Something I want to remember Justin saying

Yesterday Justin and I were up in his room chatting.

In the course of the conversation he was mentioning things that he liked. So I asked him.... what do you like most Justin? what are your most favourite things?

"I like my trains, and I like you guys".
"Mommy and Dad are my favourite, and my trains too."
"And my kitty, I like Tagu too!"

Made me smile it did! :)

Illness continued

So Justin remained ill throughout the whole holiday season.

From vomitting to diarrhea to just general lethargy and not eating.

BUT we had a good Christmas. Justin played and played and played some more.
We had a nice visit with gramma.

Bunnies were born.
The dog was missed.

I had a lovely chat with my sister Joan and brother Bill on the phone.

Jim had a good nap.
We watched a good movie.

Presents to each other were enjoyed.

God has truly blessed us.

This Christmas Week

Snow, snow and more snow.

Sick boy child.

Two adults with head colds.

Snow, snow and more snow.

But hopefully selling another bunny today. :)

Our Open House

So we had our annual open house today.

We had fun.

We had a whack of people show up in the morning/afternoon. Justin had a lot of fun playing with a friend of mine...totally tuckered her out.

The weather turned snowy later afternoon so we started to expect that most people would stay home...that turned out correct as only one couple came over tonight and they were out because they had work to do at the church as well. :) It was nice to some focused time with them as well.

It was a good day. Justin was wound up and bagged by the end of the day. I'm glad we planned for some down time as he very much needed it.

I, as normal, made too much in the way of food BUT I had planned that I would bring much of it over to the church for the Christmas program tomorrow. Anyways, that's it for the day... it started WAY to early for me (330 with a buggy crawling into the bed). But it's ending early...I'll be in bed by ten. YEAH!!! Now to shut this thing down, grab a glass of wine and I'm off to bed...ah...but that does sound good. :) NIGHT!!!!

New Easter

New Easter was a rescue rabbit.
She was well-loved by Justin the whole week that we had her. We had to unfortunately bring her back to where we got her because we needed to exchange her for a different new easter.

The new rabbit is called....new new easter. :)

Rice Krispy Balls/squares

So for the past two weeks I"ve been trying to find the time and the boy will power to make rice krispy squares. I wanted to make them WITH the boy child and he's been steadfastly refusing.

But yesterday I said "I want to make rice krispies, anyone want to help?"
"I help mom, I want to come too".

So we made rice krispies.

I mixed and stirred while marshmallows melted. Justin threw them in the pan and ate as he went (good thing we had extras) :). I stirred in the rice krispies...even to the point of breaking one of my wooden spoons. It was fun.

Once ready, most went into a pan. Some made it into balls...those balls were promptly eaten by a boy child. the squares well....let's just say a certain OTHER boy (man) thought he should eat them too. Rice krispies....meant for Christmas..might not make until then. :) ah well...they are a perennial crowd favourite aren't they?

The Royal Winter Fair

So the Royal was fun this year again.

Thursday we went down with Justin. We concentrated on child friendly things. The buggy had a lot of fun. The most fun was playing in the bin of canola oil seeds. he just had a hoot. Jim and I took turns sitting with him as the other wandered around booths looking for a bit. At one point a 12 year old boy stopped by and Justin played quite happily with him. This I thought was cool because everyone else he'd been trying diligently to send away.

The petting zoo was a disappointment because well...it wasn't a petting zoo. it was look at a bunch of animals in a corral and feed them. Oh yippee. That was Justin's response as well. I figure if you are calling it a petting zoo...let it be a petting zoo. let the children in to interact with the animals. if you are worried about biosecurity have the policy that nothing there comes home again. Limits the use of llamas and donkeys and such like but most kids want the bunnies, the chickens, the sheep and the goats anyways. For those animals that are coming home...pen them off separately just for viewing. Children are cool with that.

But colouring, puzzling, running around checking things out...all fun for a little boy. he even rode on a fake horse. Life was good. he'd had enough by 6 p.m. so we headed home again.

Friday he went up to see Oma and Papa. And on Saturday Jim and I went to the Royal. First we dropped off some bunnies for a fellow, and then arrived at 1 p.m. I bought a purse as my old one had lost a zipper. Bought one much the same (but better quality) for $60. Then off to the horse show. Today they had the canine-horse challenge, and the unicorn hitch, Big Horse Productions did a thing (neither of us were impressed), Amateur Hunter Jumper, and a few different pony/cart things. It was a good show.

We wandered around the rest of the day just looking and chatting. It was a very pleasant day. The drive home at night wasn't so pleasant...roads were slushing and rather convincing of the need to have some snow tires put on the van. But we made it back to mom and dad's quite safely.

Sunday Jim preached at my parents church and held a congregational meeting followed by a potluck lunch. The decision to close the church in the spring was made. Not an easy decision by any means, but a necessary one none-the-less. Who knows...perhaps miracles will happen before spring and an influx of believers will happen? :) That would be cool. We had a nice visit in the afternoon, had an early supper and then headed home. Took a while as the roads were rather slick but we obviously made it! Saw an accident on the way home and cars in the ditch. Bunnies were well, not as much snow in Exeter.

Let's see...anything else? Nope. So today is a snowy day. We're hoping to tarp over the rabbit shelter today as it's to be snowy week and adding that extra layer of protection would be helpful. And Justin is now up saying he wants to build a snow man. :)

Jim has pics posted up on his facebook.

I want to remember Justin saying this ...

Upon being told to close his eyes and go to sleep.

But mom, I can't close my eyes or I can't see Tagu while I'm sleeping.

Can't fault his logic can you?
Made me laugh!


And this very tired boy at the Royal Winter Fair today.
he didn't listen at one point, and was giving me a bit of attitude....

I got him off the tractor and told him I can put him in time out here just as well as I can at home.

Got him into his stroller only to have him burst into tears.
"Mommy can't be mad at me!!!! I was just going to count! I'm not a bad boy!!"
Just crying his little heart out.
"ah buggy, you aren't a bad boy....you were just giving your mommy attitude and you can't do that. You're a good boy. Come on now, mommy is not mad at you, we're just both tired." the tears didn't stop quite so easily so I distracted him with a really cool toy barn....that we're going to talk with gramma about. :)

okay...It's November 10

My knee is starting to do pretty good.
LOTS of work to get done outside...we have snow coming this week and next.
BOY that knee of mine put a kibosh on things..

Anyways, part of life.

Now...what can I say for an update....not a whole lot!

Had fun at the Rockton Rabbit Show with Jesse this past Saturday. Stopped into visit with Judy for a little while as well. Justin had fun at Aunt Judy's until he bonked his head into her elbow. (that's straight from his mouth, then they both had oowies). :)

Jim's discovered rust of more of an issue on Jamie (the mazda) than he thought it was.
He's continuing to work on Benny (the sunrunner, he's looking for a new body for it instead he thinks).
Quinn (the van) needs new pins in the doors. Somehow he thinks I can help him with this. I think those doors will be awfully heavy. But we'll see. yes...I can be a supportive wife in this too..I THINK!

What else...I've sold a whack of bunnies lately. We need to find a big tarp to go over the tent and part of the shed. Will probably need to find some more bungee cords as well.

Not a whole lot else I can think about.
Oh...Justin likes doing this at night before he goes to bed.
who loves you....oh let's see .. mommy loves you, daddy loves you, grammer loves you, oma and papa love you, your cousins love and your aunties and uncles love you and your church family loves you... but most of all...who loves you? GOD loves you.
He smiles. says it back to me with a grin on his face.
we say good night.
he falls asleep.
Life is quiet. :)

Oh...that comes from this book by Noel Piper. It's a nice book.

