My Heart's on Fire for Elvira

[PaGal]

Glad you know the ice cream, I din't realize they had it there too. I was so excited when I first heard they opened a place up here cause the hubby loves it and he's always talking about these great places to eat but always in Texas and Arizona which we have no plans on going to.

My very fav ice cream is soft serve. Like I said I love it soft. I also only usually eat it in the summer because I hate being cold. I don't really like any nuts but pistachio and cashews.

Ellie with your cat Smokey does sound like she would like a friend. Now that she's chasing you, you both can get plenty of exercise and maybe it will help burn off some of her destructive energy. Thumper has done that since a little tyke and I swear he wears me out sometimes and I'm not in bad shape! The funniest is I'm always leaning somewhat forward to try and keep him in sight so I don't step on him and now and then he'll just binky straight up in the air and comes so close to slamming into my face. It's always so fast and unexpected!

 

[whitelop]

I'm about to get totally ranty. Its been one of those days already and its only 1:30.

When we were in PA, my mom said she was going to do stuff to my house, like help me clean or whatever. But I cleaned before we went, did the dishes, mopped the floor and cleaned everything so when we got back it would nice and I could focus on unpacking not cleaning. So I guess she didn't have much to do other than like sweep the foyer and dust. She also stole a table from me and picked up an old box from Ellie out of the back yard. All that she did was fine and appreciated. But I have a problem with people in my house doing stuff to it, like cleaning it. I might be the only one. But I do things a certain way and it irritates me when someone comes in and does something and then doesn't say...put something back where it goes. I'm not complaining about my mom in this, its just about everyone who touches stuff and doesn't put it back in my house. So very little in my house has its own "place". The cleaning products are among the few who DO have a place. The liquids go under the kitchen sink, the sprays that I use a lot go over by the washer and hang on the rack. The duster thing and its dusty heads are on the rack in the laundry area. The lantern goes there too. The animal stuff that is used a lot goes in the cubby next to Ellie's cage. Other than that, its a free for all in my house. BUT when I need something I know where to look. I'm in the process of organizing and making things easier on myself. Its a long process and we don't have closests or storage so I'm having to create things. BUT I know where everything is. Its MY house! haha.
Its just simple things where I'm saying to myself...god people, can't you just leave well enough alone?!
My husband is the WORST at putting stuff back or FINDING stuff for that matter. He can never find anything. He knows where nothing is. Like last night, he asked me where the straws were, I didn't say anything because...the straws 1) are brightly colored, 2) have been in the same place for two years, 3) are in plain sight on the counter. He asked me again and I just said sighed and said you can find them yourself! It took him 5 minutes to find them. I was just thinking to myself, do you even live here? What happens when you're here that you don't know where ANYTHING is? What happens in your brain that makes it all shut off when you get home? How did you live 23 years? How do you work everyday and manage 5 people by yourself? WTF goes on?! My husband is not stupid, or slow or anything like that. He's obviously blind, but not dumb. I don't know what happens when he gets home.

On top of all thats frustrating me today, well I've been grumpy since last night. But my kid is making me insane. He has reached the terrible two's. He is so whiny and so over the top with everything. I don't know what to do with him, I don't have the patience for the whining. Its very taxing on me mentally! Just the temper tantrums and the everything that happens all the time...ugh. I love him so much, but oh my god, just stop whining! AHHHH!

 

[kmaben]

dog crate in the back yard when he's bad should work

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Love the pics of Ellie and the "chicks" yeah they're giants now. Lol. Do we have the same gray fence?!?! :0

 

[whitelop]

Lisa, well I'm going to hope that AJ is like Lenox and the terrible 2's end when he turns 3! Because I'm not going to have "that" kid in the stores and stuff, I'm not going to deal with it. He's starting to act like that! AHH! I can't handle that!
And with my mom doing stuff in my house, I can't stand it either. I appreciate the thought of it, but the actual action of it makes me cringe.

Katie, we might have the same play yard. Its from walmart and it folds up awkwardly like an accordion.

