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It's still tiny snowflaking out there.
Therefore, I'm still in my Pjs.

So much for that hockey game. Oops.

The dog is snoring in her bed.
Thankfully.

She died 3 times on Christmas Eve.

Just stopped breathing.

I was sad... but relieved for her. Then she sputtered back to life.... half an hour later I was sad.... but relieved for her. Then she sputtered back to life. Forty five minutes later I was sad... but relieved for her. Then she sputtered back to life. Then I was tired, drained, and a little annoyed. She may have died again that night, but I fell asleep around 4am.

She's been super peppy since then. Running into all the chairs.walls.tables.couches.

Breaking records

Yesterday I did something new.
It's good to do new things.

I watched 2 entire periods of Hockey. Not of the same game, and I called them "innings" until I was corrected.

I might even go watch an entire game today. Well, maybe, this is a really soft blanket on the couch...

There's a tournament... which mean hundreds of sweaty smelly boys. You'd think they'd have taken that into consideration when they built that new facility. I spent most of the time trying to breath thru my mouth to avoid the stank.

Tiny snowflakes

In honour of the tiny snowflakes today, and in effort to reach 200 posts by the end of the year (it's only cheating a little bit)... tiny tidbit posts all day long!

Someone asked me the other day for an update on the online dating stories... No great stories to share at this point... but I did get a "hi whats your cup size" message yesterday.
I really wish I had a witty reply for that one.

Clarification

I was going to write something today about the differences between being a good communicator in  the written form and being a good writer.

But then I figured that would defeat the purpose... the need to clarify.

Whatever.

To : the Myans.... HA.

I wish that I had a photo of the room that I walked into on December 21.

I mentioned that the "Pubcats and Jail Birds" were having an "end of the world" party awhile ago. Sadly, I had to arrive late due to work. I got a txt from Bobert asking that I txt them when I was on my way (suspicious)... and some lame excuse about Jenny wanting to know. I went along with it... half hoping that it was a super late surprise party, half knowing it wasn't.

I played along and sent a txt as I left the house. When I arrived there were a few little things waiting for me...

Taped to the front door was a note that read "Lesley, come in".

I entered the house.

Silence.

I walked down the hall.

A small table with kool-aid and in the room beyond it, my friends all laying passed out on the floor and draped over furniture. I babbled on for the next few moments, partly trying to get them to laugh and stop being fake dead, and partly trying to convince myself they weren't really dead. Sometime after my threat of eating all the rumballs myself and telling them what good actors they were, someone allowed themselves a death rattle... which then set of a series of giggles... children appeared out of nowhere and cried out "did you trick her?" And my friends, appalled that I'd stood there calmly and hadn't called 911 asked why I'd reacted the way that I did....

"You're my friends for a reason, it's totally something I would have tried to pull on you."

continued (or) there are days

Yesterday I posted from my phone again, I promise not to do that again.

In continuation of the story...

So, the front end of the car slid into the ditch. I figure every neighbour has been waiting years for this to happen- I park there nearly every day. As I generally have the shortest shifts, I don't like to park in the driveway for fear of getting blocked in. It's the rare occasion that I work a regular 8 hour shift and leave at a normal shift change time. I'll admit, I watched the cars driving by and cursed the drivers and passengers as they rubber necked and gave each other knowing glances.

Oh.My.Pride.

When my fury with myself had subsided a little I went back outside and tried to inch the car out of the ditch. No luck. It slid in further, till the front end was pointed into the ditch and the back pointed at the road... then it looked like I'd lost control of the car and driven straight into the ditch, instead of the fine driving I'd done in the dark, in a snow storm, with one hand holding my door closed.. driving standard.

Oh.my.pride.

So that happened.

Then I found out that in the confusion of the morning, my shift hadn't actually been a trade- so I was stuck at work for a 11 or 12 hour shift... probably just as well... As I discovered when pulling out my wallet, my CAA membership had expired.

The next 6 hours at work went quite smoothly... and as I stood up and walked to the door to leave, my hair elastic broke.

It's ok. I made it to the car before I started to cry.

**post script**

All joy was not lost, I had a lovely visit with friends and watched the Christmas Dr.Who special later that night.

how to ruin a perfectly good snowfall

Step one, get a 6am wake up call asking to start work early. step two, dog refuses to wake up (not dead yet) and has to be carried outside. Step three, car door breaks Step four, windshield wipers won't actually work Step five, can't get in the driveway at work, park on street Step six, plough traps car Step seven, while trying to move car onto newly cleared driveway, the front end slides into the culvert. Maybe a more appropriate title would be "reasons to walk to work".

The real Monday Bunday

An aside: I wonder when blogger will come out with a mobile version?

How do you catch a rabbit?

In much the same way that you would catch a cat.

Get a box- any size- and place it on the floor.

Wait.

(not very long)

bunday monday!

Having no idea of the days of the week lately.. yes I realize it's Christmas eve, but beyond that... if I didn't have a job where I had to write the date once in awhile, I'd be doomed.
Let's give posting from the smart phone a try ...

(5 mins later) It appears my phone is smarter than I am. Bunny photos to be posted later...

Sheesh

I generally pride myself in my abilities to form a (written*) sentence. This morning as I was waking up, I was laying in my bed visualizing "Their, They're, and There" and wondering out loud to JellyDog how people could get them mixed up. "Seriously, how do they mix them up? They're three different words" I even spelled out "they're" to The Dog.

So of course, when I arrived at my computer, there... lurking on my homepage, a sent message glared at me... with several "their/they're/there" confusions.  "DO YOU SEE THIS JELLY? Of course not... you're blind.... guh!" I scrolled down a little further only to find the cute comic above. I felt better. Then made the mistake of clicking on my inbox... only to discover I'd sent a message with one of my least favourite errors... MY ERROR... The dreaded "alot". **

Sheesh.



*Verbal Skillz? I don't have 'em. Ever tried to have me describe anything... ever? Double Sheesh.

** But then after "sheeshing", I started to giggle,  because then I remembered to use this system and it made the email alot better.***

***That was on purpose.

Self Promotion

I'm ok with it.

Though I promise this won't become a blog all about "badbunny".
For now though... I did successfully move the domain name over to a new host, and it's fantastic to work with.

It still needs a lot of work- the biggest thing being the photos, they need to tie together better- the lighting and boarders on each one are different... I find that visually offensive... I'm sure others will too.

Anyway, here she is! Stay tuned for more changes after Christmas... assuming we survive the end of the world tomorrow.

Last time it was the end of the world I survived.

New year's day 2000. January 1st.
Something like 6:20am
When everyone was asleep after partying because it was 1999 the night before...

The windows started to shake... the cat ran under my bed and I sat bolt upright as my bed started to rock...

My only thought? "What a great joke! God really IS coming back today!"
So I sat laughing on my bed till it stopped.

Turns out there was an earthquake in Thunderbay that could be felt as far away as Peterborough (where I was living at the time). 

Spooked

My CD player is slowly dying.
Not surprising as it was purchased in the early 90's, one of those first multiple disk players... it looks like a record player, it's big, it's bulky, it only holds 5 disks.

It's current problem? The last song of most disks won't play without skipping, or, the first song of the  next disk doesn't play... well, it doesn't not play... it just takes it's time getting started.

Tonight I was sitting working away in silence.
For a good 10 or 15 minutes... when suddenly David Simard comes on (loudly).
Thankfully I love him.
So I was only scared for about half a second, then I started to sing along (loudly).

Go give him a listen. You won't be scared for even half a second.

Nerd(ish)

I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now- it might be dashed in a few hours, but I *think* I made the right changes and moved my domain name to a hosting site... we'll see. As I said, I could have done it wrong... and it takes a few hours for the changes to show up (up to 48!)  So, I'm going to try to be patient.


Hobbit- was fantastic. I'm not sure how I missed the memo that it was in 3 parts... I think I figured that since LOTR was 3 films and 3 books that the Hobbit would be 1. Not that I mind, I'm super glad for the attention to detail that it provides. But, I spent the first 40 mins of the movie being annoyed that they hadn't left Bilbo's kitchen. I think I may have shouted in my head a few times "get a move on, you're never going to make it to the mountain".

