The Frugal Dog Bed and More

This weekend we added an 8 month old yellow lab mix to the family. We found him in the petfinder.com website in the classifieds section. This is a section where individuals, rather than organizations, can lists animals in need of new homes. It is searchable by location which is always useful.

Aside from a routine vet check up tomorrow and an appointment to be neutered next week, there was no charge for his adoption. A wonderful woman named Tracey had found him and just wanted him to get into a good home.

We're opting to crate him at night for now, so I needed a dog bed for inside the crate. I used an old twin size fleece blanket that had seen better days as the inner stuffing. I figured it washes nicely, holds it shape well and really provided a nice bit of cushion and warmth when folded to fit into the crate.

I folded it into the size I needed and then did a basting stitch through all the layers to keep it together. I suppose you could just fold it without sewing it but with the dog moving around in the crate it might not stay nicely. Then I took some heavy cotton fabric that I had and stitched a simple pillow case to slip the folded blanket into. I left one side open so I could remove the blanket if I needed to wash just the case. (Here's a tip, whenever anyone offers you fabric, say yes. I never thought I'd have a use for this loud zig zag red and black print but it made a great dog bed pillow case!)

Knowing that last night might not be restful, it was Biscuit's first night at home, I put some leftover black beans, some leftover veggies, a bit of leftover rice, some chopped up kale, a bit of tamari and the hot water that I used to get the peanut butter residue out of my Vitamix (it adds a great flavor) into the crock pot last night. This morning everyone could just pop it into their insulated bottles and head off to school and work. It worked out well because my youngest was a little concerned about the size of the dog and must have gotten up 15 times last night. We're all a little delerious this morning.

I'll use that soup either as a side to go along with tonight's dinner or I might add to it and make it the main course. I'll have to check what's in the fridge.

Also on today's agenda, making a plan for holiday gifts. We had the discussion with our families about keeping things smaller, now its time to put pen to paper and figure out how to make it all happen.