Diapers: What do I do with this sh*t now?

Brad K. made an excellent point on my "Ladies Only" post that got me thinking. A lot of women (and other people) don't think about adding things like feminine hygiene stuff to the preps. What else are we forgetting? In my personal case, the Boy has been a sloooooooooow potty trainer. He is pretty sure I'm batty, and this going on and on about doing things in the toilet is just silly. Why bother when you can go in your pants and Mom cleans you up? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me and I'm 25. That being said, the kid is 3. If SHTF, he'll learn really quick.

Now, I'm also quilty has charged for using disposable diapers when the Boy was a baby. Hate me, I don't care. I got lectured up the front and down the back by heaps of people, and yeah, I still don't care. That being said, if I ever so have another baby, I think I'm going to use cloth diapers. I know a few people who've used them and loved them. Their babies had less diaper rash, and potty trained faster as they understood being wet was uncomfortable. Disposable diapers have chemicals that pull the moisture away from the body, and can hold up to 800 times their weight in liquid by converting it into a gel.

Now obviously, if SHTF having a stock pile of disposable diapers isn't very practical. Whereas, cloth diapers will generally last about as long as you can use them. There are a million different types, as is par for the course with handmade type stuff (everyone adapts it to their own needs). A lot of companies now also offer accesories like diaper covers (in various fabrics and designs), reuseable wipes, washable diaper liners, and even training pants.

A few of the girls I know rave about Kushies. Their stuff is adorable, and they have a ton of accesories and was one of the few sites where I found training pants. I love their Classic Diapers but they are very much on the pricey side. A 5 pack of the classics runs about $65 for the baby sized, and about $75 for the toddler sizes. The diaper covers also run about $9. Of course you could also just buy the cover, and use plain old Gerber cloth diapers for underneath.

If your feeling ambitious, you can also give making them yourself a shot. Diaper Jungle has some great resources, and has links to just about anything you'd need. I'm sure if you just google'd a bit you could find a ton more. I can't sew to save my life, so that's a bit out of my realm.

Things that make you feel good

The most gratifying thing I do at the moment is working with the rescue. I love taking a dog from certain death at the pound and working on any issues they might have. When we are done with them they are social, healthy, unable to reproduce, and ready for a home.

There are two dogs that I feel even better about than the others. One is a dog that was on a leash being led into the back room of the pound to be put to sleep when I called about her. She is THE BEST dog. My brother adopted her and thinks she is just the greatest thing ever.

The other dog is Hope. Hope was hit by a car when she was 9 weeks old. Her owner knew she was escaping from her yard but was not worried because she only ever went next door. Seriously? She had the dog for ONE WEEK! How does she know what the dog always does? Anyway, I digress. Hope was picked up by animal control bleeding and in pain. She was taken to a local veterinary clinic and I was called. A worker at the pound was hoping I could find a golden retriever rescue to step in and help this puppy. I found two rescues that might be willing to help. In the meantime, the owner was located and claimed the dog. She could not afford the extensive care this dog would need but refused to let anyone else step in and save her. She said she would rather put Hope down than let a rescue take her. It took me almost three days, but I finally convinced her that no one was trying to steal her dog and it was going to cost more in vet bills than any rescue would get in adoption fees. She made everyone wait several more hours while she got primped and made her way to the vets office. When the papers were signed, I was allowed back to take pictures of Hope for the rescue that was going to foot the bill. This is what I saw:

Hope had a crushed pelvis, two snapped femur heads and her tail had been amputated by the car. She went through two surguries. One to fix the legs and pelvis and one to finish the tail amputation. She had 45 stitches on her back legs and rump.

Soon after her surguries she went to another state where the rescue was located. She was adopted by her foster family and is very happy. I got new pictures of her in my email a few days ago and was stunned. She runs and plays and is a beautiful healthy young dog.

Delusional much?

So I have mentioned Casey Anthony a few times. I will probably continue to talk about it until after her trial. I, like many in the country, was riveted by the coverage. I mean how could a mother not report her child missing for 31 days? Why would she be partying if her child was missing? Who was the 'nanny'? What did Casey do for work? Did she drug her baby to death? So many questions arose as each day passed with Caylee missing and no end in sight. Gracie and Maggy can attest that I was consumed by this case in a way no other has affected me. I watched the coverage nightly, praying for a good out come, sensing the worst as each day passed. Then Caylee was found and more questions emerged.

I personally believe she did it. I think she got tired of being a mom and she wanted to be a teen again, partying and responsibility free. I think she should be executed. In my book the worst crime you can commit is hurting a child.

