ACHOO

I am in my usual spot on the couch, the left side, next to the bunny cage. To my right are 2 sleeping beauties, Baby Chan and Sally.

I wish they had been THIS quiet this morning.

A little earlier Baby Chan was taking a bath and I ended up sneezing on her 4 times. She gave me her bitch stare. Her eyes get kind of squinty as she looks up. What, I was helping! Reese is sleeping on the futon. We fell asleep hand-in-paw last night. Adorable. She woke me up this morning too. I felt her jump over my unconscious body and stand in front of my face and watch me until I opened my eyes. I petted her until Sally came up and started meowing like a crazy craze. I captured the tail end of it in a video which can be viewed below. I sent it to my dad and he said the following: 'Her meow is more like a high pitched scream a little girl would make.' hahahaha. True dat.

Reese, the escape artist that she is, ran out of the apartment into the hall the other day. I screamed, 'REESE!! GOD DAMN IT!!' and she paused, and looked at me with her eyes wide in this hilarious stance. She was excited to be in the hall but terrified that I was screaming at her which then confused her because she didn't know whether to run inside or run down the hall. I was pissed at the time but looking back moments after it was rather amusing.

I was trying to take a shower today and Sally decided she wanted to be in the bathtub. Despite my warnings she didn't get out of the tub until after I turned the water on....

I visited my friend, Jenna who lives in North Philly. She too has an adorable bun. Her name is Flip Flop. She loves Timothy hay more than any creature I have ever seen. I took a video of her with her little head stuck inside a plastic strawberry full of hay. It is pretty adorable.

Mr. Grumblez is doing well. I am going home later this week to pack up my stuff to bring it up to the new apartment. He will be coming with me. He is in desperate need of a brushing but unfortunately I left is comb at home and the 'small animal brush' I bought when he was new sucks. It might feel good for him but it doesn't get any of the snarls or knots out of his hair-do.

Sorry, no make up.

Put That Mohawk Down, Baby Chizzle

I made dinner and finished it and placed it on the coffee table. Baby Chan promptly jumped on the table and started getting into my dinner plates and making a mess, I picked her up and put her back on the couch, she got mad that I wouldn't let her do what she wanted. Her mohawk appeared and she took it out on Sally. They chased each other around for a few minutes then returned to the couch together.

Partners in Crime

Reese Cup is sleeping on the cat perch facing the wall like she is in time-out. She watched me make dinner tonight. I don't mind when she does that because she just sits and watches, she doesn't try to get up in everything like the other two do. She woke me up this morning with her creepy yet adorable stare. I petted her and she made her noises. Baby Chan decided I wasn't moving fast enough so she took it upon herself to climb up on me and knead.

I woke her up being a creeper

Ha...as I posted this she hopped down from her perch and scared the shit out of Baby Chan and Sally who had finally made peace with each other and were in this position:

Awww

Once roused from their slumber they got up, jumped down, and began to eat their feelings in perfect unison as if it were choreographed. Crazy creatures.

Mr. Grumblez is doing well. I think he is getting sick of going back and forth home with me. The only reason I don't leave him the way I do that cats is because he needs different attention. The cats definitely don't like it when I am gone for an extended period of time. They get really lonely so as soon as I am back they won't leave me be. Soon though things will be better once we move. THAT is very soon by the way!! Aug. 1st is next Monday!!! I am going to pick-up the keys and clean the place before I go home and get all of my crap. I am so excited!! But, back to the animals. Mr. Grumblez is having a munchy but then I got near his raisins and get got excited.

You have a raisin? 

Reese jumped on the couch next to me. Time for some lovin!

Not her best angle 

Privacy?

This morning I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and someone felt left out... 

Hair Balls

Notice how they are touching

I returned yesterday from another quick trip home. I swept before I went home and when I came back there were little fur tumbleweeds rolling around as I walk. There were also little islands of crusty vomit in random places. Today I need to clean Mr. Grumblez cage and the litter boxes, lest Sally decide she needs piss on something else. She relieved herself on the futon last week before I left, I actually think it was probably last Tuesday or Wednesday before I got back to Philly after hanging out in DE for the night. Then the night afterwards she puked on the clean sheets. Never a dull moment in this house!  Mr. Grumblez just hippity hopped outside his house and is peeping over my shoulder while chewing on my hair. Nice. To my right Sally and Reese are sleeping and have been for awhile except when I initially turned the blender on to make a smoothie which made them scatter. Muahaha.

