Updates from Susan-Land

It’s been a busy few weeks.  It’s hard to believe we have less than 40 days now until Penny leaves us.  There were times we never thought this time would come, and now here we are in many ways dreading the fact that she has to leave at all!  It will be an interesting summer, though, and we have a lot planned, so I think we’ll have some fun.

The big news this past few weeks has been that we had to have our beloved little bunny, TomTom, put to sleep.  He started acting a little punky and out of it and then just started smelling really bad, and finally had a hard time moving at all.  I took him to the vet last week and she said that he was having kidney issues and they could try to nurse him through it, but there were no guarantees and it would be kinder just to let him go.  For all the kidding around we’ve done in recent years about waiting for him to die so we could install bookshelves in his spot downstairs, it was incredibly sad and painful to bid him farewell.  This picture was taken when he was about 4 months old, and he lived to be 6, so he had a good, long life.  I know living in his pen in the basement wasn’t his favorite place to be, but we did the best we could by him, and I think as long as we gave him carrots and whatnot, he was happy.

I am busy now with two major goals, the first of which is finishing off everything I need to do in order to start school this summer.  This includes completing a checklist of things they have on the school website for the summer course I’m taking, as well as the nuts and bolts, like applying for a loan, making travel arrangements, getting the text book, getting tested for immunity to measles, and making arrangements for where I’m going to stay.  I’ve got an email address set up now for my school stuff, so I can say I’m official, and now that the bill is in, I guess I’m really going.  The worst part of it has been dealing with my doctor’s office, trying to figure out about how I can get tested for a measles immunity.  Despite my repeated phone calls, they haven’t called back, so finally I called the clinic in Central Park here in Fredericksburg and they can do the test and have the papers ready in 2 days.  I should have gone there 3 weeks ago!

The other major thing is working on getting Leah potty trained.  She has indicated a readiness and willingness for the task, as for the past couple of months, she’s gotten very upset when her diaper is wet or dirty, and tries to get it off.  If she can’t, she screams and cries pitifully.  We’ve been at it almost 2 weeks now, and she’s definitely getting the hang of it.  She likes earning little rewards and she loves wearing underpants instead of a diaper.  So I think we’re making good progress.

Last weekend, Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s butler, came into Fredericksburg to help raise funds for the new children’s museum they are hoping to build here.  Of course I jumped at the chance to go meet him and brought Penny along as her opportunity to meet a celebrity.  We had a great time—he got right on the floor with Leah, and Penny was so happy that I talked her into going back and getting herself a book signed and asking him about the royal wedding.

Penny has developed an interest in the British Royal family thanks to my tutelage, so it was kind of special to share in that after we watched the Royal Wedding together and I taught her some tea sandwiches and scones to make English tea, which we did for both the Royal Wedding and for Mother’s Day.

Today we rolled down to Westmoreland Berry Patch to pick berries and play with goats.  She LOVED it this year, as opposed to last year when she really wanted nothing to do with it.  She sat in the mud happily mashing and eating berries and then we fed the goats and had lunch.  They give you a handful of corn or a handful of goat feed for a quarter, and she was determined that the goat was not getting more than one niblet at a time, and even then he’d have to pry it from her fingers, but the goat was quite patient and happily ate whatever she was willing to give without biting.

I have been penpalling a lot lately, and have new penpals from England, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland.  It’s a lot of fun and very interesting, and helping me travel vicariously, since I’m not likely to go too many places between now and who knows when!  One of my Australian penpals friended me on Facebook and it is hilarious to see her snow pictures while I’m gearing up to roast off a few pounds here with summer kicking off.

