Flea Bags

How are the flea bags doing?

Well, hopefully better now that I actually got some treatment that is supposed to work.

Here's the thing, everyone, DO NOT buy Hartz flea treatments. A quick Google search will turn up a multitude of horror stories about the affects of Hartz. It boils down to: Hartz is poison. Hartzvictims.org is just one of many sites spanning the web dedicated to bringing about awareness of how dangerous Hartz flea and tick products are to pets. 

I even called our vet to ask them about the best treatments that I could get because I had used Hartz to no avail. They also were very adamant about how awful Hartz is for animals and recommended Frontline or Advantage (which I had already thought of using but wanted some assurance). 

So yeah, I put something horrific on all of our cats. It can cause neurological damage and death. Luckily, they're doing fine and show no signs of any damage.

And, for all the danger the pets are in from the horrific affects of Hartz, it's not even working! Zelda has had it on the longest and she has the most eggs and fleas out of all of them. What a waste of $20 that could have been put toward buying Advantage (4 doses were $62). 

I'm sick of thinking about fleas! I even dreamt about them last night, woke up out of a dream because I felt covered in them and turned on the light to search my bed. Fuuuun. 

You know what's better than fleas??

This picture of a piglet at a miniature table eating ice cream under an umbrella. A-dor-able. You're welcome.

Who's Patient Zero?

Here's something I didn't expect to be doing today: battling fleas. 

So, a couple days ago I observed a bug or two on Zelda's little face. They didn't look like fleas to me but just winged gnat-type bugs. They didn't jump from her when I grabbed them but as a precaution I put some flea treatment on her. 

Fast forward a few days and this morning I came home from dropping Russ off at work and I laid down to snuggle with Ian for a few extra Zz's. He came up to me and pawed at his nose and I see a black bug on his nose. I quickly grab it because I'm already on alert from Miss Kitten's issue and it jumps from my fingers. 

Oh, crap.

Well, I didn't say that exactly if you know what I mean. 

I grabbed Ian and took him into the bathroom, took off his collar and applied some spot-on flea treatment to his shoulder blade area. I furiously vacuumed the downstairs, threw their cat blankets in the washer, searched my bed for more spots (luckily nothing... but I still want to wash my sheets), and decide to quarantine my cats to the downstairs like we do every night anyway. 

I went upstairs to make coffee and to greet Mom as she comes home from work. Gizmo is hanging out in the sunroom so I decided to check him for fleas just to make sure the quarantine is worth it. 

I parted the fur on the back of his neck and immediately saw a flea dive back into the fur forest. Yep, Gizmo had fleas too. 

A quick Google search will help you with everything you need to know about getting rid of fleas. Luckily for us, I think I caught it just in time like I did the first time Ian had fleas back when we first got him.

My easy, quick tips would be:

1.) Keep your cats and dogs up to date on their preventative treatments (which... I'm a bad cat mommy because I was a little lax the past few months).
2.) Wash pet bedding and anything and everything fabric that your pet lays on or is around constantly, in hot water.
3.) Vacuum. Vacuum. Vacuum. Put a flea collar in the vacuum bag or replace your bag after flea vacuuming (you don't want those turds coming out of the bag and back into your carpet!) 

I found something pretty cool though, on Pet Care Rx  you can search your area and find out the flea and tick risk. 

Which... apparently our risk is really high right now. 

Mickey seems to be the only one not infected... or affected(?) right now but I dosed him with treatment too. 

Then I gave them some kitty treats to make things a little better for them. 

Travel To Do List

I know I haven't been around much lately. Truthfully, I just haven't been doing too much home stuff because I haven't really been at home and/or I've been too busy at home to do any decor or yard things. I would imagine it'll only get worse once we get going with this food truck.

We didn't end up going to Portland but there's another truck north of here about an hour that we really want to go see. It's a big ice cream truck that is cheaper than the Portland trucks and already has a lot of shelves and storage in it already. Plus, it's newer and has less mileage. We'll see. 

On Saturday we finally got over to the University District to visit this game store, Pink Gorilla, that Russ has been dying to go into since Comicon. They have a lot of hard to find games, retro games, and imports at really good prices. Russ would live there if they let him. 

