Lexus's Obituary

It all happens in 3's, or so they say. The first thing shall remain a secret until such a time as I am allowed to tell (I'm not pregnant, so I might as well shoot that rumor down right now). The second thing was cited in Munchkin's last post. And the third thing (for me at least) was Lexus's passing, which happened today at approximately 12:30 in the afternoon. She's the capricious thing on the right:

Lexus was our little adventurer. She got into everything and acquired a few defining marks over her 2 years of life for it. She got in a scuffle with Clover not too long before this photo was taken and lost a bit-size piece of her right ear, but the two were litter mates and we never saw a sign of aggression before or after that point. She burned off her whiskers one time trying to smell a candle. She was constantly checking the exact distance between any surface and the floor when we didn't watch her close enough. She got lost inside my blue writing couch once and we had to create a small escape hole for her to get out. She escaped her cage a few times, and she usually found us before we figured it out--usually we'd be sitting there watching a movie and eating popcorn when she'd pop up on the ottoman with this innocent "Can I have some?" look on her face. That always made us laugh.

Much like Kate and Emma, our last two rats, I was with her during her death process. She was a little lethargic over the last three days, but by all accounts had been improving for the last two. I would have had her into the vet in a heartbeat if I thought she was getting worse or that the problem was fixable. We shelled out more than $400 last summer to have her mammary tumor removed. She was eating and drinking and here digestive processes were still functioning, and she came when called and still happily greeted us when we came to the cage. The only indicator was the lethargy, her age, and the fact that she kept crawling away to dark corners when we had her out of the cage. I was once told (when my childhood cat started exibiting this behavior) that it's an animal's last gift to loved ones to do this--they know the end is near, and they try not to foul the living space with their decaying corpse, so they seek solitude. From the lack of symptoms, I think it was just her time to go.

I kept her hydrated and gave her company, and honestly I thought she was acting better, so I went upstairs to get dressed for work. During the ten minutes I was gone, Lexus passed; I knew it was going to happen, but I still cried. For me and Mr. B, our rats are like our children.

Lexus had a wonderful life and was our little ADHD adventurer through our graduation from college, our marriage, the purchase and fixup of a house, and everything else that happened to us over the last two years. People always said they thought she was a very pretty rat because she was this very light tan color (not brown--in the rat industry I think it's called 'faun'). She was Mr. B's rat to name because I had named Clover; when I asked him what we were going to name her we were driving behind a similarly colored Lexus on the highway, and being the creative guy he is, that's what he chose. It was a fitting name after all, because she was always on the move.

She only briefly met Emma when we got her February 7, 2007. Kate had died on the 4th, and we didn't want Emma to have to live alone. Emma played a wonderful surrogate Mommy to little Lexus and Clover until she died on the 14th, only ten days after her cagemate (yes, on Valentine's day). So then we had two baby rats to ourselves. We haven't decided yet if we're getting more rats to keep Clover company, and we won't be rushing that decision. Clover's pretty much a lap rat and she's very happy with human company, but she's already showing signs of missing Lexus.

Alula

Worst birthday in history.

Today, I turned 22. And to top it off...

My real dad found me. ='(


~Munchkin

Lazy cats

Hey Ladies,
I am making Cheese and Broccoli soup, if it turns out right I will post a recipe. I made it a few days ago and it turned out great but I wanted to let the flavors blend better so I put it in a crock pot and probably forgot about it. I killed it! but the bowl I had of it before I burned it was excellent.
I though I should post a picture of my cats being cute. It makes it so hard to use the computer when they are both feeling cuddly.

Video Test of Snow

Hello Ladies!

It's snowing today. Please tell me if you can view this video from your computer.

Alula

Welcoming a new contributor!

Ladies, just dropping a quick post to say that we have finlly wired a new contributor into our blog! Everyone welcome Fuzzy!

Also, please notice I've put the counter back up and placed The Impossible Quiz at the bottom of the page.

Alula

How to pick a career

I went to my first ALA conference today. Ladies, one should TOTALLY decide on a career based on what gets handed out at the conferences. There were many venders there today--database designers--handing out pens and posters and squeezies and other fun doodads.

