Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Hello Evereyone!



It is a gorgeous spring day in Missouri. It's so nice to hear the birds chirping and sun shining!



As you know, I am a big fan of new moms staying home with their children and finding creative ways to be frugal and resourceful. One cost that I think is unneccesary is diapers. My daughter is 15 months and we've never purchased diaposable diapers (except one small package when we were traveling the Oregon coast and no laundromat was avalailable.)

With that said, I would like to take the fear and worry out of the daunting idea, to many, of cloth diapering, by offering you a few tips and tricks.

One of the biggest reasons people choose to not take advantage of cloth diapering is that they are worried about clean up. I had my doubts as well, but once I got the hang of it, it was neither messy nor time consuming.



The clean up method will change as your child transitions from newborn to infant and when your child moves up from breast milk or formula to solid foods. When the child first comes home from the hospital, I found that the best method of clean up, for solids, was to use the little peri-bottle they gave me, after giving birth, to spray off solids into the toilet. You can also hold the diaper by one end and swish it around and lush the toilet. The swirling action of the toilet gets them really clean! There is no clean-up requirement for a diaper that is only wet.

One key thing to remember is, the diapers do not have to be clean when you throw them in the pail. You can simply smear the poo with some tp into the toilet and your washer will do the ret of the job. I was nervous about this concept at first, but now I seriously just throw them in the pail dirty, with the bulk of the mess off. They come out really clean anyway!

As my daughter got older, I noticed she made bowel movements much less frequently, so after the first couple of months cloth diapering was smooth sailing. When the child gets to be about 6 months, and is on a diet of a variety of solid foods, the clean up becomes easiest of all, because, if your child is like mine, the solids will just plop into the toilet. After removing the solids, you simply remove the liners and throw everything together into the wash. (I usually wash every other day.) It is best to use a detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes, so that your child's skin will not be irritated.

It seriously is way easier than you are expecting.

If you are interested in learning more and finding the many diferent brands and styles that are offered, visit my website, brightmama.com!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Recently I have gotten really into curtain making. First I stiched some from a cute upholstery fabric I found on sale for Ruth's room. The I made some white, simple curtains for our bathroom and yesterday I made two giant panels for our bedroom from an extremely large table cloth I found at Goodwill for $4.

I will eventually post instructions for many different designs, but today I want to tell you about my "5 minute curtains." You may not be able to find fabric just like the piece I found, but if you keep your eye out you will eventually stumbl upon a bargain. First, I will tell you what to look for.







-Make sure the piece is finished all the way around the edges. As you can see in this picture, mine is finished all the way around and also has little decorative cutouts, which made me really drawn to this piece.


-Make sure it is long enough for either one panel or two panels. (Know the project you are aiming for. If you want them to cover your bedroom window, it will need to be a length slightly longer than your window. I it is just for your kitchen or bathroom, it can probably be shorter.)

-Of course, make sure its a color you like and that the fabric is thicker than quilting weight, especially if you are concerned about a lot of light coming through (if it is in your bedroom.)


-Make sure the piece is square or rectangle shaped.

Once you have the right piece, the rest is sooo simple. For my curtains I simply cut the table cloth in half (because it was long enough for two panels) and then folded down the unfinished edge (the part I just cut) about an inch and sewed it with coordinating thread. If your urtain rod is wide, make sure you fold it down enough so hat the curtain rod can fit through it.





Since all the edges were already finished, that is all the sewing you have to do, just the part where you cut. If you only found a piece big enough for one panel, just fold a spot over on the top or bottom for the rod to go through.



It's literally a 5-minute curtain!



Tip: You can also use a shower curtain for bedroom curtains. Just loop some pretty ribbon through the holes and tie bows for each one around your curtain rod. (Just make sure its not viny material, but a fabric curtain.)



If you have questions about this project or any others, feel free to leave a comment and I can help you through it.



If you have any more simple and easy curtain ideas, leave you idea in the comments section.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Hello friends!

I hope you are having a great week. I wanted to share a healthy and delicious recipe for today. This recipe is easy tasty and very healthy!




