Maybe you haven’t noticed but I’ve been feeling “naturally” inspired lately. I am trying not to overload you with the constant buzzing of thoughts in my head. But still. It’s hard to contain my excitement.

Having said that, I know I mentioned that this year all of our gifts for Christmas need to be home-made or “free” gifts. We are trying to do a non-consumer Christmas. As I type this I have a stack of home-made gifts on my table waiting to be finished. I’d share what I’m doing, but my Mom and sister read this blog… don’t want to spoil the fun.

However I did want to share a couple links.

First is this knitted dust mop cover. There are several varieties of this out there. But the linked cover offers a free (simple) pattern for knitting. I almost wish I’d seen this link before I started the Christmas project that I’ve started. Too late. I’m already committed to a course of action and will have to just do these mop covers as a bonus. (If I have the time.)

Second, I figured out how I am going to make the food for DD1’s kitchen themed Christmas. (Remember we found her a FREE kitchen) Inspired by Rowena, I am going to make DD1 FELT FOOD! And yes. I am *that* excited about it. I already own bags and bags of felt. It’ll only be a matter of creativity to get it all whipped up and sewn into food. I really worried about how I was going to do this kitchen themed Christmas for DD1 and now I know!

Speaking of girls, I have been trying to think of extra things to give them from Santa and for their stockings. Something that I’ve seen on Etsy.com that I absolutely LOVE are these contemporary sock monkeys. Sunsetgirl has a really neat selection, if you are curious about what I’m referring to. I have some nice tube socks lying around waiting for babyleg conversions. However, I was reluctant to use the nice socks because 1) I wasn’t sure if I would pull the sock monkey off and didn’t want to waste babyleg socks and 2) I thought the tube socks might be too long.

My plan was to use an old pair of Dh’s dress socks to work up a prototype for the sock monkeys I would do for Christmas. I figured it would be best to get the kinks worked out of my “stystem” before I practiced on the “real deal.” So, with the girls playing at my feet I sat down to my sewing machine and zig-zagged the monkey together. I wasn’t to worried about working on the monkey while DD1 was awake, because I figured I’d just stuff it during her nap and then put the monkey away until later. Possibly put a face on the thing and give it to a friend. Who knows. I certainly didn’t intend for DD1 to have the monkey.

Funny thing is, when DD1 saw the monkey (unstuffed) she got all wide eyed, let out the most amazing sigh, and declared, “You makee me a MON-keee! Dassa my mon-kee!” From that point on she wouldn’t let go of the thing. She held it’s hand while I stuffed it’s feet, held it’s tail while I stuffed it’s head… I ended up putting it’s face (not the stitching, but the “mouth” part of the monkey head on) and letting DD1 hold the doll for a while.

It would be an understatement to say that DD1 fell in love at first sight. The girl REFUSED to go down for her nap without the monkey! In fact, I had to sneak the monkey out of her sleeping grip just to stitch the nose, eyes, mouth and heart!

Then -get this- DD2 woke up from her nap. And wanna know what her reaction was? THE SAME wide eyed excited face! She just giggled and giggled and hugged the stuffing out of that monkey. Between DD1 and DD2 my “prototype” monkey hasn’t gotten a moments rest.

For those curious about how to make a sock monkey, just google “sock monkey” in your search engine and you’ll find more than one place with instructions. I’d label the product “intermediate” only because it requires some basic hand stitching and a lot of little turns on the sewing machine.

Extra bits of info about the sock monkey that I need to throw in for good measure:
1. The thing didn’t cost me ANYTHING. I used materials lying around the house. Old pillow for stuffing, Dh’s dress shoes, thread from my personal stash.

2. Next time I am stuffing the ears, tail, and arms before sewing them to the body. And I’m saving legs and “face” for last.

