How did it become May already?

I swear, I post and think that I'm going to be SO MUCH BETTER about posting more often.

And then I turn around and it is months later.

Let's see, since January I've set up a small fish tank, had my birthday, went to Vegas (I'd never been there before, it was interesting), enrolled in an Editing Certification class, and started Guitar Lessons.

I still knit and spin. In fact, I knit a small cashmere shawl for the owner of my local yarn store as a test for some yarn that she wanted to see if she liked enough to carry. The answer was it's lovely cashmere, lovely to work with, far less obnoxious that a lot of cashmere, BUT... it's way WAY too expensive and most people will not be willing to pay $80 - $160 to make a shawl.

I've got a hat that I am currently working on and I love that. However, since I'm also back doing schoolwork, the hat and my spinning do not get as much time as I might like to dedicate to them.

The bird is still doing well. She's nearly 2 years old now! She knows how to high-five and wave. She will give kisses when asked (if she is feeling inclined) and is still willing to pick up balls or rings and bring them to me when asked (most of the time.)

We are working on flight control. At 2 years old, she is physically capable of flight, and when startled will fly across the house. However, she does not have a lot of confidence in flying shorter distances when not startled. So we work on that.

She both loves it and hates it when I work from home since it means that she can see me and we can talk, but she doesn't get my undivided attention like she thinks she should.

The fish tank is a nice little thing. I've kept fish off and on since I was very very VERY young. This time I really wanted a tank that would work better, so I started up with plants. I've got about 10 different varieties of plants in there. I've got a lot of slower growing plants like Telanthera, Chain Swords, Dwarf Vallisneria, El Nino Ferns, and two different sizes of Anubias Nana, several different types of cryptocorenes, and a fast growing Water Sprite plant (which is now 3 plants because I've planted cuttings.)

After getting plants in it, I added tiny freshwater shrimp and while that's been a bit rocky, I've still got a couple of shrimp in there. My very first shrimp is still alive and exploring. I am fighting against green string (hair) algae, which is infuriating, but not uncommon in a fish tank, sadly. I've added a couple of Japanese Blue Double-Sword-Tail Guppies (they are beautiful), and I plan to add a couple of Amano shrimp and more guppies in the future. It's just a 10 gallon tank, so I can't go nuts.

It is doing far better than my last tank, when I was in high school. That was the last tank when I really didn't know what I was doing and listened to all the wrong people. That one culminated in me wanting to set up a community tank with peaceful fish, and being sold very non-peaceful fish after I had the beginnings of the community going. Trust me when I say that before you buy any fish, do some research on them. It won't hurt the tank to be without fish for an extra week or two while you research and find out what those fish are REALLY like. My little guppies are like tiny, fish-puppies. I already have them trained somewhat to come over to where I want them to eat. I tap on the glass a couple of times and they both come charging over to see what I'm going to feed them this time.