haven't updated for a while, and quite a big had happened since my last post.

let's start with the sad stuff, and move on to happier things so that i can walk away from my laptop feeling happy!

so, as some of you know, and some may not, both my guinea pigs died about a week ago. chester caught a nasty upper respiratory infection which quickly turned into pneumonia, and died just as my mum was about to take him to the vet...chester's condition was so bad, he wasn't eating, peeing or pooing for a good 3-4 days, and he could not move. his little paws were always cold (according to my mum) and he was always shaking and having fits..... :(
bumble on the other hand, was still fine and dandy when chester was extremely sick. he did show signs of loneliness though when chester first passed away, but he got quite sick himself after that. my mum brought bumble to the vet at animates, and that vet was one stupid vet. i probably know more about guinea pigs than he does. he said as 9 month old guinea pig is a very OLD guinea pig -.-"

excuse me? guinea pigs can live up to 6 years ok! my 12 years old sister had to correct him on that. he doubted her, then jumped on the internet to do a bit of reading and then admitted his mistake. it's a guinea pig you arsewipe, not a mouse/ rat! so anyway, that same stupid vet gave my poor guinea pig 3 days worth of antibiotics, which i personally found it was too short for an antiobiotic course.

mind you, i have no knowledge when it comes to medications for animals, but i did read online that they are usually given for abou 10 days. someone's guinea pig was on the same antibiotics for 2 days, and it became resistant to it...

anyway, a day after bumble's last course of antibiotics, he became extremely sick. he was sleeping on his side in his pigloo the whole day, hardly moving, and breathing heavily. his little paws were cold...he was suffering from the exact same conditions as chester just before he died. my sister told me how sick he was before she went to school, and when i was at work, i called my mum and she said she didnt have time to bring him to a friend of mine who's a vet. so i spoke to my supervisor, and she very nicely granted me half a day's worth of domestic sick leave to go home and bring poor bumble to my friend.

my vet friend gave bumble a shot of the antibiotics straight into his muscle, and i almost cried at the vet seeing how much bumble was suffering. i brought him home, rubbed some vicks vaporub onto his nostrils, and smeared some on the inside of his pigloo as well to aid his breathing coz he was pretty much gasping for breath. i sat beside bumble, covered him with a small cloth to keep him warm, tried feeding him some water and mushed food but he didnt have the energy to even swallow them. each time he tries to swallow the food/ water, he gives a soft whine and his whole body starts going into spasms. that's when i told myself i needed to leave and not look at how much he had to suffer.

i told my dad bumble probably wouldn't last till that night, and true enough, my sister called me to say that bumble has stopped breathing. it didn't hit me until a bit later. i just sat in one corner of the room and chewed on my crackers. about an hour later, i was hanging my clothes up, i started sobbing and cried nonstop for a long long time until my eyes started hurting. i finally stopped, managed to go out to get dinner, go watch hancock and came home to get ready for bed. just before i fell asleep, i started crying again and i fell asleep crying, with stefan patting me on my back to make me feel better.

i managed to type the bulk of this post without crying, until i got to the point where i mentioned how bumble was suffering and shaking and having spasms.

right until today, almost a week after bumble has died, i cant bring myself to go home coz i dont know how i'll react when i walk into the garage and see that my piggies aren't there anymore...i still cant talk about my guinea pigs in public, and at the slight mention of my guinea pigs, i start tearing :( gosh, i dont even know how i became so attached to my pigs, especially bumble, when i've moved out of home for over 5 months now....

but yeah...no more guinea pigs now, and i dont think my parents will allow us to have anymore after all the expenses..one thing i can say is if you have a pet, go make friends with a vet. a simple visit to the vet for bumble and 3 days worth of antibiotics costed my mum $75. my vet friend was only going to charge me $35 for consultation and antibiotics injection!

anyway, on to happier things now...(it's hard to think happy when i'm still tearing...)

*breathes......

so, about baking. i found a set of books by Wilton that teaches you how to decorate very nice cakes. they cost about $54 each, and each set comes with some handy tools which you will need while self-teaching. i have decided to buy all 3 sets, but i will start off by buying the first set, and see if the person on trademe can hook me up with a good deal if i buy all 3 sets together. once that is done, you'll be seeing lots of pretty cakes from me :) if the decoratings are successful la...you know amy and art dont go hand in hand.....

now i cant remember what other happy stuff happened. shall blog another day when i remember them. now i should go prepare dinner as all 3 boys are out tonight, so i have the flat all to myself with no massive dinner to cook and i can cook my own dinner in my underwear if i choose to :P