fishes? maybe.

I got me a new layout! AND I FIGURED EVERYTHING OUT BY MYSELF! No having to ask anyone anything! This is a first for me - usually I can't figure blog-related things out. :)

I went to PetCo today - I love looking at all the different animals they have. Did you know there are puffer fish that look like dogs? Anyway, I've been thinking about getting a Beta. My hermit crabs are ever so boring (all they do is hide all day) and I think a fish would spice things up. Plus, it would be decorative if I got a cute bowl - right? Well anyway I was reading about them on the internet and found out their water needs to be changed once a week. "Sounds pretty easy to me!" were my thoughts at the time. Then I looked up at my windowsill where all my plants are and realized - "my plants are kind of dying, and it's probably because I haven't watered them for a long time." You see, I have an orchid which only needs to be watered once a week and because it can go a long while without water, I tend forget to water the other plants more often!
The connection was made in my brain - water a fish once a week, water plants once a week . . . Wait a second, if I can't even remember to water plants, am I really ready to take on a fish?
I know, I know - fish are supposed to be easy pets, but I'm scared I'm a bad pet owner! You see, it all started with my first pet . . . .

Amy (my step-sister) came up to me while I was watching a movie. I had just turned 8. "Aariel, do you want my guinea pig? I don't want it anymore and the parents think that since you're 8 now you could be responsible for a pet."
I was SO excited! YES! This meant I got to name it whatever I wanted! (One of th more exciting parts of getting a new pet is naming it - for my Beta, I'm thinking of Ruffio, like from Hook). I named her (him?!) Babe. Don't know why, it's really a lame name.
Anyway, Babe was kept in her little cage in the garage. Pretty much all I did was refill the water bottle and give her food. Ummm....I was 8. I Forgot about her all the time, sitting there in her little prison in the garage. Sometimes when I went to fill the water bottle up, it was completely dry and I wondered how long it had been empty for. I don't even remember cleaning her cage. I never took her out, except one time I remember I put her in my fanny pack and gave her a bicycle ride in the driveway - don't worry, I let her pole her head out for air! ;) Another time I let her go on the lawn and she inhaled all the grass she could. I noticed her hair was getting kind of thin. Hmmm...wonder why that could be?
Then one day I realized she was gone! No cage, no guinea pig . . . Oh well!

Part of me wants to blame my parents for letting me slowly kill Babe - after all they should have reminded me to take care of her or threaten me if I didn't! It's all . . . their . . . okay, not really. After all, they had 10 crazy kids to worry about. I never found out what really happened to Babe. Maybe she died and they threw her body away? Maybe a neighborhood kid snuck into our garage and stole her? Maybe my parents gave her away? I'm guessing she died.

Anyway, my whole life I've felt guilty for this because I didn't realize until years later 0h hey, I starved my first pet! An innocent little living being.

What kind of mother am I?!