Monday, March 30, 2009

Attack of the Flea

This weekend, which also happened to be the start of my spring break, was my first (and hopefully last) encouter with a FLEA EPIDEMIC!!! Yiiikkeess... here's how it went down.

Friday night around midnight we were about to go to bed when I picked Disco up to put him in his kennel and noticed a nasty varmit leisurely strolling across Disco's back. I summoned Micah at once as I cannot be expected to deal with such things on my own. Micah exercised his great wisdom and determined that the varmit was, in fact, a flea. I immediately felt itchy everywhere.

Since it was too late to really do much about our little problem, we put Disco in his kennel and went to sleep. Sleep was difficult as I kept feeling billions upon billions of little bugs crawling all over me (ok, so this was just in my imagination).


Saturday morning I went into intense flea warfare. We washed just about every item that we could put in the washing machine. After doing laundry for several hours, we went to Walmart and purchased a flea comb and some flea powder. We combed Disco and found no more evidence of the little life suckers. Next we covered the floor and furniture with flea powder, let it sit, then vacuumed it up. Unfortunately there are still little particles of flea powder that did not vacuum up, even after 2 vacummings, so if Micah, Disco or I die of cancer in the next few days, we'll know why.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Why is she calling the sight of one flea an 'epidemic?'" Well I know one person who would agree with you and may even think I'm acting a little silly or "overreacting." Well, as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here you go:








That, my friends, is a flea. They are gross. They also lay eggs by the dozens and have mouths that are designed for "piercing skin and sucking blood" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea <---- if you click that link you will suddenly feel bugs all over you, I promise).

What's worst of all is that Disco was not supposed to get fleas!! He's on flea treatment! WHHAATT?? I called the vet to complain, but they had no sympathy and suggested that I try a different brand of flea treatment. Brilliant.

For now, it seems our epidemic has subsided. However, I cannot rest peacefully until 2 weeks has passed flea free, as that is how long it takes the eggs to hatch.

Well now that I feel bugs on me again, perhaps I will change the topic. Besides combating fleas, I have been doing a lot of baking over my spring break. I made some coconut bread pudding, homemade whole wheat tortillas, and I'm currently in the midst of making some whole wheat bread from scratch. The bread pudding turned out delish, but I think my days of making flour tortillas from scratch are over as they turned out kind of stiff and not that tasty. It was still a fun thing to try, though! I have also played some disc golf with Micah and my skills are rapidly improving, according to him. Today I went running outside for the first time in a while with my friend Lydia and I almost died....man I'm out of shape! Then I completely cancelled that running out by eating 2 huge chocolate chip cookies! yummmmm... Diet?? What diet?? Tomorrow is another day....

Monday, March 16, 2009

Weekend Update

Well this past weekend was a very busy weekend for us. Saturday night we hosted Bible study at our apartment, so I spent most of Saturday cooking. I ended up cooking WAYY too much food.... 4 lasagnas to be exact!! But it was tasty and everyone got to take some home. We enjoyed having our friends over for Bible study, and of course Disco was THRILLED to have some new friends to play with.
Sunday my mom, brother, and about a million other relatives came to San Antonio. Micah and I went to my grandma's house to visit them. We also had a mini early birthday celebration for Micah. My mom got to fulfill her self proclaimed need to bake people cakes on their birthday, and made a really yummy sourdough carrot cake! She also got the shock of a lifetime when Ryan showed up....it was a total surprise, orchestrated by none other than yours truly! Ryan and I got to made our family proud when we had contests of who has a larger oral cavity (Ryan can put a whole apple in his), and who can put their foot in their mouth (literally) while standing. Once again, Disco was thrilled to have some new friends to play with, and got to play with some other dogs as well. I won't go into detail, but let's just say Disco is getting a little too friendly and I can't wait till he gets fixed on April Fool's Day!!!

Proud to call him my brother.... I guess ;)



On top of everything else this weekend, I was supposed to be studying for my microbiology exam which was today. It went okay, but would have been better if I had been able to spend some decent time studying. I guess sometimes there are more important things than studying! Tomorrow I have a dental anatomy practical, then time to start preparing for Monday's exam! Ohhh how I love dental school.

