So here we are... never thought of this one before.... The rapidly growing virus.
So we shift gears and get ourselves out of the shock of it all and get on with the things we can do.
We are told not to panic but those saying that are probably just as panicked as most. We need to go home if we are not working and hopefully we have done like we have always been told to keep an emergency supply of food. We cannot go to the places that we normally go to. Our children need to be home and not hanging out. If at all possible a parent needs to be home.
We can read and nap and play board games, we can do projects in the home we have been putting off doing. We need take care of ourselves, drink plenty of water to stay hydrated so we do not get sick so we do not add to the hospitals. We HAVE to do this.
Charles and I started a new chart and we added our temperature instead of just blood pressure. So each morning the first thing we do is take our blood pressure and temperature and record it in our notebook.
We started it this past Saturday so we can notice changes and get on top of things if we should start getting sick.
Years ago my doctor told me to get a small notebook and take my blood pressure readings and bring the readings with me each time I came in for a check up. So this became a routine. We did not take our temperatures so we decided this might would be something we should add due to a pandemic going on.
We both have our own thermometers and we clean them after using them and I took some extra salt and pepper shakers and removed the lids and using them as holders to keep our thermometers clean and ready.
I put a dot on the bottom of mine to mark which was mine... Normally this would not matter but since we are dealing with a new virus we just do all that we can think to do and then just not worry.
We are keeping meals very simple. A sandwich with homemade bread and a bowl of sweet potato soup for lunch. Charles and I drink water mostly.
Many people are dehydrated for they do not drink enough water.
I am trying to get outside more and spring is coming soon even though some days have been quite warm and feeling like summer but I know we are likely to have another cold snap at some point. For those of you across the waters from where we live you are heading to fall and now harvesting many end of summer veggies while we are planting ours.
Looks like we will be eating those cauliflower soon.
If we don't plant it, it wont grow... Gardening is very healthy.
Another simple hearty meal, some diced chicken with noodles and a bit of milk and butter, yellow squash and canned green beans. And a small cup of applesauce with a tad of cinnamon sprinkled. This was a hearty meal.
Some garlic I planted last fall, the other container was taken over by aphids so our garlic harvest is going to be minimal. But we still have some more garlic in our pantry.
When my children were young we used to make pineapple sandwiches. Mayonnaise and sliced pineapple. Also pineapple upside down cake is a very easy cake to make and there are lots of recipes on the internet.
So, what is my title about? Don't tinkle on my tinkle paper?
I have a blog reader that is very low on toilet paper right now and as you may have heard many people cannot find toilet paper at this time. She has asked if I could do a post about the family cloths. We have been using family cloths instead of toilet paper for at least 4 or 5 years now.
We do not have to worry about toilet paper being low. It is a good thing to make these and have for anytime you are running low or out of toilet paper.
These are NOT disposable, these are washable. DO NOT FLUSH THESE! They can be washed and dried as you would a cloth baby diaper, the old way of cloth diapers.
Also never flush a baby wipe or a disinfecting wipe down the toilet. The only thing that needs to go down a toilet is what comes out of our body and toilet paper only.
Note...
I am not always a routine person. I do different ways of doing things depending on the situation. I have washed these with the hottest setting in the washer with soap and water. I have also added bleach according to the label on the bottle but once they have been washed and rinsed, I normally add them to the underwear load in my washer to be rewashed, not because I feel they are still dirty but just because I am sensitive to chemicals and I also do not like to smell chemicals. I normally use unscented everything. This is not the normal thing to do with using bleach, this is just me.
Sometimes I add a little soap over them and then pour boiling water over them to soak if I feel any of them had poo on them. I don't have a particular time to soak, I normally just pour the boiling water over them and then go on to do something else and then go back and add this to the washer and wash them. Then they will have been soaked before washing, then washed etc.
I have even boiled them in a pot I use just for boiling laundry and then hand wash them by hand with a brush outside in my laundry area. I have some older posts on my website about how I hand wash laundry.
I am not consistent because we do so many history experiments that I do laundry different ways.
Just do what you feel because you know your family needs. Also if there is sickness then of course use bleach or at least boil. You can add bleach each time if you want to. It all depends on how many there are in your family.
When I first married I did not have a washer or a laundry place close by so I hand washed everything for several years. Then my first washer was a wringer washer.
I like to hang mine outside to dry but also have used the dryer. I have a drying rack, I have use that and I have put them on the clothesline to dry and they are very pretty flapping in the breeze. :)
Some people use them only for after the pee and some use them for both. We have a bidet so we can use them for both. However before got the bidet we got the portable small bidets and before that we used a small pitcher. It takes a bit of practice to do this but once getting the kinks worked out it becomes natural. So wash and pat and for pee pat.
It is funny how when we use them out of the stack some of them become favorites such as I like this one. It is flannel and just the right size.
I do not hem the ones we use because I feel they are softer this way. I just trim the edges when they need it. But by trimming them after a few years they start getting a little smaller but it takes a lot of time for that to happen.
So this photo above is a family cloth that is laid out to show you the size and I fold this in half and stack it with the others so they are ready to use. I use them folded.
I take one and pat dry like I would using toilet paper. We like going paperless as much as possible at our house because paper products cost a lot of money.
What I found was that the cloth is much less irritating than toilet paper because toilet paper has chemicals and when using the toilet paper it can leave small particles which can scald especially if there is any urine on those particles. Some people that have irritation down there might be having a reaction such as this.
AND, the most important is to learn to not drop it in the toilet and flush. This takes practice. Pat and toss in the container that they stay until washing.
Each family member can have their own wipes and choose their fabric pattern. There is only Charles and I here so we just stack ours together and we keep toilet paper in the bathroom for visitors.
I wash these in the soap and hot water and as I would baby diapers.
I keep extra flannel cloth in the house to use for making toilet (family cloths) and also I make cloths to replace paper towels, which are larger cloths.
I first used old baby receiving blankets, old t-shirts cut up, I even cut some wash cloths in half. It is whatever you have. However when I decided I preferred to use these I purchased flannel cloth and washed it several times before cutting it so it becomes more absorbent.
This is all I do... very simple just cut them 7 inches by 10 inches..
Cut at the 10 inch mark..
Since I am using flannel fabric I double the fabric and cut two at a time making 4 wipes..
This is some t-shirt fabric and the T shirt fabric does not fray on the edges like the flannel does so it is also good to use.
So now since I have made these new ones to show you how to do this I just added to my cloth stash. You would be very surprised at how fast these are use in a days time.
We keep a pail next to the trash can and just toss them in a pail. I do not soak them or cover them. They do not smell, it is not like a cloth baby diaper smell. I wash them pretty regularly so they do not sit for a whole week and right now I am washing laundry more often with the coronavirus going around trying to keep everything clean as I can.
Sorry for the old grout in the picture by the tub, our house is quite old and needs new grout. We all have things that need to be done...
Right now it is best to slow down and do things that will help to keep our families well.
I love growing carrots. They are still small but will grow to be nice size. Carrots can be planted all along the seasons in many places.
Do what you can and do it slow and steady. Make sure your shoulders are loose and not tight.
If you drop your shoulders, (Right now) you will see the tension you carry so practice dropping your shoulders and this will help to recognize and decrease your tension.
Practice this right now.... Wherever you are sitting right now, drop your shoulders, now even more than that. Let your neck relax, drop your shoulders even more. Now take a nice slow deep breath and let it out. This always helps.
Love and Prayers for all of you. Grandma Donna
