Here's to new beginnings...

Wow, another year gone, another 365 days of memories. I don't know if I'm alone here, but the recent years just seem to fly by. It could be because I'm getting older, but I think the days are just getting shorter. If you blink more than once, you miss an entire season it seems.

But I'm not here to talk about that, I'm here for another... recap! You know you love them just as much as I love talking about them, so here goes...

• Probably one of the most memorable (and heartbreaking) times of 2014 was the loss of one of our sugar glider joeys, David. He was rejected by his mom and gravely injured by his mom. We stayed with him around the clock, but he soon met his fate on Sunday evening just after 7PM. The little baby died in my hands. I've never been so heartbroken over a joey in all my years of owning gliders.

• Getting our new laptops isn't really blog worthy, but what we had to endure in the process sure was! Around the same time we put over $500 on two pre-paid cards to get them, a feud had been started via Paypal by an irate cage set customer. After all that was settled, our damn laptops still had a flaw -- a Spanish keyboard. I swear, we could not get a break that week.

• Another depressing part of 2014 was when Lucy went missing. She very pregnant and about to pop, so the fact that she was along, pregnant, and abandoned really took a toll on me. I still, to this day, suspect foul play.

• Driving all the way to Bloomfied, IL definitely makes it onto the list of most memorable. Not only did we get super close to Chicago, but we met two new glider people that very same day! We met Lynsie in Festus, then Jennifer in Bloomfield. Since the drive was so incredibly long, we found it safest to just spend the night and head back the next day.

• That brings me to my next memory of 2014, shipping! This required absolutely no help from friends, it was 100% on us. I honestly don't think I've ever been so stressed in my life! It seriously makes me reevaluate wanting to ship at all!

• Next up on the list would have to be my mom's heart surgery. Talk about a stress-filled week! She was 100% fine with the fact that she had to have surgery, but the closer it got, the more she started worrying. My aunt stayed with her every single day, which I knew she would. It helped, because there was no way I could, which I hated. She had a very rapid recover, which eased tense feelings even more!

• I knew Sally would make the list this year, and while she's still with us, I know her time is short. She had such a miserable 2014, I can hardly stand to talk about it. She was diagnosed with a Zymbol's Gland Tumor, she had a mammary removed, and on top of that she's had a recurring abscess on her face next to her ZGT. She's only getting worse, which is killing me. Every time I look at her, I see a part of her slip away. She's take a part of me with her each time.

• Some good actually came out of 2014. For the very first time I was able to get my very own DSLR camera!! This will stay with me for the rest of my life. Anyone who follows my blog knows how badly I've wanted an SLR. It's all I've talked about since the beginning. Not only did I get the model I wanted (D3300), but I got the color I wanted too... red! It was just a major blessing that I couldn't be more thankful for.

• I know this isn't like a life event, but I have to comment on how awesome Christmas was this year. Mainly the shopping aspect and how successful we were at getting everyone what they wanted. Last year was good -- any year we can buy a lot of gifts is good -- but this year we were lucky enough to have extra money around the holidays and was able to get everyone a lot of things, plus tablets! It was just great. 

My conclusion... there was definitely a lot of good, a little too much bad, and the rest was teetering on the fence of okay. Not the best year, definitely not the worst, and most assuredly one for the books.

Now it's time to talk about my to-do list, or bucket list, as I called it last year. I wrote out a few things that I wished to accomplish in 2014. So here goes...

What I accomplished:

• Traveling! No, I didn't get to go to Louisiana like I had planned, but I did get to go to Bloomfield, IL. Traveling is traveling, I'm not going to be picky.

• Purchasing a DSLR. I know, I'm still astounded and in shock. This is something I honestly didn't think I would accomplish.

• Taking more photos, which I more definitely accomplished. I broke a record when I took 1700 in December alone!

What I didn't accomplish:

•  Music! Yes, I did make the plunge and buy a violin, but I sold it less than 48 hours after receiving it. I'm going to wait until I have time to take lessons and buy a violin that costs more than $70. I also didn't play the piano like I wanted. Boo!

• Project 365. I didn't even remotely make it this year. I took pictures for over a month, but only posted like 10. HUGE disappointment, I'm very ashamed.

• I'm going to combine this last one into one failure. Mainly because I want to break even on the accomplish/didn't accomplish list. Blogging, which I did plenty of, I still didn't beat last years posts. I had 210 posts last year and only 191 this year. Close, but no enchilada. This next one is a yes and no. Did I update Sugar Exotics? Yes! Did I update it a lot? No. Take that as you will, it's a yes and no answer.

