Reading...

That's what I've been doing for the past 24 hours. I finished my homework, the pregnancy book I started reading last year, and I'm almost finished with "The Last Song", by Nicholas Sparks. Next up- a book about goldfish, a huge book about budgies that our vet wrote, and Rene's Biography in French. When I was a kid all I ever did was read, but then as life goes on it always seems to get busier and harder to concentrate. I still love it though, when I manage to do it!
Btw can you believe it's March (and the beginning of Autumn!) tomorrow!? This will probably be another busy week. Plus Percy's not well again, and Belle and Peter have been acting weird... I feel a little challenged...hmm. :(
I want to comment on what happened in Chile. I want to say I'm praying for them and believe God will comfort them. But it makes me sick, the attitude so many Christians have at times like this... The ones who act as if it's our fault, as if people could somehow deserve such tragedy because we live in a 'sinful world' or whatever. There's no compassion in that. Just saying. It horrifies me. :(

Update...

So much is going on everyday. This is the total opposite of what my life has been like in the past, and even more the opposite of what I pictured it would be like now! I'm so tired, but everything I'm doing is because it matters. Sometimes that's a good feeling, sometimes it's just overwhelming!
I never thought I'd overcome the obstacle of driving...I still live in fear of messing up, but now I'm actually capable now of driving almost an hour away to class and back, twice a week. It kind of amazes me that it was possible. And that we actually finally moved. And that I'm actually studying animals and Veterinary Nursing!
This was never my idea... I never considered a career like this because I was scared....of needles, of being responsible for animals lives, of making mistakes, not being able to handle it.
But last year, when Ruby got so sick, somewhere among a million desperate prayers, I told God that if he let her survive, I'd spend my life trying to help the animals he created, as much as I could. I realised I couldn't always make my decisions based on whether I was afraid, or not. And the thought of losing Ruby scared me more than anything anyway! Thankfully she pulled through, even though the odds were against her, and she's still with us today. :)
The course is a lot harder than I thought it would be- so many details that are all important to remember, because medical care for any creature isn't something you can do by half...and Biology was always one of my worst subjects at school! Today I managed to stab myself with a needle, and get stuck in a pair of surgical gloves...so I guess it will involve a loooott of trying again and again! I'm trying to take it one step at a time and just have faith that this is what I'm meant to be doing. I believe in that a lot, even if my thoughts on religion have been permanently compromised by what I went through last year. Maybe there's something simple amongst it all.
My lent promise- I decided to put all my silver coins in a box and give it to charity. That way someone can actually benefit from it. But then I decided to join some people in giving up all drinks except water- I guess to make us appreciate what we have. It's hard though. I miss coffee and juice!!
An observation on people- maybe stereotypes and groups always exist. But it's less obvious, and certainly less important than it was in high school. I've realised at some point, I don't care about ever being "cool" or "fitting in." I'd rather just be who I am. And the kind of people that were in the previous course I did, that just didn't work. The people in my class now seem much more...real...I guess. I like that.
Opi...he's so cute. Like a pet monkey...and I mean that in a loving way, you know. He presses all the buttons on the remote and wonders why it doesn't work. I ask him a question, and the answer he gives me has nothing to do with what I asked. His childlike-ness makes me smile every day, even if I seem frustrated.
Percy's much better, by the way. Belle's doing ok too. She bit me last night and pooped on me 3 times when I tried to cut her nails.
I saw Celine's movie 3 times in total. It was an amazing experience to see her up on that theatre screen. I'm running out of ways to tell you how much I love her!!!!
That might be all for now. <3

Celine- Through The Eyes Of The World...

Last night I saw Celine's new movie/ tour documentary at the cinemas. It was amazing! I knew I would love it, and I was actually surprised it's being screened here at all (only for one week, so everyone hurry, go see it!!!) Every time I think I couldn't love her more, I somehow do! It was so funny and emotional...and I won't post spoilers, I'll just say it was very well put together. I'm going again on Monday, and if I get a chance maybe another time after that! :)

Sick fishie...

Percy hasn't been well the past couple of days. I've never treated a sick fish before, so this is all new to me. We've been having some water issues so I've been doing water changes, adding chemicals, and Mum had to feed him peas today while I was in class.
Speaking of class, it's weird being in a classroom and NOT being totally bored. Today I had to write a list of all the pet things I have to do, which I've been meaning to do anyway but hadn't had time.
So...back to Percy, he now has an air bubbly thing, and a pic of Celine behind his tank which he actually likes LOL. (See above.) Praying he'll be ok. He's so cute. I love him. And yep, I know he's a fish.
We had our Pancake Tuesday dinner tonight after I got home and cooked it. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I have no idea what to give up for Lent...Hmm..

Blog about moving..

