It must be hard being a cat!

This weather is crazy! Earlier this week it was around 10 C and today it's over 20! On Monday and Tuesday I was wearing a jacket and gloves and today I could be in t-shirt! Our office is a bit cold though so I'm not.

I got an e-mail from my boss asking me not to come work today because she was out the rest of the week. Too bad I got it this morning as I was already at work, by my desk. Instead of today, she wanted me to work next Wednesday at the study abroad fair our department is organizing. I am not sure how much help I could be with no extra hands (I'm now really trying to stay off of my feet as much as possible since it's been 7 weeks and there's no progress being made as far as healing goes) and I'm on crutches. I can't be on my feet for 4 hours and I can't carry anything. I would not be able to help to put anything together or take apart or help taking them back to the office. Also, I am only allowed to work 20 hours a week. NO extra hours. NO overtime. I wanna keep my status and not violate my visa status. So not working today would not help as far as next week goes. Also, The fair ends at 3pm and my class starts at 8pm. What am I supposed to do in the between? That is the reason why I wanted to re-schedule my week in the first place. If my foot was better I could always go home, or go to the town and have a cup of coffee or eat or even go to the gym but the foot is really messing up everything. And I know it doesn't sound much, just walk to the bus stop, walk to the train and then walk to the campus but when you have limited mobility, it takes a lot out of you.

I should probably stop talking about my foot now. I feel like I'm repeating myself! A lot.

I really want to go shopping. Both T and I have a shopping fever. BAD one! My back-to-school-shopping was rudely cut off by, what else, my foot! I had a whole list of things I needed, well wanted to get. We were only able to go through maybe half of it. If even that. I need to win the lottery so that I can do major shopping!

When I'm not at work or at school I spend my time home doing home work, catching up with my TV shows, laundry, cooking etc. But most of all, hanging out with the cats, Sox and Bailey. They are the 2 fattest cats I think I have ever seen, but I don't hold that against them! They are sooo friggin cute! They run the household and we're there just to serve them. It must be hard being a cat. Basically all they do is eat, poop and sleep. Sometimes they play but most of the time it's too inconvenient for them.

Sox is the queen of the household. She's about 12 or so, maybe little older and she's getting little grouchy in her old age. She is very gentle unless she thinks your over petting her and then she might fake-bite you. She does that only to show you enough is enough. She's never serious about it. She's little OCD about her cleanliness...little is putting it mildly! She cleans herself every 5 minutes, sometimes she wakes up from deep sleep just to lick herself and then goes back to sleep. She cleans herself after you touch her...after and in the middle of eating...when we're watching tv or when we're sleeping. In the middle of playing too, when we get her to play. She doesn't run but she sometimes sprints a little. And it's always an occasion since it's so rare. She makes me smile. She's the ultimate mama's girl and when mama's not around, I'm the next best thing. She keeps reminding me of herself while I'm doing homework, she gets off HER couch (yes, she has taken over one of the couches downstairs), walks over to me and meow's, first softly and if that doesn't get the attention, then louder. She's not a cryer, so when you hear her meow, you listen. And pet her so she'll calm down.Then she's happy and will go back to sleeping or eating. One of the things I love about Sox is that she lets you to touch her stomach. She'll give you her armpit and lays there and purrs. Not a lot of female cats do that. Our cat Laku, when I was little did not like her stomach to be touched. You'd come out of that one with scratched arms! Bleeding. But Sox is like whatever. It's an attention and I'm a cat. This is how it's supposed to be.

