The Non-Sewers DIY Dog Bed

Does your dog do this?

It is so frustrating when you buy your little buddies a bed to keep them comfy and they destroy it.
We got a puppy back in March and bought our old girl a bed too since she really liked the new puppy's bed.  She wouldn't let the poor little guy use it.  Just like kids lol.
My hubby has been lamenting about the mess, and I'm sick of picking this stuffing up every single day and putting it back in.

I'm a non-sewer.  I even went to 4H sewing and disliked it strongly.  I just don't have any urge to sew.  It was hell when I took pants over to my parents house and they made me hem them myself.  Hell, I tell you.

So...my dogs needed new beds and I don't sew and I'm certainly not spending more money (I'm hoping that I can just recover these as needed) on cushy beds for my brats.  So...

I went to Walmart and bought a couple of cushions for patio chairs (if I'd had more time I would have went looking at yard sales for the best deal).

my patio cushion

I'm also a great believer in duct tape.  So I folded my cushion in half and strategically taped it.

folded in half and taped in four spots

I bought a couple cheap fake-wool dog bed to make it more comfortable.  You could probably use an old sweater or comforter, whatever you had handy.

dog bed on top of my folded cushion

I was going to buy some fleece fabric, but it seemed like such a waste of time to go looking for a fabric store that I just bought super cheap fleece blankets at Walmart ($5.00 each).

put the folded cushion and bed on top of blanket and fold blanket over 

I cut into the blanket further than the current fringe and just tied top and bottom strips together, working my way around the entire bed.

And tada...

a bed he was on within 5 minutes.  

So it was well worth the effort.  And so far (knock on wood) they haven't been chewing on this one.  There isn't really anything for them to pull out anyway but still.

Now to get bed #2 done for the Ol' Girl.

Making Jam

Today's endeavor was making jam.  We are lucky enough to have a truck come once a week to our small town loaded down with fresh fruit and veggies from B.C.  This week I bought a big bunch of sweet cherries and some apricots. Strawberries and cases of mangoes were on sale at the grocery store so I got some of those as well.

The recipes that come in the boxes of Certo contain so much sugar that I thought I would try to lessen it and see how it affects the overall quality of the jam.  I suspect it might not set up as thick, but I would sacrifice a little thickness for less sugar.

No-Cook Cherry Jam

4 cups chopped, pitted sweet cherries (I munched them up in the food processor)
2  Tbsp lemon juice
2 cups sugar (it was 3 cups)
1 box Certo light Pectin crystals

Put the prepared cherries into a bowl.  Add lemon juice.

Measure sugar and set aside.

Combine fruit pectin crystals with 1/4 cup of the measured sugar.

Add pectin mixture to fruit, mixing well.  Let stand for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in remaining sugar and continue stirring for 3 minutes until the sugar has dissolved.

Pour into clean jars or plastic freezer containers.  Cover with tight lids and let stand at room temperature until set (may take up to 24 hours).  With no-cook jams your jars do not need to be sterilized.

Store in freezer.  If used within 3 weeks, jam may be stored in refrigerator.
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No-Cook Strawberry Mango Jam

1 1/2 cups crushed mango (about 3 fully ripe mangos)
3/4 cup crushed strawberries
2 cups sugar (recipe called for 5)
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin

Measure prepared fruit into a large bowl.

Add sugar to fruit and mix will.  Let stand 10 minutes.

Stir in liquid fruit pectin and lemon juice.

Continue to stir for 3 minutes to dissolve the sugar.

Pour into clean jars or plastic freezer containers and cover with tight lids and let stand at room temperature until set (may take up to 24 hours).

Store in freezer.  If used within 3 weeks, jams may be stored in refrigerator.
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My cherry jam appears to be setting up nicely but the Strawberry Mango jam needs work.  It tastes good but I may have cut the sugar back too far because it is still runny.  Oh well, it'll make a nice syrup for pancakes.  I may attempt an apricot jam or apricot cherry jam tomorrow.

Going Natural

I am so tired of using a product for years and then all of a sudden there being a problem with an ingredient. This year it seems the item to look out for is Oxybenzone in your sunscreen.  


 "Nearly half of all sunscreens (and many cosmetics) contain oxybenzone. EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database rates oxybenzone as an “8″ or “high hazard.” According to EWG, this chemical penetrates the skin, gets into the bloodstream and acts like estrogen in the body. It can trigger allergic reactions and health harms including endometriosis in women and low sperm counts in men."
( Read more at livestrong.com: 7 surprises about sunscreen and tanning ).  

So my mom and I are going to take the plunge and try and make our own and see how it measures up.  

Here are a couple blogs to get us started:3 Natural Homemade Sunscreen recipes and how to make your own non-toxic sunscreen.  

I will keep you posted on how this goes.  

Feeling Happier

About a month ago I signed up for a 60-day shred challenge with Tommy Europe (the trainer for shows like Bulging Brides and The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp). http://www.4weekstoanewyou.com/ 

It has been just what I needed.  

I was suffering from lack of motivation and couldn't seem to get my butt back on the wagon for more than a couple days at a time.  The feeling of helplessness and the fear that I'd never get myself back to a good place was not helping my eating issues.  

Now I'm happily down 7 lbs and some inches.  Plus,  my endurance is improving and I'm starting to see some muscle under the softness.  Hopefully soon my daughter won't be pinching my batwings anymore.

I've allowed myself a few treats here and there but have gotten back to it immediately.  If I make a mistake I don't toss it in and say, "well that's that I messed up I might as well do it good!"  

