Mabel is now Milton

That's right, we have two boy bunnies, not a boy and a girl as we previously thought. I had my doubts about the sales clerk who told us the gender of our newest addition and it turns out I was right.

This explains a lot of bad behaviors.

The good news is that Brunswik seems to have finally mellowed out and Milton picks all the fights. Why is that good news? Because Milton hasn't been neutered yet and when he does he'll mellow out too.

Adventures in bunny parenthood.

Berry Pickin'

A couple of weekends ago Andy and I took a trip up to Beech Mountain to pick blackberries and have a picnic. Andy has been in the mood to make jam lately so we took a large tupperware container to store our blackberries. It was a fun trip, but I could have done without the rough terrain. The place we went is a 4x4 trail that he and his friends like to go to and test the limits of their vehicles. It's not really my idea of a good time, but once we were out of the car it was nice.

These berries are jam now

Andy, picking berriesWe'll come back for these later

Picking berries from the car

I like ferns

Where we had our picnicSelf portraitThe rough terrain
You can't see it very well,
but those rocks were hugeThe road home

I promise I haven't died...

I'm here and I haven't forgotten you. I'll update soon.

Call me a follower...

I've been wanting to read the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer for a while now. I keep hearing really good things about it. Also, the twilight movie is coming out later this year and I hate seeing a movie based on a book that I haven't read. I know, I know, I could just not see the movie, but who are we kidding here? It seems like it's going to be a must see. I found the first two books, Twilight and New Hope, at Wal-mart for a really good price, so I broke down and bought them. I may have a new addiction, but if I don't then at least I'll know what everyone is talking about.

Trouble in Paradise

Brunswik is completely torn on the issue of his new friend Mabel. He clearly loves having her around. He follows her like a lost puppy dog, sometimes he tries to make babies with her, but usually he just wants to be near her. He's fascinated by this little gray thing 1/3 his size that doesn't seem to give a lot of concern to his existence.

But then he's also jealous. He doesn't like sharing me with her. If you don't already know this, Brunswik is very attached to me, and he isn't used to having to share me with anyone else. He has even been know to get upset when Andy hugs me for too long.

Yesterday I picked Mabel up and was petting her and cuddling her. I did this mostly to give her a break from Brunswik. He ran all around me thumping his feet. You need to know that he absolutely HATES being picked up. He thinks it's the worst thing ever. But ever since those two minutes that I held her he comes and asks to be picked up. He nuzzles into my chest and doesn't want to be put down. What a little stinker!

When Brunswik was little we fed him his vegetables out of our hands. This helped us bond with him and get him to trust us. So I planned on doing the same thing with Mabel. I got out the vegetables and put his in his bowl, like I always do. Then I took out a couple of carrots for Mabel. He started to eat his and I went to her cage and put my hand in for her to nibble her carrots. She did, and then as I had expected Brunsie came and started bouncing around. I thought he wanted to get in there with her so I shut her door and only left it open enough for my arm to fit in. And then he bit me! Twice! Not enough to break the skin, they were just warning nibbles. But I bopped him in the head and told him no, and he sat there looking like I had just crushed his world. So I put the rest of her carrots in her bowl and shut her door so she could eat in peace. I thought he had bitten me because I was in his way, but he didn't seem to have any interest in Mabel. I picked up a carrot out of his bowl and sure enough he started to eat. He was jealous and wanted me to feed him too. I couldn't believe it!

He also doesn't seem to know what he wants to do. He runs around trying to decide if he should chase Mabel or come get some pets from Andy and I. He likes having Mabel around, but only on his own terms. It's going to take us all a little while to adjust.

It never lasts long enough

Coming off of another event filled weekend I feel like I need another weekend just to recover.

Friday evening Andy and I drove down and stayed with his parents (after going by the pet shop and finding the new bun). I was attending a crop* at their house that night and we were going to a wedding in the area the next day. So, instead of making two consecutive trips up and down the mountain, we just spent the night.

The crop was a lot of fun and I got a lot done. I started and finished our engagement album. I wasn't using a large book, but still, I never thought I'd get it done in one sitting. Go me!! I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it feels good to have some engagement pictures printed and off the computer after 2.5 years!

