He didn't know he was broken

I brought my rabbit in to get neutered. Some people wonder why I did that, since I have just the one and he is a male. Well, I was tired of being "loved" by the rabbit every chance he could. Plus, male rabbits spray their territory and he made the mistake thinking I was his territory one too many times. This should help his bad behaviors dissipate somewhat. We'll see. Right now he is content to stare at me balefully, with a look that says "why would you be so cruel to me". He'll heal, but I'm feeling a bit guilty. Hubby is taking the rabbits side, which is in itself surprising since he goes on about how tasty rabbit stew would be, but then again they are both guys and the surgery touches on a tender area.

In my search to find a vet who does take care of rabbits, I came across a a nonprofit organization that helps place abandoned rabbits. They list vets who neuter, but a lot the information was out of date and the prices were much lower than the going rates for today. I contacted them about it and received a prompt email back. They appreciated my input, but needed a volunteer who would update the list. Guess who volunteered? I can't help it - I truly enjoy helping individuals or animals in need. If you don't have a voice, I will be your voice. It's my nature, something I can't change, and I don't want to either. All my life I have been drawn into the roll of rescuer. Maybe it is a second child trait, I don't know. What I do know is I have a pile of work to do this weekend - type PTO minutes (volunteered to step in for the missing secretary
); count, cut and mail in boxtops (volunteered to be the school's liaison for community fundraising), help with the cubscouts, and now update the bunny vet list. Those are just my volunteer commitments, never mind my "real" life. Oh well, I enjoy it.

Jury duty

I survived jury duty, with nary a scratch upon me. I was out the door by 6:30am, after reminding hubby that he had to make luch for the boy. I was a bit worried that I would miss my bus due to the fact that the drive to the park and ride took longer than I thought it would. It seems a car was broken down in the left hand lane and was snarling the traffic for miles. I made it to the station with seconds to spare, walking from the parking lot right onto the bus I waved my jury summons at the bus driver (it is free to use public transportation when reporting to jury duty as long as you show your summons to the driver)and sat down for the ride in. The use of public transportation was very smart of me for several reasons. The garage that the internet recommended jurors park in has not yet been completed, and I doubt the construction workers care all that much about keeping the paint job on the car pristine. It was also quite fun to watch the rest of the traffic that was at a standstill as we whisked by in the HOV lane. What would normally be an hour drive was just a 30 minute ride for me.

I knew I had to walk a few blocks to the courthouse when I got off the bus, but was unsure of the exact way. Luckily, the woman who got off the bus ahead of me was going in the same direction and guided me to my location. (Thank you kind stranger!). The county I am in does many jury pools in one day, with about 1500 people called in to serve that day. I was polled for a civil trial, which I was happy for since they usually last just a day or two. I didn't actually get selected for the jury, as I was potential juror #26 (remember, they only need 12). Some of the potential jurors were very obvious in their attempts to get removed from the jury pool. If I had been selected, I might have had to ask to be excused anyway - the plaintiff's lawyer had such a heavy Louisiana accent that I was having a difficult time understanding him!

We were dismissed around lunchtime and I headed to my bus stop, which was different than the one from the morning. I circled a 3 block radius a couple times, asked the homeless guy at corner three if he knew where my stop was (he tried to help, but actually had me going the completely wrong way), waved to homeless guy #2 as I passed him again as I and finally found my way. Luckily, the bus comes every 40 minutes, so I didn't miss it and in fact got a little exercise in the process.

Civic Minded

Tomorrow I report for jury duty and I am hoping it is an uneventful experience. I think most of the experience will be taking public transportation downtown. I had planned on hubby driving me, but that put us in a jam when it came to the boy. I have to leave the house at 6:30am to make jury duty at 8:00am. The boy does not wake upo until 7:00am and his bus leaves at 8:15. Since none of us know how to time travel, it'll be best for me to just ride the bus and have hubby put the boy onhis school bus in the morning. My neighbor will watch the child in the afternoon if I'm not home in time.

Although I think being on a trial jury would be neat, I don't want to get picked. Arranging care in the morning for my son will be difficult, since hubby normally leaves the house by 5:45am. I don't think his boss will appreciate him arriving late and leaving early, nor will he be able to get any of his work done.

My work can get buy without me, we are in a slow period right now. In fact, it would probably help our budget if I didn't show for work.

Wish me luck. I'll just have to go in saying "I have no problem listening to the evidence, but we can skip it 'cause they'll all guilty anyway."

Flower Update

For those who were curious, I never received my flowers. Plus, every attempt to contact FTD was met with failure. The hold time was estimated to be over one hour, and it was, since I actually was on hold for more than two hours one night before I gave up. I say one night, because I have tried to call them every day since Valentine's day and there has been no connection, just the indefinite limbo of the "hold system", which is an attempt to get you to hang up before speaking with a real person. Why else would they play muzack from the early 80's?
They also did not respond to any emails sent by hubby, even though the website said the response would be within 24-48 hours. If this is any indication as to how well they handle the holidays, I would strongly suggest not to use FTD Florists.

Valentine's Day

Let me tell you about my Valentine's Day. It has fury, mystery, humor and romance.

