Piggie Love

The story of how I became a Piggie Mama and Agatha and Sybill came to be sisters. 

Shortly after I moved into my place last year, the reality of living alone kicked in. But more than that, what sucked most, was not having any fur-babies to keep me company. As I live in an apartment block, I would have to go through an application process to have either a dog or cat. Not a major drama, but it requires filling out forms and getting approval from the other residents - too much for my impatient self. So what did I do? As any sane, animal loving, 20-something does, I got a guinea pig.

Meet Agatha... the MOST spoilt guinea pig in all the world.

Baby Agatha - she was approx. 6months old here, the day I got her.

People thought I was mad - what grown woman has a pet guinea pig? Guinea pigs are for kids... But I disagree. These little creatures are one of the cleverest out and Agatha fast became the love of my life. Corny, I know. When I'm home, she's never far from me. I love the softness of her fur, the little licks she gives when having cuddles and the squeaks she makes when I open the fridge door. Something my best friend, Emma, insists Agatha is acutely aware of... It is true, madam only ever squeaks when it is ME who opens the door! Told you they were smart. 

When I'm crafting, Agatha spends her time snuggled up on my desk in her snuggie...

We celebrate having her favourite treat of strawberry tops...

We enjoy afternoons on the patio knitting... 

But when I'm not home, she's alone, spending most of her time sleeping in her tunnel...

Guinea pigs are herd animals and need company. While Agatha is very much loved and has every treat imaginable, nothing can replace the companionship of another piggie.  Soooo this guinea pig mama got a major case of the guilts. How could I deprive my dear little piggie, who brings me so much love and happiness, of a friend? I couldn't.

I was determined to get my next piggie from a rescue/shelter. (Agatha, dare I say it, was a shop bought piggie - NEVER again!). So we looked - I say 'we' because I Agatha sat on my lap every time I searched online - and read many piggie profiles. It was seriously like online dating for guinea pigs!

First port of call was the RSPCA. There were often piggies available, but they were either at distant shelters or male piggies (not gonna happen!). Then finally one weekend there was a baby girl available at my local shelter... problem was, by the time I got there, she was already adopted. The following weekend I checked the site again. Three new baby piggies had arrived, 2 girls and a boy. So off I went, very excited that Agatha would FINALLY have a sister. When I got to the shelter, all ready to adopt, the attendant regretfully advised me that they had mis-sexed the piggies and ALL of them were male. My second visit with no second piggie to love...

By this stage I was feeling a little disheartened. But my stubbornness would not give in. I wanted a sister for Agatha and I wanted another piggie to love. That's when I stumbled across the wonderful guinea pig shelter, The Cavy Cottage. I gave them a call. Yes they did have a couple of baby girl piggies for adoption and yes, I could visit them that afternoon. Yippee!!! So off I went.

The staff were SO lovely and helpful. I first held a baby pig about 6months old, who was very sweet.  Full of character and confidence, yes, she would do well with Agatha. But then the lady brought out Sybill. Darling, baby Sybill. She was two weeks old. Abandoned during the cold snap down in NSW. The titchiest piggie I have ever seen! She had my heart instantly.

The introduction went much better than expected. Agatha shared her food happily and even allowed Sybill to snuggle for a bit.

Baby Sybill arrives home. 

Agatha is still adjusting to having a friend, and will occasionally give Sybill a little nip - more to show dominance than inflict harm. But every so often, I will catch her snuggling up to Sybill, being all protective and big sister-like. Then she'll realise I've seen her and literally kick Sybill away. Poor Sybill. 

And bath time with two piggies is always entertaining!

However, night time snuggles are the best. In my opinion it's one of the best ways to spend a cold winter's night - piggie snuggles, a hot cup of tea and a good book. 

Happy Sunday All!

H xxx

PS More can be found on Agatha's Instagram page - @adventures_of_agatha X

Give Me Back My Week!

Gah! Where has this week gone? I can't believe I'm already at the end of my first week of holidays. It has just flown by. While I have not been nearly half as creative as I would like this week, I have managed to tick a number of things off my to-do list. Like...

> Going to the dentist - for the first time in ahhhh 3yrs?!?! *Insert shameful face here* I swear, I didn't realise it had been that long!!! As one would expect, I have to go back next week for a filling (or 2)

> Having an eye test - as usual, my eyesight has worsened in the last 12months. But the optometrist did have a super sale on frames - cue new 'casual' glasses :)

> Finally getting myself to the post-office to post my 'important' documents - i.e. birthday card for my sponsor child in Nepal.

> Completing my citizenship application... I think after 22yrs it is time I officially made Australia home.

> Spending the past two days in a (compulsory) first aid training course... learning skills I already hold a degree in and educate people at work on. Go figure. But I did learn a new sling technique, so it wasn't all pointless.