Saturday we went to a wedding. Andy's friend Brent got married to his girlfriend (of about 2 years I think) and the wedding was beautiful. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures. I forgot my camera for the ceremony, which is a real shame because we were right at the front and in a perfect spot for picture taking. Then we couldn't see them being introduced or dancing at the reception so no photo opps presented themselves. We also had to make a quick exit from the reception because Andy had plans that night and we still had to swing by and see my Aunt Lea before heading home. But congratulations to Brent and Megan! We are so happy for you!

Sunday was a lazy morning. Then I headed to town to get some bunny supplies and the actual bun. It was a madhouse at the pet shop and I was glad to get out of there and get Mabel home. We spent some time getting her settled and introducing her to Bruswik. He thinks she is the best thing in the world and it seems like all of his thoughts revolve around her. It's very sweet and it validated what I've been saying about getting him a friend. I know my boy and he was lonely. We spent some time cleaning up the apartment and then proceeded to make culinary miracles happen. I made the cinnamon rolls and Andy made strawberry jam. Yum! I need to make some biscuits to go with the jam, but that's going to have to wait until all those cinnamon rolls are gone.

I enjoyed our weekend, but I'm glad next weekend seems to be a little less eventful.

* A crop is a gathering for scrapbookers. We start at 6 have dinner and then work on our scrapbooks until midnight (or until you've had enough). It's really a lot of fun and makes scrapbooking more enjoyable because you have someone else to talk to.

Cinnamon Bun Love

If you are looking for a good cinnamon roll recipe go over to Linoleum Dynamite and check out Casey's recipe. They are to die for!

It makes a lot of cinnamon rolls and some monkey bread, so you might want to have a few people who will take some off your hands. That shouldn't be a problem though since they are so fantastic. Also, it isn't a quick and easy recipe, so if that's what you're after then maybe you can con someone into making these for you. But if you're up for it these little pieces of heaven are totally worth the effort!

**FYI: I only got one pan of Monkey bread, but I think I was using a larger loaf pan than Casey uses.

Meet Mabel

Andy and I got a new bunny this weekend. She was so sweet and looked so sad in the cage at the pet shop we just couldn't leave her there. We had a hard time picking out her name, but finally settled on Mabel. It suits her. Brunswik seems to like her. She's a little skittish and it's strange having a baby bunny in the house again. We're hoping she'll warm up to everyone soon and get used to her new home. She did get in the litter box today which is a far cry from Brunswik's first day with a litter box. Hopefully her big brother can teach her how it's done.

Posing for the camera

Caught in actionMaking herself at homeSibling love

My Knight

Andy and I have never really called each other by our real names. We have always had nick names for each other. Even from the very beginning. When we first got married I complained that I would like to be called by my name once in a while, so Andy complied. It was too friekin' weired. So we went on, happily, with our nick names.

When we first started dating I called him a nerd once and he took great offense to that. I don't think he realized at first that I was kidding, so he called me a geek. I laughed and then he got it. Somehow this developed into our first set of nick names; Geeky Princess and Nerd in Shinning Armor. We even used the label maker at work to print these out and wore them on the back of our name tags. How disgusting were we?

Early on in our relationship it became apparent to me just how much Andy was my own personal white knight.

About a month after we had been dating my dad passed away. It was completely out of the blue. Actually, he had been in declining health for a while and I guess it wasn't totally unexpected for some, but for me it was a swift kick in the gut. I won't go into detail, that's another post for another day, just know that it was quite traumatic for me.

An event like this can have quite a toll on a new relationship. Especially if the two people involved are young like we were. Most boys wouldn't know how to console someone and would probably shut down and withdraw. And who could blame them? It isn't every day in a teenager's life you have to be present for a friend in need. At least not in need like that.

I was an emotional basket case. I am normally, but more so then, understandably so. But Andy stepped right in. He was my rock. He took off work and school to be there for me at the receiving and at the funeral. I have to say I was a little shocked. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to have a partner, someone who was just there to comfort me and no one else, but I never expected this of him. I didn't ask him either. I told him it would be nice, but I understood if he had other obligations.

And it wasn't just being there for me in my time of need. Not only did he have to lend a shoulder to his girlfriend of only 1 month, but he had to meet my ENTIRE family. He had never met my dad. My parents separated when I was 18 months old and though my dad was present he didn't meet my boyfriends right away. As a matter of fact, he didn't meet any of them, ever. But Andy didn't just have to meet my dad's side of the family, which is quite large and loud, but he also met my mom's side (larger and louder). He came through it beautifully. It didn't occur to me at the time how awful that must have been for him. Not to say my family grilled him or "stuck it to him" because that wasn't the point of the day, but he had only known me for a short time and my family is a lot to take in. I usually like to introduce people into it a little more slowly. You know, let them get to know my own personal kind of crazy and then introduce them to the fam. But Andy jumped right into the deep end. Willingly.

