Update: I still love my kitty! X3 Iroh is so adorable. And sweet. And cuddly. And playful. And hilarious. And did I mention that he purrs ALL THE TIME? Seriously, it's non-stop, we call him the little motorboat. The vet couldn't even listen to his heart because he was purring too much, lulz. For the last few days we've been allowing him supervised exploration upstairs on the main floor, and he goes crazy with excitement and starts sticking his nose in everything. Very curious kitty. He seems to have a thing for my vase of fake plants in the living room so I have to continuously spray them down with Bitter Apple, but at least he's mostly staying away from the live plants. Unfortunately we have found that Iroh is becoming increasingly immune to the spray bottle -- he hops up on the table and we give him a spritz and he just sits there. We practically had to soak him the other night before he finally retreated. =_=; Maybe it's time to try the double-sided tape trick.

This weekend Iroh and Toby also met face-to-face for the first time after only glimpsing one another from opposite sides of the fence. Overall, it went reasonably well, if you define "reasonably well" as our 3 pound kitten being totally pwned by our tiny 2 pound bunny. :B OMG Toby's got spunk! Go Toby, go!

I brought Iroh in to the bunny room, holding him in my hands initially, and as soon as he got close Toby let out a cranky little grunt and did a little bunny charge at the cat! Who knew my timid little Netherland Dwarf had it in him -- he was all like "HMPH" and Iroh was like "GAAAH!" and Mason and I just stood there going "LOL LOL LOL LOL". It's a very positive start, and by that I don't mean that I'm a malicious jerk, I mean that it's good that Toby established his dominance right off the bat. The kitten needs a good bunny bop on the nose so he knows that messing with Toby is not allowed, and it worked -- Iroh was instantly more wary of the rabbit, exploring the room but staying far back along the walls or hiding behind my legs. For the most part Toby was very calm and laid back -- he just sort of went on with his own thing as Iroh checked out his room and only got cranky when the kitty came too close. Neither of them were hurt at all except maybe Iroh's pride, but deservedly so. *Kitten mews embarrassingly in protest.* We'll try a couple weeks of daily supervised interaction between the two of them and see how things progress.

(Adorably sweet video of cat-rabbit bonding because I'm an absolute sucker for cute videos like this. One can dream!)

We went out on the weekend and I found my costume for our Halloween Murder Mystery. I like it, except the skirt is *coughcough* a little shorter *coughcough* than was most likely appropriate for the year 1900, but for a steal at only $40 I'm not going to be picky. (I swear the skirt does not seem as short on me as it does in that picture! :x Depending on my comfort level I may or may not need to get some leggings...) But ooh, it's pretty and pink! I bought some gaudy gold necklaces to accessorize it with and will have to find something to do with my hair.

Edit: Okay so it turns out that I fucked up and the above costume is not so much 1900 as it is 1700ish. The girl at the store either lied to me or was as clueless as I was when I asked for something Victorian-esque -- though I guess this serves me right for not doing my own fashion era research beforehand so now I'm going to look stupid. *Sweatdrop*

There never seems to be any sort of smooth transition from summer to autumn, one week it's +30 and then BAM! suddenly it's struggling to climb into the double digits. *Pulls out her gloves and hat to wait for the bus in the morning.* We officially turned on the heater for the first time since we moved in, and while it's very exciting to once more live in a home that has hot floor vents which I can cuddle around and warm my tootsies over, it also means that winter can't be that far around the corner. Witness my sad face.

I went to see the movie 9 this weekend. It was surprisingly creepy, with evil scrap metal, robo-doll-from-hell monsters that will probably come back to haunt me in some horrible nightmare. D: The movie itself was okay but something was just... missing. It's hard to explain exactly what, but I left the movie feeling disappointed and not really knowing why. It was a bit like you were always waiting for The Big Explanation that never came. I can't say it was really anti-climactic... it just fell very short of what I was expecting; kinda like the writer had all of this extensive and detailed backstory and plot all planned out, but it all just got glossed over in the film. I dunno. It was weird.

