Reusable grocery bags & grocery budget

I know I'm not alone in trying to get the most for my money each month. A little needs to last and I'm trying to cut back where I can.

One thing I have found to be helpful is to make a menu for two weeks (from payday to payday), make a corresponding shopping list according to what I have in my pantry, and try very hard to STICK TO IT! Of course, there are days where I don't feel like cooking what's on that day's menu or dinner plans change at the last minute, but on the whole, it's a great idea for me. I post my menu on the fridge so that anyone who cares to know will be able to see what's for dinner on any given night and I can see the night before what I need to take out for the next day. If you are stuck in a rut and are having a hard time deciding what to cook, you may be interested in a Yahoo Group I belong to called Momsmenuplan. Before joining this group, I rarely made a menu, much less a grocery list. I have one of the best stocked pantries that is filled with food I probably won't use. I used to go up and down each aisle and "graze". I threw stuff in my cart because it looked good or I thought I might use it soon. Now I look in my pantry to help me decide what to cook in the coming weeks and to make my list so I don't duplicate what I already have. Sure, I still graze occasionally but, for the most part, I stick to my list and I'm saving so much money by doing this. Yes, I sometimes forget some key ingredients, but not that often.

I remembered to take my cloth grocery bags to the store today. I happened to get into the line of the most OCD cashier I've probably ever come across. While I was unloading my cart, she was scanning my meat and bagging each one into individual PLASTIC BAGS before putting them into my cloth bags. When I caught on to what she was doing, she said she didn't want the meat to leak onto my cloth bags. I said that is the beauty of cloth...they're washable! I didn't want to argue, even when my laundry detergent was leaking a little bit. Rather than get out of line to grab another one, I asked her not to plastic bag it because I had a nylon bag that I could put it in. GEEZ! Will bringing my own bags ever get easier? The only time I don't have a problem is when I scan my own groceries. Since my cart was near to overflowing today, I didn't want to deal with it myself.

One big way that I'm trying to save money is by using less gas. I love to see my friends but I will try to schedule lunch with them around other errands in their parts of town. Unfortunately, I drive a large SUV that sucks on gas mileage but with a big family and my chauffering trips, I am trying to cut back wherever I can. Gone are the days when I'd get the kids up on the weekends and start driving just to see where we'd end up. Any of you do that, too? The other day my friend and I were discussing ordering something online rather than just buy it locally. She asked how I could justify the shipping charges. We were talking about buying tea. I told her that for me to go to our favorite local tea vendor, it is 38 miles round trip for me at about $12 in gas, as opposed to $3.75 in shipping charged by my favorite tea vendor on eBay. It would even be cheaper for me to ask my local vendor to mail me my tea rather than pick it up in person. Granted, I miss the chit-chat and the personal service, but I'm also less tempted to buy something I don't need (she's also a full service quilt shop). These are things I think about now that I didn't even give a second thought to before we felt the shift in our economy.

I wondered today how many people have been laid off where I used to work. I'm afraid to call someone and ask. My husband even told me that many city employees will be losing their jobs in the coming weeks. I hate to think of what our community will be like when they start laying off firefighters and police officers, which is what the city is planning to do. I know things are tough all over but DAMN where is the light at the end of the tunnel?

My boys

I can't help showing how proud I am of my sons. Anthony, my football player, is turning out to be a powerful young man. He is a defensive lineman and at 6'2", 290 pounds, still thinks he's too small. It doesn't help that the other linemen are 6'3" and 6'4". He loves to say, "Gee thanks, Mom!" to me because he blames me for his height. What can I say? He should choose his parents more wisely next time!

It's football season, baby!

This was my choice for our varsity team's t-shirts. The booster club president said that some parents thought this wildcat looked "too mean"! Can you believe that crap? What did they want, butterflies and unicorns? I'd love to know which parents she polled. I'm sure if I knew more of the parents the answer would be self-explanatory.

Go Wildcats!

