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Super Swell Times

Super Swell Times

Tag Archives: bunny

5 Random Thoughts for Your Wednesday

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by ekabby111 in Life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bunny, food, grad school, random, winter

  1. I’m only two days in, but I do feel like school is going well so far. At the very least, I’ve ordered all of my textbooks, so that’s a big hassle that I can take off my to-do list. (Still no word on the missing syllabus, but I’m sure it’ll be up soon.)
  2. After more than a year of happily living in our current lodgings, we’re finally experiencing some of the more obnoxious parts of renting your house. There’s the week-long wait for an electrician who tells you that he “can’t see a problem here” and the troops of folks from the management company who don’t seem to understand why my maiden name isn’t on the buzzer. (Which, seriously? I haven’t had my maiden name for more than a year. Get with the times y’all.) Today’s battle is the “property tour” for a “prospective buyer.” They gave us exactly 24 hours notice, which threw me into a cleaning frenzy. Annoyances aside, I can confidently say my house is immaculate for the tour.

    This lady gets me.

  3. Dinner hour classes means re-thinking the way we eat dinner. For example, pork chops are not happening on a night where Bret gets home at 6:30 and I get home at 8. Taco salad is totally happening, though. In fact, it happened last night.

    These come from Taco Bell. Mine come from higher than Grade B beef.

  4. Does anyone else’s household companion animal have a major thing for road salt? I’m telling you, I cannot keep The Bunny away from anything that’s been in the snow. It’s bizarre.

    It’s like this all day, every day but with boots and the entry rug.

  5. If you could send up some prayers and/or positive vibes our way for some (as of yet) unbloggable happens, I would greatly appreciate it.

How’s your Wednesday going?

Working from Home: A Pictorial Review

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in Work

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

animals, bunny, funny stuff, lists, work from home problems

Hi there! Lisa is one of my bestest buddies (actually, my only buddy) from my very first work from home gig. She’s here today to show us what her work situation looks like these days.

I’ve had the great fortune of being able to work from home full-time for many years now. I won’t kid you, I love it. Sure, I can set my own hours and run a quick errand when I need to but there’s more to love about it than just that. Oh, heck. How about I just walk you through it in pictures.

I can nap whenever I want. Sort of.

face cat eye cat coulson nap

I get to have anything I want for lunch. Assuming I can get to it.

pizza cat

I have total privacy whenever I need it.

kilroy

I can work from anywhere, even while camping.

tent

Or cruising.

cruise

Unless it’s too windy.

windy

I can make new friends.

puppy

And get the most adorable surprise visitors.

T and me

My clients take me on fun field trips, like pontoon boat rides.

pontoon

I can go out whenever I want, though I can’t always get back in.

blocked

I don’t have to share my office equipment. Okay, that’s a lie.

chair cat iron man computer cat

At the end of the day I can unwind with a relaxing puzzle. Also a lie.

puzzle cat

7 Quick Takes about What I’ve Been Up To

03 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in 7QT

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

7qt, aligncenter, books, bunny, candles, Christmas, cookbook collection, countdown, divinity, fall, flag football, grad school, holidays, laptop, reading, school, shopping, sports, travel, yankee candles

Oh hey there! I’m still alive, I promise. Not dead over here. Also, in case I’ve got any GOMI watchers, you should know that I’m not divorcing or pregnant either.

This is the face of an animal who doesn't want me to be able to charge my laptop.

This is the face of an animal who doesn’t want me to be able to charge my laptop.

No, I’ve just been really busy running around. Every morning, I would sit down and tell myself “Today you will post.” Usually, it ended up being “Today you will half complete a really stellar draft that you can use next week.” most days and I’m pretty okay with that.

Busy is good.

But I still love you all, so I want to include you in all the fun stuff I’ve been up to.

— 1 —

Flag football season is upon us.

I basically look exactly like that every game. Except I’m not as pretty or coordinated

We’re playing flag football with the same folks we played softball with. So far, we’ve had two games that were a lot of fun. Not so great on the winning, but hey! we’re in a rebuilding year.

— 2 —

I’ve been bitten by the Christmas-prep bug.

When I was a kid, my mother would send hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cards to all sorts of people. (Big families + business contacts = a Christmas Card party time city.) Last year, we were so busy around the holidays that I only sent cards to people who sent me cards. Pretty miserly, I know, but we were newlyweds, so I think everyone gave me a pass.

I lost the original when my phone died. So here's a screen shot from Instagram.

I lost the original when my phone died. So here’s a screen shot from Instagram. Andplusalso, would anyone like a card? Email me your address and I’ll put you on the list.

