SOCIAL MEDIA

30 June 2015

Bunny Woes


When I first brought Olive home I was stricken with anxiety. I finally had a bunny, she was perfect in every way, and somehow I couldn't get over the fear that in someway I wasn't going to be the best bunny momma to her. Once Olive and I made it back home I decided to spend some snuggle time with her on the couch while I watched Gossip Girl, even though she had just spent the last two hours sitting in Megan's lap during the car ride back home! Needless to say, Olive is an excellent "cuddler" she will sit there with her feet to my chest and her head under my chin and let me pet her endlessly.

After our snuggle session I put her in her cage for a little bit so she could adjust to her new home. An hour or so later, I set up a little playpen against the back of our couch. I made it out of huge cardboard boxes that I connected together - since I couldn't find a metal pen anywhere. I put down Olive's blue blanket and plopped her in, along with a few toys. She instantly explored the confinement of her pen, searching for a way out and refused to play with any of her toys. I was a little heartbroken, and I think that is when my anxiety started.

My panic was tied to the realization that I knew nothing about what the hell I had just gotten myself into. I thought she hated it, that she didn't want to be in her new home and that all she wanted to do was run away from me. So I cried to Megan for a few minutes and luckily she knew the right things to say, "She had a huge day." "She's getting used to the new place and needs time to settle in." "You'll be fine." And she was right.

The next morning, instead of setting up a circular play pen for her, I decided to utilize the hallway we have in the back of our house. I closed all the doors in the hallways, put up the cardboard barrier, put down her blanket, along with a little cardboard box for her to play with. I threw in some of her wooden toys, a toilet paper roll filled with timothy hay, and one of her bell balls. However, we have now moved Olive's play area from that hallway to our giant kitchen. And I think all three of us, my husband included, are better for it. It's so nice to watch Olive jump into, and over, her boxes and preen herself as she lounges around. And as a result I'm feeling a lot less panicked then I was last week.

I cannot wait to see how her amazing personality changes once she is fully settled in to her new environment.
24 June 2015

Meet Olive!



For the past month I have been seriously looking into getting a pet. I have been pushing it for awhile now  but I've finally decided that a rabbit would actually be the best option because I can control its environment and it doesn't make any noise. So, I spent a lot of time researching and looking into the actuality of having a rabbit for a pet. Yes, they are essentially wild animals, surprisingly enough they can be litter box trained, they need supervised time outside of their cage for a few hours and day and there is a lot of bunny proofing that must be done if they are going to let them freely roam the house. With all of that in mind, I knew that I wanted a small rabbit that was litter box trained.

I spent many hours looking for rabbits from rescue shelters and even though I saw a few online that I was interested in, Olive was a definite surprise. In fact, I don't even recall seeing a photo of her on the website for the rescue facility! Olive is from the Gainesville Rabbit Rescue and I feel very lucky to have spoken with Kathy who works there, she really is doing fantastic work and you can tell that her job means the world to her.
This past Monday one of my best friends, Megan, rode the two hours with me to get this little girl. The moment I saw her, I knew we had a special bond. Olive (originally Roxanne) was rescued from a hoarder house in Georgia a few months back. She is a dwarf mix, is around 11 months old and weighs roughly four pounds. She does great with children (which we will never have) and she also does well with cats and dogs! She has already had her babies (and is spayed as well). And as a bonus, she is the sweetest bunny ever! She is very smart and affectionate, and I feel very blessed that I am able to give her a good home and the love that she deserves. Another awesome thing about her is that on the way back home, Olive rode in Megan's lap the whole way and was really calm during the two hour drive back home. I honestly don't know of many bunnies like that and it makes me happy knowing  that she feels safe with me and Megan (who has officially been deemed Olive's bunny aunt). I've already spent many hours with her in my lap, just petting her to her heart's content.



I plan on doing a few more posts in regards to Olive and her process of settling in, her likes and dislikes, and her playtime. So, if you'd like to read more about Olive - let me know - I'm mean it's going to happen whether you want it to or not, but still!
19 June 2015

Summer Book Club

It's almost Summer, and that means I have been stockpiling books that I plan on reading over the course of the next several months. Since the list is a little long, it will more than likely carry over into Fall as well. But that isn't too much of an issue since I don't start my junior year of college until January. (Can we talk about how excited I am to not have to go to school until January!?) I've included some information of each book, just in case you are looking for some new books to add to your life too!


