Bringing back the functionality of floors

I had a crazy idea the other day (one I haven't shared with Yangkyu yet because he needs to be eased into my craziness). 

Why don't we get rid of our sofa in our living room and in its place get a few extra large sized cushions? My mom had these wonderfully huge cushions and had custom made covers for them. She stacked them up in a corner when they weren't being used and when we had family night or guests over, they were taken out to use. She took such good care of them that they never looked worn or dirty. She made use of the sunlight to dry them and patted them outside to get rid of dust.

We definitely had a sofa in our home and a dining table, but the floor was also a very inviting place to eat, sit, talk, watch TV and more. Whether there was extra space on the sofa or not, people opted for the floors. It was just so natural for us.

It got me thinking - where did this joy go?

I grew up in a family that made use of our floors. As I mentioned before, we always had furniture that made living away from the floors possible (sofa, dining table, beds) but the floor was always an option to sleep and converse and converge. 

Back in Korea, in my grandparents' home, and many of the older homes in Korea primarily away from the city (although I don't think it's the case now), the floors were even heated and so it was the best place to socialize with family after dinner in front of the TV during the cold months. I remember snuggling next to my grandma under the covers, feeling the warmth of her hand and also the floors. We ate apples and oranges and kids finally dozed off to sleep while the adults enjoyed their favorite dramas.

I miss this terribly. And I wonder why I don't have this anymore. 

Perhaps culturally I've lived without the notion of including floors as part of a living space for so long that I've grown accustomed to it. 

Yangkyu and I have never worn shoes inside the house all our life and I always ask my friends and guests to remove their shoes before coming into our home. I also ask all our Piri's Place clients to do so as well, a concept that is not very familiar to some.

There are a few exceptions that I do make with elderly people who need to wear shoes for support and people who weren't given proper heads up that we take our shoes off and come with a pair that is hard to take off (knee high boots with laces, etc). And sometimes if they just need to do something quick or take a peek inside the living room, they would tip toe in with their shoes. That's ok. I just wipe down the area afterwards. We've made it a lot easier for our clients though in that the entryway is walkable with shoes and the area is wiped down frequently.

We even wipe dogs paws after each bathroom break and if their paws are extra dirty after a walk, I wash them. 

So for us, the floors were and are never considered dirty and only used just to walk, whether with shoes or not.

Sigh.

Big, crazy thoughts. And I am heading into the weekend imagining the possibility. Although it may end up being too crazy even for me. 

There is some wear and tear with our couch but it's in pretty ok shape. I wash the covers frequently, have blankets over them when we have guest dogs and vacuum frequently so that there are no crumbs that live between the cracks. I am thinking that there might be someone who is willing to buy it. Who knows. My problem is, I just never know how to price used furniture.

In any case, what do you think about floors and what was your relation to it?

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! 

Meals with NHV Supplements

This isn't a sponsored post. I just like to write about certain pet products that we love and go back to time and time again in hopes that it may be helpful to someone or prompt them to research on they own.

We were introduced to NHV Natural Pet Products two years ago when Piri was battling cancer and a host of other medical issues including kidney disease. They were kind enough to send us a few bottles to try to help with his cancer, old age, kidneys and borderline pancreatitis. At first I was a little skeptical because I wasn't sure if I needed to write a review or say good things about them. They made sure that there were no strings attached and that after seeing Piri battle one medical issue after another,  they didn't want to just continue and stand by, watch and leave comments wishing us good luck. They wanted to  do something to help. I appreciated their gesture and so started our trust and amazing relationship with NHV.

After Piri crossed the rainbow bridge, we adopted Bartles who had his own medical battles including Cushing's Disease, early stage kidney disease, arthritis, skin infections and later thyroid issues as well. And so along with the medications he was on, we also included a few bottles from NHV and also a skin salve, which was applied topically.

I had been meaning to write a post about this salve for so long but I just kept missing the opportunity. I even took pictures of Mr. Bartles' skin improvement but those are long gone now or buried somewhere in my external hard drive.

But, without getting too detailed (watch... it's going to get detailed), Mr. Bartles' skin issue was pretty rough. It felt as though he had a full armor underneath his beautiful coat. He was itchy too. I thought perhaps the scabs were caused by his Cushing's but I was told by the vet it was allergies.

