2012 "Resolves" and wool dryer balls

Sweet Saturday.  Sweet, sweet Saturday.  And coffee.  Ahhhh...

And sleep coma.  Do you ever get those?  Tuesday-Friday I'm typically up by 5:30, so I've come to cherish my Saturday mornings.  My kiddos wake me at about 8:00, and I flip on cartoons for them so I can cuddle with them and slowly wake up.  By 9:00 we head downstairs for breakfast.  I love my Saturday mornings.  :)

But I also carry that groggy, "I just got way more sleep than I normally do" feeling.  And that's where coffee comes into the picture!!

I'm actually looking forward to today.  The kids and I are putting away clean laundry, cleaning up the play room, and I have my Thursday cleaning still to get done (one of the kiddos I watch, Ms. Laney, was sick this week and I had the privilege of holding her and neglecting my to-do list without a lot of guilt.  If I put her down, she would cry.  So as hard as it was, I held her and we played peek-a-boo and baby games and I stored up Laney kisses to get me until next Tuesday.  My life is rough sometimes...)  :) 

So today I'm cleaning, and if I am feeling adventurous, I might head out in the snow to Joan Fabrics for some wool yarn.  I found these really neat wool dryer balls at the cloth diaper store.

Wool dryer balls are supposed to reduce static, soften clothes, and reduce the amount of time your clothes spend in the dryer, since the wool absorbs the moisture from your clothing.  PLUS, I can add a few drops of essential oils to them and add a light scent to our clothing.  One of my "resolves" for 2012 is to spend the year switching out our regular products for natural ones.  As we use up what we have, I'll replace it with something either homemade or store-bought that's "natural."  In my head, I have my list of what makes a product "natural," but I think anyone can agree that replacing Downy fabric softener and Up & Up dryer sheets for several balls of wool is a step in that direction.  :)

Wool dryer balls are around $10 a piece, and it's recommended that you use at least 3 of them for regular loads of laundry.  I always run large loads, so I'm thinking 5 of them would be perfect.  But I choked at the idea of spend $50 on them, no matter how much they saved our laundry from excess tumbling and heat, and our skin from whatever is in modern fabric softener and dryer sheets.

So I Googled "wool dryer ball tutorial" and found this one.  It looks super easy, and the cost of the wool yarn is much less than the cost of premade dryer balls.  : D  I'll update later with any noticeable changes in static, the softness of our clothes, etc.

My other "resolve" for this new year is to get better about planning out our meals, right down to breakfasts and snacks.  There are so many food items i don't buy, because I'm trying hard to eliminate processed foods from our diet.  But it makes those moments when the kids say, "Mom, I'm hungry," so frustrating!!  I wish I could grab a Poptart or a pack of peanut butter crackers and go back to what I was doing, but I've stopped buying most of that stuff (step 1).  Step 2, that I need to get better about, is always having alternatives on hand for them.  I think they're a little tired of yogurt, almonds, sunflower seeds, and fruit.  So I need to start switching it up.  As I get better, I'll be sharing some of my ideas on here.  :)  I've found that they love fresh veges dipped in hummus, so I'll have that on the menu.  I'm still brainstorming some more snack ideas.  Any suggestions are welcome!!

That's it for now.  I hope everyone has a relaxing, joyful Saturday!!!