green poop!

that's right I said it...
poop around here just got a lot more GREEN!
Four reasons why!?
1.)green veggies, which are in fact making poop literally green. I would apologize for the inspection of poop comment but my fellow parent friends will understand :)
2.)green colored diapers
3.)green to the planet
4.)green in our wallet!
So after MUCH talk & MUCH research we are officially cloth diapering parents! yah!
It was actually a good time for us to make this switch as we were just getting low on our LAST order of disposables, and as we had found out through the grape-vine-of CD (cloth diapering) parents/users. They have the best fit on babies from 10-12 lbs. So now was a great time as our petite almost 6 month old peanut is somewhere just over 12 lbs.
(Official weigh in yesterday @ the doctors 14 lbs! @ 6 and half months (still 10th percentile)

We are loving the transition! Which is great because the hardest part of making the decision was that once the diapers were ordered we were committed as they are pricey upfront but will save us TON of money in the long run, as well as giving the earth a big 'ol hug!

First and foremost we looked at cost which then also helped us determine exactly what type and brand of diapers to go with. With what we were currently spending on disposables and our 'forecast' of the future, we would be spending at LEAST $1000 more dollars (oy!) in diapers until Noel is potty trained.
These will also last for more baby bottoms in the future. So really we just spent nearly the last bit of money on diapers...EVER!!
Plus we were going through about 220 diapers/1.5 months..so think of how many diapers we would be throwing into the landfills!
So green reason #1..less landfill waste. Now some may say, what about the energy to wash them?
Being that we have a high efficiency (HE) front loading washing machine & do most of the drying by air & do the last little bit in the dryer this energy factor became a void point.
We do however do a full hot dryer run on occasion because the waterproof outer layer actually needs this at least once a week for the material to continue to last a LONG time!

So here's what we bought:

We decided to go with the Bum Genius all-in-one Elemental Organic dipe.

We decided against the insert options because then we would be having to pull out a disposable piece and discard after, since we have an older home (built in the 20's) we thought not so hot idea to try to flush these either. If we're going to have to wash the diaper, we may as well wash the whole thing!

They are super absorbent (we did have to pre-wash them 5 times to build up their absorbency prior to use)

They have snaps vs. velcro (longer lasting, as the velcro gets less sticky over time) and have size adjustments to fit baby from birth to potty training..yah! 

We got mostly neutral colors for future bambinos and we bought 12. This has been a perfect number for the amount of diapers we use in a day and a half. We may invest in 6 more in the future as a newborn goes through more diapers quickly.

They are cheaper to buy in larger quantities & even scored a 12% discount on the site we used! 

We will still use disposables when we travel for longer than overnight & for the time Noel spends @ childcare-which is only 10 hrs/week or diaper wise only 2-4 diapers/week.

We also had to change up our change ups! Because we were using a diaper genie to dispose & just putting the used wipes in the diaper we had to make some adjustments with that method.

So I bought one of these: 

It's a wet bag! you can find them here: Planet Wise Wet Bags. LOTS of sizes & prints available.
We bought the large one that hangs on the bag of the door. Machine washable & doesn't leak a single drop! Plus when we're done with diaper duty here @ the Veldhuis home it can be used for transporting wet towels or bathing suits or muddy shoes. I love items that multi-task!
To dispose of the dirty wipes. I simply saved an old wipes container to put on the shelf next to the box full of clean ones. So it was FREE and it's an easy to wipe out plastic container that we just empty like a trash can. Also here's a small peek @ Noel's room too :)

the baskets below the changing table hold these

white container=clean/green container=used

Washing the actual diapers is also a breeze. If it's just wet it goes directly in the 'wet' bag. If it's soiled we take it over the the toilet drop the contents in a give it a quick rinse with this!

you can barely see it to the left

Super easy installation (as mentioned by Keith). Just open the toilet & one quick spray rinses it clean for later laundering.
Every other day we toss the whole lot..diapers, wet bag in the washer...one 'quick wash' on cold followed by a hot wash & presto..soft clean, never stained diapers!
We use bum genius cloth diaper detergent (to keep up with the manufacturers recommendations for warranty purposes).
Plus there is NEVER a yucky diaper smell in the house! and now not in the landfill either!
So in closing here is Noel enjoying her new comfy & super cute CLOTH DIAPERS! (AND she's standing all by herself..big girl!) [Thought I should add here, that we have been using these for several weeks now, but just waited to post this until we had a bit of use under our belts]

Green Goals

So I am going to make for myself a bit of a short to-do list of sorts that will include, some small & big *green* changes we would like to make in the NEAR future with our home!

