Sleep - It's a Good Thing

One of my best friends has been here visiting from California for the past week. She & I have some terrific late-night conversations. Sometimes, REALLY late-night. So we knew that Wednesday night we'd be chatting until . . . well, who knows? Until we drop off our chairs in exhaustion, most likely.

We made the obligatory Starbuck's run just before they closed at 10:00 pm to ensure adequate caffeination. We came home and chatted and laughed until around 2:30 a.m. Since her daughter was spending the night at a friend's house, my friend was able to sleep in awhile. I, on the other hand, wasn't able to sleep in much. Therefore, I got to function in sleep deprivation mode (SDM) the next day.

For dinner, I baked two pizzas that would require little to no brain abilities on my part - frozen, out of the box, Freschetta brick oven, pepperoni. The first one? Went great, baked just the right amount of time, removed from the oven, cut up, and eaten heartily by three hungry teenage boys.

Popped in the second pizza.

Set the timer (amazing I actually remembered this step).

Check the pizza. Hmmm, it was kind of pale.

Put it back, checked a few minutes later. Still pale.

Put it back, checked it a minute or two later. Still pale.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I mean, put it back, check on it, still pale.

Step back.

I verify the oven temperature.

400 degrees? Check.
Oven warm/hot? Check.

Hmmm.

We replaced the element not that long ago and it's been working gloriously, so why on earth is the second pizza not cooking?

Oh.

I guess that when I took the first pizza out, I turned the oven off (it has the two-knob deal: one for temperature and one to turn it on and off). Sigh.

Turned the oven back on and finished the second pizza. The 12 minute baking time ended up being around, oh I don't know, probably 20 or 30. The pizza was done, but the crust was a little on the tough side. I wouldn't recommend baking pizza in this manner. Of course, if you aren't suffering from SDM, you probably wouldn't have that problem.

SDM also spilled over a little into the following morning. I came out to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast (hubby already ate and the boys were sleeping). I prepared my chai tea, then took my plate, butter, and knife over by the toaster to await my bagel. Hmm, the toaster seemed to be taking longer than normal. I turned around to discover that it had already popped up. As I looked inside the slots, I discovered there was no bagel.

I hadn't even gotten a bagel out of the bag.

So then.

Time to get some sleep.

Bubbles

He's a boy in a bubble.


It grew right over his nose.


Need to get his eyes checked.


Cellophane kidney bean?

Wordless Wednesday - Alien Bob

Check out more WW here

On the Manhood Trail

ClayGuy has been chomping at the bit to pass his dad and me in height. We're not exactly short or anything, but he's been SOOOOO close. In fact, he stretches up onto his toes most every day. I think he's trying to help the process along.

After dinner last night, a comment was made that he was taller than me. I didn't really think so - I mean, he couldn't just have passed me up without my notice, could he?

Well, no. He didn't pass me. But he is the same height. Yes, I made sure. We both took off our slippers (to eliminate the 1/16" variance). I even took off my headband, so there wasn't any added hair height.

So it is official, folks. He is as tall as me.

I knew this was coming. And here it is. ClayGuy is officially five feet, seven and a half inches tall. Just like me. And hubs. He's on his way to being the tallest guy person in our household.

That's okay, I'm still the queen bunny around here and always will be. And he knows that. But he's feeling pretty good about his added height.

No shoes, no tiptoes, nothing . . . just me, ClayGuy, a mirror, and the camera.



Oh, we also noticed that the mustache is on its way in. Leg hair? It's there, just not so noticeable in the winter. Sigh. He really is growing up. The deeper voice has been around for awhile. But it still surprises me. Like when I'm in the other end of the house and I hear a man in my living room, and I know hubby's gone to work. Then I realize it's my 14 year old son.

The Comedian has a little ways to go, but I'm sure he'll follow suit soon.

He is Risen!!

"He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and then be crucified, and the third day rise again.'"
Luke 24:6-7

Hallelujah!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Pancake Lessons

While I'm a wife and mother, I don't really blog much about the other three members of my family. I'm not sure why that is, so I've been thinking maybe I'll share a little of them with you all.

