I’m loving Skribit, though you’d never know it because I haven’t had a chance to address any of your suggestions. Until now.

The suggestion “Non-Chemical Cleaning Supplies” has 14 votes - apparently you guys think I have a clean house. You’d be wrong. But I do have an almost chemical-free house so I may be able to help you out.

Let’s go from short to long, shall we?

The Short:
You may recall my review of Clorox Green Works products. They’re great if you feel the need to purchase something. I know some people feel that the Clorox name means ‘clean’ simply because of their reputation for bleach. To me, it means toxic, and though these are definitely on the more natural end of things they’re still very irritating to the skin and not as perfect as they could be. I’ve heard both good and bad things about the PC line, too, though I’ve never tried them myself.

Any products by Nature Clean is going to be fabulous and great for the environment too. Same goes for Seventh Generation. Dr. Bronner’s castile soaps are fabulous as well. If I feel the need to buy something, it’s going to be from one of these lines 99.9% of the time. I use the Seventh Generation dish soap, Nature Clean disinfectant (just thyme oil pretty much…) and Nature Clean stain remover (but I’m not happy with it - vinegar and borax work better.) All three of these are available at Save On Foods (Overwaitea) and at some Safeway stores. I’m sure lots of other places carry them too, but that’s where I shop.

Moving on to…

The Long:

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about me.

I’m lazy.

Most people who know me would disagree because it seems I give the appearance of extreme organization and of an over-achiever. I’m both of those, but I am lazy. I will always take the easy way out if I think I can. And that means I almost always clean with nothing but vinegar and baking soda. Usually just straight Safeway brand vinegar.

Some of the things I use straight vinegar for are below. (If I dilute or add something else, it will be in parentheses)

-cleaning counters
-cleaning sinks - even after raw meat. Vinegar is a safe replacement for bleach. So is lemon juice. If you like the smell, a mixture is nice but I don’t do it often. I’m lazy, remember?
-washing floors (diluted - 2 cups in a sink of water, but I use straight for spot cleaning)
-cleaning toilets (sprinkle baking soda in first for a more scrubby clean)
-washing windows
-wiping the table
-cleaning carpet stains
-laundry booster
-laundry stain remover (sometimes with borax or Seventh Generation dish soap as well)
-unclogging drains (dump baking soda in first, flush with lots of vinegar, leave for 10-20 min and flush with hot water)
-polishing furniture (mix evenly with light olive oil and add 1t. lemon juice)
-Cleaning my oven. (Scrub with a baking soda paste, spray with vinegar, scrub again and wipe clean with vinegar followed by water)

Many people I know dilute vinegar at least by half with water for many of the above applications. I don’t because (a) I’m lazy, (b) I like to know I’m getting a disinfecting effect out of the deal and (c) vinegar is cheap.

For laundry, I use about an ounce (or whatever a squirt equals - I don’t measure) of Dr. Bronner’s peppermint castile soap, and 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse.

If there’s anything I haven’t addressed here that you’d like to know, just ask and I’ll be glad to share.

And keep those suggestions coming over in the right sidebar! If you ask, I’ll answer.

Sneaking in with a little update — Yesterday we got the results from my Dad’s latest CT scan and he’s cancer free again! We’re flying high at that news. The next scan is in July, and we’re really glad they’re staying on top of it.

He’s got amazing doctors and so many people praying for him and sending positive thoughts. And he’s got an awesomely positive attitude, which certainly can’t hurt! The rest of his body is falling apart, but for the moment there’s one less battle to fight.

Thanks to everyone who’s still purchasing from the Cancer Sucks store - I’m still donating all profits and get super excited every time I get an email about another sale made. The profit margins are small but last month I was able to sign over a $35 cheque, and every penny helps!

My dad is, once again, cancer free!

Since the first time, he was re-scanned in April and the cancer was back in his lymph nodes. He’s been having harsher chemo for several months and it worked! His next re-scan will be in October. I really hope there’s nothing there, but at least we know chemo works!

Thanks to everyone who continues to purchase from the Cancer Sucks Store. To Ruth in Minnesota who purchased a whole schwack of items last week, thanks - and bless you. We save our commission credits and and each time it gets to $50 we donate it to one of the many cancer research & support organizations. We’ve donated $450 so far thanks to all of you (and the many strangers who come upon the site) and are always accepting paypal donations to muchmorethanamom@gmail.com. We can no longer commit to matching all donations after the big campaign last year (just in case you put us into bankruptcy with your generosity!) but we are committed to donating a large chunk each year along with all of our commissions and site advertising profits here and there.

Speaking of there, we are still in a whirlwind of daily giveaways so be sure you go every day and enter! (And we’ll be looking for guest reviewers for the time we’re moving and have no internet. You can write a review of ANYTHING you like that’s parent/kid related. Please (please! please!) email me or leave a comment if you can help. Thanks!

