Tortoise Times

Two blog posts in one day? Whaaaa?!

Yep! I realized I hadn't written on here about my new scaly addition, as well as I haven't updated on how doing the reptile parties is going!

To start off, ever since I was really little I've been fascinated and in love with animals of all shapes and sizes and types; from lizards to birds to cats and dogs. Nothing is off limits. So it was an obvious thing that one of my favourite places to visit in the world was the Vancouver Aquarium a few hours from where I grew up. They are an amazing facility and I love visiting there often even now.

Well the Vancouver Aquarium not only has lots and lots of fish and marine life but they also have an Amazonian/Tropical exhibit where they have all types of insects and animals from the tropical rainforests of Brazil and surrounding countries. It's fantastic! The HUUUUUGE fish right as you walk in the door scare the crap out of me, but the rest is awesome, lol.

As you enter this exhibit you walk through a door into a mini rainforest and it's humid and smells like earth and animals and sounds like you're surrounded by life! It's the best.

Here, in this exhibit, is the first time I'd ever seen a Tortoise of any type in person; ever since then I have loved these animals and been just amazed at them and everything about them. I didn't know back then, or most of my life, that you could actually keep tortoises as pets; I thought that they were animals that only zoos or rescues or private sanctuaries could keep.

Then 3 years ago when we moved to Alberta and I got my first reptile, I started researching not only geckos, but all types of reptiles and scaly beasties. This is when I found out that tortoises were actually quite popular as pets, although not as popular as other reptiles (and definitely not as popular as a cat or dog ;) ).

For the next couple of years I spent a lot of time researching and discovering the different tortoise species that were common in the pet trade as well as the specific care that each species needs. This would give me the knowledge I needed to make an informed decision on which species would be best for me, and that I would enjoy the most while being able to care for 100% properly.

Now that's where Morla came in!

Morla is a Red Foot, Cherry Head Tortoise and she is about 1-2 years old according to her previous owner. She is amazing and beautiful and is basically like a dream come true, since I've wanted one of these guys my whole life!

This specific species of tortoise only gets to be about 14" long, and so they stay quite small compared to a lot of tortoise. Morla could live up to 80 years old, and so I'll be an old lady by the time she is too! We will grow old together :)

Now, Morla may be absolutely adorable and you might think you want a tortoise now, because why wouldn't you? Look at her face!

But these guys are a huge commitment and are a lot of responsibility to take on.

An adult Red Foot needs at least an 8'x4' enclosure once they're full grown; most people house their tortoises in home made vivariums or tortoise tables. They take up a lot of room!

Also, they have very specific diets (they need greens, vegetables, fruit, protein, and most of this is hard to find and not common in most grocery stores).

Their humidity needs are high. They come from rainforests in Columbia and so imagine where they come from in the wild and you need to re-create that environment at home for them to be healthy and thrive.

They are fantastic creatures though and I wouldn't give this girl up for the world!

Morla recently came along with me to her very first reptile party presentation! She got to make a little girl's birthday. :D Speaking of Edmonton Reptile Parties, it's been great. :) It's amazing to bring our animals to show children who normally wouldn't be able to see all of these reptiles up close, and have a chance to touch them! I love to teach kids that these guys aren't something to be scared of, they are something to love (just like a cat or a dog). 

So that's, that. Just thought I'd quickly introduce my new member of our family since she is the cutest thing evar.

~Kayla

Long Time no Haul

So it's been a while again since I've written a blog post, sorry about that!

I have come with gifts! (well, at least for me, ha)

My lovely Mother-in-law was out visiting for 5 days, left yesterday, and we made a trip out to West Edmonton Mall on Monday! While we were there we stopped in at Sephora and MAC (of course, can't go to a mall and not go to those stores now!) I had some things I wanted to pick up so I made it quick and didn't have to torture Cathy while I just browsed. :P

Here are some items I picked up and what I think of them so far!

