I've written a guest post over at My Cloth Diaper Stash
on my experience with cloth diapering while camping in the great outdoors!
Check it out and let me know if you've braved this old timey experience.
What tips would you add?
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
The Cleanest Cloth Diapers with Country Save #summerfluffing
This giveaway was originally published as a part of the Summer Fluffing giveaway hop.
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One of the first questions that I get asked by friends who are interested in cloth diapering is about how to wash them. Poop and pee just make people uneasy. I talk to them about how it's not terribly time consuming but does take a little bit of work getting your formula down right. I steer them away from the mainstream detergents (for all of your laundry, not just cloth diapers) and tell them about my favorite household product: Country Save detergent.
Recently I've switched from reserving the 'special detergent' (as I would tell my husband) for cloth diapers and baby clothes to simply using it for all of our laundry. Country Save doesn't add a bunch of extra ingredients (enzymes, brighteners, fragrances) and all you get is the stuff that cleans your clothes, so this box of detergent goes a long way.
Country Save has partnered with me to share the love! One winner will receive a 10 lb box of detergent and a 40 oz package of their Oxygen Bleach. Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.
This giveaway is over - thanks to all for entering!
Keep an eye out for more Pierogie Mama Giveaways.
Disclosure: No compensation was provided, just love this product and want you to love it too! The Pierogie Mama, According to Jenny, So Easy Being Green, the Blogging Mamas Network, and the Summer Fluffing participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations.
Giveaway rules: Open to US residents only. Must be 18 years or older. The Pierogie Mama is not responsible for prize fulfillment, though I will advocate with you to make sure you get your prize. This giveaway is not associated in any way with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google. Winners will be contacted via email and have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen.
Monday, July 15, 2013
A Peek Back in Time.. Our Kitchen Renovation
As the anticipated closing date on our new home looms (and how tightly crossed my fingers and toes are!!!), my thoughts return to our previous home that we renovated. I haven't shared those pictures with you on this blog yet, so I thought I'd open up my renovation brag book and show off what my husband and I accomplished at our first renovation, affectionately called The TTD (T-ton Tear Down).
80% of that renovation was done by our own hands. The only parts that we contracted out were carpet install (because seriously, $100 to Lowes to install our carpets is a NO BRAINER), granite install, a little bit of exterior paint and electrical work in the kitchen. Everything else from cabinets, hardwood and tile flooring, paint, plumbing, landscaping, dry wall.. you name it.. was all done by us, with the help of friends and family along the way. We didn't have prior experience in a lot of these things, but youtube videos and a healthy relationship with your local hardware store goes a long way :)
I'm going to start off with our kitchen.
And then.. the final product.
80% of that renovation was done by our own hands. The only parts that we contracted out were carpet install (because seriously, $100 to Lowes to install our carpets is a NO BRAINER), granite install, a little bit of exterior paint and electrical work in the kitchen. Everything else from cabinets, hardwood and tile flooring, paint, plumbing, landscaping, dry wall.. you name it.. was all done by us, with the help of friends and family along the way. We didn't have prior experience in a lot of these things, but youtube videos and a healthy relationship with your local hardware store goes a long way :)
I'm going to start off with our kitchen.
That's what we did on Day 1.
Then we started using blue painters tape to map out where our cabinets would be.
And our peninsula with raised bar.
Then our cabinets arrived and Adam began his install.
Then came paint.
And uppers, which had under cabinet lighting.
And granite with full height backsplash. We were so in love with this color!
And then.. the final product.
Some of my favorite features that we had in the kitchen were a dedicated KitchenAid mixer cabinet (to keep the mixer off the counter but easily accessable)
And a faucet over the cooktop.
Adam made custom corbels for under our raised bar that matched the pulls on our cabinets too.
The kitchen was definitely a labor of love. We spent close to 7 months without a cook top - I cooked every night on a Coleman propane camper style cooktop. Adam spent countless hours under the house reworking plumbing when we moved the sink from an exterior wall to an interior wall. We grew angry and frustrated when we realized that our kitchen designer was taking us for a ride and was not going to come through with his promises and jerked us around. We learned so many valuable lessons as homeowners and a married couple.
