Tough Decisions

The last few weeks I've had two decisions on my mind. The first has related to our time share. I bought a twenty-year, biennial time share at the end of 1999. We have absolutely, positively gotten a lot of good use out of it, and we've been able to obtain weeks for some family and friends as well over the years. Recently I received a renewal notice. If I pay a one time fee of $370, my ownership will be extended through 2045. Back in 1999, I was planning on renewing when the twenty years had passed. Now I'm not sure what to do. First of all, most of the upcoming vacations we're hoping to take (presuming this quarantine does end) are not the kind where you just stay put at one place for seven days. Secondly, Interval changed their policy a couple of years ago. Most of the time I owned my time share we didn't pay any extra fee to exchange our efficiency for a two, three, or four bedroom unit elsewhere. It's hard to turn the offer down knowing how much we've benefitted from our time share the past 20 years, but I'm not sure it's right thing to do at this point. We have a little more time

before we have to decide one way or the other. Hopefully we'll make the right choice.

The second decision has related to our rabbits. When we went to the SPCA on February 5, we were planning to adopt two female rabbits. We looked in the cages and picked two females. Then the people at the SPCA convinced us to adopt two almost 3 month old twin male rabbits instead. We had some problems from the get go such as biting windowsills, but we hoped in time they would learn not to do that. Then about a week ago or so things started really going downhill. The bunnies male hormones were out of control. The frequent humping had been annoying, but when they started spraying urine on each other and marking their territory incessantly, it was just plain disgusting. I have been wiping urine off the walls, floors, windows, all over their cage, etc. in the dining room and living room. We hoped things would improve after they were neutered, but that surgery was probably going to be postponed because at the moment vets aren't allowed to spay or neuter animals because of COVID-19, and it takes 6-8 weeks after the surgery for the hormones to fully leave. Paul and I separately spent hours trying to pick an outdoor hutch. We were rather overwhelmed at the cost of paying for their neutering surgeries PLUS an outdoor hutch. The bunnies also had not gotten to the point where they enjoyed being held. They would lick us; Cocoa in particular gave Nadia many "kisses." I had floated the idea of returning the bunnies to the SPCA, but Paul wasn't in agreement. I figured part of our "stimulus check" that everyone will be receiving at some point would be going toward the rabbits. 

Paul called me from work this morning and surprised me by saying his opinion had changed. After lunch I talked with the kids about returning the bunnies and getting 1-2 more guinea pigs. Nadia seemed fine. Ian cried some. I made the dreaded call to the SPCA, and they gave me an appointment at 2:30. This happened one time to us decades ago when we had two male cats. I remember when we had to give my sister's cat, Domino, away because the two male cats kept marking their territory. It seems it's always best to have either only females or at most ONE male whether we're talking about cats, dogs, or rabbits. This afternoon we surrendered the bunnies back to the SPCA. Tomorrow I need to call the vet and let them know we aren't having any rabbits neutered after all. In December 2016 we got two guinea pigs at Petco. I called Petco today, and at first they said they had one female guinea pig, but when they checked they said they had sold her today. I called PetSmart, and they said they did have female guinea pigs available. We went there right after we left the SPCA. Unfortunately they only had ONE guinea pig left, and we had planned to buy two. Ian had wanted another Abyssinian guinea pig, and that was what kind they had available. 

Abyssinians come in all different colors, but the guinea pig they had was another white Abyssinian, but this one has bigger patches of black on it than Patches did. I think if I were choosing a name I'd probably have picked Oreo or Domino, but Ian picked Buttercup. He asked me to tell Aunt Yvonne that because he knows that Princess Bride was one of her favorite movies decades ago. This guinea pig is TINY. The picture makes her seem bigger than she is. Jenna looks gigantic in comparison to Buttercup, but I imagine in time they'll be the same size. Now to begin litter training Buttercup. This is not my favorite aspect of pet ownership! Hopefully Buttercup will live for many happy years in our house. She is a PURRING machine. I couldn't believe how long she purred when I held her. Honestly she already seems more affectionate with us in a few hours than the bunnies did after 2+ months. We have already begun praying that Cocoa and Coal (whom the SPCA have renamed Cole and Jaxx) will be adopted into loving homes in the near future. When we adopted them in early February, there were MANY rabbits up for adoption. They only had one available before we surrendered ours. 


Today was a rollercoaster day emotionally. It was hard to return the rabbits, but I also feel a sense of relief as they were definitely stressing me out. Ian is very, very happy that Buttercup has been added to our family. I used to think that our first two guinea pigs were our "starter" pets and then we'd next have either rabbits or a dog. At this point I think we are declaring that guinea pigs are our pets for the foreseeable future. If the kids want to have a cat, rabbit, snake, or dog, I think they'll have to wait until they are adults and living somewhere else. Oliver did ask me if he could have a goldfish. Sure. I am quite certain a goldfish isn't going to chew my windowsill or spray urine all over the place. I'm thinking we might get him a goldfish in August for his birthday. For now Buttercup is in what had been the rabbits cage, and Jenna is in the same cage she's been in for 3+ years. If we find that they get along well, we are planning to move them both into the newer cage. Nadia still wants to get a second guinea pig. Once one of the pet stores have some available, we'll be heading back up there. It was the first time in a few weeks that the kids and I had gone anywhere in the van. The kids didn't go in the SPCA. They went with me into the pet store. We didn't have masks on because we didn't expect to leave the house and don't have any at home. The way they have things set up to follow social distancing was rather surreal. 

Although Easter was certainly very different this year, I think it was still special. We watched two services online on Sunday morning. I asked everyone to get somewhat dressed up. Usually the boys wear a shirt and tie on Easter Sunday, but I said a polo shirt would be fine given we weren't leaving the house. I had planned to take a picture of the kids, but Nadia changed out of her dress before I got a picture. Because they always came home with many hardboiled eggs from the egg hunts, we hadn't colored any eggs in quite awhile. I decided we'd dye eggs this year and hide them in the yard and inside the house. Plastic eggs work much better for that activity, but we didn't have any around, and this way the kids got to color some eggs. I'm planning on making egg salad and also creamed egg on toast with the 18 eggs we hard boiled. Creamed egg on toast reminds me of my mom, as that was something she made periodically. The rest of my family aren't really crazy about it so I only make it once a year. I got the kids each a bag of jellybeans, and today Paul stopped at CVS and got them each a chocolate bunny now that they are marked down 50%. Grandpa and Gubba had mailed them some candy as well. They got FAR less candy this year than they usually do because of all the egg hunts being cancelled, but they still got some sweets. The pit game that I gave Oliver has been a hit. The kids love it and have asked to play it multiple times already. Grandma and Pop Pop gave them each a gift card on Amazon, and Nadia and Oliver each already received one of the two things they ordered today! Oliver was thrilled that we had sweet potatoes on Sunday. Nadia was very thankful for the cranberry sauce. I forgot to get rolls, and realized it too late in terms of making some from scratch. Ian was disappointed about that as his idea of a good holiday meal (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) is to just eat turkey (or ham) plus rolls, but otherwise I think we had a special meal together. The two decisions we've been wrestling with are so miniscule compared to the ones the President and Governors are wrestling with right now regarding when to start reopening businesses and easing the stay-at-home orders. Praying that they make wise decisions!