Weekend of DOOM!!!

Did we ever have a good weekend! It started out on Thursday night with me putting the cage together for the Guinea Pig Palace. HUGE thanks to The Shee-HAN for digging them out of the basement and just giving the cube sections to us for free! I found sheets of coroplast at our local Home Hardware for about 4 bucks cheaper then Home Depot in Kanata. The cool thing was I could get it delivered to my house for the same price as one sheet from Kanata without delivery! Everything was at the house and ready for assembly on Friday night. I can't tell you the amount of cursing was done, but at the end of two hours of me sweating over the measuring, marking, cutting, measuring, marking, and scoring...then cutting off another half inch on both ends and measuring, marking, and scoring again....TA DAAAAAAAAAA!!!!The girls love it! They run laps through the whole thing, go up and down the ramp with ease, and generally are much happier piggies in their new home. I, on the other hand have a new problem. The damn thing is so big I can't get on top of a stool and easily catch the girls for floor time. I have to get J or ANGERAH to be at the other end to herd them toward me so that I can have some interaction with them. Although I have to say that GP Watching has now become a major pass time of mine. The first night that the girls were in the palace they were running around so much that I didn't get to bed until 1:30am. Mind you they didn't get in there until after 11:30pm but still that is a lot of rodent watching. We had a minor engineering flaw at first in the ramp. I had made it out of coroplast and scrap carpeting. I thought it was strong enough to hold up the girls to get up to the food...I was wrong. Spice was a little more then half way up when old lard-butt Cinnamon gave it a try. The ramp collapsed and the girls scattered. I fixed the problem by putting one of there little houses under the ramp. The contact of the ramp to the house is at the half-way mark and supports even the chubbiest Guinea Pig!

Our friend R's 30th birthday is on Tuesday. None of us knew this until we were woken up at 9:30am by G to invite us all over. It was a blast! KCh., R, Angerah, and I played shooter Snakes and Ladders. Every time you went down a snake you had to do a shot of Polar Bear shooters. The board was a sheet of glass and the men were little shot glasses. Totally FUN! Then after two games of that it was time to try out Dance Dance 2000! That was a hoot, even J hopped up there and did some organized stumbling for us.

Today has been all about the laundry and Vanguard. J and I both bought an account and play on Woefeather. I'm at level 5 and a lesser giant. It's fun but I'm not near the addict that J is. The first night he had his account he was up until 4am...on a week night! :) I enjoy doing the quests more then just randomly killing stuff.

LOL!!! The Boy just randomly called out that he has to clean his room, that he has a "BIG mess"! He has only one more week with the pins in his foot and then two more in the walking cast. I can't wait for this to be over. He has regressed with his toilet training to the point that we have put him back into Pullups. He was doing so many accidents that I was washing his dirty underwear all week to keep up. Oh well, as soon as he is out of the cast he will be back to normal. It happened that way the last time.

Blog ya later!

Eeeeeeeewww!

So I got hit with the stomach flu yesterday. It was my first day back at work and I didn't feel that great going in but I chalked it up to getting up at 6am when I was used to crawling out of bed at 10am. I had a cup of coffee and a raven(egg, bacon, cheese on an english muffin) from the caf and then started feeling truly awful. I was able to leave work early at three and get home just in time to start loosing the contents of my stomach.

The Boy is in the office with Daddy. When he starts hearing me retching he asks Daddy, "What she eat for dinner!?!" and a few minutes later after a particularly loud HURG, "That not good!". I was in plenty of pain for most of the night and felt like someone had beaten me with a stick when I woke up the next day. Advil has taken away the worst of it and I was able to have a light breakfast and keep it so I'm assuming it was a 24 hour bug. Anyway, will try this whole getting back to work thing tomorrow.

Ciao for now.

I'm a WINNER!

