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Hello friends! 

The snow has started here in the North! Yesterday was my birthday, and I can’t think of a better birthday present than a white, fluffy, snowy scene out my window. 

Today I want to give a quick shout out to a website I was introduced to last week. But first, the story of why this website is so valuable: 

Cheap, easy home remedy for fleas

This week I got an unexpected new member of the family: 

We’ve named him Fred Lewis. I wanted to call him Lewis and my roommate wanted Fred, so he has two names. It’s an odd combination, but it works. 

Here in the North, there are so many stray dogs, with new stray puppies being born all the time. The unfortunate truth is that come winter time most of them die from exposure or get eaten by bigger wildlife. To combat this slow, painful way of dying, many Northern communities participate in “Dog Day,” a day on which it is legal (and encouraged) to shoot as many dogs as possible that are not tied up in someone’s yard or inside someone’s house. 

It sounds terrible, but having lived here for a month and seeing how many dogs there really are, I’ve come to accept Dog Day as a necessity of the North. 

This face, however, is not the face of a Dog Day victim. 

One unfortunate part of taking in a stray puppy is the health concerns involved. Fred Lewis was absolutely coated, head to toe, in fleas. There were thousands of them. Their tiny disgusting bodies were numerous enough to create a second skin on poor Fred Lewis. 

This had to be addressed immediately. But up North, our one store does not stock any flea medication, so I hit Google for home remedies. 

This was what I found: 

Did you know that one of Dawn Dish Soap’s key ingredients is formaldehyde? As in the chemical used for embalming. Sounds delicious. 

Well, turns out formaldehyde works wonders for killing fleas really fast. 

So off I went to the bathtub, armed with Dawn, Fred Lewis, and a head lice comb. Starting with his head and working towards his tail, I lathered up Fred Lewis, rinsed him off, and repeated about 3 times. Within minutes the fleas were turning dark brown and falling from Fred Lewis’ body by the handful. 

The only thing to be extra cautious about is Fred Lewis’ poor eyes. Doggy eyes are very sensitive to water, and even more sensitive to soaps, so please, please, please be careful not to get the eyes. I scrubbed the top of his head, his ears, his chin, and his cheeks. For his face and snout, I simply picked off any fleas I could see with my fingers. 

After soaping him up about four times, I ran a lice comb through his fur, paying extra attention to his underarms and neck. This simply removed all of the flea carcasses. For a mild case of fleas, this step could easily be left out. 

He was not impressed with the whole process:

I repeated this whole process the following day, and more flea bodies washed down the drain. Today was the third day, and when I washed him, I did not see any flea bodies floating by, so I think he’s clear for now. I will wash him once a day for the next four or five days to make sure any eggs have hatched and been killed. 

As of today, the only scratching I’ve seen him do is directed at his scabs (of which there are a lot due to the intensity of his infestation). With time those will heal. I’ve ordered a worm medication online since fleas carry worms and often infect our doggy friends. 

He seems much happier now, all for the cost of a bottle of Dawn. Hey, now maybe I should wash up those dishes in the sink…

DIY Tufted Serving Tray

Let’s get crafty! 

Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote about a craft. Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve completed a craft. Busy days with the new home and job. And craft supplies up North are painfully scarce. I can’t even buy E6000! Though I have been talking to some of the locals about teaching me some Native crafts, so that would be super awesome. 

This is an archived craft I completed in Southern Ontario, which is now sitting in storage with all of my other worldly possessions. This is my tufted serving tray: 

A New Adventure in the North

Welcome back lovely readers! I’ve been away from writing for the summer because of all the crazy life changes I’ve been making. I’ve made the move to Northern Ontario and started my teaching career. So far it has gone very well. The locals are very welcoming, the apartment they gave me is comfortably livable, my kindergarten kids are so much fun, and my fellow teachers are amazingly supportive. 

Starting a new adventure, and a new hobby

Wow, lots of exciting things are happening in the life of Miss. Kneesh! 

It turns out I missed the application deadline for the local school board that I want to work for. I could have remained in the area, supplying at daycares all year, but realistically, I would have become homeless with that sort of job prospects. Desperate measures had to be taken. 

