Squeaky Deaky, You're a Good Dog and Other Songs Written for Dogs to Enjoy

A few years ago, I discovered to my delight that someone out there has written songs designed especially for dogs to enjoy.

As one would expect, I of course immediately put the music on to see if my dogs (I had two at the time) would show any reaction.

My current dog does seem happy when I play Squeaky Deaky, though I will admit that he doesn't have any particular reaction to hearing the squeak toy sound throughout.

I really can't say whether his contented and amenable expression is based on the fact that *I* always seem happy when the song is on, therefore he is happy too... or, whether he actually finds the music pleasant to his doggy ears. Furthermore, he kind of looks like this all the time.

If anything, I'm probably more likely to feel pleased while listening to these melodies meant for mutts! I've been singing them ever since the first time I played them for my pals.

I guess the fact that these songs don't make my dog upset could be viewed as a positive!

The company who composed and produced these songs for dogs is called Laurel Canyon Animal Company. Their CD, Songs to Make Dogs Happy, can be purchased on Amazon.com.

Anyway, here's Squeaky Deaky. My dog is sleeping as the song plays.




And this is another favorite of mine that they've created, called You're a Good Dog.

How Do You Feel About the Rainbow Brite Stripes of Hair Color Trend?

So, I'm seeing a lot of women walking around with either full heads of, or streaks and stripes, of bright color in their hair. Kool-Aid red... unicorn silver mingling with turquoise, deep purple, and such.

Don't be offended if you have done this to your hair because I know a lot of ladies are, and it doesn't bother me per se. But I will not be participating in the Little Mermaid/Rainbow Brite/Jem and the Holograms look. Not saying my "look" (ahem, what look?) is better. But I don't do extreme trends, never have, never will.

I mentioned my opinion of this hair dying trend on Facebook, and I got some thumbs-ups of agreement, as well as some others who are sporting the funky stripes, and wanted to defend the look.

This woman looks beautiful! Even still... I won't be doing it.

I am not saying you shouldn't have hair that resembles My Little Pony. To be honest, I remember lusting after neon Disney Princess hair as a kid, something in me is still kind of drawn to it. 

BUT - it's not my style. So, all of this got me thinking that fashion-wise, I'm pretty non-adventurous.

Over the decades, I've passed on so many trends. Some with no qualms, others with a little regret at not having the guts. White eyeliner comes to mind. I thought it looked great on my friends, but was convinced I had the wrong eyelids for it. Capri pants. It probably took me a full two years before investing in a pair of these, meanwhile every single girl at the bars had a pair except me, who was unfashionably still in jeans.

Also, I have Ugg-knockoff boots now. It only took me about 15 years to get comfortable with the idea of them. No idea why.

To me, the bright colored hair look can be pulled off if you go extremely
light with your makeup. But no... still not for me!

I am a person who has never worn nail polish that wasn't either red, pink, brown, or some combo of those hues. Once, I actually had a bottle of nail polish in my collection that was Easter egg blue hue. But I only wore it once! Ever.



What trends have you bucked versus went with, and do you have pics!? I'd love to see some looks.

A Perfect April Fool's Joke to Play on Your Friends

My kindergartener loves to play tricks and jokes on people. So you can imagine his delight upon discovering this idea from Highlights Magazine on how to fool your friends into eating  "cheeseburgers and fries" that are actually made of delicious cookies and other, fun sweet ingredients!

We had a St. Patrick's Day party, where he somehow (because he is sweet, adorable and enthusiastic) got me to agree to assembling these and setting them out to play a little joke our guests.

The ingredients are as follows:

"Burger patties:" thin mints or other, chocolate coated cookies
"Burger buns:" vanilla wafer cookies
"Lettuce" - shredded coconut mixed with a drop of green food coloring
"French fries" - sliced apple coated in a mix of sugar and cinnamon
"Ketchup" - red icing (smear a little on each bun to secure them to the burgers)

The idea came from the April 2017 version of Highlights Magazine. Thanks for the fun, Highlights!

World's Easiest Bangs Hack

If you have bangs, you know how annoying and unruly they can be at times. Like for example, when you wake up, and you don't have time to wash your hair before heading out into the general public.

