Things That Go On

Whoa! I haven't been here in so long! Here's some news:

Thing One: I graduated! I now have a Bachelor of Science in Human Development.

Thing Two: I'm applying for grad school for the fall of 2012. I'd like to do a Master's of Social Work. The perfect time for grad school is when the economy is total shit, right? Speaking of which...

Thing Three: Guess who can't find a job! Me!!!! Not only are there barely any jobs to which I can apply; when I do find one, I never hear a damn thing! Blerg! What am I going to do?

Thing Four! We've been talking about and looking for a heterosocial companion for Olive. Another bun bun? Perhaps! She'll be way happier with some company according to the House Rabbit Society.

Thing Five: I hate when food or drinks are right on the border of being good or gross. Yeah, that's right. I just said that. It's so hard to know if you should keep eating or not! What the WHAT?!

Wow. Thing Five is about the weirdest "news" ever.

HAPPY BUN-DAY!

Olive is one today! Happy Birthday, bunny!

Overheard in the J and L House: A Bunny Edition

Lisa to Jesse, who is closely watching Olive: Well, does she have anything to say?

Jesse, still inspecting the bunny: I don't really know.... She's mumbling.

Re: For This, We are Grateful

This is a re-post with some italicized augmentations. I'm thankful for so many of the same things that I'm recycling. Yay, recycling!

in no particular order: a strong, fun marriage * a smart, helpful, cute, supportive, funny husby who I looooooooooove * generous and loving family, near and far * Olive * Herb * Rachels! Tovah! * new friends * reconnecting with old friends * decent, hassle-free (knock on wood) health insurance * Dan Savage * new adventures * Mother Jones * Smart Wool * chickens * our local bookstore, local whole foods stores, and local gift shops * Obama * The Stranger (they gave me this idea and I used and/or changed some of their thanks) * a job that sort of lets me come and go as i please * Purity's cinnamon ice cream * our own (well, not OWN own) little house * access to fair trade and direct trade coffee * Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, David Pakman * NPR * so long, DADT * reliable transportation * Wegmans * Nutella * access to local meats, eggs, cheeses, butter * Roku box and NetFlix * my new super-cute and fast puter *Google * chiropractics * close proximity to Ithaca * only one more semester * Joel and Ethan Coen * smart phones * our mostly good health and that of our family and friends * everyoneisgay.com * learning to make the best of things (still working on this one) * 30 Rock * Apples to Apples * farmers markets * things that used to be disposable but now are compostable! * This American Life * Cook's Illustrated * turbo-fast internet * kefir * (getting close to?) finding my niche * extra, extra, extra sharp cheddar * kombucha * AVG * smoosh-faced dogs * too many other things to list

Comeback Kid

I've been removed for a bit. Too long. So much is going on. The last couple of weeks of school were way more excruciating than I expected, and I've had a lot of additional trouble with my back. Most recently, I've been so uncomfortable that I couldn't find a comfortable sitting position that lasted for more than a few seconds. Friday, I had Cortisone injections in my lumbar spine to try to treat the pain related to my bulging disc.

I am finally starting to feel a bit better, and I hope to be able to catch you up on the following things:

• the update on my Spring 2011 internship
• the results of our Local Christmas Experiment
• Olive the dog?
• more?

Don't go away. I'm coming back soon. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Olive's first snowball.

Overheard in the J and L House

Jesse to Lisa: You have to stop trying to psychoanalyze the bunny!

Smaller Than a....

Yesterday, I was listening to "A Way With Words," an NPR show (I listen via podcast) about words and grammar and language-all things that I love. On this particular episode, entitled "Sufficiently Suffonsified,"A Japanese woman called to ask about the expression "happy as a clam." As the hosts, Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, were talking to her, they asked her about other Japanese colloquialisms. The caller shared that, when describing something that is very small, folks from her area of Japan often say that something is "smaller than a cat's forehead." Isn't that great! You know where this is going, right? I want to start saying that very small things are smaller than a bunny's forehead! That's pretty small!

p.s. This isn't exactly her forehead, but Olive is only so amenable (which is to say, not very).

Overheard in the J and L House: A Bunny Edition

Lisa to Jesse: Can you get Olive to come out, and can you take a picture of her forehead for me, please?

Carrot Tops

As soon as the CSA folks heard we had a bun with a serious affinity for carrot tops, they were happy to indulge us (and Olive). Thanks, Binghamton Harvest and Binghamton Urban Farms!

Overheard in the J and L House: A Bunny Edition

Lisa to Jesse: Do you think Olive likes it here?

Jesse: Yes.

Lisa: How do you know?

Jesse: She told me.

Lisa: What did she say?

Jesse: That she likes it.

Lisa: Aargh!! What specifically did she tell you that she likes?

Jesse: We have good baseboards.

Re: Re: Ovariohysterectomy

Olive's staples have been removed. Hooray!!!!!

Re: Ovariohysterectomy

It has been four days since Olive's surgery and, for the most part, she is doing fine. As awful as it was to take her and leave her for her procedure, I think the post-surgery care is even worse-for both of us! She's in a little bunny e-collar which she hates, of course. She keeps trying to groom herself despite the fact that she's accomplishing nothing through the collar. Since she is so short, the collar gets hung up on all sorts of things in her cage, though many things have been removed to give her a little extra room. Her belly is shaved and her 3 or so inch incision is stapled (my poor bun!), she is on cage rest until next Saturday when her staples are removed, and we're giving her pain meds orally every night.

I hate seeing her cramped and uncomfortable and struggling with her collar so much. I was really affected by it, seeing her made me so upset. Last night, while I cleaned her cage, we gave her some e-collar free time out of her cage, which made everyone happy. She played and lounged and groomed a lot in her cardboard tunnel-she probably felt safest and most out-of-our reach there. Although I was upset to relegate her to her cage again, I was so much happier after her recess time.

