Random Rambling Tidbits

 The day of reckoning came and I met it face on! Or I passed the National Exam portions of my certification tests, in other words! 

Oh gosh, does it ever feel like I have a huge weight off my shoulder. Grant it, I still have the State Exam coming up literally next week. This one is more specific to what the state sees; for example, I live in the desert known as Arizona so we can expect questions about Valley Fever, snake bites, and heatstroke. That part I'm fine with, since those are things we had case studies about and I even encoutered during my vet internships. But it also is over the many rules and statues that govern the veterinary board, like what you fill out for which certifications and in how many days is it due. That part I'll need to really sudy. 

In other news, the mice and I have been staying at my parent's since their house was closer than my apartment to the testing center. It's monsoon 
season so there have been a lot of crickets outside. None of them have gotten in the house, but I was joking that if one did get in, I could feed it my mice. Of course, that made me think about feeding them something like that for real. I know mice can have mealworms and some crickets, and aside from being a good source of protein hunting them can be great enrhicment for the mice. The issue is how to go about it. I was asking around at the pet stores and the lowest quantity is 25 mealworms, which is alot for my three mice even assuming that all three will eat them. I want a smaller amount to just see if any ofthem would like it. My cousin (the one with the four boys I was babysitting a while ago) and her husband have a African gray parrot, so we were talking about both of use introducing our pets to mealworms. That way we could split the quantity, but even then 25 would stil be alot. Again, neither of use know if the animals would even like it. As for the live crickets, I could also get them from a pet store, but I need to research more about if they need to be gut loaded like you do for retpiles/amphibians. That, and wait till I'm back in my own space because I know there is no way my mother would allow a cricket in her house XD 

 So when was the last time I updated here? 

...April 2016? Huh, guess that makes some sense. 2016 presidential election made things very stressful in my parents house, where I was still living. This lead me to having a full on breakdown through the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. Thankfully I had my therapist, who also helped me figure out my career path. Budget cuts and student population meant that the school couldn't keep justifying my position, so I was let go. So I could have gone back to get a full on teaching certificate (I was only certified for paraprofessional work) or do something else.

I decided to do something else, and back to school I went to become a veterinary technician. And two years later, here I am with an Associates in Veterinary Technician, a set date to sit for my boards to become fully certified, and a much better place mentally (it helps that going back to school required me to move to a city two hours away from my parents. Absence really helped us mend things) 

I am also so proud that I went to Vet school and didn't come back with a dog or cat!

...I did come back with three mice though...



Look at my babies! This was around end of April when I first got them and the were so tiny! The far right one is Colette, the middle one is Angelina, and the far left was named Bijou at the time...


But then it turned out that I actually came home with two girls and one boy, instead of three girls. Luckily I caught it soon enough to separate without any unplanned litters. So instead of being named after the Hamtaro character, he is now Basil, after The Great Mouse Detective. Or as some of my relatives call him, the Boy! 




Then there is my albino girl, Angelina. She's named after Angelina Ballerina, since she is the one who spends the most time spinning on the wheels like a ballerina! She is also the most socialized, always eager to jump into a waiting hand! 



Finally there is Colette, named after the chef from Ratatouille so I can call them my ABC mice! She is the shyest and the most skittish, so I'm still working on socializing her. She has black eyes and is more of an off-white compared to her sister. 

We had a blackout on Saturday when all four of my little cousins were over. It happen just as my mom was going to put Frozen on for them to watch. And then their parents came over, like, ten minutes later at around seven, so the kids weren't scared. In fact, they thought it was so cool once we brought out the candles and flashlights. One of my cousins had her birthday earlier in July and still had glow sticks left over, so we got those out for the kids. The younger two had fun making bracelets and necklaces with them, while the older two loved throwing them in the pool and diving after them, under our watchful eyes and flashlights of course! And Lily was happy because us being out on the patio meant that she could night-swimming as well. 

Then my sister pointed out that we never got around to making s'mores on Fourth of July and the fire pit was right there, so we got all the s'more making stuff out for some fun. Surprisingly, the fire felt nice. Or maybe it wasn't so surprising, since it has been monsoon season over here. There's a reason why Arizonian's always point out that we have a dry heat, because humid heat is horrible!

Then the kids went home and Dad and I agreed to stay the night to take care of Lily-dog and Sophie-cat. Poor Momma has been experiencing bad hot-flashes ever since she finished her chemo, something about her hormones or medication making her have heat flashes. There was no way she could stay the night in the house and it was expected that the power wouldn't be back on till five in the morning. Sis and her went home with one of our cousins and then Dad and I retired to the patio where it was slightly cooler. I had a flashlight and a book handy while Dad went to fold up the patio umbrellas. I hear the 'clank-clank-clank' of the crank and once it clears, the power came back on! I burst out laughing, asking dad what he did to make the power come back on.

Of course, whatever they did to fix the power must have been a temporary fix, as the we had another blackout tonight. It wasn't for as long, just an hour and a half or so, but it happen around the time my sister was getting ready for bed, since tomorrow is her first day of high school and she has to be at school really early for band.

...Allow me a moment to try to get use to the fact that my baby sister is starting high school 0_0

This brings up the point about dry heat vs humid heat; tonight wasn't humid at all, so I took Lily and a flashlight out and went around the block to see how our neighbors were faring. I'm a desert kid through and through; some where complaining that it was hot out, but to me it was wonderful. And Lily was happy too, since she got to see some of the neighbor dogs. She actually doing really well around new dogs, as she doesn't bark or try to bite them, just smell them quietly. I wish she would act the same way with new people, as she gets all hyper and jumpy when she's around them >_<

Also, I got around to finally making this pie yesterday. I had most of the ingredients but kept procrastinating on it because 1) we didn't have cocoa powder and 2) my enthusiasm for making the recipe deflated after Mom reminded me that she can't have anything soy. But I had already bought most of the stuff and the expiration date for the tofu was coming up, so I got off my butt, got the cocoa powder, and finally made her.

The funny thing is that the cocoa powder was a bigger obstacle then I thought. Storytime: when Acara was, oh, nine or so, she wanted something sweet to eat, but there wasn't anything like that in the house. Then I remembered the container of cocoa powder on the baking shelf and figured, hey, that's probably pretty good. It might be a bit bitter, but I love dark chocolate so I figured I could bare it. So I got the biggest spoon I could find and filled it with cocoa powder.

If you never tasted cocoa powder before, DON'T DO IT! You know the cinnammon challenge? My reaction was just like that as I tried not to spit the nasty stuff everywhere. So I kind of have had a bad association with cocoa powder since then and the fact that I couldn't easily find it in the store made me just want to make the recipe without it more.

Childish, I know, but the worst part was that, as I was making the pie, I though that maybe I had overreacted that day. After all, everything in moderation and all that, so maybe just a small sample would taste better? There was a light dusting of it on the teaspoon I used, so I wiped some of it on my finger and licked it. AND IT TURNED OUT I WAS STILL HORRIBLY WRONG!

...You know that scene in Avatar the Last Airbender where Sokka licks the gunk they find inside that one rock cave in the desert? And how he says he did it because he's so naturally curous? Yeah, I am just like that. Remind me to tell you guys the story of when I touched a cactus for a dollar sometime.

Still, the pie came out wonderful! I'll have to see if it will last till Bro comes home this weekend; at least with him I know he'll appreciate it!