OMG IKEA

Apparently, this is what advertisers come up with when they wake up in the middle of the night... Love it!


Thanks to Gizmodo.com for first turning us on to it.

Old Mother Hubbard...

So our mischievous, conniving, and brilliantly wily kitty has come up with a new way of maintaining the focus of our attention, time, and energy.

One of the evenings when we shut him in his room (we do this to prevent (1) his rabid running up & down the stairs at 3am, (2) his meowing and scratching at our door at 4:30am; or if he sleeps at the foot of our bed - (3) him pawing at my or my husband's face/hair/arm at 5:00am) he discovered that he can open the lower cabinets in the bathroom where we keep his food and other kitty-related sundries.  This isn't an issue because now he has access to his food and said sundries.  This is an issue because he does not just open the cupboard and slink in - nay, he seems to ENJOY opening them just enough and then letting go of the cabinet door so it slams shut. 

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" was what woke me up one night at around 1:30am.  I thought someone was banging on our, or our neighbor's, door until I realized the sound was coming from Kitty's room.  As I stumbled into his room, turned on the light and then squinted towards the source of the sound, it didn't take long to realize what was causing it.   At first, I thought maybe there was a mouse or a bug in the cabinet that was stirring and, after hearing it, he was trying to get at it.  So I opened the cupboard he seemed to be focusing on and peered in.  All I saw was a box of litter box liners.  I just shrugged and muttered to myself and went back to bed.

Five minutes later, when the banging started again, it started to dawn on me that there wasn't anything in the cabinets that Yuri was trying to get to.  I had made the mistake of responding the first time and now he was using it as a device to get our attention and make us come into the room and pay attention to him.  Later it became a device for getting us to open to door so he could run out, upstairs in a flash, and out of reach.

Did I mention that the room on the other side of Kitty's bathroom is my landlord's baby daughter's room?  Plus, the repetitive slamming of the cabinet doors is REALLY ANNOYING.  I tried, once, to not respond - to see how long he'd keep it up before realizing that maybe my husband or I wasn't coming, and just give up.  He did it for 5 minutes straight.  I don't know if you've ever tried to wait something out that involves a loud, annoying sound, but 5 minutes is a really long time.  I finally caved.

SO... now, every night before we shut kitty up in his room, I have to open wide all the cabinet doors.  It's kinda annoying - but way less annoying than waking up in the middle of the night to "Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!"

I hate my cat.

Monday

Kitty has diarrhea. 



And I hate him.

Make it viral, peeps

VIEW HERE

Some cat pics

Since I've been neglecting this blog (I know, TH, you told me it would be too difficult to maintain 2 blogs and you were right) - I'm going to have a gratuitous post of just pictures of Yuri...

Kitty loves sleeping on our bed from about 10am-1pm.

This is his usual sleeping position on the sofa.

Late afternoon cat nap.

Big yawn! (Or is he guffawing?)

I love watching him clean himself.

Possibly my favorite photo of him - I call this one "GQ Kitty"

I love my cat because he's soft & cuddly

Happiness is a warm kitty.

Well, happiness is a warm kitty in the mood to be cuddled with.

Yuri has very soft grey fur, which I love to rub, scratch, and pet.  He's also really warm so he's perfect to cuddle with.  One of my favorite things to do is pick him up and carry him like a baby.  When he's in the right mood, I can pull this off for a whole 2 or 3 minutes, giving him little kisses (he always licks his chops after I plant one, which just makes me want to plant another one), and cooing at my "baby kitty".    Sometimes I even wish there was a Baby Bjorn for kitties, and that my kitty were the kind of cat I could latch into this sling-like contraption, so I could walk around to, oh, the store or the carwash.  Just me and kitty.  Kitty and me.

I know, I know! This is all quite disturbing - usually (90% of the time) Yuri is NOT in the mood to be cuddled like this and clambers out of my grasp anyway.  Maybe it's just my biological clock ticking and I just need to get myself a REAL baby and quit annoying my poor cat to death.  But I know we've all seen Those People.  Those People Who Treat Their Pets Like Human Beings.  And after spending so much time with my cat throughout my unemployed days, I have begin to catch a glimpse of the other side. 

Once you've slept in on a Sunday morning with a cat snuggled up to you, and everytime you shift your position he re-shifts his so that he can stay in maximum contact with your body - you get a little endeared toward the furball!  And after you've been lounging on the sofa reading a book and your cat jumps up into your lap, mews every so slightly, and puts himself between your face and the book in a plea for some quality time - you kinda start to think the animal actually LIKES you and appreciates your existence... dare I say, even your company.  And when you go on vacation with your husband, and at some point of everyday (sometimes even twice a day), you both wonder aloud what Kitty's doing right that second - you realize that darn pet has already usurped a corner of your heart.

So although Yuri definitely has his moments (scratching, biting, leaving "presents" on the carpet, climbing on and clawing at things he shouldn't, etc.), he sure has his moments (purring, pawing at my belly, rubbing his face on my leg while I wash dishes, jumping into bed with me & my husband and snuggling in between us, etc.) too.

I hate my cat because he tried to kill me

So 2 months ago Yuri bit me - like BIT me - on my left index finger.

I must preface this by explaining what I was doing when he bit me.  I had just started working from home and had set my computer up at our dining table, which is near a large window.  I noticed that Yuri loved looking out that window because it overlooks our neighbors who have 2 cats that hang out in their front yard all day.  So in an effort to aid our kitty's viewing pleasure, I decided to build a "window seat" for him.  I put window seat in quotes because it was really just a stack of boxes on top of an unstable TV tray table.

