Not An Actual Marathon, But It Almost Seems Like It

Whoo! I am worn out. I feel like I’ve been operating in overdrive for the last five days. Like I’ve just run a marathon. I spent the weekend cleaning because I got some bug up my butt telling me I should dust and vacuum. Everything. Right Now! It’s a sick ritual I keep falling into. Every once in a while, I get irritated about something and then I feel like taking my frustrations out on dirt and grime. But I really hate cleaning so halfway through I get pissed that I’m cleaning while everyone else is just laying around or (worse!) continuing to dump toys on the floor. But by then, I can’t really walk away from cleaning because I’m already too far into it to stop. When I finish, I feel really good because A: I’m in a clean environment, which always makes me feel relaxed and B: I’ve worked out all of my frustrations. But then, within a day, toys are scattered all over my floor again and I wonder why I even bother. That’s the trouble with living with kids other people I guess.

Then, my daughter recently had a birthday so we took her a place called “Incredible Pizza” to celebrate. Just the four of us. (We’re trying to get her away from having parties every year. She’s 11 now so I think it’s probably time.) For those of you that aren’t familiar with Incredible Pizza it’s like an arcade on steroids. It’s very similar to Chuck E. Cheese, but it tries to attract a larger demographic by having more games and attractions that are more suited for older kids and adults, while still having plenty for the younger ones to play with. They also have a really large unlimited buffet that you can eat at the entire time you are there. (Yes, we have actually done both lunch and supper with playing in between the two meals before.) It’s a pretty cool place to go. Unless, of course, you’re like me and don’t really enjoy large crowds. Well, that’s not true. Large crowds are sometimes okay. It’s the large crowds of children that I don’t like. The only saving grace is that this place is large. The building used to be a large grocery store, so they are able to spread things out a bit. We were there nearly five hours and by the time we were ready to leave, I had just about been worn down into the ground.

Allow me for a moment to get on my soapbox. Grownups, I know that places like these are not always fun for the adults. Especially when you have a number of children that you are responsible for. I would much rather sit at my table the whole time too. I even had a really good book in my purse calling my name. And I also know that you cannot always keep your group together. Please, when you allow your children to go off without you, teach them ahead of time what is acceptable behavior. Kids that are twelve should not attempt to play on the toddler playground climbing equipment. It’s called toddler for a reason. Kudos to the boy who saw his friend getting ready to climb and was smart enough and brave enough to tell his friend, “My dad says we can’t play on that.” Kudos young man and I salute your dad. Job well done, sir. And grownups, do not allow young children to play without you. That’s just asking for trouble. Plus, they are not old enough to understand and/or remember said acceptable behavior. Also, when playing with your children, do not allow them to do whatever they want even though you are right there next to them. Standing on a moving car ride is not a good idea. I know you told your child to sit down but after he didn’t listen the four or five times you said it, maybe you should just yank your kid off the ride. It’s not going fast and he’s not even buckled in. I know that he’ll probably cry. I know it costs money to ride, but don’t worry about the 30 cents you’re wasting by not getting a full ride. Chalk it up to a learning experience and have hope that next time, he’ll stay sitting. Finally, adults and children, when going through the buffet line, do not pay more attention to the music that is playing and for the love of God, don’t dance while you’re picking out what food you want. Next time, this tired, hungry mama might go ape shit on your ass and no one really wants to see that. Especially my family. They would be mortified. As would I. I really do want to keep up the façade that I’m an easy-going person. Thank you.

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An example of indoor toddler playground equipment

Now I know that all of you, my lovely readers, do not need the instruction that I just provided. But I am sure, in the course of your days, you will run into people that do need the reminder. I don’t expect you to tell another adult that they should be doing something differently when it comes to their kids. No one likes getting unsolicited advice. But I just had a brainstorm. Maybe you could make up an event that would illustrate why their kid should not be doing whatever it is they are currently engaged in. Take this for example. When I saw the mom with the kid standing up in the car ride I could have said to her, “You know, I heard a couple of months ago at some other arcade, a kid was standing in a car kinda like that one and he fell out and got his foot caught in the gears underneath. I guess it really messed up his foot.” Well, maybe not. I wouldn’t have the guts to do that and I’d probably get called out on the story. But it’s pretty entertaining in my head! So I guess you don’t have to do anything, but maybe chuckle a little to yourself and remember that I went through the same thing.

So anyway, back to my weekend. My parents and Hubby’s mom all wanted to come over so they could give their gifts to Drama Queen. (I’ve decided that I need to give names to my family on here, so my oldest is now Drama Queen. Haven’t come up with a name for youngest yet.) My parents showed up about an hour after we got back home, which allowed me just enough time to tidy up the dishes from the morning and disaster still remaining on my kitchen counter. (Which apparently is oftentimes mistaken for a catch-all. Not only does it collect junk mail and other various papers, but also books, tools, toys, and whatever else we happen to be carrying as we walk by it.) Hubby’s mom came about 40 minutes after my parents. My parents left about seven o’clock, but then mother-in-law didn’t leave until quarter till eight. So it was a rush to get both kids into the bathtub and into bed. Needless to say, there was no time for me to make a cake or make cupcakes for Drama Queen to take to school. And I didn’t get my laundry done.

Monday was a mad rush to get my exercise at the Y in and get home to get laundry going. Monday night I got the cupcakes made and frosted and got finally got Drama Queen’s birthday cake made. It’s a chocolate lava cake and definitely one of my favorites!

Today I had to get Drama Queen to school early for her band rehearsal, get a quick trip into Wal-Mart done, and drop off the cupcakes at her school (preferably before school started so she could just stop in the office when she got to school after band.) I was already feeling stressed by the time school started because I did get the cupcakes dropped off beforehand (read: ran through the store like a mad woman, throwing everything into my cart in order to get done as fast as possible), it was raining and really cold and windy, and Drama Queen spent too much time not getting dressed and was late for rehearsal. (She left the table to go get dressed and 15 minutes later I went into her room and she was still in her pj’s!) But that’s how she learns, right?

