June ... really ??

This year is so totally different as far as weather goes ... it almost doesn't seem like it's summer.  Of course that is throwing me off of realizing how LATE in the year it already is ... how did June come and fly by so fast!??!  The kids are home from school and getting back into "summer mode", trying to balance sleeping in with doing chores, playing video games with going outside.  As long as the weather is nice, I try to kick them outside at least part of the day - it's good for them, and it's quieter for me!

Last Monday, I realized that my dates were wrong on St. Louis RenFaire - I had thought it was on through July, but June 9 was the last day.  So we planned to go, rain or shine, on the 8th.  Fortunately, we had lovely sunny weather, not too hot and with a decent breeze.  I'm really hoping to spend some time there next year - and even asked Josh if he'd consider possibly doing the one in Kansas City.  Although with a six hour drive, that would be an all weekend event ... more expensive etc.

Got word on June 1st that we have baby ratties coming!  I am eagerly watching the pictures at Sweet Genes - Miss Raspberry had 14 babies on May 31st.  Debbie is still deciding which little girl she will be keeping and that will help determine who we get.  I'll just be happy with healthy girls ... tho a dumbo rex would be awesome :)

Two more weeks and Daniel and I will be heading out to Dallas for YFN.  We've got meetings the next couple of weeks with leaders and parents - to give everyone an idea of what to expect.  We have a few veterans going, but mostly new people who have never been!  I'm pretty excited - I know Josh thinks I'm crazy for being excited about traveling and spending time with 30 non-family members ...

RatFink

I'm sitting here today, after having worked 5 hours of overtime, cleaned the rat cage, and cuddled Fink for as long as she would let me ... wishing that my little ratties lived longer.  Fink isn't doing so well - I'm fairly sure at this point that she has a pituitary tumor, which means there is nothing I can do except to make her as comfortable as possible.  She's almost 2 and was the first experience we had with rattie intelligence - and there's a story behind that one.

One evening, not long after getting Fink, she was out and running around on top of our desks, which face each other.  Josh was still at work, and she was over on his desktop, when I heard a gnawing sound.  Sure enough - she was nibbling on the foam padding of his headphones.  OOPS ... she knew she had screwed up and came slinking back over to my side of the desk, where I scooped her up and put her back in her cage.  Josh came home about 40 minutes later and before I had a chance to tell him, he stopped by her cage to say hi.  Well, she had initially climbed up the bars to greet him, but when she realized who it was, she dropped back down and "hid" in the back corner instead.  Of course he picked her up for cuddles to see if she was hurt or anything, and she started licking all over him - she'd always been kissy with me but not so much with him, so that was a little surprising.  That was when I told him about the headphones and we realized she was ashamed and was doing the only she knew how to apologize.

Think about it ... not only did she remember what she had done - 40 minutes later - but she also connected Josh with his headphones and the fact that she wasn't supposed to chew on them, and felt shame for having done so ... and then tried to apologize!

It's just not fair - I think of how smart and affectionate she is, and how awesome it would be to have her around for years and years.  Think of all she could learn if she just had that kind of time!  Maybe that's why God takes them so early - they're just too smart for us humans to be able to handle.

Is it weird or strange that I can get so attached?  A lot of people say yes, especially where a rodent is concerned.  But I don't see Fink (or any of my girls) that way.  They are family - they have fur instead of smooth skin, but they are my babies just the same.  My ratties know their names, come when called (usually, especially when there are yogies involved), and all of them give "kisses" - licking all over my fingers.  They follow me and beg for attention and love - some will even leap out of the cage onto my shoulder if I'm not paying *enough* attention to them!

So while I have the time, this is my tribute to Fink - the first of many, who introduced me to everything a rat can be.  The other girls will have some very large paw prints to fill.

Snow thoughts and backwards logic

Actually had someone tell us tonight that we should stop making our house payment for a few months and pay them $4000 ... so that we could qualify for a loan modification to drop our payment by $300 a month.

Anyone else noticing the jacked up backwards logic there?


On a brighter note, we had some very nice snow this afternoon.  The kids are hoping for school to be closed tomorrow, but so far, no such luck.  I keep checking like a good mom, just in case SPS 186 decides to play it safe and not have buses running and kids standing on street corners in 6 inches of snow ...

Of course, given that this IS Illinois we're talking about, the chances that all this snow will still be here by tomorrow late morning are pretty slim.  Especially with the weather calling for rain in the morning.  The roads are going to be a big fat sloppy mess!!


My random thought for the night ... Nitro is almost 12.  In dog years, that's almost 80, according to a graph on Wikipedia anyway.  He still acts like a puppy - bouncing around today when he saw the snow, begging to go outside over and over just to run around in it.  Mind you - he doesn't like *cold* ... just *snow*.  Hard to get the latter without the former, but that's where it is.  I think he tolerates the cold for the sake of the snow.

hmm ... what's this do?

ok ... so I'm going to try out this blogging thing.  Late to the game, yeah ... it's ok.  I'll probably have quite a few rants on here ... maybe some encouragement.  Hopefully more of the latter!