Winner Winner Sheen Dinner

Thank you to all who entered my Earth Day giveaway, especially those who participated in a litter walk or other earthish activity.  The moment you have all been waiting for... the winners!  Though really, we're all winning (and I'm bi-winning).  Joe here is a double winner because on his litter walk he found a spiffy golf club.  But the prizes will go to (as chosen by a random number generator on random.org):


1. Sarah
2. MissMOE
3. Joe
4. Ruralmama



Winners should send an email with your mailing address to bogflower at gmail dot com to claim your prize.

Whew!  So after all that excitement, what now?  Well, now I'm gearing up to participate in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge issued by DirtyDiaperLaundry.com.  Use only flat diapers and only handwash them for one week.

This news story inspired the challenge and is inspirational to me as well. 


Up to this point, most social service agencies and programs to help needy families have turned away from cloth diapers.  The most often cited problem is that needy families often have limited access to washing machines and laundromats are expensive.

Fair enough.  Our new washing machine was purchased specifically for its multiple settings that come in handy for washing cloth diapers.  A luxury indeed.  But there must be a better way than letting your child sit in a dirty diaper until it has swelled to its breaking point, or setting a urine soaked diaper out to dry and reuse.

So while washing machines may be in short supply for low-income families, access to water usually isn't, at least here in the land of 10,000+ lakes.  And people have been washing things for thousands of years without washing machines, it's just that lately we've kind of forgotten how.

I could certainly use a refresher course on handwashing too, so I am rising to the challenge.

And because I like to make things difficult for myself (that's why I had FOUR kids dontcha know), I'm going to add a twist to my personal flats and handwashing challenge.  Not everyone has access to fancy diaper stores or the internet to get their flat diapers and covers.  Most people though, have access to a Walmart.  So I'm going to attempt to diaper my baby for one week purely on products purchased at my local Walmart.  Usually I avoid going into Walmart because the sound of the corporate giant grinding my bones to make his proverbial bread hurts my ears, but the fact remains that they are CHEAP and they are EVERYWHERE.  So if cloth diapering success can start at Walmart, it makes it that much more accessible to people.

I've been doing lots of research and making my game plan - the challenge runs May 23rd to May 30th and includes Memorial weekend when we'll be going on a camping trip.  Which is just fine with me because flat diapers are my camping diaper of choice anyways.

Do you have a baby in cloth diapers?  Are you going to take the Flats and Handwashing Challenge?