Bunnies, boys, hallowe'en, injury

So Justin's perspective and bunnies are somewhat different when it comes to what toys are. :) Mind you....Blue REALLY likes the hanging toy I put in his cage and Markel tosses her ball around everywhere!

Justin had a total hoot getting hallowe'en candy last night. I know...some folks don't do hallowe'en for a whole variety of reasons...we just think...free candy! We won't have to buy boy candy at least until Christmas! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tick or teat! he said numerous times at everyone's house. He would get sidetracked by hallowe'en displays. Watched other children who were all dressed up. Visited people he knew. Said hi to dogs that he knew. He jumped off of porches of all shapes and sizes. Said please and thank you at most places...EXCEPT ONE. A lady who was giving out pencils! Justin was TOTALLY unimpressed, and at age three, hasn't quite learned to be polite despite disappointment.

I didn't work on Friday. I had hoped to, but my knee was against that notion. I'm able to walk on it better, but it remains for the most part, a pain-filled part of my life. If I over-exert it at all it immediately swells up. We didn't get out for too much trick or treating. Just around the block since my knee couldn't handle anymore than that.

I managed for the first time this week to take Sassy for a walk around the block. :) She was simply delighted. We didn't walk far, but she got to get out and about.

what else...I've sold a bunch of bunnies. They'll be going out on Thursday.

Jim's working over at the church today. It's a LOVELY day here in Ontario.

And almost all is well with us here. cheers!

Have to admit it...I like this

Okay, Saturday I went to the Trail's End Market. They have an animal auction there. I sold three bunnies that had been given to me on Thanksgiving Monday, plus a buck that had bad teeth and with all the teeth clipping I've needed to do on him had developed a fair amount of attitude.

I also bought a whole whack of feeder rabbits. As I was packing up a fellow came up asking if he could buy one of the youngsters, I said sure.... he gave me $3 for a bunny I had just paid $1 for so that was all good in my book...and it was such a small bun yet so that worked out well. I have a lady who buys rabbit from me and my buns are not quite big enough for her yet. Anyways....

One of those buns was a nice young lop. I let him sit for a day just to see how he looked. Then called one of my pet store people and asked if they'd like him. Paul said YES! so I brought him down. I paid .75 cents for that rabbit. Sold him to Paul for $10, and while we were still there chatting with Paul a lady came up wanting to buy that same rabbit. Paul sells for $30, so call that quick profit eh? :) Worked out well for all involved...including that young lop who ended up going to a pet home instead of other options available for him.

I also sold Paul 6 mice which were starting to get a bit big for me (all boys and soon they'd start fighting) so that was nice too. Not as much as a private sale, but 75 cents each for something that costs me next to nothing to raise ain't anything to sneeze at either. :)

Then I also sold three bunnies to one lady. :) $60 more in my pocket. Mind that money immediately went to Home Depot to buy wood for making racks for my rabbit cages. I simply LOVE the rack that I've already made so I'm eager to get the other two finished and all my rabbits safely ensconced inside. Then I can get my hay inside, and can close up the tent for the winter. :) Hoping to get that done by end of the week.

all in all....a good day's work. :) Now to sell the rest of those babies.... :) I've people interested so it's just a matter of time and they'll find homes of one sort or the other. Even a guy in Mississauga who wants to buy some breeders (and Jim's going up that way on Friday). So hopefully it will all work out well.

update on the buggie

So Justin remained sick for most of Sunday.

I kept him busy with playing with water, interspersed with "you're looking pale buggy, time to lay on the couch again." He drank and drank and drank. And ate bread "without the crust". :)

By supper time he didn't want to stay on the couch and was acting like he'd like a bit more food so he did 1/2 an apple, bread and cheese. :) ate it all up too! and then drank and drank and drank some more. :)

he was happy and looking good by bedtime. even helped mommy take care of the bunnies.

Monday I wasn't as chipper as I would have liked to have been, but overall I was okay. Jim was feeling a little rough around the edges as well.

but it seems to have passed (at least for me and Justin, Jim's not up yet). so life is good. :)

Today, a sick child

Today Justin is not feeling well.
He awoke to having massive diarrhea and running a slight fever.
A very distressed boy.

Lay down quietly on the couch until 1030 when he wanted something to eat and then thought he'd "help" his mommy do the dishes. Acting better, looking very pale yet. I don't think we'll get out like we had hoped to do this afternoon.

We'll see how the day progresses.

Pleasantly Surprised

So...I've been having nasty leg pain...but I've had that for a long time but it's been getting worse. AND it's been starting to go up my arms so I bit the bullet and went to the doc about it.

She took a whack a blood.

This was about 1.5 months ago.

She called me and said....take iron. 2 at least, preferred 3 each day. ferrous fulmanate.

I was HIGHLY skeptical. Docs always tell women to take iron.

BUT I'm becoming MUCH less skeptical. My arms don't get weirdly sore and weak. My restless legs aren't quite so restless. My leg pain has much diminished.

Life is good.
I get tummy cramps and headaches more frequently...but I can live with those. The leg and other muscle pain though...that is WAY better.

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Family tree chart - Blank family tree

September is closing soon

Life in the past two weeks ....

Things of Justin I want to remember
1. there's a song that has a line Come sail away, come sail away with me. Come sail away come sail away with me.... I had that line running through my head the other day and was singing it. What do I hear Justin singing in the sandbox while he's moving dirt? Come dig away, come dig away wif me. Dig away, dig away. Just belting it out. :) Was fun. Made me and Jim laugh.

2. We were singing songs ... twinkle twinkle little star....and I changed the words to it "twinkle twinkle little bat, how i wonder where you're at". He listened and then looked at me quizzically... "Mom! That's not my favourite song! You're teasing me!"... then he started to sing "twinkle, twinkle little star." he got stuck and "mom, help!" so together we sang twinkle twinkle. :)

3. His emerging sense of humour..and he's got the strangest giggle. :) Reading books at night, he'll change the story on purpose and then laugh hysterically. So we make a game of it rather than getting frustrated with it. It's funny. Though....a bit repetitive at times. The other night he did it with the foot book from Dr. Seuss. Everytime it said foot, he'd say Head. and then giggle away. :) He's a silly boy.

he also just LOVES the duck feet book. Chortles away, makes up stories about it. And I have to be the mad mommy sending the duck foot boy away. :)

I've learned why he doesn't like me singing.... It's TOO loud. If I sing quietly, for the most part he doesn't mind. Or if I'm singing loudly when caring for the bunnies he's cool with that too. He's a boy who at this stage in his life, does not like loud noises.

Momma rabbits who die leaving 11 babies behind helps one develop a bit more patience. It also is funny how full of happiness a person can get when a baby bunny figures out the bottle and goes into a deep sucking mode of "GIVE ME THAT MILK NOW!". I can get, 9 of the eleven to suck the bottle, one to drink milk from a saucer lid, and one, well...it nibbles on the nipple and slowly get milk into it's tummy.

What else....Jim had a nasty cold last week. Wiped him out. Justin is almost over his cold. Yesterday I fought dizzy spells all day...who knows what was up with that. I think I have two more bunnies sold. My little quiet holland lops...if I had eight of them I could probably have them all sold and picking which one I'm keeping would be so very easy.

I've gotten one garden put to bed for the winter, another few zillion to go. :) I've learned that having a dedicated onion bed doesn't work for me and how I garden. So I"ll need to figure out how to do that better. My tomatoes have done well this year. Had a fellow coming by to purchase my yellow tomatoes from me. Nice to make some cash.

