Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

Last night was the annual

Santa on the fire truck.

Took a little doing, but we FINALLY got in the right

place to park and stand by the road to wave 

and take pictures 

and get candy thrown at us.

We kept coming around the corner and there they

were - in FRONT of us - again!

 

But since we were all wearing our Santa hats,

we just rolled down our windows, waved and

pretended to be part of the parade!

This is a tradition that goes back more than 30 years.

Rod and his brothers used to ride on the

old town fire trucks before they moved to Utah!

And after we got married and moved back here,

they continued the tradition,

with Rod acting as Santa and his brothers

as helpers.

They even got called to a "house fire".

Was the lady ever surprised to have

Santa Claus himself come to put out her fire!

(DO NOT start a fire in your fireplace using

BBQ starter and then try to put it out

using your canisters of flour and sugar!

It makes a MESS on your beautiful white stone fireplace...)

This morning we are enjoying a leisurely breakfast

while sitting by a roaring fire.

Ok, it's on the big screen TV.

Provided by the Hallmark Movie Channel.

When they switched to movies,

we moved to the UP channel for

a different fire and more Christ centered music.

Makes a nice background.

(And since it's already 71 here in Florida,

it's the only kind of roaring fire we can really have...)

There is a big pot of Cranberry Wassail

on the stove, making the house smell awesome.

The rolls are rising in preparation for dinner.

All is right with the world.

(Still waiting for Jim and Sabrina - but they'll be here soon...)

5 Days Til Christmas...

Whew!

I made it!

Well… I haven’t MADE it.

But I survived the last couple of days.

The last few days were a whirlwind

of activity.

Not much of it was Christmas related.

Some was…

For example:

Wednesday evening –

Home from work at 4:30

Let the chickens out and gather eggs

Start washing eggs

Walk next door to get empty egg cartons

Finish washing eggs

(at the same time)

Bake 3 dozen Cranberry Nut Cookies

(TOTALLY YUMMY and on plan!)

Toss on some make up and leave for Wendy’s

Realize I’m out of fuel and stop to get a splash.

Arrive at Wendy’s 7:02 (was supposed to be there at 7)

Spend an hour tutoring a delightful student

from my Substituting Gig in West Palm.

Meet Rod at Wendy’s at 8:00 for dinner.

They don’t have any forks.

Switch to “to go” and head home to eat.

MEANWHILE

Bake a TOTALLY YUMMY and on plan

Ham/Swiss/Spinach Quiche

for the department Cookie Exchange / Brunch.

The cookies and quiche turned out great.

I brought home 9 different kinds of cookies

(and NO quiche)

(for Kyle, since NONE of them are “on plan”)

(read: sugar laden and made with white flour)

Which ones did he eat?

MY Cranberry Nut! 

(Had to nip THAT in the bud – those are MINE! LOL)

Oooooo, just glanced over – I have ONE hiding in a

baggie on my desk!  SNACK for later!

(they are tiny and SUPER rich)

Last night all I had to do was walk next door and

Get paid for my eggs.

Plus clean out the rabbit house and bring

them some new hay.

They are MESSY!

Well, and feed the chickens and horses.

But that’s every day.

When we walked next door,

Brock gave us 4 yummy, organic cucumbers.

So for dinner I whipped up some

DELISH

Chicken and Cucumber.

So easy, quick, and TASTY!

Chicken & Cucumber

2 T butter

2 T olive oil

(I used refined coconut oil – I don’t actually like Olive Oil)

8 chicken thighs

(I used 5 breasts)

2 minced garlic cloves

2 peeled, seeded & chopped cucumbers

1 C chicken broth

1/3 C sour cream

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat the butter/oil and brown chicken.

Remove chicken.

Add garlic and cucumbers and sauté for 2 min.

Add back the chicken and broth

Simmer for 5 minutes

(longer for breast)

Remove chicken and add sour cream

Pour sauce over chicken

Serve immediately.

I served it with green beans and asparagus.

It was really yummy and super quick!

Sounds a little weird (who ever thought to

Cook a cucumber?????)

But it’s light and tasty.

