Sena's DW :: Watermelon Life

Hokay! My first real entry after months of nothing! ...and it's just a recounting of my day, really. I'm very boring lately. :P

...UGH I JUST BROKE MY MOUSE. *FACEPALM*

BUT ANYWAY.

Today was grocery day. Yay! /sarcasm. >>;

Actually, it's not so bad. Mom and I do groceries together each week, so it's kind of fun to go out and spend the time with her.

So because this is the first shopping trip of the month (for March, even though it's still the 29th of February), I had a TON of stuff to get. I easily dropped $250+ dollars on various things, and that was BEFORE coming home and paying all my bills. =.=;;

So foodstuffs for me and then stocking up on food and litter and other various things for the critters. While I was at the (first) pet store, I also picked up a few fish for my community tropical tank. 2 blue dwarf gouramis, a striped angel fish and 6 cherry barbs. (Already in the tank; 1 pleco, 2 cory catfish, 3 angels, 1 orange dwarf gourami, 2 rosy minnows, 2 gold barbs, 3 rosy barbs, 9 neon tetras, 4 red platys, 1 guppy, 1 tiger barb, 1 redtail shark, 2 zebra danios...) It's a huge 75 gallon aquarium, what can I say? I think my next addition might be one or two congo tetras. They are SO pretty. ♥

When I later went down to J&K to buy rats for Aya and Opal, I asked Dave when I should start worrying about how long it's been since Aya ate; ball pythons will routinely go for long periods of time without eating, but it's going on 10 months since Aya last ate. He seems healthy and isn't losing weight. He's even still shedding, which means he must still be growing. But it's been so long now that Dave said it's probably a good idea to bring Aya into the shop, and they'll hand-feed him for me. If it works, they'll show me how to do it. I might have to buy a pair of feeding tongs, but that's a minor thing when compared to the idea of Aya starving to death. =/

Having done a ton of running around with Mom today during shopping, I then did a bunch more after she dropped me off. XD; I went to the Dollarama and picked up some things for Easter baskets, then to Liquidation World, where I bought a Firefly Jar for part of a Christmas gift for the end of this year.

I froze my tail off with all the walking, since it was blustery and snowstorming when I went out. Now I have wind burn on my face and ears. DX

Tonight was the night that registration for AA at Anime North opened. I sent in my application like five seconds after 8pm when registration officially started, so we'll see if I get a spot. I hope I do, I could really use the money...

Oh, and tomorrow I'm going to Mom and Lee's place for dinner. My sister and her hubby are coming over and bringing my new baby niece, and we're all going to have Chinese takeout together. xD;

So I'm making a cake for dessert! But since my sis and brother-in-law have a lot of diet restrictions, it has to be a really specialty-type recipe. I'm making dairy-free, soy-free carrot cake with frosting made from avacados! O.O The cake looks really good, and I'm doing the icing in a few minutes. Then tomorrow we'll see how it turned out~!

...and now I'll leave you with a brony Cross And Arrow duet dub video, just for shits and giggles:

Everyone should listen to this. It's a cover of I See The Light from the Disney movie Tangled. This guy's name is Nick Pitera, and he is AMAZING. I mean seriously, LISTEN TO HIM. LISTEN TO HIS COVER OF RAPUNZEL'S PART OF THE SONG ASDGH;KL. ♥♥♥

EDIT: Might as well share this one too. I love this man so freaking much. ~♥

Ugh, I feel like such a zombie lately. My brain just isn't working right. It rather sucks actually. But anyway, I've procrastinated over updating my journal for long enough, I figure I should maybe actually, yanno, do it. Numbers to help me keep my thoughts organized, though everything's not really in any particular order. ♥

1) The cats have fleas. UGH. I have literally never had a flea outbreak in my house (despite the number of critters) and I'm seriously not pleased with it. In fact, it fucking sucks. The only saving grace is that they haven't gotten to the rabbits. Yet. I've tried practically everything to get rid of them, too; I flea bathed them all, gave them over-the-counter flea drops, gave them Vet prescription flea drops (which cost a fortune, btw), and then tried a flea spray (I treated the entire apartment as well.) Finally, in a last-ditch effort it was recommended that I shave them all down and do the flea spray again when they were nekkid, as there was a possibility that the spray wasn't getting all the way through their fur.

So! I went out and purchased an electric shaver (technically marketed for dogs, but whatever) for freaking $50 +tax. I figure at least I can use it on them every year in the spring to lessen the shedding epidemic when it starts getting warm. I can also use it on Pagan, since he's my only long-haired bun and tends to get mats on his underside at random intervals for no apparent reason and no matter how often I brush/groom him. Anyway.

I know my cats, and I knew that Loki was going to be the hardest one to do since he's such a nervous kitty. I decided to do him first to get him out of the way, and also because I figured that if I did him later he would find somewhere to hide as soon as he knew what was happening. What I didn't figure on was my lovely, cuddly, affectionate Loki-boy going ABSOLUTELY FUCKING POSTAL. .__.;

Mom and my brother were helping to hold him, and as soon as I turned the clippers on he WENT INTO A TERROR-INDUCED HOMICIDAL FREAK OUT. I knew he was going to be nervous and a little scared just like he is with anything new, but WHAT. THE. FUCK. It was like trying to hold down a MOUNTAIN LION, right down to the insane amount of personal injury; Mom got bitten a half dozen times on her hands, my brother got seriously MAULED from the elbow down on BOTH arms, and my left leg was mauled and he bit right through the nail on my right hand, completely severing it. Then this past Monday I went to the doctor's and Dr. K had a look and is pretty sure not only did he fuck my nail up but the crushing injury was so severe that he managed to actually break the tip of my finger bone off. So of course, my hand is taking IONS to heal and still hurts like a fucking bitch nearly two weeks later. ~__~;; Sooo...

All three of us trouped to the hospital when it happened and got antibiotics and Mom and my bro got tetanus shots since theirs weren't up to date. Fun times with the family, huh? So that was the adventure with trying to shave Loki, who is still not shaved and who will never be, short of drugging him into a coma beforehand. Haha. Neko, Juna and Tri are all 3/4 naked now, though, and with them the worst that happened was that Tri puffed his tail at me while I was doing it. Now I just need Mom to help me treat them with the spray again. Cross your fingers for me that it, you know, works this time. Because if it doesn't I'm out of options short of building little cabins and inviting the fleas to move in for life.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR THINGS I HAVEN'T TRIED YET, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Haha, and then the hospital reported the "attack" (by law they have to) so the Health Unit called to talk with me and put Loki on quarantine for ten days just in case. This of course made me lol because whatever, he's a house cat anyway. XD He's officially off quarantine now though.

Loki and I have since made up, of course. :)

Moving on!

2) Today I got some catnip for the pride and sprinkled it down on the carpet in the living room. This is something I do on a regular basis, but it was particularly amusing this time because it's the first time Tia has been exposed to it. OMFG she was hilarious! I giggled at her for like half an hour while she zoomed around and rolled in it and licked the carpet and was generally all =OwO= It was really adorable. ♥

3) Aya finally shed! I'd had him for two months and nothing, even though the pet store peeps said all the rest of the ball pythons from his clutch did the week I got him. When I got home from the US he still hadn't shed and I was starting to get a little concerned. But then last week his pattern started to fade and his eyes clouded over. YAY. A few days later I peeked in the terrarium and the old skin was balled up in the corner by his hidey rock. ^^ I was hoping it would be straight so I could take a pic, but oh well. And he had been really lethargic since two weeks before I left for my vacation, but now he's all energetic again. Or at least as energetic as a snake can be. ^_~

4) Due to massive injuries and seriously excessive pain, I've spent the last two weeks unable to do pretty much any cleaning around here aside from sweeping a bit. I normally sweep/vacuum/mop/dust every couple of days, and not being able to do it was driving me nuts; the floor and carpets were a disaster, dishes (which I also do every couple of days) were piling up... last week I couldn't even clean out the rabbit/rat cages, which I HATED because it meant my poor babies had icky living conditions for a whole week.

Luckily, the last couple of days the pain has subsided a bit; not much, but enough that I could vacuum the place and do a few dishes (not all of them because my finger started throbbing again halfway through) and tonight I managed to finagal my way through cleaning all the cages out. YAYZ! Now I don't feel guilty and like a terrible Mom anymore. Whew.

Also got my bathroom tidied and reorganized, which it's needed for ages.

5) Today I took a wander downtown. It was nice out, just a little cool so I got to wear my (faux) leather jacket, which fits me again whoo! I went to the dollar store for a gift bag for a Christmas gift that I've already got 90% finished and a new shower curtain (I have to replace it every couple months because the cats like to play with them and trash them in the process), then went to Salon Salon and got my eyebrows waxed because they really really needed it. I also picked up the bulk order of eyepins I ordered from Magpie Beads like two months ago.

