Conscientious confusion

Check me out on CottonBabies' blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:06:00 +0000

Unfortunately, I have acquired some kind of awesome stomach bug that comes with a fever and constantly feeling like I'm going to yarf but never actually yarfing. It's almost exactly like being pregnant! Except I can assure you that I am not. The toddler and the almost-1-year-old that beat me on the head all day yelling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" when I laid down have reminded me how thankful I am that is not the case right now.

In lieu of writing anything new here, I wanted to formally announce that I'll be writing occasionally for CottonBabies' blog over the next year or so! I am super excited about this! Today my first post was published: For The Love of Pockets. If you aren't familiar with CottonBabies, they are the creators of BumGenius cloth diapers, which comprise the majority of my stash. I order from their online store regularly for things like flushable liners and most recently, a Flip potty training pant for Little Sir.

I am only one of numerous contributors to this blog, and the topics are pretty precise. It's kind of first-come, first-serve whether you get to attempt to write on a topic or not, so I can't guarantee when or how often I'll be able to write in the future. But I hope I can! I am a big fan of the company and the direction they'll be going with this blog, so be sure to subscribe.

And, if you're one of those natural remedy gurus - any suggestions on getting rid of the stomach bug ASAP?!

It's my problem-free philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:40:00 +0000

How to build blog traffic conscientiously without too many advertise-y promotions and without supporting companies who I do not believe to be socially responsible? It's been a challenge and a conundrum. What I need are better "numbers". Without these magical scores of readers, I supposedly cannot approach advertisers. Google AdWords won't even respond to my request to be an affiliate.

I've been around in the blogosphere long enough to know what makes the numbers soar: controversy. The Mommy Wars. Saying something inflammatory about breastfeeding, formula feeding, staying-at-home or working moms, spanking or not spanking, raising religious or non-religious kids, or making some kind of highly opinionated political statement.

I hate that stuff. I hate reading it and I refuse to respond to it. Sometimes I feel like a moron for not participating in something that would probably help my writing career, but let me explain.

We're not all coming from the same place.
Not all of us believe the same basic tenets. I believe in God and the Bible, but not everyone does. Why would I expect an atheist to follow the philosophies in my literature of faith? Some of us have personal faith in God, some of us do not. Some of us are politically liberal, and some are conservative. Some of us have kids and some don't. Some have more money than others. All of us were raised in different ways in our families of origin, and in hugely different geographical and social contexts. This means we are not looking through any issue through the same lens. So when we blast out a blanket statement detailing exactly what someone else should or should not believe, feel, or do -- we aren't even coming from the same place.

We don't all have the same kids.
And, like I said, we don't even all have children. Yet we all think we can weigh in on discipline, breastfeeding, or how someone else's kids should be educated? You don't feed your child dairy or gluten - great! But my child refuses to eat meat of any kind, so we have to use dairy and gluten to get some food into him. Your child loves co-sleeping so you feel like it's the answer to all our sleep problems, but both my kids HATE sleeping with anyone else in the room. Different kids, different solutions. Pointless to argue.

We can't use our faith to dictate others' behaviors.
While I'm at it, even those of us within the same faith are caught up in foolish arguments about things that don't matter. I am talking to you, Christians who flame each other on discussion boards. Just this week, I was reading 2 Timothy where Paul admonished Timothy three separate times not to get involved in foolish arguments with others of the same faith. Since the Bible is my literature of faith, I'm going to take that as permission (and even justification) for not getting involved in some of these ridiculous Mommy wars online.

Obviously, I am not discouraging open and honest discussion. I love it when I post a problem I'm having with my kids and I get a bunch of wildly different suggestions from my readers and friends. It's eye-opening and helpful. I think that is an example of how we should be using our online platforms. We should be supporting each other, offering helpful advice, shining a light on things that need to be changed in our society, but taking ourselves a little less seriously. If I don't take your suggestion in raising my children or I don't agree with your political opinion, that's OK. It doesn't mean I think your opinions are dumb. It doesn't mean we need to get in a huge Facebook argument.

That's my rant about... ranting. So where are we in relation to my blog? Well, I guess we're probably the same place we've always been. I won't be blasting out some kind of controversy for my 5 minutes of internet fame. We'll just keep plugging along together, learning about living more conscientiously. Are you with me?

Neti Pot Safety

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

If you've followed this blog long, you know I'm a huge fan of the neti pot for daily allergy prevention. I use my neti pot every night! I also wrote a post about how to use the neti pot - it should never burn or sting or inhibit your natural breathing as the water passes through.

There is one aspect of neti pot usage that I knew I should have been be doing, but basically I just didn't want to. Supposedly, only distilled or boiled water should be used in your neti pot to avoid introducing germs from the public water supply into your nasal passages.

But you see, I like my neti pot water warm. Ideally, body temperature. Which can only come from the tap. So I was ignoring what I knew I should be doing.

Then I started to see the stories about several deaths in Louisiana related to neti pot usage. I ignored that for a while thinking surely there were extenuating circumstances, but then an article about the neti pot deaths showed up in the Huffington Post. Well, I actually read that one.

Now I'm here to tell you: please boil your neti pot water or buy distilled water for use in your neti pot.

I have started doing it - I keep the neti pot water in a carafe beside our sink. It's room temperature, so it doesn't feel as nice as the warm tap water did. I kind of hate it, actually. But I guess it has to be done.

This is your public service announcement: if I can do it, you can too!

7 Quick Takes Friday #33

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:03:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

No poo update: Irritatingly, my dry scalp flared up again early this week and I was *thisclose* to going back to shampoo just to use medicated shampoo on it. Instead, I decided to massage tea tree oil into my scalp before bed and let it sit overnight then wash it with just water and the apple cider vinegar rinse in the morning. Much better! I used tea tree oil a few more times instead of the Aveda oil this week to continue to work on the scalp issue. I think I'll do that a few times week to ward it off. Still haven't used shampoo since Christmas!

--- 2 ---

This week's successful Pinterest find: more natural cold prevention! I've had a bit of a runny/stuffy nose since we returned from a trip to a friend's lake house this weekend and I tried this simple mixture of honey and cinnamon.

Source: healthhomehappy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Not sure if this alone was responsible for me not getting sick, but so far I haven't got any worse! Plus: YUM!

--- 3---

You might remember that I'm testing out a new meal planning system, Food on the Table. So far I've made one of the recipes this week and it was really yummy!

I have a crockpot meal planned for one day this weekend. If you're interested, you can sign up for free any time. The Premium version costs around $5/month. I think after trying it for another week I might sign up for it!

--- 4 ---

I found the most adorable little girls' boutique here in Richardson, Little Lam Boutique. Got some really cute presents for some upcoming little girls' birthdays and Sip N See's!

