Squeaky, we hardly knew ye...

Squeaky 1.0

So, I'm sort of having a week. It's been a while since I've posted (again!) and there has been a lot lot lot going on here. Here's one story, which my sister requested that I blog. :)

We got 2 really awesomely cute dwarf hamsters 2 weeks ago this Thursday. They were promtly named Squeaky and George. George apparently had a murderous streak in him and although I was advised by PetSmart that it was perfectly fine to house 2 male hamsters in one cage, it was certainly NOT. Poor Squeaky was injured by George and we brought George's ass back to PetSmart. I felt so responsible for poor little Squeaky that I took care of him for 2 days until the poor thing died last Sunday night.

Now, we had a family event on Sunday, and of course I had to fill my DSIL's in on the drama. They are brilliant, in my eyes, as they have raised 5 beautiful, responsible upstanding citizens between them, and then there's me freaking out about what to do about the impending death of Squeaky. SIL Sue announced she felt Squeaky should appear to make a "Miraculous recovery" no matter what his fate. Ahhhh....the classic bait and switch. I am all over this. So, this is my plan last Sunday night after little Squeaky died. My plan A was to get Jessie on the school bus Monday morning and basically keep her so busy she'd not have time to ask about Squeaky, clean the cage, bury Squeaky and run to PetSmart for another hamster.

Uhm, yeah... so, 3 pet stores (who knew all the stores would sell out their winter white dwarf hamsters over the weekend??!), one broken cage (Mom, I am SO sorry I started swearing while I was on the phone with you...) 4 phone calls and 1 panic attack later I resigned myself to admitting the bait and switch wasn't going to work.

So, then I called Kelly. Plan B.

Kelly and I figured Jessie would handle being told about the demise of Squeaky very well if there was another hamster in the cage when she got home. Now, I am sure by now, y'all might be wondering, "Well - honestly, Sue - why buy a pet for a child if you can't explain death to her?" Well, because she's SEVEN. And she's JESS. Jessie's reaction to the death of a hamster could range from gut wrenching sobs to "can we go get another one now?"

So, okay. I exchanged the broken cage at PetSmart. They gave me store credit for Squeaky and I upgraded the water bottle and bought a hamster igloo. Yes, they may hamster igloos. Go figure. Then we headed off to the local pet store to buy another dwarf hamster that resembled a mouse more than Squeaky, but, whatever - this one was a female and she was pretty cute.

Cute Hamster is installed in her cage and I had about 30 minutes to spare before the school bus arrived. When Jessie got off the bus, her reaction ended up being sort of a non-reaction...Kelly was right: she was sorry Squeaky had died the night before, she wasn't upset I didn't tell her, and any sadness she had was immediately alleviated by Cute Hamster. So, then I asked her, "So. What do you think you'll name her?" The reply?

"I think I'll call her Squeaky."

So, now we have a new hamster that Chris and I refer to as "Squeaky 2.0"