Hello my people! So glad to be part of the blog.

We just got back from a rollicking weekend at the MLA. We had a great time drinking in the hotel bar with Jeffica and Lori and drunk dialing Will ­ do you think I can get reimbursed for those beers? Anyway, Lori invited me to join the blog tonight (happy b-day Lori O) and mentioned that I must post pet pics. We have a very beautiful but personality challenged cat named Elphaba Marjorie Miskec McGee who I call TeTe LaFleur for short.

We should have known when she growled at us in the adoption room that she had issues -but she was just so pretty. We thought that if we loved her enough she would change. That¹s the way it works, right? I guess that¹s what you get when you go for looks instead of personality. Seriously, she¹s only sweet when she is sleeping.

As some of you know, we had to put Jessie down last week. It was very, very emotional. My parents were really having a tough time with it, my dad especially, and I really wanted to be there and Chris wanted to say goodbye, too, so we drove to Omaha to put her down. My dad could barely talk about anything without bursting into tears. But Jessie had cancer and could barely walk. It was the right time and the right thing to do but it was so, so hard. Sigh. I asked Jessie if she could please send her sweetness to the cat when she crossed over but so far the cat is still ³batshit,² as Jeffica would say.

While we were in Omaha we had a kitty sitter stay with catzilla (a previous student of mine ­ P.S. it is such a thrill to have students to exploit) but as awesome as she is, she failed to ever go upstairs when she came over, and she never really knew what kitty cat had been up toŠon our bed we found (1) rubber bands, (2) one of my plush children¹s literature creatures, (3) one of those feather wand cat toys, (4) a chewed open, half eaten bag of kitty treats, and (5) a pile of puke. Chris took one look at the bed and said, ³She had herself a party.² Even more outrageous are the lengths miss kitty cat had to go to to have said kitty party. The kitty treats were in the utility closet downstairs, the toy was in a room with a closed door, and the feather wand thing is twice as big as she is. I can just imagine her carrying that bag of treats up the stairs and she must have head butted open the door to get into my crap room for the toy. And to top it all off, she pooped in my shower. Twice.

She did, however, purr when we came home, so on some level we know she likes us. You know how it is in any abusive relationship - the nice times are so wonderful we just keep going back for more.

Anyway, I look forward to catching up with everyone. Being with Jeffica and Lori these past few days helped me remember some really great memories.
Smiles.

Love to you all ­ Jennie and CMcGee