The New Kreider Family Members

Sorry if we got anyone's hopes up, but we're not pregnant! Read on...

When Derek and I got married, he had a stipulation, and I had a stipulation. His stipulation was that I had to be willing to spend insanely cold Christmas breaks in Pennsylvania, Minnesotta, and North Dakota. We checked that off our list this past Christmas! My stipulation was that I could one day own a cat when we moved into our own place. And now we've checked that of our list, too!!

I had gone to UGA to take the GRE for graduate school last Saturday and got the wonderful opportunity to have lunch with two of my favorites, Suzanne and Lauren. On my way home, I passed the PetSmart and realized that I had no plans for the rest of the afternoon since Derek was out with a friend. So I decided that I would stop in just to see how PetSmart does adoptions. We've been looking into getting pets ever since we moved into our new apartment in Grayson. I've done my research, looked on Craigs list, included pet expenses in our annual budget, and spent countless hours deciding on the type of cat that would fit us best. We would one day like to own a dog, but considering our current living situation being an apartment, and knowing that we travel semi-often and are gone a lot of the time during the day, we knew that a dog wouldn't work for us at this time in our lives. And I love cats. Always have, always will! So we've been ready to get one for a while now.

So as I went into PetSmart, I immediately saw some cats in cages to my left. The lady that was standing with them was holding a particularly pretty little white and orange short-haired girl. I talked to the lady, Sarah, from We Care Animal Haven, and got to hold all the cats. I kept going back to the little girl she had been holding at the beginning. She is beautiful! She will be 1 in March. She was really snuggly and cuddly when I held her, yet she also started playing with my necklace after awhile. Considering we have really wanted a playful cat who will also let you hold her, I thought this might just be the perfect little girl for us. Not to mention, this particular no-kill shelter was adopting out cats for only $40, which were up to date on all shots and vet check-ups and were already spayed/neutered. Since I had already done my research, I knew that was a more than reasonable price. But Derek wasn't with me, so I got Sarah's information and drove home.

The moment Derek got home, we drove right back to PetSmart to look at them. Now, Derek says he's not a cat person and was just "letting" me get her, but the moment he held her, the little girl snuggled up under his neck, and he softened big time. I'm sure he'll tell you otherwise and make up some manly excuse, but I saw him! He clearly softened! I asked him if he wanted to hold any of the others, and he said, "No, I like her." So we started filling out the paperwork and shopping through PetSmart to get all of her new belongings (cat tower, covered litter box, pink and gold food dishes, purple collar with a bell, food, treats, spray for our furniture to ward off scratching, cat nip, etc.). And then we brought her home! She's all ours!

She's been a little skittish at first and not super friendly yet, which has been surprising considering she was so snuggly at PetSmart. We're hoping she just needs time to adjust to her new home and new parents. We've also decided that we're about 99% sure that next weekend we're going to adopt her brother, too. They were born and have been raised together with Sarah, the owner of the shelter. She's clipped both of their nails since they were kittens, so they're both used to it, which is a good thing for us since our biggest fear is them destroying our new furniture (I know, I know, it's a risk we're taking and can't control). We figured that it would be good for them to have one another since they've grown up together, and we are gone a lot during the day due to our jobs. It would be good companionship for them, and research shows that cats usually do better when they have other cats with them, especially if the owners are gone during the day a lot. Plus, they've already both been spayed/neutered, so we don't have to worry about any of that. We'll be getting the brother this Saturday. We've been told he looks a lot like our little girl -- short-haired, white and orange.

So now we're having to decide on names, and that's where we need everyone's help! I've come from a family who always likes weird pet names, "off the beaten path" you could say. My previous cats have been named Serena, Poonjab (from the movie Annie), Penderschloss (a.k.a. Penny from the movie Adams Family), and Ophelia (from Hamlet). So I'm looking for two names that will be slightly odd and abnormal for our new little boy and girl. Also, I like names that go together with a sort of theme since they look alike and are brother and sister, but it has to be done in a creative way, so "Romeo and Juliet" just won't cut it. It's got to be more creative! Here are our ideas so far...

Option #1 - We could name the boy "Bruce" after Bruce Springsteen (one of Derek's favorite bands). Then we could name the girl "Rosalita" and call her "Lita" (since "Rosa" or "Rosy" are just way too normal for us) after Derek's favorite Bruce Springsteen song.

Option #2 - We could name the little girl "Clementine" because of her pretty coloring. Then we could name the boy "Tangerine" but call him "Tang" (like the drink) for short. Cute, different, thematic, goes with their coloring.

Option #3 - We also thought of keeping "Clementine" for the girl, but then going with one of the following for the boy: "Rusty," "Oliver," or "Roberto." I like all of these options, but it's not quite as creatively thematic as I'd like. But they are definitely all cute names, yet different. I guess Rusty and Oliver aren't super original, but Roberto would be cute! We could call him "Bert."

We're still open to other options. We haven't made any decisions. Also, if you know my family (or at least just me, my mom, and my sister), you'd know that we come up with names for our pets for as long as they live. Our pets always end up having multiple weird names because we just think they're all funny. So we always settle on the official name that we tell other people when they ask, "What's the cats' names?," but we always secretely have a million more names for them. So anything goes!

So obviously Derek and I (well, let's be real, mainly I :-) have final say, but we'd love to hear your votes for which option you like best, or if you have any other ideas! We'll post pictures as soon as we get them together and can get the picture online!!

P.S. If you're looking to adopt a pet (dog OR cat), I'd HIGHLY encourage you to consider We Care Animal Haven, based out of Watkinsville, GA. Sarah is wonderful, and she truly cares about the cats. Most no-kill shelters are extremely expensive to adopt from, but this place is very reasonable. It is so obvious that Sarah's heart is in it for the animals; she's really only interested in finding the pets good homes! If you ever want to look for an animal, you can "friend" them on facebook!

Derek's Secret Revealed

One day back in December we were driving to meet some friends for lunch after church. Derek was being a total hyper-energetic pest on the entire drive to the restaurant. He was singing, being stupid, and intentionally trying to bother me. Just as I'm starting to get irritated, we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, and he just suddenly stopped. And that's when it hit me!

It had finally dawned on me why I feel like I've known Derek my whole life, as if I even knew him before we ever met three years ago. My discovery is this... Derek is actually the Singing WB Frog, Michigan J. Frog. You know, the one who will sing in front of the man but then won't do it in front of anyone else. It drives the man bananas! Remember that character? Well, that's Derek.



I just knew that as soon as we walked into that restaurant, our good friends would wonder why I'm on edge, while never suspecting that Derek is actually the type of guy to be hyperactive. He always gets away with everything because in public he's so quiet that nobody expects that from him. It's like when he's in front of me, he's belting out "Hello my baby, hello my darling, hello my ragtime gal..." and then as soon as we get in front of people, he just says "Riiiiiiibit!" And everyone thinks that I'M the crazy person who is always on edge and can't take a joke or something. Thank goodness my immediate family finally have gotten to see some of his antics!

But in all honesty, I wouldn't really have it any other way. I love my Bear and all of his different personalities... I mean... facets. :-) He is the most wonderful husband, and I'm very glad that he has a little bit of sparkplug in him, too!

In case you have no idea what characeter I'm talking about, watch this video: