Bunnygate 2013

T and I have a history with...well...wild life.  Mice, squirrels, you name it...we've had it in our house, this one or the rental before this one.  We recently had three mice in our window well down in our basement last fall.  T had to mercilessly kill these mice, unfortunately, because we couldn't catch them, and two of them were dying if not already dead.  It was gruesome.  So we took the window screen out of the window, and we haven't had any mice since. 

 

 

Well yesterday, T noticed a baby bunny down there.  Poor little thing must have fallen in a crack in the grate covering the window well.  I don't know....it might have been with its mommy and gotten lost.  But the poor little guy was stuck down there.  So T is too chicken (sorry, T!), so I was the one left to catch Thumper.  So rather than climb down into the window well, I opted to open the window from down in the basement, reach in with gloves and pick him up.  Ill-advised decision.  I chased him around and around the window well until he leaped over me and into the basement.  I screamed, T jumped back, and the little sucker made its way across the basement and promptly hid under the water heater. 

 

 

Getting him out of said water heater was not easy.   We found a curtain rod, and I grabbed our big orange Home Depot bucket.  T took the curtain rod and carefully poked at the bunny as I waited on the other side to throw the bucket on top of him as he ran out the other side.  Yeah, that didn't work.  He made his way past me and into the other corner of the basement behind T's golf clubs.  I moved the golf clubs and threw the bucket down on him as hard and fast as I could, hearing him squeal so I'm sure I hurt him.  I felt bad about that, as T looked at like me like I was flipping crazy.  Anyway, I got the idea to put a cardboard box piece underneath the bucket, and we flipped the bucket over, keeping Mr. Bunny inside.  I ran up the stairs like a mad woman, as T made sure the door was open and then shut before I let the little guy out.  It's a good thing, too, because Thumper ran back towards the house. 

 

 

I think at some point before we even tried this animal rescue event, I said "oh he's so cute, can we keep him?"  Yeah, scratch that.  Definitely not how I envisioned spending my Tuesday evening, but what can you do?  Never a dull moment in our house! 

 

 

And thus ends Bunnygate 2013.

   

Up and moving

I was totally not ready for this week.  My little girl, my baby, is a toddler and was transitioning into the toddler classroom.  We bring her there in the morning to her infant room, and then she moves around 9:30 a.m. or so to her toddler class.  Monday was her first day, and I'm not going to lie...it was hard.  For me.  Aubrey takes it like a trooper.  I think I have one of the most laid back kiddos ever.  I don't think there will be a problem at all with this change, but Mommy?  Man, I love her infant teacher.  She has been awesome.  So I am the one totally not ready to leave the classroom.  But needless to say, Aubrey did fabulously. 

 

 

And little miss is walking.  No more creeping.  She is letting go and walking.  It is so cute, and we couldn't be more proud of her.  Poor thing this last weekend was walking in the kitchen, and she face planted and gave herself a bloody nose.  I know it's one of many boo-boos, but it still broke my heart.   But she is doing so well!

 

 

The only thing she's not good with is the sleeping on the cot.  That doesn't surprise me much considering she's a stubborn girl when it comes to nap time anyway.  But I think she'll come around to it. 

 

 

So when did my little girl turn into a toddler?  Did I blink and miss something?  Slow down, kiddo.  Just for a little bit....

   

Motivation Monday!

Happy Motivation Monday!  I'm not doing these weekly per se, but I figure, why not for this week?  I have the big 13.1 miles coming up this Saturday.  I've done two of these before, but every time, I get nervous.  This is my first mini actually running in it, so I hope all goes well.  It's funny because this race gets like 30,000 plus participating, so you get put in corrals.  You have to give an estimated pace time when you register, and I swear, my time wasn't that bad, but I'm in corral X.  Last time I was in T.  Not sure how I got that far back, and the thing that sucks is it'll take me 45 minutes to an hour to actually get to the start line because I'll be that far back.  But I think I can do it!  It'll be a great feeling of accomplishment after I'm done. 


