The Adventure Begins: Cloth Part I

It was an exciting day in our house -- the cloth diapers came! It was particularly exciting that they came in the morning because, for some reason, I NEVER get hit by the morning UPS guy, only the late evening one.

So, here's what I got:

In case I didn't mention it or you missed it, this is my trial pack from seller Jillian's Drawers. This company has a $10 try-cloth-diapers rental program. I put down a deposit (most of which I get back when I return the box in a few weeks) and for $10, plus shipping, I get to give a variety of cloth diapers a try. For a complete cloth diaper virgin this is a great idea. It allows me to try out a lot of different kinds of diapers without having to actually BUY any. Using this I'll be able to figure out what I like and go from there. Genius.

Before using any of these I had to prewash them. Prewashing is not as simple as it sounds. The inserts have to be washed, and washed and washed again just to make sure they are super absorbent. This is obviously something we don't want to skimp on since being not absorbent will result in Dave using his pants as his diaper. Not cool. Both the diaper covers and inserts had to be prewashed separately.

So we sorted them (yes, on the stove. The table was ... busy). On the far right are the inserts. In the middle are the covers. On the left are the unbleached inserts which, annoyingly, have to be prewashed separately:

... fast forward like six hours. Dave, who has approximately 3.5 teeth, had an incredibly cranky day. As he doesn't like getting his diaper changed to start with, he was in a particularly good mood.

I decided to start our adventure with the classic prefold diaper. This is what most people (including myself) think of when they think "cloth diaper." It must be folded around the kid and pinned on in one way or another.

All of this assumes that the baby will NOT be wiggling and throwing a temper tantrum.

They assumed wrong.

After failing to get it on Dave at all I gave up and moved on to the gro-baby diaper which has a diaper cover and a snap-in insert. Very fancy. Very handy. Very easy to get on crying Dave.

The finished product:

.. I'm sorry, I could've posted a picture that left out his face. But this was just too pitiful not to include. Please note: he took (an extra) nap immediately after this.

Meanwhile we are going to use a disposable at night until he gets off this current filling his diaper at 5 a.m. after it's already REALLY wet thing. Gross. (And if you think that's TMI ... why did you read a post about diapers?!)

Tomorrow: renewed efforts at pre-folds. I. Will. Conquer.

Fun Dave Stuff

It's been a while since I posted a little update on Dave. This occurred to me as I was laying in my bed at 6 a.m. listening to him cry. It seems like everyday he wakes up earlier ... and we don't get up until 7 a.m., period, end of story. He can cry. I don't care. ... except that it's annoying.

So there's that.

First you must be reminded of how cute he is! So here's that:

It seems like every day he gets more curious and learns more cute and new things. Right now we spend a LOT of time putting shapes into one of those shape balls. I make sure to say the color and shape every time. It's super fun. After we are done with that game (read: I get bored) we play with the ring stacker. And THEN we play with his cell phone.

This game goes like this. First I pick up the phone and say "Hello? Oh yes, Dave is right here." And then I hand the phone to a very smiley Dave, and he does this:

Neat.

In other news, he now has THREE teeth, soon to be four or six (I suspect). We are also still doing swim lessons, which continue to be super fun but at a very bad time (seriously -- who has swim lessons for babies at 530 p.m.?!), loving the bath (I mean, who doesn't?) and learning to crawl.

Crawling, apparently, is very hard. Up until this point he has just been rolling. Lots and lots of rolling all around. Recently we've moved on to mostly low crawling. And NOW he is getting up on his knees. Example:

He also LOVES standing at the couch, but only when there's something interesting on it that he's probably not supposed to touch.

And last but not least, he's learning to eat real people food. Pretty much anything on MY plate that I want to be eating is of interest. If it's actually FOR him, he doesn't really want it.

Day of Rest

I like Sundays. I cannot imagine it as anything except a day to relax, take stock of life, spend time with family and contemplate God in one way or another.

