A NEW PET AND BEATING ALLERGIES

JANUARY 5, 2015 PAM LEAVE A COMMENT EDIT

HAPPY NEW YEAR! January 1st brought a welcome change to our family. We added this big guy to our small brood.

He came with the name Deuce, but my guys didn’t want a dog with a name that is used for potty talk. We’re classy like that. So, we changed it to Zeus. It’s similar enough that it didn’t confuse him and much more befitting for a family protector. He’s a one and a half year old Doberman. Obviously. I know you didn’t mistake him for a teacup poodle.

Chris has always said that he’d like to have a big male one day, but we didn’t have that on our current radar. Plus, we always thought we’d bring home another puppy when that day finally came. But, when the opportunity came to us like it we did we knew we had to explore further. First we met him and found out his back story. He’s from a champion line of show dogs and was intended to be a show dog himself. Long story short – the person who bought him never worked with him and didn’t bother to train him to show. He was co-owned with the breeder and she ended up with him with the intention of making him a champion. She is super busy with her other show dogs and farm (I don’t know how she does it all) and realized that she didn’t have the time to show him. She thought the best thing for him was to live out his life as a happy pet in a loving home. We knew we liked him, and he liked us, too. We needed to see if Layla would agree, so the breeder brought him to our house to have a meet-and-greet with her. That was going to be the biggie for us. She’d have to like him. We knew that there might be an adjustment period (if it was going to work at all) because she’s always been the lone dog in the house. When we saw that it looked like she was going to take to him, the breeder suggested that Layla come spend a week at their house so they could get acquainted better in a setting where she wouldn’t feel like she had to be our protector. We picked them both up New Year’s Day and began the process of adjusting to our new family dynamic.

Zeus has a very sweet and silly personality that made it very easy to fall in love with him. He is a great fit for our family. He has quickly learned the way we do things at our house; no dogs on the furniture or eating off of the counters. Yeah, we’re mean like that. We’ve really only had one small hiccup in the adjustment period – Isaac’s allergies.

It’s never been too big of an issue before. Whenever he would be done playing with Layla, Isaac would simply go wash his hands and that was that. Adding a second dog to mix immediately set his eyes to itching and nose to running – no petting required. He spent Friday night at his mammaw’s and his nose cleared right up. When he came home Saturday the flare-up started within minutes of entry and the allergy pill he took didn’t even alleviate the symptoms. I had intended to make him an appointment with the doctor this morning to see if she had something that would help him. It looks like that’s not going to be necessary.

To continue reading hop on over to my new blog, Still Playing House. 

HERB INFUSED CIDER VINEGAR – A GREAT FOODIE DIY GIFT

I have this new addiction; salad. I know -weird, right? I mean, I’ve always liked salad, but now I actually crave it. I blame this herb infused cider vinegar recipe.

Did you know that flavored oils and vinegars are becoming a big thing? Like gourmet shops opening up with tasting rooms and everything kind of thing? While we were on vacation in southern Indiana last month, we visited one in Nashville called The Wild Olive. Check out some of the flavored vinegars they offer: Fig Balsamic, Jalapeno Lime White Balsamic, Maple Balsamic, Dark Chocolate Balsamic, and Garlic Cilantro Balsamic to name just a few. With my new love of salads I had to come home with a couple of bottles.

Check out these flavors.

The Lemongrass Mint is light and fresh while the Cranberry Pear is perfect for this time of year. Just imagine eating a salad that includes finely chopped pears, dried cranberries, walnuts and maybe some cubed Swiss or Feta cheese on a bed of mixed greens with this Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar and a touch of oil on top. Is your mouth watering, yet?

We all know by now that any gourmet item comes with a gourmet price tag. For instance, a 250 ml bottle of the above vinegars costs $14.99 per bottle, while a 500 ml bottle comes in at $22.99. Granted, a little goes a long way. But you know what? You can totally make your own. I’ll let you in on a little secret…it’s REALLY easy. And fast. If you need a gift for the foodie in your life – this is your Huckleberry.

To continue reading hop on over to my new blog, Still Playing House. 

DIY CONE WREATH ORNAMENT

DECEMBER 18, 2014 

Are you ready to learn to make my favorite of all my handmade ornaments this year? Good.

I had mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to do a white, neutral, rustic/glam Christmas theme this year instead of my traditional red. I also wanted to do this with a budget of zero dollars. This meant that I would need to get busy crafting. I scoured Pinterest for ideas and took my crafting supplies on our family vacation to a cabin in the woods last month. Unbeknownst to me I would have absolutely no access to the internet for an entire week. So much for getting directions off of Pinterest. I had to wing it. There are different versions of this cone wreath ornament floating around the web, but this is the way I did mine.

SUPPLIES:
3 hymnal pages (or book pages, et.)
Hot glue gun
Hole Punch
Clear reinforcement labels
Evergreen sprig
Small pine cone
Ribbon or twine for hanging

To get the rest of the instructions, hop on over to my new blog, Still Playing House.

