Greener

I've been learning more and more about ways to be healthier, more

environmentally conscious, and keep my home a safer place for this little girl.

I finally got on the website Skin Deep to see how they rated some of the products I've been using.

Unfortunately they aren't as safe is I'd like. I looked for some brands that are safe and ordered some

products from them (some sale items and they had a New Year discount). I've been curious

for a while and have wanted to try some green products.

I also went to the Good Earth to compare prices on their deodorant now that I'm out.

I bought one Tom's-of-Maine that I had heard about before, and one Alvera that was

recommended by a worker in the store. So far I think I prefer the Alvera.

Those greener choices were comparable to what I had already been spending, but a lot of what I've done has been less expensive, like making my own household cleaners and spider spray. My mother-in-law shared her laundry detergent recipe with me, and I thought I'd share it with you. I'm excited to try it.

(I just copied her email below because she explains it well.)

76 oz. borax

76 oz. washing soda

4 bars of fels-naptha (I think I only used 2--and there are other

brands, but I can't remember what they are right now)

16 oz. baking soda

2 c. Oxyclean

Grate the Fels-Naptha bar as fine as possible. Your food processor

will do the trick or

you can grate

it by hand. Mix all the ingredients

in a large bucket. I use rubber gloves and just start mixing.

1. Fels-Naptha. It is a bar of soap which I have used for years to

pre-treat stains.

It is heavy-duty laundry bar soap and it smells so

clean.

2. Borax. Borax is a natural laundry booster and multipurpose

household cleaner.

3. Washing soda. It acts as a detergent booster as well.

4. Baking soda. Baking soda is great for deodorizing but this is an

optional ingredient.

5. Oxy Clean. Oxy Clean is fabric bleach; actually it is like powdered

peroxide.

Oxy clean helps prevent graying. This is also an optional

ingredient.

The beauty of this soap is that it is inexpensive to make, has no

fillers in it and it costs

pennies per use. It has exceptional

cleaning power, is easy to store because it’s a powder and it can be

used in high efficiency machines. Try this soap on your towels and

whites and you’ll see

why I am so excited about it. Don’t expect any

soap bubbles. Instead you’ll see the

grime coming to the top right

away. One of the reasons that this product is economical is because

you only use 1/8 of a cup per load. That’s about 2 Tablespoons.

Good luck!

Chinese New Year & Groundhog Day

Happy Chinese New Year!

We had a small Groundhog Day celebration. We kind of picked up the idea from our friends,

the Merkets, including the idea to make a groundhog rice-krispie treat.

They are the masters at Groundhog Day celebrations.

(I didn't have rice krispies so I used corn flakes instead.)

I was wondering how I could possibly make a

groundhog from rice krispies,

so I looked up some pictures of groundhogs on the internet, and this is what I came up with:

I sure would love an early spring!!!

Cabbage Crunch Salad

I've made this salad a lot in the past several months. People like it.

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use a little less)

1/4 cup sugar

3 T. vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 flavor packet from ramen noodles

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded

4 green onions, chopped (I usually leave these out)

2 T. sesame seeds, toasted (I have only put these in 2x, never toasted, and definitely less than 2 T.)

1 package ramen noodles, broken and uncooked

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted (I usually use less and forgot to toast them this last time)

Red seedless grapes as desired (I cut them in half)

In a blender or food processor combine vegetable oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, and flavoring from ramen noodles. (Sometimes I just put them in a jar that fits on the blender to blend it. Then it is easy to travel with and re-shake before adding. Sometimes I don't even blend it; just shake.) Pour over shredded cabbage. Add green onions and sesame seeds. Toss together. Just before serving, add ramen noodles, almonds, and red grapes. Makes 6 servings.

I use less than what is called for or leave things out just to make it cost less. That is the way people ate it when they requested the recipe.

The recipe come from The Essential Mormon Cookbook.

1:00 Church with a One-year-old... help!

We have 1:00 church this year. It is not a good time to have with a one-year-old (or a 2, 3

and maybe even some 4 or 5-year-olds from what I can tell). It is perfectly during her second

nap. Later in the year when she goes down to one nap, it will be perfectly during her only nap.

Any suggestions???

Part of the problem is that Anika doesn't just go until she crashes, she just gets really mad.

Plus she won't fall asleep in our arms or on our shoulder (she hardly even likes to sit

on our lap unless we are feeding her or reading to her). When her naps are off, she is sooo

cranky and doesn't sleep well at night, among other things. It is really just a vicious cycle.

One month down, eleven to go :)

Happy Birthday, Anika!

Anika turned one-year-old last month! She keeps us soooo busy (so busy that it has taken
me 2 1/2 weeks to post about this), but we have been having a lot of fun.

She weighs 22lbs 4oz

She is 30" tall

Her doctor said she might have enlarged tonsils and adenoids.

If so, that could be a big part of the reason she has trouble sleeping.

photo courtesy of: http://mazamedia.com/rwc/?p=37

She loves to read books! She brings books to us ALL the time! We have them basically

in every room. Sometimes she doesn't just bring us a book, but she will even grab

our hand and put her book in it. It is also cute when she turns around and

plops down in our lap or on our leg. She has started to turn her back toward us

and back up to us when we are in a chair because she wants to be picked up -

it is so fun to see her learn and do new things!

