Lately there has been a lot of bad news around me. Cancer, people dying, negative, negative, negative. Usually I don’t internalize the negativity quite so much, but lately I haven’t been sleeping and thinking negative thoughts. I think part of it is that we’ve been so busy that I’ve had no down time and when you stop taking care of yourself, your body stops taking care as well. I’ve mentioned before in this blog that my youngest son loves animals and wants a dog (boys’ best friend). I love animals and I especially love dogs, but I’ve resisted getting a dog because we are not home enough. Several weeks ago we went to a friend’s place for a barbecue. This family has a dog, a bird and chickens in their backyard. Matthew was holding the chickens and cuddling them to his chin and petting them like a dog. His face was completely lit up and I realized I wasn’t only depriving him of the animal but I was stopping a part of him from developing. On the way home he asked me if he can’t have a dog can he have a chicken? I said “no chickens but we’ll start thinking about what type of animal we should get.” He then said he wanted a bird and he badgered me for days about getting a bird. I just couldn’t see getting a bird because it’s not like you can cuddle with a bird and then I had premonitions of this bird flying around my house and crap all over my walls. Finally we decided on a guinea pig and my son’s face just lit up, just the uplifting positive, hopeful feeling I needed. We get to the pet store and the woman selling us the guinea pig tells us how social the animals are and we should really have two. I”m watching these little rodents and I thought “yeah pretty lonely in a cage all day by yourself, so we’ll get two.” Of course two means a bigger cage, more bedding, more food and by the time I leave the store the $24.00 guinea pig cost $200.00. The first few days the little guys did nothing but hide in their little house and hardly vocalized, but as time passes the little guys are getting more and more comfortable. The boys decided to name them Thunder and Lightning. Lightning’s hair is always standing up on end so there you have the name Lightning. Thunder is very quiet and not as vocal as lighting but the boys decided to call him Thunder because the name went with Lightning! Usually when I purchase something I research it through and through and have a vague idea what I’m about to do. I barely researched these animals and If I had, I most likely would not of bought the little guys from the big box store, I would have looked for a cage somewhere else and I would have realized that these little guys are a lot of work. They need fresh vegetables twice a day and fruit once a week, they need a constant supply of pellets and hay, cage spot cleaned several times a day and completely cleaned once a week, they need to get out of the cage and exercise at least once a day and apparently their fur is supposed to be brushed and their nails clipped. Hell I should have just got the dog – a bowl of dry dog food every day, a walk once a day and boot the dog out the door when he/she has to go to the bathroom and poop scoop the backyard at the end of each day. I have to admit I like Thunder and Lightning, they purr, chirp, jump(popcorn they call the jump – straight up into the air like popcorn) and sing especially when you bring them fresh vegetables. Just like I thought would happen the pets have sort-of become mine as who do you think is doing the food run and the poop and pee check! Both the boys are there to hold them, pet them and do all the fun things… When we bought these little guys I told my husband they would be a good introduction to a dog – show the boys the responsibility of owning an animal, but as time moves on maybe, must maybe that these little guys are slowly helping me with the transformation of owning another dog..Until then I’ve got my work cut out for me with these two little cuties.
MOMWHEARINGLOSS 
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