Mood: At work. Still wants to be in bed.

Don't give the bunny raisins right before you leave for work. I closed up Toby's condo as I was heading out and passed him two little raisins through the door because he was looking extra adorable this morning, and he launched into a happy little bunny spaz. His condo cage is large, but not really full-out-binkies large. He tends to smack into the walls. I'm a little worried he's going to give himself a bunny-sized concussion.

No more sugar so early in the morning. =_=;

Mood: Killing time on the computron

I technically just did a meme like this, so I tried to do 25 new things that weren't included in the last one. :P

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.

1. I routinely look like I just crawled out of a barn. Between the bits and pieces of hay from sitting in my pet rabbit's playpen and the tufts of white feathers that escape from my down-filled winter jacket and get caught on my clothes, it raises the theory that I live in a chicken coup.
2. I used to be a tomboy. It's only in the last three or four-ish years that I've ditched the ugly over-sized man shirts to openly embrace my feminine side. Floral! Color! Dresses! Fitted clothes! OMG look I'm actually a girl and I LOVE IT~! :3 I would never ever go back to the way I was, because being girly is too much fun.
3. I really like my job, and that's something that I never would have believed I'd ever say. But I do, I like the job, I adore the people I work with, I get excited over new projects we're working on and where we're going. It's not very often many people are able to wake up everyday and not hate the idea of going to their job, and it concerns and makes me a little sad to not know whether I'll still be able to be there a year from now.
4. I would love to travel more. I especially dream one day of going back to Europe... England, Paris! *hearts* I wouldn't mind visiting Africa and maybe Japan too~
5. My biggest goal in the next five years (and that's a maximum ETA, preference would be one to two years) to own my own bloody house. I hate renting, I hate it! Look at all my beautiful money being sucked away that I'll never see again! D: I want more space, I want a garage, and I want a yard so we can finally get a puppy~
6. I'm probably one of the few people who was born in St. Albert, Alberta, and never ever wants to leave. It is one of the many aspects that is part of what makes up what has been affectionately coined the "Brenna Bubble". I love my little slice of suburbia and if I get my way I will live here forever. By an uncommon contrast, I despise Edmonton. It's too big, it's dirty, it's stressful, and it's scary, as opposed to my comfortably small city that is by comparison clean, easy, and safe, and most importantly, is close to my friends and family. If I ever make a move out of St. Albert, it will be to another suburb in the nearby area, but if it's left up to me, I will die here in one of the very many local retirement homes.
7. My dialogue is littered with what we in the family refer to as "Saunders Words", and sometimes I forget that the rest of the world has never heard of them. Terms like "gweeblies", "tuffettops", and "goobersmooch" have a habit of sneaking into my dictionary while out in public and end up earning me lots of funny looks and ridicule.
8. I speak to my bunny as if he were a tiny three-year-old. I never thought I'd be one of those people who engages in in depth conversations with my pet and treats them like their own child, but I can't help it! *Hugs Toby* He's so freaking adorable! X3
9. I wish I had more money to buy ridiculous amounts of clothes and shoes! I can't walk into a mall without seeing a dozen things I want to have, and if I didn't have the reserves of will power as I do, I would be very very poor.
10. I am probably the pickiest eater I have ever and will ever know of. (And I can't even blame mine on allergies or anything.)
11. I'm cold all the time. I hate being freaking cold! *Hugs her portable work heater*
12. I'd really like to get more in shape since my current shape is more like a squiggly no-muscly void of nothing, but I am admittedly notoriously lazy when it comes to physical activity. Gyms are an absolute no-go for me. Selected sports I can sometimes pull off, but it really has to be a very Brenna-friendly sport, and that usually means that it doesn't involve a lot of running or painful physical contact. I keep saying I want to get into a habit of playing DDR again every day, but that probably won't actually happen until we have a house and more space to keep the dancing mat out and available to remind me to use it.
13. On the note of Brenna-friendly sports, I'm extremely glad that Mason introduced me to golf. Yes, it's as boring as dirt to watch on television, but I really do enjoy playing it. It gives me some exercise, I get to go for a nice leisurely walk, and it's very relaxing.
14. I started taking piano lessons this year, something I've always wanted to do and finally did~
15. I don't like small talk. I'm much more of a comfortable silence kind of girl. Please don't talk to me about the weather or other things we know that neither of us are really interested in talking about just to fill an awkward void. Either have an actual conversation with me, or keep to the rule silence is golden.
16. When it comes to television and movies and books, my favorite characters always end up being either:
    
    1. villains (ex. Spike from Buffy, Grievous from Star Wars),
    2. arrogant assholes (ex. Alan Shore from Boston Legal, Severus Snape from HP), or
    3. a little bit crazy (ex. Dilandau from Escaflowne, The Joker from Batman).

