Snake Names and Holiday Cheer

We had some great snake name suggestions!

But "Scruffy" and "Fluffy" and "Digger" and some of those others sound like dogs and cats. So they were out. (Sorry.)

Last Sunday, we had dinner with Frank's cousin Amelia and her family in Providence. Sean, Teresa's 2nd cousin, came up with "Komodo." It's the brand name on Sean's new skateboard, actually. It is also the name of one of the 17,000 islands in Indonesia: home of the Komodo Dragon. (Thanks, Sean! Your name suggestion wins!)

Teresa's snake is now known as "Komodo," with middle name "Geoff," specifically spelled with a "G." (Long story on the middle name...one of those RANDOM things that are so popular in middle school and high school?) Of course you can click these pictures to enlarge. Here is Teresa with Komodo...

And another shot of Komodo resting snugly inside her sweatshirt sleeve. (Go ahead, enlarge that one: it's kind of a fun picture--I won't call it "cute" because it's a snake and all, but it is a fun picture :) )

NEW HOLIDAY DRINK. We were introduced to a fun drink at a Christmas party, and it only comes out in December for the holidays! Sierra Mist makes Cranberry Splash. Here are David and Kara showing you our newfound soda.

Otherwise, here's a "Happy New Year" to everybody! We're off to the neighbor's house, with our Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash and these pretzel/M&M treats I made last year (recipe in a December blog post in 2008).

We will walk down the street, in the fresh 2-inches of snow we got this afternoon.

Love, US :)

2 New Additions

Hello!

We've had some exciting events during the past week...

THE DISCUSSION. I mentioned before that Teresa and Kara have been asking for pets for a loooooooooooong time. Frank and I grew up with pets, but now we look at it from the parents' point of view: hair, mess, feeding, mess, torn-up-furniture, shedding, make-huge-arrangements-whenever-you-go-out-of-town, etc., etc.

So..... no pets so far.

(BTW, I would get a cat in a heartbeat, but Frank doesn't like them. It's the sacrifice I made to be married to the best husband in the world, I suppose...poor me...)

THE DECISION. Anyway, we finally decided that this Christmas they could get pets: Kara wanted a hamster, and Teresa wanted a corn snake. I tried to push her towards a Bearded Dragon. But a corn snake is mild-mannered, pretty clean, and a good starter pet. So, a corn snake it is.

(Teresa's science teacher reminded her that those 2 pets--hamster & snake--should NOT live together...)

THE RESEARCH. Over the last 2 months, we have researched how to take care of, what equipment to buy, Craigslist, Ebay, websites about length of life and growth, what to feed, etc., etc. these animals. We have compared prices and packages, determined how much money would be put in by Teresa and Kara, also by Mom and Dad, speculated how much money they MIGHT get for Christmas, and what that money might go toward.

We have visited the 3 pet stores in the area SO many times, all the employees now know our whole family by first name...(ok, I'm being a little faceteous. But some of the employees DO recognize us...)

So. The ridiculous volumes of research paid off: I believe we pretty much know what we're doing now, but more importantly, the GIRLS know how to be the caregivers for their pets. They also note how much things cost to care for a pet, and compare prices.

THE RESULTS. For those of you who did NOT buy a hamster or a snake this week, here are some photos.




A hamster comes from a pet store, taken home in a box like this:




Here is Kara's new pet, "Karamel," of course spelled with a "K." We got a very small, very basic cage--all those tubes and fancy stuff came from the neighbor's garage--they were happy to pass them on to us!




They sell snakes in the pet store, too, but the selection is quite frankly better online. I found a site with tons of choices and colors, this guy and his wife ship out 4,000 snakes a year, for Pete's sake! So Teresa's snake came from Texas, via priority overnight: FedEx.

How does one ship a snake to the frigid cold of New England in December, you may ask? Well. I guess I expected a big box labeled "SNAKE" with airholes, open the box and the snake is just slithering around in there. Not so. It was a pretty small box, simply labeled "Perishable."

Open it up and it's insulated with styrofoam. Then take out the newspaper, and you find: a little plastic container like for cream cheese or something (with airholes), and he's curled up inside that.

The breeder put a hand-warmer inside, which was still warm when it arrived.

I didn't want to take too many photos of him and scare him with the flash, but here is Teresa's new pet Corn Snake!
We are/she is still deciding on a name. (Any suggestions? We don't want to name him anything "bad--" no Lucifer, Demon, Slimy.)

Have a great 4-more-shopping-days-until-Christmas! Kari

Winter Wonderland, Christmas Party, Grandma's Gift!

Hello!

Sunday was the BEST "Winter Wonderland" day. After a night of snow, we had snow outlining every small branch of every tree, a bright blue sky, and lots of sunshine. It was right out of a New England picture postcard. (You can click on these to enlarge if you want.)

And, Kara and Teresa showing off samples of ice-covered puddles...

Winter has arrived, you might say. (Mom's choice to come LAST week to visit could not have been more perfect! I think one day it was 70 last week. November was so mild--just wonderful.)

Our church Christmas party was last weekend! Lots of good food, lots of good music (well, lots of MUSIC, anyway?? Ha. They set up a kareoke on someone's computer). Here are some photos. First, of the Primary children. (Our kids are in the Santa hats.)

I think I mentioned awhile back that Danny Ainge is our bishop. Here he is with the rest of the Bishopric, singing Frosty the Snowman, slightly against their wills. Does the first counselor look a little familiar? He's the NEPHEW of Mitt Romney. Note: the man in the middle is not short! But in between these others--6'5 and 6'4, he looks pretty short.

OK, last item: my Grandma is 99!!! Here are photos of our gift to her: personalized M&M's! In the jar are "Six Sets of 99 M&M's"-- The four sayings on the M&M's are "Nana our FAV," "99 Years Young," "We love Grandma," and "Reva ROCKS!"

Her birthday treat is to go to Las Vegas to see Donny & Marie Osmond's show. She and her 2 daughters (Mom and Joan) come home from that trip today. Happy Birthday, Grandma!:)


Have a great rest of the week! Kari