The past several days have not been very good... I lost both Teddy and Templeton to pneumonia less than 2 days apart...

It started really suddenly. I take the boys out every day and didn't notice any wheezing, etc. Tuesday evening Templeton's appetite was fine. He was wrestling with Emile on the bed like usual. Wednesday when I came home from work late afternoon Templeton has porphyrin all over his nose, and he had pee all over his belly. He was lethargic too. Teddy also had a bit of porphyrin around his nose, but not as much as Templeton. Thursday morning when I woke up Teddy was having a hard time breathing, he kept gasping. Templeton was also sucking in his sides and having a tough time breathing. I called my vet as soon as they opened.


We actually ended up taking them in a little earlier than their appointment because Templeton had seized up and panicked and his little nose and back feet turned blueish. The vet gave them both Baytril injections and Dexamethsone to help with the inflammation from pneumonia.... how in the world did they come down with pneumonia so fast? He also gave them Cipro antibiotics to take home.

We also picked up a nebulizer machine that my Mom lent us, with some Abuterol to try and ease their breathing. That evening after the vet though Teddy was still gasping a lot. He ended up passing away 5 hours after his vet visit... Templeton was upset. The other boys Emile & Remy lay down next to Teddy with their ears back, after he passed away. I always try to let them say goodbye.


Templeton didn't seem quite as bad. We were doing everything we could think of. He didn't want to eat or drink on his own. But he would lick water or pedilyte, ensure off our fingers. We kept pushing baby food and nutritional paste to see if he would eat it. He would only really take a full drink on his own twice a day...

Thursday night I kept Templeton in a carrier next to the bed. He hated to be in and would start to panic at first. So Friday when I had to go to work, we left him on the bed curled up in my comforter and my husband kept watch over him. Friday evening he cuddled with me on a heating pad and started chattering while I pet him. He drank a long drink of water, and he had some carrot cake icing that he actually got excited about and had two little spoonfuls of.



His breathing was still labored and he was very lethargic... but we were hoping as long as we were getting bits of food/water/meds down him that he would be okay. Late that evening (early Saturday morning) he started having issues with his back legs, they were slipping when he was walking. I was trying to wipe his nose off and he was trying to scoot off when his whole body seized up and went limp. He started gasping for air like Teddy had done... and then my Templeton was gone... my buddy was gone... ♥

You were the only male rat that ever gave me kisses all over my nose, the only rat that would ever use my arm as your pillow when I was reading in bed. The rat who loved to lay on his back a lot when he was younger...I always wanted to name one of my rats Templeton... you were my buddy... you were my heart rat... ♥





More videos of Templeton:

For my birthday I really wanted French Macaroons again. I was planning on going downtown to Miel Patisserie in Philadelphia during Labor Day weekend, right before my birthday on the 4th... but I forgot Philadelphia was having the 'Made in America' concert for two days straight. So downtown would have been crazy, the trains would have been mobbed... I don't do crowds. I get claustrophobic.

So since I was planning on spending a certain amount on French Macaroons anyway, I just decided I would order online from Macaron Cafe in New York City. I used a 10% off coupon too! (MAC10). They only have one shipping option, overnight shipping. It was $17 to Philadelphia, but since this was a birthday splurge it was worth it. (Sometimes you have to spoil yourself!)

 
I liked that you can customize your box with any of the flavors available. Most online places have set flavors. And the prices are pretty reasonable, the smallest box is only $16. (Compared to when I was looking online on Amazon and they wanted to charge $30 for 6 macaroons... what the heck?!)

Being a splurge I ordered the largest box of 24 French Macaroons. I ordered two of each flavor (so hubby can share too!) of: Dark Chocolate, Vanilla, Pistachio, Raspberry, Mocha, Peanut Butter, Caramel, Coconut, Strawberry Rhubarb, Nutella, Espresso, Chocolate Raspberry.

When they arrived, they were packed in a box and the gift box was within a thermal bubble envelope with ice packs. The macaroons themselves were in a special plastic separator tray inside the gift box, so none of them got crushed or broken during shipping! The gift box is nice too, it came with a pink ribbon. I'm going to keep it to put makeup or nail polish in after they are all gone!

They are so pretty! French Macaroons are normally pretty. These ones had shimmer & edible gold shimmer on some of the flavors. And of course they are so good! So far I've tried chocolate, raspberry & pistachio. Pistachio is my favorite so far. (I liked pistachio at Miel Patisserie too).


*This was purchased by myself. I am not associated with Macaron Cafe.

I have some catching up to do! Molly & Willow joined our rat family last Saturday. A birthday gift to myself. They are just little babies. I would guess about 2 months old.

Molly is black capped with a white blaze. We noticed she's missing the tip of her left ear also. Molly is smaller than Willow, but chubbier.

Willow we think is a hooded blue. (I say think, because she's molting a bit growing into her coat and sometimes her coat looks a little cocoa). I think she might just be darker blue, like Daisy was. Willow is... very adventurous, lol. (I think she's going to be feisty like our other new girl Toffee!)


 

I finally got Zoya Carter from the 2013 Winter Collection! It's the only one that stood out to me, because of the royal purple color. When I got it yesterday though I was surprised, in the bottle it almost reminded me of Zoya Roxy, it has a lot of pink sparkles. I was afraid it would look too pink on my nails, but with 3 coats it definitely looks more purple, than it does in the bottle. Thank goodness! It's so pretty!






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I was excited to try out my other Messy Mansion stamping plate, MM06. I tried the damask pattern this time. It's a little tricky to center on the nail, but I still think they turned out pretty.

I used China Glaze Flying Dragon for my base. I got a mini bottle on eBay. I'm glad I did get a mini and not a full size, because it takes longer than usual to dry, even with Seche Vite fast dry topcoat. I did 3 thin coats.

I've never had a problem with China Glaze's formula before... but this one was tricky to work with. It's a royal purple color with blue & pink micro glitter. It dries gritty & matte, so you need a topcoat to make it shiny. I stamped with Maybelline Color Show Metallic's in Bold Gold.






Disclosure: The products above were purchased with my own money. I was not asked to blog about them.

P.S. I also did a little video showing how I paint my nails. Mostly because I get asked a lot how do I keep my nails so neat when painting. It's not really a tutorial, it was mainly to show people after painting my nails for 3 years straight every 1-2 weeks, I've developed a steady hand- so it is rare that I ever have to do more than swipe of a q-tip if I do get paint on my skin.

Now.... the only exception to that is doing a gradient or stamping... those are messy and you will get paint on your skin, I do! I don't have a tripod, so I balanced my camera on a book, lol. There's no sound... but you get the idea!