That Didn’t Go as Planned #IWSG
I had big plans for August. I was going to cut back on Red Bull, eat healthy, exercise, spend more time with my kids, and all around be super mom. A week into it, and everything got derailed.
My dog died on the 8th. Inu was old (15 years), and we were thinking he wouldn’t last another year. His mom and companion had died 4 years ago, and he was alone after that because he was cantankerous and surly and wouldn’t tolerate other dogs. He was going deaf and blind, and he’d gotten to the point where I had to carry him outside because more than once he missed a step down the stairs and tumbled to the bottom. That’s if he managed to wait until someone put him outside. But he was still my dog and I loved him. The emotional fallout of his death left me swearing off owning another dog for the foreseeable future.
Later that week, we went to a local garden/home/pet store and perused other furry pet options–ones that wouldn’t require being let outside and could occupy themselves while everyone was at work and school. We opted for a guinea pig. We looked up all the things we needed, then after acquiring all the necessary items, we returned to the store and brought home Marshmallow.
My daughter kicked into research mode. Guinea pigs are apparently social animals and require companionship, even though Marshmallow was alone at the store. We went to other stores in the same chain, and my son picked a young black and white guinea pig–Oreo.
Things went awry, there were arguments, and the end result was Marshmallow bullying Oreo and Oreo falling into guinea pig depression. We opted to deal with Oreo’s feelings by reuniting her with her cave mates, who we called Cocoa and Coffee.
Yes, we have 4 guinea pigs now.
I’m happy to say, Oreo came out of her funk and returned to eating and exploring. Marshmallow is in a separate cage in the same room, allowing her to interact with the herd without drawing blood (which she tried when we did group floor time). My husband is working on designing/building a multi-level structure that will allow the piggies to interact using ramps (no more than a 30 degree angle per my daughter’s research), but keeping Marshmallow separate with wire panels. This will hopefully regain some of our floor space as we currently have 24sqft dedicated to the fluffy potatoes.
August ended before I really knew what happened. I did stick to only one Red Bull a day, but nightly exercise and super mom duties flew out the window as we tried to manage the piggie drama. I’m now parenting a teenager, school is back in session, and homework stress has kicked into its usual high gear.
Seems like things aren’t going to let up any time soon.
IWSG Question of the Month – The IWSG celebrates 12 years today! When did you discover the IWSG, how do you connect, and how has it helped you?
I joined IWSG a decade ago, having discovered it after meeting Melissa Maygrove through a critique partner pair up event. She was doing it, and I thought I should too. It’s been a wonderful thing. I’ve connected with many different writers from all over the world through IWSG, and I’ve made some great online friends. It’s also the only time I blog anymore. So thank you Alex and the rest of the IWSG team for making this group possible.
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
