Happy September! 🍁 I really hope fall is coming soon…it’s my favorite season! The temperatures have finally dipped below 100, but it’s still hot as heck outside. 😩 We also need rain so badly. 🙏 I’m in a bit of a reading slump. 🫤 Not sure why since I did pretty good in August. Oh well…maybe things will pick back up soon. I hope all of you are doing well and reading some great books! ☺️

Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. 😔 Thank you for the info.

Good to know! I am definitely not expecting anything to make it go away completely...just hoping for something to make it better. Do you still give it to her daily? Or just at certain times?

Thank you for the info! Regarding the bolded...this is exactly the issue we face with the anxiety meds. 😫 We tried the gel stuff a long time ago (I don't remember if it was called Sileo, but I doubt there are any other products, so it must have been that). Unfortunately, it didn't do anything for him, which is why we moved on to the anxiety meds. I'll have to give more thought to the Thunder Shirt. 🤔

Has anyone tried CBD oil to try and calm a dog/cat with anxiety and/or fear of thunderstorms? Our dog is extremely afraid of thunderstorms. He starts with panting and pacing around the house, but then he gets more destructive by scratching and biting the walls and furniture. He has a special crate for high anxiety dogs (this is also the crate he sleeps in at night), but during storms he still scratches and bites the inside of the crate. We have a basket muzzle that we put on him to prevent him from damaging his teeth because he has done that in the past. We also have the crate in our bedroom where we have a white noise machine to try and help block out thunder sounds and black out curtains to try and cover up lightening (which doesn't help at night). We've talked with our vet numerous times. We tried Benadryl first, but that does nothing to calm him. She's now prescribed him two different anti-anxiety meds, but it's very difficult to give him those at the right time because it takes a few hours for them to kick in. For storms that just pop-up, it's impossible. Also, the medication doesn't calm him all that much. The only thing we haven't tried in a thunder vest, but he has a pretty broad chest (he's a Doberman) and after trying all of the other things, I don't think it would be much help. So, I'm wondering if a daily dose of the CBD oil would be worth trying. On days where we know storms are coming, I can up the dose? Thoughts? I feel like we've tried everything and I'm so discouraged and frustrated. 😔 Please don't quote...I may delete. Thanks.

This happened to me a few months ago…it definitely hurts! The crazy part was I had my shoes on for about 4 hours before it stung me, so it was just hiding in there! I have no idea how or why it didn’t sting me sooner, but it gives me the creeps knowing I had a scorpion by my foot for hours. 😩 🤢 Now I make it a habit to shake out my shoes.

Thinking of you today, Melissa. Hugs 🙏

We haven't watched a Joseon-era show in a while, but I scanned through Netflix and nothing jumped out at me. What do y'all recommend? We've already watched...Flower Crew, Rookie Historian, 100 Days My Prince, and The King's Affection.

Ha! That's usually me in my book club...everyone will really like the book we're reading and I'll be the one who doesn't. 🤣 Just curious...what in particular did you not like about this book? Was it just too much of a stretch...the whole octopus thing? Or just too perfect of an ending?

I finished two books over the past few days... For English this year DD and I are doing American Literature (she's doing US History, so I thought it would go nicely with that). I don't think I've actually read any of the books on our list...which is kind of terrible, but I'm happy because I'm always on a quest to read more classics! The first book is Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I kind of went into this one blind. I knew it was a bit controversial, but I didn't know much more than that. I now understand why some people may not like it, but I actually really enjoyed it. I think there's going to be a lot for DD and I to talk about. (5 stars) The other book I finished was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I missed my book club in July because of our vacation, so I finally got around to reading this one. It was such a sweet, heartwarming story. I loved Tova, and I especially loved Marcellus. (4 stars)

We just finished The Inheritors (Heirs)...it was pretty good. This was the first show we've watched with Lee Min-ho. I know we should watch Boys Over Flowers, but I didn't realize it was 25 episodes! We'll eventually get to it...I know it's one of those classics. I also put The King Eternal Monarch on our watch list. My favorite character in The Inheritors, though, was the one played by Kim Woo-bin. I love the trope of the bad guy/villain turning good because he likes the girl. 🥰 Too bad they ruined it with my least favorite trope ever....the dreaded love triangle!!! 😤🤣 Anywho...it was still a fun show with all the crazy drama. On to the next!

