The saga of the rodents, Part deux

Since it was a teacher workday yesterday, the kids didn't have school. Several of us neighborhood moms wanted to do something fun with the kids, and as it was approximately 100 degrees outside, we quickly nixed any suggestions of outdoor activities. We ended up taking several vanloads of children to see Pirates 3 at the local movie theater. The movie itself was ok (very LONG) and we are now all working on convincing our husbands to wear bandannas and earrings. Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp are hot. Anyway, I digress. The kids certainly enjoyed being together in the theater, whether they loved the movie or not. They spread out and took up the whole back row of seats and munched out on popcorn. Afterwards, we weren't ready for the party to end so we bought the makings for Sundaes and all came over to my house for ice cream and wine. (I'll let you sort out who got which treat). E was away at a birthday party during all these festivities.

So in the midst of eating ice cream and drinking wine and sharing spousal secrets with one another (our husbands just looove it when we do that) one of the little girls came in my front door with her hamster in a little carry-cage. I was oohing and awing over it and suggested "Here, Z...let me show you E's hamster." So I took her to the uber-awesome hamster's cage in E's room to show her Ruby the hamster. I poked around a little, because Ruby likes to bury herself under the bedding during the day. "Um...she's not up in her sleeping area. Hmm. She's not in the little log. Huh. She's...." And then I saw the opening in the top of the cage. Without the little plastic cover insert. And Ruby was not in the cage.

Being the dramatic sort I am, I went to interrupt the grown ups' party to make the grand announcement that there was an escapee in the house and could someone please let Sammy the Great Hunter outside and someone put Roxy the Excitable into her crate?
Then I looked over and saw friend M's face.
M reads my blog. She'd read the blog entry from yesterday (which until that moment, I'd forgotten about). And for a few seconds as we stared at each other in horror, I realized I had just launched myself full into the running for the Worst.Mom.Ever. And thus commenced the tasks of pulling out drawers, peeking under beds, inside clothes hampers and under furniture. (The party moved next door. Nothing like an errant rodent to take the sparkle out of a party.) I could not bring myself to go look in the vacuum bag. DH took on the task of filling E in on what happened when she got home. (Didn't bring up the whole vacuum incident though).

To spoil the anticipation, I'll let you in on the ending early. Ruby was found - alive - and not in the vacuum bag. DH heard her rummaging around in the kitchen about 2 am. Thank HEAVENS. With a broomstick and some juggling maneuvers, he had her back in the completely closed up uber-awesome cage by the time we all woke up. I cannot tell you how happy I am about the outcome, though there's a little part of myself that thinks that it certainly would have made for some entertaining blogging. Or not. It would have been hard to blog from the van as I am certain that as the Worst.Mom.Ever, I would have been banned there for at least a few months.