How to Make a Fake Vintage Wood Crate

I need more food storage space in my kitchen. I know, I know who doesn't?

In my case we have one three shelf cupboard that holds actual food and the other cabinets hold dishes, mugs, and a bunch of empty mason jars waiting for our garden to ripen.

Replacing the current kitchen cabinets with my dream of cabinets that go all the way up to the ceiling isn't on the 2013 DIY List. Someday, but not today.

 Where can I find space in our small kitchen?

How to Make a Front Car Seat Protector

Husband came home from running on the trail in one of our city parks on a recent hot day. I jumped into the car after he used it and OH. MY. GOD.

Now I  understand why dogs hang their heads out of open car windows.

This doesn't happen to Husband because both Lacey and I always smell like flowers after a workout.

To his credit, Husband tries to cover the car seat with a trash bag he has stashed in the trunk. Well, until I toss the fetid mess and decontaminate the trunk and car. Rinse. Repeat.

Old towels don't work either. I need something that absorbs but has a barrier to protect the car seat and is washable. Washable is a MUST. 

I Got My Groove Back at BlogHer13

I spent last weekend at the Big Dance of female blogging conferences – BlogHer. While last year at BlogHer was good, I was determined to make this year even better because I am not grieving this year.

My goals were to learn from my fellow bloggers, network with brands to find ways to thank you for being The Best Community on the Internet, and take advantage of some the pampering and such to help me get my groove back as part of Project Me.

Kelli Edwards from HGTV and I at the La-Z-Boy party, Miss Lori and I living it up at the SocialLuxe Lounge, Kim Moldofsky The Maker Mom and I in my favorite learning space – the hotel lobby. The fabulous Amy from Mod Podge Rocks and I meet in real life! Tamara Rubin of MisLead tests my wedding ring for lead and heavy metals at the Healthy Child Healthy World party, Leah Segedie of Mamavation demonstrates the benefits of healthy diet and exercise by lifting Ted Rubin of Collective Bias. 

Oh, and the goal of not puking in the Expo Hall because I over lactosed myself again. That one is important.

How to Clean Dog Urine from Carpet and Keep Your Dog from Peeing on the Carpet Again

Lacey piddles, poos, or sometimes vomits when she gets anxious or has a doggie panic attack. Building Lacey’s confidence with our behaviorist will take time and we are ready to take as much time as Lacey needs to conquer her fear demons.

In the meantime, I’m cleaning pet carpet stains and removing dog urine marks on my carpet in a way that the dog doesn't urine mark that spot again.

Hey everyone! Look what I did!

Of course once I take care of one area, Lacey thwarts me and uses a different part of the house the next time she gets upset and we start this song and dance all over again. And again. And again.

I'm an expert on cleaning dog pee, dog poo, and dog vomit from floors and carpeting - be jealous.

How to Compost Paper

The clay soil in my garden is so bad,

"How bad is it?!" you say.

That I was so frustrated, tired, and sore from a week jumping on the shovel with my whole body to dig into the dirt and turn it I named my blog Condo Blues.

It took a good long while to amend our soil and get it healthy enough to grow something that didn't die the following year. What is the secret to our now thriving landscape?

Compost.

This is what the compost in my compost bin I built from a storage tub looked like when I checked the bin in last spring.

11 Pretty Summer Things to Inspire Your Home Decor

While running errands and being otherwise frazzled during one of those weeks, I needed a little Me Time to recharge my creative brain. One way I do that is to look at pretty home decor eye candy. 

That's how I found myself in Homegoods after buying dog food for Lacey. This isn't a sponsored post or ad or anything. It just so happens we buy Lacey's human grade ingredient and only full of good stuff  dog food at a regional pet store that just so happens to share a shopping center with a Marshall's/Homegoods and  sometimes eye candy drive bys happen.

Let's "shop" for home decor and DIY ideas and inspiration!

First up, are mint green shabby chic, pretend antique candle holders. One thing I like about this particular store (other than it is close to home) is they put together some since shelf displays in the dinnerware section. It is hard to tell from my cell phone photos, that the candleholders are displayed with the pseudo jadeite light green dishware and decor. The light green color is what makes this mismatch of items into a pretty display that works. This is something anyone can do to make what you already have look less of a hodge podge of stuff you have and like and more like a purposeful and spendy display of stuff you have and like for zero dollars. Not to mention the whole the greenest thing is to use what you already own thing.

I laugh to myself when I see a ready made knock off made to look like something a DIYer did or found in a antique/junk shop. Although I realize not that everyone has access to those real goodies or  time to redo them. A few fake goodies somehow have found their way into my house for the same reason.