Just wanted to add...I've haven't read many books under the magical realism genre, but some of my more recent ones... The Wishing Game and Weyward...these were okay, but I didn't love them. Other Birds and Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance...I really liked these.

I'm not familiar with Cassandra in Reverse, but I've read both The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow. I think these would fall under magical realism. I thought Addie LaRue was really slow, so while I liked the premise of it, I was kind of bored. I really loved As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow, but it is a difficult book to read...it's sad!

Hugs Scout

Definitely not

Sounds good…I just placed a hold for it on Libby. 😊

Gross! 🤮

I've finished two books recently... Another Lynn Painter book...The Love Wager. It's about Hallie and Jack who meet at a wedding and end up having a one night stand, but happen to meet up again through a dating app. They agree to help each other find the right partner for each other, but end up starting to like each other. This story was fun, but nothing new or super meaningful. (4 stars) For my book club we read America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray. This book is told from the perspective of Patsy Jefferson, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. The story takes us all the way from her childhood to after her father's death. There was a lot of interesting information about their time in Paris, her perspective on Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings, and her marriage. I will admit that I skimmed through the last 150 pages because by that point I had grown a bit tired of the book. The story was good, it just didn't always capture my interest. Also, after reading the author's note, it seems the author made a lot of assumptions from the letters she researched. I know this is common practice, but there was a big emphasis on a love story that was never really known to have existed. That just kind of felt weird. (4 stars)

DD and I had our first DNF of a show...it's called Tomorrow. The star of the show is Ro Woon, which was too bad because I really like him, but the show was just too much. It was about a group of grim reapers who go around trying to stop people from committing suicide. We watched 4 episodes. We've watched many shows that have suicide in the story line, but this show wasn't just one story line, but each episode with a new person and new story. They attempted to inject some humor to balance things out, but I told DD that it was a bit much to watch all of these episodes. Plus, the writing of the show was not consistent...in the first episode they would make some sort of rule...like the reapers were not allowed to interfere in the past...then the next episode they would do exactly that and nothing bad would happen. Things like that were irksome and confusing.

🤞

Gosh...that's so awful...I'm so sorry! My first thoughts were fencing and cameras. Hopefully you can figure out where to put the fence well enough inside your yard. I'm not sure what type of fence would be best...a privacy fence, or some type of wire fencing so you can still see/keep an eye on things. Are there trees where you could put Ring cameras up? They will notify when there is motion, that way if he does approach the fence you'd know it and also have video evidence.

Hugs Melissa

Hmmmm....it wasn't too bad to me. Some of those scenes can be a bit jarring because they come so unexpectedly. Plus, they often repeat them several times which can be bothersome. I guess these shows would be the equivalent to what is shown on network TV here, maybe? I can't remember the last time I've watched a network TV show, so I'm not sure what types of things they show. I usually stick to stuff on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, those sort of things, and the kdrama scenes don't seem that bad compared to what's shown in those places (or they're at least equivalent). (I've also watched A LOT of war shows and movies because of my DH, so maybe I'm just desensitized to gory stuff. ☺️)

Yep! It's only 12 episodes and they've released all of them.

DD and I just finished a new show on Netflix...See You in My 19th Life. The male lead (Bo Hyun Ahn) in this show was actually the villain in Itaewon Class, so it was nice to see him as the romantic interest in this show. I had mixed feelings about the female lead...at times I liked her, at times she was a bit strange. I think the show had some pacing issues at times...some storylines were really slow to be resolved and others were so quick! Overall the premise was interesting (the female lead was able to remember her past lives and was reconnecting with people from her past in her 19th life). I'd recommend it for a quick, fun watch. (FYI...there is a somewhat graphic car accident that is shown multiple times. It's not too gory, but there is some blood.)