Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Fare-thee-well, Bella & Linda!

Well, it's done. The mice are gone.

No, the cat didn't eat them. We sold their cage at our garage sale this weekend for $5.00, including food, bedding, accessories...oh, yes, and two pet mice.

I thought the kids would protest, but they were fine with it. They "held them good-bye," and that was it. No tears. No hysterics. Just a wave, and....

I know I sound callous, but, in my defense, the kids said it was fine with them to sell the cage, mice included. They knew I was tired of cleaning the cage, and that BratDad was tired of smelling it. The BratGirls only held their respective mice about once a month (I think I held them more!), and rarely checked their food/water levels. And, the BratCat was always after them. So, it's probably for the best.

Are we done with rodents? Probably. I don't mind them, though. I think they're cute, and I don't mind holding them. However, any pets we get in the future will be cleaned up after by the BratKids, not me! (That's the only reason we have a BratDog, y'know?!)

Monday, May 14, 2007

Our Tooth Fairy

I read an article online about tooth fairies, which got my mind going.
Our tooth fairy has a pathetic "response-time." She's even been known to be 3 days late in picking up a tooth! Sadly, it has nothing to do with our kids being light sleepers, because they are not. Nor does it have anything to do with not being able to find the tooth. It's simply called "mommy-brain," or, "I just had another platinum-blonde moment"!

Another problem our tooth fairy has is forgetting to hide the tooth somewhere safe, or to lable who it belonged to. She had 2 baggies in a locked box with each child's name on it, for their teeth, but has misplaced the locked box. Really, she IS smarter than she sounds! Unfortunately, sleep-deprivation and three kids depletes the female tooth-fairy's brain cells.... (I think that will be a good topic for another post!)

The one cool thing she does is leave foreign coins/money for the kids, along with $1. Cheap, but interesting for them to learn about the country the money is from. Bad, if the tooth fairy runs out of foreign coins.

Maybe our tooth fairy should tie a string around her finger...

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

She almost cost us our marriage. Really. I saw her, and I had to have her.

The cutest little thing on 4 legs, with perky ears that are almost as tall as the rest of her, and a slight mohawk. Probably no more than 10 inches tall at the tips of her ears, and not much of a tail to speak of. (I'd say she's more guinea pig than dog.) Still, I had to have her.

We've talked about getting a dog for a while, but decided that the breeds we were looking at were too much (We're so cheap that we didn't even want to spend the $75-$100 for a "pound puppy!") I looked online, checked the papers, and even searched Craig's List for "free" puppies. Not a chance! (How ridiculous is it, anyway, that "mixed breed" dogs are so expensive? Remember when they were called "mutts" and were free?) At any rate, we had decided to postpone, indefinitely, the search for a dog. No need to deal with the hassle of cleaning up after them, anyway. So much easier without one.

Enter Jersey.

We were visiting my sister-in-law for her birthday, and Jersey was next door. Having no fences between their yards, she was tethered to the back fence, to keep her out of the other neighbor's yard (we all have some other neighbors, wink wink!) Anyway, I had seen her before and tried to find out what she was, because we were thinking about a smaller-to-medium-size-dog previously, and I thought she was just so cute! So, we were standing there, and S-I-L mentions that "they think they finally found a home for her...." What?! They're getting rid of her? She explains that the family is never home, and the parents feel bad that she gets so little attention. I can't help myself: I blurt out "But, I want her!"

That was it: my 2 sweet BratGirls and my eldest nephew marched over to the neighbors and asked if we could have her. Lo and behold, they said YES!

Now the hard part.

I asked BratDad if we could have her. "No." Please? They already said yes? "NO." My version of puppy dog eyes.... "NO!" I begged, pleaded, and promised to do things I hadn't done in a very long time (my bathrooms are extremely dirty!) "NO!!! We don't need a dog!"

Hmmmmm.....

BratGirl1 went in to talk to him, and promised to pick up poop every day.

BratGirl2 went in to talk to him, and promised to feed her.

I waited.

I went in and knelt at his side. BIG puppy-dog-eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like a bad guy. You're not. It's my fault for getting the girls' hopes up."

I waited.

"Do you really want a dog?"

"Yes."

I waited.

Puppy-dog-eyes.

"Fine. Happy Mother's Day."

She moved in the next day, and we're all so very glad she did.