I am here to vent about Target! I am registered there for my baby shower and it is giving me a big headache! My cousin called me a few days ago and told me that she purchased some things from my registry at Target and they have not been updated online. She DID tell the cashier that her purchases were from a registry. It has been 4 days. I called my local store and the employee suggested that maybe it is just not updating online but may be updated at the in-store Kiosk. So, this morning I drove to Target and printed out my registry. Same thing. No updates since last Thursday. I went to the Customer Service counter at Target to let them know of my concern. The lady was not much help, she just handed me a number to call and sent me on my way. When I got home I called the registry line which was absolutely no help either. The first person I spoke with basically told me that they haven’t had any technical problems with their registry. So does that mean I am making this up? So, I asked for a superior. On comes “Kathy” an arrogant, unprofessional, unintelligent woman. She proceeded to tell me that they have not had any technical difficulties with their registry and that by looking at my registry everything seems to be updating just fine. She even went as far as telling me that there have been 17 items purchased from my registry. She used the word “updating” as if she has been looking at my registry consistently for days and knows when new items have been taken off. I explained to her that it hasn’t changed since Thursday (4 days ago) and THAT’S what updating means. When I explained that a few family members have told me they have purchased things and they were concerned because it hadn’t been update she replied with telling me that my family should never have worried me with such information and that they should have called the hotline right away. So, not only is this woman ignorant and does not know the meaning of the word update, she also wanted to push the blame of Target’s malfunctioning services onto my family. She wanted specific examples of items that have been purchased and actually expected me to have them. Does she really think my family is going to call me and say “Hey I bought you a (filling the blank!) for your baby but it hasn’t shown up online! Furthermore, every time I would speak, “Kathy” would cut me off and start every sentence with my first name. I am not normally like this but I just couldn’t help myself; Finally I told her to stop calling me by my first name and that I never gave her permission to do so. LOL.  I was so fed up with this phone call and the lack of professionalism that I was done being nice and I could see that I was not going to get any assistance. I do not recommend anyone to register at Target. They have a horrible return policy, and if this is what happens with registries I am going to get a ton of duplicates. Just the hassle I am looking to have when I am 8 months pregnant!!! I registered for my wedding there last year and I did not have as big of a problem with the registry but I did have a lot of duplicate purchases and they were sticklers about returning. Target has not been helpful whatsoever and I cannot wait until I don’t have to deal with them anymore!

Hi there! I wanted to update everyone on my dog (Tippy) that had the arrhythmia. So far she is doing well. We have an appointment next Thursday with a cardiologist. I just want to get her checked thoroughly so I know what I am facing. As of now she is the same energetic, spunky, fun loving dog she has always been. I keep saying my prayers to keep her that way, I really love her. I know I have been blessed with having her so long as it is, but I am just not ready to see a decline in her health since she has been such a phenomenal dog all around. I know she is strong and active and I am hopeful she will stay around long enough for my baby to get to know her!

I am a big advocate in things that are natural. I am not saying I won’t use makeup that isn’t mineral makeup or take medication that isn’t a natural oil or herb but I believe that products that contain healing aides from nature are much more effective than man made chemicals. Vitamin K for puffiness and dark circles under the eyes, tea tree oil in acne treatment and shampoo, peppermint oil to soothe you feet and ease a headache… all of these things are great remedies.

Right now I am using tea tree oil on a swollen toe! I believe I had an ingrown toenail. I went to the doctor and was told that my toe was infected but there was no nail to dig out. She put me on antibiotics for the infection and told me to soak it in anti-bac soap and water 3 times a day. While the infection and redness went away, and most of the pain, my toe was still swollen and odd looking. I went to the doctor for my re-check and she told me that if it didn’t go away with soaking my foot and using peroxide that she would send me to the foot doctor. She told me that the foot doctor would put a shot in my toe and cut out a portion of my nail. I felt like saying, “I thought you said there was NO NAIL!?” But, I didn’t. I went home and immediately started to pick at my toe to get the nail so I wouldn’t have to get that shot. It has been almost a week and my toe looks the same. The other day I started soaking it in Epsom salt and applying peroxide. Yesterday I decided to buy some tea tree oil and soak it in that. I dug more of the nail out today (so I think). So far it is looking much better. I think the tea tree is really drying up the skin and making the swelling go down. Tea tree works as an antiseptic so it is also helping with any type of germs or infection that may enter the area. I will update in a few days and let everyone know if the tea tree has worked it’s magic!