Seriously.

And it was a lovely visit with my dad too.

no.

I've JUST realized that there's only one week left till Christmas.

It made me swear when I realized it.

Guess who hasn't decorated or done much in the way of anything to make the house feel christmassy?
This gal.

The top 1/3 of my Christmas tree is sitting on my couch. I didn't want to move any furniture or put much effort into prep this year- I feel like most free moments are dedicated to sewing.

Maybe I'll plug the tree (top) in tomorrow.
Get some comfort and joy flowing.


One of the Friendlies* and I have the same birthday. We commented today on the fact that we didn't get snow for one of the first times in our lives.
WHERE'S MY SNOW?




*Friendlies aka hotfarmerboys aka victory garden boys. 

Monday Bunday

I nearly forgot that today is monday. So to make up for it, two for the price of one.
Disapproval bunny style- a lion's share... He's slightly annoyed with the pieces of felt that keep getting dropped on his head.

How to resolve that disapproval? Some bunny lovin' fixes it every time.

Those feet!!!! Look at that foot! I just want to squish it! 

That's a Wrap

I thought that starting to sing Christmas carols in August was overkill... but it turned out just right.

Tonight was our last show of "Christmas at the Park Theatre", and it's a bittersweet feeling. I didn't always appreciate the way rehearsals went, I had some differing opinions and general frustrations- almost all of them personality style related (my own and the director's aren't the greatest mix)*. But in the end it all came together. I'm always so sad to reach the end of a run.

This time more than ever.


The other night at work my boss turned to me and said "It's so nice that you do these [shows]. I'm always so impressed that you get out there and do [that] sort of thing, it's inspiring...and I know you love doing them". I replied, "I'm pretty sad because this is possibly my last one for quite awhile". She looked at me funny and said, "but why? You love it and you're really great at it!"

It took everything in me not to swear.
Not to spit out the words.
Not to sneer as I said them.
Not to say it too pointedly.

"I can't do any more shows because my hours have changed. I don't have a single consistent evening off, to do a play or musical- to commit to anything, I have to be able to commit to at least one evening rehearsal each week".


As usual I learned a HUGE amount working with Susan as the director of music. This was my third show working with her, someday I'll take regular lessons from her... it'll happen.


I'm going to go cry in a corner for awhile... post-show blues are setting in.**





*I adore this director, and as a friend- I'd do anything for him in a heart beat- and I love the finished product of his shows... it's just my personality style hates his organization style in the steps leading to that finished product. I'm grown up enough to admit I want to claw out my eyeballs during the blocking and reblocking of a show. I'm not perfect, I'm sure my eye rolling and sighing drive him to hysterics too.

**I love being on stage... I rarely get even a moment of nerves on stage, instead everything in me calms. Oh masks, you fit so well.

Little Fan

I loved watching the faces of the kids in the audience during this show. The excitement in their eyes when the dancers would take the stage... the CRAZY EXCITEMENT when Santa would walk out (even when Santa couldn't remember his lines) (every time)... I loved watching their little eyeballs track back and forth following the dancers, or the little ones who would lean over to squeal into the ear of their parent "can I take dance lessons?"

Those moments were the best part of this show.

I spent some time during today's matinee wondering what the kids were thinking during the show. How many of them will end up having this be a tradition? Each year coming back to watch the Parkettes and hear the carolers? How many of those kids will watch each year, waiting for the time when they'll be old enough to audition? How many will have this show to mark the moment that makes the Christmas season come alive for them?


The show ended and a million and twelve children rushed Santa. I wondered aloud to a cast member if Santa had the "pee proof" pants on that afternoon.

Then I saw a cast member lean down to scoop his adorable 8 year old cousin (my uke student) into his arms... only to watch her ignore him completely, push past him, and rush to give me a giant hug.
Love that girly.
Feels like Christmas!

sheesh..

So proud of myself and Badbunny.ca .. feeling like I'm getting back in control of things... annnnnnnd then....

First the rabbit has a bout of the runs, lots of scrubbing the floor and some serious pinning down of the bunny to get him cleaned up (honestly, how does he grow the giant dreadlocks on his butt?)

