Benefits of Sun Drying Cloth Diapers

I love cloth diapering. We don’t do it 24/7, but I try to do it as much as possible. Disposables are used pretty much only overnight sometimes and whenever we go on outings. Mainly just because I’d rather throw a diaper away than have an oozing, stinking mess in a wetbag in my diaper bag or in my car, where it can easily be forgotten. Which, just my luck, happened very recently.

It all started on a beautiful sunny Thursday. The husband, Little Man, and I decided to go to take somethings to grandma’s house while The Diva was at school. I didn’t bother to change Little Man into a disposable diaper because, hey, his poop times are early morning and late afternoon. Plus, we were only going to be gone for around half an hour. No harm done. Except the little stinker decided to have a major blow out while we were there. So, I exchanged his dirty cloth diaper for a spare disposable one (because I’m a mom and keep spares in my purse for moments exactly like this one), and put his dirty diaper and clothes in a bag and sat them in the back seat. Right under his seat area so I would remember to grab it when we got home. Except my husband grabbed him out for me while I checked the mail and the bag of poopy items was forgotten. That is, until Sunday when I was getting groceries out of my car and came upon the bag.

So, four days in the hot car later, the diaper was pretty crusty and dry and just plain disgusting. “The insert is ruined now. You’re never going to be able to get that out,” My husband challenged me. Hahahahaha! Guess who proved him wrong? Yeah, ME. As usual. That’s just what he gets for doubting my housewife abilities.

Monday morning I put my baby-safe detergent in with a load of diaper covers, inserts, and wipes, sprinkled in some Borax and some Washing Soda, filled with cold water, and let soak for an hour. Then, after washing and rinsing, I hung them on the line. Yeah, that’s right! I went old-school on these fools. [Seriously, though, my mother thinks I’m insane because I prefer to line dry. Whatever.] 3 lovely hours spent cleaning floors later, I went and grabbed the diapers off, checking the disaster one first. And guess what? This is how it looks:

Not bad, eh? Especially since the whole diaper insert was that yellow color. The only reason there’s any yellow left is because that’s where the clothespin was. Beautiful, right? Just like new. So, there’s a visual benefit of sun-drying, but here’s a list of five:

1.) The sun actually disinfects clothes as it dries them. I'm a germ freak, so this is benefit amazing to me.
2.) The sun is a natural bleach. Bye, bye, harsh chemicals and vapors!
3.) It's free and low-energy. And it's free. Free!!!
4.) Your diapers will last even longer, so that's less chance of having to purchase more for the next kiddo.
5.) The sun is amazing at removing the stinky scent of poop and pee, and leaving a fresh scent of outdoor air. I just love that smell - yeah, I'm a nerd. I'm aware.

See? Save money and use the sun's natural goodness! Even in the winter when it's negative ten with three foot of snow I still sun my diapers. I just do it in the windowsill on a hanger. Takes all day instead of just a few hours, but my diapers always look amazing!

Things They Don't Tell You About Being A Mom

I was looking at my life tonight and had a revelation: being mom is the most amazingly sucky job ever. I love being a mommy so much, but there's so much they don't tell you. Remember those textbooks you read in high school health class? The ones that talked about how beautiful becoming a parent was? They lied.

10 things they don't tell you about being a mom:
-You will never be able to laugh, sneeze, fart, bend over, kneel, or cough without peeing a little bit.
-Your fingers will become chew toys.
-Your boobs will look exactly like your grandmas.
-Your child will not wait until their teens to start arguing and having a bad attitude.
-You won't remember how to hold a normal conversation - you'll use words like "potty" and talk to everybody like they are idiots.
-You will have to dress somebody and one day they will start telling you what to wear - even if it doesn't match, you will wear it to make them happy.
-You can no longer be afraid of puke down your shirt, poop on your hands, and pee running down your leg - none of which is yours.
-You will share shower/bath time with somebody and it won't be sexy at all.
-You will no longer spend money on yourself. Not because somebody is forcing you, but because you would rather spend it on the little people in your home instead.

