A Little Bird Told Me

My ears are burning. Has somebody been talking about me?

Tiny meals. Locked in a room. Feliway. Jackson Galaxy Herbal Essences. Moo-vers. Hmmm.

Saturday, Not Caturday

Mom Lynne here.

I wanted to answer some of the questions and the comments about our prospective move. Millie has allowed me to take the floor, so to speak.

Signing papers at the closing.

We're moving about 4-5 miles away, to the next town north. It's an over-55 cooperative. We'll have our own 2 BR, 2 bath home with a large living room and a sun-room. Everything is on one floor, which pleases me to no end because I won't have to go down to the basement to do the laundry. The house is climate controlled, so it won't get too hot in the summer. The driveway is significantly shorter so snow removal will be a lot easier, and I've got room for a garden. Millie and I will also have a small screened in front porch. I know she'll love it, but it may be too cool to enjoy it by the time we move in.

I've been contemplating a move for about the last two or three years, and I've been de-cluttering since then so although I've lived in this apartment over 27 years, I don't have 27 years worth of stuff. At this stage of the game, if it's in the apartment, it's coming to the new house. I'll be getting boxes next week and I'll start packing.  Millie is always aware when I am packing for a trip, and she'll certainly be aware something is up when I start putting things into boxes.

I want to leave as many things the same as possible for as long as possible to keep her stress level down. No matter how messy the new place is, I want to set up her food area, her litter boxes, and the kitty condo before I do anything else.

I had a long talk with April of The Teacher's Pets about how to handle Millie during the move itself. I cannot stress enough how fearful Millie still is of being captured. April and I agreed that it would be more traumatic for Millie if I boarded her somewhere than it would if I stuck her in one room during the move. April suggested a homeopathic solution to give Millie to help her relax a bit. The plan is to somehow get her into the bathroom during the move, and leave her there. When the move is completed, I can go back, corral her into a box and bring her to the new house.  That's the plan of course. We'll see how it works out. We also do not want to keep Millie in a crate all day either.

I'd love to be able to get her into a carrier and then let her out into one room at the new place, but unfortunately I can't simply "get her into a carrier" and I don't think I can expect the movers to come in and out all day and leave one room alone. Besides, heavy stuff needs to be moved into each room and I need the movers to do that.

It's much too risky to let her run around while the guys come in and out. We just can't guarantee Millie will not bolt and run outside.

I'll try the anti-stress solution to get her to the vet next week too. Once the vet sees her, he may be able to proscribe some other medication to help manage the move.

That's my biggest concern. Otherwise, Millie will be with me, meaning wherever I sleep, Millie will too. I won't leave her in an empty apartment alone overnight.  I also plan to take a few days off for the move so if I move mid-week, I'll be with Millie for four or five days in the new house before I go back to work.

I've worked up floor plans for each room so we ought to get settled fairly quickly. The neighborhood is VERY quiet, so there won't be a lot of traffic going by each day.

Thanks in advance for all your help, suggestions and support.

MONTY Q is HOME!!!!!

OH MY BAST! I just heard, MONTY Q is HOME!

MomBean called Mom and said he didn't seem to be hurt in any way. She said Monty Q was skinny and hungry, but he's home.

My Monty Q has always had a bit of wanderlust in him, and he just LOVES my Mom. I am SO GLAD he is home.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to teleport myself to Maryland to offer comfort to my sweetie...

The Close

Mom and I we be "closing" on a house of our own today. The M-word will be implemented and we will be in the new place before Halloween.

Mom has hired "M-word" guys to come over and put our stuff in a big truck and then bring it over to the new place. Yesterday one of them came over to count all our stuff so he could tell Mom how many green papers it will cost. Next week he will bring boxes and Mom will start to fill them up.

In the meantime I'm getting back to bird-tv.

Appointment...

Mom says I have appointment with the v-e-t next Wednesday.

Let the games begin.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Holy carp, Mom knows how to do needlepoint too?

Tuxie Tuesday

Mom is home for staycation. She's got to do more "sorting" and de-cluttering.

Check this out. This is the bookcase that Mom uses for her cookbooks. She's had it twenty-four years.

This picture was taken ten years ago, but you get the idea.

This picture is from six years ago. You can see the cookbook bookcase is full of cookbooks. This bookcase won't fit anywhere at the new place, so Mom has had to adjust.

It took Mom all day to sort through the cookbooks and the three boxes of printed recipes she's been collecting over the years.

Believe it or not, Mom got rid of a lot of cookbooks. The old bookcase has been de-constructed. There was lots of scary squeeeeeeeeek-ing as screws were removed and banging as the thing got taken apart. I stayed firmly under the bed while it was happening.

Now it's all gone.

It continues to be verrrr-y interesting here in New Hampster.

Happy Birthday Auntie Karate

That's Auntie Karate in the sunglasses in this photo. As you can see she is full of mischief.

Happy Birthday Auntie Karate!

Easy Like Sunday

Mom could see how much I loved the crunchy brown paper so she moved it to this pile of soft blankies.  Now it's even BETTER!

I'm enjoying my day napping. Mom has been "sorting."  She says the bedroom, bathroom and the coat closet are "packable."

Whatever that means.

Sneaky Saturday

 I'm still enjoying the crunchy brown paper.  Mom has left it there so I can play with it.

The de-cluttering continues. Mom went through her closet and her bureau last night. Do you know she has twenty-eight turtleneck shirts? That's enough for her to wear a clean one every day for a whole month. She has that many pairs of socks too. Sheesh.

