Category Archives: Home & Garden

Clean and Green

Obviously, I’m not a domestic diva. My husband will tell you that when I’m cleaning, it’s best to steer clear of me, because I’m never in a good mood while I’m doing it. However, once in awhile, even I have some cleaning tips to share that can save some cash and help lower your carbon footprint.

I read recently that the average American uses the equivalent of a 100′ fir tree worth of paper towels throughout the course of a year. That’s a LOT of trees we’re burning through. It’s also a lot of cash we’re burning through – cash that could be so much better spent on clothing, shoes, or even a manicure to help rid yourself of dishpan hands and eliminate the chipped nails we inevitably get from scrubbing and cleaning.

During a trip to Costco a few months ago, I ran across a package of bar towels (I believe there were 50 in the package, which cost about $15.99). I figured, if it was good enough for my favorite drinking hole, it was good enough for my house. Of course, restaurants are all about maximizing their bottom line, and they have to (at least the ones I frequent) abide by strict sanitation codes, so why not take a page from them and save some green while being green?

I’ve been using them ever since, in place of the paper towels I used to use to Windex glass tables and scrub countertops, and I figure I’m saving $10 – 20 a month, so somewhere between $120 – 240 a year. When I’m done, I can toss them in the wash (and, because they’re white, I can use plenty of bleach to make sure they’re totally clean) and they’re right back in my stash the following week – no trips to the grocery store required!

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Wordless Wednesday: LapCat Becoming LaptopCat

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Review: Perfect Coat Clear Choice Detangling Spray

My little Malt is a sweet little angel – who mats at the blink of an eye. Because she’s convinced that she’s a hippy dog, she absolutely HATES being groomed, which makes de-matting her a long and difficult process. That’s why, when I found Perfect Coat Clear Choice Detangling Spray, I was excited to see if it worked per the package’s claims, and was delighted to find that it not only made detangling my little powder puff easier, but it made her coat shine and made her smell lovely.

The first time I used the spray, Bella reacted much as she would without it – but largely out of anxiety over being brushed (she’s the type of dog that will nip at a brush before it touches her fur – in anticipation that it’s going to pull at her), but quickly calmed when she realized that she was being brushed and there were “no owies!’

The leave-in spray can be applied to wet hair after bathing, or can be applied to dry coats between washes – and it doesn’t leave the coat oily or dirty! The smell is light and flowery and lasts for a few days. I’ve grown to enjoy the scent so much that I try to spray her with it a few times a week, to keep her shiny, detangled and smelling lovely.

I found the spray at Petsmart for $6.99, but a quick search online shows that you can buy the product at Petco and a number of other online outlets, although it looks like Petsmart has the best pricing. For under $10, this lifesaver is a must for any dog owner who wants to easily remove mats from their pet, without the nipping and fussy that often comes with grooming long haired dogs.

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Miss Mia: Lap Cat

It’s been a few weeks since Miss Mia joined our family. After being treated by her new vet and serving her time in quarantine, she has officially been introduced to our family and moved fully into our condo. And, despite her new-found “freedom,” she insists on being in her favorite spot whenever possible: tucked up and napping on my lap. When she can’t make it onto my lap – either because I’m up and cleaning or cooking, or just not seated, she heads for her second favorite spot: my laptop. *Sigh* Luckily, she’s thusfar only sent emails to imaginary email addresses, and she hasn’t found a way to post to her own blog, but she has altered all of my laptop settings, and closed out of programs with my documents and projects unsaved.

She’s doing quite well, but still remaining remarkably small (she’s around 1.5 lbs now, and still has her blue eyes, although the vet believes that she is now around 12 weeks). When she’s not napping, she spends her time stalking the dogs’ tails, attempting to reach into my parrotlet’s cage, or climbing the furniture – which will not be cute very quickly. Still looking for a good method for training cats, as Mia simply looks at me when I try to remove her from the laptop and tell her “NO’ – and then climbs right back onto it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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Ladies Lunch Or Cocktail Party Pleaser

I don’t know about you, but I have an insane collection of cocktail glasses – from margarita and martini glasses in all shapes, sizes and colors to highballs, brandy snifters, pillsners, and the like. And, while they get used when guests come over, 9 times out of 10 guests are enjoying glasses of wine or beers, rather than mixed drinks (unless I’m feeling particularly motivated to play bartender).

However, one of the creative uses that I’ve found for my martini glasses also lends itself to an elegant presentation for a classic cocktail hour app – shrimp cocktail martinis. This simple app will take just minutes to prepare and will make a lasting impression on your guests for any get-together:

Ingredients:

- 36 large/jumbo shrimp (I buy the pre-cooked shrimp in the seafood section – so they can be quickly thawed and don’t involve peeling and cooking)
- 12 ounces cocktail sauce (homemade or jarred)
- 6 lemon wedges (either 1 or 1 1/2 lemons, depending on size)
- Parsley or cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Get 6 matched or mismatched martini glasses, and spoon 2 ounces of cocktail sauce into each. Place 6 large/jumbo shrimp around the edge of the glass, making sure that they don’t get coated in sauce, and garnish with a lemon wedge. Place a sprig of parsley or cilantro onto the cocktail sauce as a garnish.

