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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Cute, loud and finally named.

So, after much deliberation, we have finally come up with a name for the new cat.

Previously Sarah has had the honor of naming our now-deceased goldfish "Goldie" and our other cat "Gray Gray".  While both are very descriptive names they aren't necessarily names to my liking.  And after hearing her say that we should name the new kitten "Mini-Gray Gray", I quickly decided I need to take matters into my own hands.

But not just any name would do.  This little kitten is the coolest cat I have ever known. 

She's spunky. She's fiesty.  She's playful.  She's sweet.  She's loving.  She's smart.

I decided she needed a human name.  So my husband and I tossed around names like Sally and Rachel and Rebecca and Pat.  None of these seemed quite right so we kept thinking.

One evening my husband suggested the name Molly.

I liked the sound of it so we decided kitty would be called Molly.  But even as we called her Molly that evening, I knew it wasn't quite right.  It just wasn't the right name for this special kitty.

The next morning at breakfast as the kitten was chasing Gray Gray around Dan said, "That cat sure has a lot of moxie!"

And I exclaimed, "Moxie!  That's it!  That's her name!  Moxie!"

So, the new kitten's name is Moxie.  And just in case you don't know, moxie means:

mox·ie   [mok-see]


–noun 

1. vigor; verve; pep.

2. courage and aggressiveness; nerve.

3. skill; know-how.

And even though she has been named with the most appropriate name ever and I like this name, for some reason I have been calling her Baby Kitty.  Maybe it's because Moxie sounds very grown up and mature. 

Dan, who has been in Ireland all week, asked me over the phone if the name Moxie has stuck.  I told him it has but I've still been calling her Baby Kitty.

He suggested that the name hasn't stuck if I'm calling her Baby Kitty instead of Moxie.

It's sort of like parents that name their kid Ralph.  You can call a 40 year-old man Ralph but there's no way you are calling a 2 month-old baby Ralph.  It's just not happening.  Ralph's are accountants who are figuring out your taxes.  Ralphs are not babies who are spitting up and needing a fresh diaper.

So Moxie is the forever name of our cat.  But Baby Kitty is her right now name.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Chelsea Clinton's wedding must be getting close...

Because according to my Stat Counter, lots of people are Googling "Chelsea Clinton plastic surgery before after?" and they are ending up here on my little old blog.  (I'm the third hit on Google for this search phrase, thank you very much!)
Wonder if they think I look like Chelsea?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

A little known fact about Chick-Fil-A. (Well, little known to ME anyway!)

Did you know that at Chick-Fil-A, if your kids don't want the toy that comes in their Kid's Meal, they can turn it for a FREE kid's sized ice cream cone?  Free ice cream!

I just found that out last week.  Why did I not already know that?

We have a new Chick-Fil-A in our area and at our last two visits we have swapped unwanted (and unopened - I think this is a requirement) toys for ice cream!  How cool is that? 

Now if only McDonald's would do the same. Think of all of that cheap plastic we could keep out of the land fills.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Cute, loud and nameless.

Look what was waiting on us when we got home from the 5k on Saturday night:

She was at our back step meowing up a storm.  And she continues to meow and meow and meow. 

And meow.

She wants to come in our house and stay in our house. But we can't let her.  Our other cat (who showed up on our front step in October) is not too happy about the new arrival. 

Gray Gray (the name that Sarah picked for the cat that showed up in October) seems a little interested in the new yet-to-be-named kitty.  He will peer outside the window at her and casually flick his tail but when the kitty does streak through an open door, Gray Gray turns into a giant puffed-up ball of fur and hisses like nobody's business.  Or he turns tail and runs like a fraidy cat. 
So the new yet-to-be-named kitty will remain outside.  Although I can't tell how long I can listen to the pathetic meowing.  I guess I need to get some ear plugs.  Or just go ahead and accept the fact that this yet-to-be-named kitty will eventually be living inside the house with the other pet that I never asked for but now feed and water and clean up after. 

How many cats do I need to become one of those crazy cat ladies?   Surely it's more than two.  Right?

Monday, July 19, 2010

What do Lao-tzu and Dairy Queen have in common?

I guess you could say I'm hooked.  I never thought I would be a runner but I guess it really is official now. 

This weekend Jennifer and I competed in our second 5k with Jamie and Beth R. (a couple of the other ladies we ran the Race for the Cure with!)  We ran the Beat the Heat which was held at 7:00pm on Saturday night.

Unlike the Race for the Cure, this race was sponsored by a running club and there were only 659 runners.

And ample parking and Port-A-Potties.

There were lots of serious runners at this race.  You know the kind.  The ones that are supper thin and super fast.  But we didn't let that stop us.  Because you have to start somewhere.

They didn't use timing chips at this race so even though my finish time was 5 seconds slower than the first race, I am subtracting at least 30 seconds (or maybe more) to account for the fact that I didn't cross the start line when the gun sounded. 

So there was a little tiny bit of  improvement in my time.  (Good!)  And I haven't been crazy sore like last time.  (Better!)  And I was able to run three miles this morning unlike after the last race when I wasn't able to run three miles again for over a week. (Best!)

So, yes.  I guess I'm hooked!  And I'm still marveling at the fact that 6 months ago I had never even run 1 mile - much less three - consecutively - and in 30 minutes

So I guess Lao-tzu was right.  A journey of a million miles really does begin with one step!

Oh, and going to Dairy Queen for Blizzards after the race is a great incentive too!



Here we are before the race getting rained on.  The rain stopped before the race started and left things nice and humid and muggy.  Oh, and aren't we cute in our matching shirts??  Our motto - If you can't be fast, be cute!
Here we are approaching the finishing line.  And yes, that's Jennifer ahead of me.  What can I say, I'm older than she is!
And here I am crossing the finish line.  Jennifer has already crossed and some other person trying to be cute by wearing pink has zoomed in front of me.  (The nerve!)

Monday, July 12, 2010

Home. Even without the donuts it's a very good place to be.

Ahhhhhhh....

That's the sound I made last night when I finally slid into my bed after 11 days of vacation.

Vacation is always great but nothing beats sleeping in your own bed.

We made our annual summer pilgrammage to Cape Cod.  And I must say, it was wonderful.  We had sun the entire week which means I have more sun now on this old body than I have had since before the kids were born and I had time and money (and not much sense) and could go to the tanning bed.

We got to play in the water, build sand castles, ride bikes and eat donuts for breakfast - every day.

That's right.  Donuts for breakfast every day.  (Well, except the morning that we had homemade blueberry buckle and that's basically cake which might as well be a donut.)  So, yes.  Donuts for breakfast every day.

Today will be spent getting back into the groove of things.  Dan's heading off to work.  The kids and I will be playing with our much-missed BFFs at the pool today and I'll be trying to figure out what to do with all the tomatoes and cucumbers that have overtaken our garden.

Yep.  It's good to be home!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

All I can do anymore is sigh...

Several months ago at the school book fair, Sarah won this poster.  Adorable, isn't it?  Sarah insisted that she knew just the perfect place to hang it.


This past week we had to have our car serviced.  When I brought it home from the shop, I removed the floor mat and as I was about to throw it away, Sarah said she wanted it.  "It will make the perfect poster!" she exclaimed.  So I let her keep it, assuming she was going to draw something on the back of it.

 

And now this is what Sarah's room looks like:


Yes, you are seeing correctly.  She chose to hang the cat poster underneath the molding near the ceiling and she chose to hang the dirty disposable car mat as a poster.

The Nester's decorating motto is "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful."  But I think even she would agree that this is just wrong. 

I guess Sarah's decorating motto is:  "Whatever makes me happy and Mommy crazy!"