I found a website where a lot of First Nations schools advertise for jobs. I applied for everything in the grade K-4 range, all across Canada, including the Territories. All told, I applied for 19 positions, and received interview offers from 17 of them. I only agreed to two interviews, both in Northern Ontario, one via telephone and one via Skype. 

Within the week I had a job offer from one of the schools, complete with a detailed 12 month contract. 

Guess what… 

I accepted! 

DIY Apartment Number Plaque

Well, summer has struck, which makes me cranky. I don’t like heat, I’m far happier in the winter. But, summer (for me at least) means lots of indoor time, hiding from the sun, which means lots of crafts! 

As part of my ongoing endeavours to make my apartment more pretty, I managed to DIY a new door number that looks much nicer than the one that the landlord stuck to the door who knows how many years ago. 

Here’s the ugly landlord number: 

And here’s what my little plaque looks like: 

Homemade 3 ingredient deodorant

Hello, friends! 

So as I mentioned last week, I’ve been working diligently to test out more natural (homemade) cleaning and health & beauty products. I started off this inquiry by switching almost all of my household cleaners for baking soda and vinegar. You can read about that here. 

Today I would like to share my recipe for very easy homemade natural deodorant. 

Natural Cleaning for Beginners

I’m becoming more and more intrigued by the concept of natural living as I progress into a more adult-like life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to go paleo or anything… I love grain and dairy (as you can tell from my posts of various recipes), but I am interested in taking simple steps to remove obvious chemicals from other areas of my life. 

Most of this change in my life is curiosity driven. I usually read a handful of articles and say to myself “Can you really clean your entire house without chemical-filled products? Those products surely exist for a reason; natural cleaning must be less effective. It must be! That’s it; I’m testing this B.S. and proving that it doesn’t work.” 

But you know what? So far, the things I’ve tested have worked shockingly well. 

The first thing I changed was the use of commercial cleaners for my home. I made this change for this little man: 

That's an Expensive Piece of Paper!

Look at what I did this week! 

That’s right, I have officially graduated with my Bachelor of Education, and can now become an Ontario Certified Teacher. 

Wildlife picture to window frame mirror, a DIY transformation

Well I undertook quite the project this weekend. I made my first tutorial video and uploaded it to YouTube. It has to do with cutting the glass for this week’s craftiness: 

See, it all started with this super ugly electrical box in the middle of my kitchen wall. I mean, it doesn’t even have a cover: 

So when I moved in, I hastily covered it with one of my DIY Sharpe-on-canvas pieces: 

For weeks I have been appalled at the dark, dungeon-like state of my little galley kitchen. Very little natural light to speak of. Only that which trickles in from the window in the dining room. I decided the best way to increase the natural lighting in this little cave was to add a mirror. And not just any mirror; no, in true Kneesh style, I wanted a DIY fancy window-like mirror. Something I could be proud of. Something like this: 

Mini Banana Cream Pies

Get ready to say yummm… 

Ready?? 

Bam! 

Ya, I did it. Mini banana cream pies. 

This recipe was actually crazy simple, and can be switched up to make any kind of cream pie. 

I used a sugar cookie mix for the crust. The package that I got had enough dough to make 2 dozen cookie crusts. 

The banana cream part is simply banana instant pudding, which is what makes this recipe great. You could use any kind of pudding to make different pies: chocolate cream pie, butterscotch pie, rice pudding pie (eww), lemon pie, etc. 

So, with those notes, let’s get to it! 

Ingredients: 

• 1 package sugar cookie mix (and whatever the package says you need to prepare the mix, usually an egg and a stick of butter) 
• 1 package of instant pudding in banana -or your choice of- flavour 
• 3 bananas, just ripe, maybe slightly speckled 
• Whipped cream topping 

Directions: 

Prepare your pudding as outlined by the packaging, and put it in the fridge to cool. 

Prepare your sugar cookie dough as outlined by the packaging. Now, according to some Pinterest pins, you can make cookie cups by flipping a cupcake tin upside-down and putting the cookie dough on top of the cups, like this: 

And here’s how that turned out: 

Not useful. 

So, with the remainder of the cookie dough, I flipped the cupcake tin right-side-up and put dough balls in the cups. I baked them according to the packaging directions, then pulled them out and, while they were still hot, I used the butt of my screw driver to make a well in each cookie. 

