More Nappy Chronicles

We bought a bunch of newborn cloth nappies at the end of last week.  Snappies (based here in Darwin) came highly recommended to me from some mums at our steiner group and while they are very reasonably priced normally ($10, as opposed to the $30 a nappy we paid for Baby Beehinds), they have been having a sale.

With Ginger we used traditional terry toweling nappies until she was about 5 months old and big enough to fit into our supposedly one-size-fits-all Baby Beehinds.  The photo below shows why I will not be subjecting another newborn to this.  Additionally, modern cloth nappies are so much less work.  Lifting buckets of soaking nappies because your husband goes out field two weeks post c/section is not a good idea if you want to heal rapidly.  Just a heads up.  Lastly, we have rarely had a modern cloth leak.  Not so, with the traditional nappies.  

Perhaps it was our folding technique - though it was one suggested for newborns upwards but poor Ginger was swamped by her nappies.

These new cloth nappies are the sweetest and tiniest things you ever saw.  I tried one on my old baby doll (now adopted by Ginger) and it fit perfectly on its smallest setting.  Excuse the photo though, I had to do it before Ginger got up at the risk of her absconding with the nappies for her dolls.

Also excuse the doll's look - she was my childhood baby doll and is a little worse for wear.

Lots of bright baby heralding bunting on the line.  Tomorrow I am 39 weeks and my Mum arrives to look after Ginger so baby boy I give you carte blanche to arrive anytime you want to:) 

Ginger got a couple of gender neutral cuties as well - I love the owl print.

Beach Night

On Friday I read a post on Enjoying the Small Things and I just knew we had to go to the beach that evening.  Mr Provincial was reluctant, but that was just the point of Kelly's post.  We ate tea and then drove the couple of minutes to our local beach - of course we can't swim their because of the box jellyfish and risk of salt water crocodiles.  But, we can walk.

We got there just as the sun was setting and it was stunning.  It was cool on the beach with a lovely breeze blowing off the Timor Sea.  The first time we have been naturally cooled for weeks.

Stunning calcified coral had washed up in the week's early storm.  

So many shells for Ginger and I to oh and ah over, and collect.  Hermit crabs were there to be examined.

Even better, our collection of shells and rocks spurred Ginger and I on to a fantastically simple series of activities.  We 'bathed' our shells.  We sorted and examined closely - smooth, rough, round, long.  We created a display.

We can't wait to go back again this Friday.  It's going to be a regular family date. Can't get to the beach?  What about reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gifts from the Sea?

On My Mind - Mending

On my mind this Friday morning is mending.  Three of my four delicates bags suffered catastrophic holes in the week leading up to us leaving Queensland.  The consequence being that they dispel your 'delicates' mid wash. 

They have given us good service, as all have been in use since I left home six years ago.  Initially I thought I would just replace them when I got up here.  But yesterday I got to thinking - I put my Nanna hat on - that my Grandmothers' certainly wouldn't have thrown out something as mundane and prosaic as a delicates bag just because of a few holes; they would have mended them.  So, I did just that.  I stitched back up the holes.  Some of these bags have been mended multiple times now so they don't look pretty, but really who sees your delicates bags except you!  They will continue to serve their function just a while longer, and in the meantime that is money in the bank for us.

Blue and Green

Toowoomba seems to be swathed in a sea of blue and green at the moment.  Everywhere Jacaranda trees are in full bloom and our yard, like so many others, is awash with agapanthus.

Growing up I heard horror stories about how agapanthus' attract snails.  My grandmother's neighbour had planted them on their common fenceline.  I must say, however, we haven't noticed an excess of snails and I think the punch of colour is delightful.  We actually went into a cafe in Ipswich a week or so back and saw a vase full of them - what a great idea.

Blue has also infiltrated the house with a beautiful new vase, a christmas/birthday gift from my dear friend, hand delivered on Friday night.  Of course, my best friend accompanied it and we had the pleasure of her company for the weekend.  I have filled it with Peruvian lilies Mr Provincial got at the markets on Sunday.

Unfortunately, illness also made it into the house with Ginger and I succumbing to Summer colds on Friday.  We are much better now, I just have no voice.  I am having to communicate with Ginger in a stage whisper which is fine at home but a pain when we are out.  Mr Provincial seems to have picked up the baton though, so hopefully he only gets a mild dose as there is much to do in the garden this coming weekend in preparation for moving out Monday.