We also tried this really awesome burger place called well, A Burger Place. Russ, being the burger connoisseur that he is, loved it. This place was unique because the fare was simply burgers, fries, and onion rings. You take a sheet of paper, mark the type of burger and all the toppings you want and they make it just how you like it. Pretty awesome! 

I didn't take any pictures because there were enough hipsters around the area doing that.

So, I've got a Pinterest board dedicated to Seattle/Washington things that I want to do and I thought it would make an interesting post talking about them. Here goes!

1.) Ride the Ducks

This tour takes you on land and sea on a unique Seattle adventure. The people always look like they're having such a good time with fun music playing and the tour guides are always wearing funny wigs or hats. Downside: kids with duck calls. The. Entire. Time. 

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2.) Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

This place has shrunken heads. Seriously. And... if you need more convincing than that the place has mummies, a two-headed calf, money origami and just generally weird stuff. I can't wait to go!

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3.) Seattle Underground Tour

In 1889 there was a huge fire that consumed a large portion of Seattle. After that, city officials decided that all new structures be built of stone or brick to reduce the risk of another large fire. They also decided to build the city eight feet higher because of the sogginess of the ground from the constant Seattle rains. What you can now tour is the "first" level of some of the city buildings from the late 1800's. Cool, huh?  

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4.) Boeing Factory Tour

Need I say more? 

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5.) Mount Rainier National Park

I've seen Mt. Rainier a few times on my way to Seattle and on a few ferry rides and it never ceases to surprise me when I see it. Sometimes the breathtaking mountain is visible from Seattle, and sometimes it's hidden. 

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6.) Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum

Artifacts from the police force dating back to the 1880's: weaponry, uniforms, photographs, a jail cell. Seems cool to me.

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There's definitely more to see than this but this will keep me busy for a while!

Smashed Seattle

It's been a while since I shared some pages from my Smashbook with you, hasn't it? I've shared bits from my Smashbook here and here before.

Since I've been in the Seattle area, I've added a few things to my Smashbook (which is the greatest invention since ever!). I have almost filled it and am going to need to buy another one. It really appeals to my artistic nature more than regular scrap booking. I like the hodge podge, collage-messiness of Smashbooks. I used to take the same idea and apply it to shoeboxes and made one for every year of high school and filled it with things like my rose from graduation, my driving permit, wristbands from school events and the like. Maybe I'll share those sometime? That'll be in interesting blast from the past!

Since we've last seen my Smashbook, she's gotten tatted up a bit... And now it's so full that I need a rubber band to smash my Smashbook.

Here's two pages dedicated to the trip my friend Nikki made up here in early May. It's got a postcard from the Space Needle and my ticket, a ticket for the laser show at the Pacific Science Center, a ticket for the monorail, ticket for the ferry, voting card from the Mobile Food Truck Rodeo, and a couple business cards from Slave to the Needle where she got her ear pierced while here. 

My brother and I enjoyed the free day at the art museum...

Here's random tickets and pictures from the Experience Music Project Museum and Space Needle from when we first arrived here.

Here's one of my favorite new pages chronicling my first trip to see roller derby!

This spread is dedicated to Comicon back in March and has blurbs of things we did and celebrities we met.

Best. Scrapbook. Ever. 

Bun Out Of The Oven- A Logo Is Born!

Didn't I say a week ago that I was going to announce our logo the next day... and that never happened? Yeah, we've been deliberating that long on our logo. At first I thought it was pretty clear-cut what I wanted and then, at the last minute, one of our designers uploaded some new designs which made our decision more difficult. 

But, today I can proudly say that we own our logos. Yes, we bought two and you'll see why.

Our main logo for Bake My Day will be this: 

That same designer also made these, which he included in our transaction that we plan to use on alternate t-shirts and stickers for packaging. 

The next design we purchased we really debated using it as our main logo. It's funny, but would people get it? Would they be offended? (which... is stupid.) Would we be able to use it for a brick-and-mortar bakery down the road?  

