AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, first thing is I'm still doing this PhD. I've cried, I've torn hair out, I've yelled and sworn and slammed doors in frustration, but believe it or not, I think I can see an endpoint! Imagine that, someday I might actually get out of here!

My grandfather passed away a few weeks ago. That was pretty crappy and made me really sad, to say the least. He was sick (cancer, is it anything else these days?) and really deteriorated near the end so it was better for him to go before he was in too much pain. I had an opportunity to visit him a few weeks before he went and I'm glad I did, even if it didn't seem like enough time.

I now have a loan for the first time in my life. I'm at the end of both my scholarships and they aren't giving any extensions at all this year (they usually do) on account of the "economic climate" and they're actually cutting the value of the scholarships that are currently in place. So I've applied for a county council grant to see if that'll get me anywhere. I'm incredibly lucky that one of my scholarships agreed to pay my fees anyway, if not any salary, so I'm genuinely grateful for that. Having the loan takes the pressure off Maria a bit too since she's now earning for both of us, plus the nine piggies plus the ten hammies. It's a big responsibility :)

I'm about halfway through my Christmas shopping. I'm really excited about Christmas this year. I'm not spending as much money (I doubt anyone is) and a few people I've asked if, rather than giving gifts, we could meet up and have dinner and spend time together instead. Maria has lots of cousins she usually buys for so she's buying a small gift this year instead and supplementing them with Christmas cupcakes etc. I also want to give a gift of some home-made baking to the neighbours on either side of us. I think it would be a nice gesture.

For the last while I've been feeling pretty down but I'm making a bit effort to go out and do things and spend time with people, even though most of the time I want to hide under my duvet. It is definitely helping lift my mood and is stopping me brooding over things too much. Woo!

I also missed adding my Halloween piggies! They're ( under the cut. )

Went to see G-Force last night. I can't decide if I liked it enough not to be mad at all the bad piggy-care messages it gives.

Wow, nearly two whole months without a post!

In the mean time:

-I had a giant row with my supervisor but things seem okay now and I feel that I'm making progress with my experiments and have something to aim towards

- I went through a really bad patch but I think I'm coming out the other side now so it's all good

- Maria is awesome!

- I really wish I had the money to buy a house

- I'm still pig-obsessed

-I have a new baby cousin and one of my friends had a baby too, yay!

We're total suckers but we couldn't resist: we now have two new baby girls in the family!

( Pictures under the cut )

We went to see Bill Bailey last night. He was amazing, ten times better than the last time we saw him. He had a little of the same material but it really felt more polished and together this time. AND he did a new Kraftwerk :P Hehe!

I'm addicted to Farm Town on Facebook... I can't stop myself!

Our new landlord called for the rent shortly after the 1st of the month.

This is why he is awesome:

1. He didn't ask for the rent before the due date, as our previous landlady always did (due on the 31st, she always rang on the 22nd).
2. He gives us receipts so everything is above board and we can claim tax back on it.
3. He came in the evening and didn't insist on coming during the day when we all work (which the old one did).
4. He didn't stay and make stupid small talk for ages, he collected it and was gone in two minutes.
5. He didn't try to come in and nosy around.
6. He paid our estate upkeep fee then and there as soon as we told him about it.
7. He pays for our bins, as he is supposed to but few landlords do.
8. He asks permission to open the back gate to cut the grass.
9. He has very little involvement with us at all, yay!

We've moved into the new house! It's class! We have double-glazing so the house is really toasty without having the heating on all the time.
We have more and less space at the same time. The kitchen and sitting room are bigger, plus we've a utility room to put stuff into. We have two bedrooms so we're using the small one as the hamster room and to store things. In our room there's us and the seven guinea pigs (we used to have the hamsters in our room but the new room is a bit smaller than the one in the old house), plus our en-suite is bigger and the shower is great rather than the drip that we had in the old house. Woo hoo! We also have a proper sized fridge rather than the tiny one we used to have, plus a dishwasher (which we don't use, but the point is we have it!). In short, the new house is GREAT!!!!

Our piggy babies are four weeks old now. We separated the two boys from their mum at three weeks and the one girl has stayed with her and her dad (who is neutered, don't worry!). We've had to build a new cage for the four boys to fit them in:




Gibbs and Ducky live on top and Acheron and Skylar (the two new boys) live on the bottom.

And, for cuteness' sake, ( here are some pics of the new bubs. )

Xander was at the emergency vet last Thursday night with an abscess at his neuter site (really weird since it's been two months since his op) but it's almost sorted now. We went to his normal vet on Friday and he helped a lot. So fingers crossed!