All in all it was good and bad for my 2014 to-do list. They were realistic goals, which makes it even more depressing to not accomplish them all. But hey, at least I got half!

Now, the part I know you've all been waiting for. Just what DO I wish to accomplish this year?

• First and foremost, photography! I think I have the quantity of pictures taken at a comfortable level, so not that. What I want -- and have dreamed of doing -- is to start my own photography business! Since I have a nice starter SLR, I think I'm almost ready. I mean, if ever there was a career path for me, photography is it.

• Which brings me to the next thing on my list, purchasing a prime lens! I already have one picked out, so I don't have to worry about finding the right one.

• While we're on the subject of photography, one more thing I would like to accomplish (photography wise) is using my camera on FULL manual! I already rarely use auto anymore, I even find auto to wash out some pictures, so that's something I really, really want to do, but not just do it, understand it!

• Next up is a repeat of last year... Project 365. I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm doing it! I know I sound like a broken record, but I honestly want to at least try and accomplish it this year. I've taken a photo every single day since I got my new camera, so why stop there. 

• I still want to travel, but I'm setting my sights low as of now. Travel wise this year, the Zoo. That's simple enough, right? After all, it's less than 3 hours away. I could set unrealistic goals, such as New Zealand or Ukraine, but I'm not going to aim for something so high that I would need a 500 ft ladder for.

I think I can accomplish those 5 things, don't you? As of right now, I can't think of anything else that I want to do. So lets just leave it at that and be done, shall we? I hope that everyone had a stellar New Year and was able to rid themselves of 2014 and all it's nastiness. I know of a few people that couldn't wait to get last year behind them.

Love & Peace
... and Happy New Year!

-Megan

Time to remissness with the last photos taken in 2014...

All our goodies from the 75% off sale at Walmart:

And now just random pictures from the end of 2014:

Is this dog not gorgeous?!?!

When will it end?

I'm serious, can we not get a break for at least a week straight? I'm going into each week in a constant state of worry, just wondering what's going to happen this time around.

It all started with the whole Paypal dispute between us and the cage set lady. After well over a month of having her items, she decides she doesn't want them and decides to start a dispute worth well over $100, leaving us with a negative balance in our Paypal. Luckily, that's resolved now.

Then, a couple weeks later, David got hurt and, as I'm sure you all know by now, he died. The stress weighed on us like a 10 ton brick of agony. Just when we thought we were in the clear for a while, that all happened and tore us to shreds. Since then, we've been able to move passed it some.

After that happened, I think a week or two, Lucy went missing. We still have no idea where our cat is and have to worry about her constantly. We don't know if she's hungry, scared, alone with her newborn kittens. It's just an endless worry and constant feeling of dread. Unfortunately, that worry still isn't over, we just have to make ourselves deal with it.

Now today, I had the pleasure of waking up to a very welcoming message on Facebook from a breeder friend saying that we owe her $600!? Um, no thank you!! It's someone that I least expected it to be from, the same breeder we got Boone and Tyler from!

Back in March of last year, she had a leu boy come OOP that was a perfect match for Chloe. It was HER idea to do a trade, we never thought she would be up for it. Of course, we jumped at the idea. Then, we saw Tyler and decided to buy him, which we did.

I don't know why this is coming about now. She's never brought it up once since then, so we just figured she never saw a joey that she wanted. Considering she has a shit load of glider, we thought maybe she just didn't want anymore and would just leave it at that. We didn't care, honestly.

I hate waking up in a good mood and then having that mood shattered by something that I have absolutely no control over. It sucks and it's stressful, it's just too much sometimes. Like I tell everyone, I'm a genuinely happy person, so when things like this happen, it just puts me in this overwhelming stupor of depression and then I'm just a nightmare to be around.

It sucks because you can't enjoy a good thought, a good feeling, eating becomes a chore, and don't even get me started on trying to sleep. As we all know, night time is the right time for worrisome souls.

I feel nauseous. I want to scream and cry right now, it's just not a good day. Please forgive me, but I also kind of want to stab something or someone. Ugh, I need to stop bitching and suck up all the drama, cause apparently it's a new constant.

Love & Peace

-Megan

False hope...

Apparently someone saw one of my pleas for help on Facebook and contacted me about Lucy, our missing cat. She said that she has been feeding a cat that has been hanging around her place of employment (Casey's), in Fredericktown!!

I talked to her for nearly an hour Saturday night after I got home from work. She said that the cat she saw looks strikingly like Lucy, and she's excessively pregnant. She said the cat was smaller in build and had a stubbier tail, which Lucy is and has! As much as I tried not to, I couldn't help but get my hopes up. She said that she would go back and take a picture of her Sunday and send it to me. If it was her, she was going to take her home and I would pick her up after I got off of work Sunday night.

Unfortunately, when she went back Sunday (yesterday), she was nowhere to be found. Everyone that works there thinks that she left to go have her kittens, which sounds likely. I know the chances of it being her are extremely unlikely, but one can hope, right?

I think LaVaughn and I are planing on making a trip to Fredericktown Wed., just to be safe.

If by some miracle this is her, then my suspicions were right and someone took her, took OUR cat and decided it was okay to haul her off. Something that didn't belong to them, something that they had no right making decisions for, or even touching her.

I can't even get started on this again.

In much happier news, our turkey, Lilith, laid her first egg today! It was such a shock to see such a perfect, speckled egg. Now, I just wonder if it's fertile! We really have no way of knowing, you just kind of have to take a chance. I've never seen her and Tom mate (which is probably a good thing), so I don't even know. Completely random thought, but I've never seen turkeys mating before. Of course, I see chickens getting it on constantly, but I imagine turkeys doing the deed would just be an ungodly sight. Shutter.

I know this is completely random and completely uncalled for, but I so desperately want to keep Fiona. We have a potential buyer for her, someone close and someone that we know, but I just can't bring myself to let them put a deposit down on her. I just don't know where I stand with her. Like 80% of me wants to keep her, but then there's the other 20% that's trying to rationalize and do what should be done, which is sell her.

Not 2 weeks ago we were talking about neutering everyone and maybe even re-homing a couple of them. Mind you, this all came about right after David was attacked. Our emotions ran high those few days, so we get a free pass as to why we thought that. Still, even after we decided to not neuter everyone (Logan is still getting neutered), we said we didn't need ANY more gliders, which we don't.

Ugh, I just don't know what to do. If by some chance we keep her, and if Shannon doesn't have a creme-ino girl for me, then I think I'm going to ask Tracy about the little creme boy she has. He and Fi would make the cutest pair! Plus, I'd get my creme finally! Seriously, after that, no more.

Since today is my only day off, I think I'm going to spend it playing the Sims. I know, I'm a lazy bum when it comes to the Sims, but I don't get to play anymore until Thursday. Plus, I haven't played since Friday, so I deserve it.

Love & Peace

-Megan

Since I couldn't decide which turkey egg picture I liked more, I decided to upload them both:

To the devil with false modesty...

I don't have too much to share today, mainly I wanted to unload some pictures so that I don't get backed up. They're nothing special, just a couple of Milla and Zoe.

We had all kinds of storms roll through yesterday, several warnings, and one very scared pup! Milla is a super friendly dog, but she's a loner by nature. Her behavior makes a complete turn around when it's storming -- or just when she's scared in general. There's not a thing you can do to pry her from our sides. 

We dinned up in our nook off of the kitchen last night and Milla stayed right by our side. It's so funny to see such a big dog so scared of something as harmless as thunder. It really brings out the puppy in her.

Today, on the other hand, has been much nicer. Definitely a lot colder, but it's been docile. So much so that someone decided to fish in the lake behind our house. Yeah, imagine my surprise walking in the glider room and seeing a family of 3 fishing. It was a sight to say the least! 

We still haven't seen or heard anything pertaining to Lucy. She's just gone. It's so lonely outside anymore, even though there are still 3 cats out there. Aside from Bart with his extreme vocals, Lucy was the loud one. Constantly squeaking out little meows whenever she wanted food, or just to be loved on. I miss her so.

I don't know why, but I am dreading work tomorrow. It's not as though I'm not there on a weekly basis, but since I took off a couple days this week, it seems like I've been gone for an eternity! I work a grueling 1-10 tomorrow. Standing for 9 plus hours on your feet is not something for the weak, I have to say. Maybe, by some miracle, I'll get out early. Highly unlikely, but you never know.

I guess I'll leave it at that. Hope you enjoy the pictures below...

Love & Peace

-Megan

Our big girl Milla with wide, frightened eyes:

The bone is clearly doing nothing for her, even though she ate about 4.

"Is it ever going to stop storming, mom?"

Zoe loves nothing more than to look out the large, floor to ceiling windows in the glider room:

Such a pretty girl, such a different reflection.

Look at those beautiful cat eyes!

"Hey, who the heck are those people up there?"

Now some gorgeous photos of the rat finks:

"Move Sally, it's my turn!"

"No, Melissa, it's mine!"

Chelsea really has no idea what's going on.

Neither does Emilie.

"I'm just going to sit over here and look pretty."

The end.