A saying comes to mind:
'If you drop your phone you don't say well that's it I might as well stomp on it and smash it to pieces."

There are some very obese people in my family and I know it's in my genes to get quite large.  And while I don't want to necessarily want to be on a diet my whole life I do realize some self control is a must. 

I've started saying to myself, "Would I let my kids have as much of this as they could eat or would I set a limit?" 

 If it's not something I would let my children eat a whole bunch of then why the heck am I eating it like I'm never going to see it again?

I feel like I'm rambling so I probably am.  The whole point I wanted to make is:  
I've put in some work this month.  
I've been sore as heck from my workouts but I don't regret one minute.  
I'm feeling so much more upbeat and more like my old self than I have in a very long time.
I don't want to be the fifty year old woman who needs a cane because she has gained too much weight and her joints are crying.
I don't want to be the fifty year old who needs to have hip replacement surgery, when I could have done some preventative self care to avoid such things.  (yes, I have an aunt who has had both hips replaced quite young).

Almost there

My daughter is seven and is almost done grade two.  I home school her and she "officially" has 8 days of school left as we are working our way through 9 modules of 18 days each.  I thought with the end being so near she'd be chomping on the bit to be finished and would want to do more so she was finished for the summer.
This, however, has not been the case.  I have been hearing more "I can't do it" or simply "I'm not doing it" complete with the mutinous expression than I have since the beginning of the school year.
I'm with her BUT I know that if she simply buckled down she could be done this week.  Then she could have her beloved summer holidays complete with swimming lessons, dance camp, and branding at Nana and Papas.
Why oh why do children have to be so difficult?? LOL right??  'Cause if I don't laugh I will surely cry.

Go to bed already!!

How is it that I am so tired and yet here I sit, yet again, contemplating what I should do?

I want to finish that episode of Hart to Hart (yes I'm addicted to 70-80s TV shows, Rockford Files, Remington Steele, Magnum PI).  I really should try and read a couple chapters of the library book I've had out for a week.  Oh crap, I haven't written in my journal yet.  The dogs need to go out.  On and on, I do this almost every night and then wonder why the heck I'm dragging my butt when my girls get up in the morning.

Do other moms do this?  Try to cram as much into their couple hours of me-time at night as they possibly can??

Getting Better

It's been about three and a half weeks since the pityriasis rosea showed up out of the blue. I have way more more sympathy for people with skin issues. This itching has been awful since it covered my entire front wrapping around my sides and going into my inner thighs. The rash is slowly fading now, though it is still a bit itchy, it is so much better than it was.
The best thing I've found for dealing with the symptoms of this have been: 30-40 minute tepid, colloidal oatmeal baths (grinding oatmeal to a powder and the putting it in a cheesecloth bag), Skinfix body repair paste (i found it at well.ca and bought the largest size) and sweet almond oil. I've been trying to avoid added scents and additives, going as natural as possible.

Going Natural

I've started down the path to using more natural cleaning products.

I was doubtful that baking soda would clean my disgusting oven.

I sprayed my oven with water and sprinkled a thick layer of soda throughout then wet the soda down with my water sprayer bottle.

I left it like that while I went to town to do errands. 

I really, really didn't want to deal with it when I got home but I took a plastic scraper and tentatively started scraping and much to my surprise the gunk just scraped up.  It was amazing.  I was so happy. 

I've put off cleaning the oven because I didn't want to use the harsh chemicals.  I've been burned twice with that stuff where a drip landed on my arm where my rubber gloves ended; it's nasty stuff.   I was a the point where I would've scrubbed for an hour just to avoid the oven cleaner.  The door needs a little more work, I was focused on the bottom since every time I baked something smoke would start up (a sure sign that it is waaay past time to have cleaned it).

Voila!  Clean oven-took less than ten minutes to scrape and wipe-and no harsh chemicals. 

Rough Start

Well, 2013 is off to a rough start.  Not so bad and I really shouldn't complain because there are others out there so much worse off than myself.  It's more of a small pity party lol
My uncle passed away quite suddenly and that is always a shock.
Then I ended up with a nasty rash called pitysiasis rosea.  The itchiness is driving me crazy.  I was up at 3 in the morning rubbing on lotion early this morning.  I've had it 2 weeks and, of course, I've been researching it online trying to find a way to get rid of it.  BUT there is so much conflicting information out there.  It's viral; it's fungal.  Take a tepid shower; take a hot shower.  You might have it two weeks or two months (or in some cases more than that).  They don't seem to know what causes it.
     It would be so much easier if I knew what to do with it. I've taken baths in: bakings soda, sea salt, powdered ginger, cider vinegar and colloidal oatmeal.  Not all at once, of course. 
     I tried some Aveeno lotion today that's supposed to be for rashes and dry skin and holy it started stinging.  It felt like I'd been dipped in menthol.  I read the ingredient list and lo and behold there is menthol in the Aveeno.  That seems odd to me. 
     So I'm on a mission to see what is going to work the best.  So far I'd have to say the colloidal oatmeal bath was one of the best.  The morning after I did that my rash was pink instead of the angry red it was after my pharmisist had said it was fungal and to use Selsun Blue shampoo on it (you rub the shampoo on and leave it for a few minutes, if you can stand it and shower it off).  After I did this it was bright red and my skin went rough and scaly.  After about the third day it was so tender I could hardly stand it.  To find out if you have the fungal variety you need to go to your doctor and get a sample taken so you know for sure.
     I'm trying to go more natural, no scents.  I've been using sweet almond oil and coconut oil.  It has also been suggested that I try colloidal silver.  So here we go...wish me luck.