#Operationfluffy Party TONIGHT! 9 PM EST

@TheEcoChic has posted all of the details on her website. She was kind enough to host this party even though it was supposed to be her week off!

Synopsis:

Thursday night we will all be tweeting to @TheEllenShow using the #operationfluffy hashtag. We will send pictures of our adorable babies in cloth diapers and tell her how much better cloth is than “jean” huggies. PUKE!

I did want to add, to make it easier to tweet pictures, use the twitpic.com service. Upload your photos ahead of time to make the party more about tweeting and less about searching for and uploading pictures. The pictures will show up without having to click them if you use Tweetgrid.com for the party. If you need help learning how to do Twitter parties, I have a little tutorial for you.

From Kim Rosas:

If you belong to a cloth diaper board (Cloth Diaper Nation, Diaperswappers, The Bump, Cafemom, BabyCenter, etc…) I would love your help in spreading the word. If you make a post about #operationfluffy’s Twitter party you get (5) extra entries into a giveaway of your choice! I have 2 ending today (Real Nappies and Bravado) so if you want entries in those you should hurry up!) Or, if you have another idea to spread the word give me a shout and I will let you know if it counts towards extra entries!

To get those entries leave a comment with the link on this post and leave (5) comments on the giveaway of your choice also linking to your post. Say something like “Extra Entries #operationfluffy post” and leave your link!

Americans throw away 25,000,000 plastic beverage bottles every hour!

How is this relevant to LolliDoo™ diapers?

I've been asked that question a lot recently and the answer is easy. LolliDoo™ eco-pocket™ diapers and Recycled Outties™ are made from recycled fleece.



Recycled fleece is similar to traditional fleece with one big difference. Instead of using virgin resources to create the Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric - recycled fleece takes existing beverage bottles and creates the same fabric.

Did you know:

Most bottled water is consumed away from home, usually at a park, in an office or even while driving — areas where there's usually no recycling.

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!

Each LolliDoo™ eco-pocket™ with organic cotton saves at least 6 beverage bottles from the landfill.

Each LolliDoo™ eco-pocket™ with StayDry (also made from recycled beverage bottles) saves at least 8 beverage bottles from the landfill.

Each LolliDoo™ Recycled Outtie™ saves at least 5 beverage bottles from the landfill.

It may not seem like much but it's something.

Our efforts remind me of a story.

The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one.

Healthy Sweets

As you might know I've recently given up sugar and gluten. I can say that not only is my acid reflux gone but I've lost 7 pounds so far. I feel better, I look better and I'm not starving.

However, Aunt Flow is getting ready to come for a visit and I WANT CHOCOLATE!

I went to the drugstore and against all my principles bought sugar-free turtles. They were sweetened with Malitol which I thought maybe wasn't as bad as Splenda or Aspartame. OK I knew that Malitol wasn't good but I was desperate.


It took maybe 30 minutes to go through my system. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that my body doesn't like Malitol AT ALL. I had the worst stomach ache. ****TMI WARNING**** I had horrendously smelly, loud and embarrassing gas. It was bad. I think Malitol might also cause anal leakage...just saying.

That was last night.

Today things aren't much better in the craving department. I WANT SUGAR NOW!

This time instead of putting toxins in my body I went to my kitchen to see what I could throw together. I found figs...what could I do with figs?

I put the figs in my Cuisinart and started searching for nuts. I wanted cashews but all I had were peanuts. I dumped some peanuts in the Cuisinart as well. Soon I had a nice dough.

I tasted the dough and it wasn't quite sweet enough. I added a tiny bit of honey (something I haven't eaten since I gave up sugar, and some vanilla because well, everything is better with vanilla. I rolled them into balls and put them in the fridge.

YUM YUM YUM

They turned out so good. I didn't take notes so I can't write the recipe but keep in mind next time you want to give your kids a healthy sweet: figs + nuts + honey + vanilla = yummy goodness.

What can you do with a palette of wood? *lots of photos

Click on the photos to see them in entirety

My husband is an upcycle extraordinaire. His latest passion is rummaging through construction sites for palettes of wood. Let’s see what he has made recently:

Here are the palettes before he breaks them down.

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Check out the work space he has created for himself

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Notice the counter. It was a counter top he found in the dumpster on a construction site. The “shelves” are actually drawers that someone was throwing out.

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Look closely at the containers. They are all re-used glass jars and coffee tins.

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One last look at his ingenuity.

