Getting crabby over here!

The girls received some money, from relatives, as a Christmas gift this year. They have been deciding on the perfect item to buy with their loot, but haven't been able to come up with the answer, until yesterday. They came to me with big smiles and pleading eyes. I was nervous. They wanted a new pet. That is the last thing we needed around here. I wanted to just come right out and say no, without even hearing their case. I am the mom, aren't I allowed to say no? But then I remembered how I am working on not always just saying no, before I think about it. *sigh* Personal growth is starting to look overrated.....

"Is this pet going to cough up hairballs all over my precious carpet, like this one?"

"Is it going to come INSIDE, to pee on my rug, or spread hair in every imaginable place in this house? Is it going to take over my reading chair, or root around in my pantry like these two??"

Of course the answer to these very important questions was no. Well..."Do you have enough money to pay for it? Will it have to sit on my counter? Does it smell??"...I asked. "No".....they replied. After hearing all of the great qualities of a hermit crab, I decided it would be ok. I told the girls after they finished school and cleaned up their rooms this morning, we would go on a crab hunt. They finished in record time :-)! We ended up at Pet Smart.

Oh yes, these lovable little creatures are relatively cheap, the accessories however are not!  When I asked how to go about caring for them, I was given a list of things, along with a pamphlet, that needed to be purchased. They had these wonderful start up kits for only $29.99 a piece!! I needed three of them. This was starting to not look like a very good idea... We decided on not buying the kits and using our fishbowls that we already had, from previous lovable pets.  I remember getting my first hermit crab. It was given to me in a cup, at a girl scout outing. No pamphlet. No heating pad or humidity controller. No special moss. Sheesh, I think people have too much money these days! We have moss in the backyard ya know. It's free.

The bowls ended up being too cramped. The girls are assuming these crabs are going to be doing laps for exercise, and they don't want the small space to be a hindrance to them...LOL. We ended up turning a drawer from their nightstands into the perfect crabitat.

Now, in this lovely pamphlet, it said that hermit crabs benefit from fresh fruits and veggies. Imagine that!!. Real food being healthy :-) (thinking they should offer a people pamphlet as well)  After we got them settled in their new homes, we chopped up some apples and carrots.

And since we thank the Lord every night for our animals, our prayers were a little bit longer tonight!