Eco-Fashion Giveaway

Ok, of course, I would love to win this giveaway, but I just had to share it with you all since it's just too fun not to share! First of all, just check out this bag made of recycled seat belts. Seriously...it's awesome!

So, for your chance to win - not just this bag, but a whole bunch of other goodies - go to http://www.shefinds.com/2010/itsrecycled and follow their directions. Click on this post title or copy/paste the address into your browser. Contest ends on Wednesday the 17th! Good luck!

Crispy Kale

Try this! A friend made it for the superbowl last night & both my 14 month old & I couldn't keep our hands off it!

1 bunch kale

olive oil to coat

garlic powder and salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a knife you're comfortable with, cut kale leaves away from the stalk. Chop into small pieces, no larger than 1 square inch.

Place kale in a large bowl and pour olive oil overtop. Using your hands, blend oil and kale until the kale is coated evenly. Add salt and garlic powder, and mix again.

Place kale mixture onto baking sheets in one thin layer and put in oven for 10 minutes. Check on it every minute or so after that to see if it is crispy. Once kale is crispy so it falls apart in your mouth, remove from oven & serve hot.

Yum!!!

Cloth Diapers on Ellen?

I've *ahem* neglected this blog for quite a while...and while I'm not the best blogger in general, I feel pretty ridiculous seeing that my last post was in August! Since I've made my other blog private, I decided to join up with the Cloth Diapering Bloggers Carnival on this blog instead. I'll just be linking up with them through Dirty Diaper Laundry's site, since I'm not a tweeting person & don't plan on starting before this week ends!

So...the question is Why should cloth be featured on Ellen? They are simply the best option, and just so much fun for our little ones!

Here are my thoughts: 1) The obvious...Cloth diapering is the best option for the planet. While we do use water (and in most cases, quite a bit of it) to wash our diapers, we're preventing a lot of added waste to landfills both in the case of the actual diaper and the human waste within. Cloth diapers can only be washed in clean detergents, bleach is rarely used, and the sun becomes even more of a friend than it was before (oh how I can't wait for the sunny days to return and take away the stains in my son's diapers!!!).

2) Leaks are sooooo much easier to prevent! I used sposies for the first week of T's life and then one week while on vacation in April of last year, when he was 4 months old. The first week was no problem, but mostly because my poor guy was dehydrated and not peeing much. But that's another story! While on vaca, however, my purely breastfed baby couldn't keep a poop in his diaper at all. I spent each day rinsing out his clothes to prevent major stains before I could get to a washing machine! I'm not the only one with issues here...I have read and talked to many a mom who has similar stories of leaky babies in disposables. I am not committed enough to sposies to try & find the "right"fit for him - I simply went with the best option in that world and tried to stick with it. Ugh...what a waste.

3) Speaking of waste - there's the financial savings that cloth provides. Over the lifetime of several children, or even one child who is in cloth from birth to potty, you can save hundreds or even thousands! I'll spare the mathematics...they can be found at nearly every cloth diaper site. This is only true if you can keep yourself under control...which brings me to the next point -

4) Cloth is addictive! There are so many awesome options out there, it's amazing. From big companies to work at home moms, the patterns and styles, from prefolds to AIOs, the choices are never-ending. It's overwhelming at first, but time consuming and fun once joining the world of cloth diapers. Plus they're super cute! Disposables don't offer so much in the fun department. Too bad we ran out of funds...our stash would be much bigger by now! Still, we've got a nice stash of bumGenius, Tiny Tush Elite, Fuzzibunz, GroBaby, Smartipants, prefolds and covers, wool and natural fibers and man-made materials. We've only just begun...

We'd love to see cloth diapers featured on Ellen to get more exposure out there! Let the world know that cloth is the way to go.