Trying to Keep The Cat Away From Flowers: A Daily Struggle

     When my husband's cousin came to visit us last week, she gave us a lovely bouquet of flowers. We very much enjoyed having them sit on our coffee table. So did the cat...

Luckily, we have two spray bottles to fend off the leaf-eating creature. We had been only using them as a way to keep Molly off the table, but now they have another purpose.

But Molly is a persistent little bugger. She jumps on the coffee table, begins chewing, we spray her, she glares at us and jumps off. Now just repeat that cycle about twenty times a day. Whatever it is about those green leaves, Molly just can't get enough of them. One time I caught her in the act with my camera in my hand instead of the spray bottle:

Canine vs. Feline

It is important to note that I also have another pet. His name is Galen and he is a very sweet boy.

But as the picture indicates, he happens to be a dog. Molly doesn't like that. We rescued him about two months ago and gradually we have seen a lot of progress made between Molly and Galen. At first, things were pretty unpredictable. One moment they would be totally relaxed around each other, and others Galen wanted to sniff Molly to death which would lead to an attempted chase around the house (or in one case, a real chase which started with the leash flying out of my hand and ended with me managing to tackle this 65 lb dog into the side of the refrigerator as he rounded the corner into the kitchen in order to save my kitty). As a rule, we always have kept Galen on the leash around Molly and have always supervised the visits. If Galen is out and about in the house, we keep Molly in my bedroom. If Molly is given free roam, then Galen is put back in his well-loved crate, or as we call it his "house".

Very recently, we have had a break through with these two. They were allowed around each other without a leash involved for a full twenty minutes, since they both seemed to be a good mood and relaxed. It was so nice to see them behave so well. Molly even started to play with Galen, which is a huge step for her! Prior to this, she would run or just stay extremely still when Galen was sniffing her or staring at her. But we caught her batting his nose a few times!

I took some pictures to document a funny moment:

The Napping House

Yesterday was one of those days I could get nothing done. It was my last day of my spring semester and I was trying to work up the motivation to finish my last paper. Around here we had an unusual start to the day which may have thrown me off a bit. My husband's cousin and her friend had stayed the night, using our house as a halfway point between their college in VA and their house in FL. So we had a relaxing breakfast of pancakes and then sent them on their way. Whatever the reason, I was losing the battle against procrastination badly. Charlie was playing his game while I was trying to write, but after a while he headed for a nap. I walk in the bedroom after an hour or so to wake him up and I find this:

Isn't this so precious? My two loves napping together! Awwwe.

I found these on my iphoto today... I had totally forgotten about them! These were of Molly when we had first brought her home. She was very small and she hadn't gotten her full fluffy coat yet. I really don't think she's grown that much, her fur has just gotten thicker and fluffier. These pictures are so cute! I can't even imagine how adorable she must have been as a tiny little kitten with her feather-duster tail.

This was taken back when we only had those two camp chairs and an air mattress in our house. This was the first picture taken of Molly in her new house.

Rock, Paper, Scissors... shoot.

While this post doesn't come with a picture (and that's for the better, trust me) it probably will probably make you laugh.
 Last weekend, my husband and I had just woken up and were puttering around the house when we heard the cat making a terrible coughing noise.
"Uhh, sweetheart? Did you -" said charlie, speaking up so I could hear him from the kitchen. But we both had already walked out to the hallway and had discovered what we were dreading. Yeah, you guessed it. The cat had thrown up. While it only took us a half of a second to recognize this pile as being what used to be cat food, it took us a great deal longer to figure out how - or who - was going to deal with it. First, my husband and I stood there and contemplated our dilemma. This was our first run-in with such an issue in our new house. And, I'm sure, it was one we both were hoping to avoid as long as possible. But obviously, our wishes had not been granted. So there we stood. Him at one end of the hallway and me at the other. For awhile we just looked at the floor. Then we looked up at each other. Then back down at the floor. It was clear that neither one of us wanted to be the lucky cleaner-up-er. Then there was a few "I don't really wanna..."'s and "Do you mind maybe..."'s and "Can't you?"'s mumbled back and forth between us in between quiet nervous laughter. Then I got an idea.
"Okay," I said, "let's rock-paper-scissors for it. Whoever loses has to clean it up."
"Deal. Best 2 out of 3"
So the duel began. Both of us were quite serious about winning this match and it showed on our faces. With our game faces on, we both tried to outsmart the other and predict the other person's next move. Well, that in theory seemed like a good idea in and of itself. But in reality it just caused us to show the exact same hand signal. The first two or three times it happened it just made us laugh, and then it just caused a frenzy of competitiveness to ensue. Frantically, the game got faster. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot" turned into "Rocpaperissorsshoo!" Until one of us finally outwitted the other and got a victory. The next two rounds ended faster and I ended up winning. So yes, that meant my poor husband was now on throw up duty. (Maybe now would be a good time to mention that this was just a couple days after I moved down. And in that time period, I had contracted some sort of bug that made me nausous all the time and actually throw up a few times. Needless to say, my husband had alright done his fair share of throw up patrol so I felt kinda bad)
As he gingerly makes his way around the cat throw up towards the kitchen, I had already gone to grab paper towels. I go to hand him the roll but he had other plans. "How else are you planning on cleaning it up?" I asked, curious about his planned tactics. "I'm going to turn a plastic bag inside out," was his monotone reply. I could tell he was not amused. He came back into the kitchen looking a bit nauseated. His arm was fully extended holding the bag now containing the mess as far away from him as possible. After he bee-lined it to the trash can, I cheerfully handed the roll of paper towel. Then it dawned on me. This was his first time cleaning up cat throw up, I thought. Promptly after making this realization I relieved him from his post and went to soak up what was left.

This is Molly in her usual spot on the window sill in the living room. Isn't she pretty?