Anyhow – there is NOTHING

On the calendar for tonight.

I’m going to swing by and do a little

shopping on my way home

But then it’s

“curl up on the couch and

watch White Christmas!”

With some totally delish

Hot Chocolate Trimmaccino.

(A rich, smooth, yummy hot cocoa)

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!



Distracted Much?

Goodness...

I've been a little distracted lately.

Case in point...

Last Sunday morning I packed up my hotel room.

Went downstairs and made breakfast.

Juggled everything out to my truck.

Taught school for 10 hours.

Jumped in my truck and drove home.

Pulled into the driveway.

Opened the back door to get my suitcase to take inside.

No suitcase.

It took my brain a second to register

what I was seeing.

Or... NOT seeing.

Yeah.

My suitcase was still sitting in the lobby.

Luckily they know me there.

I called, said "Hi!  It's Collette Buffaloe..."

He said "Is this your red and black suitcase?"

Sigh...

Naturally, all week long I've needed stuff in there.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Last night we FINALLY got the tree up!

It's BEAUTIFUL!

I forgot to take a picture.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yesterday another rabbit "kindled".

She had 8.

One wasn't viable.

She made a beautiful nest lined with fur.

Then she gave birth all over the hutch.

4 didn't survive.

We have 3 this morning, in with the other 2 week olds.

THAT Mom was in there nursing this morning.

I hope the newbies found her.

Sigh.

My rabbits might be the only rabbits on the earth

who are TERRIBLE at breeding.

(Except the one - she wins MOM OF THE YEAR)

Keeping fingers crossed...

Growing like Weeds!

Let's take a moment to look back,

shall we?

Two weeks ago,

this is what my bunny babies looked like.

Just born.

11-27-13.

Yes, there are 5.

Still 5.

3 days later.

Getting fuzz.

Still weird looking.

Yesterday.

Fat.

STRETCHING.

But only 3.

Because "Wandering Wally"

is taking another walkabout.

(But there really are only 4 now...)

Oh, THERE you are Wally!

(I should have named him Waldo...)



A Glimpse Into My Day...

I really DO love my job.

I love teaching.

I love watching blank stares turn into understanding nods.

I love telling stories, jokes and making people laugh!

But there are some times I just wonder.

Seems like nearly every class there’s one of “those” students.

This week was no exception.

Case in point:

I was teaching a concept called Accelerated Benefits.

In a nutshell, if you are terminally ill, diagnosed by a licensed

physician and reasonably expected to pass away in 6 months,

all life insurance policies will allow you to accelerate your

benefits and receive up to 75% of the death benefit prior to death.

The money can be used to pay for medical treatment, or

to take a cruise to Tahiti!  We don’t care – it’s YOUR money…

To illustrate the point, I told a story.  (I tell LOTS of stories.)

There was a (fictional) client who had a $400,000 20 year Term

policy who was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer.

The doctor gave her around 6 months to live and offered the

option of Chemo and Radiation, but wasn’t hopeful.

The client chose to try the treatment, but decided if she was

going to do it, she was going to do it in style.  (Reference the movie

“The Last Holiday”…)  So she took $100,000 from her life insurance

policy, bought a plane ticket and checked into a 5-star resort in Paris!

She went through the treatment process, but with room service, a

daily massage and spa services!  (Smart lady!)

After the treatment, she returned home.

Six months went by.

A year went by.

5 years went by.

And she was proclaimed to be a survivor!

Happy Ending!

Except it’s not the end.

Her life insurance was a 20 year term policy and she was now

facing the end of the term.  We gave her $100,000 with the expectation

of her imminent death.  She didn’t meet the expectation! (grin)  (when

talking about life insurance, death and all the various aspects for 40 hours,

you have to try to keep it light!)

She had a couple of options available at that point.

1.   Pay back the $100,000.

2.  Renew the policy and continue to pay the premiums until her eventual death.

I opened it up to class discussion and we decided as a group that it would be

much smarter to renew and pay the premiums. 

At which point my Annoying Student piped up.

AS:  What?  Wait!  So I would have to pay the $100,000????

Me:  Well, yes… that would be one option.

