Artwork Part I

When I was pregnant I was prepared way ahead of time for everything (except parenthood LOL). I had Morgan's daycare lined up by the time I was 6 months along, and her nursery was already done. Hurry up and wait seemed to be my motto at that time :)

There was this art shop in Madison called Catera's (IIRC) and we picked out some prints to have framed for her room. This one is rather baby-ish but I still love it. It has the "Hey Diddle Diddle" poem on it and I just love the animation of the characters.

This one is more "grown up" but a really fun picture. There are tons of animals hiding in the jungle and I absolutely love the colors. When she was a baby this one hung above her changing table.

My hope is that these are prints that she will carry with her and enjoy her whole life. If not, they will be ones that I surely will enjoy with fond memories. Shoot, I may miss her so much when she flies the coop that I won't let them go with her :) This picture on the right is one that I had in my room as a child and it has moved with me each time I have moved, and it now hangs on the wall in our den. Not sure Doug appreciates it, but he tolerates it. I always loved the textures and the fantasy like feel of it.

Sorry for the weird angles on the pics - I took them just this evening and was trying to minimize glare.

My house is rather ecclectic, I like to have things that I like around me, not just things that look nice. And I am a true pack-rat at heart. I can't bear to throw things away, it seems so many things have sentimental value. I can only imagine what one of the "makeover" people would try to make me get rid of were they ever to come to my house. I think they would have a fight on their hands!!!

Brown Thumb

Morgan finds Venus Fly Traps fascinating (and I have to admit I do too, I also love pitcher plants) and I keep trying to grow them for her. With little success. Much like the money I have wasted on Bonsai, the Venus Fly Trap refuses to thrive for me as well. I have followed the instructions to a T and yet they still wither. This one was 4 times this size when we bought it. I even went to the website of the grower to try to figure out what to do right this time but still no luck. It seems an easy enough, low maintenance plant by all accounts but not for me. We shall try to nurse this one through the winter, it has lasted longer than the others of the past. I will update our progress or lack thereof :)

"It's A Hard Knock Life"

Don't you wish you could relax like this? My boys are expert sleepers, and there are times just watching them lay about makes me jealous :)

We have a poster framed in our hallway that is titled "All I need to know about life I learned from my dog". One of the things on the list is to always leave room in your schedule for a good nap. Chandler and Peyton take this very seriously.

Chandler has his morning nap before breakfast, his mid morning after breakfast nap, his afternoon siesta, the evening nap to rest up for bedtime..... Well, you get the idea!

It really is tough to be a Lewis dog :)

Outsmarted

With all that has been going on I have not gotten around to taking Steve to get his wings clipped and he is due. Once he realizes he has "lift" he will not stay put when he is out, he gets *very* independent. Safety for him is our first concern, so as a result he has not had as much time out. He is not in the least pleased by this.

The other day I was walking by his cage and like I always do chatted with him as I went by. A few steps past his cage and I did a double take and realized he was out of his cage sitting on top. He had managed to unlatch the door by his food dish (you have to be very careful or it won't close tightly) and gotten out. I had to admire his ingenuity but was less than thrilled at what I found after further inspection.

It would seem that bunnies are not the only pets that chew the walls! Agggg. He had gotten down between the side of his cage and the wall and chewed this section which is about 4 inches or so in length. Easy enough to fix, but still..... Naughty bird.

Ice Capades!

Even though last weekend was Morgan's birthday, we had her party today. It was an ice skating party and all the kids had a great time. We are thinking of signing Morgan up for skating lessons since she seems to enjoy it so much.

I haven't skated in years and wasn't about to start again today, but my brother and his wife and my nephew came and they were brave enough to get on the ice. You can see Morgan helping Dylan use the buckets to skate along here in the pic to the left.

My brother and his wife made Dylan wear a hockey helmet (he's a little accident prone) and he refused to wear one unless his dad wore one too - here's Charles sporting his gear :)) He got some funny looks when he went up to the desk to ask for an adult hockey helmet! After a little bit Dylan forgot about it and Charles was allowed to take his helmet off. I think everyone had a great time.

After skating we (Me, Doug, Morgan, Charles, Kelly, Dylan, Grandma, and Rob) all went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Morgan and I were humiliated (Thanks MOM) by having Happy Birthday sung to us - today is my birthday - and forced to be photogprahed wearing a huge sombrero. Grandma is in posession of those incriminating photos!

I had to post this last photo for Laura - it was just too funny because I wanted to show you all the new bunny Doug got me for my birthday (he's the small one scratching his ear) and in the process the little red spanish speaking rabbit is poking his head out in the background! Totally accidental that he ended up in the photo, guess he wanted to say Hola!!!

For My Brother

I am at a loss as to what to blog about tonight but I didn't want you all to think I had fallen off the planet again :))

My brother teases me constantly that I cannot let go of the music from my teenage years, so I found this quiz on Blogthings and thought he would get a kick out of it - and be surprised I didn't score higher LOL.

