Hello readers! Welcome back!

Unfortunately, I have some very sad news. My sisters chicken, Twilight, passed away a few days ago.

Our neighbours dogs had managed to get into our yard, and Twilight and Snowflake were outside at the time. Twilight had lost quite a few feathers and seemed to be in shock. We thought she would make it since the wound didn’t seem to be to serious, but the shock went deeper.

Snowflake escaped without a scratch, since she flew up onto the chicken coop roof, but she is missing Twilight a lot, and walks around clucking and searching for her.

We are hoping to get another bantam chicken soon to keep her company, but she will still miss Twilight, and so will we.

Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog!

I’m sure you’ve noticed, it’s very nearly spring! Spring brings a lot of great things! (That rhymes by the way!) Flowers, baby animals, and warm sun!

But it also brings another not so great thing: Magpie nesting season! These black and white birds don’t normally bother with people during the other months, but once spring comes, the view just about anything that moves as a threat to their chicks! Including chickens!

Have you ever been swooped by a magpie before? It’s definitely not very nice! However, our chickens have been swooped almost constantly by these birds! As a result, when moving from bush to tree, they run, not walk. As soon as they see a magpie, even if they’re safe inside the coop, they’ll raise the alarm call!

Unfortunately, there’s not really much we can do to prevent these attacks. We do keep an eye on the chickens while they’re free ranging, and try to discourage the magpies from swooping by chasing them away, but it’s not really they’re fault. They’re just trying to protect their babies! But until magpie season is over, it’s best to take some precautions to avoid getting swooped. Walk quickly, don’t run underneath trees. Wear a hat with some sort of eyes, or tape some google eyes to the back of one to scare them away.

Here’s a picture of our chickens!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog!

Looking back over my old posts, I realised I haven’t done a post on my sisters budgie, Skye, in a while!

If you read back over my old posts of Sky, you will notice I (mistakenly) called him a her. Oops. Moving on….

In case you’ve forgotten what Sky looks like, here is a picture:

As you can see, he has changed quite a lot! Recently, we went up to Buderim for my Dads birthday, and we brought Sky with us!

He seemed to like the audiobook we played in the car, and chatted along happily with it!

Now I’m sure that after reading about this darling feathered friend, you want to go rushing of to the shops to get your own budgie! (Well, I did anyway!) But there are many things to consider before making a hasty purchase. Firstly, do you have any other pets that could stress your bird?

Secondly, it’s best to purchase a cage and food before getting a budgie! (Okay, I know that’s pretty obvious!) It is ideal for the cage to be big enough for your bird to fly around in. Otherwise, you may want to consider letting your bird stretch its wings in the garage or house. (Just make sure to cover all glass and mirrors)

Thirdly, most human food is not suitable for budgies. (Chips, chocolate, etc.) trust me though, more often then not your bird will want a nibble of whatever your eating!

Fourthly, (is that a proper word?) If you want a friendly, tame budgie that will sit on your shoulder, it is best to buy a hand raised budgie. These can be a fair bit more expensive, so it’s a good idea to look at sites like Gumtree for a cheaper deal.

And finally, and this is very important, it’s best not to give mirrors or reflective objects to your budgie. It makes them talk happily at there reflection for awhile, but they never get a response. You would be a much nicer companion for your bird!

Her are a lot more things to know about getting a budgie, so I advise getting some books from the library about budgie keeping, but I hope I’ve covered the basics.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I’ll finish of with a few more photos of Sky!

See you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog! As you might have read in my post New Pets, we got new fish! And…. we got another one!

Unfortunately, he is nameless. My older sister cannot decide on a name for him! If you have any ideas, please let me know in the comments!

Anyway, here is a picture of him! ( He’s a Siamese fighting fish)

He’s a very pretty turquoise/aqua colour, as you can see in the photo!

Okay, onto my next subject: slime! To some people, slime isn’t that appealing. Mums don’t tend to love it as it gets stuck in the carpet…

(And hair!) But slime making is very enjoyable! Especially when you make fluffy slime! So here is a recipe for fluffy slime below, as well as a list of ingredients you need!

Fluffy slime!