Otherwise, we’ve been sticking close to home.  Gas prices being what they are, I’ve canceled our summer travel plans and am now making plans for things we can do locally.  This past week I only used one tank of gas, which for me is astounding, since I was going through 2 a week.  We are enjoying Toddlin’ Time and MOPS, and at the MOPS event on Sunday, they were talking to me about putting Leah in pre-school this fall, which I am still thinking about.  I’ve been leaning away from doing it, but at the same time, it would give me a couple of days a week to get schoolwork done, as well as allowing her the chance to socialize and learn some things…  So we’ll see.  I would like to take her to the Richmond Zoo and Ginter Gardens this summer, and we’ll go up to DC to Mike’s new office and to meet his co-workers.  My old office is having a party next week and I’m going to go to that.  My book clubs are still going strong, and I’m enjoying them both.  Zipping around a lot with Penny now that she’s gotten more involved in school and friends.  She really enjoyed the prom last weekend, and this weekend is having Korean food with friends, volunteering at a local 5K, and wants to go see Pirates of the Caribbean.  Monday night, Mike will be out visiting some friends from RI who are coming to town, so we girls are going to have a little girls’ night, and I know she also wants to go to Charlottesville again, as well as go berry picking.  Last night was her last choir concert, tonight she has to go to an improv show for her school.  So it’s a busy time for all of us!

This summer, I’m going to go enjoy my first concert at Celebrate Virginia Live, when Barenaked Ladies roll into town.  I’m also hoping to get to see Hello Dolly over at Riverside.  I’m really excited to go to Tucson, and also to swim, spend time with friends, and start planning my dad’s 60th in September.

That’s all for now!  The fun never ends! :-D

TomTom, The Easter TV Star

Recently a friend turned me onto using Yahoo Live! I thought it would be a fun chance to connect with family, but that has not worked out to be the case. I bought a cheapie webcam recently and hooked it up. It's so cheap I have to focus it myself and there's no audio, but chatting is fine anyway.

Last night I was sitting around chatting with a bunch of people on Live and I thought it would be fun to bribe TomTom to come on the screen. I fixed up a plastic tray of his favorite veggies and stuck them on the floor. I put the cam down there and turned it on and waited. And waited. And waited. He was not the least bit interested in being cooperative. It was like he KNEW I was waiting for him to be on the camera.

So I went in his room and his reflexes were not so good last night, and I was able to grab him. I put him down in front of the camera and the food.

Yeah right. He took off back to his room. I gave him a few minutes and we tried again. Yeah. Probably not.

I gave him even longer and then I grabbed him again. This time when I put him down in the office, he decided he'd show me, he hid behind the football chair. And stayed there for about 20 minutes. Then all of a sudden, I see him inching out. I didn't move. He saunters over (if bunnies can saunter, that's exactly what he did last night!) to the tray of food and sniffs at it. He looks at the camera, he looks at me, and then just as nice as you please, he lays flat out on the floor and proceeds to ponder the situation. Well, you don't have to guess everyone was eating that up.

And he stuck around on camera for about 20 minutes. After a few minutes of allowing us to admire him in his best "do ya think I'm sexy?" bunny pose, he ate a carrot and then took a bath, all captured on camera. It was great. I wish I had thought to actually record it, but c'est la vie.

He looks way better on camera than I do, so he'll be everyone's Easter treat this week. If you use Live, let me know! :-) It's fun and easy, even if you don't have a webcam.

Head Bunny Update

If there is one thing in the universe my rabbit loves more than life, carrots, and a good drink of water, it's brussels sprouts. I gave him one a couple of months ago and he literally tried to stuff the whole thing in his mouth. It was hilarious.

So, the other day, Joe and I were at the store to get stuff to make dinner and I found a stalk of brussels sprouts. I didn't even know they grew on stalks. But here is how they grow:



So, I bought a stalk. And I brought them home, and whacked off a piece and gave it to TomTom. He went absolutely bananas. I went in a couple of hours later, and not only did he eat the sprouts, he ate the stalk! I gave him another piece last night, and it's gone this morning. And that's not all...

Suddenly, he's turned into SuperBunny. For a while, it took an act of Congress to get him out of his room. Now, I open the door in there, and the only way to keep him in is to throw him some sprouts. Otherwise, he runs like he's being chased by Glenn Close, hurls himself up onto the chair in the General's office, and proceeds to get a running leap and launch himself through the air into the hallway. I'm going to have to set up the video camera and try to get some footage--it's extraordinary. I want to get him a theme song.

