GeekSugar

Finally, My Plants Can Tell Me What They Need Before I Kill Them

GeekSugar — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:16:59 PDT

It's a known fact that I spend more time online than almost anything else (other than sleeping I suppose), so it's only natural that my feeble attempts at keeping houseplants alive rarely succeed, and they die within a month. The only plant I've been able to keep alive for longer is my iGrobot, and that's because it sits on my desk at work, reminding me to water it! Sad, right?

There's nothing I love more than adding a touch of tech to everything, so there's no wonder I'm in love with this Pet Plant that I saw on Yanko Design yesterday. Designed by Junyi Heo, this planter is a dream come true for those of us who want some greenery in our midst, but just can't seem to get it together and care for them. To learn how it works,

read more. The outer pot works as an interface to tell you if the plant is content, too hot, too cold, or just plain dissatisfied with your care. Hooking up the outer pot to a USB will not only give you this info through installed software, but charge the pot so it can keep giving you serious feedback like soil conditions, humidity, and water levels. Plus, if you've gone and over watered your precious plant, a smart inner pot will drain the excess into a vessel for later use. Check out more photos of the smart Pet Plant below!

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Tori Spelling Takes Us on Her Christmas Tree Adventure

Tori Spelling — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:28:58 PST

We're excited to bring you a new post from mother and actress Tori Spelling! Every other week we're bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle advice from ediTORIal by Tori Spelling, which is Tori's daily blog about everything from food and fashion to parenting and relationships. This week, Tori shares her adventure in cutting down her own Christmas tree.

I love the holidays. To me, Christmas is a time to celebrate with my family and DIY the heck out of my house! We all know the Christmas tree is the focal point of any holiday home decor. I've done the pre-cut tree, lot tree, and the planted in a pot living tree, so this year I was determined to do the unthinkable in Los Angeles (or so I thought)...cut down my own Christmas tree!

Growing up in La la land, you tend to believe that trees come perfectly flocked and grouped together, pre-cut on a corner lot in Beverly Hills with a whopping price tag of $150 plus. I wanted out of that illusion, but never thought it was possible. Well, this year I did research and found an actual Christmas tree farm just 40 minutes outside of LA! Dean was participating in a celebrity charity golfing tournament, but the excited kid in me couldn't wait to cut down our tree, so I packed up the kids and headed to the farm.

When we arrived we weren't given much direction. We were told to grab saws . . . a cart . . . and head up the hill!

As we headed up and over the hill into miles of Christmas trees, I might have wondered . . . was this smart?

There were literally miles of trees of all shapes and sizes. So many worked, but none were perfect.

Forty-five minutes later, as the sun was just starting to set and I realized we were all alone amidst hundreds of trees, I thought to myself . . . is this safe? I reassured myself with the realization that no one would, in good conscience, harm a saw-wielding woman and her two toddlers cutting down their own Christmas tree weeks before the holiest day of the year. Then, not at all reassured by that realization, I closed my eyes and quickly pointed to the first tree in front of me and squealed, "Look kids, the perfect tree!" Was it perfect? No. However it did have only one major bald spot, which was a win-win, as it was surrounded by miles of misshaped firs. We had a winner!

Keep reading for more details and photos of Tori's adventure cutting down her own tree!

Pick Your Poison With 8 Pop Poison For Pets Quizzes!

PetSugar — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 05:00:59 PDT

Can you pick your poison? Test yourself on everything from plants to food and make sure you know which things your pets should not be eating in these popular pop quizzes!

Trees	Fall Bloomers	Seasonings	Summer Wildflowers
Veggies	Flowering Plants	Bouquet Flowers	Fruits

Brew Up Some Chamomile For a Doggone Tea Party

PetSugar — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:15:36 PDT

Tea for two, doggie and you! That's right, the same soothing chamomile tea you drink can be used with your pooch. Here are three dosing suggestions for a variety of ailments:

Sip. Coming from a pet-safe plant, tea of chamomile uses the natural healing and disinfecting effects to settle tummies upset from colic, gas, or anxiety. Make sure the drink is cooled and add to a pup's water dish.
Spray. If your pooch has itchy red skin, you can use the steeped tea to cool it - simply chill the tea and then spray lightly onto the bow-owwie. The tea can help kill the bacteria or other skin irritation and make it all better.
Soak. When the infection needs a stronger dose, use the already steeped, still warm tea bag as a compress on the affected body part.

Pinkies out and bottoms up!

Kitty Lovers, Just Say "No Thanks" to Easter Lilies!

PetSugar — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:46:42 PDT

I've shared doggy dangers lurking in your Easter basket, but I wanted to remind you about a popular holiday flower that should never be brought into a home that includes cats.

Easter lilies are one of the most poisonous flowers for kitties. In fact, just one or two leaves or flowers can fatally harm a feline so, even if you think your pet will show no interest in this plant, please take no chances. This lily (along with Tiger, Asiatic, and other varieties) causes depression then vomiting, loss of appetite, and loss in body weight with the first symptoms showing up within 30 minutes . . . and acute renal failure coming at about 48 hours post-ingestion.