So here we go...
1. Start a compost bin & grown our own veggies!
(sadly this one will have to wait until spring, which we knew would happen as last spring we had another 'growing' project on our hands..a small human!)
But we're starting our research now on how to best start, maintain, and use a compost bin.
Reason: we would cut down on even more garbage (which we are hoping to ALWAYS keep to one bag/week, no matter how big our family gets). Plus it would be a great way for us to do some natural/organic veggie growing of our own.
We have a 'garden' already built in our back-yard, however it was built with treated lumber, which is now rotting. So next spring we hope to rebuild & plant a garden as well with some fun & tasty veggies. I think it will be a great project for Noel to learn with us too.

2. Make preparing/cooking/storing food more green!
First off this is on my wish list! Cuisinart Greenware to replace all our chemical-producing Teflon or not 100% stainless steel cookware & stop leaching chemicals into our food & our air
Secondly I would like to slowly move our storage containers to rid of the plastics & use the glassware that we have.
I also want one of these Life Factory Glass Re-usable bottle!!! I always like to use my reusable water bottle, but the plastics often have BPA (which actually is becoming less and less) or they never seem clean. and the metal ones are great for holding my beverage, but I don't like to put my mouth on the metal to drink out of. So as my dad always says "only the best comes in glass" (since he worked in a glass factory his whole life)..yah! Stuff really does always taste better in glass!

3. Replace all of our household cleaners & soaps with chemical & toxin free versions.
Because I don't want to go out and spend an arm and a leg on these things. I am making this switch as I run out of my current products. We already use & love, method wood floor cleaner & hard floor cleaners so we don't have chemicals on the floor around small baby girl & big harry Moose. I also use chlorox green works wipes for wiping down the john. As well as Seventh Generation & Methods Multi-surface cleaners in the kitchen and bathroom. However I have been reading up on the hazards of antibacterial soaps to the environment as nearly 100% of it goes down the drain. So I will be switching those out in the future too.

4. Avoid "cheap" plastics in products for Noel. Not only do I want to look at this with feeding supplies but also her toys..being that EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. So I would like to stick to natural wood, or BPA free plastics. & organic materials when possible. We love these toys! www.melissaanddoug.com

5. NEW WINDOWS...ahh can you see me salivating over this home improvement project! Our home was built in 1920..and yes..still has the original (beautiful & drafting) windows!
New windows would be green in SO many ways! It would cut down on our heating costs as we would lose our drafty current ones, meaning less oil in the tank, more efficient heating & cooling. And the ability to open some windows in a beautiful day. (Our current windows do not have screens, so being that I am moth-a-phobic...open windows without screens NEVER happening! (there are even great tax rebates right now too..financially green too!! woohoo!-although we had to put a new sewer line in our house..not sure how to make this happen.ugh!)

6. Invest in a pellet stove. Fun little pellets made of compressed saw-dust to heat our home..genius! I would love to put this in our finished (in need of a make-over) basement. To make it cozy down there, and allow the heat to 'rise' to the rest of our home. They are one of the most efficient/green ways to heat your home. This is probably going WAY on the back burner as this would get pricey this would also need to include some sort of chimney (even though there are great tax rebate on these now). The windows would be a wiser earlier decision.

7. We have a small back yard that is in need of some grass (when Keith ever has a life outside of Grad school he'll finish his post on that later). But we'd like to do this without pesticides or chemical fertilizer. and we'd be open to trading in our gas push mower (obtained for $30 on craigslist) for a good old fashion "reel mower"...hmm..we'll keep thinking about that one.
7 1/2. Last summer we tore down our old/rusty clothes line, to which we are going to put up a new sleek line that will be easy to take down & put up, to avoid, wet moldy line AND ducking under it all the time!

