A "Whole" new magazine...

I may have a new favorite magazine! Whole Living, a Martha Stewart publication (I have always secretly, or not so secretly, loved Martha...) may be my new mecca!

Apparently Body+Soul magazine changed to Whole Living in June 2010 but the former publication has been in print since 1974. I think I picked up a copy of Body+Soul on a plane trip once or twice but was never convinced that its content was anything more than fluff until I saw its rebirth as Whole Living... and now I have a subscription! I just received September's issue today so I thought I would share a little about the last issue before I dive into a new one...

After perusing the Whole Living website, I found their ten tenets of Whole Living and you can see why I like the magazine's content (at least the content that adheres to these tenets!)

Ten Tenets of Whole Living

1. Happiness is a choice. Make that choice today and every day.
2. Good health isn't a gift; it's a habit you cultivate.
3. A healthy, fit body is not enough--true fitness engages the spirit.
4. Think more about what you should eat than what you shouldn't.
5. Laugh at yourself. You're funny.
6. Nurture your spirit. It's your source of strength.
7. Stay connected to the natural world. It will feed your soul.
8. Believe in yourself. Your intuition is rarely wrong.
9. It's never too late to take the first step toward your aspirations.
10. What you pay attention to will thrive.

Here's a quick rundown of what I loved and disliked from the August 2010 issue of Whole Living:

LOVED: Cute little blurbs on low-VOC paint, gardening, healthy snack foods, etc.; barefoot running; article on cutting out sugar (though, the author eats packets of raw sugar... that's a little more excessive than most); blueberry recipes; summer canning article; healthy sustainable eating tips and recipes (even if some of the tips were a little obvious...)

NOT SO MUCH: Ads (not more than usual in a women's magazine, but still... ads...); first person editorials posing as articles (not terrible, but not amazing...); working out outdoors article (it was just your average Cosmo workout article... we know how to work out triceps on a bench/chair/couch/curb now... thanks... they look awesome...); several articles/blurbs on lack of self-esteem (maybe we could focus on self-actualization instead of hating ourselves? Or skip it all together?); a financial horoscope (Ugh...) and again... ADS! For things that have nothing to do with health or whole living! Annoying...

Overall, 3 stars out of 5 thus far... I will post an update after I read September's issue. Happy Reading!

Dirty Paws McGee- Part 1: Coexisting Cleanly with Pets

I hate a dirty house. A messy house (clean laundry to be folded, mail on the kitchen table) I can deal with, but an actual dirty house... with dishes in the sink, hairballs in the corners and spots on the floor... drives me nuts! Having three medium-to-large size dogs, and one medium-to-large sized husband, presents its own set of challenges to keeping the house clean on a daily basis. Here are a few high-tech and low-tech tips to keep your home clean and keep your furry friends there too!

#1. Wipe Paws Here!: As my dogs come in from outdoors, especially in the mornings when they have been out in the dewy grass, I have them sit at the backdoor where I always leave a towel to wipe all four paws before they come inside. They resisted at first, but soon it became routine and now they pause and lift each paw for me when they get to the door, almost like a horse having its hooves cleaned! Even when their feet don't seem dirty, they are bringing in just a little bit of sand or mud each which multiples over three dogs, ten potty trips a day, seven days a week... Wipe their paws and you'll be surprised at how much they leave behind!

#2. Furminator Brush: The Furminator brush used to be very expensive (and it still is $50+ in stores like Petco) but now you can find it new for less than $12 on Amazon.com! They even have a version for cats! Make sure to buy the size that corresponds to the size of your pet (or larger... my medium one that we bought has a pretty small comb) and then just brush your pet as you would normally. This product manages to pull out TONS of loose undercoat (without hurting your pet) which cuts down the amount of hair that ends up on your couch, floor, dog beds, etc. I don't know what makes this brush work so well, but my mom bought a knock-off brand brush and it was awful, so this one is worth the money, especially now that they are on sale! 5 stars out of 5 stars!

