The day I tried to overwhelm Connor with awesomeness. It sort of worked.

My cat has been a total jerk lately, meowing all damn night or starting up early in the morning, jumping up on surfaces he's not supposed to be on, continuing the meowing all day...so pretty much we're exhausted and we kind of hate him right now. Mark said he's trying to tell himself it's training for having children. Luckily I've already been thinking that about Connor for a couple years now.
Earlier today I thought I'd try to kill him with kindness. We think he's been meowing his ass off because I let him go outside by himself a few times and now he's had a taste of freedom. I'm not going to let him do that anymore for several reasons (this meowing thing being one of them) so I thought I'd try to make the indoors more interesting. I made a trip to Pet Club and bought him:

omg it's so good

organic cat grass, which he buried his face in for about ten minutes and then promptly threw up:

didn't see that coming, did you?

(bet you've never seen a picture of cat barf in a blog before, have you? sorry. it's not so bad. it's all part of the entertainment value you get here at Discovery.)

omg it's so beautiful

a new scratcher, which, as you can see in this picture, he ignored for a while, and...(this is the big reveal)

Hex Bugs! Trust me, get one or two of these for your cat. It will be his new favorite toy. Mark got a couple for free from work a while ago but Connor ran the batteries down and I went to CVS once to see if they had them (they're those tiny little weird circular ones) and they didn't and I think we've since lost them. So I just went out and got some more. I found them at Toys 'R' Us. They're kind of expensive for cat toys but luckily they were having a buy one, get one half off sale. They also apparently sell the batteries, so now I know. Now that I look at the Toys 'R' Us website, they're two dollars cheaper there, so get them online, dudes. I paid $8.99 for ones that are $6.99 on the website. Here's another picture of Connor and his enjoyment if you aren't sold yet:

Whatever, it might not look like much, but he's having the time of his life, trust me. It wasn't fun for me when the damn thing got stuck between the bookshelf and the wall though. I thought it was a goner for a few minutes and I was just going to have to listen to it buzz until it died. I'm not gonna lie, I had a few moments of small panic before I told myself to calm down, this was not a crisis. I was able to flick it out with a drumstick, believe it or not. Like a real one, not one made out of chicken.

Speaking of chicken, I'm hungry. Where's Mark with my damn dinner?

I knew it...

 

Save this kitty!


http://www.everribbon.com/ribbon/view/146 <--this is a donation page

Guys, now that I have a cat of my own I'm obsessed.  I can't imagine losing him.  A very nice woman from another website where I have a diary (http://www.digitalexpressions.nu/) has a cat named Jimmy (or Chimi) who recently ended up at the emergency vet with an infection and it turned out he's diabetic.  Now, this lady is trying to start her own business in LA (talk about brave!), living paycheck to paycheck (which can be few and far between sometimes!) and almost had to decide whether to put him down because she simply didn't have the money for his medicine. 

She's rallied some support since last weekend, which is great, but she needs more.  Don't let this kitty die!  Please help with whatever small (or large) amount you can.

http://www.everribbon.com/ribbon/view/146 <--his donation page!

It just breaks my heart to think of having to make that decision and we really don't need to let that happen.  She loves that cat and I'm sure any cat owners out there (or dog owners, or any sort of pet owner) know exactly how they would feel in that situation.

Save Jimmy!

It's the little things

Taking a cat for a walk is terribly amusing - as long as you start out feeling calm and relaxed.  It's definitely not an activity for a day when you're feeling harried or stressed.  Unless, of course, you are using the cat-walk (hehe) as a relaxation technique.

I know a lot of people think it's silly to put a cat on a leash, especially because many cats are allowed to wander around outside whenever they want, but the idea of letting my cat run wild makes me really nervous.  Yeah, maybe he's smart enough to find his way home again, but he could get hit by a car or...I don't know, any number of other things that I would prefer him to avoid.  Plus, walking a cat yields many sources for giggles, which anyone who has ever tried it knows.  This is a common sight:

He is just too cool for the leash, really.

On our little adventure downstairs today I got a chance to get a couple pictures of the succulent plant that's hanging out with all that honeysuckle.  I have a thing for succulents.  I don't really know the specific names for any of them, but I know what they generally look like, and I love how low-maintenance they are.  They're definitely the plant for people like me who somehow cause the slow and painful death of most plants that come into their lives.  This was my favorite picture, even though the flower part is out of focus.  I think that's actually why I like it though.

So there we have it.  Erin's attempt to amuse herself while unemployed.  :)  Today's loves: a cat on a leash and a succulent.

(If I'm wrong and that's not a succulent plant, please tell me.  I'll still love it though.)