This is the Clear Improvement: Active Charcoal Mask to Clear Pores by Origins (as you can see, ha).

I tried this the night that I bought it and after first use I'm impressed! My best friend raved about charcoal skin care products that she is loving right now and I found this one, it had awesome reviews online, so I decided to try it out.

It's super easy to apply and use; you just smooth it over your face (you can put more than one layer on), let it dry out (it feels a bit burn-y as you do this, but that's how you know it's working! Feels like mint on your face), and then you wash it off!

After rinsing this stuff off I moisturized my face (as it is a bit drying), and then just went about my night. A couple of hours later I re-assessed and my breakouts that I have right now had all been dried up by the mask!

Some of the reviews that I read about this product were that it's amazing to get rid of and deal with hormonal acne breakouts, which is why I wanted to try it. So far I'm impressed and I can see it working like a charm if I use this mask a couple times a week. ^_^

The next product that I picked up (which was at one of those body jewelry booths in the mall), is Holey Butt'r!! This stuff is like the holy grail in the ear stretching world and I've known about this stuff since before I got my first piercings or tattoos, back when I was probably 15.

I have my ears stretched up to 1 gauge right now, and I've never really taken care of them like I should (oops). Whenever I order jewelry off of bodyartforms.com I always forget to order the stuff and so when I saw the tins at the booth in the mall yesterday, I had to get some!

I have used the balm twice so far, and am incorporating it in to my bed time routine now when I wash my face and such (so that I don't forget), and I'm really loving it so far!

You just take a tiny bit and massage it in to your ear lobes (take your plugs out and massage it in to the inner part of the piercing), and that's that! After two times of using this stuff I absolutely love it, and I can't see myself not having it in the future. It makes your ears super soft and even after two times, I can feel it loosening up my ears already. I wanted to get it to help loosen up my ears as they are really tight, no matter how long I wait between stretching up a size.

Happy customer with that!

 My next two products that I picked up at the mall were from MAC.

I went to MAC because I wanted to see if they had a nice mint coloured eyeshadow, which I was disappointed to find out that they didn't have.

While there I decided to pick up an eyeshadow similar to what I was looking for, as well as their black gel eyeliner to try out.

I haven't tried the eyeliner yet but I'm super excited to, and I'm sure it's going to be amazing. It looks creamy and super black so I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

As for the eyeshadow, even though it's not the mint colour I was wanting, it is still super gorgeous!

The eyeshadow is a really pretty greenish blue that is super shimmery and I can't wait to try it out too!

I love MAC eyeshadow as it's a great quality eyeshadow but it's not my go-to. I do love the colours that I have though and it's great quality so I do love it.

I'm not a huge fan of the colour blue, so I'm hoping this colour looks good on me!

It's definitely not the mint I was looking for though, boo. :(

But that's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next post or video! I'm hoping to film a video soon but I'm not sure on what, although maybe I'll give you all a little tour of my makeup collection! ^_^

~Kayla (in mall adventure makeup)

S.A.D

It's been a while since I posted last! Sorry about that folks.

I'm not sure if you all know this but I battle with anxiety every day, and depression on and off, and have for as long as I can remember. I've never gotten help for it and I don't really feel the need to other than talking to friends and family.

Well, there is something called S.A.D- Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is basically where in the winter months people will get depressed because of the lack of sunshine and the less daylight. Simple explanation.

I get this bad. I hate winter... especially in this stupid Province where it seems to be winter 90% of the year. There is no fall or spring, there is just winter and summer..........

So in the winter time if it's a darker, more dreary day, I have absolutely no motivation to do anything. Once it gets dark at night (at like 4pm...) I just feel like I want to go to sleep or just sit around and be a blob. My motivation goes from ok, to non-existent in the winter and my procrastination levels rise dramatically. Not sure how that's possible.

Unfortunately, it doesn't help when it is damn cold here and there is tons of snow on the ground and I don't want to go outside ever. I hate cold. Cabin fever is a real thing people.