So this week I'm focusing on eating right and exercising in the mornings to keep the muscles going.  I managed to run both days this weekend, though eating like complete crap since we went out for my birthday.  T and I actually got to go on a date night, which was awesome, and we hit up my favorite place Buca di Beppo.  Chianti, chicken parmesan and of course, tiramisu.  So worth it.  And the leftover tiramisu was just as good Sunday night.  But...not every day is my birthday so I better get back to it! 


I'm also working this week on the positivity.  I'm not sure why, but I'm not really looking forward to this week after the bad news and difficulties from last week.  We're still waiting for news for T's thing, and I really really hope we hear something.  Maybe a belated birthday present.  Just need to keep going...keep the eye on the prize!


And today is a big day for Miss Aubrey.  This week she will begin her transition to the toddler classroom.  Now that she is walking (and seriously, she's doing really well at it), she's ready to move.  It's for the best because she is getting bored in the infant room.  But her Mommy isn't so ready.  I can't believe she's a toddler already.  And I love her infant teacher.  I'm probably going to cry her last day there.  But she's going to love it, I just know it.  She's such an easy going kid, so I'm sure this change will be nothing for her.  I'll keep you all posted on how the change goes!


So here's to another week!  Let's get this party started and keep motivated!  Hope you all have a great and motivating start to your week, too!
     

Apple, tree, you, and me

 

This week's Spin Cycle brought to you by Gretchen at  Second Blooming is all about apples and trees. And how apples don't fall too far from trees.  Or maybe they do.  Anyway, so I don't know...I'm not sure you can say my apple falls closely to my family tree because there aren't any big traits of my family I have picked up.  I look a lot like my mom, and I do have my dad's sense of humor and gigantic head size (physically, not figuratively), and like my mom, when I am really stressed, I clean.  I clean the hell out of things like a mad woman.  It's a stress-reliever for me, but it's effective. 

 

 

Anyway, with our kiddo, I think the apple falls equally from both trees.  Looks?  She's her Daddy, I can't deny that:

 

 

 

Like daughter, like daddy.  But she does have certain traits of mine.  She sleeps with her hand near her face (something that she has done since being in the womb and something I probably have done since that myself.  She's a little stubborn like her Mommy (she gets that from her Daddy, too).  She's inquisitive like her Daddy, has to examine everything, look it over and really figure it out.  Who knows?  Maybe she'll be an engineer.  She does little things like I did as a kid, though.  She loves her miniatures, constantly playing with her little Sesame Street characters, moving them from one point in the room to another, taking them separately.  It's hilarious.  Every day she does the same thing, and she always puts them in the same spot in the living room.  Oddly enough I used to do something very similar when I was a little kiddo.

    But really....there is this:    

   

They are two peas in a pod, aren't they?  So what other apples don't fall far from their trees?  Stop by Gretchen's and check it out!  And happy weekend!

   

Give me a break

So I'm having one of those weeks where I'm starting to lose faith.  Seriously, it's tough.  I keep going back to the "let go and let God" motto, but I have my days where I don't know how much of that can help at times.  (Awful, isn't it?)  I hate to be doubting myself like that, but yesterday specifically I just hit a wall where I was asking myself "really?  can we get a break now?" 

 

 

I don't talk about my job a ton on here, but I know I have some.  I'm a director of a legal services agency, and we're a non-profit, which means we run solely on grants and donations.  And the economy is down.  And government is cutting back.  And cutting back means programs get cut, which means funding gets cut, which means OUR funding gets cut, which means bad things for the agency.  I hate that I've had to make job cuts since starting my position, but each year we lose more and more money.  And we've recently hit quite a huge loss.  Just when I thought I found a way to help dig us out of that big hole of funding cuts, I get a letter that "surprise!  Another government grant has been cut!"  I mean, what's another $30,000, right?  I just wanted to put my head in my hands and cry because there is only so much that I can do.  But it all rests on me, as the director, but...I can't make money just appear, you know?  It's just a lot of pressure, and it breaks my heart because I don't want to see this fail.  I don't want to let the people we help down, my staff down, my family down.  The service we provide is so important and helps so many people.  But I'm just one person.  And things are coming up short.  And at some point, it's out of my control.

 

 

And the news we're waiting on for T....we're still waiting.  All we do is wait.  We're supposed to hear something sometime, but seriously?  How long can this take?  I pray every morning and every night that we get some kind of answer - yes or no - at least an answer.  And I keep telling myself to be patient, I can't make things happen when I want them to, they just have to happen in their own time.  Well, it's too slow dammit.  And patience is a virtue, but it is one that I just don't have. 

 

 

So I need time to speed up and a decision to be made (vague, I know), and I need to come up with thousands of dollars for my agency.  Where is my genie in a bottle? 

 

 

I'm hoping my faith in humanity will be restored somewhat as we approach this weekend.  I mean, it's my birthday, right?  So I need to suck it up, buttercup, but for now?  For now I just want a break.

       

32

I'm turning 32 on Sunday.  32.  Really?  32?  When did that happen? 


So I heard this annoying song on the radio by Taylor Swift.  Actually that's redundant, sorry.  I heard a Taylor Swift song on the radio.  Talking about being 22 and how carefree and crap they are that age.  And like most Taylor Swift songs, it played over and over in my head like the "Its a Small World" song.  So I came up with my own lyrics.  To this annoying song, but thinking about how unlike Taylor, I'm freaking 32. 





It feels like one of those night...where we hit the Depot...and talk about paint colors...uh-huh, uh-huh...it feels like one of those nights where we talk about grass seed and plan our garden over dinner at Applebee's. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 32...everything will be alright...if I go to bed by midnight...


I'll stop there, but trust me, I was coming up with more in my head as I drove.  But seriously - 32?  I know, I know...there are some of you out there who are saying that 32 isn't old, and I'm not saying it's old per se.  It's just hard for me to say "yeah, I'm 32."


In fact, one of my staff attorneys the other day, when talking about how she graduated high school in 2005 (me, having graduated freaking law school in 2006), and I mentioned that I had been sworn in as an attorney for almost seven years now.  She made some comment about how wow, I'm not a new lawyer anymore, which is true, but then she said something about me not being a young lawyer.  I quickly corrected her that technically, according to the state bar standards, I'm considered a "young" attorney until I'm 35.  That's three more years, dammit. 


Question - since when did Full House become a Nick at Nite staple?  And I heard a dirty rumor that Friends was to be added to that list?  What the what? 


And I swear, a part of me dies inside when I see pictures of kids in high school dressing for 1980s parties.  None of them actually being alive in the 1980s.


This past weekend was a big one at Indiana University - Little 500.  It's this huge basically party for an entire week into the weekend around a bike race on the Saturday.  It's just a reason for college kids to drink.  And when I went to IU?  It was a hell of a lot of fun.  So flash forward almost 10 years this May from my graduation from that fine institution...what was I doing that weekend?  Oh, playing on Pinterest and coming up with ideas and trying them to organize my house.  Yeah.  That happened.  Party up in the Nain and T household.  What, what?


So while I may not be old, I kind of feel that way some days.  But more than that, I'm just in disbelief.  I'm going to be 32.


Ooh, ooh, here's another one...


"It feels like one of those nights...to hit up the DVR and catch up on the Daily Show.  Uh-huh, uh-huh.  It feels like one of those nights, where we get a sitter and go out to Olive Garden.  Uh-huh, uh-huh.  Yeah, we're tired and feeling buzzed after one glass...of red wine...ooooh, yeah...I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 32.  The yard will be alright.  If it rains some tonight." 


Okay, okay, I'm done.  Thanks, Taylor, for the inspiration.  Go dress up like hipsters and do whatever 22 year olds do or whatever.  I'm going to take advantage of the fact my kid is asleep and hit the hay before ten.  Oh glorious sleep. 


