I remember a few years back, my brother mentioned that something was “A&U”. Turns out it was shorthand for “Awkward and Uncomfortable”.  It is a good term and have used it on occassion since.  No more so than yesterday.

We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner for dinner, drinks, swimming, etc.  They are our closest friends here and have made our lives so much easier helping us adapt to our new surroundings.  They have two boys close in age to our girls.

Six kids were all playing upstairs in the playroom.  Unbeknownst to us, they had the boys’ hamster Teodoro with them (named after Theodore from Alvin & the Chipmunks). The other kids were watching TV, but J was enchanted with the hamster.  So much so that she decided he would like to play in the boys’ Matchbox garage.

You know how all the garage toys seem to have that neat feature where to put the car in on the top level, turn a crank and the car pops out at the bottom level?  It doesn’t really work so well with hamsters.  When you put one in and turn the crank, it just snaps their neck and kills them instantly.

Crying kids, guests I’d never met before, dead hamster permanently stuck in toy resulting in disposal of toy along with dead hamster, parents trying to calm me down by expressing their relief about not having to clean a cage anymore and refusing to let me go buy a new hamster or a new matchbox garage. Yup – A&U.

Oh – did I mention that the death chamber section that the poor Teodoro met his fate in is shaped like a skull?  Whats A+U x pi?