The past few months I've also been battling being sick. I had 2 colds back to back starting around September 29th and I didn't start feeling back to normal and better until mid November. I still have a cough sometimes throughout the day and my lungs don't feel great. I should probably go to the doctor because for all I know I had pneumonia or something...

Christmas is also coming up, which means we're stressing out about money even more so than we do usually. Ugh.

Anyways, just thought I'd write a short post to explain why I haven't been posting lately and say hi to all of you lovely folks. :)

Here is a picture of Michael and I all happy and dressed up after his work Christmas party. :3

~Kayla

Remembrance

For some, it's just a regular day of the week that they wear a poppy for reasons they've never really thought about; for others, it's a day of heart break and painful memories.

Remembrance Day is a day that as Canadians we celebrate annually to be respectful and remember those that have fallen in any of the wars that we have fought in, in the past. For some, it is personal.

My grandparents have never talked to us about war-time Scotland or Canada but I've heard stories and I've learned about family members killed and survived; my spouse and love of my life served in Afghanistan and came home with invisible scars from it.

Scotland during WW2 was a scary place and my grandparents experienced what I can only imagine as being fearful for their lives. Blackouts and bomb shelters and losing loved ones; I can only be thankful that they made it through and that they made it to Canada afterwards.

I used to be one of those people, before I met Michael, who would attend Remembrance Day ceremonies at school and feel nothing. My heart and mind would be elsewhere, just thankful for the opportunity to be out of class for an hour.

After I met Michael and he finished his tour overseas everything seemed to change; when I think of his time over in the sandbox, or I think about my families involvement in previous wars, it's painful. I think about all those that lost loved ones in the past and the people that have lost people they loved so recently. My heart breaks for them.

I remember the one Remembrance Day ceremony that I attended alone when Mike was in Afghanistan; he had only been there for a month at that time. It was a cold fall day and I stood by the cenotaph in Chilliwack surrounded by families and friends and veterans and strangers.

I felt so alone standing in that place surrounded by people.

Silently standing there, thinking about when I would next hear from Mike, I had to hold back tears for the whole ceremony. When they played the last post I nearly burst in to tears, I couldn't contain myself. Not only was I afraid for Michael's life but I finally felt something when I thought about those who never returned home from wars years before I was even born.

My soldier returned home, and I was thankful.

Gratefully and respectfully, ever since Michael's tour I attend a Remembrance Day ceremony not just out of habit or obligation but out of mourning and support. I may not have lost someone but there are those that have, and I remember so that maybe others may not have to.

I read something yesterday that made a lot of sense. We are slowly losing the generations that were there during these wars; WW1 vets aren't around anymore and WW2 vets won't be around for long. We have to remember them so that our children won't have to go through what they did.

~Kayla

Scariest Night of the Year!

Halloween! Oh how I love thee.

Growing up, and still, I love and enjoy all movies that the master and creator Tim Burtons directs. The Nightmare before Christmas will always been one of my top favourites and inspires me with my artwork and my creative process. So it'd be a bit silly if Halloween wasn't my favourite holiday, like, of all.

I have always loved getting dressed up for Halloween and getting my makeup done by my Dad, trying to be the coolest and scariest creature out there on that dark night. Candy was just a plus as dressing up was the highlight of the night!

Carving pumpkins with my Dad and Brothers was always the best, and I loved collecting every seed to roast and enjoy later.

Every year Halloween gets me excited like a little girl again, even at 25 when I sure as heck can't go trick or treating anymore, ha. But like I said, dressing up was the best part, not just the candy!

Sadly and unfortunately, ever since I moved out and became a full-fledged "adult" (*cough* never think I'll really act fully like an adult, ha) we have not been dressing up for Halloween and the 3 years we've been living in Alberta we haven't decorated our house either, not even put pumpkins on the front steps. So sad!

The thing that has saved that feeling of excitement for me, even if we don't dress up or decorate, is getting to see the excitement and joy on my Son's face. Even if trick or treating last year was scary going to stranger's doors, getting candy was the best part for him! That made it fun for us.

