Tuna

New around here? This is Tuna, our cat of almost 9 years.

Tuna suffers a bad haircut.

Tuna is a guinea pig pre-Charley.

Tuna has a bath.

Tuna is fluffy and pretty.

 

Tuna gets one last hug before he says goodbye/meow.

I feel really bad about it but we found Tuna a new home last weekend. He just wasn't getting the attention he (SO DESPERATELY) needed from us and a coworker of John's offered to take him when she heard that we were considering rehoming him. We pondered it for about a week before we decided it was the best option for him and for us.

Tuna had been driving. us. crazy. to put it lightly. We were constantly annoyed with him which on top of having a toddler in the house taking a lot of attention, made us even more apt to not give him the attention he needed. The things he was doing that annoyed us ranged from constantly getting on the counter tops (litter box feet do not belong where I prepare food!), to trying to eat off of Charley's plate WHILE SHE WAS ALSO EATING OFF OF IT, to no longer using the litter box properly. He'd go right beside it on a mat, so he knew where he was supposed to go but refused to do so. Typing the main reasons out seem so petty as you read them I'm sure, but ultimately it was our decision and we feel like we made the best one for him and for us.

So far we've heard it's been going pretty good! I hope it continues to go good, and am glad that it's someone we know so we can occasionally check up on him. Although these details are coming from John and we all know how minimalist men can be when relaying a story, we've heard that the kids in the family love him, that they've been giving him tuna which he's super excited about and that he meows a lot. Ha. Yeah, maybe forgot to warn them about that last one.

Reese is still here and is seemingly much happier. They weren't the best of buds, and Reese really likes Charley where Tuna was ehh about her so he doesn't lose out on attention there. Charley asked about him a couple of times after he left and we just told her he went to live somewhere else and she seems okay with that. I think it would be a totally different story with her had we rehomed Reese instead.

 

 

So, if you notice he isn't in my sidebar anymore or mentioned very often any longer this is the reason. I couldn't let a main character at Life of Lacey go away unnoticed so I figured I needed to tell you. You'll stick around without Tuna here, won't you?

TV-less

We cancelled cable. I know, I know. The next thing you expect me to say is that we are going off the grid and only eating foods we grow or raise ourselves. Rest easy, Tuna. We don't plan on eating you. Yet.

But really. We paid $75 something dollars to hook up cable before we moved in because you know how annoying it is to wait for the darn cable man when you are already living in the house. And then closing got delayed, delayed, delayed to where we ended up paying nearly an entire month of cable ($90) for a house we didn't even live in yet, much less have a TV in. Ugh. So then we move in and realize we really don't watch much TV at all. John watches two or three series (Falling Skies, Justified, and something else equally as stupid) and I watch two shows (Survivor and Amazing Race) both of which are on broadcast TV which is broadcast for FREE. FREE. And we were paying $90/month for what, exactly? It would have been more fun to just flush that money down the toilet.

We already had the ability to access the internet through our TV and had been watching movies like that for a while. I had also recently read this blog talking about their cable-less set-up and had kept that in the back of my mind. We have a Wii and were planning on getting Hulu or Amazon Prime or Netflix or something once we pulled the trigger and cancelled cable. We hadn't decided what we were doing yet, but went ahead and called the cable company and cancelled, and then went a solid 3 weeks TV-less before making a decision. We really didn't miss it much. But I'm honestly not that granola. I like some trashy TV now and then just as much as the next person.

Charley got her Elmo fix on YouTube on the computer while we made up our minds.

Finally we started by buying an antenna for the regular broadcast stations. John has been purchasing episodes of his shows for a whopping $1.99 each the day after they air. Our current TV WOULD have worked by using the Wii, but to cancel out all of the money we'd be saving by not having cable John went and bought a new TV that made being cable-free easier. It is a smart TV that has a remote with a full keyboard (cool, right?) and has all of the apps accessible for YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and a million other things that I don't even know what they are. I agreed on the purchase because the new TV will have the ability to hang on the wall which fits in the long-term design scheme in my head for the living room. So, win-win. (except for that hit on the ol' bank account)

Also, the new TV came with a year free of Netflix so we've got that now too. I've read lots of people say that they also have Amazon Prime for their cable-less needs, but I don't really get that. What does that get you? Just old seasons of shows? We're not really in to watching old shows so I'm not sure I want to spend the $80/year for that just yet. We watch newer shows which we'll pay for as they air. (Because a season of say, 10 shows, will cost us $20 in total which is way less than the $90/month we were paying for cable.) I know you get the rest of the Prime benefits too, but I just haven't justified that for us yet. Someone help me out with that one.

