Animal Sanctuary

I’m back!  I’m sorry for being MIA for a bit but our internet was down for quite awhile.  After one new modem and all outside parts being replaced by the cable guy, our internet is finally back up and running so I can resume my postings!

We recently were lucky enough to spend some time in Colorado with my parents, aunt, and cousins.  It was sooooo nice to get out of the AZ heat and Mr. C and I are in love with Denver so it was a perfect long weekend.  While we were there my aunt and cousins took us to the Wild Animal Sanctuary.  The Sanctuary houses mainly lions, tigers, bears, and wolves.  These animals were saved from  horrible conditions which typically consisted of some crazy person thinking they could keep a lion or bear in their apartment or something similar.  The animals begin in smaller areas when they are brought to the reserve and as they bond with other animals they are eventually introduced into the larger areas where they have acres to roam and a safe habitat.

A catwalk was created to allow visitors to view the animals in something closer to their natural setting.   The catwalk creates a stress free environment for the animals since they have no natural predators above and don’t see people parading by at eye level as they would in a traditional zoo setting.  We loved the Sanctuary and I’ve never in my life seen lions so relaxed….they looked just like our happy kitty at home.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.  It was hard to get a good angle sometimes so sorry for those shots!

I don't know about you, but it looks like that lion is a smilin' to me

Clearly not shy.....

This little squirrel was running around the bear habitat.  He clearly was a bit of a daredevil, along with the little bunnies running around the same area.

One very ferocious wolf...I believe he was one of two "adopted" by a couple in the woods behind their house. When the couple was going through a divorce the husband hired someone to kill the wolves so his wife couldn't enjoy them.  Luckily the hired man saved the two and they seem to live a very happy life at the Sanctuary.  It's not really hard to figure out why the wife probably wanted a divorce....

No, this is not a bunny or squirrel!  The animals seemed to be very well fed with piles of raw meat in their areas.

The prides each had separate areas which consisted of many acres, and they also had access to this indoor area if they wanted a change of scenery.

Happy Mother's Day!

It’s Mother’s Day and this year I’m spending the day with my mom for the first time in 10 years.  Actually, I’m pretty sure I was graduating from high school 10 years ago on Mother’s Day Weekend.  That just makes me feel old.  

I’m sure a lot of people think their mom is the best mom in the world, but I really can’t imagine my life without my mother.  My mom has taught me so many things, more than I could list in one post.  She's always been my biggest cheerleader and has been a role model for me in more ways than she knows.  

One thing I've always admired about her is her thoughtfulness.  Sometimes it's with her baking, sometimes with a call, sometimes with a card.  Like a typical mom, she does a lot of things for others without thinking twice.  This is a lesson that’s stayed with me as I’ve seen how her thoughtfulness has made a difference in the lives of others.  Everyday life is busy and stressful and we all have our own issues, but when you're feeling down or grieving or frustrated there's something so special about receiving those cookies or the phone call or the card in the mail.

I came along a bit later in life for my mother and she tells me that I was such a blessing, but I also know that I was very blessed to get to be her daughter.  Today especially, I am grateful for my mother, mother-in-law, grandmothers, and aunts.  Happy Mother’s Day to all of you and all the friends I’ve seen develop into amazing mothers!

Chicken Avocado Salad

When summer comes around I find myself looking for more recipes that are lighter and anything that lets me avoid turning on the oven in the summer is just a bonus.  My co-worker brought this salad to work for a potluck and it was gone VERY quickly.  It’s very light, filling, fairly healthy, and so very delicious.  I changed a few things and it’s become quite the staple in our meal plan.  Did I mention that it’s crazy easy to make as well? 

Chicken Avocado Salad

Slightly adapted from: kalyn’s kitchen

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (or 2-3 c. chicken)

2-3 medium avocados, diced

2 TB. lime juice, divided

Salt

½ c. thinly sliced green onion

½ c. chopped cilantro

3 T. light mayo

Directions

Shred the rotisserie chicken (or boil enough chicken to make 2-3 cups).

Mix the mayo and 1 Tb. lime juice to make the dressing.  Wisk together with a fork and then pour over chicken and stir to coat.  Add green onions and cilantro.

Dice avocados into medium pieces and mix with 1 Tb. lime juice.  Season with salt to taste (don’t skip the salt, it’s just not the same!).

You can make this ahead of time, but it’s best if you add the avocados just before serving.  We typically only eat half of the recipe in one sitting so I mix up everything but the avocados, put half of the mixture in a container for the next day, and just add avocado to the part we’ll eating that night.