 I gotta hand it to Mom. She's trying. She thinks that putting my foods in this crate will make me like it.


Yeah right.

I'm no dummy. It's a trick, I know it.

Go Go Gadget, Go

It is official. We have been approved. The M-word will be implemented and we will be in the new place (just 4.5 miles away) by Halloween. We will be in our own house, there will be no idjit neighbors upstairs. I will have plenty of bird TV. The street is quiet, and there is a screened in porch.
The When When Contest will continue (as long as there is snow).

Mom has been cleaning out. This is the stuff that was on ONE shelf in the litterbox room. Mom says there is too much stuff. She does not need three deoderants (whatever THAT is) or SIX travel sized bottles of shampoo, or FOUR tubes of toothpaste, or FIVE packages of band aids.  Once the "extra" stuff goes, then the stuff we do have will disappear into boxes, and then on one as-yet-to-be-determined date in October, very strong guys will come and put all our stuff in one big giant truck and take it to the new place and take it all out again. 

Mom will do some freaking out, but not much. She has measured all the rooms at the new place, and measured all the furniture, and figured out where everything is going to go. Here, for example, is the new office, with my kitty condo facing the big bay window that gets the sun all day long.

If you look closely you can see where my foods are going to be located, as well as my extra litter box.  I have to give my Mom a lot of credit for making sure MY NEEDS will be taken care of.

(Although I have heard strange talk about pills, trank-will-eye-zers, the v-e-t, and something called "boarding.")

Still, Mom has a lot to do before all that happens. We'll see.

Tuxie Tuesday

I heard whispers that Mom and I have been approved. It is almost official. Mom says it may get a little crazy around here but I shouldn't worry. We may be going somewhere but the most important thing is we are going together.

I don't like the idea of the going word or the packing word or the M-word, but the together word makes it OK with me. 

I think.

Millie Monday

Napping on crunchy brown paper is pretty nice, but napping on a soft fleece pillow is even better.

Mom was a maniac on Saturday, cleaning and sorting stuff, donating stuff, recycling stuff, trashing stuff and cleaning stuff. Sunday she took it a lot easier. She paid the Mr Bills, baked some cookies, made some granola and put a lot of meat and tomatoes in the crooked pot. She is looking forward to her upcoming vacation.  Regular readers know we watch the tennis in New York.

Until then, I'll be doing my usual thing. Napping wherever I want.

She Loves Me. She Loves Me... not?

My Mom really loves me. Lookit all this Stinky Goodness. Mom says there is enough for almost three weeks. I dunno how long that is, but I know it's a lot of sleeps.

Mom loves me. I know it.

 

And then there's this.

I know Mom loves me, but this makes me wonder.

Paper!

Mom got a box full of stuff yesterday, and the stuff in the box was packed with a lot of crunchy brown paper.  Normally I avoid noisy stuff, but this brown paper was interesting, and I had to explore.

As it turns out, this stuff was very nap-worthy.

Who knew?

Truthful Thursday

Mom should know that if she leaves a pile of fabric somewhere, I am going to find it.

Guess where I slept last night?

Heh.

Wordless Wednesday

.

Seeking Approval

Mom spent most of yesterday afternoon writing all over a bunch of papers. She is applying for membership to some kind of group or other. It is very impawtant. They even want information about (blush) Me!

Needless to say I want to make a good impression.

If we are accepted plans will be made to implement the M-word.

That does not sound like fun.

for either of us.

Silent Sunday

I'm remembering a little Angel today.

Something Going On Saturday

OK, It's sunny out, and here I am in my kitty condo.

Mom's got something going on, I know it. She's been measuring all the furniture and pushing little squares of paper around on graph paper. She's been cleaning out closets and "de-cluttering."

Hmmm.

Wordy Wednesday

Lookit what Mom did!

She moved my kitty condo and the two new chairs.

I do not like it. I do not like it one bit.

I do not like the new chairs, so I have been camping out under the bed. I certainly do not like this new arrangement, although Mom says it does not look as crowded.

(Insert snarky comment here.)

My Gotcha-versary!

Eight years ago I moved to New Hampster and my furrever home.

I met my Mom.

and I met my big bro, Gizzy.

.

I loved Gizzy.

.

I liked my big sis Jasmine too, but she wasn't thrilled to have me around.

It's hard to believe that was eight years ago. In that long time I have made many friends around the world, and a new family too, with Monty Q in Mary-land.

I got Mom making quilts again, and now she is almost as famous as me.

I have traveled across the US (twice!) and visited many famous places.

I was even part of a wedding.

I am a very lucky cat.

Thank you Mom, for making it all possible and giving me such a wonderful home.

Millie Monday

I hope you had a nice weekend. The bean v-e-t-s wanted Mom to take off the bandage on her finger and soak it for a while. I'd say she was worried but while she was sewing yesterday afternoon, the bandage fell right off. She gave it a little soak and then let the finger air out. It looks really yukky.

Mom and I had some extra cuddle time on Sunday. She suddenly started yawning in the afternoon and actually took a nap!! I took advantage of that and lay down right next to her and took a nap myself.

I was so surprised. After all these years with my Mom she is -finally- learning!

Finally Friday

I'm happy it's Friday.

 because Friday means the weekend is here. I'm pretty sure Mom won't be going crazy with housecleaning the way she did last weekend, so I am sure I will get lots of attention.

Mom went to see the bean v-e-t last night and her finger looks good, and there is no sign of infection. So Mom has a smaller bandage and can flex her fingers more easily.