I don't know about you.  But I am feeling 32.

Weekend recap

So rather than completely retire Motivation Monday, I decided I'm not going to do it every week necessarily, but maybe every now and then as I need the motivation.  Of course, I always need it, but coming up with clever ways to write about it isn't always so easy.  So no post today.  Rather, I'll tell you a little bit about our full weekend.  So it started off with my Open House on Friday:

 

 

 

Or actually lack thereof.  No one came on Friday, which left me majorly bummed and questioning myself.  And only one customer on Sunday.  Yeah....kind of left Nain feeling a little sad.  And maybe just a wee bit on the discouraged side.   

 

 

T set up our new patio set, which we must use as soon as the weather warms up.  We have this awesome new patio just teasing us saying "hey, use me!  Oh wait, it's too cold?  Sorry!"  I'm dying to have a cookout and use the new fire pit.  Someday soon....

Over the course of the weekend, I developed an healthy obsession to something I swore I would never do.  Pinterest.  I caved and joined.  And wow.  I have never wanted to try more crafty ideas in my life.  I think I need a 12 step group, but it has done some good in the Sullivan household.  We are slowly becoming more organized.  Well, T was already there, but I've made it no secret that I'm somewhat less than organized.  So I tried a few ideas I learned from the amazingly "with it" people on Pinterest.  Organizing Tupperware lids with a CD rack? Genius!

And as a way to clear off our counters and kitchen table:  using a dish rack and file folders to keep things separated and organized.  I think this is T's favorite so far, because it drives him crazy when I just leave stacks of papers randomly at places to take care of later.  So we'll see how this system goes:

And last, a Pinterest recipe, that was actually really pretty easy and very good:

Yep, I have a new way to waste my time.  I'm obsessed.  For the remainder of my weekend, or rather most of my weekend, I had this attached to me:

   

A 30 pound baby.  She's walking just a little bit but she gets around more by holding onto this as she makes her way around the house.  And always to Mommy.  I swear, you should see my arms.  I have some guns, baby.  Lifting this solid mass of baby really is a workout.  And as much as this little girl is the cutest attachment you could have, it does wear on you after awhile.  We took her to mass Saturday night, and as soon as we got in the church she was fussing.  Not a good sign.  One hour later, I was about ready to pull my hair out.  Get home, feed her, and then she decides to reenact a scene from the Exorcist as we hit bath time and bed.  As I pinned her down in the tub, trying my best to clean her, she desperately worked her way out of the tub.  The award for the best dramatic performance while taking a bath went to Miss Aubrey as she rivaled actresses in Hitchcock movies.  Or rather, as it was in the bath, you'd think we'd live in the Bates Motel.  T was beyond flustered by the time it was over and she was asleep, and I sat there in her room, feeding her her bottle before bed in tears.  I swore this would be the one and only child we would have, though the next morning the feeling wore off.  A few glasses of Merlot later and checking in on her as she peacefully slept, it started to change.  But seriously.  That was tough.  Is it bad when you're ready to take your kid to daycare by the time Sunday arrives?  This is Aubrey after stealing one of the cookies from my open house.  I let her have the rest...red velvet (yum!):

 

 

 

She is a funny kid, though.  Hurricane Aubrey hits our living room on a daily basis, leaving toys strewn about across the floor.  And as she crawls from here to there, she does not crawl around toys or objects to get from Point A to Point B.  No, she crawls straight through them.  The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right?  If I'm sitting on the floor, she will struggle to crawl over both of my legs to get to a toy.  Crawling across the kitchen floor, she scales both bars of the highchair, crawling underneath it straight to the window so that she can promptly pull on the blinds.  This can only mean one thing.  My child is training to be America's Ninja Warrior. 

 

 

So that's our weekend in a nutshell.  How was yours?  And hey, anyone want to come watch my baby?