A Monday "Hello"

Hello everyone.  It's a dreary Monday morning, but I'm feeling rather good.  Typically the rain will suck all hints of motivation from me, but not today.  I've tackled my kitchen and I have prevailed.  If you would have seen the kitchen you would understand what a feat that was.  So now that I feel a little better if someone were to show up unannounced I am going to sit down and relax for just a few moments. 

How was your weekend?  Did you join in Earth Hour this Saturday evening?  Anything else fun that you'd like to share? 

We did participate in Earth Hour as we had planned on.  The only exceptions for this house were the night lights in our kids' rooms and the monitors.  Other than that we had darkness and even unplugged a few things like the TV/modem, microwave, other night lights, etc.  We sat on the couch and talked by the light of a small lantern.  It was nice, although all the lights of the neighbors made us want to start going door to door to share about Earth Hour.  I hope as much interest as 2008 has gotten, that 2009 will be an even bigger event.  We all need to spread the word and do our part all through the year to help.

We had originally planned on heading south to IKEA this coming Thursday, but my husband decided that yesterday would be better and it turned out to be a really nice day.  We are planning to redecorate our family room.  We're finally ready to tackle the crazy wallpaper and add some personality to it.  With my husband suffering from buyers remorse, we left IKEA with a load of stuff and feeling ready to attack the room.  It's funny too, because I don't think I really thought that the room would be in the style that we chose either - but it suites.  It's a rather earthy room.  I'll have to share pictures and you know you'll see room before & afters of the redecorating.  The color pallet is 3 shades of brown - beige, a little darker beige, and chocolate - and 2 shades of green - a limey green and a grass green.  The room also requires some effort on my half with the sewing machine!  Yes I bought fabric and I'm going to be making the curtains...SIMPLE curtains.  hehe  We bought some real plants as well!  Yes we have LIVING plants in our house right now.  Insane!  ;)  Now we just need to figure out exactly what we are doing paint-wise and go get what we need.  Hopefully we'll be well on our way by the end of this weekend.  The Husband's taking off Thursday & Friday so he has a 4 day weekend to really do some work.  Hopefully the kids will let us get some good quality work time.  We shall see. 

Oh and my idea for a cloth diaper store is going to really going to be put into action.  I'm so excited about this.  We are actually hoping to have it all figured out so that we can open in one way shape or form for this summer.  We went to Borders and got a book on starting a small business since we're really not sure on what you need to do.  And now I need to read and learn and figure it all out.  It seems every step brings a lot of things that need some in depth look.  Like the fact of being able to stay a full-time stay-at-home-mom looks to be something I'm going to have to change, but then what are my other options.  It's going to take a lot of looking and planning but I really hope it all works out and we can make this come to life. 

OK well life calls.  I must go change my son's heiny and then pick my daughter up at preschool.  I hope your week is off to a good start.  Happy Monday.  (Oh and no I do not have a meal plan this week...ummm, yeah.  It should be another "good" weigh-in come Friday.)

Haiku Friday - Earth Hour 2008

one hour darkness -

what an impact it will have!

go sign up right now.

I added the banner above and I hope some of you have already clicked to check it out.  I'm a little late in on this, but I haven't missed it so before you miss it I'm going to share...

This is directly from the Earth Hour website...

 

On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.

What will you do when the lights are off? We have lots of ideas.

Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change. Don’t forget to sign up and let us know you want to join Earth Hour.

One hour, America. Earth Hour. Turn out for Earth Hour!

 

I stumbled across this yesterday while browsing blogs and wondered what it was so I checked it out.  Last night I shared it with my husband and he said we should sign up.  The kids are going to be in bed and need their night lights but other than that we'll be going dark for the hour.  I think it's a really neat concept and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the results of Earth Hour 2008 are.  Join along - it's only one hour but if we make this little gesture it's going to do a lot!  Come on you know you want to.  :) 

Linky Love - better late than never

Minimalist Mommy tagged me quite some time ago for this linky -love tag!  I figure better late than never so I'm doing this now.  Cut and paste the following starting here...