This upcoming Friday is going to be a very exciting day, because in case you hadn't already heard... I'm adopting a kitten! *Flail flail flail!* XD After -- and admittedly a little during -- our experience with Buddha when we realized we weren't fully "dog people" like we wanted to be, I went back to secretly contemplating a cat. With Mason firmly being of the anti-cat camp for years (much to my sadness), I was not very optimistic when I broached the subject with him this time, but he actually said YES! Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod. I've only wanted a kitty since, oh, I don't know -- like since I was ten. I tried really hard to be a dog person, I did, but I've always known I was a cat lover at heart. *Loves loves loves wonderful boyfriend~*

My plan is to go down to the SPCA this Friday to pick out a kitten so then I have the whole Thanksgiving long weekend to be with him while he gets settled in~ For the past two weeks, meanwhile, I've been crazily doing cat research and reading anything I can find about kitten care; as well as joining a very popular cat forum where I've found a wealth of answers and help from some very experienced cat owners. This weekend I went out and bought most of my kitten supplies, and I'll have a kitten safe room all set up for when I bring home our new addition on Friday evening~

Among the long list of reasons why I think a cat will be a much better fit into our household, one of them is Toby. I knew beforehand with the dog that the rule was that canines and rabbits do not usually mix (it can definitely be done, yes, but usually requires some very cautious, extensive training and does not help when your dog has an insanely high prey drive...) By comparison, cats and rabbits are apparently easy. I've read almost nothing but positive experiences when it comes to living in a cat-rabbit home -- the introduction still has to be slow and carefully done, but apparently ends often in either both parties completely ignoring each other (which I'd be fine with); or in some cases even bond (which would be an extra perk.) I have high hopes, and I'm holding out that in getting a tiny kitten that more or less matches Toby in size, my timid little bun will toughen up a bit and lay down some much-needed law with the cat when they first meet.

Very very excited for Friday~ :3

This morning we made the very difficult decision to return Buddha to the shelter. :c It was a decision that neither Mason or I took lightly and were very torn about, but in the end decided it was best for both us and the dog.

Over the last week and a half, Buddha's behavior was becoming progressively worse each day and the more we tried to train him. He seemed to have some separation anxiety so he'd follow us every where we went, even if one of us just got up off the sofa and went across the room. He freaked out every time we'd leave the room or bar him from a certain part of the house for any reason, especially when we put him to bed in his crate for the night. He began chewing and destroying things while we were gone for the day and he was alone in the basement, which presented a significant problem because neither of us wanted to be forced to crate him during the nights as well as for the 8+ hours we were away at work.

He had also begun growling, barking, and acting a bit aggressively to get attention or when he was begging for table scraps. It wasn't outright hostility -- he wasn't baring his teeth or lunging but the growling still made me really nervous. He also snapped at Mason one night when we put him in a time-out for growling too much. Not to mention the way Buddha reacted when he saw wild rabbits outside during our walks made it fairly guaranteed that he never would have been able to be trusted for a moment around Toby's gated door.

The biggest issue was that Buddha was simply too active. He was going-going-going all the time. We took him for a walk or two a day, played with him constantly inside, and let him out in the backyard and nothing could tire him out. Neither Mason or I are extraordinarily active -- we enjoy computers and video games and movies. We just don't have the lifestyle or hobbies to have given him the proper care or exercise he needed. In the long run both us and the puppy would have ended up unhappy with the situation.

Mason and I talked about it late last week and decided to think about it over the weekend, but we both decided today that we just weren't the right home for him. It was really hard to bring him back. I cried in the car. He's already back up on the Humane Society website and I hope he gets adopted into the right family that can give him what he needs. We've concluded that it turns out neither of us are dog people, as much as we both tried and wanted to be, and donated all of Buddha's toys and belongings to the shelter as well. No more dogs for us.

We may try a more mellow sort of pet in the future (maybe a cat?) that's suited to our life, but nothing has been decided yet. All my love to Buddha, and I hope he finds his forever home.