Oh...I've reorganized the book room and Justin's room. A great many of his toys are upstairs now, I'm moving his craft stuff upstairs which means I"ll be able to tidy the kitchen up more, and oh...it's all coming together. Slowly...but it's coming together. :) yeah!!!!!

The Ear Doctor

Went to see Dr. R today (Justin's ear doctor).

Justin's left ear the tube is out but lying in the ear canal. The ear drum is not healed yet.
In his right ear the tube is half loose. the ear drum is not healed yet.

His ears look good.
His hearing is great.

Afterwards we went to London for cheap gas.
Then home since Justin fell asleep in the car on us.

Tonight we went to an auction sale. Jim got a new tool and something else. Justin got a stool for the bathroom and a spinning top that he was just fascinated by and big truck! I got some odds and ends and something I'm told is for Oma. (Can't tell you here as it's a surprise). :) I didn't get all I hoped for but a bit more than I had planned. Life is good. :)

My Birthday 2008

What a lovely day for the most part this turned out to be.

nice walk with Sassy in the morning. Weeded front gardens and gave weeds to the rabbits.

Canned peaches, chatted with Jim's mom who came up to play with Justin and to visit for my birthday. I'm 43 years old today. I have 13 jars of peaches and 4 jars of cherries. We had planned to do a picnic lunch with Eva but Justin fell asleep on her lap. He slept from 10-330. (seeing as he was awake at 230 in the a.m. I figured letting him sleep was a good idea!)

Got the lawn mowed and the main floor fairly well cleaned. Not perfect, but then again, it never is. :) I'm getting more proficient at it though!

Had a shower, got things organized for supper and then mom and dad arrived for supper. We had a lovely meal. Mom and Dad gave us this really nice picture of Justin. It's just a superb picture. :) Sausage on a bun with cucumber salad for supper. Conversation and laughter.

Then after supper I showed off my bunnies. They are sick right now so I"m treating them with meds. NOT FUN to have sick bunnies. Some of my bunnies are angry because I'm not letting them out to do "their thing" at all. Nor am I petting them much since I want them to GET BETTER!

Oh...My sister gave me Chicken cannisters! They are wonderful! Okay...she gave one to me and one to Jim. But they are MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will fit in well in my chicken kitchen. :) We have an animal book room, a chicken kitchen and a duck bathroom, though Justin commandeered the ducks from the bathroom to be momma duck and baby duck. Some day they will be rehung in the bathroom. :)

Judy and Henry arrived bringing dessert of cheesecake (the unbaked type), very yummy. Had more conversation and laughter. it was a very pleasant evening. A great way to spend a birthday. :) A nice day it was. :)

End of July, our life continues

So Today Jim, Justin and I are running up to Trail's End Market to ship out some bunnies. Hoping to get there early so that we can get bunnies into early cages as opposed to late ones since I don't wish to be in London almost all day waiting for bunnies to sell.

To read up on our vacation go here.
To read up on what happened after our vacation go here.

Um what else......raccoons have been visiting the backyard. Scared one of the bunnies bad enough that it heart-attacked on me.

Sassy's been feeling spunky some evenings. When she's like that we chase balls in the backyard. :) Good to see her feeling spunky.

My squash plants are definitely well on their way to taking over the backyard. Wish they had stayed the bush plants they were supposed to be. ARGH!!!!! Makes it difficult to manage the gardens well when one has squash growing out everywhere.

Justin has learned he likes gooseberries. Raspberries I think are still his favourite. But gooseberries....they are good too.

Jim fixed the O2 sensor and the muffler on the car. YEAH!! my man is good! :)

That's it for now...gotta run.

A cold, long days, and gardening

In the last two days I've sold 7 bunnies. Did cut people deals a bit, but overall, still made more than if I sell them as meat rabbits. :)

What else...oh..as you can tell from the header...we've had colds in this house. Jim started it all off last week, Justin caught it this week. It's one of those nasty sit in your sinuses type of colds.

Justin was a bit better today but his breathe has been simply atrocious so I'm thinking tonsils are also involved. So despite his eating today, I'm taking him to the doc tomorrow to see if needs to be medicated to help his tonsils heal up a bit.

Rod DeKoter and his boys are coming up for a visit tomorrow. They'll arrive mid-afternoon and stay for supper. Should be fun. Rod and Jim have been best friends for years. Good people. His wife is visiting her parents who are not doing very well unfortunately.

Justin helped mommy pull weeds this morning in the garden. Well...okay...he didn't really help. Tagu tried to help...but mommy often sent Tagu flying through the air to escape the bad weeds (Really...he was escaping...really!) :)

Rabbits enjoyed those weeds too! Well..except for Moss who's a bit on the picky side for greens eating as of yet.

Got the kitchen and living room cleaned today! YEAH!!! tough job but we got'her done. Had prayer meeting at the house and Jim's office is way too overflowing with books...we need a bigger office I'm a thinking! Too many books...can one ever have too many books????? So we needed to have the rest of the house livable. Found more toys to put out in the garage sale.

Oh...had a garage sale last week. It rained. I still have lots to get rid of. Thinking, if the weather holds nice, I'll sell again on Saturday morning. See if I can't get rid of more "stuff" that I just don't be needing in my house any more. Made a 1/3 of what I am hoping to make overall, but we'll see how it all goes.

Anyways, think that's about it. Talk more again I'm sure in another two weeks or so. :) Cheers!

It's into June

Okay, our family over the past three weeks or so.

Busy. :) That would be a good way to describe it.

Jim's had LOTS of meetings. I"m looking forward to summer when he has a few less meetings. It'll be like having my hubby back!

Justin's been growing and learning lots. He made me laugh and cry tonight.
Laughter amidst frustration. He decided he would make a nice bunny nest tonight. Guess what he used???? laundry...both clean and dirty AND all the clothes from his room...every single last piece that he could find and reach. MY laundry..of the drawers he could open. Ditto with Daddies..... oh my.......NOT fun trying to put it all away again. Though by the time it was bed time Justin was eager to help mommy get his clothes back where they belonged. :)

We had a bit of a visit at Nancy's tonight (next door neighbour). She's back in school full-time to become an office administrator. Her son and niece were playing out front so Justin thought he'd join them. I invited Nancy to have me help her garden anytime she needed help.

Justin helped me plant the crab potatoes. yes...you read that right. I had some stuff not come up on the garden, and thought...oh right, I hadn't planted potatoes why not plant some? I had some potatoes growing 'eyes' so I asked Justin if he'd help me plant them. Well..those crab potatoes were all tired and they had to go to bed and sleep under the ground. They were hiding! :) it was fun listening to all his little boy talk with those crab potatoes. :) he then helped me replant my beans. Next week I may replant some lettuce and transplant my ground cherries to where I want them growing.

We've had mice and baby bunnies born. I always like new life.

My niece Ange got married. Monty seems like solid rock of a guy. He's a tattoo artist from Alaska. I got called a crackpot at the wedding because I'm daring to home-school Justin. :) I was quite taken aback at first and then I figured....older lady, not "up" with the times. We chatted a bit afterwards and she amended her crackpot statement to "those who home-school are rather different". I thanked her for that compliment. :)

My main man Jim....he's a handy man. He's almost done building this really cool workbench in the garage. :) YEAH!!!!! Looks good thus far. Hopefully it will prove to be as functional as it looks. :) I'm rather proud of his abilities.

