*Witty Title Goes Here*

Hello, people!
As I write this, I'm sitting outside in glorious heat. It's 11am on a Sunday, and 26 degrees.
Bit of a random post today.
Firstly-a month or so ago I bought 6 swan plants, so I could have monarch butterflies. The plan was to cover 3, and when the others had been eaten, uncover those and rotate the available plants, so there would be a constant food supply. Well, I failed. I have half of one plant left. Last night I went out to discover a whole heap of caterpillars. Today I plan to buy more plants, and actually cover the others. What a dick. I got a couple caterpillar photos.

Greedy little buggers!

Yesterday, I decided to sort my nail polish. It started out like this:

Clock-wise: Swatch sticks, minis, top/base coats, randoms, and the two main boxes.



It ended up like this:

So, I haven't lessened the box amount, but it is much more organised now. Swatch sticks are in with their polishes, and the boxes have lids, so I can stack. This excites me. Possibly more than it should.

Last night I decided I wanted my nails a dark, vampy-sort of colour. Turns out, the 'vampest' I have is a dark, almost poo-brown (Revlon Dark Pleasures-Talk Dirty). It is much prettier wet. I'm going shopping today to find a dark, dark red, and possibly a purple of the same ilk. Any suggestions? I'll be at Farmers, so the options are Essie, OPI, Revlon, Australis, etc etc.

Finally-my rat babies almost have all eyes open. They are unbelievably cute right now. Incredibly mobile, and getting fast. I'll be taking some photos of them later on.

December-lots of pics.

How's that for an exciting title?
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Mine was awesome, starting with a BBQ on the 22nd. Most of my favourite people were there-friends I have known for 15+yrs. The missing person was in Tasmania, for her family Christmas. It was an awesome night.
My Christmas nails were pretty boring. On Xmas Eve, I was all keyed up and restless, yet bored out of my mind. I had no patience to do anything too detailed. I went with candy canes.

Boring yes? Base of Revlon Coconut Crush, stripes are Revlon Mon Cherry and Sinful Colors San Francisco. Sidenote-Coconut Crush-that lovely, pearly WHITE polish, stained my nails a pale blue. I don't know how this happened.

My next mani was pastel. I wanted to try the matte top coat I bought in October. Colours are Sinful Colors Unicorn (yellow) and SC Cinderella.

So pretty! I really liked the matte look; it made the pink shimmer in Cinderella stand out a bit more.

I removed this yesterday, only to discover-Unicorn had stained my nails. It looked like I had painted them with nicotine. For crying out loud. I use base coat. Not so happy.

Today I decided to do my New Year mani. This despite the fact I am not going anywhere. I'm actually really looking forward to my evening. My plans involve reading (as usual), listening to MY music (currently completely obsessed with Muse/Silverchair/Biffy Clyro), and I will watch Toy Story 1 & 2. I am such a rager.
I thought I'd do fireworks. That's fairly straightforward, right?
I wanted a base colour that was dark, but sort of starry looking. I was leaning towards black, with SC Hottie on top. While I reached for those, I spotted an SC I have not tried-Secret Admirer. AWESOME. It's this almost black with a grey shimmer through it.

OOooOOOOOoo, aaAAAAaaaAAaa. Love LOVE LOVE it.

I picked my JulieG polishes to be the fireworks. They are a thick glitter that dries quickly, so you aren't waiting around before painting over it.

Fireworks are all JulieG-Sleigh Ride (blue), Silver Bells, and Gift Of Gold. On my thumb, I have LA Girls holographic pink and purple. They were a bit dark to work. I am not sure whether I actually like these. However, they will do for the next couple days.

In other news-I'm about ready to go on a homicidal spree due to the weather. I'm not someone that copes well with incessant rain. I need sun to function happily, and I have forgotten what it feels like.
In other other news-I'm not sure whether I have said anything previously about the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I set a goal in January to read 200 books this year. I am currently 2/3 through book 261. I've really loved tracking my reading, and pinpointing when it slowed down/sped up. I think this is the messiest year my house has had. Assuming I finish this book today/tomorrow, I'll finish the year with Stephen King. I love that guy.
In other, other, other news-2 female rats came into the Rescue on Christmas Eve-both possibly pregnant. At this point, it's looking like one is, the other-probably not. Yay, one litter is far more manageable...but still not ideal. There is no sure-fire way to tell if a rat is pregnant, it's mostly just a waiting game. And so I wait, and sneak into the room 4,000 times a day.

Have a fabulous NYE, and stay safe. See you next year!

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.