Choosing and Raising a Cat

Cats are probably the most popular pet in the household. In the United States alone, there are already millions of cat owners from the country and the city. Cats make wonderful, independent companions, and they often live to be as much as 15 years old.

If you lead a busy life and you often leave your home, a cat is the best pet you can have. Cats can be perfectly happy by themselves. Leave them food and a litter box and you wouldn’t have to worry about them for the entire time you’re away.

If you want to raise a cat, you may want to educate it early on. Get a kitten not younger than 10 to 12 weeks. Younger kittens may have been weaned too early from their mothers. No matter how adorable, they may not have been properly litter trained and socialized. Such a kitten may grow up into an irritable cat that wouldn’t cooperate with anyone.

If you don’t have the time or patience to watch over a kitten, consider adopting an older cat. Choose one that is healthy, stable, well-mannered, and loving. The best cat or kitten has been raised as a member of a human family. This cat knows and trusts people and is not timid or withdrawn. Male cats are generally more affectionate than female cats.

If you’re having a male, you’ll want to have it neutered. An unaltered male will grow into a wandering feline who often gets into fights. Females, too, should be spayed to prevent yowling, rolling, and carrying on during heat. An altered cat of either sex makes an excellent pet.

Bring your cat to the veterinarian for regular checkups. This is to make sure that your cat lives with you for a longer time and is prevented from suffering illnesses.

Gardening Tip: How to Divide Daisies

Do you have a dense mat of daisies growing in your garden?  Daisies are ‘wild’ perennials that can be quite invasive if left alone for several years.  The good news is, you can actually tame and manage these daisies with little effort. How? Divide, replant and share them.

Note: Apply this process only if you’re growing the following types of daisy:

• Shasta daisy or “Becky
• Ryan’s Pink daisy
• Ox-eye daisy

How to divide daisies:

1. Work from the outer edge of the clump. Use a sharp spade to dig around and to lift large sections of the daisy foliage.
2. Gently separate each small plant cluster with your hands, carefully untangling roots as you go.
3. After you dig and divide the daisies, prepare the bed for replanting.  You can improve the quality of the soil by adding soil conditioner or organic compost to the garden.  Make sure you mix the conditioner or compost well with the garden soil.   
4. After separating the thick tangle of roots, replant the daisies spacing them 8 to 10 inches apart. 
5. Once the flowers are planted, fertilize with a timed-release, granular product.  Water thoroughly.
6. Share the excess daisy clusters with neighbors or gardening friends.

Additional tip: Other pass-alongs flowers include cosmos, cleomes, zinnias, morning glories, and moonflowers.  You can share the annual seeds of these flowers. In autumn, share iris, daylilies, ginger lilies, and black-eyed Susans.

Choosing the Right Colors for Your Home

Colors enrich our world. When we are surrounded by colors, we are able to create a particular atmosphere that suits our needs. This article lists four tips on choosing colors for your home.

We can harness the strength and benefits of colors when we use them to enhance our home. Blending colors successfully can help create a harmonious environment that is calm and relaxing or lively and energizing. Here are four tips on how you can enhance your health and well-being by choosing the right colors for your home:

Sumersault Window Valance- Geo Girl

1. Let the yellow sunshine in 

When you are designing your home environment, consider the amount of sunlight that enters each room. Make sure you get enough glow from the sun’s beams. When sunlight is received into your mind and body, it will give you a feeling of purification. Allowing sunlight to flood into dark corners also rids a room of its staleness and kills some bacteria.

2. Choose colors that heal and inspire 

When you are decorating, think about the effects of color on the room itself and its future inhabitants. How will the room be used? Who will occupy it? Will their problems be alleviated or worsened by your color choices? What are their ambitions and aims? An orange room, for example, will instill cheerfulness into its occupants.

3. Match color with size

Before choosing colors, consider the size and shape of each room. The stronger the color, the smaller a room will appear. Small rooms tend to look more spacious when decorated and painted in pale colors. In larger areas, colors may appear to be more intense. Avoid using a strong color for a big room as it can cause claustrophobia. For dark narrow rooms use light, clear colors.

