Wordless Wednesday~Horsing Around

For more Wordless Wednesday go HERE and HERE!

P.S. I have been having some severe Internet connection issues for a little over a week now. If I haven't been visiting your blog lately, please know it isn't YOU, it's ME. Sigh.....cross your fingers that the connection is back to normal soon.

Then There Was Penny......

A few weeks ago, one of Hubby's friends brought Sugar Bear a bunny. Sigh........as you may know.....our home seems to be the house of unexpected pets. At least they always seem to be a surprise to me, which sort of stinks since I end up being the one taking care of them. I have given up on complaining about it. REALLY....I have.



This particular bunny came from a family that no longer wanted to take care of her. I am unsure of the details, but apparently she was a house bunny for a family with young children. The bunny, Penny, was unlike the other bunnies we have had in the past. She came to us willingly, and often. It thrilled Sugar Bear to have a bunny come to her, rather than run away.



You may have noticed that in the last paragraph I referred to her in the PAST tense...yes......poor Penny is gone. You see, I did not want a "house bunny". I'm sorry, I don't care how litter box trained a bunny is.....it still makes a HUGE mess when using it. She also had thrill seeker tendencies that led her to chew on wires....and cords. NOT GOOD! So.....Penny became an outside bunny. Here on our 5 acres, we have lots of room for a sweet bunny to run. She LOVED it. She had a taste of freedom, and it looked good on her.



As the days pasted by, she happily bounced around our property, and lived under our shed at night. LIFE WAS GOOD. Whenever we went out in the yard, she'd hop over to say hello. It was wonderful. Sugar Bear couldn't get enough of her. She loved feeding Penny carrots, and petting her soft fur.



Friday, while at work, I began worrying that something would happen to Penny. Although her lack of fear made a three year old happy, it also put her at great risk. Living in the country is a blessing, but it certainly comes with it's own set of predators. I convinced myself that maybe Penny would be better off if we could build her a hutch, so I could put her up at night. Now I just needed to persuade Hubby to build it.



Unfortunately, a little while later Hubby called me at work to let me know that he hadn't seen Penny all day. Sugar and I searched for her Friday evening, and saw no trace of her. We are pretty sure an owl got her. It is all so very sad. There is a part of me, that worries that everyone is going to see me as bunny killer....and that makes me sad as well. You see, I struggle when it comes to pets sometimes. I am certainly that in her last two weeks of life she was happier than she had ever been. I don't believe that bunnies belong in a house. I also really struggle with putting them in cages, and sentencing them to a life behind bars. I am not saying it IS WRONG....but I am saying I struggle with it. I have the same emotional turmoil when visiting Zoos or attending a Circus. Although I love having the chance to experience animals I wouldn't normally see, it hurts me to see the life they lead. I suffer a roller coaster of emotion when peering into their eyes.



So for what it's worth.....we loved Penny. She was treasured, and will be greatly missed. I had her best interests at heart, but being that I wasn't given proper notice, was unprepared to provide her a more adequate safe haven at night. It really makes me all the more thankful that my cats have always fared so well here. In 12 years, we have never lost a cat. For that I am thankful.

Here is Sugar Bear doing her best impression of a bunny eating a carrot. Tee hee....kids are the BEST!



Rest on peace, Penny. You will not be forgotten. Your presence in our home just MIGHT have taught Hubby what I have been trying to get across for years. It is always best to have a PLAN.

Photo Hunters~ Unique Signs

WOW! This week really threw me. I looked everywhere, and saw nothing of interest this week. I had really hoped to run across something really fun, but no such luck.

I am forced to rely on a strange sign carved on the side of an old cabin we visited last fall. I wrote a three part series about our trip. It was such an adventure.

Here is the cabin:



And here is the sign:



It reads, "Trespassers will be dealt with by; A. Hanson, Hitman......"

Interesting, huh? We had permission to be there, so I wasn't worried. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing all the interesting signs.

Why Would Anyone EVER Want To Read My Blog?