He could take on Bionic Buns, no problem.


So, if you have a lethargic rabbit, try sprouts. They seem to like 'em.

TomTom

My little bunny has developed a disturbing fascination with my husband's bathroom. Until I took it away from him, he was perfectly content to sit on the bathroom floor and demolish the bathmat. Now he's determined that the plunger is a kick ass toy. Where have I gone so terribly wrong?

(This is the week of drive-by postings... Nothing interesting is going on in my life right now.)

Amour

Sometimes, the only thing right in this crazy world is a guy and his rabbit.

Suisse...

...has gone to her new home.

She has a great new place and I'm happy for her... The last of the oops bunnies has left the building.

Hard to believe, but there it is.

So long, little Suisse. Bring your new family joy.

A Farewell to Rocky...

...the road to finding bunny homes has been long and arduous. Today, Rocky's journey came to an end, as I dropped her off at Riverbend High School, where she will become one of 6 or 7 bunnies (including a GORGEOUS velvety brown bunny and a GORGEOUS velveteen rabbit) who resides in the small animal classroom for the FFA club. There they learn about caring for small animals and enjoy socializing the bunnies, chinchillas, turtles, parrots, and a lizard named Frank.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the classroom--it was immaculately clean, did not smell at all, and all the animals looked happy and healthy. No dissections or vivisections, just 150 kids who adore small animals and learn about them in school. The woman who runs the program was a doll, as was her 5 year old son, who took an instant affinity to Rocky.

Rocky was a bit nervous and peed all over me as my reward for finding her so great a place to live, so I just cried the whole way home to make up for it. TomTom and Suisse aren't entirely sure what to think now that their room has one fewer bunny, but they'll adjust. Michelle (Mrs. FFA) has assured me that they may be able to help find a home for Suisse after we ensure she is not pregnant... (GOD FORBID)

It was a lot harder to give up Rocky than anticipated, but I know she's in amazing hands and I know she'll enjoy her life as an FFA bun. She was one special little sweetheart, and deserves every bit of happiness she'll enjoy there.

Well, it's all over now but the crying...

Last night we hosted our annual Three Kings dinner party, which marks the official end of Christmas. It's always an extravaganza of epic proportions. Last year, we had a good bit of trouble with the cooking, and this year we were so organized, we had an hour for naps and showers before really kicking off the cooking.

Judy and Joe arrived on the train Friday night and we did the major shopping. By which I mean that we bought the stuff that cost approximately $50 more in total than the Saturday morning shopping trip, which still didn't cover the additional $50 we spent on ice, serving ware, and incidentals.

When we got home around 9pm, the grand unveiling took place...

I was not able to post this sooner, because it was a surprise for Judy, but when my uncle came to visit from San Diego last week, he bought Michael and I a new television set. A 42" plasma HDTV to be exact. So she went downstairs and saw it, and all was well...

We got cookin'. Friday night is always reserved for 2 things: baking and chopping onions. We like to get both out of the way so that we can do the hard core cooking the next day.

The lemon bundt cakes refused to cooperate this year, they kept coming out of the pan all broken up. So I told Judy the mini-bundts were out this year, we'd have to make cheesecakes in the morning. She agreed, sadly, we spent an hour chopping onions, concluded (correctly as it turned out) that we didn't have enough, and moved on to preparing the presents for everyone. This year, we bought sparkling cider and wine and printed out our own labels and affixed them to the bottles. We got a couple of boxes of wine goblets and gave every couple a bottle of wine and two glasses. All the kids who were coming would get the cider. After that was over, we went to bed. (at 1:30 am)

The next morning I got up at 7 and went back to the store to finish up the shopping as best I could. When I got home, Judy was up and running, so we made the cheesecakes, she finished up chopping another 5 lbs. of onions, and I gave the bundts another go--successfully this time!

The rest of the day was spent arguing with each other--yep, everyone was fightin'--and cooking. The weather was so crazy, we briefly considered turning it into a picnic--probably the only time we'd get away with doing it. But unfortunately, the ground is so soggy, we weren't able to pull it off. It was the first time I've prepared for this with the windows open, and wearing shorts.