Ultimately, we still really wanted the design and plan to place it on the back of the truck. We also plan to use it on some hilarious t-shirts that are going to be available for purchase. I think it accurately displays our silly and goofy side. Besides, food trucks are supposed to have some wit and humor about them so we think it really comes across with this design. Bonus, the designer of this logo is local so she'll be able to come see it in action! How awesome is that? 

Next on the agenda: Monday morning we are headed to Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington to look at two awesomely priced trucks. Oh, and I'm going to try and hit up Voodoo Donut! 

Ta-Da!

After nearly two weeks of waiting for my photo book from My Publisher, our book finally arrived yesterday!

My book was wrapped in plastic and cushioned within the box to keep it from sliding around and getting scuffed. 

I also thought the "TA-DA! I'M HERE..." was cute, isn't it?

The book was glossy and perfect. 

I love that I can print on the spine, like an actual yearbook. 

The book pages are made with quality paper and the photos look beautiful. My only problem that I have with photo quality is my own fault because a few I took with my Mac camera or my phone. Still, I wouldn't change putting them in because even those photos are special. 

I'm extremely satisfied with my family yearbook and will be doing one every year from now on. I love being able to have an album where photos are printed well and I don't have to worry about them falling out of a conventional album or the photos aging. 

Another thing that's great about My Publisher is that they have many different sizes of photo books to choose from. One, in fact, is a good size to send Russ on deployment with... I'll be sure to share that when I order it before next Spring! 

Hidden Gems... or Veggies

The other day I stumbled upon a little hidden gem in Pike Place... The Pike Place Urban Garden! Complete with an adorable chalkboard pig!

The community garden serves to produce produce (the English language is weird sometimes, right?) for the Food Bank & Senior Center. 

Gorgeous!

And a trip to Pike Place wouldn't be complete without some flower vendor pictures. I know, it's a cheap, pretty shot but I still can't get over them! The Winter had dried flowers, Spring had tulips, and Summer... sunflowers!

I'm convinced these are the most beautiful bouquets in the world. 

Experiencing Film & Music at the EMP

I've been to the Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum once before and wanted to go again because of a new exhibit they've got: Fantasy Worlds of Myth and Magic. 

The EMP is nestled right next to the Space Needle and is probably the weirdest looking building around. They host a variety of exhibits as well as concerts by big name bands and artists. 

The two exhibits we checked out were the Fantasy Worlds exhibit and the Women Who Rock exhibit. 

 I remember seeing Lucy Lawless kick butt in this outfit on Xena: Warrior Princess. 

There were costumes from the Wizard of Oz there as well. 

Here's one of my two favorite things about this exhibit: costumes from The Princess Bride. Here we have Inigo Montoya's clothes, Princess Buttercup's wedding gown, and the Dread Pirate Roberts' getup. 

And of course the six-fingered glove!

And then there was David Bowie's costume from Labyrinth! There were also two masks worn during the masquerade scene that was one of my favorites in the film. 

Then we stopped by the Women Who Rock exhibit, which was really interesting. One of the coolest things, and I didn't get a picture, was a fur stole worn by Billie Holiday. 

Great picture of Joan Jett to open the exhibit. 

Here's Lady Gaga's childhood piano on exhibit, which I thought was pretty cool even though I'm not a fan of hers. To me, she's still strong and inspiring even though I don't listen to her music. 

Here's two dresses worn by Seattle natives Ann and Nancy Wilson from Heart. The dress on the right was worn on the cover of RollingStone, also featured. 

On the left, Cherie Currie's jumpsuit and on the right clothing worn by Joan Jett on the cover of I Love Rock n Roll, pretty awesome!

Something interesting to note: Joan Jett's jacket had a bunch of pins about women's rights on it and I couldn't help thinking that, how sad is it that nearly three decades later we are still having this discussion on women's rights? 

Anyways.

Pat Benatar's tiny tiny dress! 

Siouxsie Sioux's fur coat... 

Chrissie Hynde...

Gwen Stefani... 

It was pretty interesting to see these bits of history on display! Though... I feel like the absence of Shirley Manson of Garbage and Alanis Morrisette was a huge gaping hole in the exhibit. Weird. 

P.S. 

TOMORROW I will be able to announce the logo we have chosen for our bakery truck venture, Bake My Day. SOOOOO excited!!