Realistically, this list could go on and on. But, at the end of the day, you realize you love being a mom... Usually after the kids have gone to bed and you are soaking in your bath tub - along with the mermaid Barbie and twenty rubber duckies.

Inside the Studio: Fabric Storage

I have had a few people ask me about how I store things in my studio room to make my life easier. So, I'm going to do a mini series on it, including what I paid and how I saved money.

Today, we are going to look at my fabric storage area:

Look at that beauty! I scored this bookshelf from Craigslist for only $20! You can hardly beat that deal. It keeps all of my fabric nice and pretty, easy to see, but also keeps the dust off. So many amazing things all in one. I have my cotton solids, cotton prints, and my fusible fabric on the top; flannels and fleece on the second shelf; knits, special occasion, and home decor on the third shelf; and PUL, felt, and miscellaneous fabric on the bottom shelf.

I must admit, having all of my fabric in view like that shows me how much I have really accumulated over the last year or so. Well, technically this isn't all of my fabric, but it is about 90% of it. I have some upstairs still - much to my husband's dismay.

There's a look at the top of my pretty bookshelf. I paid $1 for each of the clear containers, from Dollar Tree. Sometimes I have seen the clear shoe boxes at Mernards or Walmart for 11/$10. I spray painted the outside of mine to give them more color and wrote in dry erase marker on the outside of them. I love the ease of the boxes and being able to get them down. I really need to buy more to put the rest of my holiday prints in.

I try to keep it all really simple, so that it's easy for me. I'm afraid to get too fancy with it or else I'll get confused and have to go through a hundred things to get one thing. No way - I'm too lazy for that crap. And that is why I have my fabric set up the way it is. How do you organize your fabric? Does it work well for you or do you hate it? I had mine in drawers for a long time and hated it with a passion. It was so difficult to find anything. Glad to be done with that! NEVER. AGIAN.

Valentine's Day Fun

Not sure what everybody else did for Valentine's Day, but I went to The Diva's ice cream sundae party at her school. It was nothing special, but I had a good time - they even trusted me enough to pour drinks for all 16 of the kiddos. I only spilled a few drops, so I thought that was impressive. At least, for me.

We made The Diva's box for her cards as a family Thursday night, and dang it turned out good!

She was so proud of it. The other kids were pretty impressed, too.

Here's her playing the game. Goodness she is so adorable. And, yes, that IS her tongue sticking out as she concentrates on throwing the heart. 

Thief Thursday, No Bake Peanut Butter/Chocolate Bars

That is actually quite a mouthful to say. Oh well-it's too delicious to really care. I was in the mood for something chocolate this afternoon, but since my husband is all healthy and what not, we don't have anything already made. So, thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a quick recipe to make. Here's the link to the original poster.

What's Needed:

-1 cup Graham cracker crumbs

-1 cup peanut butter

-1/2 cup butter

-1 cup powdered sugar

-1 cup milk chocolate chips

--Microwave save bowl

--Spoon or fork

--Glass dish to set them up in

I had to make my own powdered sugar and cracker crumbs. I used the same amount of sugar and blended it for 1 minute to make it into a powder. I made the crumbs in the blender using one package of Graham crackers.

Next, melt your butter and peanut butter together in your bowl (I did 1:11 in our microwave). Stir. Take a taste test, just to make sure it's not poisonous.

If it's not, then continue.

Add in the rest of your dry ingredients (not chocolate chips) and stir some more. Take another test bite, to make sure it isn't terrible.

Still good? Good! Now, press it into the bottom of your pan, melt your chocolate, and pour it on top. I did mine pie style, but that's just for convenience of eating one handed while I hold or feed baby.

Here's my piece:

Oh how I love chocolate and peanut butter combined. So heavenly tasting.

Do you have a favorite recipe? Share it on here and I may just try it and blog about it. I love trying new things!