And then.... Miss. Jelly.

Finally paid off the vet bills from last month's eyeball injuries....

And now she's pawing away at her face after a full force run into the door frame/wall.

How? She needs momentum to get up the two back steps, so she runs open throttle .. except the eyesight isn't what it used to be... and she misjudged by at least 4 inches tonight. The clanging noise and watching her roll back down the stairs was almost too much for me. Thank goodness the vet gave us double the usual amount of meds after her last injury.

ohhh... colours!

Here's part of the pile I'm working on right now... on the right- fabric prepped and cut for market bags... on the left- fabric washed... and just sitting around looking pretty. There's another 3 prints and 2 solids drying now after being washed. Today's a sewing day for sure!

BadBunny.ca is about to get a whole lot better!

I mostly took the day off sewing yesterday- but made a trip up to fabric land and Michaels Crafts for some supplies... have you ever tried to find cotton yarn suitable for making Kippahs? Yeah, not a likely find in our little town.. thank goodness for larger city centres nearby. I had a sweet little visit with sicky Momma-to-be Mel, and a surprise visit from RaeRae... there was a whole lotta goodness packed into the day.

8 year olds

6-10 is my favourite age for all humans.
Seriously.
They're acquiring knowledge so fast their parents can't keep up, they're discovering amazing things... and hormones haven't gotten in the way and screwed everything up.

If every child could be between 6-10 forever, well... I'd have 30 children.

Anyway, there's an especially bright 8 year old that I have the honour of spending time with. She's one of my ukulele students, and this kid... she's super special. I have to try not to laugh at everything she says, try not to write down EVERYTHING she says- you can see the engines firing as she tries to sort out the world around her... she's making other kids look bad.

REAL BAD.

Tonight we were talking about the hatching eggs that I'd picked up the day before. Her mom was asking a little about the process, and of course... it's about chickens, so I'm more than happy to share what I know. I'd said moments before, that I'd had a rooster but ended up eating it- because roosters weren't welcome in the neighbourhood. And that I'd had to get my eggs from a friend who had roosters.

Without missing a beat she asked "oh, what do rooster eggs taste like?"
Quick recovery answer about eggs that were fertilized with a look of apology to her lovely parents.
And we all doubled over laughing.

Monday Bunday Flashback

Originally posted December 2007:

much packing going on around here.. the front hall is a maze of boxes.
While going thru boxes in the sunroom I found one little one... and decided to see if it could still be put to use....

at one point in time it WAS useful... He came home in it....

peep peep

I had a super visit with the Mackattacks this morning. 

I may have a spinning buddy! 

There was chasing and wrestling of sheep, some donkey scratches and kisses, eye to eye with a beautiful peacock, and a wicked game of tag between a red squirrel and the blue jays... which of course led to singing "green forrest". 

A very lovely morning.

AND, I brought home some hatching eggs. 

I'm very excited about the idea of hatching some chicks, and my girls are the broodiest birds in the land. "Start sitting on the nest the first week of August and never come off? Don't mind if I do!" Said two of my hens.... Until about 4 days ago. Which is good, Maria especially needed to get off the nest... but 4 days before I get my first hatching eggs??? 

Really?

I mean... really?

-made a comment about the lack of winter and the hate of "rainy season".... so of course it's freezing rain tonight.

- Also sold my Djembe, for way too low of a price, but I figured there was no sense in keeping it around if I wasn't going to use it, and if I was going to sell it- it needed to get out of the house right away before I changed my mind.

-12 pairs of slippers in the first 7 days of badbunny.ca , a pretty good start. Tonight I started cutting fabric for some market bags. I have an idea to make them a little stronger than the current design- so they will hold heavy loads like groceries. 

yup

The friendlies threw a party tonight... a housewarming/end of the world/Sagittarius birthday/Rob Ford's out of office type party... which was awesome.

I'm on my 5th bout of hiccups at the time of writing this - that's the sort of state of mind I've been at all day, so I didn't last very long... I wanted to, but I was toasted and peopled out even before getting there.

Anyway, one awesome moment of the night went like this...

Me: Hey, do you do karaoke?

