Live for today: What a busy day!

This is probably going to be a long and picture-filled post! Today was wonderful. Due to bad weather last night I ended up staying one more day at my dad's (and what wonderful timing that bad weather had! -lol-) He wasn't feeling well this morning so I made him some toast, and then we both went out christmas shopping together. We got a little bit done and had a smoothie (I got something with mango in it. I had to ask them not to add extra sugar or anything. Why do they always look at me funny when I say that?)

I then came back to my apartment in the busy city (bummer) and set to work on making macaroni and cheese for tomorrow night's dinner. We're all going over to my grandparents' place because we're not yet sure if they'll be joining us for the actual christmas dinner. My grandpa has been in and out of the hospital lately for this, that, and the other. Hopefully, we'll be seeing them for two christmas dinners *knock on wood*. I took pictures because I've always wanted to make home-made mac n' cheese, and this was my first go at it. :)

The ingredients (I tried to make it as healhty as possible, but its for carnivorous junk food eaters ... what can ya do?)

The before and after!

I probably won't be able to eat much myself (lactose intolerance) but I'm sure everyone else will like it. Here's hoping. *crosses fingers*

I also got an aloe vera plant today. I was reading about them not too long ago and noticed that my dad has a big one in the yard that no one really pays attention to. It inspired me to go out and rescue my own little aloe plant. I took pictures of that, too. *wink*

While I was re-potting the little guy, I noticed that my peace lilly *huggles* was starting to come back. That poor plant has gone through such a rough time. I went away for a while and it got neglected by the boyfriend*sideways glare*. Most of the plant died, but I put it outside to get more sun and continued to water it. Tonight, it had come back enough for me to trim away the excess and reveal the beautiful new plant underneath!

I love that about plants - you literally trim away the bad branches to make the plant better overall. People are just like this, though we don't often realize it. Plants are so wonderful. They're so full of life and happiness, and they really teach you how to "be." Just for enjoyment now, I'll show you the rest of my green family:

My devil's ivy - golden variety

My poor, poor spider plant which is recovering from root rot (due to my own ignorance). Trust me, it looks a hundred times better than it did...

My two GORGEOUS snake plants. These were a gift for someone for no other reason than the fact that I was nice to them, and I mentioned I wanted some. I like to think of them as friends. :)

This little thingy has popped up in one of the snake plants. I'm not sure if its part of the snake plant (I don't know if they flower or not) or if its something else altogether, but who am I to tell it to find another home? 'An it harm none, do what ye will' right? So unless the snake plant starts to suffer, it can stay. :)

And finally, I cleaned the rabbit cage tonight. It gets cleaned every other night so its not any big deal, but I can't resist putting up some photos of the bunny. His name is Onigiri (It means 'riceball' in Japanese) and he was abandoned outside of where I work, in a shoe box. He was sick with digestive issues at the time. Several vet bills later he is now a happy, healthy bunny. Oni is a 100% raw foodist who enjoys dark, leafy greens and an occasional baby carrot. He gets fruit bits from time to time, but the previous owners did such a number on his digestive system (apparently they fed him nothing but carrots - so high in sugar! - and lettuce) that now he has a very specific diet. It's ok, Oni, so do I. ;)

Helping, or hindering the cleaning process? You decide.