Just A Check-In

 I've really been slacking in the blogging department lately. I sometimes feel obligated to blog at least 3 times a week, then sometimes I find myself struggling to blog just once. It's easier if I take lots of photos each week and actually have something to share, but if I don't then I feel like blogging is pointless. I'm not the type of person that has to document every aspect of their lives. I mean, maybe 6 or 7 years ago I did, but that's just not me anymore.

I love to write, even if I'm in a rush and don't read through what I've written to correct my mistakes, I still love it. I obviously love photography, so sharing my photos here is something that I really enjoy. Last week was occupied for obvious reasons, but this past week LaVaughn and I both have worked extra, so there haven't really been any free days. 

Tuesday doesn't count as a day because we had a 2 hour drive home, plus had to stop for groceries beforehand. By the time we get home and get everything sanitized, put away and then cook dinner, it's late and there's really no time to take pictures of anything to post. We also cleaned up around the house, took the glider's drop trays out and washed them, took all the glider's cage sets out and washed them, vacuumed the glider room, carpet cleaned part of the glider room, then for some random reason we cleaned out the closets and got rid of two trash bags full of shoes.

Wednesday was garden cleanup day. After breakfast and feeding all the animals we went down to the garden and started cleaning it up and pulling weeds - that took forever and I'm legit still super sore. 

I had to take my aunt to the doctor Wednesday in Farmington and we didn't get home until after 5. By the time we ate, watered the garden and bedded the chickens the day was just gone. We also had to pack for work this weekend which takes a while because we have to prepare 4/5 days of glider food, wash laundry and pack bags. 

This week was exceptionally busy due to the fact that we stayed away for work two extra days. I also had crippling anxiety Tuesday evening/night. Anyone who has periods of severe anxiety knows what I mean when the aftershock takes days. Wednesday was weird all day and most of the day Thursday. I think it was Thursday night when I started feeling relief. If I'm being honest I'm still feeling the effects somewhat.

I'm not going to get into all that, but having really anxious weeks takes its toll. 

I've also been really into playing the piano again for some reason, so anytime I have free time that's what I do. I usually spend at least an hour a day playing if nothing's going on. I actually finally finished a song I was learning Thursday night. I have a video on my phone, but I don't really want to upload it on YouTube just to share it here. 

So there's a rundown of the last week or so and why I don't blog as much some weeks. I think I put too much pressure on myself to blog and that's what's going to end up ruining this for me. I think it's okay if I don't blog some weeks and if I don't feel like doing it or if I feel I'm forcing myself, then I just won't blog. I haven't taken any pictures in over a week, so maybe next week I can get out and take some of the garden for an update - everything is growing like crazy right now. 

Well, I guess that's all for now.

Random picture (that I don't own) of these Cucamelons, only because I had no photos to share. I also want to order these seeds next year and try to grow these bad boys!

Semi-Sabbatical

Hello all, I'm back to the ever so enthralling world of blogging. I'm saying all of this like I've vanished for another 4 years, only to return with hundreds of photos that I've taken. I've tried to steadily blog this year, so not blogging for nearly a week means something to me now. If I'm being honest, the thought of not blogging again did cross my mind, but then I think of all the photos I've taken and the fact that no one - other than myself - would get to see them.

I mean, I show my sister everything I take usually, but she doesn't share the same love for photography, so I often feel like I'm being annoying when I'm showing her pictures of well lit leaves or weeds. I like posting on Instagram, or I used to, but I've blogged about why that's an issue for me, so I will probably never return to posting on that platform again. Besides, Instagram is riddled with these so called "influencers" that literally only want to sell you this or that. 

I'm going to stop myself there, there's really no need to be rambling about that right now.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but LaVaughn got me a really nice, full-size keyboard for Christmas in 2017. I had purchased myself a learners keyboard back in 2011 and used it all the time. I mean, at the time I thought it sounded amazing, but I had never used a decent keyboard before. It was well worth every penny and what I taught myself to play on, so I'm in NO way knocking the value of it. It was on the short side, maybe half the size of the one I have now, so playing a full size keyboard really opened my world.

