MommyCoddle

going green and healthy:: with my laundry:: part II

The heat wave has moved on and my brain has finally awaked from its heat-induced coma. Man! that heat and humidity just sucked all the life out of me….but storms rumbled through last night bringing sweet relief, better attitudes and a beautiful day.

I've been meaning to get back to the discussion about my pursuit of healthier and greener laundry practices. So finally today I want to share a few more things I've found and I have a giveaway!!

One of the other products I tried from the Gaiam catalog, (which I love) was the Wonder Ball. The Wonder Ball claims that you can eliminate all laundry soap from your wash, which is good for the water supply, good for the environment. And by eliminating laundry soap, you obviously eliminate any chemicals or dyes that might be irritating to your skin. Apparently, there are some petrochemicals and minerals inside the ball that change the surface tension of the water in your machine that make the water "wetter" and allow it to penetrate your clothes fibers and wash more deeply.

Did I lose you on that one? I'm not sure I completely understand it myself.

But here's why I am liking the Wonder Ball: I have to confess that I have not been brave enough to try it sans all detergent. But the other claim it makes is that you can use it with less detergent. So when I ran out of Nellie's Nuggets and had to go back to regular detergent for awhile, I was able to use about one third of the detergent I normally would. This made everything seem less harsh and perfumey, it was still making my water less chemical-laden and it was saving me money. The wonder ball may seem a bit pricey, but it lasts 3 years or 2000 washes and if you can cut back on the amount of detergent you are using, it would save you money in the long run. So if Nellie's Nuggets or other green laundry detergents are out of your price range or inconvenient to come by, this might be a good option.

The other laundry product that I'm really excited about is for the dryer. When the temperatures start to warm, most of my laundry goes on the clothesline which is the ultimate in saving money, energy and avoiding sticky dryer sheets. But in the winter months (though I've been known to hang out laundry with my mittens on) and for those personal items that I don't like to hang on the laundry line–I am now in love with dr yer balls.

Two of these little blue-spiked beauties go in with your laundry and work to separate and soften your laundry. This also allows more air to pass through your clothes and speeds up drying time. Once again, I was skeptical, but I was proven wrong. I definitely noticed a difference in length of time it took my clothes to dry. I would estimate they were drying about 25% faster–which ironically is what it claims to do. The other thing I like about the dryer balls is no more dryer sheets which make my clothes feel sticky and slimy–a difference I did not notice until I stopped using them. But what a difference it was! And I also like the fact that when I put just a few things in my dryer–not exactly "green", I know–the dryer balls help to keep things fluffed and moving around instead of all clumping together in the corner–and those few things are dried so quickly.

The dryer balls are inexpensive. And they will last two years–as long as they don't get lost in the same land where socks disappear to. And thankfully, they are made from non-toxic materials because my teething babe really enjoys chewing on those bumpy spikes. And before your children chuck them across the room to see how high they will bounce–they really don't bounce. Oh, and one more thing–they aren't noticeably noisy–at least not to me. And remember, my washer/dryer is in my kitchen, which is in my living room, which is in my bedroom. And I really don't notice it.

They sound good, don't they? Good! Because the lovely people at Nellie's All-Natural (thank you, jackie!) sent me a set to giveaway!! Yippee!

So leave a comment and let me know you're interested and I will draw a name at the end of the week. But do me a favor…would you mind telling me your secret to stain-removal? Do you have a product you love? Or a technique?–besides not letting the stained clothes sit in the laundry bin for a week. Guilty. I'd love to hear it. And if you don't have a secret, no big deal–I have no special secret either.

But did you see those strawberry stains???

********THE WINNER IS: MARYBETH! Send me an email with your address and I'll pop them in the mail!*****

I've been meaning to get back to the discussion about my pursuit of healthier and greener laundry practices. So finally today I want to share a few more things I've found and I have a giveaway!!

Did I lose you on that one? I'm not sure I completely understand it myself.

They sound good, don't they? Good! Because the lovely people at Nellie's All-Natural (thank you, jackie!) sent me a set to giveaway!! Yippee!

But did you see those strawberry stains???