--- 5 ---

But then I messed up big time and let the sweet owner talk me into spending way too much on my own little girl. In my defense, I've never actually shopped for her and never really bought her new clothes - we rely almost exclusively on hand-me-downs, which I love! So when I was surrounded by super cute new stuff I got really confused about how much I should be paying. $70 is too much to spend on a dress for an 11 month old, Jenny. I think we can all agree on that. MY dresses don't usually even cost that much.

So I will be re-selling at least one of the purchases on Craigslist or Ebay, New With Tags, since the sale stipulated I can't return them. Here's the one I think I'm going to part with:

It's a Giggle Moon brand Abby Gigi outfit set with matching bow. I'll sell it for $55. If you know anyone who is interested, pass this info on to them! I'll mail it and take PayPal!

--- 6 ---

After I spent all that money, I saved some serious money by buying Valentine-themed decorations and cupcake trimmings at Walmart for Little Lady's birthday!

--- 7 ---

I am currently interested in essential oils and thinking of signing up with a company that sells them just so I can take advantage of their educational information on how to use the oils most effectively. Would you readers be interested in hearing about what I learn?

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

WAHM to SAHM

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

As of right now, I'm officially a Stay At Home Mom, not a Work At Home Mom. I have tried to be careful how much I mention about losing my part time social media job. I know I wasn't able to work enough hours to make my employment worth the company's time. It turns out that since my children don't sleep simultaneously more than an hour or so each day/night, and the company wasn't paying me enough to hire a sitter or pay for additional days of Mother's Day Out, I was only able to work around 6-7 hours each week. I'm sure it wasn't worth their administrative costs to retain me. I do feel like I did the best I could while working for them and the parting was not performance related, so that's good.

We definitely miss the income, and haven't figured out how to replace it yet. In another way, I was relieved to have the obligation lifted. It was just another form of Mommy guilt. When I was playing with my kids I'd realize I hadn't checked our clients' Twitter or Facebook all day and I'd have to be on the iPhone checking. The kids would get jealous of the iPhone or the laptop and try to take it from me or throw their bodies in front of it. I'd feel guilty because they were completely justified in their action and I'd rather be playing with them anyway! So I'd play with my kids but feel guilty that I was being a bad employee.

Going from checking multiple social networks and email accounts constantly to just my own personal account has been a little weird. At first I found myself checking my personal accounts just as frequently as I used to check our clients'. Unfortunately, my own personal network can get a little slow (cause, uh, we're all moms!), and oftentimes there was nothing to see when I was refreshing EVERY 10 MINUTES. Then I went through a period where I kind of didn't check anything for a while and got totally out of the loop. Thank goodness I don't have to monitor my Klout anymore, because I am sure it took a hit.

Somehow I also started dropping the ball on other things like making dinner, planning meals, and blogging. I guess my carefully constructed schedule is off. I think what happened is that I started to assume that I would have more time than I actually do, and I wasted those precious extra hours on things that should have been much lower priority. Where do those mysterious hours go, SAHM's?

Do any of you SAHM's have suggestions for me? Would love to hear them!

Review of Food On The Table

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:35:00 +0000

I'll be writing more later this week about my transition from Work-At-Home-Mom to Stay-At-Home-Mom after losing my part-time job, but suffice it to say that for some reason this change has thrown me off a bit. You'd think that having more time when the kids are napping or playing would mean that I get more blogging done, but the reverse has been true!

I feel like I'm really not organized when it comes to planning the household chores. OK, I don't plan at all, really. One thing I've been the most terrible at since having my second child (uh, 11 months ago) is meal planning. I did a post on how I've done my meal planning in the past. You might have noticed it was fairly labor-intensive. I have enjoyed E-Mealz in many ways and I've got some really good recipes from that site. However, they seem to focus mainly on Mexican food, salads, and white sauces for vegetarians. I like Mexican food as much as the next person, but vegetarians DO eat things other than Mexican, E-Mealz! And no one in my house will eat white sauce or salad of any kind except me. It also seemed that most of their recipes were actually meat recipes with fake-meat substitutes thrown in. Have you ever tasted fake meat products? They are disgusting. So we had to avoid most of those recipes too. Ultimately, I could only use about 1-2 recipes from each 5-day meal plan.

Through the new ad network I've signed up with, I have just learned about Food on the Table, another meal-planning program that also has a corresponding iPhone app. I think this might be what I am missing! Having a dedicated app saves me several steps in my previous process in migrating the meal plan to my iPhone so I can take the shopping list to the store.

I tried Food on the Table this week and here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

When they say it's a 60-second signup, they're not kidding!
The limited version of the service is free (I was paying $5/month for E-Mealz). To get access to more recipes, you can pay to upgrade to Premium which is $5/month for the first 3 months and $9.95/month for the future. Less if you pay quarterly or for a whole year.
Online or iPhone app interface is convenient
When you select the stores you shop at, it automatically finds the sales and you can pick recipes based on the items on sale at the store you are going to!
You can restrict recipes by prep time, by what kind of meat or Meatless
You can add additional non-menu items to the grocery list in the iPhone app. It even has a voice recognition option so you can add items without typing. When I spoke "organic milk" it not only added it correctly, and in the correct category on the list, but also suggested the item was on sale at the Tom Thumb I selected as my favorite store. OMG LOVE!!

Cons:

Side items are chosen separately from the main dish so it's up to you to figure out how to pair things. This is actually just fine with me, because I rarely used the side item recommendations with E-Mealz. (side note: vegetarians don't eat coleslaw for side-dishes at every meal, E-Mealz)

Yet to see whether the recipes this system provides are any good taste-wise. I will be making two of them this week and I'll let you know! So far I am in love with it and I am seriously considering purchasing the Premium version.

NOTE: As an ad network affiliate, I get something like $1 if you actually buy the Premium version by clicking one of my links.

Green living: swapping kids' clothes

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

You might remember that one of my 2012 To Do's was to move toward monetizing this blog. Of course, this can't happen without advertisers. I'd like to point you today toward an excellent service that several of my friends have tried and recommended to me, and who just happen to be advertising through one of the networks I've recently discovered! Please note that I do get something like $1 if you choose to use this service for your own family through my link. However, I would not feature any service on this blog that I do not feel that I could conscientiously recommend. Thanks for your support!

thredUP - Kids Clothing Swap

The thredUP community - where moms swap kids clothes and toys. It’s easier than ever to hand-down outgrown children’s items and earn cashback. Use FREE USPS boxes or Concierge bags to de-clutter without leaving the house. Earn up to $10 for each great box you sell and up to $20 for each bag you stuff and return to us. Pick new boxes that start at just $9 and come full of great kids stuff. The average thredUP box has more than 15 items. It’s the best kids clothing deal anywhere!

How does it work?