What's this? We have a second bunny hanging around our house. He's (she's?) been a constant visitor to our front lawn and backyard since we moved in; we probably see him at least once a day. I never see the bunny on any of our neighbors' lawns, so I can only assume there's something drawing him to ours. *Looks suspiciously at a certain young black and white bunny sitting innocently on the couch* Toby, I think you're having a torrid long distance affair with this wild rabbit. I see you perched up at that window pretending not to look at him (her...?). What a scamp. My bunny, the heartbreaker. But they're two bunnies from two different worlds. It's like Romeo and Juliet but with long ears and fluffy tails -- and like all Shakespeare it can only end in tragedy. D: I tell you, I will have no part of it! Plus this rabbit is like three times the size of poor Toby and would probably squash him flat.


It's funny because every time Mason see's the other rabbit, he rushes out of the house with his airsoft pellet gun like an overzealous protective father -- only instead of caring about illicit bunny affairs, he is more perturbed that the rabbit is shitting on our lawn. It is kind of annoying, because I can't bring Toby outside in a backyard pen if there's wild rabbit feces that could make him sick. We'll have to see if this furry stranger decides to become a permanent resident or not.

I got my new Edmonton library card! I didn't have time the other day to spend a lot of time at the local library, but I did take a quick peak around. It's disappointingly small. :c I thought it had two floors like the St. Albert library but it turns out it's only one; though the fact that I can transfer any book from any of the other Edmonton branches to mine is pretty neat and makes up for the lack of physical shelf space. I immediately put a hold on The Time Traveler's Wife which I've been meaning to check out for a while, before realizing that with the bigger city comes the much bigger hold queue. (405th in line... *Sweatdrop* Should have expected that with all the movie hype.) Thankfully Sarah is kindly lending me her copy or I'd probably be on the waiting list until next year.

I'm getting very excited for the new Batman game Arkham Asylum being released on the 25th. Paul Dini himself is reportedly heading the script, and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are both reprising their roles as Batman and the Joker respectively (though from what I've seen from the trailers, Hamill has toned his readings down to something significantly darker than his work on the original Batman animated series' *glee*), and word is there are parts of the game you can actually play as Mister J~ THAT IS EPIC FTW. :B Mason's promised to only play it when I'm in the room so I don't miss any of the story or animated sequences. Depending on how frustrating and hard the game controls look, I may actually take a stab at playing this one myself. Maybe.

The very belated moving-in recap.

YAY NEW HOUSE! :B We have officially been living in our new home for one week~ Happy week-aversary, us! I love this place, and it already feels like home. *Snuggles down in her chair all cozy-like*

Right. The big move. To start with, it was surprisingly quick. With our convoy of happy helpers and a giant 14' U-Haul truck, we loaded all the vehicles, carted them to the new house, moved everything in, and were already relaxing and eating pizza out in the backyard in just two and half hours. Much love and thanks to our army of wonderful family and friends who came out and lent a hand. *Hearts you all*

The only hiccup in our otherwise smooth moving day was the discovery that our giant rear-projection 60-something inch television wouldn't fit down the bloody basement stairs. We made sure to measure the width of the staircase and door beforehand, but we completely overlooked the sheer height of the thing. =_=; The low, dropped ceiling in the stairwell was like "HAHAHAHA, EPIC FAIL." So in the end we abandoned the effort and resigned ourselves to the fact that we will have to invest in a new T.V. in a month or two, and until then are using our smaller bedroom television for the basement.

Our new neighbors seem nice, they even brought us homemade cake as we were moving in! :3 They're an older couple, though in fact it seems like a lot of older people live in our area, so it's made for a pretty quiet street so far. Everyone's lawns and gardens are all nicely taken care of and meticulously manicured -- I feel like I'm under pressure to make sure I have lush green lawns and extravagant gardens with lanterns and little garden gnomes. I'm not much of a gardening girl -- I have some nice pots with some flowers out front courtesy of my green-thumbed Mom though, does that count? *Desperately tries to not kill little flowers* *Sweatdrop*

We're more or less unpacked. There's still a couple boxes laying around in some corners and the upstairs living room is scattered with pictures and wall stuff that needs to be hung (as well as has a giant freaking T.V. sitting in it that I badly need to list on kijiji.com so we can get rid of it), but we're mostly done. I'm going to use this weekend to go check out the library that's right near us *excited* and take a gander in at the rec center across the road to see what they offer. I love that we still ended up close to a bus depot -- depending on how much time I have in the morning, I can make the 10 minute leisurely stroll to the transit center or just run out my door and wait at the stop right outside our crescent. My daily commute to work and back is a little longer now, but I don't really mind. (On the topic of the ETS, holy hannah is it hard track down bus passes in Edmonton. I thought all Shoppers Drugmart's sold them, but apparently not; I went to three different places before finally finding a 7/11 where I could buy one.)

Update to previous post: Toby is doing much better~ (I'm so glad he's finally back home. Extra thanks to the Glory Hole crew who took such good care of him for those four weeks before we moved.) The vet wasn't completely sure what caused him to get sick -- she didn't think it was a GI problem, and figures more it was just all of the stress in the past month, with the moving from our apartment to the Glory Hole then to our new house; and then having all of the people over at our house the other night so soon after moving him in. He seems fine now though, he's back to his old self, gorging himself on food and being hilariously silly. *Hugs*

He seems to really like his new room~ :3 He been binkying around and crawling all over his new sofa, and I'm going to try to build him a little window seat out of NIC panels this weekend so he can look outside. *Bunny joy*

Bunny drama.

To everyone who's been text messaging and FBing me regarding my somewhat cryptic tweets last night: Toby is doing okay now. Yesterday morning and early evening, he was fine; eating and running around and being completely silly like usual. Then in about a span of two or three hours he did a complete 180. I went to give him his dinner just after 9pm and all of a sudden he refused to move at all, he wouldn't even touch his food or react at the sight of his favorite pineapple juice or raisin treats. He seemed to just lay in a corner of his room and only moved every couple minutes to change position as if he couldn't get comfortable, and I found what looked like watery stools on the carpet.

Two different bunny health signs signaling immediate vet attention, so at 10pm I rushed him over to the Emergency Vet Clinic downtown. There was a lot of waiting when we got there, but eventually a doctor came to do a physical inspection. She noted that his temperature was too low and did a lot of feeling and prodding of his tummy which was a bit descended but she said was hard to tell what it was filled with, whether it was a blockage or food from earlier that day still. She originally wanted to keep him overnight to give him IV fluids, but came back after a while after consulting another vet and they decided that since: a) they weren't extremely versed with rabbits, and b) having him stay overnight and being handled repeatedly by strangers would have put too much extra dangerous stress on him, she said the best bet was to take him home for the night to watch him and take him to his regular vet in the morning if he hadn't improved.

We got home just after 1am, I put a blanket on him to keep him warm (he squirmed out of it after ten minutes or so), scrubbed his litterbox clean, and put out some fresh veggies for him to eat during the night if he wanted; then stayed up till 3 buried in rabbit books and web health guides. When I woke up this morning he was in the exact same position he was when I left him last night, with no solid feces or eaten food, and his ears were really cold. For the first time I thought I heard the bunny teeth-grid sound of pain. I took him down to Tudor Glen as soon as they opened and he's been there all of today. I finally got an update from the vet office after lunch saying they'd managed to raise his temperature by putting him on a warming pad, and were force feeding him a couple times through the day with a syringe, though thankfully he was finally nibbling some hay on his own. He may be able to come home tonight.

I don't know how parents go through this sort of thing with human born-from-your-flesh offspring. I spent the entire morning trying to distract myself with whatever I could do to keep from being a anxiety-ridden, crying wreck waiting for the vet to call. I cleaned Toby's room from top to bottom and lugged away all of the extra rugs we were using on top of the regular carpet because I don't know whether or not he was ingesting the frayed edges of them or what. My sister phoned to check up on the situation and out of no where I just started sobbing into the phone, then a co-worker phoned with work-related questions and at the mention of how Toby was doing I embarrassingly started sobbing again. I have been completely useless today, and I realize there are people who will never understand the emotional attachment I have to Toby or why someone can get so upset over an animal, but I also know the other people who can relate to the feeling that they're not so much pets as they're members of your family. Much love out to Chelle who came over during her lunch to provide sisterly comfort even after I got the positive report back from the vet~

I hope to talk to the doctor when I go to pick him up and see if she knows exactly what happened. It seems like GI stasis, but I don't believe the watery stools and body temperature drop are symptoms of that so I'm not sure what the problem really was. I hope he's back to his chipper self when I bring him home. *Love*