Speaking of which... MAGPIE BEADS IS CLOSING!! DDD8 They're moving to Barrie! They're the only bead store in town and they're leaving meeeeee! *WEEPS*

Right. So after that I had to go across town to pick up some prescriptions, and while I was around there I went into the Dollarama; got some odds and ends, mostly for other people lol. Then I went to Blockbuster to look at previously viewed movies... and they were having a huge sale on them. I got eleven movies for just over forty bucks! ASDGH! I may have had a little mental flail. XD

I picked up Terminator: Salvation, Battle for Terra, Drag Me to Hell, Zombieland, The Rundown (my Rock movie collection is ever expanding! X3), The Patriot, The Alphabet Killer, Swarmed, The Black Hole, Dragonball Evolution (out of morbid curiosity; and it only cost me $3) and Ghost Machine, which I'm watching right now. ♥

And the sale is on until Oct 3rd, so Imma go back for a few more when I get my money at the end of the month. I'm gonna try to sell some stuff in the meantime to make up for it. Hehehehe new movies make me happy. :3

6) Other than picking up some DVDs, I've seem some newer movies lately too. I'm partway through Predators, which is turning out to be fun. I won't have a concrete opinion on it until I've watched it all though. Wish I could find a better copy online... maybe I'll just wait until it comes out on DVD and pick it up to finish watching it.

Piranha 3D; I didn't watch it in 3D, obviously, but... OMFG. It was AWESOME. >3!! Prehistoric piranha + spring break = fucking fun times! I was a little surprised how gory it was, actually. Not that it bothered me since I'm already so desensitized to cinema violence, but about halfway through it just suddenly struck me that there was A LOT of gore. Go figure.

Resident Evil: Afterlife; EEEEE NEW RESIDENT EVIL MOVIE!!

The Last Exorcism; This one started out really slowly, and I almost gave up on it. It did get really interesting about halfway through, though, and was quite good from then on. The only thing I disliked was that it was filmed like a documentary (like The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield), and I'm not overly fond of that way of filming. But it was good for what it was.

I just saw a preview for this movie, too, and it looks amazing and creepy and I really want to see it:

7) I have packages for the following peeps, which I swear I'll be mailing out soon. No really. Steph & Reppy, Lome, Kiin-bb, Maddie & Chloe and Mari. ♥

kierseth, etcetera_cat and cat_mcdougall. HEY YOU GUYS. We haven't done a proper P.O.S. exchange in forever! Want to organize one again? ^_^

8) Dad is coming up later this week to stop in for a visit. He's picking up his and Lois' souvenirs and the movies I borrowed from him last time I was down back in May. He's also bringing me a bunch more b-grade movies to replace them, which makes me happy because, I mean, B-GRADE MOVIES WUT. xD

I'm thinking about asking if I can go back with him to visit for a couple of days. I told him I'd help him go through the rest of Aunt Cheryl's stuff in the barn, and I want to get that done before it gets too cold out. Plus I'd just like to visit with him and Lois and the dogs a bit. I don't get to do that often enough. =/

9) I had an appointment in Toronto with the dietitian a couple weeks back. I have to go every 3-4 months for a checkup and bloodwork. I'm told my weight loss is going very well and I'm perfectly on track for where I should be (I've lost 80lbs since Feb 26th), so probably by February I'll be down to about my target weight of 130-140lbs. The only thing is that they're concerned I'm not getting enough protein in my diet, so I'm supposed to try having more in the way of cheese/eggs/etc. *shrug*

Anyhoo, the dietitian called today and left a message regarding the results of my bloodwork; my iron is low, so she wants me to go on iron supplements daily (I normally only take them when I'm on my period) and my vitamin C was really low which makes no sense considering the amount of vitamin C rich fruits and drinks I eat but she wants me to take vitamin C pills too. She also noted that my white blood cell count was high, but at the time they took the blood I was just getting over a bad cold so that doesn't surprise me.

10) Yesterday I took my camera and did a video tour of my apartment to post on FB for people, since I apparently fail at posting pics despite peeps on my f-list there and here asking for them. >>; But then I got carried away and it ended up way too long, so when I tried to upload it it didn't work. *facepalm* Guess I'm doing another one tomorrow. A shorter one. lol.

11) Been rewatching House on DVD; the first five seasons. I just finished yesterday. The season 4 finale made me bawl like a baby. AGAIN. ~_~;

12) Back when I was down in Dayton I was supposed to paint with Chloe, but somehow we just never got around to it. But when I got back home I still kind of had the itch to do it, so I picked up a couple of medium-sized canvasses. My first painting is maybe a third done now. Haha, I haven't painted in forever, and this is my very first painting actually on canvas! I'm really enjoying it (even though my injured hand is making things difficult) and I plan to do a few more.

Funnily enough, the first painting started off as kind of an abstract idea but has given birth to a new character/species. He doesn't have a name yet, but I think he might fit into the same world as Terra/Ilo/Celine/Aysel. I really like his design, so I plan to do more sketches of him, and maybe another larger and more detailed painting.

I'm considering doing painting for people for Christmas this year, too. Would anyone like a Sena!painting? 83

13) Mom and Lee are on vacation right now. They're coming back tomorrow; they just spent a few days off in an out of the way cabin-type place where they could both relax and everything. They really needed it, they've both been totally fried out between one thing and another. Hopefully a few days away will have helped.

