Sena's DW :: Watermelon Life

So, between having to have Jessie put down in the morning and how sick I (and Mom and Lee) was all day, yesterday, for the most part, SUCKED ABYSMALLY.

But there was ONE bright spot.

Because Jessie isn't around anymore, Juna and Pluto can have the run of the whole house 24/7 now (except for the library/Jessie's room until its' cleaned up) so after I fed them their dinner, at 9pm, when they would normally be locked in the basement overnight and into the next morning, I got to experience the joy of letting the boys run about the house willy-nilly instead.

At first they both watched me walk toward the stairs, and when I got to the bottom of them I started calling them over, and at first they were both like .__. but eventually Pluto came over and VERY tentatively went up the stairs, though he wouldn't actually LEAVE the basement, stopping at the landing. JUNA, meanwhile, was sat in "his" chair just looking at me like "yeah right, Mom", so eventually I went and picked him up and carried him up to the landing as well. And as SOON as Juna saw the door was open he was GONE out the basement, and when HE saw JUNA go, PLUTO finally followed.

The two of them spent the whole night sleeping on my bed, just THE most contented kitties that I have EVER seen.

I'm not saying it was worth losing Jessie for, but it was definitely a bright spot in a shitty, shitty day, that's for sure.

Okay, so after waking up at 4am today and not being able to get back to sleep (insomnia is great for writing btw), at 11am, Mom and I headed out to do my whole monthly shop... thing. It's always a to do, and today I was grouchy and took it out on Mom a couple times and I know it. I really need to apologize to her for it later.

Right, so, the first place we went was the bank so I could pull my rent and the money I owed Mom. Then we went to Home Depot so I could get some more paint sticks (for using for backgrounds in merch pics for Etsy) and while I was there I raided their houseplants department, which had clearly been restocked. Home Depot, weirdly, is often the best place in town to get houseplants. And inexpensive, too. .__.;; So I got two new philodendron vines for planting in the axolotl aquarium! I named the regular one "Dean" and the super pretty variegated one "Castiel", to go with my pothos, Sam. <3

Then we went to Costco where I grabbed muscle relaxants (I always need muscle relaxants because of my back) and B12, and... MORE PROTEIN POWDER. It was still on sale from the last time we were in, and it's such a good sale I couldn't help myself. Now I have 8 months worth of protein powder, so I'm good for a WHILE. XD;;

Umm... then came Walmart and shopping for the cats, mostly, though I also grabbed some protein bars for myself. It is SO HARD to find protein bars that 1) aren't chocolate, and 2) don't have PEANUTS in them, oh my God. The two kinds that I got were literally the only two flavours in the only brand that I could eat without DYING. So frustrating.

After Walmart was Shoppers for coke, where I got some nifty Marvel cards because I spent $49.66 (two packs because they were giving out one pack for every $25 spent.) Technically I didn't qualify for TWO packs, but the cashier gave the second pack to me anyway haha. They're just going in my scrapbook anyway, but I'm still pleased to have them.

Finally, we went to the Dollarama so I could get some terracotta pots for the axolotl aquarium, some potting soil for Itsy's terrarium, and some mini chocolate bars for me. I also found a couple of things to add to Poe's parcel, just little things that I think they'll like. I'm hoping to get that parcel mailed off soon, but I'm not sure HOW soon? It depends on how much money I have left in my bank account after I send my part of the Costco money to Mom. I might have to wait until the Trillium benefit comes through on the 10th of September.

...I'm a little worried about Poe right now. They haven't emailed me in a few days now, and I know they were doing poorly. I just really hope they're doing alright. :<

Anyway. Now we're home and I have to put everything away but first I think I need to lay down for a nap. My entire body hurts and I'm SO tired. Mom is upset with me because I can't take the cat litter downstairs myself, but because of my back and knees it's impossible. But why can't I switch to the flushable pine litter?? Basically because Juna refuses to use it. I tried switching to the pine litter at my last apartment and it caused a HUGE to do because Juna just started going to the bathroom on the floor rather than use the pine litter. I can't switch to the pine stuff until he's gone, so for probably another couple of years. :|

But yeah. Long day.

Post-Nap-And-Dinner-EDIT: It is going to cost me $118 plus change (approximately) to mail Poe's TINY LITTLE PARCEL JFC.

I got an Amazon package a couple days ago and the box/paper are still on my floor and Juna LOVES THEM.