Work is going okay. Had a talk with my supervisor and I don't know where I'm going from here but at least I'm going. I'm a bit confused and unsure about the whole thing but we'll see what happens o_O

Oh, and Maria is great. She bought me flowers and a cd yesterday because I was feeling sad :)

We went to view a house last night as the landlady where we currently live is just mental. It's all completely under the table too, she refuses to give us receipts or her PPS number so we can claim our tax credits etc etc. And it's all cash in hand so we have to meet her every month and she treats us completely like kids - she expects us to believe that she's being generous in keeping an elevated rent even though rents have come down by 12% in the area. We also live around lots of students who are freshly moved away from home and drinking until all hours so we don't sleep so well. Grrr.

So we went to see a house last night because we're sick and tired of all the crap we've been putting up with. It's a little rough around the edges... Not even that, it's just blank, if you know what I mean, but once we move in and put our own touch on it it's going to be lovely. So, it'll be me, Maria, Eoin, Zoe, our pigs, their pigs, our hamsters and their fishies. (We asked and animals are okay :D ) And it's only €1150 for a four bedroom house in a lovely area. We scoped the place out last night before we went to see it and it's a quiet cul de sac full of families - there were about eight kids out playing and cycling and their mothers were out supervising them and chatting, it had a lovely atmosphere.

I can't wait!

It's 23°C in the lab... *sweat*

And after lunch we get the sun shining straight in here. We're going to melt.

My little sister was 21 at the weekend. Nooooooooo! How can this have happened? She's only little. We had a great time though. I went home for the weekend and it was lovely to see everyone.

I'm off to France in two weeks for a weekend. My friend Béné is getting married so we're going to her home village for the wedding. South of France, nice and warm, sunny skies, I can't wait! I've got a lovely dress for it already (which I bought for €30, go me and my bargain-finding self!) and my flights are booked so I just have to wait :)

Hilda is achieving new records of giantness with her pregnancy. She has a huge belly, she's so cute. She lies down a lot now, I think it makes her tired to walk around too much. She's still eating and drinking plenty so it's not her time to pop just yet, but we're keeping a close eye on her.

Xander got neutered a few weeks ago. He's doing really well, his wounds are all healed up and you'd never think anything had happened to him, the way he's going on :)

Work is still just horrible, but I just have to focus on getting out and all will be well.

( And here are some pics! )

We went to the petshop on Saturday to get some hay (I swear, all we wanted was hay!!!) and we saw two teeny tiny little piggies looking really lonely... And they're brothers so obviously they had to stay together... So we took them both home! They were just so cute we couldn't resist!

Meet Gibbs and Ducky!

About three weeks ago I started on a "lifestyle change", as I'm choosing to call it. It's not a diet, because I would only give up on that, and it's not supposed to help me lose weight (although it would do me no harm!), but it's something I'm doing so I feel healthier. It's only small, but where I would normally have some chocolate or crisps I'm having a piece of fruit or a yoghurt or an ice lolly instead. I'm still allowed to have chocolate and biscuits, but I'm just being more careful about what I have, like having one jaffa cake instead of five.

So I'm not doing Lent this year and giving everything up, just trying to eat better. I figure that these small changes are far easier to make and I'm more likely to keep it up in the long-term and I feel really good already, much brighter and less sluggish. So wahoo for fruit! I've gone from eating practically none to having at least three portions of it a day and it's going really well so far :)

We built a new cage for Xander and Hilda to live together while we're trying to get Hilda to have minipigs. It took us aaaaaages but it was well worth it in the end.

Many thanks to Guinea Pig Cages and Cutie Cavies Forum for all the great ideas and inspiration!

Piggy preview:


( More pigtures under the cut )

I crashed my car into a ditch yesterday. Dagnabit!!! To be fair, it wasn't really my fault, I was turning a corner but I hit a big patch of loose gravel and the car just went its own way after that - into a stop sign and then the ditch. Me and Maria are both fine (Maria's neck hurts a little and I grazed my thumb (???) and banged my head a bit) but the car is not. Well, that's not really true - she still goes, but she'll need a new front bumper and bonnet. There's a mechanic coming out this afternoon to estimate how much it'll cost to fix her.

Still, the important thing is that both of us walked out of it. The car is replaceable (and that's what insurance is for), but my Maria is not!

We're addicted to NCIS. It's SO GOOD!!!

I was taking pictures of Xander and Hilda in their snuggle sacs for the amazing Helen, who makes them (and other items) to keep piggies happy - see the Cosy Cavies website - and I got some really gorgeous ones.

( Gorgeous Guinea Pigs )

I may as well post a picture of the last pet: Oscar, my soulmate. I love you, Osc!