Strange Machines

I’ll have to admit I am a little addicted already. I found myself scouring Loveybums if they have any seconds I could get and was relentlessly clicking through Whoopeekiddies to look at the BumGeniuses (and very very heavenly hemp wash cloths, supposedly cloth wipes but I stuff them in my cleavage to soak up excess sweat when I carry Jade and emergency burp cloth).

Then I realised this was the perfect time to try different diapers. I had enough diapers for 1.5 days really, and seriously needed another night cloth diaper for Jack because it was his diaper that I had to wash and dry daily so he could wear it again the next night and another wool cover because his Loveybums XL cloth diaper seems to keep peeking out of the XL wool cover. Not good cos it caused one leak already.

I found some wonderfully soft bamboo hemp diapers from the awesome Twig & Vine I plan to order soon when some money comes in. I like that the elastic at the back and legs are not sewed as crunched up tight as the ones on the Loveybums ones which cause Jade to have red marks in those areas when I carry her in the Ergo. Don’t the Twig & Vine diapers look heavenly?

That brings my count to:

1 NB/S organic cloth diaper (which might retire soon)
5 M organic cloth diaper
2 L organic cloth diaper
1 XL organic cloth diaper
4 organic wool cover (1 for each size)
7 BumGeniuses
To order another 4 bamboo hemp diapers (still deciding on the sizes but most likely 2L + 2XL)

Total: 20 diapers for 2 kids (half the stash is shareable)

That should tide us through washing once in 2 days + air drying the laundry rather than using the dryer every day. Our electricity bill has gone up $50 since we started cloth diapering but we save that $50 too on not buying disposables.

Hemp is tons more absorbent than cotton and bamboo is somewhere in between. I was thrilled that a single insert (hemp or bamboo+cotton) is sufficient stuffing for the kids overnight and by day they don’t need any stuffing.

Why organic? I figure if we go cloth, we go all the way. It is better for the planet and for our kids. The process of making cotton and even bamboo fabrics is pretty darned harmful to our planet, so supporting the organic textiles industry is the way to go.

DH says that cloth diapering and laundering indulge my OCD tendency to clean. Well, it should feel good to be good to our children and our planet, no?

Since I’ve gone green, rather horrified by the damage one could do to the environment, oneself, and one’s family with the current crap they put in personal care, I’ve thrown (don’t wash down the sink – it will pollute our water even more – remember: closed loop) away my shampoos, hand soap, and skin care.

Instead, now I use the Australian organic brand Suki which Watson’s carries at a really reasonable price for my face and neck (night cream cos I am old), lotion for my arms and legs, and face wash for face. As for sunscreen, after much research I picked up California Baby’s Citronella SPF 30+ and have been using it since (cost me $29.90 at Brown Rice Paradise).

We don’t use hand soap anymore. I’ve replaced them all with natural soap from Victoria Market (thanks Joyce) and Kiss My Face’s Shampoo and Conditioner. I have fond memories of soap. They smell nicer too. Natural. Not that tart smell hand soap has. Plus we save on a plastic pump bottle too. Very much more eco-friendly. I didn’t buy a soap dish but used a porcelain cup lid instead. Works well.

On the rare occasion I actually use make up, I use my old Revlon eyeliner, some Japanese brand of eye brow pencil, metal eyelash crimper, Maybelline Great Lash since 1922. Since talc is kind of toxic to lungs, I stopped using that but am using Jack’s Playtex corn starch powder (he never used it) as powder. It has fragrance but at least I am not polluting my son’s lungs when I put on make up. Concealer, which I totally need for my undereye, is Revlon.

Since I never went for SKII in the first place but stuck with L’Oreal and $5.99 shampoos, the cost of going organic was a tad higher but I find my skin never ever getting a rash and it is clear and glowing (could be cos I stay out of the sun too), plus the soap lasts eons more than the lousy Lux we used to use.

I’ve always admired how good my sister looks sans make up, especially since she became an Earth mother (went organic and all). Now I’ll just have to figure out how to deal with the hair.

For 3 months now I have carried my own bags out. I make my own cloth bags and roll them up so I always have a bag of any size when I buy stuff. I am proud to say I have been plastic bag-free for 3 months. Then there was today. At Isetan I couldn’t resist their supermarket-wide 10% sale so I grabbed 2 bags of Kettle chips, 2 slices of black cod fillet, and some bread and let the cashier bag them.

My extra bag wouldn’t have carried everything and I was carrying a fluey and fussy Jack, fluey myself and tired from a sprained shoulder, knee, and sore back. Yeah excuses… Of all days to forget my Reisenthal.

Anyway to compensate, I posted 7 Green Things You Can Do Online To Save the World (and some Money too!) on my tech blog to make up for it. Enjoy!

There’s nothing like plants that pretty up the home and lift even the dourest spirits (okay, maybe all but the dourest). Today my godma’s eyes lit up when I mentioned the word “nursery” and off we went with my godpa and Jack to the nearest nursery to check out some plants.

Since I have cats in the house, I need to ensure:

1. The plants I buy are cat-safe.
2. If they’re not, that they are hung high up securely and do not drop leaves.

After an hour, I took home 2 small cacti, 1 pot of mint (to ward away cockroaches, or so the green guides say), basil, and a lovely African Violet (which as pretty as it is, is cat-safe)!

Jack was thrilled to be running around among plants and even enjoyed riding on my plant trolley. He did however, join his grand-godpa to check out a “naughty BMW” he called it, which he glimpsed, waited for it for 10 minutes but didn’t return. We spotted it darting off stealthily later on the way out.

Later when we got home, I hung all of them up in the conservatory (yup, the new name for the pond area) and the herbs outside the cat home. Tux and Buffy sniffed them a little but decided the cat food tasted much better.

After an exciting day, Jack slept in an instant. It was a really fun day for him.