Visiting my parents, cats in tow

Once upon a time, when I was waaaaay back in the 1st? or 2nd? grade, we got cats. 2 of them. Their names were Cuddles and Streak, and I bet you can guess which on I named (because she was oh-so-soft) and which my brother named (because he ran so fast!). Those cats… well, they were the coolest. There’s a lot of stories about them, but the best is how they would trick dogs. One would sit on the sidewalk, the other would hide in the bushes. The dog would growl at the one on the sidewalk, and the one in the bushes would jump on Fido’s back. HILARIOUS.

So, when I was a junior in High School, Streak died. It was really sad, he had a heart problem. One day, it skipped a beat and never started again. So, Cuddles was left alone in the world to defend the house alone. We got a new kitten, but Cuddles never did accept him. Before too long, he ran off for a few days and came back pretty mangled. A month later, he was getting worse instead of better, and the vet said that he’d never be ok, so we ended up putting him down.

That was the end of the pet saga in my home. Cuddles is still rockin, at 18? or 19? years old. That old lady walks with creaking joints, and if she eats anything, we’re happy. She’s defied all odds (runt of the litter, attacked by dogs, hit by cars, kidney problems, spine problems) and is the queen of my parents home. I mean, look at her!

So, that’s her. The queen. That was taken in 2006, so a bit of time has passed and her fur is a bit less fluffy, but she’s still in charge, even if she can barely make it up the stairs.

So, that was the looooong way to get to this past weekend. My cats keep on getting fleas, so it was time to bomb the house. I packed me and my cats into the car, and went over to my parents house (about 20 minutes away). Can I just say? HILARIOUS car ride. At one point, I had Eva sitting on my shoulder (yes, that’s right, only 1 shoulder) and Sarge had worked his nose between my seat belt and my butt, hiding his face from the outside.

I get over to my parents house, and my cats just about lost it, they loved the house so much. There are STAIRS and WINDOWS and SOFT COUCHES. I swear, the entire 20 hours I was there, I don’t think Eva slept a wink because she had to investigate EVERYTHING. And Sarge was awake for more consecutive hours than I think he’s has been since Eva came into our lives a year ago. He definitely slept a little, but only after checking out the entire house.

Well, lets just say that Cuddles did NOT like the new kids. She had these deep old-lady hisses that basically said “back off you whipper-snapper”.

It was awesome. Cuddles would occasionally come into a room, and Sarge and Eva would pretty much automatically give her a 10 ft boundary. Every once in a while, Sarge would follow her (because, you know, the CURIOSITY, it kills) and she would finally notice and growl the craziest deep chest growl. I found that my cats were walking like her when they were around her, almost as if each of their joints hurt too.

My parents were cracking up at the cats. They were worried that my cats (who have claws) would hurt their cat (who doesn’t). Instead, Cuddles kept my cats COMPLETELY at bay. I thought that was pretty awesome. In reality, I think my cats are curious about others. I know that they hate dogs, but every cat they have encountered, they just want to smell them. I was hoping that Cuddles would let them take care of her (clean her fur, and butt, and ears, and fur, and ears, and butt, and butt, and BUTT, and ears) but at the same time, we were all very happy there was no flying fur.

And now? I really hope my parents get a kitten (or two). Cuddles really doesn’t have a whole lot of years left (ok, I admit, every Christmas for 3 or 4 years now, we comment that we’re lucky she’s still with us) and I think she’s ready for new paws in the house. I think that she’ll forgive a kitten after a few days, as her animosity towards Eva and Sarge reduced while we were there. She DID walk and act REALLY old while we were all there, but I think she would probably mother a kitten at this stage of her life.

Anywho. I don’t know if anyone made it this far, but if you did, do you have any cute pet stories?

Oh, and one more thing. When I got home from bombing the house, I found one of my roomie’s fish dead. Oops! Sorry, Big Guy. We’ll miss you! However, 2 of them were fine, and I made it back about 20 minutes before Mr. T was past the point. He was trying to swim stomach up, but I wouldn’t let him. I turned back on the filters and such and before too long, the water was totally oxygenated again.

Its 1:30 am, do you know why you’re not sleeping?

No, but really. I took some melatonin about an hour ago. Still not very sleepy. Maybe I should stop sleeping for like 12 hours straight.

My mom thinks I’m depressed. But I had to explain to her that I just love to sleep, and recently, well… I haven’t been exactly waking up on time. So, my schedule keeps getting pushed back. And back. And back. And next thing I know, I’m getting up at 1pm, eating, showering, and working til my roomie gets home from work (and normally keep at emails and whatnot til 8 or 9). Then I work on my stuff til about 12pm (and by 12, I mean whenever I actually look at a clock and realize how late it is… or my roomie goes to bed), then I watch tv for a couple of hours until I finally get tired. Then I finally sleep so hard that I don’t wake up for hell or high water.

Whatever. I’m not actually writing this for medical ass-vice, because really? Whatever. I’ll get it all worked out. The melatonin will be my friend in the next few days, along with a loud ass alarm and coffee.

But, I did want to say that one of my big projects is actually making some decent headway. I’ve been working on the design of my new website, and will probably have the big reveal in a week or so. Eek! Also? Designing tags for my bags that’ll be sold in my mom’s store, starting next month.

So, yeah. While I may be more broke than I have ever been in my life, things are going really well. No, I’m not sleeping right. But, I’m getting lots of work done for my *actual* job and then am being pretty productive on the side. Now, if I could only get myself sewing the rest of the 18 or so bags I need for her store. 6 beach bags, 6 purses, 6 zipper pouches. That’s where we’re starting for March, and then I’ll start making more as appropriate and find more stores.