Giving Away A $150 Limited Edition Print

Over on my other blog.


Check it out here.

DIY: Puppy Peanut Butter Rounds- A Great Gift for Our Furry Friends

Ever seen those booths at the mall or even at the Farmer's Market that sell gourmet pet treats? Well, being inspired by what I had seen and knowing that Bailey loved them, I decided to make some of my own to save some moolah and enjoy knowing that I had made something. I love that feeling.... Anyways, these were SUPER easy and would make a great holiday gift for our furry friends! We have lots of neighbors since we live in an apartment complex and many of them have dogs.  Pop a few of these in a cute paper sack with a little note written on the outside and these will be a much-loved gift. 

These are Peanut Butter Rounds and Bailey can't get enough. The best is that they are healthy for puppies with no preservatives (at least in my ingredients), no fake additives, and no yuckiness that might be bad for pups.

Peanut Butter Puppy Rounds

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

3/4 cup oats

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup water

Simply mix together the ingredients.
I mixed them in our super duper KitchenAid mixer. Can't beat it.


Then separate the dough into small balls.
The original recipe called for 1 1/2 inch balls.
I made mine smaller because Bailey is a small.

Then flatten the balls with a fork (or your hand/finger like me) and
place on cookie sheet.


Then bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 mins or until golden brown. *


*Note: I have dark baking pans so I baked mine at 315 degrees for 10 mins. My treats weren't golden brown, but they were done all the way through and Bailey didn't seem to complain.


This is Bailey's serious face. Her "I will do whatever tricks you want me to even the ones I won't normally do just to have that treat in your hand" face, which means she LOVES them. Let me know if your pup does!

**Note**  This makes a rather large batch and we don't give Bailey tons of treats. (She's little so maybe one or two a day).  We, in error, did not store the treats in the fridge and some of them started to get a bit moldy within a week and a half or two so I suggest cutting the recipe in half and/or store the ones you aren't using soon in the fridge to help them last longer.  


Enjoy! 

Thrifting Find: Vintage Wooden Ornaments

This year's Christmas tree in our apartment is studded with vintage wooden ornaments that I collected this November at thrift stores.  They are gorgeous and beat up a bit and perfectly lovey.  They definitely breathe a bit of child-like goodness into our apartment.  And the best part... 95% of the ornaments were only 25¢.  The other 5% were only 50¢.  I got over 75 ornaments.  That's about $20 for a tree full of vintage ornaments.  Considering how much the plain ole glass ornaments are... that's a stellar deal.  It's also pretty priceless not looking like everyone else. 

Nutcrackers are my favorite.

 

Our lights were the big vintage ones as well. So dreamy....

Happy Graduation!!

My apologies for having to interrupt the stream of daily simple living posts, but we spent Friday and the weekend celebrating Andrew and his graduation from the MBA program with family and friends.  These celebrations of people are an essential part of sustainable mental and emotional health so it fits perfectly with the other posts.  It's always important to appreciate and celebrate the opportunities we have in life and the family and friends with whom we get to celebrate.   After all, who doesn't like a party? :)

Congratulations Andrew!! 

We are so proud of you!!

Sustainable Gift Wrap Ideas

If you haven't noticed already, the holidays can produce A LOT of waste which is a big no no when it comes to living consciously and sustainable.  

Not so good for the environment = not so good for us.  

In our apartment, we have done about half online shopping- half in stores.  The extra boxes that we receive from online purchases go into packing the other gifts.  We reuse EVERYTHING  or at least try to and recycle everything we can't use.  Take this box for example, it does not contain tea, but a special surprise.

This year, I wrapped my gifts in traditional wrapping paper for the most part.  While this can be used and recycled, next year and for the holidays and special occasions in between, I'm going to try out some more sustainable methods of wrap like using reusable grocery bags and newspaper (which I've used in the past).

Simple Organic has fabulous ideas that are so cute, while being sustainable and cheap!

Click here to check it out!

And.... Calamity Wilde Mercantile had some great ideas here.

Baby, It's Too Cold Outside!

The wintertime inevitably brings cold weather which inevitably makes you want to bundle up and stay inside out of that biting wind.  If you're like me, nature (before the first frost hits) is a daily part of life.  I run in it.  Walk in it.  Am inspired by it.  Etc.... It seems rather essential to my well-being.  If you're also like me, when it gets cold outside, my interaction with nature on any level beyond avoiding its chill is cut down to nearly zero.  I even notice that when I walk outside I don't look up and see the trees, I duck my head to avoid the wind and head to the car.

That's why this winter, I am going to make a concerted, pro-active effort to interact with nature as much as possible in a full nature immersion sort of way.  AKA- I will not be just looking out the window (though that's a start); I will be going for walks in the frigid outdoors.  There are mounds of studies that proclaim the benefits of nature on the human psyche and the exercise can't hurt either right?  So bundle up and go for a walk.  Try going when you notice it isn't snowing or the sun is shining.  Once you get moving, you really warm up and I can tell the benefits already on my mind.  Bailey really likes it too.

An Easy DIY Gift for Pups!

If you're looking for a little treat for your pup for Christmas or maybe looking to wrap something up for the neighbor's cute dog this holiday season consider making this chew rope which is SUPER easy and cheap.

Supplies: scissors and fleece material

 

step one 

Cut 3 strips of your fleece to a desired length.  They by no means have to be perfect as you can see in the picture.

For small dogs, I suggest about an 1.5" wide, 9-12" long. Bigger for bigger dogs.

 

step two

Tie a knot in one end.

 

step three

Braid the rest and tie a knot to finish.

This is so easy and dogs love them, especially smaller ones like Bailey (miniature schnauzers).  Fleece is easy to come by on the cheap too.  I got this fleece at the thrift store in plain fabric form, but you might have an old worn out fleece blanket lying around you can upcycle or find one at the thrift store.  Fleece of some pattern is also usually always on sale at arts and crafts stores.