I forget where I was going with this, but basically, if this is super old news to you and you've been doing this for years, give us some tips. I know our set-up and subscriptions will evolve as we figure this all out until we have something as cool as A'dell's, but we're just cable-less babies at this point. What should we do next?

Answers: Part I

From my 'Ask Me Anything' posted here (questions are still welcome!) here are a few of the questions you asked with my answers. A couple of these questions I had already typed up and saved as drafts so these were super easy for me. You just gave me a little kick to finish them up and post them!

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Megan asked: when can we see Tuna again?!?!?

Hi Megan! So, I noticed you mentioned Tuna the other day in a different comment and I realized Tuna has been pretty absent from the blog for a long long time and I had already planned on getting some Tuna back over here for ya. But, I wanted to wait until I had a fresh, new picture of Tuna and it's been about 8 weeks since I've seen Tuna so I don't have one. I know, I know. I'm a terrible cat mommy.

Tuna has been living with John's friend Ben since we left the townhouse. My parents don't have inside pets so we found temporary housing for the cats while we wait (and wait and wait) for the new house to be built. John goes over there several times a week to feed them, brush them and give them some attention. I have only been over there a couple times and those times both John and Ben were out of town. I do feel a little bad for not going to visit them often. But that will just make them that much more excited when we are all reunited, right?

Anyways, if you want a real confession I will admit that I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed being pet free and therefore pet HAIR free. I will care for Reese and Tuna for the remainder of their lives, but I really think inside pets are not for me.

To hold you over, how about a vintage Tuna picture? This one is an oldie but a goodie. (From here if you haven't been around here for long)

Be back soon, Megan!

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MillerMama was playing detective and asked: Where were you on February 17th?

I'm so glad you picked this day, because 99% of the days you could have picked would have been like, um, work then home. Yippee. And if you watch the same amount of crime shows as I do, you know that that alibi NEVER stands up in court.

But this day, no. This day we were at The World of Coca Cola in Atlanta! I have ticket stubs and receipts and pictures to prove it, your honor.

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Then, Mr./Mrs. Anonymous asked at 10:04pm: Are you interested in having more children? If yes- in the near future? If no- why not?

And I guess Mr./Mrs. Anonymous couldn't sleep because presumably they followed up at 12:17am with this question: How are you preventing having more children?

Well, I was going to wait to tell you, but I promised answers so here you go:

Just kidding.

(That's a little Charley in that belly! Although I'm pretty sure I could take a picture today that looks pretty similar to this and I assure you there is no baby in this belly.)

Yes, we are interested in having another baby. I'd say also that we are thinking near futurish. (But not now. My parents are just down the hall after all!)

And, I did have the Paragard IUD as my method of birth control up until November. It worked great and I had no issues with it. I had my annual gyno visit in November and knew that I would want to have it removed somewhat soon, so told her to go ahead and remove it then. I like to minimize the amount of doctor's visits in which I have to shave for and I didn't want to come back another time. From then to now, we haven't prevented. I know from charting prior to conceiving Charley approximately when I ovulate, so I know when to be more careful. It's worked so far, and if that method fails it's really no big deal. We're ready-ish.

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What else ya got? I'll post some more answers to your questions in a little while but I'd love to prolong me having to actually come up with my own blog topics for longer.

Mama Knows Best

Charley has lots of second hand stuff. The majority of her clothes and toys are from cousins, yard sales, or consignment sales. She doesn't know the difference, and you can't tell the difference by looking at them and my bank account is happy, too. A win/win.

But, every once in a while I like to buy something NEW for Charley. It rarely happens, but she is such a good baby that she deserves something now and then. One of these days was just a few weeks ago.