In a way I kind of had to re-learn how to play certain songs. This was mainly due to the fact that my keyboard is so much larger and the keys feel entirely different. I had only ever touched real piano keys when I was younger and before I knew how to play anything. So going from a youth piano with flimsy little plastic to a full size with piano style (not ivory) keys was difficult. 

Since I've given you a far too in-depth backstory on my keyboards, I guess it's time to get to the reason I brought it up in the first place. LaVaughn and I were watching Halloween with Jake one day and he looked at me when the theme song came on, so I asked him if he wanted me to try and learn it for him, which he did. This was months ago and I hadn't even had my keyboard out since before my mom passed away, so I got it out and dusted it off and started playing.

That's what I've been doing with my free time this week, which is why I haven't been blogging. I've been super busy in the garden this week as well - cleaning out the rows, picking up millions of rocks and then planting more zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and cantaloupe today. I'm honestly too damn sore to do anything else at the moment, so sitting on my ass in front of the tv is a priority at this point.

So aside from trying to learn the Halloween theme and gardening this week, I haven't really had time to blog. I mean, today was the first day that I went out and took pictures. They're really nothing special either, but I just can't hardly bring myself to post a blog without at least one picture.

So yeah, that's been my week and what I've been up to. I have a couple random videos of myself playing what I've learned over the few hours that I've been playing this week, but I don't know if I'll upload them or not. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Beautiful little iris looking flowers.

Weeds in the sunset, shocker.

I feel like these could really use a Lightroom edit, but I just don't even wanna go there.

Pretty purple widlflowers.

Food for thought...

I've been a major slacker in the blogging department. How can I blog when there's nothing to blog about without becoming repetitive? I've done that in the past, which I hate, so when things begin to loop back around, I decide to not blog at all.

I did, however, manage to get some fairly decent pictures of Kira's two newest joeys today. Before you get too excited, they're not OOP yet, they were just hanging outside of her pouch. Both little girls seem to be so dark! Even the little minimally marked mosaic girl... yes, we have a mosaic! She has two little dots on the back of her head, a white tip and ring on her tail, and all white hands and feet. 

I'm so curious to see how Seamus does with his new baby sisters. Kira had Seamus and Hadley while Avon was still so young (and living with them), so he got to see his younger siblings and did great with them. I'm hoping that Seamus is the same way. We've heard lots of good things about reverse trios (2 boys, 1 girl), so we're hoping our experience is just as good. 

So... quick question. How is everyone's year going so far? Sticking with those resolutions? Since I didn't set any resolutions, I have nothing to worry about. No slacking, no falling off the wagon, just me and my 'to do' list. Which -- so far -- I've been sticking with. 

I'm working on getting a new keyboard before I progress my piano skills an further. I want a Yamaha PSR-275, solely because of the dual voice feature. It also has a sustain feature (button) in place of the sustain pedal, which I love. I've had my eye out for one for days now, mainly searching Ebay and similar places. There have been a few on Ebay that seem like decent deals, but now they're all gone. Sigh...

My Project 365 is in full swing, it's just not going as well as I hoped. But... when I first started, I was snowed in, so it's not like I could jot out to the zoo and take pictures or anything. Th first few pictures are nice, then things just go downhill before they eventually look a little better. Hopefully the rest of the month isn't like this, I would really hate to scrap everything this soon.

I think I may have covered everything I wanted to cover today. Until next time...

Love & Peace

-Megan

Miss Milla enjoying the view:

Here's a preview of Kira's newest joeys!!

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

Drake update...

The awesome lady that's adopting Drake asked for some new photos of him last night and, naturally, I obliged. I've only taken his picture while he's in his pouch lately so I thought it would be fun to take some on the keyboard - like Hannibal and Mischa back in 2010. Luckily, he was really still and the pictures didn't turn out too bad.

And while we're on the subject of keyboards, I thought I would mention that I'm finally playing again! It's literally been months on top of months since I've touched the keyboard. Some of the songs I know came back to me while others... not so much. I never finished Moonlight Sonata, so I definitely need to get that done. I'm also in the process of learning A River Flows In You by Yirma. It's slightly on the difficult side, but it's beautiful!

Well, I suppose I've rambled enough for now. Until next time...

Love & Peace

-Megan

Here are the pictures of our adorable mosaic sugar glider, Drake:

I know a video isn't as cute as Drake, but I thought I would post it anyway: