Amber Hinds

Voluntary Simplicity

  • Hallelujah and Settling In

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    Well, if I was feeling down yesterday, today certainly was the very definition of a new day.  Nora and I had a great time with two of our friends and their daughters this evening planning island events for World Breastfeeding Week.  There’s nothing like planning all kinds of exciting breastfeeding promotion and support events to…

  • Cheaper Greener Cleaning

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    While watching shows online, I’ve been seeing a lot of this Downy commercial for their “April Fresh” laundry detergent or fabric softener or something.  Basically, they put a bed on the street so people can smell the sheets, which have been washed 7 days previously.  No one believes them that it’s been 7 days because…

  • Being Creative

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    Lately, we’ve been having a lot of fun exploring creativity.  Nora made her first painting towards the end of January and she loved it. It didn’t turn out too badly, either.Or maybe I just think that because I’m her mother…

  • Homemade (My First Giveaway!)

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    I love making homemade everything.  I’m a little bit crazy about it in fact…I always have at four or five projects going at once.  (Which really makes my husband crazy.)  I dabble in sewingbaking

  • Creating Traditions

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    One of the great things about being a parent is being able to create your own holiday traditions: deciding what’s important to celebrate, how it will be celebrated, and when.  But, as fun as it is to be able to decide for ourselves, it’s also an awesome responsibility.Everything we do is building a memory for…

  • Cloth Diapers, Part II

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    In case you missed it, yesterday was part one of my cloth diapering discussion, where I addressed why we cloth diaper, what the initial set up looks like, diapering the first 6-8 months, and how cloth diapers impact laundry.  The whole post can be read here.  Today, I’ll be talking about all the diapers we’ve…

  • Cloth Diapers, Part I

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    I’ve had quite a few people ask me recently what diapers we use, so I thought it would make a great post topic – especially because the answer to that question is more complicated than one might think!  Due to length, this is going to be a two part post, today and tomorrow. But first,…

  • Nora, the Prison Guard

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    If you believe Erica Jong, this:is my 18 (21…25…?) year prison sentence. In case you missed it, in The Wall Street Journal ‘s “Saturday Essay” last weekend, Jong wrote about the evils of attachment and green parenting: You wear your baby, sleep with her and attune yourself totally to her needs. […] Add to this…

  • America

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    One of my Facebook friends says that she’s “going to America” when she goes to the mainland, a phrase I love.  Nantucket really is so un-American.  For example: Nantucket America Chris and I think that living here is about as close to living in Europe as you can get in the US: there are small…

  • Gas Mileage Saved

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    We have filled up the gas tank in our CRV 3.25 times since moving here at the end of May.  For someone who used to have a 70 mile daily commute, that’s pretty darn amazing (not to mention great for our budget). One of the things that made our move here possible was downsizing to…

  • What We Eat

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    At last week’s LLL meeting, a first-time pregnant mama was there to get information about breast feeding.  It reminded me of how recently I was in that exact same position, and how sad it makes me that most women in the US have little to no experience with nursing before they become pregnant.  I think…

  • Battery-Powered Toys

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    It’s funny how quickly some of those “rules” you create (before baby is even born) can change.  Like, do you remember our baby registry?  (Yes, a year later it’s still there…the internet is both magical and scary.)  Well, one of the things Chris and I decided before Nora was born was that she was going…