Mommy to the Rescue

This past weekend was so busy!  Saturday I attended the UKC Premier Dog Show in our area.  One of my trainers (and her dog) were competing in the Dock Diving event so I went to support them. 

After the show, we had a Father's Day celebration with my in-laws.  I just love family get-togethers.  Especially when the sun is shining and there is food a plenty :)

We had decided to keep the celebration going and move the party to the fire pit, so we could have smores and relax.  While my brother in law got the fire ready, my husband and I drove home to let our dogs out.

While the dogs were outside I decided to jump in the shower.  I had been in the sun ALL day and needed to refresh.  I was only in the shower for about 10 minutes and let the dogs back inside as soon as I was done.

Here is how Lainey looked when I let her in.....

 

Her left eye was swollen with a huge knot and was all bloody (the blood had been cleaned off prior to this picture being taken)  This picture was taken about 5 minutes after she had been in the house

I panicked!  I didn't know if something had gotten up into her eyelid or if somehow she was attacked.  I immediately tossed my bathrobe aside, yelled to my husband to come look at her and quickly got dressed and pulled my wet hair back.  

This was taken about 3 minutes after the first picture.  You can see that her left eye is getting bigger and it has now started swelling in her right eye.

Our regular vet wasn't open so I knew I would need to drive her to the emergency animal hospital.  With it being a 40 minute drive from my house, I called them first to make sure they were open and to also give them a heads up that we were on our way.

I took this picture about 10 minutes after the initial photo...Just after I had talked to the emergency vet.  Both eyes have now begun swelling shut

After describing the symptoms, the vet was pretty sure that Lainey was having an allergic reaction.  She may have been stung by a bee, bit by a spider or an ant, etc.  I was instructed to give her some Benadryl and wait 30 minutes to see if the swelling decreased.  I was instructed that if 30 minutes passed and we didn't see any improvement or if she breaks out in hives to call back and plan on bringing her in.

After about 50 minutes, there was great improvement, which was such a relief.  About 12 hours later and 2 doses of Benadryl, she was back to normal.

Have you experienced any pet emergencies before?

Pinned it....So I did it



I am absolutely horrible at hard-boiled eggs!  Any time I want them I have to have my mom make them for me.  Well, I had pinned this on Pinterest a while back, but had forgotten about it.  That is until the other night when I was craving an egg salad sandwich.

This was honestly SO EASY! 

1.  Preheat oven to 350 (some sites say 325, but I went with 350)

2. Place eggs in a muffin pan (mini muffin pan would have been better so the eggs didn't move around as much, but I don't have one so I made do with what I had)

3.  Bake for 25-30 minutes (I chose 30 min)

4.  Remove from oven and place in a bowl of ice water for 10-15 minutes to cool

5.  Peel and eat

You will notice some brown spots on the eggs when they came out of the oven, but they peeled right off and didn't make any difference.

Immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water

Perfection!!



The BEST part of all of this (besides the yummy eggs) was that they were SO EASY to peel.  I simply cracked the ends....rolled them around a little to further crack the shell....and then started to peel.  The shell basically just fell right off leaving behind a perfectly smooth outer layer.



New Adventures

After passing the AKC Canine Good Citizen test, I haven't done much in terms of "training" with Lainey. I think we both needed a break.

Instead, we have been hiking with a friend and her dog on Saturday mornings. It allows me to put all of Lainey's skills to use, and gives us both some much needed exercise at the same time.

Last weekend we went to the local military base.  It has a State Recreational Park and has trails for hiking or biking, camping, 3 lakes for fishing and/or swimming, etc.  It was my first time there and it was beautiful.

It's also beautiful to see the bonding that is taking place between these two dogs.  They have become the best of friends...I even joke that they are boyfriend/girlfriend!!

Lainey & Kappy....Best Friends Forever

I'm looking forward to this Saturday.  There have been a few people who have asked to join us with their dogs.  I've been wanting to join and/or create a local dog walking group and it looks like this could very well turn into that.

Salon Effects

I'm always amazed at all the fancy nail art pictures on Pinterest.  I can oooh and ahhhh over them all I want, but I don't have the patience or creativity to do it on my own.

And then I came across Sally Hansen Salon Effects while shopping in Target.

Each kit contains 16 nail polish strips, cuticle stick and mini file/buffer.

I am currently wearing 310 Wild Child

Application instructions are included with each package and are very easy to understand. You select the correct size strip for each nail, peel off the protective film, detach the polish strip from the backing, press on to the nail and file off the excess. What’s great about these strips is that each end has a different shape, one rounded the other squared, so you can find a good fit for your cuticle line.

Application tips:

• Warm the strips with your hands to make them more pliable.
• Bend the strip over your free edge and use the file to remove the excess rather than tearing it off. Tearing can result in an uneven edge.
• Between sizes? Size up and use the enclosed cuticle stick to remove the excess off your skin.

I definitely need some practice applying them, but I look forward to using them again in the future. I just can't decide what style to choose next