A CHRISTMAS STORY – PAM’S TALE PART 2

DECEMBER 16, 2014 

I promised that I would finish my Christmas tale today. If you need to catch up, read Part 1 here.

Isaac didn’t want physical gifts for Christmas this year. There were two concerts he wanted to go to instead. Yesterday, I shared a bit about the one we went to this past weekend. The first one we attended was last month. Allow me to share with you the saga it took to actually make it there.

This concert featured Francesca Battistelli

and Sanctus Real. These guys are from my neck of the woods, so I was pretty excited about seeing them in concert.

We had the whole thing planned out. We’d leave the house at 3 PM and make the hour drive to Fort Wayne where we’d grab a bite to eat somewhere and make it to the concert by 6 PM. We didn’t concern ourselves with the need to be there too early to stand in line because we had tickets for the Artist’s Circle. We would just get there when the doors opened. Let me reiterate here – that was the plan.

Click over to my new blog, Still Playing House, to finish this saga.

A CHRISTMAS STORY – PAM’S TALE PART 1

I have a little Christmas story to tell. But, it’s not your typical Christmas story. It’s personal. It’s the story of Christmas 2014 in my household. Specifically, Isaac’s Christmas gift. You see, when we asked him what he wanted for Christmas this year he didn’t ask forthings. What he really wanted for Christmas was to go to two concerts. Last night we saw Toby Mac and Matt Maher.

It was SO good! I swear, TMac is 50 years old and dances around the stage like he’s 19. Needless to say, it was a very high energy concert.

This one pretty much went off without a hitch. The concert was held in the Performing Arts Center at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne. It was indoors, but set up like an amphitheatre. Every seat in the house was a great one. As a family who doesn’t particularly care to be crowded in swarms of people like a can of sardines, we choose to sit directly in the center section in the very top row. There were still a lot of people at this sold-out concert, but we felt like we had a little more breathing room up there. Here’s the thing about sitting in the top row – heat rises.

A little back history on me. At some point in my adult-hood I became allergic to the cold. That’s my doctor’s official diagnosis. I live in Indiana, y’all. I get to have more fun than a barrel full of monkeys in the fall, winter and most of the spring here. But, here’s a little tid bit that makes that even more exciting. I have some hormonal issues that causes wild temperature swings. That means I’ll go from covered in painful, itching hives because I’m freezing my tail off to profusely sweating femininely glistening five minutes later. It’s so much fun that I feel like I live in my own personal carnival i. I’m my own Circus Freak. Thank God that at least I don’t also fill the bill as The Bearded Lady.

If I don’t quit finding stray hairs to pluck out of my chin, lip, and yes, nose I might still be able to manage it. Are you jealous of all this sexy, yet? So, back to my story…

The line to get into the building was wrapped all the way around the block. It’s December. In Indiana. I’m kind of like Diana Prince when I’m out in the cold for very long. I morph into my alter-ego.

To continue reading, hop on over to my new blog, Still Playing House.

DIY Paper Medallion Ornaments

CRAFTY STUFF

DIY PAPER MEDALLION ORNAMENT

DECEMBER 12, 2014 PAM LEAVE A COMMENT EDIT

Hello, Lovelies! Can you believe that Christmas is just twelve short days away? I’m still a little shocked by that fact. Seriously. I still have a few projects I wanted to do before THE DAY. You know, like make new stockings. Those are kind of important, so I need to light a fire. It’s time to get my craft on again. Wanna join me?

This a fun little project that reminds me of all of the millions of fans I made out of construction paper in elementary school. Did you make them, too? Then you can make this next ornament. It’s like making construction paper fans, but without the construction paper. And it’s not a fan. OK, it’s not just like making fans. Let’s say it’s exactly similar.

PAPER MEDALLIONS

Supplies:
3 pages from a hymnal, book, scrapbook paper, or any pretty paper
Glue Stick
Elmer’s Glue-All
Hole punch
Clear reinforcement stickers
Twine or ribbon for hanging
Scissors

To continue reading how to make this ornament hop on over to my new blog, Still Playing House.

DIY Evergreen Swag and Tassels

CRAFTY STUFF

DIY SIMPLE EVERGREEN SWAG & TASSELS

NOVEMBER 24, 2014 PAM 2 COMMENTS EDIT

I mentioned in my previous post that I had brought some crafting supplies with me on our recent vacation in Brown County, Indiana. The first thing I made was a super simple evergreen swag for my front door. “What’s a swag?”, some of you may ask. Basically, it’s a lazy person’s wreath – all of the cuteness for your front door, wall or toilet seat (not really, that would be painful) without all of the wrapping something on a frame. S.I.M.P.L.E.

To make this you’ll need…

To continue reading click on over to my new blog, Still Playing House.Still Playing House.