Liebster Award

The wonderful Serra, over at Addicted to Pretty Things, nominated me for the Liebster Award. It is an award for bloggers to nominate other blogs, so they can discover more blogs. Sounds good to me!

 The rules are:

• You must link back to the blogger who nominated you. 
• Answer the 11 questions given to you by the blogger who nominated you. 
• Nominate 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers. 
• Go to the blogs you nominated and notify them of your nomination. 

Serra's questions:
1. Blue or green? Definitely one of them. Seeing I have to pick....blue.

2. Cats or dogs? I have 2 of each, but I have latent CCL tendencies, so definitely cat.

3. Europe or America (to visit)? Europe

4. Glitter or texture? This is difficult. I'll go with glitter though, as you have the option of clear-based toppers.

5. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate.

6. Spring or autumn (fall)? Spring, absolutely. Plus, my birthday is in October. *Cough* book vouchers *cough*

7. Even or odd numbers? Seeing as my 2 favourite numbers are 13 and 22, I'll randomly go for odd, this time.

8. City life or rural life? CITY! I didn't see an adult sheep up close until I was 18.

9. Cooking shows or crime shows? Crime.

10. ALL THE POLISH or just the special ones? ALL!

11. Silver or gold? Silver.

My questions:
1. Coke or Pepsi?

2. Books or movies?

3. Sweet or savoury?

4. Vegetarian, vegan, omnivore or other?

5. Favourite band?

6. Do you have any tattoos, or holes you weren't born with?

7. If you could be an animal for a day, which ONE would you pick?

8. Do you remember which polish launched a thousand polishes?

9. Ankle socks, knee socks, or no socks at all?

10. How do you get to work (or study, or to do errands)?

11. What is your favourite household chore?

Coming up with those questions was harder than I expected. As for the people (and blogs) I nominate:
Nail Girl
All The Pretty Things
Beyond The Basecoat
Domestic Minxes
Addicted To Pretty Things

Manic Manicure
Screaming Mama
Little Porcelain Princess
Every Sensory
9 To 5 Nails
 Polished Pukeko

Please comment and link me!

My dick ticker

Title makes this sound nice and filthy. Sorry, because it isn't.
Just a wee one today. Well, for this morning at least. I may add more later.
I have a bit of a dicky heart. A couple years ago it was racing along. Counting the beats was impossible because it was humming. I had to get it shocked ("CLEAR!" Zaaaapppp! Kind of shocking) back into rhythm.
It still has issues; palpitations, missing beats, thudding really hard. On Thursday I had an ECG, and I'm off to the cardiologist this afternoon to find out what is actually going on.
I have had 3 people ask me if a pacemaker is the next step. I have no idea...but I hope not. I'm not 30 yet! However, if that is the next step, of course I will do it.
I hope to be able to get a copy of the ECG. That is quite geeky, but it was so interesting. People get photos of their baby scans; why can't I have a picture of my heart? Fingers crossed. I was able to watch my heart beating. Amazing. It was black and white, and not hugely detailed, but still.
OK, I am off to the hospital. I need plenty of time so I can get lost and backtrack. I will update when I get home.

So, I know nothing more. The cardiologist said they weren't sure what was happening. I had another ECG, a blood test...and sent on my way.  Both ECG's were fine. I expected that, as I knew I wouldn't have an episode while I was there. But, I fully expected to get a monitor. Colour me confused.
I'm off to the doctor in a couple weeks, so I'll see what happens there.

Swatch sticks!

This is what I have been doing the last couple weeks. I finally have them all swatched, and all top-coated. Each stick has brand, colour name (or number, in some cases) and number of coats on it. I can now look at the swatch, and see how it will be on the nail. Sometimes the colour in the bottle is not the same, as we all know.
I put them into groups, for photos, today.

My toppers. Is this not the saddest collection of toppers you have ever seen? I need more.

Brown/bronze/copper.

Green/blue/turquoise/teal.

Red/orange/yellow/gold

Black/white/grey/silver.

