Hello to all! I hope all of you had a nice after-Thanksgiving weekend. Did any of you go shopping on Black Friday? We did very little shopping and it wasn't really of the Black Friday sort. Shane went to Tandy Leather for a few leather crafting supplies. With winter coming on, he'll be doing more of that craft soon.
Although I'm not entirely disinterested in leather work, I was more interested in shopping at an adjacent thrift store. They were running a sale on Friday -- 60% off entire stock, so I just had to look. Shane joined me eventually and we ended up spending $25 there. Among the things we bought were a top, pants, cardigan and shoes for me, two pairs of pants for Kat, a couple of knick-knacks, a jigsaw puzzle, some hardware (sheet rock toggles or some such) for Shane and of all things, a 7 lb. chunk of solid aluminum that will be a money-maker for us at the recycling center. I'm glad Shane knows about those things; I would never have even noticed the thing, let alone seen the value in it.
After our "shopping spree" we headed to Shane's dad's and step-mom's so Shane could look at their leaking dishwasher. Shane found the problem and my FIL ordered the parts, which were to arrive next Tuesday. They bought us lunch (Long John Silver's fish) and we visited for a while. When we left their house and had driven just a block or so away, we saw a woman in a large pickup slow down and basically toss a little cat out the driver's side door.
I don't know if we were in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time, but we stopped and rescued the cat. She appears to be no more than six months old, and is visually in good health with no fleas, ear mites, etc. We decided we would keep her and Kat has named her Mittens, despite the fact that she doesn't have "mittens" at all. She is a very dark tortoise-shell color with just a few patches of tan.
I think we might be crazy, bringing a fourth* cat into the house. We're still in the adjustment period, so of course, everything seems crazy. Tuxie ignores Mittens entirely, while Siesta growled and hissed at first but has since become apathetic toward her. Mittens herself seems to be comfortable enough, although she does spend quite a bit of time under the couch sleeping.
Swiper, though, is causing trouble. She is climbing on high furniture and shelves and bothering plants; she didn't do these things before Mittens' arrival. Swiper is also, I suspect, the cat who has been pooping in the bathtub the last few days. I haven't caught her in the act, so I haven't been able to discipline her**, but I am all but certain it's her, considering her other behavior and the fact that I've been pretty sure where the other cats have been when it's happened. I guess I should count my blessings that she's doing it in the bathtub where the mess is easy to clean.
Anyway, back to our weekend...I stayed home on Saturday, mostly relaxing with Kat, while Shane went back to the in-laws. The ordered parts arrived sooner than expected and he was able to repair the dishwasher for them. Yesterday, Shane stayed home and winterized our windows while Kat and I went out to Petco for cat food that was on sale and to Gordman's to buy her teacher's Christmas gift. I also bought a few gifts online over the weekend, so with the exception of one more possible gift, I'm done shopping. I still have wrapping to do, though, because most of the gifts I've ordered this season are still in transit.
So, that was my weekend. Kat is back at school and Shane is back at work. I think we've hit the time of year when his work will be determined on a day-to-day basis; for today, at least, he has work.
My calendar looks wide open this week. No dentist or doctor appointments, no early-release days from school or school parties, no unusual errands to run. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with a "normal" week.
What's on your plate this week?
* and final
** When we catch our cats in the act of doing something naughty, we discipline them by spraying them with plain water from a sprayer bottle. It's effective and doesn't hurt cats, people, carpets or furniture.
9 comments:
It is always busy at your house. And I too, would have saved the kitten. Our Hairy is a rescue that adopted us.
Not much going on here. I'm still kind of in a funk. I'm not even writing my book anymore. This has never happened before. I'm the type that turns everything into a job with or without pay. SO I'm trying to find the fun in all of it again.
Thanks for letting me pour out my heart!
Wow! I can't believe she just dropped the cat out of the car! I'm so glad you were able to rescue it. I hope she settles into the household well and the other cat quits pooping in the tub. I don't allow our dogs upstairs by the bedrooms at all... But sometimes our basset will sneak up there and poop or other on our bathroom rug. sheesh!
Good luck!
Sounds like a great way to train!!
I'm glad I didn't see her, she would have been turned in! Geesh, what a creep.
Hope everyone gets happy, gets along, quits climbing and quits pooping in the tub!
One of my cats refuses to use a shared litter box with my other cat. She used to poop in our tub until I figured it out. What was strange was she didnt mind sharing with the previous cat, but the other one we have now she absolutely refuses. Good luck!
So glad you took in the cat, poor thing. We use the same discipline tool, it works very well.
I'm so glad y'all were there to save that cat. I just do not understand people. I hope everyone learns to get along. Mittens is a cutie!! I've been meaning to get back to shopping thrift stores but I haven't done it yet.
I have to go buy groceries. I sent 6 large paper grocery bags of food to work with Kevin. We figured we could afford to buy whatever we needed so I pretty much emptied out our pantry. I'll probably buy extras and donate more. Oh---and I get to pay tuition again this week.
Hope you have a wonderful "normal" week!! Take care.
SonyaAnn: You can pour your heart out here anytime. Hope you're feeling unfunky soon.
McVal: You should have seen the look on the woman's face when we turned the corner and saw her put the cat out. Half anger and half shame, I'd say.
TWS: It seems to work well...IF you can catch them in the act.
Lisa: We just got all new litter boxes and now have three of them instead of two. Unfortunately, it hasn't made a difference yet. We're still sure Swiper is the culprit, as she's the only one acting out in other ways.
Melynda: I like it because it makes the point but isn't harmful at all.
Sheila: The week has turned out to be not so normal. Shane worked half a day Monday, but that's it so far this week. It's strange having him home during the day.
Good on you for the cat rescue. Some people are unbelievable.
(What do you mean by 'winterizing' windows?)
I missed reading this. Mittens is adorable and I am so glad you rescued her. Shame on that woman for dumping her out. I just don't understand why people can do that.
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