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It's real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!The benefits of Viral Linking:- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!- Increase your Google PageRank fast- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site- Build your community- Make new friends!
The Strategist Notebook, Link Addiction, Ardour of the Heart, When Life Becomes a Book, The Malaysian Life, Yogatta.com, What goes under the sun,Roshidan’s Cyber Station, Sasha says, Arts of Physics, And the legend lives, My View, My Life, A Simple Life, Juliana RW, The Callalily Space, Petra Summer in Blue, Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life, http://bless519.bravejournal.com/, La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine, Le bric a brac de Cherie, Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me, Me and Mine, Pinay Mommy, Expressions from the Heart, TeacherJulie, Sweetbites by Bang, Paul, Toni and Lance - Bridging the Distance, Our Growing Family, The Uncensored life of me, My Untamed World, Something Purple, A Detour, Something Purple, Wifespeaks, Changing Lanes Blog District The Chic Shopaholic Gracie de guzman, The Wifey Diaries, Minimalist Mommy, Gohn Crazy

I am going to tag Missy, Jenni, Billie, Kathryn, and Amy

Enjoy!  Oh and I should add - don't forget to add your blog to the list!  :) 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

So I've been thinking about this question A LOT lately...or heck I've been thinking hard about it for the past few years.  I've come up with a bunch of different ideas but nothing that I could really feel a passion about. 

Last night I was at Giant getting some groceries and as I'm taking the cart back to the store another woman walked up and told me that she saw my cloth diaper magnet on my car and wanted to know if I cloth diapered because she had a friend who was interested but didn't know where to start.  Anyway I gave her my e-mail address to share and we went on our ways. 

When I got back to the car K-Girl asked me who that was and I said she asked me a question about E-Man's diapers.  The Husband commented that I sure have a lot of people asking me about cloth diapers to which I replied rather enthusiastically that I absolutely love it when I'm asked about it. 

So we were talking and I said that it would be absolutely awesome to start an actual brick and mortar cloth diaper store.  I would just LOVE to actually turn that into my living - to help people learn how to cloth diaper and make money at the same time.  He said I'd have to sell more than just diapers and I agree but it could be a lot of fun!  I've been thinking about this almost non-stop and I think it would be awesome.  I could have cloth diapers, baby carriers, Huggalugs/Baby Legs, cute shoes, clothing, and try to steer in the direction of GREEN!  There is nothing like this that I am aware of around here and as more and more people are becoming conscience of leaving less of an impact on our Earth I think it would be GREAT! 

Now I need to look into what it would actually take to make this happen and what kind of schooling/courses I should take so that I am prepared to do it.  But I really think that I would LOVE to do this and that it would be good for me. 

My question to all of you is - Do you think that if there was a store like this in your area you would be more apt to look into cloth diapering and other "green" ideas when it comes to your children?  (if you do not currently CD) *OR*  Would you be inclined use a store like this even if you are already getting your diapers from online?   I really find that a lot of people are interested but overwhelmed and frustrated by the fact that they can't be hands on in learning and buying their diapers and whatnot.  What do you think?  I'd love any input that you may have on this whole idea of mine. 

But right now I'm loving this idea.  We'll see where it goes...

I'd like to talk with you

A while back MamaGeek wrote a post sharing how to allow your e-mail address to be available when you comment.  Up until that post I was unaware of how to do this myself.  Now while I tried to find that exact post I was unsuccessful, but she was sweet enough to share the steps to do this with me once again.  I'd like to share them with you, dear readers, because I've gotten a bunch of comments lately that I would just love to talk with you more about but unfortunately when I look at the comment all I see is noreply-comment@blogger.com.  So here's what you do...

1- sign into blogger

2- click customize

3- click dashboard link (upper right corner)

4- click edit profile (beneath your icon)

5- check the box to 'show my email address'

6- make sure you have an e-mail address specified in the email address input box

If you don't like the idea of using your personal e-mail address (I didn't) just go and open a new account for your blog (I did).  Once you do this and you leave a comment I can then respond personally to you.  ...and I'd really enjoy this.  :) 

 

OH!  and likewise I've had a few friends ask me how in the world you leave a comment in the first place - if this is you and you aren't sure how to do that...

