Things

I didn't get done this weekend:

-edit pictures....of all sorts of wonderful things....like snow...ice....sun.....and so on.

-edit a this weeks picture of ME, and get it posted to my blog on Sunday.

-play with my child.

-spend time with my husband.

-clean house.

-wash dishes.

-grocery shop.

-cook healthy meals.

-go outside.

-anything, really, that would be considered productive in one way or another.


Things I managed to do:

-lay on the couch with a blanket up over my head while I moaned and groaned that I might die from this horrible fever, and cold.

-whined...and cried that my head hurt, and I didn't want to be sick anymore.

-let Sugar Bear play Jump Start nearly continually from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening.

-TWO loads of laundry, and I whined all the way through them.

-packed a suitcase, and two carry ons for our trip to Disneyland, while whining that I didn't want to be sick anymore.

-took a really long, and hot shower, while whining that I didn't want to be sick anymore.

-applied chapstick 2.3 bajillion times hoping to forgo a cold sore.

-got a cold sore.....in my nose. NICE! took a picture of it.....double NICE!

-sleep...yes....I did some good sleeping.

-finished a book...then started another, but none of that happened on Saturday when I thought I was going to die. What's the point in reading when you are just going to die anyhow?

-worried and fretted that I was still going to be sick in Disneyland.

-drove everyone I know crazy.


And here we are.....our last day "in town" before flying off to Disneyland, and I am leaving this blog unattended. oh yes I am. I know you'll miss us, but I'm still all germy, so you wouldn't want to hang around with me anyhow, so don't cry too much. K? We'll be back.....with stories....and pictures.....and all that. Don't have too much fun while we're gone.

Some BUNNY loves a BUNNY

A while back, one of our bunnies got sick. Not just ANY bunny....our favorite bunny. Oh I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but it is completely impossible NOT to love this bunny more than any other. She is a treasure.




Ocean, or as we almost always call her, Oh-sheeee, or often, Oh-shee Poh-shee Min Oh-shee, is Sugar Bear's bunny. She picked her out at a bunny show, and beyond a shadow of a doubt, our girl has good taste. She knew Oh-shee was the bun buns for her, and I'm glad I listened. Oh-shee is a delight. There is just so much to love about her. She is sweet, and funny, and chubby, and lovey.....and her fur is thick, and soft, and her ears are loppy, and long...and she often looks grumpy but she isn't. sigh.....♥.




So you can imagine that the meer thought of our girl not being healthy is enough to send this household into a frenzy. Everything seemed to be fine....until one day, I went to put hay in her cage, and she just didn't seem herself, so I picked her up...and oh my heavens...she was skinny. I couldn't tell just by looking at her, but once I felt her...I knew she had lost a lot of weight. Oh how my WORRY kicked on, and I took her inside for some TLC, and worry.....and ummm....watching. She was not really eating much, and she was not ummm....doing her business nearly at all. :( I may have spent an enormous amount of time that weekend googling rabbit ailments. I may have driven myself bonkers. Oh yes, maybe I did. Sunday night, The Hubby proclaimed that he would take our girl to the vet on Monday morning.....and he did.

Turns out....they didn't think there was anything wrong with her...but The Hubby insisted, and they pumped her full of fluid, saying that this would flush her system, and sent them home. oh...and charged $90, can't forget that, now can we? She spent a good deal of the rest of that day...and the next.... "doing her business", and she started eating more, and more and more. We kept her inside for about a week all together, and now she is back in her hutch outside, and doing well. I can not tell you how relieved we all are. :) We knew that we loved our Oh-sheee, but until this happened, we just didn't know how much. A lot....yes.....a lot.



This has pushed back our breeding plans a bit, and now we will not have baby bunnies ready to sell by Easter, but that is okay. We have our Ohshhhhhhaposhhhhhh. and we are happy. And so is she....even though...she doesn't look like it. She is smiling on the inside. ♥

It's not what it looks like.....

It's what it feels like.

And it feels good!

When I look at this picture I try not to notice all the flaws in my outward appearance, and work to remember what it felt like in that moment. I purposely focus on the love I see in this shot.

May I never take for granted the gift that has been given to me.

