A Pink House

"So I hear you have a pink house?" the nurse asked laughing. "Apparently," I replied not too happy. A pink painted house (see pic) would have been Janae's dream come true. But instead it was my living summer heatwave nightmare: both girls with pink eye on the hottest day of the year. Lucky mama. Pink eye is contagious so if you see some yellow discharge or your kid wakes up with yellow crusted eyelashes or they keep rubbing their eye or hey, they just have a red eye. Welcome to the club. The doctor prescribed a 5 day dose of antibiotic eye drops which cleared up the symptoms in 24 hours. Here is an herbal remedy, some home remedies and some doctor recommended ones. If your house is pink, wash down all door knobs and frequently used toys, change all the bathroom towels and bedding, and keep washing everybody's hands. Hourly.

Green Thumbs

I thought we had brown thumbs. But it's been confirmed. They are green. The girls and I have ventured into gardening. And to prove our worthiness, we have eaten some pole beans, made pink peonies flower madly, and yesterday we saw itty bity baby cucumbers, lettuce and squash taking up space. Not bad for 2, 3 and 30 something year olds. I'll come clean. The pole beans, cucumbers and squash were sprouts but we did grow the lettuce from a seed. We used organic gardening soil to re-pot the sprouts and planted the lettuce in veggie pots. You can buy organic seeds online here. The girls love watering the plants and veggies and Janae really likes to pick and eat the beans. We used veggie pots to keep it easy but here are 7 tips to planting an organic garden. We're still waiting for the carrots to sprout. Hmmm...too late?

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Free Stuff to Do

Oh how I love free kid stuff. This past week we did two fun, entertaining, free events with the girls. At 10am, we went to our local Regal Cinema for a free kid movie - they offer this three days a week on multiple screens with two flick choices. Janae was engrossed. Belle got a little restless so I bought some popcorn. She stood, munched, watched and talked. Luckily the lady in front of me had a two year old in her lap so she didn't mind Belle's chomping and muttering in her ear. Afterwards, they gave us Costco waters, oranges, and coupons to Charlie Safari. It gets better. Outside there was complimentary huge inflatable slide. We also went to our local elementary school for the playground pals program for kids ages 2-12. Here's the schedule: free hot lunch, playground time, art and crafts, guest speakers, snack time, and playground time. All free and staffed. Check your local school district for similiar programs.

eco-swimming

Be honest. Are you still throwing diapers on your kid and dipping them in the pool? My hand is up but I'm stopping. Really. There are eco-friendly alternatives to the non-disposable, land filled, soggy swim disposable diaper. Kushies makes a very hip option - an environmentally sound waterproof, washable, terry-cloth lined wrap style diaper. Love it. I actually have one of these and forget to use it. That was until my sis-in-law told me her son Asher is in a chlorine free swim class (very cool) and she just bought one similar to the picture. If your wee-one goes wee wee or #2 in the pool, it won't pollute the water. Surfs up. Now if only I could get Belle potty trained...

Make your Dough

Kate Gosselin actually inspired me to do this. And with the tough economic times I figured I should try. Yes, I made my own dough. Edible playdough. The ingredient's are simple: 1/2 cup of peanut butter (I used Skippy's Natural Extra Chunky), 1/2 cup powdered milk (I used powdered buttermilk), 2/3 tbsp honey, and a little flour. Mix and start playing. Janae was a fan but Belle spit it out. They did have fun slicing it with mini cookie cutters and plastic knives. You could also buy some eco-dough by eco-kids. It's not edible but it's made from plant, fruit and veggie extracts. And you can order it free of gluten, dairy and soy. Now, go play.

Protect the Planet. One Snack at a Time.

If you pack snacks and lunches for the kiddies and yourself, you probably are still using BAGGIES. Shame on you. Shame on me. Most times I try to use Tupperware but I have peeked a better alternative. An eco-friendly, washable fabric bag with water-resistant, BPA free lining. If you use one of these five times a week for a year, you will save our precious earth from 260 land filled one-use plastic bags. I just ordered and received mine from Mama Luvs at a recommendation from a sis-in-law. The girls love the color: hot pink polka dots on a lime green background. I heart the easy Velcro closure. For those of you in the Seattle area, Mama Luvs will come to your playgroup for free to do a product demonstration. And you get a free snack set just for hosting. Make a dent, and buy one.

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Online Scrapper

I am a millennium mommy. I only scrap online at Shutterfly and I love it. I started hard scrapping with all the colored paper, photo book binders, cutters, and pictures in 2004. And it not only broke my wallet but my space. I just never had the room I needed to spread out. I have created at least seven photo books online in the last three years. I make one each year of my family and then every other year I make one for the grandparents as Christmas presents. I get creative with what I can't physically paste into the book. For instance, I took photos of Belle's hospital birth card and the hospital menu, changed both into a sepia tone and placed them in the photo book. I also took Belle's welcome baby cards and typed the welcome message as text next to these pictures. Not the same but hey it works. It's also more eco-friendly to online scrap. Less paper. Since I blog each month about the growth and giggles of the girls I add some of my blog notes as text to the books as well. It's amazing how creative you can get with these!