8. Get rid of stuff & don't buy so much stuff! "LIVE SIMPLY SO OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE"

Of course there are always the simple things to maintain like turning lights off & appliances not in use & so on..but here's the start of a few things and  I know there are a TON more things to add, but here are some basics we're starting with.
We actually recently made another GREEN change in our lives..but there is too much involved to post here.
So that post is coming soon!

A Gorges Saturday

There is nothing like a drive up 15 north in Autumn.
As Keith put it, we are so blessed to live in an area where we get to see the whole forest changing colors (because of the elevation of the 'mountains').
We took the day and drove up to Ithaca, NY and as their slogan goes "Ithaca is Gorges" 
We had been wanting to make it up to this quaint & trendy college town which was voted as the #1 Most Enlightened Town in the country. www.hardiehouse.org/arcata/utne/towns.html

We didn't really plan too much we just drove up hit a bit of downtown, saw some beautiful gorges, drove a little bit of Cornell University (to which we had Noel do a bit of feet touching on the sidewalks to get use to for her college years!-HA!, followed by the statement you'll have to get LOTS of scholarships!) 
Above is a pic of the Buttermilk falls which were beautiful & you could walk right up to them via a nice little path & really feel the mist in your face.
We also took a walk around a small portion of Cayuga Lake and caught some kite surfers...maybe someday we need to try this out. (look left)




                






Jillians Drawers www.jilliansdrawers.com was the place I WISH I had discovered earlier in pregnancy & post baby. Their slogan "parenting naturally." An amazing supply of products for nursing (including private rooms for nursing that included hot tea that you could take in with you! A M A Z I N G! any nursing mom knows this world does not so much accommodate. Toys that were all natural materials (no chemical foreign plastics). An enormous supply of cloth diapers and supplies..wraps, bags, I could go ON and ON! 


Home Green Home www.homegreenhome.com
Home Green Home was FULL of green living things. A few of my favorites where all the tools for composting, reusable produce bags & lunch bags. Sadly it was WAY more fun to shop in these stores than to shop from their sites, which are nice but being in the store getting your hands on everything was great! 
There was sOOoo much I wanted to purchase, but I was trying to keep my wallet green too...so next time ;)


There was another store that had the cutest doll house that was a *green* house, complete with solar panels, recycling bins, & wind mill (mental note for future Christmas gifts for Noel:) and of course it was all made out of natural wood-no chemicals! 

Then we finally grabbed some dinner @ a great bar & pub called Bandwagon (www.bandwagonbeer.com/bandwagon-beer.html), as recommended by my friend Sarah who lives & works in this charming community. 

There was so much more that we would like to check out, but we need an excuse to make another trip! 

green with envy?

Today I am posing a question. How do you save money without missing out on things that only come around once?

                                             

For instance around Father's Day..Keith's FIRST ever! He was spying out a great watch that he loved he didn't "need" it, but we're only human and wants find their way into our lives. 
So I decided that his father's day gift from Noel & I would be to splurge and purchase this watch..when will he ever have a first father's day...that's right NEVER! and sometimes a material gift is just what the doctor ordered! 
We also followed this same logic when purchasing our MacBook Pro. 
We needed - larger than we would have liked- money to have our lateral sewer line replaced..talk about LITERALLY flushing your money down the drain..oy! 
But in doing so we needed to use a loan to meet this borough requirement, no choice here folks!
In the mean time BOTH of our old desktop computers crashed and we were only left with Keith's mac that is provided to him via the school district (yah!) however we do not have any administrative rights on there (i.e. no downloading anything) plus this computer gets turned in @ the end of the school year and updated and wiped clean..goodbye pictures! 
So we felt that it would be a wise financial decision to extend our loan for the previously mentioned sewers to also purchase a good computer that would last us a long time, rather than sinking a couple hundred into something and a few years down the road having to replace it as well..so LONG term we're saving money. 
So Happy first Mother's Day to me and probably the next 10 birthdays!
So the question still looms for other things...should we really buy this? we don't really need it..but it makes sense to do it NOW purchases.


