Look out!

There's a GIANT CAT in that box!

Decoration Inspiration

The other day I finally decided on a color scheme for our guest room.  Something that has plagued me since we moved in 2.5 years ago.

Anyway, I happened to find myself at Home Goods just a few days later and as I was walking around I saw some bedding that I liked.  I took a picture with my phone so I could keep it in mind.

Then I found an awesome vase that complemented the bedding.  I had to have it.  It spoke to me.  It said, "Carolyn, I am awesome.  And there is only one of me.  If you leave me, I might not be here when you return, and you might regret it forever.  Seize the moment and put me in your cart!".  So I did.

With vase in cart I made a decision.  I was going to redecorate the guest room right.now.  I scurried back to the bedding and put it in my cart.  Of course, I would want some other accessories besides the vase.  I found 2 fun picture frames and into the cart they went. 

It would be nice to have a lamp by the bed for reading.  Several trips up and down the lamp aisles later I found the perfect one, hiding behind two other lamps in a corner.  I even found some cool art to hang on the wall that goes with my idea for a collection that I've been thinking about for quite some time now.

Thomas and I decided that if I was going to go to the effort of redecorating the whole guest room, we should really put in a queen sized bed.  The twin is fine when our guests are flying solo, but often they come in pairs...kind of like clown fish...

The twin bed we have now has a ton of storage underneath it, which I am not about to give up.  I'm eyeing this storage bed from Ikea.

photos from Ikea's website

Tons of space to put stuff under the bed.  And the headboard has shelves and the top is really wide, so the cats can still have a perch to look out the window (yes, I am a crazy person who chooses furniture based on her animals' hobbies).  I might paint the whole thing brown so it will sort of match the dressers we already have in the guest room, which we plan on keeping there.  Not 100% decided on that yet though.

I'm hoping to have the room mostly done for when my parents come visit in the middle of March, and totally done by the end of the month.  So we'll see how that goes!

* * * BONUS! * * *

I also found this a-freaking-dorable cat bowl at Home Goods.  Lenny and Waldo don't really have their own water bowls, we just use some bowls from an old set of dinnerware.  I had to get this for them.  Two, actually.  I mean, come on, it looks just like them - how could I not?  And at $4 a piece it seemed like a deal to me!

Captains of the Sky

For Christmas this year my brother got Lenny and Waldo pretty much the best present ever.  I mean really, what does every kitty dream of being when he grows up?

A fighter pilot!  Obviously.

Eric got them their very own fighter plane.  We put it together and it.is.awesome.  It was really easy to build; it all fit together into itself so we didn't need any glue, tape, staples or anything like that.

Behold!

Thomas starting the propellor before take-off 

Peeking out the bottom hatch

There's.....something on the wing...some...thing...

Waldo is always very cautious around new things and had to give the plane a good inspection 

Then he decided it was safe to check out the inside

But that's as far as he went for the day.  I think once he figures out what an awesome hiding spot it is he'll be hanging out in there all the time.

 For now he's content just hanging out near their airplane

This is seriously a super cool plane.  The attention to detail on it is amazing, too.  Every inch of the plane!  The outside has the airplane pattern on it, with things like CATS R GR8, FLYING KITTEN, and 9 LIVES written on it.  And the inside looks like the interior of a fighter plane with little controls and everything!

Thanks, Eric!  The kitties love their new hangout and say you're the coolest uncle ever.  Lots of snuggles coming your way from Lenny, and to a lesser extent, Waldo.

If your cats are insanely jealous, and why wouldn't they be, you can get them their very own fighter plane (or tank or fire engine or car) from this very cool website.

Happy Holidays!

Since we have a new member in the family this year it was time for another photo holiday card.  I think we all know that these can be a little cheesy at times, so we decided to just go with it.  We got reindeer antlers for everyone in the family and I picked up some snowflake decorations at the dollar store for a more scenic backdrop.

Obviously, getting all three critters to cooperate for a picture would be hard enough, but while also wearing funny little hats was going to be quite the challenge.  We knew a timer wasn't going to cut it for this, so we asked our friend Blake to come over and help us.

I moved all of our bedroom furniture to one side to clear a space so we could have a blue background and then taped up the snowflakes.  First we put our antlers on since we knew that once the animals were wearing them we wouldn't have any free hands.  Then Dash got his since he usually forgets that he's wearing things like this after a few minutes.  Next was Lenny; although he's certainly not a fan of any outfit, overall he's pretty cooperative.  Waldo was last and the toughest, so we made sure everyone else was ready before he got dressed.  Then I found where Waldo was hiding, plopped him on the bed, put his antlers on and rushed into our room since we knew he wouldn't tolerate this cruelty for long.

Blake snapped away as we tried to keep all three animals in the frame and looking the right direction.  Luckily he was able to get some good shots before Waldo made his exit.

So without further ado, I present to you our holiday card picture for 2010:

And of course, a few of the pictures that didn't quite make the cut:

Earlier in the day we took Dash to the dog park and afterward when he was passed out on his bed I couldn't resist putting his antlers on him.

And a million thanks to Blake, we couldn't have done this without you!

Sick Ward

When it rains, it pours, right?

This is what's been going on in the house for the last week or so

Why yes, that is an awful lot of medical stuff.  Who is it for?  More like who isn't it for!  In the last 10 days every single animal in the house has gotten sick in some way or another.

It started last week when Hancock began scratching at his ear uncontrollably one night and we quickly discovered he had a pretty yucky ear infection.  Luckily (?) I already had an appointment to take Lenny and Waldo to the vet for their yearly check up, so Hancock tagged along.  I must have looked like a crazy person walking in with two cat carriers and Hancock in tow!  So the cotton swabs and everything to the right of it are for him.  He gets a steroid pill to ease inflammation, a wash to clean his ears following by a quick cotton swabbing to get the gunk out and then medicated drops to fight the infection.

A few days after that Lenny began vomiting and...other things.  After seeing he wasn't getting better I put in a call to our vet and they said to bring him in.  We couldn't figure out what was causing this, so they sent us off with an antibiotic to help with intestinal inflammation and the kitty equivalent of pepcid (so that's the two blue bottles on the left) and orders to bring him back if he was still showing symptoms in two days.  The moment I got home with Lenny, Waldo vomited, too!  Good thing the vet had given me more than enough medicine for Lenny so I was able to split it up between them.

And did I mention that right as I was getting ready to take Lenny to the vet I heard Champagne coughing and vomiting?  I called one of our rescue directors who confirmed it was likely kennel cough and arranged to pick up some antibiotics for her (in the baggy) and was told that I could give her a little Robitussin to ease her cough until the medicine kicked in.

Whew - got all that?  We're not exactly strangers to having a sick animal in the house (it comes with the territory of fostering), but having so many all at once kind of threw me for a loop!  But now everyone is feeling much better and all but Champagne are finishing up their meds (she'll need to be on her antibiotics for a full two weeks).  So let's toast to good health!

Chatterboxes

Springtime is here!  This morning it's warm enough to open the front door and let the critters see the world through the storm door (one of their favorite past-times). 

In fact, they love it so much that our neighbors notice.  Last year we let our foster dog at the time watch us do some yard work through the door.  A woman walking by looked at our house and upon seeing a dog at the door asked, "What happened to the orange cat?".  She was relieved to find out he was taking a nap and still enjoys his post at the door. 

Right now Lenny and Waldo are enjoying watching the birds fly by and people walk their dogs.  When a bird gets especially close they start chattering (adorable squeaky noises), a common hunting technique in the feline world.  I don't have the heart to tell them that they can't catch the birds through the door when they try and pounce, but I also don't have the self control not to laugh when they try.  Either way, we're all enjoying having a little extra sunshine in the room.

Baxter Update

On January 30th we were lucky enough to see Baxter - aka Dr. Tiny Cat because he used to look like this guy

Baxter was our first (and to date, only) cat foster and has been in his new home for almost two months.