When it's time to go to bed, Sox is right there, claiming her spot. In the middle of the bed. When you try to get in there, she looks at you and gets comfortable. You try to move her and she becomes dead weight. Taydellisen veltto! And she's 8kg so it's not like you just lift her and move her. It takes negotiations, talks, pleads and finally getting up and moving her and even that might not work because she just gets right back where she was or as close as possible. We have a designated cat area where they have their own blanket and where they are supposed to stay because T is allergic to cats so we try to keep them away from the pillows. Yeah, easier said that done. Many times during the night you'll wake up with Sox right by your face. You move her and she's right back there. One night we played this game 3 times. She's the queen! And then, in the mornings when I don't have to get up early or there's no alarm clock going off, they wake me up. Feed me! Feed me! No, there's no meow's, they just sit next to you and stare you down! You might close your eyes and think that they will forget, oh no! There's another cat there the next time you open your eyes. If it's Sox, she'll just stare. If it's Bailey, she'll start rubbing herself against you the minute she sees any kind of movement. And PURR. If you try to ignore her, she'll lay down next to/on top of you and waits till your ready to get up. And sometimes they double team you! There's 2 cats staring down at you. They are used to getting their food in the morning so as soon as you get up, it's dinner time. Or that's what they think. I usually start the coffee before giving their food but I take the bowl up beforehand. They know what it means so they sit down where the bowls will be put and wait. patiently. One time I forgot to get to their food as soon as I finished making the coffee and did something else in the kitchen for 5 minutes. When I saw the bowls and remembered what I was supposed to do, I went around the corner to see where they were and they were right in the same spots I had left them. Had not moved. Same spot, same position. they're too cute.

Sox tries to play sometimes. It usually means she'll go to the toy chest, takes out the toys and then it's already time to rest. She can smack the toys around few times but that's it. So she lays down and rests her head on one of her toy socks. Only time you really see her get involved is when you take out the laser beam. Boy they can run! And attack! They both become such an attack cats! It doesn't last for long though...When we first moved in together and I was put in charge of scooping the litter Sox used to come in and supervise me. She would walk around, check out what was going on and then sit there and wait until I was done. then she would go in and do her business! Right after I cleaned it. It's not just me she does that though, she does it with T too...and I figured the reason she wants to use the bathroom right after it's been clean is because it's the only time during the day it's clean. Bailey's a little challenged when it comes to covering her...business. T said when the cats were little Sox used to go to the litter box right after B to cover it herself. She's such a nice big sister!

Now Bailey...Bailey is special. She is the cutest cat you'll ever meet and even at 12 (or so) still has the face of a kitten! She does not look her age. Good genes! c") But she's a little bit of socially challenged. She's scared of everything and anything. Loud noises, sudden moves, thunder and lightning, the vacuum cleaner...You name it, she has the phobia. But T says that's because when she was a little, the people who used to have her abused her and now she has no trust in people. Especially for people she doesn't know. Which means outside me and her, B will not show up. Took me a long time to gain her trust but I think I'm as far as I can get with her. There is no picking her up or holding her. She'll scratch your eyes out and will run for her life. With Sox, you can hold her for few minutes but then she'll wanna go down. With Bailey, forget about it. You are lucky to pet her at all. Now though she has started to realize that getting petted is not such a bad thing and now she's using her cute cards. Shamelessly! She'll lay down, expose her tummy and let you scratch her upper tummy and armpits. You gotta be careful though cuz if you get too close to her lower tummy, she'll scratch you in a second! And then bolts! She loves to get "facials", you could rub her face and neck for the whole day and she would just change positions and show you where it itches.

She also loves to get brushed but she does not stay put. You need to chase her to be able to brush her and when you tell her to stay put, she doesn't listen. And because she's not OCD with cleaning herself, she needs the brushing more than Sox does.

Bailey's a cryer. She can be in a room by herself and you hear her meow. You call her and she comes but then she leaves and does it again. Lately she's been sitting in a corner in our kitchen, in between the trash can and a closet and just meows. There's nothing there, I have checked but that's where she sits. Every day. I wonder why?

Where as Sox is lazy when it comes to playing, Bailey plays and runs. She has her little soccer balls that if you throw them to her, she'll run after them. She does not kick them back to you though which means you're basically playing fetch with yourself. She'll just run for the hell of it. Sometimes with super balls she'll kick them back to you. but only sometimes. Lately she's been playing upstairs when it's bedtime. She'll bring a ball upstairs and chases it around. all you hear is her claws on the rug.

Bailey is a little bit of a push over, at least when it comes to Sox. Bailey can be laying down and if Sox thinks it's her spot, she'll make Bailey move. We have had the bedroom window open this week and Sox usually starts in the bed but moves to the couch by the window at some point during the night. And if Bailey happens to be there, Sox makes her move.

They are both very jealous of each other and the time we give them. You can't just baby talk one of them, you need to do it to both of them. You can't just pet one of them bacause the other one will give you these evil looks. If you brush one of them, the other one will soon come. Even if they were upstairs and you think they don't hear. They do!

Anyway, that's my life as a step mama for 2 cats. It's awesome!