AS:  But it’s not my fault!

Me:  What’s not your fault…

AS:  You GAVE me the money.

Me:  Well, you told me you were dieing.  And then you didn’t.

AS:  That’s not my fault!  It’s my DOCTOR’S fault – he’s the one who said I would.

Me:  That’s not really a bad thing, is it?

AS: I’m still not paying the $100,000. 

Me:  You don’t have to, you can renew the policy.

AS:  I don’t want to.

Me:  Darn…

AS:  This isn’t FAIR!  I shouldn’t have to pay the $$$.  It’s my doctor’s fault.  I’m going to sue him!

Me:  Uh, what?

AS:  Yeah, I’m going to sue my doctor.  He screwed up.

Entire Class:  STUNNED SILENCE.

Older gentlemen (who happens to be a Hospital Administrator):  You CAN’T sue your Doctor.

He SAVED YOUR LIFE!

Me:  Ok!  (Cheerful voice) Let’s move on and talk about… (looks down at the book, oh brother) SUICIDE!  (Oh goody…)

Bet you wish you had MY job!



Back to the Future

It's sad to live on the "Space Coast" of Florida

and not have any space activity.

The skies have been quiet since they

stopped the shuttle program.

But last night that all changed!

A private company, Space X has been trying to

launch their rocket for a couple of months.

It took years for the shuttle program to get it right.

We would sit on the beach and wait and wait

and then it was scrubbed.

 

I LOVE launches at sunset.

I love how the sun catches the trail and makes it gorgeous!

Kyle and I happened to be out in the pasture

at exactly the right time

Fuzzy, but it was really cool!

The end bubble got bigger and bigger

we saw 4 different peices as they flamed out.

Welcome Space X!!!!!

Meanwhile, poor CJ was back at the vet on Monday.

They have a nifty horse holder.

NOBODY gets out of this thing.

She sedated him so she could check his eye.

It's getting a little better.

She did LOTS of debriding - said lots of icky stuff

came off, so it's sore and swollen.

We don't have that luxury.

So we have to use a twitch.

(He needs to see the DENTIST!)

He (understandably) HATES it.

(me too)

*Disclaimer - it doesn't hurt, it is an acupressure thing

that actually releases endorphins, but he HATES

anything that touches his face/mouth/eye.

Barre

For part of my birthday present

Rod bought all the stuff and promised

to put up a new ballet barre for

me in Jim's room.

(I'm taking it over for my workout room)

I used to workout in the tack room

but it is getting fuller and fuller.

We've been using it for storage.

Plus now we have this great (giant) chest freezer.

But now I have this WONDERFUL ballet barre

for my new T-Tapp workout.

It's called the Debulking Sequence.

Teresa used it in her own 60 day challenge

earlier this year and lost a clothing size!

Teresa lost a size doing this!!!

It has the most fabulous lower back stretch.

I'm excited to give it a try.

And now I have a terrific barre to get started with!

Thanks baby!!!

Pictures!

I have pictures!  

Hope you wanted to see some. 

LOL

Welcome to the world little ones!

Looks like 5 bunnies to me.

All pink.

And warm.

And hairless.

Just 2 days later they are getting hair.

Silky fine, but hair.

Eyes are still closed.

Cuter though...

This is Rod's nifty nest box

before there were any residents.

The moms brought in more hay

and LOTS of fur

and 5 (so far) babies.

The boys enjoying a little snooze in the sunshine.

This is what you have left when you leave a turkey carcass in the chicken yard.

Looks like something you would find in the desert!

They stripped those bones CLEAN!

Nobody seemed to mind that it was a cousin.

Chickens.

Goats with feathers.

And a quick fuzzy look at my "new look".

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I hope you had a GREAT Thanksgiving.

We certainly did!

This year we stayed home instead of doing

the "entire herd" thing.

Rod still drove up and picked up his Dad.

But instead of 30+ people,

there were 6.

It was wonderful!

Rod and I have been eating clean.

Which means no gluten,

no milk (but LOTS of dairy)

and NO SUGAR.

A good diet for warding off nasties

like cancer and alzheimer's. 