May I never let a day go by without giving as much, if not more than I have received.

May I always strive to be worthy of this little person's admiration.

>May I always remember how it feels........to be loved in this perfectly wonderful way! ♥

My Week 20

WOWZA...I had a week....not really sure how I'd describe it. It wasn't a BAD week. It wasn't a HORRIBLE week. It wasn't a GOOD week. It was a week. A week I'll likely never forget.

The first shot was taken on February 13th. Sugar Bear and I had a fun day at home together making the Valentines for her friends. I love projects like this. She was excited to give them out, and I was happy for her joy.

The second shot was taken on February 14th. It is the view when I looked UP in Sugar's classroom at school during her Valentine's Day party. It was a nice party, and the kids liked the Valentines we made. It was a happy day full of love and laughs. ♥

The third shot was taken on February 15th....the day I won't soon forget. I had to travel for my job that day, and it was really stormy. There was tons of rain, and intermittent thunder, lightening, and hail. I as about an hour from home, when I drove right into a really serious hail storm. I slowed way down, and proceeded with what I thought was caution. It appears that I was not careful enough. I came around a curve, and my pickup truck started to slide on the hail. Everything became slow motion at this time. I worked and worked to pull the truck out of the slide, but it was of no use. I slide across the on coming lane of highway traffic, and the rear end of my truck struck the muddy bank. The truck then caught traction and shot out across BOTH lanes of highway traffic, and hit the guard rail on that side of the road. OH my GRANNY....what a scary ride it was. I was relatively unhurt, but considerably shaken up. I am so very grateful that there was no traffic in the oncoming lanes, as I crossed through it TWICE. I shutter to think how it would have ended up if I had hit another car. I'm glad I'll never find out. My truck is a beast, and took the crash well. It is in the shop, and I hope to have it back in a few weeks. I am also very, VERY happy that Sugar Bear was safely at school when it happened. whew.

The fourth shot was taken on February 16th. This is the loaner car I am using while my truck is getting fixed. I do not like driving a small car. I feel vulnerable in it. I am used to sitting up so much higher, and feeling like I have lots of vehicle around me.

The fifth shot was taken on February 17th, while I was at the local DMV office turning in my accident report. Usually there is a long line, and wait that feels like FOREVER, but this day, I breezed right in....and took care of business. It was one bright spot in the list of hassles involved in an accident.

The sixth shot was taken on February 18th. I had to travel again for work...and there was hail. I have a bit of post traumatic stress now....so I pulled over. I made it safely to my training, and spend 8 and half hours in a class that ended in a test. I haven't taken a test in years. It felt good. Not sure how I did, but I'm sure I passed.

The seventh shot was taken on February 19th. Sugar Bear and I had to go grocery shopping....oh how we needed some food in our house. It had been getting pretty depressing around dinner time. I like to have lots of choices, and we had been out of our staples for awhile. I was nice to restock.

So there you have it. My week. In a whole....it was good. I mean...I'm alive....and I didn't hurt anyone, and to me....that's all that really truly matters.

52 Weeks of ME- Week Eight

Theme is "Zero In"

I had an interestingly unexpected week. I had some fun ideas for this week, but they will have to wait. I quickly grabbed this shot while I was at our local DMV. The sun was lovely....the first we'd had all week, and I wanted to bask in it for awhile with my book. I couldn't think of a better way to Zero In on something that is so very ME. I am alllllllllllll about reading these days....and getting not much of anything else done. So this is truly ME, right now!

It wasn't until I took the shot, that I realized that there would be a profile shadow of my face in the picture. I rather like that unexpected result.

Be sure to head on over to visit Jessie and Cara to see all the fabulous ladies taking part in this cool project.

My Week 19

The first shot was taken on February 6th, which was a quiet day at home. These little things are part of a Christmas present from her cousins. It is called Magic Fabric. It is a fun activity, but the refills are expensive, so I'm not sure how long it will last.

The second shot was taken on February 7th. Sugar is a huge fan of puzzles, and while this one is a bit too easy for her, we've been studying the different states. Her interest in states was peaked by my trip to Georgia.

