Mommy’s little fur ‘baby’

Smudgy has been a part of the family for 14 months now (making her almost 16 months old). It’s unbelievable how much you can come to love a pet – a little thing that depends on you and becomes part of the family.

Smudgy’s my little fur ‘baby’… and boy, is she spoilt!

Every morning between 5 and 6 AM (sometimes earlier or a bit later… or twice, even) I am woken up by meowing and insistent eyes watching me, all but demanding me to get up and feed her… although, in cat speak, that’s probably what she’s doing. I have to sit and wait for her to finish eating, then open the front door for her to go out, and then she’s happy. Sometimes during the day she’ll even come bother me to go with her to her food bowl and give her a scratch before she starts eating.

We are not amused.

That's right, human - obey & worship!

She loves ignoring you – or at least, not reciprocating affection in any way. She just ‘tolerates’ it when you want to love her, and then presses her paw in your face or walks away, meowing her discontent… as if she wants to say, ‘yeah, okay, you’ve had your fun, now leave me alone’. Other days she laps it up, basking in scratches and petting, stretching and turning so you can pamper her at her leisure, then purring away like there’s no tomorrow.

How can you say no to this face?

I’ve learnt to indulge her when she meows, picking her up (but not for too long!), hugging and talking to her because she’s my cute little kitty. She doesn’t really like it when you pick her up, yet she has the grace to bear with me from time to time 😉 She’ll meow at me to get off of ‘her’ chair and to turn on the fan. She loves having a big glass of water in the kitchen sink to drink from. She loves lying in what seems like a bazillion different positions during the course of minutes or hours (which is why you cannot ‘blame’ me when I take hundreds of pictures of her every time she moves). When she’s on the bed, she has a way of taking up a lot of space, and I usually don’t have the heart to disturb her, so I allow her to dominate.

Fan-tastic...

Always buy bed sheets/ comforters that match your kitty.

Kitteh yoga position known as The Belly Rub (or perhaps she's pretending to be a rabbit?)

Once winter comes, she’ll be lying on my lap again and snuggling up close, getting into the bed at my side, so I don’t mind her holier-than-though attitude most of the time.

When guests arrive, she ‘talks’ to them, walks about all cute, and maybe even allows them to pet her or play with her. She has manners, too – she’s gone outside to greet my older sister at her car when she comes to visit me! Even though it doesn’t feel like it, Smudgy must love me, because she always comes looking for me and is a real house cat when I’m here during the day. When she’s outside (or even here in the apartment) she loves rolling around! She’s very careful around the cars that drive in and out through the gate her at our complex, which means that I don’t have to worry too much about her getting trampled… although I do feel very paranoid sometimes when she goes to play on the other side of the gate – there are quite a few dogs living down the street. She always comes back covered in small nettles or little sticky flowers that I can only pluck off while she’s eating (where she thinks I’m merely stroking/ petting her) or when she’s fast asleep.

Topsy turvy, everything is upsy-daisy!

She’s a curious one – aren’t all cats? – and she’s quite the little hunter: from flies and beetles to grasshoppers, praying mantises and big black crickets…

…oh, and the dead mouse she left me on the bedroom carpet sometime during the early morning hours on Sunday. Didn’t I just feel special. No wonder she was meowing so insistently.

She might drive me crazy sometimes, and I may doubt the fact that she loves me a lot of the time, but Smudgy is my cute little miss, and I’m very happy to have her in my life. I don’t know what I would have done without her while I was and now am (again) unemployed.

Now if only I could get her to not be so vocal… or at least teach her to meow on key while I’m busy cleaning up – then I’ll be like Cinderella sans the mice and birds. Wouldn’t that just be darling!!

Do - re - mi - FAAAA - so - la - ti - do

[Aside: after typing this post, I remembered even more things about her – but I suppose I can talk about that another day 🙂 ]

Since last we met

Since the last time I blogged…

* …we received our Visas with no problems whatsoever – and the whole process took only three days! I was (and still am) very impressed with their quick service and efficiency. Scotland (i.e. honeymoon), here we come!

* …I found out that there will be a new DARK TOWER book coming out next year 😀 King’s latest novel will be available on the 8^th of November, which is probably why the DT book will only be published next year. No matter – happiness all around!

* …my Significant Other and I were treated to dinner at a nice restaurant by his uncle and aunt. I had an exquisitely delicious bowl of tagliatelle with courgettes, mangetout and spring onions in a gorgonzola sauce topped with pine nuts. It was great to spend time with part of my future family – the meal was simply a bonus.

* …I’ve become a bit riled up with the religious nuts out there – more so than usual. I watched a video where this girl was saying that a group of them were praying over Lent for something to happen to the atheists in the world, and then two days later their ‘prayers’ were ‘answered’ when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. What is the world coming to?! It just sickens me… this is why I’m not religious. Some people (I refer to them as the ‘Bible Crazies’) are messed up to damn others for their choice of religion/ not being religious. Who are they to judge others and say that a natural disaster was a good thing?! F*ck.

* …I got into one of my cleaning frenzies again (something I blame on my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, especially when it comes to cleanliness). Instead of singing mice or birds a la Cinderella, I only had Smudgy watching me as I scrubbed the one bathroom’s floor, toilet bowl and basin. Perhaps I could teach her to meow on key…?

