Ah, my boys...

What could be sweeter than cuddling with my hubby and my Toby?

This week I shocked my classmates.
Most of them knew little about meth, so I enlightened them using grotesque pictures of "meth mouth" and rotting arm flesh. My professor LOVED it. She even joined in the presentation!













I went back to work last week. Only on Saturdays, so it won't interfere too much with my schoolwork, and this is really just an experiment. I just missed the kids too much, so I marched into Dan's office and told him I was going back to work. He really didn't have a choice, since I totally rock that place. So far, I've had an overwhelmingly positive welcome from both clients and staff... so it's been very rewarding, just the two days I've worked so far.
Emily, you've been a huge presence in my life lately. Not only am I reminiscing about your old group (Mike and I had a talk about it today, too!) and our rides to and from work, but I had the privilege of sitting in on Paul's fire circle today, and what wonderful feelings came to me! You've always placed wonderful words on the wind.














I also rediscovered a whole bunch of music that I had on my college computer that James cracked open and managed to transfer to my current computer. I had music in three or four different places. That's how organized I am. At any rate, I found between 150 and 200 songs, and it's great to have that music back! I'm listening to "Clubbed to Death" by Enigma from the Matrix soundtrack. I love that song.


And you, my wonderful hubby. Thank you for your love, patience, and dedication.

Skunkie Playdate!

Skunks! Skunks everywhere!!!

Toby had a great time tonight playing with his new friends. He was a little shy at first, but he warmed up nicely to Cotton and Aroma.
And of course, James and I had a blast playing with our old friends, Gage, Jessica, and Terrence.















Terrence with a lazy Aroma. She was so tired, you can hold her any which way and she lay there like a sack of beans.



















Jessica, with Aroma. Aroma is new to Gage and Jessica's family of skunks (she's the third--to Chunk and Cotton), and she's simply delightful!




















Aroma is on the right, and there is Toby violating Cotton. He's feisty.































In the end, the little ones were so tired! And Toby just wanted to cuddle and cuddle...

Trillium Lake

I know, it's a boring name for a post. Deal.

This past weekend, James and I went camping at Trillium Lake with some of our friends . It was beautiful! Kadra and Bryce and Kelli and her friend Jim and James and I and of course, Toby, told ghost stories over s'mores... and got to use our little tealight lantern, and experimentally cook muffins over the campfire for breakfast. And I got a ghost mug with Spaniard ghosts on it!

Meet Little Tobias!

Um, so this is kinda embarrassing... for our skunk.

See, we've been calling her Lucy.

But Lucy is kinda a girly name. Most boys don't want to be called Lucy, or even Lucille. Or "she" in basic conversations, either. And we've been doing that the whole time! Oh, the humanity! (Or, as James pointed out, "skunkanity")

Yes, we found out today that Lucy is most likely a boy... not 100% certain yet, mind you, 'cause he/she/it is still quite young, and skunkies at this age are not very well endowed. But the vet said (in addition to confirming little skunkie's cold and giving it medicine) that she's "pretty sure" it's a boy. So, we've changed names to Tobias (or Toby for short). I think he likes it better. And boy, I'm sure he was relieved when the vet discovered his little secret! Now he doesn't have to be paraded around as a little lady skunk anymore! (Speaking of paraded around: where's Suri? *twilight zone music*)

We are very happy with Toby. He's the cutest little cuddlebug. I take him to school with me, and the store, and all around town, and he's content to just sleep stretched out inside my jacket with his little head and two paws poking out the top, snuggling at my neck. Oh oh oh so cute! And he does have a cold right now, the poor little guy is sniffling and sneezing. We got him some medicine and he'll be just fine.

Oh, and non-skunk related news: I must brag. Everyone knows I freely admit what a wonderful charmer I am, but today I think I really deserve to say it. I deserve it, dangit! I don't sing my own praises enough! So, with that said... One of my professors wrote at the end of a paper I wrote:
"Superb. Please publish! You have presented compelling information based on sound reserach. Your conversational writing style is impressive and invites the reader to follow your argument. I am so pleased you will soon be a teacher! Keep writing--" And she gave me more points that were possible. Sweet! And she and another professor have asked me to give them copies of my work so future students can use them as work samples. I ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!

More pictures of little Lucy

This is my sister, Ginny, with Lucy, only a few hours after we got her. Too bad Noah was too sleepy to play with her!















Skunks are nocturnal, so during the day, Lucy sleeps....
















...and sleeps....
















...and sleeps....

Little Lucy has arrived!

And she's doing great!















She eats A LOT. We have to keep a strict eye on her diet or she'd eat us out of house and home! She eats mostly vegetables (she hates lettuce, though), some dog food, diary like cottage cheese and yogurt, nuts, fruit, and grains. Her two favorite foods are wet dog food and cheese soy crisps. Oh, and graham crackers. And goat's milk.















She's still pretty skiddish when we try to pick her up, but once we're holding her, she's very cuddly. I stuffed her in a pocket and took her to the store with me, and she feel asleep with her head poking out.














She sleeps much of the day. Pretty much all she does, actually, is eat, sleep, and poop an enormous amount... until 11 PM, when she wants to play and make her little corner nests and chew on stuff. She's stolen our clothes and claimed her toys already. And she's pretty good at using the same area as her bathroom... she just needs work on her aim. Fortunately, she avoids pooping ON us. She'll wait until we put her down, and she'll run to her corner. So considerate! At only 8 weeks!
















So sleepy! Don't let her fool you. She wakes us up at 2 am to play with her... and although it's annoying waking up in the middle of the night to play with a pet, you just CAN'T get mad at such a cute little ball of fur. You can't.

Four days left and counting...

So, we get little skunkie on Friday. Yay for Friday!