We have been making a concerted effort around here to “go green.” We have always recycled, but we wanted to do more. Last year we switched our light bulbs to CFL. Saving $10 per month on the electric bills was a nice bonus. In the past several months, I have found many other ways to “save the Earth” as Brenia says. I switched most of our cleaners to vinegar (glass cleaner, dishwasher rinse aid, fabric softener) and started making my own dishwasher detergent (borax and baking soda). Our compost experiment seems to be going well, which has us down to 2 bags of trash per week. One of those is practically all diapers so the overwhelming guilt of disposable diapering finally wore me down.

I’d been considering cloth for a couple months, but it was the math that finally did it for me. We spend about $15 per week on disposable diapers. In my research, I discovered that I could spend about 2 months diaper budget on a supply of cloth diapers that would last. We discussed, I researched and finally ordered a day’s supply last week. We made the official switch to cloth diapering over the weekend.

My mom just about flipped when I told her I was considering it, but I assured her that things are different now. I bought 3 pocket diapers by Bum Genius. I like these because I pre-stuff them when they come out of the laundry and they are basically like a disposable. You can also buy all-in-one diapers that come that way, but this was cheaper and it takes me about 30 seconds to stuff them myself while I do the laundry. I liked the Bum Genius because they are adjustable from newborn to toddler. I’m pretty sure we’re done, but they will last through another baby should I change my mind some day. Plus, they have a really high resell value so I’ll get most of my money back when I’m done.

I also bought about 10 pre-folds which are what people think of when they hear “cloth diapers.” You can’t just buy the Gerber ones at the store because they aren’t thick enough. Those are usually only 3-ply. I purchased 8-ply diapers. Then I got 2 Thirsties cloth diaper wraps, which look like a diaper with the Velcro on each side but have no absorbent material. They are just waterproof covers. You can reuse these throughout the day by rinsing if they get damp and air drying since they are waterproof. I bought 2 so I could switch out all day. I’ll use these primarily at home, saving the pocket diapers for when we are out and about since they are so easy to use.

I just ordered Snappi diaper fasteners-so much better and faster than pins for the cloth folds. They come in newborn and toddler sizes. I actually ordered those on eBay because they were so much cheaper. I purchased the diapers & wraps from Not Your Mama’s Cloth Diapers. Toasty Baby is another local seller I had looked into. Both offer in-home demonstrations, if you want a tutorial or would prefer to see everything before you decide what to buy.

The first couple of days, we switched back and forth between cloth & disposable while I waited for my full order to arrive. By the second day, Lorelai asked for the “better diapers” after her nap. She feels better in them and I feel better about them. The savings, which is what initially made my decision, is really going to end up just being a bonus.

07/10/1997-04/17/2008

We are sad to lose you, but so glad your pain is gone. Thank you for letting my children love on you for 10 straight years. You were greatly loved and are already missed.

2 days late!

There once was a mother of three,
Who never quite knew what to be.
She loves to read, crop and shop,
She doesn’t quite know when to stop,
But at least she gets groceries for free!

We’re celebrating 2 days late.
Easter is bigger than a saint.
No one else seems to know,
So our green is a go,
Even though we all had to wait.

Why, yes I am a great, big dork (maybe I can work on a limerick about that)!

Math Bowl vs. Birthday: Last week, the Math Bowl competition (why, yes, I am the proud parent of a mathlete!) was canceled due to snow. I didn’t get it at all. In fact, we went out to dinner that night 20 minutes away and didn’t have a problem at all. When my daughter called to tell me it was canceled, she was devastated to tell me that it had been rescheduled for my birthday! The disappointment in her voice was so nice to hear. She truly wanted me to have a better birthday than sitting at an academic competition. What she doesn’t get is there isn’t anywhere I’d rather be than watching my children do something (and excel—1st place in district, 8th place in state) they love.

Ice Skating vs. Broken Bones: It was a grand birthday overall, let me tell you. After the Math Bowl, after dinner, after the kids were in bed I managed to drop a cabinet door on my foot while putting away their toys. It hurt, but I went to bed. By morning it was bruised, but not too bad. By noon, after a busy day, it was all kinds of purple, swollen and hurting pretty good. I, of course, waited until the next day to call the doctor. She saw me, but couldn’t decide. Doc said I would be okay to wait the weekend if I wanted and come back for x-rays if it didn’t get better. Upon finding out that I would probably have to have “bone pictures” on Monday (I didn’t), Brenia yells “But I have ice skating class on Mondays!”

Pothole vs. Landscaping: My activist opportunity of the month came after several weeks of frustration over a huge pothole in our neighborhood. I spent a month playing the apathetic game, assuming the city already knew about it. It occurred to me that maybe all 50 families affected were assuming the same thing. I visited the city’s website and learned all about the Public Works Department’s partnership with INDOT. It went on and on about the landscaping in the median and new roads. I thought that was a bit much since they couldn’t manage to maintain the current ones. I emailed the Director of Public Works about the issue over the weekend. On Sunday night, I received a response thanking me for bringing it to their attention. He said he spent the afternoon driving the city and cataloged all potholes, giving the one I referenced a Priority 1. They filled it the next morning! The cynic in me figures it was already on the books, but the political side of me wants to believe I made a difference.

Next Up: Anyone want to place bets on the winner of Reading vs. Houseworks?

I love Lorelai’s “accent” even though I occasionally have trouble figuring out what she means. She speaks very well for her age, but sometimes what she says doesn’t come across because you would never expect a 2-year-old to know that word. Today’s lunch is a perfect example.

