HGTV Design Star: Tiny House Challenge

This week the designers designed a whole house in two days. Fortunately, a house is the same size as a playhouse. Those teeny tiny houses are so adorable I want one in my teeny tiny backyard.

If there was any challenge the designers had to bring it, it is this one. Meg knocked her camera challenges out of the park per usual. Karl is coming into his own on the camera challenges. I loved the comment about not wanting to roll out of the loft bed and into the sink. Mark sealed his fate with his trip up on the first camera challenge although his second was as personable as we know him to be. 

Side note: was there an unofficial requirement for the designers to hang animal antlers in their houses? I think all three of them had them. For some reason, Karl and Mark’s antler art reminds me of a Jackelope.

 Jackelops are real because they are on the Internet. Look it up.

Photo courtesy of Animal Picture Archive

Does Your Dog Eat Natural Dog Food?

I am careful about the type of food I eat. I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, palm kernel oil, high sugar and high fat content in my food based upon the health issues I see developing in the older members of our family. I figure if we follow this kind of diet now, Husband and I won’t have those health problems until we’re 90.

I like it here.

 I am even more meticulous about Blitzkrieg’s food than my own. Dog food is not regulated like human food. Oh sure, there are pet food guidelines but those are merely suggestions.  There is nothing to stop a dog food company from using rancid people food to make dog food. In fact many, but not all, dog food companies do.

To avoid this, I buy the natural brands of dog food. The brands that are corn and wheat free and use human grade food ingredients even though they are more expensive. Blitzkrieg’s health improved dramatically once we educated ourselves about dog food production and made buying a whole food ingredient dog food a priority.

Make an Outdoor Rug

Our accidental front yard organic farm gets compliments from family and neighbors

It’s funny because other than making a raised garden bed and transplanting plants we already had, Husband and I didn’t expect the front garden and porch to be my summer project. Funny how projects snowball, eh?

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How Busy People Exetreme Coupon for Healthy Food

Now that I have a sorta extreme couponing system, I'm pretty lazy about devoting a zillion hours to couponing for healthy food.

Scratch that. I never devoted a zillion hours to couponing to begin with and I still end up saving around 50% on my purchases.

Just as before I started my couponing experiment, I continue to buy healthy food and products for my family.

Another reason I don't spend a lot time of on couponing and deal searching is there are many products I don't use or buy due to ingredients. My family tries to avoid high fat, high sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils in our food. I buy and cook with ingredient type foods, not junk food, or prepared foods. That reduces my coupon clipping and deal finding. However, I'm still able to reduce my grocery bill by 50%.

Remake a Coir Doormat with Paint

When the going gets tough, I need a project. It has to be something quick, relatively cheap, and oh if it could be green, that would be the triptych of yippie!

I stubbed my toe on my next spruce up. Once upon a time, this 100% coir doormat from World Market said, “Welcome.”

Now it says, “Don’t bother.”

The Power of Spray Paint in the Garden

My front yard farm is starting to look like a real garden! The beans, winter squash, and cucumbers are quickly climbing the tepee trellises I built. So far, my covert front yard vegetable garden looks like flowering vines and plants.

Update 8/11/11 1:15 PM: Our Property Manager (AKA The Queen of No) told me she likes my yard and it looks very nice during her monthly drive by. She thought my rain barrel rock was a garden doodad - whew!

It would be nice to see the flowering vines and plants when we sit on the porch at night though.

Once upon a time, my solar garden lights were copper until they faded into a hide in the garage color.

On the bright side, I bought the orange flowers for $2.00 at the Restore. 

They were donated from a garden show. Woot!