So now that I've made a dent in my to-do list, I fully intend to get stuck into my creating and will hopefully have something to share throughout the week. Right now, however, I am spending my Friday night watching Bridget Jones while knitting a baby gift and wishing my Mr Darcy would soon appear. However, before you think I'm a total saddo, I do have plans for my actual weekend, which include GOING OUT and socialising. Yes. Hold on to your seats peeps, you read that right. I am going out. On a Saturday night. Like a NORMAL 20-something. Ha! Just give me a minute to claw my way out of all my balls of wool and switch the kettle off. And maybe trade the fluffy socks for heels - we'll see, it is winter.

H xxx

New Start, Take 2

I have been meaning to get back to blogging for a while now. I even put reminders into my phone! I have thought of what to write over and over again. Yet I just couldn’t get it together. I use the excuse that life has been busy, but that’s just silly. Life is ALWAYS busy! I’d be worried if it wasn’t. So why am I so slack? I don’t really know. But it’s not just in the blogging sphere. I get lazy with soooooo many things.

At the end of my shift each day I get this wonderful feeling of excitement that I’m going to go home and do so much; scrapping, quilting, writing, errands, exercise – you name it, I intend to do it. But somewhere along the 12km drive (yes! Only 12km) from work to home I lose my excitement and by the time the key turns in the door I’m done. All I can muster the enthusiasm for is to make a cup of tea and sit on the sofa with a good book or surfing the internet. Then I spend an unmentionable amount of time wildly pinning things to my Pinterest boards and stalking my favourite bloggers for ‘inspiration’.

So here I am. Finally sitting down to write… and where am I doing this? Where has the inspiration finally struck and willingness evolved? In a doctor’s waiting room, of all places. It’s rather bleak in here actually, so I don’t know what’s excited me... Actually, why is that? Why are doctors’ waiting rooms always so blergh? It’s the same generic décor – old 90’s office chairs with faded watercolour oil paintings on the wall. Or if you’re really lucky, it’ll be cane furniture and artificial flowers that look like they’ve come off the set of the Golden Girls. Anyway, I digress… I very much doubt you want to sit and read about my thoughts on doctors’ waiting rooms, back to the point at hand.

As with previous years, this year I did not set myself any new year’s resolutions. Instead, I set myself some personal goals and aspirations – regularly blogging was indeed one of them, clearly I’ve excelled at that, ha! These were goals for all areas of my life. Personal, health, career, hobbies, social – everything. But here we are, half way through the year and what have I ticked off that list? Very little. Which sucks. It sucks big time. For me, the less I achieve in something, the less I have enthusiasm. Some people have the all or nothing attitude for winning and getting the job done. I on the other hand have the all or nothing attitude for losing. As in “I’ve stuffed up this much, I may as well just pack it all in”. This is something I’ve struggled with from the very beginning of my existence. Try as I might to keep positive and focused, it just doesn’t happen…

But now I am facing three lovely weeks of holidays, with no set plans and no set commitments. Exciting right? You betcha!!! Now is the time I’m going to cross off those goals on my list, starting with this little ol’ blog. So here’s to another new start and reaching my potential.

H x

Ps This was posted after my appointment... clearly I wasn't at the GP at 10:30pm on a Sunday night!

Pps Just so you know that I haven’t been completely useless the past 2yrs, here are a few scrap pages to enjoy!

Naughty or Nice?

Yes I know Christmas is still four months away, but today I ordered two new buddies...

I am so excited! These guys are going to join me on my European adventure this Christmas. The saying "can't wait" is a massive understatement.

Meanwhile, some baby love is happening over on the photo blog.

H x

Melbourne Calling

Hello!

Just stopping by to quickly share some pics from my recent trip to Melbourne over the Queen's Birthday long weekend. My lovely cousins, Mel and Ruben (aka Mr & Mrs Marshall) and I headed down south to celebrate the engagement of our cousin Melissa and her fiancé Rajay. I didn't take many photos at the party - it was just so lovely to have some much needed family time!

However, I certainly made up for that when Mel, Ruben and I went exploring for the rest of the weekend. Oh how I love Melbourne! I love the lane-ways, the architecture, the culture, the food and the shopping! Mel and Ruben were very accommodating models and posed without complaint whenever I asked (literally every 2 seconds).

  Yeah! Totally the cutest couple, ever!!!

H x x x 

Ahem, May I Return? Please?

After an almost 2 year hiatus from this blog, I have decided to return. I don't really know why I let this fall to the wayside. I initially started this blog for my crafting and, I guess, I got busy with life and in turn wasn't crafting as much. But I am back! And hopefully, to stay.