Just a lil Juna for today, folks! <3

WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE TAIL IT IS. <3

Right, so here's the actual journal entry that I promised, since I fail at keeping up with my LJ the last couple of weeks. =/

So let's see. Basically, lots of Christmas shopping and stuff. I'm pretty much done now, except for a couple odds-and-ends, and one thing that I ordered and am waiting for it to come in. (Lee's gift, which is this really awesome wall clock in the shape of a Gibson guitar, in red and 1:2 scale to a real guitar! :3 I kind of want it myself lmao. xD;;)

I still have to finish putting together the gifts for Uncle Len/Aunt Clare and Uncle Alec/Aunt Brenda. For them and for my step-siblings this year I'm putting together gift bags with drink mixes that I've made; Chai Latte Coffee Mix, Bavarian Mint Coffee Mix, Orange Nutmeg Coffee Mix, Russian Tea Mix and Dutch Hot Cocoa Mix. All handmade with love from House of Yum! ♥ Hehe~

This week I have to deliver the gift baskets I put together for Dr. K and Dr. W's offices, and on Thursday I'm getting my hair done so I have a basket for Tosha and the girls at the salon too. Other than that I'm done, so I can chill and totally not have to worry about Christmas anymore. I was so stressed at the beginning of this month, too. >>;

Anyhoo, so this morning Dad came up to exchange gifts with my brother and I; which is to say, he and I exchanged gifts and he gave my brother presents, but my brother had nothing to give in return because he hasn't had a job in like two years so he has basically no money. ~_~;; Whatever.

I got Dad two new books that he wanted (the new Pern and Shanarra novels) and a Star Wars poster, and a massive gift bag full of cookies, chocolates, candies and generally a ton of stuff that's very, very tasty. I got Lois a Pomeranian bobble-head (so cute!) and made her a necklace, and got her a set of Christmas cookie cutters.

My brother got a couple of swords for his collection (katanas; very nice ones!) and Dad got me the new Valdemar novel (eeee!! ♥♥♥!!), an ipod shuffle since my mp3 player died a couple months back, and (the best part) he got me a DVD movie set. OF ALL FOUR CRITTERS MOVIES. 8D!! HOLY HELL ASDGH;KL YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPEH THESE MOVIES MAKE ME. KEKEKEKEKE!! >X3 I'm totally not two movies into a Critters marathon right as I'm typing this, either. Really. >.>;;

LOL Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the third one. xD;;

Apparently I have another gift that Dad's not finished putting together as well, so whenever he's done I'll get that one too. .__.;

Other than Christmas stuff, I've been dealing with NAUGHTY FUCKING KITTIES lately. >/ Tia and Juna have decided the last couple of weeks that every night and every time I'm out of the house they're going to get into EVERYTHING. They get into the cupboards and onto the shelves, pull everything out, knock everything over, and chew everything up.

When I got home this afternoon they had pulled all the toilet paper out of the bathroom, thrown it around and shredded it EVERYWHERE. I literally got so mad and frustrated when I saw the mess that I started crying. =__=;; I've been trying everything to get them to stop (short of beating them senseless when they do these kind of things, obviously) and I'm having no luck so far.

I've decided that, at least for now, the two of them (along with Loki, who insists on eating my houseplants every night while I'm sleeping) are going to be locked in the back room when I'm asleep and when I'm going to be out of the apartment for any length of time (Loki is only going to be put back there at night though.) There's a lot less they can get into in the back room, so hopefully that will mitigate things. If not... idek what I'm going to do. -__-;;

At least Dion makes me feel better. When I'm upset he comes and snuggles up under my chin and purrs at me. He's a doll. ♥

Moving on from bratty cats!

I mainlined all of the Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne anime this last week. >__>; I'm horrible like that. But it was a series I'd always wanted to see and I had a chance to download it, so I did. And it was ADDICTIVE. @__@; I have such a soft spot for magical girl anime. It's terrible. Haha.

KKJ aside, I've really been on a Tanemura Arina kick lately. I love her art and storylines, and the other day I picked up the last two volumes of The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross. IT'S OVER SADFAISE. But it had a good ending and it was generally a sweet story, and the art is so pretty!

I miss my Haine cosplay from Gentlemen's Alliance though; it doesn't fit me anymore. ;~; I think that's one Imma replace, because I really love that outfit. And I really want to do a cosplay from KKJ now too, but idk if I can afford it on top of all the other ones I'm supposed to be doing this year. XD We'll see, I guess...

