I’m a big fan of supporting local businesses, so this week John and I were so bummed to hear that the local movie theater shut down. I guess they weren’t making enough money. We loved it, though. Granted, we’ve only been once since L was born, but we always bought popcorn. Sigh.
And then, Sunday, we decided to go to the new H. Allen’s restaurant that opened in the shop where Louie’s and Rose’s had been before. You might see where this is going. The sign in front said, "Thank ou for our support," and on the back, "fur sale." We’d only gotten to go there once!
It may seem less exciting than the more commercial Olive Garden, or have fewer options than the Hollywood 16 – but go, support your local favorite whatever. Or you may not have a local anything left!
9.24.2007
9.18.2007
Garden, part III
I wanted to let you know how our garden turned out. I didn't help very much this summer, but I am very proud of all that John did. And I certainly enjoyed the produce. Despite the incredible heat this summer, this was our best garden yet.
We are still getting a few tomatoes, though they are beginning to wane. The zucchini plant produced a whole lot really fast, finally died a few weeks ago, and I'm trying to use up the last of it before it goes bad. I made 9 batches of zucchini muffins this summer!
John's hanging tomato experiment went really well. He constantly had to get tomato worms off the plants in the raised bed, but there were none on the hanging tomatoes. He had one large tomato plant that got blossom rot, but all of the small ones produced really beautifully. Some of the herbs in the top of the buckets did well, also - especially the basil (although the lavender never came up... hmmm).
We still have some carrots that are growing that we plan to get sometime soon. We've pulled a couple early to check and see how they were doing, and they seem to be coming along. John's spinach didn't do well, but he got a lot of mescaline, and he is thinking about planting a little more for the end of the season.
Like I said, I didn't help much. But john kept watering my flowers, and eventually my vines did grow up the swing set. I have morning glory, red cypress, and passion flower vines. The first two only flowered a little, but we're still enjoying them.
Also, my clearance rack Lantana and begonias are still holding strong. I especially enjoyed the Lantana this year, and think I will try it again in the future.
And our little top hat hen, moved up to the big chicken coop, and the two new little chicks finished out the summer here in the garden. John treated the chicks in the garden coop to the tomato worms regularly. We are still waiting to see if they are hens or roosters. Cross your fingers for hens!
John worked diligently on the garden this year, making sure the soil was just right, making sure everything was watered properly, and keeping pests off his plants. I am proud of him and how quickly he is learning. He's already got bigger plans for next years garden. Won't that be fun.
John's hanging tomato experiment went really well. He constantly had to get tomato worms off the plants in the raised bed, but there were none on the hanging tomatoes. He had one large tomato plant that got blossom rot, but all of the small ones produced really beautifully. Some of the herbs in the top of the buckets did well, also - especially the basil (although the lavender never came up... hmmm).
Like I said, I didn't help much. But john kept watering my flowers, and eventually my vines did grow up the swing set. I have morning glory, red cypress, and passion flower vines. The first two only flowered a little, but we're still enjoying them.
Also, my clearance rack Lantana and begonias are still holding strong. I especially enjoyed the Lantana this year, and think I will try it again in the future.
And our little top hat hen, moved up to the big chicken coop, and the two new little chicks finished out the summer here in the garden. John treated the chicks in the garden coop to the tomato worms regularly. We are still waiting to see if they are hens or roosters. Cross your fingers for hens!
John worked diligently on the garden this year, making sure the soil was just right, making sure everything was watered properly, and keeping pests off his plants. I am proud of him and how quickly he is learning. He's already got bigger plans for next years garden. Won't that be fun.
9.13.2007
New Diapers
I recently finished another batch of diapers in the next size. These are the best I've made so far, and I'm just a little proud of them. I wasn't sure how well the cloth diapers would work out - but now that we've been using them for 3.5 months, I have to say I 'm pretty pleased with them. The washing has been pretty simple, and they always come clean easily. They work well (at least the ones I made right...), and they're pretty cute, too!
7.26.2007
New Life
I’ve been meaning to post other things for a while too, and today, a little surprise gave me the motivation.
One of our hens has been camping out under the hen house for several weeks. We were about to give up on her, when she emerged today with two baby chicks! John is trying to catch them so we can feed them and keep them under a heat lamp for a few weeks.