I guess this is my "End of Vacation Wrap-up Post". I have had a fantastic week! The Boy and I have had many moments where I know he has liked having me home with him and Daddy. Besides our outing on Tuesday, I went on impulse and stuffed him in the car on Friday afternoon and took him to the Hershey's Chocolate Factory in Smith Falls. He had a blast while I was a pack mule. They didn't have any spare wheel chairs and I didn't want to dig the stroller out of the frozen shed so I carried him on my back through the whole tour and through the gift shop. I was fun and it got us both out of the house.
Last night was the BEST! I went to a euchre tournament/party with the Pierce's and had a blast! It was a retro themed night so I was a flower child with my tie-died shirt and wild makeup. I was randomly drawn to the main table...and didn't really leave there until near the end of the night. I WON THE TOP PRIZE! I had amazing luck with the cards and the partners. Yvonne and I are planning on doing the same thing in July at their house, with J cooking of course.

Back to work tomorrow....:(

Aaaaaahhhhh! :D

Vacation agrees with me! I've been off work all week and I have to say that I'm already sad that it's more then half over. I have done some powerful relaxing. For the past two mornings, after getting the boy watered, fed, bladder emptied, and put in front of his shows, I have gone back to bed and not emerged until well after 10am. I even treated J to my "'Jama's Dance" where I walk into his office in my SpongeBob Pj's, chubby police car slippers and started bustin' a move! It made him laugh, made me laugh, made the boy laugh.

Monday was hanging around the house, Tuesday I took The Boy out of the house to go visit his class mates and deliver Valentine's to them all. I even got to help with his class doing a craft. After he started getting tired he and I went to Sam's to say hi to all the kids and let Sam give him some hugs. Then to the grocery store, dollar store for a treat, then home. Lots of running around and by the time we were home I was spent. The treat that he picked out was a new one, POP ROCKS! I told him that he might not like them and that they were...hot? Anyway, after the first demo by Mommy he now has a new favorite and begs to go back to the dollar store to get more. I'm thinking that one package a week or less should be fine. Don't want him totally high on sugar.

That brings me to my latest conundrum. How do you get your 4 year old proper nutrition in the way that you get him to eat as much of his dinner as possible before you let him have dessert? I have serious issues about this because it's implanting the mentality that you have to clean your plate all the time which can lead to obesity. I'm thinking the only way to do this is to do away with ALL treats and then establish "Dessert" that is a healthy, yet yummy, choice like yogurt, fruit, small bowl of ice cream, etc. On the other hand we have been doing things so far that he has to have most of his dinner, half to three quarters, before he can have a treat. Treats can mean a Popsicle, bowl of ice cream, strawberries, a hard candy, ju-jubs, three Pocky sticks, whatever we have in the house sort of thing. He is doing really well with his eating new things...if we deny him anything except a small bit of water about two hours before dinner is scheduled. He eats beef with broccoli stir fry, schezuan stir fry, roast chicken, roast beef, LOVES cooked broccoli, carrots, mashed potatoes....hmmm. The more I think about it the more I realize he does eat a lot of veggies and good-for-him things....hmmm....perhaps I'll think more on this before we do any sweeping changes.

Can't wait for Gray's Anatomy tonight! Not just for the episode but that fact that KCh and ANGERAH is coming over to watch it at my house. I love dishing the action during commercials! Tomorrow is Movie Night at KCh's house with his 52" tv, Saturday night I'm out with the Pierce's at a Euchre Tournament, Sunday is crying and whining about not wanting to go back to work. :)

We had something interesting happen with the GP's. We are pretty sure Cinnamon went into Estrus. The girls wouldn't settle down for almost two days. Constant arguing and rumble-strutting/humping. I was ready to separate them and even had the smaller cage ready to go, but today they are back to peaceful co-existence. The book says that estrus can last 17-20 days but that ovulation is 24-48 hours. I guess that was what that was? Who knows, I'm just happy that they are getting along again. Spice is a really good influence on Cinnamon. She is willing to try any of the veggies that I have put on the floor during outside time. As soon as she gets to chowing down Cinnamon gets jealous and starts eating it too! So far we have had major success with carrots, strawberries, and today's new one, Broccoli. I read the book to find out whether or not green/yellow beans are okay for them. The books says they are okay while the internet says they are poison. Hmmmm....we'll leave them out just on the outside chance. Anyway, here is the latest awesome pic of the two of them.