Purples. I have an awful lot of them.

Pinks. Again-quite a lot of them.

The pics are less than ideal; not the best representation of the colours. I'm pretty stoked that they are not many dupes!

Here is what I have on my nails.

Base of LA Colors-Metallic copper, ad LA Colors Seashell is the gold.

I am really enjoying LA Colours at the moment. I think I'd enjoy them more if they would reply to my email and help me out with the NAMES of the polishes. The 18 pack of minis I got has numbers. That would be fine, if I didn't have 2-3 with the same damn number. The 7 pack of Color Craze polishes are also nameless. I sent them a message a week ago, I guess I'll try again.

My Jynx

This is going to be a rambly post.
I have pet rats. If you have some negative opinion on that, do me a favour and keep it to yourself.
I am a foster/rescue person for NZRR
I have one Sanctuary rat at the moment, Magda. A sanctuary rat is one that can't be rehomed due to health issues, aggression, etc etc. All but one of my other rats are rescues in one way or another. I've had rats for 4yrs now. Due to their ridiculously short life-span, I have had a large number of losses.
None hit me as hard as Jynx.
Jynx, and her sister Lotis, came to me in 2011 as 4mth olds. I got them as company to a rescue girl I had gotten. Atropos was sweet to humans, and a whirling dervish of horror to all other rats. These 2 babies beat the crap out of her (in a ratty, bloodless way), and I was able to introduce the 3 of them to my main colony.

 Jynx (black hood) and Lotis

Jynx was my midget, so tiny in appearance but she had a HUGE personality. She was my Alpha rat, and kept the others in line. Including my 2 GIANT neutered boys; they cowered if she was pissed with them.

In October of last year, I found a tiny lump on Jynx-likely a mammary tumour, which are reasonably common, particularly in intact girls. Within a month, it had grown to the size of a huge grape. I booked her in for a spay and lumpectomy. The night I brought her home after the op, I was terrified. She was cold and unresponsive, and wanted no food or water. This is quite worrying-unlike other animals, it's vital that rats have food right up to, and immediately after, surgery. They have incredibly fast metabolisms. After a while, Jynx started licking Resource and water from my fingers, and recovered fine.
Last week, Jynx stopped being interested in food. From being the first to the food bowl, she didn't even give it a sniff. I managed to get her to eat minimal amounts by separating her, but it was pathetic. She looked thin and just old. On Friday night, we went for our final vet visit. I have a specific rat-vet clinic, as they are very knowledgable. The ladies there have seen me multiple times, both for euths, rescue rats, and of coure, Jynx's surgery last year. They know me reasonably well, but were quite shocked to see me that night. I was surprised at just how upset I was. I am more of a private crier-with previous euths I have held it in until I get to the car. With Jynx,my special girl, it just burst out.
Jynx was such a cheeky tart. Trying to wipe down the cage was impossible to just get done; she would steal the wipes. The second the door was opened-regardless of whether I was gtting them out or simply refilling food bowls-she was out and either on my shoulder, or adventuring around the floor.

I miss her a lot.

A very polish weekend.

There was a big cosmetic sale on here in Christchurch this weekend-including polish. I planned well for this.
 That isn't true. I found out about it on Tues, had a tantrum about not getting paid until Friday, and bought polish before I bought anything else. My only regret was not having more money. This is what I got.

Apart from the two SC polishes; I bought those later that afternoon.
The LA Colors minis have no colours on them, and I haven't found any numbers either.  As for the others, from L-R they are: Rimmel Mermaid Green; Rimmel Mysterious Girl; LA Girl 'Rock Star' Head Banging; Revlon 'Dark Pleasures' Talk Dirty; Sally Hansen Good To Grape; Maybelline Electric Blue & Party Blue; and the Sinfuls are Nirvana and Island Coral.
Once I got home, the Mr handed me a package. My brushes/dotting tools! 

I didn't expect them to arrive for at least another week.