Because he was dealing with other serious conditions, I wasn't going to tackle his skin issue but decided that perhaps it would help him be a bit more comfortable. And so I ordered the All Clear Ointment for Dogs and started with a small patch on his neck. I picked away the scabs that were willing to come off by themselves, shaved down his neck and applied the ointment. Every three-five days, I washed the area and watched as some of the more stubborn scabs began falling off and re-applied the ointment. And then I noticed that new fur started to grow back. And his skin was baby soft. And he wasn't itchy around his neck.

I moved to his head then his upper torso and the same thing happened. New fur started to grow back.  His skin was soft. And the itchiness all but disappeared. 

For people who saw him for the first time though, they might have seen him and still thought that he was in pretty rough shape. That was because by the time I had moved to his legs, he was totally shaven down so that I can apply the ointment directly to his skin and he had uneven patches of fur because they were growing back at different speeds. Some areas on his skin were still scabbing while other areas were flaky. But to me it was a huge, humongous, gigantic improvement. 

The whole process was definitely a bit messy and you really have to be diligent. But perhaps it was a bit more messy for us as we were working to treat his entire body and not just one area. And while the ointment isn't sticky, it goes on a little like royal jelly? I can't describe it exactly but it can definitely get on blankets and such. And again, it was probably more so for us since I was using large amounts of the salve.

I was washing him every 3-5 days and going a day without applying the ointment just so he can have a break day then reapplying it and then repeating the process all over again. Even friends who saw him were amazed by the new fur growing in and how he was 80% scab free. 

So when we adopted Lady, we made sure to include some NHV supplements to her daily meals. 

Currently she takes Milk Thistle and Old Timer and we plan on adding Turmeric, too. We also have Echo Gold for her ears which we use every once in a while just to clean them out, although unlike Bartles and Piri, she isn't plagued with recurrent ear infections which are prone for cocker spaniels.

Lady was found with high liver enzyme values. She was put on medication and her levels normalized and it was found that the condition wasn't permanent and was probably high because she was foraging for food as a stray. But for precaution and maintenance purposes we decided to put her on Milk Thistle to help keep her liver healthy. 

Bartles was also on Milk Thistle as his liver values were also high (because of his Cushing's) and his values significantly decreased while on this supplement. It is a highly effective and respected supplement. 

Old Timer is just for her to keep her spunk. At age 15 she definitely has some and more.

Turmeric we plan on adding as we are seeing that she has a slight limps with her front leg when she just gets up from the bed (she's fine afterwards). She is on additional joint supplements (Nupro and also Green Lipped Mussel powder) and we thought to add something to help with inflammation.

With Piri and Bartles it was more difficult to add the supplements to their food, as they took many and some do have a strong herbal smell (including, Supraglan for Cushing's and Es-Clear for cancer). Bartles loved food but when the supplements were added to his meals, he was like no thanks!

With Piri because he had trouble with his appetite, he was extra sensitive with what went into his food.

So with my boys I ended up taking their NHV supplements, mixing in a small dog bowl, adding just a little water to dilute it, taking a dropper and squirting little bits directly into their mouth. They hated it but were good sports about it. And they always got a yummy piece of treat afterwards. 

With Lady, it's super easy. I just squirt it right into her food (she eats Stella and Chewy's Frozen Raw but on this day - her birthday - she got a home cooked meal of chicken and vegetables) and she will gobble it up. Lady too picks out certain things, like her Proin pills for incontinence, but she seems ok with the NHV supplements. The recommended dosage is by weight and it is given two times a day. The bottles also need to be refrigerated and has a life span of 6 months.

Other suggestions to give NHV supplements include adding to yogurt if they eat it as a treat. 

I'm not against medicine and I do believe it does help but I am also wary of over medication. I was looking through Piri's old vet records (I kept all of them since he was a puppy) and am shocked at how many antibiotics he has taken for skin and ears. I wish I had known more about natural, holistic methods and included them in his daily maintenance routine. But I guess it is never too late to learn and include what works for us.

You an see all that NHV has to offer for dogs and pets here. 

Another resource we really love is this video on making bone broth for your dogs. 

Happy 15th Birthday, Lady

Today we're celebrating Lady's 15th birthday. 

We began with a special birthday breakfast of boiled chicken and vegetables lightly pan fried with coconut oil and then moved on to her birthday cake. In the past, I used to bake them but now I just mainly use boiled sweet potato and add a mix of chicken and vegetables, decorate the sides with some dog bone treats and top it with something special. For Lady it was a blueberry.

