bunnies, it turns out, do not appreciate leashes

Not even if it's lime green with pink trim.

Hmmmphh.

better?

Check out my mad skillz

Here is what I can accomplish with 2 hours of time and Microsoft "Paint". Anyway, here's what I'm thinking:


The lighter orange isn't quite the right color; it will be darker, less yellow.

As Anna said last night "How you like me NOW?"

Rather, how do you like this idea?

Also, yes, we know we need landscaping. That's next. We just couldn't take the ugly/dead crap that was there so we (ie DAVID) ripped it out.

Ok, so here's our house, freshly painted. I won't bore you with the details of what it took for David and I to arrive at this color, but let's just say it took approximately 5 months of negotiation and this wasn't my first choice. Now, you should know that this house used to be stark-white, with grey trim. U-G-L-Y. Well, not as bad as, say, pink, but nothing interesting. So the fresh coat of paint is a HUGE improvement.

However. I feel it needs...something. It feels too..."milky" and one dimensional, you know? (Mom, now would be a good time to get my old room ready, because I'm pretty sure David's at home packing my things and cursing like a sailor at this very moment.) Hi honey! I love you! And our house!

Also, we are going to paint the door a cool orange color and will do something with the "sun" above the porch. What do you think about those ideas? Remember that we are going for "unique/artsy/earthy" here; we do NOT want to fit in with the "Joneses". Whoever they are. Comformist bastards. We want the outside to reflect all the hard work we've done inside.

So I'm thinking that if we painted the top 1/3 of the house (the shingled portion) a darker brown, that would give it some depth. What do you think?

WooHooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am SO EXCITED that Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination. This country is so ripe for change, REAL change, from someone who isn't part of the Washington DC machine. I think Hillary has some strong points, but I just couldn't get behind her; she seemed too willing to say and do whatever it took to get the nomination.

Obama, on the other hand, has repeatedly proven himself to be a man of strength, grace and integrity. He has taken the high-road at every turn, continuing to praise Hillary even when things got ugly. He is one cool-cucumber, and I think he's more than proven that he can handle stress and adversity with a level-head and compassion.

OBAMA 2008!!!!

metamorphosis

My sweet little girl is into bugs. Always has been. Everywhere she went, she had a net and a jar with her. Cousins, great-aunts and grandparents saved interesting insects for Anna, knowing that no one would appreciate that cool bark-beetle or weird yellow spider they found in their garden more than she would. Eric built a big shadow-box and taught her that to preserve a bug for her collection she could kill it (um, painlessly) by putting it in a jar with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. Soon her collection included everything from pristinely preserved dragonflies to road-kill beetles. Nothing was too small or too mangy for her shadow-box; she saved and mounted every thing she found. I'll never forget when David, still new to the family, found a beautiful (live) butterfly and, knowing how much she loves insects, showed it to Anna. She, of course, set about capturing it and, um, extinguishing it, to add to her collection. Poor David was mortified that he'd contributed to the killing of this beautiful creature. He BEGGED her to set it free. But to Anna, it was all in the name of science. Fortunately, as time has passed, she's learned to be more compassionate toward bugs and now she loves to create habitats for them to live in before letting them go (usually).

Finally it was time to show her, up close, the metamorphosis of the butterfly. We ordered some larvae and the kit and watched as the tiny caterpillars grew and grew until one day, they all made their way to the top of the container and spun their chrysalises. I couldn't get a decent picture of them in their chrysalises, but here they are just before.

Then, about 10 days later, we had butterflies!! After watching them for a couple of days, we set them free last night:

And not one of them ended up on a pin in her shadow box. I think Anna has had a metamorphosis of her own.

mmmmmonday

Hi. I'm still alive, but it was a close call. I was sick as a dog all weekend with a nasty cold, and accomplished exactly NOTHING. Well, that's not quite true: I did manage to sew the sleeves on Anna's nightgown, thereby FINISHING it. Woo hoo! David, the poor love, spent the weekend scraping and sanding and priming the house; it should be completely painted by this weekend. Me, I slept 12+ hours each night, watched this video way more times than I care to admit and, AND I planted some flowers in a pot. Which, if you know me, is equivalent to a normal person say, running a marathon. Something I've been meaning to do for months but have been putting off because it just seemed so...so...overwhelming. What?? You have to choose the right pot, and all those different plants, and potting soil? That's scary, man. But I figure I've kept my child alive for over 7 years now (although David likes to point out that that's only because she can TELL me when she needs to be fed) AND I'll have you know that my houseplant has survived for 6 months. SIX MONTHS, PEOPLE. This is a world-record in Kate-land. So I feel like it's time to push my comfort-zone by taking on some flowers. I give them 3 weeks.

Speaking of managing to keep things alive, I spent hours watching our bunny frolic in the grass. He gets so excited when he is outside that he'll be quietly nibbling on some dandelion leaves and all of a sudden he'll run around his "bunny condo" as fast as he can, LEAP into the air and kick his back feet wildly, like a baby goat. He just explodes with joy. It's the cutest thing ever. Don't tell Anna, but I've decided he's MINE. MY BUNNY.

Oh, and for the record, it's been over 2 weeks without a single glass of wine. I did have half a beer one night when we went out for pizza, but that didn't even taste good.