Is It Worth The Effort?

For some reason, the cats are fascinated with all of our baby gear. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself here and here. I'm not sure if it's just a cat's natural nosy instinct or what, but they just can't seem to get enough of Sam's stuff. We are forever finding them in his crib, in his pack & play or in his carseat.





A few days ago, I even walked into Sam's room to find Corkey curled up on top of his changing table. Doesn't she know that's where we take care of the poop?



But their FAVORITE place to curl up for a nap is in his chair.









I cannot count the number of times I have removed a cat from the poop chair (dubbed that because it vibrates and always seems to...well...make Sam poop). We finally wised up and started leaning the seat up against the wall so no uninvited guests could use it.



It would appear that we've been outsmarted once again.

Shawn got home yesterday afternoon only to find that Annie had somehow figured out a way to get herself into the seat, despite the fact that it was sitting nearly vertical. He just left her alone. We figure if she's willing to work that hard for it, she deserves to sit wherever she darn well pleases.

The Dime Bag

Last week, Shawn ordered some medicine for Maddie off the internet.

Sidebar: Maddie has two blown ACL's...or at least the dog equivalent. A
few years ago, we were playing with her, and she suddenly went limp in her hind
left leg. We took her to the vet, and he said she had torn a ligament in
her knee. After a little research, we learned that 85% of dogs with the
same injury would tear the same ligament in the other knee within a year due to
overcompensation with the other leg. Almost a year to the day later, she
injured her other leg. We considered surgery to correct the problem, but
even the veterinary surgeon that we saw (yes....we are THOSE people) said the
surgery is a bit controversial and Maddie was not a black-and-white case.
He said he would not do the surgery in a small dog and absolutely would in a
large dog, but Maddie was in that gray area where it was pretty much up to
us. After much research, we decided NOT to do the surgery, primarily
because she would have had to be crate-confined for 6 weeks after the surgery,
and I just felt like that was cruel to do to a dog who had never been
crate-trained. We started high-dose glucosamine and an anti-inflammatory medicine, and she has done remarkably well.

As an afterthought, he ordered some catnip for the kitties. The package arrived this weekend, and we unpacked it, then got sidetracked (imagine that...), so the contents of the box remained on our dining room table for the rest of the day. The catnip was in a little ziplock bag, and had he not told me what he had ordered prior to its arrival, I would have been a bit suspicious of what Shawn was buying on the internet.

I woke up Sunday morning and went bee-bopping through the living room and suddenly stopped short. There was catnip EVERYWHERE!!! Not only that, there were four very happy cats roaming around the house. Apparently, they had not only managed to open the bag and spill its entire contents on the dining room floor, but they then proceeded to ROLL IN IT and transport little pieces of cat weed all over the house.

Lesson: when you buy wacky weed, don't leave it out where little hands can get in it.

Pushing My Buttons

Corkey really knows how to push my buttons. It's like she knows exactly where I don't want her to sleep, and that's the spot she chooses to nap. The last time I changed our sheets, I made the mistake of leaving the drawer in the armoire open while I put new sheets on the bed. Apparently, it made a perfectly-sized bed for her.


Lately, she's taken to hiding in our closet. I really haven't figured out how she gets up there, but I keep a tote of purses on the top shelf. I reached in there to grab one a few days ago & got a handful of Corkey instead.



Corkey also has this innate ability to pick out the person who likes cats the least, and that's the person she wants to be friends with. Unless you know Shawn's stepdad, this picture probably won't mean much, but he really dislikes cats. That didn't deter our girl. What's really ironic is she's not that friendly of a cat. It's not like she just jumps in anyone's lap. It's a good thing Robert has a good sense of humor.