I then put the cookies back in the oven. I ended up baking them for about twice the length of time as the package called for. Pop them out and put them on a cooling rack.

Look at how cute these little cups are! You could even put raspberries or blueberries in there and call it a day! 

Anyways, I used a piping bag to fill each cup with pudding, but if you do not have a piping bag, you could just fill up a ziplock bag with your pudding and snip the corner off. 

Top the pudding with a slice of banana. 

And, of course, finish it off with a swirl of whipped cream! 

Then eat them all. They are so, so, so yummy! They would be perfect little finger food deserts for a party. Make a couple different types of pudding for some variety. Oh, you could make vanilla pies and chocolate pies and set them up like a checker board! Or, you could have a whole plate full of these bad boys! 

Have fun!

The Wall: Layered Frame Collage

Let’s get crafty! (sit back, this is a long one)

My last few posts have kind of been downers. That’s because I’m starting a new chapter of my life, and I don’t handle transitions well. But this week has been better. I feel more stable. A lot of that has to do with loving family, but a lot of it also has to do with coming home to a place that feels like home, rather than a place that feels like it might have the potential to become home eventually. 

 One home project that I completed this week has me so pleased, I have been inviting just about everyone I’m close to over to see it. I’ve dubbed it The Wall. 

The downside of The Wall is that it does not photograph well because it takes up a large space in a relatively confined area (a hallway). I promise, it looks 200-times better in person. I tried taking a panoramic picture, but it just makes it look like the wall is curved. 

Anyways, it’s amazing, and I love it. It looks way better than nothing at all, that’s for sure: 

So, how was it done, you ask? 

Adjusting, Jogging, and Crafts to Come

So I know that my last post and this one are more journal-like than blog-like, but now that school is over and I’ve moved to my new home, I’m feeling a lull in my life and I have a lot of thoughts going on in my head. I wake up in the morning and I don’t have a clue what day of the week it is because I have no set schedule with which to anchor my sense of time. I don't like it at all.

It might be a good thing. 

I am a rampant workaholic, and am notoriously on edge when I don’t have a solid plan/schedule/calendar to make and follow. Every controlling bone in my body is sitting in wait for the next unsuspecting thing to come along and be dominated. 

It’s a problem. Down time is probably a good thing for me right now. 

But with any hope, work will pick up soon. I’ve successfully secured a spot on the supply list for three daycares, and I have a very-part-time position at a pharmacy in the area. 

And with all this free time on my hands, I have had good opportunities to catch up with the friends I hadn’t been able to see while I was away at school. 

I’ve also decided to take up jogging again. It’s been years since I last went jogging, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ve gone out once so far, and I was pretty successful. The cows grazing in one of the fields I jogged past looked at me like I was some sort of alien, and then decided to jog along with me as far as the field’s fence permitted. I thought that was pretty fun. 

Since it has been so long since I last went jogging, I am quite rusty. Entirely too out of shape. I knew endurance was going to be a big issue, so I decided the best route to becoming a jogger again was to use intervals. 

I started out today with walking for two minutes, then jogging for one minute. It was manageable but still challenging. I went 3 kilometers, and cycled through 6 intervals. Basic math tells me that I jogged for one kilometer. Not too bad for the first day out. 

Now to keep at it, and very slowly increase the jogging time and decrease the walking time. And eventually add some distance. 

Anyways, I have been working a lot at unpacking my new apartment. While I was in The City, I downsized to a one bedroom and put half of my belongings in storage. Now that I have a spacious two bedroom once again, I am having a lot of fun going through all the items I haven’t seen in 8 months. 

And, of course, I have been working away at decorating the walls of this new apartment. You will see my newest projects soon, I promise. I am very, very, VERY pleased with my new picture frame collage wall. And I’m working on making a mirror (like, taking regular old glass and making it reflective). Oh, and I have plans for a fancy serving tray made out of an extra frame that didn’t make it onto my collage wall. And I finally learned how to successfully cut vinyl with my Cricut (finicky medium vinyl is), so I have a new wall decal in my bedroom. 

I can’t wait to share with you! 

Stay tuned.