I came downstairs and saw on my kitchen table two cards, one from my son and one from my husband. My son was very creative - he had folded paper accordian style into a heart which I could open up to read the message in side. He had also enclosed a dollar bill, since he loves getting money so he figured I would too. Very sweet.

Let's see what else hubby left. Two cadbury creamy eggs. My thought: It's Valentine's Day, not Easter. Why the negativity? I knew hubby had gone out at 10pm the night before, and I assumed this is all he got. I had gotten his gift weeks ago and had actually put thought into it. I try to think positively - the card is very sweet, I knew when I married him that romanticism was not a word in his vocabulary.

Off to work I go, where I am surrounded by tales of plans of romance and fun. I steam, and futively hope that something will arrive at work for me, which is silly since he is not romantic.

The day passes; I go home, debate whether or not to wash the car for hubby, say "screw it he got me nothing", sit on the couch and read, hubby comes home.
He asks "How was your day?", my response "It was OK".
He stares at me and says "Just OK?" "Yes, why are you staring?"
He looks around, then goes upstairs to get changed. Comes back down. "Did you get your gift?"
"Yes, I got the card on the table this morning."
"Anything else?"
"The 2 Cadbury eggs" What significance of those candy eggs that he wants to bring them up again?
"Nothing at work?"
"No, was there supposed to be?" my heart perks up.
Come to find out; yes, there was supposed to be a delivery of flowers at work. For whatever reason they didn't come. Sweetie is a romantic and was thinking of me throughout the day.
Hubby is furious they didn't get delivered - he did notice the chill in the air when he came home. He searched the house to see if I had put the flowers somewhere, anywhere. As he put, it's not fair his heart was in the right place, he even wanted to show me the receipt to prove that he ordered them.

I didn't need to see a receipt. All I needed was to feel appreciated. Once he told me that he had sent flowers, it did not matter that I didn't get them. It may have actually helped that I didn't get them, because I could appreciate the thought more that was behind the action. We were actually able to get several laughs out of it, especially as he told me his impressions on things when he came home, which would not have occurred if the flowers had actually been delivered.

Final note, especially if hubby is reading. This only works once. :)

flirting with fame

If you go to www.gofugyourself.typepad.com, you'll see a picture labeled "meet the fuggers". Shanna Moakler is in it. I know her(actually I know her brother better). As teenagers/young adultss, hubby and I used to hang out at her family home. It is so odd to see a person who is "famous" and know that you have seen her in a less than desirable state many times, perhaps hugging the porcelain god once or twice. And to know that she comes from a very "normal" New England home. Her dad is a dentist, for goodness sake.

Hi

Just got off the phone with my nephew.

He said "Hi"

He's 17 months old.

He talks to no one on the phone. Not his mother, not his nana, not his papa, no one.

He said hi to me. Twice

Don't I feel special (can you see my ear to ear grin from there?).

School Zone

I was running errands the other day and one of the streets I travel on has 3 school zones: 2 elementary and 1 middle school. I happened to hit them at the time when school was letting out, so instead of being able to go 40 mph, I had to go 20mph. Rather frustrating since I had to run my errands before the boy got home, which gave me all of 17 min. At one point on this road, there is a section where you can go back to the normal speed limit. For whatever reason, my gut said don't.

I looked to my left and I saw groups of children walking on the sidewalk, going home. I noticed one girl who decided to cross the street; not at a corner where there is a crosswalk, but in the middle of the street. I watched her as she meandered across the street, looking straight ahead. She got to the island in the street, crossed that and walked right in front of my MOVING vehicle. Luckily, I was paying attention and did "the swerve and hit the brakes" manuever in time. She saw my car the moment she was in front of it, not a second before. I could tell this by the look of utter shock and fear on her face when her short life probably passed in front of her eyes. She had no headphones on, she wasn't talking to any of the other kids across the street, she just was oblivious.

Morale of this story: honor all school zone speed limits. They do save lives.

The cold that would not leave

I'm still sick, which is amazing to me since I usually get a stuffy nose for 2 days and then I am done with it. Instead, I've had this silly chest cold, stuffy head, on again/off again fever for 5 days. Today I am going to attempt to work out. We'll see how exhausted I become.

The boy recovered quickly - he was back at school on Monday. However, when I spoke with his teacher on Friday, she did say he had been very well behaved and quiet throughout the week (which is not normal for him). He might still have some of the lasting effects of the cold. He slept through the first hour of Saturday morning cartoons, which never happens. He is usually up before they even start, parked on the couch, watching an informercial in anticipation of the cartoon that is sure to come on shortly.

insomnia

It's 3:30 am and I am wide awake. It may have something to do with my chest cold, it might be that cup of coffee I had at 7:00 pm or it might be that my body has turned into a fine tuned machine that needs no sleep. Whatever it is, I'm up.

A smart person would take advantage of this extra time and do some of those tasks that she had been putting off for months. Yet, after I tossed in a load of laundry in the washing machine and folded the one in the dryer, I've drawn a blank. I know entering an instant win contest on line (I didn't win) was not my only priority, but it is the only thing I've accomplished so far.

To be honest there are a few things I can think of, such as doing some accounting for my son's PTO; but if I've put them off this long, I certainly can't accomplish them with little sleep, can I? Maybe I'll give it a whirl. If nothing else, it might help put me back to sleep.