Water Event 1:Thankful for what I have… and I have way too much of it.

I was thinking last night about how wonderful it is that I don’t have to walk an hour with an empty jerry can to get water just so I can walk an hour back with a full can to wash my face, brush my teeth, cook my dinner, and then clean up from it.

WOW. I AM SO THANKFUL!

As I start looking around our little rental home I try not to think about the big house we gave up to move out here to Seattle. I really loved that home, but maybe a little too much. Living in this smaller (but really still quite large) duplex sometimes erks me and that reminds me of how thankful I should be for all that I have. I mean really, how selfish is it for me to be upset about a living room that doesn’t fit my furniture when there are 1 billion people in the world who don’t have clean water. Really? I make myself sick.

So, I’ve rummaged through my closet and found a bunch of stuff we never use anymore that is still in perfect working condition and I’ve posted it on craigslist for what I feel are fair prices. If you live within driving distance and are willing to come pick it up, (or don’t mind paying for shipping if you live far away..) I’ll give it to you for a donation to my charity:water campaign. It doesn’t need to be the price listed on craigslist, more is ok too! <wink wink>

Here’s the stuff I posted and the links to craigslist:

I’m sure I’ll do another craigslist event next month. Help us out and spread the word. -M

 

Update: Items are selling!!! Sweet!!!

Sold List:

Meal of the Week 8: Ros’s Vegan Pumpkin Bread!

Pumpkins and pumpkin bread so remind me of fall. Along with Pumpkin spice lattes, cool crisp evenings, my daughter’s birthday, and bright yellow flowers. Anyways, my friend Ros sent me this recipe the other night and I really wanted to share it with you so I asked her if I could share it here. I can’t wait to try out this bread, it looks super delicious and sooooo healthy!!

(This is a picture of Ros’s bread…oooooh yum!)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp Pumpkin pie  spices
• 1 3/4 C agave syrup
• 1 C pumpkin puree
• just under 1/4 cup oil (sorry I don't have an exact amount...)
• 2 Tbs maple syrup
• 1 Tbs water
• chopped walnuts
  

Instructions:
Mix dry.
Mix wet in sep. bowl
Add WET to dry
Bake at 350 for 40 - 50 min.

Happy Eats!!

Someone has a birthday soon!!!

Our Sweet Pea is turning 1 in about a little over a month and to get ready for her birthday I’m making this sweet craft! The linked website has instructions, but they’re a little vague so I’ll get a nice tutorial up when I’m done for those of you who want to try it out but (like me) need pictures to go a long with the instructions.

Happy Birthday charity:water

Today is charity:water's Birthday. Their staff put together a whole bunch of really interesting and funny thank you videos for supporters who, like me, have campaigned for water. They are such sweet videos, and so I thought I would post a link so you can all go watch them and laugh and cry and then think about joining this sweet community of supporters of clean water.

This was my favorite. And it gave me an idea for my next challenge.



And I wanted to say A big thanks to those of you who have helped me so far in this campaign. We're up to $165!!! Wohoo! Over 10%!!

Help us out by completing the first challenge. I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Water Challenge 1:

Tell a few friends of yours about charity:water and send them a link to one of the videos I've posted.
Lets say 5.
Tell five friends about charity:water and post back here to tell me what they said. You have 5 days. Ready. Go. :-)
(Hint, Hint: the easiest way to do this is to send them a video link or a link to my blog <ribbonsforgrace.blogspot.com/search/tags/give>, charity:water site <mycharitywater.org/changeisgood> or the main charity water site <charitywater.org>)

The Big Idea

Water. How much water do you think you drink in a day? 2 cups? 4 cups? just at dinner? Do you like to drink juice and pop too? Or are you addicted to water like I am and drink nothing but most of the day? Do you have a filter so your water doesn’t taste like chemicals? What would you do if you had to walk 5 miles to get something to drink? Would you want to drink it once you found it?

1/6th of the world currently has limited access to water – some people walk up to 3 hours to fill up a jug with water to use for ALL of their day’s activities. Drinking. Cooking. Washing. And did I mention that these jugs are HEAVY? Yeah, not your gallon-oh-milk sized jugs, I’m talking about a 20 L jerry can. I can barely pick up two at a time, much less carry 2 at a time (sometimes 40lbs worth!) from ye’ ole’ water hole all the way home. Check out this video to learn more about the water crisis.

 

My campaign will bring 75 people clean water – that’s a small village! - and you’ll be able to track it via GPS when its done because this year charity:water is buying a drilling rig. Think about giving. You could be the instrument of change.

What will your money do?