Oh, and I've been collecting Littlest Pet Shop animals. I totally blame papercut917 for this. XD; ♥ They're freakishly cute and addictive. I have something like 33 of them now. I'm running out of room on my shelves for all my little figures lmao. I either need more shelves or less figures. By which I mean, of course, I need more shelves. xD;;

Aaaand... I think that's about it, I guess. For now anyway. I'm sure I forgot stuff because there was so much for me to write about. Oops. Heh. Anyway~

EDIT: Oh, and the other day the cops were here again. Because the fucktards downstairs THREATENED TO BURN THE FUCKING HOUSE DOWN.

Well, despite the disaster yesterday with Juna peeing all over himself when we were bringing the cats home, all seems well. The glue in his incision site(s) is holding so I'm not quite so worried anymore.

The back room, however, stinks to high heaven because I couldn't give him a bath. It's horrible and gross, but there's not much I can do about it until at least the middle of next week. Then maybe I can give him a quick scrub down and vacuum/wash/disinfect the back room and spray the shit out of it with Febreeze. >>;

Dion also seems to be feeling better again today. I'm not sure what's going on with him; the last week or so it's been on-and-off every couple of days. One day he'll be sick and in pain, the next fine and back to normal, the next sick and in pain, the next fine and back to normal... and so on. I'm starting to think he's getting into something he shouldn't be, so later tonight I'm going to go through the apartment and see if I can find anything that he might be getting into that could be making him sick. =/ Fingers crossed that I figure it out.

Anyway, right now I'm over at Mom and Lee's place, as tonight I'm cooking them dinner. Homemade Chinese food ftfw! :D

I brought a couple books to keep me occupied this afternoon, and some laundry that needed done, as well as Squall to show him off to my brother and so that if I wanted to do anything online I could. I'm considering watching a movie or something right now, but I can't decide which one I want to watch. Hmm.

Oh, last night I watched a couple new animated movies! Despicable Me and Planet 51, both of which were really good. ^__^ I added them to my DVD wishlist! I particularly enjoyed Despicable Me, it was really cute and funny. ♥

And...

( Pertaining to the incident with M the other night... )

Alrighty! Today was grocery day, as is every Wednesday. Woo-hoo. /sarcasm lol.

I didn't have much to get for actual groceries, but I did have to get cat food at the vet's (prescription weight management/urinary tract care food that Neko and Loki are on) and there were Sena-prescriptions I had to pick up too.

At the grocery store I mostly picked up some dumplings and wontons (they have these frozen ones that you steam and they come out DELICIOUS and taste JUST LIKE RESTAURANT GYOUZA/WONTONS ASDGH! X3), canned cat food for Tri and fresh cranberries for making home made cranberry sauce. ♥ I also actually found some eye-of-round steaks that were 90% fat free. Finding steaks with a low enough fat content that I'm willing to eat them is rare, and they were ON SALE OMG so I got a pack of two. :3 I might cook one tomorrow night!

And since Lee was driving and I wouldn't have to actually try hauling them home, I got another set of shelves at Walmart to complete my movie wall in the living room. 8D I spent an hour tonight putting them together and reorganizing everything and now they look awesome and I looooove it. X3!! Haha, I have room next to them for a small cabinet too, so I might pick one up at some point. Right now I have a stand there that I built out of DIY cubes.

At Walmart we also stopped to have dinner at McD's, and ran into Sarah and her fiancé, so we sat with them while we ate and had a nice conversation. The more time I spend with Arthur the more I like him... he has a very grounding effect on Sarah, and her complete bullshit has gone down a lot since she ended up with him. Just for that I approve of him, though he's also a really nice guy. :)

Oh, and this afternoon (before we ran into them) I got a message from Sarah about the wedding; her mother found out I was doing the bridal jewelry and wanted to know if I could design a piece for her as well, to match a set of earrings she wants to wear. I told Sarah I could probably manage it, but I couldn't say for sure either way until I had a look at the earrings. Basically, her Mom wants a large snowflake broach, which I think I can manage. I even have a basic idea in my head using fire-polished crackle beads and swarovski crystals, but like I said I won't know 100% until I see what I'm trying to match. And Sarah's Mom is like rich, so she's offered to "generously compensate" me for doing the project. I LOVE MONEYS. \o/

What else...

Well, yesterday I was out and about and picking up a few things. I needed rats for Aya-- my baby has graduated from fuzzies to pups!-- and a couple of other items.

I got some cookie cutters from Mariposa Market, as well as a bottle of sparkling cider to take to the Christmas get together in like a month and a half. I'm way the hell ahead of myself. xD;; And while I was there I taste-tested some eggnog-fudge which was just ahguisldfghuiadfgarngvu *DROOL* *A* I am so getting some of it to take to the get together as well. :3

And while I was out I got Lee a gift card to the music equipment store downtown, since his birthday is Friday. ♥

Anyhoo! I started working on some new recipes for dog and kitty treats for Christmas presents, and right now I'm in the middle of a decent maple-and-brown-sugar one. Just a little tiny bit of sugar and mostly maple extract for flavouring. They're pretty tasty. I still want to do one more, I think maybe liver flavour and bacon bits for "sprinkles". We'll see.

