Quincy and Monster have been found!

Well, I have some fairly exciting news. At least, I think it's exciting.

On Monday morning, I was spending my usual morning computer time browsing the interwebs for all kinds of stuff, and for whatever reason I decided to check the status of a craigslist ad I had bookmarked regarding some pet rats for sale. The link no longer worked, but I took a look at the pets section of the Louisville ads, just in case. Lo and behold, there was a posting from 12:55 that morning regarding some newly born baby rats. They were born April 15th, and the litter consisted of three girls and four boys. There were pictures on the ad, and I fell in love. The pics were taken when they were coming up on a week old- they looked like newborn kittens, with squinty eyes and pink noses- and long rat tails. You could tell what most of their fur was going to look like. I sent the seller an email, telling her I was interested in reserving two of the girls (baby rats can't leave their mommies until 4-6 weeks of age) and asking about the price. I went to work Monday thinking I probably wouldn't hear back from this person for a day or two, but when I got home, there was an email waiting for me, listing a great price, and saying she'd be happy to reserve two of the girls for me! I wrote back and told her I'd take them. She actually lives a few minutes from my home, and apparently we have one mutual facebook friend. Anyway. I am extremely excited about this- I had been hesitant about buying from a pet store because a.) you can't guarantee the age, and b.) they probably aren't handled very often. The seller says the babies are being handled every day, and should be able to come home some time in the few days following my birthday, which is great because I don't want to wait very long! She will send pictures this week and for the following two weeks, to show their progress. I saw pictures of them when they were newborns and they grew so much in that first week! When they were first born, they were pink and hairless and a bit translucent- you could see the milk in their bellies. It was a little creepy. They are definitely less freakish now, and I've seen pictures of the sellers pet rats (fully grown) and they can only be described as precious.

So as you can see, I'm quite excited. I will post pictures as soon as I get them. I can't wait until they can come home!

Fingers crossed that no one gets mad cow disease.

You ever have one of those supremely stupid days, and you feel like if you don't tell someone about it, your head might explode? I don't think that counts as complaining. You are...venting your emotions. Yeah.

Last night I told Brandon that we needed to stop by Meijer on the way home from church, because when I went to the grocery store yesterday (Kroger, right by the apartment) they didn't have what I needed to make dinner tonight. The plan was to fix chicken enchiladas- I was actually going to sort of cook since Brandon's cousin was coming over for dinner. I have been planning this meal for about a week. Anyway, when I woke up this morning I was having some issues, and I wasn't able to go to church. I pleaded with Brandon to please stop at Meijer on his way home and get what I needed (two things! And they are a few feet away from each other in the store!) because I would spend the whole day cleaning the apartment, doing three loads of laundry, and, well, having issues. Having him stop by the store for me would have been extremely helpful.

He did not stop at the store.

So at some point I discussed my dilemma with my mother, and she told me Wal-Mart had the stuff that I needed. I wasn't so sure, but there is a Wal-Mart right by the apartment, too, so it wouldn't hurt to check. So this afternoon, after I had made the apartment decent and assured Brandon I would spend my free time this evening doing laundry, I headed over to my parents' house to pick up my copy of the Glee dvd and drop off some mail that needs to go out tomorrow. I should have just stopped by (a different) Meijer then, because it is a few minutes from their house- but from my apartment, not so close. Especially when it's raining and the traffic is bad. But for whatever reason, I just headed back toward home and went to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart did not have what I needed.

As I was leaving that dumb store, I decided I was mad at mom for telling me that Wal-Mart had what I needed (which is dumb because it's not like she works there or whatever) and mad at Brandon for not doing what I asked him to do (which isn't as dumb because he should have helped me out, but whatever).

I had to drive all the way back down Bardstown to Hurstbourne and go to Meijer. Passing my parents' house on the way. And guess what? That Meijer didn't have what I needed, either. At this point I was ready to punch someone in the jaw (I've been having trouble managing my anger lately). I called mom to complain about my situation, and she tried being helpful and suggesting other things to have for dinner, but you know what? I don't deal well with change. I had already bought half the ingredients for dumb enchiladas, and I was mad that three major grocery chains let me down, and I didn't want anything else for dinner at this point, so I shot every one of her ideas down. Even homemade pizza, which I can't make because we didn't get the pizza pan from our registry and I only have these two really nice cookie sheets my aunt gave us, which are perfect for making cookies, but because they are narrow and have raised edges on all sides, they are pretty much limited to cookies and like, fish sticks. You can't make pizzas on them. Believe me, I tried, and it was a mess.

So now my mom hates me because I wasn't very friendly, plus I told her I was "irrationally angry" with her for telling me Wal-Mart had the dumb stuff to begin with (hey, I said it was irrational.) I finally gave in and got stuff to make tacos, which I'm not thrilled about because in the hundred something days since we've been back from our honeymoon, I have gotten sick every single time I've eaten beef, except this one time but I ended up feeling bad later anyway so I don't think it counts. So either dinner will make me sick, or I won't eat dinner. Fun times, no?

Like I said. It's been a dumb day. And if I didn't tell anyone, I might have had an aneurysm. Brandon won't listen to me (it's video game time) and mom doesn't have an interest in doing so, either, so that pretty much just leaves this thing. I think talking to an actual person would have been a bit more satisfying, but I'll take what I can get. And now I'll go mope in my room for an hour or so.

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.

Easter

Easter went pretty well this year. It wasn't much of a struggle trying to see both our families (unlike Christmas...). Easter morning we got up and went to church, and had to park in the Kohl's parking lot and take the school bus shuttle over to the church, which was a little fun. Apparently some people thought it was more fun than others because I heard rumors of parents shouting "HEY! ISN'T THIS EXCITING? WE'RE ON A BUS!!!" in their kids' faces. After church we had lunch at my Mammaw's and spent time catching up with family. My brother was sick so he didn't eat lunch, which was disappointing, but what are you going to do? The kid had a 101 degree fever. Anyway, after that it was off to Brandon's aunt's house. The Jones clan does holidays pretty interestingly, to me, anyway. Whereas my family gets together, eats a meal, spends a little time together and goes home, they set out lots of food and everybody eats whenever they show up. Then they spend several hours playing games and hanging out, and whenever your tummy feels like it's dinner time, you just go get more food. We got there a little before 3, and were still stuffed from lunch, so we didn't eat. I brought our wedding pictures and those got passed around, and by the time pretty much everyone had seen them, almost everyone had left the house and gone across the street (to Brandon's cousin's house) to either watch or play badminton. This was a little less fun for me because of all the trouble I've had with my allergies and lungs lately...I had to use my inhaler a few times, and all I did was sit in a lawn chair and play with my phone. Then my wonderful mother-in-law asked if I wanted to play Scrabble (I had brought it but Brandon said no one would want to play!) and we played a round. We were eventually joined by my probable future sister-in-law Emily, and then more family members. By the time we were on round three or four I was getting a little antsy and ready to go home- it was after 7:30. So Brandon packed up a plate of food for his dinner and we left. All in all it wasn't a terrible day- not that I was expecting it to be. I'm not really sure when the next family get-together holiday is, but hopefully it will go as smoothly as this one.