Cute, Fuzzy and even Friendly

Marty commented that rats may get a bad rap and that he doesn't really think of them as cute and fuzzy pets.  ;)  The first rodent I owned were two female mice.  Unfortunately, I bought them from a pet store where the males and females were housed together.  Do you have any idea how many babies a mouse can have at one time?  We lost count around 20.  Most of them were deformed and she ended up eating them.  (at least I'm assuming as I never saw them again)  Only two survived completely and go figure, they were both males.  They say you're not supposed to house mice together like you would rats but I never had a problem with fights so maybe if they are raised together you won't have as many problems.  At any rate, mice aren't as cuddly as I was hoping.  Basically, they freaked out anytime you did anything other than feed them.  I had wanted rats from the time I was young.  A friend of mine's cousin had one when I was very small and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.  And in my child's memory, the thing was sewer rat huge.  I could never convince my mom that rodents would make good pets.  Which is why I bought the mice and then told her about them later.  My first encounter with a rat as an adult was when I was working at the last shelter.  He was a big ole white male and always seemed very tame when with anyone but I was a little leery of him from the get go.  One night, I was asked to go get him from his cage to show him to another volunteer.  I got bit, bad.  I have been bit by horses, birds, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, cats, dogs and goats and yet the most painful bite I have yet to receive was from that little rat.  He bit me in the webbing between your thumb and index fingers.  After that day, I thought there was no way I would ever own one of the little biting bastards.  A few years went by and my memory (or the pain of it) of that incident faded a bit and I decided what the hell, it can't hurt any worse than the first time and I bought three male rats.  All three were completely untamed and yet allowed me to pick them up and put them in their new cage without biting me.  I have never to this day been bitten by one of my own rats.  My two year old daughter has never been bitten by them either and she can be aggressive at times, yet they've never lashed out at her.  (they just avoid the hell out of her)  They are very intelligent and friendly.  They make a great pet for someone who doesn't have the time for a dog or cat or someone who lives in an apartment.  They are actually said to be as smart as some dogs, although I haven't seen that yet.  When I was a kid, a friend of mine had horses and there were always rats around trying to get into the feed.  We would go in the shed and actually catch them and thankfully, none of them ever bit us.  They were more interested in seeing if we had any leftovers under our fingernails.  Now, being older, I realize that I was tempting my fate with rabies and god only knows what else.  Now onto the pictures of our new (domesticated) rats.  I apologize for the poor picture quality.  Rats have to be the hardest animals to photograph, especially without help.

This is Toby.  The doesn't mind being held and seems sweet and curious.

We haven't named him yet.  He doesn't like to be picked up much at least not yet.  He does however love to be petted, particularly on his face.  He sustained quite a few bites from Tikki today.

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The Newbies

Picked up the two rats today.  They are at the very least rex mixes, if not all rex.  That makes their coat slightly curly and their whiskers curl.  They are nice, although one is a little skittish but neither bite.  Introductions didn't go well and they all had to be seperated immediately.  The cream colored one was bleeding from several different spots.  The black one, who we have named Toby, just seemed scared to death but no injuries that I could see.  We'll have to move much slower than I was hoping.  For tonight they are living out of a bird cage filled with hammocks and bedding.  They seem happy just to be away from sir grouchy Tikki.  I will add pictures of them later. 

Think Spring, screw what that little rat Phil said ;)

Tomorrow I will be driving an hour north, along lake michigan to pick up two young male rats.  I hope no one fights when I introduce them to Tikki. 

I was criticized a great deal by my father for liking the old farm house.  As if I wasn't aware that old houses have a farm more likelyhood of having problems than a new construction.  I won't be buying this house and if I was, I would have a full inspection done before I bought it.  I had a full inspection done on this house and it has been owned by my family since the 60's.  I LOVE old farm houses.  I don't have a rhyme or reason for it.  It's just what I like.  I like the history in those old houses, the staircases and the architec.  There have been only two houses in the past three years that I have found that I was in love with, this one and another that took about a year to sell, both out of our price range.  We are not looking to buy right now.  I want to sell this house, move back into my mom's and save money for a down payment on our future (and hopefully final) home.  I'm hoping to get more than I paid out of this house but I'm not sure if it'll be possible with the way the housing market is.  There are only three school districts that we are willing to locate to, two in Indiana and one in southern Michigan.  I will not have my daughter go where I know there are gangs and where the schools are crap.  I know I can not prevent everything from happening to her or from her seeing bad things, but I won't knowingly put her in a dangerous situation.  I still get updates from cressy and everett on houses.  I have certain areas that I would like, certain price ranges, and certain amounts of land.  They send me houses based on my search criteria.  I enjoy looking at them, even the ones I wouldn't buy.  It's neat to see how other people decorate.  How they live.  I try not to look with a critcizing eye.  Some don't have a great deal of money to spend on their housing once they make the actual buy.  I try to see what they do with what they have, not how expensive the things they have are.  I feel like I know a little bit about them after seeing their homes. 