#3. Dyson Animal Vacuums: The Dyson Animal vacuum that we have had for two years is the DC-17 Animal. Before we bought our D-17 refurbished off of Amazon.com for $299 (here is a similar deal on Overstock.com), we were burning up cheap $50 vacuums about every 3-4 mths. I had put off buying the Animal for months, despite my best friend's rave reviews about how well it was picking up the hair from her three cats, because of the price. A new Dyson can run about $600, so buying the refurbished model essentially made the vacuum half-price! It was remanufactured at the factory and it came with all of the attachments and manuals, and even some carpet freshening beads, that would come with a new vacuum. I have not been able to tell a difference at all from a new vacuum!
Pros: The amount of hair this vacuum is able to pick up is phenomenal and we have never had any problems with broken parts or anything else, despite the extreme use it gets.
Cons: My only complaints are about the bagless system (which I support because it produces less waste) and the hose. In the bagless collection tank, hair tends to get stuck up at the top of the cylinder, causing you to have to bang the tank against the side of the trash can to dislodge the hair clump. This is problematic indoors because of how much dirt the vacuum picks up, so I have to take the detachable cylinder outside to the big trashcans to dump the dirt so I don't create a dust shower all around my kitchen trash can. Also, the DC-17 is really hard to use on carpeted stairs because the hose isn't very long and so it is necessary to haul the vacuum up stairs as you go, using one hand to hold it on the stairs because the vacuum base is wider than your average tread.
    There is a Dyson Animal handheld vacuum that I think would be perfect for stairs, but at only $80 less than my full upright, I think that will need to wait awhile. I would like to upgrade to the Dyson Animal Ball, at $379 for a refurbished model... anyone want to buy a slightly used D-17? Despite the high price, I really see this vacuum as a good investment, and therefore give it 4.5 stars out of 5 (taking off .5pt for the price).

#4. iRobot Scooba: If you've heard of the Roomba, than the Scooba is its floor washing cousin. You fill the clean water tank with fresh water and about a 1/2 cup of either Clorox cleaning solution or white vinegar (they even have a line on the cup that you fill the tank with for vinegar, yea for corporations supporting green cleaning solutions!) You turn "her" on and let her go (my apologies, it is literally impossible for me not to anthropomorphize a robot, especially one that can actually communicate its needs, if only in a series of beeps)! Now, the initial purchase provides one battery-powered laser "wall" to keep your Scooba in a smaller area so that she can clean better (she tends to go off on long tangents and if you don't keep her confined to an area the size of a small room she can't cover the entire area well enough to really get it clean).
Pros: It vacuums and then "mops" the floor everywhere it goes and does a good job (it will make additional passes if it senses the floor is still dirty in an area); It saves me from having to mop, which is one of my least favorite chores!
Cons: It can't get into corners so you tend to end up with piles of hair in the corners of an otherwise clean room because it didn't get sucked up; Even with a coupon, free shipping and a sale on QVC where I purchased my Scooba, it was almost $200... that's awful expensive for something that doesn't clean perfectly!; You have to monitor Scooba to make sure it doesn't get stuck, move it when it finishes with an area if you have a large or oddly shaped room to clean, and to empty and refill the tanks - you can't just set it up and leave the house; we have already sent two back from Ebay for being duds and sent one back to QVC for electronic problems in addition to our current Scooba being finickyabout working sometimes (troubleshooting doesn't seem to help) and you just have to leave her alone and come back to try again in a few days - no rhyme or reason for it!
Overall, I enjoy using my Scooba and find it useful, but if I hadn't already paid for it, I definitely wouldn't invest the money again. 2 stars out of 5.

More Eco-Friendly Cleaning with Pets Tips Next Week!
Furminator & Dyson Photos Courtesy of Amazon.com

The Politics of Food: "You Are What You Eat"

I saw this artist's work a few years ago and I was fascinated! Mark Menjivar spent three years traveling the nation exploring "food issues," as his mission statement says, and photographing the inside of people's fridges as is... a perfect snapshot of the food going into their bodies and a byline to show the reader a little background into their lives to ponder about why this person/family eats the way they do. In You Are What You Eat, his photographs explores both life and food as the means to that life, even the reflection of it.  

"These are portraits of the rich and the poor. Vegetarians, Republicans, members of the NRA, those left out, the under appreciated, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS, dreamers, and so much more. We never know the full story of one's life."