We continue to clean out and have finally switched off our second fridge.  Ginger rather liked it when I took out all the components to wash them.  Apparently it made a good cubby house.

I also just have to mention the most amazing spider web in our front yard.  The web itself was beautiful, covered in rain drops, but the engineering was amazing.  The spider had literally spun a 3 metre long thread from the garage to the start of the web.

What is on your "No Compromise" list

Last year one of the contributors on the Simple, Green, Frugal blog discussed the concept of 'no compromise' purchases.  Purchases which for some reason or another - ethical or environmental - you feel very strongly about what product you will buy.

After reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food over the weekend, this has been back at the forefront of my mind.

This is my no compromise list:

• Fairtrade chocolate, tea and coffee.
• Free-range eggs and chicken.
• Free-range ham and bacon.

However, in light of some commentary in Michael Pollan's book I am wondering whether I should be seeking out organic options for my poultry, eggs and bacon.  In Pollan's book it is pointed out that "free-range" refers only to the ability of poultry to access a small outside area - not necessarily a green area either.  They are also often only grain fed rather than being allowed to forage.

In terms of bacon, I have been buying Castlemaine Australian Bred Free Range which is the only free-range bacon I have been able to find readily available.  However, I do wonder what exactly "bred free range" means - what happens after the birth; how humanely is the animal raised?

I am also beginning to think about beef.  Since pastoral scenes of grazing beef cattle is common in Australia it had never occurred to me that cattle could be raised in feedlots.  If this is the case, I am going to have to be very careful where we source any future meat purchases from.  

Oh, and milk - what about the antibiotics given to cow's to prevent infection?  After nursing Ginger for all this time I have a heightened consciousness about how readily anything given to a lactating mother (be it human or bovine) makes its way to the milk supply.

Aghh, so many things to get my head around.  Not to mention price differentials.  My husband is definitely not going to be a vegetarian any time soon so these are ethical and health issues I really need to consider.  Anyway, when I shop I will continue to abide by my no-compromise list, though it may be strengthened over time.

What is on your no-compromise list?

On My Mind...

Joining Rhonda in letting you know what is on my mind today....

I am thinking about planned and unplanned expenses.  No matter how careful you are with your money there are just some things you can't forsee.  Monty started limping Wednesday night.  Thursday morning I took him to the vet - he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament in one of his hind legs.  The Vet advised surgery; without it the problem would just get worse.  

Monty went under the knife this morning.  An unexpected $840 later, he has a prothesis in his leg and is lying in the portacot feeling miserable - we have put him in there to keep him away from Ginger while he recovers.  Turns out it can keep the baby in, or out!

Yoghurt Making

One of the small changes I have made this year (well, really in December of last year) is to make our own yoghurt.  I picked up a yoghurt maker at Aldi in the middle of last year for $15 (I am still bitter that it dropped to $9 when on clearance - but you win some, lose some) with the intention of making yoghurt but wasn't keen on using the pre-mixed sachets as I like to know what is in my food!

A bit of research yielded Which Name?'s recipe.  Which, I like a lot.  This is my fourth batch and three have been a success. We won't talk about the fourth - as I still don't know what went wrong.

The process for me is simplified because of my yoghurt maker which means once the yoghurt starter has been stirred in I just transfer the liquid to the yoghurt maker and let it do its thing.  I do have to refill the boiling water after 12 hours and give the process another 12 hours to get my desired consistency.So planning in advance is essential - do not wait until the yoghurt pot is empty to make your next batch; or people have a tendency to eat your starter yoghurt in the meantime:)

I figure this change is saving us money and a lot of packaging! Besides, homemade yoghurt is so yummy in the morning with homemade granola - though that is a post for another day.

{This Moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama - a moment of sun.

One Small Change - January 2011

I have decided to join Hip Mountain Mama's One Small Change challenge.  The challenge is to make one small lifestyle change each month towards a more environmentally concious lifestyle.  Turns out living a greener lifestyle is also a more affordable one!

My change for January is to take shorter showers.  We have put our Queensland Government issued 4 minute egg timer in the shower and are sticking to that time limit.  We have also decided to hold each other accountable if a shower seems to be taking longer than it should! We have been guilty in the past of ignoring our friendly egg timer.

The trick seems to be to get in the shower and do everything you need to do (takes about 1:30) and then stand and enjoy your last couple of minutes. We have also found having breakfast before our shower cuts out shower time because we are no longer using it to wake ourselves up.

I'll progress in one month.