Brochures (RIP Vilya)

I already posted about this on my social media, but didn't get this posted here on the blog yet.  My sweet Vilya passed away sometime before Friday morning.  He seemed perfectly healthy, even just the night before.  I was heading to bed and I caught him sitting in one of his favorite spots giving himself a bath.  I thought about stopping him and pulling him out for a quick snuggle, but he looked so happy and so cute, and instead I just watched him for a bit.  He hadn't really shown signs of slowing down, even though he was 2 1/2 years old.  It did randomly hit me last week when I was snuggling him that his hair was definitely lighter than it used to be.  He was such a sweetheart and will be dearly missed.  Despite losing him so suddenly, I'm feeling so much peace because I know he lived a good, spoiled life. ❤️

I know Alex and Jason from @the_pipsqueakery loved him for the short time they had him, and I'm so grateful that they trusted me with him and Narya so I could care for them and love them these last two years.  For the record, I think they were glad to let me adopt Narya since she had been a bit of a butt and spent some time as an escapee in their house.  😂 Anyways, since Narya and Nenya both passed away in March, I'm officially hamsterless.  I hope that won't last long though. 😊

These are the last pictures I have of Vilya to share with you.  I tried to have him pose with these brochures I made for my photography business.  I am quite happy with how they turned out, but Vilya didn't seem interested in looking at them at all.  Haha!  He was such a sweetheart though and would do anything for treats.  I gotta admit, I've been somewhat avoiding working in the office because I don't like seeing the empty cage.  I've been spending more time in the living room working from my Chromebook instead.  I'll be looking at a hamster available for adoption later today, so if I think it's a good fit, I'll be bringing her home.

Spoiling the fun

I let Vilya have some time to explore the couch and the only condition was that he would pose for pictures.  He wasn't too happy that I stopped him from trying to jump off the arm of the couch.  He decided to run the opposite way so I couldn't reach him.  😂

Fruit Basket

Vilya really enjoyed running around the kitchen counter and exploring the fruit basket.  I gave him a nice, big strawberry, but he wouldn't touch it.  I guess he really doesn't care for strawberries.  So I gave him other treats instead.  😊

Embroidery Projects

I finished all of these embroidery projects a while ago, but it took me a bit to figure out how and where I wanted them displayed.  I found the perfect spot for them in my dining room!  I really enjoyed these projects SO much!  They were easy to understand and simple to do!  You can grab a kit for yourself from: https://www.etsy.com/shop/littledear/items

Watercolor Cookies

I made these cookies per my mom's request for our Mother's Day celebration yesterday.  I thought I would try something new, by using royal icing.  Due to the consistency of the icing, I thought it would look really cool to swirl colors into the bowl of icing and dip the cookies into it.  It kinda worked... but I used way to many colors and some of them turned a weird greenish brown.  Hahahaha!  I told my sister that they looked like a toddler was playing with watercolors.  😂  These are some of the best looking ones from what we have left.

Exploration

Happy Monday!  I let this little guy explore a bit which he seemed pretty happy to do.  I'm pretty happy that the weather has been staying warmer, the flowers are blooming, and the days are longer!  I love springtime!  😊

I really love how much natural light fills my home thanks to these big windows!  

Easter!

Happy Easter!  Doesn't Vilya look SO cute in those little bunny ears?!?!  He kinda froze after I put them on him which made it super easy to get pictures of him.  Hahaha!  I was initially nervous about putting jellybeans so close to him because I didn't want him to snatch one, but that wasn't an issue.  😊

Happy Monday

Happy Monday!  Vilya is helping me out this week by being super cute!  But seriously, this week is gonna be a bit crazy, so I'm actually gonna need to evict the hamster and get that mug filled with coffee.  😊

I am motivated by clean, fresh spaces to work in.  I have a bulletin board in my office that I hang prints of my wonderful pets as well as selfies of my husband and I.  It came to my attention that this board was desperately needing to updated (poor Kira wasn't on it yet and we've had her a year), so I changed out about 50% of the old pictures for new ones.  If you look behind Vilya, you can see one of the old pictures that I had to leave.  That's my favorite picture of Tarcil and Penny.  😊

Cat Hammock

I got this window cat hammock for our fat orange cat, Kira.  I wasn't sure it would hold her, or that she would use it, but it works, and she loves it!  I kicked her out so that Vilya could give it a try.  He seemed to like it.  :)

Purple Orchid and Other Plants

I really love orchids!  I have 3 right now.  This purple one and my white one are taking turns blooming every few months, so I get to see these lovely flowers year round.  My other one is a yellow one that is still trying to recover from the trauma our cat Kira inflicted on it by repeatedly knocking it over.  Thankfully, that's the only plant that was abused by her when we first got her about a year ago.  I've got her trained enough now that she knows I don't want her messing with my plants.  Obviously, because she's a cat, she still messes with my plants, but now she's more gentle about it and only does it to annoy me or get my attention.