4. Light and shade 

Before using white, check how much daylight the room receives. A bright white room can be tiring for the eyes and cause frustration. Deep colors may look good with a room that gets plenty of sunshine. When deep colors blend with sunlight, they become several shades duller at night, but can look cozy on firelight or candlelight. If you are painting only one wall in a different color, do not choose a wall where there is a door or window as this dissipates the color energy.

Shopping, Food Preparation and Storage Ideas for the Holidays

Got a few weeks left before the holidays? Don’t panic! Here are some smart ideas on shopping and meal preparation for the holiday season.

Have you begun preparing for the holiday festivities? As you go over your numerous tasks, you are probably wondering how you can accomplish all of them in so short a time. The best way to manage your time is to plan ahead and to get extra help. Here are some neat ideas to make shopping, food preparation and storage a lot easier this holiday season.

Get a Part-time Helper

Bring along another person to help you shop for holiday items. A second pair of hands is a huge help when it comes to shopping and unloading. Give clear and precise instructions to your helper before sending her for an errand. Always ask her to double-check your list before leaving the store.

Use Stackable Containers

Are you running out of space in your refrigerator? Cover bowls and dishes of holiday party foods with a press-and-seal wrap. This special kind of wrap is so strong, you can stack containers on top of one another.

Rubbermaid 8-pc. Modular Food Canister Set: Prolong the shelf life of your favorite foods with this eight-piece canister set from Rubbermaid. These storage containers feature tight seals and a stackable design. They are dishwasher, microwave and freezer safe.

Invest in Good Ovenware

Bake and serve casseroles, side dishes and desserts in specialized oven ware. Doing so will help you save time, especially when guests suddenly appear at your door. Dishes placed in ovenware go straight from the refrigerator or freezer to the oven to the table. Oven wares come in festive holiday colors, too.

Rachael Ray Bubble and Brown Oval Baker Set - Purple (1.25 Qt. & 2.25 Qt.)

Plan on Leftovers

Make enough food for the actual party and for guests who may want to take home food. You can store dishes in individual microwavable containers. Sometimes the best meals are the ones made the next day with leftovers.

Natural Decorations for the Holidays

Adorn the house with natural Christmas decorations. They are cheap, fun to make, and eco-friendly.

Decorating for Christmas puts everyone in the mood of the holiday season. Each year, we purchase new decorations for our house or office, specifically for the Christmas tree. This year, why not go for natural Christmas decorations? Natural decorations refer to the real thing. Using nature to enhance the place is safe for the environment. When the holiday is over, these natural decorations can be easily disposed. There is no need to stash away decorations that are made of plastic and other synthetic material. (You keep the artificial Christmas tree, of course.)

Below are some natural Christmas decorations which you can make at home:

Wreaths and Garlands

Decorate banisters, mantles, and archways with natural garlands which you can purchase at nurseries or farmer’s markets. If you have holly bushes or evergreen bushes in your garden, you can make the garlands yourself. Use the remnants to create strings of garland. The little pieces can adorn candle displays and be used to create wreaths.

Berries on Your Christmas Tree

Do you grow berries in your garden? Berries can add color to your Christmas tree. String a few berries and alternate them with seeds. Brush the string with shellac to seal in the smells. You can do the beading with your kids.

Cookie Ornaments 

How about cookies made of dough and salt? Make Christmas shapes out of the dough and bake them. Because of the salt, these cookie ornaments would become rock hard. Once cooled, paint over them using non-toxic paint. Before baking the dough, punch a hole in each cookie so a ribbon or a string could be passed through it later.

Good read: A Christmas Cookie Book (Includes sixteen recipes for cookies, including Keeping Cookies for use as Christmas tree ornaments.)

Pine Cones

Pine cones are another popular Christmas décor. Apply glue to the bottom of the pine cone and make a place for the string to be attached. Hang the pine cones on the Christmas tree.

Choosing to use natural decorations for Christmas saves money and the environment. Come up with your own decorating ideas and involve the kids in making them.