Have you ever thought about doing a renovation, or any upgrades in your existing home?
How did it go for you?
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Happy Christmas in July! Best Bottoms Cloth Diaper Giveaway
Heather and Poppy are huge fans of Best Bottom Diapers. Even James prefers Best Bottoms over other cloth diapers. From the double leg gussets to the inserts that snap in, Best Bottom cloth diapers are an all around winner in The Parenting Patch household.
One lucky winner will win a Best Bottom Diapers cloth diaper prize pack. The Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway begins on July 11, 2013 and ends on July 25, 2013.
Sponsored by The Parenting Patch, the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway consists of one (1) Best Bottom shell in color/print of choice (in stock at Nicki's Diapers), one (1) Stay Dry insert in size of choice, and one (1) microfiber doubler in size of choice. The value of the prize pack is $24.40.
To enter to win, simply use the following Rafflecopter form. The first entry is free. All other entries are optional. But, the more entries you have, the better your chances are to win. Good luck! Happy Christmas in July!
This giveaway is over - thanks to all for entering!
Keep an eye out for more Pierogie Mama Giveaways.
The Parenting Patch Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway is restricted to legal residents of the United States of America and Canada. The Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway ends at midnight EST on July 25, 2013. One winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. The winner will be sent an email and will have forty-eight hours to respond. If no response is received within forty-eight hours, another winner will be chosen.
I did not receive compensation or product to review for participating in this giveaway.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Creamy Fruit Desserts
CREAMY FRUIT DESSERTS
Fruit makes a great dessert on its own, but sometimes having an adaptable base for a company dessert lets you give your family or dinner guests a special treat. Use new healthy dairy products and your fanciest old-fashioned dessert mold. Another way to serve this tart-sweet cooler is to layer it with fruit in stemmed glasses or parfait dishes.
For a 6-8-cup mold or 6 parfaits
• 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• ½ cup cold water
• 1 cup orange juice, apricot nectar or mango nectar *
• ½ cup honey
• 4 cups greek style plain or vanilla yogurt, full-milk, low-fat or fat-free
• 1 tsp. canola or safflower oil
• 4-6 cups mixed summer fruit, cut in small slices or chunks **
• Mint sprigs
Sprinkle the gelatin on the cold water and let it sit for 5 minutes to soften. Heat the fruit juice or nectar and the honey to boiling. Pour it over the softened gelatin, stirring till thoroughly dissolved. Gently whisk in the yogurt.
Lightly oil your dessert mold and pour in the fruit/yogurt mixture. Cover lightly with a piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 6 hours until firmly set. Turn out your mold on a 12-16-inch platter or shallow serving dish and top it with the fruit. Cut slices or wedges from the mold or scoop with a broad shallow
spoon. Decorate with mint sprigs.
For individual servings, mix all ingredients except the fruit and mint together and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes. Spoon ½ cup of the mixture into the bottom of each parfait glass, add a layer of fruit and repeat, ending with a top layer of fruit. Top each dessert with a mint sprig.
*Instead of orange juice, try some of the pleasures of the Latin or Caribbean section of your grocery store. You will find apricot nectar and other fruit nectars that enlarge your taste vocabulary. A fruit nectar is very similar in texture to the with-pulp version of orange juice.
**In what we sometimes call “menu-French” a mixture of chopped fruit cut in small pieces is called a “macedoine.” Peaches, plums and blueberries; pears and strawberries; or nectarines and raspberries all make wonderful macedoines. Cutting fruit pieces small exposes as much flavor as possible and lets you eat all the ingredients in the mixture together—a real summer treat!
Lauren Hill is a contributing author for Hamilton Beach, a kitchen appliance company offering a large selection of blenders, ice cream makers and slow cookers. Go here to see more summertime recipes.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided in sharing this post,
but I wouldn't share it with you if I didn't think it was delicious! I can't wait to try it out myself.
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