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By Alyssa, January 8, 2010 11:57 pm

If your first response to this post’s title was “Ewwwwhhhhh,” raise your hand.  When a friend asked me if I was going to use washable diapers, my response was exactly that.  Of course, my view of cloth diapers was somewhat jaded at the time.  At eleven years old, I was considered mature enough to change my youngest brother’s washable diapers.  Several times a day, I wielded two-inch safety pins near my brother’s abdomen trying fasten that darn white cloth and struggled to pull his plastic bloomers up.

Cloth diapers have come a long way since my childhood.  It took my friend throwing a “diaper shower” for me to do the research.  The plastic bloomers have been replaced by a micro-fibered diaper shell that attaches to itself with snaps or Velcro (No more pins!) and the liners are either biodegradable or washable depending upon the brand.  After seeing a few friends use them and realizing I would save money (You’ll see this cheapskate… ahem, frugal theme throughout my posts), I decided to find a brand to use.  Here are my results after comparing a few:

BRAND	PRICE*	PROS	CONS
Blueberry Blueberry	$32.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all snap system with a variety of shell colors and patterns. Snaps are more durable when laundering. Includes a micro-terry/hemp combo insert.	Way too expensive for me, but top of the line when it comes to cloth diapers. Snap system can be confusing for care-givers unfamiliar with cloth diapers.
gDiapers gDiapers	$16.99**	Great compromise between disposable and cloth diapers as the shells fit either disposable, biodegradable inserts or cloth inserts.  Shells come in a variety of colors and patterns.	Expensive as new shells must be purchased as baby grows and shells are sold separately from liners (Liner packs cost $12-50 depending on type). Velcro tabs may wear down with laundering and scratched the skin of my friend’s baby.
Fuzzy Bunz Fuzzy Bunz	$17.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all snap system with a variety of shell colors. Snaps are more durable when laundering. Includes a terry cloth insert.	Expensive as new shells must be purchased as baby grows. Snap system can be confusing for care-givers unfamiliar with cloth diapers. Every friend of mine that used these said they leaked horribly.
Happy Heiny Happy Heiny	$18.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all Velcro and snap system with a variety of shell colors and patterns. Includes two microfiber inserts, one large and one small.	Velcro tabs may wear down with laundering. Every friend of mine that used these said they also leaked.
BumGenius BumGenius	$17.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all Velcro and snap system with a variety of shell colors. Includes two microfiber inserts, one large and one small.	Velcro tabs may wear down with laundering.
* Prices found on diapers.com
**Shell Only

After reviewing my options, I decided to purchase BumGenius 3.0 diapers.  I’ve been using them for over a year and still love them.  Zeke’s slight diaper rash disappeared immediately when I made the switch from disposables and the small insert with the larger insert works perfectly overnight.  I didn’t think about their ease of use until dropping him off at the church nursery a few times.  Some of the snap diapers literally come with an instruction manual, but my diapers are as simple as disposables.  My Velcro fastening tabs do look a little worn at this point, but they are still functioning so I’m not complaining.

My reason for switching to cloth diapers wasn’t the environment, but my budget.  Sure, disposable diapers only cost about $.30 each, but at an average of six diapers a day for a year, that’s $657 out of my pocket! After shopping around for a deal on my cloth diapers and receiving a few as gifts (Thanks, Grandma!), my total cloth diaper expense was $150 and Zeke can use them until he potty trains.  I wish I hadn’t waited until he was 3 months old to make the change because according to my calculations (10 diapers a day cuz newborns poop a lot), three months of disposable diapers cost me over $270.  I know if we have any more kids, I will be requesting a diaper shower to boost my current supply.

Feel free to ask me your questions, as I’ve probably researched them. Here are some additional notes I couldn’t fit into the post:

-Most diapers require laundering with perfume-free, dye-free detergent and washing with an extra rinse cycle.  I find my homemade detergent and our front-load washer’s “sanitize cycle” works beautifully.

-Cloth diaper micro-fiber shells do not work as well at deterring waste if diaper rash ointments are used.  If you do use an ointment, place a cotton rag in between baby’s bottom and the diaper shell.