Oh.. that reminds me. I was talking with one of the ladies at work today and not sure how we got on the topic but I mentioned that I trusted Jim implicitly (not to have an affair). She was shocked. She said...you do realize that we live in Huron county right? I said so? I wasn't raised here, neither was my man, and I trust him implicitly. She was just confounded and so very intrigued by the notion. I find that rather sad. Probably should have found a way to bring God into the conversation, but I didn't, and it was a short conversation.

as to me...I've been working on spring cleaning the house. One room per week is my goal. This week I got the main bedroom cleaned. Got the back yard tidied up as well. I've managed to get a few other things done this week as well but you all don't need to hear all about that. :)

Anyways, it's getting late. I'm tired and going to bed. Keep well all.

The Zoo, May 22, 2008

Actually posted by Annette but the pictures are on Jim's computer. :)

So we went to the zoo on Thursday, the Toronto Zoo. Boy, did we have fun. :)

Justin had a blast seeing different animals, sitting on stones shaped like animals and just running around seeing things. He played with another little boy named Aaron, pretended to be a cat frequently, and just was a good boy. Surprised me that he managed to stay up ALL day and well past the time we got home. We all went to bed at the same time. A frequent request, whenever he saw something that he really liked was "Justin want go in there too." "go in there too?"

Some pics....NOTE: these are from the camera that died on us. It has been in process of dying for a while, so to have it completely die wasn't a shock, but was a disappointment. So some of the pictures are not so good, some were completely unrecognizable, I picked the best of the lot.

This is Tagu's big brother.

and Dumbo too!

Herein lies fascination with one of the three big aquariums we saw.
BIG fish.

The family of Warthogs, or as Justin and I say, pigs!
He stared at these fellows, asking, where mommy pig?

It was interesting to note that there were Ducks and Canada Geese in almost every exhibit, except where the big cats were. :) Wonder why?
This seemed like an early batch of goslings, looked at least three days old.
What young lad can resist going through a natural Tunnel?
Here Justin played with Aaron for a while.

Doesn't my hubby take good pictures?

I must so recommend going to the zoo in the spring.
The crowds are less.
The animals are out more.
There is room to explore and not get bumped into by people and it is WAY quieter. :)

We will most definitely go to the zoo again in the spring.
Just don't buy the ice cream! WAY too expensive. No more promises by mommy to buy ice cream at the zoo! (promises aught to be kept don'tcha know!)

Family Update

Just thought I should post an update here again. it's been a bit, granted i do post things on my blog too, so it's not like I have been doing nothing. :)

Anyways, Justin is almost over his cold. Last night was the first night in almost a week and a half that I didn't have a little boy joining me in bed OR waking me up to come wipe a nose or give him a bottle or ... (you get the picture).

Mom and Dad were supposed to come up today, but Dad isn't. It will just be mom for Lunch and then shopping afterwards. Justin may stay with us OR go to gramma's for an hour or so.

What else...my newest batches of bunnies contain some really cool colours. I'm thrilled with that! I'm hoping one or two of the neat colours is female and then I can considering keeping. :)

Most of my garden is planted. Want to purchase some celery yet, plant more lettuce and so forth. But trying to spread out the lettuce a bit so it doesn't all come all at once.

Next week is holidays for Jim, will spend most of the day around here. the week after Jim goes to the Banner. and then back to regular routine. Jim's rather tired of work, needs a break. So next week he's off! :) He'll work on vehicles, moving rose bed and start work on the patio, we'll take a day trip to the zoo. I work Friday and then Saturday and Sunday we'll go camping up at the regionals and help out there. Monday morning Jim leaves for the Banner and comes home on Friday late. Should be an interesting two weeks.

Not much else to say, so will close off here.

Life Does Not Always Go as Planned

Yesterday I had planned to be out and about with Justin in the morning. Garage-saleing, pop in at the Agility sale in London and so forth.

BUT that changed when Justin mentioned that penis hurt and hard to pee. Checked him out, he had an "owie" down there. Took him to the doctor. Doc says either a yeast or a bacterial infection, probably yeast. Need to treat it with Monistat Derm for a week. IF that doesn't clear it up, then he gave me a sample of some other stuff to apply.

Justin is NOT pleased! I hate making my little boy cry twice a day. I just hate it! Not on my list of things I enjoy at all.

I hope the monistat clears it up soon, I really, really do!

Though I have to admit, Justin made me laugh yesterday. I asked the doc what causes this. He mentioned it was quite common in little boys learning how to pee and keep themselves clean, and that circumcised boys don't get this. We just need to continue to encourage Justin to keep himself clean down there.

When Justin and I got back to the car he asked "want go see circumcise mommy? Go now mommy?" I laughed! :) Told him Oh buddy, we can't go see circumcise, we just can't do that. :) So how would YOU have answered that one?

On a different note. A lady called me up from Windsor yesterday, asked me a lot about my bunnies, mentioned how she just wanted a pet bunny and she likes how the coats turn out on the lop-rex crosses. Said she was going to come up around four to get one. She never showed up to my knowledge, but later in the day I noted one of my youngsters was missing. I have to ask myself, did she show and was really quiet about it and helped herself OR did a bunny get out and get cat-nabbed? I really don't know. I'd rather it be curious bunny escaping than to think that someone could have slipped into our backyard without me noticing (or Sassy either). That idea just doesn't sit well with me.

Anywho, we have a missing bunny and an unhappy boy (only when his mommy is administering stuff to him). Other than that, Life is very much blessed of God in our household.

Middle of April

I've just realized I haven't done a family update lately. :)

So.... what have we been up to lately?

about this lad of ours ---

• Justin's favourite word lately is NO. He's fairly straight forward, everything is NO! It's a bit frustrating at times. BUT overall he's still a pretty good lad.
  
• We've learned that right now water is absolutely fascinating...making rivers and waterfalls, sitting there and watching it. I've learned to watch him carefully with water because he'll dump it in places you really don't want it -- found him one day dumping loads of water into the mouse food container (it still had mouse food in it) I had to lay it all out on a sheet to get it all dried again. ARGH! Silly lad. :) AND he's learned the joy of throwing water at people. :) Fortunately he's fairly easy to out-run at this point in his life.
  
• He likes to be silly - he'll do something and I ask what he's doing...'Justin silly boy!' will be the response...and sometimes it is safe, harmless and silly, and other times it likes "no Justin, that's not silly, that's wrong...don't break the rabbits food bowls".
  
• He's learning to dance to music (just not mommy singing). BUT he likes to tell mommy what to sing so we often sing.
  
• He likes to go to Toddler Time, but he hates it when Missy sings the clean up song. Has a fit at home when I sing it too. Not sure if it's for the same reason though. :)
• Hoping to start swimming with him at the local pool soon. Should be fun to do that again.
• He's learning his abc's and 123's and colours. Fun to watch his mind at work. He just likes to KNOW stuff right now.

Jim

• wrenched his back/shoulder the other day not sure who, resulted in some pain and resultant lack of sleep. Found it difficult to do some things. Found he liked having a couple of back rubs through it all :)
• has sent off his paperwork to go to the Conference at the end of May. I'd drawing a blank right now as to what the conference is. But it's a pastor's conference.
  
• Continues to work hard at his job
• Is trying to get the front fender off of the Sunrunner so that he can learn how to fix the rust on it using sheet metal (or something like that). He also has plans to fix the brake lines on the Mazda as they are starting to rust up a bit. Anyways, he apparently has two more screws to get off and the penetrating oil is taking it's time to do it's thing.
• Disappointing....We got a plecko, added it to Jim's peacock aquarium, they promptly got ICK, Jim treated the tank, two fish died..and then Jim realized that he neglected to remove the carbon from the filter. Removed that, treated them again, the ICK cleared up. ARGH!!! Lost some good fish. Jim's hoping we can replace them today. So that was a disappointing thing over the past week.
  