Just over a year ago, I launched my photography company - Helene Pallot Photography - and I'm slowly building clientele. I love the joy I get from being behind the camera. No matter what type of day I'm having, if I pick up my camera, I will find the beauty in life and inevitably my frown will be turned upside down. I love being able to capture and cherish a moment in time - whether that be my own or that of a stranger. Setting up the company and trying to get myself "out there" has taken a lot of time and effort. A lot of questioning and wondering. But I know with a lot of determination, hard work and faith, I will get to where I want to be.

Since joining Studio Calico's monthly scrapbooking kits back in October, I have found my love for scrapbooking more than ever. I adore the monthly box of inspiration and ease of putting a layout together. Now that I don't have a local store, having a kit with everything co-ordinated for me is heaven! I'm not sure about you, but I absolutely hate trying to match card stock with paper online! "Yes, that 'pistachio' card stock will totally match my new Dear Lizzy paper..." only to find that the 'pistachio' is actually 'olive' and will NOT match. Yes, I'm VERY grateful for monthly kits.

So, with a new look, new name and new start, I hope to revive this little blog and renew my online creative outlet.H x x x

MIA...

Hello! Sorry for being MIA for the past ten weeks... Eeeeek! Did I just say ten weeks? That is very bad on my part... But I'm back now and promise to try harder to not leave it this long ever again. It has been a crazy time though. As usual, once school holidays arrived I ended up with another bout of tonsillitis - which this time pushed me over the edge. In what seemed like a whirlwind I ended up having them removed. Saw my GP on the Friday, saw specialist on the Tuesday, had surgery on the Thursday... I knew adult tonsillectomies are hard and require a longer recovery than kids, but I honestly was naive to the recovery. But it's done and I'm so happy that I will never have to worry about having the pain of tonsillitis EVER AGAIN!!!

But what else you ask? Surely recovering from a tonsillectomy doesn't take ten weeks? And no it doesn't. So what else...?

❃ This term has been super busy at school - I am so over school assignments, haha. 

❃ Also my sister and niece, Polly-Anna have been over from the Uk for the past month. While I haven't been able to spend as much time with them as I'd have liked to, it has been so great having them here! Nothing like girlie time ☺

❃ I also did a 'photo-shoot' for my friend Sarah's portfolio. We had such a great day! I was really happy with how the pics turned out, but then again things are always easy when you have such a beautiful subject as Sarah. ☺

❃ Having more playtime and photo sessions with Caitie - such a cutie!!!

❃ Lot's of shopping and coffee dates with my cousins and besties.

❃ I have also just started an online photography retreat with the fabulous Angie Baxter. I did her Love Your Camera course back in October last year and she was fabulous. Her course was such a confidence boost and was so easy to understand. I am loving this follow-on online course - Love Your Camera II. I highly recommend you checking her out, she is AMAZING!!!

Anyway, before I head off I will update you on my PAD pics... I must confess that of late I have struggled to keep up and was particularly slack when 'recovering' from my surgery - could have been something to do with the fact I didn't leave the house for two weeks, haha. Enjoy!

June 14th

I made this corsage from Elizabeth Kartchner's online classes over at Make Something Splendid.

June 17th

Yummy dessert when we went out for our end of term dinner.

June18th

Games night at one of my bestie's - so much fun!

June 23rd

Saw this at the video store and couldn't resist - hadn't had one since I was in highschool! 

June 30th

Drip when I had my surgery.

July 1st

Ice chips - my best friend during recovery.

July 6th

Dad working on our first 750 piece puzzle...

July 7th

Puzzle complete! Was so excited when we finished!

July 14th

First cup of tea in 2 weeks, after surgery. Found the pleasure in the small things ☺

July 15th

New Peter Alexander pj's, so comfy.

July 17th

Met up with Em for an afternoon at Southbank and this was the cute milk pot for my cuppa.

July 21st

Another hairdresser's appointment - another trip on the ferry. Brisbane truly is a beautiful city.

July 22nd

Cute puppies in the window at the pet shop - took all my will power not to buy one.

July 26th

Waiting to pick Em up from uni.

July 27th

Daddy's yummy scrambled egg on toast.

July 28th

This is a tree near work. I love how it adapted to the environment and grown AROUND the power lines. Nature is amazing!

July 30th

My baby girl, love her snuggles.

July 31st

Sunday lunch with parentals.


August 3rd

Went with Mon for lunch at James St Markets, yummiest gelati.

August 7th

Summah, Em and I went to the Eagle Farm Markets and had candy floss on a stick! 

August 8th

Gerbera from the markets.

August 9th

Jonquils from the markets, they smelt divine.

August 17th

Family games night - epic fail on my and Pol's part, haha.

August 19th

Currently reading this to help me RELAX and be more PATIENT.

August 23rd

Catch up with Melly - chocolate cheesecake.

H xxxxx