Reusable produce bags

I was up late watching the Olympics so around 12:30 am, I decided to make myself a few reusable produce bags out of some shiny nylon netting that I picked up at Wal-Mart this afternoon while school supply shopping for Chris. Don't ask how I managed to wind up in the craft department while doing school shopping but it was all planned, believe me. Anywho, I just picked up some CFL light bulbs prior to arriving in the craft department and they caught the eye of one of the ladies who works there. We started talking about how much energy we're saving by replacing our old bulbs, which led to how we're both using cloth shopping bags, to how ridiculous I feel using said cloth shopping bags only to fill them with plastic produce bags, to how she divorced her second husband only to discover that she's a lesbian at age 60, to how she's getting married in a Pagan ceremony, all in the course of about 10 minutes. I was all into that conversation when we were rudely interrupted by someone who actually needed her assistance. I told her I'd catch her later and went on to look at fabric. She actually caught up to me first to let me know that she saw some nylon netting in the remnant bin so that I can make some of those produce bags we were discussing previously. Shortly thereafter, her partner stopped by, I introduced myself and took my leave. See? I managed to get the story back to those produce bags! Aren't you so proud? I got 2 yards of netting for $1.43 and I've made 4 bags so far. Allowing for different sized bags, I figure that I can get 6 more done with what I have left. Here are the ones I've made so far. What did I learn from this project? Use a zigzag stitch on the top hem while slightly stretching the fabric to keep the stretchability factor in the top of the bag. I chose not to include a drawstring like some others that I've seen because I don't think I always need one and because I like to get the twist ties from the store, which I reuse for different things at home.

Now I don't have to feel half-assed when I'm doing my grocery shopping!

Fabric hair curlers - part deux

Okay, I mentioned that these fabric curlers did an awesome job but I found them to be uncomfortable to sleep in. My problem is that I sleep on my tummy and having the curlers on the side of my head made it really hard to get comfortable. Last night I decided to try something I'd only tried once with hot rollers and that was to pull up my hair to the top of my head and put it in a ponytail, then put the hair hanging down in the curlers. This is the way to go! I slept so comfortably and couldn't wait until I got up so that I could see what kind of result I'd get from this set. FABULOUS! And I only used 5 curlers for this set. I was tickled pink. Pics are of what my head looked like with the rollers in and then results this morning.

Fabric hair curlers

It all started when I saw this post on Craftster. It was too great of an idea not to try. In fact, when I saw the original blog that these came from, I thought they looked like handmade tampons and sent an email to my friend, Steph, to that effect. I'm sure she thought I was completely off my rocker until she figured out that they were not tampons, but fabric hair curlers instead. I loved the concept but didn't quite understand why they were made the way they were, but as usual, I made them in a way that made sense to me. Here are my steps:

1) Cut fabric into 4" x 9" rectangles. You can get 10 per one fat quarter of fabric.
2) Fold fabric in half lengthwise with right sides together.
3) Stitch down one short side and the long side using a 1/4" seam allowance. You now have a long tube. Turn it right side out. **See note below**
4) Now is the time to sew on the button to the closed end. I do it on my machine. You want to do it now while there isn't any stuffing in it...way easier!
5) Mark the tube 4 1/2" from the open end. This is to mark where you'll stop stuffing it.
6) Start stuffing with Poly-Fil using small wads of stuffing. I push them down to the end with my finger and use a chopstick when necessary.
7) When I've reached the mark I made earlier, I sew straight across to trap the stuffing into the end.
8) Now turn in about 1/4" of fabric towards the inside of the tube and sew shut, making sure to sew as close to the edge as possible.
9) Make a buttonhole parallel to the newly closed edge. Cut it open. You're done! Now make 9 more for a complete set. I happened to make a total of 20 for myself since I have so much hair, but I really have only used 10 each of the two times I've set my hair with these. It's nice to have extras, just in case.

I washed my hair at bedtime and set it when it was about 50% dry. I didn't use any styling products the first time (see pictures below) but I did the second time. The second time I started with dry hair that I just slightly misted with water and used styling gel on each chunk of hair right before I rolled it. The second time, the curls were much curlier and actually spiraled, though I didn't roll them in the spiral style. I was very pleased. I just wish I took a picture of them.

I must add that I didn't find these particularly comfortable to sleep in. I'm wondering if I put too much stuffing in them, I'm just not used to sleeping in curlers, or I'm a tad tenderheaded. It won't stop me from using them though!

I've already made a set for my Mom, who usually sets her hair on pin curls every night before she goes to bed. I hope she likes them!





