Gather all the clothing or books your child no longer reads, and list them by the boxful on thredUP.
Sign-up for free and thredUP will send you complimentary empty USPS boxes (if you don’t want to wait, go grab them for free at your local post office).
When another mom picks your box, thredUP lets you know. thredUP generates the shipping label and scheduldes home pick-up, so you can send without leaving the house.

Green take: reuse

It’s even easier than Goodwill and you’ll send your family’s once loved clothing and books directly to another child who wants them, and you'll earn credits for boxes of gently used items that will be sent directly to you in the sizes and gender you specify.

What I've heard: several of my mom friends have done this and been very happy with the amount of clothing they get in exchange for sending theirs in. One mom said the box she received was "packed completely full" and that she was surprised how many clothes fit into it!

Sign up today!

Barnes & Noble: I'm sorry your Nook sucks, I still love you!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Lately I've found myself at Barnes &' Noble a lot. For one thing, it's the closest, least crowded place with fast, free Wifi near my house. Plus, they don't seem to mind if I bring my own coffee into their store. I've found myself there on most of my Mother's Day Out days when I need to do some focused writing.

They also have a great kids' area. Yesterday when I forgot it was a state holiday, we couldn't go to the library so we headed to Barnes &' Noble where Little Sir played with their Thomas the Tank Engine train table for at least 20 minutes straight (which is a record for him).

This past weekend, Christian and I were blessed with an overnight date night getaway by my parents, who came into town to stay with the kids. After we had an early sushi dinner, we found ourselves at Barnes &' Noble looking at books and reading things to each other. We used to love to do this while we were dating.

While we were there, I got to try out several of the demo Nook reader options. I have a Kindle and Christian has an iPad, so I guess I expected the Nooks to work similarly. At least, that's what I thought I'd heard.

Boy, was I disappointed! From what I could gather without the help of anyone at the store (the first time there was no one around and the second time there was an employee there who made it clear that she had no idea how these things worked, and couldn't actually make a sale either, even though another customer was trying to buy one. I guess that employee was just required to stand beside the Nooks?), there appear to be three levels of Nook: the SimpleTouch, the Color, and the Tablet. I could not tell the difference between the Color and the Tablet by playing with them. Apparently the difference is the memory and the additional capabilities of the Tablet.

The touchscreen response of the Nook Color and Tablet both seemed seriously under par in comparison to iPad and iPhones. Half the time, no matter how hard you tapped on something, the screen didn't respond or it responded by overcompensating. Christian and I both tested this poor response on multiple demos by attempting to play the Ms PacMan game that came on the machine. It was literally impossible to play the game with such a poor touch response.

In all 3 of the models, the usability of the menu navigation was terrible. At least with the SimpleTouch, the navigation was a lot like the Kindle so I was able to figure out how to least read a book. But with the Color and the Tablet, I never could figure out how to close an app that I was using. There was no "X" inside the app and the "home" button only took you to different parts of the app itself, never to the home screen or a menu.

I would like to give you a more in-depth analysis of the Nook models but honestly, I gave up after about 10 minutes. If I have to spend more than 10 minutes figuring out how something works, or if it requires me to take a class or read a manual, that is not a well designed device. I'm afraid that owning Apple products has spoiled me in that regard. I know that easy-to-use, flexible products are possible so I am not willing to waste my time learning more confusing products.

If you have a Nook, feel free to defend it but for me, I'm happy with my Kindle, even if it is a 1st generation model.

And Barnes &' Noble: I still love you, despite your inability to create a good e-reader. I will see you again on Thursday!

7 Quick Takes Friday #32

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

Have I mentioned that we are addicted to Downton Abbey here at our house? When my husband and his brother (who stayed with us from Christmas to New Year's) first started watching a 19th-century period drama on PBS Masterpiece I made fun of them (nicely) because it seemed funny that two adult men were watching that genre nonstop. Then I started watching it and it sucked me in. It is amazing! I love how complex the characters are. The acting is fantastic and the storylines are compelling. I started following the #DowntonPBS hashtag and found this hilarious but true tweet:

--- 2 ---

I've been debating whether it is OK to share the information that I lost my part-time job on the internets, since my part time job was in social media. But there you go. No more part-time job. The company I was working for was bought by a larger company and in the expansion they aren't wanting to retain any part-time employees. I couldn't take on any more hours because I got paid so little that if I hired childcare for the times I would be working more, the babysitter would get paid more than I would make. No way am I paying someone to work! I already work here at home for free!

--- 3---

My parents are coming to watch the kids on Saturday night! I am so excited. We are going to pay all kinds of money for some really nice room where I will hopefully sleep more than 4 consecutive hours. I might also have a bath! Woo hoo! So exciting!

--- 4 ---

I am very much enjoying the space at the new house and so are the kids. Sometimes we don't even go somewhere during the day like we used to EVERY SINGLE DAY because there is room for them to run around and burn off their energy here upstairs, downstairs, and in the back yard.

--- 5 ---

This week BlogHer announced their Call For Volunteers and I applied, like, 5 minutes after it was announced. This is the only way I'm getting to BlogHer this year - if I can mic wrangle or be a reg desk or liveblogger volunteer. No way can I pay for it, and since my part-time job is gone, they won't be paying like they did last year, either. Now, who wants to be my roommate?!

--- 6 ---

Still poo-free and now my hair feels completely normal. It's soft and manageable again. Every morning I just look at it and determine if I need to use any Aveda oil or a tad of baking soda or just rinse with apple cider vinegar. That's all I ever use on it!

--- 7 ---

Seriously, only 4 people have taken my Facebook poll? Please let me know if this blog has influenced you in any way, as I continue to use the data to work on monetizing in an inconspicuous way!

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

My fave kids natural cold remedies

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

So many of my mom friends have Tweeted and posted Facebook updates about sick kids lately! We had our share of it for sure, fortunately before Christmas. There are few things sadder than a snotty, sad baby.

I've been recommending a few of my favorite kids' natural cold prevention and healing remedies to friends and thought I'd share them here as well.

Elderberry syrup - there are lots of forms of elderberry, a friend gave me a syrup made with local honey and dried elderberries (which you can buy loose at a food market). There's a video online that shows you how to make syrup from dried elderberries. It's tastes really good so my toddler loves it. For the baby, since she cannot have honey yet, I bought some straight elderberry syrup online. Elderberry can work as a preventative and a cough treatment. I give it to the kids in the morning if I heard them cough overnight. You can give 1 tsp/hour if needed, but usually by the second teaspoon they're better!

Wish Garden's Kids Kick-It Immunity drops - I get this at our local health food store, but you can also get it at Sprouts or order it online. One of the main ingredients is elderflower as well, but it also contains echinacea and other herbs. The toddler gets two droppers and the baby gets half a dropper. I have put it into the toddler's sippy cup before when he refuses to take it. I give this to them during cold/flu season before they go to Mother's Day Out or hang out with a lot of other kids, to boost their immunity. I also think that it significantly reduced the amount of time they were sick last time.

