It Is A Miracle!!

I first learned about the healing power of dog saliva when I first returned to Texas and stayed with Sara. Her dog, Princess, is notorious for licking everybody and everything. As I have periodically suffered from eczema, she would take to licking my knuckles when they would break out. I wouldn't really think anything about it and would put a stop to it in fairly short order.

I have been re-introduced to this puppy magic again this week. I have become afflicted recently with another pretty bad bout of eczema over the last couple of weeks. I started putting Cortozone 10 on it last week on a regular basis to try and improve the healing, but it was a very slow process. However, the past couple of nights Leo (a.k.a., Devil Dog) has started licking the worst of the spots even with the Cortozone cream on them. He has always loved to lick lotion off my legs, hands, feet whenever I have put some on, so I didn't really think anything of it. I also didn't stop him because he would start this right as I was starting to fall asleep and since I've had insomnia so bad that I will grab sleep whenever I can and knew that if I made a big deal about it then I would wake myself up and might not get back to sleep.

Well, I noticed this morning that the spots where Leo has been licking have healed. They are no longer itchy and red and are well on the way towards going away. This got me to thinking, so I did a Google search on the "healing power of dog saliva" and lo and behold it has been a known curative since the early Greeks. There even used to be temples where dogs would be kept and the sick and injured would come and be licked. It turns out that there is something in the saliva of dogs that has an antibiotic affect. So, while it may seem icky, as long as a person does not have a suppressed immune system (e.g., HIV, cancer, etc.) and the dog's mouth is clean (e.g., no yellow tartar build up on the teeth, foul breath, etc.) then in small amounts it might not be a horrendous thing.

I guess this is just one more way that Leo has improved my life since he has entered it.

Trip Planning Advice Needed

I am once again mentioning that I am going to Europe in the near future and I'm finalizing my plans. However, I'm having some difficulties in making up my mind on what I want to do, or rather I have come across something that I want to do, but can't decide whether it is really worth doing and which option to go with, so I'm putting this out there to my faithful readers for their thoughts and input....

Since I'm going to be in Rome, I know that I will be able to fill up each and every minute of my time there with museums and churches and architecture and other amazing sites, but I also found these tours that focus on food and drink. This is where I'm torn. Here are the options that I'm considering:

• Rome Walking Tour and Cooking Class. 4 hour tour where you have a short tour through the city then end up at a local restaurant where you get to have some hands-on experience learning how to do some Italian cooking. This is the least expensive option and it is only available, to me, on my last day in Rome.
• Small-Group Cooking Lesson in Roman Countryside. 7 hour tour to the small town of Mazzano Romano where the chef will take us through the market to pick out fresh vegetables, meats, etc. then back to the kitchen to learn how to make a 4 course Italian meal and then eat it along with some wine. This is the most expensive option but it is currently available for any of the days that I will be in Rome.
• Small-Group Cooking Lesson in Rome. 5 hour experience in Rome where you spend time in the market picking out the fresh ingredients and then leaning how to make 3 types of pasta and a meat dish and then eat and have some wine. This is middle of the road cost-wise and is available any of the days.
• Taste of Italy Food Tour to Chianti and Umbria. 13 hour experience up North of Rome towards Tuscany. There is a stop in the town where Frances Mayes based her novel "Under the Tuscan Sun" and you finish up in Chianti at one of the oldest wine cellars where there is wine and olive oil tasting...oh and lunch is thrown in there. This is also middle of the road cost-wise but is only available on either Sunday when I first get to Rome or on the last day before I leave. This one has nothing to do with me learning to cook anything, but it does take me out of the city and into the country-side.

Okay, I need your feedback.... Should I consider any of these or am I being silly and know that there is going to be so much to do and see just in Rome that taking an entire, or at least the majority of a, day in this manner?

So hard to make a decision.....

Shoe Intervention

So, as I have mentioned recently, I am taking a trip shortly to the Old Country (England/Italy) and have been trying to prepare myself. As part of said preparations, I have been making some tough wardrobe decisions. I mean, I don't want to look like a full on geeky tourist and yet I want to be comfortable. I am only taking one bag for 10 days so whatever I pack has to be lightweight. There are many obstacles that I am having to face here, as you can see.

One difficult obstacle has been which shoes to take. Due to this obstacle I have been spending a lot of time shoe shopping on Zappos.com and have purchased a lot of shoes (and while I'm not going to give an exact number just know that when I say a lot, I mean A LOT). Thank goodness Zappos have free shipping both ways AND will take shoes back for any reason for 365 days post purchase.

Luckily with Sara's shoe intervention assistance (she even offered to provide written procedural intervention documentation) I have finally narrowed down what I'm going to be taking and what I will be keeping just because they are too cute to return. I will be returning the greater majority of shoes this weekend so that those funds can be freed up for other things.

If I didn't think it would throw my parents into a conniption, I would take a post a picture of all the shoes.... Hmm, maybe I still will just because I am THAT daughter.

Song Lyric Faux Pas

I have been known in the past to get song lyrics completely screwed up and I accept this as a quirky but endearing part of myself. This morning I had another on of those moments. I'm driving in this morning are hear this song:



I initially thought the line was "Red Eye Love..." but then I was thinking, that doesn't make any sense, unless of course it is people who are in love that take really early plane trips. Since I talked myself out of that reasoning because that would be a seriously limited audience, I thought that it was "Red Hot Love...", which totally makes sense because we all know there are lots of Red Hot Loves out there. So, when I finally landed somewhere so that I could look into what the lyrics were and it turns out that the lyric is "Radar Love....". THAT is completely lost on m

BFF in the Making?

Today Leo and I visited with my friends Angie and Seamus and their new 'puppy' Bailey. Now Bailey is a rescue dog as well and is thought to be about 2 years old, which makes her probably 6 months older than Leo. She is also a couple of inches taller and 10 pounds heavier. Leo, however, is as solid as a brick house.

These two hit it off from the moment we arrived at the house. There was the initial sniffing and acknowledging and the we took them out to the backyard and let them go. They took off running and playing like they had been together all their lives. During the 4+ hours that we were over there, the two of them played and wrestled.

Upon coming home, Leo had dinner and slept and slept and slept. I've realized 2 things out of this little experiment...

1. Leo is going to be fine staying with Bailey and family while I'm treking through Europe.
2. Upon my return from Europe, Leo is going to be spending more time with other dogs; including dog parks and definitely Doggie Day care because Momma likes a worn out pooch!!