When I read this story tonight I was just shocked. This lawyer seems to be one of the most delusional people ever. Seriously! "'Have a chilling' effect on coverage"? Does he not realize that this is a national case and no matter where the trial is held it will be covered from every angle and picked apart on every news show imaginable? The public wants to hear the truth and they want this woman to face justice. Sure this may be judgmental of me but as I said hurting a child is the worst thing a person can do.

The Epic Flood of '09

So I am sure many of you (okay probably like 2 people but a girl can dream) wondered where I have been. We had a pipe burst at 2 AM Saturday morning. (Friday night) Squeak wakes to nurse at 1 AM every night so I got up then and brought her to bed with me. She nursed for about a half hour and then we both fell asleep. She wiggled at 2 and I woke enough to hear a weird whooshing noise. I figured my MIL had done something to the AC unit to make it be super noisy but I got up to check and as soon as I hit the main hall I stepped in a few inches of water.




I figured the toilet had gotten stuck and went into the bathroom and discovered that nope the toilet was fine. I opened the cupboard under the sink and got soaked. Boy was it COLD!!! I luckily am not a complete airhead and knew how to shut off the water so I did that.



I called the Hubs at work and he said "Lay down some towels and I'll fix it in the morning." HAHAHA!! I don't think he realized how bad it was. So I called my Brother-in-law and the apartment super and we moved all the furniture in the water out of it, and used a shop vac on the rest of the water. It was a mess. We had to rip up the carpet in the hall, the living room, and Bug's room. Bleck!! So we slept upstairs with the BIL for a couple nights. We got the new carpet in today so we are back in business. Now to pack for the move, lol!! Missed everyone!

Prepping the Preps

So today I caught a bit of a cleaning/baking/prepping bug. The house is clean, my Wifey bread is on it's second rise, and my cupboards are bare. Seriously, I'm guessing I have a least $150 worth of boxed food type items on my kitchen counter. Probably more.

I found a lot of the usual suspects: Pasta Roni, Mac & Cheese, microwave popcorn. I also found some things that sort of befuddle me. 2 types of Jello my son is allergic too, 6 boxes of potatoes au gratin, and about 85 various seasoning packs. Not to mention several bags of Shrimp flavored Top Ramen. Not only do I not eat Ramen, I don't like seafood.

Since the 2 weeks worth of groceries I bought in case of the flu that dare not speak its name (thanks Hermit) are still sitting in the corner of my dining room, I think it's time to weed through it all and banish some to my newly cleaned out preps area in my garage shelving. I just don't need 4 boxes of white cheese shells in my pantry.

Wish me luck, and I'll update you tomorrow.

Dear Monday

Dear Monday, It's just not working out between us, I'm breaking up with you. I'll leave your things on the doorstep. I'm sorry, I just can't keep living a lie. -Gracie. P.S. I changed the locks as well

Book Review: Eat This, Not That!

I picked up this book the other day after I saw an article on MSN called 20 Worst Kid's Foods in America. It's not as practical for me as I generally am not buying things like frozen dinners or chips, but I still managed to learn some things. A lot of 'healthy' food is just marketing, and fats and sugars are taken out, and replaced with fillers and HFC (high fructose corn syrup) that don't do anything for you but fill up your 'healthier' food with empty calories.

I learned that one of my favorite 'organic' spaghetti sauces is one of the worst on the market, and that another brand I'd been passing over actually has half then calories and fat and the same general ingredients. The thing I found most useful was the way the book itself was divided. Instead of saying "don't eat salty fatty foods" the book takes the approach of understand that sometimes, you're just going to eat it. So instead of eating 3,000 calories worth of this, why not 1200 of that? Just about every kind of food you could want is covered.

Overall, it's interesting. I'm not sure how much of it I will use seeing as I really don't shop at the grocery store for junk foods. Parts of it will be quite useful though, and I'm also going to buy my mom a copy for her kitchen. For someone who is looking to eat in a healthier way without having to drastically change your lifestyle, this would be perfect.

Stars: 4 out of 5
Recommend: Yes, and I would buy it again.

Friday Funny Part 2

I was watching the "Army Sleepy" video from TOR at TSLRF, and it reminded me of a video I first saw when Ex-Hole was deployed in 06-07.

I cracks me up everytime, and my personal favorite is between about the 35-40 second marks.

Friday Funny

Quote of the Day

*The Boy and I went on some errands with my sister, and we stopped at a diner for breakfast.*

The Boy: *points to the jam packets* I don't eat those.

Sister: Oh yeah?

The Boy: Yeah. It's caca, its has corn in it.