Well, we are one week down into 2021. If you’re in the U.S., by now you’ve gotten your stimulus money hopefully.
Our New Year did not totally go exactly as planned (not that we had much of a plan, but still.. unexpected things arise!). We started out day 1 with taking down our Christmas decorations, which subsequently gets glitter and flocking alllllll over the place since we have a white flocked tree and some white flocked garland.
So, of course I go to vacuum. (I’m a rather obsessive vacuumer anyway…) …. aaaaaannnddddd the vacuum broke. My husband bought a Dyson cordless in 2017 and it has been having battery charging issues for about 3 months. We’ve managed to make it just keep going, until it couldn’t go anymore. Of course on the day the tree comes down.
So, we did have to buy a new vacuum, and we did choose another Dyson.
We also had some unexpected conversation turn into an unexpected reality.
My husband has not actually owned an animal since he was a kid and his parents had a dog. He’s allergic enough to both dogs and cats that after just a few hours of exposure, he’s having some definite trouble. He’s even like that at the barn with enough exposure to hay or horse dirt.
Me on the other hand….. I have a history of having too many animals and not by choice. If you’ve read anything on my blog about my past marriage, you maybe read any number of posts about the animals.
I love animals. I love them. I always have. (Thankfully, I have no allergies). My love of animals turned into a desire to get into the veterinary field and hit the equestrian scene hard, because of course, I loved horses ever since I was 5 and read Black Beauty.
However, my love of animals does not translate into wanting to own every single animal in the entire world. And me…. ME… of all people, hit a point in my life years ago where I said NO MORE. I do not want any more animals in the house, and when the horses are gone I will (regretfully) not be getting another.
I went from loving all animals, to really wanting to be absolutely done with them.
How did that happen, you might ask? What might turn a person away from wanting to have that which she loves?
See past entries about my abusive ex husband. Nevermind, I’ll sum up. The short short short version of a 12 year history of hell was that I had an ex husband (also mildly allergic to cats and dogs) who insisted on bringing every single animal ever into our home. (Our incredibly tiny home).
He also wanted a horse – then a 2nd one – to “share in my passion with me”. Over the course of 11 1/2 years, there was a simultaneous total of: 4 horses, 1 dog, 5 cats, 3 fish tanks, 1 salamander, 1 bearded dragon, 2 lovebirds, 1 parrot, and crickets for said bearded dragon, and 3 ferrets. Throughout our years, we also had a chinchilla, a 4th ferret, a tarantula, a salt water fish tank, and mice (not like wild ones… actual pet mice).
Did I also mention that for more than 60% of our entire marriage, my ex husband refused to work, had no income, and refused to care for the animals. I would always fight against bringing a new one home, and that meant it was definitely coming home. I had no way out of it, and often, I was forced by harassment, to name the animal, thus making it “mine” because clearly I wanted it since I named it, and now it was my responsibility.
All that inside a cramped up mobile home. (Long story, but yes, I lived in a mobile home). I did not want a dog. I argued, fought, begged, and pleaded not to get one. We had one inside of a week after his previous dog died. That trend went on and on until the house had more animals in it than sitting space. My morning routine consisted of (quietly- so I dared not wake up the ex while he was sleeping) – get up, take the dog out, feed the ferrets/clean litter, feed the bearded, then the crickets needed feed too. Feed the cats, and clean the litter and feed the salamander and then feed the dog, that I probably forgot I had outside in the first place so she was waiting to come back in.
And whenever there was a vet visit or emergency, or just routine vaccines, there was no money to pay for it since it was only my paltry income, so it went on the credit card. And every animal was kept annually up to date on vaccines, microchips, medical care. You name it.
When I finally left and got free, I only had the horses to care for. I had a 1 bedroom apartment I could barely afford, and the horses cost almost as much as my rent. I could not afford a cat even if I wanted one, and I became so used to not having an animal in the house that I said never again.
That was in 2015.
Thankfully, my husband now has had absolute 0 interest in owning a horse, but he has expressed a little curiosity about riding, so I do plan to try to get him on a horse in the spring when the weather is nicer.
However, he has expressed a bit of a desire (more than once over the years) to have a rabbit. Dogs and cats are out (mixed blessings, since while I do not particularly want a dog, I would love to have a pair of Siamese kittens), and after running through pros and cons of various animals, it seemed like a rabbit was the best choice.
So, apparently sometime around Christmas, I (must have been half asleep) started showing my husband videos of bunnies after he mentioned them again. We talked about it for a while, and the next thing we know, by the beginning of the New Year, we were placing a large order with Chewy for supplies, and had found a bunny.

Meet Fizzgig.
She is a Lionhead rabbit, just about 10 weeks old, and we brought her home Wednesday 1/6/2021.
For all the animals I’ve had in my life, including as a child with cats, mice, guinea pigs… 2 house pets I’ve never owned are rats or rabbits. So this is actually a first for me as well as my husband was hasn’t had a pet in 30 years.
There’s going to be hay in the house, and hair all around once she’s an adult, but once again, we have a house pet in our lives. (Hey, at least we have a new vacuum cleaner too!)
She currently lives in about 1/2 our kitchen. We also bought her a huge (absolutely massive) cage for the times we do need to contain her further. Eventually we will give her more and more access to the house as she grows and we continue to rabbit proof everything. She’s getting used to us, and we are getting used to her.
She’s a little skittish now, but she’s had lots of changes in a short period of time. In a few months she will get spayed, but for now, she is just chilling and enjoying her little bunny paradise. She’s been a pleasure to have in the house and it is admittedly nice to have a pet again.