Critters

So, we got a puppy for Christmas and it's been hard. REALLY hard! I can't wait until he's older, housebroken, and calmer. It just stresses me out to have ANOTHER thing to worry about. We also thought the kids would step up more than they have been. A lot of times when I ask them (my 8 and 5 yr. old) to take the dog out to do a job, they whine and cry and have a major attitude about it! I thought dogs were suppose to be a good thing for children. A best friend. A playmate. Well, I guess we haven't gotten to that point yet.

Also, dogs bring in pests. FLEAS! OMGosh!! If any of you know me, you know that my worst fears are spiders and cockroaches. Well, fleas aren't my favorite either!!!! I felt bad for the poor puppy 'cause he was, and still is, scratching like crazy. We got some flea medication, Advantage, in the tube. The kind that you squirt on the skin in between the shoulder blades. Well, he was just fine the first day. The next morning his fur had a pretty bad chemical stink and he started to act really strange. He slept for almost 6 hrs. in the morning and then when he got up he couldn't walk straight. It was like he couldn't get his balance or he was dizzy and his head would wobble back and forth. He would run around crazy and then he would have no energy, no appetite, and just wanted to lay down. I started to freak out a little since this is our first dog and I was afraid of killing it! Dan called the Vet and got NO help AT ALL! They had NO idea what was wrong with him. They just said to watch him and if he didn't get any better by 8am the next morning, to bring him in. So, that night we did A LOT of research online and finally came to the conclusion that our dog had overdosed on the flea meds and we immediately gave him a bath. We gave him the exact amount of meds the vet had prescribed for us, for how much he weighed, but I guess it was still too much for the little guy. We were sure glad we figured that one out and know how to avoid that one next time. He was back to normal by the next morning. Whew! And we think we have it under control and have an appointment made with our "bug lady" next week to come and spray the yard and house for bugs and fleas.

THEN a couple days after all that, I found a swarm of dead bugs on my windowsill!!! AAAAHHH!! I'm freaking out! We are being invaded! Dan said they could be termites or flies. Well, I was sure praying they were flies! We sent a picture to our "bug lady" and researched these babies online again......what did we do before the internet? holy cow! Anyway to our dismay, we found out that we have TERMITES!! OH. MY. GOODNESS! I am still freaking out! So we had a termite person come out and take a look, and it only took her all of 2 seconds to shine her flashlight up the wall above our front window to give us the diagnosis. There were 3 TINY little holes that I never even noticed before that they were coming out of. Turns out they've eaten all the way up our front wall to the ceiling and we have NO idea what the damage looks like on the inside. (*sigh* and thinking of $$). So the wall is "active" and needs to be treated. This just makes makes me sick to my stomach! You can probably figure out the rest of the story.........we now have a "termite lady" coming to our house on Friday to solve this problem too!

Oh how I hate bugs! I bet the Garden of Eden was AMAZING!!