We're Kicking the Flavored Creamer Habit

I like to say I am the cream in Husband’s coffee but that isn’t entirely true. For the past year or so Husband used flavored creamer in his coffee, which is fine because I don’t like third degree burns from swimming in his coffee cup every morning.

April's One Small Green Change is Husband’s. He is going to give up flavored coffee creamer with its questionable ingredients and extra packaging (while recyclable it is still an extra thing to deal with.) This won't effect me either way because I drink my coffee black - like my heart.

We try not to buy products containing high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils to try to keep the health conditions affecting our older family members at bay for as long as possible. Although realistically no matter how well we eat and take care of ourselves, that stuff may happen because genetics are well, genetic. Our goal is if it happens, it happens when we're 90 or so.

How to Make Air Freshener Spray the Natural Way!

I put new unlit soy candles in my bathroom to work as an air freshener. Once the smell of the essential oils in the candle fades, I burn them (attended) after dinner to remove cooking smells and for overall candle light goodness.

I’m sure you are aware of those times when a bathroom air freshener needs a little  immediate help to clear the room of…uh…um…odor.

I don’t like most commercial room sprays because they smell as a fake flower factory exploded in my bathroom. Moreover, that’s what they make those room sprays from – a fake synthetic chemical concoction. Boo. Hiss.

Does a room freshener exist without the synthetic ingredients?  It sure does if you make it yourself!

And at a fraction of the cost of a commercial air freshener spray to boot!

  

DIY Air Freshener Spray

19 DIY Dog Beds

Lacey has a dog bed in almost every major room in our house. That way, she has a safe spot to go to if she gets anxious.

Most of Lacey's beds are the pillow type like the Molly Mutt bed (you can learn more about it here)  Her Molly Mutt bed is a DIY bed for nonDIYers. It comes with a interior mesh zippered bag you stuff with whatever you have on hand to make the mattress (we used an old king size mattress pad and my husband's old race t shirts) zipped into a cute cotton cover.

The cover zips off for easy cleaning. Love that!  (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience)

The floor pillow we use as a dog bed in the living room has seen better days. I think Miss Lacey can use a new bed with a little more style. Do I see a fancy DIY dog bed in her future?

Probably.

Let's look for some inspiration!

Pamper Your Pup with a DIY Dog Bed

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.

Do Low Flow Showerheads Work?

I learned not to be picky about showers. When I was a kid, my family had a camper. Piddly water pressure and sprays from the showerhead were a given.

It prepared me for renting apartments. Showerheads in a rental fall under You Get What You Get and You Don’t Pitch a Fit.

I didn’t give the piddle showerheads that came with our condo a second thought because showerheads are supposed to stink, right?

While cleaning the linen closet, I found a new in the box showerhead. Then it dawned on me. I can change my showerhead to one that works. Maybe I can get one of those fancy water saving showerheads while I’m at it!

I’m a real rocket surgeon. I know.

Why Won't My Dishwasher Wash Dishes?

Who knew a high efficiency dishwasher is also high maintenance? Since high efficiency (HE) dishwashers use less water, the water heat up cycle is shorter than a standard dishwasher. That means an HE dishwasher needs hotter water going into the dishwasher than a standard dishwasher, which heats a boatload of water first. A plumber told me if I turned up the heat on my hot water heater, I would get rid of the grit on my clean dishes problem.

Husband wryly observed we could save either water or natural gas but not both.

Yeah, yeah. All is not lost. I can hand wash dishes. Having a house with

 a dishwasher made me realize how much I hate hand washing dishes.

Then there is the dishwashing detergent. My dishwasher likes either the very expensive (Seventh Generation) or the very cheap (Aldi) detergent. I switched between powder and liquid for no reason other than availability or price. The dishwasher was happy. I had clean dishes. That makes me happy because I hate hand washing dishes.

All of a sudden, my dishwasher decides it doesn’t like the liquid detergent. It left food stuck randomly to “washed” dishes and silverware. Gross.