What The Hell

Wednesday was a great day for me. I was motivated and peppy, my children were cooperative people that I enjoyed being around. It was great, everything in place. I spent the entire morning getting the laundry washed. I did every dish in the sink (there were a lot), Cleaned the sink itself! Washed the counters, cabinets, floors. Took out bags of trash and recycling. Wiped the inside of the fridge. Hung up jackets and found all the random missing toddler shoes. I picked up all the toys and Coraline helped! My house was so much cleaner, I was relaxed.

Wait, was this a dream? Because this is what my kitchen looks like right now...  

I feel like this should be somewhat embarrassing but seriously, what the hell? How does that happen. I JUST cleaned this room from top to bottom. Did I host a party for monkeys that I was unaware of? I feel like we are under some kind of marshal law where all rules of keeping clean or even freaking tidy are thrown out the door. I know it's just a mess and it's not a big deal and i would say 80% of my readers have to have a room that looks like this right now and if you don't? Congratulations on being able to afford a maid. 

This is part of being a mother of 2. This is something I have learned. With just one baby/toddler, I didn't respect and enjoy how easy it was in the moment. Being a first time mom feels so overwhelming, so much more difficult then life as a non parent. It isn't until you have another child that it hits you...shit, I just lost every ounce of spare time that I didn't even realize I had. If you are pregnant or just had a baby, I don't want to scare you, just telling it like it is. Feel free to correct me if I am just making broad generalizations based only on my life. My experience as a writer however, leads me to believe I'm on target with this one. 

After careful thought and discussions with my husband, I have actually decided to cut back on some things so I have the time to focus on things like my house and children. I took a leave of absence from Boston Babywearers, which is an awesome group that I am very proud to be the Vice President of, I just need a break. In the 9 months since Arya was born, I have seriously lacked the drive to do what I love the most; write this blog and connect with parents all over the place. Writing is a passion I have had for a very long time, I am making the commitment to myself now to become better. 

One of my favorite parts of being a 32 year old adult  (and their aren't many) is I actually recognize that I do hold a lot of wisdom. Something parents try to instill in children, is that you can't rush growing up, you have to experience life. Then one day, you are 32 years old and put in a situation that you have been preparing for your entire life. For me it was, this situation feels negative to me, I am not having fun and I don't feel appreciated at the moment. When I was 22, I would have fought it out, I would have cried, I would have been inconsolable. I would have stayed, doing something that was making me unhappy for a very long time. But now, now I know that I have the right to say "This isn't working for me. I will not put myself in a negative place. I'm going to step back." The best part is? Instead of feeling guilty for leaving, I feel great for having wisdom and strength to be the person I am. 

So ya know, my house is a mess, but I am really happy. I'll just clean it, no big deal. Writing is therapy for me, I started this post feeling completely overwhelmed by the mess and writing for The Girl Is A Mom is like chatting with a good friend, you feel so much better when you get it all out. 

And because I probably tricked you into thinking this was going to be all about cleaning and messes... I will leave you this picture of Arya's feet and knees. I mean really I am not lying when I say I mopped this floor this morning. Those are not shadows my friends, that is just a crawling baby with extremely dirty knees and feet. What. The. Hell. 

Review/Giveaway: Libman Freedom Mop

Coraline is going through one of those phases where I am not allowed to put her down. You moms know what I am talking about even though my husband says he has no idea what I am talking about, just put her down, he says. Yes, I can put her down in the living room when it's playtime, but if I want to load the dishwasher, switch the laundry in the washer, or any number of household tasks, I have to do that one handed.

Now my husband also thinks I have too many cleaning products, I say there is no such limit. Cleaning products are exciting to me, I can't help it.  So I was pretty thrilled to get the chance to test the new Libman Freedom Mop through the Mom Bloggers Club.  Now some of you regular readers are saying to yourselves, I'm almost positive she has a Roomba and a Scooba. That is totally true, because if there is a robot available to do any of my household chores, I buy it. My husband loves our little IRobot family, I am on the fence. They are handy but more so for my husband then myself.  Without doing a full on review of them let me say that anytime I need to mop something up during the day around here (read: to dog peed on the floor again) the Scooba gives me an error of some sort. Either we didn't charge it or it needs cleaning fluid or dirty water dumped, all of which are two hand jobs rendering my robot useless because I can't put my daughter down.

