Tips - Traveling with an infant

Before

Packing

Start to pack two days before at the latest

Pack light, you will be carrying the full load plus the infant

In the morning recheck your packing, remove items
 

Equipment

Slings, carriers- The more back support the better

Carryon bag - my has wheels.
Car seat or stroller, someplace safe to place baby when you need to.

Messenger bag

Small purse

 

Strategy

Eat well the morning from home, protein, greens, a salad with turkey, broth, hydrate, - this will ensure optimum health , and good mood and energy for the task ahead.

Nurse baby right before leaving, nurse him while you relax, eat, check emails, read a blog, etc.

The main objective is relax, even if you have to give yourself a fake departing time.

I always start my trips in a mad frenzy of last minute packing, stress, and anxiety. I will now pack completely the night before.

Prayer

Visualize protection, ask for guidance, bless your trip.

 

 During

Choose a centrally located hotel with kitchenette near restaurants and food stores.
The hotel will serve as a home base to come to every few hours, to nurse, change diapers, let baby nap, relax.
Easy meals are fresh veggie juices , whole fruit, and cooked meat (protein). Bring plenty of snacks to munch on, water bottle, especially if you are nursing and travelling with others, you may not be able to find food.
Do not expect to do much, make it easy, enjoy window shopping, and walking around, and down time at the hotel.

After

Unpack quickly, in one session

What I found to be essential:

A moby wrap - I could nurse baby discreetly within the moby.
Snacks- raw food bars, chocolate, apples, etc easy reach within my messenger bag.
My Chico bag- my Chico bag fit within my little purse and was used to transport purchases bag to the hotel.  Staying near my home base meant I only needed to take my small purse with me.
Patio- My hotel had a patio where I spent many hours holding baby and watching people.

A trip allows for a change in perspective, and appreciation of home.


 

10 Minute Paleo -Swiss Chard Sardine Wraps

Ingredients:

3 young  whole swiss chard leaves

1 can of skinless, boneless sardines

handful of greens: spinach, kale, parsley etc

raw goat feta (optional)

tomato, radishes or any other veggie from the garden

Place sardines on clean swiss chard leaves

top with feta and  chopped greens

add tomatoes and radishes as a side dish.

My Home Is

My Home Is

old redwoods nestled in the hillside

a backyard offering blueberries, radishes and tomatoes

a chair in a sun drenched corner window

a voice carrying the rhythm of a guitar

falling leaves at the end of  summer

WSW- Gone Fishing

Eva reading to Julien.

A Labor Day Weekend trip to Seattle, Washington manifested itself for Julien and me. As I need to prepare for my trip, I am not going to count my weekly waste (which is a good thing as I have decluttered my house and thrown much that could not be donated away).

I wish you all a relaxing and non-productive Labor Day Weekend.

WSW - disowning stuff

Waste Stream Wednesday


Progress

Hang drying laundry prompted the release of cloths, towels, blankets to the rescue mission thrift store. The items were extras, filling empty space, harboring secret emotions and attachments, daily reminders of long ago.

A double broiler ,stainless steel, made in the USA awaited me at the thrift store. The pot for my potions, salves and herbal tinkering, finally manifested itself.

Finding a home for all - disowning stuff

--College textbooks were listed free on Craiglist and snatch up within 24 hours.

--A long battered coffee table with the free sign disappeared quickly from my sidewalk.

--A dump run condemning a particle board desk, stool and cloth to the grave was undertaken.

ADD decluttering tip:

Remove everything from the room, clean with water, and replace only items that satisfy a need . This time and energy intensive task can be simplified by making piles of items with the same function. Replace the necessary items first.

What No More Recycled TP at Costco

Costco has discontinued their Kirkland Signature recycled paper toilet paper.

and subsequently received this comment :

I am disappointed that you have "deleted" or discontinued your kirkland signature recycled paper toilet paper. Please continue carrying the recycled paper TP, its a great product and good for the earth.

Thank You

Elisa Meyer

Costco Response

Dear Elisa,We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale. It is our goal to provide our members with the highest quality name-brand products while keeping our stock focused on the best selling items. Since we price our items as low as possible, all items must demonstrate high sales in order for us to continue to stock them.Our buyers occasionally review the possibility of re-introducing products. I will forward your e-mail to them so they are aware of your interest, as we value our member's input.Thank you,Sue Costco Wholesale Corporation

To Be Improved

Grocery shopping is challenged by reusing plastic bags. The process of finding the right bag for the veggie, fruit, and grain is disorganized and clumsy, creating a logistical problem.


I need to refine my produce bag system.

Landfill

Waste Stream Wednesday

Each Wednesday, I take inventory of my waste stream and think of ways to reduce my garbage. Inspired by Zero Waste Home and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, I hope to lead a sustainable and minimal waste producing household

Progress

Laundry line drying

Lint,  the deterioration of our clothing , has overtaken our outside laundry room, covering every surface like mold on old cheese.  The cloth dryer spewing lint so thick that a weeding hoe was employed to remove it from the concrete floor.

Two days it took to remove the lint and the dust that it harbored. Two pounds of lint was removed from the outside laundry (I weighed it). 

and thus came the realization that

1) Clothes will be lined dried and
2) My family is a laundry producing machine, we own way too many clothes and linens.

To Be Improved

Laundry audit - Too many clothes go thru the laundry system.  Currently three piles of laundry  are waiting to be sorted, washed and line dried. The added activity of line drying, means that I need to reduce the sheer amount of laundry we produce. I want to smile at my laundry pile as I hang each individual item of clothing.  Line drying the quantity of clothing currently in use is not a task I am brave enough to embark on.

I will simplify the laundry needs of my family.

Landfill Audit

meat butcher paper
meat plastic wrappers
misc plastics
walnut plastic wrapper
cookie wrapper
plastic toy parts (an argument to buy better quality toys)
milk and ice cream carton
butter wrapper
cheese wrapper
tea bag wrapper
broken cup
broken pen
cloth waste, clothing tags

Do you have a simple laundry tip?

Waste Stream Wednesday

This week waste stream was interrupted by a family camping trip in the Mattole Valley, Humboldt County, and because I left my garbage in the campground dumpster, I want to talk about clothes........

Don't Waste Your Good Clothes

I found myself avoiding my "good clothes" because I did not want to stain or ruin them. So I would look into my closet of good cloth and avoid them by wearing my grungy old clothes (sweats, T shirts, stained yoga pants, but no never that cute new black dress I haven't worn yet).

Wearing old cloths and never wearing "good clothes" has become a waste. A waste of the shopping trip it took to acquire them, a waste of the manufacturing , the material and the storage in my tiny 50's style closet. (My closet houses my "good clothes" and my dresser houses "my not good clothes that I wear").

I would not wear my good cloth for years and then decultter with the rule that when an article of clothing is not worn for six months get rid of it.

Perhaps I was suffering from episodes of ADD. I don't know, but I am making an effort to wear my good clothes everyday.  Each morning I look into my closet (a very stimulating and creative activity , I must admit I love self-decorating)  take my pretty outfit out of the closet and put in on my body for everyday activities.  Yes, my brain screams "you can't wear this"   as I slip into the delightful organic cotton dress.


I wear the cloths I buy and I love the way I feel in my everyday Sunday's best.