they are not kidding about the products being natural! There was nothing on the label that I could not pronounce. I can't even say that about the things I've bought at Whole Foods or through Arbonne when I was with them! So, additional a shout out to Suki products. I may be buying more of those!

To seal the deal, when I went to pay, I saw this at their register:
If you can't read it, it says: "For every service performed this year at our spas, we will plant a tree with Trees for the Future in developing countries" Neat!

The whole experience made me very happy and I am looking forward to going back!

Clothesline when renting

I have been ready to do this post since Tuesday but have been lazy about it. Meanwhile, Bobbi has beat me to it and posted her clothesline pics already!

I know that I'll be needing a clothesline when I begin cloth diapering, because sunlight is one of the only things that can bleach out stains in the diapers when they get stained. Of course, you don't want to use bleach on anything that is going to touch the baby, and why do you need to when sunlight does the same thing with no chemicals?

My problem was that our yard is 1) mostly in shade, and 2) a giant mudpit. I believe I have posted pictures of the yard before. There is only one area of the yard that has morning sun, and that is right in the middle of the concrete patio. I am still attempting to grow asiatic jasmine as ground cover in the mud pit, but so far it is meager at best. Also, we rent. So I can't dig a big hole and pour cement in it to hold up the poles. Well, who am I kidding, I couldn't do that anyway, I can hardly waddle myself around the room lately much less do heavy digging.

I got this great idea from a random blog when I Googled clotheslines for rental houses. It's an old post, but in the comments to this post, someone suggested using an outdoor umbrella stand to hold the rotary clothesline up! I thought that was awesome, so we searched for one. It took about a week to find. Apparently outdoor umbrella stands are out of season already in August? I don't know about where you live, but in Texas we're just getting started on summer in August...Thank you to World Market, one of our favorite stores, for saving the day!

So, here is the finished product! When first set up:
Full of clothes on Wednesday!

And it still bugs me...

When I was in my teens I read a great series of books by Bodie Thoene called The Zion Chronicles. I also read the sister series, The Zion Covenant. I enjoyed these series because they were fictionalized stories about people living in pre- and post-World War II. I do enjoy reading about that era, I am not sure why.

I had borrowed these books from the church library at the church where I grew up to read them, so I didn't own them. When I was in my early 20's, living here in Dallas, one year my parents gave me the entire Zion Chronicles set for my birthday! I was so excited. I really wanted to re-read them all, now that I owned them!! It was a big deal to me that my parents had bought these for me, because they remembered how much I liked them and knew I couldn't afford to buy them (the whole set is usually around $100).

I had a friend who was going through a hard time after a serious breakup and needed someone round about then, so she and I would hang out and email for support. We weren't good friends before this but we had a good time, and I enjoyed her company while she was needing the company. We were talking about good books, and she lent me her copy of Redeeming Love (which I would also recommend). In turn, I loaned her all of my new copies of The Zion Chronicles. I thought, no big deal, I will get them right back. Next time I saw her, she was starting on a new relationship and all excited about it - I gave her back her copy of Redeeming Love but she didn't have my books with her. She said they were at her parents' house or something.

I started seeing less and less of her as she moved forward with the new relationship and up to North Dallas (big geographical and social difference than being in central Dallas, you know if you are from around here). After a while she changed phone numbers, I lost the new one, and we didn't really talk on the phone. Sometimes we would email. I was moving toward getting married to Christian and it was harder and harder for me to locate or keep up with friends where were non-responsive, so we quit hanging out or really talking. But every few months, I would email her about these books. There was always some excuse. "I left them in another house", "I keep forgetting to mail them". Finally, some time after I got married (almost 4 years ago now), I actually mailed a package to her house with an empty box and the shipping pre-paid and pre-addressed to me. All she had to do was put the books in the box and drop it off at a post office, it was all paid for and addressed and everything. I never heard anything back from her, and she did not answer follow-up emails anymore.

So here I am, around 5 years later, ridiculously missing those books. I don't know if it's because I am in some weird hormonal stage of pregnancy, but I would really love to read those books again. I know I could possibly get them from the library, but I want that set my parents got me! Because they got it for me, and I never got to read the copies they got me. Also, with all the baby expenses, I find it really hard to justify spending $100 on another set right now. Even at that price, the entire set is very difficult to find. You can buy the books individually, but no longer the entire set very easily.

There is really no point to this post other than that I am sadly thinking of these books and how I never got to enjoy my birthday present. I have now lost touch with this person entirely, and I am assuming the books, too, are gone for good.