Wife Pursuing M.A. in English Literature, job lined up to teach at a college in Colorado following graduation, working to design a class on the politics of food for her future freshman- Gulf Coast, FL - 2 Person Household (plus three dogs) - Mid-Summer - 2010

In the spirit of exploration of ourselves, I present to you... MY FRIDGE! Yes, all of our veggies, our organic dairy products, and oh... a heck of a lot of bottles of wine and beer and some "carmel topping" that his mother bought for sundaes on his last visit... despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to get the entire family on board with our high-fructose-corn-syrup-free lifestyle. Baby steps, baby steps...

"I wouldn't feed this meal to a dog!!"

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
-Immanuel Kant

It's 5pm, do you know what your dog is eating? A post at Re-Nest started my wheels turning about what we are feeding our pets (and what those of you out there in TV Land might be feeding yours) so I thought I would share our experiences with you. My family eats an organic, "Paleo" diet as much as possible (all things in moderation, of course!) so we decided to have our dogs go "Paleo" as well and buy grain-free dog food. 

Why Grain-Free?
Grain-free foods and treats contain ingredients and nutrient levels which most closely resemble the ancestral diet of dogs and cats; high in animal based proteins and a healthy balance of fats and low carbohydrates(derived from vegetables and non-grain sources). The protein content in grain-free dry foods is high but not so high that can damage a dog's system (there are claims that raw-meat only diets can damage a dog's pancreas and more) and the rest of the food is composed of fresh fruits and vegetables (not corn gluten, which is the corn by-product that most dog food is made of). It only makes sense that animals descended from wolves and wild cats would be healthier eating a meat-based product instead of a corn-based one, but in our corn-based American society these days, who is really surprised that we are feeding our pets corn too?


How did you chose your food? 
   There are tons of options of dog food options out there from a Raw Food diet (this all-natural, rehydratable"just add meat & water" one looks pretty neat!) to your average bag of kibble at the grocery store but here was our criteria when we chose our dog food:

1. Quality of the product: We wanted a high-quality product that provided the best nutrients specifically formulated for active dogs.

2. Ease of Use: I think that raw food diets (especially one that incorporate vegetables and other necessary nutrients and enzymes) is probably the best thing for my pet, but do I have time to be baking breakfast and dinner for a pack of dogs twice a day? Um, No... I wanted to be able to buy the product, put it in a huge Tupperware to keep it fresh and then scoop it out twice a day at mealtimes. Dry food without preparation was a must.

3. Price: Buying raw meat for our pets, especially organic meat, is often cost prohibitive for many families, ours included. I do believe that feeding creatures, be they children or pets, quality food now saves on medical bills later but sometimes the price tag right now is just too high. Bagged, grain-free foods can be found at reasonable prices at a variety of retailers, even in the boonies where we live, or can be bought in bulk online.

So what do your dogs eat?
    We are actually in a food transition right now. We have fed our dogs EVO for the past two years and absolutely LOVED it! Unfortunately, Proctor & Gamble just bought out EVO and, as they did with IAMS after the Eukanuba buy out, they plan to "adjust the formula" in the food after the buyout is complete in June 2010. By law, P&G has six months to inform the consumer that the formula has been changed, so your dog could be eating grain & other junk for six months (while you are paying full price!) and you would never know!
     In light of the buyout, we are in the process of switching over to another grain-free dog food. We have tried "Taste of the Wild" and "Orijen" foods (both in their red meat/bison formulas) and we have decided to go with "Taste of the Wild" because it is significantly cheaper. I bought three huge bags of EVO this month before the formula changed, so once the pups run out of that I will put them completely on "Taste of the Wild." and see how it goes... Another review to come! Here is a site that lists all of the grain-free dog foods and their contents if you would like to compare foods and chose for yourself.