I have not used any brushes yet. I need to read/watch some tutorials first.
On Friday night I was overwhelmed by 27 new polishes, and new things to play with, so I got drunk and did no painting. I did a bit of polishing yesterday-the same as what I have on my left-but I am puppy-sitting. Almost dry polish does not like puppy patting.
Here is what I have today-please excuse the mess. I need a better way of cleaning up than cotton buds. I always seem to lose control of my hand and swipe the polish from my nail.

Left hand-Rimmel Mysterious Girl. It is really difficult to capture the beauty of this purple. I am so glad I bought this one. I was unsure at the time-I have a few purples-but nothing like this one. I love it. ONE COAT! Which is always a bonus, and Rimmel's wonderful flat brush just makes it perfect. Dots are, from base to top-Maybelline Party Blue, SC Snow Me White, and SC Island Coral.

Right hand. Jeebus, it is SO BUNG. Look at where the white dot is on my ring finger. I could have fixed it, but I had already had enough of the smell of remover. And honestly? The odds of it improving were slim. I wish I was ambidexterous. I wish I had a little (in my fantasies, my slaves are always little) nail-painter person that painted perfectly. I wish I was able to stop shaking.
Anyway base is Rimmel Mermaid Green (2 coats). Dots from base up are SC Nirvana, SC Snow Me White and Maybelline Electric Blue. I prefer my left hand. Not only because the purple is my current favourite, but I think the dot colours look better overall.

I am currently waiting on more swatch sticks. I got 50 a couple weeks ago, but I have another 60 polishes to do, so I have more on the way. Once they are done, I need to decide how to organise them. Fun!

One of the bitches.

Here is a post about one of my dogs.

Sarsh is our baby. We bought our house almost 7yrs ago; we got her within 2 weeks. She was about 10wks old, and as cute as hell. Sarsh is a staff/pit cross. I have no puppy photos to share, as they are all stuck on a POS laptop.
Sarsh is sort of a fail, health-wise. When she was about 6mths old, we noticed her eyes looked weird and cloudy. Vet visit, followed by a check by an animal opthalmologist. Juvenile cataracts. *Sigh*. Drops and tests. Thankfully, unless they get sore, they just do their thing. Sarsh is almost blind as a result (these are hereditary, btw. Her parents should never have been put together), but it makes no difference to her. We need to show her if we move/add things, but otherwise, no special effort. She has also had a billion ear infections. She had surgery on her stupid ear last October after an ear infection and haematoma.

When she came home. Cone Of Shame and fetching head gear.

A couple days later.

We had a really lovely run of no infections but suddenly! Bum ba BUUUUUMMMMMM! Her ear AND feet went gross, itchy and weepy. OK, I assume they were itchy. I have failed in my quest for DMM (Dog Mind Meld). Off to the vet for the 100th time. After discussion, it was decided I would cut beef from Sarsh's diet (raw fed, just like Meow). Voila! No more infections/reactions. That was around 3mths ago. Last week, Sarsh got given a tiny bit of beef-a confirmation, I guess. I gave her about 50g, out of a 700g-ish meal. Two days later-infection. So there is no question. No beef for Muttly. The whore. I get beef so cheap! Fancy-Pants gets lamb, hare, rabbit, horse, chicken/other birdy stuff, venison. How often do I have venison? NEVER.
Here is a picture of Sarsh looking normal.

Alright, I lied. But this picture cracks me up and the noise she was making at the time was horrendous.

That Staffy smile. As you can see, she is a midget in both her breeds.

I could possibly go on and on and on about Sarsh. She is completely obsessed with tennis balls, she enjoys attempting to beat the cat, and she thinks the Mr is the best person to ever exist.
Sarsh will be 7yrs in October. Apart from some grey around her face, she does not look her age. According to the vet she has the teeth of a 2yr old. She definitely has the energy of one. Being almost blind has huge advantages-no matter the time or light quality, she will always play Fetch. Sound and smell don't care about darkness.

Next time-Jorja.

