November 12, 2008

two good things

November 12, 2008/ molly balint

I found this first "good thing" through a "tweet" on twitter which led me to this video about the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm.

Watching the video stirs up all kind of emotion and excitement for me--for one, my sisters and I grew up raising lambs and I have a sugary sweet spot for them. And if I ever hear of someone giving grants for fencing, you can guarantee that a handful of lambs will be the next thing kicking up their heels around this little farm. Someday...someday. (And now I think I'll go google "farm grants for fencing". You never know....)

Susan Gibbs is a city girl who transplanted to the country and now runs a yarn CSA. Isn't that an amazing idea!? Wouldn't you love to have a little yarn CSA in your area? Just watch the video and be inspired. If nothing else, it will remind you how important it is to pursue what you love.

Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm is also
on flickr
on etsy
website
blog

The other thing I wanted to share with you is that steph has finally gone public with her new project called The Boys Almanac. If you've never been introduced to Steph's photography, artwork and amazing writing, you're missing out. This new site chronicles her boys' journey through The American Boy's Handy Book (And yes, girls are allowed on the site even though we apparently have cooties.)

And tomorrow, I will tell you what I made for dinner two nights ago (and had for lunch yesterday and leftovers last night)...it was so good! ack! I could make it again tonight. And I'll also get back to that bean question....get out your recipe boxes, please.

November 04, 2008

election day

November 04, 2008/ molly balint

I have to admit I feel a little gypped. My polling place ran out of stickers. My kids were disappointed, too. All I got was this piece of paper vouching that I voted, "in case I want my free Starbucks". Maybe I'll just pin it to my chest. I feel this nervousness in my stomach today. Feel like we're all "on hold" or something. I cannot imagine what McCain and Obama feel like on a day like today. I think I'd want to lock myself up in a room with a TV.

Meanwhile, I'm embracing the seasons. The girls and I carved pumpkins last week, of course. And if you notice a certain someone who has been very shy in the past, is quickly overcoming his fears.

As far as I am concerned the girls can carve all they want, I just want the seeds.

I get a little crazy about it. Picking through, making sure they don't miss any. Even picking up the stragglers that fall onto the ground. Oh so good.

I'm also slowly burning my family out on apple crisp. I never follow any real recipe, just throw in a bunch of stuff that sounds good. Last night I got a little heavy-handed with the cinnamon, which made the apples get very dark and, well, cinnamon-y. It was good. I needed a little success after the caramel incident. And by the way, thanks to those that pointed out the recipe called for butterscotch chips *not* caramel. Oh those stinkin' little details.

And on a more serious note, I also wanted to remind you to check out two new important links. The first, is Amanda's new project at Mama to Mama. I love Amanda's thought behind it, " to make a small but meaningful difference in one person's life through a simple act of crafting with intention." If you have a moment, spend some time reading about what Amanda is doing. It is wonderful.

The other link I wanted to point your attention to is from a new to me site called Mom Advice. Amy and I follow each other on twitter. (Do you use twitter? You should. I am newly addicted. Get on there, let me know you're there. We can follow each other.) And I heard about her new Big Give. It is an amazing example of using your presence and influence online or in blogging for good. Amy, your post and your work for the Faith Mission is inspiring.

I have some new ideas I'm working on for the coming months. So stay tuned. One involves an amazing giveaway. I can't wait to tell you!! :) More to come soon....

September 12, 2008

a morning routine

September 12, 2008/ molly balint

It used to be that I would have a "make up" day when it came to house cleaning and laundry--a day when my sole purpose in life would be to make a dent in (notice I didn't say finish) the laundry, get everything put away properly, things wiped down and mopped, and prettied up. I was making up for all the previous days when I ignored the spaces and piles around me.

But I'm realizing lately that my time is not completely my own. I can't put things off for tomorrow or let things go so easily as I used to. It's taking more of a daily effort, little spurts of cleaning and puttering when I can find them. I'm trying to streamline, especially my time in the mornings. There are things that need to be done: the chickens and guineas fed, children fed, a run of the dishwasher, a load of laundry, a quick tidy, things watered and picked, before I thrust myself into the meat of my day.

I read a post on Simple Mom about your morning five. Making a list of the five things you need to accomplish each morning. (At least I think I read it on Simple Mom. Am I making this up? Nope found it here.) The recommendation is to have five things you do the same every morning. Your routine. I love this idea and I need to really put what's swirling around in my head into a tidy list on a piece of paper.