Look down at the bottom of this post.  See where it says

Posted by Kelli @ Gohn Crazy at 8:18 AM 0 comments

Click on "# comments" and that will take you to the comment form. If you don't have a blog you can still comment - click on Name/URL and type in your name and if you have a web address you can put that in there.  Otherwise click "Anonymous" and just make sure to sign your comment after you write it so I know who it belongs to.  And this is a perfect place to use my little avatar that I found (that is oh so true)...

So I hope that helps and I'll be able to talk with you all a bit more.  I'm looking forward to it.  :)

I've got nothin'

I'm experiencing some writer's block here the past few days.  Nothing has really struck me to write a blog on.  I've got no menu plan this week so I don't even have that.  We had a busy holiday weekend and therefore I didn't get to grocery shop Saturday and we've just been making due with things that went left uneaten.  I think groceries may be in the cards for this evening.  However, as crazy as things have been I've caught a bit of motivation from somewhere and I've been crazy about cleaning the past few days.  It's felt REALLY good.  I need to keep going with it before it fizzles.  So instead of rambling more about really nothing or complaining about how much I hate teething (E-Man's working on #5) or something else that is equally as exciting I figured I'd just share some pictures from Easter...and the chocolate bunny experience for this year.  Enjoy...

Goofy smile and all :) 

He REALLY wanted to take the basket and run.

Considering this was taken after church with the trash can as a tripod with a timer I think it's decent.  I really should have gotten on PRE-church and perhaps hunted someone down to take a decent one...or or or invest in a tripod.  ;)  Eh it beats our Christmas family picture by a mile.  hehe

The look on their faces cracks me up.

  

The mess that she made was just amazing.  She pulled an excellent effort but the bunny won - she was unable to finish the entire thing. 

E-Man could have had more but I did end up just taking it from him.  He enjoyed at least half of his little bunny though and was quite wired for a bit afterwards.  But his mess did not match that of his sister's. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  Now I must get back on the Weight Watchers Wagon...at least until the birthdays. 

9 months and still cloth diapering

I got a lot of attention to my previous cloth diapering post so I thought that since I wrote that at 2 months cloth diapering that it might be a good idea to write a follow up and let you all know things that I have learned in the past 7 months.  Some of my opinions have obviously changed as E-Man has gotten bigger and I've gotten more experience so it's time.  :) 

Just for the record so you know size/fit of these diapers my son is about about 9 months in these pictures, 20 1/2 lbs, and almost 31" long. 

Ok we'll start with the diapers that I have.  I use prefolds and fitteds mostly which all require a cover since they are not waterproof on their own.  I do have 4 AIO (all-in-one) diapers which, just like they sound, are everything you need.  These are the diapers that are most like sposies because you don't need an additional cover or anything extra with them.  They are my diaper bag diapers for the easy factor. 

I chose to go with this system because last time around (with my daughter) I would often run into stink issues with my pockets and AIOs.  I don't know what the deal was, but I feel like I can get these a lot cleaner than I could those.  Other people successfully use and love their pockets and AIO, but it's just not my thing.  I should also add that the only AIOs that I will buy are quick dry.  Some AIOs have all the absorbency inside the diaper and I find that they take FOREVER to dry and I don't feel they get completely clean and thus lead to the stink issues.  I also do this for my fitteds - I much prefer a diaper that is trimmer and has a lay-in, snap-in, sewn-in, etc doubler so that that it dries and cleans easier. 

Ok so here are the diapers that I have and my storage system and then after that you will find pictures of my son in all the different types of diapers that I have.