This year, the all lady in-law shopping weekend inspired me to start preparing for the festivities in a timely fashion. I’ve already return-addressed and signed all of our cards, I’ve made and wrapped family gifts and we’ve made a detailed list/budget for everyone else’s gifts.

Now we just need some parties to go to.

— 3 —

Fall is here!

I’ve been saying that summer is over for awhile now, but since it’s October, we can officially call it Fall. I’m celebrating the change in seasons by upping my coffee consumption, enjoying the pitter patter of rain on the sidewalk and burning through all of my Yankee candles.

This is what it looks like outside my window right now.

This is what it looks like outside my window right now.

Here’s an absolutely true story. For a few years, Bret and his mom would both give me candles for every holiday. After several years, I had more candles than I knew what to do with, so I asked them to stop. Now, I’m almost out of burnable candles, so I wouldn’t hate it if people started up with the candles again.

— 4 —

All my friends are moving away.

Alright, that’s not entirely true. Not all of my friends are moving away, but a good number of them are. Last week, we said goodbye to a friend who’s moving back home to start an exciting new job with Catholic Charities. We sent her off with a Burger King breakfast, matching candles and a trip through her grandmother’s cookbooks.

Friends buy friends matching candles.

Friends buy friends matching candles.

From the cookbook collection. What makes it Jewish?

From the cookbook collection. What makes it Jewish? Also, why is it on holly Christmas paper if it’s so Jewish? I have so many questions.

Her dog was pretty zonked out by the moving process.

Her dog was pretty zonked out by the moving process.

Breakfast of Champions.

Breakfast of Champions.

We’ll definitely miss her, but I know she’s doing what she should be doing.

— 5 —

I’ve been reading up a storm.

I can’t say for sure whether I’ll have time for “fun” reading come January. (If I had to wager, I’d go with no.) Given that, I’ve been trying to pack in as much pleasure reading as possible with the free time I do have right now.

This is a fun little memoir from an obituary writer in remote Alaska.

This is a fun little memoir from an obituary writer in remote Alaska.

I don't know where my mother found this book, but if you've never heard of it and/or read it, you should go out and find it.

I don’t know where my mother found this book, but if you’ve never heard of it and/or read it, you should go out and find it.

Fact: You're going to be seeing more of this book next week.

Fact: You’re going to be seeing more of this book next week.

Have you read anything good lately?

— 6 —

School is starting soon.

Look at this folder. Doesn't this look exceptionally important?

Look at this folder. Doesn’t this look exceptionally important?

Admittedly, “soon” is a really relative term here, but I’ve already met with my academic adviser and I’ve started looking through the course catalog. The only thing I need to do right now is dig out my vaccination records and start filling out scholarship applications — which I will do as soon as Bret makes our printer work again.

— 7 —

Trip planning is underway.

It's the final countdown. (doo doo doo dooooooooo.)

It’s the final countdown. (doo doo doo dooooooooo.)

Here's our stack of books.

Here’s our stack of books.

Our trip is getting closer and closer. I’m so excited that I can barely stand it. (Special thanks to Cat for her excellent guide to Prague.)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

About Yesterday

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in Life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Beth Anne, bunny, health, medicine, rabbit, vet, vet's office

I didn’t have a post yesterday, which is unusual for me because I usually have something to say. (Don’t worry Beth Anne! I’ll get on that blog-hop soon!) I didn’t have a post yesterday because I was busy dealing with a Bunny-related crisis.

Our little friend had a bit of a health scare and had to spend the day at the vet’s office. An IV, two sedatives and three prescriptions later, he’s back home and on the mend but we need to keep a close eye on him over the next two weeks. (Including daily emails to Dr. Sue. What up, Dr. Sue?!) 

Just doing a little light reading.

Just doing a little light reading.

It was a really stressful and emotional day for me — it’s never easy to leave your pet with strangers for 8 hours — but I managed to eke out a few lessons from the whole experience:

  1. If your rabbit isn’t eating or drinking, it’s a big problem. Get thee to a veterinarian, yo!
  2. It is not fun to syringe-feed a four pound rabbit three different medicines twice a day. I imagine it’ll get less fun as he starts to feel better and more mobile.
  3. The Bunny didn’t ask to be in my family, so it’s my responsibility to make sure that he’s okay — even if it means that I end up crying in a vet’s office.
  4. Watching a sedated rabbit try to function is better than the fainting goats videos.

It’s a Very Bunny Birthday!

