Thursday Thoughts {Vol. 16}

This week has flown by for me! I'm sure it's due to the fact that I'm not working overtime, I only worked a half day Tuesday, and we had a semi-relaxing weekend. Speaking of relaxing weekends we have another one to look forward to this week and I can't wait especially since life will be insanely busy for the rest of this year.

I have never been so thankful for electricity than I have been this week. I mentioned we lost power Sunday evening around 8pm and it didn't come back on until Monday evening around 7. A measly 23 hours without power was enough to remind me how blessed we are. I would like to advise everyone to buy a few Bath and Body Works 3-wick candles {when they go on sale 2 for $22- NEVER pay $20 for one freaking candle LOL} for emergencies like this. They were a life saver and one candle kept our room decently lit. I use Scentsy as my everyday candles, but I'm so glad I had a stash of normal candles!

This beauty arrived on my doorstep last night! T bought it for our seven year dating anniversary and I couldn't love it more! Heart locks hold a special place in my heart and I've been wanting an everyday necklace ever since I've stopped wearing my Army Sweetheart one over a year ago.

Duke escaped from the back yard Tuesday. I found him standing next to my car IN THE STREET. I swear this dog is going to give me a heart attack one day. He shimmied through a gap between the two fences {the storm blew away the chicken wire that was covering the gap} and who knows how long he was outside of the yard. Thankfully he didn't completely run off or get hit by a car.

Speaking of the fur-child we're changing up his diet and routine. When I couldn't sleep Tuesday night I decided to do some research and realized a few things:
- We have been over feeding him. Not by a ton, but still something that needs to be changed. So I bought a new food scoop yesterday and I'm going to tape off where we're supposed to fill it to.
- We're going to change his treats to grain free and start giving him frozen green beans and carrots more often while we're at home. This boy gets treats ALL the time {he is only motivated by food so far LOL} so those calories add up quickly. Not to mention those veggies are cheaper than a bag of treats!
- He is no longer allowed to sleep in our room {we've let him 2 or 3 times in the past month} because now he doesn't want to sleep in his crate and will cry for a good 20 minutes when we put him in there. Maybe once we move we can change this.
- THIS MIGHT BE A LITTLE TMI: We're going to give him yogurt 3x a week to help stiffen his bowels. Nothing is more frustrating than having to clean poo off of him numerous times a week! The poor guy has a really weak stomach.
- I realized that even if I don't get home in time to take him for a walk I can run him in the backyard for at least 15 minutes a night. There's no excuse not to exercise him every day. We're going to use this time to learn fetch!
- On top of brushing his teeth once a week we have started to give him a dental chew once a week also. I am trying my best to be proactive about his teeth and breath. Everyone hates stinky dog breath. I'll report back in a few weeks on how all of this is working :)

On the topic of routines I am in the process of making one for myself... finally! So far I have stuck to my AM & PM ones for 3 days. Next up I need to figure out a chore schedule {cleaning, Duke, ect}. Once I've stuck to it for 3 weeks I will share. There's more background to where this came from coming Tuesday so keep an eye out for that post.