March 2008

Today is report card day. Oh, the fun we’re going to have around here in the near future…

I have yet to get Middle One to stand still long enough to let me take a good photo of his new hairdo – - so this will have to suffice. But come on, is he not THE cutest punk-rock kid EVER?

What I’d do with $1K – if I had to spend it on stuff that I wanted and not on, say, bill paying or anything to do with the kids:

• Buy myself the “Delight” and the Birkenstock shoes I want.
• Buy a lot of chicken wire to keep the rabbits out of our garden this year
• Get the boys’ names tattooed on me (as promised)
• Get my other tattoo designed and inked
• Buy a serger.

The End.

Maymo: I like Santa because he has two knees.

Me: Umm…?

Maymo: That way TWO people can sit on his lap. That’s what I like best about Santa.

Obviously, we can TOTALLY save money on gifts this year.

I have decided that the $50 it costs to buy a new Wii game is a good trade-off for a few weekends of sex with my husband and a guarantee that no one will knock on the bedroom door. We need to work this into our budget.

Tomorrow I’m taking Ninja to the vet to have her euthanized.

After what we were certain was a stroke, she improved for about a day and was eating like a pig. We were hopeful.

Tonight, she started to have seizures. She seems dazed and tired and is panting and, in short, I can’t let her suffer.

Although I haven’t mentioned them in, oh, a million years, the rats are all very much alive and, until today, quite healthy and happy. I still spend a lot of time smooching them and I spoil them rotten and, in short, they’ve had no issues with the kids moving into their world.

This afternoon, however, as I moved laundry around, I noticed that Ninja was splayed out on the bottom level of the cage. That level is dedicated to poop – it’s the one place all three rats do their ‘business’ and there’s nothing down on that level other than a fine coating of Carefresh litter. She was just.. sitting there. Not pooping.

When I came over to see what was going on I realized she had problems moving her hind legs.

I picked her up and noticed that her hind legs are very weak to respond, and when she’s in the cage she’s mostly shuffling herself using her front legs and a bit of wiggling. She’s slow-moving, however, and she looks a little glazed in the eyes.

She did eat normally and drinks normally and.. well, yeah. Those are both good signs in the grand scheme of rat-ness.

There’s a good chance she’s had a stroke or that she simply has “rear paralysis” (both are common in rats her age) and neither one of those has any treatment. The resources I’ve consulted all say that time may improve things slightly (especially if it was a stroke) or she may continue to degenerate.

The good news, however, is that she’s likely not in pain (based on her behaviours) and, as such, she could still live another year, like this, assuming I take the appropriate precautions of making sure she has accessible water and food and that I arrange things in the cage so her life will be a bit easier.

The other two rats are currently taking care of her – grooming her and snuggling with her – so I’m not concerned about that side of things.

It makes me extremely sad, though, to see her struggling. She’s always been such a bouncy, happy, chipper rat and to see her so slowed and weak is heartbreaking. My poor little rah.

Maymo, according to our new scale, weighs 53 pounds. He’s 4. And he’s very much NOT a pudgy kid.

Middle One weighs 68. He is 8.

Oldest One weighs 122. He is 10.

We are SO SCREWED when they’re all teenagers and require an entire side of beef per meal.

Last night Coffee and I watched “Across The Universe” which turned out to be a really, really good movie. Really good, at least, if you’re a fan of The Beatles. I enjoyed it very much.

This morning, before noon, I made granola bars from scratch and cleaned the kitchen and chopped up veggies for Coffee’s lunches and packed Maymo’s lunch for tomorrow and made sammiches for Middle One and, in short, I am now ready for a nap.

The kids have done exactly three things: woke up, ate breakfast, plunked down in front of the Wii. Lesson learned: always rent a game before a long weekend and you’ll never see the kids at all unless they’re fighting about something game-related.

When the kids are playing the Wii in the playroom, I can blast my music and dance around.

Tonight, Coffee and I are going to eat bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies. I have decided that it’s a mandatory once-a-month thing.

I believe all school holidays should be holidays for everyone else, too. Even if you’re not a parent.

Fedora has been updated to “Werewolf” and now I’m trying in vain to get Gtkpod to work. It hates me. It absolutely hates me. Otherwise, I am impressed with FC8.

I made this recipe (with frozen peas. I know. Shoot me.) and it’s really, really, REALLY good. It’s “eat it on a spoon and to hell with the crostini” good.

I’m now going to go and eat some.