Meh. Just, meh.

You ever have one of those weeks where nothing truly awful actually happens to you, but there's just a lot of little (and some not-so-small) things that add up to one big blob of suckage?

First off was the fleas. The indoor cats and Elias became absolutely overwhelmed in a matter of days. They are on Frontline and Sentinel and they were STILL covered in fleas. And by "covered," I mean I was picking at least a dozen fleas off Elias 2x/day. WTF? And, GROSS. We didn't want to dip the critters in pesticides and bomb the house, so instead we put down diatomaceous earth in the rooms with carpet. Unfortunately, DE is really dusty, so now the house is covered in dust. Then, when we went to vacuum up the DE (and dead fleas), we managed to clog the vacuum motor and filter. Hubby then spent an hour dismantling and cleaning the vacuum - awesome! We also dusted the critters 2x daily, so of course we had DE pretty much on every surface in the house. So now I feel like I live in a dust bin. Gross.

Even after bathing Freya (an extra opportunity for hubby to wear his chain mail), there were STILL fleas. We ended up with an "all-natural" spray that we soaked everyone with, which has FINALLY made a difference. We now seem to be down to a manageable number, with fewer every day. About damn time.

Unfortunately, that's not the only bug we've been dealing with. From time to time we'll see a scorpion, but usually it's one every few months. This week, we've seen four in as many days. As an extra bonus, I got stung by two of them (and one of the little bastards got me twice). Scorpion stings HURT. The first time I got stung, my hand went numb and it hurt for like 45 minutes. This makes the 5th time I've been stung, and luckily I seem to be building up an immunity - it really didn't hurt for more than a minute or two. But the worst part was one of them was inside a sweatshirt I put on (at 6:10 a.m., on my way out to feed the horses), and the little bastard stung me on the neck. It then proceeded to hang out in my hair, pincers and tail at the ready - I could see it in the mirror. Although I wanted to run down the hall screaming "GET IT OFF MEEEEEE!" like a little girl, I realized that it would probably only make things worse, so I calmly informed my (still sleeping) husband that I needed him RIGHT NOW DAMMIT, and to GET THE SCORPION THE FUCK OFF ME.

Yeah. Hell of a way to start the day. Funder, sorry, but your spider in the bathtub just doesn't compare.

Also? Saga feels off behind again/still. We have a vet appointment next Tuesday, where I will write a blank check and tell them to please figure out WTF is wrong with my horse (since the stifle injection a month ago apparently did absolutely no good) and fix it if at all possible. Or if it's not fixable, tell me what to do to help him heal. Did I mention that hubby is supposed to joust on Saga in the big Lysts on the Lake competition in two weeks? Awesome.

Oh and speaking of Saga, I was planning to take him and Cash to a dressage schooling show this weekend... except the show is full. Our entries didn't get in. So, no show for us. Maybe that's a good thing though, given everything else.

And finally... last week, a good friend of mine and former co-worker was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer. It has metastasized across her torso, including her liver. A little time on Google shows that breast cancer involving the liver has a very, very poor prognosis, but my friend is choosing to fight it. She lives by herself but has an excellent support network, and I'm helping where I can. Yesterday I went and sat with her for six hours of chemo, and although she's in good spirits, she's really struggling physically. It's hard to see, and especially difficult when the individual involved is so kind and caring, and has been such a support and role model to so very many people. Life just isn't fair.

I also realized that she is the 10th person I've known personally with cancer, and the 6th with breast cancer. Jeez.

So on that note, go hug your horse, your spouse, your children... and go do something you've been meaning to do but just haven't found the time. Tomorrow may not turn out how you expect.