I hate gimmicky cleaning products that are designed in a way that forces you to continuing purchasing proprietary accessories in order to keep the product useful. You all know what I am talking about, a product that maybe rhymes with Differ. It's a scam, pure and simple. Buy this great thing, but oh, don't forget every week you have to buy this special fluid and these disposable pads because if you try to use anything else you will either be arrested or your product will just break.  How about some freedom to do whatever I want when I clean? Sounds good to me.

The Libman Freedom Mop is everything I dreamed it would be and more. I am very weary of mops. I was raised in a house where my mother scrubbed every floor on hands and knees with a bucket of water beside her. The first time I ever touched a mop was when I worked at McDonalds in high school and it was very apparent why my mother scrubbed floors by hand. That being said, I'm loving my Freedom Mop. Here are the reasons why, condensed because maybe you all don't love cleaning product as much as I do…

1. The micro fiber pads are reusable, I can toss them in the wash and ta da, clean pads. No more buying buying buying.

2. I can put in whatever cleaning solution I want. This is awesome cause I am very picky about my solutions.

3. No batteries, no cords. I can pull this out and just use it, simple. I hate replacing batteries, charging things, plugging them in. My minutes are precious and the Freedom Mop saves me so much hassle.

4. It is so easy, the tank is easy to remove and fill, literally I can do it with one hand. The spray trigger is perfectly placed and the spray of cleaning fluid is great, meaning it sprays out in a nice big fan of an area.

The test of the Libman Mop has been ongoing for the past week or so but the true test was earlier today. Today is rainy which means of course that Roxie our dog refused to go outside, which means hooray, she peed on the floor (again). Coraline would  not let me put her down, the robot cleaner was failing me and I had to clean the floor up!  With baby toddler in arms I filled the Freedom Mop with my chosen cleaning solution, popped on a clean micro fiber pad and went to town on the entire floor. Within minutes my floor was completely clean and disinfected, toddler still in arms.

Made in the USA, Libman has been making cleaning products for 110 years, there is a good chance your great grandmother was using Libman back in the day! The new Freedom Mop is available now at your favorite retailer.  It should cost between $19.99 and $24.99 ( You can get a $5 off coupon here!), coming fully assembled and ready to use!

Win!

Libman has offered one lucky reader Freedom of their own! Follow the rules below and enter to win a Libman Freedom Mop!

Rules:

Must complete mandatory entry
Contest closes 10/18/10 @ 9pm eastern standard time
Valid email address must be entered
Winner will be contacted via email and have 48 hours to respond.

Mandatory Entry

"Like" the Libman Company on Facebook and Leave a comment telling them The Girl Is A Mom sent you.

Additional Entries

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Good Luck!

Dear FTC: I was given a product for purpose of review. I was not paid for the review. The opinions expressed above are my own and based on my individual experience. 

Laundry Soap

Aside from posts about Coraline, I think the thing I talk about most is laundry. Every mother out there knows that laundry is the never ending battle! I'm not complaining, make no mistake, just pointing out that I do laundry everyday without fail. Some days I swear to myself that the laundry can wait, I'm not going to touch it and then we spill something on a rug or the cat vomits on something, you all know the drill.

I feel like it is my personal mission to test every laundry soap out there, if you read my reviews, you know that I have done a great job. I'm committed to using all natural cleaners, I will not budge on this topic. There are more all natural cleaners out there then I had ever thought possible. I finally figured out why that is, because it is really simple to make laundry soap. Yep, I'm sure some of you mamas have been in the know for years! Here I was sitting in the dark thinking laundry soap was some magical concoction only to be purchased. I made my own laundry soap this weekend, turns out it is one of the easiest d.i.y. projects ever.

These are my supplies...

