Matt took me last night to see "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"! I have been impatiently waiting for this movie to come out since I first saw the trailer online awhile back! It was wonderful! I loved it!

Oh, if you see this movie, see if you catch the subtle homage to Robin Hood in one of the scenes :-)

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Taken from foxx278

You know how sometimes people on your friends-list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.

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1. First Name: Tara. Named after the land in Gone With the Wind.

2. Age: I am 30... but people usually think I am somewhere between 16 and 20 caus I look so young.... I used to hate that I look so much younger than I am, but as you get older it finally starts feeling good haha.

3. Location: I'm in NJ...

4. Occupation: Former cashier, I am now a PCP. I work one on one with a special needs student in a regular classroom. The student I work with is awesome thankfully.

5. Partner: Matt. I always assumed I'd remain single, but we match up so well and are genuinely happy together.

6. Kids: Definitely not...

7. Brothers/Sisters: I have 2 brothers, and 2 sisters. 1 sister who doesn't really count for reasons I won't get into... and my other sister who I was always close to unfortunately lives very far so we don't get to see each other anymore :( One brother passed away years ago, and another brother lives nearby but we haven't talked to in so long for whatever reason.

8. Pets: I have 2 dogs (my shiba inus, 'Yoshi' and 'Ayla'); 3 cats (Poofie, Xenia, & Saria); 3 bearded dragons (Ridley, Samus, & Brinstar); 10 Crested Geckos (I had many more, but lost a lot due to an Entamoeba Invadens outbreak. But now I have Deku, Charmander, Chozo, Zebes, and 6 babies that need names); 1 blue crayfish (Ruto); 1 Oscar Cichlid (Snape); 2 Green Terror Cichlids (unnamed); 1 Tokay gecko (Salamence); and another fish tank of just random community fish (angels, tetras, etc.).

9. List 3-5 biggest things going on in your life right now: Ummm.... let's see. 1.) Work. It's a pretty new job since I was at the same supermarket thing for so damn long, and it's very stressful to work in a classroom of psychotic, uncontrollable kids. But thankfully the one kid I am assigned to is wonderful so makes it worth it. And getting off for holidays and summer makes it worth it as well haha! 2.) Entamoeba Invadens... I had a beautiful colony of crested geckos that I was starting to breed as a hobby, and I was never told about this terrible disease that is fairly common, and can remain dormant in a gecko for quite some time before it comes out. I lost many cresties to this, and will not be breeding them anymore. My remaining 10 will just continue to be pets for me b/c I do not want to risk continuing this disease if there are any left dormant in my cresties that the medicine didn't take care of. 3.) ummm I can't think of a 3rd haha...

10. Parents: I live home with my dad. My mom passed away over 2 years ago, and I still miss her every minute of every day :-(

11. Closest Friends: I can't do the friend thing anymore. I am too independent to go through the people being unaccepting of who I am if it doesn't match their beliefs, opinions, and lifestyles.

I wanted to let you all know how the baby is doing that hatched very prematurely.

She is doing good and bad at the same time...

Her tail, which was zig-zaggy and dry- finally dropped last night so she is now a preemie frog-butt. It is healing very well.
She has a terrible time shedding, and I have to do a lot of soaks to help her because it comes off in very ragged chunks that she has trouble getting off herself even in the good humidity.
She is not really growing much at all. She is over 2 months old now, and still doesn't register on the scale.

Her clutchmate, however, is doing great. Healthy and growing.

The preemie, despite all the negatives, is still active and alert, so that is good. I have her in her own separate enclosure since she is too small to be kept with her clutchmate.

I wonder how she will do as time goes on. Is she strong enough to make it, or will the flaws catch up with her and take over? If she can't grow, will her organs still grow inside- kind of like what happens to fish whose growths get stunted and they end up dying because their organs get too big for their bodies? Or will she live a long, happy life and just be a tiny crestie with special needs?

These pics were taken just a few minutes ago. Look how tiny she still is, and how bad the sheds stick to her :-(


( Click for more pics )

I groomed my Shibas today. Brushed them nice, sprayed them to smell pretty, etc... and as soon as I finish, what is the first thing that happens? Yoshi runs to dig in the dirt, then Ayla runs to follow him! Then, of course, Yoshi leaves the scene right away and lays off to the side as Ayla continues to have fun ruining her lovely white coat! Yagh!!! Can't help but laugh though. Good thing I enjoy dog grooming enough to have to do repeat sessions sometimes...
( Pics through here! )

Just wanted to post this cute new picture of 'Salamence', my Tokay Gecko, I took before :-)

BTW if anyone is wondering why I haven't e-mailed them back, it's because I am not able to send e-mails. I can receive them though, but it won't let me send ever since I updated my OS. Hopefully I can fix that soon.

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They choose to have their intense play-wrestling matches UNDER the coffee table at midnight while I am trying to relax with a video game hahaha :-)
Had to remove my cup of tea before that became a disaster as well!


( Pictures through here! )

Ayla discovers Ridley and thinks he looks tasty. Yoshi lets her know that the bearded dragons are family...

( pictures through here! )

Thankfully, having a coat that repels dirt, she did not need a bath. It all fell off when she got up and shook a bit. She had fun though :-)

( Click here for pics of Ayla digging in the dirt )