Oh, and today other than Squall arriving I also got the books I ordered the other day; two of them are for Dad for Christmas (Dragongirl by Todd McCaffrey and Legends of Shannara: Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks) and the other one was a discount book I stumbled upon, Beyond The Body Farm by Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson. It's by the same people who did Death's Acre, which is one of my favourite anthropology/criminology books of all time. Which I lent to C.A. way the hell back in 2004 and still haven't gotten back from her. *facepalm* She's horrible about remembering stuff like that. I might just break down and buy another copy and let her keep the first one lol. So I'm really looking forward to reading the new one~!

I also got a little package from Maddie and Chloe today! Or, rather, from "Rufus and Reno Shinra"! To "Roxas". I LOLED SO HARD WHEN I SAW THAT. It was epically awesome. ILU GUYS, DID YOU KNOW THAT? It had a couple of buttons and some cute stickers in it. And caramels! And a pretty glass star pendant which I put on right away and am still wearing now. =3 Hehe.

And I guess the only other thing is the cats.

First; 'Dion scared the SHIT out of me today. This morning he was sleeping under the desk in the back room, which he does all the time because it's right in front of the baseboard heater. I went to sit down to check something on the computer, and reached down to move him... and he kind of flopped around and looked at me like he was half out of it, but not in a sleepy!kitty sort of way. His fur was also puffed up, which cats tend to do if they're not feeling well. This concerned me, and I took him back to the living room and laid down to cuddle up with him some-- which was when I noticed he was shivering. Not in an "I'm cold" kind of way, but in an "I'm in pain" kind of way. I cuddled him close and fretted over him and tried really hard not to panic while I decided if I should rush him to the vet or not.

Finally, he fell asleep and so did I. A couple hours later when I woke up he wasn't there, and when I went looking for him I found him playing and looking as if nothing was wrong. I don't know what the problem was, but DAMN, 'DION. PLEASE DON'T PULL THAT KIND OF STUFF. YOU NEARLY SCARED YOUR MOM TO DEATH. D8

I'm going to keep an eye on him for the next couple of days, just in case. But now he's acting completely fine, so...

Second; Got a call from the Barrie SPCA today, finally! Way back when I first brought Tia home, I called them and got on the wait list for having her spayed and Juna neutered. They were still too young at the time, but the wait list was about four months long so by the time they got around to me they'd be the right age. Sounded like a plan to me!

So on Friday I'm taking Juna and Tia to Barrie to be fixed, for $50 per cat. Let me say that again; $50 PER CAT. Instead of the $350/cat it would cost me to take them to the vet in town and have it done. They also say they can give them all their vaccines and etc. at the same time. I AM HAPPY WITH THIS PLAN AND THE COST INVOLVED. ^___^

I couldn't book 'Dion at the same time since he's still too young, but tomorrow I can call and get him on the wait list and in a few months when they get to me again he'll be old enough.

I'm really, really hoping that having Juna neutered will calm Neko down a bit; Neko is NOT Juna's biggest fan right now and keeps kissing and spitting and snarling at him, which I keep trying to dissuade of course, but it's not working. Neko seems to think that Juna is vying for Top Cat in the pride, which Juna really isn't. He just avoids Neko and defers to him, acts submissive, but Neko doesn't take that for what it is and beats the hell out of him whenever they cross paths. Luckily no real injuries have happened, just one or two tiny scratches and a lot of flying fur. Still. Hopefully once Juna is neutered things will settle down...

And now I think I'm done rambling. For now. And I have the munchies. So Imma go find something to eat. OMNOMNOM and all that.

*salute*

Um, yeah. So much for updating every day or two. *facepalm*

Whatever.

I had to take Juna to the vet a couple weeks ago for an infection in his paw. He was roughhousing with Tri (probably) and ended up with a scratch on his paw. It wasn't a big deal so I didn't worry about it... but then it got really, really badly infected. ~_~;; So he had a course of antibiotics and now everything's kosher again.

Went to Anime North the end of May. Only for a few hours on Saturday, but it was still fun. I was really happy to be able to go and not have to bring my cane with me. By the time Mel, Bonnie and I headed to the restaurant for dinner my knee was completely locked up though. XD;; Sitting while we ate dealt with it, though, so everything was fine. (I'm bringing my cane with me to Otakon/Matsuricon anyway just in case.)

