Wild Animals . . . er, Pets...

Okay, you may be thinking I'm referring to my children, and while on some days that may be true (such as this very moment where my son has knocked into me about five times in the last ten seconds). But I am actually referring to creatures of the animal kingdom.

There are a few messies in our family (AKA the short people) which can drive a neat, orderly person nearly batty at times.

But as I passed by my daughter's room a few days ago it dawned on me that she has kept her room IMMACULATE for MONTHS! Nearly on the miraculous scale for this ten-year-old girl.

Then this morning she said, "Mom, remember you said I could get a pet if I kept my room clean?"

Horror swept over me. Had I really said that? Obviously I had, and more obvious was the fact that I thought there wouldn't be a snowball's chance in summer of that happening.

But I swallowed and attempted a smile and we piled in the car for a trek to the pet store with me praying the whole way. Please let her fall in love with a frog.

Frogs seemed more do-able than say a rabbit, which is what she really wanted. To my thinking, anything with fur and a small cage adds up to smelly.

Fortunately, when I explained what rabbit plus Milo (our small, hyper dog) would mean to the pet population in our home (fine dining for the dog), she quickly acquiesced to the thought of a more reptilian type pet.

So she is spending untold hours on the internet researching turtles and other creepy crawlies.

So be careful what you promise, it may come slithering back to bite you.