In any case, I called yesterday to invite my brother over here for dinner but he had friends over. So instead we decided that I'm going over there tomorrow to visit and make supper for him and Mom and Lee when they get home. ♥

14) I NEED MONIES. $__$ Does anyone out there want a pony or jewelry commission or something? :3

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! ♥

My favorite fan-film. It's the best one ever in existence. >3 Posting for Kiin, really. WATCH THIS IT'S SO AWESOME ASDGH. >w<~~



And then the making of, which is really interesting (and actually longer than the film itself lmao.) Part one:



Part two:



Just for the record, I think the Joker in this is possibly better than any other ones I've seen. He's classic Joker. Menacing in his obvious insanity, but not too dark. I know I know, Heath Ledger blah blah blah. I personally wasn't as impressed with his portrayal of the Joker as everyone else on Earth was. >>;;

But then Batman in this was the best version I'd seen right up until Batman Begins too. I mean, we're talking right back to the original comic books. Simple but seriously badass.

A semi-decent update for those of you on my flist that are wondering how I'm doing aside from ZOMG eel creatures and OMG lampwork heart pendants.

Mom's surgery is coming up on the 25th, and it really kind of snuck up on me. The whole family is really stressed and worried right now, and Mom is making herself sick with being afraid that when they go in to do the hysterectomy they'll find something more than the tests have shown so far. I know we should all be trying to keep an optimistic outlook, but it's proving to be hard, especially since Grandpa just died of cancer three years ago. The whole thing is keeping me up at night a lot, and I won't feel any better about it until after the operation when the surgeon comes and tells us everything is fine.

I moved a couple weeks ago as well; to a little apartment downtown. It's not much (I'll post pictures once it's more organized), and pretty small, but it's mine, and I love that about it. Besides which, for one person (and cats/rabbits), it's a fine size. The only problem is that I have too much stuff. >>; It's been a nightmare trying to figure out how to fit everything in, and that's even after two vanloads of stuff having been taken to the goodwill.

When I first was moving in, the place was a mess. The kitchen still needs to have a really good cleaning with bleach, but other than that it's tidy enough I can put up with it until everything's unpacked and settled. The bathroom was DISGUSTING. I should have taken some photos to show you the before and after. Grandma actually came down on the day I moved, and rather than helping with the move itself, just locked herself up in the bathroom and scrubbed the shit out of it for HOURS. It's still terribly stained, but not actually dirty anymore. I don't think the previous tenants cleaned the bathroom once in the entire time they lived here. -__-;; Ugh.

Right as I'm typing this, the girly bunnies are in the kitchen having playtime. Unfortunately, until I got the kitchen organized enough that they couldn't get into things they shouldn't, they couldn't have time out to exercise-- it's been about three weeks since they were last out of their cage. I feel guilty, but there wasn't much I could do, since the kitchen is the only place here I can let them out at all. Now I can though, so we can get back into the regular routine of daily romps.

In November, I've got a table to sell things at the Christmas bazaar in Bracebridge. So I'm selling some jewelry there, as well as some jams and jellies. Grandma brought me six freaking baskets of crab apples when she came down, so I'll have TONS of crab apple jelly. (If anyone wants some, let me know and I'll set aside a jar of it for you.) It'll be the first time I've actually sold something I've cooked/baked so I'm really kind of nervous about it. Hopefully it'll go well.

Also, some time in the next couple days I'll be posting a massive sales post; due to space issues and the fact that I'm in desperate need of money, I've decided to sell off most of my extensive Sailormoon collection. I have a few really rare items, so fingers crossed. Also, if you know anyone who might like to commission a pony or something from me, please point them in my direction.



...because of everything that's been going on, I haven't been online much. Most of my time has been designated to doctor's visits and the move/unpacking. Honestly, I'm starting to get really weary of it, and I'm feeling... downtrodden. Just sad and gloomy. I miss being on AIM and talking to people, and blogging about nothing. But until the end of the month I just won't have the time.

EDIT: Maddie needs monies too, so go check out her etsy shop:



EDIT #2: I'm watching The Evil Dead II right now while I'm organizing things, and the girl's head just bit the guy on the hand, and he's flailing and screaming and smashing said severed head against walls and books and desks and whatnot, and I am LAUGHING MY ASS OFF. XDD;;;

It starts here, at about nine minutes in:



...and continues on here. xD;;

lol another movie I have to see.

Posting this quickly in between my wireless dying periodically. >.<;

I'm way more amused by this than I should be. Like, seriously. >__>;

LOL Kingdom Hearts x Lucky Star WTF. XD

EDIT: There's a Crisis Core one too. XD; Which is worth it just to watch Seph dance. ♥