**Note** It seems that with each set I make, I learn something new. With this one below, I took a few extra seconds and pressed 1/4" towards the wrong side on one short end of the rectangle. This is going to be the open end where I will stuff the fiberfill. When sewing up the long side, I go ahead and tack the folded edge down. What a small epiphany that was! It made it so much easier to close up that end when the time came. Here, let me say it for you...DUH! This will now eliminate the beginning of step #8 from the list above.

Cold brewed coffee...yummy & cheap!

I'm just back from Hawaii (will blog more about that later) and while waiting for my flight, Chris and I went to the nearby Starbucks for a cold drink. Since I just can't stand paying $3.00 for a cup of their iced tea, I decided on a cup of iced coffee instead. Paying nearly $4.00 just reminded me that I used to make great iced coffees using a cold brewed coffee concentrate. I looked into this concept a few years back but I'm too cheap to spend the $30.00 for the Toddy system and went about trying to figure out my own way of doing it. (BIG SURPRISE, HUH?) I'm not the only one who refused to pay for the Toddy as you can see here and here. I, however, figured out how to do it using my 32 oz. French press pot.

1) Measure 1 cup of coffee grounds and pour into the French press.
2) Fill pot with cool water, leaving about 1 1/2 inches from the rim.
3) Press dry grounds down slowly with the back of a spoon and then slowly stir so that all of the grounds get wet.
4) Rest the plunger and lid on the very top of the grounds. Don't press down.
5) Let the mixture rest on the countertop for 12 hours.
6) Slowly press the plunger down completely.
7) Decant your concentrate into a bottle with a lid to store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
8) Remove plunger, take a spoon and scoop out the grounds into either your trash or compost bin. You don't want to pour your grounds down the drain!

The best part about this method is that your coffee drinks can be made as strong or as weak as you want by simply adjusting the amount of concentrate you use. Also, if you suffer from acid reflux, you may notice that you can drink coffee drinks made from cold brewed concentrate because this method makes a brew with less acid than traditional hot brewed methods.

You can make hot coffee one cup at a time. Try using 1 to 2 ounces of concentrate for an 8 ounce cup and fill with hot water. You may need to nuke your cup in the microwave for a few seconds because adding hot water to cold concentrate may not produce a steaming hot cup of coffee.

For iced coffee, I dissolve a couple of teaspoons of sugar with hot water in the bottom of my glass (sugar syrup or flavored syrup would work great here), add a couple of ounces of concentrate, nearly fill the glass with milk and then top off with ice. If this is too strong, you can mix the concentrate with water and ice then top off with milk.

Of course, if this seems too labor intensive, you can always buy ready made concentrate. If you just want iced coffee that tastes surprisingly like the stuff sold at McDonalds, check out my previous iced coffee blog post.

Split Pea Soup

Okay, I know it's about 109 degrees outside here in Las Vegas. Not exactly soup weather. However, I awoke this morning with a strong craving for split pea soup after watching a program on the Travel Channel yesterday which featured Pea Soup Andersen's in Buellton, California. I wanted to make it in my pressure cooker, just like they do at Andersen's, however, they don't use any meat in the making of their soup and I just love a good smoky ham hock.

Unfortunately, after taking quite a few snapshots, I found it difficult to make a bowl of split pea soup look appealing. You'll just have to take my word for it. It's much more tasty than it looks!

Here's my recipe:

6 cups water
3 ham hocks
1 carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves

Place above ingredients in pressure cooker and cook at pressure for 45 minutes. After letting pressure release naturally, remove ham hocks and set aside to cool.

Add to pot:

6 tsp chicken bouillon
pepper to taste
dash cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp thyme
16 oz dried split peas, rinsed and picked over for debris
1 large stalk celery, diced

Cover and return to pressure. Cook an additional 15 minutes. Let pressure release naturally. Ham hocks should be cool enough by now to remove meat. Discard skin and bones, add meat to the pot. If necessary, add additional water if soup is too thick. Add 1/2 tsp liquid smoke if desired and season with additional salt if needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the soup was finished, I really wanted to eat it with fresh rolls, so I'm waiting right now for them to rise. Not very patiently waiting, I might add.

Tawashi

Tawashi in Japan are scrubbers. They're usually stiff bristled brushes but recently they have taken the knit and crochet communities by storm as little scrubbies in the form of fruit, flowers, animals, etc. There is even a group on Ravelry called Tawashi Town. They're addicting, but then again, I say that about everything I do. I guess that's because it makes me feel like it's okay that I didn't make lunch for the family (for 2 days in a row)...I have a new addiction. Mommy needs intervention! Luckily, they're easy to share, everyone washes dishes, right? In Japan they're made of an antibacterial acrylic yarn, for which I can't find an American counterpart. There is a vendor on Etsy that sells this yarn and it's not expensive at all, but she is in Matsusaka, Japan so you'll have to wait a week for shipping. Still not bad.

This pattern is very easy and very popular amongst the Tawashi makers and I have seen some for sale on Etsy as well. I have also adapted my little crocheted coaster pattern for Tawashi. I carry along strips of tulle or nylon netting in the center portion to increase their scrubbing power. They're fast and take very little yarn. Great stash busters! I have experimented with Red Heart acrylic yarn for lack of the Japanese antibacterial stuff and they clean quite well.

Go out and make some Tawashi!

Journey - OMG! They're so back!

So wonderful to see the guys back doing what they do best. I've been a fan since the early '80s when my high school boyfriend introduced me to their music. We even saw them in concert when they played at the Neil Blaisdell Center in Honolulu in 1983 and 1984. I was heartbroken when Steve Perry left the group and couldn't quite resign myself to Steve Augeri as their new frontman. I think the years have mellowed my views and I am now able to embrace fellow Filipino, Arnel Pineda, as lead vocalist. Thanks to the original band members Neal Schon and Ross Valory plus longtime members Jonathan Cain and Deen Castronovo, the sound is genuine Journey.

I first saw Arnel Pineda on YouTube and was completely blown away. Apparently, this is how Neal Schon found out about him, too.


If you're a Journey fan or want to be one, you can find this 3-CD set at Wal-Mart for $11.88. I just bought it today and had to rip the celophane off in the parking lot. I think my son has only seen me do this to candy wrappers! Money well spent.
Now to get all of this good stuff on my iPod so I can take the guys with me.

Aloha!

Summer Cloth Pads

These are some of the pads I've made for the summer. I fell in love with the watermelon print fabric but even after several washings, it isn't as soft as the others. Check out what people have to say about DIY Cloth Pads over at Craftster.org.

I'll be adding more pads to my Etsy shop really soon. I just bought more fabric this morning that I think will make some cool ones.

Blogging slump

I don't know why, but I can't seem to find anything interesting to blog about. On the home front, I'm taking my little one back home to Hawaii in July to help care for my mom after she has surgery. I'm praying that it is uncomplicated and she has a speedy recovery.

What am I watching? You Are What You Eat on BBC America. OMG! This show is addicting. Gillian is fabulous in her pit bull, drill sargeant, tactless way. Who would have thought a show where they inspect people's poo would make for good TV? I went to Amazon last night and purchased two of her books. So far from watching her show, I've concluded that I might have a zinc deficiency based on the dots on my tongue. I'll read up more on the subject when I get the books. I had a chat with my husband last night about changing our family diet to include more vegetarian meals and he sounded a bit supportive. He just said not to make anything with peas, cooked carrots and asparagus. He has been surprising me a lot lately. I mentioned my interest in colon cleansing to him recently and he goes and buys us each a 3-month cleansing program called Colonix. That was a shock. Nornally when I talk to him about things like this, he rolls his eyes at me. I think he went to the site and read up on the program for himself. He started two weeks ago. I started the same day he did but got really sick the next day with tonsillitis, so I decided to wait until I was well again before starting. I restarted the program today. The fiber tastes horrible! Metamucil tastes better.

What am I reading? I'm reading my second Laura Childs book, The Jasmine Moon Murder from her Tea Shop Mystery series. I'm also reading Brenda Watson's The Fiber 35 Diet. All this interest in fiber and colon cleansing! Hmmm.

More reusable cloth pads

I've been experimenting again! I wanted to see why some people love their envelope style/multi-layer pads with the separate soaker inserts. The reason these seem popular is that depending upon your needs you can use the soakers one at a time or doubled/tripled if you need more absorbency. They're supposed to be easier to launder because when you break the pads down, the individual layers dry faster than an AIO, all-in-one, pad, though I've not had this problem with my AIOs. I had to draft a pattern to give me something more angular because, honestly, I'm kinda sick of sewing all those curves! On the up-side, I'm not afraid of curves any more.