3. It’s a good idea to find thread that matches your sock perfectly. Otherwise you’ll notice your seams.

4. Be sure to stuff your limbs equally. Otherwise you may end up with one jumbo thigh and the other leg a skinny-mini.

5. Don’t make this around any of your children if you do not intend to give them the final product. It’ll just break everyone’s heart and it’s just not worth it. As it stands right now, little “Proto” is home to stay. I just can’t bear to give him away at this point.

Warning: Blatantly honest entry about menstrual cycles and menstrual products. If you are someone who tends to be squeamish about such subjects, you may want to just click away.

I am on the tail end of my second post partum AF. This second go around wasn’t the insanity that the last one was. Definitely a more “normal” flow and no “burned up” DIVA drama. I haven’t replaced my DIVA yet. I guess part of me hoped that if I just ignored it, my menstrual cycle would go back into remission and I wouldn’t have to bother with any of it for another couple months.

Ha. So much for wishful thinking.

It is apparent that I need to embrace the return of my fertility (or at least the indication that fertility is returning) and start planning for next month. In alphabetical order, here are the menstrual pads that I have been considering purchasing:

Glad Rags
GladRags holders are made out of a cotton flannel fitted with a snap and “envelope” for the inserts. GladRags inserts consist of super absorbent terry cloth and flannel. Each Gladrag comes with a holder and two inserts. Depending on your needs you can use either one or both inserts at a time. Just place the inserts in the holder, flip the pad over, and snap to your panties. And ta-da!

Gladrag began as a WAHM business back in 1992 and is now a serious enterprise unto itself. A real testimony to the product they offer.

Homemade Mama
HMP’s are an AIO (All-In-One) design. The absorbent center is made from 100% organic unbleached cotton. Peggy, of HMP, has a neat picture of her HEAVY hemp HMP compared to a disposable pad. If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is. (HMP on the left and store-bought on the right.) The two HMP products that really hit my radar are the Ultimate II Pad and the Raw Silk Healing Pads.

The Ultimate II Pad is wider in the front and back, providing “ultimate” coverage. The front and back ends provide for ultimate coverage, with the back being especially wide. I imagine that this could be a terrific overnight pad.

The Raw Silk Pad is designed to lie on top of your other pads. The silk offers a stay dry layer as well as the healing protection against yeast infections

Lunapads
There are several really cool features that the Lunapad offers. First of all, they make selection super easy with this neat flow chart. For any lady who has ever been overwhelmed while shopping for menstrual products, you know how important it is to be able to see how things measure up “flow wise.”

The Lunapad also has these neat ric-rac bands to hold Liners for added absorbency. It’s easy to customize each pad for your specific absorbency. Theoretically you might be able to just change liners instead of the entire pad.

Lunapads come with wings and are snapped onto your panties with a single plastic snap. Lunapad purchases include a free washable nylon pouch, giving you a built-in means of transporting your pads while outside the home without extra cost.

Perfect Pads
Perfect pads are constructed with a hemp core. As a result their design is anti-bacterial, super absorbant, and odor resistance. They also feature wings and a polyresin snap. Not to mention most of their pads come with the option to use microfleece, organic cotton, or cotton sherpa as the top layer.

Another bonus for Perfect Pads is their super neat Cloth Pads 101 section of their website. PLUS they offer a pretty cool “Pad of the Month” feature that is just too much fun. How cool would that be? Every month know you are getting two new pads in the mail? It’s like Christmas all year long!

Something New Creations
SNC mama cloth is relatively new to the market compared to Lunapads and Gladrags. Irene, the mother who makes SNC mamacloth, is a young Christian mother who sews to provide extra income for her family. Her pads come with high praises from everyone I know who has used them. Her prices are crazy-affordable. The pad that she offers in her store that I drool over the most is her premium pad. They are made with a waterproof backing and a suede cloth top layer. The suede cloth is ultra soft (I use it for diapers), it resists stains, wicks moisture away from skin, and doesn’t pill.

I imagine that as Irene’s pads get “out there” her prices will have to rise with the increase demands on her time. I seriously need to get off my tush and order a couple before the ship sails on this deal.

