Oh, she's a crazy smart silly goofy thing

Sasha LOVES apples, doesn't love apple skin. I rarely give her a peeled apple, as I figure she'll get used to the peel and eventually eat it. (the peel is packed full of good-for-you, I want her to eat it!)

She has learned that the dogs will eat anything she drops. Anything. So, she nibbles her peel off her apple, drops it on the floor, and the dogs swoop in and eat the peel before she has a bite of naked apple in her mouth. This system works for them, and means I'm not picking up apple skin bits, but dangit, eat your peel, Sasha!

Also, she recently taught Andy how to play fetch, with her playing the role of the dog. Hilarious.

Our family is growing!

'why aren't you running away from me? how am I supposed to chase you if you don't run away?'

Another canine has been added to the mix I call my zoo! (Did you think I was going to say we were pregnant? Nope, no plans for that in the near future, quite possibly no plans for that ever again. But that's really a different subject altogether!)

JoJo (fka Sophie - it did not fit, and she did not answer to it), a 4 year old female boxer, came to live with us a week ago. She's not as mellow as Dasiy Mae, but Daisy Mae is eerily mellow, and JoJo has a much more dog-like personality. And, she and Daisy Mae have the same coloring. They could be twins. The twins like Arnie and Danny in the movie. Daisy Mae outweighs JoJo by about 20 pounds. And JoJo runs laps around Daisy Mae in the yard. That 20 pound gap will shrink some, I think, as Daisy Mae does some running!

Her previous family had too much going on, and needed to rehome her. I, apparently, don't have quite enough going on, so here we are, 1 mama, 1 daddy, 3 daughters, 3 cats, 2 canines. Oh, and the worms. I have my worms. I don't know how many, though. Maybe I'm a bad worm-mama.

Oh, and according to her previous family, she doesn't like cats. (because of that concern, she came over initially to see how she reacted, if she was not cool with the felines, she would've gone back for them to find a different home) Turns out JoJo and THEIR cat didn't get along. Might be because JoJo would chase their cat, and their cat would run. Mine looked at her like she was a mild annoyance, and mostly ignored her. After a week, she's figured out that it's okay, but her first few days here, she would try to get the cats to look at her, and it drove her crazy that they wouldn't. And the whole not running away from her thing, well that really freaked her out.

We're still adjusting to life with 2 dogs, but adjusting in a good way.

another year older

Last week I celebrated my golden birthday, and I'm excited to be beginning my fourth decade. :-)

My big birthday gift is a chicken coop. Don't have it yet, but it should be done when we get back from our Wisconsin trip, then I'll get me some hens!

And, once that happens, instead of paying to go to the zoo, I might just start selling tickets for people to come to our zoo! But I've been thinking about chickens for awhile, and I am very excited.

In other news, Andy (and the laptop) were in Arizona for 5 days. Andy (and the laptop) got back today. Andy (and the laptop) were sorely missed. Andy keeps asking if I'm done on the computer. I keep saying "almost," all the while thinking, 'dude, 5 days without the computer. f i v e d a y s. I've got some catching up to do. Oh, and honey, I missed you, too. I promise.' No really, I missed Andy much, much more than I missed the computer, of course. And I'm glad they are both back. :-)

check out how the wind is blowing Aubrey's hair. And how the wind ain't doing a thing to Lauren's 'fluffy bun.' Mama and the hairspray developed a very close relationship on recital day.

And here is Aubrey not dancing. Silly girl, cute costume.

If it worked, here's one of Lauren's recital performances. She's watching her teacher off stage, even though she knows the dance, and I'm pretty sure she was told "stay on the orange X."

Cute dogs!

Daisy Mae's cousins have entered a contest, and you know how these online voting contests go, right? So, here's Lily's page, and here's Grace's page. If you are so inclined, Daisy Mae, currently snoring on my kitchen rug, would appreciate your voting for either of Grace or Lily, or both! (Grace, Lily and their human parents would appreciate it, too!)