(Anniversary post below…)

So, I promised y’all my reasons for not being able to blog this week.

Here they are, in all their glory.

Sunday:

1. After a great visit & playtime with my father in law (pics to follow another day), we the BG did yard work for several hours. Sometime between the BG finishing the front lawn at 5:30 and us finishing dinner at 6:00, my van was broken into in our driveway in broad daylight and a bunch of money was stolen.

Monday:

2. Oops. How did that happen?

Spent the rest of the day alternately calling everyone, being really excited and shitting my pants. I’m due at New Years. I couldn’t wait to tell you all but had to tell all the real life folks first so I just didn’t blog at all.

3. Cold turkey caffeine withdrawal. ‘Nuf said.

Tuesday:

4. Spent the whole day experiencing my new diagnosis, PBPD.

(Pregnancy Bi-Polar Disorder)

Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, we can’t afford another one yet.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, we were going to buy a new house this fall.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I have to go back to work right away to get 600 hours in before December.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I just wore my first real bra in a year and a half.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I just finally packed away all my maternity clothes and fat pants.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I just put all the newborn stuff away in a bin in the back of the storage room.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I wanted to lose 30 more pounds before getting pregnant.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, why am I being such an ungrateful bitch when we have so many friends struggling with infertility.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I haven’t even finished the boy’s pregnancy album. I guess I’d better get on that. I’ll do both at once.
Yay! We’re having a baby!
Shit, I have to find childcare for the boy for June. I really don’t want to leave him.
Yay! We’re having a baby!

And so on. Ad nauseum.

Wednesday:

5. My dad got the results of his re-scan and the cancer is back. Here we go again with the chemo. Much stronger this time.

If anyone can help drum up business at the Cancer Sucks Store, we’d sure appreciate it. And thanks to whomever bought a hat yesterday. I’d hug you if I could.

6. Met with my principal. Don’t know where I’ll be working - maybe my own classroom; maybe covering someone else’s mat leave for June; maybe who the hell knows.

Thursday:

7. Met with the boy’s babysitter for June. She’s fab. He loved her and loved all the kids. He didn’t want to leave. She doesn’t have room for him for September.

8. Ten minutes before the downloaded Jericho (Aside: Are you watching Jericho? You should be. Freaking awesome.) would have been over and we were headed to bed, our carbon monoxide detector starts beeping. We call 911 & are told to evacuate. We kennel up the cat and leash the dogs. Chloe goes out on the step and the BG takes the dogs for a walk. The detector has since stopped beeping so I stand, all bundled and ready, outside the boy’s room waiting for the fire fighters. They come and tell me to let him sleep (he has a breathing sensor in his bed so we knew he was okay). They get no CO reading, and call the gas company for a backup reading with their more sophisticated equipment. We walk the dogs some more, and trade off because it’s freaking freezing. Chloe gets to come inside but has to stay in her kennel - just in case. The gas company comes and, again, no reading. We just need to air out the detector outside (and will buy 2 new ones, just in case). The boy, thank God, sleeps through it all. We finally get to bed at midnight and fall into a deep exhausted (pregnant) slumber and at 12:30 the boy wakes up screaming with tooth pain. I’m with him until 6 am.

Friday:

9. Today was supposed to be our day to go visit Leah (who I love and was totally excited to see) but her daughter has an ear infection and the boy slept until 10:15 am so we had to postpone.

What next?

I already received.

My dad is cancer free!

(more…)

In honour of my good friend who was recently diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, I’m going Pink For October! Yeah, it’s not pretty with the gorgeous theme that Chelle made me, but it’ll work to make a point.

(I know it’s half way through October, but I never do anything on time since I had a baby.) Thanks to Liz for the link.

Have you felt your boobies this month? You know you should. As soon as you leave me a comment to tell me how much you love the pink, please go do a breast self exam. If you find something, FIGHT for your body. Don’t let them “…just watch it and see what happens.” (That’s what they told my friend just 2 1/2 months ago and now it’s a mastectomy, chemo and radiation instead of just a lumpectomy. Things change quickly. Be your own advocate.)

Shop here or send a paypal donation to muchmorethanamom at gmail dot com to contribute to our campaign for the Canadian Cancer Society. We’re matching your donations!

Oh, and before you buy those pink ribbon products, please check out this site and think before you pink!

If you’d like to go pink for October, you can! Just change the 6 digit code after “Background” in your template to a pink code. If you don’t know colour coding, choose one here. Easy peasy, right?

Speaking of pink, womendiary.net is back for their second week in a row! Y’all must have made her feel pretty welcome here last week. Keep spreading the clicky love by clicking on her thumbnail in my sidebar often!

Updated below…

From Chelle and a bunch of other people.

1) Five Minutes to Yourself. How would you spend them, ideally?