Hungry

Awkward 

Inapro-pro

11 more days until I/we can go to the new apt!! I am super excited. Last night was a reminder that I need a cat-free space. I was trying to put my portfolio together and the cats would NOT leave me alone. They were taking turns sitting on me or walking on my book or messing with my photos. I kept pushing them off but they kept coming back. Baby Chan actually got really mad at me, she activated her mohawk and she got really twitchy. It was funny. 

Sleeping on Me

Mid Lick

Nippity Nap

Chillin in Pep Boys

So, what normally is a 2 and a half, 3 hour drive from Philly to Falls Church took me 9 hours last Friday. I had some car troubles 2 weeks a go or so. I went to a Pep Boys in Philly and was told that it was just my battery that was bad. If course it was the alternator so I had to stop at a different Pep Boys on the way home. I was there for over 3 hours but luckily I was able to bring Mr. Grumblez in with me...I mean, if I couldn't have he would have died in the hot car but still. The guy whose back is facing the camera talked to me some. He was Puetro Rican and difficult the understand. The first thing he said to me was, 'in my country we eat rabbit.' Thanks....stay away from mine kthnx. He got a lot of attention in there actually. There was one woman there who used to raise rabbits and we were talking about it, she was nice. Another lady and her daughter came up and said, 'OH MY GAAWWWWD! He's SEEWWWWWW CUTE-AH! Did you like, shave him like that?' I said, 'no, it's just his hair-do.' and they laughed and walked out the door. I also had a few people ask me what he was. Crazy people...

Why Do Happy Paws Hurt?

I can appreciate the sentiment of happy paws. Really, I can. But before 6 o'clock in the morning it is entirely unacceptable. Especially when there is STILL food in the cat's bowls!! I'm not 100% sure who it was but I bet it was Baby Chan.

Baby Chan is the most difficult to photograph. She is too curious of the camera. As soon as I whistle or call her to try to get her to look at me she starts walking toward me... Unless she is sleeping. The others are ambivalent, including the bunny. 

I think she is at her cutest when she is not meowing like a crazy person in the middle of the night. Or running around messing up the carpet in the hallway. She is really good at that. 

Reese has been in the same spot since like 10ish this morning despite the fact i have shot her, poked her, petted her, and sneezed on her. Twice. She just makes her adorable little noises. She actually got me up this morning after my alarm went off and I was repeatedly hitting this snooze button. Her face was in my face sniffing. So cute. 

Sally has been sleeping in between the crater that my legs create when I sleep. She stopped for awhile when it was so hot but with the window AC unit it makes it not obnoxiously hot. She has developed a nasty habit of getting in my face and meowing at me in the morning. If her breath weren't so bad it wouldn't bother me. 

BUNNY!!! He has developed a serious raisin addiction. If my hand even drifts near his raisin container he gets super excited and darts out of his house. The top picture is of him in one of my favorite positions of his. His hair-do sticks out of the side...it's so goofy! The second picture is mid-bunny bath. Adorable. We have been doing a lot of nose-nose lately. I think he likes it.  I am getting excited for him to have a corner of my room in the new apartment. I am going to get him another set of gates and attach them to his cage so he can have some nice running space I will probably get some bamboo mats for the floor too. I tell him about it but he doesn't seem to care much. 

Pictures

I have found myself taking a lot of photos of the pets recently. I don't know weather it is subconsciously for the blog, out of boredom, or for shits and giggles. I have noticed that I really enjoy it. Then I realize that I have 1/3 of my memory card dedicated to shooting animals, most of which aren't mine. I have attempted to get a photo job shooting animals but it didn't work out. So this post I guess will be mostly pictures of the cats and rabbit. Nothing too interesting has happened in the past few days involving them. I will start out with Mr. Grumblez since I always start out with the cats...

SO CUTE! I just want to eat him.

Looking for a raisin treat.

Contented Reese Cup gaze.

Going hard on that toe jam, Sally.

Baby Chan was mid-sentence.

All 3 in a row. Sally in the middle to ensure no fights between Baby Chan and Reese Cup.

All Apologies

So, my bad. I have been the worst blogger lately! Poor Steph is probably dying for a cat update...

1. I just got up for about 2 minutes to get myself and Tina some more coffee and Sally's ass came and ruined the party by sitting in my seat. Reese was sitting comfortably between Tina and I and now had to move to accommodate Sally's selfishness. Now she is trying to fall asleep and I am pestering her a bit for all the times she hasn't let me sleep.

I don't think you are taking up enough space.