Also, John noticed this lily in the woods by the house. Whenever I have a bouquet of flowers, I usually throw them in the woods when they die. It seems this one seeded and grew back!
6.04.2007
Baby
I know Laura will post more pictures later, but let me be the first. This is our little girl!
John
5.09.2007
Painting
I'm trying to stay productive so I don't got crazy while I sit around and wait for the baby to come. So the last few days I've been painting a bit. I put the watercolors away awhile ago and I can't quite remember why. But I've been really enjoying them lately - they are easy to do in the living room floor, and they help me be patient because of all the layering. Anyway, here's what I've been doing:
I wanted to do a painting for the baby, something we could point at and say, "duck. Duck." So that's where the first no good still life came from.
After the first one, I remembered how much I like painting objects on our coffee table (it has a nice glass top, so you get great shadows and reflections), so I set this one up next. I love this little fitonia plant we got earlier this year because it droops so noticeably when it needs water, and then perks right up after you water it. The little bird in the plant is a hollow ceramic thing with a porous cone on the bottom that slowly waters the plant for you (do these things have a name?). John got it for my birthday because I just love old ceramic things.
I wanted to do a painting for the baby, something we could point at and say, "duck. Duck." So that's where the first no good still life came from.
After the first one, I remembered how much I like painting objects on our coffee table (it has a nice glass top, so you get great shadows and reflections), so I set this one up next. I love this little fitonia plant we got earlier this year because it droops so noticeably when it needs water, and then perks right up after you water it. The little bird in the plant is a hollow ceramic thing with a porous cone on the bottom that slowly waters the plant for you (do these things have a name?). John got it for my birthday because I just love old ceramic things.
Hummingbirds
This is another post my family should appreciate. I have two hummingbird feeders at my house. The hummingbirds are coming to our house in droves. I brought one in to refill the other day, and the one remaining one was bombarded with birds. I think the most we saw at one time was seven. I tried so hard to catch a bunch of them at the feeder at once, and this is my best shot. There are five (four sitting on the feeder and one hovering a little to the right). I was thinking I should set up my tripod and try to get a nice shot like Uncle Richard did at Granny's house. The other thing about the hummingbirds that seems strange to me is that they don't seem to be afraid of us. They buzz right past us when we're outside and they aren't scared off easily. Is that normal?
4.16.2007
Cloth Diapering
Tara and I were talking about cloth diapering this weekend, and she had heard that cloth and disposables end up evening out in terms of both cost and environmental affects. This is also what I found in an unbiased article called The Diaper Decision from Ohio State University (worth the read). Most of the cloth diapering websites have articles that debate the issue; however, they are usually fairly one-sided and don't used the same quality of resources that the OSU article did. (See for example, The Diaper Drama by Heather Sanders.) I really appreciated the OSU article, but it did not address all the various aspects of the issue as thoroughly as I would have liked.
Having to choose between the lesser of two evils has never set well with me. So, I thought I would briefly share why I think cloth diapering is best for my circumstances, in other words:
What I'm Doing in Addition to Cloth Diapering to Tip the Scales
The Environment
Disposables cause pollution in manufacturing and are adding to the problem of overfilled landfills. There is also the possibility of the human waste leaking into the ground and polluting the water supply (humorously, it is actually illegal to dispose of human waste in the trash, but I don't know anyone who has ever done anything else with the poop in the baby's diaper). Cloth diapers use more energy to wash and put more phosphates in our water supply by the use of detergents.
This feels like an easy one for me because I have been using phosphate free laundry soap for the last year. I am not using the soap I make at home because I think I read somewhere that the washing soda can irritate baby's skin (I forget where), but Dreft is also phosphate free. In addition, I try to hang out my clothes to dry (at least in the summer), and this is helpful for cloth diapers anyway because the sun bleaches out stains.
Money
This is a big one for me. I won't attempt to tell you how much money both options cost, but I will point out that the two articles came up with very different costs for both, and they are both outdated. Since diapers and wipes are the only expense for disposables, that seems pretty important, but I really don't know.
When factoring cost for the cloth diapers, on the other hand, you have to consider the water and electric bill, the cost of laundry soap, the wear and tear on your washer and drying, and the initial investment of the diapers.