This year we're staying home, carving pumpkins tonight, and tomorrow on Halloween Mason will be trick or treating and I will be dressing up, even partially.

Here is how I practiced my makeup yesterday, although I didn't do a very good job on some of it. I'm going to be a dummy (like a ventriloquist doll) and tease my hair out majorly and be all awesome, ha. I don't care if I'm not going to a party with adults, I'm dressing up damn it!

Sadly we didn't decorate the house again this year, but I'm going to plan and go all out next year! I don't care where we are (if we've moved back to BC yet) or what!

Oh, also it's our 3 year anniversary of moving to Alberta tomorrow!

3 years ago tomorrow we got the keys to our house.... craziness. Time flies, eh?

Now, let me know what types of traditions your family has on Halloween? What is your favourite part about the holiday? What types of things do you like to dress up as? Comment on this blog post on go to my Facebook page and comment there!

~Kayla

Scaly Adventure!

Lizards and Snakes and Geckos, oh my!

Ever since I quit my job at the Edmonton Humane Society almost 2 years ago I have wanted to do SOMEthing while also being a stay at home Mom. I am just not the type of person that can just sit around and do nothing all the time; or the type of person that just sits around taking care of the house and child. Not fun. Nope.

For the past year I've been doing some stuff with direct sales, but it hasn't really taken off as I hoped that it would. I just think I haven't really been that motivated to be successful in that type of "work".

Surprisingly, just recently a friend of mine approached me with the thought about applying to do these parties in Edmonton. What kind of parties you ask? Reptile Parties of course!

Edmonton Reptile Parties is a business that operates in Edmonton (duh) and they have people that go out and do birthday parties and educational presentations for schools and such with Reptiles, Amphibians, Arachnids, etc.

So this friend of mine wanted to do these parties with me so that together we would have enough animals to do the presentations. I was super excited because a few months back I got wind that Reptile Parties was hiring and wanted to do it, but I didn't have enough variety in the species I had on my own!

Galadriel, my fairly new Butter Stripe Corn Snake, is going to be one of the animals that I'll be using to do presentations with Reptile Parties. Since she is new to me I won't be allowing the kids to touch her just yet but she is super calm and will be a great presentation animal I believe. Once she is more used to me, and I know her really well, I'll start letting the kids touch and handle her. :)

She is super gorgeous and I think she'll be popular since she is so brightly coloured and has those super pink eyes!

Corn Snakes are also super popular pet Snakes and are really easy to keep so I think Corns will be a good one to suggest to any children wanting to get their own Reptile.

Another one of my animals that will be visiting the children with me will be my Crested Gecko, Enya! She is generally super calm, and is a really pretty girl. 

Enya is my only gecko that has sticky feet (and hence can climb walls and ceilings, etc) so that is always a great novelty with anyone as well! Crested Geckos are also super, super soft and velvety feeling which usually surprises people that aren't really used to the scaly babies.

Gaia will definitely be doing this with me! She is my first reptile ever and is super calm and chill and doesn't mind being handled by lots of little hands. I've taken her to multiple ERAS (Edmonton Reptile and Amphibian Society) events where she was held by a bunch of people and she did great! Of course afterwards you always should give your reptiles a break from handling after days like that.

The other guys I'll be bringing along with me are Draco, my African Fat-tailed Gecko, and Vlad, my Mexican Rosy Boa. Vlad won't be held by the kids at first since I don't know him well enough yet, but I'm sure he'll be good being touched. He's super pudgy and soft so I think that'll amuse anyone!