I just cleaned Ellie's cabinet out. She made a huge mess! haha. I took the linoleum out of the bottom of the cage. If you ever take the linoleum up and the floor is sticky, use peroxide and a tooth brush to get the sticky up. It works pretty well. That stuff if hard to get off though! haha. Ellie was pulling the linoleum up thats why I had to take it up.
I just put the new type of litter in her box and I don't know if I like it. The smell is still really strong, even though I've had it for weeks now and it was in the truck for a while. And the nuggets are smaller than the other stuff. I hope its as absorbent.

Kaley, a dog kennel in the yard for who? My kid or my husband? Or both? haha.

 

[PaGal]

I say a kennel for both and when it's just the husband throw the rooster in there as well!Ha

My advice is to put AJ in time out each and every time he whines. Explain to him of course that whining is not ok, to talk normally and explain that is why he is in time out. In your own way of course. The one thing I have found that would be the one piece of advice I would give is that a parent has to be consistent. Kids really do need that and I believe they are happier when they have it.

My hubby is the same way and he's not dumb, lazy, deaf or anything else that could explain it. Since we have moved he likes to use the excuse that I packed up everything while he was at work, hauled it to the new house and unpacked it but yeah that was two years ago. In my house the explanation is that the uterus is a tracking device. This explains it all. He doesn't have one so cannot find anything. I have one so I can find anything. Our garage is just ever so slightly smaller than the house in square footage. It is a working garage and used for that almost daily. Every tool imaginable from plumbing, mechanical, wood working, DIY...blah,blah,blah. There are times that I myself will not be out there for a week and yet he will come to me after searching for an hour and I will go out and find an item I may not even be completely sure of what it looks like in minutes, sometimes almost immediately.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Oh man, we had a friend who we would pay to clean our house when we could and she moved some things but never too far from where it was originally and it was great! I miss Ethel! :'(

Lol at Kaley about the dog kennel.

Yep we have the same one, mine doesn't even fold up anymore if you try to, it breaks, then I just ziptie the panels together. My ex bought it back in 2007 or 08 and it was expensive!

 

[kmaben]

I agree certain things just have their place. However, Lisa if you want to come over and clean my house and move my stuff around feel free!!

Morgan I dont know why but I see you as like a little 98 pound 5'3 person who kind of runs around with a frenzied energy. Like a squirrel kind of frenzied. And there's lots of head bobbing and hand throwing for some reason.

Hubby finds everything in our relationship. I could set something down while he wasn't even home and he'll find it. One time I was running late for PT and was screaming at my husband "where's my PT belt." From the bedroom in a dead sleep he yelled back "you're wearing it!"
There is no face to even save after that.

 

[whitelop]

Hahah. Kaley, no I am not 5' 3 or 98 lbs! haha. I'm 5' 7 and a way over 98...we don't talk about it though! haha. But yes, there is a lot of frantic energy and then a lot of crashing, sometimes with a literal fall because I'm a clumsy person. And yes there is A LOT of hand movements, the more amped I get the louder my hands get! I also have really crazy facial expressions, I would hate for anyone to see me in the car; they would probably be like "wtf is wrong with this girl?" haha.
And this, is pretty much the story of my life...

A lot of times you can find me in the backyard, yelling at roosters, rose bushes, being followed by a dozen smallish chickens. Scrubbing lots of feeders and lots of waterers; then yelling some more at the rooster. Or you'll find me in the backyard playing catch with my husband and playing in the sand with my son. Still being followed by a dozen smallish chickens, watching my son yell HUSH at the rooster! hahaha.
My life.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Morgan I dont know why but I see you as like a little 98 pound 5'3 person who kind of runs around with a frenzied energy.

You just described me lol. Except there's no hand movements here, I do have the ability to make crazy faces lol!!!!!

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Oh and Morgan! I yelled at my plants!!! so far they are growing!!!