Speaking of school, I thought some people may be interested in hearing an update on my professor who had a slight "wardrobe malfunction" as we call it in my class (i.e lost his pants). Someone in my class purchased a sympathy card for us to sign and give to him. The card had some sentimental words written in it including something about being "sorry for your loss," to the end of which my classmate wrote "of pants." We wrote notes to our professor in the card telling him how awesome it was that he finished his lecture after the incident, how much we enjoy his class, and what a great sense of humor he has. In addition to the card, we also gave him another gift: suspenders. I know this all sounds kinda mean if you don't know the guy, but he has a great sense of humor and really did like our gift. He was very touched to receive the card and truly appreciated the suspenders. He said he almost cried after reading our sweet comments in the card.

Monday, March 9, 2009

All Disco

Disco took his first trip to the dog park recently. We like to take him there because it's pretty much a win-win situation for all involved; Disco has a blast, and we get the satisfaction of knowing that he's burning off some (a very tiny fraction) of that never-ending energy he has. Sadly, the dog park is 30 minutes away. :( Here are some pictures:



Sometimes Disco thinks he's a big dog, too.

Attacking an albino pit bull.


Vicious white fluffball looking ferocious.


Disco and a little brown dog getting to know each other in that weird, doggy way.

Ok, so this wasn't at the dog park but I added it to illustrate two points:
1. Disco is wearing a cute jacket which belonged to his Uncle Fonzie in his skinnier years.
2. Notice Disco's ears. They are both floppy. You'll see what I mean momentarily.



Please take a moment to notice Disco's ears again. One floppy, one sticking up. This concerns me. I want his ears to stay floppy!!! I fear that they will point up as seen on his right when he reaches adulthood.

This picture is even more concerning. Not one, but TWO pointy ears. Not cool Disco, not cool. Oh by the way, this is a little girl who was obsessed with Disco at the dog park.

Anyone know any good home remedies for pointy ears?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Did this actually happen?

This morning I was sitting in class, contemplating what my next blogging move would be, when THIS happened.

My biomaterials professor walked in dressed unusually casually, but I blamed his oversized nylon workout pants and untucked denim shirt on a rough morning, and dismissed it. My class sat and chatted while we awaited our prof to set up his power point presentation for class. When class began, our prof started his lecture by apologizing for his casual appearance.

"I'd like to apologize for my casual dress today. There is a good reason though, and I'll show you. Get ready ladies!!"

My prof pulled up his pant leg a few inches to reveal a knee brace of some sort. I have to admit I zoned out for a while, but I think he had knee surgery of and couldn't put on his normal professor pants. He proceeded to enlighten us with invaluable knowledge on the history of amalgam restorations, their physical and chemical properties, how they are made, etc. We were all enthralled.

Just as my attention span was starting to wane, I heard my professor utter these words, words that no one can ignore, words that are forever emblazoned into my mind:

"Whoops, hang on guys, my pants just fell down."

Anyone who was half asleep or surfing Facebook was startled into paying attention. An uproar of laughter filled the room. Fortunately, he was standing behind a podium that was about waist high. Also fortunate is the fact that he laughed too and isn't the type of guy to embarass easily, apparently. So we weren't laughing AT him, but WITH him. He nonchalantaly retrieved the nylon sack he was wearing from the ground and pulled it back up.

My friend and I looked at each other, laughing and in disbelief that his hilarious incident actually happened. It seemed too much like someone's worst nighmare (and too funny) to be true. Nothing exciting ever happens in that desolate classroom we hours a day in, especially in biomaterials class. We couldn't believe it.

"Well I have to say, that hasn't ever happened in 35 years," our prof admitted.

He proceeded on like nothing had happened, explaining the benefits of high copper amalgams without missing a beat. Twenty minutes or so went by, and most of us had put the incident behind us and were starting to fade again.

"Well I see some dozers out there, shall I drop trough again?"

I'm just thankful that this particular misfortune happened to this particular prof. If it were anyone else, it would have been a lot more embarassing. And less funny.

After about an hour of lecture, my professor was almost done covering the material he was supposed to cover in 2 hours, and was about to dismiss us.

"Well guys what do you think, we have an hour left, shall I start from the beginning again? Oh wait... I don't know if I can keep my pants up that long."

:-D

Light Orchid