Stephanie

The pet shop in Taupo is worth popping in for a look. 33b Oruanui Street, Taupo, New Zealand. Steve, who owns it, breeds some of the biggest best looking swordtails i've ever seen. He often has amazing looking guppies also. There's a lot of the standard fish you get elsewhere but quite often there's some little hidden gems in there. I miss it being my LFS!

For some reason i'm watching CNN, quite surprised that people are actually shocked about Whitney Houston dying young. The Grammys will be interesting.

Ha. I instantly thought of the people (adults?) still trying to camp out at the Occupy protests. Occupy a job or a hobby. Good start.

Cute! I love platy fry! They have to be my favourite, so little and fat!

I found jars. Bought 8. Turns out I only needed 4...might have to make blueberry jam, oh no! Lunch time!

Mini passionfruit cakes - they were delicious and spongy! I baked mini carrot cakes, learnt how to get the icing right, made pesto, hollaindaise sauce, french toast, eggs bene, berry crumble, mini pizzas and creamy mushroom sauce. Oh the joys of working in a cafe and having to learn a whole new menu haha. However, it's nice being able to try out new recipes and getting to sample the finished product before messing up my own kitchen! I need to find someone who will bake for me because it's just not the same now. You're welcome to come to my house and bake muffins if you wish haha. Today i'm on a mission to find some small jars because I have a huge (shopping bag size!) bag of overripe strawberries from the market specifically for jam making, and two punnets to eat all by myself. Yum! And my blueberry bush is producing fruit like crazy, and even my raspberries are making a late appearance. Oooh the great organic berry glut of 2012, I am so happy!

Hahaha, I think you're weird and I like fish and metal! I went through that school several years before you and I decided to get a Halle Berry haircut and dye it blue black. I listened to a lot of metal. Hello "gothic lesbian" for a year. :sml1: 6 years after I left I was managing one of the bars and I got numbers given to me from the "cool, hot gangsta" guys who would have been horrible if I had actually listened to them in school. It was awfully disturbing and highly amusing at the same time. A few years down the track it's fun running in to people are realising you're not so weird. I can't believe I just browsed about 10 pages of this thread in case I missed anything. :smln: Must be time for a nana nap after a hard day of baking. :yaw2:

Wouldn't you have been a toddler when that came out? :lol: I was in my prime, my friends and I used to have huge fights over who got to be which Spice Girl, I always wanted to be Scary but I always had to be Sporty. It was so complicated being 8. The What's Up thread has become a bit heavy going in the last few pages. Back to planting veges!

Oh you are my favourite! :sml1:

I was just about to post this! Haha. So cute!

I bought some random plants from Animates the other day and I threw them in my tank to test it, they appear to have gained roots and grown a bit already! So now i'll try another type, grow them a bit, and repeat. Everytime I go and buy heaps of plants at once they end up looking all messy and I feel like they don't grow so I neglect them, so i'm going to see what works and what doesn't instead of getting annoyed when one type dies on me! So at this rate ill have a fully planted tank in about a year hahah.

I'd be very sad having mine removed. Ew CPR vomit made me feel ill. I've had to use my amazing first aid skills on a man with a massive head wound a couple of years ago. That was really fun being totally grossed out by blood. On a happy note i'm so obsessed with gardening now that i'm even considering planting my tank finally.

My dog did the same, would casually wee inside and then not toilet when I put him in the right spot! You could try the training pads and the drops you can buy (Houseproud or something?). They were a bit hit and miss with mine but i've heard good reviews! I think it's all about repetition. It'll take awhile. I would feed mine and then take him straight outside, he'd still have a few accidents but one day he just kind of got it and for the last two years he'll still go first thing after every meal. You'll get there!

Yes! Start boxing, it's cheaper than therapy and works instantly! Makes me happy. Moved my fish on Sunday, moved again! Can't keep still. Platy gave birth in the bucket within half an hour, put mother fish in a breeding net, turns out she's still full of fry and one of the other fish is responsible and I keep finding the tiniest platy fry to date all through my tank! My 6 fish have turned in to 80 fish. Woke up on Monday morning to check they'd settled in alright, and realised that during my stressful weekend (which included losing my beautiful 17 year old cat and a lot of tears) that i'd forgotten to turn the heater and filter on. :facepalm: Lots of very unhappy wee fish half an hour before I was due at work. Only lost one which is better than the whole lot I guess. Still sad. So yes, punching bags are sweet!

Forget brine shrimp for platies and load them up on microworms and crushed flake. That's all I feed mine and they're pretty huge now at 2 months. A month ago I thought they weren't growing much but I find after 4-6 weeks they have a huge growth spurt!

My only advice is give him a name that you like when you shorten it, because that will no doubt be the one you always end up calling it by (I just saw post in the "What's Up" thread). My dog Rod is actually (Alex) Rodriguez, and I thought that was such a cute name, but too annoying to say everytime I call him! It's good when he's being terrible though!

I want to see pictures! I found a massive weta the other day! I was scared until I thought about it as just a big grasshopper. Insects are awesome! :bounce:

Exciting afternoon in Auckland. I saw a lady get her handbag snatched when I finished work and grabbed the guys rego number as they drove off, spent 2 hours at Howick police station because I had to give a statement. Told the cop I would enjoy a high speed chase, we were both sad it didn't happen ha ha. But the guy was on a crime spree and they found him. May have to go and identify him. Utter madness! Why do things always happen when you've had the busiest day ever and all you wanna do is get home and have a beer in the sun? :nilly: Now i'm going dress shopping so i'm very happy.

So i've been growing the same clump of java moss for a year now, grows like crazy, but just tonight I noticed this red algae like stuff on it. It's a fairly bright browny/red, i've never seen it before. Not too stressed about it because the moss is really healthy looking otherwise and it's only there for saving platy fry. I tried to take photos but they don't really show it. It almost looks like the little leaves are red and it's not so much like an algae covering. Any ideas?

I believe you are correct.

I have been to the Te Awamutu shop once before and I loved it! All the animals look healthy, pretty good selection of fish, friendly staff and they had super cute dog things too which was a bonus!

I'm excited for you!! Yay puppy! :thup:

He barked because the big boom noises must have sounded like someone knocking on the door or something. He actually likes watching them from a distance. Weirdo. But this a dog that barks and runs to the door when someone rings the doorbell on TV. We don't even have a doorbell. :facepalm: I just left the cats to it, after 16 years the older one is pretty much over it (and a bit deaf), she just goes to her happy place. I just worry that her little old heart will give in or something because each year they seem to get louder. Or maybe I just get older and more irritable?

My dog barked like crazy, and now he's just lying on the couch looking at me with his 'when will it end?' face. My 16 year old cat has taken to hiding under the couch. As much as I LOOOOVE fireworks I think they should ban sales and just do big public displays.

Saw people arriving at the neighbours with fireworks so i'm about to go and hunt my cats down and keep them inside all night and cross my fingers my dog doesn't go crazy. This is the one weekend of the year I cannot stand!