Threats: A Novel
"David’s wife is dead. At least, he thinks she’s dead. But he can’t figure out what killed her or why she had to die, and his efforts to sort out what’s happened have been interrupted by his discovery of a series of elaborate and escalating threats hidden in strange places around his home—one buried in the sugar bag, another carved into the side of his television. These disturbing threats may be the best clues to his wife’s death..."





Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls
"A dark catalog of behavior for her characters and the result is a kind of human bestiary, if humans were programmed to go down in flames, to run themselves aground, to seek ruin on every occasion.(They) illuminate how people hide behind their pursuits, concealing what matters most to them while striving, and usually failing, to be loved."—Ben Marcus






May We Shed These Human Bodies
 "May We Shed These Human Bodies peers through vast spaces and skies with the world's most powerful telescope to find humanity: wild and bright and hard as diamonds. Here is humanity building: families reconstruct themselves, mothers fashion babies from two-by-fours and nails, boys make a mother out of leaves and twigs and wishes. Here is humanity tearing down: a wife sets her house on fire in revenge, a young girl plots to kill the ghosts that stalk her, a dying man takes the whole human race with him. Here is humanity transforming: feral children, cannibalistic seniors, animal wives—a whole sideshow's worth of oddballs and freaks."


Haints Stay
"Brooke and Sugar are killers. Bird is the boy who mysteriously woke beside them while between towns. For miles, there is only desert and wilderness, and along the fringes, people. The story follows the middling bounty hunters after they've been chased from town, and Bird, each in pursuit of their own sense of belonging and justice. It features gunfights, cannibalism, barroom piano, a transgender birth, a wagon train, a stampede, and the tenuous rise of the West's first one-armed gunslinger. Haints Stay is a new acid western in the tradition of Rudolph Wurlitzer... it is brutal, surreal, and possesses an unsettling humor."
10 June 2015

Books and a Mini Summer To Do List

I've had my nose buried in books lately. Mostly books on the occult, something that I have always been drawn to. But occult books aren't the only thing I'm reading as of late. I have two different books that I am in the middle of... Pines (the first book of the Wayward Trilogy) and Box Man (a Japanese  selection brought to my attention by a friend).

For some reason I just haven't really been giving anything my all. I've been dabbling in a little bit of everything and just living. This whole, no school until January, has given me freedom and quite honestly I am not too sure what to do with it. Maybe I need to make a list of things I want to do.

So....
  • go to the beach at night
  • do some urban exploration (this might take some convincing from a friend)
  • get a bunny
  • have brunch with M, B and my sister
  • go to Casadaga
  • spend some time in a cemetery (I miss the quiet, don't judge me! ;) )
  • read more
  • take a day trip somewhere - anywhere really
  • finish watching Gossip Girl
  • watch more movies
  • have a picnic
  • take more photos
  • write more


Do you have any exciting plans for the summer?
What are you currently reading? 
05 June 2015

Healthy Baked Oatmeal

I hate oatmeal. I really do. Every time I attempt to eat it I give up halfway through. But for some reason I can't seem to get enough of this baked oatmeal. What makes it even better is the fact that it is one of the easiest things to make.

INGREDIENTS
2c. old fashioned rolled oats
1/4c. sugar
1tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. Saigon cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. walnuts
1c. mix of raspberries and blackberries
1/4 c. dark chocolate chips
1 large egg
2tbs. unsalted butter
1tbsp. vanilla extract
2c. milk or milk alternative
1 ripe banana, peeled & sliced into rounds
 

DIRECTIONS

The next morning, preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the walnuts, half the berries and half the chocolate chips. In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract. Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture spread throughout the oats. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the milk has set.
To make this recipe even easier, combine all of the ingredients into a baking dish the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Once you wake up pop it into the oven and bake.

Have you ever made baked oatmeal before? Is there a different recipe that you've tried before? Let me know in the comments below so we can discuss.