Our menu this year was:

Appetizers:
Chips, bread, vegetables, and crackers with an assortment of dips (dill, french onion, and holiday blend)
Shrimp
Homemade egg nog

Dinner:
Beef stroganoff
Haluski (egg noodles sauteed with onions and butter)
Pierogi
Kielbasa
Chicken Paprikash and dumplings
Polish mushrooms
green beans
salad

Dessert:
Lemon cakes
Apple cakes (brought by Nancy)
Cheese cake

Everyone arrived quite promptly, and we had a huge crowd again this year--twenty one, including 5 kids. Poor TomTom took the brunt of it as young Zach fell completely in love with TomTom and kept shoving him in a cardboard box and toting him around. I looked into the box at one point and TomTom was glaring up at me with a "You're going to pay for this" look of utter disdain. But he survived.

Everyone left around midnight, we went to bed around 1am, and I had to get up at 6:45 because the Best Buy guys were supposed to arrive at 7am to finish hooking up the TV and DVD player correctly. Unfortunately, they didnt' get the 7am memo and didn't get here until 8:10, but whatever. Everything is working correctly now.

It was a great party, I really enjoyed myself, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Today all the Christmas stuff comes down and I'm treating myself to a pedicure.

My Thought For The Day...

I just cleaned the Rabbit Room.

If bunny poop suddenly becomes a tradeable form of currency, Donald Trump is going to want my number.

Weekend Update

Not too much to report.

The great dog experiment has failed... Michael once said, "Susan, we're not camping people" and I have now said to him, "Honey, we're not dog people."

Thursday night we brought home 2 darling Italian greyhounds. I had desperately wanted iggies since my own died in 2001. We saw a lovely family on Craig's List DC and met with them in person, and all was well, and we picked up the dogs and brought them home. But sadly, it did not pan out. They developed a taste for hassenpfeffer, so we had to return them this morning. All 3 bunnies are fine, but I think TomTom in particular is glad to have his kingdom return to some normalcy.

We went up to the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church today for their Bazaar Rus. We all ate way too much delicious Russian food (the beef stroganoff was out of this world), and enjoyed looking at some greatly overpriced Russian handicrafts. Seriously, Christmas ornaments that the Orthodox Church near Boston used to sell for $5 were on sale at this church for roughly 6 times that amount. It was shocking. So we didn't buy anything other than our food.

I have a new addiction that is slowly overtaking MySpace in my world: YouTube. I've started getting addicted to people's video blogs, and it's all getting a bit too serious... But I can't quit watching. The old men talking about the war, the drunks, the satirists, hell I'm even addicted to LonelyGirl15. I thought I'd post my viewing list... For a good laugh, you've got to check out KarlDaly81 at http://www.youtube.com/karldaly81 The guy is an absolute genius. I've probably watched all of his videos 10 times. Sadly he only puts up new videos every week or so, so in the mean time, I watch all the old ones... I also LOVE Geriatric1927 at http://www.youtube.com/user/geriatric1927 He also is only putting up one or two a week, but they're so full of wonderful memories about growing up during WWII that each one needs to be rehashed several times anyway to really get the full experience out of them. I also love to watch BradThunder at http://www.youtube.com/user/BradThunder He's got the most soothing persona ever, and shows some great stuff. He's pretty new, but I would expect that he'll have great things to say about life in general. He's got a beautiful accent and just really relaxes me. The video he just posted of him walking his dog was awesome.

I am plugging away at "Ragtime" for the book club. My mom is reading the selections that we read for Lit Chicks, and I was thinking that since she wants to participate, it might be interesting to start my own book club on Yahoo Groups to have a sort of "on line Lit chicks" as well as the real life one. Anyone interested? We could select books and discuss them via email just like a real book club. Distance would be no barrier. It would be cool!

Well, I guess that's about all from here. I need to vacuum the house and put the dishes in the dishwasher. I will now be here for Thanksgiving, since, sadly, too many factors were stacked against me to go to my mom's house for the holiday. I'm now planning to go to Florida in December and we'll go meet Paula Deen at a booksigning in my mom's new town. It'll be pretty cool. So, my dad is coming to spend time with Judy and me, so if anyone is lonely and in DC for Thanksgiving, come on over for the most incredible turkey you've ever had... :) Saturday, we're all loading up and heading for my dad's alma mater, Rutgers, to take in a football game with his beloved Scarlet Knights (who are now, according to his euphoric phone call last night, 6-0 and Bowl Game eligible). Go 'gers!!!

Normal Life

Life has returned more or less to normal since my crazy August... I'm glad the fall is here--the weather has turned from hot to cool (being in the 70's mind you) in no time and we're experiencing some beautiful weather. Very overcast, but who cares?

Last night was our next-to-the-last book club of year 2... It's hard to believe. We lost two more members, so we're down to 10 now with two openings, but I've decided not to recruit until after the 1st of the year. We are having all our year-end parties and stuff, so it's not really fair to ask someone to come in and promptly drop $50 on stuff when they haven't participated for the first 11 months. I did put up a cool MySpace for the book club at http://www.myspace.com/novalitchicks and our final book of the year was chosen as The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I already read it, so I get a free pass for the month. I am looking forward to hammering out the next set of books in October, since I've been looking for a good book to chew on. Last night we discussed Wuthering Heights and it was a great discussion. Sometimes these things come out of nowhere--lesson learned: quit sweating it and just pick a book. Things flow.

Speaking of MySpace, I've started finding family members on it and it's been fun to see what my crazy cousins have been up to. The only thing I miss about our family being spread apart is that I am not close to my cousins--and so many people are. I'm lucky to have my sister nearby. It would be interesting to be a part of one of those families that never moves away from each other--at least for a while. I'm sure it'd get old after a while.

The big news: Judy has, mercifully, been offered and accepted a new job!!!!! She will now be working for the Firefly Children's Network, which works to help Russian orphans with real or perceived disabilities by educating caregivers and reducing institutionalization. The job has real promotion potential and she'll be helping them set up a DC office. The hilarious part? Her old job, which she is leaving in less than 2 weeks now(!), is hiring two people to replace her. Those bastards should have done that ages ago. I hope she'll keep in touch with some of her friends from there so we can find out how they are managing without her.

Continuing to read and see movies and watch Project Runway... And I'm freakin' addicted to MySpace... It's sick, truly. When I start finding ex-boyfriends on there, look out. (I've looked, but they must not be registered!) We saw "Little Miss Sunshine" over Labor Day weekend and LOVED IT. I also LOVED The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I'll blog a better review later, but suffice it to say, it was the best book I've read this year.

So now I'll be contemplating yardwork now that the weather is better, and our next home improvement projects... The beach room is complete now that there is furniture in there--I'm so proud of the room, but sad it's done!!! It's a beautiful room and the furniture is perfect. Looking forward, we are considering remodeling the General's bathroom, which looks every one of its 32 years, but I don't know how to go about it... So I'll start looking into what it takes to replace vanities, medicine chests, lighting, etc. We also desperately need to replace windows and carpet and to install a railing on the front porch and stairs before winter... FUN! Damned houses are expensive.

In bunny news, Rambo is back and Rocky's adoption fell through, so we've still got 3 babies. Rambo was traumatized by whatever his experience was and has been an absolute basket case since. He is now litter trained again, but is systematically destroying his cage, and when he gets out, he just lays by his mother's cage (he's staying at Judy's) and stares at her. He doesn't move or run around. He just lays there. Poor baby. So we'll be even more selective than before about placing these guys... I'm probably going to wind up building a cube cage for the girls, and separating them soon, as they've started ripping out each other's fur, which is not good. I've found some plans on line that look good and I'm excited to get that project underway.

