She Did It!

It was three months, and a lot of work, but Kristin finally did it!!!

Lets back up to the drive home from Tam & Eric's in GA at Christmas. Kristin was stating how she wanted a pet that was just hers for her room. She was thinking turtle, but really wanted something she could play with that would respond back to her. Our response was that we didn't care what she got (short of another Dog or Cat) and that she had to pay for whatever it was that she bought, and all the care was left to her. The big kicker though, was that she had to keep her room clean for three months before we would allow her, and she had to know the care and cost for purchase for whatever it was that she chose to get. In those three months she was allowed three "goofs" as far as her room was concerned. She only used two--and not only did she keep her room clean, but she has saved her birthday money (Yep, from October), her Christmas money, and allowance in between. The only thing she spent was for some Christmas gifts at Christmas...nothing for herself. She's our saver!! Long story short--she's spent three months researching animals, and decided on a rat. They are the cleanest of all animals, very smart, trainable, and very interactive. Kristin knows just about everything there is to know about a rat.

SO....April 1st, Kristin said...hey, my three months is up...when are we going to Eugene (the big pet store is there). I told her I wouldn't be taking them to work much because I'm having very long days when I go in, and until the new computer system is old hat, they will stay at home. We did however, have Dr Appointments in Corvallis on the 2nd....so Kristin looked up pet stores in the phone book, and the chain she liked in Eugene was also in Corvallis. So, she packed her purse with her stash ($101.71) and off we headed to the DR's. After their appointments (check ups--since our insurance is ending at the end of the month), we headed to the pet store. Kristin (Miss Thrifty) finds out we can save 10% if we sign up for their "prefered member" card, which is free--so she walks out saving 11.00! We agreed to go half with her on the cage, since we went halves with Ryan on the guitar. SO..after all her spending, she still had over 40.00 left...and an awesome 4 story cage! I call it the Rat Condo!

We arrived home, and Daddy helped Kristin put the Condo together. Kristin's friend Makinzie helped her set up the Condo "rat style" (Makinzie has mice--so she knew kind of what they liked!), and the girls spent an hour decorating, organizing and setting up (I can't believe I didn't get any pictures...I've been slacking there!). We told her the cage had to be set up before we would get the rats.

Our friend Robert who is living with us now, thinks we are INSANE--but he's a great sport about it all. Here he is (now clean shaven...we thought the beard looked OK...but he's sporting a nice clean shaven face) with his famous mix of Top Ramen, Tuna & the secret ingredient (OK to tell???)--I'll save the secret until we make sure it's OK to tell!! At any rate...a side of olives, and you have a complete meal! He's been great to have around...we love to hear him sing at night. Too bad we didn't have sound piped upstairs!

As for the rats, Kristin also had checked out where she wanted to purchase them. She had been to all the local pet stores, and we hit the OK Feed Store down the hill from us. They had very nice rats, and she knew this is where she wanted to go...PLUS...they were 2.99 each, and everywhere else they were 5-7.00 each. She headed to bed last night, VERY excited.

At 3AM Kristin was awake with a fever of 101. The night before, she had been up with a fever of 102.5, but she's only waking with these fevers, and is fine during the day, nothing seems to be wrong. Very strange. At any rate, she woke this morning excited, and ready to go get her rats. She had called last night, and found out when they opened, so at 8:30, we were at the feed store, purchasing their last two girl rats!!

Betty Lou & Maisey May came home in a cardboard box, and were pretty scared...so scared that they tried to run up Kristin's jacket sleeve as she was putting them in their cage!! It's been a fun afternoon, and they are the most friendly little critters I've seen. They will come to you when you open the cage, crawl in your hand, and let you haul them around. So far, the cats are only curious, and Ashley let Kristin hold Betty Lou on the couch, and she didn't seem to care she was there. We will use lots of caution there though!

Here they are....Betty Lou is the grey hooded white rat, and Maisy May is the butterscotch hooded white rat. They both snuggle like this to go to sleep...way cute. I'm sure you'll see more pictures soon. I guess I need to add them to the gallery of pets on the blog now, huh?!!