I seriously can't get over how adorable Vilya looks!!  😍

Pink Carnations

I want to start by thanking you all for kind words and prayers for me last week after losing both Nenya and Narya.  I certainly miss them, and I think Vilya probably does too.  The office is quieter and suddenly seems much larger.  To answer a question I've been asked: no, I am not getting any new hamsters yet.  Vilya is old, and I want to focus on spoiling him for however long he has left.  I am also considering only keeping one hamster at a time from now on.  As much as I'd LOVE to fill my house with all the cute, furry animals, I am continuing to get busier, and I don't want more pets than what I have time to give proper attention to or money to financially support.  In other words, adulting sucks.  Hahaha!

Anyways, I really did enjoy having a photo session with just Vilya.  He was way more calm than he normally is.  I'm sure some of that is because he is getting older, but I really think it was mostly because he can't see, smell, or hear the ladies anymore.  I also noticed that now that he is by himself, I suddenly find myself wanting to call him Tarcil, so naturally I'm also recalling lots of great memories of Tarcil.  It's sad that their lives are so short, but each of them have brought me and many others so much joy and for that, I am grateful.  💗

Comforter (RIP Narya and Nenya)

These pictures are all about a month old.  Nenya doesn't look this good anymore.  I am glad I have SO many pictures of her that capture her bright-eyed, spunky self.  She may have lost some of her sass, but she still gets around and is getting so spoiled with treats every day.  ❤

I am once again editing this post to provide an update:

Nenya passed away this morning (Friday).  I knew she didn't have long left.  I got her on April 2, 2017, so I've had her for nearly 2 years.  It's crazy how fast that time went by.  I am so glad I have so many pictures and wonderful memories to cherish of my silly girl.  She had a huge personality for such a small creature.   She wasn't very easy to photograph unless she had food because she was always on the move.  She was also the most destructive hamster I've had thus far, though she never managed to escape.  She loved attention, and if I scraped my nail on the mesh window of her tub, she would come running to be held.  I'm gonna miss her so much!  She was fat, fluffy, and so sassy!  ❤

I don't normally do this, but I have a very unfortunate update for you, so I have edited this post.

It hurts to share this news with you all, but my sweet, perfect little Narya has passed away. It's definitely a big shock to me. She seemed fine and didn't show her age at all, unlike how Nenya has been recently (who is not doing well, but still alive). I noticed Tuesday morning that Narya hadn't touched her food bowl during the night. I checked her nest and found her curled up, asleep forevermore. Her 2nd birthday would have been in three weeks on April 9th. I adopted her from The Pipsqueakery on May 29, 2017. She was formerly known as Cinnamon and some of her more notable siblings are Eugene and Butternut.

Narya was seriously such a perfect little model! It didn't matter what she was doing, she always looked so glamorous doing it! I'm gonna miss her so much! She was my tiny, precious little girl. ❤️

I am pretty sure Vilya was trying to chew a hole through my comforter.  Not cool man!  Hahaha!

Strawberry

Once again I missed posting on Monday.  Sorry about that!  My life has been a bit crazy because of so much going on within my side of the family.  In just the last two weeks, my sister had her 4th child (another niece for me), my sister-in-law also had her 4th child (another nephew for me), and my brother bought a house (that needed updating).  Most of my free time has been spent visiting, baking, painting, or just in general helping.  So these pictures are all from a few weeks ago, before the craziness started.

I am really sad to have this update for you, but my sweet Nenya probably doesn't have too much longer left.  She did have two bins, but I took one away so she wouldn't have to go as far to get from her nest to her food and water.  She sleeps so much now that I only see her about once a day.  She looks tired and weak, which is understandable, because she is slightly over two years old.  I don't know her exact age, but I got her from a pet store on April 2, 2017.  I never intended to buy from a pet store, but I was in a rough place as I was preparing to lose my beloved Tarcil and ended up bringing Nenya home.  Tarcil passed away about a week later and than less than two months after that, I adopted Narya and Vilya from The Pipsqueakery.  So the reality is, I currently have 3 hamsters that are all only about 4-5 months apart in age and are all about 2 years old.  Nenya is getting lots of special treats, and I likely won't be getting any new pictures of her to post, but I will post the rest of the pictures I already have of her.  ❤

I seriously LOVE Narya's face in the last picture!  She is SO precious!!  😍

Vilya reminds me SO much of Tarcil.  I'm convinced Vilya will live forever.  Okay I know that isn't realistic, but I certainly hope he will live to be 3 years old like Tarcil did.  He is such a content, laid back lil guy.  😊