Carrot

 When gathering my supplies for making the costumes, I grabbed the tub I have that contains all the costumes I've previously made as well as random bits of sets or other things to use.  In it I saw some hats that were gifted to me including this one which I've never used.  I immediately knew I had to turn Míriel into a carrot!  I wasn't quite sure how she'd handle wearing a hat, but she didn't really mind it at all.  She wasn't interested in being contained to the flower pot though and instead walked in circles around it.  She definitely prefers exploring to sitting still for pictures.  Haha!

Ice Cream Cone

 I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I might try to do Halloween costumes with Míriel this year, and I'm happy to announce that I actually managed to get some done!  I quickly came up with a list of about 10 that I was planning to do, but as time marched on I had to cut my list and make some changes to do more simple ideas than some of what were on my original list.  So each day from now to Halloween, I'll be sharing a costume.  For today, I have this lovely ice cream cone.  😊 

Joe and I don't eat much ice cream anymore since we acknowledged that we have both developed a bit of an intolerance to lactose.  We don't avoid it completely though and will still occasionally enjoy some ice cream.  I am such a slow eater when it comes to anything frozen, so I prefer a bowl so I don't make a mess.  But don't you just hate it when your ice cream cone climbs out of the bowl?  😅😂

Míriel was a bit uncooperative with wearing the costume and staying put as she was supposed to.  But I still managed to get some cute pictures of her.  I thought for sure she would eat the cherry stem since it was right in her face, but surprisingly, she left it alone.  I guess she let her sweet side take over for a bit.  😄

Gems

I really like rocks, and I always have.  I remember as a child playing in our gravel driveway looking for pretty stones and fossils.  When my family would go on vacations, I often would buy a little bag of polished gemstones, an agate slice, or a chunk of amethyst from the souvenir shops.  I carried this tradition on as an adult when Joe and I went to Tennessee a couple years ago.  I really appreciate that Joe isn't bothered by the random rocks sitting around the house.  😅

Sometimes we forget to shut the doors to our office (where the hamsters are) before bed, and Míriel makes such a ruckus that I have trouble falling asleep.  Sometimes I get out of bed to shut the office doors only to realize they were already shut, and she's just being that loud.  😐  She's crazy, but I do love her.  Haha!

Elendil continues to be the precious, sweet boy who is rarely seen and never heard.  So you know, the opposite of Míriel.  😂  I actually have heard his very quiet squeaks of protest when I've had to wake him up to clean his tank, but other than that, basically everything he does is silent.  He's a gem.  😊

Master Sword

Tomorrow is the start of Fall Break which means a long weekend with Joe home, and I'm so excited!  I'm trying very hard to work through my to-do list for today so that I can fully enjoy the extra time with him.

Míriel is so crazy but she is so fun to photograph.  I'm wondering if I would have time to pull off doing Halloween costumes with her...  I'm also wondering if she would actually be a good model.  It's been two years since I last did costumes, and that was with Haleth who ended up being fairly rotten while wearing her costumes.  Haha!  I think I'll pull out my old list of ideas and see if I think I can do any of them with Míriel.

Elendil is probably too small for Halloween costumes and is a bit harder to photograph anyways since he's pretty shy.  But maybe I could try doing one costume with him.  We'll see if I have time to make anything for Elendil, but I'm guessing that if I am able to do costumes this year, it'll just be Míriel modeling them.

Dining Room Chairs

For the last couple of months, I've been really missing my mother-in-law, Paula.  10 years ago, when we were still grieving the loss of Joe's grandma and adjusting to Joe's new job at Snider, his mother suddenly passed away.  There were about 60 days between the deaths of his grandma and his mom, and they occurred at the same place.  I remember the staff being bewildered and struggling to know what to say to us because they remembered Paula.  She had been there so much as she cared for her mother, and she was so strong through it all.  But that was just the way Paula was.  She was a fiercely strong and caring women.  I miss her so much.  I miss the love, support, and encouragement that seeped out of her onto everyone around her.  I miss the fierceness within her that she used to protect us.  I miss her generous spirit that reached out to those struggling who just needed a hand to get back up again.  I miss the way she made you want to be a better person.  There was so much I wanted to learn from her; so much I wish I could ask her.  I see so much of Paula in her sons, Joe and Quinn.  💗

