DIY Dog Treats
It came to my attention some time ago that the treats we have routinely been buying for our family’s 5 dogs are unhealthy, filled with additives and preservatives, and costing us a pretty penny. In my effort to be rid of unnatural chemicals from our diet and land and to live more frugally, I began considering making our own treats. Yesterday I twittered a request for good dog treat recipes, and God Love Twitter- I soon had a good amount to choose from. 
We made the first two kinds recommended:
Peanut Butter Nom Noms & Tuna Training Treats
Not only were both super easy and cheap to make- all five dogs LOVED them! The kids really enjoyed lending a hand in the process and it offered an opportunity for me to talk to them about dog nutrition… something I’ve never put much thought into before now, and no doubt will inspire them to be more conscientious dog owners one day.
I haven’t tried these other recipes, but I plan to so I hope you will bookmark them as well:
Frosty Paws Dog Ice Cream
Homemade Dog Cookies
Favorite Dog Treat Recipes
Doggie Stylish Dog Treat Recipes
Do enjoy! Also, Happy Hump Day!
On Gardening
In the past six months I’ve become quite enamored with the art of gardening. Vegetables, flowers, bushes, trees, cacti & succulents.. if it grows I adore it. I might kill it, too. I try hard not to though.
Previous to moving to our current home we’ve lived in a series of rentals, all of which provided lawn services and lacked space for me to plant. The living space indoors was dark, so pretty much every houseplant I gained, I lost.
But here! Here I have great light indoors! Tons of land to plant! And; since I’m taking time off to get settled, care for my disabled parents, deal with my own health issues & regroup after coming to terms with my absolute disdain for corporate design & website development- previously my main source of business… gardening is my main source of entertainment & sense of accomplishment. (Was that ever a run-on sentence?! Ha.)
Anyhow, I feel the need to share my love for growing things with you, my non-existent readers. It’s awesome, guys!
For one thing, it’s been surprising to me just how easy it is to plant & grow my own food. I’ve yet to be successful at starting seeds- not that I’ve really tried; but our local gardening center has just about everything we can think of to plant already established and ready to grow. Young vegetable plants have proven to be affordable as well as hardy.
So far we’ve successfully grown & harvested: broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, celery, swiss chard, romaine lettuce, spinach and red leaf lettuce in quantity. The most surprising thing to me? The taste! If you haven’t had homegrown veggies, sans: pesticides, fungicides, wax, and fresh off the plant- you are seriously missing out! It’s unbelievable. I didn’t even like some of the previously listed veggies prior to growing them in my garden.
Another benefit of gardening has been a huge improvement in my health. The (mostly) light exercise has been great. I bend and stretch to pull weeds, plant, pluck. I walk the property to see what’s in bloom, what needs water, to look for a photo op. And cutting out all those chemicals, plus eating fresh? The changes in my diet have resulted in my pain levels dropping by around 80%. I’ve been able to go off some meds I had once relied on. I’m in a much better place than I have been in the two years since I began exhibiting MS symptoms.
The best thing about growing our own food, above all else? The kids are eating vegetables. Yes, you just read that right. My kids are eating vegetables. No war. No begging. No blackmail. They help grow them, and the veggies taste GOOD. So they value the vegetables we put on their plate, they are proud of them even. And they eat them, in quantities unheard of prior to starting our family garden. Seriously. Without ranch dressing. I swear.
For these reasons I am planning to write a little series of gardening articles for this blog. How to’s, based upon my ever-growing but yet limited knowledge.. product recommendations, etc. I hope that if you garden or are planning to garden that you’ll pop over and comment- let me know what you like! What you struggle with! What your questions are, what your heart sings when you plant and grow a living gift from the powers that be. I have so much yet to learn.. but I really feel the need to share what I do know with others because I’ve come to believe that “victory gardens” are more than a political statement or sign of the times. They are therapy. They are healthy. And they will change your life for the better.
Use #1001 for old Jelly Jars
Wicked Fascination, originally uploaded by Phae.
To catch wicked spiders in! 
Best PB Cookies on the Planet
Well, that’s what my kids say, anyway!
The Recipe:
Preheat your oven to 375.
Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
Cream the shortening, peanut butter, vanilla and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well in between.
Mix the dry ingredients, then add to the peanut butter mixture. Mix well.
Make 1″ balls and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. If you are like me and only have a few cookie sheets, use wax paper in your trays so you can skip having to wash sheets each time a batch comes out of the oven
Where do all my cookie sheets go anyway?!
