Life Updates – Page 8 – My Bright Corner

Cat Naps for People

December 30, 20161 Comment

This was a very quiet week for me. Aside from a chemo treatment and watching Big Bang Theory with mom, I haven’t been doing a lot. It’s a healing week for me and during healing weeks, I sleep. A lot. Last night I slept 14 hours straight (it’s true. Ask my mom.) Sometimes it’s good sleep and other times it’s some of the worst sleep I’ve ever had. There is a reason I went comatose for 6 hours in the middle of a work day and that was to come out on the other side feeling better! Not like I was hit by a bus! Sigh… I digress.

I’ve come to appreciate sleep a lot more than I used to. When I was still a full time college student, I’d pull at least one all nighter every couple weeks. It helped that I was naturally a night owl and I am productive in the dark, but the day after that all nighter was the absolute worst. Actually, the next few days were all around terrible. I’d have to get readjusted to a regular sleep schedule again all while trying to attend my classes. The 2-3 days post-all nighter sleeps were never refreshing. It was just a week of me being a groggy monster and everyone knew it. It didn’t matter how much coffee I drank, I might as well have had a huge sign plastered on my chest saying, “I pulled an all nighter. If you don’t want to die, run in the opposite direction like in a King Kong movie and I am King Kong. RAWR!”

Now, sleep has become a necessity and not just because I’m recovering. If I have to fall asleep for a few hours, then I have to do that and trust me, I will. I think it’s something a lot more people should do. Even if it’s a quick 10 minute nap during a lunch break, people need sleep. It helps us being more alert, more focused and gives us an energy boost. I once read (probably on a Pinterest post) that the most optimum nap time is 26 minutes long. It’s just enough to give you a boost but not enough to put you in a REM cycle. So remember that for when you need a quick pick me up but don’t want to down another cup of heart-racing coffee.

Until next time,

Dana

My Dogs Eat Better Than I Do

December 29, 2016March 14, 2017Leave a comment

Since it’s holiday time and gifts are being passed around like candy, I decided to give my dogs a gift too: homemade peanut butter dog treats! I have two dogs: Chester (aka the Bear Dog) and Whiskey. Chester is a~~n English mastiff/golden retriever mixed breed~~ a bear and Whiskey is a golden retriever. Both think that they’re lap dogs and love to cuddle. I figure, what better way to show my dogs I love them than giving them treats that are better than most human food.

The recipe I found came from DogMomDays. It calls for:

2 ripe bananas
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup water
a dog treat cookie cutter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they’re soft enough to mix
Add peanut butter, flour and water
Mix until dough is formed
Roll dough and make shapes!
Bake for 15-20 minutes. (note: if you’d like to make the treat a little harder, bake a little longer until desired hardness)
Let cool
Watch your puppy fall in love!

I wish I could say that I followed these instruction verbatim, but I did not. There are just some steps that weren’t worth it. Here’s my thoughts on it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

I wish that you could preheat things one degree higher or lower, just to spite the recipe.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they’re soft enough to mix

Warning: mashed bananas in a bowl is super gross. Not kind of gross. SUPER gross. I don’t know how new parents do it.

Add peanut butter, flour and water. Mix until dough is formed.

This step saves the visual (thank god).

I’m not sure what kind of dough they were looking to have me make, but I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to have a consistency closer to bread dough instead of cookies. The amount of flour in the original recipe is definitely not enough. I added an extra… almost full cup of flour to the recipe. Don’t worry! Your dog will still love it and the peanut butter and banana flavors are strong enough to make the treat delicious and not floury.

Roll dough and make shapes!

Okay, I tried this. I really did, but you know what? I vote skip it and just grab little pieces of the dough, ball it up and flatten it on the tray. Rolling it out is messy and I definitely created a bunch of unnecessary dirty dishes. Cutting out the dough into dog biscuit shapes? Your dog doesn’t care what it looks like. It could look like a pile of garbage. You could actually craft your dough into a pile of garbage and they’d think “Wow! That smells great!” and then proceed to fit the entire pile of garbage that you spent hours creating into their mouth without breathing.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. (note: if you’d like to make the treat a little harder, bake a little longer until desired hardness)

Quick heads up: Make sure your pan is nonstick!

This was the best part. The whole house smelled like peanut butter heaven for a good two hours after baking. It was marvelous. As for the desired hardness, these treats come out with a very soft texture. It’s like a cookie (perfect texture for puppies with new teeth and old dogs with sensitive jaws). I put mine in for about 23 minutes so the treats would be a little firmer. I have a 2 year old and 7 year old dog so they can handle it.

Let cool.

Obviously.

Watch your puppy fall in love!

Staring at mashed up bananas was worth it. I’m not sure they even took the time to taste the treat they ate them so fast. I really love to spoil my dogs, especially during the holiday season. I don’t get to see them that often since they stay home at my parent’s house and I live at college. The looks on their faces when they eat those treats make it a delight to bake for them!

If you’re looking for a quick treat for your furry family members, this is the treat to make! Bananas and peanut butter (without xylitol) are the perfect combination to drive them crazy.

Until next time,

Dana

LET’S MAKE A BLOG.

December 23, 2016December 24, 2016Leave a comment

Have you ever gone to bed and right as you’re about to fall asleep you think of all the amazing things that you could do with your life? You could be skydiving in the tropics right now! Well, maybe not right now but the idea certainly beats having to get up at the crack of dawn and scraping the ice off your car so you can get to work. I had one of those thoughts three nights ago. It screamed for my whole brain kingdom to hear, “LET’S MAKE A BLOG.” I ignored it because it was 2 in the morning and I wanted to sleep, but it was an interesting idea to say the least.

When I woke up the next morning, I texted my best friend about the idea and within seconds I hear back, “Yes. Do it.” That was all the encouragement I needed. I didn’t even know what I was going to write about but I was going to do it and gosh darn it, it was going to be fun if I had anything to say about it.

I found WordPress, got a domain and started working. I learned many a thing from this:

Rough drafts are real.

this-week2 They’re not just something your 8^th grade English teacher made up so you’d have extra homework. It’s a real thing and should be utilized (I’m looking at you college students). Everything that ends up on this site starts on paper. The titles, ideas, number of photos for a post, etc. Then half of it gets scrapped and the rest gets typed. And retyped. And retyped. And retyped. AND RETYPED until eventually it becomes something that can be posted for all the people of the internet to read.

I am a terrible web designer.

It’s only my third day! Give me a break. I’m still learning how this all works. If you have advice, please comment below because… yeah. You’ve seen my site. You know.

A stable internet connection is a beautiful thing.

This week I’ve been home at my parent’s house and they live out in the country. I’m sure you can imagine my frustration as the connection would fade in and out while I’m trying to add photos to the homepage. (My dogs learned some fun, questionable words this week too.)

this-week And now here we are. Me typing away on my computer and you reading away on yours. I’m sure the list of things I learned could go on for miles. I mean, that’s kind of why I created my bright corner in the first place. I want to do something new. I want to learn as much as anyone who reads this page would learn. Besides, the world is a terrible place. It’s true. You go to any news outlet and you see nothing but sad, depressing news articles. But there’s a lot of good in this world too and I want to shed some light on it. I want us to learn about the good together.