Going green/crunchy...

I am now entering my second phase for going green and crunchy!

Phase one was eliminating paper products and using primarily cloth. I still have TP on hand for guests, and paper towels on hand for especially gross cleanups, but for the most part, I'm all cloth! I also started "no 'pooing" during this phase, although that technically fits in better with phase two.

Phase two is switching to all/mostly homemade cleaners and health and beauty products. I bought white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, baking soda, cornstarch, witch hazel, chamomile tea, borax, honey, and I think I am forgetting a few things I've already purchased. I still need to get essential oils and some containers. With these products I will make an all purpose cleaner, disinfectant, window cleaner, other various household cleaners that I'm forgetting at the moment, face wash, deodorant, and will wash and condition my hair. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with most of my old stuff.

Phase three is partially started, but that's when I'll focus more on food. Right now I've been focusing more on just avoiding processed foods. Eventually I'd like to buy more organic, and even grow some of my own food. Who knows what the phases after that will be, but this is what I have set out for now!

I'm really loving these changes and it's not as hard as it might seem. Just do things slowly. You don't just wake up one morning and you're all green/crunchy. It has to start with one thing at a time.

For me the starter was cloth diapers(still use a sposie here and there.)
From cloth diapers, I went to cloth wipes.
From cloth wipes, I went to cloth household.
Not sure how, but from cloth household, I went no-poo, haha.
And that's where we are now, with the homemade products!

It's definitely a process, and the more I educate myself on the dangers of the products being consumed by the average American, the more I want to actively do something. Not buying their products is the first step.

Day 2 of NO TV!

Like most Americans, I watched a lot of TV. So much in fact, that I felt like I never got anything done, because between the shows I watched, keeping up with all the social networking sites I frequent, and taking care of my daughter, there wasn't much time left for anything else!

I noticed that more and more often, McKaleigh was zoning out on whatever was on TV. I never watched any kids shows, but she was still hooked to the TV at times. This was my primary reason for no more TV. I may still watch a few select shows here and there, but only the ones that I REALLY love. I will no longer be watching the shows that just happened to be on. Heck, if it's not on hulu.com, I probably won't watch it, haha.

I truly believe that not watching TV has made it so much easier for me to get things done. I just did things today, without really thinking about it. I was constantly thinking of the next thing to do, instead of vegging out in front of the TV and my computer all day.

I did the following things today:

• Made pancakes and eggs for breakfast(instead of the typical cereal or bagel.)
• Decluttered a majority of my kitchen(the side I actually cook on... other half still needs a lot of work:P.)
• Moved my full sized bed into the guest room, to make room for the king, got the bedframe today.
• Did a bit of vacuuming in my room and the guest room, but still need to clean them more thoroughly.
• I cleaned up the dogs' room, like completely cleaned it up (yes my dogs have their own room:P.)
• Finally got the futon mattress from the garage and into the dog room.
• Vacuumed the futon mattress because it was gross from being in the garage.
• Re-organized the furniture in the dog room and set up the kennel that was in my room, in their room for big ol' Jack.
• I lost track of time, so we had a late lunch.
• After lunch, I actually cleaned up everything I had used to make it, and all the miscellaneous dishes that had been laying around!

On a typical day, before no TV, I felt productive if we had 1 cooked meal (the other two would be packaged) and I got the dishwasher loaded! And I would feel extra productive if I vacuumed the living room, haha.

Today was day one of using all cloth, and I've got to say, I love it! It just works so much better than paper, and with as many paper towels as we were going through, we're going to save loads of money!

Tomorrow will be day three of "no 'poo"ing, and my second time using the baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse. I was going to wait three days, but we have playgroup tomorrow, and I don't want to be too greasy.

McKaleigh decided to not nap until supper time, so I better sneak off and cook while she's sleeping:). Today has been a good day.

Wow, so much has happened in 2 months!

I'm 12 weeks pregnant! I can't believe I haven't blogged since finding out! I'm due September 3rd and am soooo excited to be having our second baby.

Things have been rough lately, last week McKaleigh was sick for most of the week. Then we had to put down the oldest dog, because he couldn't walk anymore. We knew the alternative was hauling him back and forth to the vet for a few months before he would end up just dying naturally. I'm a small girl and he was a big dog, so it just wasn't a feasible option:(.

This week has been much better so far. McKaleigh finally got over her sickness this weekend, so we made the jump into cloth diapers. I love love love them! I have more on the way and wish I would've been cloth diapering from the beginning! I'm so excited to cloth diaper baby #2.

Switching to cloth diapers has led me to want to live a generally greener life. I'm thinking about switching to cloth all around (even mama cloth *gasp*) because I'm tired of buying things to throw away, when there are reusable options out there!

Today was also day 1 of me switching to a "no 'poo" routine. Instead of shampoo I used a baking soda/water combo and instead of conditioner I used an apple cider vinegar/water combo. My scalp is a bit dry and itchy, but I know that it's just part of the process of my scalp getting used to producing it's own oil again. I may have to make up a natural deep conditioner for the mean time though. I saw a good recipe in Cosmo, lol.