But, yeah- once you have balls of dough on your cookie sheets, sprinkle some table sugar over each ball, then use a fork to create the peanut-butter-cookie look. Tap off the excess sugar and place in the oven to bake for between 8-9 minutes, depending on your oven.
Enjoy sweet heavenly bliss
Feel the urge to splurge?
I’m a heee-uge fan of Etsy. If only I could spend all day and night shopping for cool handcrafted goodies and things I can use to make my own cool handcrafted goodies.
Before the moratorium on spending was imposed upon me by my usually very generous husband I bought a bunch of stuff from great companies, so I thought I’d recommend them to you (so you can shop and I can live through you vicariously).
Check it out:
Jewelry
Gemini Design Jewelry – I bought a custom designed, handmade necklace for my mom made from gems that were left to me by my grandfather. My opals and fire opals were still in the rough, and this artist not only designed and created my jewelry using my gems, but she polished and finished my gems too. AND she threw in an extra ring with one of my leftover opal pieces! Amazing! I can’t wait to get the commitment bands she is making my husband and I with what is left of Grandpa’s fire opals!
Eclectic Monkii – I bought these earrings and these earrings from Eclectic Monkii and I LOVE them! I can’t put them on by myself, but my husband doesn’t seem to mind giving me a hand. It might just be because I’m a spazmataz.
birdzNbeez – I love the steampunk style necklace I bought from this little shop, and people notice it and comment on it all the time. The time piece reminds me to live my life in the moment, the wings remind me of freedom and flight- and the little pearl reminds me to cherish the things and relationships I love in life.
Patterns
ithinksew – I bought a wallet pattern from this shop that I found to be incredibly simple to make and the finished piece looks great. I would make suggestions to this company about how they present their patterns (less ink and pictures, actual size pattern pieces) but besides that it was very helpful and worth the $ I spent on it.
Keyka Lou – This little company is GREAT. I have purchased several patterns from them and every one was easy to understand, easy to make and helped me make lovely products. And delivery was nice and quick via email.
OhFransson – I bought a set of patterns to make various styles of my own cloth shopping bags. The patterns are easy to understand and were delivered promptly. If only all of us crafty women made everyone we know really cute cloth grocery bags, maybe we could really impact how much paper and plastic hits our landfills! Highly recommended.
Ali Foster Patterns – I really love the bag patterns I bought from Ali Foster Patterns. I bought a three-for-one set and am making a series of bags to hold my portfolio pieces for on-location jobs.
Bags
Ann Made Stuff – I got the CUTEST handmade embroidered pegasus tote bag.. the quality is great the prices are super low and I use it all the time!
DAMEcreations – I absolutely adore my OOAK (one-of-a-kind) vintage She-Ra bag I got from this company. It’s well made and holds quite a few skeins of my knitting yarn.
Camera Accessories
PhatStraps – So, I’ve had some time to test and enjoy my new camera strap from PhatStraps and it’s the BEST THING EVER. I got one with minky fabric on one side and no more chafing! It’s so comfortable to wear and looks so nice. Highly recommended, and I can’t wait to buy another for my other camera. I’m actually matching all the aforementioned bags I’m making to this strap!
So, have fun shopping for me! I’m trying to be “good” until we’ve bought a home.. which might be very soon. (Dear God Please.) We are making an offer on a property tomorrow, as a matter of fact. Cross your fingers for us?
Gifted
My Mother’s Day was fabulous!!!! I have to give the kids and the daddy props for a wonderful and blessed day. It all started with breakfast in bed: french toast and bacon and coffee and a mimosa. Then my 9 year old Lillie burst into my room with her gift from school: a cookbook consisting of two recipes from each household of each of the students in her class. And a hand embroidered card.
My five year old Liana was proud of the card she made me at her school- in which she had stamped her hand prints, included a tea bag and also had written: “I love you! I like to talk to you.” This made me smile, we do talk so much about so many different things- and I love to talk to her too.
My 12 year old son made me a paper tower: “It’s a trophy, Mom” that was topped with a simple card that read: “Happpy Mother’s Day. Love, Mikey”.
In addition to these gifts I also got something pretty special – a new ring! It’s handmade; silver with one of my Grandfather’s opals bezel set in oval setting. For my mom’s Mother’s Day present I had a silver fairy necklace made using my Grandfather’s fire opals and opals. I had sent the gems to the jeweler in their raw form- still embedded in rock- and the jeweler tumbled them for me. There were extra opals so she surprised me with the ring in addition to the commissioned necklace. I’ve worn it every moment since it arrived and can’t stop thinking about what a cool gift it is to have to remember both my Grandfather and mother’s love by.
