Before disposable diapers were around, cloth diapering was the only option. Technology and innovation have come a long way, and the convenience of disposable diapers has become the norm in our culture of “use it and chuck it.” While I will not argue the benefits of using disposable diapers, there are some convincing reasons to reconsider using simple prefold cloth diapers.

1. They are cheaper than buying disposable diapers. If you do the math, even if you buy a lot of prefold cloth diapers AND diaper covers, washing and reusing your own stock of cloth diapers will save you quite a lot of money of the course of your diaper usage. Remember, many kids can be in diapers for 2-3 years, and that is a long time to be buying a disposable expensive item.

2. Using prefold cloth diapers is friendly to the environment. With all the talk and consideration of “going green” these days, using prefold cloth diapers causes much less waste and is better for the environment.

3. Cloth diapers are better for your baby, and they can even help with potty training! Using something pure like cotton is much better to have against your baby’s skin. They are actually less absorbent than the high technology of today’s disposable diapers, but this makes it so baby’s are less likely to care when they have gone to the bathroom in their diaper and just sit in it. With prefold cloth diapers, you will need to change your baby more, but they will be clean more often, and learn not to like going in their pants!

4. Prefold diapers can be used long after your baby doesn’t use them, or even at the same time. They make excellent rags and are quite durable. Most cloth diapers will outlast other fabrics by quite a bit, even after intense washing.

5. Cloth diapers have come a long way since we were kids! No more safety pins! They have these things called “snappies” that work great, are much faster, are even safer. There are also a variety of diaper covers that are much better than those old plastic pants. They even look quite cute! Check out Thirsties, Flips and Fuzzy Bunz.

Tree toppers are the ornaments that you see on top of the Christmas tree. Your Christmas tree decoration won’t be complete without them. They practically serve as the focal feature of the entire Christmas tree design. The type of topper that you should use to adorn your tree will depend on what look you want to achieve. Tree toppers come in many different designs, from simple ones to those with complex style details. However, if you intend to maximize your budget, it would be a more practical to create handmade Christmas tree toppers. Making one on your own is not as hard as you might have originally thought. In fact, you can choose to produce simple looking toppers if you want to. Having a custom-made tree topper would surely introduce a personal touch to your tree decoration. That said, here are some great and easy ideas on how to make handmade toppers for your Christmas tree.

• Holiday treats topper – Your kids would surely love to see delectable and appealing Christmas cookies on top of the Christmas tree. To do this, you can either buy or make cookies of varying sizes, shapes, and textures. When the cookies have already cooled down, you need to coat them with acrylic or varnish and then allow them to dry. Attach the acrylic coated cookies to a cone shaped tree topper and you can also add some plastic-wrapped candies to complete the look. Use a glue to properly secure them in place, and embellish the topper according to your likings. Once done, you can now position the holiday treat topper at the topmost part of the tree.
• Branch and twigs topper – If you want to use natural looking items in decorating your tree, then this kind of homemade topper is something that you should consider. To make one, you have to gather small branches and twigs which you need to cut into similar lengths, preferably around 6 inches or even less. With the aid of a glue gun, use the twigs to form a shape of a star. How you want the star too look like is entirely up to you. Design it according to how you see fit. You can choose to paint the topper or simply varnish it. After that, you can now place your branch and twig star at the top of the Christmas tree.
• Ribbon topper – This is perhaps one of the most common and easiest homemade topper that you can use to adorn your tree. Pick a velvety, metallic or patterned ribbon that will offer a striking look to your Christmas tree decoration. Tie it like a big bow and secure the loop with the use of a wire. Set the ribbon atop the tree and allow its waves to beautifully cascade down the tree. You may opt to use ribbons of different sizes and colors and then fasten them together to come up with a head-turning ribbon topper.

With a little creativity and a wild imagination, creating an original tree topper design will surely be as easy as a breeze. Complement your tree with heart-warming Christmas greetings, magnificent lighting, and adorable ornaments to give way for a stunning and appealing Christmas home décor.

