Delta, Delta, Delta

Leaving for Nantucket last week was not an easy feat!

First of all, I'll save you the details of my wheeling & dealing, but in the end I needed to cancel my outgoing flight to Nantucket & keep my returning flight. Wasn't the airline so nice to make me pay for canceling a flight I already paid for & was not going to take?

I love that I had to pay $12.56 to cancel a flight.
For canceling I received a credit of $137.44.
I then had to pay the $150 "change of flight fee."
I had to pay the difference.
Suck it Delta!

Also, the following drama ensued about an hour before our departure...

Muffin enjoys our enclosed front porch.

It's her happy place since Hallie won't step foot out there.

Well, Muff was hanging in her usual spot before my husband called to me during my last second packing, "Uh, Jaime, I'm gonna need your help over here." I didn't like the tone of his voice.... With good reason... 'cause this is what I came out to find:

A torn screen that leads to the great outdoors...

...and no Muffin in sight.

Peter ran outside calling her name & I ran franticly around the house calling her name. Much to my relief she came booking it up the stairs while I was looking for her in the bedrooms. There's no way to know for sure that Muffin ventured outside, but she appeared to be quite freaked out & Hallie enjoyed sniffing her. I drew the conclusion that she had a short adventure under the front steps & then the possum I believe lives there scared her back into her loving home.

Apparently she forgot about the possum though 'cause she's been looking to head back out once again.

Where's Muffin?

"Where's Muffin?" is a game our cat likes to play from time to time. My feelings on this game is that it's her quest to find a way out of the house from her annoying little sister, Hallie.... and then she gets tired & falls asleep. Regardless, Muffin is notorious for always finding a new place to curl up and go to sleep with no one the wiser. Whether it's a box in our porch area, on top of the heating vent in the basement, or her favorite- in the entertainment center on top of the dvr, nothing surprises me anymore. This morning Muffin was m.i.a. She's been sleeping on the bed in the guest bedroom recently, but there was no sign of her.... or was there?

Where's Muffin?

Looks like something white on top of the dresser

Definitely Muffin

Looks kinda comfy

She didn't even move as I did her photo shoot

Now, you may be asking 2 questions, and here are your answers:

#1. Yes, my curtain was pulled up on to the dresser by me. I was letting some sunshine in the room & since we're lazy & never bought curtain tie backs for the guest room, this is how I get around it... I know, classy.

#2. Yes, I just wrote an entire post about my cat sleeping on a dresser... but you just read it, so you should feel like the stupid one!

Friends? ...Not even close!

I'm going to assume they're stalking a squirrel... there is no other explanation for their close proximity!

Summer must be here...

...'cause Muffin can't see out her favorite bathroom window anymore... the next door neighbors' plants have officially taken over!

She looks even sadder since I had the wrong setting on my camera...

Hallie Update

DISCLAIMER: If you don't care for cat talk skip this post!

Hallie returned home from her surgery this past Wednesday afternoon. Muffin was not too pleased about this...

Muffin in Hallie's case... apparently she wants out of her current living situation

I figured Hallie deserved a treat for enduring surgery & a day and a half away from home, so I bought her some kitty grass that she thoroughly enjoyed.

Excited about a plant that she is allowed to eat

She also found Muffin's new bed... Muffin was not happy about this either

All in all, Hallie seems fine since returning home. She was definitely pretty pitiful her first night back, but things are returning to normal. She's back to sleeping her life away! The only difference in her that we've noticed is that she's a bit more snuggly that normal... and she was already cuddly to begin with. A fat, snuggly cat just when the weather's starting to warm up is not too enjoyable for Peter & I. I suppose we'll cut her some slack since she just endured a traumatic event.

Hal's favorite sunny napping spot

Peter & Hal napping "together"

Muffin dreaming of a day when Hallie is gone for good

Crazy Cat Picture of the Day

This was just too ridiculous not to share. I still don't quite understand it.

Muffin hangin' with some herbs on the back porch

Soakin' Up Some Sunshine

Kitten Picture of the Day

She must have a sixth sense for clean, warm laundry

Kitty Showdown

I don't intend on my blog to be taken over by cat lady entries, but allow me to post this without passing judgement.

Peter & I caught a little kitty showdown on our back porch yesterday. Muffin's arch nemesis (ie some neighborhood cat) was soaking up the sun on our hot tub when Muffin decided to do the same on the windowsill..... Nemesis was not happy about this.

(FYI: The video is longer than necessary due to my inability to edit.)

Kitten picture of the day!

Muffin & some laundry.... fresh out of the dryer

Mouse in the House

Recently our cats, Muffin & Hallie have taken up mouse hunting. We've noticed them staring at the stove, corners in the kitchen & a couple other places. We were convinced that there must be a mouse somewhere. On Monday the behavior went up a notch. Hallie was stalking the corner of our office area & Muffin was patrolling the kitchen at a new level. I took the pictures below, e-mailed them to my husband & then got the hell out of the house, 'cause I knew something was about to go down.