Now that is certainly not to say all of our 'splurge' purchases are wise...but who can resist a pair of  baby jeggings @ the baby Gap on the clearance! ....buyer's remorse?..nope!  you should see them on Noel! 
Of course I haven't even begun to talk about bigger purchases..like a new TV? a car? or even a home? how do you make a wise decision when other things in life seem to be hindering on your decision? 


Here's some Keith & Elissa financial logic: (not necessarily in priority order)

• If it's over $30 it takes some consideration (I realize this is a small amount, but it's amazing how one trip to Target with a little of this and a little of that..and woah!)
• How is this affecting quality of life? (not just trying to keep up with the Jones)
• Is there a need for RIGHT NOW?!! give it a day of not owning it to determine the need.
• is there a change you can make somewhere else to make up for the new need/want (think no more morning coffee in exchange for membership to the gym)
• where does it fall in your financial priorities list? savings, debt, college funds?

Now that we are responsible for a small human being we have some other major goals we need to think about:
Life Insurance [my lack there of]
Retirement Funds [again my lack of] we prioritize this ahead of college savings for Noel, because we (I) believe it would be far less burden for her to pay for some of her college than try to support us when we're old. 
Noel & future peanuts' college funds
and SO in need of a larger vehicle.


Plus it would be great to not have to wear 'mom' jeans & be a somewhat trendy parent :) 
oh the responsibilities! ha ha!

vegging out over the weekend

Saturday mornings in Williamsport means..*ahh* the local growers market :)

yummm!
I think my 1/2 year resolution will be to better plan out my week to buy ALL my veggies etc from here.
What a great way to support the community & have the best fruit/veggies!
We were planning on not going out last weekend due to my idiotic latte @ 7:30pm, which doesn't work so well with a nursed baby whose bedtime falls around 8:30/9pm..ugh! we live & we learn.
Anyway we did make it out, as we were encouraged by an invite to meet our friend's Mike & Colby down there.
Next summer we are hoping to re-create the garden in our backyard & do a little of our own local growing. But for now this is THE place to find local & fresh..organic..grass fed...free range..am I missing one?

bring your baskets, but apparently no longer your dogs :( notice closely on the sign behind Keith, next to..yes..our dog..Moose..I guess we were rebels without knowing it?
Anyway..if you haven't been you should check it out. From 8am-1pm every Saturday May-November on Pine Street in Williamsport, right in front of Hemrich's Seafood.
They also have awesome baked goods, flowers, and more!

smooshy greens!

An exciting green time in our life...Noel's digestion of them!

It's official we have conquered peas!

So about a month ago @ just over 4.5 months we began some real food in Noel's diet, which was the beginning of rice cereal..hooray! We mixed in a little oatmeal somewhere in there & now started our first "food." (Noel will be 6 month on Oct. 13). 

We were back & forth, do we start with the yellows & oranges (due to their easier digestion) or do we start with greens (so as to not reject them later). We decided lets..go for the green!

Four days in with our first *green* food we are now ready to move to green beans..oh the exciting life of a 5.5 month old! 

We got the video camera out, ready to catch a great expression of..'wow what is this new thing?' & what did we get?..'oh something new on my spoon, no biggie' But that's my girl ready to take the changes of life head on! ha ha!

We also were back & forth of whether to make or buy our baby food. 

So here is how we made that decision:

Right now Noel is only eating about 1tbsp. once a day which means I would either be smooshing all the time or making large amounts and freezing LOTS (since freezing will cause my veggies to lose some of their nutritional value as jarring I figured this was not a way to make a con for jarred food). 

We really wanted to stick to organic and pure baby food without preservatives etc.

I can buy a 1st foods "Earth's Best" baby food jar for 59 cents! love them!                                  (@ Wegmans)www.earthsbest.com

Which is organic PLUS the only ingredients..peas & water..yippee! 

The health & safety standards for baby food makers are very high. And chances are their kitchens have FAR less cross contamination than your kitchen at home. We do keep a pretty clean kitchen, but our counters see a lot of action from raw meat, the days mail, and so on. 