My "Stash":

24 Embellished Green Mountain Diapers Rainbow Serged Prefolds

6 Little Lion Bleached Premium Prefolds

9 BayBee One Size - 6 Organic Cotton/3 Velour

2 SOS

4 BayBee Lg AIOs *for the diaper bag*

5 "Floakers" fleece covers (4 med - 1 lg)

6 BayBee Lg PUL Covers

1 Geny Lg PUL Cover *going to find a new home*

3 Newborn Orange Edge Prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers because I can't part with them or I could use them for doublers etc & 1 tie dyed infant prefold that I got from Tiny Heiny that he no longer fits but I'm holding onto it for the same reason ;)

I also have my giant wet bags that I use instead of a diaper pail, 2 Snappis, and the wicker basket is full of my wipes and miscellaneous doublers and liners. 

not pictured: (1) Little Lion Premium Prefold, (1) SOS, ( 7) Green Mountain Diapers Rainbow Serged Prefolds, (2) BayBee PUL Covers

Here are my BayBee diapers... left to right: LG red AIO, lime organic cotton (on largest setting) BayBee OS, and navy velour (on small setting) BayBee OS

 

  

*see the fact I favor my velour OS is that I can still wear it on him in the small setting where as with the organic cotton since it does not have the stretch to it I must use it on the high setting*

This is a Suzie's One Size or "SOS" Diaper on the large setting...

These are the two different prefolds that I have (and use).  The one on the left is the Little Lions Premium Prefold and the one on the right is a Green Mountain Diapers Rainbow Premium Prefold that I embellished.  They have since discontinued the rainbows but I believe they have another one that is very similar - red serging if I am remembering correctly. 

This is in a "Floakers" fleece cover over a prefold. 

This is a BayBee PUL cover

These diapers serve me well for daytime and night time as well.  I don't use my prefolds over night, but my SOS or my BayBees I use.  The only thing that I do differently for night time is adding two doublers.  I first add this small hemp doubler and then I add this hemp/fleece topped doubler. 

I am just getting into my fleece covers.  They are fairly new to me.  I won't leave the house in them as they aren't leak-proof for us.  You do get compression leaking, but for around the house they are nice.  You don't get any red marks from elastic and they just seem comfy.  PUL is not going to leak on you unless you have absolutely no absorbency left in your diaper.  They are the covers I use most of the time - out and about - night time - nap time - etc. 

The biggest change we have had in the last few months has been to solid food.  It hasn't changed much other than what we are finding in the diapers.  All you parents that have changed diapers know what I mean.  It's just another one of those reasons that I honestly believe if you are going to cloth diaper PLEASE do yourself a favor and buy a diaper sprayer.  Seriously, you may feel that you don't need it.  There are a ton of people that say you don't need it, but I firmly believe that this single thing makes or breaks cloth diapering for me.  The fact that I can spray the poop off the diapers easily makes all the difference in the world.  It's only $25 - $30 and it's worth every penny.  My husband hooked ours up and I'm sure you or your husband could do yours.  It really wasn't that hard. 

Washing still hasn't changed.  I'm still doing the same thing with my diapers that I have from the start.  I haven't encountered a single stink problem or any other type of problem either.  I wash everything together.  Sometimes I pull out my covers/wet bag after my first wash if I think about it and if I don't and they go through the sanitary cycle it's no sweat either.  I have an LG front loader and my exact washing routine is this...

Typically I set the washer timer the night before I go to bed so that the first cycle is done when I wake up in the morning. When I do that I run a quick speed wash cold/cold with the TINIEST bit of detergent first so not so much funk is just laying in my washer overnight.

First cycle:  Cotton/Normal Setting - Water Hot/Cold - Extra High Spin - Heavy Wash - Water Plus (adds water to the loads), Stain Cycle, Extra Rinse, Pre-Wash

Second cycle:  Sanitary Setting - Water Extra Hot/Cold - Extra High Spin- Heavy Wash - Water Plus (adds water to the loads), Stain Cycle, Extra Rinse, Pre-Wash

I use 1 TBSP of Ultra ECOS Free & Clear Laundry Detergent in the first cycle but not in the Sanitary. (Got it in the organic section at our local "Giant" grocery store.)

After washing, I run a Cotton/Med. High dryer cycle and set it to the driest setting.  Then I pull out my covers/wet bag and reset the drier for 30 minutes on med/high or high and then everything will be dry.  When the weather gets nicer I will probably hang the diapers to dry outside more and just fluff them in the dryer.

Now the biggest thing that I think is overwhelming to those that are contemplating cloth diapering is actually getting started.  What I want to do is to tell you in my opinion what you would need to have to get started full time cloth diapering your child. 

