What's your name?

So on Saturday we pick up the new puppy.

So soon! my mind keeps screaming. I have been getting ready. I sleep a lot. With new puppies not much sleep happens. I also had to buy the biggest crate IN THE WORLD, which will somehow have to fit in my bedroom. I'm pretty sure I will need to remove my bed to get it to fit.

We need to change her name. My lovely Anastasia Beaverhausen, or Karen for short, will not be her name. Blame it on the kid, I know I do. He is dating someone named . . . get ready for it . . . yep, you guessed it . . Karen. A perfectly wonderful girl. No matter how I tried to come up with an explanation that wouldn't sound so strange, I was unable to accomplish it. There is no good way of telling someone you decided to name your dog their exact name. No way at all.

So we moved on in the name category. My kid knows a lot of people, people whose names conjure up bad memories. I'm beginning to think he is hard to get along with. No, on this name, she looked at me wrong in SECOND grade and I am still wounded from the encounter. No, on that name, she said my English paper was horrible and every time I look at the new puppy I will feel like a dunce. The excuses raged on. I became tired and irritable.

Finally we settled on Olive. Yep, she will be named after a taco topping. Actually, she will be named after the children's book called "Olive." In the book it is a play on words for "All of the other reindeer's." It is a very cute book.

Best of all my kid has never met an Olive he didn't like.