Believe it or not folks......TODAY marks ONE year since I started blogging! Happy ONE year blogga-versary to ME! :)

When I started this silly old blog, I simply had no idea what it would become. I belong to a wonderful private Internet mommy board, and several of these wonderful women had started these strange things called blogs. Being the ever "band wagon jumper" that I am, I couldn't resist not giving it a go myself, now could I? At the time, I saw it simply as a fun outlet for my brain clutter, and wondered that if I challenged myself enough, could I quite possibly stop the slippery slope which is otherwise known as "my memory". I found that I was forgetting so much more than I ever could remember knowing, and the the very thought of losing my memories of Sugar Bear's childhood scared me. I wanted a place where I could share my life experiences, and my constant thought process about such experiences, with my friends and family.

It never crossed my mind that I would become part of such a wonderful community of bloggers. I did not factor in my curiosity, and need to expand my limited culture. I love that I have the opportunity to read such a variety of blogs. It opens my eyes, and increases my ability to be a better person. I am forever grateful for that. Please take a quick look at my Blog Roll and see all the fabulous blogging friends I have. If you are not on there, and think you should be, please comment here, and I'll make sure to add you.

Oddly enough, even though this started out, as a blog to share with my friends and family, I find that few of them actually read it. It might be that I bore them with all the mundane details of my life on a daily basis, so reading my blog is the last thing they feel like doing to unwind. However, many of them just plain don't "get it". In fact, I have gotten many a query as to why ANYONE at all would bother to read my blog. I have tried to explain how fabulous I am, but they are just not buying it.

So....could you all do me a favor? Will you please help me out here? It would bless my heart, and tickle me silly if you could take a minute to share approximately when you started reading my blog, and why you have stuck around. If you are really bored enthused you could even share one of your favorite posts of mine. I am currently working on a link to "The Best of Corey", and your input would be muchly appreciated. What a great time this would be for the lurkers to say "Hello" as well. Don't be shy....we are all friends here. I love to follow people right back to their blogs. There is so much talent out there. Each and every blog I read meets a certain need in my life. I feel so blessed!

So here is to a WONDERFUL first year. I can't wait to see what this next one has in store for us here at Living and Loving Every Minute of It!

Wordless Wednesday~ A Girl....A Stick...and Her Dog.

For more Wordless Wednesday go HERE and HERE!

Moments of Growth

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size. ~Gertrude S. Wister



I have always been a fan of Spring, but for some reason this is the first year I can remember that I am actually soaking it all in. I have found myself starring out the window in the early evening marvelling that the sun is still out. It gives me this wonderful sense of freedom. Until now, I am not certain I was aware of just how precisely the darkness of winter had affected me. All winter, I rise in the darkness, spend all day inside my windowless office, and drive home in the same deary darkness. We'd shut ourselves up in the house all evening long, and it was difficult to break the rut of laziness.



In the last few weeks, the black is lifting, and we find ourselves driving home at the end of the day among the blue skies and beautiful white clouds. We go into our house just long enough to deposit our things, then rush back out to PLAY. So much to do, and so little time. LIFE IS GOOD!



Sugar is definitely feeling SPRING as well. She has been full of energy, and finds delight in having some FREEDOM to shake the doldrums off, and really move her body. There are times when we are so giddy with delight it takes something purposeful to slow us down....and offer us moments of growth.



The flower that follows the sun does so even in cloudy days. ~Robert Leighton

This Spring, we are cherishing time together making our little piece of the world a bit more colorful. This is the first year that Sugar has been given the opportunity to plant flowers, and we are loving it. I am a bit surprised that she hesitates to get her hands dirty. She is working through it, and I think by the end of the season, my biggest challenge will be keeping her clean.



These photos document our first planting session of the season. Watering the flowers with her little watering can is by FAR her favorite activity. I am fairly certain that keeping the flowers hydrated this year will NOT be a problem. I have a perfect little helper. At least for now.....