1 Bar Castile Soap (mine is Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint but Dr. Bronners would be great)

Baking Soda

Borax

Washing Soda*

Fels Napatha (which I didn't end up including)

Empty Jar

* I could not find Washing Soda anywhere! I looked in all of our supermarkets to no avail. Maybe because I live in the city and city moms clearly don't make their own laundry soap? I'm not sure. Anyway, it is available online for sure, made by Arm & Hammer, Ida from Trees Will Bend brought me some, hence the plastic bag :)

Step 1

Gather Supplies

Step 2

Using a cheese grater, grate the bar of castile soap into a very fine powder. This is the most time consuming step, I think it took a whole 5 minutes.

Step 3

Measure all of your ingredients into your jar. This is what my measurements were...

1 cup castile soap

1/2 cup Borax

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup washing soda

Step 4

Put it all in the jar and shake til it is well mixed, with the lid on clearly

Step 5

Oh, you are done. No step 5. I labeled my jar. Ready to use. It took me 10 minutes from gathering the ingredients to sticking the label on.

I use 2 Tablespoons per load in my front loading HE machine.

The best part of the whole thing is not even the satisfaction I got from making my own laundry soap but the fact that it totally works.  I washed my sheets first and they came out clean and soft and smelling good. I haven't tried it on my diapers yet, I still have 2 bags of my favorite diaper soap Rockin Green. I have a hunch that I won't have to purchase laundry soap any more though!

Cost

I know all of you thrifty mamas want to know if it is cost effective!

Borax $5.00 for 76 ounces, I used 4 ounces... .26cents

Washing Soda should cost about $4 for 55 ounces, I used 4 ounces ... .29cents

Baking Soda $.50cents for 1lb... 1/2 cup... .12cents

Castile Soap $4 for 1 bar, I used the whole bar.

Jar...free

Total     $4.67

I made 2 1/2 cups of soap. That means I will get 20 loads of laundry done. Which equals .23 cents a load. Yep, totally cost effective.

Review/Giveaway: Seventh Generation

In my recent quest for all natural cleaning I was quickly led to Seventh Generation. This is not a new company, I'm sure you have all seen Seventh Generation in stores or in a commercial on tv. Based in Burlington, Vermont, Seventh Generation has been making green cleaning products for over 20 years. Their product line includes things like all natural household cleaners, household  paper products, chlorine free disposable diapers, laundry detergents, and dish washing liquids. They became pretty much a one stop shop for my Green Your Clean mission. 

 

Seventh Generation very generously sent me their Healthy Home Kit, which was the perfect introduction to their products and exactly what I was looking for. Included in my reusable tote bag:

Kitchen Cleaner

All-Purpose Cleaner

Glass & Surface Cleaner

Shower Cleaner

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Tub & Tile Cleaner

Brown Paper Towels

I started straight away using the Seventh Generation products in place of my normal cleaners.  I took this opportunity to give my house a thorough scrub down, testing each product to the fullest extent.  

The Seventh Generation Kitchen Cleaner has wild orange and cedar spice scents. I have been using this on my counters and stove top for a few weeks now with great results. Our stove top is glass, something that seems awesome until you need to clean it. The Kitchen Cleaner did a great job at cutting through the grease that is left on the glass top. I was really impressed with the strength. I cleaned the inside of the microwave with this as well. First I microwave a bowl of white vinegar and water to loosen all the gunk. Then I sprayed it down with the Kitchen Cleaner and wipe with rags. 

 

The Healthy Home Kit comes with Brown Paper Towels that are 100% recycled  paper. They aren't whitened so no chemicals are used in the production. Because they are made with recycled paper,  they reduce the use of virgin wood pulp which means fewer trees are cut down. I cut way way down on paper towel use, even the recycled kind. For cleaning I cut up my husbands old t shirts and use them as rags. I use the paper towels with the Glass and Surface Cleaner on our mirrors. 

I used the All-Purpose Cleaner on the cabinets. It totally got off the built up grease and grime that accumulates over time. It should be noted that I have been trying to get some of that stuff off the front of my cabinets for months, Seventh Generation totally handled the job where other things had failed. I also used the All-Purpose Cleaner on our hard wood floors. I have a "thing" about scrubbing my floors by hand and not using a mop, this solution did a great job. I love that it is non-toxic since Cora is now spending more time on the floor. 

