Here kitty kitty kitty!

I was so paralyzed with the responsibility of naming my first cat that the poor orange tiger ended up being called "Blankety Blank" by my entire family. That was his name because they got so sick of waiting for me to make a decision. I did better with the next one - a white bruiser that I called Coconut.

Jeff and I are getting a cat in just a couple of weeks. A soft gray kitten with a white blaze in the middle of his (her?) forehead. (This is not a picture of our cat, but a representative picture of a cat,)

And we're squabbling over what to name the cat. Firmly set in our respective positions we're now turning to you - our friends, family and followers - to give your input into our cat's name. Visit our online cat name survey and register your opinion. One question - this should take 15 seconds. Seriously.

We'll post the final decision before we pick "Whats His Name" up from the pet store aka my brother's house in beautiful Syracuse, NY.

No dogs allowed....

After an inspiring conversation with my hair stylist this weekend Jeff and I had a serious conversation about the possibility of our getting a dog to keep us company in the tiny bungalow. Centered around weighing pros versus cons, it went a little like this:

Pros:
We have romantic notions of what life with a dog would be like - catching frisbees, rubbing bellies, chasing intruders, etc.
Most of our neighbors have dogs and we could be one of the "cool" kids.
I want an incentive and excuse to motivate herself for daily walks.

Cons:
We'd want s young dog, and would need to invest time in training the dog. And we don't want someone else to train the dog because we want the dog to respond to our commands, rather than a trainer's.
We don't like the idea of cleaning up steaming hot piles of poop. Or cleaning up dried up piles of poop littering the yard.
My job takes me away from home for up to 15 hours/day. And Jeff doesn't like HAVING to do things, like walking the dog because I can't get home. (I would feel the same way if the tables were turned.)
We aren't sure who we could ask to watch the dog when we spontaneously take off for unknown locales when the spirit moves us. Or we'd feel bad repeatedly asking Margo and/or Cindy and/or Aaron/Katie and/or Ben to watch the dog when we wanted to pick up and go.
I WANT an external incentive to walk because internal motivation isn't working. BUT I am not excited about walking a dog in the rain. Or the snow. Or early in the morning when I am overtired.

After our longish conversation we realized that we both like cats. Having cats could fulfill many of our romantic fantasies without many of the downsides we're aware present themselves with dogs. Or kids. So, no dogs. And we're going to get at least one - maybe two - cats. Why two? Well, I want a smoky gray cat and Jeff wants a light colored cat. No compromises. That's how we roll. Look forward to cute kitten pictures sometime in the future.

(Oh, and I need to find a less pet co-dependent way to motivate herself to get exercise.)

The Closer

The inadequacy of my closings is one of the banes of Jeff's existence. The laundry detergent bottle, the "table syrup", Cholula, peanut butter. He chides me about it nearly constantly. Jeff is afraid that bugs will crawl into the food containers and contaminate it. Or maybe the bugs will steal our laundry detergent. I think he is afraid that he will pick the laundry detergent or the peanut butter by the cap (a no-no in the house in which I was raised) and the entire vessel will crash to the floor. This is something he worries about.

It just makes me laugh.

I'm a bad girlfriend.