    Or in some cases, all of the above mixed into some crazy Molotov cocktail of creepy. It's especially strange since all these characteristics when displayed in real life piss me off and make me want to punch the owner in the face. Yet in books and shows, I can't get enough of them. They draw me in -- they're just always so much more interesting than the heroes or other protagonists! :B

17. Denny Crane.
18. I'm so happy to be getting back into reading again. I was an obsessive book worm when I was younger, and then for whatever reason I stopped buying books and going to the library for a while when I discovered things like anime and manga and pink Nintendo DS's. Something clicked last year though and I've compiled a giant list of must-read material that I'm working though.
19. I am an Anal Annie when it comes to filling the dishwasher. Everything has a designated place, dishes must be sorted, everything has to fit in order to maximize dishwasher capacity and efficiency! Mason very often simply doesn't load the dishwasher at home because he knows that I'll just walk by, get frustrated, and proceed to take everything out and re-load it my own way. I go over to my parent's house for dinner some times and blanch at the horror that is their dishwasher now that I don't live at home with them. It's a disgrace, and I think they do it purely because they know it annoys me.
20. I like playing board games. One night a week I get together with a bunch of friends and we play a board game or card game of some sort, it's a lot of fun, and I like that I get to see the group of people at least once each week because of it.
21. I am an enormous fangirly geek, and I love it. Being a fangirl is my favorite hobby ever, whether it's watching episodes of a series over and over again, or finding a new piece of amazing fanart, or staying up until the wee hours of the morning researching information and details on specific parts of a story or character that I never knew before.
22. Directly related to / caused by / is the causing factor of #21, I'm a pretty big daydreamer. Not in the teenage girly sense of "and then Johnny Depp comes sweeping in with rippling muscles and carries me off for some full-frontal shagging", but more along the lines of where I write little scenes and bits in my head of various fandoms I'm currently indulging in. It's more or less fanfiction writing, only without the actual typing because that's far too much effort. I like to think up those scenes you'd love to see, or bits of a story and character experiences that were never included but should have been. They play like my own little directed movies in my head, and they can range from little two-minute concoctions to full blown half hour episodes where I end up getting really annoyed if someone interrupts me in the middle of it.
23. I both miss and do not miss my old spiky hair. I miss it because it was very unique, and not a style you saw on every female who walked by; though on the same note, I very much do not miss it because of the same reason. My hair may be more boring now, but it feels more mature and I'm finally no longer recognized every where I go as "That spiky haired girl who worked at Sobeys". =_=; There's a point when creepy old ladies try to run their hands over your hair gushing that you say enough is enough.
24. I live my life by my Google Calendar. *Hearts* I'm not sure I could get along in the world on a day-to-day basis without my online schedule and daytimer.
25. I can't stand rudeness. It is by far my biggest pet peeve and turn off. Egotistical people come in as a close second -- modesty is a virtue, learn to use it, you arrogant asswipes.

Mood: Slowly getting into the holiday spirit

We've embarked on the Whyte Ave adventure, our tree has been set up, the *motherfuckingsonofabitch* snow has fallen, and as of today I have been to the annual Butterdome Christmas craft sale. I always spend far too much money at those dang craft sales when I don't intend to, this time I came home with another gorgeous Shi Studio necklace -- now I have a green and a pink one! -- as well as giant pile of delicious fudge. I'm not usually a fudge gal, but they had flavors of fudge I didn't know existed! Oreo! Cookie dough! Nanaimo bar! :3 I brought home some Baileys and Tiger flavored ones too for Mason~ I also found a cute bunny-shaped tree ornament to hang up for Toby's first Christmas (he's very excited, I can tell.)

I thought about doing Christmas cards this year, but the realist in me knows it won't happen. =_=; This month is already filled up almost and I just won't have enough time. Next year hopefully.