Oh, and Daisy Mae is not entering this contest. Either she knows she's too cute, and wants to give other doggies a chance, or she knows she's just too dang ugly to have a shot, and doesn't want to be embarassed. You can decide, because I'm not sure myself, and I live with her! :-)

October, so far

Phew, October's been busy. Okay, okay, 2009 has been busy, but really, lots has happened in 10 short days.

In the past 10 days:

~our cat L.B. went outside and didn't come back. She's 14. We're pretty sure she wandered off to die. I'm really sad, I miss her an awful lot. Especially at night, when she would normally cuddle up on my pillow. She managed to fit her entire body on the pillow next to my head without touching me at all. Oscar, her brother (from the same litter) misses her, too. They've never been apart. L.B. (short for Little Bit) is the calico one - Oscar doesn't share my pillow the way I share my pillow, as you can see.

~Sasha embraced that she is a Texan. Also, she started smiling and giggling.

~Sasha's went on her first picnic, and she slept right through it.

~my mom came to town. Her first visit to our home in Texas. She's the first grandparent to meet Sasha. We were all thoroughly spoiled. :-)

~we went to the pumpkin patch. Really, though, there's not a patch where you pick your pumpkins, but lots of fall activities, and loads of pumpkins in the barn to buy. Our favorite activity: painting pumpkins. The girls painted and painted and painted (and the paint took days to dry!).

~I made several trips to several animal shelters, and scoured craigslist. Still no L.B. (we're hopeful that she will come back, but realistic in that her nine lives are most likely up.) Visits to the shelter will resume again on Monday, though.

~after months of talking about it, and weeks of periodic searches, we found Daisy Mae and promptly fell in love. She is the best tempered dog I've ever met. Her family could no longer afford her, and after just over 24 hours with her, I know they must be in a really desperate situation, to give up an animal as awesome as Daisy Mae.

~I found the farmer's market. It's pretty small, but the variety was good considering there were only 4 vendors. As is my luck, next week is the last week of the market until spring, but one of the farmers lives maybe 15 minutes from me and grows all year long... I got his card and plan on making his farm part of my weekly shopping!

~Aubrey went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Not such a big deal, except this is the first b-day party since we've been in Texas, and I know none of her classmates and their parents. So, my mom, Sasha and I hung out at CEC's while Aubrey partied. I really liked the b-day girl's parents, and also the other mom from Aubrey's class that was there. And I hope that I don't need to go to too many parties at CEC's. Great for the kids, but sheesh, it's so loud in there. I could never work there.

on the hunt

When we were preparing to move, we budgeted, planned and worked at making things the way we want them to be - specifically, we wanted to be done with credit cards. We have mostly succeeded (hey, it takes time). Part of our plan was to, once we were credit card-free, upgrade our furnishings. We're mostly surrounded by remants from college, hand-me-downs from friends, and a handful of nice family pieces. The nice family pieces stay. The cupboard my grandma so lovingly painted, but that really is junk, held together with cigarette butts (I kid you not), well that's not going anywhere, either. We just use it very carefully. ;-)

So, our plan was to, bit by bit, bring in pieces that we love, that will last, that will suit us. So we currently sleep in dreamland, the girls' rooms are done (I need to take pictures!) and we were hoping to get our room done next. We got the mattress immediately, but we'd love to have dressers, a bedframe, you know, and feel all grown up.

Anyway, that plan to get a bedroom set in a month or two has taken a detour. Our cats (well, it was probably just one of them, but we don't know who, and they are safer with us not knowing!) decided that our living room furniture must go. Immediately. So, they peed on Andy's recliner. Now, this recliner is over 20 years old, and ugly as sin, but really, there was nothing wrong with it. We were all set to live with it for awhile longer. And then pass it on to someone else. Change that plan, because cat piss went deep into the ancient layers of this old recliner, making a thorough cleaning impossible. And, if you know cats, you know that once they pee somewhere, if they can still smell it - and their noses work better then ours - they will pee there again. So, the recliner went out to the curb.

That leaves us with a loveseat and a glider. Fortunately, the loveseat is leather, and the glider is some cheap micro fiber. Their attempts to have the glider extricated have failed (oh yes, they've tried - I've been able to clean that one well enough). And, they know not to mess with the loveseat.

