Face it; your furry friends are as part of the family as anyone, and this year, keeping them safe is top of mind. Just the same, keeping your Christmas tree safe is a priority, too. Holidash shows us how to protect both Fido and the christmas tree this year! Read on!:

* That pan of water that is keeping your tree from drying out can be very attractive to thirsty pets. But that sticky water can also make them very sick. Discourage drinking by cutting a piece of screen or other sturdy mesh fabric to fit and duct tape it over the pan. This will keep little tongues out while still allowing you to replenish the water supply.
* Cats love to bat balls around -- especially bright, shiny ones that are attached to a Christmas tree. Prevent breakage and possible injury by decorating your tree with plastic or wooden ornaments.
* That little metal stand that is holding your tree in the vertical position is no match for a rowdy pet with a running start. Get rid of it and invest in a large, sturdy tree stand. For extra protection, attach a string of fishing line from the top of the tree to a small hook in the ceiling.
* Puppies like to chew on things and those lower limbs of your Christmas tree may prove irresistible even to the most well-behaved little dog. Surrounding your tree with a baby pen might not be the most attractive solution, but is surely the safest. Otherwise, don't allow your puppy to be alone in the same room as the Christmas tree.
* Avoid tinsel. Cats find it delicious and fun to chew, but it can cause serious damage to their digestive systems.
* To discourage chewing on your light cords, spray them with bitter apple. Unplug the lights when not in use.
* Clean up fallen needles regularly. Some dogs will eat just about anything and these sharp pine needles can cause internal injuries if ingested.
* Don't decorate with edible ornaments. If it smells like food, a determined pet will find a way to reach it.

It can be tough to find rental housing where pets are welcomed. Expensive, too, once you factor in pet deposits. Let's look at top FAQs for finding & keeping awesome pet-friendly rental accommodations.

How do I find an apartment that allows my dogs, too?
Sometimes it seems like every rental ad out there blares "no dogs!" or "no pets!" In fact, the renting world's a lot more pet-friendly than it used to be. Approach your search with a glass-half-full attitude and it won't seem so daunting.

Your best bet is to look for large pet-friendly apartment complexes. Not only are dogs and cats welcomed at these places, but your neighbors are likely to look more kindly upon Bowser's occasional fit of barking.

Lately, I've been coming across beautiful vintage TV and stereo cabinetry while making my weekly thrift shop rounds.

Most have beautiful wood finishes, and the designs are unusual and very retro, but I haven't been able to bring myself to buy a heavy cabinet filled with a dead Magnavox just for the cabinet. I continue to rack my brain to come up with a practical purpose for such a behemoth. What could possibly justify the time and trouble to lug this thing home?

Moxie, over on Craftster, came up with a clever and functional use for an old 1950s-style TV cabinet. Read more about it after the break.

Hurricane season has been in full swing for a few weeks now, but thankfully it's been very quiet so far. Don't let the lack of named hurricanes lull you into a false sense of security. The season stretches all the way to November 30th, and the peak of it -- August to October -- is yet to come.

Don't assume you'll have time to make preparations "if the needs arises." Of course, we all remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. And in 2004, Hurricane Charley was expected to head into the Gulf of Mexico and collide with Tampa. At the last minute, it made a sharp right turn and landed substantially farther south, obliterating entire neighborhoods and barrier islands.

If you live in a hurricane-prone area, and haven't yet made preparations in case one heads your way, here are a few of the most important steps you can take to keep you and your family safe this summer. You may never need to activate the plans you have in place, but it's good to know they're there.

When it comes to protecting our families from poisonous plants, we go about things wrong, all wrong. Backwards, in fact.

Yes, you are probably already aware that a great many common garden and container plants are poisonous to humans and/or family pets. But if I asked you to identify the ones posing the greatest risk to you and your family, chances are you'd be stumped, or perhaps hard pressed to name more than one or two.

Why? Because we learn about poisonous plants from our teachers at school, from books, and from television. We see pages and pages of photographs of toxic leaves and berries. We scan ultra-long lists of poisonous plant names. The nerdier among us (Ooh! Me! Me!) have tried and failed to memorize some of this mass of information.

Silly thing is, your own yard is the best starting point for learning. Once you feel confident in your own landscape, it will be much easier to branch out and learn about less well-known species, which I'll discuss after the jump. And check out my gallery below if you'd like to see some of the common poisonous plants growing in my yard.

Recently, Unclutterer posted some useful information for those of us who drown in piles of pet hair. In response to a post about speedy house-cleaning, a reader asked what to do about piles of fur shed by their Chocolate Lab. The question came up because most "Clean your house really quickly!" plans don't take pet ownership into account.

Erin from Unclutterer responded with a number of tips for dog and cat owners. In summary, and with a few parenthetical comments from me, they are:

• Pick up pet-hair dust-bunnies with damp paper towels daily.
• Bathe pets as frequently as you can: a lot of excess fur will go down the drain with the water. (Bathing a dog more often than every few weeks can really dry out their skin, so be careful with this one. Also, it can clog your drains.)
• Brush pets regularly. (A shedding loop/blade may be more helpful for longer-haired or double-coated dogs.)

Find the rest of the tips, more ideas about how you can put them into action, and information about equipment that might help you, all after the break!

Our household has twice as many felines as people. Our two youngest kittens have the tendency to like to dig in the soil of our few remaining potted plants. After filling a good portion of our vacuum cleaner bag with the good kind of dirt, I decided to find a way to keep them out.

I considered cutting a piece of cardboard, wood, or metal to fit around the plant but watering would become more of a hassle. Then I used a collection of marbles and polished pebbles. They worked well at letting the water pass through and prettied up the top of the potting soil but the kittens loved to rummage them out and play with them. Finally, I threw a few large pine cones in one of the pots. They lock together well enough that the cats don't pull them out, they don't prevent watering, and, as they degrade, they will add organics to the soil.

With the idea of interlocking items in mind, my cacti are now guarded with beach-combed coral pieces and the aloe plant has an arsenal of green army men protecting it.

Nearly all pet owners have a dirty little secret that we all desperately want to keep under wraps: sometimes our perfectly trained, dander & body function free little people actually poop and pee other than in their prescribed locations ...only occasionally of course. Unfortunately, the tell-tale smell from these occasional mishaps can linger, well, forever.

Even after using various pet odor removing products that caution you against using them around animals a faint scent always remains to remind you and spill the beans to your guests that your cat or dog isn't perfect. I learned a simple, 100% effective, and all natural solution to even the foulest of pet odors by applying a little kitchen knowledge.

Over the last few years, I've seen a couple of Halloween wreaths in stores. They're usually pretty cool, but slightly expensive for what they are... like, I'd spend that much on a real fir or holly Christmas wreath, but not for a wreath of black silk roses or sleek black feathers. Never mind that they'd probably cost about the same amount of money to make. And my family made crazy-detailed themed Christmas wreaths when I was a teenager, so I've always thought that planning them and getting them right wasn't worth the hassle.

But now, Amy at Glitter, Vinyl, and Thread has made some really cool kitschy wreaths for Halloween that aren't too difficult at all, and that seem to be totally worth what it takes to make them! My favorite is the eyeball wreath, but there's also a fang wreath, and an orange garland wreath with cute spooky critters all over it.

The orange wreath is easy: it's just a wreath form wrapped with several different types of garland, after which a few loose things were added to it. The fang wreath has a slightly higher difficulty level, due to the need to drill holes in the fangs; Amy has a drill press. The eyeball wreath seems the most labor-intensive, with lots of drilling and stitching, but is undeniably tons of fun.

[via Crafty Crafty]

Keeping pets safe during home improvement projects is a concern of many DIY'ers. Especially when your project spans a few days and takes up some of the household space that pets typically use. When I think of problems between pets and projects I imagine cat prints in pain or dogs underfoot. The challenges of home improvement projects with pets are far more serious. Pets can become seriously ill or even die from some of the chemicals, tool and other toxins that are revealed while working on these projects.

According to Tom Kraeutler, AOL Home Improvement Editor, in his article Home Improvement Safety For Pets, there are seven project items to be cautious about.

1. Paints
2. Tools and supplies
3. Solvents
4. Glue
5. Concrete
6. Mold
7. Lead

The article discusses these in more depth, hazards range from items we use to build or clean, to toxins that may be uncovered while making changes. He continues to cover other more common household items that threaten pets and makes recommendations for dealing with each.

Ultimately, with careful planning, diligent clean-up and a good understanding of potential hazards, your project should go smoothly and pets stay healthy.

As I try to turn my WIP's into FO's, I find that my knitting progress often goes backward instead if I'm not pretty careful around my daughter and cats. My darling knitting-destroyers work in shifts. When my not-quite-2 year old toddler is in bed, the cats are active lap hunters and when the cats are hiding from "the grabby, noisy one", my daughter takes over. So here are some tips for knitting around these little anti-knitters.

Use Circular Needles

Straight needles are just too tempting for cats to bat. And they also seem to be pretty fun to pull out of the knitting and run with -- panicking Mommy. Circular needles don't have things sticking out to bat and pulling them out of the knitting is more than just a grab and run maneuver. Also, if you have to drop your knitting and run to your toddler's aid, it is very easy to tug on the needles to help keep stitches from dropping while you are away from your knitting. Most importantly (though I'm not sure if other toddlers do this), when being divebombed on the couch while knitting, circular needles do not provide the stab danger that straight needles do.