Caroline has been begging for a kitten since....well, before birth, and adopting these kitties miraculously coincided with her 7th birthday, so we went ahead and got them! The kids got the privilege of naming them (with adult input...we were NOT going to live 14 years with cats named Poop and ToiletFart). So, introducing...Buttercup and Snowball! They are brother and sister, though some of their acts tend to imply they are from West Virginia ;)
Now I have a green thumb for outdoor stuff, but my indoor plants are usually a different story. I can't keep a plastic tree from Michael's alive! The fern on the back porch would like to go on record as saying it would like someone to save it...now. So when I finally got the spider plants from Tim's mom to flourish, I was excited. For one thing, it's a gift from the boyfriend's mom...you don't exactly go back for Sunday dinner and say, "Oh, the spider plant sprouts from the plant you had since your wedding day? Well, they kinda died...no, I didn't know I had to water them!" Well, Buttercup had different plans. She proceeded to nap in the plant for the next week. The poor sprouts were crushed and mangled, and in some places where Buttercup got restless, a little chewed up. We put toothpicks in the plant, then nails...nothing worked. So finally I took the plant away, watered it constantly, put it in sunlight, and brought the damn thing back to life! The cats have replaced the plant with any human that makes the mistake of sitting on the couch. There they are....purring, eyes half closed in pleasure, paws kneading your jeans while they slip into your lap, unnoticed....pure genius.
And FYI, you may see various kitty names pop up in the blog. Depending on situation and timing, I tend to yell out a different set of names than Buttercup and Snowball. For example: I was woken up on Friday night with meowing and paws poking in and out from under the bedroom door. You can imagine I was in the best mood EVER since I had just worked 50 hours at nerd camp and Saturday was my ONE morning to sleep in! I got up and worked my way to the kitchen to throw food at them (if you are familiar with my eyesight, you know this is no small feat...I am probably as blind as those animals that live in caves with no light). So what do the cats do? Move to the side, make it easier and quicker for me to get food to the bowl? No, they have some fancy configuration that looks like figure skaters weaving their way in and out of my legs. I stumbled approximately 34 times in a 13 foot hallway, yelling "Move out of the way, Buttermilk! You too SnowShit! I mean it ButterAss and SnowStain, move!"