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Chocolate Decadence: Perfect Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes

These chocolate espresso cupcakes are dense and moist, and absolutely sinfully divine! I made a batch of these when my hubby started his new job, to butter up his coworkers, and it certainly did the trick. I may be No June Cleaver, but once in awhile, a great baked good like this can make someone’s day:

Ingredients

  • 1/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 11 fluid ounces chocolate syrup (recommended: Hershey’s)
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

For the ganache:

  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
  • Candied violets, for decoration, optional

Directions:

Line muffin pans with 12 paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Don’t overbeat, or the cupcakes will be tough.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don’t overbake! Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly in the pan.

For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

Dip the top of each cupcake in the ganache. Decorate with candied violets, if desired. If you know your guests won’t have nut allergies, consider topping with one whole walnut piece. Do not refrigerate.

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Mia: Day Three

The little bundle of fuzz that found her way into my bushes Monday night has settled herself into her new home. Her first visit to the vet had expected, but good, results: although she does have worms and will have to remain in quarantine from the rest of the pack for at least another week, she is in otherwise good health. The vet reported that, contrary to initial estimates, Mia is, in fact, 8 weeks old, albeit the “smallest 8 week old kitten we’ve seen in our office.” She weighs in at about 12.5 oz, about 6 oz lighter than the average of the litter of 3 week old kittens the vet had examined that morning, which means she’ll need some fattening up.

Now that she’s getting used to her new digs, she’s quickly won over both my husband and I, and is becoming more adventurous by the minute – climbing, playing, and examining her surroundings. She no longer cowers in the corner when we come into her room, but rather mews in greeting, stretches, yawns, and comes over for her designated play/snuggle time.

It still amazes me that anyone could be callous enough to dump her and her litter mates into a canal (sharing genetics, surely her litter mates were just as sweet and adorable as she), and reminds me that – while my husband and I had agreed not to bring on any more pets, there’s so much that we could/should be doing to get involved with the local shelters (my excuse for not, to date, has been to avoid falling in love with all the poor little tortured souls there and winding up with an entire menagerie of animals in my home). I’d love to get involved more – and would appreciate any suggestions from those of you out in cyberspace who have the experience/advice on getting started in doing so.

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New Family Member: Mia

I have always been what you’d call a “dog person.” Cats are cute, but I developed allergies to them when I was about 10, and have stayed away from them ever since. However, the other night, while relaxing on my balcony with my little fur baby, I heard a pitiful crying from the bushes below, and had to go investigate. What I found absolutely melted my heart. Tucked into the shadows I found a tired, cold, and absolutely filthy baby kitten – and by baby, I mean perhaps three weeks old. She was exhausted and barely put up a struggle when I picked her up, opting instead to nuzzle into my neck and steal my warmth.

My husband, who also has allergies, was none too pleased when I brought her inside, but took all of 10 minutes to cave and join in my rescue efforts by keeping her warm while I ran to the food store for emergency supplies (it was about 10 pm, and there was no way I could even drop her off at a shelter if I wanted to). The first night, she cowered and shivered until we brought her food and milk, and absolutely devoured her meal as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

After getting her settled, I checked out the area for litter mates and to make sure I hadn’t missed Mom – but by the looks of her, I knew Mom was nowhere nearby. The kitty was absolutely covered in mud and silt, and her ears were caked with sand and dirt, which gave me a sad, disturbing insight into what she’d been through, most likely tossed with her litter mates into the canal 50 feet behind my yard. The clinic I called confirmed what I had suspected – that this is common practice in Florida, and that, tragically, “the gators probably got to” her litter mates before they were able to get out of the water.

After a good night’s rest, Mia’s personality is really beginning to show. I suspect that she’s half Siamese – based on the shape of her head, her very slender build, and the fact that she’s absolutely all legs. She also loves climbing and “talking” – which I’ve read are other traits of Siamese cats. She’s curious and sweet and has adopted me as her surrogate Mom/human jungle gym. The clinics I’ve spoken with all think that she’s about 3 to 3 1/2 weeks old. Amazingly, she’s 100% litter trained (hasn’t had a SINGLE accident since I brought her inside), and she is accepting wet food mixed with milk.

While she seems healthy, she was covered in fleas, and she’s going for her first vet visit tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed for a clean bill of health – but for now, she’s confined to the little pen I made for her in the guest bathroom. Any suggestions/tips for caring for orphaned baby kittens would be greatly appreciated!

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CESAR Canine Cuisine Shares The Love – In Honor of the MTV Movie Awards!

Found this awesome Cesar post on SheBlogs.org! My Maltese, Bella, has been a Cesar puppy since she was weaned:

To celebrate the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, CESAR® Canine Cuisine shared the love, with a little help from our celebrity friends.  While participating in Kari Feinstein’s pre-event Style Lounge, CESAR® Canine Cuisine encouraged nominees, presenters and celebrity guests to enter their fun and interactive lounge, for a chance to spread the love to small dogs across the country.

