She Gave Me $300 and a Wedgie

So! You know I've been in the process of moving, but I bet you didn't know I was selling fish tanks and such on Craig's List to raise money to buy a new kitchen table set, right?

A few days ago I got an email from this chick inquiring about my 60 gallon tank. We chatted back and forth a bit in emails (you know me, I've never met a stranger) and she almost instantly PayPal'd me the money for the tank. Talk about a trusting soul! Would you ever do that? Nope, not me either.

What can I say about my new friend, Jenna? She works on the printing press for one of our local papers, her hubby is overseas in Afghanistan, and, well... she's a bit quirky-dirky. You guys think I'm the Critter Whisperer? You should get a load of Jenna and her household zoo! If I remember correctly, she has 6 small dogs, 7 cats (although Zero the cat, who just had a $4,000 plate put in his leg, is missing in action at the moment), a ferret, two turtles, five mean geese and two hedgehogs.




As if that's not enough, she also fosters animals for the local animal control center. At the moment she's got an additional dog, a mama cat with a litter of kitties, another motherless kitty, plus two others that are ready for adoption. Know how she weighs them to tell if they're growing? In the dark of night, when the post office has closed, she sneaks in there and uses their postal scale. Can you imagine the look of puzzlement on the security person's face when they look over the nightly security tapes?



She's certifiable, no?

And that's why Tiney liked her, yes?

When I sent her an email Friday night, I jokingly said, "Bring the hedgehogs! Bring the hedgehogs!"

She brought a hedgehog! His name is Wedgie and he is so cute! I would have loved to snuggle with him a bit, but he's like, kinda prickly.

Wedgie, feeling kind of shy.


Have you ever seen a cuter face? That wet, wiggling nose gave me the warm fuzzies.


Here we have Jenna modeling the latest in hedgehog fashion. I call it Winter Prickball.


Jenna also brought her pal, Gravy, and Madison stole my phone to take a picture of him. What a face, eh?



Jenna and I had a grand time chatting about everything from ferret poop to mineral makeup. All while Jimmy was loading up her car (you really need a new car, Jenna. That ancient Volvo just doesn't fit your funky- military- wife persona) with the tank, stand, three buckets of gravel, and a huge bin of assorted rocks. Hey, he's the one who went from this...



To this...



And this...



Far be it from me to stand in the way of Jimmy's health and an extra workout.

So, it was actually a lot of fun getting to meet Jenna. She seems like a really fun person with a huge fuzzy heart. Just my type of gal. I'm hoping we get to know one another better in the coming months, because I'm jonesing to meet the rest of her critters. And to see if, in fact, her house doesn't smell. Yes, I asked her that question. Don't act like you're surprised.

And because of Jenna and a nice guy named Eric who bought another one of my fish tanks, I'm $400 closer to the kitchen table and chairs I so desperately need. The one I'm stuck on at the moment is only $599, with an additional $119 if I buy the two-seater bench in addition to the four chairs. What do you guys think of it? Love it? Hate it? Ambivalent?