First thing that you are going to need is about 30 - 36 diapers.  I have 41 diapers now (45 if you count the 4 AIOs that live in my diaper bag).  Up until recently I have 35 and I've been just fine with them.  I wash every other day so that I'm not constantly doing wash.  This is enough diapers that if I do not wash until the second day I will squeak by as well. 

• In addition to prefolds, newborn diapers that I could suggest you check out are Sandy's XSmall(I used the regular kind but they have since come out with Bamboo and I've heard GREAT things about them being trimmer and softer) or Kissaluvs 0's.  I think that those diapers will give you the most bang for your buck.  They will last you a while and they contain nb poop wonderfully.  And they are pretty decent on your wallet as well. 
• As far as One Size I would fully recommend BayBee OS VELOUR.  I love the velour more than the others because they have stretch to them which will allow them to fit longer and better.  I get a much better fit on my son with them than with the organic cotton even though other than that it is the exact same diaper.  They are the only one size that I have tried that I would actually use on a tiny baby as well. 

If you are picking diapers OTHER THAN AIOs or pockets then you are going to need covers.  I suggest PUL and if you want to learn wool or fleece or something else you can go from there.  PUL doesn't have any learning curve - no extra care needed.  Get yourself about 6 covers.  Some times I won't use all of them every washing period but there are times that I get poop on a cover and I end up on my very last cover waiting for the dryer to finish hoping I don't need one.  Not so much now that I have fleece, but I believe that 6 is a good number - especially in the newborn stage when they have that crazy poop that just goes everywhere. 

• I love BayBee's covers because they have the fleece leg bindings which seem much more comfy and don't leave the red marks that a lot of other covers do.
• For newborns I totally recommend Thirsties because of the gussets that help contain that poop.  When the poop gets more consistency to it the gussets aren't as important. 

Next if you are using prefolds get yourself some snappis.  I recommend at least two but you might be better off with 3.  I have broken a snappi before so it's nice to have a backup.  I also commonly forget leaving a snappi somewhere and it's nice to have a second one. 

I already said this but do yourself a favor and get a diaper sprayer.  You will not regret it.  Mine has an on and off valve which is probably a good feature if you are concerned about little people having some fun with the sprayer.  Yes it could make a mess.  We haven't had that problem...yet.

You need to put the dirty diapers somewhere.  I used a pet food container the first time around with my daughter and oh man did it get stinky.  I did not want to deal with a pail this time.  So I went with a giant wet bag instead.  I got mine from - http://hyenacart.com/prod_details.php?id=73021&vid=505 - there is a notice on her store that says if you don't see something that you want contact her.  I would recommend it.  Her wet bags have been wonderful and you can't beat the price.  Just make sure you wash and dry on high to seal all sewing holes and you'll be golden.  It's nice because you just throw it in with your diapers and it's clean as well then.  I have 3, but I really think that you only need 2 - one for use while the other is in the wash. 

You'll need wipes.  I say you need at least as many wipes as you have diapers.  If you have 36 diapers then get yourself an extra dozen wipes for those messy two wipe poops.  So about 48 wipes.  I promise it's not like sposie wipes where you need sometimes 4 wipes to do the job.  Most of the time one wipe is really all you will need.  And a side note - I just use water.  You really don't NEED any fancy diaper wipe potions.  Some use sposie wipe containers, some the peri bottles that you get at the hospital, and some the tap.  Whatever you use just make sure that if you have standing tap water to change water every day or every other day so you don't get any biology experiments going on.  :) 

Next you are going to need some doublers for those times that you need extra absorbency like over night, nap time if your child actually naps, a long car ride, or things like that.  For my nighttime doublers I have 3 of each of them and that holds me each wash period.  I would say get yourself maybe 10 - 12 different doublers.  I really really like GMD's Small Hemp Doublers  and I also like my Polar Baby fleece topped hemp doublers because they add absorbency AND have the stay-dry of fleece to them.  So I have 3 of each of those and I have others that I don't like as much.  If I were to do it again I would probably get about 5 or 6 Small Hemp Doublers and 3 Polar Babies and then I also have some bamboo doublers from BayBee.  I have 6 of those.  I use them on trips to the store where I probably won't change him and he'll be in a little longer than normal.