One of Anika's favorite books is Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?

We have been reading this book regularly for months now (several months ago she

would smile when I started reading it to her). Even out of a pile of books,

she will choose that one. The other day I decided to read one of our new library books instead, and she got restless really fast. I was confused at first because I knew she wanted to read,

but I set her down. She picked up Mr. Brown and handed it to me again, so we read that one.

I just bought Barnyard Banter ($0.69 at Saver's!), and she does the same thing with that.

I think she likes me making lots of crazy sounds :)

This is how much she liked walking around with her birthday balloons

Here you can see her balloons (there is a pink there somewhere too)

Anika really just loves the whole walking business. She has become quite proficient.

She can even run! It is an adorable babyish run that she does most often when we

are chasing her, she almost trips, or she gets going too fast for her own good.

Just for fun I decorated the mirror with dry erase markers.

I think we'll make it a tradition :)

She enjoyed her cupcake and didn't even get very messy.

Although I think she liked her fresh blueberries better.

Anika has started communicating with us more by taking

our hand and leading us to what she wants.

She got this little push toy/bike for Christmas (thanks to Kid-to-Kid), and one of her very

most favorite things is to get pushed around on it! This picture doesn't do justice to the

typical grin and giggles that she usually has while going for a ride.

Another important milestone: She has figured out how to open the toilet seat!

Thankfully our house already had locks on the toilets when we bought it.

She also tries to climb into and onto things now - including the tub and her bike.

Her keep-it-simple cake.

We had a very simple and small party with tasty finger foods.

Nathaniel was so nice to get me flowers on her birthday for being

the one who did most of the hard work on her birth day :)

Anika still roams the house opening the non-locked or blocked cupboards and drawers

and spends most of her time taking things out, but she is starting to put things

back in too. Hooray! The other day she had 3 kitchen drawers open and was

pulling out the hot pads and stuffing them into the junk drawer.

She loves to play with the bells and maracas I use for music time in nursery.

This is her mess of frozen blueberries, but I've been able to buy fresh ones

a few times lately at the Sunflower Farmer's Market for a great price!

We got her some for her birthday.

Anika got some alphabet letter magnets for the refrigerator. I know they are for

older kids, but I thought she would like them, and she does. She loves to put them on and

take them off. She has also discovered how fun it is to drop them behind the fridge, stash

some in a cupboard, and put one through the dryer (sorry little letter "f").

I've decided it is pretty much impossible to baby proof completely.

We love our little miracle!

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

I have always enjoyed CES (Church Educational System) Firesides. I stopped attending them once we moved out of our last student ward, but I am happy to be able to listen to them online. In the last fireside, the speaker was Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He talked about the story of the Children of Israel in the wilderness in a way I don't remember hearing before. The Lord sent manna to them every day, and every day they could only gather enough to eat for that day (except for the Sabbath Day). This was the Lord's way of keeping the Children of Israel close to Him because they had to rely on Him EVERY DAY to receive their daily bread. Elder Christofferson compared this to the need we have to rely on the Lord EVERY DAY to give us the blessings we need for that particular day. We can pray to Him every day. We need his help and guidance every day.

I especially loved this quote:

I have suggested that asking for and receiving daily bread at God’s hand plays a vital part in learning to trust God and in enduring life’s challenges. We also need a daily portion of divine bread to become what we must become. To repent, improve, and eventually reach “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13), as Paul expressed it, is a step-by-step process. Incorporating new and wholesome habits into our character or overcoming bad habits or addictions most often means an effort today followed by another tomorrow, and then another, perhaps for many days, even months and years, until victory is achieved. But we can do it because we can appeal to God for our daily bread, for the help we need each day.

Quote and picture credit found here: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=8c83cccfea02b210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=43d031572e14e110VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD

If you want to listen, go here:

http://broadcast.lds.org/ces-firesides/2011/2011-01-1000-give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread-64k-eng.mp3

Conversations

I recently discovered the program "Conversations" on the online Mormon Channel. I skipped around and have mostly listened to the episodes with members from the Quorum of the Twelve, but I LOVE it! The episodes are 1 to 1 1/2 hours, but I often listen to it in parts while I get ready or take care of things around the house. As it says below, it has lifted my spirit and has inspired my thoughts. Maybe it can do the same for you!

The Mormon Channel describes this program as follows:

Conversations features interviews with people of interest to the LDS community—

General Authorities, Auxiliary leaders, and faithful Latter-day Saints.

Some are joined by their spouses, who contribute an additional dimension.

Each has an interesting story and a unique perspective. These discussions are done in a style which allows the listener to become acquainted with those being

interviewed in an informal way. This is particularly interesting with the

featured general authorities, who are known to most only in formal settings.

Conversations offers advice, wisdom and interesting stories that will

lift your spirit and inspire your thoughts.

Quote and picture found here: http://radio.lds.org/eng/programs/conversations