You could eat this on bread, croissants, or lettuce, but we just eat it by itself because it’s that amazing. 

April Loves of the Month

Somehow it’s the end of April already.  Here in Phoenix that means that our air conditioners have been on for a bit, and in other parts of the country, such as Nebraska, that means that it may snow tomorrow.  Crazyness.  I would love some of that cold air to come here and in return I’d be willing to share some of our heat :)  If only it worked that way!

Since it’s the end of April that also means it’s time for my loves of the month - my favorite music, movies, books, or anything else that I think everyone should know about because it’s just so darn amazing.

Based on a recommendation, I read Mindy Kaling’s (from the Mindy Project and The Office “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)” and I loved it.  It’s a very quick read and full of random, funny stories.  It was right up my alley.  I told Mr. C I had plenty of weird, random, funny stories and maybe I should write a book like this.  He politely informed me that no one would read it.  Ha!

Mr. C and I checked out the movie “Homerun” this past weekend and loved it.  Although it’s partially about baseball, the movie is more about family, dealing with the past and forgiving even when it seems impossible.   The movie is from a Christian perspective and had a really great message.  The acting was a bit cheesy in a few parts, but overall it was a great movie and definitely one I’d recommend seeing and supporting in the theatre.

Sara Bareilles is one of my all-time favorite artists.  Her songs are always unexpected, anything but cliché, and her voice is natural and beautiful.  Her songs have a great message and since hearing one of her hits years ago, “Love Song”, about her refusal to sell out to the pop scene by just writing a catchy song, I’ve been a huge fan.  I’ve never been disappointed by her music, and her new single, “Brave”, does not disappoint.  You can check out the music video here (also a great music video).

Fossil Collective is my favorite album of the month.  One of their songs was free on itunes and after one listen I was hooked.  The album is mellow and original.  If you haven’t figured it out by now I’m mostly an alternative girl and I like albums with some substance that I can play straight through without getting bored.  This album was just that for me.

…However I’m also loving ZZ Ward’s album.  I really tried to just pick one, but I couldn’t!  I originally fell in love with her song, “Put the Gun Down” which is a perfect song to blast with the windows open (if you were wondering).  While I love the entire album, “Til the Casket Drops”, “Last Love Song”, and “Lil Darlin” are a few of the songs I find myself repeating the most.

Did you find any amazing books, movies, or songs/albums this month?  If so I’d love to hear about them!  We have an upcoming trip and I really need a great book for the flight.

Fabric Flower Wreath

I have a bit of a wreath obsession.  I recently realized I didn’t have one for spring/summer which is of course a huge problem.  I’ve been itching to make one of those yarn wreaths that have been popping up all over pinterest and I figured this was a great opportunity for that. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

-foam wreath form

-yarn

-felt scraps

-fabric scraps (I used a combo of scraps and some quilting squares you can usually pick up for around $2)

-buttons for the center of the flowers

-hot glue gun

Wrap the form completely in yarn.  I did this while watching TV and it went pretty quick.  To start, I looped the yarn around and tied a knot, continued wrapping, and when I finished I tied another knot in the back of the wreath.

For the flowers you’ll need to cut out 8 equal circles for the base and 8 smaller circles for the center (I used a stencil, but as long as your fabric is semi-circle shaped that’s just fine).  You can cut more or less circles, depending on how full you want your flower.  You’ll also need a small felt circle.  The felt acts as your base so you just need it large enough to be able to glue the tips of the base petals on.

For each circle, fold it in half, then half again.  You just glue this onto the felt circle.  Mine halfway overlapped since I used 8 circles.  Repeat with the second set of circles and finish with a pretty button on top.  When I was finished I glued inside some of the “petals” as necessary.

For each circle, fold it in half, then half again.  You just glue this onto the felt circle.  Mine halfway overlapped since I used 8 circles.  Repeat with the second set of circles and finish with a pretty button on top.  When I was finished I glued inside some of the “petals” as necessary.

I varied the size of my three flowers but you can really do whatever floats your boat.

I chose to pin my flowers onto the wreath so I can swap them out as the seasons change, but you could also glue it if you’d prefer.

That’s it!  It would be pretty to hang with a piece of burlap or ribbon too.

Dishwasher Detailing

Just try to keep your socks on for this super exciting post today.  Today’s post is all about…..(drumroll)……cleaning your dishwasher!  Did you like that suspense?  You might be thinking “who the heck cleans their dishwasher, doesn’t it clean itself?  Has Mrs. C lost her mind”?  The short answer is no, I have not lost my mind.