On a Saturday morning in September last year, I was getting ready to take our foster dog to the weekly adoption show when the hubs (aka Thomas) got a phone call from one of his co-workers.  His son was home from college and had brought a little surprise with him.  No, it wasn't mono (they knew about that), it was a tiny kitten!  And not only were animals not allowed in the apartment the kid lived in, but his mom is anti-cat, so the kitty had to go.  An hour later I arrived to pick up the little bundle of joy.  The kid had gotten the kitten a week earlier from his neighbor, whose cat had had kittens.  This means that poor baby Baxter (as he had been named) was separated from his mom and siblings when he was only 4 weeks old - way too young!

I scooped up Baxter and off we went to see "the cat people" from our rescue (we're usually on the dog side of things).  After confirming that Baxter was, indeed, freaking adorable and making a few phone calls we secured a vet appointment for him for that afternoon so we could make sure he was healthy.  As it turns out, he had fleas, ear mites and an eye infection, but overall was a healthy little guy.  He would need a topical flea treatment, drops in his ears, medicine squished in his eyes 3 times a day for 2 weeks and oral antibiotics twice a day for 2 weeks.  It seemed a touch overwhelming as the vet tech demonstrated his eye medicine and antibiotics, but after a day or so I got the hang of it.  It also helped that he was little enough to still have the reflex to do this:

 

Basically scoop up his hind feet but immediately relax and quit squirming when you picked him up by his scruff!  Hilarious, adorable and convenient all at once!

Why yes, I am holding him with one hand!  Look at how tiny; he only weighs about a pound!

Baxter was awesome.  He was already eating solid food in addition to wet food (impressive for a kitten his age!) and was a total piglet, so getting him to eat enough was easy.  And he was a pro at using a litterbox - score!  He would play for hours on end and was extremely cuddly.  Because he was so adventurous we actually kept him in a dog crate when we weren't with him so he wouldn't hurt himself by doing something silly like jumping off the dresser.

 Cruising around in Thomas' shoe

Chilling out in a big mug

Unfortunately (sort of), about 2 weeks after we brought Baxter home we left to go on a much anticipated month long trip to Spain (which was fabulous, by the way).  So Baxter went off to another foster home.  I sent him with food, a favorite toy and a note asking for updates from both his new foster family and hopefully the family that would adopt him, since we were certain he would be adopted before we would return.

Much to our surprise, Baxter was not adopted while we were gone.  I got in touch with his foster mom asking for an update.  As it turns out, she was feeling overwhelmed and long story short, after a month of very frustrating emails, we got Baxter back just after Thanksgiving (a special thanks to our friends John and Mary for assisting in picking him up!).

This time he was big enough that he could be left safely in a bedroom instead of having to be in a crate when we were gone.  Baxter's personality was really starting to blossom.  And he had developed an adorable new habit of suckling on fleece blankets and ears.  He actually started waking me up in the morning by trying to suckle my ear while purring loudly.  It tickled soooo bad but it was so cute I'd let him do it as long as I could stand it.  But I thought the weirdest part was that this was a habit he had developed recently, and I would have expected something like that more when he was tinier.  Look at how big he's getting!

Enjoying the sunshine by the windows

Window watching with Lenny

Tearing it up on the scratching post with Lenny

Baxter's other adorably notable habit was that when he would wake up from a nap, he would immediately start meowing loudly while beginning to wander around the house as if to say "Hey!  Where is everybody?  I'm awake - pay attention to me!".  He'd stop meowing once you picked him up and gave him a cuddle.

Baxter met his future mom at the very fist adoption show we took him to (the first he'd been to in over a month when he was supposed to be going to them weekly).  As a bonus for us, Baxter and another kitten were intended as non-surprise Christmas gifts for the children of the woman adopting them, so we got to keep Baxter until right before the holidays.  He now shares his home with 9 and 11 year old human children, Tigger (another kitten who is a month younger than him) and his new mom.  Baxter is still suckling away on blankets and continues to play non-stop.  He's also a model big brother and has taught Tigger how to groom himself and fun ways to get into mischief.

 I think he remembers me!

With Thomas - look at how long he is now!

 

With Tigger and their new mom

We loved every second of having Baxter around and are happy that his new mom gives us updates!