Earth Day shirt

What do you get when you take a skirt your husband accidentally bleached* and add leftover fabric???

an EARTH DAY SHIRT!

This skirt is the first thing I made with my new sewing machine - made a top to match. Wore it once, then it met a rag soaked in bleach. I've had it sitting in my scrap pile trying to figure out if I wanted to try to fix it (huge patch?? tie dye??). Along comes Earth Day and I decide the time has come to give this skirt new life...

I wanted to cut out a map, but knew it would be too difficult to cut the fabric with all those curves. I used fabric stiffener to make the green fabric stiff (obviously....). I was then able to cut the intricate map much easier w/o having to worry about fraying. (I just print out a globe and used it as my template.)

I looked all over for a picture with both North America and Australia, but one couldn't be found. So he got just North and South America. I added the "heart" and "r" to make it an "Earth Lover" shirt.

Close-up of the intricate work. It was actually easy to cut once stiff and the applique sewing wasn't that hard (as long as I took my time).

Big Earth Day hug to you!

(shirt made using 90-minute shirt pattern from Made)

COST: free

all material on hand/repurposed


*(we never use bleach, but DieselBaby had a nosebleed one night. a HORRIBLE nosebleed. All over the bed. In our fully furnished apartment. We tried everything to get the blood out. We had to resort to bleach to get the blood out of the mattress. DieselBaby and I left the house during prime fume time.)


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deodorant - revisited

A little over a year ago, I raved about the crystal deodorant. Since then, we moved to an area that sees 40+C/100+F summers. I brought a "conventional" deodorant/anti-perspirant "just in case". I am happy to report that I have not needed to break it out. I have survived the extreme heat, walking to and from work/daycare (some days carrying DieselBaby) using just the crystal.

A few months back, I dropped my crystal. It shattered. I took the big pieces and saved them thinking I could rub them on my pits. Um..no. Sharp edges. Sensitive skin. Salt stick. Ouch. So, I went looking for a new crystal. $7 for the crystal? I bought mine for $1.30. I couldn't pay $7. Never mind the stick lasts me several years.

So I went to the Body Shop to try their $16 new deodorant. It does not work. Break-thru stink by mid-morning. Time to take matters into my own hands...

I took those chunks of crystal and dissolved them in a cup of water. Boiled it for a bit to make it concentrated. Then I poured it into the roll-on bottle that the Body Shop deodorant came in. Success!! I roll it on the pits (it drips, but it's water and salt). After the water evaporate' I can see the glisten of salt crystals my skin. And NO STINK!! I have since used all that dissolved solution up and bought the $7 crystal. (only to have DieselBaby drop it and shatter it). So I dissolved the chunks. Again.

Sparkling jewels

My jewelry was starting to look a little lack-luster, so I decided to clean it while I got ready for work. It's quite easy. You probably have the "cleaner" already in your medicine cabinet. The results are quite spectacular (in sparkles and residual gunk).

Pour in just enough peroxide to cover the jewels.

Wait a few minutes.

Voila!

No elbow grease involved...

laundry...

...always an area of discussion at our house. I do all the diaper laundry. DieselDaddy does the other laundry (supposedly).

We definitely have different theories on laundry.... I do all the laundry. It might not get folded or put in the proper drawer, but it's all clean. DieselDaddy waits until he's almost out of 'roos and then does just what he needs ('roos, socks, etc). He actually went out and bought me more underwear b/c I kept asking him to do laundry b/c I was almost out of 'roos. He will always fold it, but never put it away. It annoys me immensely. I need my work clothes cleaned every week. Not when there is a big pile. 1) i don't have that many work outfits. 2) doing that much laundry is such an overwhelming task.

When I started using cloth diapers, I became more conscious about what I was washing with. A lot of conventional detergents contain "extra" ingredients (brighteners, enzymes, fragrance). I also switched to using plant-based surfactants vs petroleum based products.

I realized that you do not need a ton of suds to actually get things clean (this took a while for me to grasp...i love suds). I recently read an article about how much laundry detergent we actually waste... Is this a conspiracy from the manufacturers? why do they have 3 marking levels on the cup when they say level 1 will get your clothes clean? why is the top mark not at the top of the cup? why are the markings so difficult to read unless you tilt the cup while holding it up to the light? they know people mindlessly fill those cups. we are filling our cups waaay above the mark that will actually get our clothes clean. washing away our money as we do. Our clothes are not getting as clean if we have tons of suds that just re-settle on our clothes along with the dirt. No wonder we need "brighteners" in our detergent.

I will admit that I still glance in the washer and look for suds. I often get the urge to pour in an extra bit of detergent just to get the bubbles.

deodorant

I bought a crystal deodorant more than a year ago while looking for something aluminum-free to keep me stink-free. I have found it to be cost-effective. I bought a little travel-size stick because i figured if it didn't work I wouldn't be out too much. Over a year later, with daily use, I still have at least half the stick left. I can't believe how long it has lasted. In the same amount of time, I would have bought 3-4 conventional deodorant/anti-perspirants.

When applying, the armpit needs to be wet so i put it on right out of the shower. It's not a quick "swipe swipe" like other deodorants. I usually rub it on for 10-15 secs. I figure it takes a little bit for the water to melt (?) the salts for them to be applied.

This is NOT an anti-perspirant. I still sweat, but I find it is not as much as I used to sweat even with conventional deodorant/anti-perspirants, and the sweat doesn't smell.

I found there was a "detox" period when I started to use this deodorant. I think it took my pores several days to get the yucky gunk out, to be receptive to the crystal. After those initial days (used over a long weekend), I have not noticed a stink. I often have my husband or close friend to do a smell test because I have always had a fear of being "the stinky girl".

I HIGHLY recommend the crystal deodorant.

Recently, I received some samples of organic lotions (ok, it was an Earth Day promo and i'm just getting to use them). I thought I'd compare the 2 lotions since they were both organic and both lavender.

First I tried Avalon Organics Lavender lotion. It was thick, went on smoothly and smelled very calming. I plan on buying some as soon as my current lotion stash is depleted (ok, dwindles....)

Then, I tried Dessert Essence Organics Bulgarian Lavender lotion. It was much runnier and had an "off" smell. I couldn't even finish the sample.

(admittedly not the best review....but I'm writing this after the fact, so it's not like I took copious notes....)

Ok, now on to my "hmmm...." moment. I got a bunch of samples in a reusable tote from Drugstore.com during an Earth Day promotion. Doesn't that sort of defeat the whole idea of being good to the earth? All those tiny plastic bottles (only a few of which were recyclable) and tiny foil packets (which aren't recyclable)...