Tag Archives: eco-friendly

by | October 20, 2011

Look out, Potty! Here we come!

I knew this time would come…eventually.

My 23-month-old son has shown quite an interest in the potty for a while now, peeing occasionally, and throwing lots of paper in when we aren’t looking.

But now? We have POOP!

Not every time, but often enough to know that he’s well on his way to learning how to use the potty full-time.

So, why do I feel a stinging twinge of sadness?

Because I’ll miss my FLUFF!

The stash I researched so diligently and worked so hard to build (building a community of like-minded friends along the way, I might add! Bonus!) The stash I painstakingly laundered and sunned, sniffing to make sure they were as fresh as a spring breeze for my sweet baby’s bum.  They might be poop-catchers, but there’s nothing quite like a pile of freshly washed, stuffed and folded diapers in a rainbow of colors!

I surely don’t have the most impressive collection, and I’ll admit that we never did quite get to the point where we gave up our little stash of disposable inserts (GroVia rocks, by the way!) , but there’s just something about making that choice – the economical choice, the ecofriendlier choice, the healthier choice - that made me feel like I was doing my absolute best as a mom.

Ah, cloth. How I love thee! It saddens me that our time is coming to an end, but I have hope that someday I’ll unpack you and fall in love all over again!

Thanks for the memories!

Until next time…

(I just wonder if I’ll feel the same way about my mama cloth when I join the menopause community… :| )

Wow. Did I just say menopause?! Can you tell I’m feeling the clock tick away? Come on Baby #2!

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To all my cloth diapering readers: did you miss your fluff when the potty took over? Were you sad to see the transition begin?

 

 

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by | August 3, 2011

Blissmobox Review and Giveaway

Hey, do you know Blissmo?

Blissmo is a daily deal site dedicated to helping you discover exceptional eco-friendly and organic products by offering them up to 70% off!

And now, Blissmo offers (drumroll please) the Blissmobox!

What’s a blissmobox?

“It’s the easiest way to discover products that are safer & better for you, your family and your planet. Think of it like a CSA or Wine Club subscription, except instead of veggies or Pinot Noirs you’ll be discovering well-loved sustainable products that are better for you & your family than conventional alternatives.” ~Blissmo

In short, the Blissmobox is a package of carefully chosen organic and eco-friendly products, delivered to your doorstep with the promise that they fit Blissmo’s standards. Even better, Blissmo offers 2 different themed options each month, and you get to choose which one you want to receive!

In June, Blissmo offered a food and beverage-themed box, and a beauty-themed box. I was given the opportunity to review one, and, well, I’ll bet you can guess that the foodie in me won out!

Get a load of this haul:

The June “Foodie” box contained:

Kaia Foods - Cocoa Bliss Buckwheat Granola
Kaia Foods - Fruit Leather
Clif Bars - Coconut chocolate chip energy bar
Clif MoJo - Peanut butter pretzel trail mix bar
La Yapa – Organic Golden Quinoa
Alter Eco Fair Trade - Unrefined Golden Brown Sugar
Numi Tea – Organic Rooibos 18-pack
Sambazon – Acai berry energy drink
A fun write-up of all the products and a letter from Blissmo
Here’s a quote:
“The June Food & Beverage Bissmobox is a reminder that every corner of the planet is doing their part to make food and farming more sustainable…Eating sustainable food reminds us that, despite our borders and language barriers, we’re all in this together.”

Lovely words to live by…and a steal for only $19! There was nothing in the box I wasn’t excited to try (except maybe for the energy drink, but my husband happily took that.)

So, if you’re anything like me and you love to experiment and try new organic and eco-friendly products, Blissmobox is a great way to do so without spending a lot of money!

Buy it!

Exclusively for ABCs and Garden Peas readers – Subscribe to the Blissmobox and get your first box for only $11 with FREE shipping! Get more details on subscribing to Blissmobox here.

Win it!

Win the latest Blissmobox! I can’t tell you what will be in it, but rest assured – you’ll love it! Besides, who doesn’t love a surprise! (Especially when it’s eco-friendly!)

Mandatory Entry: –> June Blissmoboxes were Food and Beverage and Beauty. July was Get Outdoors and Summer Snacks. Tell me what type of theme you’d like to see in an upcoming Blissmobox! (Just leave a comment below. Easy, huh?)