Our oldest, ClayGuy, is 14 1/2. He's a creative and caring young man. He enjoys sculpting miniature clay creations. He's also a big Lego fanatic, plays his share of video games, and likes to bake.


Our youngest son, the Comedian, just turned 13. He's all about jokes, humor, and anything remotely or potentially funny. He'd love to model his life on Calvin & Hobbes. He has an amazing memory with which he continues to surprise me. He's a voracious reader and it's a challenge to keep him supplied with new (previously unread) books. He's also big on Legos and video games.

My boys are just under a year and a half apart and just like many brothers, have a tendency to antagonize, irritate, and generally bug one another. Some days more than others. Many days more than others.



While the strife makes me crazy at time, it makes the times they get along well that much sweeter. A couple days ago, the Comedian wanted pancakes for lunch, and I wasn't really inclined to make any. ClayGuy has been making pancakes for quite some time, so he conceded to help out his little bro.

It was so wonderful to have half an hour or so of peace and cooperation! It was also nice to have lunch prepared - and not by me! I think it even tasted better.

The cookbook:


The recipe (complete with my notes & comments):


ClayGuy instructing the Comedian:


ClayGuy at work:


The Comedian takes a turn:


Mmmm, yum - lunch!


p.s. - that's a yummy peach-berry smoothie next to my milk; complete with protein powder and fresh ground flax seed.

Wordless Wednesday - Shadows

You can see more WW here and here.

Date Light Revealed

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday is a shot of the light fixture over our cozy booth at On The Border. Hubs & I were blessed to have a date night a couple of weeks ago when the boys had a junior high game night at church AND we had a $25 gift card to OTB. Great night and an interesting photo.

Wordless Wednesday - Date Light

I'm sure you can tell what it is, but where is it?

Go here to enjoy more WW.

Heart of the Matter Online

The newest issue of Heart of the Matter Online is now available. There are so many great articles, and no, I don't say that because one is mine. I'm honored to be among the company of these ladies.

By the way, those cute kids on the cover? They belong to my friend, Sprittibee. They're on one of their many fun field trips.



It's also available as a downloadable pdf file, so you can print out specific pages or all of it. Just that much more flexible and useful.

They are also looking for 250 homeschool parents/teachers to join a research panel. The purpose of the panel is to give insight into what YOU want in a homeschool site and magazine. As a member of the panel you would:

• Answer questions pertaining to homeschooling that are asked by our team


• Be the first to hear about upcoming events, news, contests, and opportunities


• Be eligible to review products and once you are done then they are yours to keep!


• Give your input on event coordination


• Get the magazine before everyone else does!


• Participate in contests that are exclusively for HOTM Research Team members

If you're interested in making your voice heard, simply email the Heart of the Matter Online at: homeschoolinghearts (at) gmail (dot) com and tell them who you are and why you are interested.

In the meantime, enjoy the wonderful articles in this month's issue!

Party On!

Woo Hoo! The gals are back up! Update: Apparently the 5 Minutes for Mom site crashed and the party has been delayed due to technical difficulties. So if you dropped by anyway - thanks! Hopefully they can get it all worked out soon. In the meantime, you can also learn about Blog Party Basics over at Sprittibee's place, and watch for the "official" start of the Blog Party. Sprittibee & I are partying anyway. She's even having a fun give-away at her party.

The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and it looks like time for a party. The Ultimate Blog Party! It's also time to introduce you to the official Bunny Trails Blog Bunny.

Isn't she cute?

For those who've come by courtesy of the Ultimate Blog Party and Mr Linky over at 5 Minutes for Mom, here's a little about me and my blog.

Why Bunny Trails? You can read about it here.

What do I blog about? A little of this, a little of that - it really depends on what bunny trail I'm on that day. I may write about any of the categories in my About Me section, or whatever else strikes me. Here's a random sampling of me for your perusal. Or here.