* …one of the neighbour cats came in, ate Smudgy’s food and threw up on the carpet twice! I have reason to believe that it’s That Darn Cat (yip, Dusty) since he’s the only one who comes in here for food. He also managed to spray/ pee on some of my books… Yesterday morning, I found him asleep on one of our balcony chairs. Something must be done.

* …our electricity was out from 8AM until 4PM one day for the 5 year maintenance service, or something like that. This gave us a ‘reason’ to go out and have coffee, plus I could ‘validate’ the purchase of the new Scarlett Thomas novel, OUR TRAGIC UNIVERSE.

* …we bought an exercise bike – a Trojan elliptical trainer, they call it. It doesn’t have a seat, so you stand and pedal on the thing, mainly exercising your legs, although you can feel it working a bit on your abdomen (I’ll have to do crunches or something to exercise that section more). In the long run, the ‘bike’ will be worth it, despite the fact that I’m currently still in the ‘no pain no gain’ phase of it all.

* …we took my younger sister, Addy, to Stellenbosch in order for her to do some research for a few projects she has due. On the way there, we had to stop for petrol, so I bought a cappuccino for my Significant Other and some hot chocolate for myself. I normally don’t buy myself hot chocolate anywhere, since they make it with milk and it makes me feel extremely nauseous, but today, the stomach ache and increased headache are absolutely worth it, because that hot choc tasted wonderful!

* …I’ve started to become really annoyed with my inability to ‘get into’ the books I’m reading. Take this Scarlett Thomas novel, for example. It took me four days to read 425 pages, and why? Because the ‘novel’ seems to be a lot of theory trying to pass itself off as a novel. I’m all for intelligent discussions and talking about science and hypotheses and so on, but if the whole book is going to be like that, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed and not ‘into’ it. I want to read for enjoyment and relaxation, not to feel like I’m in a lecture hall.

* …Smudgy has been having a ball playing with all the bugs around here. She’s even brought in two crickets (on separate occasions, of course), and been curiously puzzled about a praying mantis that looked more like a giant grasshopper or something. I love my kitty, even though she’s a bit ‘weird’ sometimes – like when she grabbed my hand, smelled at it fervently, and then went on licking herself as if I wasn’t even there. ❤

Message Sessions I

Dear Hypocrite

You may have deeply hurt my feelings by attacking my personality while acting caring (in your drunkenness) and telling me that the people there weren’t my friends – but I don’t think I’m the one with the problem. I was at the birthday party because I wanted to be there, not because I was doing anyone a favour. Just remember that you’re the one who said that nobody there was your friend (you even listed a few names) and then turned around to go gossip with them.

Insincerely,

Odd one out yet proud of it

—–

Dear Smudgy

Thank you for being so cute lately. Everyone thinks you’re gorgeous and full of personality. Plus you actually seem to love me and allow me to pick you up and hold you for more than a few seconds, which is far better than being ignored or bossed around. Just one request: could you ease up just the teensiest bit with the meowing?

Love,

Your human mommy

—–

Dear visa office

I’m glad that the appointment this morning wasn’t as gruelling as I imagined (think big room with little furniture and a harsh interrogative style). You made things go both smoothly and quickly… So please see to it that our applications are accepted… Pretty please? I really really really want to go to Scotland – and making someone’s dream come true is the right thing to do… Right?

Fingers crossed

Castle enthusiast

—–

Dear stress [also known as OCD]

You’re always there, no matter how subtle or obtrusive and bursting at the seams. However, you’re not doing too much damage at this point to my nervous system, and I’d like us to stay on a good footing, so could you do me a favour and keep it that way? I assure you that there’ll be plenty of time in the not-too-distant future (like directly after the honeymoon) to get me all worked up about things like finding a job, debt, and many more excruciating aspects.

Nervously,

Someone who wonders if she should start drinking coffee again

—–

Dearest Significant Other

I love you. You are absolutely wonderful – we’ve been together for more than three years, and in two months’ time we’ll be married (give or take a few hours). I must warn you, though, that as it was your idea to write our own vows, something which you are now placing entirely upon me since you’re ‘not good with words’ and ‘not a writer like me’, I just might take a friend of mine’s advice and put in a vow that you have to do all the housework or something to that extent. You do realize that you’re giving me carte blanch, right? How’s this: “To have many chores to do and to hold all the household responsibilities (&blame!!)”

Just kidding,

Your adoring almost-wife ❤

—–

Dear weight

All I ask of you is to drop with two or three (maybe four) kilograms in order for everything to be hunky dory when it comes to my wedding dress – is that so much to ask?!

Watching you,

Less nom nom nom-ing

—–

Dear Libby and Addy

If I had a choice (and I know that I don’t and never will have one), I wouldn’t have chosen two others sisters, because out of all the girls/ women on earth, you’re the ones I’d rather be stuck in the middle with (if you catch my no-I’m-not-the-youngest-I’m-actually-the-second-out-of-three-daughters drift… what a mouthful!)

Hugs,

Lily

—–

Dear NOOK

Since I’m actually a book-in-my-hand lover, kudos to you for giving me the ‘real book’ experience. Now I just need people to send me some Barnes & Noble gift cards so I can buy more books (*hint-hint*)… I don’t want to spend the money on my Significant Other’s credit card. That’d simply make me feel like I’m taking advantage of him. You’re (t)E-rrific!

Reading in earnest,

Slightly ‘converted’ book lover