EcoMom and Revolution Foods Giveaway Winner

                                       And the Winner is..... Ashley! with comment # 9

Thank you to all who participated! And a big Thank you to EcoMom for providing great products and discounts to both me and my readers! I hope to be able to do more giveaways here soon so keep checking back :) !

A last attempt to win something for my baby boy...

If any of you are up and could so kindly spare a minute. I need some "Likes" on a picture of my boy for a contest. It would mean so very much to me. The contest is open till 5 am est time. Thanks mama's xo

You need to like the Tots Bots page and then like the picture of my boy. Link below

Tots Bots Facebook Page

Yay cloth wipes!

So I FINALLY finished my cloth wipes and I am FINALLY getting to posting them! I swear all you mama's with great blogs must have super powers! Because my stay at home self finds getting the time and energy to write up a blog a bit hard sometimes!

But anyhu here they are, a short and simple post about simple wipes. They are not perfect but I didn't try to make them so. I figured I am not selling them and they are being used on my babies bottom so who cares if they are perfect! As long as they are soft and get the job done! This is my first time making wipes and I am completely satisfied with the results.

All I used was some old receiving blankets, a ruler, scissors, thread and of course a sewing machine. Oh and I used a fabric marker.

My Big L's sweet little hands seem to end up in a lot of my pictures. :)

I want to make more someday but for now these will do!

A Crappy Energy Alternative....

                                                              Picture by Roger Chouinard


In the midst of the Gulf Coast oil crisis there are many many people who if weren't thinking about it before are thinking about it now, other ways to fuel our country and the way we live. Unfortunately there are issues with just about all alternative energy sources but this was brought to my attention today, energy fueled by our body waste. Yep you heard me, running things from our poo. Now I know absoloutely nothing about this but if this could be accomplished on a big scale, I only see good things coming from it. Because not only are we hurting the earth with our energy sources, we are also polluting it greatly with our own filth.


 I mean the fuel out of our other ends isn't stopping anytime soon and seeing as how it already is waste, using it and having it turn out into any kind of waste again, whats the difference? Besides lowering our dependency on things like oil! I mean how many more times do we want to be doing this?

 Makes me cry :(.

Now I hadn't heard of this till now but I am sure it is not new news to some of you. And today I read that Michigan is actually working on this very idea right now. This article "Make Sewage, Not Disasters" talks a bit about it.


Heres another article "Poop-Powered Hydrogen Cars Show Promise" about the Japanese testing this. It also mentions some stuff that has been being used in California for years now.


And this doesn't just apply to human waste either. How about animal waste. There is a flower right now that is being researched for biofuel and it grows off of animal waste. It is called Duckweed.

I really hope people can get their "shit" together and make it happen! (sorry for the wordage here but I can't resist!) Or the world we see in futuristic movies is going to be ours very soon...

                               And just for a little humor on a not so humorous subject....

EcoMom and Revolution Foods Review/Giveaway & Discount Code!

It's always nice to come across great new websites. This one I found through a twitter party I "attended" a little while back. The website is called EcoMom and it is great! They have many awesome and safe products to offer anyone who is Eco-friendly and concerned about what goes in and on their family. There is literally something for everyone! From baby food to mens shaving products, to composters and high chairs!

 Eco-friendly Baby Products - EcoMom sent me a great Sampler package of Revolution Foods to review and is doing a giveaway for my readers as well!. Oh and did I mention they are giving my readers a discount code too? :)

First off the review! Now I really like making as much food as possible from scratch but there are times when I just don't have the time and or energy to do so. Finding nifty little snacks for kids these days that are not full of bad things is hard to do. Of course you can do the usual fruit and crackers and such but it's nice to have a little change. These seem really great for travel too. And they are all Organic of course!

  Now my son, Big L (the real reviewer) LOVES getting things in the mail (even if they aren't for him! lol) and he was jumping up and down waiting for me to open the package. When I got it opened there was an "Oh wow food!" Of course it could have been dirt and he still probably would have been excited because it came in the mail!

 He pulled it all out of the box and lined them up.                       

So then for the test... taste test that is!   First up the little Sammies.

