Crafting a Green World

Found a cool new website! Check it out - CRAFTING A GREEN WORLD! There are tons of great posts and tutorials. Lots on fabrics and yarns, and awesome how-tos for topsy turvy tomato planters and "earth-boxes" (little self-watering contained gardens).

About Growing Up

In my UNV180 classes, we've been talking about emotional intelligence. One part of this is recognizing the emotions impact our motivations very strongly. For example, anger makes us want to fight for or against something or someone. If we're experiencing fear, we want to avoid. Happiness enables us to explore, and sadness moves us to give up.
For the most part, American's (and this is a vast generalization) seem to be afraid of negative emotions. So they don't do well managing them. Instead we act like they don't exist, or we're so blatantly honest about them that we become abrasive. When we're experiencing negative emotions, those in relationship with us are either confused or cringing.
But negative emotions are an adaptive function that are a gift that God has given us, and a resource that Christ used in his relationship with God, with others, and in his ministry. He was sad, angry, fearful, and disgusted at times and yet did not sin. And guess what? His strategy for not sinning was not denying his emotions, He accomplished the task set before him by using and managing his emotions appropriately. I'm so glad that Jesus' life is written out for us to see! It gives me great encouragement and hope.
Lately, I've been dealing with a lot of mixed emotions concerning my capacity for growth in different areas and my ability to influence. Substantially investing the love of Christ in people's lives is my passion, by bringing healing, freedom, and the idea of potentiality to their hearts. I've found myself a bit stagnant, just trying to maintain rather than progressing, being more reactive than proactive, operating more out of an external locus of control than an internal one, comparing myself to other people and their circumstances rather than rejoicing in my own. This makes me sad, and honestly, just motivates me to give up.
However, I have had a few insightful and inspiring conversations in the past few weeks that have made me both happy and angry (an odd mix, I know), but it moves me to explore options and fight for those things that are important to me.
First, Dr. Jim Laub in his talk about leadership on Thursday night said that Servant Leadership is something that he believes in very strongly but he probably isn't very good at, or he has trouble practicing. I look at this man and think, "You've got to be kidding! You're one of the best examples of servant leadership I know, and you write and speak on it all the time." His transparency and humility spurred on my thinking though, and actually helped me immensely. There are so many things that I believe in very strongly, but struggle to practice with excellence. Does this mean that I stop trying to practice them? Does this mean that I stop believing in their effectiveness? No.
Second, I talked with Bill about the difference between "inspired annoyance" (a concept we talk about in leadership) and discontentment. He said that the difference is not necessarily the feeling that you get, but what you do with it. When experiencing inspired annoyance, you are motivated to act, to change, to make things better because they're not right yet. When experiencing discontentment, you typically sit back feel sorry for yourself and gripe. So...I'm in a constant state of reaction and maintenance, does this mean that I stop trying to change? Because I'm tired, it's easier to sit back and gripe, but is that really what I believe in? No.
Third, my husband is one of the wisest men I know. He can teach profound truths through simple illustrations that make sense to your mind and heart. We were talking and I was expressing some of my feelings about work and life. Then he started talking about growing up. At first I thought, "Were you even listening to me?" But this is what he said. There are some sad things about growing up...like the first time your birthday isn't a big deal anymore (experienced that, it's kind of sad), or when you realize the things that people used to praise you for are no longer a big deal (like when a little kid starts singing for the first time we get super excited and love all over them, but if they start singing in the middle of the movie theater or at a program we tell them to be quiet), or the first time you realize no one is going to give you a gold star or pat you on the back for doing your job. POW! Was I really being that ridiculous?! I was. I was working hard, doing my job, and expecting a gold star. It didn't come, and I was discouraged and sad. Seriously now?! Yes.
Work diligently as unto the Lord....Think on those things that are excellent and praiseworthy...Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment...Exercise your gifts according to the grace given to you...Treat your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit...Bear the fruit of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control...Love...Do not let yourself be burdened by a yoke of slavery, because Christ came to set you free.
Why? Because it's easy? Because I know it will be effective? Because it's in my nature? No.
I choose to be Superman, rather than Peter Pan (if you haven't heard that song yet...you need to...it's right here...my brillant rockin sister wrote it).
Why? Because I'm a grown up who believes that it's true!