The benefits of just popping open a jar and have healthy ingredients and a constant consistency until her palate is use to chunkier textures. This is our plan.

As Noel's amount of food increases as does the texture (and my ambition-HA!) I think I will make some of her baby food...think butternut squash & pumpkin (yummm) that I can't buy in jars.  This also will be great when she's ready for some veggies that we're already having for dinner. 

We like supporting a good company like "earth's best" [we also use their rice & oatmeal cereals].

We are also saving the jars to use in the future for making baby food & maybe even future craft projects! :) 

Another way we are saving a little green is by not purchasing a super expensive high chair. 

We did get a lovely pink bumbo seat from one of my showers along with the attaching tray. It is perfect for early eating. Noel is comfy sitting in it as she is not quite but almost sitting up on her own-think leaning tower of pisa. At some point she will outgrown this fun little chair, but maybe by that time I can get a chair that is a bit more toddler sized. 

@ home groomer!

Grooming, maybe not an interesting topic but never-the-less it is one way that we work on saving a little green.

Maybe this is to be inspiration for us to actually accomplish this task this weekend.

We have an 82 pound designer mutt named Moose. who has a beautiful yellow coat that he acquired from his golden retriever mom & standard poodle dad...which means big soft curls, that love to get tangled! I'm sure this has nothing to do with time spent romping around @ the dog park :/

We have gone the route in the past of taking him to get professionally groomed (like when he got so matted we didn't know what else to do). But lately we have taken it to doing our own puppy salon @ home! (LARGE applause for Keith)


The video was a nice ball-fetch break for Keith & Moose :)

Fortunately we inherited a pair of dog clippers from my parents (thank you!), so this part was totally free. If not you could pick up one for somewhere in the ballpark of $30-40. Then we used (trial and error logic) a huge Rubbermaid tote for Moose to stand on (much like that @ the pro groomers place). 
Granted this took a couple of hours but it was at least $60 in our wallets!! We then also do our own bathing of Moose in our tub.  For a $13 bottle of pooch shampoo @ Petco we can get over a year worth of bathing for him, which would normally be only one shampoo a-la groomers. 
We are fortunate that he actually likes getting in the tub & is so good in there. This changes completely when he runs around like his tail's on fire after the bath for the next hour! 
I even managed to do this one night on my own while Keith was @ class. Noel quite enjoyed watching the circus from her play mat in the bathroom :) 
Now so we have groomed one member of the family..what about the rest of us???
Keith actually cuts his own hair as well, using clippers with different length attachments (this is a different clipper than used on Moose-HA!) which I might add looks WAY better than the last 2 times we wasted $30 @ the salon!
For me, I'm in a long hair mode, so I really only get my hair trimmed about twice a year & yes I do go to the salon for myself. 
But all in all we get all "did" for around $60 for the whole year..not too bad eh?? 
(I won't however indulge quite yet on my hour long conditioner aisle shopping..*sigh*) 


Side note: I discovered this from a blog I follow. younghouselove. If you're moving anytime soon. I LOVE this green idea!
                                            rentagreenbox.com - OH! the possibilities!

The Pilot Post

So I have been back & forth debating about if I would like to start a blog...& here we are!

I feel like it would be therapeutic to write daily, however

a.)do I really have anything THAT interesting to write about, and

b.)can I really commit to having the time for this?

So I thought..I'd start here with thoughts and see what it may *grow* into. 

We'll start the journey here in what I will call..."The Pursuit of Green"

It's going to be a bit of a play on words as I am going to share how Keith & I are are pursing "green" in 2 ways. One: How are we making (or trying to make) wise financial decisions in pursuit of having a little more green in our wallets

Two: How are we making/trying to make green earthy-hug-a-tree kind of decisions

All of this of course are not to say we're doing it right or wrong, but rather to let us think about and be accountable to making these choices realistically in our lives as...part-time working/stay @ home mom=small income from me, and teaching, taking grad classes, 8 million meetings VERY busy dad. 

For now it will just be me..for lack of a better term blogging about this.

So enjoy as we learn how to be 'green'...but in the words of Kermit the Frog...'it's not easy being green'...

so here starts the journey!