Don't be shy - let's see how you all do!!!!

You Scored 60% Correct
You are a solid child of the 80sYou'd never confuse Tiffany from DebbieAnd while you may not know Prince's first #1 hitYou know every word to Little Red Corvette

Do these feet make me look big?

See the picture in the previous post. Blogger is giving me fits and I have no patience to deal with it tonight.

We have a system around here - Chops and Tink don't have cage but share their room with Tater and Mopsy. 'Round about 6pm there is "The Changing of the Rabbits" where I cart Chopper and Tinkerbell down to the den and let Tater and Mopsy out in the bun room. When I bring Chops down I announce "Look who I found" and when I bring Tink down I usually say (pretending to be her) "Do these feet make me look big?"

She is unruly and I have to carry her this way. If I try to carry her like a baby (tranced) she will bite my b**b. Not fun at all. We are working on the handling. She's just still a baby (1yr) and full of energy and attitude. Gotta luv her.

"You Say It's Your Birthday"

"Na na na na na na na na"

Today was Morgana Banana's 10th Birthday! We are having her party next weekend (Ice Skating) but she requested that we go out to her favorite restaurant for dinner tonight - Kabuto (Japanese Steakhouse - yuuuuummmmy). Grandma and her SO went with us and a great time was had by all.

Morgan is totally into Dragons and Dinosaurs (has loved Dino's from the time she was 2) so for her "big" present she got this roboraptor. I have to admit it is very cool.

She and I spent the day shopping - she got 3 new pairs of shoes and a ton of clothes. I even - for the most part - allowed her to pick them out. Sadly, I still dress the child every morning. She is an only child and just a wee bit spoiled. But she's a good kid - not spoiled as in bratty, just not much is asked of her and I do lots of little things for her that most kids her age have done for themselves for years probably. I am trying to let her grow up, but it's very hard. We still refer to her as "the baby". Pathetic really when you think about it LOL.

I did get a nice pair of really neat sandals for myself ($7 on sale, originally $44.95). As I have stated I hate shoes so the thought of wasting that much money unless they are Birks is beyond my grasp, but at that price they were too cute to pass up. (Ignore the ugly toes!!)

My Other Bunnies

I started collecting rabbit figurines about 3 years ago. I have a few others strewn about the house and a few in the yard but this is the bulk of my collection. I prefer the types that have realistic body shapes and poses, not the cutesy cartoony type.

Some I have gotten as gifts, some I have found on e-Bay, some from antique shops. There is one cloisonne (sp) one from the Smithsonian catalogue, and the little red one in the back is from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (He speaks Spanish if you ask Doug - DH likes to joke that the other bunnies won't talk to him LOL). I am always on the lookout for them. I am sure when I am old and gray I will be one of those little old ladies with knick-knacks everywhere! I hope not, I try to only get them if they really strike my fancy. Heaven knows I don't need more things to dust :))

Morgan drives me mad because I have them all arranged the way I want them, but she can't help but move them around so they each have a friend. Silly girl.

For Hazel

While I was in the hospital Doug bought me a book to read and some puzzles (one of which is that damned Sudoku puzzle - addictive yet extremely frustrating LOL). But the book he gave me is called "True Hauntings". I have always been fascinated by the paranormal - not sure how much of it I buy, but I like to read about it and watch shows about it. Anyway, my point to this is that there is a quote from this book that I found rather poignant and reminded me of the kind words we all say when a beloved pet leaves for the Rainbow Bridge.

"The spirit, finding itself very much alive and well, is often greatly distressed by the anguish it observes in the loved one in mourning"

Hazel was a most amazing rabbit and I felt in the mood to write about her today. Not because I was sad, but because I felt today I could without getting all teary. She was a most amazing animal, definitely the Queen of the household - though she ruled with a gentle paw. The word magnificent always comes to mind. Unless of course she thought you had a treat then she became possessed and would launch herself at you!

She was my first "big bunny" and stole my heart. I remember being a tad afraid of her at first - it's a little intimidating to have a large rabbit running to you if you are not used to it. She was an ex-show rabbit/breeder doe and spent her first 3 1/2 years in an outside hutch. I can still remember the first day we brought her home and let her out. She wouldn't move if we were watching, but as soon as I left the room (and spied on her of course) she would run and binky, good grief the noise - you would have thought the walls were falling down.

She was a silly rabbit, though she didn't mean to be. In her healthier days she thought she could scale kitchen cabinets while I made bunny salads, but her efforts paid off as she always got little bits and pieces while I was making them. She was a friend to everybun/dog/one and seemed genuinely shocked that Mopsy hated her guts (but Mopsy hates everybun except Tater). This picture has always been one of my favorites because, although obviously staged, it shows how tolerant she was. She laid there for a long time after we put her down. She taught me a lot about handling a rabbit because before her I was terrified I would hurt them. Now I tell the others when they get sassy that I've wrangled bigger rabbits than them and won! She was so very patient through all of her treatments for her various illnesses, another bunch of lessons she taught me - I never thought I could give an injection but I did many times, and I learned a lot about rabbit medicines and conditions and treatments. I am no expert, it was all specific to what was going on with Hazel, but it gave me confidence to know that I could handle such things. Something I desperately needed to cope with the guilt of losing our first rabbit Miss Bunns.

Hazel's final lesson for me was the hardest to learn of all. And that was that sometimes it is time to let go. And sometimes a dear friend needs help to do that. We had to help her to The Bridge 6-15-05, just 3 days before her 7th Birthday. She is missed dearly each and every day. But her legacy lives on in the knowledge she gave me and the love she shared that I carry in my heart.

She's Baaaaaaaaaaaack!

This is an absolutely horrible picture of me but it will do in a pinch as I have little energy to search for another, and they are few and far in between :) I hate having my picture taken. I did remove the URL so you all wouldn't frighten yourselves should you happen to click on it to enlarge it LOL.

I have been away for a bit, I got myself in a mess and landed in the hospital for several days. Boy what fun that was. NOT! I just got home Monday. I am feeling better each day and things are looking up. Not looking for sympathy, just letting you know about my little life detour.

Poor Doug had to take care of Morgan and all the animals. Grandma helped a lot (Thanks Grandma!). I shudder to think of what Morgan wore to school those days :) and the bunnies were less than pleased, Chopper wouldn't even talk to me the first day.

Daddy's Are Mean :))

Doug is a typical Dad. Come here, pull my finger LOL. The poor dawgs have learned but Morgan still takes the bait sometimes. Doug loves hot stuff (I promised to stop the music references so I curbed my urge to title this "Looking for some hot stuff" or "Hot like Wasabi" hahahahah) and tonight we had burritos and he purchased some jalepeno peppers for his. The dawgs fell victim, even though they tried to avoid DH their desire to beg overwhelmed them and they both got a little swab on their noses, and poor Morgan did too. We were at a mexican restaurant once and Doug had a side of habenero sauce. He told Morgan if she dipped a fry in it and ate it he would buy her a Barbie. She did. I have to admit the face she made was pretty funny and she got a good laugh out of it too. I grow ornamental peppers which burn like crazy and Doug has been known to run one around the rim of my glass when I am not looking. He's evil :))))))

"I Could Hide Out Under There"

"I just made you say underwear"

(Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me)

Okay, okay. I'll try to stop with the lyrical references :) but I had wanted to post about the bunnies and I couldn't help myself with this one. LOL.

Bunnies are so comical - but you have to pay attention, they can be very subtle. And they LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOve their hidey spots. Poor Auntie Patricia, everytime she visits, Chopper is holed up either in his castle or behind the shelf thingy in his room. I always have to shoo him out so she can say Hi!

The first picture is of my beloved Hazel and one of the last ones I took of her. She had lost the use of her back legs but still got around and enjoyed her tunnel. *sniff*

I was thinking about Tinkerbell's name the other day and how appropriate it is. If you remember Peter Pan, Tinkerbell is not exactly sweet and innocent. Our Tink is the same, she's just so danged cute, but she's also a brat. She's precocious ("she's got Betty Davis eyes", Carly Simon - really I will stop now ;) )

Bunnies are not for everyone, they are a royal pain inna patootie sometimes, but if you take the time to understand them they are the most amazing animals. I love my rabbits so very very much, and it is hard for some people to understand, but I think if people who don't know would take a moment to try to see what we "bunnyfolk" see the world would be a much better place.

Off to hug a bunny, Chopper will be thrilled I am sure...................

Morgan's Song

While we are on the topic of music........this was one of the CD's that we were listening to when Morgan was born. I love 10,000 Maniacs and Natalie Merchant. I have had the pleasure of seeing her in concert twice. The song "Wonder" off of this album I have always considered "Morgan's Song"

Doctors have come from distant cities

Just to see me

Stand over my bed

Disbelieving what they're seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders

Of god's own creation

And as far as they can see they can offer

No explanation

Newspapers ask intimate questions

Want confessions

They reach into my head

To steal the glory of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders

Of god's own creation

And as far as they can see they can offer

No explanation

O, I believeFate smiled and destiny

Laughed as she came to my cradle

Know this child will be able

Laughed as my body she lifted

Know this child will be gifted

With love, with patience and with faith

She'll make her way

People see me

I'm a challenge to your balance

I'm over your heads

How I confound you and astound you

To know I must be one of the wonders

Of god's own creation

And as far as you can see you can offer me

No explanation

O, I believeFate smiled and destiny

Laughed as she came to my cradle

Know this child will be able

Laughed as she came to my mother

Know this child will not suffer

Laughed as my body she liftedKnow this child will be gifted

With love, with patience and with faith

She'll make her way