Paula never knew about my love for hamsters.  I got Tarcil just days before she went to the hospital and I never told her about him as it didn't seem important.  Plus, I knew she hated mice so I kinda assumed she wouldn't have liked hamsters either.  But regardless of that, I know she would have been so encouraging and supportive of this blog.  I'm honestly a bit surprised to realize that I've had this blog for over 10 years now.  My goals were to have a outlet for me to practice being creative with a cute, but not necessarily cooperative model.  I wanted the end result to be cute pictures to bring joy to others.  While I think I've maintained these goals, I do think haven't always been good about pushing myself as much for creative pictures.  And my writing has shifted from superficial fluff just to have something to post to me sharing authentically about my feelings about what's going on in my life.  I don't know who, if anyone, reads my blog posts.  I used to spend a lot of time focusing on the analytics and trying to promote my blogs, but as I've gotten older, I've realized I truly don't care about any of that because the act of writing is cathartic for me.  And so I continue.  Sometimes out of a weird sense of obligation, but mostly because I just enjoy it.  I like creating scenes or figuring out ways to showcase the cuteness of the hamsters, I like taking the pictures, I like editing them, I like writing and journaling about my life, and I like publishing these posts.  For someone who craves control, releasing these posts out to the internet not knowing who will see them is both freeing and therapeutic to me.  

Míriel probably has the biggest personality of any hamster I've ever had.  She can be so loud and demanding.  She definitely loves food, especially treats!

Elendil is my precious boy.  Seeing him just melts my heart.  He's ridiculously cute, especially because of his size.  He's just so dang tiny, and so extremely long.  And then there's his tail that he uses to hold onto my fingers which is just hilarious because his tail is so short.  I love him so much.

Gold Chair

Sometimes I can be grumpy when I first wake up, so I make a point to get up before Joe so he doesn't witness it.  Joe tends to fall back asleep after his alarm so I usually have to wake him up and by then, I'm so happy.  Each day, I'm generally completely optimistic that it'll be such a good day and that I can get all the things done I hope to do, no matter how long the to-do list is and how unrealistic that is.  Let me say that today is no different.  Unfortunately I lack the ability to accurately estimate how long tasks will take so I just assume I can easily do them all in a day.  Spoiler alert: I can't.  So understandably, I'm behind on photography stuff, have a list of household tasks I've not gotten to yet, and have a project for church I'm determined to start and finish today.  And in the midst of all of that, I'm dreaming of art projects I want to do.  But it's still early in the day and I'm still so optimistic I can easily get everything done.  I just need to focus.  That should be easy... right?  

My finger is still not fully healed from Míriel biting me.  The ironic part of this story is that I was having a moment of absolutely loving and doting on Elendil and realized I felt guilty for not doting equally on Míriel.  So I decided to put Elendil back in his home and got treats for Míriel (who I knew was awake as well because she was making an absolute ruckus).  Anyways, I scoped her up and set her on my other arm so I could grab the treats for her and she turned and bit my right index finger really hard.  The blood immediately started dripping so I quickly put her down and ran to the bathroom to tend to my finger.  So yeah, she's still as crazy as ever. 

 Elendil is the sweetest hamster I've ever owned.  I've never felt any fear or apprehension that he would bite me.  He's often awake in the evenings before we go to bed and while I don't think he loves being held, I do think he is associating us with food and treats so he doesn't hide from us nearly as much anymore.  I still am so captivated by how small he is.  Seeing him brings me so much joy!

White Mug

After spending a wonderful summer together with Joe, I've found myself not just missing him, but also remembering his first year teaching at Snider.  He got the job 10 years ago.  He had applied earlier in the summer but not heard back from them and the school year was quickly approaching.  It had been a rough year helping care for his grandma who declined quickly after a bad fall and ultimately passed away at the end of July that year, just a couple days after our second anniversary.  On a whim he decided he wanted to take his resume to the school and see if he could talk to someone in person.  He was hired on the spot.  Either the principal was desperate or she recognized how amazing Joe is.  I'm going with Joe is just that amazing.  💗

I wanted to showcase the size difference between Míriel, my large Syrian hamster, and Elendil, my new tiny Chinese Dwarf hamster.  So I decided to photograph them in the same mug.  I didn't realize that Míriel would barely fit and that Elendil would be so small the only way to see him would be to put the mug on its side, but I made it work.  Miriel had no intention of staying in the mug so I only got a couple shots before she climbed out and left the scene.  Haha!

Elendil's face looks like he could be a mouse, but when you see the rest of him, he clearly isn't.  I couldn't believe how well he did for this first photoshoot.  I generally wait weeks in order to start the taming, gain trust, and most importantly, figure out what treats will help them stay put.  But Elendil is just so chill and calm that I tried this photoshoot after just over a week of owning him.  He's seriously the sweetest hamster I've ever had.