Rat Drama

The last week has been nuts! I have been so busy with school (including and extra paper and a test), another class I'm taking, a surprise I'm working on for Mycal, Emmuska and Liberty etc. Here is the little extra drama thrown on top of everything else for the week. As you know Dora died last week. Rats being super social really need companionship so last Saturday Mycal picked up another rat - an absolutely teeny little guy we named Rutabaga - she was cute small, especially compared to Diego that it was really cute. Diego really took to her - I think the mothering instinct in her really came out. (As a point of clarification all the rats we have owned have been female...despite their names...what can I say I have a two to three year old helping us name them.) So Diego really took Rutabaga in and it looked like things would work out okay. Then Wed. night, while I'm trying to finish homework due in a few hours, I hear Mycal calling to me that I really need to come downstairs. Turns out Quincy (Thom's dog, the only dog in the house that cannot deal with the rats...) knocked the cage off the stand it was on, breaking it open. By the time I got down there neither rat was to be found. It didn't take to long to find Diego. She's used to people so she will readily come out of hiding but despite concerted efforts we can't find Rutabaga anywhere. We assume that she ran down a pipe or that Quincy ate her or something to that effect and last night headed to the pet store again. While looking at our new rat we aren't quite sure what to name it - Rutabaga was a really great name but it fit the other rat so well it's almost like betrayal to give it another name. We finally decide we will ask Emmuska if it's name is Rutabaga or Parsnip (the other name we had in case she felt the last Rutabaga was the only Rutabaga we could have). She goes with Rutabaga and for twelve hours things are almost like they had been two days ago. Until this morning when I hear rustlings. At first I thought it was my imaginations until I hear it again. I look and there is little Rutabaga, alive and apparently well, but also very quick. Mycal and I tried to catch her for about 15 minutes before she completely disappeared. When we went back she is nowhere to be found. We have spent all day cleaning and de-cluttering in order to find her and can't find a trace of the little rat. I have no idea where she could have possibly gone. I hope we find her. It seemed such a sure thing this morning after sighting her, but now I'm not so sure.

School

I am having the hardest time with school right now. I'm only taking two classes but it is kicking my butt. What is really frustrating is that they aren't even really hard classes. One is rather enjoyable. It's just really difficult for me to keep up with the work. I wish I could listen to the textbook - that would help a little. It would also help if I wasn't so freakin' tired all the time. I don't know what it is but I'm thinking my body decided that it should be hibernating right now instead of staying up to work on class. Whatever it is I'm going crazy that I'm not getting more done. Well I'd better get back to work...got a lot due today.

Dora

Dora died this evening. I'm more sad and down than I know I should be. She was a rat. She was a rat in pain and ready to go. But I'm still sad because now she is gone. She was a really good rat. Patient, laid back, great with the kids. She just had a sort of soft personality that one couldn't help but love - even if she was a rat. I'm sad because she was a great rat. She was Diego's friend and I'm not sure how easy it will be to replace that kind of friendship. I hope that she is happier now, even though she was just a rat because she was special to us.

Poor Dora

Dora isn't doing too well. I don't know what happened but somehow she got sick. It's been getting progressivly worse for the last couple of days and now it's really bad. My heart is so sad for her. I don't know what to do to help her. Taking her to the vet would cost 40$, putting her to sleep is 76$. I just can't justify paying that but I feel so badly because she looks so sick. I don't know what to do and just wish that I could help her get better.

Whittling down the toys

The situation stood thus...Emmuska has quiet possibly a million and a half toys, which she and Liberty systematically pull off the shelves and leave all over the floor. At one point I picked everything up off the floor, put it in a (huge) sack and left it in the trunk of our car of two - three weeks. And she never missed any of it. So we decided that cleaning up was hard for her because she was so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of toys. Can't say as I blame her - I was overwhelmed. Yesterday we implemented the hoped for solution - Operation Toys to Storage (okay we are still working on the name...) We dumped all the toys out of the bag as well as everything she had in her room. I let her pick out about 15 books and 5 stuffed animals. It was great to see her make decisions. At first she just grabbed the first fifteen books she saw but as she was helping me put the rest into the storage bucket she would run across one she really wanted, at which point I would let her know that if she wanted it she could trade it for a book that she already had out. In this fashion she went through the remaining books deciding which ones were the ones she really wanted. Then it came time for the stuffed animals. Once again I told her how many she could keep and how many would go into the storage box. Of course she grabbed the closest five to keep. However it didn't take her too long to realize these weren't really the ones she wanted. At first she tried to bargain with Liberty's animals (she only has three but that didn't hinder Emmuska's enthusiasm for using them as leverage). As we were winding down she was coming on some tough decisions...wombat or teddy bear...Stinky or a doll...Pinky or a cow... it was pretty hard for her to decide but each time she would pick out the one to go to storage give it a hug then put it in the storage box. Finally it was between Pinky and the cow and she picked Pinky to go to storage. I was surprised. She looked at Pinky, gave it a big hug and said "I love you Pinky but you have to go to storage for now. I'll clean my room and get you back soon." It was so bitterly cute. I asked her why she picked the cow instead of Pinky and she said "Because Grandpa gave me the cow." She is so thoughtful sometimes. Sure it's in those little ways that almost make no sense but still it's there. It all turned out well as we found a couple other toys around the house and I gave her the option to keep them or trade them for something in the storage box. She immediately traded for Stinky and Pinky.