********THE WINNER IS: MARYBETH! Send me an email with your address and I'll pop them in the mail!*****

79 Comments

babyhood / DAILY FARM LIFE / IN MY KITCHEN

signs of summer

I know I was supposed to write another installment in my green laundry "series" this week, but time got the best of me, and other posts got in the way. But I promise I'll share more early next week. I have some more good things to pass along and a giveaway! 🙂 So be watching.

Summer has suddenly arrived around here and with that the much anticipated filling of the pool. The pool here on my grandparents' farm has been around since the 30s or 40s. Most of it was dug out with work horses and then some excavating tools at the end. It is spring-fed and sucks the breath straight out of your chest when you dive in. But oh, how good it feels on a sticky, hot summer day. The other thing I love about it, is that it hasn't changed a bit since I was a little toddling bare-bummed swimmer many years ago–except for the fact that there's no longer a giant red crab painted on the bottom, and I've sewed new curtains for the girls' side of the pool house. While we wait the few days for the pool to fill, it is like a concrete beach for the girls to play in, the perfect warm-up to refresh their swimming muscles and techniques.

Last summer was the year I sat poolside with a hot, sticky newborn attached to my chest making me sweat in places where I didn't know possible. This year, I've graduated to baby pool life guard and hose-holder. Things are looking up.

Yesterday, the girls swam with two frogs who somehow made it up the drain to hang out in the cool water of the pool. Their panicked squeals turned to curiosity after I gave the frogs names–my trick for making all scary things seem like pals–Besty the bumble bee who flies all over our porch and sometimes in your face, Paul the spider who lives in the corner of our shower, and Charlie the fly who is…basically everywhere and even followed us all the way from Wisconsin to Maryland. The naming thing works like a charm.

This morning I started my last batch of strawberry jam for the season. My chubby-fisted friend will be sorry to see them go. Ive always know she had all the skills and muscles she needed to walk, she just needed the right incentive. This morning, she took four confident steps across the kitchen floor for the big bowl of berries I was holding out to her. My girl's got a thing for the berries.

I just don't recommend giving them to her outside and then letting her crawl around in the dirt…not a good combo, but good for a laugh and a bath in the kitchen sink.

**messy strawberry pix courtesy of my cousin…thanks, Mags!**

Happy Weekend!

I know I was supposed to write another installment in my green laundry “series” this week, but time got the best of me, and other posts got in the way. I had been writing some Above Ground Pool Reviews Buyer’s Guides in that time. But I promise I’ll share more early next week. I have some more good things to pass along and a giveaway! 🙂 So be watching.

Summer has suddenly arrived around here and with that the much anticipated filling of the pool. The pool here on my grandparents’ farm has been around since the 30s or 40s. Most of it was dug out with work horses and then some excavating tools at the end. It is spring-fed and sucks the breath straight out of your chest when you dive in. But oh, how good it feels on a sticky, hot summer day. The other thing I love about it, is that it hasn’t changed a bit since I was a little toddling bare-bummed swimmer many years ago–except for the fact that there’s no longer a giant red crab painted on the bottom, and I’ve sewed new curtains for the girls’ side of the pool house. While we wait the few days for the pool to fill, it is like a concrete beach for the girls to play in, the perfect warm-up to refresh their swimming muscles and techniques.

Last summer was the year I sat poolside with a hot, sticky newborn attached to my chest making me sweat in places where I didn’t know possible. This year, I’ve graduated to baby pool life guard and hose-holder. Things are looking up.

I just don’t recommend giving them to her outside and then letting her crawl around in the dirt…not a good combo, but good for a laugh and a bath in the kitchen sink.

**messy strawberry pix courtesy of my cousin…thanks, Mags!**

Happy Weekend!

34 Comments

animal kingdom / DAILY FARM LIFE / home / LIVING WELL / MOTHERHOOD

chaos reigns in mollycoddle land

I have full grocery bags sitting on the kitchen floor, an unmade bed staring me in the face, and three kittens scampering around my living room. Yet here I sit. Blogging. I love it.

