Rabbit for Sale

I just posted this on our neighborhood yahoo group:

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We just found out (the graphic, yet reproductively educational way) that one of our 2 'female' rabbits is actually a male. Too late, possibly to prevent an unwanted pregnancy! SO... Snowball has to go, and we'll see how 'potent' HE was in about a month...
Anyone looking for a rabbit? HE's cute, lion head/cottontail mix. Small, will stay small, and used to being held and played with. He's a good rabbit, but has been a very bad boy! *wink wink*
He's currently living in our window well, in isolation.
$10 OBO. Here's the link to photo's on KSL.
https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=25687898&cat=111
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My neighbor just texted me this conversation that our kids had before walking to school:

Kate: Our bunnies are mating.
Will: What does that mean?
Ella: It means they lay on top of each other... they did it like twice!
Kate: Ya, it's sorta like kissing. Soon we'll have baby bunnies!

Notice how much bigger Cocoa is than Snowball? Ick. That's just weird.

But that conversation was nothing compared to the one Luke and I had when he caught them 'in the act' and was trying to convince me that it had actually happened. (Remember, I googled, then 'sexed' them already? I was pretty confident we had two girls!)

Luke: Mom, the rabbits are doing it.
Me: No they're not. They're both girls.
Luke: Mom, come look! Snowball is behind Cocoa.... (description continues, too graphic to repeat).
Me: Oh. Well. That does sound like mating. Tess! Go get Snowball!

Tess brings her in, and I check again.

Sure enough. Teeny little penis. Boy. Boy. Boy.

*sigh* I knew I should have stuck to my NO PETS rule!

Basement Project Officially Finished

We are done with the basement. Unless we win the lottery, it is as finished as it probably ever will be. Here's some photos:

Luke's room, all moved in, minus the christmas lights he strung all over the place yesterday... 

His bottle collection, that has no home. "No Luke, we are not putting up a shelf all the way around the room to display your millions of bottles. NO! "(Does anyone else have a habitual collector? I swear this kid has the 'collector gene'. At least the rocks are gone...)

His desk, notice the Japanese Sake bottles? (beneath the picture of Christ? I know. The irony.)

He now has a new supplier for his bottle obsession, his job. (We're just waiting for him to get pulled over and caught with 'open containers' in the back seat. He can't say we didn't warn him!)

Oh, and funny side story, the bar tender at Tsunami saves the cool bottles for Luke, he labels them, "Beibers bottles" LOL.

His itty bitty vanity. Did I tell you he'd still leave his crap out? Did I? ARGH! 

The basement post construction, but pre-clean up:

After clean up, and all sorted: Kids play room. All toys and art supplies outta my hair forever... check.

Family room. 

We moved the big TV down too, after this photo. I love not having the TV in my main living area. The kids watch so much less, just because it's 'outta sight, outta mind'. 

No TV upstairs... check.

Place to hang all those Mormon Ads that were collecting dust... check.

Zeke's train table corner, also legos, blocks and marble works. No more messes in his room.... check.

The view from a different angle. Furnace room visible.... check. Ugly (but comfy!) couches... check. 

All exercise crap downstairs... check.

We had a giant piece of carpet that we got from Chris' sister, and when we rolled it out, it fit almost perfectly. Add a little extra pad from Luke's room to the TV floor area, and voila! Unfinished, yet perfectly usable space!

My house seems so much less cluttered now that all the toys and the TV/Wii are downstairs. I can walk into Zeke's room without stepping on legos. The library is not littered with Wii games and controllers. The girls art supplies are not all over my kitchen bar, and the dress ups are not strewn about Ella and Kate's room anymore. 

Ah. Bliss. I'm a happy homemaker! 

Komodos

These two 'round eyes' are not fooling anyone with their Nihongo komodo (Japanese child) shirts. You'd never guess Zeke was 1/4 Japanese, would you? Of course Annie is as white bread as they come.

The End of Morning Hair Stress

Ella has really thin, fine hair. She's been obsessed with Rapunzel for the last couple of years, and has not allowed her hair to be cut. This has caused quite a few tears, as her hair is frequently a rat's nest, and requires 'forceful brushing'. Mornings before school are especially trying because she tries to leave the house without brushing through her tangled locks. Sometimes I just shrug, and send her off looking like an orphan from Miss Hannigan's orphanage. I can't fight with her every day. 