PEACE OUT YO!

THIS ROCKS!!!

This post is coming to you courtesy of my hobby room in the top of the house...on MY OWN COMPUTER!!! YAY!!!! I gave the challenge to my hubby about two weeks ago to build me my own PC with the spare parts, mice and keyboards that are strewn around the house. This is the chain of events that occurred:

- mother board that has been sitting on a shelf waiting for a CPU for about a year got a new kick-butt CPU
- that combo ended up in Athens (All computers in our house are named after major European cities to help with the network.)
- Athens Mother board and CPU went into Berlin.
- Berlin's Motherboard and CPU went into my new/old baby, re-christened, Dublin.

This is when things started getting a little crazy.

- The power supply that we though was good, wasn't.
- New power supply bought.
- The video card was a dud.
- Cue digging another video card out of the pile.
- Mommy decides that she hates the behemoth monitor that would have gone into her cute little pink hobby room so talks Daddy into letting her get from Costco this morning a brand new "17 Acer monitor for $179! YAY WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! (I LOVE IT!)
- Computer is now formated, booted with Windows XP, and is getting all the programs I want on it.
- Cue Daddy having to buy a wireless network booster so that I can watch my Torrented TV upstairs.
- Cue Daddy adding to the order a set of speakers and sub woofer so that I can hear said TV.

This "free" computer is ending up costing us a bit of a chunk! :(

Oh well, I'm VERY VERY VERY happy being able to have my own little PC. It is at the point in our family that J would be on one with The Boy on the other in the office. We now officially have one PC per person living in our house. We are geeks.

My vacation is going great! I slept in to 8am, Mom and Dad are up for the weekend so we all got up and got moving. Mom and I went to Costco first thing because we needed TP and a few other essentials, (This is the part where I called J on the cell and talked him into the monitor. Did I mention that this is also going to be my birthday present so if I whine about not getting anything in July slap me.), Mom was AWESOME and bought J and I a present! She bought us a Costco Memebership!!!! YAY!!!!! Out to Carleton Place for the dealz at Price Chopper, then back home to eat some lunch. This afternoon I took advantage of Mom and Dad being here and had a nap for an hour and a half. I have been so worn out lately. I could go to bed now and be happy!

Anyway, I'm going to go see if I can get a game of Sequence going with the folk. Tomorrow they head for home and I have a Movie night booked with KCh.

Blog ya later!

ANGERAH and Teddy made me do it! :)

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was your first thought?I don’t want to go to work today. L
2. When’s the next time you will have sex?This weekend…my parents will be in the house afterall! ;)
3. What’s a word that rhymes with “DUCK”?Muck
4. Favorite planet? Saturn, as I LOVE RINGS!!!!
>5.Who is the 4th person on your missed call list?What missed call list? Is that a feature? Oh, on my cell it’s the Hubby.
6. What is your favorite ring on your phone?William Tell Oviture
7. What shirt are you wearing?Eddie Bauer, Purple, full length sleeve, “V” neck.
8. What were you doing 20 minutes ago?Eating lunch and gossiping with the work mates
9. Name the brand of shoes you’re currently wearing?Hmmm….Payless
10. Bright or Dark RoomBright
11. What do you think about the person who posted this survey?They are both awesome/neat-o/peachy-keen!!!
12. If you’re in a room with two beds, which one do you sleep in?The one close to the window, in case of fire.
13. What were you doing at exactly midnight last night?I was in the comforting arms of Morpheus
14. What was your last message you received ?Follow up from my director of Taxation about a screw up by our offsite storage provider.
15. How do you like your eggs?scrambled or without the yolks with sautéed onions and red peppers
16. What’s a word/phrase that you say a lot?Yuppers
17. Who told you he/she loved you last?Son
18. Last furry thing you touched?Cinnamon as she was the last Guinea Pig I put in her cage.
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?1 – Advil Liqui-caps!
20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?Zero – get with the dgitial!
21. Favorite age you have been so far?28
22. Your worst enemy?The head secretary at work. She makes my life hell and treats me like shit when she can get away with it.
23. What wallpaper do you have on your desktop?A pic of our Guinea Pigs!
24. What was the last thing you said to someone?..Thank you
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly?Million bucks
26. Do you like someone?Lots of people
27. The last song you listened to?Keshia Chante – U2
28. If the last person you spoke to was getting shot, what would you do?Duck the arterial spray
29. If you could punch 1 person in the face, who would it be?see question 22
30. What is the closest object to your left foot?My sock, in my shoe, next to my computer tower.