Too bad I didn't get pictures of the SNOW we had this weekend covering these poor defenseless flowers. eeekkkk snow in April. Who would have thunk it?



Oh and NO, that is NOT ketchup on her chin. She had a vicious crash while running WILD and FREE on our deck. With the help of Neosporin, and lots of kisses, she has healed nicely. (I may or may not have edited her scrape out of this last photo....couldn't help it. It is one of my most recent favorite photos.)



In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

My Worry Wart Must Be Itching!

Friday, I bent your ear about BPA issues, and per usual, I found myself getting a bit worked up. Luckily Buzz whipped out another great post, that surprisingly calmed my fears a bit. It turns out that nearly all the plastics I use for Sugar Bear's food storage fall in the "safer" range. Happily, I found a little triangle with the number 5 in the center on all her containers. I had long ago stopped heating her food in a plastic containers, so I am feeling a bit more relaxed, and ready to educate myself at a nice normal rate, instead of the panic induced hysteria that sometimes afflicts me. Whew....

However, later that day, I found myself over at Fried Okra's diggs, and she had the nerve to remind me that the shampoo and body wash Sugar Bear and I are currently using might be killing us as well. There might be Phthalates and I,4-dioxane ,and who the hell knows what else in there. SEriously, have you even tried to read the ingredients on those bottles? It is enough to give me a headache, and choose to just never bath again. Sigh.....looks like I have another topic to study. FANTASTIC! I was growing tired of all this free time I have on my hands, anyway.

Then......yes....THEN, while de-cluttering my bedside table I found an article I had previously ripped from a magazine to share on my blog. I'm sure, unless your head has been in the sand, you caught wind of the onslaught of recalls in the past year of products coming from China that contain lead. You haven't heard???? YEAH RIGHT! In case you need a refresher......go here. It really is old news....but sadly it continues. The most shocking news this particular article presented was that only EIGHT states in the United States currently have laws the actually BAN the sale of recalled products. EIGHT: Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Louisiana, Arkansas, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Vermont. The rest.......are losers. BIG FREAKIN LOSERS. This is totally ludicrous to me. So, if you live in a State that allows recalled products to be sold, please write to your state legislators to complain. Your voice counts.

So there you have it. A down and dirty journey through my mind this past weekend. I am struggling with the idea that everywhere I turn we are forced to dodge POISON. There is no doubt that being a parent is the hardest job there is, but seriously, do we have to lay awake at night wondering if our children are going to start growing facial hair at the ripe age of 6 because we tried to offer them plenty of H2O? Too, bad their bottled water, or plastic sippy cup was poisoning them. I don't know about you, but wondering if the shampoo I am using to keep my child's hair from becoming a matted rats nest is giving her cancer makes for a really restfall nights sleep!

Is anything safe? Is anywhere safe? There are times when I wonder if encasing Sugar Bear in one of those really cool plastic bubble things would be easier, but THEN, I have to wonder.......is it BPA free? I highly doubt it. SIGH........

Photo Hunters~ Thirteen

What a hoot it was all week looking around my world searching for the perfect THIRTEEN! I knew I wanted something rather small, that could gather up nicely in Sugar's little hand. Several ideas came and went, and it reminded me how I often feel like I am losing my marbles. ************* DING DING************* That's it! marbles! PERFECT!

It was fun letting Sugar Bear pick out THIRTEEN of her favorite marbles. She adores her marbles. She especially likes painting with them. Life is Good, and marbles are beautiful.













Thank you for coming by my blog this week. I truly appreciate your visit, and taking the time to leave me a comment. I look forward to seeing the creative THIRTEENS this week. Have a great weekend!

Food For Thought

So.....do you ever get wind of something....and out of pure laziness, just try to ignore it and hope that it doesn't apply to you or your life? NO? Well, Drat! Guess I'm the only one then.....sigh.....

For quite some time I have been hearing bits and pieces about BPA, and had chose to NOT educate myself on it. Yes......pretty ignorant, huh? Sometimes I annoy myself. I figured....we don't use baby bottles, so why should I give this any attention? I'm a busy woman! UGH...since when am I too busy to care about the health of those I love?

