Santa's coming to town!

Today is my annual baking day with my mom.  There's lots to do to finish preparing for Christmas.  I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and is able to focus on the reason for celebrating.  💗

It's been a while since I have dressed up the hams.  I got out my Santa outfit for them and let them explore our Christmas village.  Glorfindel tried to eat the cow which is just rude.  But he looked so very cute with the hat on that I didn't even care!

Olórin was very interested in seeing the whole Christmas village.  I was unable to keep the hat on his head.  Maybe next year I'll add straps to it so it can stay on better.

Jars of Leftover Resin

In January, Joe and I got a letter stating that the city would be working on replacing the water mains near us and that our house would be among those getting switched to the new lines.  Nothing happened so we forgot about the letter for a very long time.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed yellow and blue flags dotting our street and wondered if our time was near (they had already been working on the next street over).  I dug through our stack of important papers and found the letter.  I had concerns about our plans to host Christmas this year if it would be in the midst of this project, so I sent an email with some questions I had.  I received a very prompt reply that confirmed they were ready for our street and put my mind at ease about our Christmas plans.  Unfortunately something went wrong yesterday, so we were without water for about 6 hours.  But even after it was dark out, the crew just set up lights and continued working diligently until the problem was fixed and we all had running water again.

Glrofindel is such a nice ham.  He knows I'm the one that gives him all the treats so he happily comes out of his nest whenever I bother him.  💗

Olórin hasn't quite realized that I am the giver of treats so he still tends to avoid me.  He is surprisingly good at slipping out of my hands if I am trying to pick him up.  But eventually I normally succeed in holding him and even if he doesn't want to be held, he's always so calm and has never bitten me.  He is so sweet.

Lil' Pumpkins

These pictures were taken over a month ago, but I think they are too cute to not post, so despite that we are clearly fully in Christmas season, I hope you can enjoy these cute lil' pumpkins.  😊  I am officially all caught up on client galleries which feels amazing!  I still have a lot of personal pictures to get through, but they'll get done eventually.  I also only have one last step to do before the end of the year for the major project of switching church management systems that I've been working on since like August I think.  The last few months have been a blur...  But I'm feeling better every day!  I can't say that I'm ready for Christmas though...  I have begun to plan out all the baking I do, but that's about it.  Normally I'd be almost done shopping by now, but I haven't started that.  😐  But it's all good.  I work well under pressure.  Haha!  😅

The last couple weeks I've realized that my boys are getting old.  They are probably both around 15 months old and while I'd love for them to both live to be at least 2 years old, I know they didn't have the best start to life which could affect their lifespan.  I don't spend nearly as much time with them as I'd like since I avoid waking them up and they aren't generally awake when I am.  But they are both such sweet boys and I love them.  💗  

Olórin is fairly shy and prefers to be left alone, but he tolerates me holding him.  I make sure he is well compensated in treats.  😊

Candy Corn

Happy Halloween!  I can't believe how fast September and October went.  I've been feeling a bit bummed recently that I wasn't able to make new hamster Halloween costumes this year.  I really love the whole process of coming up with ideas, making the costumes, creating the sets, and photographing the hamsters.  So on a whim this morning, I decided I would grab a couple of costumes from previous years and take pictures.  The truth is, I really have way more important things to do that I'm not wanting to do, so that's why I was suddenly so eager to do these pictures instead.  😁😅  And you can see how unprepared I was for this as I don't have any actual candy corn or other candy to add to the bowl.  Oh well.  The hams did great, so even though these are fairly lackluster compared to previous years, I still wanted to share them.

I thought Glorfindel did a lovely job of showing off the costume.  He's a great little model for me.  💗

I probably have mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, y'all should know that I'm obsessed with Olórin's giant ears.  I mean, just look at them!  He could probably pass as the easter bunny.  😂

New Yarn on Little Bed

I rarely go to Hobby Lobby because it doesn't open until 9 AM, but I am already home from running my errands by then and I don't like going back out.  A few weeks ago Joe and I were having a lazy Saturday morning and after getting breakfast out, we decided to stop by Hobby Lobby because I wanted more sawtooth hangers for some projects.  Obviously I bought so much more than just the sawtooth hangers.  The yarn was 30% off so I grabbed this gorgeous green to make a little blanket for an upcoming photo session.  Since it had been so long since I last bought yarn, I underestimated how much I'd need for the project in mind.  So, the following week I went back for more yarn and bought some Christmas stuff that was on sale.  And then I went back a couple days later because I was regretting not getting more of the Christmas stuff while it was on sale.  So I ended up making 3 trips to Hobby Lobby in the span of less than a week, all the while being simultaneously frustrated that I had to interrupt my work day to get there since they open so late, and grateful that they don't open sooner or I'd probably be there weekly and spend SO much money.  😅

I love how silky Glorfindel's fur is.  He is such a gorgeous boy.  Although I realized that as soon as I see him, I always pick him up and smother his forehead in kisses, which makes his head look wet in pictures.  😂

 

This big boy has gotten a little less timid, but in general, he seems to prefer to be left alone.  I don't see Olórin or Glorfindel very often.  I go to bed well before they get up, but I have caught them awake still when I get up at 5:30.  I still kinda want to get a camera to see what they get up to at night, but I haven't done that yet.

3D Printed Vase

Life has been very busy and incredibly draining at times, so I've been reevaluating my schedule and changing it a bit to help me have more balance which is helping me a lot.  I cleaned the hammy tanks today and made sure to allow time for pictures since it had been quite a while.  First up are pictures with this neat vase which looks and even almost feels like rope, but this is actually a 3D print.  This is probably my favorite thing that Joe has printed.  I forget how long this one took, but I know it was done very slowly to get the texture right.  It's pretty cool!

Glorfindel is such a precious little guy.  He poses so well for me and looks fabulous in pictures.  I sure do love him!  💗

Olórin is pretty timid, but he did pretty well today at posing for me.  I'm still figuring out which treats he likes well enough to stop and eat.  I'm pretty obsessed with his giant ears.  He's a sweet, chunky dude.  😅

Gold Chair

It's been a while since I've posted.  I've had quite a few projects for my other job that I was juggling.  Most everything is wrapped up now and I think I'm down to just one extra project now, but it's pretty massive with lots and lots of parts so it's kinda been taking over my life.  But after having a headache for the last two days, I decided that today I would do photography work instead since I've been neglecting my business the last few weeks.  So this morning I treated myself to a trip to the zoo and let me tell you, it was amazing and exactly what I needed to recharge.  This time of year is my favorite time to go, but it's been weeks since I last went because of how crazy things have been.  This morning was a good reminder that I need to get back to following my schedule because it provides the balance I need to really thrive.  

I've barely seen Glorfindel the last couple of weeks.  I'm strongly considering getting a camera that I can point at the two aquariums so I can see what these guys do during the night.  I do love that every week when I clean of their enclosures, Glorfindel is happy to come out of his nest.  I make sure to give him lots of treats, and he puts up with lots of kisses.  He's so soft and sweet.  💗

I got these pictures of Olorin a couple of weeks ago when I was cleaning his aquarium.  I normally do that every week, but the first week after I got him, he quite literally yelled at me for disturbing him.  I've never heard a hamster make the noises he made.  It made me sad, but I knew he was alive so I let him be.  A week later when I tried, he was fine with me waking him up to clean, and that's when I got him out for a bit.  I made sure to give him lots of treats when I took these pictures.  I hope he'll be a good model for me, but I've admittedly not taken any pictures of him since that day, so we'll see.  I have to say, from what I can tell, Olórin is a master at making tunnels and absolutely puts Glorfindel's tunnels to shame.  😂