Kid's Cold Care tea - I make this tea, refrigerate it to make it cold, and put it into the toddler's sippy cup. Theoretically, I could also put it into the baby's sippy but she doesn't drink anything but water at the moment. I usually give this only to treat a cold that is starting, not as a preventative. My toddler also likes this, he calls it "juice". I also buy this locally, it is at most health food stores such as Whole Paycheck and also Sprouts. I have seen it online in huge quantities as well.

Other bloggers' remedies:

Ashleigh of Thankfully Thrifty on natural cold remedies has a few others that I haven't tried yet but have heard a lot of good things about, like briar rose.
I have tried this homemade cough syrup recipe from Red and Honey and found it to be easy to make and not bad tasting. It really smells gross, but you can ignore that pretty easily.

Any that I have missed that you love?

No poo: color treated hair and hair cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I've been "no poo" (without shampoo) for over a week now! I've got some helpful new information for those of you who have asked questions, so I'm going to have to combine two topics in this post: getting a "no poo" haircut and "no poo" for color treated hair.

How do you do "no poo" when going to get your hair cut?
When I started this experiment, I knew that I'd need a haircut soon. It was almost enough to make me delay the whole thing. The friend who originally inspired me to try "no poo" tried convincing her regular hairstylist not to use 'poo at her last cut, but the stylist wouldn't do it. I've heard that others have had the same issue. Of course, a stylist makes a great markup on selling hair product, so they're going to be reluctant to skip the products. Based on my own experience and the experiences of others, plus a little "guessing", here are my suggestions on how to get a "no poo" hair cut.

Best case scenario: ask your stylist if you can arrive at the appointment "already shampooed". Then, of course, you'd only just wet your hair or use your baking soda/apple cider vinegar as you usually would when you shower, and go immediately to the appointment without drying or using any products. I think this would work best if you have an ongoing relationship with your stylist. I used to come "already shampooed" all the time when I was in college to save on the shampooing charge.
Tell them the truth about "no poo". I think this method would work best if you've been doing "no poo" for a long time (several months) and are satisfied with the results - you've got your mixtures set and everything is working great. That way your beautiful hair can speak for itself and you might not get much pushback. It's hard to argue with great hair!
Tell them you're doing a detox or an experiment. Since I was only 8 days into my "no poo" journey, I didn't have great hair to show off. My hair still looked and felt a little wonky so I had to admit what I was up to, but I didn't want them to try and talk me out of it before my experiment was completed. Letting them know that it might be only a short-term experiment helped them understand the condition of my hair was only temporary (I hope?). I actually told them about you guys (my readers) and said that I could not possibly use shampoo right now since so many people online were reading about this experiment!
Be prepared to compromise. My compromise was allowing them to use conditioner. So yes, I used conditioner one day, 8 days into the "no poo"! But, conditioner was only used on the ends of the hair, not the scalp, which is what should supposedly be regulating the oil production in my hair during the "no poo" experiment. Also, half the ends that were conditioned were then cut off!
Be open to their suggestions. My hair has been feeling much drier than everyone online reported at this point in their "no poo" journey. My stylist's advisor was able to suggest a few tweaks and a solution to this dryness that did not require shampoo. So even though you may get some pushback, and your stylist may be horrified by "no poo", keep listening! They have a great deal of knowledge to share!

Can I do "no poo" with color treated hair?
I am embarrassed to say that it did not even occur to me that my hair might react differently because I highlight it semi-regularly. I will say that my hair was much drier than everyone online said theirs was. Most people seemed to struggle with too much oil, but not me! I'd also noticed that when I blow dried my hair, it took much longer than usual. It used to take me 10 minutes or so to blow dry, but since I've been doing "no poo", I'd dry it for 15 minutes and still find wet spots.

I have the answers to these problems and hopefully some solutions, thanks to Brittany and Sue and the Aveda Institute of Dallas, where I get my hair cut. Brittany is the student who cuts my hair, and Sue was her advisor/teacher. Sue knew all kinds of things! These are the things she told me:

Problem: Color treated hair is more porous. Baking soda is a substance that makes things more porous. So you can imagine how fragile the baking soda can make color treated hair. This is also why it started taking so long to dry - my hair was just sucking up all the water and holding it in like a sponge.

Solution 1: If you have color treated hair, you don't want to use baking soda every day (like I was doing... oops!). Not even every-other-day. Probably more like once a week, at the most.

Solution 2: Keep up with the apple cider vinegar! Sue even suggested the ACV before she knew that was part of the "no poo" routine. So what I'm doing now is wetting my hair in the shower but only rinsing with the ACV. I haven't used baking soda at all since last week.

Solution 3: Use some kind of moisturizing oil on the scalp. Since I have a flaky scalp and the baking soda wasn't helping, Sue suggested that I massage Aveda's Balancing Infusion for Dry Skin into my scalp regularly. Because it's typically used on the face it doesn't block pores, and it won't lay heavily on top of hair to make it greasy. There are also a lot of other oils you could try, such as argan oil. I have also read about a lot of "no poo" folks using coconut oil, which is much cheaper, I'm sure. Whatever you use, just put a few drops in your palms and work it into your scalp before getting into the shower. I like to let the steam from the shower help the oil soak in for a while before rinsing with the apple cider vinegar.

So there you have it - my tweaked "no poo" routine for color-treated hair!
I started using the Balancing Infusion oil on my scalp and haven't used baking soda since last week. I rinse with apple cider vinegar at a ratio of 1/4 cup ACV to 1 cup water almost every day. I immediately saw an improvement in my hair. It's not nearly as dry!

How's your "no poo" going?

7 Quick Takes Friday #31

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

I was originally going to postpone today's 7 Quick Takes in lieu of a "no poo" update, but after going to Aveda Institute for a haircut yesterday I have more tweaking to do, and more findings to write about. There will be a full update either this weekend or Monday.

--- 2 ---

Yesterday I finally bought this laundry tote, and it is going to change my life.

It can hold 3 LOADS OF LAUNDRY at once, which is perfect for taking clean folded clothes up and down the stairs. I love Real Simple magazine and also this tote. If someone told me that magazine clubbed baby seals on the head to publish it, I would probably still buy it.

--- 3---

We recently discovered that we need a full size box spring for our guest bed but I refuse to pay $200 for just box springs. That seems ridiculous. I have been looking on Craigslist but we don't have a vehicle big enough to transport it if we found one. So there is nowhere that delivers used box springs for less than $200?! Maybe we should just buy a cheap platform bed instead.

