Feel Good Song!

I'm a big fan of musicals, especially the happy feel good ones! Enchanted is a cute movie. But viewer beware...this song will be in your head all day :)

Cloth Diaper Comeback!

Back to my Earth Day posts....I think most of you know that we use cloth diapers. I'll be perfectly honest. When I decided to use cloth before I was pregnant, it had nothing to do with environmental concerns. My #1 reason for using cloth was my concern for my children's health. Also, saving a ton of money was a great bonus. It has only been recent that I have begun to feel that cloth diapering is very important for the environment.
Cloth diapering is really quite easy. Many people comment that I must be a super mom or something. I think those people are thinking that I'm using the same diapers that their mothers and grandmothers used. There are no rectangle diapers and pins in this house {though I know some people that prefer them}! There are dozens of cloth diaper brands. Some are in the picture above...clockwise from top left: bumGenius {a one size pocket diaper}, Bummis swim diaper, MotherEase {a one size diaper with a seperate cover...we use these}, and some prefold diapers.

There are also great tools available. These sprayers {similar to these ones at your kitchen sink, but much stronger} attach to the back of your toilet. All you have to do is lift the toilet seat and spray any solid into the bowel. And FYI, if you read the disposable diaper package, you are suppose to dump any solids into the toilet before throwing them away. Human waste is not suppose to go into landfills. It is dangerous for our water supply and wild animals.

There are many other "green" benefits to using cloth. Every child that uses disposable diapers puts 1-2 TONS of diapers into landfills. That 1-2 tons of trash takes 200-500 years to decompose. There are many great resources online that talk about all of the health and environmental benefits of cloth. You can find some here and here.

Weekend Travels

We went to Richmond this weekend to visit some of Mike's family. His Grandpa Bill had a birthday, so we all got together to celebrate. Mike's cousins were so excited to see Henry and Toby. We also went to Waynesboro on Sunday for Toby's blessing. We somehow missed the pictures, but I promise we were there :)

This is for everyone that tells me they don't know who Henry looks like. He's definitely a Swinson.

Henry is hitting his clingy stage. He was getting a little jealous when his Daddy was loving on someone else.

Good movies and a great recipe

I've seen some movies lately that I've really liked. My nephew, Caleb, is a big fan of Meet the Robinsons. It's a really cute story. I'm not a big Disney fan, but this one is worth adding to the library. It's about a boy that lives in an orphanage and loves to invent. He's trying to find out who he is and find a family. Very cute!

Becoming Jane is a good chick flick. I love Jane Austin movies {I haven't been able to read her books}. This is about her life and her love.

Dan in Real Life is hilarious! This movie was recently recommended by a friend {thanks Jesse!}. I was cracking up throughout the whole movie. It definitely doesn't help my fear of daughters though :) All of these movies made my cry, but I'm a bit of a sap.

This recipe is another great one from Cooks Country magazine. I made beef enchiladas last night for Cinco de Mayo. All I can say is YUM!

3 garlic cloves

3 T chili powder

2 t ground coriander

2 t ground cumin

1 t sugar

salt

1 1/4 pounds top blade steaks, trimmed

1 T vegetable oil

2 medium onions

15 oz tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup chopped canned pickled jalapenos {i didn't add these}

12 corn tortillas

1. Combine garlic, chili, powder, coriander, cumin, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in small bowl. Pat meat dry with paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Heat oil in Dutch oven over med-high until shimmering. Cook meat until browned on both sides, about 6 minutes. Transfer meat to plate. Add onions to pot and cook over med heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic mixture and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and water and bring to boil. Return meat and juices to pot, cover, reduce heat to low, and gently simmer until meat is tender and can be broken apart with wooden spoon, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Strain beef mixture over medium bowl, breaking meat into small pieces; reserve sauce. Transfer meat to bowl and mix with 1 cup cheese, cilantro and jalapenos.

3. Spread 3/4 cup sauce in bottom of 13 by 9 inch baking dish. Microwave 6 tortillas on plate on high power until soft, about 1 minute. Spread 1/3 cup beef mixture down center of each tortilla, roll tortillas tightly, and set in baking dish seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and beef mixture (you may have to fit 2 or more enchiladas down the sides of the baking dish). Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and spread to coat evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese evenly over enchiladas, wrap with aluminum foil, and bake until heated through, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until cheese browns slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve.

Do you think he likes it?

Henry got a new swing this weekend. Some of Henry's friends had some swings that they had out grown, so Henry inherited one. He loves to swing! He gets so excited...he kicks and squeals when we start walking towards it:)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We have tried to reduce the amount of trash going out of our house and the amount of stuff coming in. My grandmother always had the neatest multi~colored cloth napkins when I was growing up. I remember picking my favorite color out when we would eat at their house. Up until recently, we just tore a paper towel in half to use as our napkins. We decided to go back to the cloth napkins that I grew up with. Not only is it good that we aren't going through a bunch a paper products, but it makes the dinner table a lot more interesting looking. I just throw the used napkins in with our load of towels. You can also find tons of websites {like this one} teaching you how to make them if you are a project kind of person.

We also switched to reusable shopping bags. I love these fruit and veggie bags, but for $100 I think I'll stick with my $.99 grocery store bags. It hasn't been an easy habit for me to get into. I have walked into a store a couple times now, only to turn around and go back to the car to get the bags. It's the only bad thing about not having an addictive personality...the good habits are as hard to start as the bad ones :) If we all purchase {or make} our own bags, plastic bag production will have to decrease {making plastic is very hard on our environment}.

Why do we buy so many things new? It's frightful to think of how many perfectly useful things are thrown into the Earth and buried. I was watching a video about how there are actually engineers that figure out how to make a product break sooner so you have to buy a new one. The trouble is making sure it doesn't break so fast that you lose faith in that product. Yikes! This time of year is great for yard sales. Almost all of Henry's clothes were bought at yard sales or were hand~me~downs. It wasn't just for financial reasons either {though I must admit that it's crazy how much people spend on a pair of pants that will be worn for 2 months}. It's fun finding the best yard sales. There are some houses in northern Virginia that we have a continual relationship with. I will continue the hunting even when my husband is a successful accountant :) We also let people reuse a lot of things that we don't want anymore. We either take our things to the local thrift store or sell it on eBay.

Breezy Boy

I think this is the cutest picture. We were outside yesterday afternoon and Henry was enjoying the breeze. So cute!