Random bollocks

I finally got myself a white polish today. Sinful Colors-Snow Me White. I bought it mostly as a base for neons. I am unimpressed. The formula is very thick. It was streaky to apply and took forever to dry. Once I had finished doing my neon stuff, I tried to clean up. Let me stress the word 'tried'. It shrinks and pulls. BLEURGH. So clean up is crap.

You need to pretend the orange lines are supposed to be rough and ragged looking. It was completely on purpose, and had nothing to do with me losing my tiny brush. I absolutely cannot be bothered re-painting, so I'll deal with it until tomorrow. The neons are all Kleancolor.


You know those weekends that are just totally NOT relaxing? They annoy me. I was out Friday and Saturday night, and had a birthday party to attend today. Once the party was done, I ran errands, came home and cleaned the rat cages. It is now almost 10.30pm and I am incredibly tired. I need just one more day, so I can do nothing.
I did manage to finish the book I was reading-The Laughterhouse by Paul Cleave. Cleave is an NZ author; his books (thriller/crime) are set in Christchurch. It is fabulous, being able to relate to the majority of locations. The book ended on a hell of a cliffhanger, and I'm not sure I can wait calmly for the next.
When I am reading a series, I tend to get emotionally involved with the characters. I remember the Mister's shock and horror when he arrived home from work a few years ago to find me sobbing my heart out. I was reading the 6th Harry Potter. The Mr did not understand. Oddball non-reader that he is.
Right now I am between books. When I have library books out and cannot decide what to read, I enter the titles into one of those random pick generator things. So far it has worked out nicely, and I have only ignored it once or twice.
Is anyone else doing the Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge? I set a goal of 200 books for the year. I am sitting at 146. I honestly thought I read more.

Dexter-wordy and VERY photo-filled.

My house is a house of plenty...of furkids. This post is about Dexter, my indoor-only cat.
Yup-he is not allowed outside. I made this choice for a number of reasons. No cat fights or the resulting wounds and vet bills, no risk of being run over, no risk of him vanishing. A huge factor was my elderly (like, seriously damn old) neighbour. She stole my ginga.
Anyway. In Dec 2011, my partner suggested getting a kitten, "for the dogs". I explained they were not children, but if he was serious, he'd better bloody say so, as there was NO chance I would disagree to a kitten (potential Crazy Cat Lady, here).
There were certain criteria-we both wanted a boy, the Mr didn't want a ginger cat, and I didn't want a mostly white-with-black-patches cat. I found Dexter, and picked him up the night before my annual leave started.
Most expensive cat I have ever had-I got a ticket on my way to pick him up for no WoF/reg. Fail!

The next day, I took Dexter for a vet check. He was actually closer to 6wks then 8, and weighed 600g. I have 2 rats heavier than that. We wormed, flea'd etc him.

Dexter settled in beautifully with the dogs, and beat them on a regular basis. More Sarsh than Jorja, as evidenced in the following pic.

For the record-Sarsh is trying extremely hard to get her face away from the TerrorCat.
He also loves his canine bitches.

Jorja gets pretty uncomfortable around him; always has.

Dexter was neutered at 11wks of age, weighing almost 1.2kg. I already knew he would be an indoor cat, and wanted to stop spraying before it started. As a result of his 'early' neuter, he is a tall cat.

This is he, checking out the cat-blocker we made for the ranch slider. That bit of wood is about halfway up the door.


Dexter is now 21mths old, and has an excellent life. He is on an exclusively raw diet, and absolutely thriving. Rabbit is his favourite meal; venison and blood make him crazy-hyperactive.

Eating bunny, and purring away.

A little bit of crazy after having blood and beef for brekkie.


Dexter LOVES ping pong balls, those plastic caps from water bottles and toilet rolls-the more paper, the better.  He also has an obsession with the clotheshorse.

He has not been outside (excluding a memorable occasion involving my partner, the xbox and an open window), and could not be happier. Every now and then, I grow him wheatgrass.

If you are still here after all that cat, I am impressed!