A look back at 2013...

I honestly can't believe it's already 2014! I'm sure a lot of people have said this, but there has the time gone!? It seems like only yesterday it was the middle of the summer, then all of a sudden it's Thanksgiving, then Christmas morning! I honestly don't think I'm alone on this.

Okay, now it's time for a 2013 re-cap! Come on, you know you're just as excited as me to take a stroll down memory lane...

• Lets see... the first thing that comes to mind is Castiel. Not only is he our very first TPM glider, but he's the first glider we've ever had shipped to us! We also shipped gliders for the first time last year. Not a fun thing, I might add. It's very stressful. The second time around was a lot easier than the first, though.

• Cas wasn't the only newbie we added to the brood at the beginning of the year, we also welcomed Chelsea and Melissa to the family. In that same month, we added 3 beautiful Welsh Harlequin ducklings to the family.

• Next -- and probably one of the most exciting -- would be my new job! Yes, it's a shitty fast food job, but you know what, it's a job! I don't have to work in the medical industry to say I make money. Money is money, no matter how you make it. Getting a new job was probably the best thing that happened to me last year.

• Oh, how can we forget our trip to Kentucky! Not only did we add TWO more new additions to the family (Boone and Tyler), but we also got to meet Bourbon for the first time. She's famous in the glider community, so it was exciting to meet up with her. The drive there took the cake, though. Again, just like in Saint Louis, we followed written directions all the way there and back. It was a blast.

• Then with good times come bad times. On a warm summer night, a damn raccoon made its way into the chicken house and murdered our 3 welshies and our sweetest chick in the world, Audrey. Probably one of the worst days of 2013. I can remember trembling and crying as I made my way to the chicken house. Luckily, my aunt took care of all the decapitated bodies. That still didn't prepare me for what I was about to see in the stall next to the chicken house. Our duck, Harley, barely alive... covered in blood, shaking, weak.

• Which brings me to my next memory of 2013... Harley! He lived inside for the better part of 3 weeks. I've never, in all of my life, experienced anything as messy as a duck! LaVaughn and I loved nothing more than to care for him, but I was more than happy to let him return to his flock.

• Seeing my mom for the first time in nearly 5 years most definitely makes its way to 2013 top moments. I believe the last time I saw her was in spring of 2008, because -- her then new -- husband helped us install an air conditioner in the house. It's so much better having her live just over 2 hours away now. 

• Then, like I said above, with good times comes bad. We lost a very dear family member, our Aunt Eva. She was our eldest aunt -- I believe she was in her very late 70s -- so it was hard, considering she's always been around. She will be forever missed. RIP Auntie!

It may not have been the type of year you or your friends had, but it was mine and it was fun. No, there weren't any daredevil movies, no spring break road trips, but you know what, it's a year I'll always remember and a year I wouldn't trade for the world.

Now... wanna know what I'm looking forward to in 2014? Well, I guess this would be my 2014 "to do" list, or Bucket List? Honestly, I have no idea. These are just things I hope to accomplish in the new year.

• At the top of my list... music! I want to broaden my musical skills. I want to play the piano more, finally finish all of Moonlight Sonata, and maybe even pick up a new instrument along the way. What I have in my horizon at the moment, the violin and acoustic flute! 

• Next would have to be travel. I've thought of nothing more for the past week! I know Ukraine is out of the picture for this year, considering we have too much to plan and too much to save up for. You know what's in my sights after that? Louisiana! LaVaughn and I both have wanted to travel there for some time, so you know what? We're doing it! We just have to pick a month later in the year and go. New Orleans... watch out! And, of course, we might have to make a stop by Pierre Part. ;)

• I would also like to purchase my first DSLR camera. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or top of the line, but it is something that I want, it's something I've always wanted!

• Which leads me to my next to do... take more photos! I've slacked so much this past year on photo taking. I want to get out more, see more, and capture more! I want to go places I've never gone before and take beautiful pictures.

• Which leads me to, wait for it... Project 365! Yes, I'm doing it! I will not miss a day this year, I will not slack and give up as easily as I did in 2012. This is the year I will go through with it and prosper! Now I just have to break it to LaVaughn so she can dis and make fun of me, lol. 

• I also want to keep my blog updated more. I want to try and post the days blog THAT day and not a day or tree later. I want to set aside time in the day to blog and get things done. 

