Crazy Cat Lady?

I am starting to embrace the fact that I might be one of those crazy pet owners. You know, the kind who talks to their animals, gives them kisses and believes that their pets truly are the cream of the crop. (Well, Olivia anyway.) I have only recently come to this conclusion while I was at work a few weeks ago. There is another woman who has cats and I often ask her advice on things cat-related and we swap "cute, cat tales." One afternoon, during our lunch break, I made the mistake of divulging too much information about my love for cats. While my feline fan did not think it was strange, a few of my other friends did and though they may have tried to hide their countenance, I saw the looks on their faces . . . they thought I was nuts. This made me totally self-conscience and made me reevaluate my pet stance. Maybe I am nuts. But my question to you is, would I have gotten those same looks had I been talking about a dog? I would venture to say no.

I am certainly not going to start the debate about which animal is better, cats or dogs. I think that question is completely irrelevant considering it is solely based on an objective point of view, but I do wonder why cats had such a bad wrap. Take our cat Olivia for instance. **Side Note: I will not be using our other cat Molly in my pro-cat argument because she still has lots of annoying kitten tendencies and sometimes she drives me crazy. I will use her when I need to prove a point. Is this skewing information? Yes, but it's my blog and I can do what I wanna.** Olivia is almost like a small dog. She greets us at the door, follows us around the house, sleeps with us and generally likes to be in the same room as us. As an added bonus, she goes to the bathroom in her litter box whenever she needs to, allowing us to continue our day, uninterrupted by potty breaks. Another pro is her litter box, meaning we don't need to worry about minefields in the back yard. Yes, Troy does clean the litter box (we made a deal that he takes care of animal poop and I take care of small human poop. It's awesome because we each feel like we are getting the better end of the deal), but at least he doesn't need to go out with the pooper-scooper every day to collect the waste.

So, what is it that makes dog owners feel superior to cat owners? There is definitely a stigma. Why is it weird that I care for my cats when the next person who is a dog owner is not found strange for having the same feelings towards their pet? Cats need loving homes just like dogs do and in many ways, if you know that you can't stand up to the responsibilities that owning a dog entails, cats are a much better option. I know that I personally don't want to wake up early before work to take a dog on a walk so it can do its business. I also know that I don't want to have to try and find a dog-sitter when I want to go out of town. I don't want a dog waking me up or scratching at the door when it needs to go outside. Grooming and vet bills can be expensive and what if my dog gets fleas or ticks and brings those along with his muddy paws into my house! And until I am ready to handle those responsibilities or if Troy is dying to do them, we will be content with our cats. But people seem to overlook these responsible checklists that cat owners make.

Now, I am not that crazy of a cat owner, despite what some of my colleagues may think. I do understand why people pour so much money into their animals and I also understand how it is possible to love an animal so much. I didn't always use to be like this. When I was growing up, we couldn't have any pets. Let me rephrase that, we couldn't have any fun pets, namely a cat or a dog. We had lame pets: fish, birds and gerbils. One time I did get a tadpole to take home after we studied them in my second grade science unit, but it never reached adulthood. And another time my sister and I had two rabbits, but we had to get rid of them after two days because my dad was allergic. Because we didn't have any pets that were "fun," I never understood people who would come to school sad about their sick or dying cats and dogs. To me it just seemed like that was the circle of life. I didn't know how you could get attached to an animal. Maybe that's the problem with the people I ate lunch with. Maybe they never had the chance to get attached to a pet. That's really not all that strange considering, I never knew that until I was 25!

Anywho, the point of this blog is not to rip on dog owners. Someday, Troy and I will have dogs too, but I am just trying to make a case for all those cute kitties out there. So, I am here to say, yes, I love my cats. They make excellent snugglers, they do funny things like make themselves cozy in the washing machine or hide under rugs, they are easy to take care of and all they want is a little love.

Family Stick Figures

If you know my dad at all, you would know that saying he is a car buff would be an understatement. I grew up with my dad giving my sister and I basic "rules" for our cars. Number one, wash your car regularly. Number two, check your oil often. Number three, NEVER put stickers on your car. I will be honest, rules number one and two were not always on my radar. **Side Note: I hate checking my oil and would only do it when I got the 'Dad-Look.' Now that I live on my own, I don't even know the last time I personally checked my oil. Eek!** However, rule number three has always stuck with me. I would MAYBE put one sticker on my car if I thought it was super cool and worthy enough to break my rule. I feel the same way about tattoos. Needless to say I do not have a sticker on my car nor do I have a tattoo. It might be a fear of commitment of ink . . . that might be another blog topic.

