Busy Bunny = Happy Bunny!

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you're enjoying the first few days of 2011. As the title says, I've been pretty busy, but to be honest I'm looking forward to everything returning to normal.
We had a lovely dinner with Pongo and Missis on New Years Eve, and got back in the early hours of the morning. This kind of wiped out New Year's Day, which is a shame. Now I have a sore throat, which I'm not exactly thrilled about.
Over Christmas I've been praying for my friend Diane's daughter, Joanie. She went into labour on 23rd December and finally gave birth on December 27th. That's quite a time, isn't it? They've nicknamed the baby 'Grinch' because he stole Christmas! The poor girl was exhausted when she finally gave birth, but I'm sure the sight of her new baby son made it all worthwhile.
I've seen on a blog somewhere how to make a little box. I would love to credit this to that blog, but I can't remember where I saw it. Anyway, I've made this little box from a chocolate orange box Mr O got for Christmas!
I've used my Nellie Snellen dies to cut the ovals for the front. No matter how talented you are, it is extremely difficult to cut a good circle or oval, whether you use scissors or a craft knife, it doesn't look that good. With the dies and the Bigshot, though, it's a doddle.
Here is the top:

I've had that stamp for ages, and never used it. I'm going to buy some little baby socks to put in the box. I'm pretty sure I've got a matching card somewhere, so I'll send it up via Mr O next week. I hope she likes it.

Finally, there has been some action on the horse front, as the snow has slowly slipped away. Barnaby has been incredibly badly behaved, though. On the first day I took him into the manege to lunge him, but he was kangarooing on the end of my arm all the way there. Once Mr O opened the gate, I'm afraid I took the cowardly option and let go. He went careering around for quite a while, with the lunge line trailing behind him (not a good idea at all, as if he treads on it he could injure his neck.) After a little while he let me pick it up, and I decided to take it off and do some join up with him. It was brilliant, as he caught on really quickly, so we played tag around the arena, and we were jumping over the trotting pole side by side, which was fabulous.
The next day we went to catch him, and he just went mad, galloping up and down in the field. It took ages to make him stand, and Mr O put his head collar on. He managed to get Barnaby as far as the gate, but Barnaby suddenly whipped round and set off, dragging Mr O behind him and breaking the headcollar. To be honest, I was tempted to leave him, but Mr O goes back to work on Tuesday, and if I haven't got upsides of him by then, I've had it.
Eventually Mr O got him in and tacked him up and took him out for a hack. Barnaby had calmed down a bit by then. He's all mouth and trousers at the moment, as he has loads of energy, but no stamina, which is a good thing.
So today I've plucked up the courage to get on him myself. I took him into the school and he was like a coiled spring at first, looking for something to spook at, but after a couple of minutes he settled down. I kept changing pace and direction and he soon began to concentrate. He's not as supple as he was after five weeks off, it was like riding a cardboard box, but it'll soon come back. I really want to do the dressage at the end of the month, so that will give me something to work towards. At least he didn't go bucking and leaping around the school. Most of my horsey friends on facebook are having the same problem, so I'm not alone. I'm hoping to hack him out tomorrow. I'm sure if I go with Mr O, he'll be fine. Here's hoping!