Today, while I was around to "supervise," Olive had some more collar-free time. We left her cage door open, but she stayed inside the whole time. Tomorrow, I'll do more supervising.

I am inclined to let her be sans collar for, well, the rest of the week. She doesn't seem particularly interested in her incision at all, and things would be so much better (right?) if she wasn't so... restrained. But it's only a few more days. I'll be so excited to bring her home after her staple-remover and let her go on her little bunny way.

p.s. Blogger should be less ridiculous and let me put my pics where I want them, where they belong.

p.s.s. Having Olive is one of the funner things I've ever done, I think.

Ovariohysterectomy

Today is Olive's surgery, and I'm scared. She's such a cute fluff bunny, and we've only recently begun to be friends. Well, some days we're friends. Some days she acts like it's the first day we've met and she's super scared and and so confused.

I hate having to try to get Olive into her carrier. She gets so scared and she wiggles her nose so much faster. I just hate it.

She has to stay at the vet overnight, too. The vet is great and her vet techs and staff are so nice, so that helps. And it's not like she's a cat or puppus who might come to me for comfort. I just.... I want her to be ok and still like me after, even if it's still the same teeny bit she likes me now. And now I'm crying.

She's gonna be ok, right?

Why I Love My Husby

Reason #563

J took a couple of hours out of his busy work day to come home and chauffeur Olive and me to Olive's vet appointment a few weeks ago. The heat was ridic and my Element has NO AIR! I was stressed and Olive was extra stressed and J swooped in like a knight in shining Nissan and saved the day! Hip-hip-HOORAY!

Reason #32

Without going into details, I just do. So I have agreed that we will have a Chocolate Lab (or whatever other color J prefers) as soon as it is sensible for us to do so.

An Open Letter

An open letter to all parties who will see me on my trip to IL, WI, and MI.

Dear everyone:

This time next week, I'll be on my way to Chicago to see Tovah and Andrew (wheeeeeeeeee!) before getting to WI and MI to see J's family. I'm leaving my little bun, Olive, in the capable hands of my mum and dad. That said, I'm totally going to be SNR about this. I'm told that she'll be fine; the House Rabbit Society says leaving little Olive with my fam is the best option for her health and safety and happiness. But I'm still going to be fraught with concern.

What if she doesn't remember that she likes her nose scratched? What if she's mad at me? What if she gets sick while we're gone? What if my dad is the Bunny Whisperer and she wants to stay there? I'm a momma who's never left her babe before, and you're probably going to hear about it.

Please be nice to me. I'm just worried.

It's a Girl!

Little Olive had a mani/pedi today and the vet confirmed what we'd hoped. Olive is a girl! Break out the pink cigars.

"Overheard" on Facebook

Eric to Lisa: I think the origin of the word "bunny" came from "funny" with a bounce.

Olive Breakthrough?

I maaaay have had an Olive breakthrough tonight. I've been doing a lot of reading about buns-especially lately because I'm concerned that she's soon to become a dredlocked bunny because she won't let me touch her and she certainly won't let me brush her. So, I've been worried about her delicate skin and also worried that the vet will think that I'm a bad bunny mum when I bring her in to be fixed.

Anyway, one thing I came across is that lots of buns prefer to be pet on the forehead. Hmmm. When I try to pet her, I try to pet her bod like I'd pet a cat or doggins. It makes sense that she wouldn't be into that since it might feel like I'm a predator looking for a teeny, fuzzy lunch. I don't think I've ever tried to pet her forehead!

So, I've been up late tonight working on clearing out my Google Reader (um, I mean, I'm working on HOMEWORK. I'm doing HOMEWORK!), and went to the kitchen to give Olive some H2O. She was sitting next to her cage looking fluffy as ever. I returned her water bottle to its cage spot and absentmindedly tried to rub her forehead. She didn't move! I rubbed her forehead and around her ears for 3 minutes, perhaps, then gave her a sesame seed treat. I sat on the floor waiting for her to finish her treat; she returned when she was done. Interesting!

I tried again: I rubbed her forehead and around her ears for another couple of minutes. She seemed relaxed; maybe she liked it! I figured I'd better not push my luck. I gave her another treat and left her alone.

This miiight be a fluke, but I hope not! I've been struggling to get Olive to do business with me for a couple of months now; I really hope this might be a turning point! Hooray!

Hellllllllo, Broad Street!

Some news:

• J, Olive and I, with huge help from my family, have moved all our things to a new place! Everything is a giant, confusing mess; our box spring didn't fit upstairs; I'm sick....
• Little Olive is not so little anymore! She's nearly 4 months old, which means that bunny adolescence is upon us. She is a super daredevil and she's started thumping her little bunny foot, which is pretty cute. At first, though, it was alarming since we didn't know that strange sound was her! She's also old enough to start eating some veggies. So far, she's tried carrots and carrot tops, red leaf lettuce and alfalfa sprouts, although it seems she's not crazy about the sprouts. Next up for Olive, getting fixed....
• I've finished my first semester at BU, and it was pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty, pretty hard. My summer term begins next week and will last a month. It'll be really intense: 8 hour days two days a week.
• My brother, Eric, graduates from Ithaca College this weekend with a B.S. in Outdoor Adventure Leadership. After Tiffany finishes her school year, the two of them will be doing a 5-week road trip across the country. If you're anywhere west of us, you might be getting a call from them....

I'll report on my first couple of days of school sometime next week, I hope.

Overheard in the J and L House

Lisa to Jesse: I feel bad staying up late when Olive has to be in her cage.

Jesse to Lisa: Parents get to stay up later than the kids.

Here's Olive squished behind her cage. She likes it there.

She's getting so big!