Aquarium stuff!

All my stuff for my aquarium is in and accounted for. I had to order the goodies from three different sites lol. The lights don't quite fit but I think that can be worked around. I'll have to acquire a hood somewhere or hang them from the ceiling or something. I've got all my rocks picked out for my waterfall and some driftwood, but I'm not quite satisfied with the wood. I'll find it eventually though.

The sites I ordered from are JL Aquatics
Mail Order Pet Supplies
pets and ponds

Everything arrived intact and on time. I was very pleased with all my purchases from these Canadian companies (US companies seem to have an issue with shipping across the border :( )

Time to start building!

bedding plants

Terence & I have had a good weekend so far. My friday was very relaxing for the most part. I did a few loads of laundry and tidied up in between researching stuff for my tank and meetings & lunch. Gaming was fun yesterday but I think Dustin is getting a bit big headed with his character. Boat or no boat, he's pushing his luck.

I bought some bedding plants today for the back deck. Yellow and orange marigolds, two types of pansies, something that looks like a red marsh marigold and a fun little purpley and white flower should look very nice out there with the black eyed susans that I picked up from timbermax. The strawberries are coming along good so far too.

I think I've got most of the aquarium stuff figured out for my tank now. I just have to figure out the ground plants and how to deal with them. I got some good ideas from one of the guys at plantedtank forums so I'll go to Rona tomorrow when Terence is up north and have some fun ;p

may long & paludarium

May long weekend went fairly well. Camping didn't happen but that's not a suprise to me. Everyone says that camping is the thing to do on may long but I think they're on dope. It snows or rains every may long that I can remember, including this one lol. We did have a very nice bonfire and barbeque at Michelle's house though. Bad part was, it was cold enough to freeze Michelle's steps and one of the kids took a tumble.

I got to do lots of good shopping on the weekend. I picked up my power squid and two timers for my tank, some shirts and a new pair of pants and some other random stuff for around the house.

Terence and I set up the stand for my paludarium. Now I just have to figure out where to put it. I'm thinking where the dresser is, but that might be cold in the winter. I'll make a post on planted tank to see what they think.

On another plant note, the hibiscus is rooted and planted and we transplanted the wandering jew. Hopefully both will take to their new pots. Kailee's wandering jew is ready to go to her house. She's told me to give her as many plants as I can as she'll have some nice big windows in her new trailer that she's buying. She's in for a suprise now that she's turned me loose hehehe!

it's almost audit time...

Tomorrow is my audit at work. It should go smoothly I think, but I can't help being just a bit nervous! lol I'm really looking forward to it being finished and being able to relax. I've got one more set of taxes to do and a bit of work for mom and then tax season is officially done! I can get on to the fun stuff I've been neglecting, like housework (bleh) and gardening (yay!) and my paludarium (woot!!!) I think it will be set up in that order too. I HAVE to clean my office soon. It's a disaster and I'd like to use the space for other things.

I made ribs today, I hope they turn out alright. I'm not sure if they have enough sauce. I cut back as the last batch had too much. Ah well, we'll find out in 5 hours how it will be.

My parts came in for my aquarium stand. I can't wait to put it all together and set it up! That will probably be my project after I get the garden set up and growing. I'm thinking two weeks from now. Can't wait!!!

delays!

Sigh... I went to put together my aquarium stand and one of the pegs is bent. Now I have to wait until Friday for the spare piece to come in. I hate delays! I revised my list of equipment that I need to incorporate the advice of the people on plantedtank forums. (the planted tank) That place is a mountain of knowledge, it's got advice on everything!

The more I think about my amazon river scene I'd like to create, the more I think it will work. I'm excited to see what kind of plants and aquatics I can put in it.

I watered all the plants today. The hibiscus is doing well in it's new stand. I think the one set of cuttings from it is going to root. It's got lots of little root buds and one of them has an actual little root (lol only like 1/4 of an inch long but it's there). I bought a three new ones, not sure what kind they are though. I'll do some research and then update my plant list :)

eeehehehe got my tank :)

I went to the pet store yesterday to talk to Cheryl (Florence remembered her name for me lol) The individual that had claimed the 29 gallon tank didn't come in to pay for it, so she sold it to me! Yay!!! I bought the tank and stand right there and will go pick up some testing equipment and the lighting and some plants and other fun stuff after the end of april.