Other than that I think you're pretty much set.  I should mention that your typical diaper rash cream like Butt Paste or Desitin is bad for cloth diapers.  Two that I have tried and liked that are CD-safe and available at Target are Burt's Bees or Aveeno Diaper Rash Creams.  I have found that we don't have to deal with diaper rash much but when he's teething or something like that and has a lot of poop we do get some redness to his bum sometimes so I have that on hand.   

I absolutely love cloth diapering and I love to help others with it.  If you have any questions at all about it please e-mail me at gohncrazy (at) gmail (dot) com.  I'd love to help you figure it all out. 

I know that it can all be quite overwhelming at first.  But I promise it's worth it.  You'll save yourself money on not having to buy sposies all the time.  You even make money back on your used cloth diapers because you can resell them!  You can't do that with sposies!!  You are doing your part to create less waste for the planet.  Don't you want to do that for your child as well?  And it has GOT to be more comfortable to sit in cloth than in paper.  You wouldn't want to wear paper underwear, right?  Just be careful it all can get a bit addicting.  ;) 

Menu Plan Mon...er...Tuesday?

So I'm a day late.  Yesterday I was busy sewing and I totally forgot to do my blog.  I figure better late than never so I'm totally getting in on this today.  Sorry. 

1.  Deep Dish Pizza Casserole (6 servings/7 points each)

2.  Spaghetti w/ Marinara Sauce (pasta - 3 points/serv & sauce - 1/2 c = 1 point)

3.  Mrs. Paul's Crunchy Breaded Fish Shaped Nuggets (4 pieces = 6 points), Lipton Pasta Sides "Butter & Herb" (1 cup prepared = 6 points), corn (1/2 cup = 1 point)

4.  Freschetta Brick Oven 5 Italian Cheese Pizza (1/4 pizza = 7 points)

5.  Hatfield Traditional Ham Steak (makes 2.5 servings = 2 points each), Pasta Roni Four Cheese Corkscrew Pasta (1 cup prepared = 7 points), Green Beans (FREE!)

6.  Eggs in a Basket (4 points each) & Esskay Smoked/Sliced Turkey Bacon (1 point a piece)

I don't have a recipe, but you just cut a circle in a piece of bread (I just use a cup turned upside down as a cookie cutter).  Butter the bread or put some butter on your pan and place the bread on your hot pan.  Crack an egg into the circle you cut and cook on that side.  Flip the piece of bread/egg and cook till finished.  An egg is 2 points and my bread (Martin's Whole Wheat Potato Bread) is 1 point and then I add a point for butter. 

7.  Soup & Sandwiches

Awesome Cloth Diaper Articles!

First one is - http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/articles.asp?id=756

Please click and read!  Here are a few of the highlights, but the whole article is great.

In 1955, 100 percent of American babies wore cloth diapers, and only seven percent experienced diaper rash. In 1991, 10 percent of American babies wore cloth diapers, 90 percent wore disposables, and 78 percent experienced diaper rash.

$1,205 to $2,115: Total savings if you cloth-diaper your baby.

Disposable diapers go straight to the landfills. Once there, it takes 500 years for one single-use disposable diaper to decompose. Currently, disposable diapers make up the third largest single consumer item in our landfills, and account for 30 percent of the non-biodegradable waste in landfills. On the other hand, cloth diapers are reusable. Not only can you wash them and reuse them on your baby, but you can also use them on your next baby, and then as household rags when they're too tired for babies. This slows the pileup of our already overburdened landfills. When no longer usable, a cloth diaper will decompose within six months.

And the second one is - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702357,00.html

If you ever have a question about cloth diapering feel free to e-mail me - gohncrazy at gmail dot com - I love to talk about cloth diapering and help others with it. 

Have your cake and Weight Watchers too...

***Let me preface this by saying OOPS!  I had this ready to post last Wednesday (the 5th) until I went to Rocks In My Dryer and realized that low and behold it was backwards week.  So I saved it for this week.  Enjoy...

