Wookie – Page 4 – Not Content to Crawl

Just Say No (To Starbucks)

Posted onAugust 21, 2020

Yesterday I was browsing deal sites and saw Starbucks was having a BOGO deal from 2-7 pm if you ordered via the app. Now, you have to know something – we rarely go to Starbucks these days. And by rarely, I mean the last time we went was in January to get my free birthday drink which I let Joe have because I was too sick to give a crap. I’ve spent more time in the local Starbucks’ parking lot meeting up with buyers from Offer Up over the past two years than actually buying any drinks.

But seeing that deal made me think it would be a nice treat, which was cemented by the fact that they now have a peach green tea lemonade. Chick-fil-a got rid of their delicious peach lemonade so I’ve been trying to get my hands on a good peach drink ever since (side note: Lipton peach iced tea drink mix is great. I call it tea kool-aid). Joe wanted to try their Chai Creme Frappuccino, so we decided to place an order.

I was perplexed why our local store wasn’t listed in the app, so I had to pick one a little further away. The app claimed our drinks would take 15-18 minutes to prepare and that it would take 13 minutes to get there, so I placed the order as we pulled out of the driveway. Mistake #1.

We arrived at Starbucks to see a huge line in the drive-thru, so we decided I would run in to get our drinks, but there were a bunch of people in line inside too, and we had brought Wookie, so we opted to get in the drive-thru line so we could be together (and also because I didn’t feel comfortable standing in line for god knows how long). Mistake #2.

We watched as people pulled into the parking lot and left five minutes later with their drinks while we slowly made it to the window 45 minutes after we got in line. My drink was watered down (although not too bad since I had requested light ice) and Joe’s was melted/liquid which we didn’t notice until pulling away.

I ran inside with his drink to ask if they could re-make it since it had clearly been sitting out for awhile and they said yes but it would be a long wait because there were other people ahead of me. Say what? I dunno, I think I should have gotten priority, but I wasn’t about to cause a scene – everyone was stressed out enough. I asked them to explain to me how mobile ordering works so I don’t get an old drink again and according to the barista they usually wait until you get to the order board to start your drink but when it’s busy they just crank out the drinks. That seems like a recipe for shitty drinks and angry customers to me, but what do I know?

I didn’t want to wait any longer (our little adventure took over an hour as it was), which I explained to the barista, so she gave me a gift card for $4. Not quite enough to cover Joe’s drink, but good enough. We took it home and stuck it in the freezer and it eventually firmed up enough to enjoy a little. Also, Wookie got a puppuccino which was nice.

When I placed the order, Joe was concerned our drinks would end up sitting out, but I really believed Starbucks would have a way to prevent that. Silly me. Lesson learned! I also found out that our local Starbucks, which is on a extremely busy major road, closes at 3 pm even though all the other stores in the area don’t close until 8 pm or later. WTF?

As for the drinks – the frapp was pretty good, but chai flavored drinks taste like Christmas to me, so it seemed out of place for this time of year. My drink was ok, even though I could taste more of the mint green tea than any peach or lemonade.

To add insult to injury, even though I only drank half of my venti around 4:30 pm last night, I could not sleep for the life of me. I didn’t fall asleep until after 2 am and only after taking a Midnite, which I haven’t had to do in four months. Then today I got bad stomach issues, if you get my drift, probably from trying Joe’s milk-laden drink. Ugh! I curse thee, Starbucks!

Overall, I don’t think Starbucks is worth the price, and definitely isn’t worth the hassle when they’re having what they call Happy Hour (or the baristas on the Starbucks subreddit refer to as Horror Hour). I have about $20 left in my account that we’ll spend on snacks and the occasional vanilla latte for Joe until we run out of funds. Then it’s hasta la vista, baby.

I much prefer Dunkin Donuts anyway.

Office Renovation & More Plans

Posted onAugust 21, 2020August 21, 2020

In late July we decided to tackle a project we’ve been wanting to work on for awhile – updating K’s old bedroom and making it into a proper office / game room. Joe already got a new desk and moved the tv stand in there but the girly wall color and ugly blue carpet from when we moved in had to go. Even though he ran into an issue with some water damage to the subfloor, he was able to repair it and still got everything done in about two weeks time. Considering how many months it took when we renovated the kids’ bathroom that was super quick! And I love how it came out. The space is so much more inviting now.

Final cost: $500 for materials (paint & flooring) and decor (chair mat, rugs, bookcase, floor lamp, and futon). We came across the futon at Walmart (it was right by the entrance) right after he finished the room. It was $89 and while it isn’t comfy enough to sleep on (unless you’re Wookie), it’s comfortable enough for sitting while gaming.

Here’s a before photo for comparison.