What differences did you notice after transitioning to grain-free food?
     We transitioned right after bringing a new dog, formerly a stray, into our home (Sadie, our little princess that you've seen on the site before). Her ribs were showing she was so thin, her coat was awful and she was generally unhealthy when we brought her home. Our oldest dog, Atticus, was a little chunky thanks to too many extra treats from his Mama (oops!). After several months on grain-free food, all of our dogs had healthy, thick, coats (we received a flood of  compliments on the two boys coats today while volunteering at the local pet shelter! And those dog people know a good coat when they see one!), much improved overall muscle tone for all of the dogs and their previous health problems (chronic yeast ear infections in both spaniels) disappeared! We haven't had to take the dogs to the vet other than for accidents and their annual shots since switching to grain-free! And the dogs weights all evened out to be "perfect specimens" without having to feed any of the dogs more or less food than the recommendations on the bag.
   Additionally, because the food is so nutritionally dense, you are able to feed your pet a smaller quantity of food. Those of you out there (like Re-Nest's author) who are feeding your 50 lb dogs four cups of traditional, corn-gluten dog food daily will be able to cut back to two cups of grain-free food, in our experience. The grain-free foods are more expensive, but the smaller quantity needed allows us to make a smaller bag of grain-free last as long as the grain-based food we were purchasing previously.

What do I do with all of my old corn-based dog food?
Don't know what to do with all of that old dog food? Corn Gluten is also a great natural, broad-leaf weed preventative for your lawn. It is part of a long term maintenance program, so check out "corn gluten" on an organic/natural gardening page, but you can sprinkle the old dog food straight on your yard and it will disintegrate after a few waterings or good rains!

Aphid Death

Since we bought our house two years ago, I have attempted to make all of my gardening organic, natural and sustainable and have had mixed results on all fronts. To be honest, I have never really tried using chemicals or pesticides on plants so I have no real experience with how much better or worse my natural and/or organic methods are than conventional gardening, only which natural/organic methods work and which do not. For all I know, I am battling Goliaths that agri-farming hasn't seen in decades. If so, I can only hope that my heirloom, pesticide free fruits & veggies taste better and help me live longer, and that all this isn't in vain!

    Anyway, in addition to my herb, fruit & veggie garden, we have a full yard of all sorts of plants leftover from the previous owner. My favorite is the towering magnolia tree who I am most impressed by after seeing the FEMA records on our home and knowing that she was quite a few feet under salt water on at least a dozen occasions and yet she keeps on plugging on strong. A close second in my romantic Southern fantasy garden (I dream it will look like the gardens in Charleston one day and I have desperately planted a half dozen hydrangeas out my back steps in the hopes that they will one day cascade heady blooms over the rail of my porch... the sandy soil and extreme heat have succeeded in keeping them only about a foot high and two feet wide for two years... a girl can dream, can't she?) are the two fabulous gardenias that flank my raised bed garden. But, the bane of my existence, are the aphids who frequent said gardenias like they are a biker bar serving free liquor. Last year I spent the entire summer (and it's a long one in Florida) spraying both plants daily with a diluted mixture of dish soap & water and the results were minimal to say the least. This year, while wandering around Lowe's on a paint color scouting trip, I saw that Ortho (the usual pesticide folks) also had an EcoSense line and that they touted their Insceticidal Soap as able to stop aphids in their tracks.

    On May 12th, I started an experiment to see which was better: my dishwashing mix or the insecticidal soap. Was this $5 spray bottle full of nothing more than what I was mixing up myself at home? Or was there a secret to what made the little buggers fly away and never return that I hadn't mastered yet? Anyway, I was going to spray one bush with insecticidal soap and one with my dishwashing mix (I didn't have a control... my apologies, it's a small garden) and see who did the best after two weeks. My experiment stopped after Day Two, the insecticidal soap won. Hands down. No contest, no second judge... my dishwashing mix was a pitiful pop-gun compared to the bazooka of the insecticidal soap.