Last week I started my green tea diet. It is very basic, the idea just being to consciously drink green tea every day in a decent quantity. If you did not read my previous post, you can find it here. Well, the first week has passed, so its time to report on what happened.

My first week of green tea dieting was met with both success and failure. I started out the week very strong, drinking green tea each morning and evening, and even some iced green tea throughout the day. One of the initial hiccups was that I didn’t have as much green tea as I thought I did. We recently moved and so all my tea, of which I have a lot, was in different drawers and cabinets. I had to go round it all up, and in doing so I thought I’d find a nice little cache of green tea. Well, I didn’t have all that much. I had some jasmine tea, some genmaicha, and some green tea powder for iced tea.

I’ll go into the differences in these teas in a moment. For whatever reason I started drinking a good amount of genmaicha and the iced stuff, but it started to taper off near the end of the week. It was mostly that I wasn’t very disciplined, but for now (for the sake of my pride) I’m going to blame my lack of selection and the fact that I didn’t quite have the right green tea.

The jasmine tea mostly works, but its not pure green tea. Jasmine tea is usually made of green tea with jasmine buds or flowers that are added in. It gives the tea a very floral taste but shouldn’t take away from any benefits. Still, it didn’t seem quite the same.

Genmaicha is a type of Japanese green tea that has been roasted corn added to it. There is usually quite a bit of roasted corn in it, and it affects the flavor significantly. I find it to be a very pleasant and drinkable tea, but I can’t help suspect that it is not quite as beneficial as just straight up green tea.

Then I also had this powered tea for making iced tea. It is not instant tea, and not some lipton junk either. It is actually really good stuff, but only when you want iced tea. I found it at the local asian supermarket and I plan to keep a lot on hand for this green tea diet experiment.

All that being said, I really wanted some more staple Chinese or Japanese green tea. So today I went to a local tea shop here called Tea Embassy. They have a remarkable selection of tea and I was able to talk to the owner a bit and get some suggestions. I was going to go for some kind of Chinese green tea. Chinese green tea is often less astringent or grassy than Japanese tea, and right now that suits my fancy a bit more. I have had a lot of Dragon Well green tea in the past, but I wanted to try something different. I ended up getting some tea called White Monkey. Even though it has white in the name, it is a green tea and from China. It is a delicate tea and I’ll update this post when I’ve tried it, but I’m hoping now that I have it, I’ll be a little more inspired in my tea drinking diet this next week. I didn’t fulfill my stated quantity of tea drunk last week for every day near the end, but I was close. I’ll let you know next week if I can get this green tea diet going a little better.

Why, do you ask, am I starting a green tea diet? Well, the other day I was talking to my good friend, and we were discussing the value of tea and coffee, and how not only are they the most sought after beverages all around the world, but they also contain the best stuff for you. Over the last few years I’ve become quite the avid tea drinker, and its something very enjoyable to me. However, I drink green tea (among other teas) kind of randomly, as they suit my fancy. As my friend and I were talking, I realized how easy it would be to simply be more consistent in my tea drinking and hopefully reap some great health benefits in the process. I really enjoy green tea anyway, so I think this green tea diet will be fun and informative.

sencha tea leaevs

So let me explain what I intend to do. This will likely change, but we always need a starting point. Basically, I plan to have at least two pots of green tea each day. One pot in the morning, and one pot in the evening. Each pot will be approximately 16oz. in size. I will not confine myself to just one kind of green tea, but rather drink a few different kinds. Off the top of my head, I will likely drink some sencha, gunpowder, and a few chinese types. Also, if I get hungry or snackish for something bad, I will try to drink green tea instead. Other than that, I will not consciously make any other changes to my diet.

I will track my progress on at least a weekly basis, if not a little more often. I will post how well I am doing in sticking to my green tea diet, and mention if I notice anything different in my life (whether it be appetite, weight loss, energy, etc.)

Today is July 20, 2010, and I plan to start this tomorrow. Tune in to closet foodie for updates weekly. I will probably make a new category for this green tea diet experiment and put it up in the menu bar so you can follow along with me if you like, or if you are reading this after the fact, you can go back through and check my progress.

-Ben