Related: I would like to apologize to our recent houseguests who found themselves falling downward through our guest bed mattress in the middle of the night.

--- 4 ---

Possibly because I've been pregnant so much of the last few years, I keep forgetting about Happy Fun Week until it surprises me. This time I only had a few disposable pads in the house. When those were gone, I just never got to the store. I'm most of the way through using only organic tampons, the Softcup, and the cloth pads I got from Lunapads or made myself. I didn't realize I could do this without using any disposable pads! It does take some getting used to.

--- 5 ---

My in-laws gave me the Otterbox Defender iPhone case for Christmas. It promises to make my phone invincible. Which I need, considering I have dropped two previous phones in the toilet and the bathtub. This destruction has got to stop!

Unfortunately, the Otterbox makes the phone as bulky as a brick. I can no longer fit it in my jeans back pocket while I chase the kids around the house. For the first week I just set my phone nearby wherever I was, but I kept leaving it upstairs or downstairs and I'd hear it ring and not get there in time, or it just wasn't nearby when I needed to jot something down or look something up or text someone.

The Otterbox came with one of those "phone holsters". You know, the ones that clip onto your belt that the IT guys wear and look like complete geeks?

I am now wearing that holster. I have been wearing it all day. I look like a complete moron, but I can always find my phone.

--- 6 ---

Another thing we want to do: get some chickens. We found out recently that chickens are actually allowed in Richardson. We can put a bunch of chickens in our backyard. I cannot imagine what could go wrong with this idea!

--- 7 ---

I need to stop staying up so late, it makes getting up at our usual time horrible.

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Cloth diaper Thurs: Thirsties Duo

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:42:00 +0000

I started Cloth Diaper Thursday to review all the diapers I received at BlogHer 2011. The Thirsties Duo is the last diaper in this series!
~~~~
My daughter, Little Lady, has finally reached the weight she needs to be to help me test out the Thirsties Duo* I received from Kelly Wels at BlogHer 2011 last year! I was excited about this because the diaper is sooo pretty.

We have been having some issues with Little Lady leaking through ALL of our stash. I've been scouring cloth diaper sites and emailing friends, but all I can think is that right now her legs are so thin compare to her tubby tummy that I can't get most of our diapers' legs to close tightly enough to prevent side leaks.

We've had to resort to using only our snaps diapers, which hold the legs more tightly. The one exception: the Thirsties Duo! Because it has double leg gussets and extra elastic in the front under the tummy, it's one of the only velcro-closure diapers in our stash right now that doesn't leak. Bonus that it's one of the cutest, too!

The Thirsties Duo is unique because it is a pocket diaper that could also be used as a cover. Either stuff the pocket with an insert or... don't! You could just use a prefold and use the Duo as a cover.

One note about sizing: although this diaper comes with snaps that adjust the rise, it is also a sized diaper. Usually diapers with snapped rises are one-size, but the Thirsties Duo comes in two sizes. Size 1 is for 6-18 lbs and Size 2 is 18-40 lbs. I received a Size 2, which is why I had to wait until Little Lady was about 9 months old to start using it.

Pros:

Two sizes of diaper means your toddler won't outgrow the Size 2 diaper until potty training
Love the double leg gussets!
Inside of the diaper is super-soft cotton, not polyester like most of our pocket dipes
Comes in so many cute prints!
Adjustable rise
Extra elastic in the front of the diaper holds it flush to the baby's tummy even if the baby is tubby, like Little Lady
The pocket opens on both the front and back of the diaper, so the insert is certain to come out in the wash, meaning you won't have to touch it to pull it out before washing!
Can be used as a pocket diaper or a cover only

Cons:

The sizing does mean that you'd have to buy the diaper twice as your baby grows
Not sure how you would go about replacing the leg elastic if it gets worn

Overall, I have been very impressed with this diaper! I would love to have been able to use it earlier, but now I know we'll be using it until Little Lady is potty trained for sure. Thank you so much, Thirsties!

Rating: 5 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the Thirsties Duo for free at BlogHer 2011 by a blogger sponsored by Thirsties. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!
* Links to Kelly's Closet are affiliate links. I get, like, 10 cents if you order from them. Oooo.

Please take my poll!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0000

As part of #4 in my To Do List for 2012, I need to collect more information from my current regular readers. This one is easy, it's a Yes/No question on a poll on this blog's Facebook page! If you are on Facebook (I KNOW, some of you actually aren't! WHAT?!), all you have to do is click this link to my poll. I'll even give you a preview of the question:

Have you ever made a purchase or avoided a product based on recommendation/information from Conscientious Confusion blog?

Yes
No

Take the poll now

Thanks, readers!

To Do List 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:09:00 +0000

Here it is, my To Do List for 2012
One day late, but since today is a holiday for most folks, it counts.

1. Eat better.
I always used to be such a healthy eater. Even moreso when I was pregnant with Little Sir. But during my pregnancy with Little Lady, I started to slip. I just craved sugar and carbs nonstop! After I gave birth, having to keep up with both kids has resulted in just grabbing whatever I can find that neither of the kids has finished. Very rarely do I have the opportunity to fix lunch for myself or remain seated during a meal that everyone else is eating. And since my meal planning has been in the toilet since we moved, what's there to grab is NOT healthy. I need to be consistent with healthy snacks.

To make this a little more measurable, I'll just say that I want to get back to eating at least 5-7 whole fruits and veggies per day.

2. Resume meal planning.
We save money and we eat more healthfully when I do my meal planning. I need to get back on this bandwagon. This one is pretty measurable too - I'm either doing it or I'm not.

3. Regular exercise.
I want to aim for 3 days a week. In my dream world, I would figure out how to attend classes at a yoga studio again. My second best would be to join the YMCA because I hear they have great childcare. But it costs $60/month to join the YMCA. There are a lot of workout-at-home options but my kids don't always nap at the same time and when they do, I have 1 hour of part-time work per day that I have to complete for pay. So this is going to take some figuring-out.

4. Attempt monetization of this blog
This item is a blog post in itself. I've talked to a few people about the possibility of joining an ad network or two. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of you sweet readers for me to make much income off of that. In fact, most networks won't even take someone with numbers as low as mine. Every time I go to BlogHer, my readership increases, but I don't think I'll be going this year since it's not paid for. We'll see. But I need to start aiming for income here.

"Attempt monetization" is not a very measurable goal, but let's just say I'll research and apply for some ad networks and work on ways that I could increase my readership. Such as participating in blogger link-ups.

5. Start potty learning with my son
Well this is self-explanatory. Don't worry, I won't blog too much about it. I have heard it is a special kind of hell that only lasts about a year. Just in time to start all over with my daughter. Whee!!

6. Decorate the kids' rooms
They are pretty nearly empty right now since they've never had this much space before. We're working on an almost-zero budget, so this has got to be creative. Thank goodness for Pinterest.

7. Plant a garden
I am so excited that we have the space to plant things this year. I might not be very good at this since I seem to have a black thumb when it comes to indoor plants, at least. But I want to try.

I've run out of inspiration or motivation, so we'll just stick with these 7 for now.
What are your "To Do's"? Are there any I've left off?

2011 Question Meme

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Everybody's doing it: the year-in-review questionnaire!
Links to other bloggers who have inspired this post: A'Dell, Jennie, and Lauren.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Quit a full-time job without plans to find another full-time job.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did a post on my To Do List from 2011. I'm planning on organizing a To Do List for 2012 at some point.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I did, Sandra, Olga, my friend Rebecca, and half LS's playgroup. Everyone is having second children. But I beat most of them too it with my children who are one day short of 16 months apart. Yay me.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
We weren't personally close, but Christian's paternal grandmother died the day that Little Lady was born. We were not able to travel to her funeral in Arkansas due to the birth of Little Lady. I am sad about that and I feel like it was my fault even though I was unable to control the fact that I went into labor.

Also our cat died, which is in no way similar to a grandparent dying but it was sad and I am sorry she was in so much pain and we did not know how to help her.

5. What countries did you visit?
With two children under the age of 2? Are you freaking kidding?

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
More sleep. Yes, that would be the most awesome thing ever.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My daughter's birth. Cause you just don't go around forgetting unmedicated childbirth.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Keeping two children alive on my own during the day. I kind of think I should get some kind of prize for how much laundry I do as well.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not realizing that our lease was unbreakable before we bought this house.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. I am thankful for that!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Our Secret Santas. Thank you.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The highly-paid, giant children we call our political figures.

14. Where did most of your money go?
This house, our former landlord, and the new renter to get out of this lease.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Um? I don't get all that excited about things.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" because the ladies at BlogHer 2011 did a flash mob to it!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Probably happier overall, striving to work on contentment.
b) Thinner or fatter? Thinner. But not on purpose. I need to gain muscle mass and lose the pooch.
c) Richer or poorer? Poorer. Oh dear, sooooo much poorer. But still happy, SO THERE!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleep, work out, read. These are unrealistic wishes because my kids don't let me do any of these things. But still, I can wish!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Freakin' laundry. But since we cloth diaper it's kind of a given, so I realize that is unrealistic.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my little family, here in our new house. Then we hosted both sides of our family and some extended family for post-Christmas get-togethers. At one point 10 adults and 3 kids ate here, and we had 3 adults and 1 child overnight. It was so awesome to be able to fit that many people comfortably in our house!

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
With my new Little Lady!

22. What was your favorite TV program?
We started watching Parks and Recreation on NetFlix and we really love it! I think we like it more than Community now. We are fickle that way.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't really hate people, it's not in my nature. I do get really annoyed at the behavior of certain people, but I don't take it personally. I got really annoyed at the landlord situation. There is one other person I have been annoyed with off and on, but if it goes further I will talk to that person directly.

24. What was the best book you read?