All that to say that we are now in the market for some new furniture. Pretty much right now. Leather. (the cats cannot claw it and shred it the way they can with fabric, and, it is so kid friendly - wipe it off and it's clean) I imagine that a room full of leather is not very green of me, but weigh it against furniture covered in other materials that needs to be replaced much more often - because pets are, and will continue to be, a part of my life - and I'm thinking leather is the greenest choice for us.

And, those couches that recline, they are heavenly! Do you know how hard it is to find real leather couches that recline, that are otherwise super-duper comfy, especially when you live kinda in BFE, and are hoping to not spend more than you spent on your last car? This search is tough. We're trying to be patient. Really we are. In the meantime, if you come over for "movie night," we'll either pull out the dining room chairs or all cuddle up in our king size bed. :-)

In other news, there were 5 calls I needed to make this morning. I can only remember 3 of them. But all 5 were a priority. Crap. Oh, I just remembered 1 more. Woohoo.

37 weeks and counting

We are getting so excited over here. I think we've settled on a name (though I'm not ready to share yet), and her carseat should be delivered today. My birth kit arrived last week (the birth kit contains everything that the midwives need and want for delivering this baby here at home, plus an herbal bath that I couldn't resist!), and her moses basket is set up in front of my bedroom window, next to the shelf holding all her diapers and clothes. Oh, one package of disposable diapers are on their way - I use cloth, but the first few days after delivery, when we are all getting to know eachother, and all so exhausted, we'll use disposable so that I'm not over-working myself by doing too much laundry.

We're also getting kind of ansy (antsy?) over here. My body is nearing the end of it's rope, and causing me to act out of character... I'm showing the girls and Andy so much less patience then they deserve, and the girls might as well be under quarantine for my energy level is so low we spend most all day every day here, inside the house. (BTW - a mild cool front is headed our way later this week. We'll be 99' instead of 101'. I rolled my eyes when they actually called that a mild cool front - a 2 degree change can hardly be called a front.)

We've made a sign, and hung it above the moses basket, "We can't wait to meet you, Baby Name-yet-to-be-revealed!" The girls are constantly playing with their dolls and stuffed animals as their newly born babies (also, that they are new neighbors - inspiration is easy to come by!).

In all our baby preparation preoccupaton, one of our cats Oscar, has been losing weight. He and his sister, Little Bit, turned 14 on July 5th. We kind of figured, well, it's getting close to his time, we'll make sure he still always has access to food and water, but we began talking with the girls about him not being with us much longer. Well I feel like an idiot. True, his days are limited, but it took me quite awhile to figure out that he was losing weight because he couldn't eat, not because he wouldn't. Rather suddenly, the crunchy food he's been gobbling up happily for years is just too crunchy. So, once this realization hit me like a ton of bricks, he's been a much happier cat. Still skinner, but he was a 20lb cat - some wight loss is okay. We still have quite a bit of crunchy food, so I'm alternating serving canned food with the crunchy food soaked in chicken broth, and all 3 cats (Haley is the baby at 10 years old) seem happier.

Oh, and I have to say, previously I blogged about the steam mops, noting that the steamers were difficult to push along the floor. Well it turns out that using the mop on the tile is amazing - it glides really well, cleaning the floor so much faster then if I were on my hands and knees scrubbing it (something about the linoleum in the bathroom causes it to show so much resistance, I guess). So, while I still love my Eureka Envior Steamer so much more than the Shark, my criticism that the Shark commercial was incredibly misleading may have been too harsh - it's entirely possible that the Shark glides on tile the way the Eureka does. :-) And, I'm glad the linoleum is only in the bathrooms! I've yet to try the hardwood floor of my bedroom, maybe later today.

I stumbled upon this poem today, and while I plan on keeping it in mind those first few weeks postpartum, I think it's important to remind myself that 3 1/2 year olds don't keep, and nor do 7 year olds. Maybe cleaning my bedroom floor can wait, after all!

