Naming day for our newest resident kitties

 Well, I know this is probably going to be anticlimactic for some of you, but we finally have names for these two.

When I thought up the names Peanut Butter and Jelly I knew full well that I would never keep those, but I wasn't worried because I had zero intention of keeping them. Right up to the moment I signed the adoption contract, and even to this day, I wonder if I did the right thing, but they are filling the hole in cat ownership that was created when Jack and Muffin left us, so I do not regret it for one second.. 

Names were difficult. This little boy was quite dramatic. He was annoyed that I wasn't listening to him, he was annoyed that I was throwing such stupid names at him. And he was way too busy to communicate the name he did want fully. 

When I did find something I thought he liked I waited for 24 hours and the next day it was always not right. 

The girl was easier. Either she doesn't care what I call her or I hit on something early on she could live with. As you remember, she was so timid and shy and was still hiding from us most of the time. I set them up in the bedroom with her favorite hiding spot, the cat tree from the kitten room. She spent a lot of time there and I would gently place some CBD laced treats for her in there which she gobbled right up. They worked their magic and she slowly came out more and more often. These days she only runs when one of us comes in after a long absence (like the Catman coming home from work) but she doesn't run far, thankfully.

She has also developed a bit of a crush on Skippy, which is super adorable and he has zero clue as to what to do about it. He looks a bit like a teenage boy who has just been made incredibly uncomfortable when she rubs up against him and flits her tail over his face.

The Catman is quite chuffed with how much she seeks him out for attention. He didn't think she would ever be so loving to him. 

Pretty sure you are yelling at me right about now what on earth have I named them.. Sorry.. I would like to introduce Miss Mouse and Mr. Darcy. 

Adoption Story for X and Y (formerly known as Peanut Butter and Jelly)

 I STILL do not have names for these two, they are making it exceptionally hard. 

But yes, these are the kittens formerly known as Peanut Butter and Jelly. Yes, they do not look nearly as fluffy as they used to, a combination of growing and shedding their kitten fur has turned them into gangly teenagers.. well preteens anyway.. they are still stupidly adorable and kittenlike... and the boy is still absolutely ridiculous. 

I had quite a few people reach out to me about adopting these two and I was all set to let them go to one woman but at the last minute, she realized this wasn't the right time for her. I was falling hard for him, because he had so many qualities that Jack and Muffin had that I loved so much and missed terribly and she was showing her true spirit was just as awesome as his and I just knew that given time she would bring great joy to my life.

It was hard though. I had made the decision years ago that I was done adopting. I wanted to be able to let fosters run through the house and be able to travel without having to worry about cats who had bonded to me stressing out that we are gone so badly that they end up in the emergency clinic again. I also toyed with the idea of running a Nebelung rescue which doesn't seem as realistic with my owning cats.(hey, I don't have to make sense.. it made sense to me) 

It was also quite hard with everyone telling me to keep them. I love all of my fosters and in that respect, I want to keep them all, but that is simply not reasonable. No, these two weren't all that different from other kittens I have had in the past that I have wanted to keep. Okay, fine, yes, he is beyond ridiculous, but still. 

So, when I realized that I would have to face up to finding someone else to take them (there were still options) I gave it a shot to see what my cats would think of kittens since it has been over a decade since they had to put up with one. Twee was beyond clueless. I opened the door to the basement where the kitten room was to let them out to visit and Twee saw the open door and tried to run down and ran right past the kittens like they weren't even there (my cats aren't allowed in the basement at all). Even when they were up and exploring she was acted like they weren't real. Skippy wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he is so resigned to whatever is left over anyway that he just left and went to take a nap. He had a few days of not feeling all that well during this time as well (he is feeling better now) so they didn't really have to deal with him at all. Fleurp was a different matter. 