I made her a party hat and her cake topper and also put together a little backdrop for her too. Flowers. Because I only wish her to walk a beautiful path similar to ones scattered with flowers for the rest of her life. She deserves that and more.

Thank you for coming in to our lives and being such a wonderful companion to us. Thank you for mending our hearts and making it bright and happy again. Thank you for being the most easy going and sweetest dog. Thank you for your lovable personality and for fitting so well into lives and letting us fit into yours.

Happiest birthday to you, Lady. 

Snow Day

Happy Friday!

While these photos look like we were inside a giant snow globe, the snow has mostly melted away. Lady loves to eat snow so she enjoyed this lovely snow buffet and helped herself to as many snow cones as her little heart desired. I was afraid it would give her a tummy ache and so I tried to discourage her but she kinda snuck more gulps behind my back (or so she thought.. I see you, Lady... I totally see you because I have eyes on the back of my head - my third grade teacher used to say this in class and I used to think it was so lame).

Yesterday was our first full day off from Piri's Place and we spent it how we normally spend our first free days, which is cleaning. I've finished all of the downstairs area and today I have our two bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. It normally takes almost the entire day because I vacuum, then go over the floors once more with our Bona floor cleaner (this is God send along with our handheld Dyson), the laundry is going the entire day as we have dog blankets, our bed sheets, sofa covers, dog bed covers, dog toys, bath mats, floor mats to wash. I scrub our rugs, but the best part is that I get to rearrange. This never gets old for me.

This process is a little tiring but it's also incredibly soothing. 

During our snow day, after playing in the snow, Yangkyu and I flipped through Netflix and came across Forgotten, a Korean thriller. It started off great for me, the kind of films I enjoy watching, but I'm not quite sure how much I liked the ending. Has anyone seen this?

If you're like me and enjoy these types of movies, I highly recommend Memories of Murder (2003) and Moss (2010).

Yangkyu and I also began to discuss our spring and summer garden. While I don't think I will ever grow a garden as awesome as my dad's, it always feels great to pick something straight from your backyard to eat and include in our cooking.

And while I love having my own vegetable garden, I didn't want to start from seedlings this year only because I'm lazy, but we are also picky about where seeds come from and don't want to buy any random vegetables that are grown ready to plant. So... well... I guess it's starting from seedling for us, eh? We will most likely go back to the place we always get our seeds from - All Good Things Organic Seeds. 

Our early brainstorming include planting cucumbers, green peppers, crown daisies, Ida Gold tomatoes, and of course some lettuce and herbs, too. I also want to grow some strawberries and get a small lemon tree as well. 

We'll also be arming our backyard with flowers and herbs that deter mosquitos - mainly marigolds, rosemary and lemongrass. I don't get bit by them as much as Yangkyu. They love him to bits. Poor Yangkyu.

It looks like the last frost date in our area is going to mid-April. I think some people start their gardens after Mother's Day just to make sure they are free of any frost, but we like to get an early start.

So exciting! Hurry hurry warm weather!

Some other things I've been dabbling at - Sachiko stitching. I have been meaning to make some pot holders and maybe a couple of place mats. A tote bag would be nice too. I'm also still reading IQ84 and started on One Piece but decided not to read it further. My uncle wanted to be a manga artist but was discouraged from pursing that career path because back then it wasn't deemed a respectable job with stable income. I only wish I had the talents to draw and come up with amazing storylines because it would've been a career path I would've taken in a heartbeat, with my mother's blessing too (she was an artist as well).

There isn't enough hours in the day to do everything I enjoy. Sometimes I miss the chance altogether because I oftentimes try to find blocks of time to do something because I hate having to put something down mid-way. I, of course, never find this block of time, and so I end up not having spent any time on making or reading or baking. *shrug* 

Tomorrow we had big plans to head out to DC with Lady but we will need to make other plans. Not only are there no cherry blossoms but there is the big march for gun control happening which will pretty much cripple roads within DC. We support issue wholeheartedly so we aren't bummed about it at all.

OBG Cocker Rescue, where Lady was adopted from, recently won a contest hosted by We The Dogs DC. They're partnering with Mascot Publishing to print a photobook that will feature dogs in iconic DC locations. Proceeds will go to the top three participating organizations in the contest, and OBG got the most votes. Woot woot.

