Changes in Our House

Over the last few months we've been making some pretty progressive changes. The ultimate goal: to have a happier and healthier household without shaking things up too too much.

Step 1 - be a little more organic

This is a small step, but an important one.
Awhile ago when I was cleaning the bathroom I was using our regular Mr. Clean which is a good cleaner. The problem was I could not stop sneezing. And, after I used it I felt crappy.
I assumed it was my allergies.
The next week I was at the store and picked up the Life Brand organic cleaning stuff. I didn't realize it was organic. I thought it was just cheap Mr. Clean. When I was scrubbing down the bathroom I realized I wasn't sneezing.
We've since switched to these non-toxic healthier cleaners. My cleaning headaches are gone. Doodle has been helping us clean, and as much as I prefer him just using a wet sponge, if he gets some of these cleaners on his hands not as big a deal.
The method wipes (yum pink grapefruit) are what Doodle uses to "wipe his pee".

Step 2 - Eat a Little Healthier

Let's face it - our family will never be vegetarian. But, we are eating a lot healthier these days.
We're trying to replace a lot of our meat based meals with vegetarian options.
Doodle would rather a dinner of fruit and yogurt to meat and potatoes any day. And we're following his lead. We've all discovered the fun in going to the grocery store and finding fresh ingredient to throw into a salad. I had no idea that Doodle would get so excited by choosing which carrots go into his salad.
Sometimes it costs a little bit more to buy fruit that's out of season, but I firmly believe that a $3 bag of grapes is way healthier than a $3 bag of candy, and a habit that I want to encourage. When barbeque season is in full swing, I've discovered that I prefer either Licks Nature Burgers or the Chris and Tal's half-soy burgers to regular burgers. If you haven't tried them it's worth it. I think they're really good.

Step 3 - get a little more organized

we have a ways to go here. Seriously. I would love it if we were more organized. But, we're getting organized one step at a time. I've finally gotten my closet under control thanks to lots of different baskets and shelves. We put a huge shelf organizing thing in our living/dining room and Phat Daddy has organized our bills and important documents.
Organizing doesn't come easily to either Phat Daddy or I. But, we're learning that if we come up with systems that we can work with we actually work with it. I'm a nicer person when I have some organization. So, we're trying to go with that. Even though we have to get started on the baby's room, I'm going to try to get stuff sorted from the beginning. I'm recruiting my sister's help so that hopefully I'll figure out where I'm putting socks, soothers and other assorted baby stuff. Say a prayer for her - she'll need it!

Step 4 - get a cordless phone

What's that, you say? It's 2008 and you don't have a cordless phone. That's right.
Well, not anymore.
We were using the stupid internet phone line and we had one phone for our entire house. This worked okay when we lived in a condo - you know ONE FLOOR. This did not work out so well in a 3 bedroom house with THREE FLOORS.
I was losing my mind. And, when Phat Daddy goes to work in the evening I have to bring my blackberry to bed in case of emergency. Problem 1) my bberry is password protected and when I'm half asleep I can't figure out the password. Problem 2) It has a flashing green light that wakes me up. Problem 3) I wake up when people from work e-mail me at 10 pm and I'm at risk of replying to an e-mail and making no sense whatsoever (not a new concept I guess). Last night I was cranky and sent Phat Daddy a bitchy e-mail from bed. Today we went out and bought ourselves new cordless phones. I think we have a set of 3. I'm not allowed to use them for several more hours as they are charging. I have a phone by my bed. Excellent.

Small steps but all in all a good start to the new year.