• While we're on the subject of websites, I also want to keep Sugar Exotics updated more! I want to keep the joeys page updated, post new pictures of the gliders, post our cage sets there, and so on. I've really slacked on our site the past few months.

Okay, so we have: Music, Photos, Travel, Websites... that should be easy enough, shouldn't it? I guess we'll see when the end of the year rolls around. Until then...

Love & Peace
... and Happy New Year!

-Megan

Just because they're cute, here are some pictures of the joeys from a little while ago:

Paxton

Xander

Saying goodbye is never easy...

I received a very heartbreaking message on my break yesterday... my aunt, the one who I spoke about in a recent blog, passed away yesterday morning. Luckily, she was surrounded by her family. She was very, very ill, so at least she's not suffering anymore.

Of course, she's my aunt and I love her with all of my heart, but she wasn't my closest aunt. That doesn't alter that fact that I can't stop thinking about her and can't shake the dismal feeling I have. Only time heals this kind of hurt.

I feel worse for her kids and grand-kids. I know how it is to loose someone close to you, so my heart goes out to all of them. I just hope that they're able to move past this as quickly as they can. That's easier said than done, though. I wasn't right for months after my grams passed away... I'm still not, even after 4 years. So please just keep my family in your thoughts if you wouldn't mind.

I assumed the wake would be tomorrow and the funeral Wednesday, but I was wrong. They've postponed the wake to Friday from 4-5 and the funeral at 1 on Saturday. I already called work a little while ago and told them that I would be late tomorrow, due to the wake. I'll probably go in on time anyways, even though I could avoid the hellhole for a couple hours.

Also, I took Sunday off because we have to go to Poplar Bluff and meet Kalie with Avon. That really sucks, considering the funeral is on Saturday. I can't afford to take of two days in a row! I'm not supposed to be there until 1, so maybe they'll be cool if I'm late again? If I even go... who knows.

Okay, enough doom and gloom!

LaVaughn and I got a good enough glimpse of Chloe's joeys today to determine the color and gender! We have... twin boys!! One leu and one plat!! I'm dying over here! It's torture to be able to see them and not hold them and cuddle with them. Ugh, the waiting sucks.

Oh yeah! I completely forgot to bring this up! Okay, lets start from the beginning...

Earlier this month, a lady that bough a set from us was so impressed with our work that she wanted to send us some fabric so that we could sew it for her. Since we've had no problem doing this in the past -- very successfully, I might add -- we said yes.

Okay, well a week passed and we ended up receiving 3 packages from her! One with 2 yards of fleece, one box with about 5 yards of cotton/flannel, and then a HUGE bold with 3 different yards of fabric on it! And apparently we were the one that were going to have to buy a solid to match up with everything! Wtf!?

Also, let me add... I told her that it would be a while before we could get all of this done. We had several orders in front of her that we didn't even remotely have done (including Hannah's pouches, I'm so sorry if you're reading this, I promise we're working on it!). She was fine with that and even stated that she didn't care how long it took to make them.

Okay, well right around the time we got some of the fleece was when I was terribly sick. It took me like 2 weeks to get over that horrible sickness and the last thing I wanted to do was sew. Then after that, our aunt started getting really sick.

There was just too much going on to worry about the vast amounts of stuff she wanted sewn! Which she was okay with.

Well, last week sometime, I told her I would get pictures of her fabric for her. I believe I told her on Friday that I would get pictures Saturday, which I did! I also told her that I had to work all weekend, so when I would get home at 1 in the morning, I would completely forget about the pictures.

Well early Sunday morning, we get a message from her complaining that we never sent her the pictures and we have horrible customer service and loads of other things. I asked LaVaughn to send her the pictures (while I was at work) and she did.

She and LaVaughn went back and forth all day. This chick is one rude lady!

So now, since she's so impatient and doesn't care that we're going through a LOSS right in the MIDDLE of the HOLIDAYS, she wants us to send the fabric to another lady at OUR COST!?!? Please tell me, is this not right!?

I am just so sick of this lady and her antics. I'll be so glad when her fabric is in someone else's hands. At her cost, I might add. Ugh, I need to go now, I've completely pissed myself off all over again. Until next time...

Love & Peace

-Megan

Some random pictures from the past few days:

Cage sets.

More cage sets...

Fletcher

Bart

Chloe and her babies!!

See the little platinum joey!?

SO cute!!

