Clean B review

Now that I've tried & finished my bag of Clean B, I've got to tell you all about it:

I sit here with a clean basket of clean diaper laundry sitting next to me - and I'm enjoying the wafting scent of honey almond that is rising up to my nose. I love love love this stuff! I haven't had such a tantalizing washing experience since I began washing our own diapers when T was 3 months old. Before that I only smelled the bleach in the diaper services' prefolds, so I can't say that was much nicer! This stuff is truly amazing, though. Not only do I feel my boy's diapers are coming out super clean, but they smell sooo nice! I have been hogging this bag of Clean B just for our diaper laundry, so I haven't had the pleasure of smelling it on my clothing, but when my new bag, just ordered today, arrives, I very well may put it to use in all areas of laundering.

Update - I began writing this on Friday, and since I received my new bag of Clean B in scent Baby Fresh yesterday, I have soaked and washed two loads of dirty clothes in this fantastic stuff. One load included the unfortunate exercise clothes of my brother's - which I have thrown into our laundry before and only had my clean clothes come out smelling like feet. (Sorry Eric, but they did!) This time, I soaked all of our clothes, his and my family's in one, with a generous scoop of Clean B, for an hour. Then I washed as normal and dried as normal...and guess what? No foot smell! In fact, I just sniff the lovely scent of the detergent and that's all. Thanks, Clean B!!!

So - right now, they are running a giveaway when they reach 1000 fans on facebook. If you aren't already a fan (press like) go on over to Clean B and like them! Let's get the momentum going here...

I won!!!

Yes, I won something! I won a bag of Clean B detergent! This is exceptionally exciting to me, because I have been looking into a new detergent for my diapers again. I tried & love Rockin Green, but I managed to get a (mild) stink again that just won't go away. Having recently read many reviews of Clean B, I visited the website to read & learn more about the work at home mom & maker of Clean B, Melissa. I decided I really wanted to try it out. So, here's my chance!

Clean B was born out of the desire to have a great natural detergent that cleans well and leaves a scent behind when all is said & done. I love this idea, as most natural detergents are scentless by the time the wash is being folded, and while the heavy perfumes of regular detergent really bother me...to the point of getting a headache...a little scent would be nice. And wow - do they offer a LOT of scents!!! It's boggling to think of the process creating these detergents! I'm quite curious to see which scent will arrive at my door.

Just HOW did I win such a prize? you may ask. Well, a while back, I joined up as a seeker on Green Quiz Quest. It's easy to join, just go to their site and enter your email on the upper left corner of the home page. I have been checking and answering riddles on their facebook page. This time, not only did I answer correctly, but my name was chosen along with three other lucky people. I guess it was a few days ago because I was about to be outed if I didn't answer them soon!

Fortunately, they contacted me again (I found out later the original email they sent didn't go thru) and here I am! Quite excited about this one.

Reiki sessions & giveaway!

After a couple of years hiatus from offering Reiki sessions, I've now signed on with Woodstock Integrative Health as a Reiki Master. I'm very excited to be offering sessions again, as I have seen tremendous results with clients in the past, and I just enjoy sharing the love!

What is Reiki? It's a non-invasive energy therapy which supports the body's natural ability to heal itself. It works on all levels of our being: mental, spiritual, emotional and physical. Reiki enables the mind to fully relax, giving you an opportunity to reconnect with your inner self and re- establish a sense of wholeness and well being. Every individual experience is different as each body responds in different ways to Reiki energy.

Some benefits of Reiki include:

*Reduces stress and tension

*Pleasant means of achieving a state of total relaxation

*Supports the body's natural ability to heal itself

*Can be used effectively in combination with other methods of healing

*Promotes a state of well being for attaining higher consciousness

NOTE**Reiki is not a substitute for medical care.

If you are interested in having a Reiki session or having more questions please contact me! Find my info in the sidebar.

**In honor of this new addition in my life, I'll be giving away a free one hour Reiki session once I hit 25 followers! That's right - only 25...

Don't live in the area? That's ok. Reiki works regardless of where you live. If you live outside of the Woodstock region, I will honor the winner with 4 distance sessions of 15 minutes each. So....let's get started, tell your friends! :)**

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.

Why Cloth?

I wasn't entirely convinced about cloth when I found out I was pregnant. I went back & forth about it for a while, considering the water to be used plus electricity - wondering once & for all which option might be better for the planet. Never did the idea of Huggies or Pampers cross my mind. I looked into Nature Babycare - the only entirely compostable diaper and package on the market. So, I purchased a case of them and gave one package to a friend.

Somewhere along the way, I changed my mind and decided to sign up for our local diaper service "at least for the first few months", I told myself. I could register for gift certificates & that would solve the issue of getting diapers for the first few months. Fortunately, my husband's grandmother and my dad did purchase gift certificates, because at $20/week, a service adds up fast!!!

I was super grateful to have the service in the beginning, while I was so delirious I could never have done the laundry required. As T hit that 2 month mark, however, I started to question why we weren't doing it ourselves, at home, and became even more addicted to searching out my options online.

By 3 months, we gave up the service, and just in time - they closed down due to the economy. Score! We managed to get 20 prefolds at $1 a piece! Woo hoo! I also split a bumGenius 12 pack with a friend of mine & I felt I was pretty stocked. At that time, I mean. Now...well, that's another post!

So, my cloth diaper obsession started a little at a time, and while I love that we are saving money and making a fantastic choice for the planet, I really love dressing my babe in super cute diapers!