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in Life

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birthday, bunny, corn chips, lagomorph, The Bunny, tostitos

On Monday, we celebrated an important milestone here in the household: the Bunny turned three! He celebrated with a double portion of cilantro and half of a Tostitos Brand corn chip. Living the life, I tell you.image (9)

In honor of the littlest member of our family’s third* birthday, I’ve decided to tell you three things that the Bunny knows how to do:

image (10)

  1. He can untie your shoes for you! Of course, he only does this when you’re trying to tie your shoes to leave for work in the morning — but that’s okay. I’m confident that, with time and yogurt drops, we can train him to untie our shoes when we get home for the night.
  2. He can un-shelve your books for you! We discovered this fun fact when we were gone for Memorial Day Weekend. It seems that our little friend was less-than-thrilled to have been excluded from the festivities. I’m sure we can find away to make this a useful skill.
  3. He can sniff out fresh greens in the refrigerator! We’re still trying to convince him that he ought to learn how to open the crisper drawer for himself, but we’re definitely going places with this one.

image (11)

*You may be sitting there thinking “Wow, bunnies can live to be 3?!” Actually, they can live to be 10. So he’s still a relatively young rabbit.

7 of My Great Ideas That My Husband Rejects on Principle

27 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in 7QT

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

7 quick takes, asus, Birdie, boredom, brideshead revisited, bunny, burn out, computer, Europe, kalkaska, Memorial Day, Michigan, Poland, trout, vacation, work, Work-from-home

— 1 —

Naming all of our children after people who died on the Titanic.

Naming our offspring after people who died on the RMS Titanic seems like the ultimate hipster throwback, non? There are a lot of good, traditional Irish names on the list but Bret has rejected my idea for being “morbid,” “really weird” and “a reason for our kids to get beat up.”

— 2 —

Urban goat herding.

For some reason, Bret cannot get behind my desire to clean up the streets of Chicago with a herd of mild-mannered, well-trained, adorable goats.

That could be me!

— 3 —

Naming all of our children after popular songs.

I contend that naming your children after great pop songs from history is a solid idea — every kid gets a theme song! Custom ring tones for all! Bret says that no child of his will be named after a Paul Simon song.

— 4 —

Adopting a Flemish Giant.

The bunny needs a friend. I want him to have a 40 pound friend.

Dog shown for scale.

— 5 —

Moving to Alaska.

See? He’s not frightening at all!

Somethingsomethingbearsarescary.

— 6 —

Getting a puppy.

He says that the puppy would eat the bunny. I say that we would train the puppy to recognize the bunny as his lord and master.

This is my inspiration for our Christmas card for next year.

— 7 —

Selling all of our possessions and moving to a house boat.

Apparently, house boats are rife with maintenance issues.

 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 (Random) Quick Takes

16 Friday May 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in 7QT

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

7 quick takes, asus, Birdie, boredom, brideshead revisited, bunny, burn out, computer, Europe, kalkaska, Memorial Day, Michigan, Poland, trout, vacation, work, Work-from-home

— 1 —

This is Birdie. She’s my new best friend and the first new computer I’ve purchased since before my freshman year in college. Originally, I was going to call get Bertha – because what makes more sense for a blue computer? – but Bret pointed out that an 11″ computer is really too small to be a Bertha.

image (33)

Either way, Birdie and I are going to have some excellent times.

How adorable is my computer?

— 2 —

Memorial Day weekend is almost here and I’m looking forward to doing anything but work. I looked at my calendar last night and realized that I haven’t had two consecutive days away from work since January 1st. It probably started before then, but my calendar starts in January, so there’s that. I’ve decided that Memorial Day is prime time for a three-day weekend. I’m going to work Friday morning, throw up a vacation email signature and avoid anything work related for three whole days.

I'm curious to see what the big trout looks like without snow.

I’m curious to see what the big trout looks like without snow.

It’s going to be awesome.

Do you have big plans for the holiday weekend?

— 3 —

I think I’ve finally gotten out of my cleaning rut. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve undone all the damage caused by an apathetic winter. Now, we just need to get things a little more organized around here (and get rid of all the accumulated crud that we don’t need).

How’s your house looking? Also, how do you clean your baseboards? I don’t think I’m doing it right.

— 4 —

Do you like books and book clubs? You should join the Carrots Classic Book Club with me! We’re reading Brideshead Revisited, which is great because I’ve owned that book for years and haven’t read it.

…for the record, I haven’t seen the movie either, so I’m coming at this with completely fresh eyes and an open mind.

Have you read it? How awesome is it?

