Rabbit Eulogy

My pet rabbit passed away back in October. At the time, I was still suffering from morning sickness and wasn't in a bloggy mood. I was reading a blog by Queen of Fifty Cents (my personal hero, by the way) and she mentioned Joe the Rabbit (not to be confused with Joe the Plumber). That reminded me that I never did give Licorice the Rabbit a proper eulogy.

Licorice was a good rabbit. I got him back in 2000, and at the time he was one year old. I adopted him from the House Rabbit Society. In order to adopt a rabbit from them, you have to agree to keep the rabbit indoors. Rabbits are people too, and they deserve a nice warm home, not a cold wire hutch! (What do you mean rabbits aren't people?! Licorice was pretty sure he was a person). The House Rabbit Society even did a home visit like they were Children's Services or something. They wanted to make sure I indeed had him inside and was treating him right.

I've had five rabbits in my life. Our first was named Pugs, then came Cuddles, and then Rocket (got him on the fourth of July), and then Marble. Those were all family pets growing up. (Licorice was my pet I got in college). They all lived long and happy lives. Pugs wasn't an indoor bunny (I confess... we did the hutch thing back in the mid-80s). Cuddles started out as an indoor bunny but when he chewed a hole through my 4th grade cheerleading uniform, that was the last straw. He then had to go outside to live in Pugs' old hutch.

Rocket and Marble were 100% indoor bunnies. We actually had them at the same time. Funny story. We already had had Rocket for a year, and my brother wanted to play one of those games at the fair where you can win a rabbit. My mom said sure since she knew he wouldn't win. Wrong. First try and we're bringing home another rabbit. They died several years ago, both at the age of eight. My mom had them cremated, and she keeps the ashes in urns in her bedroom. I am not kidding.

Back to Licorice. He started out being caged because in college, my roommates had two dogs and two cats. We only let them out to be together when we were around. I realized this too was cruel and so when we were out of school and into our current house, I got rid of the cage and he had free reign of the kitchen.




It was like that until the day he died. His death came quickly. He had been having some hind leg problems for some time, however one night I came down to the kitchen to find he had fallen over and couldn't get back up. I stayed up with him instead of going back to bed for awhile and kept petting him and talking to him. I figured we'd go through that stage for awhile and he would keep falling over, and I would keep putting him back on his feet. The next morning he was tipped over again, but this time he could not stand on his legs, even after I put him upright. He was very lethargic. I called off work, balling my eyes out to the secretaries, and took him to the vet. She said his condition was severe. His heart-rate had slowed way down, and she said he was basically giving up. She said I could try some lifesaving measures but there was no guarantee that they would work, or she could euthanize him. I decided that he had lived a good life and that the humane thing to do would be to let him go. His back legs were a constant pain to him, and he wouldn't have to be in pain any longer. I tearfully kissed him on the nose, and she took him away. She brought him back in a little box with a Lily on it. Jason buried him in the backyard, and we put a tombstone-looking bunny statue over his grave.

Are you teary eyed yet?

Well here's a funny story about him that will make you smile. A couple years ago, our garbage disposal broke and my father-in-law came over to install the new one I bought. Since Licorice lived in the kitchen, he felt the need to investigate the tool box. He kept hopping in it, and I kept shooshing him out. Finally I gave in and let him sit in the tool box. Turns out, he just wanted to pee in the toolbox! Luckily my father-in-law is used to pets and so he didn't really mind!



One more funny story before I call it a night. Licorice had a baby gate to keep him in the kitchen, however sometimes we took it down. He still knew that he wasn't supposed to leave the kitchen, and when he did all you had to do was look at him and he took off running back to the kitchen. One day I was drinking a glass of ice tea, and I sat it down on the steps for a minute. Next thing I know I see Licorice with his little head shoved down in my glass of ice tea! When I yelled, "Licorice!!" he took off running down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

What a little stinker!
Licorice, I miss you, you naughty little rabbit. May you rest in peace in your clover field in the sky.

Cabinets, Schnabinets

Yes, folks, it's the long awaited light-blue-kitchen-cabinets-that-look-pretty-damn-white-to-me post.














I just had to throw in a picture of some thrifted milk glass spice containers and rack. I still need to put on labels because I took off the old nasty ones and ran them through the dishwasher. Does anyone have any ideas about how to put on the labels? Should I buy some plain labels at Staples or Office Max and then print out some of my own with cool fonts?

Speaking of fonts... this is pretty cool. You can go here and complete a couple steps and come up with your own font from your handwriting. I did it, and it's pretty neat.

If Only I Could Knit...

then I would totally make my brother this hat for his birthday:

Thank you Extreme Craft for bringing this awesome hat to our attention. I don't know how I've been on this planet for 3 decades without ever having seen or heard of a beer hat. I now feel complete.

