For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been living like a middle-aged woman. I’ve been going to bed early, staying in on the weekends and buying lots of presents for kids’ birthdays. Sunday Fundays used to mean bar-hopping for day drinking, tailgating Colts games or going on summer bike booze cruises down the Monon Trail. But since the weather has been so chilly lately, I’ve been turning into somewhat of a hermit.

I don’t know what it was that sparked my interest, but I was on a mission today to blow through some of the Pinterest projects that I’ve wanted to try. Some were for Ryan and me, one was to freshen up the house and one was for the dogs. So I made a shopping list and went to Fresh Market to gather all of my supplies.

One batch of dough made around 50 dog treats.

The first project was natural homemade dog treats. I was really excited about this because not only is it cheaper to make these than to buy them at a store, but I know exactly what the dogs are eating. The recipe is so simple that anyone can do it.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix together two cups of whole wheat flour, one tablespoon of baking powder, one cup of natural peanut butter and one cup of skim milk. Knead the “dough” and then roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick. Take a cookie cutter of your choice to shape the treats and bake for 20 minutes.

While I was rolling out the dough and cutting them into cute bite-sized heart shapes, both Vladimir and Bella were standing next to me as if they knew I was making the food for them. It was like torture waiting the 20 minutes for the treats to cook! Once they cooled down, we gave the dogs several treats and they seemed to be a hit!

Delicious detox water, tasty and good for you!

Next up on the to-do list was to make a detox water. This natural detox water helps flush impurities out of your system. Maybe you’ve had a long weekend of drinking and need to rehydrate and recharge, this water is perfect for you. Or if you’re starting a new workout or diet, this can help you feel great without retaining water weight. Simply take 3 quarts of water in a pitcher and add two sliced lemons, 1/2 of a cucumber and 10 mint leaves. Let the water sit in the refrigerator overnight (or for eight hours) before drinking. While researching this water, I found another variation that included ginger in it. The ginger helps to settle your stomach during a detox, so add a couple slices of ginger in there if you’d like! I’m going to try to drink about three pitchers of this water per week, we’ll see how that goes.

A great alternative to candles.

Another project we tried today was a natural home deodorizer. If you’re having guests over or are in a winter slump like me, this is a great recipe to try. It makes your house smell heavenly and is so easy to do. All you have to do is fill a pot about 2/3 of the way full with water, add in one lemon (sliced), a couple of sprigs of rosemary and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Let this concoction simmer on the stove top and enjoy the lovely smell that will waft through your house.

Let me put out a warning for this project: you have to make sure to add water to the pot when the water starts to get low. Being the dingus that I am, I had this mixture simmering on the stove and then went upstairs. About two hours later, the entire downstairs is filled with a burning stench and some smoke…because I forgot to add more water. So we had a nice smelling aroma for about two hours and now a burnt-to-a-crisp stench for the rest of the night. Oops! Lesson learned.

I made our dinner completely from Pinterest recipes tonight too but I won’t go into the details of our delicious feast at this time. So although my Sunday Funday isn’t what it used to be, it feels pretty great to get the house cleaned up and spend my time doing something useful for my pets, boyfriend, house and health…even though I’ll be smelling burnt rosemary for the night.