Other Cloth Pads bear mentioning include:
Bottoms Up Boutique
Mim’s Dream
Punky’s Pads
Rythm and Blues - I actually orderd my DIVA from them originally. They have terrific customer service. Plus they offer three free panty liners with each DIVA purchase. Woot!
Sweet Cheeks

For the thrifty:
Cloth Swaps
Diaper Swappers - there is a forum there for mama cloth swaps

Reasons to use cloth:
~No more yeast infections. If you are using cloth and you do get a yeast infection, just add a couple drops of TTO to your wash and iron your pads after drying.

~No more problems with sticky (from glue) pads bunching up in my undergarments and pulling my hair! I never bought myself post-partum menstrual pads, but after this last pregnancy I would never go back to disposable pads post-partum. There is nothing worse than sticky gluey disposable pads getting stuck to your tender post-birth girlie bits.

~Less blood loss and less cramping! Can’t tell you why for sure, but there is anecdotal evidence that switching to cloth and the DIVA results in a lighter menstrual flow and reduced incidence in menstrual cramping.

Caring for Cloth:
Cloth pads can be soaked in a container prior to laundry to help eliminate staining. Often people will use a few drops of tea-tree oil in their cold-water solution. Although, I personally prefer not to. If you do laundry daily, you may not need to soak your pads in liquid and instead you can place them in the container “dry.”

I suggest investing in small mesh bag for laundry. You know, the kind used for undergarments. It keeps your pads semi-contained and, in the case of squeamish hubbies, allows you to toss your pads in to the laundry and have them come out neatly contained in the bag.

Wash pads on “warm” and either dry them on low in the dryer or hang dry. Avoid using harmful chemicals such as bleach, and don’t use fabric softener. (The fabric softener will affect absorbency.)

Food for thought:
-link between disposable pads (dioxin) and endometriosis
-Relief for vulvodynia

I’ve been thinking an awful lot, lately, about consumerism and how disposable our life seems to be as Americans. This isn’t a new train of thought for me. It’s sort of been an ongoing theme of my adult life. There have been seasons in my life where I am better at simple living and then there are times where the difference between my life and the rest of America’s general consumer population would be hard to distinguish.

It’s weird because I often feel at war with myself. On one hand I absolutely love the idea of re-using products, simplifying my wardrobe, home-cooked meals, self grown veggies. And then there is this other side of me that likes ording food in, and wishes I had new clothes for each new season. The truth is that I enjoy buying quality products and I’ll admit that I get a rush from purchasing things. Even from the dollar store. My biggest consumer “rush” comes from buying something new that I’ve found for a serious bargain.

I’m one of those people. You know. The kind who when complimented on her new shirt responds, “Thanks I got it clearanced for .75 cents!”

I’m talking about all of this because I just got done watching a short video on “The Little Brown Dress.”

I’d first heard about the brown dress project last year and am always inpsired when I read it to go through my wardrobe and, at least, cleanse my closet of all the excess… It’s frustrating because the things I don’t wear are actually the things I should. (Nice pants, nice tops) Instead I migrate towards T-shirts and gym shorts. Not bad, per say. Just not stylish. And I would feel guilty about getting rid of the few clothes in my closet that I look good in and keeping the clothes I feel good in. OR vice versa.

Life would be so much simpler if my wardrobe consisted of just a little brown dress.

**I just had to add a little update**

After posting on my journal I started trying to do some reading on voluntary simplicity and happened to run accross an online forum discussing the little brown dress. From there I linked to this VERY cool, very inspiring blog. After spending some time reading her latest enteries I decided to visit her links and BEHOLD tiny houses!

Now, I am not sure that I would be up to living in such a small space with two little girls and a husband. I guess maybe you just spend a lot of time outdoors? HOWEVER, this would be PERFECT for my younger sister.

Wonder how she’d feel about living in a tiny house?