I picked Charley up from my sister's house after work and she was super happy and had just eaten and just woken up from her nap. She was in perfect take-to-a-store shape, in other words. Not that she's ever really bad at a store, but I prefer to take her when there is much less of a chance that something could go wrong - ie: nap-needing, food-needing, etc. Since we pass a Wal-Mart on our way home and since she had been such a good baby, I decided I was going to stop and buy her a brand new toy. I'd even let her help me pick it out.

We got to the baby toy aisle and I was a little overwhelmed by all of the choices. I really had no idea what kind of toy I wanted to get her, except I knew it wouldn't be something with cartoon characters on it. Anyways, I strolled up and down the aisle with Charley on my hip. I showed her several different toys and pulled them off the shelves so I could show her what they did and try to guage her reaction to them. She was definitely interested in everything I showed her, but not any more interested in one toy over the next. I was going to have to make this decision on my own with my mother's instincts.

Also, this picture was taken while we were strolling up and down the toy aisle. She was so darn cute already this day, and then she decided that she'd start sucking her thumb again after a few months' hiatus. It was so so adorable and made her that much more toy-worthy.

So, after much thought I decided to get this V-Tech cat. Cat IS her first word after all. (The only word she says and really KNOWS what she's saying.)
This one:



I also bought a smaller toy for her for the car ride home because the cat was too big to open and play with right away. And what fun is a new toy if you can't rip it open (err, Mama can't rip it open) as soon as you get in the car? She loved the little shaky bean things I bought her for the car, so I thought I would for sure be 2 for 2 when we got home and she could play with the cat, too.

The cat is really for ages 12 months+ because it is a cat that moves on it's own and the baby is supposed to chase it. I thought it would be appropriate for my 9 month old, and would have a long life in our home since Charley was just starting to crawl and it would give her a fake cat to chase instead of the real ones she loves to torment.



So we get home and get inside with the new cat, take an hour to get the darn thing out of the box and I set it down on the floor and turned it on. The cat started to move. The baby started to cry. She hated it already.

I tried to enthusiastically show her how awesome the cat was. I sat her in my lap and held the cat up for her to closely examine. She screamed. And cried. And eventually I had to hide the toy because she was that afraid of it. Of alllll the toys in the store, I chose this one for my child because I knew her so well and knew she'd love it and it ended up that she's so afraid of it that she doesn't even want it in her line of sight. Mama certainly did not know best.

So the cat was hidden for a few days/weeks. I thought I'd give it another try at a later date where I was sure she would be more welcoming to the cat. So this weekend, I decided it was time to try again. She had been playing in the floor (hence the toy basket overturned in our living room) so I placed the cat on the floor, a good distance away from her just in case, and turned it on.

Please ignore the bird-mobile-business crap on the chair/table. The stuff is taking over my house.

She was no where near the cat. The cat wasn't even moving in her direction. And cue the tears anyways. The cat tried to win her over. "Here I come! I'm on the run! Catch me! Meow, meow!" But to no avail. She wasn't having it.



I think I'll stick to second-hand toys. Nothing worse than paying $22 for something that she hates, when she has a basket full of toys that cost us nothing or just a few dollars that she loves. I think the girl takes after her Mama and hates wasting money, and THAT was the reason for the tears.

I'm crying too Charley. It took so much effort to get the darn cat OUT of the box that there was no way to repackage it and return it. Perhaps Reese or Tuna are looking for a new friend and can get some use out of it. She even sings! And also says something about traveling to London to see the queen! (??) What more could you want from a toy?

The Real Star of the Show

I know it's been a while since Tuna has made an appearance on the ol' blog. And I'm sorry about that. I know he's some of y'all's favorite cat in the whole wide world. But, Tuna knew that Charley was about to roll over for the very first time** as I was videoing her, so he thought he'd make a slight appearance in the video himself.

**She has been rolling over from back to front for about a week now, but her arm always gets folded underneath her and she had yet to figure out how to get it out until today. So none of those other rolls counted until today's, where she finally was able to pull that arm out from underneath her.

[I'm kicking myself for videoing in portrait instead of in landscape! Grr!]