We went gaming again this weekend, it was lots of fun! I think Mom is starting to calm down about us doing stuff with people other than them. She was ok once we all got chatting about stuff. I think it'll just take some time.

She who hesitates is lost...

Well fAck... I hummed and hawwed about buying the 29 gallon tank and someone else bought it instead. That's what I get for not making a decision. Ah well, I guess that means I'll just have to buy a bigger and better one heehehe (Terence is going to kill me ;P ) I'm going to go in and talk to the Critters Cuts and Huts lady (can't think of her name right now) on Friday when she returns from travelling. Hopefully she can help me decide on size and type of tank and we can order it in with a nice stand. I'd really like to get this project started soon after tax time is done.

Mom's statements are tentatively done. I don't think she'll want any major changes but I've got them saved so I can edit if I need to. Now on to Florence and then I can relax for a day or two and then do Mom's first quarter. Busy girl, eh?

We bought a new stand for the hibiscus as the other coffee table was already starting to bow down in the middle lol. I think this stand will hold up to it's weight, it's a nice wrought iron one with sturdy legs. I'm going to do some photography of my plants later and post them around. Spring is coming and they are all doing nicely with the added sunshine so I'd like to get some good pics while they are growing and happy.

fish tanks on sale....

The pet store here has fish tanks on sale and I soooooo want one. Sucks that I'm so busy right now :( I have no time to set up my paludarium right now. I'm going to check some prices and see if it's a good deal or not though. If it is, I'm going to buy it and call it done. I'll store it until summer when I have more time. She has a gorgeous 30 gallon tank for $100, so very tempting!

Kailee's birthday went very well, she was happy with all her presents I think. She really liked her little plant I grew for her. We had lots of fun playing laser tag, I was really tired for the second round though. All that running for 7&1/2 minutes is hard lol... I know, I'm pathetic. I've been walking more now though. I hope it eventually pays off. Exercise is good for me but it's hard to stay motivated sometimes.

I am very tentatively hopeful for the cuttings I took for Kailee from the hibiscus. They look like they MIGHT take. At least, they haven't wilted and died yet hehe. The wandering jew slips I took for her rooted and have transplanted to dirt fine. Once they start growing a bit, I'll give them to her to take care of. The datura, that isn't a datura (lol I know, I know, I need to get it identified) is flowering again but one of the shoots is dying for some reason. It's leaves are turning yellow and falling off, but only on one of the branches. I don't have a clue as to what is wrong with it. Time will tell though, the younger shoots seem to be doing fine, and it's flowering so, I'm just going to leave it the way it is. It may be that it got damaged while being transplanted.

Plant propagation fun

Almost done with mom's books (yay!) I still have to find those cheques to deposit tomorrow. Can't figure out for the life of me where I put them... I hope I didn't wash them in the laundry :( Ah well, if I did, I did. Nothing I can do about it now.

I watered all the plants Friday except the prayer plant so they should be good for a few days. The angel wing begonia rooted nicely and I now have two of them! With luck and some good care, I'll be able to give Kailee a nice little plant for her birthday in April. I might see if I can find propagation techniques for the Datura just for fun.

I got another email for a fish tank, but no pictures and she wants $300 for it... Which sucks, I'd really like to try making a Paludarium. It might have to wait until after tax season, though. I just don't have the energy right now. Soon though, maybe when I have my garage sale and get extra money from it, I won't feel so queasy about dishing out $300-$500 all at once.

I found out something interesting about Netwinner. They are just now getting to the payouts cashed in for end of September... I'll try to be patient but holy crap that's a long time to wait for a cashout. I'd like to start tracking my balance to see how much I win each day. I know it's not much but hey it doesn't take much to play either.

my time in TBay

Wow, it's been a long two weeks. I'm glad I went though. I learned all kinds of things about arthritis and my treatment. The following post will be my journal while in the hospital. It may take me a day or two to get it all entered.


Day 1 - January 2nd

We arrived at the hospital at 9 and I checked in. I share my room with a little Finnish lady who had a hip replacement. She doesn't speak much english but seems relatively friendly. The nurses came and asked me a bazillion questions about my check in. Then Terence came at 12 and we had lunch in the cafeteria. I did my initial assessment with Joanne and Noel? (I think that was her name) and started some exercises with Joanne. She wants me to work on my shoulder to help increase mobility. After my assessment, I rested and read my book until supper (roast beef and potatoes) and then went to safeway. I called Terence at 8 and we chatted for a bit. He made it home safe, no animals on the road :)

The showers here are ok, I think I'll shower at night when it's not busy. The only odd thing that happened was the tv for the empy bed beside me kept turning on randomly by itself =O Made me kind of creeped out.