So that's just an update on some stuff around here... I know I don't really have many followers, but I write these more for me than anyone else anyways:).

Adjusting... and waiting.

Well, Michael left about a week ago. This week hasn't been too bad, though. I've talked to the hubby twice since he left, and it's enough to get me by:). McKaleigh's been behaving pretty well, so that makes things much easier. There are, of course, moments when I want to scream, but she always makes up for it by doing something adorable like giving me hugs or kisses.

I've been pretty bored, lol. I have so many plans for things I'm going to start doing regularly, to make the time pass by more quickly. It stinks though, because most places are closed for the holidays, so I have to wait until after New Years to really start anything.

Maybe I'll finally start writing on here regularly to pass the time as well. Who reads this anyways? Haha... I can just make it my online public diary;).

We've recently taken on a fourth dog. We have our two mutts, Jack and Bella. Then my parents moved to Italy and we took on one of their three chihuahuas. Then my husband's parents moved to Korea, and after a complicated situation, we took on their 9 year old rottweiler. The chihuahua is a short term situation, because my brother would like to have him back as soon as possible. We could have the rottweiler for 3 years. It's fine, though, because they've had him almost all of his life and I'd hate to see him re-homed or put down. And he is such a good dog, very low maintenance, lol.

Anyways, not much else has really been going on... but I'm so ready for the holidays to be over with! Bring on 2010!

Seize the Moment

Sunday, for our wedding anniversary Michael let me buy the new Samsung Moment. It's amaaaaaaaazing! It uses the Google Android OS, and I am absolutely in love with it. I already have a ton of apps downloaded, hehe. This includes an app called Ringdroid, which lets me make my own ringtones out of songs I've uploaded to my phone. It is awesome. Right now all I have on my phone music-wise is The Beatles, hehe. My notifications sound is the horn section from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. My default ringer is the end of the song "Getting Better." Michael's ringer is the beginning of "I Want You." Hehe, so as you can see I've been having a ton of fun on my new phone. I totally recommend for anyone who is considering it!

I don't think I've mentioned it on here, but I have new upstairs neighbors. They are horribly noisy and have driven me crazy from the moment they moved in. This made me finally get serious about finding an actual rental house, versus remaining in a downstairs apartment. We found a house, the deposit has been put down and we start moving Friday! I'm pretty excited to be in an actual house, with a decent sized yard, as opposed to our tiny sandbox of a yard. We're gaining both a bedroom and a bathroom, not to mention more kitchen counters, an actual garage, and a fireplace!

I'm so ready to get movin'!

The death of Myspace

So I spent the last hour or so copying and pasting all of my blogs from MySpace onto here, all the posts with ** at the end are from MySpace. I really don't use it anymore, but I had a lot of posts on my myspace blog from when I was pregnant with McKaleigh and the first year of her life. Now that I have all of them on here, I can delete my MySpace. I don't know anyone who has a MySpace that doesn't also have a Facebook, and I prefer Facebook, so MySpace is pretty much obsolete.

Anyways, I got to talk to Michael for the first time since Sunday. He has one last thing to do tonight, and then they start getting ready to leave tomorrow! I'm hoping he'll be home in the middle of next week, but we pretty much won't know until it happens, lol. Love the Army:). The last two weeks have gone by pretty quickly though. Let's hope the deployment goes by quickly, too! I'm sure it will. I have to have a positive outlook, can't let myself have a pity party, or who knows when it will stop! I know that when all is said and done, he'll be coming home to me, and that's all that matters. Keep us in your prayers, I'll keep you in mine:).

One week down.

Three more to go. It hasn't been too bad, although I was pretty grumpy yesterday, hehe. It's weird how it feels like it's been so much longer than a week, but also less than a week, at the same time. I always remind myself, at least I have a husband to miss:).

So I'm like totally obsessed with naming my future children, and I think I have the names for the next one picked out. If it's a boy it will be Torin Joseph Lee. I've had this picked out since I was pregnant with McKaleigh. McKaleigh is named after Michael, so Torin would be after me. McKaleigh's middle names are Elizabeth (my mom's middle name) and Anne (mother in law's middle name is Ann.) Joseph is Michael's stepfather's name, and Lee is my dad's middle name:). If we have another girl her name will be Mariela Stephanie Lynn. Mariella is after my maternal grandmother, Mary Louise -> Mary L. -> Mary Ella -> Mariela:). Stephanie is my mom's BFF's name, and Lynn is Michael's aunt's middle name. McKaleigh & Torin or McKaleigh & Mariela. Do you think they go together? I like them, obviously, or else I wouldn't have picked them!

There hasn't been too much going on around here. Just staying up too late and sleeping in too late. It's a never ending cycle, blah.I need to go grocery shopping, but I so don't want to! I've left the house once I think, and that was to take McKaleigh to her 1 year appointment, well other than checking mail.

My life is dull:P.