(Now you know why we call him "The Creepster".)

And he has now reclaimed his spot as the star of this show.

Ketchup

I have a million things I feel like I need to share with blogland. But, my countdown-to-back-to-work timer is currently reading 39.5 hours and instead of blogging I've been smothering my baby girl with attention. Currently she is napping though, so I felt like I could maybe fit a whole bunch of stuff I've wanted to share in one quick blog.

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Charley was a ladybug for Halloween. I'd say she was a happy ladybug while we went out trick or treating with her cousins, but then I'd be less than truthful.

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I continued my tradition with personalized Christmas ornaments this year. And, John didn't get the chance to throw them in the trash, so all is well in our household!

I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to continue with just a John + Lacey couple ornament and then a separate yearly ornament for Charley, or if I wanted to just do a family ornament each year, or if I wanted to do a family ornament + a Charley ornament. But, if I didn't do a family one I would never get the chance to order this ornament so I decided to do both a Charley ornament and a family ornament. And if I want to one day have that ornament, I better get busy. Move over Duggars!



Anyways, I'm so happy with them and if you wanna be cool like me and order some too, go here. I swear I don't know these people and I'm not paid to endorse them. I just really like their prices and their work. You can't get these kind of ornaments at Hallmark!
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Tuna is still around and as pretty as ever. Also as annoying as ever. I did absolutely no photo shopping to this picture. His eyes are just that pretty.



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So the success was short lived. Sure, we got her to take a cute pacifier a few times. But, taking a pacifier in general was usually a fight. But you know what's even cuter than a pacifier? A certified thumb-sucker. And it looks like that is what we now have. Now that she's figured it out, she's a pro.



Which, I'm sure is why she has yet to lift her head while on her tummy. She's spent all of her time learning the thumb sucking, and just hasn't been able to focus on head-lifting. One thing at a time, she says.
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 If you are a part time couponer, or you would like to start couponing just a little bit, start with CVS. They are, by far, my favorite place to coupon. I get all of our personal items here - shampoo, razors, soap, hair products, etc. - and just couponing there makes my $1.00/week I spend on the Sunday paper well worth it. On Thanksgiving day, I woke up at 7, fed my baby, and rushed to CVS for one of their biggest sales ever. I walked out of there with all of this stuff, and I spent...



...nothing. They actually paid me $7.00 to take these items off of their hands. All that's missing from the picture is another Snickers bar, a Balance protein bar, and a Starbucks double shot espresso drink, which all somehow got consumed before I was able to take a picture.
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I've talked about Halloween, I've talked about Christmas. Somehow I skipped over Thanksgiving. Wanna know what we did on Thanksgiving? We ate.

And wanna know what else? I went to a parade with my family. Which happened to be #78 on my 101 list. It wasn't as great as we all remembered it, but we still had a good time. It's not like the Macy's parade which has giant balloons every other float. We just had one balloon in our parade, and by the time it got to us it wasn't much of a balloon at all.


It looks like it may have been a Turkey, but it lost it's stuffing at some point along the parade route.
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And finally, wanna know what else I've been spending my time on? Making bird mobiles for my Etsy shop. Since I first mentioned it to you, we have sold another 13 bird mobiles, for a grand total of 15! That means we have sewed (John) and stuffed (me) 120 birds and shipped them off to far away lands such as the elusive United Kingdom and the even more elusive Canada.

I know I've shared this picture with you before, but I'm sharing again because it's cute. And I need a picture to go with this section.


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So that's what's been up with me. What's up with you?

Haiku Thursday

Source

If you'd like to participate in Haiku Thursday, let me know in my comments so I can come see yours too! And, if you need a little extra help in the poetry department: a haiku is a short poem consisting of three lines; the first line having 5 syllables, the second 7, and the third 5.

This week's haiku actually has a title: Neglect

I miss the old days
Where I was the big star here,

Not her and her feet.

~Tuna

It's not even a good or clear picture of her little foot, but Tuna's face is priceless.

Haiku Thursday

If you'd like to participate in Haiku Thursday, let me know in my comments so I can come see yours too! And, if you need a little extra help in the poetry department: a haiku is a short poem consisting of three lines; the first line having 5 syllables, the second 7, and the third 5.

Stretch marks on butt, hips

Means it's time to give up on

My thong bikini.

You're now wondering to yourself if I'm joking, aren't you? Well, I'll give you a hint. There is a joke in there somewhere. Whether it's IF I wear thong bikinis or WHETHER I'm giving them up, I'll never tell!

And since I think no blog post is complete without a picture, I guess I'll share a picture too....

Aww Tuna. You thought I was going to share a picture of my stretch marks in a thong bikini didn't you?

Haiku Thursday

I'm haikuing again. The original haikuer hasn't haikued in a while, but her haikuing legacy shall live on here.

[As always, if you'd like to participate, let me know in my comments! And, if you need a little extra help in the poetry department: a haiku is a short poem consisting of three lines; the first line having 5 syllables, the second 7, and the third 5.]

I do not approve
Of you sharing my picture
On a bad hair day.

Regards,
Tuna

On Becoming A Daddy

Not me of course, because I'm more in the market for becoming a mommy, but for John who is slowly becoming a Daddy.

When a woman first discovers she is pregnant, Mommyhood begins. There are thoughts of superficial things like how you want to dress your baby and then super serious thoughts about how you want to raise your child...although you don't have to tell me that many of my "now" ideas will change when it comes down to it. Regardless, it's instantaneous for a woman.

But, in my (very) limited experience, it's not the same for a man. When he finds out he's going to be a Daddy, it means just that. He's GOING to be a Daddy, but not just yet. He has a good 8 months before he has to put that hat on. When his wife tries to talk to him about their baby, he can't focus yet. It hasn't really become a reality yet.

But slowly, as ultrasound appointments are attended, name suggestions are thrown around, and the house starts to fill with baby stuff, Daddy starts becoming a Daddy. But you'll have to catch him in the act because he'll hide it from you otherwise.

So when I brought home the stroller and diaper bag from the garage sale last weekend, I thought I could see the Daddyhood light shining a little bit brighter as he took the stroller for a spin around the downstairs. And later when I was upstairs and he was downstairs, when I heard the loud rip of the Velcro opening I knew he was checking out the diaper bag. But, I just smiled to myself and didn't say a word.

At some point this week though, it changed. No longer was he admiring the baby stuff behind my back. He was ready to show it off to the world. He WAS a Daddy whether he could hold her or feel her yet or not. When he walked outside while I was on the phone yesterday in plain view of any and all neighbors, I knew he had officially crossed over.

He's ready. Tuna, maybe not so much.

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Happy Birthday Tuna!

Today (well yesterday at this point since I never finished this yesterday) is the birthday of a very important catperson. He is so important to my blog that I have officially dubbed him the Life of Lacey mascot. He brings the laughs when the blog needs laughs. He brings the cuteness when the blog needs cuteness. He is on top of his game and he knows it. Today, is THE Tuna's birthday.

Tuna turns 6 today, which is 36 in cat years.

Which means we have enjoyed/endured 6 years of getting mats out of his fur, and when they got to be too difficult, taking drastic measures.

6 years of mandatory every other day litter box cleaning due to Tuna's princessy habits.


Be assured that the Coors Light box is not his litter box, but just a cute stand-in picture since a picture of his litter box would be less than appealing.

 6 years of ensuring that we could not see the bottom of the food bowl or else an all out meow-fest ensued.


Oh no, that is not acceptable. I will meow and meow until you either 1) add more food or 2) kick the bowl to fill in this hole. Don't play me. I'm not even kidding.

6 years of never having this princess (I say princess, but we all know he's a boy, right?) of a cat sit directly on our laps. If by chance there is a pillow in your lap, then yes, he will oblige and sit atop the pillow.

6 years of having to hide our hands under our pillows or under the covers in the mornings. Because, if Tuna is ready for breakfast, and any fingers are in plain sight, he will just start nibbling on those until we get up to feed him.

6 years of catbrotherly love/hate between him and Reese.



6 years of wondering if Tuna would ever get to be grown-up sized. He's still a wee little runt.



& 6 years of catly love, of course.