Day 2 - January 3rd

POOL! Yay for pool :) It's bathtub warm and soooo good. My instructor Nancy seemed kind of standoffish at first but she warmed up after a little bit. The assessment for my lower body was fun lol round and round the mulberry bush hehehe. They put out these little pylons in the hallway and made me walk around them for 6 minutes. I did like 15 laps by the time I was done. Lunch kind of sucked, cabbage rolls and mushroom soup, but I ate some extra granola crunchies to top it off. I really like the nutrition class. It was very informative and Julie was very friendly. Joanne jave me a booklet with some good exercises for helping my shoulder and some for every day to help keep my range of motion and keep me fit. Nice light stuff to do while at home. Noel also gave me a little block of wood to squeeze to help strengthen my grip as it's below functionality level. I will make it a point to work hard on this lots as it has been a point of annoyance for me. They will do another assessment at the end and hopefully I can make it a little better by then.

Supper kicked ass today. Chicken! mmmmm tasty chicken :P Dessert was no hell though, pineapple cake, uck for pineapples. I met a nice man named Wayne Hodges. He has a big barn kitty just like Grizzy that is waiting for him at home. He's for a car accident that took his arm and broke his leg. I am glad that all my people are whole and safe and sound. We had a good talk about solar panels and being off the grid. Turns out he knew Charlie when he used to drive truck 30 years ago and he might have worked with Gerald about 10 years ago. I hope I get to meet his kitty some day, he sounds like a nice kitty.

Terence is doing pretty good, he merited today and is doing some assaults. Carmel is doing ok, being a chatty little kitten. He says Misty might have a cold, she was coughing earlier. I told him to make sure he keeps her in and only lets her out to pee and stuff real quick. He said he's watch her close. I'm kinda tired today. They ran me pretty hard during my assessment and exercises heh. The pool was good and I'm looking forward to tomorrow again. I'll read for a bit and then probably go to bed early. Wayne came to show me his pictures of his buddies. His big boy looks just like Grizzy! Made me miss my buddies even more ::sniff sniff::


Day 3 - January 4th

My god I love the pool! I have to find a way to either put in a hot tub or convince the town to add a heated pool lol. After pool I had a chat with Jane the social worker. Suprise suprise she made me cry... We got talking about Mom and Dad and family and self image issues. I'll have to really work on some of the issues I have there but we all know how good I am at self expression HA. We did some hot wax treatment and ultrasound on my hands today mmm the hot wax felt good :) I also talked to Noel about some of the tools for my hands. She gave me some good ideas on where to get some of them. I got some good hand exercies from Nancy and we talked about our buddies and cars and all kinds of stuff. Joanne did some more tests on my shoulder and is going to find me some movements to help "floss my nerves" hehehe. Nancy gets to go to Vegas and Arizona next week (lucky girl) and she's all excited about it :) I remember how exciting Indianapolis was for me.

My lecture about Coping with change and loss was hard, but good. I learned some things about myself and where I am with my disease. I also learned that it's ok to be mad but to make sure I'm mad at the arthritis and not at me. It's not my fault, it's no one's fault, it's just crappy ass life's fault. It's ok to grieve for things but to try to understand and move past and over the grief. But there's still lots there that I need to deal with. Tai Chi was lots of fun. I really think its like swimming, very fluid, very relaxing. I'd like to learn lots more about it. My nurse today kind of sucks but I guess you can't win em all. Kind of a crappy day to get a crappy nurse though :( Hopefully tomorrow is a better day, I get to spend the day out and about. I'm going to take the but down town and to the mall. It should be a good day :) Terence is doing KS99 right now. Pray for the BT to drop!

And it dropped!!! Only one more piece to go! Now if he could get the egg-egg to drop. He's having fun watching Silent Hill right now on DVD. He says he needs it in Bluray so it's that much more splattery lol.