I also realized that I never blogged about losing Eli. He passed away a few months ago and I will get to that this week. 

to say Fleurp was not amused was putting it mildly. She would hiss so venomously that it smelled like actual venom. She would attack them if she saw them venture out into HER kitchen (the dining room is right next to the stairs to the basement so the kittens started going right in there and were quite scared to venture out). I was actually afraid for their physical health. We did very short visits and they were always supervised.  After a couple of weeks, I was faced with that choice and I decided that Fleurp had mellowed enough that it was going to work out eventually and we went down and adopted them. 

Things are far from perfect. The kittens are very rambunctious and the old guard really wishes they would not get in their face so much, but we are all sleeping in the same bed for several hours each night while we watch an episode or two of x-files (and no, we are not naming them Mulder and Scully and yes, we did discuss it) 

I really hate not having names. We talked about Wonderfu, and Mewtiful, and FoofTail and Puff and Piffle. We have tried a few popular names. I really wanted to name her Turtle and then thought of the Tortise and the Hare which I thought would be awesome for them since she was so slow opening up but I couldn't find a good rabbit name for him (I did call him Rabbit for a day or two) and by that time she stopped being Turtle because she has come out of her shell. She is still fearful during the day, but once the sun sets she is just a regular kitten that is just a little bit on edge with weird noises. I don't want human names.. but I'm not opposed to them if something seems to fit.. we'll see. I hope soon, because this is just getting ridiculous.. 

That's it! I am totally taking over..

 

Hello Internets, Fleurp here. 

The mom has sworn us to secrecy, but I just can't keep this in anymore.. SHE IS A MEANIE!!

I'm telling you, she's horrid.. I warned her and WARNED her.. but noooo.. does she listen to me?? 

She didn't listen to Skippy either.. see how thrilled by this he is? Okay fine, this is his normal expression over everything, but take my word for it, he was not amused. 

Twee doesn't care, but that's because SHE is oblivious.. that cat is still a few kibble short of a bowl.. 

But let me tell you if Twee knew what was going on she'd... well she would probably be fine with it, but she shouldn't be! I was rightly hissed off.. 

HISSED OFF!! 

She lied to you* and she totally let those kitten things invade my home! IT IS HORRIBLE! they totally need to go!!

Okay, fine, I'm not quite so hissed off now as I was, mostly because the mom has been keeping my mouth full of treats and bed food, but I am still not amused, especially when they come and try to take my food from me.. 

Even sleeping they are annoying!  I told them that if they were going to stay that under no circumstances should they tell mom their real names.. (and they are totally buying it, which is frustrating mom to NO END, servesherrightforkeepinthem) 

Now I can hear you squeein from here.. stop that!! this is not a good thing.. Well okay fine, the free-flowing salmon treats are good, but no no no.. just no.. someone come and take these beasts away from here.. 

~Fleurp

*I didn't lie, I just wasn't horribly clear about their adoption.. if you check, everything I said was 100% true.  Hopefully, I'll figure out their names here pretty quickly so I can do an adoption story for them and get them on the blog properly. I will not be keeping PB&J, but I am clueless about what to name them.. so feel free to shout out your favorite names for them. Maybe they told one of you what they want to be called. 

2020 Christmas tree

 

I was feeling Christmasy this year but I couldn't face decorating the tree without Muffin this year so the Catman put it up for me.  He put a few actual ornaments on it this year instead of just cat toys..

We are also trying it out in a new spot.  I do like it there.  

The ghosts of Christmas past are heavy this year. I miss Jack and Muffin terribly. Ollie as well, as he used to love to sleep under the tree like he was born to do it and we were horrible people for only letting him do it a few weeks out of the entire year.  

Fancy Feast Advent Calendar

 

I saw that Fancy Feast was doing an advent calendar and I sent my husband to the store to snag one of the few remaining ones (according to the website) on his way home that day.  He actually snuck it into the house so it wouldn't ruin Fleurp's surprise 

Since today is the first.. we broke into it and there was much rejoicing 

24 whole days of canned food.. Fleurp is going to be spoiled that is for certain