Friendly: I don't.. well, I haven't.. I'm not against it, people have offered, I just haven't. I don't know if I'd like it...

Me: Oh, so like me with Pot?

Friendly: yeah... like that!

around the sun

I didn't get around to posting yesterday... I was busy celebrating my birthday.
Yay me... another year alive.

How did I celebrate?

By seeing some of the faces that I love.

Oh, and by buying fabric.

Which is awesome for a few reasons... When I was a teen, if I got grumpy I'd march out to fabricland and buy some fabric... no joke, "let's go buy some fabric" was pretty near code for "something teenaged drama-tragic has happened to me."
Another reason? Awesome because I got to see Manda.
Another reason? I was given birthday money.
Another reason? oh.my.gosh. you should see the fabric I bought.
Another reason? I'll eventually make back that money and more with my stash/market bags.

Something NOT awesome... the quilting/fabric store is closing in Milbrook. D and A are retiring. (Although the 35% off sale was pretty fantastic)

Uke it Up

NUkeO got together and filled our pub to the max last night.

Instead of trying to tell you about it, I'm going to steal PaSheff's photos. Some large group play-alongs, and some great solos, and instant bands... Much more happened, but then our resident photographer and his wife were hit by the flu bug and had to go home.

I love hosting this weird little group.

End of the world.

A group of friends spends every thursday night at a local pub. We've been doing it for 3 years now. whoa. 3 years.... that's a lot of beer and conversation.

So of course we have our own facebook group to coordinate our busy lives- there are days we don't actually make it to the pub, and end up in someone's backyard at a fire, or living room instead.

This week's conversation:

JR: So about that end of the world thing....
       We are willing to offer our house and do a pot luck.

JC: We're in, And we'll bring a crock pot of something.

JR: Awesome! And at midnight if we are still here we bring out bob's b-day cake.

Me: Oh right... what day is the end of the world again?



Tonight is the second annual NUkeO open mic at the Beamish House in Port Hope. 7pm, Ukes and non ukers are welcome.

Good bye November

Before I went to sleep I was thinking about how happy I was that Mo-vember was over. Seriously, as a single girl, Movember gives me the creeps- all those perviously handsome faces turned pedo face.

And because I was thinking about it, I had lovely dreams of kissing lots of sensitive-smooth-lipped men.

Thank you lucid dreams. Thank you.

Apparently I'm a 16 year old boy.

Some of my coworkers know that my mind is stuck in the gutter.

Like... the deepest gutter. And I can't get out of it, and I'm not trying very hard to get out either. Needless to say, I  get myself in trouble, and spend a whole lotta' time snickering like a 16 year old boy.

Yesterday before the show opened we had vocal warm ups.
I'm pretty sure that Susan was feeding us the lines on purpose.

Picture this with me- the upstairs room at the Park Theatre, everyone's dressed so nicely, we're singing our little hearts out... when...

You've got to get on top of it. Get on top! Stay there.
Now, caress each note. Gooooooood.
Push hard. Don't push so hard there.
Stay on top!
Keep it up.
And now bouncy... bounce bounce bounce.
Careful, you're starting to spread.

Ok, by the last line I wasn't singing anymore. I was in tears laughing. Trying hard to keep those tears from ruining my makeup.

Did anyone else notice what she was saying? Only the teen boy and the barely-out-of-his-teens boy in the choir. They were fighting back tears too.

Fun things

So there are a few fun things in the works, the big one- Christmas in the park opens tonight. Here's a teaser video shot last week- I'm the one forgetting what line we're singing then rolling my eyes at myself...



The other thing is a little online endeavor, I've been sewing under the name "Bad Bunny" for about a year now... you can probably guess why- this week he chewed the phone recharger- he's not generally a chewer. This was a new trick, along with that other new trick where he goes up on the kitchen table and pushes everything off of it? Ya.

Anyway, I'm trying to be a little more proactive in "selling myself" and the things I make. Soooo, I bought a domain name. I haven't paid for it to be hosted anywhere yet, so currently there's a simple free page that came with the domain purchase. For now it's a start. A big one for me.

Bad Bunny Fibre Arts can be found here.