And then there were the publishing houses. They handed out FREE BOOKS.

Yes, free books. Rows and rows of free books. People putting free books, publisher's proofs, into my hands. So many free books that we filled our free duffle bags (I went with the Librarian and one of her friends), went to the car because we couldn't carry anymore to drop them off, and came back to complete the circuit.

I have located heaven, and it is a librarian's conference.

Alula

Save the Turkey Soup

So in an effort to lose weight and save money, I'm cooking more now. I've got my turkey recipe just about right:

That's one fine looking bird.

But as always, the issue is eating all that turkey before it goes bad. I've discovered that freezing it straight out usually doesn't work so well. So instead, we go the route of turkey sandwiches out the wazoo. And this time around, I attempted a turkey soup that turned out so well I thought I'd post it here.

Basically you strip your turkey after it's done and save the meat. Also save the turkey drippings and bones--save everything but the gross bits that remind you of Eli Roth films (in my case, I cook the giblets in the pan for extra flavor and then throw out the liver, heart, etc., and the spine). The rest of the stripped bones you can throw into a slow cooker and add the turkey drippings (in my case, I initially cooked the turkey in 4 quarts of chicken boullion with some added herbs). Maybe add a little more water if the crock looks low--you're shooting for half-full with liquid.

You cook the bones in the drippings and water for about 2 hrs for flavor, then fish out all of the bones. Cut up about 2-3 cups of leftover turkey into small bite-size portions and dump it in. Then do the same with about 2 cups carrots, 1 cup celery, and 1 cup red potatos (or adjust to your preference). Cook for about another hour until it all comes to a boil and all the veggies are cooked through.

Then I portioned it up into single-servings in tupperwares for freezing (how cool is that?--now I can freeze the turkey without losing taste!). Salt to your preference before eating:

The awesome part is it's mostly turkey and veggies, so it's healthy and keeps your system moving. It's a good start for weight loss, as I've found. You can eat it like a soup with more liquid or like a veggie bowl with less, and all the colors from the orange carrots, green celery, and red potatos make it very appetizing.

Enjoy!

Alula

I am victorious!

Sometime in the middle of the night... My period decided to go away finally. I've lived with my period from November 30th until last night. I am SO thrilled I just want to dance all day long. If you girls have ever been this happy about not having you period let me know, and we will share in the happiness. Thank you for listening to my rantings about my period up until now, and I would just like to say one thing, "I am victorious!"

Work in progress

I apologize to anyone trying to do anything on this site while I'm dicking around with it. The wedding countdown and site counter will be back soon; pls let me know if there's any other widgets you'd like to see.

If you happened to check things out this morning while the site was down, I uber apologize--I was hijacked by some bad code.

Alula

Scared at the Doctor

Today's Morning Sky from my back courtyard:

Alright, Ladies, so you all know I've been sick lately. My boss asked me if I was pregnant because I was throwing up so much. Then one of my mom's friends said she thought I was. When I hadn't shaken it in a week, and I was habitually ill the same time every evening, even my mother in law (The Librarian) suggested maybe it was the case.

Ladies. I had my yearly physical yesterday, and these crazy-ass sentiments of others that I had a bun in the oven were sitting in the back of my mind. Here is what transpired.

Doctor finished asking me questions. We're moving on to the breast exam when the nurse pops in with my urine analysis. Doctor takes it, looks at it, gets a confused look on her face as she sets it down and comes back to start feeling me up.

Straight out of the blue: "So, have you and your husband ever considered having children?"

My brain: Oh, F*CK! What I say: "No. That's just not in our plans right now."

Doctor smiles. "Well, you're both young. You have time."

Now I'm confused. "You weren't going anywhere with that question, were you?"

Doctor looks confused. "No--why?"

Thank God! There was an unusually high white count in my urine, and the rest was serendipity. Not pregnant. I explained everything and me and the Doc had a good laugh over it. BTW: do not laugh during a PAP smear. It's painful.

Alula

Leap of faith!