If you're like me you want to be able to lose weight AND have some yummy food too.  Well I love Weight Watchers for that reason.  Today is my husband's birthday and what would a birthday be without a cake?  However I hate the thought of making a regular cake that is so high in points.  So that is why I did this.  Can you believe a piece of this cake is only 4 points?  Yep just 4! 

For the cake (chocolate):

1 Chocolate Cake Mix - I used Betty Crocker Super Moist Hershey's Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

1 15 oz. can pumpkin – I used Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin

Mix the pumpkin and the cake mix together and pour into a greased cake pan. Yes, that is IT. The mixture is thick unlike your normal cake mix that will easily pour out of your bowl. Don’t worry it’s ok. :)  See it's not the prettiest and I would applaud you if you can get every bit of cake mix mixed in well. 

Preheat your oven to 350 then bake your cake for about 18 – 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  At the end you should have a cake that looks something like this...

  

Next, what would a birthday cake be without the icing?  This is a little more involved but nothing that you can't handle.  (Oh and if you want to leave off the icing I promise it's super moist and yummy without it.  If this was a typical occasion I would not frost it.)

Ok so here's the recipe...

Ingredients

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup

Instructions

Heat a medium pot of water to boiling.
In a medium metal or glass bowl beat sugar, water, egg whites, salt, corn syrup and vanilla extract with an electric mixer on high speed for 1 minute.
Place bowl of frosting over rapidly boiling water (you are creating a double boiler) and beat at high speed until the mixture forms soft peaks, about 7 to 10 minutes.
Remove frosting from heat and beat on high speed until mixture is thick enough to spread, about 5 minutes.
Frost cupcakes. Makes enough for 24 cupcakes.  Each serving is 1 point.

Ok see the icing is harder than the cake, but so yummy.  My husband told me he likes this better than store bought icing.  It's light and yummy.  3 year old approved as well. 

The only thing I'll caution you on is the "medium bowl" thing.  I did it in my medium bowl and if it would have expanded even another 1/4 inch I would have had a mess so be careful and allow for expansion, because it will expand a lot. 

And when all is said and done you get this...

This cake is 4 points a piece and that Works for Me! 

Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer to get a lot of other great Works For Me Wednesday tips! 

'Sposies will never be this much fun!

I have a new addiction...

EMBELLISHED PREFOLDS!  From simple, slightly boring but functional to oh so stinkin' adorable!

Those of you that know me know I don't sew, but I just had to learn so that I could transform my prefolds.  After a sewing lesson from my dear mom and a week or so of dyeing diapers (and blisters from wringing them out to boot).  My sewing isn't the greatest but man I love them.  And of course I have to share them with you all so that you can see how awesome they are too. 

So get ready for pictures!!  Might want to grab a drink while these load.  hehe Sorry yes I have to share them ALL. 

Puppies! on Light Blue & Brown

Islands & Sharks on lime and yellow

Muppets *flannel* on purple and brown

Aliens & Space Ships on yellow and purple

I love this funky material! On Turquoise & Green

Cute little Penguins on Dark Blue & Turquiose

Apples & Pears on lime and "cherry red" (see bright pink)

Heather Ross Fish in Bags on orange & blue

Fish Bowls on light blue and bright blue

Bandana on dark blue(needs sewn) & indigo (looks more like jeans and faded jeans)

I hate this material.  It's cute but it's a you know what to sew and as you can see it's all wonky.  Way too stretchy! But dinosaurs on orange & green (needs sewn).

Rescue vehicles on dark blue & "cherry red"

And these beauties all stacked up...

I'm in love. 

A few things I've learned though...

Dylon dye no matter what it says is NOT red.  Not "poppy" (think bright salmon) and not "cherry" (bright pink) - sorry. 

Gloves are a must even for rinsing otherwise blisters will happen and they hurt.

Stretchy fabrics are difficult to sew - from now on only no stretch knit prints. 

You will break needles - I have two casualties so far.  I need to make it over to my mom's to pick up my others so I can finish sewing my last two.

When you put these adorable prefolds on your baby you will hate to put a cover over top of them... I can't wait till summer!  :)

Simply adorable.