I think I would have picked yarn to match the can. Don't you think it would look just smashing with red and blue yarn?

And then of course there's always the crocheted beer clothing at stitchymcyarnpants.com.


Too bad my brother's girlfriend just had her birthday. I think they'd love to go clubbing together decked out in this apparel, don't you?

Happy Earth Day, my Peeps!

So did you do anything green today? I watched plenty of HGTV that was very green-oriented. That made me happy :)

"What?!" you ask. "What were you doing watching TV when you have a kitchen to redo?!" Well my friends, it is almost done :) And besides, when Joel is crying all I can do is sit on the couch and hold him (and have HGTV on in the background, of course).

So while watching HGTV, I discovered countertops made of recycled paper. How cool is that? I looked it up online and found this site. You should totally check it out. The first countertop on that website is made from recycled green glass. I totally love it, and want it! Too bad it's expensive.

So why am I now looking into countertops? Isn't painting the cabinets painful enough?

You all know from the other day that I was debating between white and blue for the cabinets. I decided to go with a very light blue that looked almost white so that it would look good against the white appliances and the beige colored countertops. (Yes, I know what you're thinking... how awful is it that the previous homeowner mixed white and beige?)

Now that the paint is up on the cabinets (for the most part), I can definitely see that the "blue" paint is not blue at all. It looks terrible up against the beige countertops. And I also discovered that the dishwasher is beige! I've lived here for seven years, and I always thought it was white. Geesh. Up against the stark white cabinets, the dishwasher looks very dirty. *Sigh*

If I have a job next year, I'd replace the countertops in a heartbeat. (I so, so, so want those green glass countertops!!!!) If not, I will have to live with it. Either that or go back to the store and get a darker blue paint I guess.

But who has the energy for repainting the cabinets? Not this gal!

Maybe I could just get some appliance paint and give the dishwasher a facelift. Or maybe I should just replace it since the house is twenty years old, and the dishwasher is most likely original to the house. We already replaced the fridge, and the previous homeowner had replaced the oven.

Speaking of the oven... they had replaced it but not the range hood, so the range hood was still beige (and really nasty at that). A couple years ago at a flea market, I totally lucked out and found the exact same model of range hood but in white for five or ten bucks. It sat around in my basement, not installing itself, for a long time until my father-in-law installed it last year. Woohoo! What a find :)

On another happy note, I do really like the new drawer pulls, and how they pop against the white cabinets :) Photos will come soon, I promise!

Kitchen Cabinets "Before" Photos

My Rabbit Pepper Grinder. Notice the tuscan faux finish on the wall.


An overall shot of the kitchen


Notice the mismatched wood tones. I hate it.

Please excuse the dust on the light fixture! I bought that one several years ago on clearance; there's another one on the other side of the kitchen.

Another overall shot.

Yep, another one. Last one, I promise.

What Have I Done?

I am insane. Insane, I tell you. I went to Lowes and bought 20 new drawer pulls for the kitchen cabinets. They look very sleek and contemporary... not usually my style, but I've been watching so much HGTV that I'm convinced my house will never sell with its current "country" decor. I do like the knobs though, and they were only 97c apiece so I got them.

Keep in mind I'm throwing a wedding shower in a week. One Week. And it's at my house.

So I told my husband to put the baby down to bed and get ready to help me unload the kitchen cabinets because I'm going to wash them down, sand them, prime them, and paint them (two coats).

Yes, I have gone completely, utterly insane.

We now have food, glasses, plates, silverware, pots, pans, vases, cookbooks, and a heap of other things piled in the dining room and living room. My husband doesn't know it yet because he went to bed before I did, but I also emptied the entire cabinet of plastic containers into the playpen. It filled up the entire playpen. I need to get rid of some of this crap.

The good news is our local Volunteers of America is in desperate need of donations because they had a mercury spill the other day and had to throw away everything in the store (even the racks). Wait, nevermind. I can't believe I just called that "good news." Ugh. I cringe thinking of all that going to the landfill. And it wasn't one of those little stores either; it was a really big one.

Anyway...

I forgot to mention that I still am not done cleaning the grout on the bathroom floor (though thankfully the shower is done so we are able to shower at home again).

Pray for me this week. And don't expect to hear from me much for the next seven days. I will be busily tearing apart my kitchen and putting it back together.

Chickening out

I'm worried that if I were to paint my kitchen cabinets blue, I would turn off potential buyers when we put our house on the market in a few years. I would hate to paint them blue for my taste, but then turn around and paint them white a few years later so that the house would sell easier. *Sigh* I think I'll just go with white cabinets. Not that that's a bad thing of course! I absolutely love white painted furniture. I'm quite shabby chic :)

Here's some inspiration.