Here are four of the pads and soakers that I started sewing last night. I've been reading the posts from the DIY PADS group on Live Journal regarding reusing materials for the soakers and my interest was sparked. I began my experiments with assorted discarded clothes that I have in a bin under my laundry folding table (aka pool table). Since my husband and boys wear all cotton socks and the sock fairy has created many orphans, I started there. Also in my bin were a few T-shirts that I could play around with. I also have some old towels, though still usable, are not very attractive. I have read that old towels are the best kinds of terry cloth, because it seems that the terry cloth you can buy in the fabric stores is on the thin side.

Here is the breakdown of the soakers:

#1:
2 layers flannel
1 sock
1 layer microfleece
This was very bulky, but for a heavy flow, this would feel oddly re-assuring, I think.

#2:
2 layers flannel
2 layers T-shirt
1 layer microfleece
This is nice and thin. Perfect for everyday or a light flow.

#3:
2 layers flannel
4 layers T-shirt
1 layer microfleece
Great as back-up to soaker #2 for a medium to heavy flow.

#4:
1 layer polarfleece
1 layer microfleece
1 layer PUL
Nice and thin for everyday or light days.

#5 & #6
2 layers flannel
1 layer polarfleece
1 layer microfleece
Also thin for everyday or light days.

In all, I've made five of this type of pad and 8 soakers. I think I've got the different levels of absorbency covered. I might still like to try putting a lightly absorbent layer in the main pad as shown in this tutorial.

If these work well for me, I might offer them in my Etsy shop. These cloth pads are just so fun to make but come on, I can only use so many! In fact, I brought five of my AIO pads, both long and short, to knit nite on Monday to share with the ladies. All I want is their feedback.

Tea Drop...or, Okay, so I'm lazy!

The other day while perusing the coffee/tea aisle in my local supermarket, I spied a Sunbeam Tea Drop Hot Tea Maker on sale for $16.49. I know I needed another kitchen appliance like a hole in the head but I swear it just jumped into my cart. I've been a traditionalist up til now. I figured I'd buy it just to prove it was no good. This thing couldn't really make a good pot of tea, could it? Well, yes actually, it does! I've read numerous reviews of it and people either love it (mostly) or hate it (a few). The ones who hate it usually do so because they say the tea isn't strong enough. Well, I've got a hint for them. They can put the tea (leaves or bags) directly into the pot while brewing, then remove them after the tea has steeped the desired length of time. I've tested this with my medium sized Finum infuser, which sits right at the spout of the carafe where the hot water is dispensed. I set my timer for 7 minutes, which resulted in a nice strong pot of tea, just the way I like it. In the second picture, I added a chopstick for a little stability, whether it needed it or not. I'm sure you could get the same results with a coffee maker, dedicated to making tea, of course. The verdict? I love, love, love my Tea Drop!

Tea Party Anyone?

Last week Saturday it was my turn to host our new 'round-robin' tea party. There were 6 of us ladies for tea. My close friends know that I am not comfortable entertaining in my home, so having 5 people over is near anxiety-attack producing. As you can see, I survived. I think it was a fun party. I know I stressed way more than necessary and I can't wait to do it again. I even ran across a site that advocates having three friends over for tea and invite one extra person who is a practical stranger to you, so that you can get to know her better and introduce her to your friends. That's nice. I'd also like to have some people from my knitting group over for a relaxing evening of tea and knitting. That would be so lovely!

In case you're wondering, here was my tea party menu:

Tea Sandwiches:
1) Cucumber with Italian cream cheese on white bread
2) Roast beef with Gorgonzola cheese spread and spring greens on multi-grain bread
3) Chicken salad with cranberry mayonnaise on Hawaiian sweet bread

Scones:
1) Cream scones
2) Blueberry
3) Orange Cranberry

Served with sweetened thick whipped cream, lemon curd, and ginger preserves

Sweets:
1) Lemon Loaf
2) Chocolate raspberry brownies
3) Fresh strawberries and seedless red grapes
I think there was one more, but I can't remember now.