While lilies are non-toxic to dogs, horses, and (most likely) lil chicks, please brush up on other poisonous plants and have the ASPCA poison control hotline handy. Don't hesitate to rush any pet you fear has gotten a hold of a dangerous stem or blossom to the doctor immediately!

No Time to DIY? Order a Garden Box Instead

Elka Karl — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:00:50 PDT

Interested in gardening, but not sure where to start? One easy first step is to join our community group The Girls' Guide to Gardening. Then, if you're handy, you can try DIYing my garden box. But if you're pressed for time, you don't have to break out the lumber and electric drill to enjoy a garden box in your backyard. Instead, you can buy one that's easy to assemble, set up, and plant through Los Angeles-based company Mini Farm Box. In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, Mini Farm Box is offering a complete Ready‐to‐Grow kit for just $199 with free shipping (the box is regularly $250). The kit contains everything you need to get growing, including a four-foot-square garden box made from sustainably harvested cedar. This garden box assembles tool‐free in 10 minutes or less and comes with customized irrigation, organic heirloom seeds, a moisture gauge that tells you when to water, an organic growing manual, and a full one‐year subscription to Organic Gardening Magazine.

Keep reading for some tips on growing your raised bed garden.

How to Be the Perfect Houseguest

LearnVest — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:15:17 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

At the beach, in the mountains or in the big city, being invited to a friend’s place not only lets us catch up with loved ones but also lets us save on hotels.

Of course, the flip side is that there’s a totally different set of expectations (read: you can’t throw your towels on the floor). If you’re not a master of houseguest etiquette, you might come off as ungrateful and inadvertently ruin your chances of visiting again next year.

We don’t want you to break a long tradition of shacking up at your aunt’s cute beach house every summer, so we’ve put together a guide to being the perfect houseguest.

Be Clear About How Long You Will Stay

Make sure you lock down your visiting dates far in advance with your hosts . . . at their invitation. Don’t ever be vague or hope to stretch out your visit after you arrive. If your BFF says she’ll be busy after Labor Day, book your return ticket to leave a full day before so she has some time to herself.

No Surprises, Please

Never show up unannounced - or, even worse, with a puppy, child, significant other or friend (even if it’s a mutual friend), unless you've cleared it with your host beforehand. You may call it spontaneous and fun . . . your cousin and her husband may call it inconvenient.

Read on to find out how to be the perfect houseguest.

Johnny Depp Talks Playing a Lizard, His Sex-Symbol Status, and Gets a Visit From Justin Bieber at the Rango Press Day

Lindsay Miller — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 08:25:50 PST

Johnny Depp got lots of laughs at the press conference for his new movie Rango in LA yesterday. The actor was joined by his costars, Abigail Breslin and Isla Fisher, as well as director Gore Verbinski at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. Johnny plays the movie's title character, a pet lizard who is forced to save the day after a lie gets him in over his head. Johnny admitted that his own kids aren't all that interested in his career, and are far more into Family Guy and Justin Bieber. It turned out that Justin happened to be in the hotel, heard that Johnny mentioned him, and dropped by to say what a huge fan he is in the middle of the press conference! Johnny joked, "What am I going to tell my daughter?" Johnny, who was as gracious and funny as you might expect, also talked about tackling the challenge of playing a reptile and the reason he enjoys making movies for children. He said:

On why he enjoys making kids' movies: "I think kids, in general, as an audience, are the way forward because they’re not sort of sullied by intellectual expectation or this or that. It’s a very pure sort of response to the work, and the great luck that I had, for example before Pirates [of the Caribbean], I had a daughter. And for about four years, all I watched was cartoons. Just cartoons. And I realized at that point the parameters were far away from what we do in sort of normal, everyday movies. You can get away with a lot more. They accept a lot more and they buy it, because they’re free. So for me that was everything in terms of coming up with what Captain Jack would be. I trust kids far more than I do adults. Kids give you their honest opinion. They tell the truth."
On how his own children felt about Rango: "They actually call me the Lizard King, my children, they do. I force them to address me like that. [laughs] It was an odd sort of thing. 'Where you going daddy?' I gotta go to work. 'Well, what are you doing?' Well, I’m playing a lizard. You drop your kids off at school and give them a kiss, and now I gotta go be a lizard. The things I’ve done that my kids are sort of privy to - Willy Wonka - it doesn’t register. They’re far more interested in Family Guy or Justin Bieber. [Someone calls out, 'Are you a Belieber?'] Belieber? I’ve actually never heard that one, and that is my favorite. And you know what? Yes, I am a Belieber. And I shall remain so. "
On how he feels about his sex-symbol status: "Attention is a strange sort of being anyway. If someone appreciates your work, it’s always nice if someone appreciates your work. I’ve never quite understood the other bits, where somehow you’ve been voted some thing for a magazine, and it’s a complete mystery to me. I wake up and I have to look at that head when I brush my teeth every morning and it’s weird, and it’s unpleasant at times, so I don’t know about the attention."

To read the rest of Johnny's interview, just