If the laundry was done and the kitchen was cleaned and the carpet was vacuumed? I’d scrapbook! I wouldn’t get much done in 5 minutes, but I’d sure try.

2) Five dollars to spend right now. How would you spend it?

Only five? Back in my day that would have bought…just kidding. Probably a nonfat latte, as long as I could drink it while visiting with a friend.

3) Five Items In Your House You Could Part With Right Now?

-The hair covered cat condo that Chloe loves way more than her new one.
-The crappy containers if I could have all brand new square and rectangular Tupperware.
-All of the clothes that don’t fit. But can you just store them until my ass shrinks? Because I hope to need them back.
-The futon. It takes up way too much space for the amount we use it.
-The crappy old bookshelves. We want new ones that will actually hold all of our books so we don’t have piles on the floor anymore.

4) Five Items In Your House You Could Absolutely Never Part With?(Family members not included)

-Scrapbooks
-Laptop
-Video Camera
-Digital Camera
-Espresso machine

5) Five Words/Strings That You Love?

-the boy’s name
-family
-I love you
-Mamamamamamamamaaaaaa
-Will you marry me?

———————————————————-

In Cancer Sucks news…

On Thursday, a good friend/colleague found out that she has an aggressive form of breast cancer. She’s in her early thirties and has a 3 year old son and a one year old daughter. She eats very well, is in fabulous shape, breastfed both of her children and uses all non-toxic products in her home. Next week she’ll be having a radical mastectomy followed by chemo and radiation.

Click on the cap to visit our fundraising store.
All proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society
(and matched by us - see this post).

———————————————————-

Update: My precious baby has his first cold, courtesy of his daddy who, incidentally, feels terrible about it. He has a phlegmy cough and a gravelly voice. It’s breaking my poor mommy-heart. I thought breasfed kids didn’t get sick. Harumph. Any tips for dealing with our first illness? Natural cough remedies safe for babies? Alternatives to the scary booger-sucker?

The boy’s first Thanksgiving was a huge hit. We got to hang out with lots of our family and we all ate way too much delicious mom cooking. The boy had his first solid food - homemade organic sweet potato - and loved it! In fact, he loved it so much that he ate all of the food that I brought for the weekend in one sitting, and then tried to eat the spoon!

The sleep thing that we have been so lucky with? Teething is screwing with it. Badly. Very very badly.

Now that we know he likes pureed foods, does he really need teeth anyway?

To answer your comments and emails about my dad all in one shot, he’s doing quite well and thanks so much for asking! After losing 50 lbs he hadn’t been able to wear his false teeth since June but they were adjusted this week and he finally has them in. He can eat normally again and looks 10 years younger. Tomorrow he has to have a blood transfusion instead of starting round 3 of chemo because his levels were too low today, but hopefully that will bring things up to normal and he’ll be able to get back to chemo soon. He thoroughly enjoyed his Thanksgiving with his grandchildren (and his teeth!)

The Cancer Sucks Store is still going strong, and thanks to some recent purchases we are now over half way to our goal and are still matching your donations. Because the mark up on the items is very low, it is taking a long time but we’re still plugging away. Thanks, everyone, for your support and linkage! (Remember, if you want your entire donation to go to the Canadian Cancer Society instead of purchasing from the store, you can donate via paypal to muchmorethanamom at gmail dot com or email me for my snail mail address to send a cheque.)

Check out the cute onesie from the store! It comes in 4 sizes (6m, 12m, 18m and 2T) in white, pink and baby blue.

Dear Boy,

You are five months old. I can hardly believe it! I know mothers say this all the time, but it’s so true. Time passes way too quickly.

You’re making a lot of noise now. My favourites, of course, are “Muuuuuummmmmuuuuuuuu” and “Maaaaaaammmmmmmmm.” We’re counting that as your first word, even though you may not know what it means. You also like “Ungaaaaaa,” “Huuuummmmm,” “Baaaauuuuuummmm” and “Umbaaaa.” We love them all. It’s so fun for us to hear you expanding your “vocabulary” to include more sounds. You especially love to talk while bouncing in your bouncy chair and while in your carseat. You talk to the baby in the mirror while we drive.

This month we went to visit all of your grandparents and they all came to see you at least once. You went to your first wedding, too. Auntie Jennie got married on August 5th and mommy was her maid of honour. You loved looking at all the people. Grandma B and Daddy looked after you while Mommy was busy and you were no trouble at all.

Grandma B took us and your cousin A to see Robert Munsch live. You enjoyed the stories, and even laughed a bit before you fell asleep. You were really laughing at Mommy’s fake sneezes, but at least you were happy! Grandma bought you one of his books as a memento of the show.

