What Part of No Doesn't She Understand??

No, non, nein, nee, oxi, nyet, bu....

No in English, French, German, Dutch, Greek, Russian and Chinese...and still Ellery believes that there is a glimmer of hope for one of these in her life:



no...and I mean it.

Quick background. Brynne, a friend from school, owns a formerly pregnant guinea pig who has just produced BABY GUINEA PIGS!! Woo Hoo! Ellery desperately wants to adopt one.

A guinea pig is a bad idea for a number of reasons:

1) They live in wood chips and smell...well, wood chippy/pet refusey...get my drift

2) They are rodents and the presence of a guinea pig would drive our Golden Retriever NUTS! Haley will eschew dog treats in favour of staring at squirrels or ferrets...this says alot for a member of a breed known as a stomach perched on legs!

3) Ellery will take care of it (SNORT). I love her to bits and she is my flesh and blood, but Ellery can't take care of her pencil case let alone a living creature. She has the attention span and stick-to-itiveness of well, a nine-year old.

4) My hubby (a wonderful husband and excellent father) is alas NOT an animal person. I had cats before we were married and he tolerated them throughout their natural lives and he has been a very good sport about Haley the Service Dog...but he isn't about to fill up Ellery's Ark without mounting some strong opposition.

Anyway, no guinea pig. I thought that I had made myself clear. A follow up discussion between Ellery and her dad clinched it...or did it?

Just before supper this evening, a neighbour phoned me to ask about the guinea pig we were acquiring. This neighbour wasn't the rodent owner, but the mother of another student hoping to use our guinea pig adoption as fodder for their own campaign to gain a pet against the will of their dad. Yikes. I backpedalled as fast as I could and suggested that rumours of our impending pet ownership had been greatly exaggerated.

Moral of today's lesson...No Means No, unless you are a 9 year old girl who really wants a guinea pig.

Oh, in knitting news, I was playing around with the arm seams on Clare's Orange Twist sweater. I tried crocheting the seams together (based on a recommendation from Angela at SNB) and wasn't completely happy with the results. Of course, staring at the sleeve so closely made me notice a whoops, so...I ripped out the sleeve and decided to knit it again on dpns to fix the boo-boo and avoid the seaming issue.