Wow... craziness

Life has been crazy. Well, I had my sewing room about 75% set the way I wanted it, starting to put things in their place. In the middle of May our dishwasher decided to malfunction and leaked water under the floor in the kitchen and down into my sewing room. GASP! Luckily it wasn't too much damage to my room and insurance is paying for the fixes. But, in order for the room to be fixed, everything has to be moved out. UGH! So, for the last month, my whole room has been moved to the downstairs family room. The flooring we've ordered is on back order so those two rooms are still out of commission.

We have laminate floor in the kitchen and dining room, as well as the stairwell landing and downstairs hallway. Insurance is paying for the kitchen and dining room to be replaced, so we've decided to get all the laminate replaced. I'm so excited! We choose something called palmwood (http://www.greenchoiceflooring.com/Products/StrandWovenPalmwood.aspx). It's made up of old palm trees that are no longer baring coconuts. Instead of burning the trees to get rid of them, they are shredding them and making a composite type flooring. Trying our part to "green" up our house.

Speaking of going "green", I've been really focused on changing some of our cleaning products and even personal hygiene products to be more "green"/natural/organic. I've attempted in making my own laundry detergent with much success! I can't believe how easy it is and cheap too! There are many different recipes out there you can Google.

The recipe I use is:
* 1 bar of Fels Naptha laundry soap grated (either use food processor or cheese grater)
* 1 cup Borax
* 1 cup washing soda (e.g., Arm & Hammer washing soda - baking soda works okay but not as effective)

Mix all ingredients together in food processor. Put into a container and you're all set! Use 1 tablespoon per load. I also use 1/2 cup vinegar in my fabric softener dispenser instead of liquid fabric softener (or using the sheets in the dryer). You do not smell the vinegar on the clothes once they are dried.

ETA: I recently came across information that Fels Naptha has ingredients from petroleum products. I will be researching other, more natural soaps to use.

One of my problems with going "green" is that many of the personal cleaning products out there contain coconut oils. As many of you know from reading my previous blog postings, my daughter has peanut and tree nut allergies. At this time, coconut is not considered part of the tree nut family according to FAAN; however, my daughter does have an allergic reaction to this. Fortunately for us, it's not anaphylactic, "only" mild hives and itching. I did find a soap for my daughter from a brand called Kiss My Face that is olive oil and aloe that seems to be treating her skin well.

Last but not least, I lost my job. Yup, that sucked. However, I'm now happier than I have been in the last year. No more tension headaches. Yeah! Now I'm on to bigger and better things. We're in a good place financially so staying home is not quite out of the picture, but I am still looking for full or part time work. In the meantime, this leaves me time to create! So, I'm laying out all my options and see what I can come up with as far as crafty things. I might even open an Etsy store. That might be a little ways down the road but keep your fingers crossed for me!

FAAN (Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network)

Hi everyone!

As Halloween comes, the more nervous I become.... NUTS!! UGH! I can't tell you how often in the store I'm just afraid she's going to pick up something with nuts and have a reaction. FAAN (Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network) has been a great source of information and comfort for me and my family. Currently FAAN is holding a "Trick-or-Treat for Food Allergy" donation drive to help fund research and education about food allergies. If anyone is interested in donating (it's tax deductible) to FAAN on behalf of my daughter, please click the "Firstgiving" link on my sidebar.

Thanks for your help!
Robin

Food Allergy follow-up

I was looking over my old posts and realized I didn't post about the milk challange. She failed! UGH! It took two days to show but she failed. We gave her pizza with regular cheese on a Friday night, cheeseburger on Saturday night. By Sunday at lunch time, she was covered head to toe in one big red rash. I gave her Benedryl and she immediately cleared up. Bummer. Well, since it did take two days to react, we know that she's growing out of it. We're going to wait about 6 more months and then try again.

More food allergies

Well, it's official, no nuts period. About a month ago was my Mother-in-law's birthday. Her brother had given her a German chocolate cake, you know, with the coconut frosting. We had a suspicion, that Little Girl might have some sort of break out with the coconut but we weren't sure. We kept her away but I still ate some. After I was finished, I scrubbed my hands and brushed my teeth (we were at our house). While I was cleaning up, my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law were packing up to leave and gave kisses all over my daughter's face. About 10 minutes go by and she's covered in welts. We gave her Benedryl and wiped her down.

A couple weeks later we had a check-up at the allergiest and I mentioned this reaction to coconut. Her doctor decided to test her for coconut, along with almond, cashew, pistachio, pecan, pine nut, walnut, and three that we knew she was allergic to - peanut, egg, and milk. We received the results the other day.... positive/high to all but pecan, pine nut, and milk. Coconut was low but still enough to be aware.

Wait, a zero to MILK?! We were so excited! I called the doctor's office to verify... It's true! The did warn us to start off small and see if she has any flare-ups. Keep your fingers crossed for us! It will be so nice not to have to buy soy milk, it's twice the cost of regular milk. Plus, she will only drink water or milk, she hates juice. I've only seen her drink juice once and that was because she was real thirsty and that's what was available (we were at church). We can get her chicken nuggets! Did you know that chicken nuggets at fast food places have milk? We didn't at first. For a while there, we weren't allowed to give her beef so fast food was out of the picture until recently. Now she loves hamburgers. Can you tell I'm giddy? I'm rambling more than the normal ramble. :)

This makes me wonder... she was the same range for squash as milk. After I test milk for a while, I think I'm going to test squash again. You don't realize how many different foods are in the squash family... zucchini, cucumber, melons, pickles... WISH ME LUCK!

Happy Day After New Year!!

Well, I guess I'm a bit behind as usual, didn't quite post on the 1st like I was planning. Maybe I should make that one of my "resolutions", being on time? I told hubby the other day that I don't make resolutions, I make life goals, that way I have longer to work out the kinks. :)

Here is a list of my "goals"

1. cook more at home - we eat out almost every day of the week, no joke. Hate is a pretty strong word, but I do HATE eating out. Plus, we recently found out that our daughter has multiple food allergies. We knew she was allergic to squash from a test we had taken when she was an infant. Now we know that she is severely allergic to peanuts, moderately to eggs, and mildly to milk and green peas. Next Monday I have an appointment with a dietitian to help me with food suggestions.
   
2. workout - I love to do yoga. The rec center near my house offers a yoga class but it's off-site and doesn't offer childcare at the off-site location. I would need childcare when Hubby is out of town. What's the point of having a membership that includes childcare if I would still have to pay for a sitter?! I have found that our cable offers "on demand" exercise shows which include yoga. I have done pretty good and worked out the past 3 mornings. Let's hope I can keep it up.
   
3. sewing/quilting - this would entail me getting my sewing room up in order. Once I get the room together, it will give me the opportunity to sit and relax with my sewing machine and be creative. My first project will be to start on my daughter's quilt.
   
4. baby - hope that trying for child #2 doesn't take as long as #1 did... I don't need to advance on the rest of the steps, you get the idea.

I want to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year! My fingers are crossed for everyone this year that they are able to scratch off at least one completed resolution this year.