Sunday is also the day the Sunday paper comes (crazy, I know) with allll of my coupons in it! Woohoo! Today was the coupon mother load with three huge coupon inserts ... and one of them will be available AGAIN tomorrow at the commissary. This is exciting. (You think I'm a dork. That's cool).

This week's selection included a few coupons for our normal food stuff (like tortillas!) that we'll be able to use for upcoming dinners. Neat!

Because of a few nights last week that did not go as planned (examples: my stir fry debacle and a late work night for Luke) we have a few leftover meals from last week. Neat! Less money that needs to be spent this week! Here's what we've got going this week:

Dana's Tilapia

Butternut flat bread

BBQ Chicken (by Luke)

Tomato soup and grilled cheese

And that's it!

As we know, my grocery list has a habit of growing when I'm not paying attention. How does it do that?! Regardless, right now we've got about 20 things on our little list. We'll see what ACTUALLY ends up happening tomorrow.

The Invention of Lying

I saw an incredibly interesting film last week -- The Invention of Lying.

I realize that you may not think of this as being an interesting film. You may have even heard that it espouses the idea that God is a myth. When it was originally released, commentators asked why it had not inspired a rash of Christian boycotts.

In the article linked above one expert proposes that it doesn't give Christians much to get upset over. I will go a step further -- I found it incredibly convicting, inspiring and even sad.

*Spoiler*

The setting for the film is a land in which no one can lie. I don't mean just blatant un-truths like "I can run 22 miles" but even the tiny falsehoods or maybe-not-trues we use every day. For example, if you ask how I'm doing and I say "I'm fine" as a courtesy, even though I'm really mostly just OK, that's a lie. In this world people instead say EXACTLY how they are. Another example: advertisers only say things that are completely true about their products. "Coke. It's very famous."

Because nothing is said that is not categorically true there is very little hope and no optimism. People only know what they are experiencing in that moment or what is known to have happened in the past. There is no religion.

And so when Ricky Garvis' character discovers the ability to lie he invents something that no one else understands or knows how to do. He is encountered with his dying mother who is terrified of death. He lies to her and tells her that there IS life after death, that she will get to see all of her friends and live in a beautiful mansion. She is able to die in peace.

When he tells her those things, however, he is overheard by the doctors and the nurses who are absolutely astounded and encouraged beyond words by the news. They go and tell their friends and soon he has a huge crowd on his lawn clamoring to know more. In a Moses with the commandments meets Christ scene he instructs the people in what "the man in the sky" told him about life after death. While he knows he is lying, everyone else can only believe he is telling the truth. Everyone wants to know more about this "new information." Everyone runs to tell their neighbor.

And that is the scene that made me cry. I sat on my couch and wondered what the world would be like if I treated the precious information I hold about life after death with the awe and enthusiasm with which the people in this movie greeted and spread it. I wondered what it would be like if instead of being jaded and skeptical, people treated the news of Christ with wonderment. And I wondered what it wouldve been like to be with Paul when the news he spread WAS brand new and WAS received gladly.

.... that is all.

IKEA Much?

I am a HUGE fan of IKEA. Back in the day most of my apartment was furnished courtesy of that glorious store. Futon, bed, mattress, tables, chairs, more tables, more chairs, silverware, plates, a plant, dressers ... yeah, everything.

Now I am grown up. And cheap. So I still like IKEA. You see very little has changed.

Today's trip was primarily for a bookshelf. Oh, and Chipotle. But that's just a fringe benefit.

I took this photo of all the loot I scored for just about $30. Note in particular the beautiful set of wooden blocks Dave will be getting for his birthday. This one was $12. I've seen comparable sets for $30 or more.

In fact, beyond my new mixing bowls and colander (our current one is literally rusting) all of this stuff is for Dave. We bought two shirt bibs, a bowl/cup/spoon/scoop bib set (primarily because I wanted the scoop bib which go for about $10 each at Target ... this set was $5), a huge collection of kiddo silverware and a stack of Dave plates. The blocks were our most expensive purchase with the shirt bibs in second.

All in all, a good experience. Now if Dave would only stop crying ...

