Is your house over-cluttered with small items loosely sprawled everywhere?  Are you having trouble seeing the bottom of your junk drawer?  You don’t have to suffer with discord in your home when you could create a special organizational system that involves storing your items in small jars that can be housed underneath your cabinets and save space.

1.  Locate an area in your home for your space saver set. Consider setting up your space saving jars in a laundry room or even the garage cabinets. You will be permanently adding this set to a cabinet so make sure you don’t damage expensive or new cabinetry.

• Find a well-traveled area or an area that is easy to access.
• Make sure the cabinets can support several mounted jars underneath. If the cabinets are damaged or have poor support, consider using a different cabinet.

2. Separate lids from each jar. You will be affixing the lids to the wooden block.

3.  Line wooden block with lids. Before you make it permanent, map out where each lid will go on the block. Make sure you have enough room to screw and unscrew each jar once the lids and system is put in place.  Trace each lid in the place so you can keep your map in place once you begin to glue the lids.

4. Glue lids onto block. Add several dollops of glue to the top of the lid and then hold in place on wooden block.  Allow several hours or overnight to dry. While the glue will most likely hold in place within minutes but you will want to wait in order to ensure the lids don’t come unglued.

5.  Mount wooden block underneath the cabinet. Slather wood or industrial strength glue on the back of the wooden block. Working quickly affix the wooden block underneath the cabinet and hold in place.

• You may need to hold block in place for several minutes to ensure it remains in place.
• Consider purchasing or picking up a few wooden blocks that measure the width between your cabinet bottom and the countertop. Slide those blocks in place to hold the glued block in place and provide a lengthy dry time.

6. Fill jars with items and screw in place. Once wooden block has completely dried, remove supports and use jar system as needed.

Items You Will Need

SKU: 001280081

SKU: 002440626

With the warmer weather inviting us outside we will need some fun things for the kids to do! I have found a few easy, cheap, and fun things to do outside with the kids. I have personally done these with my 2 nieces and they had so much fun.

*Sidewalk paint

1 cup cornstarch, 1 cup water, and food coloring of your choice

Be sure to make the colors dark because as it dries on the sidewalk it will get much lighter.

*Dr Suess’ OOBLECK (we all laughed so hard with this stuff)

Mix 2 cups of corn starch and 1 cup of water in a bowl. You can add color but I thought that may get a little messy so I did not use color. If you are outside though color may be fun!

This stuff defies Newtons 3^rd law of motion–for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you quickly smack it with your hand it immediately turns into a solid, instead of splashing or moving. If you slowly move it reacts like a liquid. Try to do this in a shady area as I noticed in the hot sun it will harden pretty quickly.

*Fuffy Stuff Snow Balls (as if we didn’t get enough of this, but at least you won’t have to shovel this stuff!)

2 boxes of corn starch and 1 can of shaving cream

This is so soft but can still be molded it really is pretty cool! Go outside and have a “snow ball” fight

*Fizzy Explosion Bags

Take a paper towel and tear it into 5×5 inch squares (this is your “time-release” packet)

Put 1 ½ Tbls of baking soda in the center of the square

Fold the sides of the square in toward the middle and then the opposite sides in toward the middle with the baking soda inside

Pour a ½ cup of vinegar and ¼ cup of warm water into your plastic bag

Here is where it can get a little tricky, you will need to put your “time-release” packet you made earlier into the vinegar inside the zip lock bag. This will need to be done in a hurry because you need to get the bag closed before the fizzing gets out of control. You can try to zip the bag closed half way and put in the “time-release” packet to save some time.

You will need to give the bag a shake and then set it on the ground and back up!

The bag will start to puff up and when it cannot contain itself any longer there will be a big POP!!

I sure hope this will encourage you to get out and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather and have some fun while doing it!

**Don’t forget, check out your local Rural King for most of the supplies needed to try these fun activities!

 

 

As Spring begins to transition to Summer we all could benefit from losing some of those extra pounds we may have put on from not doing much over the long winter, and our pets are the same. Sometimes pets start to look a little pudgy around the tummy. Aesthetic issues aside, it could radically reduce their life span. Here are some things you can do.

Part 1:  Dogs

1. Determine if your dog is truly overweight. You should be able to locate your dogs ribs and spine relatively easily—a healthy dog has only a thin layer of fat between the skin and bones
   
2. Talk to your vet about portion size. Because it varies so drastically from dog breed to dog breed, it’s not possible to have a set portion size. Ask your vet how much your pet should be eating, and how often. Stick to his/her advice.
3. Limit snacks and treats between meals. Even if you’re feeding your dog proper portions at meal time, extra treats and people food between meals can quickly lead to an overweight pet.
4. Find healthy substitutes for fatty treats. Many dogs love carrots—consider giving those in lieu of fatty bones when you wish to reward your dog. Rice cakes are another healthy alternative.
5. Stay strong against begging. It may break your heart to hear your dog whining, but remember that your dog is not starving—he’s probably learned that whining will result in a treat and is playing you to get one. Instead, it’s best to break this habit by ignoring begging and whining.
6. Invest in a name-brand diet formula food for your dog. Newman’s Own and AvoDerm are both brands known to have positive effects on your dogs’ weight ^[2]. If your dog has a very serious weight issue, you may want to talk to your vet about a prescription food.
7. Exercise your dog. Just like humans, dogs need exercise to stay fit. Make sure your dog gets at least one long walk a day. If you don’t feel up for a long walk, consider taking your dog to a park and throwing a ball or frisbee for 20 minutes or so. If you cannot take the time, consider paying some kids on your block or hiring a dog walker.
8. Use medication as a last resort. If you’ve done everything and your dog is still not losing weight, consider an Rx like Slentrol. However, this should only be used as a last resort after talking with your vet.

Part 2: Cats

1. Determine if your cat is overweight. You should be able to easily see your cat’s waist when looking at it from the top. You should be able to feel it when running your hands from your cat’s ribs to its hips (it should be indented). Finally, you should be able to feel your cats ribs
   
2. Allow your cat to exercise. If your cat isn’t an outdoor cat, invest in toys and climbing structure to ensure that your cat has incentive to play.  Make your cat work for its food. Consider putting your cats food in a foraging device like a ball with holes, requiring it to play and work before it can eat.
3. Realize that the specifications on the side of food bags are often well above what your cat actually needs. Those specifications are designed for a highly active, unspayed or non-neutered cat, whereas most house cats are relatively inactive and fixed.
4. Transition slowly. For many cats, the food and food dish that they’re used to are signs of security. Place the new food in a bowl next to the old food for a while, then you can remove the old food all together.
5. Talk to your vet. Consider other causes besides overeating for your cat’s obesity, such as diseases or side effects of a drug.

Recommended products:

Hills Science Diet Canine Adult Light 20 Lb Dog Food         SKU 15440082

Hills Science Diet Feline Adult Light 4 Lb   SKU 15440163