Today

So, came home from work, had two voicemails on the cell phone.  The first was from a NY number, said they had seen the website and had some questions.  Called them back, they haven't called me back yet.

The other was... well, yesterday, it was a week since I'd called the home of Daisy and Delilah, and they had said someone would call me back in a day or two, and no one did... so I called up the Dad's cell phone and left a voicemail saying (nicely) that I was just wondering what was going on with the chins since they hadn't called, and my number was... so then today, I got a call from the mom.  When I called her back, she was very apologetic, she said that had she known they had signed a contract and all, she would have called me long before she put the ad up on craigslist (the dad said the daughter put up the ad).  She said she didn't even think about it -- and really, other than knowing the chins were adopted from a rescue (which she did say, typically have those kind of "must be returned to rescue" contracts), she wasn't there when the dad and kids adopted the chins, so she wouldn't have seen the papers and contract being signed.  No big deal, really, as long as the chins make it back here. 

So she said that apparently when the dad and the kids got the chins, they didn't tell her where they were going or anything, just showed up with the chins when they came back.  And it sounded like they had an agreement that the dad and daughter would care for the chins, but she said that just wasn't happening, and that the family had horses and donkeys and tons of other pets, and that if they didn't have all the other pets, it'd be one thing, but since they did, the chins were just something she didn't have the time to clean and deal with, if the people who wanted the chins weren't going to help.  In all fairness, I would be pissed if my husband/kids brought home a pet that they wanted and I ended up being the one caring for it and all.  So I do understand.

Well anyway, in looking back at their adoption form, they're out in Valpo, so we talked about drop-off and eventually came to the fact that since I work in Hobart 3 days of the week, she could meet me at my office after I get out of work to drop off the chins.  So, since I'm not working there again until Monday, I'll be seeing her Monday to get the chins.  So assuming that happens, this all worked out alright (though I would have preferred not having to call them so many times and bug them... but it is what it is).

So, got several emails today... one of our potential adoptive homes was wondering if they would be allergic to chins... so they came here (this was at least a week or two ago) and they were ok, but said they had a reaction when they went home.  So, we came to the agreement that they can do a trial run with a chin and one of our spare cages for a week.  So, they wanted to verify that we're still doing that, which we are, so they're picking up chin/supplies on Fri.

Then, had one of our repeat buyers ask about getting some shelves from us, wanting to do half of a FN, and wanting suggestions.  Well, all our FNs/CN have different shelving and are different inside, so I told her I'd get her pictures of ours and she could decide what she wanted.  Have yet to do that.  Well, I took the pictures, I have yet to email them.

I realized I never emailed back Lisa from the Calumet City Petco about their adoption days, and since I had asked her to verify that she actually was from Petco and not someone trying to pull my leg (hey, can't be too careful), she had given me a phone number and some days she worked where I could call in to verify.  So, I figured, I'll call and tell her we can come... so I called, and she actually answered the phone, which was highly convenient (I only have a first name, so I could see me saying "can I talk to Lisa?" and them being like "Lisa who?").  So I told her we can come and nailed down some questions I had and all, and so we'll be at the Cal City Petco on July 15th. 

Have that webstore order from last night... didn't work to fill it yet, I guess that'll be tomorrow.  I had another one of those "notification of payment received" emails today and I looked and one of our adoptive homes donated $1 to the rescue.  How nice.

I did cut the wood for and build one of our regular hidey houses -- for the rat guy that was here yesterday.  Got the entire thing put together, rubberbanded, and the top weighed down, so it'll be ready for pickup in like 2 days.  Got an email from him today with some pictures of his and the new rats in his play area... he said they're not getting along.  Hopefully that will change.

Then went to work on the FN's.  Well, that was probably earlier in the day, but whatever.  I had on my to-do list to take off the doors and clean the hinges (for the FN's that's fully assembled).  Well... three doors came off no problem, cleaned the hinges, put the doors back.  The fourth door... let's just say I had a rubber mallet and was hammering as hard as I could... the cage was lifting a little off of the ground, so I had to use one hand to put downward pressure on the cage and the other to hammer upwards on the bottom of the door... FINALLY got it off.  Probably sounded like I was trying to kill the cage, it took a lot of hammering with the rubber mallet to get that stinkin door off.  Cleaned the hinges as good as I could.  Door still doesn't swing freely, so depending on how much that annoys me when the cage is actually in use, I may end up taking it off again and WD-40'ing the hinges, but at the moment, it was at least clean, and not so miserable to get back on, so that was good.

.... and onto the pans.  Out of the four used ones, I had already cleaned the one, which I have in the set-up FN.  So I'd been cleaning the 2nd and 3rd ones... got both of them clean to the point where there's only one corner on each pan that still is grimy.  The ridiculous part is that I would scrub... let it sit... scrub... let it sit... for a good part of 3 hours and those corners still aren't anywhere near "done."  The one corner, like the grime is like several centimeters thick, an there's no scraping it off with the paint scraper, it is just thick.  And I was using full strength vinegar.  Usually for pans that need some vinegar action I'll use my Simple Green/vinegar mixure that I keep in a spray bottle to clean the tables downstairs... I was using straight up vinegar and it was STILL taking that long.  And we're talking like it's not like these corners are done.  I'm going to surely have at least another hour's work on both of them.  And the pan I've left for last is the worst pan (oh joy)....and really, I don't need ALL of them clean, because unless I'm splitting the FN's, I really only need 2 of the 4 pans scrubbed clean.  But... I'd rather do them all while I'm in the cleaning mood, or else I'd come to a point where I'd need to split the FN's and then I'd have the dirty pans and say, I don't want to put my nice clean fleece liners in those... so might as well do it now.

Spent some time emailing the  person who's taking home Tallie and Lilly this weekend, she sounds like she'll be a great home.  I need to get off my butt and start getting her order ready, cause I had to add quite a few rows to my invoice to accommodate the one-of-everything that she decided she's leaving with... which is fine, but I probably shouldn't wait until Sunday to start putting that order together.  But that'll be tomorrow.  After they leave... I probably have 2-3 people that I have saved their emails that wanted to know if their home fell through.  So once they leave on Sunday I can email all those people and be like, "well they went to their new adoptive home, but if you want a different pair, I have...."

Have had like NO interest in either of our standard pairs.  And I mean, where can you get two chins for $130?  Granted, they're all like 5 years old, but considering chins live 10-15 years, they could still have quite some time around here... 

Also got an email from someone saying they got some prairie dogs and they're not what they expected (which makes me ask, what did the expect? and what did they end up with?) and asking about the rescue taking them in and if we'd give them something for them.  So I need to email her back. 

That may be it for today.  For tomorrow -- more FN pan cleaning, I should work on the two chin orders... hopefully the one person on CnH will get me a total for all my fleece stuff that they made me so I can pay them, and at least get that one FN going with some stuff in it and all. 

That's another thing... when Tallie/Lilly are adopted out, that FN's getting pulled from use and getting cleaned and de-shaving'd so it can be changed over to fleece liners.  Same with the one that Willow, Lexi, and Jordyn are in.  And then once that's all done, and the other two FN's are all put together and have their accessories and liners in them, then will come the time when all the cages and tables are pulled away from the wall and everything will move around.  Ought to be interesting to see how the new layout turns out, when we eventually get there...