Rats!

Look away if you don't like rats! A couple of years ago "skatey boy" was asked what he wanted for his birthday. Axolotls is the answer he gave me and "NO WAY" was my swift reply, have you seen these dreadful creatures? I saw one as a kid and had nightmares about them for years, "absolutely anything except an axolotl" I foolishly said. "OK then rats" Oh dear I did say anything else didn't I? Damn it! Surprisingly though they've quite grown on me, I wouldn't hold them but I do enjoy bringing them in things to eat from the garden. Ralph became a $130 rat last week, I knew I should have stuck to my plan of being a vet. He's recovering well from having a lump removed from his face, I know it is extravagant to spend that much on a pet rat but I couldn't break my kid's heart.

The last few weeks have been full on, I spring cleaned the house and had a garage sale on Saturday it didn't really go to plan though as the "red head" spent most of Friday night screaming, revealing at about 3 in the morning that his ear hurt. Suffering from sleep deprivation I decided to go ahead with the garage sale anyway as I couldn't stand the boxes of stuff around for another week. It went OK but I didn't set things out as nicely as I could have and packed up in a hurry to get the "red head" to the duty Dr. Ouch there goes half the profit. I'm glad the week's over, the "teen" goes to school camp tomorrow so I get three days break from being "so mean". His friends have been making some really stupid decisions lately and getting into trouble it's only been sheer luck that T has been away on the weekend's that they've got into mischief, so I have said they can come here and hang out instead of him going with them. Mean Eh!? I've always trusted him but that pack mentality is pretty strong, I'd rather know what he/they are up to at present. I hope I'm doing the right thing, L and I aren't quite in agreement about how to deal with it all but are just trying to keep him safe and out of trouble. I hope they're too worn out from kayaking and tramping to do anything silly at camp.

Absolutely no sewing or knitting happening in these parts, a wee bit of gardening. I have harvested the first zucchini from the garden and am using my spare moments to get little things like tying up tomatoes, mounding up potatoes, weeding and watering done in the garden. L's clothes drying rack is getting put to use to dry flowers for the garlic plaits. I think it will look cool as it fills up and will be great because I won't have to wobble on a stool when I hang things up.