I don't think my knight will ever know just how much that meant to me then, and still means to me now. But that time together seemed to put a seal on our relationship. I knew he was someone to hold on too. Ever since then he's been coming to my rescue when I needed it. For that I am eternally great full.

Criminal

After I got off work this afternoon I decided to take a trip to the local outlet stores. I thought there might be some good sales going on. I was wrong. It slipped my mind that last week was tax free weekend and the stores had been wiped clean of all things summer and now all the full priced fall collections are gracing the sales floors. Guess I'll just have to wait a month or two.

Lamenting my poor luck I walked out to my car only to see a police car stopped behind it. I thought to myself that he needed to move so I could get out. Then I realize he is getting out of his car. What the heck? I walk up and he gestures towards my car and asks if it's mine. Yes it is. The he hands me my parking citation for parking in the police designated parking space. The ONLY one in the ENTIRE parking lot.

I was shocked that I had done that. I apologized, took my ticket and laughed at myself as I got in my car to leave. I think he actually felt bad after seeing the shocked look on my face when I learned of my blunder. But he had already written the ticket, so what could he have done. It's ok Mr.Policeman you were just doing your job. And, after all, it's only $25.

I missed the sign because as I was pulling into the space the person beside me was parked crooked and I was focusing all my energy into not hitting them and making sure they had enough space to get out without hitting me. I never once looked forward. Andy has always said that I'm oblivious to my surroundings. I guess he's right.

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I did day 3 of week 6 tonight in the C25K program. It was a 25 minute run. I feel like I did pretty well. At least I felt good at the end of it. This is only my second really long run so I automatically slow myself down in the beginning so I don't wear out too soon. I didn't run the recommended 2.5 miles, it was more like 2 miles, but I was happy with that. I did feel like I was going to blow chunks about 15 minutes in, but I think that has to do with a lack of digestion after dinner and the excess gas that has been crowding my stomach lately. (I'm sure you wanted to know that, but that's what's going on with my body.) I managed to breathe my way out of it, and it was smooth sailing the rest of the workout.

From now on there are no more intervals. I'm actually pretty excited about that. Intervals seem more difficult for me. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

The first "I love you"

At this point I would have told you about our first kiss. Sadly, our first kiss was not much to brag about. I won't go into detail, but just say that our second was much more enjoyable.

Andy and I were so enamored with each other and so much in lurve, that we celebrated every.single.month anniversary during our first year of dating bliss. So like every month previously, on our fifth month we went out to a nice dinner (maybe a movie too, I don't really remember at this point), and then Andy drove me home.

Let me interject here that Andy has an obsession with big souped up cars. In particular Jeeps and at the time he was sporting at 1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Edition with a lovely, albeit loud, flowmaster muffler. His Nana loved it. I did not. To add to the loudness of the muffler there was the stereo that had to be cranked up in order to hear the music over the rumble of the flowmaster. Needless to say, conversation at a regular octave was not possible.

So we pulled up in my driveway and we were giving goodnight smooches, but Andy had not shut off the engine. He generally didn't. I guess because he usually just drove right away and the car made more noise when it was started than when it was just sitting idle.

I don't remember everything that was said, but Andy said that he loved me. Telling someone you love them is a very tender moment and not meant to be shouted over a car muffler. He wasn't shouting, and I barely heard him, but I did, in fact, hear him. Of course I said it right back, but to this day Andy swears that I didn't reciprocate his feelings until a day later. I'm a soft spoken person and when using a normal voice I'm not very loud. So you can imagine that over all that extra noise I am difficult to hear. And since I didn't want to shout, "I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!!!!" Andy simply didn't hear me.

I did think he acted weired after that, but it never occurred to me that he never heard my response. The confusion was cleared up the next day, though I'm not sure he believes that I actually did validate him that night.

Ever since then I refuse to have a conversation with him in a car if I have to strain my vocal cords in any way. It's either the radio or me babe.

The First Date

It took Andy a little while, but he managed to muster up the courage to ask me out. He came in one night under the guise that he needed to make copies for a school project. He wasn't working, I was.
He came over to say hello and another girl (let's call her J) was there with me. We chit chatted for a while and he talked about his school project. I remember he had a history book with him.

Then, when there was a lull in the conversation, he came out with it. He asked, "So, do you want to go fishing sometime?"

Now, if you know much about me, you know that I am not so much of a great outdoors kind of girl. I'm especially not a great outdoors activity kind of girl. It didn't occur to me what Andy was trying to do. All I could think about was worms and slimy scaly fish and why on earth would I want to do an activity that involved those two things? So I replied, "Fishing?! Why would I want to go fishing?!"

At that, Andy became visibly nervous and probably started to sweat a little bit. He began to stammer and even turned to J and said, "Tell her she needs to go fishing with me." J also had not caught on to what was going on, and knowing me as she did, she also queried why I would want to go fishing.

Lucky for Andy, I have super deductive skills and they lead me to believe that he might just be asking me out on a date. So I threw the boy a bone and suggested that we just go out to a movie or dinner sometime, and explained that I'm not so much into fishing. He said that was a good idea, but we never actually set a date. I guess he was so horrified at how not smooth he appeared that he just left after he got a yes.

It took us about a month to get a time nailed down and we went on our first date on St Patrick's Day. We were both working so we just went out for ice cream after work that night. We went to I Can't Believe it's Yogurt and he had chocolate-vanilla swirl and I had just chocolate with Oreo crumbles. Andy wasn't wearing green. He swears he was, but he was not. He was wearing an over sized long sleeved t-shirt that was navy blue. Those days Andy's wardrobe consisted of blue, gray, white, and blue jean. This is how I'm sure he was not wearing green, not just because that night is etched into my memory forever.

We ended our night with a hug and said goodbye, and I thought to myself that I would definitely see him again.

They had me surrounded

Yesterday morning I woke up greeted with the lovely morning sun and an insatiable hunger for mounds and mounds of hot breakfast. But I did not want to cook said breakfast myself. Where would one go for such a thing around here? We don't have a Shoney's and we slept too late to enjoy their breakfast buffet anyway. So, I woke Andy up and told him of my wants and needs, and we hopped in the car to go to Daniel Boone Inn. At DBI you pay $9 per person and you can have all the bacon, sausage, country ham, stewed apples, eggs, red eye gravy, sausage gravy, grits, cinnamon biscuits and buttermilk biscuits you can fit into your ever expanding stomach.

We got there and there was a line, which is to be expected, and an endless number of people coming in behind us. DBI is not a secret little hidey hole kind of place. People know about it and they flock to it. So we took our place in line and proceeded to wait for our turn to partake in artery clogging morning goodness. But as I was standing in line I began to look around and realized that all around me, everywhere I looked, there were cute babies. Babies of all ages, shapes, sizes and genders. It was like we had walked into baby wonderland, or baby hell, depending on how you looked at it. I think Andy was in hell, but I was in wonderland.

They looked all soft and cuddly and not a single one of them was crying or having a tantrum. Why were they not throwing tantrums? That is a foolproof way to get off the baby train for any childless couple. Give us about 10 minutes around a screaming, inconsolable child and we are vowing to not have babies for at least 15 more years. And though Andy was in hell for the anticipation of an all out cry fest, even he couldn't find any faults to point out with all these kids. And believe me, if there is a complaint to be made about a kid, he's going to make it. He isn't so fond of kids, especially ones he doesn't know. But alas, all he could point out to me were the gigantor, obviously enhanced breasts of one of the mothers standing in line. She'd had at least two kids that we could tell and I told Andy that maybe those were her push presents. Don't know what a push present is? I wish I didn't.

My ovaries began to twitch and the waitress finally put me out of my misery and came to seat us. But we didn't escape the cuteness. It must have been National Bring Your Kids to DBI Day, because they were still everywhere. And even when we left and had to walk past the line of waiting diners, more babies still. One of them took a liking to Andy. He saw him walk past and it was like a magnet to a refrigerator, his eyes locked on him and didn't move until Andy was out of sight. This kid knew this guy was cool and why didn't he want to play with him?

Sorry little boy, Andy doesn't freely give love to babies. You terrify him.

We haven't had any more baby talk since we left DBI. But for the past two days Andy has taken to cradling Brunswik like a baby and singing "Rock-a-bye Bunny" to him. Brunsie is not amused.

