Just 59 days till I can send Teddy Bear’s letter! Oh, Teddy Bear, please get it! And please call me!

Anyway, today was a busy, yet fun day. After reporting, we zipped across the street to Circle K. After one solid week of miraculously having no more than 1000 cals a day, and weighing in at 118 pounds, I grabbed a pack of gum and a candy bar towards my weekly day off from dieting. The lady at the register liked my shiny blue nails and asked where we were heading, informing us of a cheaper place to gas up.

So we took our snacks and headed for Chandler. There we went to Walgreens where I got some goodies. He only got a dozen or so packets of seeds for the prairie dogs. When is he ever going to plant these things? I wonder. Guess it’s been too cold, though it is warming up little by little.

For $20, I got this hair twister that we’ve seen advertised on TV. It doesn’t braid the hair, but it twists it. You take 3 tiny strands and clip them in the twister. Then the twister twists each individual strand before it twists all 3 of them together. It comes with little clear rubber bands and 60 glow-in-the-dark beads. It’s really cool, but takes some getting used to. I’m learning, though. It sure beats that Hairdini thing Ma got me for Christmas. That thing was impossible!

I also got 3 more chrome nail polish colors - gold, lavender, and carnelian (cranberry).

Got a package of 3 lip glosses - Rocky Moon Candy, Red Licorice, and Berry Heavenly.

Lastly, for just $10 total, I got these really cool flower vases. A small bushel of flowers in a clear vase in clear epoxy, making it look like they’re in water. I got a bundle of lavender daisies and a bundle of reddish-orange flowers with yellow.

At the office supply store, I got colorful paper, as well as a bundle of paper with colorful balloons.

Got a packet of pens for scribbling notes. The kind that was my favorite when I used to do journals by hand.

Got a packet of two small pairs of scissors too, then we spent another nickel on the freeloaders to get the money order photocopied.

After grabbing some pork fried rice at a Chinese take-out, and after he grabbed something from McDonald’s, we went to Petco. There I saw a female jumbo rat that looks a lot like Houdini, only with more white on her belly. Well, I’ve been curious to see what a female rat’s behavior’s like (I hear they’re supposed to be more mellow) and I’ve wanted a jumbo size one, too. To top it off, I’m going to get breeding experience with rats because she’s pregnant! I’ve been calling her Lady Bud so far. She’s a bit timid but hasn’t shown any signs of aggression.

She’s about ¾ the size of the guys right now. Not nearly full grown. I doubt she’ll have many babies. According to our research, rats have an average of 12 babies per litter! Surprisingly, they only carry for 3 weeks just like mice do. Just 36 hours after giving birth, they’re in heat again. The babies need to stay with their mother for 3 weeks, then separated at 6 weeks. At just 3 weeks the balls are down on the males, so it sounds like sexing rats will be easier than mice.

I guess we’re gonna have to get or make another cage so they don’t keep breeding continuously.

Anyway, because I had my appointment, we didn’t get her right away. Instead, I nearly stole a water bottle. I walked out with it without even thinking about it. He went back in and paid for it, saying he knows all too well how we get so severely punished for the pettiest things, that it makes no sense to go and tempt fate.

We got the rat after seeing the doctor in Mesa, and as usual, a two-minute procedure had to take an hour. We waited 40 minutes out in the loud, crowded waiting room and then 20 more in the exam room.

I see that parents are still on the opposite end of the pole which they were on when I was a kid as far as discipline goes. The screaming kids were totally out of control, throwing and banging things while their mothers acted deaf, dumb and blind.

After leaving the doctor’s, we went to the grocery store, but we only grabbed a few things. Tom will do the regular run tomorrow.

There was a balloon sitting outside the doctor’s office when we left so I took it. Being the super windy day that it was, I let it go in the middle of our land. It gained altitude rather quickly and was miles away in seconds, becoming just a spec in the sky that was completely invisible in just two minutes.

I just tried calling Paula twice and got her machine. She was supposed to be sentenced yesterday. Is she in jail? If so, for how long? Hopefully, I’ll find out soon. She probably is in jail, though, for there to be no answer at this time, unless she turned her ringer off.