I went out this evening and finished up half of my holiday shopping in one fell swoop~ I'm going to try avoid going out shopping tomorrow because after this damn rain the roads are going to be like a freaking ice rink, but later in the week I hope to pick up the rest of the stuff I need and be done nice and early. *Crosses fingers*

Closing notes: 1) I am re-discovering my love for my Wacom tablet. I finally found a setting and style of outlining that actually works for me in Illustrator, and looks so very nice~ I can't for the life of me draw trace a path properly with the tablet yet though so I have to practice until my brain can start to move my hand with the right direction and length to match the screen. *DETERMINED* 2) I am shamelessly stealing Tawnie's fabulous seasonal bunny avatar for my own. Lookit how cute he his! :D

Mood: Tiiiired

I think I've recycled that particular post title but if you don't tell, I won't. ¬_¬

Well Mason flew off to Florida yesterday, so I'm on my own for two lonely weeks. It'll be the longest time we've been apart in our relationship, and I already started missing him last night when I went to bed. (It didn't help any that yesterday afternoon I watched I Am Legend and it very predictably wigged me out as I came home to the dark apartment with not a single Mason cuddle available. I may or may not have intentionally left the television on while I slept so I'd have the glow... WHY DO I INSIST ON WATCHING SCARY MOVIES?!) ;_;

It was nice to have the day off today (long weekend, HUZZUH!), but it does mean I have to go in to work tomorrow. *Pouts a little* We're launching some new improvements to our last improvements, which you know, will hopefully be an overall improvement. It looks very promising so far.

Toby went in (finally) to his neuter appointment this morning and I'm happy to say it all went very smoothly. I was really surprised how up and about he was when I brought him home; I thought he'd sleep the rest of the day away. I have pain meds to give him once a day which the vet told me should (hopefully) be easier to get him to take than the Critical Care was. *Crosses fingers* >_<

I also have to check on his incision twice daily to make sure there's no swelling or anything, which I was dreading because I have so much trouble picking him up. But tonight I was like "Okay. This is it. Let's do this. No funny business." and I just scooped him up! It was the first time he's been so mellow about it! He didn't stay still very long, but I held him up long enough to check things out~ *So happy* I just have to try to make sure he doesn't chew at his stitches or he's going to be a very unhappy bunny when I have to go and fit him with a cone.

Mood: Wearing mittens outside once more.

It always seems to sneak up on me every year. There's not even much of an in-between as far as I can ever see: one day the trees are full and the leaves are green; then I go outside the next morning and all of a sudden realize that the leaves have all turned colors and are conspicuously no longer up on the tree where they should be. It's like "green... green... green... OMG BROWN! RED! YELLOOOOOOOW!" *Summer flails pathetically where it's been shoved off in the corner for another year.* It's a lot harder to wake up in the morning when it's still dark outside. A lot colder too. *Murffle*

A happy update on Toby -- he's all better! :D He's back to his old self: very hyper and eating like a greedy little pig, and now with a newfound love for pineapple juice~ He's pretty ecstatic these past few days at the new toy we gave him, and by toy I mean an empty Kokanee 12-pack beer box, it's like the greatest thing since romaine lettuce to that kid.

I bought my costume for Halloween finally -- after trying on a couple ones before that sadly didn't fit very well, I settled on a fun 20's glam girl type deal:

I think it's cute. Coleen has offered to help me curl my hair since curling irons and myself have never been properly introduced before, and I'd like to avoid the chaos that ensued when I used my hair straightener for the first time. I'm trying to convince Mason to check out some mafia boss costumes, I think we'd be a good pair~

I am experiencing what might be a rekindling of my love for anime. We found a site that offers practically every series you could ever want to watch in free streaming video, full seasons and episodes -- it's made of rainbows and sunshine and awesome, and right there at my fingertips when ever I want. I've begun watching Wolf's Rain again because I never actually managed to finish the series last time and would like to see how it finally ends. XD Last weekend I also watched the first episode of The Clone Wars, the new animates SW series; which wasn't bad because Asajj has the potential to be pretty badass, but she's no Grievous, which the episode distinctly lacked any amount in. He's supposed to be in episode 2 though so the badass-iness hasn't been forgotten, simply delayed. Preview of the badass-ness here.