YAY FOR ME!!!

I finally broke and booked a week of vacation. The Boy’s surgery and accompanying recovery time has been hard on us all. I need to re-charge so I’m going to sleep for a week. My new computer should be up and running by then and I’ll be able to spend some time getting it exactly as I want it. With all the pointers and sounds I want, RIGHT J???? I can be as frivolous as I want!

I’m also going to be my honey’s Dish Bish for a week! This will give him the break that I know he needs but can’t have as we can’t afford for him to randomly stop working for a week. Maybe I’ll even try cooking a time or two! …maybe not….

The Spice Girls are getting along much better! When they are out of the cage together they run and play and, as you can see below, they will snuggle when Daddy has them out on his chest during basketball games!

Ciao for now!

Cinnamon and Spice Meet...

The girls were finally introduced tonight. It went really well. They were really happy to see each other...for the first half hour. Then the dominance battles began. I couldn't take the nipping so I finally separated them for the night. I think they will eventually be the best of friends if only because it took them over a half hour to get to the dominance stuff. Anyway, here is a pic of them together.

Cheers.

Happy Sunday!

It's been a great day! Yesterday, after I was out shopping with KCh., I came home to find out that ANGERAH was going to be coming to stay the night when she got back from being out and about. YAY!!! We've had a great Sunday with ANGERAH with lots of fun playing with Spice and Cinnamon. We even took The Boy out for a walk in the wagon so he could experience the snow. It's also been very fun for J as he has been cooking up a storm. MAJOR breakfast with HAM and eggs, and Seafood Chowder for Dinner! The Boy is doing very well after the surgery. He was off of all drugs within 5 days, we dismantled the pallet in his room on Friday night, and last night was the first night he slept the night through. YAY!!! We go in to CHEO on Tuesday to see if the current cast is tight enough to last for the next four weeks or not.

I haven't really done a big description-type post about his time in the hospital...and I don't think I'm going to. It was two days of no sleep and lots of stress so I don't really want to get into it other then to say I'm glad it's done and he did very well considering all he went through. I'm also VERY VERY VERY thankful that my Dad came up and helped with through the thing 'cause J had to work.

Anyway, this week is nothing special except for a vet. appointment for Spice on Monday night, A reiki appointment for me on Wednesday, and Mom and Dad coming for the weekend on Friday. My experiment with reiki I'm very much looking forward to. It's done by Stevie, a mutual friend of Melly's and mine. I'll get to hang out with the both of them on Wednesday so double bonus!

Blog ya later!

Welcome Spice Pollock!

We added to the family this weekend. I have been tossing around in my mind ever since we brought home Cinnamon whether or not she should have a sister. I was in Super Pet in Kanata buying a second litter pan and brush for our piggy when I made the mistake of taking a peek in the animal area. A new litter of Guinea Pigs had arrived last week and there was one with the same pallet of colors as Cinnamon. *INSERT LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT HERE* Upon nagging J though MSN until I finally asked him:

"Do you have any MAJOR objections to Cinnamon getting a friend? I'm the one that is going to be cleaning the cage. All you have to provide is the love."

"Fine."

Thus I went to the store, helped the girl sex the litter and assured myself that Spice was a girl, then we were on our way home.

She is doing the same thing that Cinnamon did her first night, cowering in her Pigaloo and has yet to come out. I know it's going to take her a couple days to settle in so I won't be the emotional mess I was the last time. So it's two weeks in quarantine down in the bar and then we will "introduce" the girls to each other. You have to be careful with this. You don't just plop them in the same cage and let them fight it out. We are doing this in the right way in we have an older GP and a younger one. Dominance will be established pretty much through size so we'll see how well this goes.

Enjoy!