sincerely yours, dena

While drinking my tea this morning I caught myself looking at this shadow box I made 3 years ago. It’s got a pict and beach findings from our first trip to a Maine Beach with Rubbles. It was fun to compare the Rubman then to the massive beast he is now. 3 years and about 70 lbs later, he looks a little different. I’m going to go hunting for a similar shadow box and make another collage with a more recent photo.

I have a dog. I have a black dog. With owning a dog comes the piles of dog hair that I endlessly sweep up around my house. Being the suckers that we are, the dog sleeps in the bed. Keeping the bed clean from hair is a useless battle. I should have bought stock in those lint rollers. I gave up and got smart. Now I roll an extra bed sheet at the foot of the bed. When it’s time for bed, I roll the sheet to cover the bed spread and the dog and the dog hair get contained on the sheet. When I make the bed in the morning I roll the sheet back to the foot of the bed. It’s so much easier to wash/shake a bed sheet than the comforter not to mention less expensive!

Our doggie child, Rubbles was really nice to his daddy this year. Nothing better than breakfast in bed. To make it extra special, Rubbles bought a piece of plexi glass at home depot to fit the inside of the breakast tray.

Using some extra scrapbooking paper and a glue stick, he scrapbooked his favorite picture along with a personal note straight from his little doggie heart.

Some ‘mom’s to be’ hate baby shower games, who can blame them? Here’s an alternative game activity that everyone loves: decorate baby onezies for the little one.

Here’s a picture of the one I made.

You can attach ribbon using liquid sewing which can be found at any craft store.

Things you’ll need:

• Assorted ribbon
• Iron on letters of different colors and shapes
• liquid sewing
• iron
• white onezies of different sizes
• Iron on transfers (print out ahead of time on a ink jet printer)

Now that I’m in prime planning mode for my sister-in-law’s baby shower this weekend, I glance thru previous baby showers that I threw to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

I am big on “themes.” I like a whole event centered around one theme to tie it all together. This worked out great when my friend Sasha was expecting. We all went to Clark University together (the baby daddy included) where we consider ourselves all “Peas in the same Pod.”

The theme was born.

Favors where little takeout boxes filled with dirt, a mini terra cotta pot, sweet pea seeds and instructions. I secured the boxes with little labels saying “Grow your own Sweet Pea.”

Each dish had a proper name tag to introduce themselves to the guests. “Hi, I’m Cobb Salad. Please to meet you. Would like to try me?”

One of my favorite things to do for the mom-to-be is to pre-make the thank you cards/envelopes. That way she can spend her time on more important things like… I don’t know… get diapering genies and stuff.

For the final touches I put my Photoshop talents to good instead of evil and substituted the cartoon baby for my real life baby. How cute is my Rubba Dubba!

Don’t forget the kids this Easter who sit “underneath” the dinner table. Bake some homemade goodies for the 4 legged guests too. My favorite resource: The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook which has this ruffilious recipe for doggie cut outs.

Carrot Crunchies
You’ll Need:

• ½ cup ground high-quality dog food kibble
• 2 cups grated carrots
• ½ cup applesauce
• ½ cup plain lowfat yogurt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Here’s How:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put the dog food kibble in a food processor or blender and grind to a coarse flour. Measure ½ cup after grinding.
3. Use a food processor or blender to puree the grated carrots.
4. Add the applesauce and yogurt to the food processor or blender and puree again until the mixture is a smooth, thick pale orange cream.
5. Spoon the pureed mixture into a large bowl. Add the flour, ground dog food kibble and baking powder. Mix until a dough forms and then knead with your hands until mixed well. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.
6. Drop the ball of dough onto a floured breadboard and roll out to slightly thicker than ¼ inch. The dough will be soft; don’t roll it too thin.
   
7. Use a 3 inch dog bone shaped cookie cutter to cut the rolled dough into shapes. (I used a set of Easter shapes I bought from Target)
8. Place the cookies on greased sheets.
9. Bake for 10 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes, until both sides are golden brown.
10. Remove from the oven, let cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container.
11. Crunchier treats: For crispier treats, when all the cookies have been baked, turn off the oven. Put all the cookies back on a cookie sheet and return them to the oven. Leave them in the cooling oven for several hours or overnight to harden.

During a recent walk down Charles Street in Beacon Hill I stopped into Four Preppy Paws. They have a bakery case filled with pretty doggie cookies & cupcakes. When my husband opened the box he said I bought better looking dog cookies than I did cookies for him. What can I say, I love my dog.

Let your four legged friend be a hero to another animal in need. Animals need blood during procedures just as much as humans do. Have your dog help out a fellow canine like mine did. Check with your local animal hospital on how you can help. In the Boston area, check out: Angell Animal Hospital.