Annette

• uh...my life...always the hardest to come to......
• My bunnies are fun! I like raising bunnies and selling the offspring. Fun work. I like seeing the different colours and personalities. Customers can be odd to deal with but I think that's pretty normal. Not bad money even if I sell the babies cheap. I've had people out from Missausaga, St.Thomas, Kitchener and of course London for them. Amazes me when people are willing to drive 1.5 hours (or more) for a bunny, but I sell to them. :)
  
• I'm starting to plant my gardens, my radishes are starting to come up already. :) I hope the spinach and lettuce come soon too. Justin is learning to stay out of the planted gardens --- I put a brick on them to help him remember.
• I've had fun learning to do build rabbit cages. :) I use old lumber and free stuff from the lumber yard. I'll have to I think buy one more piece of plywood, but other than that, should be done. I want to get the cages up off the ground but haven't figured out a cost effective way of doing that yet. Any thoughts...let me know. :)
  

Sassy, Sparks and various critters.

• Sassy is doing well. Her leg tends to bother her at times. She hasn't had an issue with Justin at all lately! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! But the weather is so nice lately she can be outside alot, and we're outside a lot too, so it's not like she's been abandoned. :) Justin's getting older and realizing that rushing a dog is NOT acceptable. She goes for walks to the park with us, rides in the car to the store (Short trips), and plays ball a lot. :) She also ALWAYS gets a good morning walk, the evening walks vary as to what's going on in the house and with Jim.
• Sparks continues to be a nice Tom Cat. He has some annoying habits that we'd like to break, but not sure that we can. He's a cat, they can be fairly particular.
• The fish...the guppies are doing well, they are very colourful which is one reason why I like them. The Kribs are growing well, we have at least one female. They assist in keeping the guppy population under control :) Also hoping to get a breeding pair so I can sell any resultant babies. That would be nice. :)
• Jim's put some new light bulbs in the tank upstairs with the south americans cichlids so they show off their colours really nicely.
• Guinea pigs, we have four girls and one boy right now. the boy is new so going through a hold stage. He was a young girls pet who simply doesn't have enough time for him. We'll see if we get youngsters from them or not.
  

That's about it I think.

Feel free to leave a comment that you've been by. :) Always nice to get comments...just click on the little comments box. If you do anonymous (because you don't want to open a blogger account) that's okay...just sign your name please. :) have a great day!

Maybe We Should Do This For Our Old Clothes

A boon and a blessing

So yesterday Eva (Jim's mom was here). She had promised Justin she would sleep over at our place when he got back from Oma and Papa's. She's very good at keeping promises to little boys.

Anyways, she said she'd stay with him while Jim and I stopped at the Doc's office to get my hand checked out. Saw the Practical Nurse who works for them. She thought that my hand should be doing pretty good by the middle of the week, but I'm to keep it wrapped until it's all healed up and to continue watching for infection. She said that I need to monitor that longer than I might think I need to. So...I'll keep a close eye on things. She wrapped it up again for me, used a new to me dressing (some antibiotic treated non-stick dressing) and it well...suffice it to say I tolerated it as long as I could and then I ripped it off. The heat generated by it caused all my healing blisters to flair up again. We stopped at shoppers' drug mart to pick up some new stuff and I washed my hand well and redressed it. That pain I'm not to desirous of repeating. I'll stick with the Melaluca triple antibiotic for sure (that and unmedicated non-stick pads)!

We continued on our way to London. Picked up a couple of mini rex bunnies from a fellow who had thought he might donate them as pet food. I figured I could give them a better home than that! One I think will end up being blind in the one eye, he mentioned that eye had been bad since birth and recently had been worse again. he'd been treating it with eye drops and I'm continuing the same.

BUT I ALSO got some clothes. God was good to us. We stopped at Pennington's. I really, really wanted to find some dress pants to replace the ones that got burnt in the fire. I found some. Also found some other pants, and some undies (yes, a number of them burnt too!). Then we scratched the scratch and win ticket and got 50% off! Go figure that! So I picked up a couple of shirts as well! We got $200 worth of clothing for $100....and much of what we purchased was on sale already. :) Pretty cool God's providence in that ain't it? :)

Got some clothes at Wal-mart too. I'll want my mom to shop with me sometime this spring to see if I can find another shirt to go with these pants I got, I don't have much that goes it them and they are really nice light pants to just wear to church or out and about and so forth. But a "NICE" shirt will make it work well for church.

Anyways, Jim and I were chatting about how much I had wanted to build 2-3 rabbit hutches this week and couldn't because of my hand. And I decided I would ask mom (eva) if she would stay over and help me...I figured the worst that could happen is she'd say no, she'd rather go home. She said yes! We got two cages built (Jim and Justin helped a bit as well). We discovered that we can work together rather well. (my lessons with Jim have paid off). I have a happy buck (lop-hop) who is simply delighted to be in a cage where he can hop around and being a crazy buck! :) Scruffy didn't much care as he'd been in a fairly big cage for a while already (originally Lop-hop's but Scruffy didn't try to escape from it and a smaller cage was easier to lop-hop proof!).

Grammer (Justin's word) stayed for a bit in the afternoon and just played with Justin. He had a blast. She wanted to stay to do the dishes up and said Mom...go home. Leave the dishes, they'll get done sometime.

This weekend has proven to be a boon and blessing to me in many ways, God's providence clearly seen in many ways. And I've learned a bit more about the fine art of patience when healing. Should stand me in good stead as my life continues! :)

Update on my Hand

So it's been 5 days.
My hand is getting a better. It still has moments of "ouch"....sometimes of my own doing when I forget it and try to push off something with it. NOT a good idea by the by.

The smallish blisters around the outside of my hand are going away.

The three-four large blisters haven't busted open which is good...gives the skin underneath a chance to heal.

The large area on my thumb doesn't ache constantly and actually looks pretty good. :)
The large area on my palm is still sore, but it's in a area where it feels every twinge of movement, it's healing more slowly but I'm okay with that, since it makes sense to me.

I'm not falling asleep for no apparent reason during the day anymore. and yesterday I had so much energy in me I could almost burst. I used that energy to do up the church newsletter and to start a webpage for my small critter business.

I see the Practical Nurse today at the Doctor's office. I'm imagining she'll give re-wrap it all up and then give me some more bandages for wrapping (or I'll have to buy something which is fine). I'm hoping to find a new pair of dress pants today to replace the ones damaged in the fire. Oh, and I'll need some pants for work as well....those I'm hoping to find at value village or a thrift store somewhere.

On a practical note - If I'm careful I can catch a jumping boy child (using my wrist instead of my hand). :) If I wrap my hand in plastic I can have a shower! :) I can't manage dishes yet. If I wrap my hand in a bag I can pick up baby bunnies to check on them :)

My parents were great with taking Justin for four days. He did really well with them. Was a happy boy and listened and slept when he aught to and so forth. Showed Oma his strong sense of determination at times, Her comment "he certainly knows his own mind doesn't he?" :) Oma learned that when he's a hungry boy child that he is definitely a hungry boy child. :) And that yes...he likes being tickled (as long as one doesn't overdo it). He plays really nicely by himself said Mom and Dad to me, more than once. So it was good to hear a good report back. It's like I know my boy is a good boy with strong determination....but it's good to hear the same from others. :)

Driving Instructors

FIRE!!!

Well, we had a little excitement this morning. I had just woken, and was still in that half asleep state that is common upon waking up. I heard the smoke detector go off downstairs, but I knew Annette was up, and figured she was cooking bacon or something else that commonly triggers the detector. Well, it kept going and going. Then I heard a yell from downstairs, "JIM HELP!" I got up and went down and upon looking into the basement saw a lot of smoke. Ran the rest of the way down to see Annette dumping water from the tap on a small fire among our laundry. Apparently a pile of laundry fell over against the furnace and go set on fire. Thankfully, Annette came in from caring for the rabbits, heard the alarm and went to see what was up. All that was damaged was various items of clothing, towels, sheets and the like.