I gave two weeks at my job, with out a new job lined up! I got to say, I feel like Indiana Jones must have when he was stepping forth from the loins head in " The Last Crusade". At least we knew he would not fall to his death because Steven Spielberg had more planned for him! Me on the other hand! I might Fall to my death! Financial death! Lets hold out hope there is a nearly invisible bridge I can't see yet to step on too!
Yes! I am enough of a dork to compare my live to my childhood hero!
If I find my way I will be sure to throw pebbles back on the bridge!

Purty purty mountains

Here are promised picks of my adventure down south with Mr. Borealis (not as dirty as that made it sound):

The view out the 8th floor hotel room window:

Mr. B at the Anasazi cliff dwellings:

Mr. B halfway up Pike's Peak:
Same view as before out the hotel window when it snowed a few days later:

And the view from the window by the elevators, which I just couldn't get over because of what the clouds were doing:


Alula

The stomach flu diet

I do not recommend it. I was going to post a picture of a toilet to summarize my Friday night, but it was a little too gross to do. Puked every two hours all night and couldn't even keep water down--thought I was going to have to call someone to take me to the hospital in the morning for dehydration because I had it out both ends so severe I lost five pounds by morning (not the way to do it).

I had to miss my orientation for librarian school because I was so sick, but like a stupid animal trapped on the other side of a six lane highway looking at her mate on the other side, I still made the hour and a half drive to where Mr. Borealis was out of town on work later that day.

Folks, that move makes #3 on my list of stupidest things I've ever done, right after pulling an all-nighter to drive to Arizona and riding a horse right after knee surgery, and just before the time I played tag using cars in a school zone (I was a stupid teenager with a bunch of other stupid teenagers, and it was a weekend, but still).

On the bright side, I'm getting some beautiful pictures to post here later.

I will out myself too!

hey ladies.
I clock in at 225 lbs. Its a sad number I weight more than my husband and thats just sad. He is around 175lbs, and that is were I would like to be. I am also 5'7'', but I have been in the 130 to 140lb range and people though I had a eating disorder. I did not like how I looked at that weight and I really do not want to drop down to that weight again. I would however be very happy to be around 175 or 180. Its not a excuse its a fact, Munchkin has some pictures from back then so she is my witness. I have been shedding pounds on my own over the last few months, about a pound a week. I am on the right track, but I am ready for things to move faster. I really want to be under 200 by the time Mr. Q gets home in August.
Other goals for this year are to get a new job.
Become a better wife.
Find space in my house.
and save up money for the tea store.

I did not sleep well last night!

hey Ladies,
Last night I dreamed all my teeth fell out. What does that mean again? There was a twist to it though. I had new teeth growing in place of the old ones. I was really mad because all the new teeth were really crooked and I was gonna have to spend months in braces for them too. I also had all my old teeth in a zip lock bag because I was planning to make bank with the tooth faerie.

Outing Myself.

So, I listed my goals for the year to the left (anyone else wants to join in, shoot me an email). One of them was finally taking off the 30 pounds my rheumatologist recommends. To do this, I decided to get honest.

Really, really honest. So I told Mr. B exactly how much I currently weigh so he keeps me accountable. I also told him I put on about 15 of that in the last year since we got married (His response was as follows: "I knew it!"). But really, he was much calmer about it than I had ever thought he would be.

Ladies, the number is 175. We are shooting for 13os to 140s. I am 5'7" tall, so my current BMI is 27.4, putting me as overweight. Getting down to the goal range will put my BMI back in normal range and relieve a lot of the pressure on my joints.

So now I am outed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

New Year, new goals, new resolutions. And in my case a new phone--enV2 by LG, and it's absolutely delicious.

Alright, they say writing things down is supposed to make them happen, so here goes: our new feature for the blog is going to be a resolution list. Unless I find a really nifty one, you all might have to email me and have me put them up for you, but what I'm thinking is this: three resolutions. One to finish by the quarter year (like end of March), one for the half year (June), and a BIG one for the end of the year.

No one is required to participate, of course, but the page is a little right side heavy and I need to level it out. Also I will be re-theming here soon, hopefully with some of my own coding, so check back for changes.

Alula