 

I love the way the Toilet Bowl cleaner smells, like a forest. The official scent is Emerald Cypress & Fir.  It cleans wonderfully and it isn't that strange artificial blue color. I have never understood that blue color, what is up with that anyway?  For the rest of the bathroom I used the Tub & Tile Cleaner and Shower Cleaner. I used the Tub & Tile for our sink, shower enclosure, toilet, and tile floors. The scent matches the Toilet Bowl cleaner, my bathroom smelled like a forest.  My favorite product in the whole line is the Shower Cleaner because it smells like Green Mandarin & Leaf. We spray it in the shower daily to prevent soap scum build up. 

At this point, I am not using anything but the Seventh Generation cleaning products for my household cleaning. They do a great job and I wouldn't use them unless they genuinely cleaned the house.  All of the products are biodegradable with no harsh fumes or animal testing.  The majority of them use plant derived cleaning agents and hydrogen peroxide, which is much safer then some of the other cleaners. 

Buy!

Seventh Generation is available in most major stores, we get ours at Target

Check online to find a retailer near you!

Buy Online @ Seventh Generation.com

Win!

Seventh Generation has offered one lucky reader a Healthy Home Kit of their own! (retail value $38.99)

You must complete the mandatory entry first and foremost. Additional entries will only be counted if the mandatory entry is completed. 

Mantadory Entry: 

Visit SeventhGeneration.com and become a member of The Seventh Generation Nation, leave a comment here linking your S.G. Nation profile page.

Additional Entries:

Become a fan of Seventh Generation on Facebook (1 entry)

Become a fan of The Girl Is A Mom on Facebook (1 entry)

Follow Seventh Generation on Twitter (1 entry)

Follow The Girl Is A Mom on Twitter (1 entry)

Become a public follower of The Girl Is A Mom via Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

Follow The Girl Is A Mom via Feedburner (2 entries)

Join Seventh Generations Million Baby Crawl (1 entry)

Add my Button to your blog (2 entries)

leave a link to the blog

Tweet about the giveaway (1 entry per day)

include @dosergirl @seventhgen

leave a comment with a permalink to your tweet

Blog about the giveaway (2 entries)

leave a link to the post

Giveaway closes 3/15/2010 @ 8pm est. 
  

disclaimer: I did receive free products for the purpose of review. I did not receive compensation for the review. the opinions expressed above are my own, your may have a different opinion. 

The Boring Parts

Being a stay at home mom is filled with a lot of songs, games and trying to make my daughter laugh. When she falls asleep however, the race is on to clean the house.  My biggest obstacle is getting the laundry folded and put away. Coraline's co-sleeper has become a huge laundry basket that I can not seem to conquer. Having a baby adds a ton of laundry to your life. Cloth diapering adds laundry but I barely notice since I am doing at least two loads a day as it is. Thank goodness we have a HE washer!

Yesterday I started a big clean, I am so proud of myself for doing this. It has been a long time coming and I have decided to channel my nervous energy into the house. Do you do that, clean when you are nervous or angry? So i started in the dining room because it also has started to serve as my office since I moved my desk in there. It made sense in there because there is plenty of floor space for me to put Coraline in tummy time with toys, or bring a swing/bouncer/jumperoo in while I sit and work.  It is also part of my trying to turn the tv off for longer and longer each day. I am addicted to television but I know music is a better option for Cora and I during the day. 

I cleaned off the dining room table which had become a depository for everything from mail to coats to laundry. I dusted. I didn't clean JP's closet which is in the dining room but I did shove everything inside and close the door. I think his closet and office are his responsibility to clean. I also scrubbed the entire floor by hand, a habit I picked up from my mother. I don't trust that it is good and clean unless I am on my hands and knees. 

When you get on your hands and knees to clean the floor, you notice things like the corners, under cabinets, very dusty baseboards, etc. That means every room is going to need the same treatment. Top to bottom scrubbing.  I'm about to start another room, still neglecting the laundry. Interesting that I would rather be scrubbing floors and toilets then folding laundry or *gasp* ironing my husbands work clothes. 

Of course spring is hopefully right around the corner and with it comes Coraline's age progression, perfectly timed for her to be crawling around shoving everything in her mouth. We need to green our clean! I want everything clean but also non-toxic!  

Spring is going to bring some great reviews and giveaways for your home!