Now, I know $5 a bottle is pricey (and I hate that there weren't any refills available at my store or even online it seems) so the waste potential is enormous. I have two good size (4ft wide x 4 ft tall) gardenia bushes and I generously coated them on the top and bottom of EVERY leaf until the tree was pretty much dripping with soap. The one bottle, with this level of coverage for two bushes, only lasted me one use. Thankfully, the aphids stayed away for nearly a week before I had to use a second bottle to try again. That lasted just as long, but then my husband did some overzealous pruning and cut both gardenias way back and the aphids haven't returned, so I'm not sure if the weather changed somehow to run them off or if the pruning cut back on their numbers. Either way, I am happy!
    Previously, with my dishwashing soap solution, I would spray the tree off with water (to disturb the aphids and encourage a lot of them to fly away) and then coat each leaf just as thoroughly with the soap solution. The next day the aphids would be much fewer (as you can see from the first photo of the gardenia above, the plant was just lousy with them. They would rise in great plumes when you rustled the leaves and even took off and started eating my tomato plants, which I didn't even know they liked!) But there was never a real elimination of the aphids, just a decrease in their general numbers. I got so angry toward the end of the summer and I was so ruthless toward the little buggers, my husband started to make fun of me (hence the title, "Aphid Death," though I still maintain that would make a great band name for the right group...). The next day after spraying the insecticidal soap, the aphids were gone. Not one little flying creature for an entire week!
    Overall, I give it 3 stars out of 5. Now, I can't in good conscience give this product too many stars because #1. The packaging is so small (even for a spray bottle, it's a small spray bottle) and doesn't appear to have refill available to reuse the bottle; #2. Though the company statement says:

“Formulated with specially selected active ingredients, Ortho® EcoSense™ Brand* offers sensible effective solutions for insect control, plant disease and rose care. Kill bugs and control disease to help flowers, vegetables and roses thrive.”

I feel like (and perhaps it is just the environmental skeptic in me) that this product can't be 100% natural when coming from Scotts/Ortho brand who makes their living on lush, chemical laden lawns at all costs (though, to be fair, I couldn't find any compelling evidence one way or the other that this branch of the company was actually "green." All the reviews I found were far more anecdotal than scientific). Otherwise, I love this product for the results I had. I was so frustrated by aphids and this completely eliminate my problem. Now, if your aphid infestation is not that bad, the dishwashing soap trick may work for you (two tablespoons liquid dish soap in a spray bottle and fill the rest with water) and save you a bundle of cash in the process. But for the length of my frustration, this product is currently well worth the money for me... now if I could just find it in a larger bottle...

Havin' a ball...

The thrill of victory...

Hopefully on this holiday weekend you are not only giving thanks for our veterans and their sacrifices, but you are also able to spend time with your friends & family and get a few projects done around the house. In light of that, today's posts (yes, post-S, multiple posts today... wow... feast or famine, right?) will be about spending time with your furry family (and hopfully the people kind too) and getting some work done in that long neglected garden before summer really kicks in.

     And without further adieu, the Romp-n-Roll review! We picked up this little beauty at our always fabulous, 3 Dogs and a Chick, based on rave reviews from the staff there. We chose the 6" ball (though the other sizes were available as well) because we thought the weight was probably the largest that Sadie, our smallest dog (about 40 lbs) could successfully swing around and fling by the rope on her own while playing. Though the ball comes in Red, Blue, Baby Blue or Pink the pink and baby blue balls are scented (bubblegum and blueberry, respectively) and the novelty of that was just too appealing for me not to get one of those. We chose hot pink because we figured (color blind as they may be?) that the color would be easier to see against the water when we tossed it out good & far.

   Jolly Pets, I'm sorry to say, does not appear to have any organic, sustainable or green commitments in their company's mission but they do claim to place a great deal of pride in the quality and durability of their products, and they all come with a manufactures guarantee. They also make toys for horses (which I love) and zoo pets (mixed feelings... hate that the animals are in the zoo, but happy that someone is making quality toys for them to play with if they are already there) and apparently horse products is where they got their start, so they have a long history of making durable items.

As you can see, Dad got in on the tug-o-war fun as well...

    To be honest, we haven't tried this toy indoors yet because it went to the beach the same day we bought it. We hung it outdoors to dry afterwards and it has gotten soaked in a thunderstorm everyday since so we haven't been able to bring it inside while it was dry yet. I imagine, based on outside play, it will be your average tug-o-war rope toy on dry land.

     In the water, this toy is awesome! Extremely buoyant, easy to throw (I felt like a medieval warrior with a mace every time I would swing it around my head to give it a really good chuck out into the sound!) and the dogs loved it! This one stayed buoyant, even when pawed down underwater, and the size (for better or worse) just fit in the mouths of my medium sized dogs. More so than the "Zisc", which is pretty much meant for one dog to play with at a time even if they all have fun chasing it, the Romp-n-Roll allowed all the dogs to hold on to the toy and even play with one another more as they tried to steal it away from one another before bringing it back.