— 5 —

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with ways to make the Bunny less bored during the day while I’m working. Mostly, I make a concerted effort to talk to him/give him a head scratch every time I head upstairs. Still, I know that he’s probably really bored a lot of the time during the day. When we lived at my parents’ condo, there were floor-to-ceiling windows and the Bunny could sit and look out to his heart’s content. We don’t have windows like that so, even though he’s got plenty of room to run around and toys to throw back and forth, I’m pretty sure he’s bored.

So far I’ve tried:

  • Making him a windowsill seat so that he can look out at the alley and sniff the fresh air (he didn’t seem to like it and I’m not ready to let him be up there unsupervised).
  • Teaching him how to do the stairs so that he could come visit me while I’m working (he went up one but didn’t seem too impressed – so far he hasn’t shown any interest in coming to see me).
  • Hiding treats in a paper towel tube full of hay (this is a mess).
  • Turning the TV on for him while I’m working (conclusion: he likes Life Below Zero and Hell’s Kitchen but not Criminal Minds or any of the news shows).
Unimpressed with the window seat.

Unimpressed with the window seat.

I’m sure he would benefit from a friend, but we’re not in a position to play meet-and-greet with a new bunny right now.

Any rabbit owners have tips or advice for me and my bored little friend?

— 6 —

I need to start thinking about clothes, shoes and packing for our Honeymoon/Anniversary trip to Eastern Europe. We’re going to be gone for two weeks, but we plan on doing laundry at least once. I just think that it would behoove me to plot my packing very carefully so that I can get the maximum use/comfort out of every item that I bring with me. Maybe I should just go ask the fine folks at Fine Linen and Purple – they seem like they know what’s going on.

This is going to be me.

Quick, what do I need to pack for my trip to Europe?

— 7 —

I’m not sure what the technical definition of feeling “burnt out” is, but if it’s anything close to “unusual dread for something previously enjoyed,” I’m there. My email is starting to freak me out, dudes and dudettes. Which is a shame, because I know I like what I do for a living but the late nights and panicked phone calls and admonishing emails to my personal account at midnight on a Sunday night are starting to get to me. I think a three day weekend is just what the doctor ordered. I might even need to get super militant with my email, too.

Googled “Burnt Out” and this is what I got.

How do you deal with feeling “over” work?

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Day in the Life – One extraordinarily bizarre and complicated day for someone who works from home

08 Thursday May 2014

Posted by ekabby111 in Life

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

all-nighters, bacon, bravado, breakfast, bunny, coffee, Conference calls, internet, tea, work

Let’s begin where all days technically begin, 12:00 am, Central Daylight Savings Time. At the dawn of Wednesday, May 7th, I was watching a DVR’d episode of Comedy Central’s @Midnight. I am not normally awake at midnight, although I do always watch @Midnight because it comes on at 11. Still, I was up late because Wednesday, May 7th, was a day that was bound and determined to beat me into a pulp.

12:14 AM: In an effort to ignore the crushing angst and misery that would consume my night and most of my morning, I tried to be responsible by cleaning up the kitchen. I did the dinner dishes, wiped down the counter tops and set up the coffee for the following morning.

This here is my horrified face.

12:34 AM: Satisfied by my efforts to promote hygienic living conditions, I sat down and read a chapter of Charles Krauthammer’s Things that Matter. I also put the kettle on. Sure, I had already had an entire pot of coffee after 6 pm, but more caffeine was the only thing that was going to get me through the evening.

An immaculately clean counter.

An immaculately clean counter.

12:40 AM: My lovely husband elected to refrain from keeping vigil with me. He told me he loved me and headed to bed. Ever gracious, I replied that I hoped he had nightmares.

12:43 AM: Unused to having a human being around. The bunny demanded food and attention. I gladly gave him some lettuce, because if I didn’t, he would eat my baseboards instead.

Munching away.

Munching away.

12:48 AM: I decided that it was no longer worth it to delay the inevitable. Heading down to my office, I fired up the computer and waited for the long night to begin.

1:01 AM: I sit through one of those conference calls that I am convinced has been handed to me as a challenge that I must overcome in my quest to be a good person. At one point, my homeskillet Andy and I theorized that at least one of the people on this call were sitting in an airport. Really, that is the only logical explanation for the noise. (To make matters worse, at 2:45 am, I got “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus stuck in my head. It made it very difficult to focus.)

Let’s pretend there’s coffee in that cup, okay?

3:16 AM: The call finally ends. Huzzah! Unfortunately, the call ending leaves me with no idea what to do with myself for the next 3 hours and 14 minutes. I have a training session scheduled at 6:30 am with a worker who lives in Sweden. In a fit of bravado unlike anything I’ve experienced since I graduated college, I decided to pull an all-nighter. What a horrifically brilliant idea.