While I was there I got a fuckton of buttons to make into more fridge magnets (as usual), a couple of bookmarks, a print for Kiin-bb, a Heartless plushie and a hilarious Yoda plush for Dad since it was his birthday that weekend. ♥ I also got some onigiri, since the restaurant we ate dinner at was selling them~ tuna onigiri yum~!

Unfortunately now Mel is off to Japan, so that was the last I'll see her for a while. I'm hoping to be able to visit her there for a little while, but I won't know for sure if I can afford it until after Otakon/Matsuricon. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, back to the cane thing for a second... sort of. The reason I can go without my cane most of the time now is because of how much weight I've lost so far. SIXTY POUNDS ASDGH;KL. I'm only about halfway there at this point, but I'm SO happy with things so far. I can do all these things I couldn't before, plus the other day I actually bought a pair of SIZE 16 JEANS. I know that doesn't sound all that great, but I haven't been in size 16 in YEARS. >>; So~ ♥

Right.

So a couple days ago the rest of my tax rebate came in. I got about $7,000, which sounds like a lot but I had to pay Mom back $1,500 right off the bat, plus $300 to Grandma, $200 to Dad and $100 to my brother. Plus I have to set aside enough for Otakon/etc. and for getting Juna neutered in September. Still, I had about $4,000 left, so I've picked up a rug for the living room and on Wednesday I'm getting a cabinet/pantry for the kitchen so that I can organize my jams/jellies/etc.

I also got a few cheap movies and books, and some jewelry display pieces for using at the cons.

And today I finally got to get my snake! I've been researching them for years and wanted one forever and now I finally have one! His name is Ayame (after the Furuba character lol) and he's a Ball Python. I'll have lots of pics to share in a couple days, but for now I'm just letting him chill and settle into his new terrarium. I can't wait to show him off, though, Aya's so pretty! :3

I was originally going to wait until after I got Juna neutered to get Aya, but when I went in today to price terrarium kits they didn't have the small one so they offered me the large one for the same price as the small. It's $150 savings on the large kit, plus it means I don't have to upgrade when Aya gets bigger (the small terrarium only fits smaller snakes) so he can live in it his whole life. The deal was too good to pass up, especially since I was going to spend the money anyway. So I ended up with my first scale-baby a couple months early. xD;;

Apparently ball pythons live 20-30 years in captivity. .__.; /random

This morning I also went down to the Farmer's Market and ended up buying strawberries and cherries. So this afternoon I used half the strawberries and most of the cherries to make some Strawberry-Cherry Jam. It's sooooo yummy. Too bad cherries are so expensive, so I can't use them in more recipes...

Anyhoo, a lot of the rest of the money is just going to be squirreled away in case of emergencies or whatever.

Note for Steph and Lome: I haven't mailed your packages yet but I should be able to on Tuesday/Wednesday this week. Finally. XD ♥

Finally, a video I found the other day. I'm sharing it because it was so sad and the song completely broke my heart. It's one of the worst stories of animal cruelty that I've ever heard, and it especially touched me because the puppy was a Pom, and I know firsthand how sweet and loving they are. But please don't click if you don't want to cry.

RIP Tobey.

EDIT: Oh. Does anyone want a DVD? I accidentally ended up with two copies of The Uninvited and obviously don't need them both lol. It's Region 1 format. Free to a good home! ♥

Currently watching the original The Crazies, the one from 1973. I watched the new one a couple months back, I figure I should see the original one at least once. Anyway~

I actually talked with C.A. on the phone today, and we made plans for Thursday. She's going to get a ride into town (she lives outside of town) around lunch time and hang here for the afternoon. And we're going to go to the new sushi place downtown and check it out for dinner. ♥ I'm super excited, since I only saw her for five minutes when she was here at Christmas. X3

Aaaand tonight I tried cooking spaghetti again, but it was a no-go the same as the last two times. I can eat every other kind of pasta, why do I always hurl when I have spaghetti? MAKES NO SENSE. So after an unpleasant experience where I had an intimate meeting with the toilet, I waited a bit and then just ordered pizza. >>;

DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS PIZZA. THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME THROW UP. FUCK YEAH.

Then I cleaned out all the cages and litter boxes, since tonight is garbage night. Now all the bunnies are out to play; the girls are in the kitchen and the boys are in there living room here with me generally being adorable and underfoot.

lol this is the first time Juna has seen them outside of their cages, and he keeps following them around and going .___. in their general direction. ♥