wow, it's been a while....

So it's been a while since I last wrote anything here, so why don't I slip up the letter that I wrote various people this past week.
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Hi folks,

Yes, it's been a while since I wrote a letter. For those of you who don't like bulk letters, just want to reassure you that if I've had an email or written letter from you, this won't all be the same as I'll modify for the person getting it. :)

Not saying that some won't be the same as there are only so and so many ways of saying the same thing.

1. Jim... had a stroke, and is in process of recuperating from that. Tires more easily. Takes longer to do things that require mental effort. But he's back to muddling with the vehicles again. The van has had it's badly needed oil change, and has new shocks on it. And he's eyeing the Mazda lately...keep it, repair it, trade it in???

The meds Jim is on cause him to be cold frequently. Imagine this... sometimes he is colder than I am! Means when he is working on the van he has to pick a good temperature at which to do it. He is hopeful with his blood pressure remaining low that he can get off some of the meds he is on. Would be very nice if he could. We don't argue about the temperature as much as before. :) that's a nice side benefit. :)

He is back to working full-time. But his sermons are shorter (makes them more poignant). He still can't read books out-loud with Justin in the evenings very well yet, but it's improving. Time is our friend right now.

2. Justin...is very proud that he can spell HI and CAT! Does he know all his letters yet? no... but that will come with time. Likes to learn most anything as long as I can tie it to his loves in life...cats, trains or bunnies. Not always so easily done, but we try.

   He is a very busy, cautious type lad. Often doesn't do things until he knows he can. We are hopeful to convince him to ride a small bike this summer. And I want to get him into swimming lessons.

He goes to nursery school 2 hours/week. Enjoys his time there but wishes mommy could stay with him.

He likes to dig! We've been working on extending our patio and he is having a hoot digging out there with me. Right now it's a muddy mess as we've had rain for the past couple of days.

Overall I find he is a good mix between Jim and I. Sometimes a good thing, sometimes a shake your head and ponder thing. :)

2. Milo and Sparks. Sparks is getting old. He is developing growths, and is getting thinner looking (not such a horrid thing for this very solid cat). Just signs that he's getting older. I expect by year end he'll be no longer with us. Milo remains the best cat we could have gotten for a cat crazy boy. He is starting to mature and act less kitteny, but usually where you see the boy, you see the cat.

3. The bunnies are doing well. I've sold a lot over the Easter season. I currently raise Harlequins (a smaller meat breed), Mini rex (my favourite breed), Polish (a tiny, sweet breed), and Holland lops. (everyone wants Hollands nowadays so they are easy sellers). This year I plan to show my polish, one harlequin buck, and if my lop doe who just kindled this morning produces what I think she did, possibly a young loppie as well. :)

4. Guinea pigs. Justin likes his piggies. We have two sows, one boar, and one visiting boar. And soon we'll have a few babies to sell as well.

5. As for myself. I'm doing okay. I've had some health issues that haven't quite resolved themselves. I have a test to undergo at the end of May. I am hopeful that might produce some answers. I am very much looking forward to yard sale and gardening season. I've started going for walks in the evening after Justin goes to bed. It's a nice quiet time for me.

6. Mice. Yes, I still raise mice. I've dramatically reduced my population of my breeder females though. I”m starting to get my long hairs which I am quite pleased with.

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There, that gives an overall update quite nicely. :)

A tough day today...with moments of joy :)

So I decided enough was enough with the mess in our house, today I am cleaning up!

For the most part that went okay. Floors are clean, lots of recycling ready to go, kitchen table is cleaned off, Jim's chair is over at the church, back hall cleaned up, Christmas stuff all put away and toys tidied. All good.

It was an exercise in patience....
one four year old who thought it would be a good day to play with his millet seed. WAY easier to clean up than sand, rice, or other such sensory hide stuff in and play with types of material. AND has the added bonus of being able to be composted and the plants fed to the bunnies in the spring. BUT NOT fun to sweep a floor, see a lad playing (and spilling) seed over a floor I had just swept and cleaned up. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One boy child thought that getting mommy's Christmas present out so that HE could play with it would be a good idea. NOT. but we got it out, I showed him how it worked and then let him make one robot with mommy's help and then promptly forbade him from ever using it without mommy's help. Reminded him about what he could touch and what he could NOT touch of what was "mommy's stuff". Hard sell for a four year old, but he knows. Really....he does. he just doesn't always remember......... (or so he says).