3:20 AM: I made a to-do list of things to occupy my time until 6:30 am. I also asked Andy to call me before my 1 pm meeting. The plan was to work, run my training session, sleep and work some more. Theoretically, it was a great plan. I also decided that there would be no more coffee until at least 5:30. You know, for the sake of my beleaguered internal organs.

3:38 AM: I begin to realize that 3 hours is an awfully long time when you’ve been awake this long.

4:25 AM: Much to my shock and awe, I tore through everything on my “must do” list within an hour. This left me with two options: start the potentially time-consuming and definitely annoying things on my “do if time” list or take a nap. Napping certainly seemed prudent, although I worried about my ability to wake up on time.

4:36 AM: I opt for nap and set my alarm.

4:48 AM: Realized that a nap was never going to happen and it was time to eat a blueberry muffin the size of my head and make some more coffee. I also started watching a news show called Way Too Early. It made me hate myself a little bit.

5:30 AM: Since the sun was starting to come up, I got back into work mode and did all of my regular morning work.  (I watched Morning Joe because I needed the company.) While I was sending off regular client updates, my trainee showed up a full 45 minutes early. How delightful. I would have taken a selfie of my delighted face, but I wasn’t feeling all that delighted. (Mostly, I was wondering who is responsible for the swank tunes that Morning Joe uses for bump music.)

Thanks, buddy.

Thanks, buddy.

7:15 AM: My husband’s alarm went off.

8:03 AM: After I finished my work, I brushed my teeth, said the Morning Offering (That wears off after 24 hours right?) and crawled into bed. Bret, to his credit, left for his volunteer commitment in near total silence.

9:30 AM: Woke up in a panic thinking I was late for work. Super duper.

12:15 PM: My various alarm systems rang in my ear. (I enlisted by buddy Andy to call me so that I would be up in time for our next call.) I was not a happy camper.

12:34 PM: Eventually, I convinced myself that I would be able to go back to sleep after the call. I knew that this wasn’t exactly true – going back to sleep at 3 in the afternoon would do more damage to my sleep habits than the original all-nighter did. I threw on some workout clothes and headed upstairs for more tea and some left over fajitas, you know, the breakfast of champions.

1:02 PM: Right as my call is supposed to start, the internet goes out. Excellent. At the same time, Bret called to let me know that he was on his way home. I make the executive decision that we’re having BLTs for dinner. This was not a nutritionally sound decision, but it did mean that I wouldn’t have to cook. I took a minute to feel guilty about Bret making dinner for the second night in a row. Then I got over it.

1:29 PM: 30 minutes into the call, my connection cuts out again.

1:38 PM: With our call concluded, Andy and I hopped on Skype with Danielle to discuss what I had missed during my internet shortage. I also started catching up with workers who were working during my morning nap.

2:33 PM: I declared my work day dead and over with. Even if I wanted to get any more done, it wasn’t going to happen.

2:48 PM: I realized that it had been a frighteningly long time since I had showered. Zombie-like, I checked to find out just how much water weight you can lose when you spend a night surviving solely on coffee and green tea (answer: about 6 pounds) and then got in the shower. Finally clean, I put on clothes like I was planning on going somewhere.

3:24 PM: Andy called to ask me about a work thing. Since I love Andy, I decided not to kill him.

3:41 PM: With my work day finally over, I sat on the couch to watch whatever it was that Bret was watching. It turns out that he was watching Alaskan State Troopers, which taught me more about “illegal” moose than anything I’d ever seen. I vowed to get up and start a load of laundry as soon as the episode ended. I had made up my mind that falling asleep was a bad idea.

6:56 PM: Bret woke me up to hand me a BLT.

Now isn't that a beautiful sandwich?

Now isn’t that a beautiful sandwich?

7:42 PM: I got a very interesting phone call.

8:30 PM: Now that I was awake, I was really awake. We decided to go for a walk around Loyola’s campus. We even got a peak at the lake, which was really displeased with its lot in life.

This lake is angry.

This lake is angry.

9:42 PM: Home again, we contented ourselves to eat peanut butter cookies and watch Criminal Minds. It was a great night, except for the fact that I kept falling asleep.

11:19 PM: Dragged myself down the stairs and crawled into bed. It had been a long day.

 

 

 

ekabby111

ekabby111

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Hello!

My name is Elizabeth and I write about working from home, being Catholic and living life.

You can email me at superswelltimes{at}gmail{dot}com.

Thanks for stopping by!

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