You know, when I told Emma she could bring a kitten in to the house, I was anticiapting that we'd be moving in to the new house THAT weekend. Now I find myself changing "glitter" boxes, picking bits of dry catfood off the bottoms of my feet when I step out of the shower and peeling the little claws of dangling kittens off my window screens. The kittens have taken over our bathroom and are slowly taking over the house. Their "house" is in the bathroom–the bathroom that is already a step-sideways-if-more-than-one-person-is-in-there kind of bathroom. The bathroom where the sink sits tenderly on brackets on the wall…brackets that are expecting a set of metal legs to help hold up some of the weight. Metal legs that are no longer there. And when you bump a little too hard into the sink you find you're holding it in your hands and scrambling to turn off the water before it leaks all over your bathroom floor. So adding three kittens, a litter box, a water and food bowl in that bathroom? It makes things a little tight and a little tricky.

Sometimes the chaos I endure for my children is mind-boggling.

And when did our one kitten become three? Well, when Mary had a fit of jealousy over Emma having Rosie and her having nothing. Which dredged up all kinds of memories of her "Springy", last year's kitten that got hit by a car and now lives with Jesus. The one that makes her announce out of the blue, "I want to get flattened like Springy so I can go to heaven and be with him and Jesus." oy.

So, the orange kitten, "Orange Juicy", then "Juicy", now "Juice", came to live in our bathroom. And then that left Juice's brother all by himself in the big scary outdoors and "wouldn't he miss his brother and be lonely?" Tears. Tears. More tears. A weak mother. And now there are three…Rosie. Juice. And, Prancer.

As I said before…the chaos I endure….

And what do these pictures have to do with kittens taking over the house? Nothing, really. Except that maybe you could say they are symbolic of some of the chaos that has been reigning in these parts lately. Bed-jumping is generally frowned upon in this house. As my mother said to me, and I now say to my own children, "this always ends in tears." But yesterday, Emma cleaned her room, made both beds and pushed them together, all of her own doing. I figured a good bed-jumping episode could be overlooked (and photographed).

Some days we could all use a good jump on the bed.

I have full grocery bags sitting on the kitchen floor, an unmade bed staring me in the face, and three kittens scampering around my living room. Yet here I sit. Blogging. I love it.

You know, when I told Emma she could bring a kitten in to the house, I was anticiapting that we’d be moving in to the new house THAT weekend. Now I find myself changing “glitter” boxes, picking bits of dry catfood off the bottoms of my feet when I step out of the shower and peeling the little claws of dangling kittens off my window screens. The kittens have taken over our bathroom and are slowly taking over the house. Their “house” is in the bathroom–the bathroom that is already a step-sideways-if-more-than-one-person-is-in-there kind of bathroom. The bathroom where the sink sits tenderly on brackets on the wall…brackets that are expecting a set of metal legs to help hold up some of the weight. Metal legs that are no longer there. And when you bump a little too hard into the sink you find you’re holding it in your hands and scrambling to turn off the water before it leaks all over your bathroom floor. So adding three kittens, a litter box, a water and food bowl in that bathroom? It makes things a little tight and a little tricky.

Sometimes the chaos I endure for my children is mind-boggling.

And when did our one kitten become three? Well, when Mary had a fit of jealousy over Emma having Rosie and her having nothing. Which dredged up all kinds of memories of her “Springy”, last year’s kitten that got hit by a car and now lives with Jesus. The one that makes her announce out of the blue, “I want to get flattened like Springy so I can go to heaven and be with him and Jesus.” oy.

So, the orange kitten, “Orange Juicy”, then “Juicy”, now “Juice”, came to live in our bathroom. And then that left Juice’s brother all by himself in the big scary outdoors and “wouldn’t he miss his brother and be lonely?” Tears. Tears. More tears. A weak mother. And now there are three…Rosie. Juice. And, Prancer.

As I said before…the chaos I endure….

And what do these pictures have to do with kittens taking over the house? Nothing, really. Except that maybe you could say they are symbolic of some of the chaos that has been reigning in these parts lately. Bed-jumping is generally frowned upon in this house. And especially after I bought the new Bedroom Bundle, bed-jumping is a no-no. As my mother said to me, and I now say to my own children, “this always ends in tears.” But yesterday, Emma cleaned her room, made both beds and pushed them together, all of her own doing. I figured a good bed-jumping episode could be overlooked (and photographed).

Some days we could all use a good jump on the bed.

27 Comments