Bonus entries: (optional. Please leave a separate comment below for each entry, including your email address in each one.)

  • Follow ABCs and Garden Peas via GFC. (one entry)
  • Like ABCs and Garden Peas on Facebook. (one entry)
  • Follow me on Twitter @ABCGP (one entry)
  • Comment on another post and leave me a comment telling me where to find your comment. (one entry)
  • Share this giveaway! You can tweet it (daily for one entry per day), Facebook it (up to 3 times total), or post it on a link-up (up to 3 times total.) Please leave me a separate comment each time you share with a link to your tweet or post.
  • Subscribe to Blissmo’s daily email. (one entry)
  • Sign up for the monthly Blissmobox! (5 entries – will be confirmed through Blissmo)

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Disclosure: I received a free Blissmobox for review purposes. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review, and the opinions stated above are my own, honest opinions based on my experience with the products.
Entry period will close on Aug 24 and winner will be chosen on or about that date and notified by email. Winner will have 48 hours to confirm prize via email response or a new winner will be chosen. Contest open to US residents only.

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by | June 13, 2011

News! I have news!

Wow…what a week it’s been!

First…do you notice anything? (My husband always cringes when I ask that…)

You guessed it! Lots of changes are underway here at the blog. You  might notice a few of them just by looking around, but the biggest change is that I’m now self-hosted!

I had been considering making the switch for a long time, but I was just a little too intimidated by all the techie stuff to take the plunge. And I had no time. But then, I was contacted by Joseph from BlogTweaks and he offered me a great deal to take care of the switch for me. I couldn’t turn it down, and now it’s done! My blog had zero downtime, I got really great service, and I even learned a few things along the way! I’m SO glad I did it. If you’re considering the same type of switch, contact Joseph and he’ll give you $15 off!

Just visit BlogTweaks, send a message through the contact form, and mention my web address to get $15 off the regular price (which is already pretty low.)

In my opinion, it was worth every penny! :)

So I’ve made a few changes to my design, but I’ll probably keep tweaking for a while. One thing that will definitely stay, though, is my new GFC box. I wasn’t allowed to have one through WordPress.com, but I can now! I hope you’ll follow me! Sadly, I also lost all my email subscribers in the switch, but I’m hoping to get many of them back through word of mouth, some timely tweets and a bunch of carrier pigeons (I mean, how DO you tell your lost email subscribers that you’ve lost all your email subscribers?) If you happen to be a subscriber, please resubscribe! And if you’re new to my blog, there’s no time like the present, eh? ;)

The timing of this switch is great, too…because there will be some MAJOR changes going on over here in the ABCGP household.

drumroll please…

We bought a new house!! :D

Yup. We finally did it. It’s been a few years in the works, but last weekend we bought the cutest little house at auction, along with 6 acres of land!

It’s difficult to really express how I feel about the whole thing. I guess that’s why it took me a whole week to blog about it. I’m really overwhelmed with a lot of different emotions, but all of them lead to my being completely elated at the thought of a new home! Living in our tiny house has been tough for a myriad of reasons, and I was wearing thin, but it’s all worth it now. I always knew it would be, but now that it’s real, I’m jumping out of my skin to close and get our keys!

We’ll be living just a few miles from my parents (our childcare.) Sure, we could have moved closer to my job and cut down my commute, but that thought just didn’t feel right to me. We’re moving to a pretty remote, rural area, but it just feels more like where we want to raise our family…with some earth beneath us to put some roots down in. I feel like we stuck to our core ideals and chose a modest house that is well within our means, while at the same time providing our son with a great place to grow up, and that makes me feel like a good mom.  I just can’t stop thinking about all the things we will grow and learn on that land, and I’ll appreciate every second of it.

Plus, it will give me lots of great things to blog about! You know what they say about buying a new home, right? That’s when the new baby decides to show up! (Cross your fingers for us!) :)

I don’t have a lot of pics yet, but I can share the view from our new deck!

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by | May 2, 2011

Mom Fail: Yet another reason to go green…

Yesterday’s Major Mom Fail:

About 10 seconds after I heard my son run down the hall toward his very baby-proofed playroom, I turned to go find him (because I never, ever leave him alone. Not for a minute.)