When do I blog? I'm working on being more consistent in my postings, but sometimes I'm lucky to get a couple posts up a week. I ususally participate in Wordless Wednesday, so you can come see what I've been looking at through the camera lens. Here and here are a couple of my favorites.

Where do I blog? On the laptop, at the dining room table or in the recliner mostly.

Who am I, really? A crazy, random, Christian woman, attempting to have some semblence of balance. Married to a wonderful, kind, patient, and loving man who sweetly puts up with my wackiness. Homeschooling mom of two imaginative boys (14 & almost 13) who I love immensely and who drive me crazy all in the same breath. It's also a reciprocal thing.

I take a LOT of pictures because I'm nuts with a camera. I want to learn how to use ALL the functions, but I go with what I know for now. I was bad when it was just film, but going digital let me completely lose my mind. And yes, my camera fits in my purse, so you never know what I might get a shot of while I'm out and about for the day. Most likely something that falls into the category of total silliness or donuts.

I scrapbook, mostly paper, but have been dabbling in digital. I'd like to be a hybrid scrapper. I also do some rubber stamping, but that moved to second place as I have SO many photos.

Games have always been big in my family. I play Scrabble with my mom - a LOT; Hubs and I play Liverpool Rummy with my parents; Hubs, the boys, and I just took up playing Settlers of Catan. This is in addition to a myriad of other games in our lives. Fun, fun, fun!

Last, but not least, I write for The Homeschool Blog Awards and The Heart of the Matter.

Thanks for dropping by. Be sure and leave a comment (unless it's mean) and I'll come check out your blog as well (unless your a non-blogging visitor).

It's a Blog Party!

Susan & Janice over at 5 Minutes for Mom are hosting their second Ultimate Blog Party! It's a fun time to check out some blogs, win some prizes, and make new friends. Last year, they only allowed bloggers to win, but this year, they've opened it up to include non-blogging visitors as well.

The fun starts this Friday, March 7th, so be sure to check back here, when I'll introduce a special new blog friend. Then head over to the many links at 5 Minutes for Mom and do some blog-hopping!

WW - Shades

More WW here.

Old School?

My boys are in the other room, playing Super Smash Bros Melee on the Game Cube. I overheard my younger son, who is almost 13 say, "I'm playing old school."

WHAT?!?!

As I got back up off the floor, from serious bouts of laughter, I wondered what on earth he knows about "Old School?" How do you have "Old School" Game Cube plays?

Okay, it's back to the floor for me.

Colorado Climate

There's nothing like the ever-changing weather in Colorado, especially this time of year.

On Saturday, this was the necessary gear for a beautiful, 70 degree, summery day.



The very next day, this was the required gear for a snowy, wintery, 30 degree day.



Crazy.

The Upcoming Move, Part 2

I know I called the other post "Part 1," but I'm not sure what else I thought I had to say about it. So I don't know why I did that. As we progress along the journey of house-looking and making an offer, etc., there'll be more to post. But at this point, we've looked at precisely one house (on the inside) and that's it.

Many people think this is a wonderful time to buy, with interest rates and house prices dropping. And in many ways, it is. But there are also some things one has to be aware of. Like the fact that some people are trying to get out of their homes through a short sale. In a nutshell, that's where they arrange with the mortgage company to take less money than is owed. But mortgage companies aren't just doing that all willy nilly. You can't just ask them because you want out. It has to be a dire financial situation before they'd even look at it. And it will reflect on the credit of the person who did that. The mortgage company also has to give final approval to any offer made on the property. It adds an element to the deal that you wouldn't otherwise have. One that can delay the process anywhere from a short time to a very long time.

Along those same lines, there are many bank-owned properties. Again, banks don't always respond to offers in the same timeframe that a homeowner would. So you might have to wait awhile after making an offer. None of this is to say that you can't buy a bank-owned or short-sale house and get a wonderful deal, but it doesn't always work out the same as a straight "buy it from the homeowner" type of deal.

