Giveaway No4! Menstrual cup!

I am very curious and I am always searching for...anything! So I decided I wanted to try some cloth menstrual pads. Such nice colours and soft fabrics!As I was searching I discovered the menstrual cup! Never heard about it! Never even imagined that it could exist! The Greek translation is a little difficult! "Antitampon", "multiple use tampon"... 
The menstrual cups first appeared 30 years ago in the US and Canada (where else?).

So, I found 4-5 companies. One of them, the DIVA CUP from Canada accepted to send me a sample to use and write about it and one more for one of you! (Of'course I did not got paid for the testing nad reviewing!)

First impression, when I opened the envelope: all this much? My sister's reaction was: "Are you crazy? You are really going to put all this ..."inside"?" 

The truth is that I am so curiοus (as already mentioned) that I could not stop myself from using it!

So the perfect time to use the menstrual cup, came! I had washed it in some warm water and a little bit of white vinegar and I have washed my hands really-really well! Of'course I have memorised the instructions! I sat on the toilet, Ι folded it in half and pushed it in my "interior"! I cleaned the "details" and got up.

I did not dare to cut the "steam" as I was supposed to! I was fealing it a little bit so I was going to cut it as soon as possible!
After one hour I got it off. There was some leakage but maybe they were the "leftovers". I am sure that it was not pushed as much inside as possible!  So, I touch the steam and pinch the cup. 


Oh no, it is stuck!!!!
Wait, I have to pinch a little bit more, so that there will be enough air through the little holes on the top! It makes a ...noise and it gets out! There where lots of liquids inside! But I did not like the liquids on my hand! The all experience was so much easier than expected! 
Second time was so much better! I cut the steam and made sure that I pushed the cup much more inside! This time things where so much better. Only a few leakage and I did not feal it as much as the first time!


I was only going to try it a) when at home, b) when I had lots of menstruals and c) when my sweet little girl would leave me alone...So I did not had lot of chances to use it again! I think that next month things will be so mush easier!

So, girls, if you want to buy one try an e-shop from the Store Finder or form the Buy Now-page of the company. On the DIVA CUP webpage you can find isntructions and answers to all of your questions!


Since I would love to have someone else to test it with, you can win one DIVA menstrual cup right here, through the Rufflecopter:

(Please go back to the form on the Greek page:)

http://yfasmatinespanes.blogspot.com/2011/11/4-mesntrual-cup.html

Summer vacation with cloth diapers

Have you ever been on a summer vacation with cloth diapers? For me this was my first time, so I want to share the experience with you.

I packed our things for 3 days in a house next to the seaside, in Greece of'course! I decided to take only cloth diapers with me. I had to support my decision of using them and I wanted to contact the experiment and face the challenge! I was very curious of what to expect. 

To begin with:

• I took with me 17 diapers (closed with the liners and everything) and 3 wet bags, just in case (I needed one for the wet bathing suits). Imagine the volume of all these! 
• The minute we arrived at the house, I searched for the perfect spot for the dirty diapers: no sun and not close to anyone or anything that can smell them.
• I asked to make sure if the sewage system was capable of accepting lots of paper. As I expected it did not, so I had to through the liners with all their dirty carriage (the apricot jam...) elsewhere. 

The all experience was not at all bad. Let alone that I love watching my daughter with her little dress and the flowers underneath.

My only difficulty was that she did the...hard stuff on every beach we visited! If it was organized I had to through the liner on the rubbish bin, otherwise we could be blamed for calling earlier the "greedy" (the septic tank)!

On the not organised beaches I had to carry with me the "valuable" carriage and deal with it later at home. Lousy experience! This was my one and only problem!

I did not mind at the end of the vacation that I had to carry with me the dirty laundry! Thank god my husband did not mind too! 

When I returned at my home, the first thing I did was putting the diapers in the laundry machine. Washing at 60 degrees with detergent form the prewash. Beware of the ammonia because I almost fell down when I opened the mesh bag! No matter how much you try to avoid heating, with 40 degrees it is difficult to keep the dirty diapers cool!

To conclude, I deffinitely declare that I am going to do it again!
Either we use cloth diapers or not!

How about you?