Seems like I have been away a good while. I had to give my back some extra time to heal and sitting at the computer was not comfortable. A few weeks ago my lower back, a disc problem pretty much did me in. I think it was the large planter that I picked up and carried when I should have used a cart. But that is done now.
This morning there was a commotion going on in the back yard. I noticed the birds were acting a bit different. The cardinals flew in to take a look at something as well as a squirrel and other birds. Charles and I have been anticipating the baby wrens to leave the nest any day.
Sure enough the babies had left the nest and they were hopping around on the ground all cute with spiky feathers.
I wanted to take pictures but I did not want to disturb the mom and dad with all they had to do. I took a picture of one of the parents from my screen window.
As I was peeking out the back door one of the humming birds came up to the feeder. I just love all the nature around the house.
I had a lot of down time while my back was healing and so I did a "lot" of reading. I was studying history as well as reading about new and old ideas that people were doing.
As soon as I was able to get out of the house I went to purchase flannel material that was on sale after the decision was made that we are going paperless at our house. The prices of paper products are so high now I figure that it is time to stop spending money on things that are going to be thrown away the first time you use it. If you have any old flannel sheets or pajamas this will work too.
I cut up some old flannel baby receiving blankets to make cloths and then I bought plaid flannel to replace paper towels. I wanted a fabric that I did not have to worry about staining. It does not matter if it is stained as long as it is clean. It is just going to be used as we would a paper towels. Just toss it in a bucket for the wash.
I decided different flannel patterns for different uses. I wanted each particular flannel designs to be used for different purposes.
The pink flannel (above) is for washing windows and glass.
I used the pinking sheers to cut the flannel. I saw on the internet where people make their "cloth" paper towels and "family cloths" by sewing two together and turn them and sew the edges and I might do a few like that but I really want ours to be single layer so they can be used for quick wipes and better for washing and especially drying time.
I have been making some without any sewing so I could see how far they fray and if the fraying would stop. I will now make some and sew around the edges just one single stitch row. Charles is completely agreeable about going to cloth and this just makes more sense to do than not to do.
These are the cloths in the bathroom. They are indeed for what you are thinking and let me say that this is much better for us than using chemically made toilet paper that leaves bits of paper on our bottom. Have you ever googled "does toilet paper have chemicals"? You might be shocked.
This is where the less than five percent comes in. Here in the USA we are only less than five percent of the worlds population. As many might think we have all the answers of doing things right, we might want to reconsider.
When something goes wrong in my life such as my back issue recently I ask God what am I suppose to learn from this? Well when the disc in my back became serious I found myself in a situation that taking care of my own body was very difficult.
Being that I have worked in hospitals with patients I have a good bit of knowledge of self care issues and how difficult it can be for many people that have limitations.
This is were searching for new information came in and led me on the trail that we needed to be smart about things and make some changes.
This is a portable Bidet. A home or travel Bidet.
It does exactly what it is suppose to do. On Amazon it is called a Portable Bidet.
This is a Bidet attached to the plumbing. They are not very expensive and this one is stainless steel. We got this one off of Amazon.
The sprayer is angled.
In many countries they use only a small pitcher or container of water.
This is where the Bidet hose attaches to the toilet. This came with the connector, the hose, the sprayer and plumbers tape. It was very easy to install and cost $35.87
My family knows I am a very practical person and I just tell it like it is.
When I was researching options for going paperless I came across a blog that was written by a mother of five children. I cannot remember her blog or I would post the link but I made the mistake of reading the comments on that blog and it was a mistake because they really upset me. People were rude and said things about her not using toilet paper and how gross the cloths would be. Obviously these people were ignorant about many things.
Germs come into our homes every day from our shoes if we walk into our house with shoes on and well before disposables came around people were using cloth.
My children wore cloth diapers because that is what we used back then and we washed them. We are humans and we soil. We put our under clothes in the laundry to wash and our underclothes are not always clean after we have worn them especially children's or hard working people.
Years ago I was the caregiver for both of my parents. When someone is total care at home there is going to be a lot of soiled linens. We do not throw these linens away, we wash them.
We use common sense when it comes to germs. If someone is worried about germs then use bleach, that is what it is for. There are other options such as peroxide or vinegar.
Here at our house we are very careful with the amount of water we use and the extra water it takes to wash these cloths is not a lot of water. I am mentioning this because this was brought on that lady's nice blog.
We can reduce water use in other ways, save some of your bath water to rinse the cloths out before washing them if we feel they need a pre rinse. There are many ways to do this. Some people today are very limited in thinking and have been far removed from what was done in the past. I find this unfortunate.
Since some our trees have recently removed our clothesline area has more sun. We still have quite a few trees in our yard and shady areas as well. It was sad to me to have our trees cut but but at least now the limbs are not falling on our house and that makes me happy. The sun helps to disinfect our laundry too :).
I have many new projects now that I had some time to think about things and re-group my thoughts. We have a lot of work to do on our side yard where it is bare but that will have to be done slow. Charles asked me to think about some Whimsical ideas for a new gate under our carport since we had to remove the old one and some whimsy side garden ideas. He enjoys building them.
I started to not mention going paperless but then I decided why not? There may be some of you that are trying to find new ways to cut back expenses so I decided I would go ahead with the post. I am glad I can sit at my computer again and do a post without a lot of issues. I am back on the saddle again........... hope I don't fall off lol
Grandma Donna