For us, we would like to spend less than what we pay for rent, if at all possible. You know, the "live beneath your means" mentality instead of right at the very edge of your means? That's the goal, anyway. Living with high rent and almost $400 utility bills is definitely the edge of ones' means. But that also makes it a little tougher to find the size of house we want in the area of town that we want. We're not looking for a huge house, in fact, we'd even be fine in something a little smaller. We could definitely get more house for our money by moving way to the other side of town, but we don't want to live there. For one, if we're further away from the people and activities of our lives, we'll just pay more in gas, so it won't ultimately save us anything.

Interest rates went up a couple of times during the first week we were looking. I also learned that the going mortgage rate and "the interest rate" that they talk about in the news aren't the same thing. It (the mortgage rate) did come back down at the end of last week, though. It all really depends upon where it is when it comes time to make an offer. I'm learning a lot of information during this process already; short sales, bank-owned properties, interest, etc.

Because we weren't planning on buying a house right now - that was a somewhat spontaneous thing, and due to the aforementioned "living at the edge of ones' means," we haven't exactly saved up for a down payment and closing costs. Never fear, our realtor and lender already had this covered. There is a way to include this in the loan (yeah, don't lecture me about how that's not the best idea), BUT it also means that we will need to make a full-price offer, if not one that's higher. And we have to find the right seller.

Now if I were looking at this from my own, limited human perspective, I'd be thinking there wasn't much chance of this coming together. But I can't go there. It's God's deal. He's taking us down this path. I really thought when we began to discuss moving that we'd just rent again. But He has already enabled us to be pre-approved on a mortgage, which in and of itself was a surprise (due to issues that stemmed from the last house). Therefore, I have to trust Him. He knows what He's doing. He knows where we will live. He knows the entire picture.

I write this more as a reminder to myself than anything. When the going gets tough and my faith is faltering, I want to come back and read this. I want to remember that He's in charge. He's bigger than any obstacles I may see. Can I say that we will absolutely, positively buy a house now? Maybe. I don't always know WHY God takes us where He does. But I always know that He is good and faithful. He always has our best in mind. I will trust in Him, regardless of outward circumstances.

"My soul wait silently for God alone,
for my expectation is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory;
The rock of my strength,
and my refuge, is in God."
Psalm 62:5-7

The Upcoming Move, Part 1

We are moving. At least to the best of our knowledge, that's the plan. We don't know where or when. We do know that we intend to stay in the same city and we have some notions about what part of town we'd like to live in. So now it's a matter of waiting to see what God has for us.

We moved into our current house almost 2 1/2 years ago. Life in the previous house is a very long story, with all sorts of twists and turns. Maybe I'll get energetic and post it here one day - in multiple parts. Through a series of events we'd never have forseen, we were able to move out of that house and are renting the house we're in currently.

We really like where we live. The house is great for our family, the neighborhood is very nice, and we have good access to most places we want to go. However, since we rent, there are some things over which we have no control. Things like this:



and this:



This would be two of the four designs in the wallpaper in our kitchen and dining room. Not that I'm opposed to the colors green or orange, per se. I just don't really want them to be partners in this busy story on the walls of my areas of domesticity. They also clash something terrible with all the cute red, white, and black checkerboard & cherries theme I had going in the last kitchen.

Then there are the utility bills. Having an old furnace and windows that aren't as efficient as they could be don't really help so much. We do close off the family room, since it's not used much (mostly storage these days), and we don't use the furnace more than necessary. We really do make an effort to keep our usage down as much as possible.

The utility rates have gone up every year, as I'm sure they do all over the country. We're nearing the end of our third winter here and we reached an all-time high of almost $400 in one month! No, we're not having a tropical, run around in flip-flops and bikinis kind of environment here. That was staying fairly cool most of the time. After that bill, we had to move into the "staying fairly COLD" stage of living. The one where your thermostat is set between 59-61 degrees, regardless of HOW cold and snowy and windy it is outside. Brrrrr!

It was at this point, we decided that we really did not want to pay that much money to freeze. It would've been a different story if we were roasty toasty at that price. At least we could've cut some corners. But there really weren't any left to cut. We realized that it must be time to move.