The word "unstable" is key there because cats generally don't like being in any sort of unstable situation - especially when it comes to their footing.  When I picked up Yuri to place him atop my (what I thought was a) tower of window viewing prowess, the boxes slipped against each other and the TV tray table rocked back and forth under Yuri's feet and he flipped out.  Because I don't have cat-like reflexes I was still holding him while he try to lurch out of my arms and when I wouldn't let go fast enough he bit my finger.  I finally let him go.  He promptly ran down the stairs to our bedroom and under our bed (his usual safe room).

It was all over so fast, I don't remember it hurting much, but soon three little drops of blood formed on various parts of my finger, one on either side of my big second knuckle and a third up closer to my first knuckle.  I washed the wounds and cleaned them with rubbing alcohol and stuck some bandaids on.

The swelling didn't start until about 3 to 4 hours later when I went to my parents' house.  When my dad came home, I told him what happened and he proceeded to scare the crap out of me.  According to him, the two worst non-poisonous bites you can get in the world are from a fellow human or from a cat.  And if you get bit by a person or a cat, the worst possible place you could get bit on your body is at a joint.  Like a knuckle.

This is what it looked like that night.

Later that night, the bottom portion of my finger was literally the same width as a standard hot dog - if not a bona fide Aidells chicken & apple sausage. It also hurt because my skin was stretched out and I think one of the puncture wounds at hit the nerve on the inside of my knuckle.  My dad had instilled words like rabies, tetanus, bone infection, and amputation into my subconscious.

This also happened to occur the day after my health insurance expired, the 1st of April.  April Fools Day.  What a fool indeed.

The next day I went to go see a friend of my dad's - an internist in LA who didn't charge me a thing - who gave me a tetanus shot, a prescription for some powerful antibiotics, and a proper bandage.

It took about 5 days for the swelling to finally go away - and I was popping antibiotics every 8 hours for 10 days - but I'm totally fine now.  I got to keep the finger.   Thanks, kitty.

Odi et amo...*

This is the first post of my second brainchild blog, dedicated to my cat, Yuri - an 18-month old neutered Russian Blue we adopted from the pound 4 months ago.  He was found as a stray just before Christmas 2009, so we don't know a lot about his history.  If he were a scale, where on one side all of his positive traits were stacked and on the other side all of his negative traits were stacked - he'd come out about even.  I must admit that my relationship with Yuri (a.k.a. just plain "Kitty" when my husband & I talk to/about him at home) has changed immensely since I was laid off and have had to spend a LOT of time at home... with just him and me. All day. Just the two of us.

Let me start out by explaining how it came about that we (my then husband of just under a year and I) decided to get a pet.  Personally, I've always considered myself a dog person.  Although I've probably been an owner (or part-owner) of more cats than dogs in my life, I've had dogs for longer periods of time - most notably the two Jindo dogs I grew up with from 1988 to 2000.  And I loved those dogs, Licky & Annie, with much fiercer attachment than any cat I've ever owned.  My husband, on the other hand, although he too has had his fair share of both cats and dogs - seems to tend more towards cats. 

So whenever the subject of pets came up in those early months of our marriage, I'd always say how great dogs were and he'd always say how great cats were.  In the end, the conversation became solely about cats - not because my husband has more astute powers of persuasion, mind you.  But because of the simple facts that we were renting an apartment, had no yard, and - oh yeah - we weren't allowed to keep dogs.  So my husband would reminisce about his childhood family cat, Socks (incidentally my family had a cat - apparently with similar coloring - named Boots), go on and on about how cute cats were, and how easy it would be to care for a cat.  "They just do their own thing," I remember him saying on many occasions.  After several mentions, I began to get used to the idea of a cat - and since I've always prescribed to the more-the-merrier mentality - I started agreeing with my husband and finally chimed in one day, "OK, why don't we get a cat then?" 

That's when, for the first time in many years, I learned something new about my husband.  Apparently, when he thinks something's a good idea and meets resistance from me - the idea grows more attractive.  However, once I start to change my mind and finally agree with him.  Then, the idea (which was his to begin with!) becomes unattractive.  Extremely unattractive.  I'm sure there's a psychological/Freudian term for this... oh yeah, "Immaturity".
"Uhh, well maybe it's not such a good idea," was his response.  I sat there speechless.  Was this the same man who had been going on and on for weeks, even months, about how we should get a cat - how he LOVED cats - and that cats were the BEST pets??
"What do you mean, 'not a good idea'??" I challenged.
"Well, we should think this through.  I dunno..."
I almost lunged across the room to shake him, but quickly calmed myself.  Suffice to say, after much back & forth, we didn't get a cat until about 6-7 months later - on a cold morning in January, just after the new year, when I was at work and my husband called from the pet store to tell me that he'd just adopted the kitty we'd seen the weekend previous (and I'd really liked) and was getting a litter box and food before bringing him home.

So there's the whole history of why & how Yuri became part of our family.


*"Odi et amo" is Latin for "I hate and I love," and refers to a poem by Catullus to his lover, Lesbia (no jokes, please).  Many believe it refers to how passion in its most extreme form can so easily translate between the two emotions of love & hate - and this ambivalence becomes like a madness.