Friday Finds & Check-ins, Volume #590

Share your recent beauty purchases or rediscovered favorites in your stash (for those on low/no-buys!), chit chat about weekend plans, and learn a little more about each other!

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Share your own answers in the comments!

Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: YSL Rouge Volupte Lipsticks (x8), Tower 28 Cheek/Lip Balms.
Weekend plans: I can’t believe it’s almost the end of February! Where does the time go?! No real plans, continuing to stay home, which isn’t that far from what we’d WANT to do anyway. Maybe some photographs but most likely a lot of writing of blog posts!
What’s your favorite part about your living space?: I love the higher ceilings – not so much that they have to be vaulted but 10′ ceilings really open up any space and make everything feel larger, roomier. It seems more common in new builds, and I know whenever we walked an older home (when we were house-hunting–probably saw over 300 homes in Arizona), it always felt a little dark and cramped.

P.S. — Want to chat with readers on the regular? Check out Temptalia’s Discord where you can chat about beauty, makeup, and more! 🙂

This week's mellan photo/video...

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Undoubtedly, Mellan was a spoiled dog, which is perhaps most readily documented through his many, many beds. Ironically, the very first I bed I bought him–around four months of age–he promptly peed on (despite being housebroken). It was probably because it wasn’t a fancy, memory foam bed!

Mellan was diagnosed with severe, bilateral hip dysplasia around six-months of age (via x-ray). I remember the first orthopedist we saw recommended a surgery for young dogs (under two), but as I had just started graduate school, I was wholly unprepared for that expensive (about $10,000). He said Mellan wouldn’t be able to walk within 2 years of age!

We got a second opinion from another orthopedist, who was the first doctor that told us to “treat the dog, not the x-ray” and said that total hip replacement was extremely effective and was something we could always do later on. She explained that hip dysplasia isn’t uncommon in larger dogs, like labradors, and many dogs never undergo surgery. She felt it better to treat conservatively, which was what we did — and ultimately, he never had hip surgery because he did not need it. The orthopedist we saw in Arizona kept shooing me out of his office and said Mellan was far too active and able-bodied!

His hips actually popped out of their sockets for about a year after that, eventually cementing in (so-to-speak), but that was… fun. His knees also started to luxate and that was also… fun… to deal with. We did end up having knee surgery done on his right leg (which was worse), and then after he recovered, we ended up doing surgery on both knees simultaneously. Of all his orthopedic problems, his right knee was actually the worst because it couldn’t be surgically fixed further. They do knee replacement in dogs, but it is a newer (or rarer) procedure compared to hip replacement, so Mellan’s orthopedist said it would only make sense to do on a dog who had run out of quality of life and was worth the risk of a knee replacement attempt.

All this is to say is that I hopped on orthopedic, memory foam beds very, very quickly! His first memory foam bed was smaller, as he tended to like to curl up anyway, but also because we lived in an apartment AND the beds are ridiculously expensive. Once we moved to our first house, I bought him the same bed but more in his size. Then, when we moved to Arizona, I bought him another large bed (so he had one in my office and one in our master closet, which was his sleeping area). THEN, I proceeded to buy him another bed for the family room and a less-supportive one for outdoors. I ended up giving my mom the outdoor bed because he hardly used it, and her dogs are outside all the time.

All of his supportive beds were Orvis memory foam beds (he liked the bolster beds), and even though they were absolutely expensive, they have been well-worth it. His first bed lasted for over 10 years and still usable now (I’ve replaced the cover once; I don’t recommend personalizing/monogramming dog things that could be reusable, whether one reuses it for another dog or donates to a shelter). His other beds have held up equally well!

I also tried to get him to love the Instagram-favorite bed, but he hated it, LOL.

P.S. — Though Mellan had orthopedic problems, you’d never know it from his attitude or how he lived his life. He never acted that old. He would pop up to follow me, even when he had no need to, and he would walk around the house or stay standing during an office exam. He wanted to play every day, and he was happy to go for any walk you wanted to take him on.