Annette burned her hand when she grabbed what she thought was a towel, but which turned out to be a melted plastic laundry basket. So after we got the fire out, we called a member of our congregation who could take care of Justin (Thank-you Margaret M.), and after dropping off Justin headed to the ER.

Even though there really were no other people there, they took their time treating Annette. Partly I think to see how bad the burn was. But after some Toradol, Tylenol 3 and some liquid from the Novacain family that numbed the worst injured parts of her hand, they tried to clean the plastic residue off, with no success. The doctor said it shouldn't cause an infection problems and should come off as the skin sloughs off in the next while. The put an antibiotic cream over the hand and wrapped it in gauze, and we headed home.

Due to Annette only having one hand to work with we asked if her parents could take care of Justin for a couple of days, and my mom can to help with the clean up. Hopefully tomorrow when she goes in to the ER again to have her dressings changed and see how things are healing, we will find that all is healing well.

That about updates our fire adventure. I'm sure Annette will add to it when she can type again.

Busy Weekend

So wow...was this weekend ever busy!

Friday...Good Friday. Had a service in the morning, then Jim had a funeral home visitation. I had work. Thank goodness for Eva being around...she was able to watch Justin while I was at work and while Jim was at the visitation. The Good Friday service was apparently really good....I had no chance to listen to it as Justin did not want to go to the nursery and there was no way he wanted to go into church. He was quite adamant that Grammer get out of Sunday clothes and play with him and Mommy was to go to work! He was 32 months of profound determination. :)

Saturday we had the funeral service. Really good service. Justin sat in service until the sermon started and then we took Marcus' boy with us down to the nursery. It was rather funny at one point....Christopher started to cry and Justin's response to that was "throw him out!" (in reference to my oft repeated threat of "I'll throw you out the window") Made me laugh, which made Justin laugh and become the helpful little boy I know him to be. :) He made Christopher stop crying by his playing antics. :)

Sunday, sonrise service, breakfast and morning service. Then off to see my Sister. We had a family gathering there to celebrate birthdays and Easter. We had a lovely time. Justin hunted for Easter eggs, and had a lot of fun playing with his cousins. Tired boy fell asleep on the way home and went straight into bed.

A good weekend, but rather exhausting. :)

Building with a boy child

My boy and I worked hard today.

He hammered,

I hammered.

Together we got those nails into the wood.
I thought I was making a new rabbit cage.
He said, "we making crib for kitties!"I could not change his mind. :)
(can you see his Sparks and then Tagu in the train?
Giant Cosmos and baby Cosmos and little cat are there too really!)

Did we get finished?
Not today, 7 p.m. came much too fast.

He even learned today that thirsty, hard-working people
can drink juice right out the jug!

And one tired boy had a nice fun bath and crawled into bed.
Ah...but did we have fun. :)

For the Video of this, go here.

Justin's Current Favorite

Today Justin kept asking me for Diesel 10 on 'puter. I kept searching youtube, but had to google Diesel Ten to find out what episodes he was in. I found he was in the movie "Calling All Engines." This is now Justin's favorite.

Travis on my bum?

see these? Justin's are somewhat different, but you understand the concept. :)

Justin LOVES THEM!!! I have underwear I don't have a struggle putting or keeping on him! (so I guess I love 'em too!)

He made me laugh today.
I put on the Travis undies him. Justin was fascinated. "travis on my bum?"
"wanna see him, travis on my bum, mirror mom mirror? travis on my bum see him?".

here I had to lift him up so that he could see travis on his bum in the mirror. :)
I laughed.
I told him, yes, see, there is travis on your bum.
his response "wanna see travis gain!"

But by then my back was saying "Stupid woman, put that boy child down!" so I did. :)

My Back

If anyone reads this blog and feels inclined to pray.

I shoveled snow on Saturday...heavy stuff at the end of the driveway. I must have done something wrong since my back did not appreciate my effort. By the end of the day I was not in good shape. Not good, but I will survive. makes me thankful for days when my back isn't spasming as much. :)

and to think ...I've shovelled oodles of snow this winter without a problem....

Ah well...God plans things out differently than I would, but grants also the grace to deal with it.

March 4, Ear Check-up

Today Justin had his 6 month check up at Dr. Raymond's office in Strathroy.

His ears are good.
His tubes are still intact.

His tonsils are big but not infected. If they get too big they will be removed or if get white spots on them he'll be put on an antibiotic. They will need to be monitored. I can see his tonsils very clearly if he sticks out his tongue at me. To me they look HUGE! :)

He doesn't have a lot of wax in his ears which is a good thing.

From an ENT perspective he's in good shape.

Yesterday Visit

So yesterday Justin and I headed up to Mom and Dad's for a visit.

The whole way down Justin kept up this litany.
Where we going mom?
To Oma and Papa's house?
What do there mom?
I don't know Justin, visit I think, what do you want to do there?
Play with TOYS! was the delighted response.

Granted, after 10 minutes of this the conversation was getting rather old for me...but hey...what do you do when it's just the two of you in a car? You point out trucks and silos and farms and tractors. And manage to intersperse those into the conversation, and when all else fails... get "tagu" to help you drive the car (and be scared off all the transports on the road). That's what you do! :)

Anyways, had a lovely visit with my parents.
Helped mom with a computer problem.
Justin played and played and played some more.

We left a bit later than expected because the first attempt at downloading a thing that mom needed failed, and I wanted to get it all installed for her as well.

Justin fell asleep soon after we left.
Slept when I brought him into the house.
Slept even after Jim tried to wake him up.
Slept after I got him up.
Finally I held him in my lap so he could watch Thomas on my computer. That helped him get going again. If he'd gone to bed for good at 430 he would have been up WAY to early for me.
We had a BAD supper...pizza, but it fit for a end to a tiring day.

To read up on how I got him into bed at the close of the day, go here.

It's been a Spell

So it's been a spell since I've updated everyone. Not a whole lot to say either!

Okay...let's think here.....
This past weekend Jim and I headed out of town so that we could go to a teaching conference. We stayed at another Pastor's house as they were very close by. it was nice to stay with them and get to know them a bit more. Jim knows Doug better than I do, but the family seems quite nice and Doug is just this sweetie of a man. :)

This teaching conference was hosted by the Discipleship Committee of the RCA, Ontario Classis. The conference was put together to explain Vantage Point 3 and LOH (which official name escapes me at the moment). Anyways, LOH is based on Vantage Point 3 which is an adult discipleship/leadership training course. It lasts for three years, costs mega-bucks to be part of, but the classis is willing to reimburse some of that cost. LOH is directed toward youth, cost is more reasonable and includes a yearly retreat. Both sound good, but I have to admit I have some hesitancy toward it.

My hesitancy toward Vantage point 3 stems a lot from my irritation in the morning session where the Speaker used a lot of pop-psychology language where I ended up thinking...so what exactly is he trying to say here? Can't you just find a normal way of talking rather than using all these stupid catch phrases that don't mean anything.

My hesitancy toward LOH comes from
1. why should we pay for a conference that we might not be able to attend? Why should that cost be built in? Does it (and I never got this answered) include the price of accommodations (the standard answer to such like questions was "depends a lot on the churches and the region involved). Tells me nothing, even if it is true.
2. Most churches, if they put a bit of work into it, could develop a similar program for a lot less financial outlay on the whole. $100 per student per year (for 2-3 years)translates into a lot of cash. Cobbling something else together could quite effectively do just as good a job. Granted, means a bit of work on the part of the church, but that's what we're in ministry for...to do the best job we can with the resources God has granted us, to further the kingdom of God.