I'm using the ipod again tonight.  I actually quite enjoy the thing now that I haveit figured out.  Shhhh, don't tell my husband.  I protested greatly when he decided he wanted an ipod instead of a playstation 3.  I'm watching September Dawn, at my husband's request.  It claims to be based on true events and it's one of the few movies that my husband paid enough attention to, to be able to retell what happened, including the year and day.  Knowing what I do from Shawn, I know the happy feelings I have about it, will soon be gone.  The movie is supposedly based on the mormons in the 1800's and a masacre that was said to have caused by the mormon church.  He was considered the high minister (or whatever you call mormon) and his word was considered as that of the word of god.  If you questioned his word, you were questioning Christ and therefore sinning.  They were killed for this.  I don't know much more than that.  I will let you know if it's a watchable one or not.  Hope you're all having a wonderful day.  Close your eyes.  Can you smell it?  The spring air is just around the corner.  Can you feel the pollen in the air, breathing life into other flowers?  Can you feel the trees coming back to life?  Slowly pushing their lifes blood up towards the branches, preparing for buds, then leaves.  Can you hear the soft breeze in the trees, on the grass.  It's almost over, the colds of winter.  Spring will be here and I have been ready since November.  Have a good day.  Think warm thoughts and maybe it'll get here all that much faster.

If you're interested

This is my dream house.  It's an old farm house.  (I would LOVE to own an old farm house) on 3 acres, in the right school district, less than five minutes from my mom's house.  If you do go look, the pictures of the outside of the house are what I have always DREAMED I would see when I looked out my backdoor.  I've always wanted a fully mature willow tree on the side of my house and apple trees, I love the way they look in spring with the flowers and then when the petals start to fall off, it's like warm snow.  I am in LOVE with this house and the son of a bitch is going to break my heart.  One, I can't afford that unless they say well hell, we'll knock off forty grand.  ;)  The Farm of my dreams

Screw it, I've got a movie to watch

Today wasn't too awful, at least not as far as my cousin and her new husband goes.  The very first thing my dad says to me, (note he is across the room when I walk in the door) is I don't mean this to be rude but did one of your dogs pee on your coat or something cuz I smell something.  No he wasn't joking.  I said no and felt like crying.  And then he made sure to ask everyone else if they smelled anything.  Thanks.  I wanted to turn around and leave.  As if I didn't feel like shit enough about this day.  My cousin seemed to be on her best behavior because if I hadn't previously known her, I may have actually liked her.  Her husband seemed a wee bit dumb but funny so it didn't make the night a complete waste.  I was actually enjoying chit chat but my dad had to of said that it was getting laid, he needed a nap, so we left.  I see my cousin once a year if that and he wanted us to leave because he took too much valium before we got there.  (he's usually up from 4pm to 4am due to his job, we were there till ten)  Whatever.  At least she knows that if she needs someone to talk to, she can email me or god forbid, call me.  (she had a miscarriage several months ago and even though she's been trying ever since, she's not pregnant yet... I tried to explain that it takes a while for your body to bounce back from that)

I'm watching Knocked Up on something called an ipod.  Do you have ANY idea how long it took me to figure out how to turn down the volume????  God how old am I really???  Sorry I just don't do the computer that fits into the palm of my hand.  It's weird.  I feel like crap, like I'm going to throw up.  It's actually a really cute movie.  I thought for sure it was going to be a total guy movie but so far it's cute, it's almost so cute that it should be a girl movie.  haha But there's just enough vulgar maleness in it to be a guy movie.  ;)  Ah, hell, I might as well end this entry as I can't stop watching the damned movie.  It's super cute though. ;)

Going to miss my Doodle Girl

My foster got an application for adoption today and so far it looks like it will be a good fit.  I cried while reading the application because I knew it would be the beginning of saying goodbye.  I have this deep fear that she will think I gave her up because she wasn't good enough for us.  When really, she's PERFECT but I already have too many dogs.  Unfortunately for me, it's all the way in Chicago.  (2 1/2 hours from me) I actually only have a few questions for the possible parents to be, i.e. why didn't you choose a rescue closer to you as there are several that have labradoodles in your area?  what will happen to the dog if you split up?  what will happen if you allergies to this dog are worse than you had previously thought they would be?  I have MANY requests if they are approved.  ;)  Take her to the beach at least twice each summer, possibly provide her with a child size pool (the plastic five dollar ones that I have for my own dogs), allow her to play with your neighbors dogs (who just happens to be a relative and owns a labradoodle), along with the usual love, care, scratches etc.  And I will also expect that if for whatever reason they can no longer keep her that they contact myself as well as the organization that I foster for before giving the dog away.  And I will LOVE to get emails and updates.  I'm being too pushy here aren't I?  She is my first foster and it will be hard to see her go and I just want to know she will have the best life possible.  I KNOW she will love going swimming (which is why I would like to see her have a pool and go to the beach) and I'd love her to have another dog to play with once and a while.  All those things will not make or break the adoption, those will be requests I would make after the adoption is finalized.  If they had kids and another dog, they would be completely my ideal home for her, but they're pretty good without them too. 