We forgot to get a before photo with the furniture (including the old white bed frame because it sold quickly when we listed it on Offer Up).

We bought enough flooring and paint to redo the workout room in the same manner. That’s currently in progress and should take about the same time since there’s no subfloor damage. However, Joe worked on the office the week of his birthday which he had taken off from work. So he has less time to work on the next room.

I recently sold the big Critter Nation cage that used to be in the workout room to a teenage girl who wanted it for her rats. I sold the single-level one last year. I decided even if I have rats again it won’t be anytime soon. Wookie’s prey drive is too high so there was no point in hanging onto all that unused stuff taking up space. In fact, I no longer have any cages at all. I sold the old aquariums last year, as well as the cage I got with Templeton and Nutterbutter (our first rats). This year I got rid of the purple cage Winston came in and the other small purple cage we purchased when we got Peanut (our first pet, a hamster), eons ago. I also included supplies with each cage so I literally have nothing for any small critters. I even donated my old 2 gallon fish tank and sold the reptile equipment I had for Mrs. Toad. If/when I decide to get any other pets I will need to buy all new supplies. But honestly, I can’t see that happening in the next decade because I want to keep my focus on Wookie anyway. I don’t like the idea of dividing my attention between her and any other pets. But I digress…

We also sold the old elliptical machine for $50 because neither one of us was using it anymore. It’s so big and bulky, not to mention over twenty years old! I much prefer the inexpensive treadmill Joe purchased for me earlier this year to help me get exercise when I was too sick to do much else. Once the workout room is done it will only contain the treadmill, Joe’s weight bench, and a shelving unit for our overflow pantry, plus a few overflow items we don’t have room for elsewhere. I’m hoping I can reorganize the closet in there similar to how I did in the office to maximize the storage space. I feel like we still have too many things, but we’re running out of things to purge, although the kids’ old bedding and an old wooden toy box is going to be donated this weekend.

Wookie’s Sickness

Posted onJuly 24, 2020August 23, 2020

Wookie is on the mend after having diarrhea for a few days.

Below is a screenshot of the timeline I put together for the vet (which we saw on Friday the 17th) since they’re still doing curbside service and you cannot go inside the building with your pet. They made a copy for her chart.

They sent her home with medication and special canned food (which smelled bad because it contained liver; so of course she loved it).

Her poop is still soft, but nothing like before, so I think it’s going to take some time for her to get back to normal even though she’s eating her regular food again.

We still don’t know what caused her to get sick, though. The vet felt the white item was a piece of rawhide. She also said the hostas weren’t dangerous, nor was the new floor cleaner. I’m a bit skeptical about the hostas, since many websites state they’re toxic to dogs, so I chopped the flowering part of them off so they don’t hang over the sidewalk by the front door anymore, and I swept up the remaining flowers.

Updated to add this story I can’t believe I forgot to write about:

At one point during Wookie’s sickness I took her potty pad upstairs to clean it from the runny diarrhea that had gotten on the plastic grates.

I was walking from the kitchen into the dining room when I slipped and fell. Luckily I caught myself and was not injured but my head got dangerously close to the corner where the kitchen and dining room walls meet.

What did I slip on? Dog shit. Apparently Wookie pooped on the carpet in front of the microwave and I stepped right in it. Her potty pad was upstairs drying, although the larger bin was still there with a pad in it but I guess it was too different for her to want to poop there so she chose the carpet. In any case, I had poop on my slippers, pajama pants, and all over the floors and rug. Yay! I threw the clothing into the washer and thanks to the miracle of Woolite pet stain cleaner, plus the Bissell Green Machine, I was able to get the poop out of the rug.

This was runny greasy poop too which made it even worse. Explained why I thought I smelled poop before I slipped though!

In hindsight, it was pretty comical how i slipped and fell, like that scene in Night At The Roxbury where Doug slips (which makes me laugh out loud every time even though I’ve seen it at least 50 times).

Dog Teeth

Posted onMarch 25, 2020

Despite how I crappy feel, I’ve been trying to keep up on brushing Wookie’s teeth daily after her dental cleaning back in February. She hates it, and it doesn’t seem to be working well. There’s this one tooth in particular, located on the top back of her mouth on her right side, that is split and it’s already turning yellow again!

It’s really frustrating because I want to put off sending her for another cleaning as long as possible because of how she was after the procedure. She was so miserable and crying the rest of the day. The vet said it was normal but she didn’t do that after her first cleaning when she was still a puppy. I think the drugs they gave her were unnecessarily strong. It was bad enough having to drop her off in the morning only to have her sit in a cage for hours until it was her turn. She gets super anxious around strangers, be it people or dogs, which is why doggy daycare never worked out for her.