Want to give to the campaign but not sure if its all going to go where you want? I promise, 100% of the money you give goes towards well digging projects – and this time you’ll be able to track where the rig goes and how many wells it digs!

The Big Kickoff Celebration!

Hi ya’ll! Today is the day! That’s right, my birthday. And today I’m kicking off a 3 month campaign to raise $1500 for charity:water. Maybe you saw one of the previous blogposts, maybe not. Either way you’re here now and you’re reading this one.
Let me make this exceedingly easy for you.
Today is my birthday.

Instead of giving me a gift, or even posting a comment or on my facebook wall, give your coffee money to charity:water. In fact, I’ll make it even easier. I will send a charity:water bracelet to anyone who helps me make it to $200 by September 7th.

$20 gives 1 person clean water for 20 years.
Its that simple. Now isn’t that worthwhile?
I thought so.
Then, after you give, check back here to see what challenges I’m posting.

These sites have links to this post:
http://readingandchickens.blogspot.com/
http://www.serenitynowblog.com/

Car Seat Strap Covers

We got a super deal on a convertible car seat about a month ago from Target. Unfortunately, the model we bought didn’t come with covers for the shoulder straps. My Sweet Pea is just so sensitive that the straps started to bother her immediately.

So this morning I decided to make her some strap covers. Now, a lot of tutorials I’ve seen have the strap covers in a nice easy square shape. I’m sure that this is an easy method for being successful at this project, however, I’m in the mood for a something different and decided to make mine the same shape as the strap covers on Sweet Pea’s infant car seat (we have a chicco – the strap covers are half circles). If you want to make square ones, click through on the image below for easy directions – but be sure to read this post for tips on how to make the process even simpler!

If you want to make circles, like mine,  keep reading.

Materials:

• Four circles cut from your choice of fabric. You could upcycle some old t-shirts, baby blankets, burp cloths, or just use some craps that you have lying around.
• Edging – double sided bias tape if you’re in a hurry,  or, use some of the material that you’re upcycling and make your own bias tape. You’ll probably want a bias tape maker if you choose that route.
• Four circles of cotton batting… or if you’re like me and too cheap to go to the fabric store, you can use some scrap felt that you have lying around.
• 4 inches of velcro

Step 1. Cutting out your shapes.

I recommend you use a pattern. A big cereal bowl will probably do nicely. Fold and pin your fabric then trace your bowl. Do this twice so you’ll have four pieces of fabric. Repeat for the felt/cotton batting.

Step 2. Sewing your pieces together.

Start by pinning the fabric together with felt/cotton batting sandwiched in between, right sides facing out. It should be four layers thick. Sew three to four seams at even intervals to attach all the materials together.

Step 3. Attaching your edging

Pin the binding (or your homemade edging) to the edge of the circles the whole way around. Be sure to fold under the edge that lays on top as you finish pinning around the circle. Sew along the edge being sure to sew through both sides of the binding and all four layers of your strap cover.

Step 4. Attaching your velcro

Cut the velcro into pieces that are about 2 inches long. Sew the hooks and the loops to opposite edges of the same side of your strap cover.

Step 5. Enjoy!

Attach to your carseat, stroller, carriage, pram, or bike seat and enjoy! I hope your little ones find these to be as comfortable as they are stylish.

 

But wait, you say. home come your tutorial had no pictures? Haha. That because I did mine a little differently than the other tutorials online. If you are using a basic cotton fabric or upcycling a t-shirt, definitely use the directions above. However, if you happen to have a nice fleecy fabric scrap on hand that was left over from last year’s halloween costume… then by all means follow the directions below.

The EASY WAY:

Step 1: Cut your fabric out.

Use a bowl, same as above, but for this version you only need 2 circles.

Step 2: Sew an edge to keep your fabric from fraying.

Fleece is nice because it generally doesn’t fray. To give your straps a nice edge and to keep them from coming apart, sew around the edge of each circle.

It will look like this when you’re done:

Step 3: Attach Velcro

Just like above, make sure that you attach the hooks and looks on opposite edges of the same side of the circle. Yep, just sew it on. I used scrap velcro so mine are a little small, but they work great!

It should look like this when you’re done:

And like this when folded over:

So simple! I think it only took 20 minutes. This is a great option if you’re short on time because each strap is just one piece of fleece.

Add embellishments if you choose, or go plain and make it match your car seat. Enjoy!

Have you heard Rachel’s story?

Hundreds of people have started campaigns like mine to raise money to bring clean water to people all over the globe. One young girl in the Seattle area, Rachel, aged 9, decided she was going to give up her birthday this past summer to try to raise $300 to bring 15 people clean water. Then tragedy struck. Check out her story Then visit charity:water to donate.