"Song for a Fifth Child."

Mother, oh Mother,

come shake out your cloth,

empty the dustpan,

poison the moth,

hang out the washing

and butter the bread,

sew on a button

and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house

is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery,

blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little

Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done

and there's nothing for stew

and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing

will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up,

as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs.

Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton~

Our buns

I firmly believe things happen for a reason. So, when, shortly after the bunny population grew dramatically at our house, my father-in-law said he wanted them and I thought that'd be great. We couldn't keep 6 bunnies, but they were all so happy together, the thought of seperating them was very sad. His plan seemed perfect, so I only rehomed the baby boy bunny (and I hear he loves his family and they love him!), and kept the 3 baby girls, mom and dad so they could go live with him in New Mexico.

About 2 weeks ago I discovered that maybe my father-in-law's offer had been made too quickly, and that he was still going to take the bunnies, but he didn't really want to. I had asked that he still take them and keep them until we'd been to visit at least once, and that was fine. Until we went to Green Meadows Petting Farm. Our guide was Farmer Mavis, the owner. You can tell how much she loves all the animals there, just listening to her talk about them. As we entered her Small Animal House, I suddenly had a thought. So, I talked with Mavis, and we decided that our bunny family might really enjoy living at Green Meadows. We took them yesterday, and they seem to love it there! We miss them, but they get to live together as a family, and will get loads of attention and love.

So, all that to say, I am so glad my father-in-law said he'd home the buns - they got to stay together until we happened upon the perfect home for them! :-) And, for any Wisconsinites - when you make a trip to Green Meadows, give Honey, Binky, Lilly, Lucy and Opal some love from us!

The buns

Here are mama and her babes, just before I seperated them. I think they knew it was coming, they rarely all huddled up together like this. But, mama had a successful surgery, and one more week of recovery time for her AND papa, and they can all be reuinited. Minus 'Blacky Raisin.' The little black baby was the only boy of the babies, and also Lauren's favorite, but I really couldn't drop $110 to have him fixed, so when my friend Rika wanted a bunny and fell in love with him, it was perfect. His real name is Flubby. A combination of Chubby and Fluffy - her boys couldn't agree so a compromise was reached.

So, as it stands, the light gray one is Lauren's, and her name is Lily Lilac. Aubrey's dark gray one (I can't tell them apart in the picture) is Lucy, and the remaining dark gray I'm calling Love Bug. We'd love to find Love Bug a home, but are willing to keep her if I don't feel like she would be given a great home, you know?

Oh, and I keep not taking pictures of papa. When they're all reunited I'll get some pictures of them together. This weekend he was doing some exploring of the loving room, and sniffing at Honey's (mama) cage. They were definitely communicating with eachother. I couldn't determine if it was "Oh, I've missed you!" or "Hey, you turd, thanks for knocking me up and leaving!" We'll see how reintroduction goes next week!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.....

I'm still here. Still battling my morning sickness. The zophran worked wonderfully for exactly two days, and then the side effects of tiredness and weakness were too much for me to handle, and so I sometimes take the zophran, sometimes don't, and go back and forth between feeling just barely okay and just barely alive. I'm about a week away from the end of my first trimester, and I'm hopeful that I'll be better soon!

The baby bunnies are still here. One (I hope two!) will go to his new home this weekend. I need to take more pictures. Mama gets fixed tomorrow, and the babies get sexed tomorrow, so we'll know what we're dealing with. And my online research said that typically the cost of fixing a rabbit is $50 to $75. So I was thinking, okay, not bad. But our vet, no, she charges $110 for a male, $125 for a female!!! I did not think it would be that much more then the typical.

Lauren turned 3 yesterday, and woke up with a fever, so her party that should've happend has been post-poned until next weekend. Which is fine with me - more time to think about her cake. :-) Also, more time for her to change her mind as to what she wants, but hey, that's okay with me. I try to decorate with mostly just frosting, anyway, so she could change her mind as I'm frosting it and (so long as I can kinda create what she's requesting) it's not too big of a deal.

