Mac the celebrity

This morning we were taking Mac the dog out for his morning potty break when he slipped out of his collar and bolted down the street.

Despite our driving around for nearly an hour calling his name, we both went to work Mac-less. I frantically posted on websites, including Craigslist, that our little furbaby was missing. When telling my coworker of the morning, I burst into tears - worried we'd never see the devil dog again.

Within 30 minutes of posting, Shea messaged me that Fox 4 News had our dog and to check out their Facebook page. Confused, I looked and there he was in all his hyper glory. 

Photo via Fox 4 News.

It seems a news station employee found him in the middle of an intersection and called him into her car. While at the TV studio he was given toys, bacon and helped himself to a running tour of the studio. We were quickly reunited and Mac returned to his kennel after a stern lecture.

His adventure wasn't unnoticed, however, and he has become a local celebrity. In fact, he (and his mom) will be featured on the Fox 4 morning news show Wednesday.

In the end, the story got more than 130 shares and almost 50 comments. People like happy stories.

I'm grateful for Craigslist, Facebook and our new Kansas City friend Laura who took the time to save Mac from a sad fate and reunite him with his family who loves him. Most days.

a first mother's day, runaway dog and paint

Because what's a crazy week without an equally crazy weekend to top it off?

After working til 7 p.m. Friday, I met the hubs downtown for First Friday. Except there was no parking. And my feet hurt. And I was wearing heels. And my stomach feels squished. So instead, we drove all the way home and I went to bed. Friday nights are SUPER fun with a pregnant wife.

Saturday I had to work again. Upon arriving home, my parents arrived for the weekend and Shea reported Mac the dog had been missing for 20 minutes because the the front door was left open. So as three cars went to comb the neighborhoods, my mom and I set off on foot. After another 20 minutes of looking, we heard a dog's shrill bark and eventually came upon Mac, locked up in a neighbor's pen. No one answered the door so we left a nice note and rescued him. They had agility training equipment in their backyard so we can only assume they were trying to kidnap Mac and train him for the circus. 

After an extensive outing at Home Depot, we were ready to begin the real task of the weekend - painting the nursery.

We soon discovered the previous owners had painted their nursery with enamel, which for you non-paintheads out here, enamel = frustration. So another run to the dreaded orange box store, and my dad and the hubs began priming. I have good men in my life.

My mom and I headed to the shoe store and Babies R Us. She ended up with two pairs of shoes and treated me to a few new maternity clothes to celebrate my first mother's day.  

And to make sure the hubs gets credit, he woke me up Sunday with a super cute kid's apron and little tiny feet and hands cookie cutters. I'm thinking little treats for the hospital.

We returned from shopping to a completed nursery exactly the color I imagined.

We need to refinish that white dresser and find a place for our overflow dresser. My mom will make yellow and white curtains and crib dust ruffle.

But hey, we've got a nursery. Or at least some pretty walls.

random cat video

Our not so little anymore kitten gets into everything. Case and point.

introducing ink

We got the kitten. And we rejected your votes and named her Ink. She's black and white, it's newspaper-related, it works. Don't be offended, we're just not big on alliteration in names. Or in general life either. (Damn you, Karen's Klassy Kanines)

She's been adjusting quite well. So well in fact she's conquered our corn plant, removed my toothbrush from its holder, opened a tightly-sealed bucket of cat food and dumped over a cup of water. She's also met her siblings. At first Pica, the resident queen bee, was unimpressed. Not intimidated but not really interested. Now they are like those friends that are only good in small doses.

Our high-anxiety Jack Russell terrier, Mac, loves her. Upon first meeting, he just jumped on the couch and screamed in her face. (Yes, we do in fact have a screaming dog). Over and over, like a pacing zoo animal.

A couple of nights ago we had ice cream with our friend, Johanna. Mac taught Inky what to do when faced with such a lucky situation.

{See, this is good stuff. If you're quiet, they won't notice.}

She caught on quickly.

{OK, OK, I think I've got this!}

And then she wanted it all for herself.

{Seriously, back off. This ice cream is mine.}

it's all in the name

We've decided to get the kitten. Mostly because we realized that we were in too deep, and it was hard to back out. Also, I was having indecision anxiety and it was affecting by ability to ... be normal.

{Seriously, could you resist this?}

The kitten will be vaccinated, de-wormed and uterus-free when we pick her up Tuesday evening. My hope is that her arrival will not anger current cat Pica but will give her a sense of purpose other than waking me up at 5 a.m. meowing or lying on top of my face. Also that Mac the resident dog does not eat her. You should probably pray for us.

For those of you that thought I named my first cat after the disease that causes women to eat dirt and chalk, think again. Pica was named after my love of newspapers and typography. Fun fact: A pica is a typographic unit of measure corresponding to 1/72nd of its respective foot and therefore to 1/6th of an inch. The pica contains 12 points of measure. I have a pica pole engraved with my name. You can commence judging me. I'm comfortable with being a journalism nerd.

Naturally the second cat needs to fit into our  my journalism obsession. Help us choose! Feel free to submit something we didn't think of in the comments. (Note: I know that the name of Richard Gere's cat in Runaway Bride was Italics. But considering he married the source of his story, his connection to journalism is voided.)

What should we name little kitten?

• Strikethru
• Caption
• Pixel
• Fonts
• Italics
• Quotes

kitten anxiety

This kitten needs a home.

A friend of a friend found this itty bitty guy in a drain near her house. And then sent pictures that were very hard to resist. So for the last 24 hours we've been filled with kitten anxiety.

In general, I struggle to make decisions - haunted by the "but what ifs." We think we may have a route to get reduced costs with getting kitten fixed and vaccinated which was initially our biggest concern. But the next problem is this ball of grumpiness:

Pica loves me. And this love is fairly exclusive. In Pica's ideal world, she'd always be safely two inches from my face without anyone to compete with like a husband or a dog. But Pica did adjust to her new brother, Mac.

The two siblings chase each other in circles around the couch. Mac frequently grooms Pica's ears. When they first met, Pica spent most of her time underneath the bed. Now, they've been known to share a bed, couch and even a lap.

Then there is the problem of our 900 square foot apartment that doesn't even have a bedroom door. So with the two of us, three pets and maybe a baby someday, it seems rather naive to think we'd all have enough space to ourselves. And maybe we don't even want another cat and just are getting baby fever. 

But, then there is the possibility that kitten would make Pica motherly and keep her company when we leave her for the weekend. Or she might get territorial and rip its face off. 

Cats are pretty low maintenance but do I really want two cats trying to drink out of my water glass, sleep on top of my face, dirty the litter box and fur up the couch?

But it is SO ADORABLE.