DIY Baby Bib

Baby bibs are so cute and handy. Know what else? They are also super easy to make. Like, super DUPER, done in only ten minutes easy. Ready? Me too!

Materials Needed:
-Bib for tracing, or a bib pattern (here's mine)
-Pencil for tracing if you use your own bib
-Pins
-Scissors
-Absorbent fabric for top layer (I used a cotton print)
-Fabric for bottom layer (I used baby terry loop for extra absorbency... Babies drool a lot)
-Sewing machine or needle
-Thread

Pin with right sides of fabric together, trace in pencil or wipe away marker (I used a washable just to show you where the lines were). I was going to make a round bib, but changed my mind and made a tear drop one instead, in case you were wondering about the double lines.

Trim around the fabric a little, to make it easier to get in your machine. 

Don't you love my nails? The Diva did them the other night! My other hand has yellow and orange!

Sew on your line using a straight stitch (mine was set on a 2½). Make sure to NOT sew the part between the lines - see below.

You need to leave this area unsewn for now, so that you can turn the bib inside out in a few minutes.

Trim around the edges, leaving about ⅛-¼inch of extra fabric. Press. Turn inside out. Press again.

Make sure to tuck in the "flaps" and then do a top stitch all the around, coming in at ⅛inch from the edges.

Add your buttons (or Velcro if you prefer) and you're done! Sew way, right? (Ah, I'm feeling punny today. My poor husband hates puns and I've come up with ten already this morning. Poor guy.)

Any questions? Ask em!

This Book...!!

First off, let me just state that I am a huge nerd. I have a passion for reading so great that it almost outshines my love for crafting. I mean, if you want to transport yourself to a different place, lose hours of time in what feels like minutes, and make up the appearances of fictional people, I suggest picking up a book (just don't watch the movie 97% of the time).

Now, I enjoy reading big girl books, such as "50 Shades of Gray," romance trilogies by Nora Roberts, and just about anything with Nicholas Sparks's name on it. However, I love reading the teen/young adult books even more. It's not the same story with different names over and over again, which is nice. Recently, I finished the Shatter Me series/trilogy by Tahereh Mafi. A M A Z I N G!!!!

I am not one to often tell other people that they have to read a certain book, but if you enjoy books like "Divergent," "Uglies," "The Host," and "Hunger Games," then this book is for you. It's a story about a girl who can't touch anybody without pretty much killing them. She has never been able to be loved because she's a monster and nobody wants to be around her. Except now the leader of The Revolution wants to use her as his own personal torturing device/killing machine against the rebels. Can you imagine?!

I accidentally found this book through Amazon suggestions (Yeah, they pretty much got their shit together there) and I am so glad I did! I started reading the first book about a month before the last book was released, so I got really lucky with very little lag time. How often does that happen, right? It took me less than two days to read the first two books and the two in-between books. I already knew who I wanted the main character, Juliette, to be with and I foresaw the ending; or so I thought. I started the last book around 11pm on the 5th and planned to read until I got tired. By 2am I had it finished and was laying in bed replaying the whole book over and over in my head.

I seriously ordered the book for someone else as a birthday gift just so that I could talk to another person about it. Yeah. It's that amazing to me. Hell, the third currently has a 5.0/5 rating on Amazon.com. Pretty unheard of these days.

Mafi is an amazing author with a unique style. That's what I like about her. She has several leads and twists and the emotions are written out so well that I felt myself becoming depressed in the first, angry in the second, and so sad I actually cried in the third. Crazy thing is that these are her first books! I can honestly say that I am looking forward to more books by Mafi and will even preorder the next ones.

I need to stop here before I bore you or before I start giving the plot away. Have any of you read it? Anybody have any good book suggestions? I just downloaded "Alienated" and "Cruel Beauty." Can't wait to see how they turn out. I am open to suggestions and will read anything except scary or disgusting gory genres. I'm a nighttime reader and the two just don't mix well.

Let me just reiterate what a huge nerd I am: the first time I heard  "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic, I thought of this book. Read the book and you'll understand.