Muffin in the kitchen

Hallie in the office area

I returned home a few hours later to find my husband & Muffin on the back porch. I went to open the door & Peter yelled at me not to. I knew it! A mouse!! Apparently craziness went down a few moments after my husband's arrival home. The mouse was chased around the house by Peter & Muffin. Hallie, on the other hand, apparently preferred to run away from the mouse (We always suspected that would be the case, but now we have proof). Muffin would pick the mouse up in her mouth & run away from Peter with it.

Photo courtesy of my husband who found amusement in something I never could have. (The real mouse is in Muffin's mouth & the toy mouse is on floor.)

Somehow the mouse made it's way to our back porch & took up hiding in one of my sneakers. Peter attempted to remove the mouse from my sneaker, but was unsuccessful. So, my sneaker spent the night outside & in the morning there was no mouse to be found. Nonetheless, the sneakers are now in "sneaker heaven" (i.e. the garbage).

One would think this would all be quite a relief, but alas ("sigh") there may be more problems on the horizon. Following the incident the cats were stalking the kitchen endlessly. No sleep, just staring

Apparently they like each other more when they have a common interest

They don't even blink

Peter decided to move the appliances & look for any signs of mice. He found none. Luckily this may have provided the girls with the proof needed that their work was now done. They are so tired out now & have returned to sleeping their days away.

Hallie passed out

Muffin passed out

Funfilled Weekend

At some point I'll finish my vacation recap, but for now a recap of the weekend.....

For the second year in a row we rented a lake house with friends. It was on Keuka Lake & we had absolutely perfect weather! We had lots of fun.... unfortunately most of it was not captured in photos.

We returned from the fingerlakes Sunday in time to travel to the Buffalo area for at least one Easter dinner.

Rogers cousins

And today to complete the "weekend" we celebrated Dyngus Day with some kielbasa & pierogies. There were of course pussy willows as well (see centerpiece)!

Muffin had a pretty lonely weekend without us. And to make matters worse she missed out on the kielbasa too.....

Muffin's Fun Fall Day!

Taking in the scenery

Trotting down the sidewalk

Soaking up the sun while rolling in the leaves

Taking a glimpse of what will soon be Peter's garden

And where was Hallie during all of this, you may ask....

Guarding the entrance to our new house...there's no way you're getting her outside!

Hmmmmm, Snow

Muffin absolutely LOVES going outside, so when I opened the door today for her to go out this morning (without her leash!) she was thrilled.... that is until she felt the frigid breeze and put her paw on the cold snow!

Muffin contemplating if it's really worth it

Her single step out into the snow

Cancer! Is it Cancer?!

Today I was once again reminded why I need to think twice before having children. To put it simply, I would be the most paranoid, neurotic mother EVER!

Peter called and e-mailed me shortly after I got to work today. He told me that something was wrong with Muffin. Apparently when he got out of the shower he saw a bunch of blood in the kitchen and drops in my bedroom. Muffin was hiding out in the closet. It seemed like she was sneezing blood out of her nose and she may had thrown some up. I got scared right away. I knew there was a vet's office down the street from me, so I asked Peter if he would call to see if he could take her in. Of course he did not hesitate to say he would.

I got off the phone and told a few people what was going on. Of course there is always that one person who tells you the absolute worst thing that you need to hear at that moment. She's like, "I had a cat that threw up blood. I won't tell ya what happened to her, but it was not good." Seriously. Who says that?! I calm down a bit and then the unnamed co-worker says something else that makes me cry. All I can think is that my poor baby Muffin has cancer. Not only does she have cancer, but she has such bad cancer that I will never even be able to see her again. Seriously.

Finally, Peter calls to tell me that he had to take her to some vet ER. The conclusion the doctor came to is that the blood was probably caused by trauma. She probably fell from somewhere, ran into something, her baby sister bitch-slapped her, etc. All are possibilities. Of course, there is the possibility that she does in fact have cancer, but that is very unlikely since she's so young. The doctor felt pretty sure that it was trauma induced bleeding (or at least that's what I'm told....I suppose Peter could've made that all up to save me the heartache of knowing my kitty has cancer.....let's not think about that).

So, I came home to my poor pitiful Muffin, and she kinda looks like she was beat up today. She looks like shit and all she wants to do is sleep. So, I am staying by her side hoping for a speedy recovery. Here's a picture of her during happier times:



So, as you can see, if I were to have children this would be a million times worse. I don't think I could deal with this stuff. I mean, yeah, a kid runs into a wall and gets a bloody nose, I could get over that and survive. But, cancer and other serious things? I don't think I could ever begin to deal with that. I'm sure most mothers would say the same thing, but the thing is that I worry about that stuff and I don't even have any offspring! Imagine if I did!

**Oh, and before ending this post, I would like to thank Peter for being the best boyfriend in the world. Thank you for putting your life on hold, missing hours of work, finding a vet, comforting Muffin, and doing it all without complaining or telling me that I owe you! I love you & so does Muffin (and to a lesser extent Hallie)!

Happy Birthday Muffin!

Today's my baby's birthday! Muffin turns two years old today!
I forgot to do a post for Peter's 29th birthday on Sunday, so I'll include a cute picture of the two of them together! And just in case you're wondering, yes, she does enjoy being held like that!

Kitty Picture of the Day

She's just too cute not to love!