I love routine and crave it more in my life. Living on the farm with my grandmother the past two and a half years has made me realize how much wisdom and peaceful simplicity there is in routine.

Of course, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Or me a frazzled, weak, tear-stained pile of stress on the floor.

Enter my sweet little bag of knitting. Knitting is bringing me more comfort and peace these days than it has in a long time. Not only does it calm me, I find it also calms my children. When I sit myself down in a comfy chair in the living room to work and be still, my children seem to always wander in to the same room and find a place to play. They pick up a book and climb under blankets and pillows on the sofa, they lay on their bellies and disappear into a land of make-believe with their toys.

As much as it is important for them to see me as industrious and organized, caring for our home. It is important for them to see me still and quiet and creative. It's an equally important memory and "skill" to pass on to my children.

How are you finding stillness and quiet these days? Are you knitting something? Sewing? Reading? I'd love to hear how you find your peace each day...

Postscript:
And just another word about SimpleMom....if you're not subscribing to it, you're missing out. Every blog post that shows up in my inbox is something I find practical and helpful to my every day. Be sure to take a moment to visit.

And another (shameless) thing...if you happen to click out of your feedreader and actually visit my blog today, there's a little button over there on the left-hand sidebar to vote for my blog. It was nominated for "best parenting blog" in this year's Blogger's Choice Awards. And I have only one vote. And I'm pretty sure it's from my sister. Vote here.

June 11, 2008

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

June 11, 2008/ molly balint

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!*****

May 29, 2008

Going green and healthy :: with my laundry :: part 1

May 29, 2008/ molly balint

After Elizabeth was born, and I had a new set of sensitive skin in my house, I knew that I wanted to begin to address something that I'd been thinking about for quite awhile--a greener and healthier approach to doing laundry. Not only did I want to try to find some laundry detergents and products that were safer and gentler--free of all kinds of chemicals and dyes, I wanted to find ways to make my laundry more efficient, cost-effective, and in the end, perhaps a little more "green".

So let's start with the healthy part. One of the main reasons, as silly as it may sound, that I shy away from natural, free of everything cleaners is because I'm addicted to the smell of clean. I know it sounds silly, but that is how I judge how clean something is, by how it smells. If my clothes don't come out of the washing machine and dryer smelling like Tide Mountain Breeze and Bounce Outdoor Fresh, I think they must not be really clean.

But once I started using some of these products, my perspective on what clean really is, changed.

I have to admit, that I was very skeptical of these green cleaning products. For starters, I feared that they wouldn't do the job as well as their chemical, full-of-everything counterparts. But I was wrong. The first product that I tried was Nellie's Laundry Nuggets. They are pre-measured hypo allergenic laundry nuggets that you drop into your wash--no measuring required. I love the no measuring, no waste part because I always get a little fidgety about how much to put in--is this a full load? a medium load? do I really need THAT much soap? What's the minimum amount of soap I can get away with using? So, these little nuggets were really exciting to me. I know, I know I get excited about simple things.

My only critique of the nuggets--some of them broke open and I had to measure how much was in each one in order to use up the loose powder at the bottom of the bucket. No biggie, but when the selling factor is the little pre-packaged cuteness, measuring isn't as exciting.

So the bottom line? I love the nuggets. I'm a convert. I've discovered that clean can be a smell--Nellie's Nuggets do have a mild fragrance--but clean is also the way my laundry feels. I wouldn't have believed it, until I tried it, but the first thing I noticed is how soft my clothes feel. They feel awesome. When I ran out of Nellie's Nuggets and started using Tide again, I was shocked at how scratchy and grimy my clothes felt when they came out of the wash--they felt like they had a residue or film on them. The didn't feel soft and fresh and new or clean. I was honestly shocked by the difference. And that difference sold me. Oh, and couple that with the fact that Mary and Dan both started having fits of itching once I switched back to Tide. Mary was in tears some days because she felt itchy all over her body. I can only believe it had something to do with the switch back to our old detergent. **edited to add: Nellie's Nuggets are front-load, HE compatible.**

And for the record, no, I don't work for Nellie's. I'm just one of those people who love sharing new, good finds.

And I still have a few more finds to share with you on my journey to cleaner, healthier, green laundry. I'll share them with you here, in the next few days. **edited to add: for those of you asking, I'll be talking about one more laundry wash product and then two dryer products.** Followed by a few laundry line tips I've "inherited" from my grandmother. Because I truly believe that we should look to the habits and practices of that generation to see what living green and living healthy should really look like.

Happy Thursday.