 Making his way around the plate...

 

He tried them all and seemed to really like them.

 

 Nom, Nom, Nom...

 

Big L will not eat anything he does not like so it was a thumbs up on the Sammies!

Now on to the Mashups. He opened up the first one (Strawberry Banana) "It's Yummy and squishy" he said.

 He really liked the Mashups but I think he liked Strawberry Banana best..

 Ok I don't think I have ever seen him do this before and since it is our table and I had just cleaned it (with water and vinegar no less!) I didn't halt that tongue from hitting the table. He obviously didn't want to waste any!

Big L eyeing the last of his prey....

 

 You had no chance for survival little Sammy!

 

 Mama tried to steal the extra one (he had already had one of the same flavor...) but he spoted it, grabed it and I chased him around the house till he laid down on the floor laughing that it was his. Guess I miss out on that one (not that they were for me anyway!)!

I think Little L wanted some, look at that face as Big L gobbled up the last Sammy!

 Just packages and crumbs left....

 What I don't have pictures of, is all the times he put something down and picked it right back up to have another bite or sip! He was such a good little reviewer (must have been because the food was good! mama can vouch for that as she tested a bite and sip of everything too... ) So these were definitely a success!

If you would like to get your own just hop on over to EcoMom! And use the discount code  (good till June 30th, 2010) just for my readers for 15% off your first purchase with EcoMom!

DISCOUNT CODE:     SBBL415 

EcoMom also has a new program called EcoPass that allows you to purchase a $99 annual membership, which provides a 15% discount on every order, as well as free shipping with no $75 minimum requirement!

You can enter the giveaway below for $15 worth of Plum/and/or Revolution Foods!

 Here's how to enter:  The first entry is mandatory, you may do as many or as few of the rest as you like (extra entries means more chances to win!).  Leave a comment for each entry  and be sure to leave your email address in each comment.  If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner.

Mandatory Entry!

Visit Eco-friendly Baby Products - EcoMom and tell me something else you would love to have from the website.  

Extra Entries!

1. Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.

2. Like EcoMom on Facebook

3. Follow @EcoMomCEO on Twitter

4. Follow @InsideMyHeartt on Twitter

5. Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post.  One tweet per day!.  

Win #giveaway for Organic Plum and/or Revolution Foods from @InsideMyHeartt and @EcoMomCEO http://tinyurl.com/29odam4 for your munchkin/s! . 

Then post a comment here with your tweet URL.

6. Sign up for EcoMom's newsletter.

7. Blog about this giveaway.  Please be sure to link back to this post and leave me a link to your blog post.

This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.  I will be accepting entries until Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 10:00 P.M., Eastern.  I will select a winner using random.org's true random number generator, and contact the winner by email.  S/he will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and another winner chosen. Once the winner responds I will send EcoMom the winners contact info and email so they can set up shipment of the prize!

ECOMOM provided the review Sampler to me at no cost, and is providing the winner's item as well. The sample product was provided to me for review purposes, I was in no way compensated for reviewing the product. The opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine & not influenced by the company in any way. Your results and opinions may differ. Thanks for participating & Thanks to EcoMom for sponsoring!!! 

A newly "fluffy" world!

For those of you who haven't heard this term before fluff is used as another word for cloth diapers (because they are so soft and fluffy!) And I am writing about my experience so far with cloth diapering and what works for me! I had actually started this post on 5/18/10, just hadn't finished it up till now! :s

First I want to talk about the diaper that comes to everyone's minds when cloth diapers are brought up. And that would be prefolds. You know the diaper you have to fold funny then pin, then put a cover over? Well so far these are my least favorite kind of diaper. Even though some people love them, it is too many steps for me. I have already jabbed myself once with a pin and that was when taking out the pins! Not putting them in...

Here are some prefolds on the line.

But I must say I was given quite a few of these from a friend and without them I would not be able to cloth diaper full time. So I am very happy to have them! I'm sure with practice I could get better but as if now they are not fun and I can't seem to get a good fit on baby.

They also make this thing now called a snappi and I am thinking about buying one to see how they work and if it makes it easier. I really should try to get one soon as I am using the prefolds!