-Disposable diapers sit in landfills for over 500 years.  Yikes!  Using cloth diapers gave me the relief that my great-great-great-great-great grandchildren won’t have to deal with my kiddos dirty diapers during their lifetime.  Hubby, on the other hand, feels no guilt when buying a pack of disposables for camping trips.  I guess 30 diapers in the landfill is better than the 2,200 we would use in a year.

-If one of you brainiacs comes after me for an incorrect budget analysis after calculating the water and electricity cost for each load of cloth diapers I wash, well… you may find yourself with a load of baby poo on your front porch.  Just sayin.

Comments (6)

By Alyssa, January 6, 2010 3:52 pm

Unfortunately, I have to start this post with a disclaimer.  Colorado, like 12 other states, has pretty strict food disparagement laws that hinder me from saying specific things about my beef preferences.  I could honestly serve jail time for disparaging or wounding the reputation of industrialized beef (Don’t believe me?  Google COLO. REV. STAT. ANN. [Criminal] Sect. 35-31-101).  So, I’m not going there.  I guess freedom of speech is o.k. until big corporations lose money.

Anyhoo, enough of the legal stuff, let’s talk about beef.  I love beef.  No really, L.O.V.E. beef.  Carnivore defined right here.  I grew up in Idaho and was lucky enough to eat beef right off the pasture from animals that my brothers named “Beefy” and “Steak.”  When I joined the military and started living in cities, I wasn’t impressed with the beef selection in the commissary or grocery store.  I didn’t have time to research my options while moving every three years, so it wasn’t until I settled in Denver that I discovered amazing beef again.

I recently purchased about a quarter of a cow this fall.  Well, really I bought the whole cow and split it with three other families.  After considering a few beef providers, I decided with the other families to buy beef from Touchstone Angus Farm.  Brad and Cathy James, the owners, raise their antibiotic-free, grass-fed cattle on a ranch near Lusk, Wyoming.  Their meat is not certified organic, but this certification wasn’t a big deal to me as I’m finding “organic” doesn’t mean better.  After purchasing the cow, it was processed by a small family-owned business in Elizabeth, Colorado.  One of our families drove down to pick up the meat in Elizabeth and we separated it right here in my family room.

Where's the Beef? It's the white packaging piled all over.

Each family received a little over 80 pounds of hamburger, roasts, and steak. My share cost $285 or about $3.55 a pound.  I compared this price to the grocery store and found that although grocery hamburger was cheaper, I was getting a deal on the roasts and steaks.  Of course, the first thing I cooked up was the steak. I used a salt, pepper, onion salt, and fresh garlic rub on two porterhouse cuts and fired up the grill.  Umm… gotta pause here.  1. I’m starting to drool and 2. I can still taste that smoky, savory goodness.  One bite and I was back home again, sorry to good old Beefy and Steak, but the meat was even better.

There are many reasons besides the untouchable flavor that I chose to buy a grass-fed cow for my family. I think it is a decision you have to research yourself.  If you’d like more information about my personal choice, come on over to the house.  I’ll grill up some T-bones, mash some taters, and fill you in on my reasoning. Until then, here are some links and resources I used:

Touchstone Angus Beef
Brad and Cathy James
Address: 440 Petz Road / P.O. Box 165, Lusk WY 82225
Phone: (307) 340-1456
E-mail: bjames1957@aol.com

DVD:
Food Inc. (LOVE this movie… watched it four times and it’s still not old)

Websites:
EatWild.com
LocalHarvest.org

Books:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Oh, there is one negative to buying your own cow.  You end up with this stuff in your freezer because no one else will take it home.  Mmmmm… liver.

The Leftovers: Oxtail, Liver and Tongue

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By Alyssa, January 4, 2010 7:33 am

Hubby’s on Day 4 of his weight loss challenge, a contest I was banned from entering for being “too skinny.” He and eight of our male and female friends started this pretty simple competition.  Each of them put $10 toward a prize pot, weighed themselves on the 1st, and whoever loses the highest percentage of total body weight by the end of the month wins the money.    The competitor in me was sad, but I’ll admit, despite my dad’s fervent warnings when I was a teenager, my eating habits still haven’t caught up with me.