 

[lyndym]

I love the pics of Ellie outside! Especially the one of her stuffing her face with clovers, too adorable. And she is really growing up, what a pretty little lady! I wish I had an outside grassy area for my buns. The apartment has a yard out front, but who knows what kind of pesticides are used on the grass, plus people walk their dogs down the street all the time.

I also love the chronic ***** face cartoon, hahaha.

 

[whitelop]

Unfortunately I do have chronic ***** face. The only plus side to it is that it makes people not want to talk to me in public! haha.

I think Ellie's pretty much done growing. She's still very small, but I don't think she's getting any bigger. She at the super small end for the breed standard. I need to weigh her and see how much she weighs! I bet its like 2 lbs. I thought the pictures from her being outside came out really well, even for my crappy camera! hahaha.

My dad just made the rooster his own coop! Yay. Now I can go out there to the big coop and actually go in it without being eaten. LOL He made it out of an old swing set. I'll take pictures of it when he's done. Its plenty big for the Big Boy and I think he'll like it. That means I can put the babies and the hen in the big coop and they'll be okay and won't have to worry about him attacking them. haha.
I'll take pictures of the whole coop, since I don't think that I ever did.
The state person is coming tomorrow to help me test my chickens for my NPIP certification. I had to drive an hour and a half each way to get the supplies this morning. But that is a story for another time.

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...I can't wait to see the coops, really interested in a swing set coop. I picture a metal swing set with chicken wire around it, one swing left smack dab in the middle with a very large and mean looking rooster perched on it and swinging. It's actually a pretty funny sight.

I have a face like that as well, I also rarely smile. I used to have people think I was a ***** a lot more when I was younger since I was shy and didn't talk much. Now I just don't talk when I'm upset.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

LOL! I love your idea of Big Boy swinging!!! ahahaha! YAY! We cant wait to see more pictures!!!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Love the ***** face....with my mother here, i feel like a ***** all the time, old people are so difficult sometimes, sometimes she just seems permanently annoyed. I used to do that when I worked in customer services...I had my nice face and my cranky face. if I had my cranky face when someone came to the desk, I used to paste my nice face on to talk to them...hard to do sometimes.

The man´s comment made me laugh, that´s just something we´d say...cheer up love...haha, very Yorkshire.

Ellies´going to be about the size of Houdini or Snowy, they are around the 2lb mark or slightly more. I´d actually to send Houdini as her bunny friend...i could imagine those two wreaking havoc, planning escapes and causing chaos....that would be awesome if those two got together.

I would love to get someone to clean my house but I hate people in my things and in my kitchen. when I have visitors, I usually cook as it´s just easier to cook and wash up as I know where everything goes so it just saves time.

 

[JBun]

That's nice of your dad Now you can lock that crazy rooster up and stay safe. Good luck with the chicken testing tomorrow. Hopefully it will all go smoothly.

Wow, you think Ellie's only 2 lb? She would be as small as Libby, and she's my littlest bunny. And hotot's are supposed to be really tiny. Ellie just looks so big and grown up in her pics.

Instead of responding to you in Thumpers blog, I'll just do it here. I was just going to say that if you wanted to reduce Ellie's pellets, you'd probably be ok doing that. At 7 mo. she's pretty much full grown and doesn't need the extra nutrition for growing. I think HRS recommends lowering the pellet amount from 7 mo. to 1 yr., to 1/2 cup for every 6 lb. I didn't go quite that low with mine. I'm feeding my babies 1/8-1/4 cup a day, and they are all about 2-2.5 lb. Lowering pellets should also help Ellie's poops to look a little better. I can't believe all the poop problems everyone's buns are having right now. Hopefully everyone gets sorted out soon.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Lisa, yes you´ve hit the nail on the head. I was talking to my sister about it and my friends and I said that if I get grumpy and mean, they can slap me across the face lol. Yes, my mom is grumpy and moans all the time and it does my head in...