Well, she won't look like a mother-less child anymore. As I was wrestling with her tangles today, I said, "Remember when Madelena cut your hair and we had to give you a bob? It was SO cute." She wanted to see, so I pulled up the post on my blog and oohed and aaahed over her, and voila! She wanted to cut it off. 

You can bet I RAN to get the scissors before she changed her mind! 

Before:

After:

Fu Man Chu

The new, and hassle free hair-do! 

It occurred to me as I was cutting, that she might have enough to donate for Locks of Love. We measured it, and she had 12 inches. Only 10 inches is required. I had to do a bit of talking to convince her to donate it. It helped that she has a cousin with Alopecia, who got a wig from Locks of Love. I think ultimately, the decision was easy, because in her words, the ponytail 'freaks me out!'

Mornings just got a whole lot easier around here. 

Something something

Luke was telling me about his 2 friends and their 'On again, Off again' relationship. He finally concluded with "I guess Taylor isn't as smart as I thought he was, because he just doesn't seem to to get it, or maybe he's smarter than he was when he was smart with her before he.... *trailing off*... um... some words that make sense together."

Sure. Those words. The ones the make sense together. Uh huh. You're pretty smart too Luke.  ;) Gotta love Luke-ism's. He's as entertaining as 'ole GDubya, the 2nd. (that's George W. Bush II btw)

Luke's new job is going well. He made $20 an hour w/ tips the other night, and was pretty happy about that. Even though he thinks most of his co-workers are inane gossips. Oh, and he's pretty sure that he's as good at bussing as he'll ever be, so there's no challenge now. He's got bussing tables mastered. Been there, done that, now he's bored.

I told him this is the reason he'll want to figure out a career path before he gets stuck working in a restaurant his whole life.

And on a totally unrelated note, except that this is also about my son, my other son--  Zeke and his friend Owen gave Annie a haircut today. She was a willing participant... but STILL.

Ya. Remember that post where I freaked out because the 6 yo neighbor girl cut Ella's hair? Well, you'll be happy to know that I did what that mother SHOULD have done. I marched over there, and apologized profusely and offered to pay for a hair cut to 'fix it'.

Sunny said, "Eh. It's just hair. It'll grow."

Say whaaaa?

Oh. Well. I guess I might have over reacted when Ella's hair got cut... but it was a LOT worse than Annie's. Believe me. I had a RIGHT to freak out.

*backing away slowly... *

Family of Four

With the girls in Ca. and Luke at work, it was just Ella and Zeke. I'd been trying hard all week to make the time something out of the ordinary for Ella, since she was feeling a bit left out. One night we went out to eat-- which never happens with kids btw-- and since the restaurant was right next to this fountain, the kids decided to cool off. Officially, it is not a swimming pool, but try telling that to Ella. In 5 minutes she was soaked to the bone. They both were, but Zeke never actually swam around. 

She got to skip two days of school, go to the neighborhood water party, visit old friends, eat out a lot, and then spent 2 days in Bountiful with her cousin Yuki. When we picked up the girls at the airport, Tess brought her a giant Mickey Mouse pencil, and she was happy as a clam. 

Ah to be young and carefree...

Paint fumes reduce IQ

Tess and Kate were invited to go to CA with my parents last week, to visit my sister in LA. They were both *SO* excited about it-- but mostly, they were excited about the plane ride, since neither of them can remember flying when they were under 2 yo. That's pretty much when we stop taking our kids on planes-- when we have to pay for their own seat...

Anyway, as you can see below, they went to Disneyland-- for TWO days. My sister, who is Martha Stewart on speed, made these shirts for them, so they matched their cousins. Adorable? Yes. 

They also went to the Aquarium, the Zoo, and the beach. Grandma came home pooped. Thanks Brooke! Best Auntie ever!

They loved the roller coasters... Grandma? Not so much.

While they were gone, I worked feverishly to get Tess' room (Luke's old room) repainted and fixed up. The previous homeowners had done a horrific job, the ceiling was splotchy, the moldings weren't taped, and two walls were a sapphire blue, almost purple color. Atrocious. Tess picked out a blue/green color, and we hoped it wouldn't be too loud.

The first day, I removed every light/plug plate, the ceiling fan blades, the blinds, and taped and primed the blue walls. 

The second day, I painted the ceiling flat white.

The third day, I painted the 2 white walls

The fourth day I painted the 2 blue walls and I was *supposed* to be done.

*Deep breath*

Alas, I didn't like the stark white walls-- but I didn't want the whole room that blue. 