Going Greener - Cloth Diapering & Homemade Wipes

The past several days have been an adventure! A diapering adventure. Lots of cloth, lots of oils, and lots of trials at leak prevention with cloth diapers. I think we've finally got it going! :) Elliot is now on about day 6 of cloth diapers. We started out alternating between cloth and disposable, and after we received our diaper covers things really started happening at the Gilmore house. We purchased the Bummis brand and are pretty satisfied with it, but I'm also going to try Thirsties covers, and the Gro Baby system for when we're out and about. If you're interested in cloth diapering the benefits are explained well at Sprouts Babywear and there are tons of reviews on products at The Diaper Pin.
In addition to cloth diapers, you can also use cloth wipes. I'm not quite to that point yet, but I did make my own wipes yesterday, and they are working splendidly! Here's how:

Homemade Wipes
Supplies
10 squares high quality paper towel
1/2 cup water
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Organic Coconut oil
5 drops each of lavender, geranium, and tea tree organic essential oils

Instructions

1. Cut paper towel in half, then fold those pieces in half.
2. Stack cut & folded paper towel pieces on top of each other
3. Melt coconut oil, by microwaving in a Pyrex measuring cup for 30 sec.
4. Add water and essential oils 
5. Pour mixture over stack of paper towel, by pouring on all sides of the stack and allowing liquid to absorb through entire stack
6. Place in recycled wipes container, tupperware or another airtight container

These wipes have been GREAT at removing everything gently from my son's bum. And the oils are soothing, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. They're also very safe in this diluted form.

So the adventure continues on, but I think I'm about convinced that cloth is the way to go. I'm already saving money and not having to deal with trash cans with stinky diapers piling up that will later go in a land fill.

Late Night Ramblings with a Brownie

Tonight was the Leadership Convocation at IWU! It was a lovely night with guest speakers, awards, food and fellowship. I am now sitting at home, my boys are in bed, and I'm eating a brownie. Why am I still up? Because though I am incredibly tired. My brain will not turn off. I keep thinking about the power of belief and inspiration and how it can both empower and destroy. And what is the difference between "inspired annoyance" and plain old discontentment? And it's really nice that my husband cleaned up the house today and sent me an encouraging text message. And what is it about people in positions of leadership and addictive behavior? Whether process or chemical, it seems that all people of great influence struggle with one or another. Thoughts anyone?

Here's a pretty picture for you! :) ... It's a cloud.

Happy birthday to my little brother!!! I love you Will!

My brownie is gone. Good night all!

Re - Paint Chips

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle!!! So from now on - for any of my posts that have to do with making something that has to do with the 3 aforementioned "R"s - I will be tagging it with a "Re." Not to be confused with a reply or in regards to.
Anyway, to kick this off. Check out the site that Heather highlighted on her blog. It's a slideshow that shows you 50 New Uses for Old Things.
Re-Nest. I love this website! Check out how they made pixelated artwork from paint chips! ACK! I want to do this so badly in my hallway with a huge picture of Elliot's face.

Poop

Elliot is pooping...all the time! His top teeth are coming in and it seems to effect his digestive system. I've heard a lot of other moms say that this happens with their children too. But it's been going on for over a week. Four poops a day. Sometimes five. Today, every diaper has had poop in it. And the poor little guy's bottom is raw. I mean raw. 
So I figured, today we're home for most of the day. I'm going to let him air out a bit. (Airing out and lavender/tea tree/grape seed oil baths seem to help a lot). So I change his diaper (and of course, get poop on my pants in the process). Then I think "Alright buddy. Be free!"........So he freely poops on the carpet.

I was very grateful that Evan had picked up some "Nature's Miracle" the other day. It's pretty amazing when cleaning up excrement is a part of your daily acts of love.

DIY Removable Wall Decal & Planters

SO...I love wall decals. You know, the vinyl ones that say things or make your walls look like a forest. Like the ones here. But they're pretty expensive. I've been using clear contact paper for a lot of different crafts, and I thought I might be able to make my own decals. One problem. I have clear contact paper. All the other contact paper I've seen are primary colors or weird patterns.
So I looked around online and found a place that said that you could paint contact paper if you did it with acrylic paint. After trying it, I'm sure that a regular wall paint would work as well.

Like it?

It's my first one, so I think I can do even better next time, but I like it a lot! Here's how I did it.

Just cut off a long piece of contact paper and paint it your desired color.

Then trace your design on the backside and cut it out.

Peel off the backing and stick wherever you want on your wall. If it's not just right, peel it off and try again. :)

I also worked on a project that I had been thinking about for awhile this weekend. I took my old formula canisters (yes, I saved some. I just thought, "seriously! I am throwing so many of these away! I'm sure I could do something cool with them. They're containers for crying out loud)...so I took them and nailed a few holes in them. Spray painted them with chalkboard paint and transplanted a few of  my plants that needed to come inside from the sun room since it's getting cold. I'm very please with the results!

Without chalk

With Chalk! :)