Here's a super quick bangs hack. The hardest part of this is that you have to buy the curlers in the first place. But once you have them, great big curlers will be your time-saver for having perfect bangs. They work for traditional bangs, long bangs, face-framing layers, and the side-swept bangs look.

Here. My Conair brand curlers, largest size. Roll bangs around curlers. Go about your life for ten minutes.

 Remove curlers. Done!

My Dog Wearing His New Shoes

I came across a pair of doggie shoes at the Ocean State Job Lots store near us. As one would expect, they came in sets of four. I wasn't sure what size to get for my 25-lb. chihuahua mix, so I estimated how big his paws were and went for a six.

When I got them home and put them on him, this is what happened. We died!!

I guess my message to the makers of dog shoes is that they don't really need a flat bottom. We made it to the end of the street and then he kicked off two of them. Also, they didn't hold up well in the rain!

Knitted Cowl - Dotted Swiss Pattern, New Year's Eve Project

I knitted a cowl on New Year's Eve. That's how ready to party I am, people. Seriously though... sickness ran its course through our household in December. Thus, I elected to stay home on The Most Overrated Holiday Ever, and spent my free evening hours knitting to my heart's content while coughing the night away.

Here I am, triumphant in my knitting victory, at approximately 3 a.m. on New Year's Day. Even as delighted with my Swiss dotted cowl as I am, I've only managed to wear it in the comfort of my own living room.

As far as the knitting goes, this project was a breeze. If you know how to knit, knit 2 together and yarn over, then you've pretty much nailed it. The entire thing took me about 2 days... which is a record breaker for me as I tend to fall asleep while knitting, with my mouth hanging open and my circulars still clutched in my little paws.

Can you spot the boo-boo? I somehow managed to get a little hole on the edge there. It's small enough to fill in with crocheted loops, but I literally had just enough yarn to finish this project and not a bit more! :(

Cozy, cozy! My first cowl, what fun.

The dotted Swiss cowl project takes 2 balls of super bulky yarn - they suggested Encore Mega from Plymouth Yarn, and size 17 circular needles. Wait, actually I think it called for size 15s but I was told I should buy 17s because I'm a tight knitter. As you can see, this worked out well for me.

Here's the knitting pattern for the Dotted Swiss Cowl, courtesy of Plymouth Yarn.

What's Registering on Your Mom Radar Today?

At some point over the course of your life as a mother and wife, you will develop mom radar. This is not something instantaneous, but rather a sort of spidey sense that evolves over time as you grow in your nurturing and care giving, 24-7 on-call role that basically never ends!

Your Mom Radar registers the faint cries of your infant on another floor of the house, even as multiple parties are hooting and hollering or there's a wild and frenzied shootout happening on the TV.

Your Mom Radar picks out your kid from a gaggle of children on the playground.

Your Mom Radar has your brain indexing the entire contents of the fridge, so that when your dear hubby asks, "WHERE'S THE MILK" you'll be able to provide an instantaneous and accurate response.

Your Mom Radar has you walking into a room and making a beeline for all the out-of-place items which you must then return to their proper designated locations because, after all, if you don't then who will?

Your Mom Radar is a homing device for lost toys, missing shoes, old sandwich remnants dropped in the back of the car, and of course, the nearest Dunkin Donuts or McDonald's drive thru in any unfamiliar town.

Your Mom Radar sends up a signal when someone sneaks into the kitchen for a cupcake from the dozen that you planned to bring to the bake sale tomorrow.

Mom radar buzzes rather loudly when your children are in the vicinity of unsavory individuals.

Mom radar knows when it's allergies, when it's a cold, and when it's time to see the doctor.

Mom radar can thwart a meltdown before it occurs!

Mom radar can register distress on the face of sister mom who is wearily trudging down the aisle of Shoprite accompanied by an oaf of a man who is subtly demeaning her! (Yes, I really saw this).

Mom radar has an open communication line to Santa so that mailed letters to the North Pole are not really necessary.

What sorts of signals did you pick up on your Mom Radar today? Leave a comment, get a link. :)

xo,
Mom