Ingredients: glue, borax, (wear gloves when handling this as it isn’t very good for your skin!) food colouring, scent. (optional)

Get a medium sized bowl and place it somewhere easy to clean up. Pour around half a cup of glue, or as much as how big you want your slime to be. Get a small container and add some water to the borax, until it’s dissolved. Add it teaspoon at a time, stirring continually. When it starts to clump, don’t add any more. Just mix, mix, mix! Add the shaving cream and/or scent and colouring. Then knead it on a clean surface. If it’s still a little sticky, that’s fine. Knead it a bit longer, then play! Remember to clean up afterwards!

Here’s a picture of the slimes my sister and I made:

The second one was a bit more liquidey than the first…

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! And welcome back to my blog! And yes. We got new pets. Are you really that surprised? These are not the furry kind of pets though. I’ll give you a hint: They have scales and swim and.. I’m sure you must have guessed by now!

We got fish! Five of them! Three of which belong to my younger sister, one of which belongs to my younger brother and the other of which belongs to me. ( I said “of which” too many times..)

The first fish we will mention is Jewel. He is a blue Siamese fighting fish. And..um.. there’s only so much you can say about a fish..

Here is a picture of him! He lives by himself because they are called fighting fish for obvious reasons….

The next fish we will mention is…Speckles! She/he (does anyone know how to tell the gender of a fish?) is a orange fish with black and white speckles. I will try to take a photo but he/she like to hide in the plants so…..

If you look closely, you may be able to see a tip of another fish’s tail. That is Sunset! She/he (that is getting annoying now!) is a orangey fish! With no speckles. Here is a photo of Sunset. ⬇️

Sorry it’s super blurry and Speckles is photobombing, because Sunset would not stand still. I mean, swim still. But that doesn’t make sense…..

Next up we have Silver! Silver is an erm…silverish fish. Not the most creative name, I know. Silver is a fat fish. Here is a photo:

Sorry, Silver was in a active mood as well…

And last, but certainly not least, is Crystal, my fish. And she/he is the most beautiful fish that ever lived on this earth and will ever live. Wow, that’s a lot of italics…. here is a picture of Crystal, the most beautiful fish that ever-ok I won’t go through all that again…

Isn’t she beautiful?!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post, and I’ll see you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers!

Welcome back to my blog! As you may know, my last post was on painting ideas! So I though it would be a good idea to follow up with some drawing ideas, as well as some tips that helped me! Read on…

1. Draw still life

I know this sounds boring, but it doesn’t have to be! Find the most interesting/weird object and draw it! Draw anything that catches your eye!

2. Draw using something you don’t usually draw with

This one is as simple as drawing with a pen instead of a pencil! Or you could get a little more adventurous and try charcoal, or watercolour pencils! Who knows, you might find you like drawing with coloured pens more than a pencil!

3. Draw using a photo

This is fun! Grab your fave photo, or use a picture online and draw it! You don’t have to copy it exactly though. Make it your own! And if it doesn’t turn out looking perfect, or like the picture you chose, don’t worry! Those things just make it look more special! Try and turn your mistakes into masterpieces!

4. Recreate a drawing from a few years ago

This is interesting to see how your drawing style has changed! Go look in all your old scrapbooks, find a drawing you like, then redraw it! You may be surprised to find how you have improved!

3. Draw blindfolded

For this one, you don’t technically need to be blindfolded. Just close your eyes and try to draw something without looking at the paper! Then open your eyes and laugh at the results!

5. Draw without taking your pen/pencil off the page

Grab your pen/pencil, place it on the paper, and draw something without lifting it off! No cheating! If your hand gets sore, (which it will!) just rest it on the page. Remember, don’t lift it up!

6. Draw with your bad hand

Try drawing with your left hand if you are right handed, and vice versa if you are left handed. Then, copy the drawing with your good hand! Compare the results.

Ok! I hope you enjoyed these drawing ideas! But maybe you’ve been thinking, “I can’t use these ideas, I can’t even draw!” So that’s why I’ve included some tips to help! I’m not a drawing expert,, but here are some tips that helped me…

1. Draw with shapes

Before trying to draw something, try to break it down into simple shapes. Once’s you’ve gotten that down, go over those shapes, rub out the lines, and add detail. This is very helpful when trying to draw something big and/or complicated. Take it one shape at a time! 😃

2. Draw every day

You can’t get good at drawing unless you practice it regularly! It’s fine if you don’t have enough time to do it every day. Try every second day, or whenever you can. Slowly but surely, your drawings will improve!

3. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes!

Mistakes are progress! Accept them. Sometimes your drawings will look better because of them!

I hope you enjoyed these drawings ideas/tips! If you are interested in learning how to draw, look in your library or bookstore for how to draw books! Soon you will be drawing like a pro!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Since I normally do a post on our (many!) pets, I decided to do something different his time! So today I will give some painting inspiration!

I’m sure you have all tried painting at one time or another. But there are those days when you just can seem to think of anything to paint. So, if you are looking for some new ideas, read ahead!

1. Abstract painting

This is very fun to do! Basically, all you do is get a whole lot of paint and slap it onto the paper! (Don’t literally slap it though! 😆) this works very well with bright paint and a palette knife, but if you don’t have one, (I don’t!) just use a paintbrush. Experiment with different tools! Make wavy lines with a fork, or even do some finger painting!

2. Splatter painting

Also extremely fun! Actually, when is painting not fun?! 😄 this works well with a dry, stiff brush. A toothbrush does the job! Just be careful with the paint! We still have evidence on our art room roof of splatter painting! Load up your brush with paint, then use your finger to flick the paint, (preferably onto your canvas!) repeat as desired! Here’s a fun idea: lay a stencil on your paper, or cut your desired shape out of a another piece of paper and lay it on top of your original piece, then splatter the paint on the paper. The paint will show through the hole but nowhere else! Lift it up and behold your beautiful artwork!

3. Paint the other half of a photo

This one is slightly more difficult, but worth it! Download and print a picture of your choice, ( it’s best not to start with something to detailed) preferably something that is similar on both sides, for example, a face. Then cut away half. Stick the remaining half (or whatever half you choose to use) onto a piece of paper, then attempt to paint the other half!

4. (Almost) black & white

This is an eye catching style, especially if you use bold colours, etc. red. Using greys, whites, and black, paint a picture almost entirely in those shades. Then pick your focus point, or the place where you want people to look, and paint it in a bright colour! Or paint the bright colour first and then the black and white.

5. Nature painting

This is a good one to do on a sunny day. Go outide and pick an assortment of leaves, flowers, or anything flat really! ( it’s best to use objects that are quite big) Lay them on your paper, then paint them! Then, stamp them on your piece of paper. Press them down, then peel of to reveal your prints!

Well, I hope these ideas will have you pulling out your paintbrushes and paints again! Please let me know in the comments if you tried any of these ideas, and how they turned out!

Jocey xoxo 🎨

Hello readers! Welcome to my blog! Today I will be doing part 2 of the guinea pig manor!

Today I will be interviewing Butterscotch, Winter, and Pirate ( AKA the Dude’s!) about their new home!

Me: So, what do you think about the New Guinea pig mansion?

Butterscotch: It’s very warm and cozy and there’s lots of space to play! Hey, Pirate, do you wanna play?

Pirate: Shushhh Butterscotch! This is an interview! We are supposed to be well behaved! Wait, why are you writing this down?

Me: Ok, Winter, what do you think?

Winter: I can smell carrot! Yum! I love carrot! Where is the carrot?

Me: Pirate?

Pirate: It’s great! Apart from when Winter steals all the carrot!

Winter: I didn’t steal all of it! Besides, I was hungry!

Pirate: I was hungry too you know!

Butterscotch: Guys! Stop fighting! We can share the carrot!

Winter: you can talk! You ate a whole carrot yesterday!

Butterscotch: Well….

Me: this is going well…

Since that didn’t go too well, I will interview Misty and Snowfall about their house!

Me: So what do you two think about the guinea pig manor?

Misty: It’s very spacious! And we have a great view!

Me: Great! Snowfall, what do you think?

Snowfall: Nibble nibble

Me: sorry, she was eating! Snowfall?

Snowfall: It’s great! Apart from when Mimi and Mayas door was left open and they ran all over the yard and went under the manor!

Me: Don’t remind me….It took ages to catch them!

Mimi: Well, what do you expect? We wanted some freedom!

Maya: And I could smell grass!