After our beach session, the ball was in great shape, but it did have some pretty serious teethmark dents on it, but they did not appear to take away from the structural integrity of the toy. The rope was in perfect condition after all the tugging as well. Overall, I would give the Romp-n-Roll 3 stars out of 5. The dogs loved the toy (but really, they are generally easy to please! ;P) and I liked that they could use it to play with each other as well as with us. Its water performance was the best I have seen yet as far as visibility and floatation were concerned. I disliked that the company doesn't have any sort of green/sustainable mission or efforts (at least not that they publicize) and that the ball had dents after one use (I don't think they will hurt the toy long term, but you can tell it has been "used" for sure). Lastly, the cotton rope on the toy, though of good quality, retains a lot of water and having to leave it outside to dry makes it hard for the toy to transition from outdoor to indoor use.

    Hope you all found this helpful, and as always, enjoyed the photos of the "live testers" in action!

Ladies and Gents, No Photoshopping here, this is actually what

Scout's face looks like when he shakes off! Makes me laugh...

Life is Good Today...

     This morning I got up to go paddle-boarding with some friends but I couldn't find them at the beach so I decided to come home and take the dogs to the ocean instead. It was a gorgeous day out and the dogs were so excited when I told them to get in the back of the truck that our third pup took off down the road and took herself to the beach on her own!

     Our youngest dog, Scout, is a little obsessive about always carrying around a Frisbee in his mouth. His "outside Frisbee" is so dirty from playing fetch in the backyard that we won't let it come in the house anymore but he pitches a fit when he has to come in without it. I was at a local doggie boutique the other day and saw this soft, durable Frisbee and thought it would make the perfect "house Frisbee" for our obsessive little canine. The company engineers all of their toys out of "Zogoflex®," an extremely flexible material that is designed to be recyclable and to create virtually no waste during their manufacturing process, plus it is completely latex-free, a huge bonus for latex-sensitive owners and pets!

Zogoflex "Zisc"

Even better if you have dogs that are even a little tough on toys, the company guarantees that toys made of Zogoflex material will last a lifetime or you get your choice of get your choice of a free replacement or your money back and the toy gets recycled! (West Paw Design Guarantee) At $13 a pop for these sucka's, a guarantee that you will never have to buy another one is pretty perfect!!

Okay, now for the review! As an indoor toy, this Frisbee is great! As long as you don't wing it too hard, you can throw it in the house without too much worry about knocking anything over. When it hits the walls/doors/furniture is is so flexible that it never does any damage and doesn't even leave a mark. The flexibility also helps the dogs pick it up because they can use their paws to bend it and get it in their mouths easier so no more loud scraping noises and frustrated barking as the pups nose a Frisbee along the floor for ten minutes trying to pick it up!

                    

As an outdoor toy, the "Zisc" was touted for its ability to float so the first thing I wanted to try was to see if it would stay on top of the water. Good news and bad, the "Zisc" floats but if a pup runs into it the Frisbee sinks about six inches below the surface and takes awhile to come back to the top. This was a problem for the dogs in the beginning as none of them wanted to put their face underwater (apparently no one ever taught my pups to hold their breath... whoops!) and they kept abandoning the toy in deep water because they couldn't pick it up (and then I had to swim out to retrieve it!) But after a few tries, the dogs figured out how to hold their breath (Scout blowing bubbles underwater from his little snout was priceless!) and had a ton of fun with it. Plus, the bright color really helped them to see it when it was far out into the sound. When we used regular plastic Frisbees out in the sun, eventually the weather and sun damage would make them brittle and they would always break in the dogs mouths and I was afraid that they would swallow one of the pieces. 

     Overall, I would definitely recommend the Zogoflex "Zisc" but I would probably only give it 4 stars out of 5. I love the sustainability of the company, the flexibility of the product and how much the dogs love it. I wish it floated a little bit better and the price tag is still high, even if it does come with a money-back guarantee. I am especially happy with my purchase because I was able to support Nicole, the owner of "Three Dogs and A Chick," and local businesses!

As these tired pups will tell you, life is good today...

Enjoy your weekend!