Hey everyone!
I Hope this blog finds everyone happy and healthy! :) It took ages, but I finally have the internet back! The connection comes and goes as it pleases, though. :S
So...we moved! All 5 humans and 6 animals of us...and we all survived! It was certainly one of the least fun things I've ever done in my life, though, so I think I'll have to just live here forever and never ever do it again!!!
It was pretty much a total disaster. To start, a lot of the packing ended up being Mum's job...probably because the rest of us had to go to work, and because she likes things done a certain way. Now, I love my Mama so much, but she's not the most organised individual. However, she remained in denial about this until about 12 hours before we had to move when she realised 80% of the house wasn't packed, and we have a LOT of stuff. I'd already finished packing, with the plan that on the day the only thing I would have to worry about would be getting the pets to the new house safely and settling them in. A big enough job, if you know my little creatures. But that was not to be...the day before the move, Mum and I had to go to her Aunt's funeral, come home, and pack like crazy until the early hours of the morning. Then get up at 6, and pack some more. We were all totally exhausted, sleep deprived, and oh yeah, it was 42 degrees that day! Very freaking hot. To top it off, one of the moving vans didn't turn up until 6 hours after it was meant to arrive. So to cut a long story short, we didn't get packed in time despite our best last minute efforts. The people arrived early to move into our house and we still hadn't moved out! I had to make 3 trips to the new house and back, with car loads full of stuff we just threw in there, squished between the pets. If you know me, you know I hate driving, and it was a 20 minute trip each way! Nightmare. Matters got worse when one of my birds, Belle, started throwing up in the car and I had to pull over...not that there was anything I could do for her at that point, but try to comfort her and eventually decide to just keep driving so I could get her out of the car as soon as possible. :( She made it though, and has since had a trip to an Avian Vet specialist and now has 9 bottles of medicine and supplements. And I have a massive Vet bill. Oh joy. Ruby and Peter have a new cage, since their old cage was a cubby house we couldn't bring with us. They hate it. They decided to tell me this by peeing absolutely everywhere, despite the fact that they are toilet trained. I pretty much screamed at them for 2 days straight (sorry, new neighbours!) but eventually they got the message that it would not be tolerated and are now using their toilet again. :) Thankyou. Missy and Valentine are adjusting fine, but they seem to have been the only ones! Percy (the really big fish...) this was tricky. We had to get a big tank, about a million accessories, chemicals and test kits I've had to learn to use, cleaning equipment, etc etc. It is WAY more complicated to care for a fish in an aquarium than in a pond, but three weeks later I think I'm finally getting it right. We had to transport eskies full of his pond water to the new house, the day before we moved, and ended up having to go back to the old house to pick him up, the day after we moved, which the new owners were kind enough to let us do. We caught him in a net, put him in an esky of his water, sealed it up, and drove to the new house, praying, and cringing everytime we went up and down a hill or around a corner. I never noticed how many hills there are in the Hills area, until now! I didn't think he was gonna make it either by the time we got to the new house- but he did. And he's miraculously fine!! He has a friend now, by the way. The people who owned our new house before us left behind a goldfish in a barrel...so I named him Henry Nimrod and put him in Percy's tank. They seem to get along fine. But after much reading and looking under, I think Henry is actually a girl. Hmm. Yeah. So that's 7 pets now. I have no time, and I've just started studying again, doing Animal Studies and Veterinary Nursing. God help me, please. I'm getting used to my blue room, I kind of like it. Two of the walls are the exact same colour as Belle's tummy. :) I especially like that it has a lot of closet space and is slightly bigger than my old room, so everything fit with no trouble! Only issue so far is that new houses are being built right behind my room, since I'm at the back of the house and we have very little backyard. It's quite loud when trucks and bulldozers start at 6am and the mounds of dirt make a lovely view. :P Matt's room had rainbow caterpillars painted on the wall, which I'm sure you can imagine he was thrilled about. It has already been painted over. :D Opa got sick and ended up back in hospital on Australia Day, but thankfully only had to stay 4 days this time and we have him back home with us now! Mama and Dad are normal...arguing about where the furniture should go, of course. We've moved so much furniture and that many boxes, we were all been in pain for days, but it's better now. Still a bit messy around here but it's now at least possible to see the floor! We live near a supermarket which is kind of awesome since I can decide at a minutes notice what I want for dinner...I haven't really been able to cook since we moved, since out oven is a moody b*tch that at first burned everything I put in it, and then one day decided it would not heat above 50 degrees anymore so I can't use it at all. Yay. In conclusion, you know how they say "a change is as good as a holiday?" Well, it's not. :P I like it here, and everything's fine now, but would definitely have preferred a holiday to the stress of the past few weeks!
Lots of love to you all!
Jacqui.
P.S. Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful Peter for yesterday, and Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet Valentine for today!!! oxoxo <3