I've also nearly completed the chair refinishing project. My mom brought some butt ugly, but comfortable, dining room chairs up from Florida, and I've removed the seats and spray painted them; now I just need to charge up the staple gun and recover the seats themselves. The only hold up is that I lost our iron during our move last year (it's probably in the storage closet from hell), and can't iron the fabric. I meant to grab Joe's iron yesterday, but forgot. So I'll probably get a cheapie one at Walmart and complete them this weekend. Then they'll be done for when my mom gets here next week--I know she'll be impressed. They are really nice and look totally different.

That's about it!!! I'm looking forward to the coming weeks--they are chock full of stuff to do, but look very, very interesting. Thursday is my first Survivors of Suicide (SOS) support group. I'm hosting a MyPC event, another presidential field trip, on Saturday to Chatham Manor here in Fredericksburg on Saturday. Sunday is my mother-in-law's birthday. Next week is our ladies only supper club and then my mom will be arriving... I have a CD exchange, tickets to see a lecture or show or something about Second City at the Natural History Museum, my dad's birthday, and the National Book Festival. Not to mention trying to find time to catch up with friends--our little posse has all been going in different directions all month and we've all been missing each other, so we're hoping to catch up soon... I'm exhausted just thinking about it! :-)

TomTom, that Rat!!

A couple of weeks ago, I went into the bunny room in the morning to find that TomTom had broken Rambo's cage, knocked the top off, and gone after him. Several days later, TomTom emerged with a black eye, assorted cuts and scrapes that I hadn't noticed, and was not a happy rabbit. I spent a week providing him with first aid, washing his wounds, applying ointments, cutting off the fur around his eye to get it out of his wounds, the whole nine yards. I can safely report that he HATES getting his face washed.

Two nights ago, I scooped him up and was cuddling with him. He LOVES to be flopped on his back and have his belly rubbed.

As soon as I did, I noted a discoloration in his fur. I figured maybe he'd had a potty accident, so I moved his fur to investigate, and out shot the most horrifying looking bulge of a tumor I'd ever seen. Well. Of course, I immediately freaked out. I told Michael that we had to get TomTom to a vet immediately in the morning and found the card for the Spotsylvania Animal Hospital, which caters to "exotics"... (How an animal that breeds like rabbits do can be considered exotic, I have no idea!)

We went down there yesterday morning. The nicest technician was working, and they saw us right away. She pulled TomTom out of his carrier and made us guess at his weight. We discussed his diet and what I was concerned about. I explained that our best guess was that either he had a tumor or a hernia or an unattended-to injury.

She brought him back to weigh him, and clipped his nails as a free service.

She returned and propped him up on the table on his hind feet.

"My God, it's worse than I thought," said the voice in my head, "they're multiplying." Indeed, there were now 2 of them.

I tried to remain stoic, but was on the verge of tears, and the General was doing his best to be calm and collected.

The dollar signs were adding up, TomTom was looking at me like, "Mom, what the hell is going on here?!" and the tech spoke again...

"Is this what you're worried about?"

I grimly nodded my head.

"These are his testicles. They frequently appear very suddenly in small animals. There won't be a charge."

To add insult to injury? I had gone the long way to the vet's office--it took us roughly 45 minutes to get there. To get home? 10 minutes.

It Happened So Fast

By week's end, I'll be down 2 bunnies... and have but one baby left to find a home for.

I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing with all my spare time after that.

It seems just yesterday I was taking pictures of their newborn selves. And now, 4 months later, they're spreading their ears and flying away.

It was a beautiful process to watch the whole thing go down. Due to the sheer numbers of cats and dogs I've owned in my lifetime, I've seen plenty of kittens and even a litter of puppies come and go. But the bunnies have been something special.

To see Valley instinctively know what to do to prepare herself and her cage to give birth--and watch her follow generations of rabbit protocol and behave in a textbook manner instantly... Well, it was wild, truly. Unlike a domesticated pet. There was something far more animal about it.

And then to see the babies grow day to day, and grow from ugly little hairless rats to the gorgeous animals they are today...

It has been a journey I never want to repeat--TomTom and Valley will never get within 10 feet of each other without some kind of bars separating them. But it's also one I wouldn't have traded for the universe.

Judy made it home!