I haven't had the chance to read much but I did get to read Water For Elephants and I really enjoyed it. Also, Tina Fey's book Bossypants. That was the funniest book!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That I no longer have the time or ability to listen to music. I only bought one album and I don't even think I listened to the whole thing. I listen to nothing but children's music in the car and I can't listen to music anywhere outside the car.

26. What did you want and get?
A peaceful birth and a place to live that has more room for the kids.

27. What did you want and not get?
I would have loved to have some dates with my husband without the kids this year, but babysitters are so expensive. Oh well. Maybe we will have a few in 2012.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I have only seen 2 movies in the theater since my children were born (babysitters being so expensive...) but we saw lots of things on NetFlix. I can't remember if there were any that were particularly great.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 33. I can't remember what we did, I was 9 months pregnant. I had Little Lady one week later.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had been able to take care of myself more - had more than one pedicure, kept up with waxing, etc.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
1. Pregnant. Again.
2. Post-pregnant
3. Having lost too much weight so that nothing fits but too broke to buy new clothes.

32. What kept you sane?
Probably my husband and God, because it's definitely a fine line sometimes!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don't really follow celebrities and I definitely don't get crushes on them.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I was glad that Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed, and also that we are out of Iraq. I really never thought we would end that war.

35. Who did you miss?
I guess I missed our cat somewhat.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
The two new families in our community group and a friend of a friend I met at a playdate.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
Money or lack of money does not provide security or take it away.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."
(see #25... this is Little Sir's favorite song besides "The Rainbow Connection")

Going "no poo"

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:22:00 +0000

I've been thinking about it for a while now: I am going to stop washing my hair with shampoo.

I have read a lot about the "no poo" method for hair, where you stop using traditional shampoo and conditioner and instead "wash" with baking soda and "condition" with apple cider vinegar (not white vinegar, as pictured above). As I read about it over the years, I saw a lot of people complain that it doesn't work unless you have fairly curly hair. Since my hair is pretty much stick straight, I had assumed it would not work for me.

Then my friend Rebecca (who is, like, my medicine woman!) tried it. She has hair that is straight, just like mine. Her hair looks great! You can't tell at all. She said that sometimes it takes up to 3 months for the hair to regulate, but that's OK with me. Her point is that we can always just start washing with shampoo again any time we feel like it.

So, I am on Day 2 of Not Shampooing My Hair! Day 1 (yesterday) I think I used too much baking soda and it got super crunchy in the back. Christian said it looked completely normal but the crunchiness drove me a little crazy. Today I used less baking soda and a ton of vinegar, and that seem to balance it out. It's much softer than Day 1, although still kinda crunchy-ish. I don't have any greasiness yet. My hair looks and smells normal.

I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Looking back on 2011 To Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Thanks to Jennie at She Likes Purple, you might remember that I made a 2011 To Do List in lieu of resolutions. Frankly, I forgotten about most of it until I saw her post on how hers faired.
Let's see how I did on my list this year:

2011 To Do List

Complete redesign of this blog (already in the works), including logo and business cards. I am basing the design on the work of an awesome sculptor who has graciously given me his permission to use his work as inspiration for a graphic designer to build on. I can't wait for you all to see it! Not sure yet if I'll have to convert to Wordpress DONE! Did not convert to WordPress. I love what my husband did!
Get all the cross-stitch pieces people have given me re-framed into corresponding/compatible frames that also mesh with our modern-ish decor, giving them the ability to be displayed in main rooms of the house rather than stored away somewhere. Um, nope. Still have not done this. 2012?
Rebuild my wardrobe once I return to my pre-pregnancy size. I've been pregnant or post-pregnant for over 2 years straight now, so I own hardly any non-maternity clothing - and what I have is 2 years behind. Time to start from scratch! No again. We kind of ran out of money, what with going to one income and buying a house.
Keep growing out my hair. ~~Nobody let me cut it all off again, I don't care what I say!!! What was I thinking?? It's pretty long by now!~~ Not wanting to cut it off - Little Lady loves to play with it!
Continue blog posting and Twittering regularly, despite whatever life changes we are going through. Long silences are bad for traffic! Plus, having this non-mommy blog forces me to think about non-mommy things when the mommy-ing gets overwhelming. I think I have done pretty well, especially NaBloPoMo!
Keep myself open to alternative part-time career opportunities that do NOT involve sales. ~~Maybe social media? Maybe an off-shoot of something blogging related? I am open to ideas and suggestions!~~ Well, I did get a part-time social media job this year. Not sure how good of a fit it is for me right now, but it works. Will have a to-do related to blogging in 2012.
Consider entering into sponsorship partnerships with companies I love, to further the blogging thing. I don't know much about this stuff. I am not promising anything. Um, no. I am still to chicken to do this. My numbers are so low that I am embarrassed to share them with advertisers for fear of being laughed at.
~~Figure out how to babyproof our cabinets which have no handles.~~ Did that and then moved.
Turn all my blog posts on the family blog from 2009 and 2010 into physical books using Blog2Print.com - this is the only way our family will ever own a "scrapbook" and it's so much easier because I've already done the work! Did it! Love my books! Will be doing a 2011 book too!

So, that's where last year stands. Stay tuned for next year's "To Do" list!
What's yours?

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:11:00 +0000

Our family is excited about celebrating Christmas here at home, hosting our various family members and celebrating the amazing Christmas miracles we've been blessed with. Since our original Secret Santas and Christmas miracle, a second Secret Santa has also visited us with more gifts for the kids. We are humbled and blessed. There are lots of gifts under the tree for our kids, despite the fact that we didn't spend anything. We are thankful for the blessings that have been provided for us. It does make me wonder about why I don't hear these Santas coming and going outside my house, though!

One thing I love about not traveling on Christmas Eve is that we get to attend services at Watermark (our church). Little Lady is currently running a fever from either teething or a cold, so we couldn't put her in childcare. Rather than be discouraged, as I have in the past, we decided to just bring her in and sit way up high in the upper level. She enjoyed hanging onto the rail (very secure, don't worry!) for a while and then took a nice little nap while Todd spoke.

You might remember that our first Secret Santas gave us some cash to go see Santa Claus in the beautiful outfits they gave the children. We went to see Santa at A Real Bookstore in Allen a few weeks ago, and here's the picture:

Thank you to our Secret Santas, who are "the hands and feet" of the God that we are celebrating!
I feel like this has been the least hectic and the most meaningful Christmas that I can remember. I hope that we can continue to take this spirit of humility and peace into future Christmas seasons and teach it to our children.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thank you for following along with our journey!

Our Christmas miracles

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:30:00 +0000

I have been trying all day to think of how to write this post that would express how thankful we are for the wonderful blessings that have been provided to us in the last 24 hours. I know that not all of my readers believe in God, but I have to say that for me, I see God in all of this. It's probably trendy to attribute blessings to God, especially at this time of year, but I have seen blessings like this all my life - enough to believe that it's not just random and that God is not just a great big Santa Claus in the sky. I don't know if He gives us trials so that we can trust Him, or so to show us that we are powerless and He is powerful. I feel like it's probably both.

If you read this blog much, you know we have been facing some tricky times with our unbreakable lease and dual rent/mortgage after buying our new home in November - so much that we cancelled gifts this Christmas. We were amazingly blessed by a Secret Santa who brought us wonderful gifts we can give to the children, for them to see Santa (which they did - pic to come soon, I need to scan it!), and a gift card toward our Christmas meal (got it today!).

In the last week, a potential renter has come along. We are very thankful that it is someone Christian knows, so the house would be helpful in reducing this person's commute and hopefully beneficial to both parties. The only catch is that, in order to make it affordable for this person, we would have to pay their rent for January plus an incentive equal to one more month. This person would move at the end of December (we've already paid December even though the house is empty), meaning that we'd get out of the lease after paying 2.5 months rent while someone else is living there. There is also an additional fee for breaking the lease. The total amount was very daunting for us, but just barely workable. We knew it was our only shot, because the other potential tenants have just not been working out in the last month. So we took a deep breath and prepared to let go of pretty much everything. We actually felt OK with this. My husband, for all his theological interest in unbelief, actually has an amazing faith. He encouraged me that we would be OK and I agreed.

As soon as we had decided to move forward with this arrangement, we received a very generous gift from some friends at our church. Which might seem weird, except that it's sort of something we believe in. There's a passage in Acts 2 of the Bible that explains how the early believers in Jesus came together and shared everything they had - people who had more gave to people who had less, and that way everyone had enough. You know, kind of like socialism! (that was a joke) When we were dual-income-no-kids, there were times that we gave similar gifts to our friends. It felt weird to be on the receiving end at first, but I remember being on the giving end and I know that we'll be there again one day. I can't wait!

