Eeeee you guys! :group-hug2:
Okay so life has been...........INTERESTING.
My friends who bred Mini Rex all sold out...all of them. My favorite doe died of a retained kit, so...I decided to sell out. I spent a while dabbling in various breeds...Dutch, Netherlands, French Angoras, and then English Angoras...and then I found my heart and soul breed: English Lops.
I don't know how I lived without English Lops in my life. :in_love: Ironically I fell into the breed totally by accident...I was planning to breed some meat mutts (getting back to my roots in rabbits) and a friend gifted me a pet-quality buck as a mutt breeder. Turns out I love these ridiculous sets of ears with rabbits attached!!!! These days I actually ONLY have English Lops...though someday I plan to get some Czech Frostys.
But on to regular life update.
I actually flunked out of the program I was in, in College. You can't fail a single class or they boot you. I struggled REALLY hard with one class...and I failed it by two points. Devastating. I think the resulting bout of depression was like...the last time I was here. I was convinced my life was essentially over. It was a rough time and I still think back on that period as a very dark time. I basically spent months in self-isolation. I'm lucky I was living with my dad at the time, or I don't know where I'd have gone or what I'd have done.
One of my favorite instructors got ahold of me and told me, DON'T GIVE UP!!! She insisted I just re-apply. And I did...and by some MIRACLE. I got accepted back into the program.
The college I was at, you can only apply twice. Meaning if I failed a class a second time, I'd be permanently kicked out. So I did my very best!!!! I graduated...no honors or anything but I GRADUATED!!!!!
Then I had to sit for licensure. I passed the licensure exam on the first try!!! However, I got hung up for about six months on the background check because I lived in Canada for so long and apparently Canada is absolute CRAP ON A PILE OF CRAP about getting back to people about a background check. It was so frustrating!!! I worked so hard, spent so much time and money, only to wait an extra six months for my license to clear. WTF!!!!!
After that wait...I finally got my license to practice!!! I am OFFICIALLY a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant!
Except...the city I'm in has a high saturation level of licensed PTAs...because the school is local. :shrug: So with my shiny new license, I had a heck of a time finding work. Thank heavens I still live with my dad...I keep reminding myself how awful my life would be if he wasn't pretty much eternally patient with me lol. Of course in turn I try to help out as much as possible with yard work, house chores, et cetera...he's not getting any younger after all.
But anyways, I do have a part time job at the moment...I work "pro re nata" for a therapy company. I work every Saturday and Sunday except for the rare weekend I take off for rabbit shows, and I come in whenever needed, either due to a full-timer out sick or when there's a huge influx of patients and they need more coverage. So some weeks I work 40 hours (YAY!!!) and some weeks I don't work at all (suuuuuck). It kinda balances out to me making very little, I'm afraid. I'm constantly seeking full time positions though so...wish me luck?
My current plan/goal is to try and get full time work in the next year, because my son (who is about to turn 13 in March) wants to come live with me and go to high school in the USA (he's still living in Canada with my ex). My dad has made it clear I can't have my son here, so I need a house...and I'm sick of living in someone else's space so I'm gearing to buy a house. I've found a slew of properties in my area that I could afford easily if only I was full time!
But I do love my work. Right now I work at nursing homes, covering three locations. I adore senior care. It makes me feel wonderful!!! And I do feel like I'm doing meaningful work...most of my patients are temporary residents who are recovering from injuries, illnesses, or planned surgical procedures like knee or hip replacements. To see a patient recover and go home to live their life is so important to me. I really do feel like I've found my calling.
Back to rabbits...while the rabbitry name Heathertoft has a lot of meaning to me, it ended up causing a lot of confusion. So many people assumed either my name is Heather, or that Heathertoft was my surname, and I actually had some issues where people were trying to mail me stuff with the wrong dang name. It got so bad I got so frustrated, I decided I had to make a change. I have always loved winter, I still ski and I enjoy the cold and snow, and so I just decided that's a perfect name that won't cause confusion (I hope anyways): Wintertime Rabbitry.
So uhhhh...can I beg for a forum name change?
Maybe not too different... Kyle@theWintertime ?
How 'bout it Maggie?
So ALSO!!! Details!!! How you guys been?! :campfire:
