Spring Rain

It's a cool, rainy March day today, and I figured what better time to get my plants out-of-doors!

(It is also the best type of day for a day of writing, reading, and hot chocolate, but that is beside the point.)

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to have some plants around the apartment. I like having green growing things - and supposedly having such things helps the air quality.

So here are the plants in my family, since all of them have begun to grow.

First we've got some dwarf sunflowers and lavender. I had begun to think that the lavender wasn't going to grow, but a sprout has finally appeared, just this morning!

The sunflowers were the first to sprout - and they've grown quite prolifically since.

Next up are the sweet peas (which get taller by the day, I swear they're the fastest growing!) and my favorite flower of all - daisies. I'm hoping that I'll eventually be able to grow some Gerbera daisies, but for now these normal ones will do. They have sprouted, they're just small. The picture is blurry for some reason - even though it's plenty bright outside, I had to turn off the flash (the pictures kept coming out really dark with the flash on), and I guess I was shaking a tiny bit while the shutter was open.

And then we have my difficult-to-kill plant (I'm prone to killing plants, so I decided to get a succulent that would be more difficult to kill). He is named Ghostie - which is what the label on the pot he came in said was his type. I made the mini umbrella to keep him dry (I don't want to over water him, you know).

And then the plant that I'm most excited for - my everbearing strawberries.

So far they've not done much, but you can see a tiny blossom - one of two that have grown on one of the plants. I'm thinking I'll end up separating the plants into two containers after the move - something I think will be better for them.

So, there are my plants, all of them growing well and brightening my day.

More pictures after the jump!

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight's dinner is chicken that I cooked in the crockpot (I love my crockpot) and a salad!

The chicken is the same as last time, so tasty Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken. As the only side for tonight I made a Strawberry Salad - really the first salad I've ever really put together (I've traditionally not been a big fan of leafy greens).

This was a tasty meal, and again I'm proud of it.

Updates on the Fuzzfront

A veritable pile of rats. Freya (she was moving when I took this), Lilith, Midna, Anise, Ai's behind, and Absinthe. I don't know why they're all piled on one another like that - there are four other hammocks available to them, including the lower level of the hammock they are on (which is a lot larger). But, they seem to be comfortable, I suppose.

I've bought them a new cage, a Critter Nation, which on one hand will be much larger than their current living space, and on the other hand will be much easier to clean. I'm going to make liners for their new home, and hopefully I'll be able to move them in the day the new cage gets here - hopefully by March 10. I'm really excited to not have to deal with this cage anymore. It's become a hassle to clean.

I've also received some information on spaying the older girls. Through North Star Rescue I learned about a spay and neuter clinic in Fremont, called For Paws. They're a lot less expensive than what the vet was asking, although I'm still not completely certain how much they're going to ask for (I had been told by the rescue that it would probably be around 80$ per rat, but it seems like it might be more than that). I'm also uncertain if the vet has successfully spayed a rat before, or if she has just read the literature on doing so.

I'll probably have all the information I need about that next week.

Sick, Plans, Books

We might be moving into a new nest at the end of March or early April. While we really like our current apartment, its cost east up a not-insignificant part of Tene's paycheck, and we've been thinking it might be nice to find somewhere either less expensive, or possibly get a 3-bedroom and move in with a roommate (perhaps friend Bancus). We're still uncertain, but it's something we've been thinking about because our lease is going to be over soon and rent will be increasing slightly.

Lately I have been spending my time being sick with the cold-I-just-cannot-shake. Which has been extremely annoying, to say the least. I've been sick, to some extent, for three weeks now; and every time I've been so sure that I was on the mend and going to feel completely better in a couple of days , I've ended up sick in bed within the next two days. It's mostly cold/flu symptoms - but I've also had nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and some pretty horrible headaches. My jaw, also, is still pretty painful, and I hope to find out what's wrong with it in the next week (my most recent appointment was cancelled, since the dentist hadn't received information from one of my previous dentists yet). Currently I'm a black box - to both myself and to the dentist.

On the up side (or potential downside), being sick has given me a lot of idle time - which I've been using to look up all sorts of arts and crafts on the internet. I have so many things that I want to make! I want to make Tene a blanket for his birthday, and myself a blanket (our current ones, made by Tene's mother, are both reaching their last days). I also want to make myself a different blanket to take with me to lay on in parks and the like - as I hope to get out more this spring/summer than I have in the past. And a blanket or two to keep in my car.

I'm suspecting that I might end up being a quilter of some sort (I could see myself very much enjoying this), and I keep imagining us ending up with a room filled with blankets.

I've also started reading more - I fully updated my Goodreads list (removed something like 150 books from the "To Read" list), and I've set a goal to read 24 books this year. Right now I'm working on Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy. I have vague memories of seeing Anna Karenina as a ballet when I was younger. All I can really remember is the ending. So far the book has held my attention, which is good. Many classics don't.

Tonight's Dinner and Some Other Adventures

I'm hoping to start posting daily about the food I'm making for Tene and I every day. Tonight's Dinner: Steamed Artichokes, Slow-Cooker "Rotisserie" Chicken, and Baked Sweet Potatoes and Onions.


I'm quite pleased with tonight's dinner. It was filling, because I cooked a whole chicken (a bit more on that later) it has leftovers, and it was quite tasty. I'm still figuring out how to cook the sweet potatoes so that they're soft all the way through, though (they were less undercooked than the last time I made this dish).

This was also a paleo/primal dinner, which means it fit with our health goals.

I'm slowly becoming more and more accustomed to working with raw meat - particularly chicken - and specifically I'm finding it easier to work with whole poultry. Still gross, but I don't find myself hating every minute. This is a big change from making a turkey on Thanksgiving. Maybe it's in part because chicken are a lot smaller than turkey, so there was less to be grossed out by.

In other news, we're doing pretty well. Most of the news around here comes from me, in fact.

My jaw has been hurting pretty badly the last while, and has been getting increasingly worse. I'm taking the highest daily dosage allowed of naproxen sodium, which is barely helping. I went to a TMJ specialist two weeks ago, though, and he gave me an Aqualizer as a sort of diagnostic tool. Unfortunately the pain has only increased since then. I go back in tomorrow and hopefully my X-rays from a few years ago in Salt Lake will be there, and maybe we can discuss some other options of what might be causing this pain.

I also have been dealing with a cold this last week. Coughing, feeling generally down, stuffy nose, all of that. I was improving, but yesterday and today I woke up feeling worse. I'm not sure if I'm actually getting worse or not, though, and I feel (mostly) fine now.

I've fixed my laptop back up from it's Christmas misadventure - for the most part. On Christmas day I accidentally spilled hot chocolate all over my laptop keyboard (and my self, and my bed). Fortunately I acted quickly enough to save my laptop and there's not damage to the information or casing or hardware. Except for the keyboard. Even after a very thorough cleaning, some of the keys still stick. Hopefully my new keyboard will be here in a day or two, though, and all will be well.