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Moving on to the yard. The first think Chuck made were several garden boxes. He’s been reading square foot gardening…

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Oh doesn’t that squash look wonderful!

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Next he built a compost container that the dogs couldn’t break into.

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Finally a picnic table for the kids. I am told that chairs are next.

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I saved my favorite for last. This cost us less then $30 start to finish. Someone gave us the aquarium years ago and it just sat in our garage. The filter was also a gift. We had three Guppies and I got four Mollys for $4. We had the gravel from an art project I did a few years back. The only thing that we really paid for was the supporting 2x4s.

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So there you have it folks – what to do with a palette in the Manes house.

Introducing...

The grand opening of www.LolliPlace.com



Your LolliDoo™ shopping experience just got a whole lot easier.


We are offering an Earth Day Grand Opening special. Take advantage because this won't last long. Between April 22 and April 30, 2010 TAKE 10% off the ENTIRE STORE!

Use coupon code: EARTHDAY2010 when you check out.

Again - thanks for all the support.

LolliDoode Photo Contest

Have you met Ike, our LolliDoode?


Well Ike is a big boy now and he's using the potty. It looks like we need a new LolliDoode or LolliDoodette.

Lets have a contest.

Do you want your baby to be the next LolliDoo ™ model?

Submit as many photos as you like of your baby wearing a LolliDoo™ to: alison@lollidoo.com.

The winner will receive:
One LolliDoo™ Free Spirit™ eco-pocket™ diaper

AND a Free Spirit™ bag!

Honorable mentions receive:

One LolliDoo™ eco-pocket™ diaper

Your photographs must accompany this consent form:
I, ______________ consent to let GGSI publish photographs of my child on the internet and in print media. I surrender the rights to the photograph(s) that I submit.

Signed_______________________ Date________________

LolliDoode Photo Contest Rules:

· Photos must be high resolution in JPG or TIFF format, minimum 300 dpi/dots or pixels per inch. Photos can be in color, black and white, sepia tone or duotone and must be taken of your child.

· Your photo entries must have been created by you and you must not submit a photo created by someone else. You must be the sole owner of all rights to the photos you submit.

· By entering the contest, you agree to have any of your winning photos and photos that receive honorable mention displayed and used in LolliDoo™, LolliPlace print and electronic communication materials, advertising and promotional materials and on the websites, for any purpose and at any time in the future, without any fee or other form of compensation.

· You waive all moral rights in any of your winning photos and photos that receive honorable mention.

· You may submit more than one photograph.

· The photo subject must be relevant to LolliDoo™ diapers. Photos that contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, sexually explicit or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content will not be considered. GGSI will determine, in its sole discretion, what constitutes such content.

· Your submission must be accompanied by a signed consent form from each child’s parent/legal guardian.

· Participants who have submitted winning/honorable mention photos will be notified at the beginning of June 2010, approximately. If you are a winner, you will be notified and, upon notification, you must respond within five (5) days of such notification. If you don’t respond within that time, you will be disqualified and will not receive a prize and another contestant may be selected.

· You acknowledge that GGSI reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend all or any portion of this contest without notice for any reason whatsoever, without any liability to you for any costs you may have incurred in respect to the contest.

· GGSI is entitled to interpret these rules as required and its decisions are final.

I'm Giving Up Sugar

I made the decision this weekend that Monday (today) I am going to give up sugar and gluten. The reason is that I have major ups and downs in my energy level and constant acid reflux. I've also been sick and sugar is an immune inhibitor. In the past I have given up sugar and gluten in order to lose weight and the side effect was that I felt wonderful.

This morning I had some coffee and sweetened it with agave syrup. My mother informed me that agave is just as bad as sugar.

Seriously!?!

I had to do some research. While agave is indeed better then sugar - it does cause blood sugar to rise.



OK next I looked at Stevia. Stevia is a plant - my mother used to grow it. It's not my favorite sweetener because it tastes a bit like aspartame to me. Stevia one of the few natural sweeteners that has the same characteristics as an artificial sweetener--it has no calories and will not elevate blood sugar, yet it is super-sweet. Stevia is approved by the FDA ONLY as a dietary supplement.

I think that if I use Stevia - I will chew on a leaf. The processing of it is sketchy.



There are so many artificial and natural sweeteners that I found on http://www.sweetsavvy.com

While there is a lot of good information on there - I've decided that for now when I want something sweet, I'll grab some fruit.