Despite all our fears that she wouldn't, my sister survived a week plus in Israel, and by the looks of her, got tons of sun. She came home looking like a lobster! Wow... She was actually cold here today, and it was in the 90's. I guess that desert living is harsh.

She brought me back a nice spa set from the Dead Sea. We had a small brunch for her and enjoyed ourselves. She even let me cut her hair some--she was tired of the old cut, the old color, and the perm. I shortened it by about 4 inches, and it looks pretty great. Joe got brave and let me cut his hair a bit too, but only by an inch. Still, he said he loved it and would only be having me cut his hair from now on...

Now that Judy's back, I guess I can go back to concentrating on getting my own stuff together. Tomorrow for work we are having a big birthday party, so I spent this evening baking a cake and debating the meaning of my life with my husband--what I wanted, where I wanted to go, what I want to do. No answers, none at all, but I got a lot off my chest, definitely.

Also this weekend was Maritza's wedding. It was a lovely affair, although sadly the General got the stomach flu and nearly barfed on the table at the reception, so we had to go home. I was bitterly disappointed, and almost pissed off--though the logical part of my brain did tell me that it's not his fault he got sick.

Hope to spend this week getting the house in order. We're taking the bunnies to be sexed next weekend so we have a better idea of what we're dealing with. And my mom is bringing up a bunch of her old furniture up here now that she's found a fully furnished house to buy. I guess I'm kind of conflicted--for a while after they died, I had a lot of my grandparents' things around me, but I found it so depressing that I got rid of it all. I'm glad to have some furniture--Lord knows we haven't got much in our living room--I just hope it doesn't make me sad to have their stuff so close. I truly miss them so much many days, and have thought of them a lot lately. I wish I had them around to share things with and talk about things with. Towards the end of her life, my grandmother and I started to have that kind of relationship, and I feel so cheated that as an adult I don't have her to turn to.

I'm looking forward to getting up to my dad's for the 4th. I think I'll be able to reconnect with some folks up there, which will be great, particularly considering I haven't been home in a year and a half. It seems like all these important things are becoming the choices I wish I didn't have to make. Only so much vacation time per year means that I can only do so much and see so many people. This year we're going to try splitting a week between my dad and Michael's parents and then spending Thanksgiving apart. Christmas remains a mystery. I wish I knew how to solve that one. We thought we had a schedule worked out, but it's so expensive to travel at the holidays... It would be nice if the kings of American Industry would just say, "It is a profitable time, but let's make it easy for people to be with their loved ones."

Utopian dreaming in Fredericksburg...

Ok, I Wanna Be Aggravated...

...that Judy is dumping the bunnies on me in June, but frankly, I'm so excited, I just can't wait. Oh sure, I'm putting up the tough "well, if no one else is going to take care of them, I GUESS I will HAVE TO do it" *sigh, splutter, sigh*... But truth be told, I plan to spend that time buried up to my eyeballs in bunny rabbits...

We still haven't found one single home for them. Not that I mind terribly, mind you, but they do need to move on soon...

I know I'll be a basket case when I finally give them away!

Had to share...

This is Rocky, one month old yesterday... I can't get enough of them when they flop on their backs, stick their teeth out, and go to sleep!!!

The Babies, 2 Weeks Plus

I can't get over how big they're getting. Yes, the little silver Suisse LOVES being flopped onto his back and going to sleep...

They are just the sweetest little things, and their personalities just won't quit.

The Babies are a Week Old!!

I couldn't possibly love them more... They are absolutely precious... :-)

Late Night Ramblin'

It's past midnight on Saturday, a fairly successful day here... I got most of the seeds planted, just the sunflowers, moonflowers, and snowballs to go... I've put in all the herbs--we'll see if they take. Our soil here pretty well sucks... We've got lots of clay. However, the hostas are absolutely thriving in it... Go figure.

We had the nicest kid in the world over to do the grass and he threw in free weed whacking. He charged half what our old kid charged, did twice the work, and a much better job. I insisted Michael pay him extra, but Michael pretty well planned to anyway. His father is a building contractor of some sort (I'm not clear on the details), so now we can get some help with some repair projects that need doing and hopefully get that all important railing installed!