Next are hybrid diapers. I have tried two now, a Flip and the one most people know as gDiapers. The g's I was using before I had cloth and for me they def worked well for my baby. But I was really wanting to go cloth all the way and not use disposable inserts. They do make cloth inserts as well but I didn't have any at the time I was using the g's so I can not say how well they work.

The flip to me is just a diaper cover. I use fitteds, prefolds and some cloth inserts in it. But they make disposable inserts as well.

Then there's AIO's (for any newbies that's All In Ones), I like them like I thought I would. They really are a quick and easy diaper to put on but they take FOREVER to dry. Seriously it takes me AT LEAST 2 times in the dryer on medium heat to dry them. I know line drying them would be best too but it rains here a lot and it's not always possible. And line drying in the house takes more time then I have!

Here's some bumGenius AIO's

Little L in a bumGenius AIO

Which leads me to pocket diapers! Which turned out to be just like I thought too! As of now these are by far my favorite! After you wash and dry them if you stuff them then, they are just like an AIO. Just stuff them ahead of time. I'd much rather take a few extra seconds to stuff a pocket then all the extra time it takes drying an AIO.

 And now that we are talking about pockets I will introduce my absoloute favorite diaper so far! The Bummis/Tots Bots Easy Fit Diaper! I would go into all I love about it except I wrote a review on it for another website which will hopefully be posted soon! So I will link to it from my blog when it does! While we are waiting I will just post some pics! :)

 Little L in his Easy Fit

Now my second favorite is fitted's. It does take a little extra step at diaper changing time because you have to put on a cover but that is pretty easy. Just like the pocket's there is one more step then the AIO's and I honestly would rather have the extra step not be right when I am changing my baby so pockets are first. For all you mama's who have changed a screaming babies diaper, you know what I mean! But fitted's are still great!

I have some bumGenius bamboo fitted's that I love but they don't seem to make them anymore! I'm over here pouting about that as I only have them in small and baby is going to be too big for them very soon... I am not sure why they were discontinued because I love them. They are so soft and absorbent! If your reading this bumGenius bring em back I would love you for it (and I would imagine many others out there that would too)!

Now for detergent! With cloth diapers you cant just use any old detergent so I did ALOT of looking around and getting opinions on what worked best for people. After a while I decided on Rockin' Green. It smells so yummy and definitely gets my diapers clean.

Notice the pile of lint in the background that I still have not bought a  container for... 

 Well that's a pretty simple post about my experience with cloth diapers so far but I'm sure there will be more posts in the future! Woohoo for cloth and for less garbage in our landfills!

Herbal Coffee Review

Now this is something I am choosing to write about myself. I was not asked by the company or the place I bought it from but after tasting it I had to post about it! What would this be? Teeccino Mediterranean Herbal Coffee.



First I want to say I am not a big coffee drinker. In fact I never drink it. But not because I don't like it ( I actually love the taste of coffee!) but because for whatever reason it makes me feel awful and gives me shakes and even anxiety.

So for years now I have not drank any coffee. But just the other day I came across a yummy looking recipe that called for coffee or a coffee substitute. Coffee substitute? I had never heard of this before....

So I typed in coffee substitute into my search bar and started browsing. One of the links led me to Teeccino. I read some really good reviews on it and decided this would be the first one I tried. I ended up ordering it from LuckyVitamin.com as it was a good price there and I needed a few other things. I ordered the Mediterranean Herbal Coffee in Hazelnut. I always liked flavored coffees and thought it would be safer to buy a substitute like that as well.

So it just came in the mail today and I took a closer look at it. It has no caffeine (good!) And the ingredients? Carob, barley chicory, dates, almonds, natural hazelnut flavor (whatever that is! but this product claims to be 75% organic so it could be worse!) and figs. That's it!

I must admit I was really skeptical that this stuff was going to taste like coffee. And I had bought it for baking so I figured close enough would be good. But I had to taste this stuff anyway since it had such good reviews. I got out the coffee pot (under the counter and never used) because you make this just like coffee. Then I opened the bag and OMG did it smell good! At that moment I figured if it tastes remotely like what it smells like, it should be pretty good!

