Decorating Decisions

I've actually been in more of the mood for Christmas this year than I was last year. Last year I just put out part of my huge hoard of decorations, but this year I was really in the mood to put them all out. Unfortunately, I've got to think of the cats! As I started to put them up I realized they all have to be out of reach of the new kitten. And that limited me. Somehow, over the years I've amassed a large tote of stuffed animals and we usually sit them under the trees and on some little chairs I have. Jinx would love it--new play things! So they went back into the totes. I feel sad that they have to go back into storage another year. Did you ever see the Christmas special "Noel" about the Christmas ornaments? I guess I always feel like the decorations are glad to get out of their boxes for a while. Now I feel guilty that they didn't all get that chance this year! Hopefully, next year he will be a year older (and calmer!!) and I can put them out!

Gone Catty

It's been a mad, crazy summer!  Since the husband wasn't working last year, I didn't get a chance to do any traveling.  I guess I've made up for it this summer--I've logged over 6000 miles, going here and there!  In between all of my traveling, my husband decided Roscoe needed a friend--that he was going to get fat and lazy since he turned a year old and didn't romp like a kitten anymore.  He kept saying that we needed to get another kitten.  I was very undecided about it.  I saw the reasoning behind it, but we already have two 13 year old cats plus Roscoe, did I really want the mess another pet brings with it?  But he convinced me.  A girl I work with had a new litter and I told her I would take one when they were weaned.  She brought me updates and pictures, we picked out a name.  And then a week before we were going to bring her home, the kitten died.  The whole litter, actually.  They think maybe the mother got into poison and passed it on to the kittens.  The local vet mentioned she had some strays so we decided to take one.  Meet Jinx.  He's 4 months old.  He was almost dead when the vet got him, but she nursed him and he survived.  He's lively, cuddley and he and Roscoe bonded immediately, which, of course, was the whole point of the thing!  Now we are a 4-cat family--it's going to make me crazy!  I think the Christmas tree is in trouble! 

Now, If It Would Just Snow a Little!

I'm finally getting in the Christmas mood. I've decided everyone is getting fruit baskets again. I think I gave our parents fruit baskets last year, but after all, they don't need anything. My folks can afford to buy what ever they need, and they do. And we aren't particularly close to my husband's Mom or Dad, therefore, I have no idea what they need. They are more than happy to do up "special" baskets at the store I work at, so I think I'll get some extras to put in them just to make them less generic. So that's settled, and I have the rest of my presents wrapped. My daughter made it home from college yesterday. It's great having her home. We went shopping last night, didn't really buy anything but it was fun just spending the time with her. Right now I can hear her and her brother in the next room playing on the Playstation. It's nice. And to top everything off, the husband got a job! It's part time as an "Inventory Control Specialist" at Walmart. I hope he likes it and it lasts. Full time would have been better, but even a part-time check is going to make such a difference.

Roscoe decided the orange smell doesn't bother him any more. We've found him in the trees several times playing with the ornaments. So far he hasn't done any damage, but I've got the feeling we won't leave the trees up very long after Christmas this year!

Experiment, Part 2

Well, the experiment failed! He basically attacked the tree and the ornaments. He didn't actually climb the tree, but as we pulled ornaments from the lower limbs and placed them higher, he was stretching his little body as far as it would go. Next step would have been climbing! So we took them down and then did some research. One site said cats don't like the smell of orange so I took one of his little paper balls that he loves so much and put orange flavoring on it. He won't have anything to do with it! Today while we are shopping I'm going to try and find some orange oil (like for candles) and we are going to lace some pine cones with it and hang it on the lowest branches. Fingers crossed, again!

Experiment

We always put up our Christmas tree(s) the weekend after Thanksgiving. I think it has been our tradition since our first Christmas 21 years ago. We've always had at least one pet around, sometimes several. And some of them noticed the Christmas decorations, but never really bothered them. However, we still rarely put bows on the presents because Kitty would pull them off and try to eat them! (And she has been gone for more than 10 years!) So we decided last weekend to go ahead and put up a tree with just one short string of lights and a string of beads to see if Rosco was going to be the tree-climbing type of kitten. He has been having fun batting things around, but (fingers crossed!) he hasn't tried to climb it yet! I still think my antique ornaments may stay in the box this year!

This is Rosco

I had every intention of getting some cleaning done and putting out the Halloween decorations yesterday. Typical Sunday--I got some of the cleaning done and a few decorations up. There are just too many distractions! One being Rosco. We've had him for eight weeks now. We found him at the reservoir. Probably someone had dumped him. We couldn't leave him there, so we brought him home. I really didn't intend to keep him, but he stuck and he's definitely made himself a part of the family!