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.