So I brewed up a small pot, meanwhile my son was saying mommy I want Coffee! Oh boy I really don't want him going around saying that! I would never give him real coffee! But the package says great for kids too and judging by the ingredient's I think it's pretty safe!

Now I like my coffee with cream and sugar so when it was done I mixed in some raw sugar and coconut milk. Took a sip cautiously... Wow not bad! Second thing out of my mouth? "I can't believe this is not coffee!" The company should totally steal the line from that butter! lol




I'm more then impressed and have a feeling a cup of this stuff will sneak its way in once in awhile on top of baking with it.

My son did try it and did drink some. Not sure it was quite for him but I never thought he was a coffee drinker anyway. :P

My next stop is to the Teeccino website to buy the sampler pack because I want to try some other flavors too! Sampler Pack

OOoooh! And I just noticed if you subscribe to their Healthy Tips Newsletter you get a FREE SAMPLE of Teeccino - in your choice of flavor!

Happy baking, or brewing! :)

Natures Gifts and some pie!

My new home and yard keeps amazing me. From the humming birds at my windows to the mulberry tree in the back! Can I just say how excited I am about the mulberry tree!? I had always heard of them in stories and such but never come across one in real life.

Look at how big this thing is! It's not the tree all the way to the right but the tree right before.



So to add to the list of yummy goodies growing naturally in my yard, is the mulberry tree! Here is a picture of the berries when I SHOULD HAVE started picking them.



But I didn't know what they were yet and I wasn't about to do something that would encourage my son to go picking possibly poisonous berries! Fast forward to present day...


Not as full of ripe beries but did anyone see the pretty little Cardinal on the right in the picture :)

Over the past 2 days I have been picking ones I could reach and I put out a sheet (crib to be exact)on the ground to catch them during the day. I figured it would never get used because I don't like cribs and don't own one (baby sleeps with mama as he should!).



Oh and can I add myself to the edible things in my yard? Because boy do the mosquito's eat me alive! I guess I'm just ripe for the biting lol! My grandmother always told me I must be sweet... Still need to figure some good mosquito control (if there is such a thing) so I am not hiding in the house half the summer...

Now I asked my hubby to bring over our new ladder so I could reach up higher(he bought it just in time to help me with this project!)and I got to work pickin' those berries! I had earlier come across a recipe for mulberry pie so it was my goal to get 3 cups like the recipe called for.








After trying to pick the berries by hand I realized I still could not reach enough so went into the house and got a big bed sheet and into the garage for a metal rake. I laid out this bigger sheet on the ground and climbed back up the ladder to try to shake some off this way. Well I wasn't doing a very good job at this (too afraid of falling and honestly of shaking bugs all over myself). There is a lot of bugs on this tree (makes sense as it's a very edible tree!) so I ended up asking my wonderful hubby to help me out.



How can the girl so in love with nature be so squeamish about bugs? Beats me! I actually lived in a tent for 2 and 1/2 months once so this whole can't handle bugs thing is really weird.

While my hubby was up on the ladder picking and shaking away my son was singing at the top of his lungs "Berry Pickin, Berry Pickin, Berry Berry Berry Pickin!" lol. I'm sure my neighbors "loved" it but it was so sweet and I wasn't going to hush him one bit! Besides one of the neighbors has some pretty noisy kids and it's not the cute kind of noisy... Anyhu! :)






Here is our harvest of sweetness.



Time to make the pie! Here is my son making pictures with his fingers in the flour :)



Pie crust



Mulberry filling



Finished pie! Now it doesn't look so good ( need to make more pie dough next time because this recipe didn't make enough for both halves) but the taste more then made up for it.



I can't believe how incredibly yummy this pie turned out! I don't know if it is because I made it or because of the mulberries (maybe a combination of both ;D)but it is one of the best pies I have ever had! And I can't believe this tree was in my backyard and I made this yumminess from something I didn't even plant!

We haven't been able to stay away from it. We actually had pie for breakfast! It's not like we do that all the time so it was a treat. The one bad thing? The pie is now gone! :( And I don't think I will be able to get another 3 cups from the tree again but I'm sure gonna try!