Quote:
Originally Posted by roadfamily6now  Okay, So I am just learning about all this bleach being bad stuff. (yeah, I'm a little late in that game)
So tell me, what do you use?
I currently have my cutting board sitting with some hydrogen peroxide on it.
|
I mostly just use really hot water.
I'm not too worried about cross-contamination because I have two cutting boards (bamboo ones btw...they rock!) One is for raw meat, and the other is for produce, cheese, bread, and other non-raw things (I rarely cut cooked meat on a cutting board--it's usually in the dish--but if I do it goes on that board). Anyway, I took a sharpie and wrote "raw meat only" on the meat board so there's no chance of confusion. As soon as I'm done using it I scrub it with a brush and really hot running water (I have a soap-shall-not-touch-it brush that I also use for my cast iron and it works great).
I do most of my other cleaning with baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and (as often as not) plain old hot water. I'm a great believer in the cleansing power of HOT water
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinoikoi Does anyone here pack thier kids' lunches? Two of my kiddos attend a school where lunch is free to all kids, but one attends a different school, and all of a sudden we no longer qualify for reduced price lunch for him. 
Also, what do you put in them? I am always looking for ideas, and "Oh, I just snatch an orange off of my fruit tree that grows by our front door" doesn't really fit for Alaskan families  |
My DH typically takes leftovers, and my DS gets the reduced lunches which are only .40 here and we realized I can't hardly pack them for that price, so he usually just buys his...but I do pack them sometimes. I dont' stress too much about having a balanced meal each day per se, but more about there being balance across the course of the week... He's a real carb-o-holic and not so good with fruits, so I try to have nutrients hidden in carby forms if I can (eg: banana bread, cheese biscuits, etc)
Here's a random list of things I tend to put in:
- Muffins, rolls, biscuits, crackers, a couple of slices of homemade bread with butter on them, or a sandwich (I usually toast the bread first so it doesn't get soggy)
- cheese sticks (I cut a pound of sharp cheddar or colby-jack into sticks about the size of string cheese--cheaper than strings and tastes better too...I just drop in 2-3)
- a bunch of grapes, apple slices (if you slice a whole apple but put the slices back together and then seal them up in a baggie or container then they won't turn brown OR alternate apple and orange slices--the citrus juice will keep the apples from browning
)
- carrots or broccoli with dip (he loves brocc and will eat it plain, but he won't eat the carrots without dip
)
- some nuts, granola, or trail mix
- sometimes (certainly not daily) I put in something dessertish...a homemade brownie, a couple of cookies, some chips, a little candy of some sort...
- He likes to just carry a water bottle, but sometimes I give him a can of V-8 cuz he really likes that too and given that he's not great about veggies lately, I figure it's a good thing for him to have.
- Another favorite snack around here--if you can figure out how to pack it without making a mess--is a "peanut butter spoon" which is exactly what it sounds like: a spoonful of peanut butter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dislocator3972 Can anyone please remind me WHY IN THE WORLD I thought it would be a good idea to move to Alaska right before having my first child?
|
I think a certain amount of isolation is normal to feel after having a baby. I know I felt it after my ds was born and I had lots of family around. What helped me the most was to have a regularly scheduled time to see other mothers...I was very lucky to have a great crunchy-mama playgroup (which expanded to include a monthly crunchy bookclub meeting and sporadic mothers-nights-out where the only kids allowed were nurslings...plus a lot of us went to the local LLL too). Anyway, a lot of the days were long and some of the nights were lonely, but I knew that every wednesday I would see other mamas like me, and that helped a lot. I'm actually trying to figure out how to best go about trying to organize a similar group here in homer right now (katiesk, want in?!) I'm thinking I may post a flier at the midwife/naturopath's office with my phone number on it and just see if I get any takers.
.
Both of these bosses were women and I'm not sure if that is the reason or if they were just both very mean people and I was unlucky enough to work for them.
:
Follow Mothering