Well that new year certainly crept up faster than I anticipated! I hope everyone's Christmas was jolly and they made a bunch of New Years resolutions to break in three months. My holiday was spent kicking my feet up and enjoying the last week of December at home, relaxing and purging a lot of my house hold items. I've just got to a point that I want to de-clutter even though I still have a TON of items. It's so amazing how much you accumulate over the years! My goal is to downsize on quite a bit of furniture and replace some others this year. Since I repainted my living room, I want to get a whole new look, but bills kept attacking the wallet so it really prevented a lot of getting what I wanted. In two months, that will be alllll over with and I can start saving again. wooHOO! Such a happy feeling to be debt free. Part of an ongoing resolution has been to be more diligent with my budget. It's so easy to get away with over spending and lately I've just come to the conclusion that all this stuff is just that... stuff. Honestly, when the Waldo Canyon fire was going on I did a little video detailing all the items I had. I was left thinking that, aside my cats, computer, and WETA LOTR sculptures, I really didn't care about anything else. It all could have burned to ash and replacing them would have been a cinch. I think I've just hit a point where materialism has lost all real appeal to me. I allowed myself to get wrapped up in it and in the end it doesn't really mean anything to me. I'd rather be spending that cash going and seeing somewhere new and exciting.



So around last November after tossing a great deal of junk from my office, I decided to investigate reptiles. I've really wanted one bad for the last three years now, always worrying whether or not I'd have the money or time for it, and have been researching quite heavily into what would be compatible with my schedule. I've always been a fan of geckos but as I did more homework on them I wasn't sure if I'd be able to meet their humidity needs. So I ended up looking at bearded dragons instead. As long as I was able to find an adult, they seemed perfect! Imagine my surprise when I discovered a coworkers son was interested in selling his. So just a week ago last Saturday, I went and brought him home. Meet Hermies!




He's such a little PEACH! This little guy hasn't even undergone much relocation stress and has let me handle him, bath him, and feed him on a regular basis just about every day since I brought him home. He did get a little agitated the first day, he black bearded and puffed himself all up when he saw his reflection in the glass. I ended up having to cover part of the vivarium so he'd stop. But other than that day, he's wanted to be held and generally lets me know when he wants out. Right now he's shedding and kind of rubbing himself all over everything. I think some of his old skin wasn't shed properly on his nose but I think the baths will help with that! More images below and at my imgur page: