Angibelle

My darling daughter, HannieC, has been plugging away at a reading workbook called "Phonics Pathways" for a while now. Enough so that she's really gotten to hate it. She was getting close to the end, so The Mrs. decided to incentivize her to finish with the promise of a mystery prize. The mystery prize was much hyped over the last few weeks, and HannieC dedicated herself to finishing the last ten pages off this morning.

She managed to get through the rest of the book by about 10:30am, and The Mrs. told her we would go out to buy her the prize, but that we had to stop at a couple other stores first. One of those store happened to be Petsmart, where we had to get FreddyC some dog food. Nothing at all suspicious in that.

Well, you can't go to a pet store without checking out all the pets, so The Mrs. had HannieC checking out the hamsters. She even got HannieC to tell her which one of the hamsters was her favorite. Then The Mrs. sprang it on her that the hamster was her prize.

For a certified super genius, HannieC is sometimes a bit trusting, shall we say.

I made breakfast today, by the way. I made bacon and pancakes. It was enjoyed by all, except The Mrs., never one to let an opportunity for improvement go by, felt the need to say, "When I make pancakes, I keep them warm in the oven while I'm cooking the rest."

And you know what, The Mrs.? You'll have ample opportunity to do that, as this is the last time I ever cook pancakes.

HannieC and I spent some time picking out just the right cage for her new ham-p-ster. We got a fancy one that has a removable "petting zone" and a running wheel that turns around in a circle while they run so they get a 360 degree view of the world. Oooo - and according to the website, it glows in the dark, too. HannieC won't be getting any sleep tonight.

She named the hamster Angibelle. We're not allowed to call it Angie, cuz "that's a boy's name."

When we got home, while I was assembling the cage, The Mrs. took the hamster out of its cardboard carry box. The first thing she does with it? Drop it onto the basement floor from about 4 feet up.

"It jumped!"

Riiight.

Luckily, the floor was carpeted. Angibelle managed to leave a little poop pellet behind in the Drop Zone. HannieC almost had a heart attack. I explained to her that hamsters can jump and fall quite a bit without getting hurt, which I think is actually true. Otherwise, I doubt there'd be a single hamster that made it past the first day.

Angibelle wasn't used to people yet, so she spent a lot of time hissing. But The Mrs. got her stuffed in her hamster ball, and she seemed to have a good time in there. I got the cage assembled eventually (it's like 30 parts), and she moved in there. We had to eat lunch in the basement at a card table with the cage as the centerpiece. The Mrs., for her part, ate at the bar. That was my plan, but she insisted I guard the hamster from The Childrens. That was my plan for her.

Apparently, I am too slow at my deviousity.

After lunch, hell, it was Sunday afternoon. So I lay down on the couch in the basement with MaxieC and took a nap. Except MaxieC didn't nap. He wandered off, and The Mrs. had to put him to bed for his nap. By the time The Mrs. woke me up all indignant (There is nothing she hates more than when I am happy. Nothing.), HannieC had Angibelle all tamed and settled in. Except HannieC won't let anyone else touch the ham-p-ster, as "she is only tamed to me."

Today, The Mrs. told me she wanted to learn how to use the lawn tractor. She just can't bear to see me happy for very long.

I got some new sunglasses today to keep in the new winivan. These were not $179 like the last pair. They were only $23. But they're still OK. HannieC helped pick them out.