Slumber Parties!

Taking a break from the cat introductions. As kids we always had slumber parties. What was the attraction to a slumber party? Staying up all night, painting our nails, playing dress up, eating junk food, watching movies, singing and dancing. Who wouldn't want to have a slumber party?!

This last year as an adult I have had a few adult slumber parties. (Truth: Every year I have a couple of them - hello "Girls Night" with my besties!) At any rate, this year there was a predicted "bad snow storm". I left work, called my girl Angel and said come get snowed in with me! I'll pick you up! She had soup simmering on the stove. No biggie - bring it! We'll finish it at my house. Called my husband next, warm him Angel and her son are coming to get snowed in, I'll be home soon with them. His automatic response: We need snacks, drinks and pizza! (Mind you, it's snowing already, and I do kinda want to get home before the roads get worse) So, we backtrack to get pizza, drinks and snacks.

We arrive to my house loaded down with pizza, soup, snacks and drinks. Anthony brings his guitar and some other stuff to hang with Gene and disappears upstairs. They come down only for food and drink refills. Angel and I chill downstairs watching TV, making soup, cuddling the cats and chilling. Just enjoying being in great company, talking or not.

It literally was the best 24 hours. No plans, no feeling of having to be on point entertaining. It left me wondering, why as we get older do we do away with those special slumber parties? Why does life have to be all work, some fun and none of the great things we loved as kids?

Angel and I have had several more slumber parties (she so graciously does them on a work night, cause my off day is a Friday!) What happens? Well I stop at her house after work, bringing my Crocheting, pjs and drinks. We get dinner, sit and chat, watch tv and go to bed at a reasonable hour. She goes to work and I start my day. It's the best way to hang, we catch up, and we both still have our off days to do whatever else we need to do!

If you haven't done a sleepover since being a kid - DO IT! You're never to old for a sleep over. Keep it simple, make it extravagant, do what feels right! There's no wrong way. Just do what feels right. Lets break the mold of adults can't do sleepovers!

Till our Tails cross again,

Mel

Jasper AKA Bear

Jasper is next up on the introductions. He's quite the cat in so many ways. Absolutely adorable and full of love, and costs us a pretty penny. Just a few years ago he had a brush with death - it nearly killed me in the process. I will write more about that later.

He has a litter sister - Clara, you'll meet her soon enough! He made his grand entrance to my life as a tiny little baby who ultimately would be bottle fed for the first several months. He was found in a roll-off dumpster that was emptied at a recycling center that I worked at in Philly. Knowing that being so small, motherless and needing to be bottle fed his chances of survival at the SPCA were low - so I took him home. This would be my first time bottle feeding kittens. What an experience, one I would do again - but with a better idea of how tedious it is!

He was worth all the trouble and time back then, and is still worth every penny I have spent on him. He loves to be pet, cuddles (especially on your lap) and doles out kisses. He loves the other cats, on his own terms, but mostly prefers to be alone. The other cats tend to stress him out, so then he pees everywhere except for the litter box. We set him up in the oversized bathroom upstairs, installed a screen door so he can see everything and all the other cats when he wants, and then go hide when he wants alone time.

Trust me when I say he truly enjoys his bathroom kingdom. He routinely gets visitors and pets cause it's the bathroom we use the majority of the time. All the things he needs for a happy cat life are filling his room - cat tower, scratcher, bean bag chair, cat bed. We even had to remove the door on the bathroom cabinet cause he went thru a phase of wanting to sleep in the cabinet. Occasionally I'll let him out with the general population, but he has to be closely supervised.

He tends to win over the hearts of all the ladies - especially our friend Babs. She always makes time to hang with him, one time we even ate dinner in the bathroom with him. (true cat lovers!)

He single pawedly is keeping our vet in business. He was diagnosed with diabetes just under 2 years ago. Diabetes is challenging enough on humans - even more so with a cat! Lots of ups and downs with his insulin/food intake - we finally got it pretty well under control. Just had to set him up with a ridiculous feeding schedule and an automatic feeder. (the one time I truly love new technology!) He gets insulin 2 times a day (a bottle of insulin alone is $125, not including the syringes!) Every 4-6 months he gets a Librya installed, its a glucose monitor that we have to scan multiple times a day for 2 weeks to make sure his levels are within a good range. That is upwards of $200. He absolutely loves Mariah (the girl who shaves and installs his monitor).

Jasper is always looking for a new friend, so if you're in the area stop by and give him some kisses!

Till our Tails cross again,

Mel

Washers & Pets

Deciding to be a proud pet owner of 12 cats - has it's highs and lows. Rarely do I think, WTH was I thinking taking in all these pets. Most days I truly love having unconditional love from them, they don't talk back and are just happy to have food, water and cuddles. Which let's all be honest....no human is as happy as our pets are! They live the best life - not having a care in the world.

Meanwhile - they sure do run up a high tab of expenses. We've been in our house for almost 10 years now. About 5 years ago we replaced the washer that came with the house. It was an old one, and had started "walking" no matter how you loaded it or the size of the load. Fast forward - we are purchasing a new washer. Which infuriates me to no end for so many reasons. The top two being - cost and that I feel the washer should last more than 5-7 years (which is the average for new machines these days).

We went to a local appliance store to see what they had and get pricing. The older gentleman that helped us, asked How many people in the house? Well..there's 3 adults and 12 cats. He looks at me like, who cares about the cats. I further explain that I do a lot of laundry due to some senior cats who pee on puppy pads, not to mention their beds, furniture covers and our regular laundry.

So we continue to look at washers - Maytag has a fancy pants washer made for "pets". What is so special about it? Not much, it just "removes" cat hair. Last I checked, all washing machines/dryers will do that. Now I truly would have gotten that one, because it had all the features we needed, and theoretically should hold up to a multiple pet house, and the price wasn't horrific.

Next up - he recommended a Spin Queen (and if you're like...wait that sounds familiar but it's not a brand name the general population would purchase - you're right!). Spin Queen is a commercial washer typically seen at your laundromat or apartment complexes. The great thing is they are more durable than the standard residential washer. (After all, they are meant to be over used and abused by people who don't care.) It's the same size as a standard washer, minus the coin operation feature. I'm most excited that it doesn't have that stupid auto lock thing that all the new machines have. Call me crazy, but I like to start the washer and fill it while the water is running and then rinse my detergent cup right into the wash.

So as you're all cracking up going this lady just bought a commercial washer because of her cats. You can switch to crying when you hear how much we paid for this non-fancy pants, take a beating washing machine. Roughly $1,400. Yep, that's a lot more than I wanted to pay, but - the price tag is worth it when we get a 5 year warranty with it AND it should last us 25+years.

Is it fancy and silver (how I imagine all my appliances eventually being) Nope, but it will get the job done.