I also had to do more laundry today to completely catch up. I open up the dryer to get the first load out and I see a pair of earbuds that came with a cell phone and can be used as a “hands-free” device. Shit. As soon as I saw them, I remembered putting them in the pocket of this flannel shirt that I washed. Clearly I didn’t think about checking the pockets. Oh, who am I kidding? I never check pockets! I know I should, but it takes enough time getting all the laundry done. It’s not like I use them very often, but sometimes I use those for my computer instead of my mp3 player earbuds. Now I’m afraid if I try to use them again they will short out my computer. Or shock me. I’m going to ask Hubby if they’re worth saving or if I should just throw them away.

We also cut the eggs of our first clutch tonight. Today was they day we expected them to hatch, so when we reach the expected hatch date, we snip a small slit in the egg so the snake has an easier time getting it’s head out. I can’t wait to see what we have inside this clutch! This is the most exciting part of breeding snakes.

But now I’m seriously ready for some rest and relaxation. I don’t know when that’s going to happen, so I guess I’ll just look forward to some quiet time in the cardio room tomorrow. I think Drama Queen has to go in early again tomorrow though. They’re really upping their rehearsals because the concert is coming fast. That could interfere with my plans to get to the Y. We’ll have to see how well I can plan this out.

Snakes On A Plane…No, Not Like The Movie!

I promised that I would do a post explaining more about our family’s snakes. I know some of you are probably freaked out that we have them. I get that all the time. My mother-in-law is actually horrified. (That almost makes me like them more!) I’ve had a lot of people, in jest (or not; it’s sometimes hard to tell because they want it to sound like they’re kidding when they’re not. I know I’ve read a blog post about that.) Okay. Sorry. I get sidetracked a lot. Anyway, I’ve had a lot of people tell me, ‘Whoa, I don’t think I’m coming to your house anymore!’ It’s okay. (I don’t like having visitors that much anyway. No! I’m just kidding!) I understand your fears. I was pretty terrified and grossed out by them before we got them. And truthfully, even after we got the first few.

 

I’ll back up a little to explain how we got started. Before I met my husband, he shared an apartment with some guy that had a snake (or snakes, plural, I’m not sure which.) Hubby thought they were cool so he got some. Lots of different ones. He had your standard ball pythons, but he also had boa constrictors, blood pythons, a sand boa and borneos. (His mother has many horror stories of his snakes from the apartment, but I finally learned that she never went into his apartment after he got them, so I think she’s just trying to scare me. I’d heard the actual course of events from Hubby before her renditions.) When he built his first house and moved into it, he sold his snake collection.

 

About three years ago we started having trouble with our daughter’s behavior. She was talking too much in class and not being a good listener here at home for us. It was going downhill in a hurry. The summer in between her 2nd and 3rd grade years, Hubby suggested we find a family hobby. Something we can all do together and have fun with. And naturally, he already had snakes in mind. At first I said no way, snakes are gross. He continued talking about it and telling me all the different color and pattern morphs, or genetic differences, among ball pythons. He talked about how people buy and sell them all over the world, sometimes for a a lot of money.

 

I came around and we started with two ball pythons that were 100% het albino. (Meaning they carried the gene for albino.) I’ll never forget the night Hubby brought them home. He had gone to a breeder in a neighboring state and bought them. He got one out of the container it was in to show me before he put it in it’s cage. He kept walking closer to me and I kept walking backwards until he had me pressed up against the cabinets and I couldn’t go back any further. He held it there in front of me and while I didn’t touch it, I could see it wasn’t going to jump on me and try to eat me.

 

After a while of being around them and watching them and finally handling them, I gave Hubby the go ahead to get more. And it exploded from there. Now we’re hovering right around 60, although we have been up as high as 70-75. We go to a reptile show in a suburb of Chicago every year and have had snakes shipped to us (they get overnighted on planes and delivered FedEx or UPS) from different parts of the country. (Although we get the majority from breeders within driving distance, even if that means driving 7 hours one way.)

 

We still have just ball pythons, but Hubby has made noises about wanting different species. I’m not ready for that though. Oh, and Kat mentioned what they eat. Yes, most of them eat rats, but we have a few picky ones that will only eat mice. We try to have our snakes eat rats that have been frozen (which we then warm up to an appropriate temperature), but again there are some that are just too finicky and will only eat live. So, we do have a few small cages with live rats or mice too. That’s probably the worst part about having the snakes.

 

I no longer worry about them hurting me or anything like that. They have teeth similar to fish; like bumpy cartilage or something. Hubby has gotten bit a few times, but wears it almost like a badge of honor. I think he feels more manly when it happens or something. The bigger ones of course, pack a little more power when they bite, but I don’t think they would ever do serious damage. About the worst time was one of our bigger females mistook Hubby’s hand for a rat and tagged him. He had some blood run down his arm, but the next day, you could barely see where the marks had been. The big ones don’t bite very often though. The little ones can be pretty nippy, but they’re so small, you hardly notice. I got bit once by a hatchling and I actually asked the snake, “Did you just bite me?!” because it happened so fast, I wasn’t sure.

 

We hatch whatever eggs we get each year in incubators and sell the babies once they have hatched. Sometimes we sell through forums and our website and other times we sell to other breeders we know. Occasionally, we will sell the less valuable ones to pet stores, but we try to sell to the customer directly. I’ve included some pictures of a few in our collection.

 

Piebald

 

Bumblebee

 

Genetic Stripe

 

Lesser