She’s eating already because she brought a can of veggie soup to me at 10 and asked for soup. I was saying no (repeatedly), until she said please. We’ve been working on that word so it resulted in lunch at 10:30 in the morning. I thought she wanted to watch the new Chinese show on Nick Jr. called Kai-Lan while she ate because while I was getting her soup ready she kept shouting “Tie-yan! Tie-yan!” Our kids have all had a strange T pronunciation for the K sounds so it sounded just like Kai-Lan to me.

Then I opened the fridge to grab a drink and she pulled out the salad dressing. The Italian salad dressing. She is now having soup and salad and thrilled to no end.

My girls are allowed to choose their own outfits each day so long as they are weather appropriate. I have threatened to lay out Stacia’s clothes recently since she keeps leaving the house in short sleeves. Why do I have to remind her that it is winter when there is snow on the ground?

Last week, Brenia insisted her pink shoes matched the red dress she had chosen because pink is made from red. How do you argue with that?

Today she is wearing a fancy purple dress with gold & pink polka dots. The tights she has paired it with are blue with red, green & yellow polka dots. Because polka dots match polka dots.

There’s just no competing with that logic.

I’d love to write an intelligent post about the so-called tax rebate we’re getting this summer. I have a lot to say, but I can’t get past the giggling part. There’s just something about reading “Bush,” “stimulus” and “package” in the same sentence that brings out the 12-year-old in me.

That is how you start a phone call to report an accident in which no one is injured. You do not sob into the phone telling the girls’ mother that you were in an accident and you’re so, so sorry.

On Saturday night, my sister took my 2 oldest girls to see the Hannah Montana movie in a city an hour away from my hometown where we were staying. I receive the above mentioned phone call around 8pm. I was saying goodbye to my brother and his wife after dinner, buckling my youngest into her carseat when she called. My brother says my knees buckled and I nearly went down. I jumped in the car and raced off, apparently leaving my sister-in-law in the dust as she tried to jump in my car to go with me.

My brother called and told me to take the little one to my parents house, which I finally agreed to do against my better judgment. I just wanted to get there, 5 minutes ago. I dropped her off and raced off again, in tears.

As I approached the scene and realized it had traffic stopped on the wrong side of the highway, I started to shake. I went around the traffic and stopped in front of the officers. When I saw the car on its side, I threw up in my mouth. The sherriff helped me out of the car (at which point my knees buckled again), all the while assuring me that the girls were fine and it looked much worse than it was.

The girls were, in fact, unharmed but I’m pretty sure it looked about as bad as it was. My sis fell asleep at the wheel and went off the road. The car hit the median, flipped end over end, landed on its roof and slid a block down the highway in the wrong direction with my babies hanging upside down inside!

Their injuries include a matching scratch on their neck from the seatbelt, a bruise on Stacia’s arm where she landed after she unbuckled, and a bruise on Brenia’s knee from tripping on the highway after she climbed out of the car. My sister has a nasty bruise on her hip from the seatbelt and a bump on the head from a flying object in her passenger seat.

I’m sure there is some sort of irony in the seatbelt Miley neglected to wear in her movie saving the lives of the girls who were on their way home from watching it. It’s just lost on me right now.

• He never seems to notice when I’m way over my calories for the day…
• He insists I take my nightly bubble bath…
• He calls during the day “just to see what I’m up to…”
• He comes home every Tuesday so I don’t have to take my toddler to Girl Scout meetings…
• He is uber-budget guy, but always includes “Girls Night” in his calculations…
• He lets me sleep in every Saturday while he cooks breakfast for the girls…
• He wants to learn to cook so he can pitch in at dinnertime…
• He records television shows for me if I mention in passing that I thought about watching it…
• He doesn’t laugh too much when I ask him to kill spiders…
• He loves Star Wars now just as much as when we were kids…
• He reads bedtime stories to our girls…
• He is always warm and doesn’t complain when I use him as a heater…
• He takes out the trash and mows the lawn, never once mentioning how anti-feminist it is that I don’t…
• He always asks if I want a drink when he’s in the kitchen already…

I love him. It’s just that simple.

Spencer and I have been together for almost 12 years, married for 10.5. It’s been a roller coaster—many ups & downs, but we just hold on tight and enjoy the ride. The last few months have been a long series of lows. It’s starting to wear on both of us. We’re figuring it out, and we have a plan now, but it was really touch and go for awhile. Christmas and New Year both sucked so we had it our head that we would start over on the Chinese New Year.

That didn’t go so well either. We’re running out of do-overs. It’s time to just move on, but I’m the type of person who needs the celebration of each passing moment. I need to mark it somehow. Sometimes that comes in the form of a party, sometimes I commemorate an event or year in a scrapbook; this time around I’m using a playlist.

Music is definitely more his thing than mine. He’s all about he music—from his iPod to his guitar to his latest video game. I, on the other hand, am all about the lyrics. I love words. It’s why I am a voracious reader. It’s why I journal in all my scrapbooks to tell my children our stories. It’s why sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt me more.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I have put together a list of songs that mean a lot to me in respect to our marriage. Maybe they tell our story, maybe they remind me of him, maybe they came out during a time they seemed relevant but mostly they say musically what I can’t seem to get across. I’m sure he’ll find it incredibly cheesy and hate most of the songs on the list, but marriage is all about compromise.

1. Just What I Needed by The Cars
2. Head Over Feet by Alanis Morrissette
3. This Kiss by Faith Hill
4. Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows
5. Morning Song by Jewel
6. You Gotta Be by Des’Ree
7. Stick Shifts and Safety Belts by Cake
8. Luna by The Smashing Pumpkins
9. Green Buckets by Clutch
10. Still the One by Shania Twain
11. One Week by Barenaked Ladies
12. Clumsy by Fergie
13. Bubbly by Colbie Caillat