Mr. Pip

That's the little leu boys tail. <3 p="">

Hello darkness, my old friend...

I know it's weird for me to blog on a Tuesday, I normally blog on Monday's because I literally always have Tuesday's off. Well, since the store is being shut down today and tomorrow for the big "remodel", I have no work today! Also, I didn't do anything yesterday that was even blog worthy, so I passed.

I do have a bit of disturbing news in the family department. My aunt Eva, who is well into her 70s, has fallen very ill over the weekend. I believe it was Saturday night that everything first started happening to her. Now I may not be spot on with this, considering I've only got bits and pieces from different people about how things happened, so don't hold it to me. 

Supposedly, she and her husband (and a few others?) were watching a movie Saturday night, then she decided to go lay down for a while. Later in the night, she sat up in the bed and started reciting a bunch of nonsense about getting a fish off of her hook. After that, she went back to sleep and never woke up. I found all of this out on my break Sunday. 

My sister called me that night and filled me in on most of it while I was still at work. Since it's opening day for rifle season, we were freakishly packed! I was already on edge when the news about my aunt came about, so that just added to my aggravation. Not to mention, I had to stay 45 minutes over to close the lobby and then help Kevin in grill because he was all by himself. Fun!

Okay, back to my aunt. Apparently she was having mini strokes and passing some of her bodily fluid? I honestly have no idea what they're talking about, considering I only got bits and pieces of the story. I also heard that her kidneys were shutting down. And apparently, which is complete news to me, she's on hospice! When did this happen? I have no idea how many of her kids and grand kids were there with her because she was so ill. Also, she was given 2-4 days to live from her doctor through her hospice nurse! No joke!

For some moronic reason, none of her damn kids would take her to the hospital because it was "her wish". She's too fucking sick to know if she needs to go to the hospital or not! 

To make a long story short, ever since Sunday night, her health has been declining and no one would take her to the hospital. My sister, my aunt, and I all think there's a bit of fowl play going on with one of her children. You all know how insurance works, right? Well, that's what we suspect. And apparently, even her own husband (who's basically on his death bed and nearing 90 years old) didn't know she was dying. It wasn't until the hospice nurse told him TODAY that he found out! 

Well, everything changed when one of her eldest sons got there today and wasn't happy with anything that was going on, so he bucked up and (finally) had her taken to the hospital not 20 minutes ago! It's about fucking time!! 

I would like to add that the lunatics that I'm talking about are very distant family member. They're people that I haven't spoken to in months! Aside from my sister, I'm only close to 6 people in my family. That's excluding my biological mother, imagine that! 

Okay, new subject! 

LaVaughn and I actually made a dent in our own personal cage sets today. We managed to sew 2! Lol, how pathetic. But hey, 2 in better than none. We're planing on tackling the other 3 tomorrow. Lets just hope we're successful. 

We also have two sets to sew for one of our very frequent customers, Laci. She's ordered so many sets from us in the past couple months! And since she's so awesome, she's getting herself and nice big free shipping discount! Can free shipping actually be considered a discount? Well technically, yes, I suppose. Anyways, so we might be sewing hers tomorrow as well.

Oh, I almost forgot! LaVaughn and I ordered two new puff pouches/pillow pouches from Athena of Glider Trendz! We already have 4 of her pouches and they're awesome! We needed two more to have one for each cage, so we finally dished out the money and bought them. I'm excited. 

And in other, more exciting new.... CHLOE'S JOEYS ARE ALMOST OOP!! I couldn't be more excited, as if you can't tell. These are her first joeys, so we're like super nervous, but we're so excited, we can't hardly leave her alone. And... she for sure has one PLAT!! This is going to be the first plat ever born here!! We've had two leus before, so that's not entirely new, but it'll still be freakishly exciting if she has a leu too.

Oh the excitement.

They look like they may detach this weekend, but I highly doubt it. More than likely, it'll be next week. Sigh... Well, as long as they're healthy, I don't care when they detach. I just know that I can't wait! And don't forget to check out the picture of the little sneak preview below!

Alright, I believe I've spilled enough beans for one day. It's time to watch some TV and try not to think about all the craziness that's going on around me. Until next time...

Love & Peace

-Megan

Here's Charli and Tyler's new cage set: 

Here's Kira and Logan's new cage set:

And here is one of Chloe and Boone's babies arms!!

Look at that tiny, little joey arm!