I was heading down the hallway when I heard a thump behind me, in the kitchen. I thought my husband had come into the house.

I turned to see my son, sitting on the kitchen floor. How did he get over there? I swear toddlers have some kind of magic…

Then I noticed the spray bottle of bug spray. In his hands. Pointed toward his face.

His little face, with tiny droplets on it.

My heart stopped. For a minute, I thought I might throw up.

He looked at me, wide-eyed, surprised. But he did not cry.

He switched gears, smiled, got up and ran past me down to his playroom, and I ran after him, grabbing a towel along the way to clean him up.

Reason #45789203 to go a little greener: Orange Guard Home Pest Control, kills pests on contact with orange peel extract in a water-based formula that is safe for use around food, humans and pets.*

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I was horrified that my son had gotten past me, and that I allowed it to happen. I felt like the worst mother in the world, and I’m still beating myself up for it. But, I gotta say, I’m pretty freakin’ proud of myself for making sure the product in that bottle wasn’t toxic. Because toddlers really do have a certain sneaky mischief magic, and accidents happen.

Even so, I’ll be hovering a little more from now on.

*Orange Guard may cause moderate eye irritation.

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by | April 13, 2011

A Surprise Giveaway from Blissmo!

**Update: Blissmo’s Yoreganics deal may be over, but you can still enter my giveaway below! It ends on 4/25. Check out Blissmo every day for new deals! (or make things easy and sign up for their daily email!)

Hey hey hey, everybody…an unexpected giveaway popped up! :D

** As of 4/25/11, this giveaway is closed**

Random.org has named Laura, with comment #4, my winner! Congrats Laura on a great win and thanks for greening your laundry! :)

I’ve been shopping lots of daily deal sites lately – Groupon, Eversave, Mamapedia, etc…– and I’m hooked. I’ve been racking up credits when I see really good deals (which is just about every day) and I have already done a lot of my holiday shopping!

If you love a bargain as much as I do, I have great news for you – there’s a new daily deal site in town called Blissmo!

What sets Blissmo apart from the rest?

Blissmo features eco-friendly and organic products. They do all the upfront research to find high quality, well-loved products & services that are either certified as organic or eco-friendly, or that have a people & planet positive approach in the DNA of the business. Blissmo then negotiates compelling discounts and offer these products & services to their subscribers via email.

Tomorrow’s (4/14) deal from Blissmo is the Yoreganics Laundry Trio Travel Tube for only $10. That’s a 50% savings! (For 24 hours only!)

Not too long ago, I did a full review on Yoreganics products, and I really love their soap nuts. They are not only natural, organic and eco-friendly, but they’re really effective, too! (Plus, they’re just really cool.) Check out my original review here.

The trio Blissmo is offering includes:

  • 25 loads’ worth of soap nuts
  • Travel stain remover
  • 6 oz Brightens and Whitens
  • Lavender dryer sachet

Buy it!

Go to Blissmo and order your Yoreganics Laundry Trio tomorrow, while the 50% off deal is HOT!

CHECK IT OUT >> Blissmo has offered my readers an additional 5% off when you enter TRYBLISS at checkout! Offer is good tomorrow, 4/14, ONLY, so get your nuts right away! :lol:

Win it!

Blissmo has offered one lucky winner a voucher for a free Yoreganics Laundry Trio Travel Tube!

Mandatory Entry: To enter, just sign up for the Blissmo daily email, and have huge savings delivered right to you inbox. Come back here, and leave me a comment letting me know you signed up. Please make sure to leave your email address with each entry so I can contact you!

  • Extra entry: Tweet about this giveaway, then leave me a link to your tweet in a comment below. (Once per day.) Here’s a sample tweet to use, if you’d like: Win @Yoreganics soap nuts laundry trio from @ABCGP and @Blissmo! http://wp.me/pTRQh-FM Ends 4/25. #clothdiapers
  • Extra entry: Subscribe to my blog via email. Again, please leave a comment below.

That’s it! Easy, huh?

Good luck! :)

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Entries will close at 8pm on April 25, 2011. I will choose a winner on or about that time via Random.org. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond in order to claim prize. If winner does not respond, a new winner will be chosen. Disclosure: Blissmo has agreed to supply the prize for this giveaway. I received no compensation for this post.

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