And, as a side benefit,

we are both skinny.

He has lost 32 pounds

and I have lost 16.

(I got back in my size 6's the first of November!)

And, luckily, Thanksgiving is the perfect meal

to eat clean - it's already lean and mean.

We baked a turkey in a bag.

Moist, yummy, and EASY!

(I like to read recipe books, but don't really

like to do the actual cooking thing.  LOL)

We made mashed dirty potatoes and gravy

for the kids and Dad.  (Red potatoes boiled

with the skins on and then mashed with a stick of

butter and a BIG glob of sour cream.)

And, of course, the required sweet potato casserole.

(except I forgot marshmallows - a national crisis!)

And Stove Top, cuz NOBODY makes stuffing

like Kraft.

And then I roasted some brussel sprouts (ick),

steamed some broccoli with lots of butter,

and roasted some sweet potatoes with butter and

lots of cinnamon.

Those nearly didn't make it to the table!

They were like eating CANDY!

SO tasty!

The Rhodes rolls didn't rise as much as they should,

so I was happy I wasn't eating bread anyway.  LOL

Oh.  And I made my own cranberry jelly.

WHY have I not been doing this all my life?

That was SO easy and tasty!

I put the last of it on my breakfast oatmeal this morning

and some on my sweet potato, cranberry, turkey casserole.

I can't wait for lunch!

(grin)

There were brownies with cream cheese for desert.

But everybody was too full.

And Rod and I were both DOWN in pounds this morning.

LOVE THAT!

Meanwhile...

CJ is turning into a really good patient.

Sometimes horses get worse every day about

taking their medicine,

but he's resigned and is pretty good about it.

The first morning it took FOREVER.

This morning we did it in 15 (cuz you have

to wait 5 minutes between each salve)

AND

We FINALLY have baby bunnies!

I took pictures.

I left my iPod at the house.

Sheesh.

I'll post them tomorrow.

Cuz you want to see a bunch of squirmy

naked rabbit babies.

LOL

For her first kindle she only had 5.

But she'll catch on and get better.

Somebody else built and lined a nest yesterday,

but it was empty this morning when we fed.

So we'll be keeping an eye on them all.

AND

The baby chicks that we hatched this summer?

Out of 12 eggs, we ended up with 3 chicks.

(And the hawk enjoyed breakfast while we were in Utah...)

Two of them have fancy tails.

And have started CROWING.

(a young rooster learning to crow is HYSTERICAL)

Like a boy going through puberty.

Cock a Doodle Doooohack cough cough hack.

Egg production is down.

But I think its because the weather has been nuts.

It was 41 yesterday morning!

(Rod and I both had on long johns!)

It will be 80 tomorrow.

We changed the timer on the coop light so it is

coming on at 3:30 instead of 5:30.

Hopefully that will help.

I got 17 eggs on Wednesday

and I got 24 yesterday.

Two weeks ago I was getting 38!!!

Get back to work girls!

Christmas is coming!

Anyhow - enough rambling.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are all at work today.

Planes have to fly, (Rod)

horses and chickens have to be fed and tractors fixed, (Kyle)

and $$$ has to be posted (me).



Day "Off"

Jim invited me to the movies on Monday.

During the day.

So I emailed my boss and took Monday off.

Monday morning was a little less cold,

but there was still a blustery wind.

We fed the animals and then had a yummy breakfast.

Rod had his usual 2 eggs with bacon

(cooked super fast and crispy in the new microwave)

and I had a "Butter Pecan" muffin in a mug

in a cute mug!

The farrier showed up about 9:00-ish to do the horses'

pedicure.  (Talk about spoiled!  LOL)

We chatted for a few minutes and then all 3 of us

jumped in the truck to drive over town to meet Jim.

We saw Hunger Games 2 (Catching Fire)

It was really good!

Of course, the book is better, but they did

a pretty good job of catching the essence...

Then back to the house to borrow the neighbor's horse trailer

(our's isn't road worthy right now)

and load up CJ.

He's had a weeping eye on and off for a couple of weeks

so decided to take the opportunity to run him to the vets.