Shutterfly website

I just thought that I'd let you know that you can download the pictures I post to my Shutterfly website if you have a Shutterfly account. I thought that was pretty much awesome as there are so many times I want to get pictures from others and have no way of doing so without having access to their computer. So if they wanted to share I'd be able to get the pics. Also as a note I'm not giving up on Snapfish. They are still way more convenient for one hour pick-up (haven't checked out Target through Shutterfly yet) and have great sales a few times a year plus really good prices all the time. Anyhow just thought I'd share.

Liberty Loves Music

It's true - the girl absolutely loves music. She carries around my pocket hymnal opening it up and 'singing'. I love it! She makes the cutest sounds while she is singing. I'll have to try and record it sometime - it's so adorable! When we are in church no matter what she is doing (unless by some miracle she has fallen asleep) as soon as the piano starts playing she grabs the hymn book, pulls it open and starts singing. One time we were in another room down the hall from the chapel when she heard the music start. She grabbed my hand and walked me down to our seats in the chapel and started singing. Even better is when she adds dancing to it. Sometimes she will twirl around other times (like when I turn the radio on in the car) she will do a little head bobbing action. It's so much fun to see kids personalities coming through.

Preschool

Emmuska started preschool this week. It's just a couple days a week for a little over two hours each day but she loves it. She was so ready to get out and do a little more on her own. She keeps talking to me about her teacher and how much she loves going to her school. She is also taking tumbling/dance classes (one of each each week for half and hour, the days she isn't doing school) She is also thrilled about these classes. It's really fun to see how much she is growing. The tricky part is that of course I need to take Liberty with me to drop off and pick up Emmuska and of course Liberty wants to do what Emmuska is doing. She was so sad today when Emmuska went into the dance studio and the door closed and she couldn't go in too. On preschool days it's a little easier to make it up to her because she and I have a couple hours to go out and do something together but on dance days it doesn't really work to leave. We'll have to figure something out.
As it turned out Emmuska's preschool was taking a field trip this week so we all went to a museum. Emmuska was so funny she packed her school bag (the school gave her one for projects and what not) with stickers, paper, her camera, Goldfish and water. She told me that she wanted to share with her classmates. It made me so happy - almost as happy as when we got to the museum and she saw something she liked so she pulled out her camera and took a picture. What can I say - she's learned some of life's most important lessons already. The rest is just fluff.

Photos!

In case your not interested in the rather dry stuff that is the previous post I didn't want you to miss this information. I've created another website through Shutterfly - it's an easier and more convenient way of sharing more photos with all of you. Check it out. http://todaywelove.shutterfly.com/

Shutterfly vs. Snapfish

In the last three plus years I've tried different online photo processing centers I've had the opportunity to share, compare and evolve my opinions - which I thought I would share with all of you.
I've always been a huge fan of Snapfish (www.snapfish.com) I don't even remember how I found Snapfish but I've always loved it. Their prices are really good, (and they have wonderful sales a couple times a year where you can get 50 prints for 50 cents plus shipping and handling). Their site is really user friendly and you can order prints to be picked up at many different locations in town (Walgreen's and Staples come to mind immediately but there are others). My favorite feature though is that they offer what they call 'true digital' prints. Apparently digital cameras don't take 4x6 pictures so most places crop the photo (usually a bit off of each 6 inch side). A lot of time this isn't that big of a deal but I can't tell you how many times I framed the shot perfectly and ended up with somebody missing half their head. Frustrating. So I love that you can just click this option and get your photos the way you took them. Unfortunately this is only offered to mail order options - not local pick up.
Recently I was offered free prints (quite a lot actually) from Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) to try their service. I thought 'Hey free prints I can give it a try'. At first I was really frustrated with their website - it was very different from Snapfish's and I felt more difficult to use. Their upload option wasn't quite as easy to use as Snapfish's either nor did they have the 'true digital' option so I had to go through and make sure each picture was okay and wouldn't be missing something when it got cropped. After the order was placed I was pretty sure I wouldn't be using it anytime soon. However they had a couple really redeeming qualities. First you have the option of canceling your order (in a certain amount of time - I don't remember exactly how long now) if you made a mistake or realized you are going to need them faster. Also once I received my order I was completely impressed. The photo quality was amazing. Snapfish's photo quality is good - Shutterfly's was incredible. Of course they are more expensive - 15 cents per print as compared with 9 cents from Snapfish (mail order price; 4x6) but also very well done. They can also be printed and picked up in town from Target - I don't know of any other store they work through. One should note that all in store pickup is more expensive - Snapfish and Shutterfly alike. Another couple features I really like about Shutterfly is that you can put a message/note on the back of the picture - keeps me from having to do it later. Also most recently I've discovered that I can create a website through Shutterfly wherein I'm able to upload to my Shutterfly account, then I can share on the website or order - I think others can order too - not sure yet still have to look into it more but it looks like a great way to keep my photos together and still be able to share. So I think that the majority of my photos will end up over there your more than welcome to check it out. (http://todaywelove.shutterfly.com/) Let me know what you think.