Speaking of gifts for my mom- boy is she a cool lady. Which is why I wanted to do something so special for her. She’s an inspiration in our lives, and the strongest and most amazing person I know. Despite her many adversities and disability, she never stops living life to the fullest. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
In addition to her necklace I also made mom a new purse and wallet. I haven’t photographed it, but I can show you the one I made my mother-in-law! My mom’s is blue, green and brown though.
(Hopefully my mother-in-law won’t read this before she gets it..)
Also, my husband made me a BLT for lunch and a cake for dessert, and I was encouraged to spend the afternoon and evening doing whatever I wanted- which consisted of learning some new camera tricks and working on making my own purse and wallet.
To all the mom’s out there- thank you and Happy Mother’s Day! And a special shout-out to my magnificent mommy friends. And for those of us missing special mom’s in our lives- a prayer for peace and joy in your memories of Mom. I know we were sure missing both my grandmother’s today.
And, it’s Monday again. Back to real life we go, we go.
The Girlies on Easter
The Girlies on Easter, originally uploaded by phae.
Neices: Chloe, Alexis, Hailey & Daughters: Lillie & Liana.
Today was superb. Family, food, children, and surprises! The Easter Bunny brought me a bag of goodies- get that. Champagne, peeps, whoppers, chocolate bunny and all.
I hope your Easter was wonderful as well, and that you and your loved ones stayed safe. Be careful on the roads tonight if you aren’t done travelling!
P.S. My girls are wearing the dresses I made last weekend.
Learn how to knit!
People ask me all the time to teach them to knit. Once, I agreed. It was an effort in futility. I suck at teaching knitting lessons. For one, I don’t have the patience. Or maybe, my pupil didn’t want to impose for too long. And if learning to knit requires anything more than some needles and yarn- it’s patience.
While learning to knit you will cast on a dozen (or maybe a hundred) times before it clicks. You will fumble a knit stitch another dozen times before it looks just right. Want to purl? Yeah, another dozen attempts. Binding off? Schminding off. At least, that was my experience. And then there’s getting the tension just right. And learning all those acronyms.
Not that I would like to discourage you from learning! You can learn, and benefit from your new hobby in many ways.
For me knitting is relaxing. And rewarding: the finished products of my few minutes of knitting here and there are so soft and beautiful and functional. My family sure appreciates my hobby. But it did take me a while to get it down. Time well spent, in my opinion.
So, you still want to knit, and for me to help you learn? Here’s how I did it:
1) Visit knittinghelp.com and watch the free knitting videos. Pause, attempt a technique and repeat. This site taught me the basics.
2) Buy Stitch ‘N Bitch : The Knitter’s Handbook
Tips:
Use wood or plastic needles to learn- once you are knitting with some speed you might prefer a more slippery set of needles (I frequently use metal) but until then it helps if your needles have some friction to hold the yarn.
Don’t try to learn to knit with a ball of furry yarn. You need to be able to see your stitches and the pattern they create. Choose a light, soft yarn to start with.
Own good hand lotion. Some yarns will draw moisture from your skin and before you know it you’ll have chapped, raw hands.
Don’t expect to be a perfect knitter right away. This craft does take some time and practice to learn. Like anything, if you really want it you’ll achieve it. I think I watched the casting-on and basic knit/purl stitch videos a dozen times each before I made my first stitch. I still wear my first projects: a scarf and a hat- but the scarf isn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and the hat is three times too big. I often use the hat to cushion my camera when I travel with it in my shoulder bag.
Have fun! Can’t wait to see your first projects!
Getting Knitty Wit It
Since I got hurt a few days ago I’ve been spending a lot of time with my feet up. I can never not be productive, so when Mom mentioned that she needed a pouch for her cell phone I put together this over-the-shoulder cell phone cozy purse. Mom is a multiple amputee (legs, fingers) and sometimes spends time alone at the house so she needs to have access to outside help at all times. I can’t believe I never thought of this little project before!
I plan to make this pattern available in the next few days- I’m making one more so that I can perfect the design before I share.
Materials: hand dyed yarn by Perfect Day Yarns and an repurposed necklace pendant, some brown thread to secure the pendant, a snap.
What I Want