If you have the vet come to you,

there is a $60 "barn call" charge.

If you bring the horse to him...

Nada!

Pretty good deal!

Except CJ is claustrophobic and HATES trailers.

But he loaded up well and was happy to see

a big pile of hay for him to eat.

Turns out he has a corneal ulcer with secondary fungus.

Which means...

2 expensive, gooey salves in his eye three times a day for 7 days.

1 expensive, gooey salve in his eye twice a day for 2 days

and then 1once a day for 5 more.

And a squirt of banamine in his mouth for 3 days.

He loves it.

NOT.

And then he gets to ride in the trailer again NEXT Monday

for a checkup to make sure its all good.

I'm not taking next Monday off.

Rod and Kyle make a good loading team though.

After all THAT fun,

we got home to find a yard full of trucks and trailers.
(ok, there were only 2, but they were parked all

over the place, so it looked like a yard full... lol)

The guys and some friends had loaded up their

4-wheelers and headed out into the woods to ride.

Sabrina came over after work

and the guys showed up WELL after dark around 6:30-ish.

They had a great time.

Were soaking wet,

but happy.

I had put some General Tso Chicken in the crockpot in the morning

and some brown rice in a pot an hour earlier

so we had a yummy "chinese" dinner.

(Made some Asian veggies in the microwave...)

While we ate, we watched Hunger Games #1

on dvd.

Since Rod was pretty sure he fell asleep

watching it last time and was lost.

And then it was back out to the barn to

put gooey salve in CJ's eye before bed.

This morning started early.

Rod was up at 5:30 and I followed 15 minutes later

and we headed out to do CJ and feed everybody.

Still no baby bunnies.

Sigh.

They better get on the stick!

OH.  And we washed all the eggs and took them next door

last night before dinner.

Thursday is their usual "share" day, but with it being

Thanksgiving, they moved share day to today.

They don't have enough eggs, but oh well.

The girls are down in production again.

I think it's this crazy weather.

It was 80 on Saturday.

60 on Sunday.

78 on Monday.

80 today.

70 tomorrow

and we'll be lucky to hit 60 on Thanksgiving.

And back to 80 by the weekend.

PICK A SEASON!

LOL

Better get back to work.

Thanks everybody for the Birthday Wishes.

It was a great long weekend!

Happy Birthday to... ME!

So

I always do a post for family birthdays.

I guess I need to do one for me.

LOL

Last night (since my Birthday fell on a Sunday this year)

my darling husband took me out to dinner.

We had a $50 gift card to Outback.

It was actually Kyle's, but he gave it to me.

Last year.

LOL

I guess Outback isn't our favorite place.

We're more of a Taco Bell / Wendy's

kind of family.

*Can't forget Bamboo Panda!

Anyhow, we had a nice dinner of chopped salad,

steak and roasted vegetables.

(Mixed for Rod, asparagus for me...)

Just as we were getting ready to leave, 

Rod sent me into the kitchen.

Where I discovered a new microwave!

YEA!!!

Our microwave died.

Can't remember if it got struck by lightening or just got old.

But we have been using the little tiny one

we bought for the guys to use in their truck.

It takes 5+ minutes to do 2 pieces of bacon.

And you only have enough room for a cereal bowl.

Now we have POWER.

And SPACE.

And Bacon in 3.5 minutes!!!!!

SCORE!!!!!

So after dinner we went to WalMart to pick up

a nifty bacon cooker thingie (with a lid)

(no more bacon grease EVERYWHERE)

And ended up getting some other fun gadgets.

That's my favorite department in WalMart!

We had a "cold front" blow through over night.

Yesterday was glorious.

I sat out in the yard in the sunshine for a little bit.

Today was overcast, rainy, and COLD.

(Well, Florida's fall version of cold...)

When I went out to feed everybody,

it looked like one of the rabbits was 

getting ready to "kindle".

So Rod kindly whipped together a nifty

wooden nest box for me.

(I forgot to take a picture)

No babies yet, but Mama is really enjoying

getting a nest ready in her box.

Speaking of boxes,

UPS delivered a nice big box for me on Friday.