How to Make a Juice Pouch Belt

All of the walking I'm doing to burn off Lacey's nervous energy is paying off. My jeans and shorts are too loose in the waist! I haven't lost enough weight to go down a size yet but I have lost just enough weight to make my current pants droop to I-need-to-do-something-about-this levels.

I recently added more empty Go Go squeeZ applesauce squeeze pouches to my craft room stash (I don't care if they are supposed to be kid food. They are fake sugar, GMO, and artificially color and flavor free,  made from real apples, and a life saver when I'm traveling lactose intolerant.) Then it hit me - why don't I solve my baggy pants problem and clear out the soon to be painted craft closet by making a belt out of Go Go squeeZ packets?

 How to Make a Belt Out of Go Go squeeZ Pouches

Craft Room Remodel Before

I lovingly call my craft room/guest room The Room Where Old Furniture Goes to Die because that's where we shoved everything that didn't have an immediate home after we moved into our condo. For nine years, it looked like this photo from the Pinterest envy busting post I wrote last December. 

You are jealous of this room, aren't you?

Then Miss Lacey joined our family and taught me a new game: The Floor is Lava.

When Lacey is feeling insecure or feels that Husband and I have stared enough at those boxes on our desks, Lacey grabs something I have stored under the guest room bed,  ever so casually carries it into the computer room, and sits near me so I am sure to notice her because in her mind even bad attention is better than no attention at all.

Here's the current post-Lacey guest room/craft room design:

I have no idea why Better Homes and Gardens hasn't called me to feature my beautiful guest room.

OZ China Town Fairy Garden

We have a bare spot in one of the front flower beds that always needs extra attention. We'd like to make lower maintenance this summer. I wasn't sure how to make this happen in a pretty way, until we received an advanced copy of the Blue Ray Combo Pack of the movie Oz the Great and Powerful (Thank you Disney!)

Then I knew.

If I could travel to Oz, I would rebuild dear, sweet China Girl's village after the Wicked Witch destroyed it and her people. China Girl stole our hearts, especially after seeing the care they took in creating her character after we watched the extra making of featurette. It must be the magic of Oz because I never was a doll person as a kid and yet China Girl ended up being my favorite character in the movie.

My China Town fairy garden, inspired by Oz the Great and Powerful

OZ is full of wonderful people and creatures. I'm sure if I rebuilt China Town as a fairy garden, the fairies would move in and keep China Girl company.

I also hope the fairies will help me out and tend our garden, because I doubt we can grow anything that comes close to director Sam Rami’s gorgeous OZ visuals but I will try.

Let's journey to OZ!

How to Make an OZ the Great and Powerful China Town Fairy Garden

Socializing Miss Lacey - Our Fearful Rescue Dog

Lacey’s obedience and behavioral training is working! Lacey is consistently walking at our side 90% of the time on a loose leash. Yay Lacey!

We are now able to work on the next layer of Lacey’s behavioral issue onion – meeting other dogs and introducing her to new people and places.

Family time!

First, our behaviorist brought a fake dog into our yard and instructed Husband and I to give Lacey a verbal correction when she acted out. We use the sound AH AH because it has the force behind like a Momma Dog's You-Are-Not-Behaving-Stop-It-Right-Now bark unlike using the word NO.  The only people I knew who forcefully use NO consistently are toddlers and we are a smidge past that age.

On the one hand, it makes perfect safety sense to use a fake stuffed animal in this situation because you don’t know what reaction you are going to get from the real fearful dog. Poor fake dog has been growled at, attacked, and peed on in the line of duty. Sad fake dog face.

On the other hand, and in the crazy part of my brain that is not a responsible adult, it is funny seeing a grown man bounce a stuffed animal on a in leash in my backyard. However dedicated dog people know that sometimes you have to do strange things to help your dog learn how to be balanced and happy. Besides fake dog worked and we were able to work with his real dog on later appoints. Thank you fake dog!

2 DIY No Slip Rugs

Lacey’s decorating again. She doesn’t like my layout of the cotton rugs in the Master bath and puts her own spin on things.

Well, not exactly spin. It is more like a frantic running and sliding the rugs around so she can bark at her reflection in the bathroom mirror kind of thing.

Don’t tell Lisa but it really is a cotton rug slides on the slick floor and it is like surfing kind of thing. We worked on the dog in the mirror thing. I know it is me and I am a pretty, pretty girl!

I need a no slip rug option. It is a miracle I haven’t tripped on the bunched up rugs or slid and fallen flat on my butt while shambling in and out of the shower.  I have nightmares about trying to convince an ER doctor that no, really, I wasn’t beaten by ninjas or anything nefarious, I slipped and fell over a rug and to please leave one hand free in my body cast so I can pet my dog thank you.