Recently, through Carolyn, I headed over to read an interesting post regarding BPA, and of course it has inspired me to make the time to learn more. Part of this process for me, is to share with you my inspiration, and hope to inspire you to educate yourself as well. Be sure to click through to his early post on BPA, as well. Carolyn's post is fantastic as well.

Hopefully, this will encourage me to follow through, and share my discoveries with you.

This....THAT....and Another Thing

WOW! I have been extremely busy these days. The spring weather is calling, so we are spending more time outside. I am loving it. Now if Sugar would stop waking up at the rump crack of dawn, I'd have no complaints.

I am ridiculously behind in acknowledging all the really wonderful awards folks have bestowed upon me. I quite possibly could have missed some as, if I don't write it down right away....it is gone. Please don't take it personally. I can't even remember what I just had for dinner 30 minutes ago. sigh.....


Quite some time ago the ultra fabulous Autumn handed over the






WOW! Wonderful women bloggers......I have met some really winners in the last year. My heart is fuller just knowing you all. I'd love to pass this great award on to:



-Jeanette whose photography inspires me

-Kat, of My Two Cents, who is worth a lot more than that.

-Holly bo bolly....or maybe it is just Holly



Then, Heidi passed on the



So many of you make my day, that is so hard to just choose a few, but somebody has to do....it might just as well be ME:



-My dear friend Suzy

-Ann from An Ecletic Blog

-CMB from A Virgo's Point of View



JO the magnificent passed on THREE awards to me. Yes THREE......I think she must really heart me a lot. What do you think? girl crush? tee hee

The first is the





I'd love to pass this on to some of my favorite "must tune in's":



-The Rotten Correspondent

-Joe From Joeprah, who is like Oprah, but only a little more like Joe.

-In the life of a Child (oh how this show would crack me up!)


The second one is





Let's share this lovely award with some of my favorite parent bloggers:



-Don Mills Diva

-Carolyn from Laughing Alone in the Dark

-My dear Donetta



Not only did Jo pass this pretty one off to me....so did the Wonderful CrazyCath. We are new to each other's blogs, but we have a budding friendship. Thank you!





I'd love to hand this one (fuzzy as it is...sigh) to some bloggers that are always showing some gratitude....or attitude:



-Miss Megan of Fried Okra

-Things You Didn't Do




Lastly, but not leastly (tee hee) the ever lovely Michelle from The Life of a Child gave me the



I don't know about YOU, but these great bloggers make my heart flutter:



-Tommie of the Tuesday Update

-Secret Agent Mama

Thank you thank you thank to each and every one of my wonderful readers. You bless my heart everyday. Believe it or not....next week will mark my ONE YEAR of blogging. EEEEEKKKKKK....man time flies.

***********************************
My girl, Meghan tagged me with the YouYou....meme. tee hee

It all started over at Smith Magazine, and the history is thus:

Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Last year, SMITH Magazine re-ignited the recountre by asking our readers for their own six-word memoirs. They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet (“Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends”) and poignant (“I still make coffee for two”) to the inspirational (“Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah”) and hilarious (“I like big butts, can’t lie”).


Here are the rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir.
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5) Don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.
6) Have fun.

This is hard to do folks.....like really hard. I have thunk....and thunk....and thudded. I nearly cracked under the pressure, but I settled on something pretty obvious.

Lived, loved, learned minute by minute.

I realize that I am now required to tag some fellow bloggers, but I think I'd rather let YOU decided if you are up to the challenge.

Have a great weekend!

*** oh and don't forget I'm on Top Momma! CLICK HERE!!!!! I know.....It's getting a bit old, but I am so thrilled to have lasted 4 months on there. What a blessing. Thank you all who have clicked on the link and helped me achieve this accomplishment.***

Wordless Wednesday~ Escape

For more Wordless Wednesday go HERE and HERE!