We have tons of photos of Piri at different monuments, landmarks and neighborhoods but none really of Mr. Bartles or Lady. The deadline to submit photos was yesterday so we missed our chance, but we still wanted to take Lady to the places we used to enjoy and get her some doggy ice cream at Pleasant Pops (we used to go here often with Piri) and head to our favorite little Japanese grocery store called Hana Market. There is always a next time. It would be nice to take her to places where there is a a lot of pedestrian culture and see her ears perk up and her eyes light up with curiosity. 

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. Hope it'll be a good one for you.

Waiting for spring

We had gorgeous weather yesterday. When I went to walk our guest dogs it was 60 degrees out. And believe it or not, today is a miserable 30 degrees, raining with snow in the forecast. This wonky weather has delayed peak cherry blossoms dates with the National Park Service predicting it to fall between March 27-31 and the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang saying it will likely be between March 30 - April 3. At this rate we will miss peak bloom again this year as our only free window falls this weekend. Alas, better luck next year for us!

I've spent the better part of our morning looking up for vegan recipes to try. I might be old fashioned this way but I can't seem to work off of recipes using my phone or iPad. I need something on a piece of paper. And because I am still consuming seafood, I have also looked through some Korean seafood recipes to try. We only really eat salmon, cod or mackerel around here and it gets boring when we cook it the same way over and over. I have some inspiration to mix things up and definitely looking forward to how they turn out.

Tonight is our last night with guest dogs and we're on break for 6 days. Originally we had meant to take off for longer but we decided to cut it short to accept a guest who frequents here. We've decided to open our doors a bit early just for her so a slow start back to the dog sitting.

Our current guests are eager to be let out for their afternoon bathroom break. Maybe a fetch session, too.

If it's as soggy and grey in your neck of the woods, stay dry. And warm!

 // Flower crown on Lady from the Barkshop. (Large)

Happy birthday, Piri

It is a wonderful month of birthday celebrations over here. On the 11th we celebrated what would've been Bartles' 14th birthday. 

On the 17th we celebrated Clover's, our guest dog, 3rd birthday. He was born on St. Patrick's day, hence his name. I'll have to share some pictures we took of him soon on the blog but first, today, March 19th, we are remembering Piri on what would've been his 19th birthday. 

Happy birthday, Piri. My forever best friend. I miss you...

Happy birthday, Mr. Bartles

Today is Mr. Bartles' birthday. He would've turned 14. Instead he is forever 13 and lives in my heart.

I miss him. A bit too much, a bit too often and a little more every day.

I almost rambled on a sad note about how much regret I still have and how I still feel bad for those nights when I got frustrated. But I erased all that because today should be a day to celebrate.

Today isn't the actual day Bartles' was born. No one knew his real birthday. And so the day he was rescued became his birthday. 

I asked Yangkyu if he thinks Bartles was having a birthday party with all his friends across the rainbow bridge. He said, of course. They have so many good things to eat. 

I wondered if Bartles will get to have any. He was such a good boy that he always shared. What if he kept sharing and there was none left for him? 

"That's Bartles..", Yangkyu said. 

That is our Bartles. Always a big heart. 

Happy birthday, sweet pea. Happy birthday. 

My favorite month of the year

Happy March!

It's my favorite month of the year.

Why?

Because all three of my cockers were born this month: 

Piri on March 19, 1999

Bartles on March 12, 2004

Lady on March 24, 2003

Actually, Bartles and Lady's birthdays aren't accurate. Their birth dates were unknown when they were rescued and so Bartles' birthday is the day he was rescued and Lady, well she had two birth dates listed on separate documents when we adopted her - July and March. Since the year on the July date was off we decided to go with the March date.

It'll be a month of celebrations for us.

We may also luck our incredibly this year if cherry blossom forecasts stay the same. It looks like peak bloom will fall on dates when Piri's Place is closed so we'll be able to trek out with Lady. 

In the past when we didn't book up so quickly, we were able to block off dates and once predictions were out we were able to officially close without it getting in the way of pending reservations. Now we get booked months ahead and cherry blossom forecasts don't really solidify until we hit March. We are already fully booked for this month and have reservations for April and so I was a little wary that we may not be able to go this year.

I ended up taking the entire week off at the end of the month in March since we'll be booked from the beginning of the month for about three straight weeks, and thankfully the predictions happened to fall on those off dates. Let's hope it stays that way and doesn't get delayed.

Lately, I've been loving that it's not quite dark out at 6 pm, that daylight savings is around the corner and my hands aren't as dry and cracked as it used to be during the cold cold winter months.

I thought February was going to be brutally cold but it wasn't so bad. Thank goodness!