The Good and The Bad

Sorry I’ve been so silent lately – it’s been busy around here!  It’s good to disconnect frequently but then I end up feeling… well… disconnected! 

I was hoping to introduce a new addition to our family - a sweet little bunny we named Clover – but he died the first night in our home. *sigh*  There’s a woman at the farmers’ market that we refer to as “the bunny lady,” because in addition to the plants she sells, she also brings along some of her rabbits for sale.  A few weeks back I was smitten by a little grey one – he just melted into my arms and settled down for a snuggle.  We didn’t see her in the following weeks, but just last weekend she was back with the bunnies.  We brought the grey one home, and since we were told they absolutely love to eat clover, that’s what we named him (after vetoing Gwen’s suggestion of “greya”).   

We got him all settled in his cage with some dry food, dandelion greens, parsley, and of course clover.  I felt bad taking him away from his siblings – he seemed to retreat and become rather shy, but I figured it would take him time to warm up to us.  The kids were so excited, petting him gently and exclaiming over the fact that “bunny didn’t bite me!” 

I was pretty restless that evening – it was rather muggy, and late at night Josiah came up with wet pants so I changed him and put him in bed with us.  This meant I had a sliver of mattress to sleep on, which is never conducive to a good night’s sleep.  I kept hearing funny noises from Clover’s cage, and since I couldn’t sleep anyway decided to check on it. 

Clover’s legs were flopping around; at first I thought he was dreaming, but quickly realized the movements were too wild and erratic.  I asked Phil to come check; when he took the bunny out of the cage, he was very limp and lethargic.  He didn’t protest when Phil checked him over, but every so often he would thrash and go into a seizure.  It did not look good, and I just sat there and cried as Phil tried to figure out what was wrong.  He finally told me to go bed so I wouldn’t have to watch, and suffice to say I didn’t fall asleep after that. 

In the morning before he left for work he told me Clover had died.  I felt sick, didn’t know what to tell the kids.  Josiah came running out of his room later, excitedly asking to see the bunny.  Phil had put him in a box so the kiddos and I could pet him and say good bye before we buried him.  I don’t believe in making up stories for kids, and they did very well with it.  Gwendolyn said, “Can we get the white one now?”  For some reason she keeps pretending that all her animals are dying. 

I was sad to realize that I didn’t even get a picture of the kiddos with Clover!  I suppose it’s for the best; I get sad all over again just thinking about it!  The Bunny Lady said we could pick another one but I’m not eager to repeat the scenario.  I had quite a few rabbits growing up, and we thought it would be great for the kids (and bunny poop is good for the gardens!), but this was an emotional reintroduction for me.     

Sandwiched inbetween these events we caught  The Big Apple Circus when it was in town – always a good time!  It’s a small venue and we both agree that we like it much better than the bigger Barnum & Bailey.  All the seats are in good view of the ring and the acts are varied and unique.

This week I’m volunteering at Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the mornings, so it’s been fun and interesting working with a group of Kindergarteners and first-graders.  Gwen was sick all last night (yay -another sleepless night!) but luckily her bouts blow over very quickly and she felt well enough to go along today.  We had to wear Christmas colors today and the only thing I could find was my Dr. Seuss “Thing 1″ shirt!  People kept asking me where Thing 2 was.   

I’ve been a bit discouraged at the lack of success with GwendyLicious, my Etsy shop, so I haven’t been as ambitious with my sewing but I did get some things done here and there.  Browsing through Small Stash Sewing, I decided to try my hand at the silk scarf project.  I re-purposed one of the raw silk bridesmaid skirts from my wedding and had fun with the decorative stitching, adding a pretty border of cotton fabric.  I love how it came out! 

One of my out-of-state friends had a birthday last month, and though I intended it to be a first-anniversary gift, I belatedly made her an invitation ornament.  She had an autumn-themed wedding, so in addition to the curled strips of wedding invitation I added leaf confetti and an orange ribbon.  It’s a much different color scheme than the first one I made but it works wonderfully. 

 

We had a great 4th of July (more to come on that… if I get around to it) and I’m getting closer to deciding our homeschool curriculum.  So all in all, things are good!  Oh, and if you haven’t done so already it’s not too late to enter my Blissful Bites cookbook giveaway!

Phew!  How are you doing?

Easter at the Farmer’s Market

It rained the Saturday before Easter, and as much as I hate running errands in the rain, I needed to get some shopping done.  I already had the spiral-cut ham that I ended up tossing in the crockpot, but wanted to look for some healthier cupcake ingredients. 

Earlier in the week I had bookmarked this recipe for sourdough chocolate cake, intending to use my whole wheat starter to make butterfly cupakes.  Which, incidentally, turned out looking nothing like the picture. *sigh*

I’ve been using agave syrup, maple syrup, honey, and no-calorie sugar substitutes (Splenda and Stevia) as sweeteners these days, but wanted to look for Sucanat.  I figured Whole Foods would carry it, but decided to stick closer to home and checked out Dave’s.  Score!  Not only did I find Sucanat, I got a bag of Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened coconut flakes (my store only carries sweetened coconut) to add to my trail mix. 

I had planned on going to the farmer’s market a few towns over to get some fresh eggs, but didn’t feel like driving all that way… especially since I knew I’d end up getting the kiddos their ritual bag of kettlecorn.  So, I settled on the one just down the road from Dave’s. 

And man, was it packed!  I guess everyone else had the same idea on that rainy day.  Though this market tends to be more expensive, it has a different variety of items, live music, and usually one or two baby goats for me and the kids to fawn over. 

As soon as we walked in the door we noticed a line of kids, and at the end of the line, a white goat and an albino rabbit, some hay bales, and a photographer’s setup.  Kids were getting their pictures taken with the “Easter bunny”!  I didn’t want to pay for a picture, but I knew the kids would love to see the animals.

Gwen kept telling me she was hungry, so we all shared a chocolate croissant and enjoyed the music for a bit.  Then we made the rounds, picked out some cage-free eggs for the cupcakes, and checked out out the line to see the animals again.  I told Gwen we could look at them, but Mommy didn’t have money to pay for a picture.  She looked crushed, so I thought – fine, we’ll just stand in line and I’ll ask if we can just pet the animals. 

As we’re waiting, waiting, waiting, I grew anxious, because I knew there were lots of other kids waiting to get their pictures taken, and we just wanted to pet the things.  The things we do for our kids!  Finally, it was our turn…

The kids got to hold and pet the bunny, we had our picture taken, and the wonderful folks at Light Forge Studio e-mailed us the images for free!