2. I went home last week on the 30th. Of course as I was getting stuff ready to leave Sally being the darling creature that she is pissed on the bed, AGAIN. The litter box wasn't immaculate but it had only been about 3 days since I had last scooped it. I was obviously very irritated and put her in the bathroom on a cat time-out. Of course I don't think it was punishment because she freaking LOVES being in the bathroom. I just didn't want to look at her face. The upside though, I got to wash it for freesies at home but it made my trunk smell like cat piss. The heat made it extra delicious.

Roused from her slumber via. camera flash.

3. The other day Sally was on the bed and she got that look in her eye....the bugging-out one. She started chasing her tail and she kind of caught it and was batting it. She started chasing it again and fell off the bed like a champion.

4. Tina was supposed to check in on the cats while I was home-I took Mr. Grumblez with me. I, however, am a dumb ass and gave her the wrong key to get in so she was unable to check on them. I was only home 5 days so it wasn't a HUGE deal...They have enough fat on them so they won't starve, we were just more afraid of them running out of water. The last thing I did before I left was fill up their food dishes and water dishes to the brim. I set out another food dish and another water dish in the hallway. When I returned I was expecting a goddamn mess and perhaps a dead, dehydrated cat. I was pleasantly surprised when all 3 cats greeted me at the door looking hydrated but hungry. There were 2 hair-balls that I cleaned up, courtesy of Reese I'm sure. Their water bowls still had water in them which made me feel better. I had left a cookie sheet on the stove, there was cat hair on it, evidence of the cats looking EVERYWHERE for food. I was expecting them to be rather salty with me but they weren't. The first thing I did after I set down Mr. Grumblez cage was put food in their dishes which kept them busy while I unloaded my car and brought things in from the porch. They were starved for not only food but attention. The first 2 days I was home I could not go anywhere without being followed or sat on by a cat. Their needy-ness is cute for awhile but it gets old really fast. The first night I was back Baby Chan was screaming all night. Even yelling and throwing pillows didn't make her stop. Her meow is so annoying too... It is also annoying when I am trying to work out and Sally thinks it is 100% acceptable to lay down on my mat when I am trying to use it.

Gotta rub my fucking face on everything. Gotta. 

Mr. Grumblez got really spoiled when I was home. My mom would give him a million raisins throughout the day in addition to carrots at random times. Now whenever I open the fridge he assumes he is getting something out of it. He must be broken of this habit!! **TIna is playing Monster Kitty with Sally right now. She finally jumped down and I am waiting for Reese who is on the back of the couch to take her place in-between us.** I need to take Mr. Grumlez out for a brushing. I was able to cut his nails and brush him when I was home. He is actually the easiest pet I have ever had when it comes to nail cutting. It is obviously not his favorite thing in the world but he doesn't scream like Oreo did nor does he flail around like Penelope. It makes things easier on him and me.

The pimp lay.

I think the hardest part about going home was not seeing my cat. I would catch myself looking for him, forgetting he wasn't there anymore. Under my mom's jewelry making desk. In front of the TV. Behind the couch. No food or water dishes. No litter box. No meows. No fur balls. I would occasionally find a piece of his fur on a blanket or on the couch which made me really sad. The upside is, the house no longer smells like cat piss. However he completely ruined the floor in the dining room where is litter box was. The wood is now black. At least I have 3 other cats to love on. Not as a replacement of course, but as companions. No cat will ever be able to replace that beast. 

It's now less than a month until Steph and I can move into the new place!! I am SO freaking excited. I can't wait to have a room that will be cat hair free!! When I was home I was doing a little bit of cleaning and organizing in preparation to move out for real.  I found hundreds of dollars worth of pictures at the bottom of my closet and a few cat pictures were mixed in with the other memories, some well over a decade old. 

Scootie (gray) and Oreo (black)

Scootie died before I was out of high school. My mom came back from a business trip and had to take her to the vet. She was severely dehydrated and I think her liver had had begun to shut down. We could have paid an exorbitant amount of money to re-hydrate her but there was only a 50% chance of survival. We had found out a few years earlier that she was blind from a non-malignant tumor pushing on her optic nerve. Every once in awhile she would run into things which was comical but sad. Scootie was definitely my mom's cat. She let my mom give her the most attention. As you can see by the above picture she was a lot smaller than Oreo so I always wanted to pick her up but she didn't like it. She wasn't as pretty of a cat as Oreo-but he was hard to beat. He was a perfect tuxedo with really shiny fur. If he wasn't such a fat fat he could have been a show cat (which personally I think would have been silly) However her fur was really soft like Sally's and she had 2 gray dots on the backs of her heels which I thought was adorable. 

Well, this has been a super long post. I figured I owed you readers that much for being such a slacker. I will try and be better about that!!!