He wanted to go outside very badly the whole time I was cleaning. Told him...as long as he changed his clothes and dressed for outside, he could go outside. He insisted the mommy had to go with him. So he had to wait until the house was mostly livable...and then off we went with daddy's chair over to the church and to play "german bunny" in the church yard.

We built a snowman... and well...

see...it's built....

but then the boy happened... :) (sheer joy on his part...that and determination....)

now mommy...now??? all done with the picture???

I will prevail over the snowman!!!!

to the point of STOMPING it to death!!!!!!!

Victory complete, on we went to play "german bunny".
German bunny is a bunny who lives in a castle, and whenever we go to visit him one of two things happens. Either hunters come and we turn into tigers who have to escape from them. OR dogs are set loose who like to bite people and we have to hide from them.

We want to visit german bunny so that we can get some jewels from him!

AND that's as far as the story ever progresses. :)

I do like these moments of sheer joy and fun. Makes it all somehow better when a day is tough with an arguing child that needs time outs and such like.

Indoor fun fair

held at the agriplex on the western fair grounds.
indoor carnival held for four days.

Justin had a blast.

1. magic show. he wasn't impressed with DooDoo the magician clown though she did manage to amaze him a couple of times.

2. bouncey things! boy...bouncey things are a whole lot of fun!

3. fun house! house of glass! he could spend hours in these things. and then to cap it all off..BUMPER CARS!!!!! Could a four year ask for any more fun? NOPE! Sadness when mom called dad to come pick us up. He wanted to play more, but mom was tired and little boy was getting tired too. :)

Put Up the Christmas Tree Today

Jim was supposed to head off to a meeting today. Left at 6ish with a three hour drive ahead of him. He was not looking well at all. 1/2 hour he called to see what I thought about him coming home again. He came home.

He's been groaning around the house ever since. He can't breathe well, his coughing is not good, and he can't sleep unless he's sitting up! Not conducive to good sleeping. He has a doctors' appointment on Monday.

but Justin and I have continued our plan. Putting up the Christmas tree, playing games, listening to Christmas music and sporadically watching videos.

it's going well...we've been helped by Milo the cat as well. :) Pics will follow when we're all done. Stayed tuned!

Our Christmas Letter

If somehow I should have sent a Christmas card but somehow forgot you as I updated my addresses, well...here's the Christmas letter I sent out this year. :)

Merry Christmas!

Has this winter storm put you in the mood for Christmas at all? Well...it has me! :) Isn't Christmas fun? I find myself wanting to bake cookies, get the house tidy, wrap presents and such like. I do so enjoy helping people find a reason to smile. And isn't the biggest reason to smile the fact that Christ came to earth, died for us, so that we could be right with God? Doesn't that fact just blow you away and make you realize just whose you are? We are God's, and we are here to show his glory. Let us this season show his glory to those around us. (at least that's what I hope to do!) :)

Anyways, I've been somewhat remiss this year in getting cards/letters/and such like out to people. I seem to keep finding other things to do.

1.Starting to slowly homeschool Justin. Takes time and planning. Sometimes I feel woefully inadequate because I'm not always the most organized person around. But when Justin wants to learn something, we take the time and learn. :) It's fun. I love watching him think. We've done some simple unit studies and do the odd craft. Making wood crafts is where it is at!

2.Lego! Ah this boy just LOVES his lego. He is constantly building robots of one sort of the other. It's good to see him use his imagination. Now to keep him well supplied with Lego.....

3.Bunnies! I raise my bunnies and thoroughly enjoy them. I have mini rex, harlequin, commercial new zealand, polish and holland lops. All have their shining aspects, and well... they also have their 'challenges'. :) It's all good. I'm slowly improving their type and learning the sheer fun that is rabbit showing! :)

4.I've done some limited pet-sitting.

5.We've had some vacation time this year. Unfortunately this summer every time we camped, we had rain. Kinda puts a dampener on things. But it was good to get away. Jim didn't quite get the reading time he needed, so next year we'll do things a bit differently.

6.Justin attends a nursery school one afternoon a week. It goes for two hours. He has fun but every week he tries to convince me that I should stay there.

7.Jim is serving as president of Classis Ontario this year. It's meant extra meetings and some added stress for him. I personally think he's doing a good job, though I wouldn't mind him being home a bit more often.

8.Things in Exeter continue as they have been. Jim continues to pastor, I continue to do the newsletter and to update stuff as it needs doing.