Me: hey, you guys, you’re not supposed to be in the interview!

Never mind…..

Well, I hoped you enjoyed the interviews! Here are some photos of the guinea pigs accomodation!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll see you soon!

Jocey xoxo

Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog!

I’m sure you all know that the restrictions are easing! Yay! 😃

We have had some very exciting renovations going on. But not in our house! We have had a cubby house since we were very young.

And since we haven’t been using it so much…

Our grandfather converted it into a guinea pig mansion! 😁

It has three storeys/cages and lots of space for keeping guinea pig essentials! ( food, hay, food dishes)

The guinea pigs currently enjoying their new accomodation are:

Mimi, Maya, and Star in one cage,

Pirate, Winter, and Butterscotch ( Also known as The Dudes!) in another,

And Misty and Snowfall in the last one! ( They haven’t moved in yet though)

You can find a description of all of these guinea pigs in some of my other blogs!

The guinea pigs are very satisfied with their new home! Here I interview Maya, ( one of the fussiest guinea pigs!) about her cage.

Me: So, Maya, what do you think about your new cage?

Maya: It’s very warm and dry, unlike my old cage, and it has a lovely view! We aren’t being fed caviar yet though, which is disappointing…

Me: Do you even know what caviar is?

Maya: I always thought it was some kind of cabbage….

Me: It’s actually fish eggs…..but we’re getting off the subject!

Maya: I thought the subject was food?

Me: *sigh* okay, what do the Mimi and Star think of the new cage?

Maya: How would I know?

Me: Um..you live with them?!

Maya: I try to avoid eye contact as much as possible. Otherwise they could faint from my beauty!

Me: Well, have they said anything about it?

Maya: I heard Mimi saying something about how she was hungry…

Me: You’re getting off the subject again…..

Maya: This is the subject!

Me: *big sigh* Have you got anything else to say?

Maya: Yes. If any of the readers want a picture of me, they can ask in the comments.

Me: I meant about the-nevermind….

I hope you enjoyed this post! Next week I’ll include some pictures of the guinea pig house and interview Pirate, Winter, and Butterscotch. (Aka the Dudes!)

Jocey xoxo

Ps. Maya said to remind the readers if they want a photo of her they can ask in the comments… 😆

Hello readers!

Welcome back! As you know, there has been a virus going around..and everyone is being bored out of their brains…

So this will have a list of boredom busters that will (hopefully!) get you off the couch!

1. Write a story! Set yourself a challenge and try to finish it before the virus finishes! You can even try your hand at some illustrations!

2. Challenge yourself! Learn how to draw, how to knit, or something else you’ve always wanted to try! Make a list of challenges and then get going! There are plenty videos out there that can show you how to do just about anything!

3. Go for a walk! This might seem like an obvious one, or a little boring, but trust me! It’s surprising how much entertainment you can get while just having a change of scenery! If you have a camera, bring it along and see what pictures you can get! If you don’t have a camera, your phone will do just as well 😉

4. Do some gardening! Maybe you’ve tried gardening before, but your garden just got slowly forgottten..(this has happened to me numerous times!) then now is the time to get motivated and plant some seeds! It’s amazing the satisfaction you gain raising those tiny shoots!

5. Write a letter! In this era of emails and text messaging, a simple letter can mean the world to someone! It doesn’t have to be long, just a few sentences! And even better, you get a letter back!

6. Have a pyjama day! Spend your day in pyjamas in bed with a big ‘ol bowl of popcorn and Netflix! You deserve it! 😉

7. Have a camp out in your backyard! If you didn’t get to camping recently, or your plans were disrupted by the virus, this is your chance to still have some fun..in your own backyard! Set up the tent, roll out the sleeping bags, and enjoy your backyard like you never have before!

8. Write a diary! This is a great way to record your thoughts and feelings, especially in a time like this! And when you look back, you might be surprised at what has changed!

9. Catch up with friends through Skype! Skype is an app that is being used for many online interactions, and just because you cant go to your friends house, this is one way you can still have fun together!

10. Have a board game day! If you don’t have any board games at home, there are apps you can get where you can still play the board game, on your screen!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this list of boredom busters! Hopefully you can have fun even though your stuck in the house!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll hopefully see you soon!

Jocey xoxo