I am 27 weeks pregnant and I am feeling more and more kicks and flutters every day! It is such an amazing feeling. Last night at around 3 AM I was being kicked so much that was laughing out loud in bed. My husband asked why I was laughing and I said “Lola is kicking like crazy!!!” It is so fun to know that there is a little baby inside there. I feel her getting so big now. Before when she’d kick it would be in one general area. Now it’s like she is getting so long that when she kicks I feel her on opposite ends of my body! I cannot believe that we only have 13 weeks to go! I remember the first 13 going by super fast, and I have a feeling that the last 13 will go by fast as well. With the shower coming up in a month and getting her room ready we will be so busy time will fly. This weekend I plan to paint one of the walls of her room pink since the rest is already a pretty green. This is such an amazing time for my husband, myself, and our families. We are super anxious for our little Lola Margherite to arrive!

I am trying to be positive about what happened last Friday. My husband and I were taking our two dogs for a walk last Friday around  7 PM. It was humid and hot and the sun was still shining. I have a 15 year old Cocker Spaniel mix named Tippy and a Cocker Spaniel-Dachshund mix Stitch who is about 4 or five years old. We just adopted him in January. As the walk was coming to an end, we were about 2 doors down from our condo when I looked back and saw Tippy lying on the cement. She was moving her arms and legs and from what I could see her eyes looked funny. I immediately started screaming and I couldn’t breathe. I bent down to her rescue and held her and tried to get her up. My husband was running in to get some water. Withing about 30 to 45 seconds Tippy got back up and she acted as if nothing had happened to her. I was frantic. This was such a scary thing for me to see. Tippy has been my dog since I was about 10 years old. I thought I was going to lose her. I recalled seeing her get a little dizzy a few times about a month ago after long walks and just figured she was hot or winded. We brought her into the house and I called a friend who I knew had taken her dogs to nearby emergency vets. She was very helpful and gave me the number and offered any assistance. When I spoke with the vet I explained the situation. She said it could have been heat stroke though dogs who suffer from that do not bounce back as fast as Tippy did. She also said it could have been a seizure. She told me to put my dog in a luke warm tun and keep wetting her belly to cool her down in case it was indeed caused by the heat. I did just that. The woman advised me to watch her closely that night but I did not have to take her in unless something went wrong. We stayed in that night and spent the night carefully watching Tippy. The next morning I made an appointment to get her checked out for my own peace of mind. When we were in with the doctor she had actually discovered that Tippy fainted due to a condition called canine arrhythmia. This is when the heart beat is too slow. She took blood from my little dog and performed an EKG on her. The blood results came back good. All levels were good and there were no signs of seizure or anything like that. However the EKG displayed the slow heart beat. It showed that ever 2 to 3 beats there was a pause. The doc said that a good sign in though that the connection of the heart was good and the fact that the pause was consistent was also good. She suggested talking to a cardiologist to see what we could do if we needed to go further with making sure Tippy is alright. So far Tippy is doing well, playing, jumping, begging for food, and being the crazy little dog she is. I spoke with a cardiologist office today after getting some numbers from the doc we saw on Sat. (By the way she was very helpful and actually got on the phone personally). She told me that this condition she has not seen too often and that is why she suggested to see a cardiologist for further information. The cardiologist wanted to schedule us for an exam and an Echo cardiogram, an ultrasound of the heart. I am all too familiar with those because I get them once a year. When I spoke to the woman at the office I explained that my dog has already had an EKG and that the vet would fax them over the results of that and the blood work. I mentioned that I didn’t really want her to have to have the echo I just wanted the opinion of the cardiologist based on those previous results. I just want to know if this is a progressive disease that will inevitably get worse over time or if she is stable as long as we don’t over exert her with walks and other activities. The lady set my appointment for just an exam with enough time in case I chose to get the echo. After talking to my mom she suggested I call my aunt who has had a lot of vet experience working with a vet and breading Golden Retrievers. I called my aunt and she knew exactly what I was talking about. She said that no medication at my dogs age would really help and she thinks that with just regulating her activities she should be ok. It just so happens that her own vet was on his way to her house to vaccinate the puppies she had so she said that she would ask his opinion. When she called back she had told me the very same thing. The scary thing is that as with humans who have this condition there is the possibility of cardiac arrest. This scares me so much and I have been crying for a few days now. I am blessed to have this wonderful pet for so long so far and am very grateful for her love and companionship. I am hopeful that I will have a least a couple more years with her just by keeping her calm and not over exerting her. I keep saying my prayers. The bright spot in this is that she is acting like the crazy little dog she has always been. I love this little dog so much and now that we have two dogs, they are so cute together! They look a lot alike and they always want their walks together. I feel so bad for Tippy right now because I cannot take her on walks it is just too hot outside. She is the smartest thing too. We have their leashes in the ottoman that slides open and she knows exactly where it is. She tries to open it up and when it’s open she knows which leash is hers. She will grab it with her teeth and drag it all the way to the front door! This dog is amazing and I love every bit of her!!!