Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Dog Poop and Aliens

That is what I dreamt about the other night, dog poop and aliens.  No idea, go ahead and do some dream interpretation if you wish too.  It is likely a reflection of the state of my mind right now :)

Mom's cat - Tippy

Instead of blogging about our company having too much business and being overworked (think 30 days in a row with only one day off) I am thankful today to put one gigantic project to bed.  Life is good other than that. I am looking forward this evening to spending some time with a friend who I haven't seen in a couple of months and is starting her own business.  My days are spent working and then popping over to Mom's house to help her give her cat a pill a day that is required right now as the vet tries to figure out what her rescue kitty is allergic too.   Mom finds it difficult to give the pill to her alone without getting scratched so I go over, nice to be within 5 minutes of her house.  Only a few more days of that and the vet will get the allergy results back.  The cat scratches and has lost a lot of hair because of it.  Other than that she has turned out to be a great cat - finally settled down after two weeks of living behind the washing machine. She came out, now enjoys being petted and even sits in Mom's lap when she is watching TV.
Tippy(temporary name that might stick) was found several months ago at a Langley animal hoarder's house.  She was emaciated and tick and flea-ridden.  Now she is about 3 - 4 pounds overweight and on a diet to lose a couple of pounds as when she had open access to food overate for the first two months.  She has loads of love and toys and is much more relaxed.  In the effort to figure out the allergy Mom is now using wood stove pellets as cat litter as recommended by the local SPCA.  Apparently a lot of cats are allergic to cat litter.  A 40 lb bag costs $8 which is considerably cheaper than regular cat litter which was a side bonus from all of this.  Mom can't carry those so I went and got a couple of bags this week for her which should last her a couple of months.  The cat is still scratching so the allergy is probably not the litter but Mom will continue to use it as there is way less dust and it costs half as much.

Our kitchen floor finally got fixed on Monday and the dishwasher reinstalled on Tuesday, bills paid on Wednesday - so all damage from our January roof leak is completely fixed and I hope not to see any more contractors in our house for a REALLY long time.  My house looks clean but is tidy not clean as I need to do a deep clean after all this but don't have the time.  Oh well, we can live with our own dirt for now and I shall just try and keep the dust bunnies corralled so Buddy doesn't eat them (seriously).

After rechecking reviews for all the hotels we have booked in Greece in June I found out that the highly rated hotel we had booked in Athens has had a bed bug issue the last couple of months.  Bed bugs are a difficult thing for a hotel to fight and I would have considered staying there if the incident had been isolated but due to more recent incidents I cancelled that hotel and booked another one - a solid 3 star that is family-owned and centrally located.  It includes breakfast and free tickets to the New Acropolis Museum which was high on our list of sites to see and normally costs 5 Euro each.  It was a little more than the other hotel as I am booking it later (rates were cheaper 5 months ago when I originally booked hotels) but is still a reasonably good deal for Athens.  I could have gotten a cheaper hotel in a worse part of the city but feel it is worth paying more to be in a better location.  Air BNB is not any cheaper than hotels in Athens unless you booked a room versus whole apartment and hubby and I are definitely hotel people so feel this is the right choice.

My passport has arrived so other than uploading our security/passport information into British Airways system and packing we are all ready for our trip.  Today was payday so the last amount to fund our trip has been put into the travel account ready to pay for our hotels on our return.  We will charge them to our credit card for points and pay it off in full when we get home.  Only 2 and a half months to go - woohoo!  I need these travel adventures too look forward to when we work so hard every day. 

Weather here is still unseasonably cold, the flowers are not blooming like they usually are but Spring is still on it's way and we have had a little bit of sunshine so I will take that.  For anyone who is experiencing the terrible storms back East in the USA and Canada stay warm, all the snow will melt soon!  As soon as it warms up here I also see kayaking back in our agenda but the water is too cold now for it.

25 comments:

  1. You are so smart to cancel the reservations and book another hotel. I know there is no guarantee any room will be bed bug free, but it is definitely worth the price increase to decrease the odd of bringing home unwanted house guests.
    TheHub brought some back from a business trip once and it took me about 2 weeks of daily cleaning, vacuuming, sheet and mattress pad changing (I did not wash them daily but the bug man told me to stick them in the dryer on the hottest heat for 45 minutes, then take them outside and shake them before putting them on the just vacuumed mattress.)

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    1. Yuck yuck yuck. I am equally careful where I book hubby on business (I used to be a travel agent) for the same reason. I just can't imagine picking them up on holiday and having the bites/taking them home.

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  2. I've never heard of using wood stove pellets as kitty litter. That's really interesting. I hope they can pinpoint the source of Tippy's allergy. She's a beauty. So glad to hear your house is put back together again. That must be a great feeling. We are experiencing a sudden cold spell here in AL and I'm not loving it one bit. I hope it doesn't last long. I'm really thankful though that I'm not in PA right now. The town where I used to love got 30 inches of snow yesterday! Yikes!

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    1. I know, it makes me happy I don't live in the East either. Sunny and cool today but the birds are chirping happily so I will take that as a sign of spring :)

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  3. Good for you finding out about those nasty bedbugs!! That is the main reason I haven't walked the Camino yet is because of terrible bedbug stories I have heard. They are tough to get rid of. As I look out at the blowing snow I wish I was in Greece! I can only imagine how happy you are that the work in the kitchen is finally done. And I hope Tippy's allergy can be determined.

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    1. I hadn't heard that about the Camino! Ick! I hope you don't get too much snow. We finally have a spring like day today with sun shining and birds chirping - I'll take it!

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    2. We have a family friend who had to stop walking the Camino due to the bedbugs. Her stuff all had to be fumigated and she was a mess by the time she was back in the Netherlands. Not a good experience at all.

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  4. Tippy is gorgeous. Funnily enough Stephen Squirrel has the same problem. No vet has ever been able to find out what it is but it gets worse when the seasons change. We use wood chip cat litter, too - the boys refuse to use anything else.
    Glad the kitchen is sorted.
    I don't think I've ever encountered a bed bug despite only ever staying in the cheapest accommodation throughout the world! xxx

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    1. I've been lucky enough to never have encountered them either :) Hmm, seasonal change, will have to let Mom know.

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  5. I suppose it's better than dogs and alien poop, but maybe alien poop is sweet like honey. So glad you learned about the bedbugs. What an awful experience that would be. Not worth the risk.

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    1. Alien poop like honey, now I will probably dream about that! No, not worth the risk. It is one of the top 20 hotels on Trip advisor in Athens too, unfortunately they need to get a handle on that fast.

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  6. Tippy is adorable! We've had 2 allergic cats so far and very often the culprit is chicken and beef....i know! finding food without those is really time consuming, you need to read a lot of labels.
    Peanut took an antihistamine and did better after....Bandito is on a diet without beef or chicken and takes cortisone. I am a pro at giving pills to cats!

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    1. The vet is talking about needles, I think a pill is much better but the vet will have to figure it out

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  7. I can tell you I have odd dreams. Been raining most afternoon here in North Idaho.
    Coffee is on

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    1. I don't really remember the dream just those two bits :)

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  8. You've been so disciplined in your planning and saving and this seems a wise move.That is a lot of work and very little down time. I hope you find a day soon for you. Cat is a lovely soul.

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    1. We are actually hoping for at least one this weekend, not sure yet though.

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  9. Hey Cheapchick! Been lurking around but haven't commented lately. Make sure to order the vegetarian dishes in Greece, like fava - the green dip made from peas/beans. I love that healthy glug of olive oil they put on top. Mmm!

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    1. definitely - I already love hummus and tzatziki :(

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  10. Ah, like you I have the weirdest of dreams and while I can definitely interpret most of them, there are some that just make no sense at all. And enjoy Greece. A friend just invited me to join him in Rhodes this summer and while I don't like to keep going back to the same country (even if it is to different islands) for Greece I will make an exception. It's beautiful. Anna

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    1. Yes, it has taken me 17 years to get back but I agree, Greece is worth going back and back again

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  11. The lake temp is 6 degrees, still bone chilling. We did go out in the sailboat once, but falling in would be horrible this time of year. - Margy

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    1. I know and here we have such a bitter wind coming off the ocean lately, it is hard to go for a walk at the air park without tears running down your cheeks. We kayak right beside there in the estuary and we have seen one guy kayaking recently but it's way too cold for me.

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  12. No bed bugs so far for us throughout Hong Kong Fiji Samoa NZ and first couple of stops in Australia. Bedding in the camper van in NZ left a lot to be desired but we took silk sleeping bags with us which fold away to nothing so not a problem. I check rooms with a fine tooth comb after reading an article on how to find them and what to look for etc so far I've not encountered any thankfully. We stayed in A for Athens when we were there last year so I hope it's not that hotel with the problem lol

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    1. No, it wasn't A for Athens, was Hotel Hera. We are now staying at the Philippos :)

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