I was a good girl and didn't open it until today.

It was HARD.

But worth it.

First, I LOVED the box it was packed in.

SUPER cute!

And the cups and tray are PERFECT!

I can see drinking hot chocolate out of them.

But better than that, how about a big steaming mug

of brocolli cheese soup?  

Or even a "Muffin in a Mug"?

I've been using mugs a LOT lately!

(And how cute is that fat bellied cardinal?)

And in keeping with the "stay warm" theme,

Nancy included a YUMMY new "fur" throw.

It's softer than bunny fur and BEAUTIFUL!

It looks perfect on my black leather sofa.

And talk about cozy!

It has this wonderful velvet stuff on the back.

Soft front and back.

And toasty warm.

Does my family know me, or what???

This is going to be the warmest Florida winter EVER!

(Which is good, because I have a feeling this

is going to be a COLD Florida winter!)

Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes and gifts!

I feel very loved!

(And Rod even did the dishes after breakfast!)

SPOILED!

What's Up???

As usual, we are busy around here.

And, we are BLESSED!

This weekend, Jim and Sabrina were pulling into

the gas station on Jim's Yamaha V-Star

(big black motorcycle he rides to work every day)

Somebody backed right smack, dab over them!

Knocked the bike over.

Dented the tank and pipes.

Bent some stuff.

Luckily they jumped off and were not hurt.

I'm not sure Sabrina will get back ON again

any time soon...

But at least they are ok.

And the guy has insurance.

So... the bike was loaded on Kyle's flatbed trailer.

(Kyle to the rescue - again... lol)

and hauled up to the Honda shop for Uncle Scott

to fix.

It's so awesome to have your own personal mechanic.

All your life.

Meanwhile, Jim is driving the Isuzu Trooper.

Don't get too spoiled bud!

+++++++++++++++++++++

In other news,

Ethel, Bob's primary mate, had a baby bunny yesterday.

Just one.

A BIG one.

But she's lacking in maternal instincts.

I doubt he will still be alive when I get home tonight.

She didn't make a nest before giving birth.

I found him on the wire floor when I got home.

He was freezing cold.

So I got some dryer lint and made a little nest

under the red light we still have up for the chicks.

This morning his little nest was gone

and he was back out on the wire.

And of course, this was the coldest night so far

this year.  Low 60's, but a STIFF wind

coming straight out of the north.

Brrrrrrrrr.

She might be a dud.

Or she doesn't know what she's doing.

I'll give her another try.

But then she's fired.

The other two should be giving birth around

Thanksgiving weekend.

Hopefully they are better at this stuff.

Busy Busy Boys

The boys were busy over the weekend.

All 4 of them.

The Stake had a Family Fall Day

and asked if we could bring our horses.

Every year we have ridden our horses

over to the local park for our church

July 4th picnic.

The horses patiently walk around with little

kids on their backs for hours.

The only rules are:

Kids only

NO wet bathing suits.

(We still have to ride them home...)

So...

We borrowed a friend's nice aluminum trailer.

And then we spent the week practicing loading.

Our horses haven't been in a trailer in about 10 years.

They did pretty well.

When the big day came, we decided to

hedge our bets and give them each a

mouth full of Quietex (valerian root).

I was in Boynton, but Rod texted me

and said they loaded like a dream.

Drove 30 miles up the road to the Stake Center.

CJ waiting for the fun to begin.

Andy ready to roll!

They have some woods next to the parking lot.

Rod and Kyle walked the horses around

a nifty trail they figured out for about an hour.

Then Rod traded off with our friend's daughter,

Carly, and she led CJ for the rest of the time.

Rod led for an hour and then he and our friend,

Linda (she owns the trailer and is Carly's Mom)

loaded kids on and off the horses.

Kyle led Andy for the whole 3 hours!

When they were all done,

Rod said the horses nearly JUMPED in the trailer.

LOL

The stake was expecting about 200 people.

They ended up with 500!

The guys figured they did 360 rides.

Everybody got Bute when they got home.

(Well, the horses anyway, the guys got Aleve...)

I was sorry to miss it.