Every once in awhile I come across an adorable project that I want to try someday. Now, whether I do actually try it or just imagine making it, well umm, there are lots of projects done in my head, let me tell you! And a handful of half-started bits here and there in real life. This is one that I hope I do follow through with someday - it's so cute, and the tutorial makes it seem really doable, despite the picture. Seriously, I saw the picture and said, "Crap. There's no way I could do that." Then I read the instructions, and I could do it, if I sat down and did it. So check out this peek-a-boo lampshade, and tell me it's not so cute and maybe, just maybe, a little doable! :-)

There's a chain restaurant up here, Egg Harbor Cafe. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. And they are BUSY. We got a gift card to go there for Christmas, so we took Lauren's Godmother Paula out Saturday morning. Mmmm. My food was amazing. For one simple reason. They have green chili. Seriously. I was a bit nervous, but decided to try their potato and egg skillet, topped with ham, cheese and green chilies. It was amazing. I was in heaven. The chili was mild, but had such great flavor. I could go there everyday. And, breakfast for 5 was about $36 - not bad, I thought.

~~~~~~~
This just in....

"Mommy, when I grow up I be Dora. D-d-d-d-d-dora. Dora Dora eenie meenie Dora."

But earlier this morning, she had plans to be The Little Red Hen when she grows up, and also maybe a gumball. We've also talked about being a pancake or ice cream cone or pizza. Umm, we really like food in this house. :-)

~~~~~~~~

Did you know that I can kick Andy's butt in Wii golf, even when I'm lounging on the loveseat? Even when Aubrey wants to try so I let her finish my turn and she hits it 20-some yards right into the hole? Aubrey beamed. I laughed. Andy cussed. And the Wii sat quiet the rest of the day.

And, my last little rambling for now.... every morning, and I mean every monring that we take Aubrey to school, I end up yelling at Lauren to get her shoes and coat on. WIthout fail. I hate it, but I don't know what else to do after I've asked her 6 times nicely to please get ready so Aubrey isn't late. Anyway, so unfortunately yelling happens here. This morning my neighbor called to see if she could take Aubrey to school since Lauren and I both are icky right now. So wouldn't you know it, Lauren comes around the corner with her shoes and coat on. I think tomorrow I will try to just say "Okay, let's get ready." and see how far that takes me, because it was so nice to not yell this morning.

A story....

First, my morning sickness has been out of control. Awful. Debilitating. For two weeks I’ve been under-eating, because of my lack of appetite combined with the 24/7 nausea. So my energy has been at zero. Poor Andy and the girls, they’ve been so great and patient. But, last night I filled a prescription for Zofran. A very powerful (and expensive!) anti-nausea drug. And I feel great. So great that I decided I better clean the rabbits’ cage. Poor rabbits haven’t had their cage cleaned for about 3 weeks.

Now we back up a bit…. Back in March of ’08 we adopted a beautiful albino Flemish giant rabbit from our local shelter. She’d been altered (aka fixed) and this poor thing needed a home. It was love at first sight. She came to live with us March 31st. We gave her as much love and attention as we could, but bunnies really like to be bonded to someone – usually another bunny, sometimes a pet cat, it varies.

Anyway, in the back of my head I was thinking about finding a buddy for Honey. Then, our neighbors adopted two new puppies. In October, maybe? Their bunny, a black dwarf male who has not been fixed, was seeking a buddy, too, and with the new puppies to take care of, we all thought maybe Honey and Binky should live together. It was a match made in heaven. They bonded immediately, and were quite the sight, a HUGE white bunny and an itty bitty black bunny. Oh, but the love was obvious. So was the lust. ;-)

Back to this morning….. so I’m using the shop-vac to vacuum up the bunny poop that inevitably misses the litter box. And out from their “cave” (bunnies, like most small animals like to have a darkish, quiet private space) hopes a little gray rat. Well, my first thought was rat, at least. But no, Honey and Binky are parents. To four adorable baby bunnies. How old are they? Umm, I’m not sure – but they all have fur – so they are more than a few days old.