The third shot was taken on February 8th, and boy oh boy was I excited to see this rainbow, and actually have the time to stop, and walk towards the boardwalk to grab this shot. I got rained on, but it was such a delight have nab this shot. I never seem to be in the right spot at the right time, but this day......I was. :)

The fourth shot was taken on February 9th. This is a pretty regular activity for me. I am forever dropping books off at the library. If you scroll to the bottom of my blog, you'll see on the right hand side that I'm already on my 30th book since September. or my 10th book since the beginning of January. All but 4 of those books were from the Library. Gosh I love my Library.

The fifth shot was taken on February 10th. I do NOT love the price of fuel. ugh.

The sixth shot was taken on February 11th, while we were attending a birthday party for a friend of Sugar. It was at a local pizza place, and Sugar Bear had a wonderful time.

The seventh shot was taken on February 12th at our Library. They had a great free show which featured a man who juggled, and walked on stilts. He was a great entertainer, and made Sugar laugh hysterically. Good Times.

My Littlest Valentine

and she isn't so little anymore. :( big sad face from mommy. I don't know what it is these days....but I'm really feeling it. Feeling the loss of "my baby". While I cherish who my girl is NOW...it doesn't mean I don't have the right to mourn the baby...the toddler....the preschooler that she was. I can miss that girl...oh yes I can. It doesn't have to mean that I like her any less as a 6 year old. It just means that I loved her every step of the way, and I miss all those tiny steps. ♥

Even when I look in the eyes of this oh so fabulous six year old, I can still see that baby of mine. I can still hear those baby babbles....baby giggles......and see those precious rolls of baby fat. sigh.....I look into those deep blue eyes, and I get lost in memories of moments that went by much too quickly.

Every single day, those eyes look back into mine, and tell me things I can hardly believe I deserve. There is complete trust in those eyes. She sees me....and KNOWS who I am. She isn't afraid to be who she really is, because she knows I accept her as she is.

It's the reflection I see in those eyes of myself, that reminds me that I can just be who I am, as well, because she loves and accepts me as I am. I am my true and authentic self when I am with her. I am my most at ease. I am me.....and she loves me. What bigger gift than that?

I love how simple life can be when I'm with my girl. I don't have to be anything other than who I am. Favorite times involve holding each other close and giggling until we can hardly breath. Giggling about absolutely nothing except for the pure joy that is coming from our hearts. Just knowing that LIFE IS GOOD!

I adore that her wants and needs are so easy to meet. A lollipop on a Saturday afternoon is enough to bring a happy thumping to her heart. And yet....she can spend 20 minutes in a store's toy section with me and ask me for NOTHING. Not a single thing. She delights in just spending some time looking and exploring. Knowing that she has ENOUGH at home.

I think that concept of ENOUGH is a big one. That feeling of contentedness with what we have, and not always yearning for MORE. It makes my heart feel proud that Sugar Bear has that in her life. What she already has....fills her up. Her life feels fair. It feels good. It is enough.

In fact...this large lollipop...well it was MORE than enough. She spent about 7 minutes with it...and was done. She knows her limits, and makes such smart choices. I could learn a lot from her. I do....and I can learn so much more. While she will always be "my baby".....she is indeed my most important teacher.

There is nothing more important than what I've learned from her...my littlest Valentine. My Sugar Bear! ♥♥♥

p.s. I know some of you have been asking to hear more about The Hubby (my biggest Valentine). While I haven't written a recently about him, you might want to go back and read a post I wrote about him last year at this time. This is our 20th Valentine's Day together. ♥

52 Weeks of ME- Week SEVEN

Profile

The week always seems to get away from me, and then suddenly, I'm like....."oh pickle juice! I need to get a shot for this week." It never fails that I just end up taking a few minutes in the middle of whatever I'm doing to just get my shot. It is very much that way this week. I was driving my truck from my work to pick up Sugar Bear at Daycare, and I reached over, grabbed my camera out of my purse (oh how I love my epiphanie bag ♥), and snapped a few shots of myself at stoplights. It wasn't easy, but I surprised myself when I got this shot on the 4th try.

This project has been interesting so far. I have learned a few things about myself in the past 7 weeks.