I feel like I have an advantage here. First, we live on a well so we have no water bill. We hang clothes out to dry at least 50% of the time, and that helps with the electric bill. Dreft is more expensive soap, but I save money on our regular soap, so that kind of evens out. We rent, so we never paid for our appliances in the first place. And finally, I have saved money on the cloth diapers by making them myself, using "repurposed" flannel, and getting hand-me-downs from a friend. Right now I have about all the diapers, covers, and cloth wipes I need in the newborn and small sizes for no more than $100. And of course, the savings increase if I reuse these with subsequent children.
Other
You can find lots of other benefits on the cloth diapering websites. Most of which I just don't know enough about now.
The Diaper Drama claims health risks with disposables due to chemicals in the diapers that are linked to toxic shock syndrome in tampons, carcinogens, and sterility in boys. This was not addressed at all in the OSU article, and I haven't investigated the validity of these claims.
Other sites argue that cloth diapering makes potty training easier later on because babies are allowed to experience the wetness whereas disposably-diapered babies never experience the cause and effct. Again, I don't know if this is true.
Most people immediately think that the inconvenience would be too much, though most websites say you are supposed to change disposables every time a child wets, just like cloth, it's just that most people don't. Also, my friend Julie says the laundering really isn't a big deal once you develop a system. I'll have to weigh in on this later.
Having to choose between the lesser of two evils has never set well with me. So, I thought I would briefly share why I think cloth diapering is best for my circumstances, in other words:
What I'm Doing in Addition to Cloth Diapering to Tip the Scales
The Environment
Disposables cause pollution in manufacturing and are adding to the problem of overfilled landfills. There is also the possibility of the human waste leaking into the ground and polluting the water supply (humorously, it is actually illegal to dispose of human waste in the trash, but I don't know anyone who has ever done anything else with the poop in the baby's diaper). Cloth diapers use more energy to wash and put more phosphates in our water supply by the use of detergents.
This feels like an easy one for me because I have been using phosphate free laundry soap for the last year. I am not using the soap I make at home because I think I read somewhere that the washing soda can irritate baby's skin (I forget where), but Dreft is also phosphate free. In addition, I try to hang out my clothes to dry (at least in the summer), and this is helpful for cloth diapers anyway because the sun bleaches out stains.
Money
This is a big one for me. I won't attempt to tell you how much money both options cost, but I will point out that the two articles came up with very different costs for both, and they are both outdated. Since diapers and wipes are the only expense for disposables, that seems pretty important, but I really don't know.
When factoring cost for the cloth diapers, on the other hand, you have to consider the water and electric bill, the cost of laundry soap, the wear and tear on your washer and drying, and the initial investment of the diapers.
I feel like I have an advantage here. First, we live on a well so we have no water bill. We hang clothes out to dry at least 50% of the time, and that helps with the electric bill. Dreft is more expensive soap, but I save money on our regular soap, so that kind of evens out. We rent, so we never paid for our appliances in the first place. And finally, I have saved money on the cloth diapers by making them myself, using "repurposed" flannel, and getting hand-me-downs from a friend. Right now I have about all the diapers, covers, and cloth wipes I need in the newborn and small sizes for no more than $100. And of course, the savings increase if I reuse these with subsequent children.
Other
You can find lots of other benefits on the cloth diapering websites. Most of which I just don't know enough about now.
The Diaper Drama claims health risks with disposables due to chemicals in the diapers that are linked to toxic shock syndrome in tampons, carcinogens, and sterility in boys. This was not addressed at all in the OSU article, and I haven't investigated the validity of these claims.
Other sites argue that cloth diapering makes potty training easier later on because babies are allowed to experience the wetness whereas disposably-diapered babies never experience the cause and effct. Again, I don't know if this is true.
Most people immediately think that the inconvenience would be too much, though most websites say you are supposed to change disposables every time a child wets, just like cloth, it's just that most people don't. Also, my friend Julie says the laundering really isn't a big deal once you develop a system. I'll have to weigh in on this later.
4.06.2007
I'm still here
I've been meaning to post some pictures, I just haven't gotten around to it. But I expect I will have many pictures to post in the future, since I got Kate's old camera when she got a cool new one for her birthday. Happy Kate's Birthday to me!
I'll try to post soon.
I'll try to post soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)