So the shelter and I have been communicating as to what to do as far as getting Honey fixed – no word on what we’ll do with the babies yet. The woman on the phone was very nice but she kept saying, “No, but Honey was altered.” And I kept saying, “Yes, but she just had babies!” “Well are you sure she was the one to have them? The other bunny couldn’t possibly be a female and maybe she had them?” Umm, either way, the bunny that we thought had been fixed, hadn’t! But Honey is the mama – it’s obvious.

Alison thinks it’s hilarious that all this went down in our living room and we had no idea. I think it’s funny, too. I’m not sure Andy finds it so amusing. But that’s probably because he hasn’t had a chance to meet the little darlings. When he gets home tonight I bet he’ll fall in love quickly and then I’ll have to pry the little suckers out of his hands.

Ten things

Ten things I am doing right now instead of packing. Because I only leave for almost 2 weeks in 36 hours. I've got plenty of time to pack, don't you think?

1. blogging - obviously

2. trying to figure out the mystery of the vanishing ring. Seriously, a few weeks ago a ring Andy gave me (the only one besides my engagement ring and wedding band he's given me, so that you don't wrongly think he showers me in jewels) went missing, got found and then went missing approximately 1 day after being found. I am puzzled. also, about a month before it went missing, my wedding band vanished. for whatever reason, I'm not concerned about that one - I'm convinced it's in one of our vents, and until I feel like removing said (old, stuck really well) vent, I like to think it's safe. Same time that wedding band went missing, my favorite Lia Sophia ring up and vanished, too. Maybe there's a ghost hanging around that likes pretty rings. Couldn't be the 2 1/2 year old. Nope, not a chance.

3. making baby caps - did you see this post of mine?

4 down, 3 to go if I have a chance. Probably won't have that chance, but that's okay, because check out #4.

4. making receiving blankets - same project as the baby caps.
I loved making these. The blue flannel is an old bed sheet - nothing fancy, just sewed two pieces together. The other one is old receiving blankets (that were all too small for this project) cute and pieced together - my first try at quilting, and I LOVED it! The picture really can't do it justice.

5. taking pictures of gingerbread houses that may collapse (or be eaten) any day now, (please notice Aubrey's favorite part of the gingerbread house - the girl in the window. some of the candy has been disappearing each day, pretty soon we'll be able to make new frosting and attach new candy - the evolving gingerbread house

along with girls that have had way too much cake batter, and insist on sitting in plastic tubs while watching tv sideways. by the way, I thought about not washing the mixing bowl - she got it pretty dang clean!

an apron I made awhile back and never showed you,

and our two bunnys (please forgive the gross cage - they are hard to photograph, and my best chance was before I cleaned the cage - that little black turd of a rabbit is one messy dude - he pees EVERYWHERE (when I say everywhere, I mean even my curtains. ewwww. he's got distance, that's for sure!).

6. admiring Aubrey's artwork. I call it a leaf. she calls it her phone. Lauren insists that she made it at Ms. Col's, and that it's a leaf phone. Leaf, phone or leaf phone, it's beautiful and I love it!

7. making popcorn for snack time tomorrow

8. cleaning the kitchen. no, not really, but I should. see #9

9. making cake for work tomorrow because it's the 3rd Thursday of November (the popcorn snack is for 1st graders - Mr. R just might kill me if I sent cake to school (or, if I were a teacher and someone sent in cake for no good reason besides it being the 3rd Thursday of November I would kill). This cake is amazing - mandarin orange cake with pineapple frosting. I will share the recipe when I have more time.

10. not folding laundry. that's right, I am not folding laundry, and all my efforts to not fold laundry will prove quite unhelpful in my future plans of packing, so I figure it kinda fits in with this list. I am instead playing with these two sillies.

Okay, so maybe listing 10 things was kind of a stretch, but I am definitely not doing what I should be doing!

I will try to post bits of our adventure, but life may get in the way, we shall see. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

wascawy wabbits

Okay, trying to type the way Elmer Fudd talks is tough.

But my bunnies are CUTE!