>-my hair is totally unruly, but I don't care.

-I have a really fabulous wrinkle that runs under my chin, which was formed by my double chin.

-36 really is the new 36. I'm looking every bit my age....but I'm proud of it.

-I somehow can look "just like my mother" and "just like my father" at the same time.

-Sugar Bear is looking more and more like me everyday, and THAT I love. ♥

-It gets a whole lot easier to post pictures of myself the more I do it.

-I've been wearing the same earrings since January 5th. Maybe I should change them.

Be sure to head on over to visit Jessie and Cara to see all the fabulous ladies taking part in this cool project.

My Week 18

The first shot was taken on January 30th. My little honey girl enjoying a huge lollipop while we capture a photo for her Valentine's day card. She was pretty excited to have a chance at that lollipop, but she really only made it about 1/8 of the way through it, and had enough.

The second shot was taken on January 31st. Two days a week, I walk along side a building that used to be a school in our school district. Now it houses a dance school. It makes me sad to see it in such disrepair. It hurts my heart to know that there just isn't money to keep buildings up in our community. This is not an unusual sight. This week I filled out a survey asking what I thought might be most important when considering what to cut from our school district in the next two years due to budget issues. I honestly couldn't think of a single thing that I felt comfortable cutting funding to. This picture reminds me of that situation. It makes me sad.

The third shot was taken on February 1st, which was the first day of a strange fever situation for Sugar Bear. She spent a good deal of her time in bed this day, but she wasn't alone. I didn't mind joining her. ♥

The fourth shot was taken on February 2nd. Another day of fever...no other symptoms. Sugar Bear had perfect attendance at school for the entire year until this week......not anymore. But....we had a wonderful time putting a 550 piece puzzle together. I so enjoy our quiet time.

The fifth shot was taken on February 3rd, and coincidentally....it was the third day of fever, and an extra special day with my girl. ♥ Nothing like a good game or Memory to cheer a sick little honey up. Still no other symptoms.

The sixth shot was taken on February 4th, and there was no school scheduled that day, so luckily Sugar Bear didn't have to miss ANOTHER day of school. We were unsure if the fever would come back. It did not...and we were sufficiently stir crazy so we took a quick trip to the library. The library is always a wonderful way to cheer us up. Awwww......books. We love them. ♥

The seventh shot was taken on February 5th. There was no fever, but I do believe there is a sickness. Oh how I am lovesick with my girl. There just isn't anything like being her mother. I just can't believe how blessed I am. The days at home together...with no responsibilities.....what a special treat. It drew up closer....and I am grateful.

Been Busy.....

Busy being AWESOME, that is! :)

-Monday, I spent a good portion of the day walking around with horse POOP on my bum at work. Yeah....obviously only ONE of my friends read my most recent "25 random things....." post, or else they would have TOLD me that I had poop on my butt. Right? (Number 14 says it all!) I mean seriously, people! Don't you think I would want to know? However, most of them stated that they just hadn't noticed.....which made us all wonder why "H", who was the one to tell me about the poopy tush, was looking at my hiney in the first place. Hmmmmm.......

-Last night, I placed a call to someone I don't know very well so that I could RSVP for Sugar Bear and I to attend her daughter's birthday party this weekend, cause I am totally awesome like that. I actually RSVP, people! Oh yes....I do! No one answered the phone, so it went to voice mail. I proceeded to say about 6 words before I choked on my own spit, and spent about a minute coughing and sputtering on my message. Yeah! I'm sexy like that.

-THEN....this morning, I'm nearly half way to Sugar's school when she says, "Hey mom! Where's the other half of my bagel?" I quickly look at the console where it used to be....then look down at the front of my shirt where it is nicely stuck using Sunbutter, and Nutella as glue! AWESOME!

I don't think anyone could be cooler than me this week, but if you have a fun tidbit to share, please do so in the comments. I'd love to know that I'm not the only one who just can't be any more FABULOUS, if I tried! :)

It's as easy as.....just being silly

Maturity is knowing when and where to be immature!

Sugar Bear and I were home....for 4 days straight.....with fever issues, and to be quite frank....we were getting a bit stir crazy.