I'm super excited to do these reptile parties as I've always really loved educating people on reptiles, and their care and personalities, etc. Children always seem to be extremely curious and welcoming of these unusual pets and animals and I just love to see the looks on their faces when they get to touch or hold a reptile for the first time ever! It's just awesome. :)

This is a paying job, of course, and so that also makes me happy that I'll be able to bring in some extra money, even if it's not a ton. It'll also get me out of the house, which is exciting! Since winter has arrived, pretty much, I usually don't leave the house much to be outside and so getting out with this will be great. I might even be able to bring Mason along with me sometimes where he can be my little helper. :) I think he'd enjoy that!

Once we move back to BC maybe I'll even be able to start up another branch of Reptile Parties in the Lower Mainland, that'd be pretty awesome. :D

In the mean time, I'm super excited to start teaching littles about these awesome animals!!

~Kayla

It's a Hard Knock Life

Being a Mom is hard.

Being a Military Spouse is hard.

Being a Military Spouse AND a Mom is draining.

Following the events that happened in Ottawa that happened yesterday morning I wanted to write a blog post about what it is like to be a Military Spouse, before and after having our Son. No I am not going to write about what I think about the whole situation from yesterday; it was extremely unfortunate and my heart hurts now... that is all.

Michael and I started dating when we were both 19 years old and I had just come out of a rough relationship with my ex, as well as he had with his ex. We couldn't have met each other at a more perfect time or hit it off even better than we did; we had an instant connection. After about two weeks of hanging out, talking, and getting to know each other Mike officially asked me out; it's been 6 years since that day.

At first I was brand new to the Military Girlfriend "scene" and had a lot to learn; we were also both scared that the other would leave us if Mike went away on training, etc. I had just come out of a relationship where I was cheated on multiple times, and Michael had just come out of a relationship where the girl left him while he was on the other side of the Country for a month, he was also cheated on by her.

So yeah, we were both broken at that point... but that's ok, because we were going to put each other back together.

2 months after we started dating Mike went away for the first long amount of time... for a month on exercise. It felt like a year to me since I had never done this before! Once Mike got home our friend Neil and I met up with Michael at a Starbucks in town right after Mike got back in to town. It was so awkward and was like we were meeting each other again for the first time! I had major butterflies and I just didn't know what to say or do.

I can say I still get that feeling 6 years later when Mike gets home after being away. I hope that feeling continues to happen forever.

A couple of months after we celebrated our 1 year anniversary Michael deployed to Afghanistan for a 7 month tour of duty. I was a wreck. We would go 3 weeks, even a month at time, without talking to each other at all and then when we did talk we'd have a 15 minute satellite phone conversation where it was just guaranteed to cut out before we were able to say goodbye. It was horrible. Every single day I cried when I went to bed; every single day I worried that he wouldn't make it home.

But he did.

7 months later I was waiting at the airport with Mike's Mom, Step Mom, and Sister. I was SO nervous and the butterflies in my stomach were making me feel like I was going to be sick. I didn't know what I was going to say or do when he showed up; I didn't know if I would know him anymore.

I was shaking and felt sick and it felt like an eternity for his plane to offload, and of course he was one of the last people to leave the plane.

The second that Mike walked off that plane and I saw him it was like nothing else mattered. I don't remember anything except that my butterflies were gone in that instant and all I felt was extreme joy and happiness and relief and love! I just wanted to hug him and never let him go.

THAT is what makes this all worth it.... is that feeling.

Being a "single Mom" while Michael is away, for a week or months at a time, is all worth it even though it may be the hardest thing in the world. The love you feel when you see your Soldier after any sort of separation is what makes ALL of this worth it.

People that ask us how we do it, or why we are with someone that is away all of the time, must not understand love. If they did, they wouldn't ask those questions.

Even though I sometimes want to give up this lifestyle, like now, I know that once we do I'll miss it. I'll miss the understanding that comes along with talking to another Spouse that has been through what you have.... "civilian" couples just don't understand. I will miss the camaraderie that I see in Michael and his co-workers. I will miss that uniform. ;)

I will always be thankful that this journey with the Military in our lives has made us so much stronger as a couple and as a family. We have something that most people can only dream of and I know that we can do anything after doing this!

~Kayla