Enough of that. :)

Justin, while we were gone, had LOTS of fun with his grammer (Jim's mom). Tunnels, trains, tents, snow, popcorn and laughter all round. :)

I've posted my bunnies for sale. Have 12 to sell. I'll give kijiji a couple of weeks to do it's thing and then I'll just bring those I don't want to the market in London and sell them there. I potentially have two of them sold already. YEAH!!! :)

This coming weekend Jim is off to the Classis meeting in Welland, Justin and I might go to the Market in London and we're visiting my folks on Thursday (Justin and I, Jim has to work).

What else? Can't think of anything off the top of my head so I'll just close off then.

Update on my bunnies

So, all my young bunnies are sold! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most I sold for $10 a piece, two for $8 each, most went to decent homes as far as I know, and three I sold at market for not as much as I wanted, but ah well... at least I didn't have to feed them and I didn't want to risk being stuck with them either. :)

One lady came out at 11 p.m. to get her bunny she was so eager. Dragged her boyfriend along for the ride. Came out from London.

Sent one off yesterday to a lady who is hoping to start breeding her own bunnies. Had a lovely chat with her and her two little ones.

We're left with the two that I really wanted to keep as replacement girls so life is good. :) Oh...and the one non-grower that I still have no clue what I want to do with. Not sure that I can leave her with the piggies indefinitely.....

Some of Justin's favourite on-line places

As an aid to my hubby

some favourite pages of Justin's

colouring pages

• Disney CARS colouring pages.
• bob the builder colouring pages ... same company with CARS
• blue clues :)
  

Activity Sites

• thomas the train
• bob the builder
• pbskids for caillou, berenstain bears, and clifford.

And then of course there's the ever popular YouTube with it's various thomas the tank engine clips. :)

Challie's Contest

You'll notice in the sidebar a link to Challies new Contest.
He is giving away this month the following:

Three prizes will be awarded as follows:

• First prize: Five Films Gift Pack: Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story, Inherit the Land: Adventures on the Agrarian Journey, The Eden String Quartet: A Bountiful Blessing, A Journey Home, The Peasall Sisters: Family Harmony.
• Second prize: New Films Pack: Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story, Inherit the Land: Adventures on the Agrarian Journey.
• Third Prize: Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story.

Yesterday Out of Town

Yesterday the whole family took our normal Monday let's get out of town day.

We went to London where we stopped to pick up mom because of a little boy's persistent request that we take gramma to the Train store.

Once there he gleefully showed gramma the trains that he didn't have. He then winnowed it down the two that he just had to have. Hard choice for a wee lad.

Gramma chose to spoil him.

He chose an Emily (with her two green coaches)






And a Sir Handel with his two red coaches.








So we have one very happy little boy who refused to nap for gramma. he had new trains! gramma was too much fun!

he apparently ate like a horse for gramma.

Jim and I had a nice day out. We just hung out together. didn't have a lot of shopping to do so we just went willy-nilly here and there. Fun to do that once in a while.

I should add this since Jim found the answer to a query.... we passed a protest of some sort or other and wondered what FARC was all about. Jim found the answer here.

They were among hundreds of thousands estimated to have marched at the same time in 185 cities around the world to protest the actions of FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

Sold Bunnies

So today we went to London, went for a couple of reasons.

1. sell bunnies
2. get some bouillon from Watkins at london market - used rabbit money to buy this! :)
3. pick up duckweed from mom's (that she picked up for us from a freecycle person) - made the fish happy when I stuck it in aquariums.

Sold Bunnies
3 mini rex to a pet store for $36
4 other bunnies at the Trail's End Market for less money than I wanted but it worked out over all.

For a grand total of about what I expected and less than what I hoped for. :)
In retrospect from a cost effective perspective would have been better to kill the older bunny that I brought in. Only got a bit for him, he probably weighed in at 6-7 lbs. So he would have given me more dog meat than what I got for him monetarily. BUT seeing as I liked this little boy, at least this way I can think that just maybe he's got a bit of life left in him, instead of thinking of him as dog food, a life I hope as a breeding buck in someone's rabbit program. :)

But of the three littles ... one had a bad eye so I consider anything I got would be a give-me. especially since originally I thought I had no choice but to keep her, but her eye was looking pretty good this morning, just a touch of cloudiness so I thought...she can leave! The others I just didn't want to feed up to a decent weight for butchering, so I got more than what they were worth weight wise. So that's good.

And the mini-rexes selling for $12 each...well..that's just way cool! :) As that's more than I think they were worth meat wise. So...Life is good. Was even able to pay Jim back for buying rabbit food. Good to surprise one's hubby once in a while. :)

I have left three bunnies that I want to sell. And if I don't sell them privately for $10 each then I will bring them to the market in 2-3 weeks. Bring them in early, hopefully have them at a better spot for selling (early sale better price from what I could observe).

One very curious mini rex. He weighs 1.25 lbs. Love this bunny, very tempted to keep him. He is such a curious soul. Always ready for the next adventure. He has pretty good form, not perfect, but he's young yet. I expect he'll mature into a solid buck. Part of me would like to keep him for my breeding program, and yet I wonder if I should or not. Have time to decide. Of course, if I get a solid cash offer for him he's gone. :)



Two mixed breeds.

• A tan and white female weighing at about 2 lbs. She's a nice young doe. Would keep her but she has a sister who looks almost the same with a slightly better temperament and is bigger than her by 2 oz. Doesn't seem like much, but when I want a larger meat rabbit, size matters.
  
• A tan male coming in at 1.5 lbs. --- this one Justin just really enjoys him. He is very placid and tolerates a little boy picking him up. Quiet and somewhat shy. Nice rabbit, if he'd been a female I'd want to keep him for his body build.
  

So...if my readers live close by and want a bunny...well... let me know, I'd be happy to help you out. :)

My Dog and My Boy

It was fun yesterday....After a day doing onions (I had gotten 20 pounds of onions cheap three weeks ago and finally had time to do them up - dehydrated some and chopped others up for the freezer) and taking breaks to play with the boy. Justin had slept in late so didn't have a nap, at 4ish he was starting to get pretty tired, so I thought to myself... I need to get out and do something with him. We don't need each other getting frustrated and mad so.....off we went to the park with Sassy.

Sassy LOVES the park. :) So does the boy child. :)
I had neglected to bring gloves for myself so we didn't go for a walk. That idea just seemed perfect to freeze my hands off! Instead we went to the snow-covered playground equipment and had fun on it. There I could keep my hands in my pockets or tucked up into my sleeves and stay warm for the most part. Justin wasn't allowed on the big children's section since it looked too slippery for my taste with a little lad. Proved to be a good choice as the wee children's section had plenty of zip for him.

Justin and Sassy had races down the slides. :) Who was first? Who was second? (they have two slides side by side...first was one side, second was the other). Who could do ready set go first? Could Sassy wait for Justin? Could Justin wait for Sassy? Who could get to the bottom, get themselves upright and get to the stairs for another go round? We had a blast for 20 minutes. Then with wet bottoms and cold hands we went home again.

I also thought it fun hearing comments from passers by. "Look! that doggie is sliding mommy?" "Yes, she is being a silly dog isn't she." "Look mommy boy playing with doggie!" :) Made me grin watching those smiles and hearing those comments. :)

We got there just in time for Daddy to take the car and head off for his meeting. He would normally have taken the van but flat tire and broken bolt nixed that plan!

