Category Archives: Pet Posse

There’s an app for that…

There’s an app for that…

Jared has this habit of looking at apps for my phone. (He got me the good phone first, and so he’s constantly suffering from phone envy. Here’s hoping that he gets his own awesome smart phone soon…) So, he’s been looking at all sorts of things that I can download for my phone that he wishes that he could have on his own.

The other day, he came across this app called “Paper Camera” that was Amazon’s app of the day recently. Meaning that you can download the app for free when it normally costs money. He told me that I should check it out and see if I wanted to download it to my phone. I didn’t really have time to “check it out” but it sounded intriguing, so I went ahead and downloaded it (after all, it was free, right?).

What it does is takes pictures, but instantly converts them to different styles. Case in point: My classroom.

This is Comic Book style.

Neon Cola style- takes the colors and turns it into neon-light sign style.

Going simplistic- Con Tours style.

You just select the method, and it immediately shows in real-time what the image would look like BEFORE you even take the picture. Sweet, no?

Still not sold? Just check THIS out!

Jared and the pups in Con Tours mode.

Jared in the family room- Sketch Up style

And if that doesn’t melt your heart, what normally looks like this:

 

Turn into this:

Okay, now you’ve got to admit it- that’s pretty dang awesome. And the subject matter therein is pretty much the dictionary definition of adorable.

It’s been a week…

It’s been a week…

You know that there’s something wrong with you when you look at your blog and go, “Wait! Why is that the top post?! Did it not save my latest few posts?!” and then realize: “Nope. I had a lot going on it my head, but was too busy to do anything with it.” Yes, I really did have that train of thought run through my mind.

Anyways, this past week has been insane. It was the end of the first grading period, and it almost did me in. The whole past week, I have had 7th grade papers as my constant companions. When I wasn’t grading, the thoughts of what I needed to grade haunted me. Poems, book reviews, and miscellaneous late work fluttered around me… and it was horrible. Even with these two hanging out with me as I tried to work hard:

Thanks for your patience with papers being all over the house (and pets), Jared. I know that was rough.

On the flip side, to balance out the misery and chaos created in my life by grading, this weekend was General Conference weekend for Church. And it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I was triple booked this weekend (between grading, my CTWP conference, and an amazing book festival going on within a hour of here) along with General Conference. And they were all important and/or meaningful things for me to be involved with. I had to make a conscious choice to choose Conference.

I always seem to enjoy the Saturday sessions more. And this year I was not disappointed. Within the first two hours of Saturday morning, I had several talks that felt like specific parts were addressed directly to the struggles and discouragement I have been facing. This year has had so many things go wrong, and I have never felt so hopeless or discouraged, even when I have tried so hard to focus on the good around me.

General Conference touched me and reminded me that all these things will pass. These issues and doubts that have plagued me are temporary, and that I can rise above it. I feel so lucky to have such easy access to inspiring and good people sharing simple truths about how to live our lives.

That, and the fact that grades have been officially submitted, make life a much happier place to be.

Home sick….

Home sick….

Well, it’s week two of teaching, and I was home sick today with a nasty head cold, which compounded with the headaches I routinely get, makes for a bad case of vertigo and congestion. I suspected it Tuesday, and was readily confirmed yesterday. Throughout the day I felt worse and worse, and it didn’t help with everyone saying “Wow, you look terrible!”

I tried to make it to Open House last night, but after initial announcements, left for home because 1) I didn’t think I could stand for another minute and 2) I decided that meeting parents with a cold and potentially spreading it around would be worse protocol than not meeting them face to face. (Though I know one of the assistant principals disagreed with me on that…)

Anyways, two good things came from staying home for today.

First, I am actually feeling significantly better. Like, I can taste food again and sort of smell through the half of my head that is not as congested. I might actually make it to work tomorrow!

Second, I got good cuddle time in with my dogs. There’s nothing like a nice snuggle from your puppies to make you feel a little bit better when you are down. They really enjoyed just cuddling up next to me in bed and on the couch throughout the day– my little couch potatoes.

Don’t they just melt your heart?

Sick Baby Bonnie

Sick Baby Bonnie

My little girl is sick.

Edited glitz bonnie

The past few days, when I would cuddle with Bonnie, her head smelled bad. Since she’s always getting into stuff in the backyard, I figured that  she just was getting into particularly bad smelling areas, and that it would go away.

Then this morning, she was particularly needy, and kept rubbing her paw against her head. I just happened to look into her ear, and it looked pretty dirty. (No, I didn’t take pictures of it because it was gross. I was more concerned with the health of my dog than your entertainment.) I took a tissue and wiped out a little bit to make sure it wasn’t dirt, and I smelled the cottage cheese odor even more strongly.

Trying not to gag, I somehow made a connection in my head that she might have an ear infection. A quick search online of doggie ear infection symptoms did more to confirm my suspicions. (Foul smelling odor from the ears, dirty ears, trying to rub the head and ears like they are irritated…) I let Jared know that I was going to try and get her into the vet, at which time he decided to tell me she was acting weird last night when I was gone (I went to see “The Help” with some friends from work- Good adaptation of the book overall, but bring some tissues!) and thought it would probably be good for me to go through we getting Bonnie to the Vet ASAP.

We got an appointment just a hour from the time of my call. I was right on track with the ear infection call. Bonnie was such a good girl. She handled the vet a lot better than Stevie ever does (Sorry, but that dog is a shaking little pansy around strangers!), even as they were showing me how to use the cleaner and ear drop medications and cleaned her ears out.

So, if you ever need to know how to clean out your dog’s ear infections, give me a call. After two weeks and over $100 of this, I should be a pro. Oh. And don’t do the home remedy solutions like mineral water or oil. I might have nightmares from what the vets were saying about the problems that can cause.