Sick Day

Yesterday I had the pleasure (or rather displeasure) of being home sick. Spencer had it about a week ago so I guess it was my turn. When he gets sick, he gets just a mild headache or something. When I get sick, I'm pretty bad off. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say I'm glad I recently scrubbed the bathroom.

Being home sick got me thinking about some of the odd differences between men and women. For one, when a man gets sick, he is completely useless. Spencer was home with a pretty bad headache on Sunday and did absolutely nothing but watch TV and sleep (I take that back--he baked some potatoes. But still, how hard is that?). When I was sick yesterday I managed to do 5 loads of laundry, bake brownies for my hubby (I couldn't really eat them), read for my class, and pick up around the house a bit. Strange.

In other news, I also got to watch the hamster babies a bit. Housing them in a glass aquarium yields the advantage of having a glass bottom to the cage. Thus, if you pick it up and look under the nest you can see their tiny little bodies wiggling around under there. I think I counted 6, but there could be more. They must be getting bigger because this morning Juliet took a good amount of time to go running on her wheel. That freaked me out a little and when I couldn't see them by looking at the bottom of the cage I cautiously lifted the covering of the nest a bit to peek in and saw a happy pile of babies. I'm now afraid that doing so will make her to cannibalize them.

One side effect of illness: I suddenly have a strong desire to keep all the babies and had a vision of a 7 hamster filled cages lining my living room shelves. Hehehe...

M.I.A.

Since giving birth about a week ago, there hasn't been too much hamster action at the Russell house. It seems like Juliet only comes out to eat, drink, and then use the facilities before rushing back to her nest. When I do see her though, she looks rather larger and grumpy. It would seem that the surprise pregnancy has taken it's toll. Then again, who can blame her? She did just birth an as-yet to be identified number of pups. I know that there are at least 3, but there are probably more. I'll be able to do some investigating later on next week. At any rate, this morning I awoke to the sound of squealing. It would seem that the babies had found their collective voices and were crying out for mom.

Fun hamster facts: Hamsters become fertile within 4-5 weeks of age. Hamsters have a gestational period of 16 days. Hamsters can become pregnant immediately after giving birth. All of this combined is exactly why I only wanted one hamster! :) (Plus they are territorial and will fight if kept together.)

Hamster Babies

Juliet had her babies some time today. Hopefully I didn't disturb her too much when I peeked in the cage earlier. Sometimes new hamster moms eat their young--especially when they are stressed out. At any rate, as far as I can tell she had a bunch of babies. No total count as she's had them under her little house and I didn't want to freak her out by picking it up and looking for too long. I just checked long enough to see that they were there. So there you go. From zero hamsters to one to like 10 in a week. The babies will be ready to leave the nest in about 4 weeks. *Sigh* They grow up way too fast.

Guess What?

We're expecting! Not human babies though. Hamster babies. It would appear that Juliet came to us pregnant. Ironically, the Juliet character from "Lost" is a fertility specialist. Go figure. It seems like just yesterday I couldn't find a hamster, and now it would appear that I will soon have way to many. Anybody want a hamster in about a month?

Introducing:

Juliet!!

Snow Day

I looked out the window,
and what did I see?
Snow was piled up
as high as could be.

Spring had brought me
such a bad surprise
Snow flakes falling down
before my eyes.

I could take a scoop full
and make a treat.
A snow-filled cone
that wouldn't taste sweet.

Too bad it had to snow
Cause now that all I see
is snow flakes falling down
on top of Milwaukee!!

Q&A

Question: What does dinner look like for 2 married people in the mid twenties that both work more than full time?
Answer: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese with hot dogs, ketchup, and Tabasco.

It's going to be a long week...

Things I Learned From Hamsters

Spencer has often remarked that I have rather hamster-like tendencies. With the acquisition of a new furry friend, I thought it'd be fun to share some of the things I've learned from my pet hamsters.

1. Cardio is much better then weight lifting (at least it's more fun). Make sure you have a wheel (or in my case, exercise bike) in your home so you can get in a good workout every day.
2. Food is good. Stuff as much of it in your mouth as you can and then stash it around your home, office, car, etc. I, unfortunately, have taken this rule to heart.
3. Never give up. No matter how hard it may seem, keep trying to get out of the cage even though you've never been able to pull it off before. In my case, this means going back for more school and checking out new work opportunities.
4. Find creative solutions to your problems. Hurley managed to stop his wheel from spinning by piling his bedding around it so he could climb on top to get out. He didn't manage the getting out part, but he did make it on top of the wheel!
5. When presented with an opportunity, make a run for it. Juliet seems to have this one down pat since she attempted to scamper off every time her paws hit the ground this evening.
6. Always sleep curled up in a comfortable ball with your bedding cradling you. This means I get all the blankets! :P
7. Don't poke the bear. Never poke a sleeping animal or a sleeping Megan. We don't like it. Enough said.
8. Protest your annoyance, but never bite. OK, so some hamsters bite, but only if the human is doing something stupid. Hurley never bit, but he did growl to let me know he was ticked at me for breaking #7. What can I say; I'm still a kid at heart!
9. Bathe daily and keep your house clean. So I'm still working on half of this one. (Not the bathing part).
   
10. And finally, cuteness is always rewarded. 'Tis better to be cute than not. Cute hamsters (and people) get treats!

No pictures of Juliet yet. I haven't been able to locate the camera since Spencer dismantled the living room to make room for his new TV (I'll post about that later). Also, I have a midterm paper due on Wednesday that currently consists of 4 paragraphs and several one sentence things like, "look up that lecture" or "write about the Drahne's sliding scale for consent." Until I finish that and find the camera, be content to know that Juliet is currently on her second hour of running in her wheel. May we all have the energy in the morning! Goodnight.

New Hamster!

This past weekend I discovered Hoffer's Tropic Life Pets, a local pet shop that has everything from alligators to zebra fish, including hamsters!! It was truly an amazing pet store that was more like a zoo than anything. I probably spent about an hour looking at all the fish, baby bunnies, baby birds, ferrets, turtles, alligators, tortoises, and lizards before finally making it over to the hamsters. I am now the proud mama of a baby hamster girl. She's a beautiful creamy white with cute little black eyes. In keeping with the "Lost" theme, I've decided to name her Juliet. So far, she enjoys running on her wheel for hours on end and sleeping all day.

Pictures to follow eventually.

Dreams 2.0

Last night I had another interesting dream. I'll spare you the details, but I will tell you how it ended. It ended with Spencer and me running through a desert together while these really cool looking remote-controlled bombers sped off in the distance and then bombed the hospital where I work.

Positive: I woke up blissfully happy.
Negative: I still had to go to work.

I wonder if this dream is trying to tell me something...