I picked up my camera to try to get my "52 weeks of ME" photo, and after I nabbed that shot....Sugar sidled up and wanted in on the action. I pulled that little person, whom I hold so dear, onto my lap, and we had a little bit of fun.

The pictures are not perfect, and we are not looking out best....but I can't help but smile from the inside out when I look at these shots. I can FEEL our giggles beginning to erupt from our souls. I can hear that sweet little voice suggesting, "Let's be sad in this one!"

"Now....HAPPY, Mom!"

and fits of snuggles and giggles. Then I suggested, "Let's be shocked!"

"And MAD!" piped in by little love.

It wouldn't be a special moment without "fishy faces!" It took us awhile to get that one right because we were having such a hard time keeping our laughter under control, but we finally nailed it. :)

Oh how it felt so good. After days and days of feeling glum....all we really needed was some really good laughs to pull us out of that sickness haze. Even days and days later, I can just look at these photos and it fills up my heart, and replenishes my soul.

>Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. Swindoll

52 Weeks of ME- Week Six

Theme for the week:

"At Arm's Length"

Most of the shots I have taken have been captured with my camera at arm's length, so I wanted to try something different this week. To get this shot, I laid down, and I held the camera up over my head. I wanted a different angle, and I think I was successful. I'm not sure I've ever seen a shot of myself like this.

This photo sort of accurately depicts how I've been feeling lately. Sometimes it feels like I'm all turned upside down. Usually, I'm a fairly productive person, but lately.....I've been really good at wasting time. I have a list about a mile long of things I really should be getting done, but I have spent the better part of a week in my pajamas, snuggling my Sugar, and reading. There are soooooo many things I could have gotten done while I've been home, but instead....the days just flitted by, and I have nothing to show for it. While I'm not at all depressed.....I am not at all motivated to get things done. It is sort of like I'm in hibernation mode. I'm happily pretending to not have responsibilities. :) I'll likely regret it later, but for now.....I'd rather read more of my book than mop the floors. But the Christmas thank you notes......those really ought to be done by now, don't you think......oops!

Be sure to head on over to visit Jessie and Cara to see all the fabulous ladies taking part in this cool project.

My Week 17

The first shot was taken on January 23rd. There really was no significance to this shot. I just happened to notice this bug sitting by my front door, and it had been such a long time since I'd taken a picture of a bug....I just had to do it. I'm not happy with this shot, and I really need to practice with my macro lens again.

The second shot was taken on January 24th. This shot was supposed to signify holding hands with my little honey, BUT I was too lazy to change my lens, so I wasn't able to get a shot of our whole hands. This is just my ring finger and a couple of her fingers. Not what I was going for at all, but I only had a few minutes before dance class.

The third shot was taken on January 25th, when I snuck up on Sugar Bear at daycare and watched her for awhile through a knothole in the fence. Yes, I'm that creepy sometimes. Can't help it. I sometimes feel the need to be a fly on the wall, and she was my girl is "really" like when I'm not around.

The fourth shot was taken on January 26th. I spent some time outside, while Sugar was in dance class. I needed some fresh air and some perspective. I'd had an extremely grouchy sort of day at work...and this really brought me back to the land of the pleasant. :)

The fifth shot was taken on January 27th. tee hee.....this is the look I have at my desk at work pretty often. "What the.......???????" yeah.....that's me.

The sixth shot was taken on January 28th. I was an amazing mom this day when I forgot that there was a fun costume party that evening. We quite nearly missed it, and only had time to stop by the Dollar Tree and get some silly hair, sunglasses, and a necklace. Sugar had fun though....and that's all that matters. ♥

The seventh shot was taken on January 29th, Saturday.....and when we went out to feed our bunnies, I noticed that our dear sweet Oshee Poshee didn't look all that great. I pulled her out of her cage to find that she had lost quite a bit of weight. I brought her into the house for the weekend, to observe her. She got lots of snuggles from nurse, Sugar.

Gotta run....Sugar Bear has had a fever since very early Tuesday morning. Before this week, she had perfect attendance at school. So far....two days at home...and the fever is still here. I need to go get some sleep in case we are up tonight.