Riley and Avery

Avery had a marvelous birthday. It's so hard to believe that my baby is already three! We made the cake that morning and they couldn't wait to decorate it. So we decorated it and they couldn't wait to eat it. So we had Avery's party a little early. Around 1 or 2. She wore the birthday girl jewelry that Auntie Mina sent and had a blast with it. Rudi was all sorts of freaking out over how many presents she got. Maybe I'm strange, but I don't think that $50 is a lot to spend on a child on her birthday. Actually, I thought I got off a little light. Plus, we made her cake, and that saved money too. I swear, Rudi can be such a scrooge. I did spring for a table cloth, napkins, and plates, which added another $8 to the bill, but still not shabby. It's like every dollar spent could be money spent on a book, in Rudi's eyes. Grrr.

Riley and Avery shared the Playmobil set that Auntie Mina, Uncle Button, and James and William sent. They cooperated pretty well. She played with the My Little Pony playset that I got her too. Then she settled in to watch the Max and Ruby DVD that Grandma and Grandpa sent. Twice. Finally, a few hours later, she wanted me to read the two books I got her. Wearing her new outfit, of course. Then she had cake. Yes, too excited over the presents to actually eat the cake. You know you've had a good birthday then.

I think I finally found a rabbit cage set-up that I like. At first we had the store=bought one that was woefully small. Then I made one with a linoleum tray in it, but the rabbits kept eating the linoleum. Like, a lot of it. So then I put just a flat piece of linoleum under the cage, and they still managed to chew through the linoleum straight through to the carpet. So I got a piece of corrugated plastic and taped it so the sides come out at about a 45 degree angle (so they can't reach through the bars and chew it, and also to catch the turds that they kick out of the cage, as well as to prevent the hay from falling all over the carpet) with the cage set inside. It is working well so far, and I hope it continues to. Sprinkles uses the litter box, but Twinkles does not. I wonder if they're like cats and do not like to share litter boxes. Twinkles does, however, push her turds out of the cage, which are caught in the rim of the cage and therefore not onto the carpet, so all I have to do is put a few in the litter box (to make a statement) and vacuum up the rest. Not too bad.

They (mainly Sprinkles) have done a number on the carpet in the corner behind the couch. Like, BAD. Down to the wood underneath. Thanks to Amy's suggestion, I put something down to deter them. I didn't have spare pieces of carpet, but I did have 8X8 glass bricks left over from making the shelves in Rudi's man-cave, and put several of those down. Sprinkles was clearly not happy with that at all. Luckily we don't have that many exposed corners in our house. I did put another brick down by the under-the-stairs closet. That was the only other open corner without something already in it.

The rabbits have been out of their cage for 4 1/2 hours so far...and counting. Sprinkles has been sleeping under the easel for a while now. Something about that spot, it was Little Sweetheart's favorite spot too. Yes, the rabbits leave turds, but rabbit turds aren't so gross. They vacuum up easily and aren't smooshy or stinky. Hey, it makes me vacuum, and I've always been a lazy vacuumer, so that's a good incentive.

Speaking of Little Sweetheart, I'm a sucker for punishment and keep checking back on the Humane Society's website to see if she's still "available." So, she went there on 12/1, showed up on the website 12/3, and when I checked on 12/8, she was gone. I start thinking, do they only keep cats for a week? How long to they keep them before putting them to sleep. But then I spotted several other cats who have been in the shelter since mid-November. So I hope that she was adopted. She was adopted, right? RIGHT?

Wow, two posts today! I must be feeling productive!