My dad warned me of the Army weight standards when I was in college, but I’ve never been close to enrollment in the weight control program.  According to Army Regulation 600-9, The Army Weight Control Program, I can weigh up to 173 pounds at my current height and age.  If I weigh more than 173 pounds, I have to be taped or measured for my body fat percentage which, by the way, can be up to 34 percent.  The closest I’ve come to 173 pounds was when I was six months pregnant.

Every Army Physical Fitness Test I’ve taken concluded with the dreaded weigh-in.  Nothing pleasant about a company of men and women in their gym shorts, shirts, and sweaty socks standing in line behind a weight scale AFTER completing a workout.  I can still smell the rows of stinky shoes outside of the room.  I don’t have a lot of experience with the validity of the men’s weight standards in the Army, but I think the women’s standards are crap.  That’s right, I said crap.  Even in my best shape (think heavy muscle on my frame) benching my body weight, I never weighed more than 165 pounds.  It’s hard for me to believe that I could ever be a lean, mean, Army fighting machine with fat making up over 1/3 of my body composition.

I realize that my crazy metabolism gives me an advantage, but even my soldiers that struggled with their weight agreed that the standards are pretty lenient.  Trying to stay politically correct, a lot of male soldiers won’t speak publicly about the unequal standards.  Yes, I understand the physiologically women have a higher body fat percentage then men, but I think the current weight control program is easier on women then men when it comes to standards.  According to the chart, men, due to a lower weight requirement per their height/age, are more likely to be taped for body fat then women.

Comparing Hubby’s friends weight to the Army standard, the men aren’t within the standard, however, all of the women are in the standard.  If my civilian girlfriends have higher expectations for themselves than the Army has for its female soldiers, I think something needs to change.  No offense to my friends, but their main mission right now isn’t protecting our nation.  I’m proud of Hubby and my friends for wanting a healthier weight for their life.  I’m just hoping the Army will soon want that for their female soldiers.

Comments (2)

By Alyssa, January 2, 2010 11:44 am

Fishing with Grandpa (1981)

From the time I was old enough to play chess, my maternal grandfather played a major role in my life. Hank was one of a kind.  A retired Navy commander far before I was born, he was best recognizable by his lifelong haircut, a high and tight with one soft grey peaking tuft in the front.  It was fascinating to be around him, mostly just to hear his vocabulary.  Grandpa had his own language,  blessing our sneezes in German and baking bread while singing in Italian.  He loved to flog (golf backwards in case you wondered) and called the T.V., Stupid-vision.  Grandma was never grandma, but “Butch” and a common response to something inconsiderate was ”How woo-ude!”

It wasn’t his mannerisms that won my heart, but the way he cared for me.  He lived only a few miles from ten other grand-kids and numerous great-grandchildren, but never neglected our family a few states away.  Every military milestone I reached, he acknowledged with encouraging letters and my favorite chocolates (I could live on Ferrero Rocher chocolates alone).  The letters weren’t a quick “Congrats,” but instead flowed with prose like this written in June 2001, ”You are just beginning a wonderful voyage into the future.  Carpe Diem, enjoy, and if the success you have encountered in the last few years is any indicator, all you have to do is work as valiantly as you have in the past, and happiness is the rainbow at the end.”

After his death, I learned about his impressive military career, taking over a ship when sailors staged a mutiny and developing the fuel propulsion mechanics in torpedoes.  He was never one to brag or even complain, which is hard to believe for someone that survived over four major heart surgeries.  It’s no mistake that I named our first born after him and I can’t wait for the day I get to tell Bubba about his great-grandfather.

It’s been three years, but I still miss his Old Spicey smell, crude jokes, and rendition of “Mele Kalikimaka” every Christmas.  Mostly, I just miss him.  I want to live this new year like he would, pressing forward, learning, and laughing.  I can only hope that I will make an impression on someone as he did on me. I guess all I can do now is say, Happy New Year, Grandpa.  I’ll always miss you.  Love, your Schmoe-moe.

Me and Grandpa (Dec 1980)

Birthday with Grandpa and Dad (Aug 1982)