I started to notice that the glasses were coming out of the dishwasher with food stuck to the bottom of them.  Typically I noticed this when I was halfway done with my water and finally realized there was icky stuff in my glass.  One day I had enough and decided it was time to clean our dishwasher.  Here’s what I did:

1. Check the bottom of the dishwasher to ensure there’s nothing blocking the drain.

2. Pour 1 cup of vinegar in a dishwasher safe measuring cup/bowl and set it on the top rack.  The dishwasher should be empty except for this.

3. Run a full cycle on the hottest setting (I find that it helps to run the sink water until it’s hot – I know, not super eco-friendly- before I start the dishwasher)

4. Once the cycle has finished, wipe down the inside of the dishwasher, including the bottom.  Be careful to avoid burning yourself on the heating element.

That’s it!  I was shocked at how clean my dishes have been since then.  The glasses come out sparkly clean now and it was so simple I wish I had tried it earlier.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  One of the reasons I love Earth Day is because Target always gives out free bags!  There are other reasons to enjoy the day though; one being that it’s a great reminder to examine how our living is directly impacting our world.  In the past few years there’s been a huge push to “be green”.  While the slogan is overused and a bit tacky, many companies have been jumping on the bandwagon and upping their recycling efforts.  By now, recycling is pretty thoughtless; most of us have recycle bins at work and home that accept almost anything.  I found out the other day that we can recycle plates at work – plates that have BBQ sauce and coleslaw smeared all over them, as long as you scrape them off.  That’s just plain craziness!

A few years ago I went on a natural/eco-friendly kick but I realized that it’s important to do what works for your lifestyle and time. I’m not suggesting to only do what’s easy, but if you have 10 kids and live in a snowy climate then drying your clothes on a line probably isn’t going to work for you.  Here are a few small, but easy things we’ve continued doing at the Centner house to do our part for the environment.

We ALWAYS take our reusable bags to the grocery store.  It was difficult to remember for the first few weeks but eventually it became a habit and I just grab them when I grab my grocery list.  We bought a few large canvas bags from Whole Foods and what fits in one bag is equal to about 4-7 plastic bags (BTW, what’s up with those baggers only putting 2 items in each plastic bag?).  We’ve had the canvas bags for at least two years and they have held up great.   Most places give you around a 5 cent credit per bag as well so theoretically the bags would pay for themselves in ten years….ok, maybe sooner….

We even went a step farther and bought our own produce bags as well.  I ordered these from a wonderful shop on Etsy, Love for Earth but I’ve seen them popping up in a lot of stores lately.  We get lots of compliments from cashiers on these so if you’re trying to pick up a cashier these might be your meal ticket!

We also use small bags from Whole Foods for our lunches.  Previously I would take plastic grocery bags to work and end up throwing them away when I was finished which  just resulted in a lot of trash.  These do wear out eventually but last a good year if you take care of them and I've seen so many other cute lunch bags.

We purchased reusable ziplock type bags to use for things like veggies, fruit, and sandwiches in our lunches (also from Love for Earth).  I have to admit that I haven’t been using these as much as I used to, but if you pack lunches they are a great investment.  We also use Tupperware type containers for things I used to put in ziplock bags, such as grapes, chips, veggies, etc.  These require a small investment in the beginning but have definitely paid themselves off since I’m not buying ziplock bags like they are going out of style anymore.

Last year I decided to try to cut out as many paper products as possible (I'm never getting rid of toilet paper though...that’s a bit too far for me!).  We started by buying some basic cloth napkins that we use everyday.  I love that they can be bleached and they look much nicer than paper napkins.  I found these on Etsy from Love for Earth (I REALLY like their products if you can't tell) as well.

Lastly, I switched to mostly Norwex products for cleaning.  My friend began selling them last year and I was hooked from the beginning.  The cloths are all antibacterial which means that I can clean my bathroom counter and mirrors (among other things) with just the cloths and water.  I’ve saved so much money on cleaning products and I appreciate that I can avoid using harsh chemicals.  Eventually I purchased the sweeper and mop which work like a swiffer except that I can wash the pads instead of throwing them away.

I’m setting more eco goals for myself this year and hope I've inspired you to set a few for your house this year.  For one, I’m hoping to actually begin using those reusable Target bags. 

The little things really do add up, especially if everyone is doing their part.  When I change the toilet paper roll and think that it would be so much easier to throw it away than to walk to the recycle bin (which isn’t honestly that far away), I just think about how my 20 second laziness will mean that there’s one more item going to the dump.  I find my way to the recycle bin pretty darn quickly.

FYI - I’m not being compensated to endorse any of these products/companies – I just enjoy their products and hope you will too.

Happy Earth Day!