Lists Sooth My Soul and Other Unrelated Things

My life has been pretty dang busy lately so that any down time I have is usually spent doing absolutely nothing so my brain can rest, catching up on my DVR shows or spending time with J and the pup. However, I thought it was about time that I checked back into blog-world (I am still reading everyone else's blogs even when I'm gone just FYI) and do a little update.

I've been obsessed/required for my sanity to keep everything in list form lately so that's how this will be too :-)

CONS

- I'm busy, if you haven't figured that out by now

- The vet was wrong about Ollie's flea situation. We followed exactly what she said, Benadryl and all, until Sunday night when we were playing on the floor and I found a live flea on him. This sparked a full body search, spraying with bug spray and finding at least half a dozen more fleas.

- Yesterday I had to Flea Fog our apartment. Talk about stressful! Maybe I was being over-paranoid about it but I was freaked out that something would spark a fire while it was going off so I unplugged everything in our whole apartment. That on top of disabling the smoke detectors, covering anything important, setting off two "bombs" and running, and spending 2+ hours out of the apartment with Ollie. I'm glad it's over.

- I'm making slooooow progress on the secondary application I'm currently working on! I would absolutely love to go to any possible school that will accept me but schools that aren't really high on my list have fallen to the back burner right now. And that needs to change. Today and tomorrow are dedicated to essay writing it is.

- It's only 7 weeks into the semester right now... I can't wait for it to be over already. Hopefully 9 weeks is enough time to get things under control.

- The weather in SD this fall, if you can even call it that, is really making me miss home this year for some reason. I truly miss seasons. This was the conversation at work this morning:

Ashley (age 4): I like fall time because you can jump in leaves.

Brendon (dad): What kind of leaves do you plan on jumping in? Palm tree leaves?

She's clearly influenced by a kids book about weather since leaf piles don't exist here like there are other places.

PROS

- I aced my first ochem test of the semester. I was worried that this class would be more difficult than the first semester but so far so good.

- J and I finally made it to the gym last night and I can happily say that I have a good-workout soreness going for me today. And it feels nice. I really hope I and/or we can make it back again soon.

- The "bombing" incident mentioned above did have it's perks. I got to spend time hanging out with the pup and taking him new places. He loves car rides so we went all over. On the list of course was Starbucks. I was beyond content sitting outside, drinking a mocha, reading my book, and looking at this below me. He likes the Bucks too.

- While at Target today I picked up the candy corn that I've been craving ever since it turned October. I bought the Autumn Mix because I love the pumpkin shaped ones plus the traditional ones. There may or may not have been a splurge for fall-colored peanut M&Ms too ;-)

- Last weekend we went on our first family hike. Granted we only went 2 miles, which amounts to maybe a quarter or a third up the mountain, but it was a great day! If it wasn't so warm here still we would have gone farther but our furry friend was roasting. He climbed like a pro and I was so proud of him.

- It's already 7 weeks into the semester right now. I can't believe were almost half way done. I hope these last 9 weeks go fast so Christmas time can come!

- One of the best times of my whole day, just ahead of when my head hits the pillow, are my morning snuggle sessions with my boy. He looooves our good belly rub and I just adore him.

- I've finally finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and absolutely loved it and can't wait to start the second book. Keep an eye out for a book review on my "I'm Reading What?" page if you want to hear more about it.

Happy Hump Day Everyone

Save The TaTas

In case you didn't know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So get out there...

do a walk to help raise money,

paint your nails pink,

buy Panera pink ribbon bagles,

encourage those around you to look into tests and how important early detection really is

and....

Watch this awesome video, it just melts my heart.

♥ Enjoy ♥

An Itchy Update

After all the commotion of vacuuming and laundry and a slight freak out when I looked closely at the back of his hind legs to see them covered in splotches/bumps/red, we were off to the vet with the pup. And thank goodness we went.

Thankfully Ollie does not have fleas....

Although at one point he was in contact with them.

We have him on a preventative medicine already, First Shield specifically, so I was doubtful that it completely failed but was worried that maybe the medicine didn't soak in enough before we went in the ocean. Both the nurse and the doctor were unable to actually find any live fleas on him; both from looking closely and from using a flea comb (and believe me, the Dr went to town with that comb.) So that was a very good sign. They did find the Flea Dirt that I mentioned in my previous post, just like I thought I saw. The combination of the dirt and his red splotchy legs were signs that he had been bitten by fleas, emphasis on the bitten (not infiltrated by a flea army.) The doctor then told me that his itching, irritation, and redness was most likely caused by an allergic reaction to the bites themselves. Phew.

So we walked away with a bottle of home flea/tick mist to spray on our furniture, his bed, the carpet, etc etc (just incase there was a female flea on him and she decides to reproduce) and a correct dosage of Benadryl to hopefully make him less itchy and uncomfortable. We want to make sure that his excessive scratching and biting doesn't open up his skin in any places and make him more prone to an infection, hence the Benadryl.