Through the years

I took Andy to my senior prom
(How much did I weigh here? Holy cow!)

Before Andy's senior homecoming game
I'm pretty sure this was my 19th birthdayAndy's senior prom
(We went to 3 proms together, and I went to 5 proms total)Andy's graduation party
On the parkway for our 4 year dating anniversary
With Andy's sister Emily and her boyfriend David
(I think this is the first time we met David)

Let the countdown begin

After I made my post yesterday about our upcoming anniversary I became very nostalgic. So I've decided to entertain you with our own personal love story.

Andy and I met back in 1999. We worked together at Staples. When we were hired the store wasn't open yet and we were part of the set up team. There were lots of other people there from other stores and from companies that came in to do that sort of thing. So in the beginning he was just another face in the crowd.

Then the store opened and all those other people left except for the permanent staff, and Andy became that scrawny younger guy that hung around with the even scrawnier guy that was annoying. I would see the two of them coming and groan internally because scrawny guy #2 was sometimes overbearing and hard to be around (he turned out to be a very sweet fella' and a really good friend, but that's beside the point). It seemed like if one of them was working so was the other. They were always together and any chance I had of getting to know Andy by himself was thwarted.

Not that I wanted to get to know him. He was just another guy that I worked with and I knew he was younger. Of course I was oh so mature and was about to graduate from high school (early because I had my fill of high school by the end of my junior year so I had decided to cut my senior year short), and he was only a junior at his school and dating someone younger was beneath me. So, initially, there was no interest at all.

Then, finally, Andy started getting some shifts without his sidekick. I got to know him for him. He's very quiet and unless you have him alone he doesn't really say much. He was younger, but not that much, only 6 months and he was in a grade below me because his birthday was in the fall. And then I began to notice some flirtations coming from his end. Was this shy, quiet, younger dude trying to pick me up? And was it possible that I thought he was kind of cute? I think I did.

He was in fact planning to declare his love for me, or at least to ask me out. But that is a whole other post for another day.

At this point you must be asking yourself, "With all this flirtation and getting to know each other going on, did these kids ever get any work done?" Absolutely not.

Oh yeah, one more thing...

Today marks one month until our two year anniversary.


Time flies when you're having fun.

Fatigued

Happy Saturday morning cyberspace!

I did the first day of week 6 yesterday. I jogged 5 minutes, then 8, then 5 with walking intervals in between. I hate stopping and starting. It gives my muscles a chance to cool down, but now recover and by the third 5 minute jog I just wanted to lay down and give up. There were pains in my muscles I didn't even know I had. I'll be glad when the intervals are over and I can just jog.

However, this week seemed to be more tiring for me. By the time Friday came I could hardly stay awake at my desk, so you can imagine how excited I was to go run yesterday afternoon. The day of the week had a definite impact on my energy for my workout. I may take Sunday off from running to give myself an extra day.

Scary.

I was looking through archives at Moosh in Indy to entertain myself today and found this:

The following post was written by Whymommy at Toddler Planet…

We hear a lot about breast cancer these days. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, in fact, and there are millions living with it in the U.S. today alone. But did you know that there is more than one type of breast cancer?

I didn’t. I thought that breast cancer was all the same. I figured that if I did my monthly breast self-exams, and found no lump, I’d be fine.

Oops. It turns out that you don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Six weeks ago, I went to my OB/GYN because my breast felt funny. It was red, hot, inflamed, and the skin looked … funny. But there was no lump, so I wasn’t worried. I should have been. After a round of antibiotics didn’t clear up the inflammation, my doctor sent me to a breast specialist and did a skin punch biopsy. That test showed that I have inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors have never seen it before and consider it rare. “Rare” or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d’orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you’re concerned and want to come in to rule it out.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It’s not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we’re pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It’s important not to miss this one.

Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it’s trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known before six weeks ago.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.

P.S. Feel free to steal this post too. I’d be happy for anyone in the blogosphere to take it and put it on their site, no questions asked. Dress it up, dress it down, let it run around the place barefoot. I don’t care. But I want the word to get out. I don’t want another young mom — or old man — or anyone in between — to have to stare at this thing on their chest and wonder, is it mastitis? Is it a rash? Am I overreacting? This cancer moves FAST, and early detection and treatment is critical for survival.

Thank you.