Tomorrow I have to do lunch with my dad as we have relatives coming up.  Normally, I would probably skip lunch with S but being as she actually tries to keep in contact with me and personally asked that I go, I figured I'd meet her halfway.  The rest of that part of my family hasn't made any attempts to keep in contact with me other than when they come to visit my dad and eventhen, the only reason I know they're here, is through him.  Now they would say that I haven't been to visit them in over ten years and they I don't call/email/write them either but my parents divorced when I was fifteen and those same people who are and were adults, made no attempts to see how I or my little brother was dealing with the situation and none of them EVER called after or during the divorce.  I was told that my aunt had tried to call several times but I call bullshit as we've had caller id since they split up and never has her number come up on the id.  (I know it would normally as my dad has called me when he is down there)  I'm not going to bend over backwards for people that wouldn't do the same for me, that I don't think like me and that I don't like to begin with.  There are few parts of that family I like and most of them are not blood relatives.  ;)  The main reason I stay on semi-friendly terms with most of them is because I don't want the melodrama or to listen to my dad bitch day in and out about how I haven't apologized to such and such for my actions.  (even if they were in the wrong)  There was one event where I stood my ground and haven't felt guilty about it.  My dad's father (who I will not give the respect of calling my grandfather) was at a family gathering once when my dad called to wish me happy birthday and handed the phone to his dad.  (knowing I didn't want to speak to him for the reasons you are about to hear) He said the usual we miss you, wish you would come down, want to hear from you more and then he threw THIS in... wish you would send us a picture without that boyfriend of yours.  You see my dad's father is/was a very racist man and my husband is latino.  He was born in Mexico.  His dad is a mix of everything south of Texas and his mom is caucasion.  Therefore, it was extremely offensive to me that he would say such a thing and the way he said it was signifying to me that he really wanted to say without that spic boyfriend.  I told my dad after that day I never wanted to speak to him again.  Period.  He tried to argue that this and that had happened to make him that way and that if he knew my husband he wouldn't feel that way.  I said no, he would say well you're not like most spics.  This is the same man that at my (step) grandpa's funeral, made a VERY racist black joke in front of EVERYONE.  (what he was evendoing there I will never know)  I was twelve or thirteen at the time and I will never forget how I felt in that moment, disgusted to be a part of that gene pool and humilated to be considered his granddaughter.  And the joke wasn't even funny by the way.  I can handle some jokes that wouldn't be considered pc and even though that one wasn't close, it still wasn't funny.  I never spoke to him again.  He died a few years ago and I don't regret it and I don't feel guilt over it.  I remember my dad asking me once whether I thought he should tell his dad all the things that he hated about him and how awful he made his childhood, etc.  I told him, the way I see it, you have to look at it like this; Can you live with telling him all that and hearing that he died the next day?  Would you feel guilty?  Would you wish you could take it back?  If you say yes to those, you probably should keep your yap shut.  He never told his dad anything and honestly, I think that was the best thing for him to do.  Now, in the same conversation, I told him that I CAN live with never speaking to him again and I WON'T feel guilty about it later.  This man spilled beer on every outfit I wore on my birthday from the time I was itty bitty till I was old enough to know he should know better.  So any birthdays spent down there, I came back smelling like it was my 21st b-day and not my 8th.  And even though he's dead, I still feel animosity towards him.  If I had to find one nice thing to say about him, it would take me days and searching my memory.  THAT is what I come from and most of the people that are directly related to him, seem to carry on some of what he is.  One of my uncle's in particular.  He was named after my dad's dad and he lives his life the same way he did (alcoholic to the extreme) and sounds the same way he did... well my uncle is probably even worse as he called my 9 year old female cousin a p*ssy once.  Yeah, that's classy.  I don't ever SAY that word, EVER.  And there's only a short list of the words that will NOT come from my mouth.  Most of them are words the refer to a woman's vagina.  They are all disgusting words with even more disgusting meanings.  As prude like as this may sound, I do not allow those words to be said around me either, under no circumstances.  Basically, if you plan to be around me, keep those words underwraps otherwise you will be booted out the door or we will leave whatever establishment we're in and you can go truck yourself.  ;)  Wow you all have gotten way more than you bargined for in this entry huh?  Trust me, with that family I could've went on a lot longer.  A LOT.  Don't even get me started on in-laws. ;-)

Hair today, gone tomorrow

I'm getting my hair cut at the end of this month and I'm thinking of one of these two styles.  I want it short again.  I was going to just have it cut the same way I had it two years ago but I figure what the hell, it grows back.  I'm also dying it brown with some highlights but haven't decided the color of the highlights yet.