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Monday 15 January 2018

Christmas and New Year Catch-up!

It's been over six weeks since I last blogged (longer than I anticipated once again,) and I can't believe that in that time both Christmas and New Year have come and gone, that the twelfth night has passed, and that all of the decorations have now come down too! I had the longest time that I have ever had off over the Christmas period this year as well, four whole days. But as lovely as it was Christmas really did fly by probably the quickest that I have ever know it too! In fact the last time that I blogged Advent hadn't even started!

Once it came along though I obviously had to find an advent calendar for Florrie as well as us, and after looking high and low for one that had healthy-ish treats in I managed to find one from a site called Vio-Vet. It was cocoa, dairy, and sugar free, and had dandelion flavoured treats in! So as our fussy little monkey loves dandelion I thought that we would give it a go!

I have to say though that even though she sampled some of the treats she seemed much more interested in trying to eat the doors, but it was worth as go! Below you can see her sussing it out!


I on the other hand had a Snowman and the Snowdog advent calendar once again; complete with my name and which was bought for me by my mum. I then bought my hubby one without chocolate as requested, which had a rather cute looking hedgehog on sporting a Christmas hat! Plus I also naughtily treated myself to the L'occitaine advent calendar which I had been eyeing at work of sometime, and below you can see them all.

     
The weekend after the start of advent was the weekend that we put our tree! We are not normally organised enough to get it up that early, (even though it is usually my intention to do so,) but this year it was the only weekend that we had free. Plus back at the begging of November I did something that I never thought that I would do and broke family tradition by getting an artificial tree, meaning that we could put it up whenever! It wasn't really my intention to do so, but when we went to look at the decorations at one of our local garden centres I loved it and decided to make the change!

It still took hours to decorate and I wasn't really sure if it would go with our existing decorations which are pretty traditional colours, but I had bought some more to add to the collection anyway so I just thought that I would see how it turned out. Initially I started off with a white and gold theme, but it just looked a little too cold so I added some red in, and ended up with a red and white Scandinavian type theme. Like I say it took hours to do as usual and I was pretty knackered anyway, after going out for spontaneous drinks with the hubby and his friends until late the night before. But I was happy with how it turned out in the end, even though I wouldn't recommend a tree like this if you have carpets as the snow goes everywhere! Below you can see the result complete with a posing bunny and some of my fave decs! 


On putting up my decorations I also came to the conclusion that I seem to have amassed a growing collection of Christmas ornaments and cuddlies over the years, which seem to consist mainly of Reindeer, Snowmen, felt mice and gingerbread men! As you can see below!  So apparently it's not just bunnies that I have a thing about!
 

As well as decorating the tree and putting up the decorations we also used the Sunday of that weekend to once again be fairly organised for us and get our Christmas shopping done, mainly because as with before it was the only chance that were going to get! 

Thankfully it turned out to be a lot less stressful than I thought it would be though and we managed to get everything that we were after, plus town wasn't as horrendously busy as I thought it would be either! 

Whilst there we also met up with my mum and dad for a hot dog lunch at the Christmas market too, and mum bought me the lovely little reindeer below at one of the stalls.


Then once home I set about wrapping the presents that we had just bought, which is something that I usually leave until the day before Christmas Eve! But I felt in the zone so I grabbed some cookies, a glass of my fave Egg Nog Cream, and some Christmas tunes, and settled down to crack on with it!   
 

During the following week I finally got around to putting my Christmas cards back on sale on my Etsy shop, which was something that I had been holding back on as I was hoping to have a new range of designs for 2017. But unfortunately with us being so busy and me working plenty of overtime over the Christmas period, it just didn't end up happening. 

I did however manage to put up a new "Baby's First Christmas" card, which was an alteration of my "New Baby Bobby/Bella" card design, seen below.


That weekend was then filled with birthday celebrations with not one but three of my closest girlfriends having turned 30 that week, two of which were on the same day! So we made our way to Brighton to celebrate and partied until the early hours, having a lovely time despite the rain and our planned rock club having an ABBA tribute act on that night. Needless to say Sunday was then a pretty quiet pj day!

The following Monday was another dreary, wet, and cold day for us unfortunately, but most of the rest of the UK had been hit by a relative snowfall by this point! Even places relatively close to us got snow, but we had no luck!

I had planned to meet up with a girly friend in town for lunch and a catch-up that day. But because the weather was so rubbish we decided to hibernate at hers instead, where she put on a lovely mini afternoon tea! Below you can see the cute Christmas cupcakes that we had, which were just delicious!


On the Tuesday of that week I went down to the garden centre where I got Flo from to get her supplies, and find her some Christmas presents. Unfortunately they didn't have what I was looking for including another sea grass tube, as hers has once again been demolished to a small slither that she can hide her head in and that's about it! 

They did however still have the last two bunnies of their first litter since Flo, which I had first seen back at the end of Oct. At that point the same two bunnies were left but the lady told me that they were two males, and that they had to be separated as they were reaching adolescence and had begun to fight. 

This time however like I say there were still there but they had named them, with one being Prince, and the other George, plus had done a little write up on them too. I have to say that I loved little George when I saw him before, but reading his write up just melted my heart even more and I would have loved to have taken him home! 

Had I known for definite that Flo would have accepted him, and had she been spayed I would have done in a heartbeat, as I do worry if she gets lonely sometimes. But deep down and realistically I think that she is too much of a madam and too set in her ways with how she likes things and her space to be with another bunny now. But he was gorgeous! 

I do also think that he may well be related to Flo too as he is the same breed, and they only tend to get the odd litter in, so I have my suspicions that the breeder that they use is probably the same one. 

Below you can see the gorgeous George and his little write-up, who after having been at the garden centre for two and a half months at that point I really hope found a loving home for Christmas! 


The following weekend bought plenty of food! Firstly with us continuing the celebrations for the girls 30th's by going for a lovely afternoon tea at a local tearoom!

None of us had been there before, but we had a lovely time and were completely stuffed by the time that we had left! It was such a gorgeous place with lots of little nick-nacks on sale including bunny bunting, which I resisted at the time but may have to go back and get at some point! It was also a freezing cold but bright day too, so it was a lovely place to go and warm up! Below you can see a few pics from the day!


After the Afternoon tea we then had a little mooch around the shops as the girls had a bit of Christmas shopping to do. Whist looking about I found this little reindeer in a little individual shop to add to my collection. I shouldn't have bought him really, but I just couldn't resist going back for him!



The second lot of food then came on the Sunday with my annual family Christmas meal! This was held up in Chichester at the same restaurant that we usually go to, along with my dad's side of the family, and was where I had my first Christmas dinner of the year! Then after we head back to my uncle's house as we usually do to catch-up, play games, have a bit more food, and this year play with his new Amazon Echo, which provided us all with much amusement!  

The third lot of food then came the day after when I met with my mum for lunch after work. Where I had my favourite black forest hot chocolate, (only my second of the year) and a yummy pigs in blanket toasted Panini, as you can see below.


The fourth and final food event was then that evening which was for my work Christmas meal. Where I had my second Christmas dinner of the year which was a gorgeous three course meal consisting of; a salmon pate with Bellini's, a turkey roast, and coconut rice Brule, as you can see below.


The week that followed was then the last full week before Christmas and again a pretty busy one particularly for me at work, but it was fun too! I spent most of the time functioning on chocolate, tea, and gingerbread made by one of my work colleagues as you can see below, but it was Christmas so it was allowed right!?  


We also had a late one on the Thursday as we had our annual secret Santa meal around the hubby's brothers, where we get a takeaway in and exchange secret Santa gifts between the siblings and their partners. We do this rather than buying for everyone as the hubby has a rather big family so we buy for the parents and kids, but do the secret Santa between the siblings. It was a really good evening filled with lots of giggles and silliness, but we didn't end up getting back until 1:30am so we were both pretty knackered for work the next day! 

That Saturday then bought a dash into town by us in order to buy some new fairy lights, as the ones on our tree annoyingly stopped working the night before!

To be fair they have had a bit of a dodgy connection for a few years now and I have put off buying more for as long as possible as I'm not as keen on the LED one's or their colouring, but I managed to find some warm light LED's which weren't much different. The main issue I had though was getting the old lights off around the decorations and the new lights on around the decorations again, which took me a fair amount of the evening to do but was worth it in the end!

In-between buying, putting on, and taking off the old and new fairy lights I also attended the annual Christingle service at our local church, along with my mum and Nan. It was lovely to go again as I haven't been able to attend it as much in recent years, as it's usually held on Christmas Eve when I have been working. The service was good and filled with humour! Particularly at the point where the vicar asked the children to name the significance of each part of the Christingle, and on getting to the cocktail stick and fruits/sweets the chosen child said that they represented the four points on the Sat-Nav, to which there were many chuckles in response from the congregation.      

After the service we then returned to my parents, where we enjoyed some mulled apple juice that I had made using some mulled spices from work. It seemed to go down well, was a good winter warmer, and a nice alternative to mulled wine since I was driving.  

Below you can see my Christingle.


The Sunday was then Christmas Eve, so we spent the afternoon around my sister's with both my mum, dad, Nan and my sister's boyfriend's family, in order to start the festive celebrations! 

They had both worked really hard putting on a lovely spread for us all, and we had an enjoyable time catching-up, playing games and messing around taking silly selfies. Below you can see some pics of the day including the lovely spread!

All of the food was a big hit, but especially my sister's marshmallow snowmen! Which my hubby thoroughly enjoyed toasting whilst singing "Do you wanna burn a snowman?...." in the style of that song from the "Frozen" movie! Poor Mr Snowman! 

In fact we all had such a good time, that by the time that we left my sisters it was practically Christmas Day!

On Christmas Day itself I dropped my hubby off at his dad's first thing, before going to my parents in order to join them, my sister, and Nan, for presents, stockings, and Christmas lunch! Below you can see a few pics from the day.
My Christmas dinner consisted of: Bellini's with smoked salmon and cream cheese, a turkey roast with all of the trimmings, and a chocolate pudding complete with glitter sprinkles and popping candy!

I was also very spoilt, and as you can imagine a number of the gifts that I received were bunny related, including; a beautifully soft bunny dressing gown, two pairs of pj's with bunnies/hares and woodland animals on, a bunny candle holder, bunny socks, a bunny mug and calendar, a crazy bunny lady keyring, and a spoiled bunny plaque! All of which you can see below! 


I also got the lovely baubles below too! The outside ones are from my aunty, and the middle one was from our lovely neighbours, and came all the way from Poland!  


All in all it was a lovely chilled day spent with family, and then in the evening I went and joined my hubby at his dad's, before we returned home to chill and watch Christmas TV together.

Boxing Day was then spent at the hubby's mum and stepdads in Croydon, with his siblings and step-siblings, niece's and nephew's, Nan and Step-Nan, and my Mother-In-Law put on a huge spread as always. So much so that we ended up taking home a fair amount of food to feed us for the following week! We all enjoyed catching up and spending time with one another. But whilst we were there it was also a time for us to say goodbye too, as it was to be the last time that we would visit the hubby's childhood home of over 30 years before their move in the New Year. 

The day after Boxing Day I was then back at work, but I didn't mind as I enjoy it and four days off was enough for me anyway. But the rest of that week up until New Years Eve was still a pretty busy one, with late nights as well as work. Then one evening we ended up around the hubby's brother's until the early hours with the boys watching football and the girls chatting and playing games, in order to celebrate my sister-in-laws birthday which was the following day.

Saturday was then the only day that we took a breather that week, so we spent the day lazing around in our pj's to recover from all of the festivities and ready ourselves for those of New Year Eve the day after. 

New Years Eve itself nearly ended up turning into a complete disaster as we had friends coming around in the evening, but whilst I was getting the flat ready for their arrival my hubby went to take out the bins and broke off the handle to the front door locking us in! Of all of the days for it to happen! There was no warning either, I mean the door had been a little stiff for a while but we didn't have an issue until it broke! Cue me having to have to jump out of the front room window and being rather thankfully at this point that we are on the ground floor, before making a quick dash to our local DIY store before it shut to try and get a new lock

Unfortunately though the lock that we were replacing was rather old so we couldn't get an exact replica, but we managed to find something that we hoped would work! So I set about trying to fix it desperately hoping that it wouldn't take too long and end up with us having to cancel our New Year's plans!

 As I have mentioned before my hubby is not the best when it comes to DIY, and I could see that I was going to struggle to make the lock work, or it was going to take hours to do so! But thankfully though my Father-In-Law came to our rescue and fixed it in the nick of time, meaning that our New Years plans could go ahead after all, and the by that point much needed drinks could flow!

So after all that we did end up having a lovely evening firstly catching-up and messing around with friends and neighbours at ours, before I went with my best friend to see her parents who were having a belated 60th birthday party for her mum, and the hubby ended up in town with our neighbours. After which we all crawled during the early hours. So needless to say New Years Day was a pretty chilled pj day spent catching-up on TV, watching films and eating my fave, leftover party food!

Last weekend was also spent the same way as we were both knackered after all of the festivities of late! So we were very lazy, staying in our pj's all day and didn't venture out all weekend! 

Then this weekend just gone I had my sister-in-laws baby shower on Saturday at my hubby's mum and stepdad's new house, both of which were lovely! Below you can see a few pics of just some of the gifts that she received, and the yummy sweet table. Plus we played lots of funny games, and enjoyed catching up with both the mum to be and her friends and family. Only five weeks to go now until we meet our new niece, and we are all super excited!


Yesterday was then a pretty chilled one with the hubby playing on the PlayStation and catching up on TV for most of the day, whilst I went into town for a coffee, catch-up, and a bit of shopping with my mum.

On the Flo front the little monkey has being her general cheeky and lazy self, and was thoroughly spoilt over Christmas too as I'm sure that you can imagine! Getting some of her favourite treats, and a special edible Christmas forage box filled with lots of healthy hays and grasses, all topped off with a Christmas tree shaped treat covered in coconut flakes to look like snow! Below you can see her enjoying opening her Christmas prezzies, and her forage box.

         

Aside from this, before Christmas I also found her some ridiculously cute pet antlers in Accessorize which even my mum said that I just had to get for Flo, especially since she isn't adverse to such things! Then after I found them a also came across a pet Christmas hat in Pets At Home, which again I just had to get as I had been looking for one for some time! 

Below you can see the results of both photoshoots.


Florrie also had her own little Christmas dinner too come Christmas Day, which consisted of her having her first sample of sprout coverings! Which I wasn't sure if she would eat or not as she is pretty fussy to say the least, refusing to try things that most other rabbits love; including carrots and carrot tops, banana's, broccoli, and not even being keen on fresh greens! In fact the only things that she will eat are her pellets, hay, grass, some foodsticks, dandelion mix, and basil, which she now loves but took her a while to get a taste for! Anyway she wasn't keen to start with but she did at least try them in the end, even though I don't think that she was particularity enthralled by them!  

The only other new thing that I've got her into eating lately is "ReadyGrass," which is a product that has just started being being sold by the garden center that we got her from. I had never heard of it before but I though that I'd give it a go, as even though she has her grass box (which we need to re-grow again,) I do worry that she doesn't get enough grass being a house bun! 

The "ReadyGrass" mix is as it's name suggests is basically grass which is grown and dried here in the UK, but in a way in which preserves the colour and the nutrients so it's more nutritious than hay. Apparently it was originally created for horses that couldn't go out to graze, so we are currently mixing it with her hay and substituting it with her dandelion mix, which isn't cheap and has been pretty flaky lately! 

Below you can see her sampling her "Ready Grass" and pulling what we call her Gofer like faces!


It is however probably a good thing that she doesn't like to many foods though, as she would probably be a properly podgy bunny! As it is she has a bit of a belly on her when she is sprawled out, but she's still very slender when standing and I can feel her ribs fine so I don't think that she's obese just fluffy! I'm not sure how much she weighs exactly these days as she doesn't fit in the scales anymore, but she is heavy and lazy! I try to stimulate her as much as I can but she does like her sleep more and more, as you can see below!


 Of all of the places that she could sleep in the hutch, apparently this is comfy! 


And the award for the laziest bunny goes too...


When to she is wake though our little bunny loves to make mischief in many ways, including moving her log tube about with her nose! She's quite strong as it's not the lightest, but it's so funny to watch! Every day I move it to the corner out of her way, and every day she moves it diagonally so it lines up with her grass feeder, runs through it, and sticks her head out of the end to eat from the feeder! She also enjoys putting her paws up on it, and using it as a look-out, as well as a place to sleep as you can see above!

She is also moulting a lot again at the moment, which has lead to issues with over grooming and pearly poo's once again, and we have also had one more hair pulling incident since the last which seems to coincide with the moult once again too. As with last time she didn't seem distressed at all, but it was a fair amount once again.

Sofa peeing accidents also seem to have been on the increase recently, with one pooping incident too! Which happened after she sat to far back on the top of the sofa whilst trying to eat her cecotrophs, meaning that she didn't catch them before the fell and so they ended up down the back of the sofa and stuck to the wall! But all incidents seem to have happened when she has come out at different times to what she is used to over Christmas, as bless her she's such a routine based bunny with everything! Even down to where her food bowl and hay go! So we are back to our usual routine now!

Behaviour wise we also seem to have plateaued for a long time now too. She still snorts and squeaks when being picked up due to her hormones making her territorial, but she will very rarely show any other signs of aggression, and I can't even remember the last time that she nipped as we both have a pretty good understanding of each other now! 

So that's about it! Sorry for another rather long blog post! I hope that you all had a very Happy Christmas, a very happy and peaceful start to New Year, and that you didn't get too affected by storm Elenor!

Also thank you for all of your support over the last year, it really does mean a lot!