Frugal Fail: Expiration Dates

This may be brand new information to you. I hope it is not.

Nonperishable food is NOT nonperishable.

I'm not sure where the myth started. As I was blogging this in my head early this morning in between husband leaving and Amy going back to sleep time (think: about 5 a.m.) it occurred to me that I could probably blame this on public school.

Leave it a homeschooler, right? Hahahaha. Ahem.

What I mean is: because of the very real earthquake threat we were required to pack and bring an emergency kit to school each year. It was stored in this giant bin in the corner of the room. Each bag was to contain nonperishable snacks, a flash light, blah, blah, blah. Let's focus on the snacks. My mom always put in some sort of nut thing (like trail mix), a few handy snacks, more crackers, that sort of thing. Nonperishable.

I realize now that what they meant by "nonperishable" was really "won't perish between now and when we get rid of your kid next June." Not so much "survive until the end of time."

I am your messenger of sad news, my friends. (That, or I'm a moron for not knowing this and you are all very smart). ... food expires. Pretty much all food. Including rice a roni. And chocolate chips. And boxed pudding. Yes, I just double checked. Pretty much the only thing I located in my pantry without a best if used by date on it was a can of creamed corn (which makes not want to eat it) and some rice.

Brutal.

So brutal, in fact, that I just cleaned out my pantry so I can show you all the things I now get to throw away. And let's remember that I only started collecting this stuff like a year ago. So pretty much this stuff only lasted a year! Nonperishable? Bah.

First, my pantry. Just because I know you're wondering. It's not terribly clean. Don't judge.

Then I went through it and looked at expiration dates on everything. Here is the giant stack that I now have to throw out. Just picture it as a stack of money because that's how I feel.

Sigh.

Who knew POPCORN expired?! Seriously folks. This is shocking.

And final confession for this post that demonstrates just how ... silly ... and naive I am. Remember how I said I was going to clean out the freezer this week by serving some stir fry meals? Well they werent Birds Eye, they were Green Giant. Whatever. The point is that when I was practically STARVING TO DEATH after my workout at the Y and dumped the contents into my wok I realized that perhaps this bag had expired too. Long, long ago.

As in last May. Sure enough.

We'll be figuring out something else to eat on Thursday. Luke rescued last night by making me an omelet and salvaging the chicken I had planned to use in the stir fry. In other news, the second bag of stir fry made an excellent ice pack when Luke accidentally smashed my toes in the recliner on our couch.

Success! (and $20).

We'll call it making up for the pine nuts.

Today I got rid of our giant rocking chair. It was wonderful that Luke wanted it and all, but then he left and it didn't really get used. And it started taking up lots of space. At Christmas it was relocated to Dave's room to make way for our tree. It's been in there since, just sitting in the middle of everything collecting dust.

And today I convinced some Fort Lewis Army wife to give me $20 for it and TAKE IT AWAY.

I consider this a major win. I'm also in the process of getting rid of a few bottles I've never used and don't plan to use but somehow manage to own anyway. That will be another win.

Both of these things are making up for the fact that yesterday I bought pine nuts. Dear readers, if you see me post a recipe that contains an expensive ingredient that is not necessary and I don't comment about it, please, save me from myself and point it out! I am a cheap eater, not a foodie ... so how was I to know that pine nuts are like $4 for this little tiny bottle? And since I did not know anything about pine nuts I did not know that they can easily be substituted with something very cheap, like sunflower seeds. Man alive. I feel like a moron.

Between that and a few other unexpected purchases yesterday (like the bag of cookies that literally JUMPED into my basket from the shelf. What is the world coming to?!) I went $10 over what I had hoped to spend on groceries this week, considering that (minus the stupid nuts) I already have everything on hand for everything I'm making for dinner.

I did manage to resist the on sale Ben and Jerrys. I should be congratulated.

In other news, I think it's going to rain just in time for my run with Alisha. Fantastic. HOW will I fetch my cupcake from her if I do not go over there to run!?!?