Greetings All, I am very pleased to see more women exploring natural options for various aspects of daily living. But I do have a curiosity about those who claim to be "environmentalist" but seem unsure about how to collect their menstrual fluid. Any female who is an environmentalist would have no doubt considered using a non-disposable product for handling her menstrual flow--I would hope. Since some posters have touched on it, but haven't gone into great detail about collection/reusable menstrual products I will provide more information. Menstrual Cups: Not limited just the Diva or the Keeper/Knock off MoonCup are a great option for both improving your foot print on the environment and allowing you to neatly collect your menstrual flow. Insteads fall into this category but because they are worn very high in the vagina, next to the cervix like a diaphragm I would not recommend it for those that want to stay neat or collect blood. I would imagine it difficult to remove the Instead without spilling the flow but you would have to check out a forum of actual Instead users to find out if I am right. I personally use a Mooncup UK. If you are looking to switch to a menstrual cup you should explore all your options and brands that are made world wide and get one that you think will be better suited to your body. If you look at the bottom of my article on The Culture of Menstruation http://theanthroblogogist.50webs.com/body/the_culture_of_menstruation.html you will see links to every known menstrual cup made. If you need more information you can indefinitely feel free to contact me through my website. I've also heard about people using the rinse water from their cloth pads. Thats great as long as all natural detergents are used to launder your pads. Try etsy or ebay to find very cute cloth pads, or find a pattern and make some yourself. With sea sponges I am not really sure how much of an environmentalist one could be, since these were actually living creatures at once. I can't assume but can only imagine how far down hill things might go in the harvesting/farming of sea sponges just to be used as your personal tampon. I wouldn't recommend it as they are not a readily renewable source & something like a menstrual cup has more positives on this option. I do not recommend using disposable products to harvest your menstrual fluid from as they are laden with chemicals which is why most truly heath and environmentally conscious people have looked for better options. I am sure that if these are just house plants and nothing edible it might be fine, but for your health benefit switching to one of the healthier options discussed would be an excellent choice for yourself and the environment. To all of those people here who are "grossed out" by this I can only lend a sad laugh that you think of your body that way. It is silly to think that far "grosser" things aren't being put into every product you could possibly buy in a store. I do think that there are valid points about pathogens and disease, etc. But I would expect a person to know their body, know if they are taking BC to be careful or avoid fertilizing edibles. And use common curtesy and not fertilize a public (especially edible) garden without the consent of those who share it. Other than that, there is little if anything gross or dangerous about using your own bio-goods to contribute to the natural life cycle of the earth. To answer someone's question about being married. Yes I am married & my husband knows about all of this. He was weirded out by me bringing up the watering of plants with the blood from my cup (I haven't done it yet) But he is pretty open minded and would never try to stop me from doing so. Also I am sure he would eat plants I have grown that way (We use natural methods of BC, so no extra hormones). Why do people think its accptable to eat plants grown from animal feces or even animal blood as fertilizer, but somehow our own is just disgusting suddenly? Goodluck & health to everyone, please visit my page if you would like more info, or to discuss any of these topics further. Sincerely, The Anthroblogogist http://TheAnthroblogogist.50webs.com Here is a link that might be useful: Visit The Anthroblogogist Website

I've had this hand-written recipe for 15 years. The woman who gave it to me said she remembered her mom making them while she was growing up. She thought her mom sometimes used pecans instead of almonds, but I've never tried it. Logical combination, though. I tweaked it with the streusal topping. PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS Heat oven to 350º 3/4 C sliced or slivered unblanched almonds (1/2 Cup for the muffins, 1/4 Cup for Streusal)...I prefer slivered 1 2/3 C Flour 1 C granulated sugar 1 heaping tsp cinnamon Scant 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 large eggs 1 C plain pumpkin 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, melted 1 C chocolate chips STREUSAL TOPPING Here's the hard part. I don't have any amounts. I mix things together until they look right and are dry and crumbly enough. You'll get it right. Cold Butter Dark Brown Sugar Dash of salt, a little cinnamon Almonds 1) Toast almonds on baking sheet for 5 minutes, until slightly browned. Be careful not to brown. Cool 2) Grease standard muffin tins or use liners 3) Mix dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl 4) In another small bowl, break eggs, add pumpkin and melted butter. Whisk until well blended 5) Stir in chips and almonds 6) Pour wet mixture over dry mixture; fold in with spatula until just moistened 7) Scoop into muffin tins. Sprinkle with streusal 8) Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and springy to touch. Cool on racks (or eat warm) They're also great as mini-muffins - just the right size to pop in your mouth. At Thanksgiving I also make Sparkling Cranberry Muffins - excellent seasonal pairing for brunch or when we have our second go-round in the evening, after the main dinner. Dinner HAS to have buttermilk biscuits! Sherry

