Ready for another one?

Hey everyone,

Oh my goodness, it's been a week! This one got away from me; I was planning to do a new Tiny Tips post about cleaning but never finished it! It should be ready by Tuesday or at the very latest Thursday, so y'all have that to look forward to :)

Things are crazy as always here at the yellow house. I was just informed yesterday that the lease I plan to sign next month has been changed from a 12-month lease to a 6+ month lease. My landlady wants to sell the house, and Scott and I sure aren't buying it.

Such is life. I am still working on the guinea pigs' room, and I'm honestly glad I found this out before I finished it; now there won't be so much to do if we're just gonna move out in six months or so. This news is a disappointment, but also presents some exciting new opportunities for me as a future farmer.. it means I can look for a new house closer to the country.

I hope you've enjoyed a peek into my personal life. Now onto our Social Sunday question. This week I would like to know...

Your story. How/why did you get your guinea pigs? Were they a pet store "rescue"? Adopted from a friend? Snatched up as they quivered before the dripping jaws of fate on a cold and dreary November night?! Tell us!

Most of you already know my stories so I'll be brief.

Olive and Sophie: adopted whilst transporting a fiesty lionhead from shelter to sanctuary

Natasha and Maybel, aka Milo: adopted when a babysitee of mine had a second accidental litter

Winstonn, Ferdie and Laika: Brought to you by the terror that is Milo Two-Face aka Maybel the Mountain Pig. His intro is coming soon.

You all are welcome to be as detailed as your heart desires.

Social Sunday #1 and an Etsy update

Hi everyone,

Welcome one and all to our first-ever Social Sunday! Each week I will be asking you all a question relating to your piggies, and I would love you all to participate by answering in the comments section at the bottom of each post. Even if you do not have a Blogger ID, you can comment using your Livejournal, AIM, etc. The purpose of this exercise is so that we all get to know each other['s pigs] a little better :)

Our first Social Sunday question is this: What are your pigs' names and what is one ridiculous/silly pet name you have for them?

My answer: My pigs are Sophie-Mo, Olive, Natasha, Milo, Winston, Laika and Ferdinand. Two of my silliest pet names for them are 'Tasha 'Tocks--because Natasha is a bit heavier than the rest of my pigs, so I call her by her huge butt--and sometimes I sing Winston's name: Winnie The Guinea-Pig!

Etsy update: 15% of my Etsy proceeds will be going to the Oswego County Guinea Pig Rescue indefinitely, to help Jennifer free up some space for her rescue cavies. The money will go towards a bigger cage, or cages, for her sanctuary piggies. Most of her permanent resident pigs are singles and she would like to house them together, so I and my Etsy shoppers are going to help her with that. I will post monthly at my shop how much we have donated. If you have yet to check out my Etsy shop, I encourage you to do so now! :) New stuff that's on the way includes bunk-bed hammocks and custom-sized cage/crate pads/liners for C&Cs, Ferret Nations and Midwest dog crates.

Introductions: Laika, Ferdie and Winston

The youngest of my herd have told me that they would like to be introduced to you all. So here we go. Ferdie, short for Ferdinand because for the first couple of weeks of her life, I thought she was a boy, Winston, and Laika are Natasha and Milo's three offspring. They will be celebrating their first birthday this year on August 13th, 2010. Two days before my birthday.

When the babies were born, I was living with a coworker due to issues I had with my roommates, one of whom is now serving some much-deserved hard time. My cavies were all living with my mother. I got a call very early the morning of the 13th and raced right over to see my tiny new family members.

Baby guinea pigs are different than the babies of most other small mammals, including rabbits, because they are born "ready to run." They are fully furred, eyes open, nails grown, can eat hay, pellets, greens... They are miniature, weightless cavies with big huge eyes.

Basically, they are the cutest thing in the entire world. Ever. Seriously.

Since that day, my caller ID photo for my mom has been a photo of her with Winston in her shirt pocket.

When I rented a room in September, the pigs had to live in less-than-ideal spaces. Milo and Winston got paired up and stuck in a 2x2-grid space, next door to Sophie, Natasha and Ferdie in a 2x3 and Livvy and Laika in a 2x2. I didn't have the girls all living together at this point because I was still unsure about Ferdinand's gender, so I didn't want to put her in a cage with anyone who wasn't spayed. This went on for four months, though it felt like eight, and it was no picnic for any of the parties involved. When we moved into the yellow house in mid-November, One of the first things I did was set up properly-sized cages for everyone, and let all my girls live together. I planned and planned and planned for a free-range room for everyone, and I am finally getting there.

I love Laika, Ferdie and Winnie very very much. Their birth was accidental and their parents and grandparents were both siblings. There grandparents were conceived in a pet store. So they are quite inbred. While this is common for many small animals, cavies included, I am still lucky that none of them were stillborn or lethals, there were no birthing complications and that Natasha did not reject any of them.

If you have any questions about these three, you're more than welcome to comment. I couldn't think of much to write about them.

My Etsy is up and running!

I did something huge this weekend--I took my Etsy Shop off vacation mode! After weeks of making excuses to myself for why I wasn't ready to run the shop again I realized that I wasn't really doing anything to get myself to that point. I was just making excuses.

So, I don't have a lot of inventory. I don't have as much time to devote to it as I would like. But instead of sitting in bed until noon on my days off and focusing on the negative, I have something to work on. Besides, of course, slaving away for the good of the guinea pigs.

My Etsy Shop doesn't have a clear direction right now and I'm okay with that. I'm selling things that I like to make, I'm good at making them, and I am offering a lot more in the way of custom work than many other sellers on Etsy.

For funsies, here's a list of my goals for the month of June:

1. Change my avatar. Olive is beautiful, but I am not selling guinea pigs. :)

2. Make a listing for the following items:

-Snuggle Bags

-Double-Decker hammocks

-Pocket hammocks

-Cage Liner Pads

-The rest of my women's menstrual pad set.

3. Take better photos of everything. I haven't had access to the better photos I took before we moved in some time; I've pretty much given up hope that I'll ever see them again.

4. Move all of my money to my local credit union and [here comes the Etsy-related part] get an Etsy-only credit card with them.

5. ***Make at least five sales!*** You guys can help me with that part, I'm sure ;)