I'm naming them Quincy and Monster, in case you were wondering.

We have been fine.

Not much is going on in our lives right now, so there's not much to blog about. I've been working, Brandon's been working. I've been trying to keep up with house work, Brandon spent his birthday money on a guinea pig cage (and pretty much talked me into spending an extra *mumble, mumble* dollars on it for him, even though I'd already got him presents.) Guinea Pig seems pretty happy with it. It's so big you could take a bath in the base of it. And it has a shelf with a ramp for extra space, and Guinea Pig likes to hide out underneath it. She's become a lot less interesting since moving into the big cage, though. Brandon says she's sleeping the same amount, it's just that she has more space in which to do it now. We are considering getting a second piggie to keep her company, but I insist on getting my pet rats first. Have I mentioned the rats? If not, I'll mention them now.

I've thought rats sounded like an interesting pet since I read the book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (it's really good and an easy read.) Stargirl has a pet rat named Cinnamon that rides around on her shoulder. That sounds pretty cool. Rats make really good pets, and are much more social, friendly, and talented than other small pets like hamsters (or guinea pigs, for that matter.) They are happy to see you, don't run away when you try to pick them up, and can even learn their names and come when you call them. That's the kind of pet I want- the kind of pet I miss. I desperately miss my dogs. I could never have a pet like a rat because of the dogs...but now that I am not allowed to have my dogs, I figure I might as well get a rat. Or two. Rats are so social they need someone to keep them company at all times, so everyone recommends you keep them in pairs. And my philosophy is, the more pets the better.

So I am pretty much demanding I get a pet rat or two for my birthday. Ok, "demanding" sounds a little harsh", but we have the cage (Guinea Pig's old one) and the bedding (they use the same kind as you-know-who) so why not? It's what I want. And they're only like, twelve dollars each. I could have a rat farm with the money I spent on Brandon's birthday (a rat farm sounds a little unsanitary.)

Enough about small household rodents, though. I've got some time on my hands today- Brandon gets off at 7 pm, and I'm off work. I will eventually get off the computer and get some cleaning done. We are trying to have fewer disagreements about "chores" and what exactly our responsibilities are by getting organized. I have this fabulous book- Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook- that tells you EVERYTHING you could possibly need to know about running a house. It tells you how to maintain, clean, take care of, and repair everything, room by room. It tells you how to effectively organize, what different kitchen tools are, and how to prepare for emergencies. Everything is in this book! It's bigger than most Bibles and costs about $40, but it's so worth it. Anyway, my point is that there is a handy dandy checklist for cleaning and taking care of your home in the beginning of the book. There's a daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal checklist- and then a checklist for spring and fall cleaning, too. So I split up the lists by who's responsible for what, and printed them off. Hopefully having a list will help me stay on top of things, and seeing that my lists are much longer than his will encourage Brandon to help out. And I'm totally not saying that to be mean. I will report back on the success of our little plan. Martha Stewart is amazing and when it comes to domesticity, she has it together more than most of us do. Hopefully her guidance will help us.