Teas:
1) Assam
2) Jasmine Green tea

I must have checked out about 12 books on tea and tea parties from my local library in preparation for this party. It was fun reading all those books but I didn't use a single recipe from any of them. I wound up getting the recipe for the Italian cream cheese online, but I modified it to my taste. It involved mixing a portion (to taste) of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix into a 12 oz. tub of whipped cream cheese, then adding one peeled, grated and thoroughly drained cucumber. I let this mixture sit in the refrigerator overnight. For my Gorgonzola cheese spread, I took 4 oz. of crumbled Gorgonzola and mixed in 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup sour cream, minced dried onion, dried parsley flakes and pepper, to taste. I also let this sit in the refrigerator overnight to let the flavors develop. This sandwich also tastes amazing with thin slices of fresh pear. For the chicken salad, I cooked the chicken breasts in my pressure cooker with some onion, carrot, and seasonings. When cool, I diced them and mixed in some mayo (not too much) and celery, then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. I mixed canned whole berry cranberry sauce with mayonnaise for the spread.

I learned that day old scones can be refreshed in the toaster oven for 3 minutes and taste like they just came out of the oven! My kids prefer the maple scones I've been making (see picture below, recipe in previous post) and that's the only reason I had any left after the party. That's okay...more for me!

Did you know that you can make tea concentrate if you're planning to serve tea to a bunch of people? It's so easy and tastes great! Here's how:

Add 1/2 cup (dry measuring cup) of loose tea leaves or 12 tea bags to one qt. water (4 cups) at the correct temp. (boiling for blacks & herbals, gently steaming for green tea-170 degrees). Steep black tea and herbals for 4-6 minutes, green tea for 2–2.5 minutes. Strain or remove the leaves. Don't squeeze the bags or leaves as this will produce a bitter brew. Use 2 tablespoons of tea concentrate to make each cup of hot tea, using hot water, not boiling and 3 tablespoons per glass for iced tea. Makes approximately 25 cups. Keep in a covered container in the refrigerator. Don't worry if your brew appears cloudy. This will go away when you add hot water.

Come on and dust off those beautiful tea cups you've got languishing on a shelf and invite some friends over for tea! Even if you just make a cuppa for yourself, it will uplift your spirits and relax you. You're worth it.

Reusable cloth panty liners

After a brief discussion of reusable cloth feminine hygiene pads at our last knit nite, I have been thinking about this concept. I had thought briefly about it years ago but being that I don't like to use pads, I gave up on it without further investigation. I do, however, use panty liners daily, and while their cost is still very inexpensive, I have been trying to re-use and repurpose more around the house, when I can. After some Googling, I came across this site, complete with pattern. Very easy and they're cute as Hell. There are several people on Etsy who are selling some from this very pattern as well as some variations of it. I actually bought one from someone on Etsy before I found Adahy's pattern. I still can't wait to get it. I sat down at my machine today after dreaming of them all night and whipped out seven of them. I have been wearing one all day and I must say they're very comfortable. Here are five of the ones I made today. In case you're wondering, I made the panty liner of the sunflower one out of an old, very soft sheet and the wing portion is 100% cotton. The fire truck print and pink animal print are both cotton flannel. The liner has two layers of fabric, one layer of cotton batting, and one waterproof vinyl layer. The ones I've seen for sale online and on Etsy use PUL (polyurethane laminate) as their water-resistant liner, but since I didn't have any of that, I had to improvise. Oh, and no, I can't feel that button! I figured that I can get 8 of these panty liners out of one yard of fabric. I'll have to look for some PUL here in town. I still won't switch to pads but these panty liners are pretty cool and I'll try using them for awhile.





.




Here are some further links for you to check out:
http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~obsidian/clothpads/padindex.html
http://mypads.wordpress.com/
http://www.goddesspads.com/
http://www.vajpads.com/aboutcloth.php

Update 4/6/08: I was able to find the PUL on eBay and there has been no looking back! I've been experimenting with new styles and methods every day. They're addicting! I must have made about 30 different pads since I started. Mostly great but there have been a couple of lemons. I have found that since I'm on the "fluffy" side, that I prefer an 11" pad rather than the usual 8" liner, which I have adapted for every day use.

I've come across some strong opposition to the whole idea. Basically, 9 out of 10 people are grossed out or repulsed by the idea. See what our society has done to us women? I don't know about them, but I want something soft and breathable next to my coochie. According to many posts I've read, cloth pads cut down on the "eau de poisson" (fishy smell to the non-initiated) and that alone is a great reason to use them. I wish more women knew they walk around smelling like a poissonerie and get with the program. A clean kitty is a happy kitty.