What to do? What to do? 

AHA! Mix the paint of course. I'm a genius! 

 So, in true DIY style, I just started pouring paint. Randomly. 

I poured the last 1/4 can of white into a 1/2 full can of blue. Mix mix mix. Stir stir stir. 

Hmmmm.... looks the same. 

*Looking around...*

 Oh! Here's another can of white. Huh...I don't remember getting 2 cans... but what the heck, let's give it go. 

*Pouring blue into empty white, adding equal amount of new white* Mix mix mix. Stir stir stir. 

Hmmm... this looks a little funny. Not *quite* the same blue... 

What the?! Wait A MINUTE! This isn't a new can of white! It's a can of barely tan that we painted in Luke's room!  But how can one tell when the name is 'Mosquito Pass' and the paint blob on the lid LOOKS WHITE!? 

Ah yes. Now I remember. Painting Luke's room was hard, because this paint was almost the same color as the moldings/ceiling. And we painted at night. With insufficient lighting. And we had to do it again the next day when the light of the sun revealed all the places we'd missed...

CRAP. 

CRAP.

CRAP.

Now I have one can of slightly less the original blue paint, one can of light blue but with a tannish undertone, and one can of flat white. 

Well, how about if I just mix some flat white with.... say this less than blue can? 

Sure. Why not?  Mix mix mix. Stir stir stir. 

And voila! Now I have a lighter, if not more tan, shade of blue for one of the white walls. Maybe both. Oh wait, I already took the tape off that wall. Well forget it then. I'm not re-taping too. One wall will just have to stay white. 

Do I need a new roller? Nah. I'll just use this one with the dark blue on it. The new paint will cover it. 

Roll roll roll. 

Hmmm. 

Light blue with dark blue edge marks. 

CRAP. 

CRAP.

CRAP.

Now I have to run to the paint store for another roller. And I should probably have this paint professionally shaken while I'm at. 

*Drive to the paint store, find my supplies, ask the nice boy to please mix my paint for me, go to find my wallet to pay... *

CRAP.

CRAP.

CRAP.

I left my wallet home. 

Can you see where this is going? It was all down hill from here folks. 

But I finished. It's not ideal, but it's 'close enough'. My Dad and brothers are shuddering at that last. Dang perfectionists. I'M SICK OF PAINTING! It's good enough! 

Here's the finished results, after I put everything back together, hung the drapes and moved all the furniture in. I literally did it ALL MYSELF. Just me. I'm freaking awesome I'd say. Chris was pretty burned out from the mad dash to finish Luke's room, so I didn't dare ask for help. And it turns out, I didn't need it. Just went to bed every night with an un-healthy dose of Ibuprofen for the tennis elbow and aching back. But it was all worth it. BECAUSE IT'S DONE! 

Feast your eyes!

Light blue wall

Dark blue wall. 

Tess loves it. It's done. That's all that matters. I'm never painting again. Beige walls and ceilings in 90% of my house will just have to do. 

*I need a Coke*

Luke's IN--

Luke is spending his first night down in his new room tonight. His hammock chair is bolted to the ceiling, and he's slowly moving all his crap downstairs. There are still some odds and ends to finish up (then I'll take and post photos), but everything works and he won't have to come up to use the bathroom. It's strange sitting here on the couch and hearing his music wafting up through the floor...

Next project, get the basement construction crap cleared out, and roll out our free roll of carpet, move the 'ugly' couches down, and set up a little TV room for the kids. It'll be nice to have the TV downstairs. I hate having it up here in the main living area. I dislike hearing the TV on. I like silence. Whenever possible.

Kate and Tess went to California this week with my parents, to stay with my sister. They were so excited-- mostly for the plane ride, a first (that they can remember) for them both. They were even more excited to do that than to go to Disneyland! LOL. I told them they would be disappointed. Flying sucks.

While they're gone, my goal is to get Tess' room (Luke's old room) painted and her stuff moved over. I don't like to paint. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm determined to get started bright and early tomorrow.

On a sad note: Chris' dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer today. He spent all day at the hospital with him. His dad is relieved to finally know what is wrong, and why he's in constant pain. Chris thinks he's ready to go. Even though he's been so miserable for the last few months, losing him will still be a blow. He's 82. His poor Mom is worn out from care taking. She wants to come live with us when he goes. Luke may not get much time to spend in 'his' room. And we'll have to install some sort of chair lift on the stairs... the kids will love that!