Love all of the opinions ... keep them coming ... I know sometimes with all the feedback it seems like everything is picked apart. I am pretty confident now in my choices, something that wasn't as true a few years ago. For instance, the glass lamp shades have been suggested to be changed a few times, as well as the removal or painting of the chair rail. Those are some things that I know I really like, so even if everyone else hates them, I'm ok with that. They'll stay because they are pleasing to me. But there are other things that once someone point it out, I can see it and agree, like the need for a taller table lamp, or lowering the triptych. I have a hard time visualizing sizes and proportions, so art sizing and placement is a constant struggle for me. As soon as the triptych went up, I knew it wasn't right. I was hoping it could be fixed, or maybe I just needed to get used to it. But it is becoming apparent to me it just doesn't fit the space, and no tweaking will make it right to my eyes. As or the dining room paintings, I really really love those where they are. That is one place that I got it right the first time with those pieces, in that spot. So since I'm really happy with those where those are and how they look over there, I want to keep that area as is. The triptych wasn't terribly expensive, so it won't kill me to put it away for now. The idea of a gallery wall is growing on me, I could see myself being happy with one. I do have a gallery wall in my breakfast nook of vegetable watercolors, so I don't hate them as a rule. I wish I was patient enough to let a gallery wall grown on it's own. I'm afraid I don't have it in me. I see decorating as a project to get finished, and not a constant evolution. So assuming I'll go with the gallery wall, I have two directions to go with, I'm drawn to both of them Travel photography: I have a pretty extensive collection of photographs from travel over the years, and travel is something I'm passionate about. My previous home nearly all my artwork was travel based and mostly gallery wrapped canvases of my photos. I also had Wanderlust made with old travel posters, so I could reuse that. My hesitation is will the photos be too small to make out? And is this a less sophisticated option vs. the original art in the rest of my house? Floral watercolors: I've fallen down the rabbit hole on Artfinder, and to a lesser degree Etsy. There are pieces I absolutely lust after, and would love to have the space for. My hesitation is my living room is pretty boldly graphic, are floral watercolors too soft and pastel? Actually, in thinking about my hesitations, they come down to the nature of a gallery wall. How do I prevent visual clutter and work with the bold choices I already have in the LR, in particular my rug?

Also asked for the stairs flipped! Prefer not entering into dining area but I think there were reasons he said it didn't work with them flipped. I wasn't committed to the 2nd floor ever because I thought it'd be getting changed with the stairs. @mama goose_gw zn6OH I was actually thinking something similar for separating the kitchen a bit! Or even an open archway. I like the floor plan more than the exterior/concept itself so I think it's back to the drawing board before thinking more about the details. @Melissa L It doesn't seem like he would be very reachable or able to get to the site for issues during construction. He's a solo operation now, so without a team it's risky. We do need to thoroughly analyze what we like/don't like for going forward. Many of our preferences were communicated but others feel like we just never had the chance to share. We need to think deeply if we want to refine the plan or start from scratch. Just not sure it's the best concept/structure we could have gone with. Maybe it's too much to ask but we want the person putting so much time into designing our home to be in a good place mentally and be able to put themselves fully into the creative process. We've learned a lot and as frustrating as it is, we're leaning toward starting fresh to see if there is another concept that we might really love. It would be hilarious to end up with practically the same thing though. Big update! Had to send some dreaded emails. We broke up (gently) with the architect and will be pushing construction until the spring, won't really set us back too much so glad we finally dealt with it. Really appreciate everyone's comments on here!! It seriously helped me, this was so stressful but in the scheme of things... replacing an architect is in the top tier of '1st world problems' so trying to keep things in perspective. What questions would you ask an architect you're considering hiring? I think we're a lot clearer about the experience we want this time but would love to hear from others.