This month you took a bit of a step back with your sleep habits. After sleeping 10 hours through the night since you were 10 weeks old, you all of a sudden started going to bed 2 hours earlier but waking up to eat twice in the night. As hard as it is to get up, I really enjoy nursing you in the dark and cuddling in your quiet room. You always go right back to sleep after, so I guess you just need a little more food now. You usually sleep 12 hours overnight now, with a few naps during the day.

You are almost sitting on your own now – you topple quickly but you love to try. Even more, you LOVE to stand up! If you hold our hands when you are lying down, you pull yourself up and skip the seated phase altogether - you stand right up and look so proud of yourself. We barely need to support you at all in the standing position. You just hold our fingers and you hold yourself up. You really are a strong kid! It’s no wonder because you never stop moving. You could bounce all day, and when you’re not in your bouncy chair your legs still whip around like you’re trying to bounce the floor!

You’re still enjoying your cereal for the most part. You only get it a couple of times a week for spoon practice and you like both rice and oatmeal. You are already trying to grab the spoon and feed yourself so I guess we’ll be buying some plastic to put under your high chair soon because it’s going to get messier. Pretty soon your food horizons will be expanding, but nursing will still be your main source of nutrition for quite a while yet. You are enjoying your high chair, and even like to sit in it to play while Mommy works in the kitchen.

You’re the light of our lives, monkey, and we’re so happy to be your biggest fans!

I love you,
Mommy

Want some cool ‘Cancer Sucks’ merchandise to help us reach our goal?

Save $5
when you spend $35 or more!
——————————
Enter the coupon code
SRV134
when checking out of the store.
——————————
Coupon expires 9/27/2006…so hurry!

Thanks to all of you who have already made purchases or donated via paypal (to muchmorethanamom @ gmail dot com) or sent cheques (email me for our address). Thanks, also, to everyone who continues to link to us and pimp this project. We really appreciate your support in this mission. We’re getting close to 50% there now - every dollar helps!

Tags: five months, letters

The BG was off today so it was chore and yardwork day for us. Bah.
I baked 3 dozen zucchini chocolate muffins and 3 dozen banana muffins for the freezer and for baby group tomorrow, which I am hosting.

Regarding yesterday, you might find it entertaining to know that when I met the BG, not only was I attracted to his utter hottness, but also to his grammar. On our first date, we went back to his apartment to watch tv after dinner & golfing, and he got all worked up about some newscaster’s use of the word “disorientated” in relation to a lost hiker or something like that. The next morning, I told my mom that he was the one. Also, when we were driving he got cut off in traffic and said “F*cking moron!” It reminded me of my brother. I had to marry him.

How did you know that your significant other was the one?

You haven’t forgotten about our fundraiser, have you?

Save $5 when you spend $35 or more at the Cancer Sucks store!
——————————
Enter the coupon code CRB134 when checking out.
——————————
Coupon expires 9/17/2006…so hurry!

You know it does. Everyone I know has been touched by it in one way or another.

As most of you know, my dad is currently fighting cancer. A very brief recap: He had his bladder & prostate removed in June, the found cancer in 10 of 21 lymph nodes so he is now going on to his second round of chemo.

I have had friends with cancer, acquaintances with cancer, co-workers with cancer, young students with cancer…the list goes on.

We all feel kind of helpless in these situations, I think. I’m the kind of person who can’t just sit back & watch. I have to do something.

I want the boy to grow up into a world without cancer.

So, I decided to do something to help.

This is what you all came back for!

I have created a line of merchandise and built an online store to raise money for cancer.

Here’s where I need your help.

1. Please please buy something! Every single penny of profit is donated to cancer research and patient care.
2. If you blog or have a website of any kind, please link to this post/this store on your site and encourage your readers to both purchase and link as well.
3. Email the link to all of your friends, family, neighbours and co-workers and encourage them to support us.

This is the link: http://www.cafepress.com/raisemoney
If you don’t know how to link, email me or comment and I’ll be glad to help.

The BG and I will match, dollar for dollar, every donation up to $200 (because, you know, I’m not working). Though the store is permanent and proceeds will always be donated, my immediate goal is to sell 100 items before Christmas. Each item is marked up by between approximately $0.50 and $5.00. We could have done a lower markup, but what’s an extra $2 for cancer, right? And you get some cool stuff while you’re at it! So, if you all buy enough to make a $200 donation, we would then match it to make a $400 donation for Christmas. Does that make sense? You buy more, we give more!

Oh, and shipping is free until September 5, 2006 with a $50 purchase! Just use the code BTS2006 when you check out.
Don’t worry if you miss it - shipping is only about $5 in the US and $6 in Canada for the first item.
Additional bonus: No sales tax unless you live in CA or KY.

Or, if you want to forego the merchandise and just donate, email me for my address and you are welcome to send a cheque.
Or donate via PayPal to muchmorethanamom [at] gmail [dot] com.

So? Off you go. Let’s go shopping and fight for a cure!