 

[Azerane]

Ellie is just gorgeous. Love that third pic from when she was outside

 

[whitelop]

Hahaha. Lisa, too bad my face is ALWAYS like that! I'm naturally bitchy anyway, if you guys didn't know, so my face is always like that. Especially if I'm cleaning or doing something with my hands, its a serious face then! haha. My mom and grandmother both have chronic bitchface too, so I don't even notice it. But sometimes I'll have to ask my mom whats wrong because her face will be into the super ***** face and she's usually thinking about something and thats her "thinking" face too. hahaha. Thats pretty bad when your thinking face is your mean face and your mean face is your all the time face. Story of my life.
When I'm around my husbands family I have to be really aware of my facial expressions, because I don't want them to be like why does she always look so mad all the time? Well like towards the end of all of our visits I can't control it anymore, because I'm usually exhausted and then the face sneaks out of hiding and BAM super ***** face until we leave. LOL

Jenny, I think I will lessen Ellie's pellets a little. She eats a lot of hay and I never really thought about the pellets. I'm being really slack with her greens and I hate it. I don't know why I haven't been giving her a bunch of stuff. She gets a handful of cilantro and a green leaf or romaine lettuce leaf, so I think thats okay. But it should be more. She looks bigger in pictures than she really is. She is tiny. I think she weighs about 2 lbs, its like she stopped growing at 4 months and stayed that size. Her head seems kind of big! haha. But her looks have changed and she looks like an adult rabbit but still has the tiny body of a baby. She is like half the size of Foo over all size wise and like a third of her weight. She's definitely small. I'll try to get a picture that shows her size better, like her with my shoe or something.

Once I get my head together after the testing today, I'll be able to focus on other things better. I feel like I've been concentrating on the birds more than the other animals because of the testing. This is why I am a tester, so I can just test every year and not have to worry about someone coming here. I hate when people come to my house, it makes me feel inadequate. But once the testing is over, I can get to the other animals that aren't being inspected! haha. I've been taking care of all of them, so don't think I'm being neglectful, but its hard to manage them all. Especially when you have a flock of birds stuck in your head.
I'm drinking my before the pot of coffee was done cup of coffee, the super strong cup. So I can go out and clean up some stuff in the coops. The birds are all in their small dog kennels, those poor babies are being pecked by Hen. She's been very rude to them lately, they're establishing a pecking order. Big Boy is in his small kennel on top of the other kennel and he has been crowing non stop since like 4 am. He's pissed.

OHH my husband had to get Big Boy out of the coop last night because I wasn't doing it. So we went out there with the oil lantern and I got all the chicks and the hen in the kennel and last was Big Boy. So my hub takes the lantern in the coop and puts it in the house and kind of swings it at him to get him to walk out. Big came out the hub with talons flying! hahaha. It was so funny, he jumped back and was like "OMFG I'M GOING TO DIE!" Then Big came out of the house and walked around, he was SO mad. My hub pinned him down with the broom and grabbed him. He said he was pretty hefty, so I'm thinking he's gained some weight. But my husband was shaking after that encounter. I was like, "now you know why I don't want to deal with him!" He was like "yeah, that was terrifying, all I saw was this big *** bird jumping up at me with this long claws and those spurs!" bahahahahaha. I laughed so hard at him.
And that kids, is why the rooster gets his own house. LOL

Now off to get some stuff done! Yay! My dad is coming to watch AJ while I'm out testing, so I don't have to worry about it.
I'll take some pictures of the coops. They're nothing special, but the chickens seem to like them and thats all that matters.

OHHH! My hen laid an egg yesterday! I was looking for her last night, so I went to where she was earlier in the day and there was an egg. Its a little on the small side, but thats because its her first one after not laying for a long time. Hopefully it doesn't kill her. The last egg she laid was when get got weird and I don't want that to happen again, but I can't stop her from laying. I don't think you can spay a hen...but maybe. Anyway, hopefully she's okay. I think she's got enough calcium, the shell was really hard and over all it is a really nice egg! I'm so proud of her. And now I know she isn't laying internally, which is a huge relief to me!

Happy Thursday everyone!