Shortly after that miracle, another miracle came along in the form of a bonus for Christian's work that was much larger than we anticipated. We really do not count on bonuses or even expect them, so this was amazing. Especially in this economy. We are blessed that he works for a company who is doing very well at this time.

We are in awe of God's amazing goodness. I would like to thank each one of you for your prayers, and even all your help in spreading the word to rent our house. So many little encouragements along the way.

We definitely do not deserve all that has been given to us. But isn't that really the message of this season? We do not deserve the baby in the manager who was born just to die in our place. And yet... there He is.

Thank You.

Pinterest project: bathroom baskets

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

I cannot believe I did it, but I did: I completed a Pinterest project!
We don't have a ton of storage in our master bathroom in this new house, so this basket project was perfect (this is the original pic of whoever posted it):

Source: myhomeideas.com via Jenny on Pinterest

I already had some curtain clips from a previous house, and even one of the baskets. All I had to buy were 2 new baskets and the curtain rods.
Here's the final product:

The picture looks like one of the bars is bowed, for some reason, but it isn't (I blame my iPhone camera).
I think it looks really neat and it gives us a lot more storage!

7 Quick Takes Friday #30

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:11:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

We slacked off on the unpacking for a while, but I'm getting re-motivated since pretty much all our family will be visiting or staying with us at some point starting in the next week. Fortunately, my BFF Millie is the first to visit and she is bringing me LOTS OF WINE!

--- 2 ---

Which leads me to ask: What is wrong with you, Dallas?! We were supposed to get a Trader Joe's some time this year but apparently the city has been bickering and negotiating and overall no one has decided where to put it. This is why I am having to have a friend from OUT OF STATE bring me Two Buck Chuck. Get on the ball, Trader Joe's! I am just sitting here, waiting to give you money!

--- 3---

I am selling things on eBay and Craigslist. Sometimes when I unpack I realize I need to get rid of even more stuff than when I packed. Also, we could really use the money. Anyone want a fencing jacket, an armoire, or some gender-neutral, eco-friendly nursery decorations?

--- 4 ---

The house has still not rented. We've had several people say they are going to rent it but they never follow through or maybe they are putting it off. I continue to vacillate between being OK that we are going to go completely broke and being terrified about it. I know that the correct response is to trust and have faith. But sometimes seeing everything slip away slowly kinda freaks me out.

--- 5 ---

I am excited about some possible blogging opportunities in the upcoming year. However, they will require a lot more writing time and I am still trying to figure out how to do that without having to pay for babysitting, since I don't make enough off the writing to cover the cost of childcare.

--- 6 ---

Oh no the baby is waking up.

--- 7 ---

Yes, she is up. Have a good week!

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Sneaky eating: Lentil and Carrot Spice Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:14:00 +0000

Before I had kids, I always said that I would NOT be hiding veggies and fruit in food - I would make those kids eat fruit and veggies and learn to like it! Because I was so wise in the ways of children.
HAHAHAHAHA!

Little Sir actually loves all fruit and will willingly (although sporadically) eat a good deal of veggies. However, he does not eat: meat of any kind, soy, or beans of any kind. Where does he get his protein, you might ask? If you find that out, please let me know. Maybe dairy? (All the natural mamas out there are having heart attacks - truly hardcore "green" and "natural" people say dairy is the devil.) I don't know how he isn't dead, actually. Possibly the PediaSure we sneak into his milk helps (and the natural mamas have now left my blog... cause yeah, I know that stuff has sugar).

Here is a recipe I got from my mom in which I hide lentil beans. He really does like muffins so this seems to work well and it they are very yummy!

Lentil and Carrot Spice Muffins

1/2 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c. oil

1 c. lentil puree****

1 c. shredded carrots (I shredded mine in a food processor)

1 c. flour

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

Mix all moist ingredients. Mix all drys. Add together till incorporated. Depending on how watery your lentil puree was (or wasn't), you might need to add a little bit of apple juice to make the batter muffin-consistency. Spray tins or baking pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.

***Lentil Puree Rinse and drain a can of lentils (original recipe said 19 oz but I used 15 oz and that was perfect but I had to add additional juice to the batter); puree in processor with 1/4 c. water till like baby food, adding water as needed. Can use fruit juice if desired.

Our Secret Santas

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Last night I was washing up bottles and sippys downstairs while Christian was bathing Little Sir upstairs. Little Lady had a really drippy nose and hasn't felt well for a few days so she was already asleep. I guess it was around 8pm-ish when the doorbell rang! It startled me a little because it was so dark outside. When I went to the door, there was no one there but there was this big red box with a gold bow!

Imagine this is on our doorstep, I didn't take a picture until it was already inside

I looked up and down the street but didn't see any cars. It was pretty cold, though, so I didn't try too hard. I figured if they wanted me to catch them they wouldn't have left. Christian said, "What if it is full of bees?!". I can only assume he watches some kind of weird killer bee movies on TV after I go to bed at night.

I brought it inside and once Little Sir finished his bath, we let him help us open it. Inside the box was a note that said, "The Bradford Family: Have yourself a Merry little Christmas in your new home. PS Open the boxes now :) You may need what is inside when you do pictures with Santa. Love, Secret Santas". There was also a Sprouts gift card (a local supermarket that I really like, right near our house, it carries a lot of nice natural and organic stuff often cheaper than Whole Foods). There was even a little envelope with some extra cash that said, "For a picture with Santa? Or maybe just for baking cookies :) Your call.". I am DEFINITELY going to do one or both of those things.

Here is a list of the things inside the box: a Christmas dress for Little Lady, a Christmas shirt for Little Sir, a doll for Little Lady (I am so excited about this! I wish she had been awake! I should wait until Christmas to give it to her, though!!), a Melissa '&' Doug musical set, a Melissa '&' Doug pizza set, a set of crayons and coloring pad, and the rest of the greeting cards that the note was written on.

Since Little Sir was with us when we opened it, we did let him open up the pizza. However, he will most likely forget the crayons and coloring pad so I am going to wrap those up to put under the tree for Christmas. IF we are lucky and he forgot about the musical instruments, I am going to wrap those up too. He has a scary good memory sometimes, though! It's OK because I have some BlogHer swag left over that I was going to wrap up for him but I didn't have anything for Little Lady.

I feel like we are so blessed by our friends. Maybe I will find out who it was, or maybe not. I am almost sure it is someone we know from church. Which does not narrow things down at all since most of our good friends go to Watermark. Still, I believe this is a God thing. He knows what we need and what we want and He works through others. It is humbling to think that we would be recipients when there are so many other more needy families out there. But I also know that we have done similar things for our friends in the past and how much we loved to be able to do things for them. And we look forward to being able to do it again! It is a great big circle of giving and sharing and that is how it should be in a family.

So, to whoever you guys are: we love you, and thank you for loving us! We are so thankful and excited! I am loving the Sprouts gift card too, because it turns out I will be cooking Christmas dinner on Christmas Day so it will come in handy! Thank you!!
{See the YouTube video of us opening the box here - it's over 6 minutes long, so beware}

Merry Christmas, everyone!

How to subscribe to my blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

I've had a few friends tell me that since Google Buzz has gone away, they don't get my blog posts in their email anymore. This is true, so I thought I'd give you a few other ways to get the blog without leaving your Google email/Gmail. I am going to list them for you based on how you use the internet.

If you really only read this blog.
Aw, ya'll are sweet! Really, though, this mainly applies to my family. If you liked getting the blog posts in Google Buzz so you can keep up with me, all you have to do now to keep getting only this blog in your email is subscribe to my email feed. Here's a special box:
Every time I publish a blog post, it will be emailed to you. Almost exactly the same as Google Buzz except without the "Comment" feature right at the bottom.

If you are keeping up with several blogs and no longer have time to visit every one individually.
I'll tell you my secret: Google Reader. It's an RSS reader, but don't let that terminology worry you. All you have to do is go to reader.google.com when you are already logged in to your Gmail. It is part of your existing Google account, so you won't have to register - you just tell it what blogs you want to follow by using this button:

Just type http://www.conscientiousconfusion.com into that box and you've got my blog!
You can even copy-and-paste that bold text above if you are having trouble spelling "conscientious"!

I hope that Google Reader helps you discover and follow lots of new bloggers - I know it's been a lifesaver for me as I've discovered more blogs that I love over the years. I also love that it works great on the iPhone or other smartphones - you can access reader.google.com from your phone and have the exact same interface that you have on the computer.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!