Crisis avoided.

Tomorrow I'm going to spray down our apartment with the mist and we have to keep him on Benadryl two times a day for a week and go from there. I am so happy that we don't have a bigger problem on our hands.... at least for now. Knock on wood. For now, I have a sleeping puppy on the porch probably due partly from his lack of napping all day (the vacuum commotion and vet trip kept him awake) and some drowsiness from the meds.

Finally, I want to say thank you so much ladies for all your kind words, concern and good suggestions on my last post! I'm sure we all hold our furry friends near and dear to our hearts and it was nice hearing such sweet things from you in my time of crisis worry.

Got an itch?

We might have a little problem on our hands.

This little cutie went to the beach on Saturday and while he absolutely loved it and it knocked him out for the rest of the day and we were even able to let him run off his leash....

we think he may have fleas now.

After the beach we noticed he was a little red down-under near his man parts. I honestly thought he had a bad case of chaffing: it was red, there were little specks of black (which I thought were sand), he was running in salt water for hours... it seemed logical to me. The next day it was significantly less red so I thought it was confirmed.

Then he started itching, a lot. Yes, I know dogs itch but it seemed like significantly more than usual. And all over his legs and belly. He would itch with his foot and go crazy with his little front teeth. His skin was getting red and I kept noticing the little black specks. This is when I knew it was something different.

So thanks to Google, I learned that the little black specks are called Flea Dirt and are basically excrement from the fleas. They say you can scratch some of them off onto white paper and add water to them and they'll turn redish brown because they're actually bits of blood. However, Ollie was not in the mood to have me scratching around near his junk to get some of them off so I can't be certain about that. I made an appointment at the vet and were going in a few hours.

I'm not thinking that getting rid of the fleas on him is going to be very difficult. There are flea shampoos, collars, medicines, etc etc. The thing that I'm really worried about is our apartment. Because cleaning the pup is only half the battle and it wont do any good to wash him if there's more fleas in our apartment.

So I spent the morning doing laundry on his bed cover, the towels he sleeps with, the pillows on the couches, and the blankets on the couches. I then deep vacuumed our whole apartment; every spot on the floors, moved all the furniture to get under & behind them all, used the vacuum adapter to get on and in all the cushions. I plan on repeating this process on Thursday morning and again this weekend. The trusty internet said that the first step to getting them gone is to vacuum. Then to use some type of insecticide.

I'm hoping that we caught the problem early enough that infestation shouldn't be a huge issue for us and we wont have to result to fogging our apartment or anything too crazy. I haven't actually seen any live fleas and J and I don't have any signs of bites. I know it'll all be fine in the end but believe me, this is not how I planned on spending my Tuesday.

Have any of you ever dealt with dogs and fleas?

What did you do/do you have any tips?

Day #1

I'm taking a little less serious and different approach instead of a literal answer to my 30 Day Challenge Day #1 prompt so bear with me....

Something you hate about yourself

I hate that:

* I haven't been able to motivate myself to take time to go to the gym lately. I feel like a slob. We've been eating out a lot and not eating very healthy at home either and it just puts my whole body in a funk. I think gym time needs to go back up higher on my priority list.

* I don't have a ton of money to update my wardrobe like I wish I could. I'm in desperate want (not need) of a shopping spree. Some new jeans, a handful of flowing or knit or floral or anything from Forever 21 tops, some cute new heals or boots.... stop me I'm drooling.

* I can't figure out if I want real bangs, side bangs or no bangs. I always feel like I want whichever I don't have... ain't that the truth for life though? I hope that I'll be happier with my hair once it grows a little more and it's out of this awkward partly-grown-out-but-not-quite-enough stage.

* I haven't heard back about any interviews yet. As if the stress from school and secondaries I haven't finished yet isn't enough I hate the waiting game even more. Why does it have to be such a tough process?

* it feels nothing like fall around these parts lately. I know, I know, I live in San Diego but come ooooon. It was 100+ just a week ago so this coming week of 70's in the forecast is looking mighty pleasing. I'm not wanting to wear boots and scarves and jackets yet but it'd be nice to be able to wear pants at least.

* my puppy is getting so big. He is 4 months and 1 week old and weighs 52.2 lbs according to our "super accurate" measuring techniques aka Jeff weighs himself and then holds Ollie and weighs again.

* I can't be the one to weigh Ollie anymore. I seriously can't lift and hold him for more than up onto the bed. Another reason for me to get back to the gym? I think so.

* my hair isn't as curly as it used to be. I really have to work to get the natural, beachy-look these days and I think it's effecting my hair's ability to hold any style now too.

* I've been so MIA from blog land lately. I feel like I haven't even been keeping up on reading other people's blogs let alone posting anything for myself. And the worst of it all is that I don't really have a good excuse this time. So I'd like to say that I love anyone and everyone that is still reading my blog and I appreciate all your comments and love and mentions and everything. I promise I'll be better.