Things I like Doing with My boy

I love listening to my boy child play. Hearing his conversations with his Tagu, watching him play out the scenes from his Thomas videos (particularly all the crashes), seeing him get creative with the toys that he has - sometimes using them in ways I hadn't thought of before.

He sometimes will draw me into his play time. "mommy, come sit on floor" and then I'm given a toy and we play. :) But I have to mind that I don't have the wrong toy. :)

But what I love most right now is when he comes and helps me with stuff. From cooking supper last night when he helped me put the sour cream into the stroganoff. One ever so small (to me) scoop at a time and I mix it in. When he tries ever so hard to help and he spilled the hamburger on the counter and I hear an "oh oh...mommy clean it?"

When I was organizing/tidying my rooms upstairs on Tuesday, he totally refused to go to bed, Mommy was doing stuff and he could help! (at least I think that was part of his refusal). All the things he could help me move and discoveries that could be made. fun fun for a little boy.

When he's helping me with stuff he is ever such a helpful, obedient little lad. Not like when he is seriously playing and then I need him (or rather would like him) to do something....oh my....that's just asking for trouble. But we're learning and growing together in that.

He's a good boy. :)

"throw you out the window"

When I first had Justin I had some significant postpartum stuff that I needed to deal with. I survived and so did Justin, though I have to admit there were some pretty scary times between the two of us. One of the things I said at the time and occasionally meant was "I'll throw you out the window". I learned to turn that into a fun thing. (YEAH!)

Anyways, it became one the things I say to Justin on a regular basis "I can throw you out the window" or more recently "I can throw you into the snow bank!". :) Justin says no and giggles. :)

As far as I remember this is how the latest episode went: The other night I was doing something, heard Jim laugh and then came when he called me. He said "listen to Justin". Here's my boy playing with his beloved Tagu saying "Justin mad at you" "Justin throw you out the window" (as he tosses Tagu over the back of the big lazy boy) and then go rescue him. he did this over and over. I laughed. :)

Did make me very much aware of how much this little boy sees AND hears what I am saying.
Oh...that I end up being a good example of Christ to him (despite my threats to throw him out the window)....which I would never do. :)

Radical Alteration

My plans for the day: have my devotions, walk Sassy, care for bunnies, get the boy up, make breakfast, go to Toddler Time, come back for lunch, Justin to bed, work on more organizing.

My actual day thus far: had my devotions, walked the dog, get home to ..... water on the floor. Oh...what's this? Discover the guppy fish tank has sprung a leak and had done so when I took Sassy for a walk...how do I know this? The floor was dry when I crossed the same spot earlier. Just a mere 45 minutes earlier! Good thing I came in the house first instead of going right to bunny care. :) Wasn't God good?

Quickly I rescued what fish I could find. We had...four males, four females, two middling youngsters, and about 8 babies. We now have four females, two males, two middling youngsters and I was able to find at least 5 babies, two of which I know are still living. :)

I heard "I need milk" call from Justin so he got that. Then I finished setting up the new aquarium. They are now housed in a 5 gallon aquarium. Quite the difference for them from a 35 gallon. But they are swimming.

Then I emptied the gravel out of old aquarium...boy...quite the significant hole in the seal!
Justin made the job a bit harder as he "helped", but hey...at least he wanted to help!

We'll set that somewhere to dry. Jim plans to do some research to see if it is fixable, and then we'll try again. :)

Got some food out for Justin to eat, and put a movie on for him. Then I cared for the bunnies, ate a small bowl of cereal to hold me over and will see what I can figure for the rest of the day.

There won't be any toddler time this morning. I am disappointed about that, but God decided that I needed to do something else this morning. :)

NOT what I had in mind for the day.

A Good Couple of Days

There I was Tuesday, reflecting over the day and realized that even though I didn't feel very productive over the course of the day I actually was. I managed to, despite having a dentist appointment in the morning, managed to complete all the laundry, make a supper, and do some work in the upstairs rec. room. Didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but I didn't expect the freezing to hurt like a son of gun when it came out either (so I read until it was finished coming out). Jim had an executive meeting that took most of the afternoon/evening to handle.

Then Wednesday came around...I managed to have a great sleep on Tuesday night! YEAH!!!!! I don't get many of those. Anyways, got all the paperwork sorted out from the masses of piles upstairs, got that done in the morning. Got tons of dog food made (Sassy is set probably for the next three months), the dishes done, a nice supper made, played with the boy child and even had time to relax with my sweetie. I even ate healthy almost all day long! What can I say...the boy child's goldfish crackers were a bit too much of a temptation. :) Jim got some visiting done and some work on his sermons...not as much as planned because he unfortunately didn't sleep so well on Tuesday night.

Today I plan (I hope) to finish the rest of the upstairs rec room. Clean out the piggies for sure and the rabbits if the weather cooperates (needs to be mild enough mid-morning). Play outside with Justin for a bit. What else....Make supper of some sort...oh...bacon cheeseburger pasta. :) And just generally keep myself busy...I'm pretty good at that. :) I assume Jim plans to work on sermons today...probably won't see him too much here at home.

Justin & Annette Celebrate the Birth of Our Lord

One of the things that Annette has done from before we got married, was through the season of Advent up into Christmas, she would do daily Advent meditations and light Advent Candles. This year she used a book that has various pull out pieces that will form a Christmas scene, one per day of Advent. Justin enjoyed this a great deal, and so we thought we would capture it on video. This was done a little different than they would usually do it because all the characters had fallen over.



This second video is the same thing, but more in keeping with how they would do it each day through Advent. It also shows the thing the Justin enjoyed above everything else, blowing out the candles.

Snowblower AAARRG!

I finally got the snowblower back together today. The problems started back on the 17th of December. I had to shovel some snow out at the end of my in-laws driveway so we could go home. In doing so I injured my back. When we got home there was about 18" of snow in the driveway, so I waded through it and started up the snowblower. All went well until the very end when the one handle mount snapped. That made it impossible to run or control the snowblower, so I dragged it back to the garage and figured I would fix it later.

First I got a welder, and once my back felt a little better welded on the mount again. After that my back hurt more, so I couldn't continue.

When my back felt better (several days later) I cleaned up where I welded and primed and painted it. Doing this caused my back to hurt more again, and I had to wait to continue.

When my back felt better (several days later [do you see a pattern developing]) I started to bolt things back together, got the handle on, and all the controls connected, only to realize I needed to flip the blower up on its front end to get at two of the mounting bolts for the handle which are inside the area occupied by the drive assembly. The bolting of what I could get to re-aggravated my back, so I couldn't continue.


When my back felt better . . . I put the blower up so I could remove the access panel, tighened up the other two bolts that hold the handle, and replaced the access panel. Amazingly enough, this didn't bother my back too much. With everything back together I started up the blower and at first everything seemed to work, until I realized the front augers and the blower were running even though the control handle was not depressed. Weirdly enough when I pressed down the control, the auger and blower stopped. Somehow things got reversed. I took it out and using the reverse controls blew some snow to make sure everything was working. Now to figure out what made the one control work in reverse.

Again I dragged it back to the garage, but by now the gas was low enough I could flip it up on the front end, and I opened the access panel. All looked well in there, so I flipped it back down and opened up the shroud that covers the belts. Sure enough, somewhere in my working on the snowblower I had put the belt that drives the auger and blower on incorrectly. A quick change and replace the shroud. Flip it up and replace the access panel (only to notice on of the mounting points had rusted off--Oh well something else to weld in the future) and it is back together and functioning properly. Now to blow out a path to the church so I can work in my office over there in peace and quiet.