More snow fun!

Once my sister got up in the morning we headed back out for more snow time. My sister's dog Maka, is a Hawaii dog. Came from the pound in Honolulu, and as such, hates snow! So needless to say, she's not too thrilled to be outside, as you can see in the pictures.

Me and Lila


My sister and Maka, which required much coaxing on our part to get Maka this far into the snow..


Maka finally makes her way out into the snow only to be attacked by Lila! (click on the picture to enlarge, you just need to see Lila's face!)


Then my sister tries to make a snow angel only Lila won't let her, she's too excited and wants to play


Can you see how miserable Maka is?

Snow!

Well, we had a snow storm last night, and it's still snowing!

Lila is very happy! She loves snow.

Just thought I'd share some pictures with you all :)

Our back porch


You can see the amount we got in one night on top of the table!


Then Lila playing in the snow, she was jumping around like a deer.

And about the job

Well Steve and I talked tonight about the whole money issue again and my job. Even he said that he doesn't want me to stop what I'm doing now. He knows how important it is to me, and he knows that it is successful in the terms of selling pet things online can be for a first year. But in terms of making enough money to support us, probably not so much.

So I said that I'm willing to get another part time job. I never thought it was all Steve's responsibility to make the money while I just scoot by. I'm not like that :). But seeing as I had been looking for full time work for some months with no success, I defaulted to just doing this for a bit to see how it would go. It's gone well, but I'd like to do better. And perhaps doing better means just doing more outside the house. Which I'll deal with, and maybe even enjoy.

So please, if you have a moment, just pray I'll find something. I live in a relatively small town, so the opportunities aren't exactly abounding right now. But I have a college degree, which counts for something. :)

Poor MuShu Part 2

Well, we went to the vet today, which MuShu was none too pleased about. She actually did surprisingly well though, she let the vet's assistant hold on to her without a fight and actually at one point was laying upside down in her arms.

So the verdict of her big lump is that they aren't sure. Great huh? Well, as it turns out, she has another lump on her other side, in the same spot but about half as big. And they're both in the general area of her mammary glands. But they took a blood sample from one of the lumps and didn't see anything real out of the ordinary. And no pus came out so it wasn't an abscess. They think maybe that she's doing it to herself. Perhaps something was bothering her and so she started chewing at it and they got worse. Perhaps there was just an inflammation and now its really bad.

So now she's on antibiotics twice a day and an anti-inflammatory drug once a day. She also has a cone on her head in case she is bothering it and making it worse. Poor girl! She can't move very well, but thankfully she can eat okay with it on. And I'm going to do a warm compress on the areas too to help with the inflammation.

So hopefully in a week she'll be better, or on the way to getting better. Otherwise it's back to square one I guess.

Poor MuShu

Monday nights are my chinchilla cage cleaning nights since Tuesday mornings are trash pickup here. Well, tonight when I was cleaning MuShu and Keiki's cage I noticed that MuShu had a weird section in her fur. Upon closer inspection I noticed that she was missing a big chunk of fur.

Well, I took her out of the cage and when I blew on her fur I noticed a rather large lump on her skin as well. It's pretty large being about an inch long.

I think it's an abscess. They can happen on chinchillas when one gets an injury and it closes up on itself and gets infected inside the skin. It may have happened back when I introduced her to Keiki and they fought. Perhaps Keiki bit her and it's just now showing up. I don't know. But I can't believe I didn't notice it until now. It's so big! I feel horrible.

So tomorrow I need to take her to the vet. I hope I can get her in. And hopefully it won't cost too much. Seems like vet visits always cost more than you want them to.

Funny how Steve and I were just recently talking about money, and then things happen that require more of it. I hate talking finances. Especially when I feel like there isn't enough. But I know it could always be worse.

I'm just bummed because I'm paranoid that what I'm making being self-employed isn't going to cut it. Which means that I'd have to get another job. I'm struggling with that. Because I know we can't always be happy and sometimes we'll have to sacrifice our happiness for the good of other things. I've just never been satisfied at any jobs I've held. There's always been one thing or another. And I know getting a part time job isn't going to be in any field I want (animal care) so it'll be tough. I love what I'm doing now. I want it to work so bad. I'm happy. And I haven't had that in the past with any jobs, I've never been satisfied like I am now.

But Steve and I really want to be able to afford a house when we get married. And I don't know that what I'm making now will be enough to help that. But then who knows, perhaps Steve will loose his job and that dream wouldn't be able to happen anyways. Who knows, no one but God knows the future. So I know I need to leave it in His hands, I just struggle with that.

I'm looking forward to going to Mass tomorrow morning so I can pray about it all. I always love kneeling before Mass and praying.

Some Christian Music for you all

Molly asked for some Contemporary Christian music recommendations, so here are some of my favorites.

I'm going to post the youtube videos and sound files of them just so you can listen to it if you haven't heard the song before.

Of course if you listen to this type of music this is all old news to you ;)

For me, I listen to the local station that is called Positive Hits Radio. But it's Christian and they even quote the Bible throughout the day. It's not Catholic, but I like it. Some of the music is more like pop than others, but it all has a good message to it.

Okay, my all time favorite band of this genre is Casting Crowns! And here is my favorite song of theirs "Praise You In This Storm" I could listen to this song all day long I love it so much.


BarlowGirl is another good one.
Beautiful Ending of theirs is good


I also really like Never Alone of theirs


Sanctus Real is another good band. Here is Forgiven


Whatever You're Doing of theirs is also really good


I think that's good for now :) I think most areas have some sort of Contemporary Christian station, so you should be able to find one in your area hopefully.

Praise!

I hope you all are having a good and blessed Advent! Here are my praises to God for this week.

Praise God for a sprinkling of snow!

Praise God for my workout routine! My sister and I go to the local YMCA three times a week to work out and I'm loving it. I feel so much better physically. And tomorrow we'll sign up for a free Zumba class :)

Praise God for wet puppy noses, I love my dog Lila, she always makes me smile.

Praise God for the Immaculate Conception of Mary that we may be able to look towards her for strength and inspiration.

Praise God for good, wholesome Contemporary Christian music. I used to listen to the hip hop/ pop crud, and I can't stand the promiscuity in it anymore. Now Christian music is all I can listen to, and I love it.

Stop over at My Chocolate Heart for even more Praises!