Ann Leach

The topic of using cloth family wipes rather than paper toilet paper has been getting attention lately in some of the fb groups I'm in..  Of all the responses, it looks like 45% are all for going to cloth or have already done so, 45% have a lot of questions and uncertainties to work through and 10% are eeeewwwww'ed out by the thought and won't even consider it.  To each their own.  I've gone cloth. I cut some old flannel into napkins years ago, and when they get too old to be napkins, I cut them down to hankie size.  I cloth diapered and made cloth wipes for my baby.. And most recently, I have taken the old baby wipes, stacked them on the back of the toilet for the grown-ups to use.  I do.  The hub doesn't.  No worries. Funny thing is, I told the hub I was doing this a few months ago.  And this morning I was telling him how much this topic has been coming up lately and how pleased I was with the results in our home.  And he was...

Meal-planning, keeping a pantry, stockpiling, hoarding -- there are so many ways to describe this, but what it comes down to is when you go to cook a meal, do you have what you need?  Me - usually yes, sometimes no.  But that's life. This is, again, one of those things that I never used to think much about.  During my single days, I can still tell you what I'd buy every week -- a couple hamburger helper meals, a tuna helper meal, a bratwurst meal, a mac & cheese and hot dogs meal, a spaghetti meal, and maybe a couple soup meals thrown in every now and then. Then I had children, and then I really started thinking about the food I was eating, and feeding my babies!  I also moved out of town so a garden was a real possibility.  I had some conversations with my grandma about all the canning I remember happening at her house during summers (and all the tomatoes I mashed, corn I shucked and green beans I snapped - but that's a post for another day).  She woul...

In my life before children, I worked full-time at an office job, came home after work, made supper, and watched tv.  Weekends were the time for laundry and housecleaning.  That was my routine.  It was simple and it worked.  Everything that needed to be done got done.  It wasn't something I thought about or made a plan for.  It was just the way I had learned from my mom.  She had worked full-time at an office.  Evenings in her home were supper and tv.  Weekends were laundry and cleaning.  I learned well, right?! After my daughters were born, I stayed home with them.  And at first, it was great.  They were babies and stayed where I put them.  I could spend a whole day doing laundry.  And another day cleaning the house.  So the routine from before babies still worked..  for a while. Those babies didn't always stay on the blanket in the living room while I vacuumed the bedrooms.  So I told myself I'd do...

"Oh, I'm just a stay at home mom." "I don't have time for a hobby.  I'm just so consumed with family." "Prior to having a baby, I loved....." "I don't really have a hobby anymore." "I too have done away with my hobbies since I became a mom.  I used to do ....." "I spend all my time taking the children to their activities." I meet a lot of moms who have their whole identity wrapped up in being a mom.  They have completely lost their identity as an individual, and that's sad.  It is vitally important that we moms show our children that we are a complete person, that being a mom is only a part of who we are as an individual.  And even more important, we need to do this for ourselves.  We have to keep hold of our own interests otherwise, when those children are grown, what is left?  Not only do you face an empty nest, but you face an empty person! Being a SAHM isn't "just" anything.  It...