9.I still work at Subway one day a week. It's time for Jim to play with Justin, and time for me to make some needed funds. :)

10.My veggie garden did really really well this year. I was quite pleased. Lots of lettuces, corn (though the raccoons did raid our patch), I tried a new type of cucumber which flumoxed Jim, they looked a bit odd, but tasted good. Tomatoes like you wouldn't believe! My potatoes grew well, and I tried a chinese cabbage this year. I wasn't wildly impressed and won't do that again. It attracted bugs by the bucket load and was not appreciated by the bunnies either. It was so dirty and wormy that I didn't want it either! And we had some butternut squash. Oh boy... do we have butternut squash.

11.Not sure what else to write...it's overall been a pretty good year. Learned lots, cried some, laughed tons, and walked with God. It hasn't always been pretty, but it's been okay.

We do wish you a wonderful Christmas season. Do know that God sent his son to die for YOU personally. He did that so that you could have a close and intimate relationship with him so that you can more fully show HIS glory to the world around you.
Jim, Annette and Justin

Justin's Ear Appointment

I mentioned three months ago (I think) that Justin's ear doctor moved him to every three months appointments rather than every six.

Jim came along this appointment.

Justin's right ear is healed over completely from the tubes.
The left ear has lost it's tube, it just needs to heal up. So, somewhere in this house is a small green tube that I didn't notice (not that that's a surprise, those things are tiny!).

The doctor thinks that it's not tonsils, but rather adenoids that are causing the trouble for Justin, and in three months may end up removing them.

He's given us a spray to see if that will help shrink them. It's called Nasonex. It's not cheap! A squirt in the nose every night before bed.

Our next appointment is March 2, 2010, at 1115.

Vacation - November 2009

Due to Jim's illness, our rabbit sitter cancelling on us, and various sundries our original plan to leave on Monday ended up being pushed back to Wednesday.

We spent the week at Don and Deb Waterhouse. We camped in their backyard. Worked out well. Gave us our privacy, gave them theirs, and yet gave us time to chat with each other.

Wednesday we arrived. Basically just chilled the rest of the evening.

Thursday we went to the Royal in the afternoon. All of us were tired. We didn't see the whole thing, but we did see some and have a chance to nibble on samples, see goats being milks, watch some sheep being shown, and to chase down a wired lad every time we turned around. :)

Friday we kicked around our home base. Had chats with the Waterhouses, discovered a christian bookstore and enjoyed browsing. Justin came home with some LEGO wannabe and has been totally enamoured with it ever since. :)

Saturday we headed home. We hit IKEA first, and came home with an DVD bookshelf, some new cups for Justin and something else that I can't recall at the moment.

It was a good time away.
Amy did a good job caring for the bunnies and the house while we were away.

A sick hubby

So Jim remains ill. It's been three weeks now of one thing or the other.

He's currently running a fever, is somewhat 'light' on his feet, runs out of energy quickly, and isn't eating worth a whit. He's drinking lots and mostly staying quiet in the house, though today we worked together to winterize the trailer which HAD to be done before it drops down solidly below freezing tonight. Didn't take long and hey...we were actually able to work together without biting each other's heads off. :)

working on getting this and that done around the house. Taking it easy. keeping a boy busy enough.

Trick or treating

Justin went as a cat. A tabby cat to be specific.

Gramma tagged along. This excited the lad to just no end. :)

Justin was SO hyper and SO totally full of beans. Running and flying and saying "meow". kept it up 1/2 way around the block and then suddenly....he crashed. Wanted to ride in the bike trailer. Which led to us shortening our walk and just doing specific people for the 1/2 block home.

BUT before he crashed he made LOTS of people laugh and smile. :) He was very cute with his "meows" of trick or treat, and then his different "meow" of thank you.

He occasionally forgot his manners and would dive for the candy bowl and then needed to be reined in.
He occasionally got upset when people didn't know that he was a tabby cat and called him a tiger instead. :)
He mostly remembered to say thank you in one form or the other. :)
He mostly remembered to wait for candy and not grab.
He mostly remembered to say hi to people that he knew. :)

He stared at dismembered hands stuck in door ways.
He was fascinated by the "person" running away from the "witch", who made very strange noises as "he" ran away. (one of those motion sensors things that moves up and down and moans).
he loved the pumpkins and the pumpkins that were "throwing up" were a total fascination.