Day 4 - January 5th

I woke up at 6 am today, guess that's what I get for going to bed at 10. Doing my exercises and #5 on the hand chart makes my middle finger tight but that could be from my wrist though. I finished Road of the Patriarch. Poor Artemis... :( I hope he finds some happiness in Calimport. He's so sad and angry all the time :( My exercises are done, time to shower and head to town! I looked at all kinds of fun things today, cameras, fish tanks and plants. I talked to the people at Petsmart about my paludarium. They said a $40 filtration system with some pvc piping would do the trick for my waterfall and circulation. They sell live plants there too!

I also checked out some Tai Chi stuff at Chapters and picked up a video. New shoes, a tea mug, a puzzle book and a plant for my room rounded out the day nicely. I met a crazy (or at least my table did lol) at lunch today. I was eating my burger when this old guy comes over and starts gibbering away at me in some foreign language. I glance up and he's not really looking at me. He's staring at the vacant seat across from me >.> So I watch him for a minute or two and yup he's talking to my table??? Needless to say, I picked up my tray and slinked away to another table. Mr. Crazy just stood there jabbering away at my table heh. The bus rides were ok. Walking from Chapters to CTC was dumb though. I'm tired now and a little sore. Gonna get some drugs from my nurse to help it. Yay for drugs! lol.

Terence got his monk pants today. 5 for 5 lucky guy! He also got three pieces of elshimo marble o.O TH4 ftw! I played cards with Wayne, his daughter and one other patient. Wayne's daughter and I kicked butt! She's gonna bring his kitty in to visit some time next week. I hope I get to see him.


Day 5 - Jan 6th

I hardly slept last night ;( I got a new room mate named Carol. She's not doing so good after her back surgery and kept us up most of the night so I may nap today. Pancakes for breakfast! So tasty with yummy sausages. I played some cards with Wayne again this afternoon until some cranky old man came in. I really hate being around them kind of people. They just never stop whining about stuff. I went and checked out some of the stuff on kitchenstock.com. The cutting board looks interesting but I'm not sure it's what I'm looking for. I'll have to poke around online a bit more.

Kailee's coming to visit me on Tuesday :) Stewart has to go to court to testify about some crap from a few years ago. I just hope nothing happens while he's here. He's got so much history here. Mom had a look at the tanks on the CKDR site. She says offer him $75 and see. I don't know if he'd take it though and I don't want to sound cheap but I can't see it being worth much. I really liked the archer fish idea the petsmart lady had. Hehehe little spitting fishies lol. Mom says I'll need to get a suckerfish to deal with the algae. I like the suckerfishes so that's fine.

crockpot cooking!

Gonna make some beef stew today in my new crockpot! I'll probably mix and match from a bunch of recipes I found as none of them is exactly what I want.

I stumbled upon some very interesting sites regarding composting and worm farms! If they can ship the worms in the winter, I think I'm going to order one when I get back from Thunder Bay. The one that I'd like to order comes from this site here:

Cathy's Composters

A site that shows how to build a farm (which looked kinda cool) is here:

Build a worm farm

Depending on the response I get from an email I sent to Cathy's, I'd like to either buy a farm or build one and order the worms. We'll see though. Terence will probably make me promise to clean another part of the storage out before I can have it lol. I still haven't gotten any response from my classified ad on cdkr for aquariums. /sigh I'd like to try a paludarium someday though.

day late and a dollar short :(

Blooming Wildflowers was sold out of the thing that I wanted. So was the two other places I checked for gifts today. I'm disappointed but it's mostly my own fault. I should have bought it when I saw it. Lesson well learned I hope. Don't leave crap to the last minute!!! Ah well, I'm just glad they were just stocking stuffer stuff and not major gifts.

I'm still classed as a spammer for ckdr.net and they can't figure out why lol. They're going to post my ad for me though so that's good. I hope I can get an aquarium soon! I'm excited to make a paludarium, they look so interesting. I found a whole bunch of great sites with all kinds of instructions and examples on plants and stuff to put in them. I hope I can get some of the plants listed up here in Sioux. Being so far up north sucks some times :(

polka dot plant propagation methods

From what I gather, the best way to propagate polkas is to cut and place them in dirt and keep them in a green house environment. I might have to see if Mom still has her aquarium that she's not using. If I can get a big enough tank, I'd like to start a Paludarium (mini eco-system with water and land) I don't think I'd put animals in it though, just plants.