Binky (the unaltered dwarf boy with apparent dependence issues) tends to freak out when Honey (the altered giant gal who likes some time to herself occasionally) isn't on the ground where he can see her. Twice today while they had free roam of the living room, Honey's feet left the ground, and each time Binky ran around rather frantically. The first time, I was holding Honey to give her some love. The second time, Honey jumped up on the loveseat. I think she did it to rile him up. She seemed amused watching him dart from here to there and back again. Both times, he instantly knew she was off the ground, even though Honey wasn't in his line of vision. Freaky. Obsessive freaky. I think Honey has a stalker.

I've been so inspired lately, I really want to make some aprons. Do I ever wear aprons? Well no, but maybe I might someday. And I know my girls would wear them. So, since I'm making some girly cloth napkins anyway, I am going to attempt two half aprons out of the same fabric. If they flop, I'll cut off the straps and call them napkins. But first I have to finish the napkins. Only 3 more to sew before apron fun begins.

I also saw the cutest little felt house ornament. I wish Michael's was only minutes away. Nevermind. It's best that it's 30 minutes away. That way the chances of me finishing one project before starting another one are better. Still pretty slim, but better. :-)

And I really wish my camera wasn't MIA. It's not a slip-into-your-pocket camera, it's got a big ol' lens on it. Meaning, it has fewer potential hiding spots. Still, it's found a good one. Hmmm. It better turn up soon. Two weeks from now Andy goes to Texas, and I want him to take pictures (because there is a possibility we'll move there for 1-2 years on our way to ultimately living in New Mexico... shh, I don't want to jinx anything, but this would be a really great thing for us!). The week after he gets back the girls and I begin our roadtrip adventure. Oh camera,if you are reading this, come home to me and I will upload all the pictures on your oh-so-full memory stick and charge your battery up right!

bunnylove

We have 5 fur friends in our home, 3 cats and 2 rabbits. A week ago we only had 1 rabbit (Honey - a giant albino - spayed female), but our neighbors gave us theirs (Binky, a black dwarf intact male), and I spent some time researching how to introduce bunnies to eachother. Bunny dates are recommended to get things going. The dates must always be on neutral territory, aka my bathroom.

On date #1 Binky took a few minutes to come out of his carrier and check things out, and then he took 1.7 seconds to mount Honey. Right in the middle of her back. Later attempts that same first date were a bit more on target if you catch my drift. The date lasted about 30 minutes. Date #2 - more mounting, lots of chasing, and they both seemed completely relaxed. Binky even got mad at me when I told him the date was over and he needed to go back home.

After the 2 neutral dates I brought Binky into Honey's enclosure - his future home sweet home - and things were a little crazy for awhile, as they figured out who got to be in charge. And, as it turns out, Honey kinda led Binky on in the mounting department. The behavior she somewhat tolerated while dating just doesn't fly anymore. So now instead of trying to mount Honey in order to make babies (I haven't yet told Binky he'll never be a father), he's out just for pleasure.... he'll groom Honey's ears, get her nice and relaxed and then attack her face. Yes, her face. All while still grooming her. She tolerates Binky gettin' it on on her face, which I so do not relate to, but they've figured out what works for them. And the girls think they're just playing.

So neat to see how quickly they've bonded, though. After Binky's 4th night here, his former owner came over. Stuck his hand over the enclosure to pet Binky, and Honey attacked him. Not the way Binky attacks Honey, just to be clear, but was obviously protecting Binky from the man she doesn't know. And, just a litte while ago, Honey worked her way under her blanket so that only a small patch of her hiney was exposed. Binky freaked out. Ran circles all around her, lookng for her. Holy crap, it was hilarious. He knew she was there, but he couldn't see her. Kind of like when Mommy wants to take a bath, and she closes the bathroom door (maybe even locks it) and her children are left outside screaming "Mommy! Can I come in?" "I'm thirsty!" "Can I have some candy?" "I havta pee." "My sister hit me, so I hit her back!" I foresee Honey hiding under her blanket often, to get a break from Binky or to mess with him, depending on her mood. And how often Binky has tried to score with her face in the last hour.