I finished watching season 2 of Prison Break. I liked the new Mahone character this season, he's got that scruffy, frazzled, pill-popping thing going on for him; and he flip flops from being a giant dick to being really lovable. Poor guy, all he wants is to run off with his ex-wife and kid and now he's stuck in Panama federal prison and will probably be raped by some giant brute named Adolfo. *Hugs*

WHOA, okay and I went from wanting to punch Kellerman in the face in the first season to really loving him the second season. Where was this whole transition that I never noticed at the time from Paul Kellerman being an arrogant, annoying douche -- to Paul Kellerman in a hot black suit looking sexy with a semi-automatic sniper rifle? Yum~ I think the tides turned somewhere during the episode 213 line:

"You want to take the bitch down? You just found your inside-man, but it has to be RIGHT. NOW."
*Leads off rebel forces in heroic display and trumpeting cliff-hanger music*

♥ It's got that distinct "Come with me if you want to live!" vibe to it. Only without the unattractive accent.

Mood: Less stressed than yesterday

Yesterday was piles of worry-filled stress. The original plan was Toby was going to go in for his neuter appointment at 8:30 yesterday morning; but when I woke up and went in to open up his condo, my spider-bunny sense started tingling. Usually Toby is really excited to be let out in the morning, and when I fill his food bowl he bee-lines straight for it and starts stuffing his face... but this time he just sat there at the door when it opened. He ignored his food. He eventually crawled out into his pen and just laid down in the corner.

Rabbits hide illness, it's in their nature as prey animals; changes in behavior is therefore very important to clue in on to indicate things may be wrong. 24 hours without food for a rabbit is extremely dangerous. I immediately started worrying -- G.I. Stasis! Bloat! D: -- and rushed him over to the clinic early. After checking him out, the doctor said she was pretty sure it was a hairball blockage and sent us home with some Oxbow Critical Care and a laxative to force feed him. The neuter surgery was thankfully canceled because Dr. Wilde didn't want to put him under with his stomach empty.

Hand feeding a bunny with a syringe? Not easy. Especially when your bun is already: a) scared out of his mind, b) is overly active and fidgety at the best of times, and c) already doesn't want to eat anything and definitely doesn't like having food squeezed into his mouth. I like to think of myself as pretty dedicated bunny Mom, but I am ashamed to say that when it comes to anything where I have to restrain Toby in some way, whether it's cutting his nails or force feeding him medication -- I JUST FAIL. Making a bunny burrito? FAIL. The times we did manage to snare him in the blanket, he completely freaked out when the syringe came near his mouth. I don't know how people manage to do this up to four times a day. And ever time we tried through out the evening, poor Toby just got more and more stressed, he'd just sit there shaking after each failed attempt. ;_;

Thankfully by the evening he had started nibbling on pellets and hay on his own. Definitely not his usual amount, but at least he was getting food in his tummy. I also got him to lap up 3mL of pineapple juice and persuaded him to nibble the corner of a fresh chunk of solid pineapple. I tried to trick him into taking the laxative by smearing it on some romaine lettuce, but my bunny is dastardly clever it seems and caught on to the trick because the lettuce was still in his bowl this morning.

Good news though today is that when Mason came home, Toby's food bowl was empty! After calling the vet and telling her about last night's attempts to syringe feed, they said to bring Toby over and they would give him the laxative which is more important to flush out his system right now since he seems to be eating pretty good again. Mason is a sweety and brought him over there when he got home from school, and this evening Toby's been munching on hay. His poops are still a little small, so that's something to keep watch on though... and he has a lot of cecals laying around again. I'll have to ask the vet what to do for that.

I'm so relieved he seems to be feeling better though, I was so worried yesterday. >_< I'm glad I stayed at home to work because I would have been completely useless at the office fretting about him all day. *Hugs Toby* We're starting on a much stricter daily brushing schedule now, and hopefully won't have to go through this again. I'm going to investigate to see if I can also start giving him regular amounts of pineapple or cranberry juice to keep his digestive system top-notch.

*Love love loves to her wonderful boyfriend who helped out and kept her sane all night from worry, and so much thanks to the Tudor Glen vet staff and especially Melissa who were all so nice and helpful!*

*Toby twitches ear in thanks.*