Fried rice

1 bag of frozen veggies (peas, carrots, peppers, onions or whatever you like)
1 cup of brown rice
1 cup alfalfa or bean sprouts (whatever is on sale)
1 can water chestnuts
2 eggs
olive oil
soy sauce

Cook rice by boiling 1 cup rice in 2.5 cups water and let simmer, covered, until water is absorbed (about 35 min.) Sautee the veggies, sprouts and water chestnuts in a little live oil until soft (I added in some herbs, salt and pepper and a chopped onion) The throw the eggs in and continue to cook until the egg is ully cooked Mix the rice with the veggies and egg mixture, and add soy sauce to taste.

Tomorrow: instrucions and ideas on how to make really simple curtains

Thursday, March 11, 2010

A healthy recipe for today



As I mentioned before, I have recently become really into nutrition for my family. I make sure to be really aware of the ingredients that are in our food. For example, I will never purchase something that has hydrogenated oils in it. You will find this is almost every processed food. (Be sure to buy all natural peanut butter.) Also, I watch for added sugar and anything that is "enriched," because when it has been enriched that means they originally took natural nutrition out and added man-made vitamins in, which is not a good idea. It is definitely possible for you to feed your family healthy, natural foods that have not been altered or processed. I learned a lot of what I know about this subject from a book called "What the Bible Says About Healthy Living," by Dr. Rex Russell. The premise is basically: God created certain things for food and He made that very clear. We get ourselves in a lot of trouble when we alter these God-given foods and thats why many people find themselves with so many health problems, which we were never intended to have. (I am not saying all health problems are avoidable. I am just saying a lot of them are naturally preventable.)


Todays very delicious healthy recipe:

4 tilapia fillets

1/2 cup unsweetened flake coconut

1/2 cup crushed nuts (almonds or pecans are best)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 egg

1 tsp. lemon pepper

salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 375. Get three bowls. Place the flour, lemon pepper and salt and pepper in the first bowl and put the egg in the second bowl. In the third bowl place the coconut and nuts. Then Take the tilapia fillets and coat them with the flour mixture, then the egg and then the cocnut and nuts. Bake them until they are white and flaky. (about 30 min.) My husband and 1 year old daughter love this recipe and it is made with only God-given, natural ingredients!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010



It was sooo nice out today. We went on a 4 mile jog/walk/run! Ruth liked wearing her pink sunglasses. She was saying cheese when I took this pic!


Money saving tip of the day for stay at home moms: never use your dryer when its 70 degrees outside. Come on, why waste the electric when the sun is burning anyway?


I am convined that almost every family can afford to have the mom stay home if they stopped working to pay for convenience. Think about it, you work a full-time job, so you have to pay a babysitter to watch the kids, buy convenience food because your too busy to cook from scratch, use disposable diapers because the day care won't take cloth, buy baby food because there's no time to make it yourself, spend money on gas to drive to and from the office, the baby sitter and home, buy new clothes so you look nice at work and you have no time to read ads and find out the best grocery deals.....the list goes on and on and soon you have spent more money having a job than simply staying home with the little ones.


Of course the exception is single parents. You have to have at least one income. I truly believe, however, that almost all married couples could afford to have mama stay at home with just a few lifestyle changes.


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The firt Bright Mama blog

I thought I would keep this little blog attached to my website because I am always thinking/planning/dreaming of new things to put on my website but there just wouldn't be enough room, so I thought I would have a little online journal to relay my thoughts to you. I might not keep this up everyday or even every week, but just as I have things I just can't wait to share with other creative, resourceful and frugal mamas. Some things you can expect from my blog: some of my favorite recipes and nutrition info. (I am really into reading labels and being educated on what I am putting in the bodies of my most precious and dependent people, my family. ) I will also post basic household sewing projects and instructions on how to make simple and inexpensive dresses fo little girls. (Sorry, I don't know how to sew boy stuff yet, but I may include links to other people who do :) ) I hope to have links to good coupons and offers, too, and some tips on finding bargains at the grocery store. Thats just a preview and I can't say what for sure will come first. I hope you enjoy it and beneit from it!!