Some pumpkins were angry.
Some pumpkins were silly.
Some pumpkins acted like they wanted to eat other pumpkins.

He surprised one family by going "boo" (surprise with throwing grass up in the air). Was a total startle, but it was all cool. :) We didn't let a repeat happen though.

I LOVED the smiles of the grammas and grampas when he stopped in. One street close to us gets rare visitors as it is mostly a street of seniors. Just the huge smiles on their faces as Justin was very much himself. Brief conversations led to stories about missed grandchildren. :) That was the best part of the evening for me. Just loved that. :)

So that was trick or treating for us this year. Lots of fun for one four year, and lots of smiles for mom and gramma.

Jim stayed at home and handed out candy to SIX children. woohoo! we had six children. :)
TONS of caramels left though hmm....wonder who will eat those?????

Today's activities

You may recall that this was my list for the day:

• clean kitchen
• fold laundry
• play with the boy
• dump more dirt down on the rabbitry site
• see if I can empty one compost bin...that would be very nice
• see if I have enough time to move one garden
• talk with hubby
• make supper of some sort. Perhaps soup. We could do that. it can cook all afternoon in the crock pot.

What I managed to accomplish

• cleaned the kitchen
• folded laundry
• played with the lad
• dumped dirt on rabbitry site and have started leveling it
• removed one garden and then went out bought wood and remade it. Then proceeded to fill it with compostables and dirt.
• talked with hubby off and on
• made supper but neglected to turn ON the crock pot. Turned it on and had a cup of soup for snack.
• made applesauce (6 jars)

I am hoping tomorrow that I emtpy one composter, build a rabbit carrier, tattoo three rabbits and get to bed on time for a early Saturday morning start.

We'll see how far we get. the carrier and tattooing are the most important.

Yersterday's Activities

Finally made the decision that I can't afford to build a whole new rabbit tent. Just can't. So we're going to erect a different tent for the bunnies (another portable garage).

We'll use the current one for storing stuff in which will keep the back yard much tidier and give me an outdoor workplace and well as a place to put new bunnies, extra bunnies, growers and the like.

Jim is even thinking about buying a garage to put the trailer into. Means we'll be short on space in the backyard for the winter BUT our yard will be cleaner, our trailer kept safe from the elements and that all round is a good thing. And having a tent makes it nicer for doing my yearly yard sale as well.

But yesterday was a busy day.

• Started dumping dirt down on the new rabbitry site so make the ground more level.
• Pulled up the bulbs that don't like being out in cold weather. Freecycled half of them.
  
• Brought all the houseplants in from outdoors. Actually managed on Tuesday to find new homes for three of them.
• Took Justin to playgroup...this is a group that he goes to by himself. Gives me 1.5 hours of totally free time. He found that difficult at first, had fun, but is worried about the next time he'll be going.
• Put together our new pressure washer.
• Tried to get it to work, it didn't want to cooperate with me. It ended up working for Jim. Go figure.
  
• I replaced the boards on one of the racks. the old ones were fairly stinky. These new ones help reduce the rabbitry odour and should stay clean. I hope. May need to fine tune how I do it all...we'll give it a week to see.
  
• Got rid of the pile of dirt where the old rose garden used to be.
• Got a new drill. This is MY drill. But I'll let Jim use it. :) But it's MINE!!!! Meant only for doing jobs that I can do. Not a big one, not an expensive one, just one that will do what I want it to do.
• took new pics of all baby bunnies and posted them on the website AND blog. Soon they'll be up on kijiji.
• talked with Pete a bit, Jim did too. he was mowing the lawn at church.
  
• One of Slip's is a broken grey, and is female so I have it presold already. YEAH!!!! Slip is an amazing doe, I'm really proud of her. Silly yes, but I am.
  

Jobs I need to accomplish today

• clean kitchen
• fold laundry
• play with the boy
• dump more dirt down on the rabbitry site
• see if I can empty one compost bin...that would be very nice
• see if I have enough time to move one garden
• talk with hubby
• make supper of some sort. Perhaps soup. We could do that. it can cook all afternoon in the crock pot.

Jim says I always bite off more than I can chew, but I figure it's better to have a big list than one that's too small. :)

Long Time No Post

Hello all...

I know, it has been a while since I was last here. Ah well...I have been otherwise occupied with things.

