I said never and now I have two guinea pigs

Ads for this print keep showing up in all of my social media:

GP art print

We're guinea pig people now. I said, "absolutely not, rodents aren't pets" and now Buttercup and Juniper are living their best lives in my basement.

I have a child who is crazy about animals. She is passionate, knowledgeable, caring and concerned about every damn animal in the entire kingdom. I'm not frustrated about those things at all; in fact I'm super proud of her. It's really wonderful to see your child so passionate about something. So despite my initial irk, I'll admit these two little furballs are starting to grow on me.

Of course they are WAY MORE WORK (for me) than anyone wanted to admit when they first joined our family. But given the choices I was presented -- "Mom, I REALLY want a horse. Or backyard chickens. Cats? Okay, fine I'll settle for two guinea pigs." -- this seemed to be a fairly straightforward decision.

I'm choosing to focus on the benefits of kids caring for pets. The empathy for other living things, the knowledge of the animal's special needs, the responsibility of taking care of them (we have room to grow here).

On average they live six to eight years, which gets us almost through high school (<mind blown>). And on a whole, they have been a net positive for our family. It's even kinda nice to have two little buddies who will happily eat organic greens with me.

I should probably order that art print.

Juniper and Buttercup

GP footprint Xmas ornaments (I paid for these)

People give you these kinds of gifts when you have GPs

Hundreds line up for guinea pig cleansing ritual in Peru.

Eight ways to stay hydrated. Worth reading; I came up with only one: drink water.

Ways to combat the effects of alcohol on the skin. Also a worthwhile read; I came up with: drink less alcohol. Do guinea pigs make me snarky?

Think pink. 10 best pink lipsticks right now.

Ten reasons NOT to get guinea pigs.... (it's a trick! You'll definitely get guinea pigs if you watch this!)