Sure, Tuna has more quirks than he has pounds on the scale, and sure, him and his fur make us have to sweep more often than we would ever want to, but we love him. And since this is the first year I actually even knew which day was his birthday (due to me finding some old vet paperwork), we made this a really good one for him and gave him all the extra attention he deserved. And I probably screamed "IT'S THE BIRTHDAY BOY" every time he walked in to the room today and startled him...every single time. Just some good ol' birthday fun, that's all, Tuna!

So wish the Life of Lacey mascot eleventy million more years of life, because I can't even think about what we'd do without him. He's the bestest, and you know you love him too, even if you haven't ever met him and despise cats. Even the cat haters love Tuna.

Happiest Happy Birthday Teepers!
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Drowned Rat Part II

I know I've shared bath time pictures of Tuna once before, but the pictures from today were so funny that I had to share again. I thought I was just going to post the one picture in my 365, but there were too many good ones that I can't not share.

Tuna is 1% body and 99% fur. So when he gets a bath and that fur gets matted down, he can look pretty hysterical. & I know I've talked about how he's not the smartest cat in the whole world, but I'm thinking now that it has to do with his head size. I mean, his head is so tiny there must not be much space for too much brainage. Poor thing. At least he's cute!

So it all begins with a little rinse. John installed this sprayer thing in the spare bathroom (that has never been used except for the cats) so that it would be easier to bathe the felines. I think it's great, but Tuna disagrees.

Close your eyes, little buddy!

And then whew, that's over. He starts thinking it's not so bad.



Next comes the shampoo.



& a little scrub a dub dub, starting with his head.

It's not that bad!

Then as John gets more shampoo, Tuna starts looking for an escape route.



But before he's able to escape, the rinsing starts again.



& he HATES it! And I hate that the sprayer got in the way of this picture, because from what I can tell, that is one fierce face for a 5 pound animal.



I'm thinking it looked like this face, only meaner.



See what I mean about his head size? I also think I should adjust my formula to: 1% body, 1% ears, and 98% fur.



Before long the bath part is over and its time to dry off in the towel.



The fun isn't over yet though. & Tuna looks thrilled about the next step: the hairdryer.



& finally, we get out his comb and he starts looking more like himself again.



But at least he's clean, and we can all get a good laugh about it.

The small print: No animals were harmed in the making of this blog post. Egos, maybe, but physically he's fine.
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Up to date.

Merry Christmas!

It's 11 or so on Christmas night, it's snowing (the first time I've ever seen snow on Christmas day), and I am so congested and stuffy that I can't breathe. So instead of laying down and me risking my life ('cause you know if I closed my mouth I'd lose my air supply and not breathing = not living), I thought I could bring you all up to date on mundane things going on with me. Sound fun? Great!

• I got a new camera lens for "Christmas". Why the "" you ask? Because it really wasn't for Christmas, but more of an 'I want this and I'm going to buy it for myself and use the upcoming holiday for an excuse.' I love it. I also got this thing for the flash (since I don't want to be TOO dorky and have one of those gigantic flash thingamajigs....I like to take my dorkiness one step at a time) that I also love lots and lots. Expect better pictures from me coming soon. (And if they aren't better, tell me how to fix them, please!) But that's one more thing checked off my 101 list...yay!

• Reese still loves to lay on shoes. [P.S. These are some of the better pictures I said were coming soon.]

• The trashed ornament has been replaced. The original was never found. I added the cats in the windows...tell me it's cute. John has also accidentally trashed something else of mine since then. We're working on the problem.

• Pierre has won the heart of a neighbor, and she plans on getting him neutered and then taking him in. She renamed him to Eli. I don't know why Pierre didn't just speak up and tell her his name was Pierre. It's so much more sophisticated than Eli.

• Wyatt hasn't lost any of his original cuteness in the last 3 months. Don't believe me? I'll prove it:




(Next time I'll remind Wyatt my blog has a PG rating and nakedness is against the rules.)



• I'm only up to the year 1997 and it's been 3 months. I'm slow.

I think that covers everything. & for an update on me: it's still snowing and I still can't breathe. It's gonna be a long night.
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