Health and Wellness – Page 5 – Pollywog's Place Blog

Preparing for Daylight Savings Time

Published on October 18, 2023October 16, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

It is almost that time of year again and when you have so many kiddos with so many unique needs then this is something that can cause complete CHOAS in your household… along with weather changes, moon changes, and just about any kind of unexpected changes.

‘Losing’ that hour of sleep can wreak havoc on your body and upset your circadian rhythm which isn’t good. Here in our house, it’s really not good because we have kiddos who don’t understand the concept of time change and they just get unbearable to be around.

This year we’ve been trying a little experiment to hopefully prepare us for the upcoming time change and maybe keep things under control around here… fingers are crossed.

We’ve been setting our alarms 15 minutes earlier every Sunday night for the past 2 weeks and getting in bed a tad earlier at night… with the idea that when Daylight Savings Time actually rolls around they won’t have so much trouble with the adjustment… fingers and toes crossed now!

The kids have been a little grumpy the first couple of days of the week with the earlier wake times but it doesn’t last long. We usually head outside first thing in the morning to feed up and that seems to chase the grumpies away… yay! It has been shown that getting some daylight early in your day can help with your circadian rhythm and we already know that fresh air can work wonders.

On the night before the actual change, we always set the clocks ahead to prepare for the next day. Sometimes we do it directly after dinner so they go to bed a little early without realizing what going on… lol.

I will also try to have a ‘light’ school schedule for that first week after the time change so kids can get outside to work those grumpies out or take some naps if they need to. We already have some good routines in place so hopefully, they will help to keep us going on the right track without too many interruptions in the next few weeks.

What are your favorite tips for preparing for Daylight Savings Time?

You can read more about how Daylight Savings Time affects your body and ways to adjust HERE and HERE.

31 Ways To Go Plastic Free

Published on January 13, 2023September 15, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

I read about this Plastic-Free Challenge earlier this week but haven’t had a chance to post about it until now… If you’ve been following the blog you’ll know that I’ve mentioned that we’ve been extraordinarily busy this past couple of months and hopefully we’ll be able to share what we’ve been up to sometime later this month… it’s really exciting!

Back to the post though… part of my New Year’s goal was to start using less plastic and disposable items in our house. I know we probably won’t be a zero waste household anytime soon but I know that we ~~can~~ have really cut back on single-use plastic items in our home.

Just the other day I realized that our plastic storage containers have been disappearing. Where have they gone? Well, that’s a question that may never be answered but I do know that I really need to replace them. I’ve been looking at a few Plastic-Free options on Amazon and Walmart but haven’t decided what to get yet but I will need to find something soon.

I know that some things will not be replaced soon like our favorite lunch boxes but I have found some replacements for some time in the future. I have also been looking for non-plastic/non-glass replacements to the kids’ water bottles that they use at home. We do try our best to use reusable shopping bags when we go for groceries.

Here are a few ideas of things we’ve replaced recently:

Disposable drinkware for:
- Mason Jars – I love my Pioneer Woman Drinking Jar
- Yeti tumblers or similar metal tumblers
- Glass water bottles from Berkey (We’ve been using our new Berkey for our drinking water so no more buying plastic bottles of water.)
- Reusable Straws:
  - Metal straws for the adults
  - Colorful Silicon Straws for the kids because they don’t like the metal ones
Plastic bags for:
- Reusable grocery bags – I really want to try out these Trolley Bags and Bag Podz
- Reusable produce bags
- Reusable storage baggies
Disposable diapers (when my kids were smaller):
- Cloth diapers – They have so many pretty styles now!
- Cloth Wash Rags instead of baby wipes
Other Household:
- Reuse plastic bottles by using cleaning solution concentrates
- Glass bottles and containers for sprays and soaps
- Reusable K-Cups
- Metal or Glass storage containers (Mason Jars of various sizes can store a wide range of things!)
- Metal or Glass Bowls
- Bamboo plates/utensils instead of disposable plastic items
- Cleaning cloths/rags instead of paper towels and napkins which come wrapped in plastic.

I know that there are some items that might hard to replace but there are new solutions coming out every day. Making these changes one at a time will make a difference and you may find that it saves you money as well!

Join the Plastic Free Challenge Today!

So many places around us are putting bans on plastics as well so this is something that everyone really needs to adjust to. It’s crazy to see the numbers on the plastic pollution crisis and our family wants to do our part to help out with this. With the Plastic Free Challenge, you can choose where you will be going plastic free, what you choose to refuse, and how long you choose to go plastic free.

This week I got an email from Life Without Plastic about their Plastic-Free Tooth Tabs which can replace those plastic toothpaste tubes and are packaged in a paper box. They also talked about their new Plastic-Free Lunch Boxes which were funded on Kickstarter. They also have a wide variety of Plastic-Free Containers for packing those delicious lunches in.

Take the Plastic Free July Challenge with www.goingzerowaste.com

Here are a few more interesting articles I’ve found about this topic:

It’s not too late to join the Plastic Free Challenge Today!

**This post does contain affiliate links to products and/or services that we use. We may earn a teensy weensy small commission (at NO EXTRA cost to you) if a purchase is made through these links. These links help to support our family, our blog, and our homeschooling mission.

–Thank you!

Orange Kefir Smoothie

Published on September 22, 2022September 22, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

I don’t know if you have gotten in on the Kefir craze or not but we’ve been drinking it for a bit now and we love it! The slight tang reminds me a bit of buttermilk and we weren’t really crazy at first but now we can’t seem to get enough of it.

The kids are especially fond of their water kefir but we make and use a lot of milk kefir as well. We were doing a lot of different smoothies but the kids got a bit bored with my lack of creativity until recently.

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Easy Chia Pudding

Published on April 20, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

This recipe is pretty easy to make and I’m sure you could adjust it in many ways to suit your taste. I love that this is full of fiber, protein, and lots of healthy fats that little bodies and brains need!

I’m not sure how long this will keep in the fridge as I need to make a new batch every 3 to 4 days because my kiddos just gobble it up! Little miss loves this for breakfast or a snack.

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Jumping Back Into Normal… well, almost

Published on March 17, 2022March 13, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

It’s been such a blessing to be home for the past few months. We have been trying to put the events from last year in our memory but the reality is that we will never be able to completely forget the health scare that we faced with our little one. It has helped us to see just how truly blessed we are to have such a beautiful family and we have been reminded of just how precious life is… and how quickly things can change.

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