The event, which took place at The Montage Beverly Hills on June 3rd and 4th, found celebrities and nominees being treated to an array of complimentary fashion, travel and beauty gifts along with luxurious spa treatments, as they prepared for the big show.  Celebrities including Ashley Greene (Twilight), Jennifer Love Hewitt (TV’s “Ghost Whisperer”), Entourage’s Kevin Dillon, Constance Zimmer, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Kevin Conolly, AnnaLynne McCord and Shenae Grimes (TV’s “90210”), Adrien Brody (The Experiment), Joe Jonas, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott (TV’s “Tori & Dean: Inn Love”), Busy Philipps (TV’s “Cougar Town”), Cheryl Burke (TV’s “Dancing With The Stars”), Abigail Spencer (TV’s “Mad Men”), Amber Stevens (TV’s “Greek”), Lea Thompson (Back To The Future), Sam Page (TV’s “Desperate Housewives”), Evan Handler (Sex In The City), Cat Deeley (TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance”), Nicky Hilton, Lauren Conrad (TV’s “The Hills”), Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie), Giuliana Rancic (E! News), Jenna Dewan (TV’s “Slightly Single in LA”), Rachel Bilson (Jumper), Thomas Jane (TV’s “Hung”), James Van Der Beek (TV’s “Mercy”), Maria Menounos and many more were exposed to a wide array of innovative new products, travel services and luxury brands.

While overall proceeds from the event benefitted The Creative Coalition, CESAR® Canine Cuisine also provided assistance to help feed dogs in rescue organizations across the country.  For every celebrity guest that visited the CESAR® Canine Cuisine Lounge, a donation of 200 gourmet canine cuisine entrees were donated to dogs in need from each celebrity’s local hometown.  Not only could celebrities stock up on CESAR® Canine Cuisine Entrees for their own little loved ones, they were also able to help share the love with over 24,000 entrees for canine companions across the country.

“We are thrilled that so many celebrities were willing to visit the CESAR® Canine Cuisine Lounge, in exchange for our charitable donation to dog rescue organizations across the Country,” said Anne Herrington, Vice President of Marketing for CESAR® Brand.  “This event provided the perfect opportunity to continue our mission of sharing the love with our little canine companions,” added Herrington.

Celebrities including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Shannon Elizabeth, Samantha Harris, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott made a point to walk directly into the CESAR® Canine Cuisine Lounge to facilitate donations to dog rescue organizations in their hometowns, while Adrien Brody, Thomas Jane, Kevin Conolly and Neil McDonough (TV’s “Desperate Housewives”) specified which local shelter they wanted their donations sent to.  Avatar’s Matt Gerald shared a picture of his little loved one, so that a special package of CESAR gourmet canine cuisine could be made with his dog’s image on the label, while “Entourage” stars Kevin Dillon, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Dania Ramirez (TV’s “Heroes”) made a point to step into the CESAR Lounge during a brief break from filming the show across the street in order to bump up the charity component with a donation of 600 entrees from all three combined.  Janice Dickinson asked if she could walk into the CESAR Lounge “a thousand times” in order to spread the donations even further to dog rescue organizations all over the country.

To check out photos of celebrities who “shared the love” by visiting the CESAR® Canine Cuisine Lounge, please visit www.facebook.com/cesar.  The site also features an opportunity to view video footage of celebrities sharing stories about the special relationships they have with their little pet companions.

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My Dogs Are Forming An Alliance Against Me

We have a pack in my house. No, really. My toy Maltese, the 5 lb princess, is the pack leader. My 55 lb Springer is her subordinate (it’s amazing that this large dog that once tried to fight for the Alpha position with my fiancee so quickly rolled over and let Bella – as a 1.5 lb puppy – take the lead). My fiancee and I are simply here to cater to their needs: food, water, walk, belly rub, brush me.

Everyone thinks their dogs communicate. Mine are VERY effective. When their water bowls empty (for the 4th/5th/6th time during the morning, because my Springer won’t stop drinking), Bella picks up her dish, bounces over to wherever I’m working, and drops it at my feet. If I don’t immediately respond, she asserts herself by either scratching the bottom of the bowl, smacking my leg with her front paw, or barking at me. When it’s time to play, Colby (the Springer), brings me his toy, puts it on my lap, and waits about 5 seconds before growling and barking at me. When it’s time for belly rubs or brushing, Bella jumps on the couch and sits on my lap, on top of my laptop or book or whatever I may have in front of me.

Now, I think they’ve mastered effective communication – tag team style. They’ve learned each other’s signals, and they know who is more effective at getting their way (Bella, for example, is more effective at getting water from me, since I know Colby is always thirsty and I have to control his water, whereas Colby can be much more assertive about reminding me that it’s their dinner time if I’m stuck working late and don’t realize that it’s closing on 7 pm – he has an actual vocalization, not a bark, not a growl, not a howl, but more of a “woo-wooo-woooo” that, I’m convinced, is him trying to literally “say” the word “food.”). With the two of them teamed up so tightly, I hope they don’t decide to plot AGAINST me.

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