I have two bathrooms. I tested two ways to make a no slip rug or bath mat. Both methods and rugs work equally well.

Make a Yardstick Drawer Organizer in 15 Minutes!

Welcome to the most disorganized drawer in my kitchen.

It drives me crazy!

  

 I'll teach you how to build an easy drawer organizer that will 

take you from cluttered to calm in 15 minutes tops!  

This drawer is just small enough that every drawer organizer on the market won’t fit inside the drawer - or at least it seems that way.

One day, I got fed up with my disorganized drawer and decided to do something about it. I built a quick custom kitchen drawer organizer from what I had on hand – yardsticks!

Project Me

Our ongoing lesson with Lacey is to teach her Husband and I are her leaders to help build her confidence and help her with her fear issues.

  

The big difference between Dog World and Human World is to be happy, a dog needs a good leader. Not someone who leads by yelling or hitting but the type of leader who stays calm in a crisis, like an ER nurse. If a dog doesn't think you are doing the job, it is going to try to take over. Human World considers this bad behavior but Dog World considers this the way stuff gets done. 

Lacey is trying to be the boss of this pack. It is stressing her out because she knows she isn’t a strong leader. Unfortunately Lacey isn’t cluing in that I am her leader either.

The Dog World Leader always goes first. Lacey knows her humans walk through doors and up stairs first. She now knows sit, stay, down, and is pretty good on shake with both voice and hand signals. Husband and I use these tricks as a way for Lacey to earn positive things (for example she has to sit so I can put her leash on her for a walk) or to give her something positive to focus on (and the treat reward) when she thinks something is scary.

We are having a heck of a time teaching Lacey to walk by her human’s side and not pull on the leash! This is something we started working on as soon as Lacey came to live with us and before we started working with our behaviorist.

We are on Technique #3 to teach Lacey how to walk on a loose leash. *sigh*

I now understand why some people claim their dogs are dumb and can’t learn. I don’t think that is true with Lacey. Lacey walks well with our behaviorist. Lacey doesn’t yank Husband around (unless she sees a bird) with our new teaching technique but not with me. At all. Lacey, what is wrong with you?!

Our Fearful Dog: Some Days I'm Not Sure How to Help Her

I am flattered when people complement Husband and I on the lengths we will go to rehabilitate a dog with behavioral issues. Sometimes they use nice words like Miracle Worker.

I feel weird about that because I do not think we perform miracles. I think it is more Husband and I being too stubborn to let a pup wallow in fear and act out because of it because we know they have an inner awesome they haven’t discovered yet.

 We read tons of dog behavior books. When we take classes, we pester dog experts with tons of questions. We put together a team of professionals who know more about dogs than we ever will to train us AND our dog. Husband and I aren’t afraid to be wrong and we often are.

The green collar is a calming dog collar. It has mother dog phermones, lavender, and chamomile essential oils to help Lacey stay calm in stressful situations. Our behaviorist recommended it because it goes where Lacey is when she is stressing unlike the phermone plug ins I used with Blitzkrieg. 

The collar lasts 30 days. I bought mine from Amazon here.

Besides teaching basic manners and obedience, our first task is for Lacey to learn it is her humans' job to be the leader and protect the pack, not hers. She does not have to bark and act like a tough girl because she is scared and thinks she should “get them before they get her." Once Lacey learns that, then and only then we will teach her jujitsu and allow her to eat any robbers that try to break into the house while we call the police but this is a long ways away.

DIY Dog Tail Coat Rack

 I have dog.

She has lots of stuff.

Most of  Lacey’s stuff is for taking walks. Her leash, towel, et al is in the drawer of a small step stool by the front door.

In theory.

Most days it looks like this.

 Clutter makes me cranky!

All that junk spilling up and over the step stool means I can’t use it to see out of the peephole in the front door.

That. Short.

Husband thinks this is hysterical.

I think it is time Lacey supervises her first DIY project.

How to Organize Dog Leashes

Washi Tape Dog Treat Box

Introducing the newest must have accessory for spring – the washi tape dog training treat box!

Husband said he was surprised I waited two whole days after we adopted Lacey to make her something. What can I say? I’m a maker.

I asked Lisa to reuse this photo of me because I am sometimes a little shy when she pulls out her camera.
You can read my story here.

Meet Lacey

Pitter patter pitter patter romp romp romp.

“BARK!”

Say hello to our new dog Lacey!

Hello, my name is Lacey. 

She’s recycled :)

Lacey is an 11 month old fearful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Dachshund mix. Look at the long and luscious legs on this girl!