Getting back to the issue at hand, I think in general bumper stickers devalue your car. It's a personal opinion . . . not to be confused with my personal taboo facts; i.e. socks with sandals, ketchup on hotdogs, etc. Lately Troy and I have been noticing the family stick figure stickers, generally on mini vans and the giant SUVs that scream, "I will plow you over if you make me late for my kid's soccer game." I am sure you've seen them. They are ridiculous. As if the bumper sticker that said, "My kid's on the Honor Roll at Orland Jr High School" wasn't geeky enough, the bumper sticker companies decided to up the ante. They have become more versatile now, too. I have seen sea turtles, smilie faces, even flip flops depicting each member of the family. Sometimes you'll even get their surname underneath. Giant white letters, letting you know who you can call by name should you decided to chuck water balloons at their car. "Take this middle, sized girl in the Smith Family!"

You can also get them custom designed so you can share with the perfect strangers you are driving past, some of your favorite hobbies. "Hmm, I see that the oldest Miller boy in that Dodge Caravan is interested in skiing. Wow, I will never get those five seconds back that I wasted thinking about that." Anyone who has a pet will know that you can't leave them out of the family equation, so you can choose your furry or slimy creature who has touched your heart - alive or dead, yes, I'm serious. Anything from the family favorite Fido to ferrets, hedgehogs and goats can be added as a decal. Which brings me to another question, who the heck has a hedgehog for a pet? Or a goat for that matter? So many comments, so little Google gigabytes to collect them.

I decided to look into designing a decal for my family. I made Troy a super hero because it's awesome and I think he would look great in a cape. I made me a hula dancer because I rock at the hula and then of course I had to add Olivia and Molly. I also wanted to include our beloved goldfish, McCain, may he rest in peace due to a stressful evening where my friend, Becca may have been the cause of his demise. The best part was designing the figures and I have to say, that was mildly amusing, but I am certainly not going to cough up the $38.75 plus shipping and handling to become another lame-o on the road with an overpriced sticker.

All this to say, when I see you driving down the road with your stick family plastered to your rear window, you should know I am making fun of you . . . openly. Does this make me a better person? Absolutely not. But it does help to build up my endorphins and is amusing for me. Just know when you order those stick figure stickers, baby on board signs, honor roll awareness stickers, etc, and stick them on your car, you are a heartbeat away from wearing white Keds, a jean skirt and a fanny pack, driving around in a mini van. If that isn't enough to snap you back to reality, heaven help you, it may be too late.

To be Furry or Not to be Furry

Troy and I have two cats. Olivia is three and Molly is one. We got Olivia right after we were married and she is basically the best cat ever. She loves to snuggle and greet visitors at the door, with whom she instantly befriends so she would make a terrible "guard-cat." Molly is basically a sweet cat; she likes to force you to pet her by shoving her head in your hand. She has a ton of energy since she is still has a lot of kitten in her and besides the fact she likes to poop right outside the litter box, we love her too.

Now that the background knowledge is out of the way, our cats have recently spurred on another moment of "Pam-sense." Wouldn't it be weird to be completely cover in fur? I mean, part of me feels like I would kind of know what it's like since I have a lot of hair myself and on humid days, it seems to procreate, but still weird, right? I mean Olivia and Molly have hair everywhere but inside their mouths, their eyes, their noses and their paw pads. They even have hair in between their toes! I can't even go three or four days without shaving my legs!

My husband is an avid Blackhawks fan so he grew out a playoff beard. He was so relieved when after a month he could finally shave it off. I wonder if pets ever look up at us and think, "Geeze, it's hot in here. Could you pass me your razor when you're done with it?" If Olivia and Molly knew that women shave their legs and underarms, I wonder if they would want a crack at it. I would probably keel right over if I came home and their armpits and legs were totally shaven while the rest of their body was still furry. Ha ha!! That thought makes me laugh right now!! Moral of the story: maybe offer your hair-removing tools to your pets-let them decide: to be furry or not to be furry.