I'm not, lol. I... well, we had a death in the family unexpectedly. so, not great.

Oh no! I'm so sorry! 😓

Thank you. I'm just a mess. 2023 is not playing fair.

I know how it is when you wanna make a good impression and even if your track record is always good, you always worry. I am the same way with appointments with my diabetic specialist. I know my sugar is good and in line, but I always panic. I am a worrywart at heart lol.

Oh yeah Al loves the little guy, he's even going to help me feed him tomorrow. Al's ex kept tons and tons of snakes (they had a bit of a problem) and Al was usually the one who had to care for them and he loved the two ball pythons his ex had so he was super excited for us to have one!

Thank you, I think it will be. I'm focusing now on maybe doing terrariums and stuff like that, since I have two reptiles who I also want to build natural style enclosures for, I want to do a wall full of terrariums and vivariums to add to the look of our room to match them! (I even wanna try my hand at bioactive terrariums one day but that's expensive so that'll be a future goal lol)

Cats, beardie and one leopard gecko :3 My fishies are all gone now so I ended up taking the tank down. Too much work to keep up with right now. I lost a leopard gecko late last year too >_< Slowly dwindling down.

Ooo what reptiles do you have? ^0^ That would be soooo cool 😍

It doesn't seem to be a good year for you and your family and I hate it for you! <3 2022 beat the hell out of me so I get it. :-(

Yessss! I didn't know you were diabetic. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. And I think it would be scary to do your checkups - as you never know what (possibly bad) news it might bring. My house is almost in tip top order and ready for assessment. :-)

Oh wow that's very cool Al likes your new critter. 👏 And I knew their name was Alex but I had a brain fart and couldn't remember it. :-P

Fishies are so fun but lots of work too. Plus their life span is too short. I'm still being entertained by the backyard critters. 😂 What do the kids think of the lizards?

I love fish, they are so pretty. But yes, sooo much work. Too much work for me at the moment >_< Maybe when my kids are older I'll pull my 55 gallon out and set it up again. They don't think much of them, really XD Jesse always wants to feed my beardie but I'm scared she will think his fingers are worms 😂

A 55 gallon tank is big!! Big enough for a rat or two. ;-) I think mine must have been only a 20-25 gallon and still was a lot of work. LOL those little fingers. He might think they are worms. :-D

what does the almanac say about this winter then? just lots of snow? when is it supposed to start...

yes, Palia is still fun... 😆

My next project after Liz's assessment Monday is getting the laptop up and running and on a desk. so I can try Palia!! Hopefully very soon. :-P

"Thanks to a particularly strong El Niño, Farmers' Almanac predicts it'll be an “unusually snowy and wet winter” for the Pacific Northwest." (Aug 7, 2023) 👏 👏 👏

I almost always go into panic mode before appointments. I used to be worried a lot more because I have White Coat Syndrome which means that my blood pressure elevates when I am at the doctors and every time they try to take my BP, it's always high and sometimes even too high to read so I have a monitor at home I use and I always come in with my readings before my appointment. Makes the drs laugh now because they know I will send their machines into a tizzy lol. Yes I am type two diabetic. I manage with some meds and diet. I have been a long-term diabetic (was diagnosed in High School). Sometime after high school I got into a really bad depression where I stopped caring about myself for a good while and my sugars got out of control but they've been steady and awesome for a few years now and I worked so hard to get them there.

Glad your house is all sorted for the assessment!

I completely get that and I never knew it was an actual thing. I just went to the doctor on Wednesday and after 5 minutes and my blood pressure at 180 the nurse turned it off and started over and then it was 116. All because I was stressed! And my hand went numb from the cuff. White Coat Syndrome - interesting. I'm glad you're taking better care of yourself now! I think the years after high school are some of the hardest for many people. All of a sudden we're expected to make money and do all of the grown up stuff. Ugh That's good you can manage diabetes! I feel like it's not an easy thing to live with. Gah I hate these yearly assessments with the case manager. Liz loves all of the attention. Lol

At least they are only yearly. Could be worse and at least Liz isn't nervous about them. All the new cookies in the new announcement are gonna be the death of me. I need 3 of everything. One for wardrobe, one for my rainbow gallery, and one to feed. So evil! I have enough for 3 of the shoes and the tie. Recycle beast, crystal shop and Token Shop are gonna be difficult for me.

Thanks. That's really sweet. At this point I just gotta pray 2024 is better, you know? 2023 isn't going to make up for this in the time we have left, lol.

LOLLLLL! You make a very good point 😂 I want to think you're not supposed to do glass tanks for rats though DX She has mistaken my fingers for food before too 😂 Even though they don't have teeth those little bites can hurt 😂

I have a rescue leopard gecko named Geckolocation (Gecky for short) that I've had for a couple years and a ball python I got about a week ago named Apophis (Apep for short, or as my fiance calls him Slitherdale lol) I love reptiles and would love more but I think two is good enough right now, I also have two cats I have to care for as well lol

Yeah I'm glad he does, he's a big animal lover like me. And yeah he goes by Al in real life so I always forget everyone doesn't know that sorry, it's all because of the song "You can call me Al". Like not even a joke, that is the only reason he started going by it was because of that song lol

OH MY GOSH 😂 That name is amazing 😂 Ooooo a new python :O How exciting! A few years back I really wanted a corn snake, they are so pretty and don't get too big.

Seems like every 3 years would be enough, but I get it and know there are those that aren't honest and try to cheat the system and/or and even worse not treat their special needs person right. I get it and I need 4 of everything! 😳 But I'll be happy if I can get 3 of each. lol

2024 has to treat you better!!! So hard to lose loved ones and then 2 in one year...so hard!! The Seahawks won in overtime against - wait for it - the Detroit Lions!!!!!!!!! LOL

I just googled it and you're right about rats not living in a tank. I thought they could. The beardie doesn't have teeth? How do they chew?

For some reason I thought Al didn't like animals. Wasn't there a critter you wanted but he didn't? So what are you feeding your snake? When it's full grown will you have to feed it mice? Yikes!!! I couldn't.

You also covering treasure chests or multiple gourmands? I need for gallery, feed, and wear. Thankfully now all I need are the birthday suit cookies, because friends are awesome :)