"Green" Post and a Brief Note on Family News

I'll start off with the family news. I've mentioned that the kids and I are going to spend 3 weeks in west Michigan starting next Thursday. That will be our vacation trip. My husband and I had planned to save our big Montana trip until next summer when he could take several weeks off. Unfortunately, his mother has been fighting cancer again since 2004, the first time was in the late '90's, it was breast cancer. As of this week, her liver is 70% cancerous and they are running out of treatment options. She will be running through those options today with the doctor and we'll know more soon. While I was planning on spending some time in Montana in August to help out and give them a break, everyone is now dropping everything to get out there sooner and stay longer. It looks like I'll be there from late July to late August, Martin will fly in for a week in early August. Mama's parents are going earlier than planned and they will get to see the baby for the first time as well. I really don't know much more, what the next step is or how much time. We've all been really hopeful for recovery, but this is the first big road block we've come to. All your thoughts and prayers are welcome, even after all these years with cancer it's a shock to think it might win.

What does it mean to this space? Well, I certainly like sharing and documenting my own knitting and sewing, but it may be less frequent or I may have much to share. Now that the baby and I are home from hospitals and doctors offices, I thought I'd have more time for this outlet, but now I won't be home much over the next few months, and we may be moving across town in September. I'll do what I can, maybe set up camp in Montana and devote some of this space to our time with Mama. She's a master quilter, she made part of the quilt shown in the photo below.* So, let's get on with this:

Yes, the baby is now home and appointment free for a few months! She has healed enough that her vision is protected and we can put surgeries and steroids out of our minds for a while. I can now use cloth diapers, something that hasn't been ideal for our situation until now. We have to use a cash card for the laundry, so we may not be saving much money in the end but my husband and I find it worth while for the amount of diapers we'll be keeping out of the landfills. I know there's been a lot of buzz words in the green categories lately, and it's nice to finally get so much main stream attention. It's nothing new to us, but we can always do more.

I'm incorporating this idea into my son's summer schooling, doing more earth and health friendly within our family will be an on-going process. To start, we're looking at the diapers. My son likes math, we can compare costs, amounts of waste, etc of the disposables and cloth. These diapers and the covers came from Cotton Babies. We are also cutting down on as much plastics as we can, especially disposable plastic. I found these Earthwise reusable bags at Giant grocery store for 99 cents a piece to cut out plastic grocery bags from our lives. We've been checking out Low Impact Living, checked out books from the library like It's Easy Being Green, and Mother Earth News, among others. More about our changes later, as well as plastic waste and health risks.

We have also done more about food and health (I have high cholesterol and had gestational diabetes and am now pre-diabetic), cut out nearly all red meat, continue with more whole grains and fresh fruit and vegetables. I try to cut out as much artificial dye as possible, it makes my son more hyper than any sugar or caffeine ever could, and who knows what else it could be bad for.

We've been using Skin Deep Cosmetic Database for a few years now, but it's been brought to our attention again with the findings on sunscreen safety. We went back through the site and checked our personal products, tossed a few and printed out lists of healthier ones. I ordered Badger SPF 30 sunblock as it's rated one of the best on the Skin Deep site. I also picked up some Dr. Bronner's soap at the local health food store. These are just a very few of the things we're concentrating on, just a glimpse, but maybe someone will take even one of these ideas and put it to their own use. That would make me happy.

As for knitting, it does fit in here a bit. I'm trying to steer clear of synthetic fibers, especially acrylic. That's really not too hard as most of my stash is wool and cotton. Right now, while I was working on the blue raglan cardigan I think I'll put it aside until September so I can work on socks for Summer of Socks 2007 and I have a very little baby sweater in the very early stages meant for another baby girl. I'll get some photos soon, and I'll be packing the suitcase with sock yarn. Probably more than I'll be able to get to, and I'll probably acquire some more on my trip.

*Most of the quilt blocks were made in the 1930's by Mama's great-grandmother. Mama put them together, added a few more blocks with vintage reproductions and hand quilted it for our wedding present.