Weird...I seem unable to hint the apostrophe button...sends me to a quick links button. odd that.

anyways,
Today was a busy day.
Snuggled with Justin for an hour before getting up. read books, chatted etc.
then downstairs to check email, set the TV up, and then for me to go out and do the bunnies.
Ended up interrupting that process to talk on the phone with mom (Eva).
had breakfast with Justin before heading out to finish was I was doing with the bunnies.
Came in, talked with Jim, played with the lad and his lego. :)

Then cleaned the kitchen. Jim helped some! :) Got it 90% done too! :)

After that was done I headed outside with Justin to get some work done out there. Got the one composter empty. YEAH!!!!!! Got some dug out of the old composter (not as much as I hoped but some).
Got the given to me guinea pig cage emptied and set up for Harry to come pick up some day. He will be housing a rabbit in it over the winter.
Discovered we have four new guinea pigs from Annie! Surprise surprise! Eric will be a bachelor until at least January. He will not like that, but he will survive. :)

Oh ran out to pick up some groceries with the family. Got back to the house with a hungry lad.

What else?
Cared for bunnies. cooked sausage and taters for supper, Justin did something different he was HUNGRY!!! So he munched down while I cooked supper and did various things.

Relaxed over supper, put J to bed. Watched Stargate universe with Jim. Had a soak in the tub for an hour. Updated this and then I'll be off to bed.

Tomorrow is thanksgiving Sunday. I have much to be thankful for. :)

A burster

Yesterday Justin made a lego "burster".

A burster when shot at someone turns them mean, and then he uses a zapper to make them nice again. :)

Wish I had pics.

We had fun playing together while doing our canning.

slowly making progress

So I'm slowly making progress getting the backyard cleaned up.

The old rabbit tier has been dissembled and most of it burned up. Still have a bit too do but it's was 830 and I said enough of this I have laundry to finish too!

I"m hoping this coming weekend to get the rest done. Getting stuff put back into the tent/shed etc and then Jim can at some point move the trailer into the backyard too.

After the "stuff" is put away I want to start putting the post and beam shed together for the buns for the winter. fun fun! :)

Justin's Birthday Cake

Annette made quite a nice birthday cake for Justin this year. Not only did it taste great, but for a first attempt at decorating a cake, it turned out pretty good.

As you can see from his grin, Justin liked it. There is one question though? Was it the cake he liked, the the cars on top?
I guess that answers that question. :)

Canada Day Fireworks

obviously I have no brain this morning.

Jim told me where he put the pics from the fireworks last night, can I find them?

No.

So suffice it to say, we went to the Exeter Fireworks last night.

Got there around 8.
Justin played at the playground for a bit.
Then we sat and munched on corn chips and juice.
visited folks a bit.

And then I tolerated bangs while holding a boy in my lap. I enjoyed the quiet fireworks. Justin sometimes covered his ears with the 'bangs'. Jim enjoyed the bangey fireworks the most.

It was a good show. Not as good as last year, but they didn't have as much to work from this year apparently. None-the-less, for a small town. Job well done. I really like the sputtery ones....where you get the a whole bunch in different colours that just fly up in the air with a flash of colour. :) Canada Day needs fireworks, and we had them!

Milo Monday....a bit late

Milo is too contented with himself.

He cheated...and won yet another mouse race with the boy.

For the full story, go here.

Sore Throat

okay....let's all say..YEAH for spring colds.

NOT.

Jim and Justin are having to put up with a wife/mommy who can't talk today.

Justin keeps asking "mommy....talk to me" "why can't you talk to me mommy?" and then occasionally "mommy, wake up!". I'm very dopey today. Very quiet. YET!!!! i got the lawn mowed! YEAH!!! it looks TONS better now.

Jim was very helpful in the grocery store. He talked for me. :) And I ended up getting a more expensive than I thought it was Dora DVD. (dopeyness at times is NOT good) Ah well...the boy is at least happy about that.

Justin's playing upstairs. I think I may join him after I check what the laundry is doing.

Milo Monday

Just reach out and touch someone, that is Milo's motto.

Family Fireworks

Upon reading the title I realized it might be misunderstood. I am not talking about controversy or any other sort of metaphorical fireworks, instead I am talking about setting off fireworks as a family. This is something that my mom did with me as a child, as did Annette's parents with her and her siblings. For me it is one of my fond memories, and while we were out getting groceries I thought it would be fun to do as this weekend is one where traditionally fireworks are set off. I didn't get many pictures as I was the one running back and forth lighting the fireworks, but I did capture this afterward.