The house is pretty much back to normal after all the excitement of the past 3 months. All the beds are covered in clean sheets, the floors are all vacuumed and washed, the dusting is done, the laundry is done, all the extra pillows and blankets are put away, and the dishes are done. I need to get lots of cleaning and organizing done in the kitchen, but that can go on hold for another day.

I've given up on The Good News Gazette after three years and The Celebrity Wedding Blog after just a few months. I enjoy blogging here for the fun of it, but I'm tired of the 'have to' blogs and when the expiration date came up on goodnewsgazette.com, I just decided I didn't want to renew it, as Michael and I seemed to be the only ones really reading it. It was nice to look on the bright side for the past 3 years, but now with life changing, I'm just ready to shake off as many of the extraneous 'have-tos' as I can and concentrate on new 'have-tos' and 'want-tos'. Mainly my house.

The house has turned into my biggest hobby. I never could have imagined it, but I get such a sense of satisfaction from painting, planting, gardening, cleaning, decorating, organizing, etc. To know that the house is MINE, all MINE, and for better or for worse, I have to live with every decision I make about it, well, it just keeps me happy as anything. I hope we'll never have to sell it, but if we do, I know each thing we've done thus far will pay us back tenfold.

Heather, Nancy, Judy and I have started our monthly 'girls only' dinner. We all sat around on Tuesday and talked about life and love and crazy things we want to do or have done. We're going to rotate cooking duties, but will meet at Judy's, as it's a good halfway point for us all to be. It's nice to have a place to go blow off steam in a way you can only with your best gals! While I love my male friends, there's something about really getting it out there with other women that helps you figure things out in a different way.

The bunnies are thriving. We've gone a full 48 hours without losing one, we're well past the critical 72 hour stage, and we're well on our way to the next milestone, the 10 day mark. Then they'll be able to start eating solid pellets and drinking water (imagine! at 10 days old?!). Meanwhile, Michael and I have a new bunny arrival of our own. Brown Bunny has taken up residence somewhere in our yard... I found Brown Bunny hiding in our strawberry bushes, but Scotty weedwhacked the heck out of those, so I think now he's living out back somewhere. We came out tonight, and there was Brown Bunny, happy as you please, sitting on our patio, just staring at us. He hopped away, but only through the gate and hopped us down to the car and watched us leave. I've seen him every day this week, and he seems perfectly content to be living in our back yard, and I love having him here. He's a reminder that we're further and further from the city. So I hope he'll stay safe and live out there all summer...

On the movie and book front... Finished a couple of Netflix... I saw "Capote" as I wanted to watch a lot of this year's Oscar winners. I thought the movie itself was kind of disjointed and the editing wasn't all that spectacular. You could tell where they cut off the scenes right in the middle, because the dialogue came to an abrupt end and the actors were still walking or moving. I also watched "Murderball" about the wheelchair rugby team. It was kind of different and interesting. I was just as glad not to be stuck in a wheelchair any more, but did learn a fair amount about quadriplegia--things I never knew! And polished off Season Two of "Arrested Development" as well. I loved it. Season 3 hasn't been released yet. For book club, I finished "The Friend That Got Away" which was pretty good. Nothing earth shattering--the typical reasons friendships break up, but I enjoyed reading it. There were 20 different true short stories in the book, and they ranged from completely uninteresting to totally riveting in my view. This is my second short story anthology of the year, and I enjoy reading them, since if you don't like a particular story, you can skip it and move on... Now I'm reading Kris Radish's "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral"and it has moved me to tears since page 1. I am loving it. Also trying to slog through 2 freebies sent to me to peruse for the book club. Will comment on those as I get through them.

And that's all the news that's fit to print from FXBG tonight! Back soon with more updates...

The Babies, Day Two

They are starting to get all furry!!! You can see the white fuzz on the tops of the little pinky guys' heads. The little pink guys are very independent. Rocky, Rambo, and Suisse still love snuggling together. We just absolutely love them... :-)