RIP Bijou

As you all know I am the proud owner of two furry felines. You may or may not know that I am also the not-so-enthusiastic owner of a hamster. Interesting story about the hamster, really. I am not much on the rodent family of animals, so never really requested this creature to be brought into my possession. But, JD (not thinking and not planning ahead to get a gift) calls me up on our anniversary last year about 6 p.m. Said he was out shopping for a gift. Cool, I say. Just don't bring home anything with a pulse. LO-AND-BEHOLD he walks in with a cardboard box. Shit, it better not be a snake. Fortunately, no. But, still. Not what I expected. Also, didn't I say bring home anything EXCEPT an animal? Men... But I grew to love that little bundle of fur. When she bit me, when I had to clean out her cage (WHY would I have asked for a gift to take care of?), and even that endearing squeak from her cage when she kept me up all night with her nocturnal marathons in the ball.

So, when I moved here and got a job I thought it would be PERFECT to take Bijou to school so she could be our classroom mascot. After about 2 weeks of preparing MKF (my kindergarten friends) for her arrival and reading up on hamsters and taking quizzes (not really) about the do and do nots of the Bijou, she came into RSE D04 to be loved by all.

Little did I know that leaving her on Thursday would prove to be a terrible decision come 8:00 this morning. I walk in to feed her and she's gone. Her little hammy soul has left this earth and travelled on to that giant hamster wheel in the sky. I'm stuck with two choices, tell MKF their beloved Bijou is no longer with us or lie. I lied, folks. Cleaned out that cage. Disposed of that poor lifeless body and hid the evidence. With her cage cleverly shoved into some cabinets out of the way I feel confident. Until the first kid shows up, "Hey, Ms. Dennis, where's Bijou?" Uhhh.... I say I took her home and left her there accidently this morning.

These are the kind of lies I will never EVER feel bad for telling. Today was our 100th day of school party. I'm not gonna break the news to them that our mascot is gone and then try to actually enjoy the day. Nuh-uh.

I did what any self respecting woman would do. I went to PetCo. Purchased what I like to refer to as BijTWO and brought her home.



Whatcha got in dat box?



RODENT!!! And POO! Ugh, I mean, really?



Julius is so curious. You can see BijTWO climbing down the tunnel in her new home. Also, I'm sure both Julius and I will get yelled at for him being on the counter when a certain JD gets home and sees these.



Now I know I'm really in for it. TWO cats on the table!!!

We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Fortunately MKF didn't get to hold Bijou or get too close to her. I know BijTWO is much smaller, but I'm guessing they won't notice that. Her markings are almost identical so I'm hoping to pull a slick one on them!

What do you think? Did I make the right choice? Or should we have just had a day of grieving and move on? What would you have done?