It's the Little Things

As I sit down to write this, I have had a DAY folks and I’m exhausted. I’m drinking. And I deserve it. As a matter of fact, every day for the past two weeks has been kind of exhausting in a way that you feel like shouldn’t be exhausting. Like, you feel like you should be able to handle it, it’s not a big deal, but then there’s just the relentlessness of constant new things to handle.

But I’m not going into that. This is going to be a fluff piece. Because that’s what I need and maybe that’s what you need.

I mentioned in a previous entry how Dean and I were using our stimulus. Basically taking care of a lot of things that we’ve been promising ourselves that we’d get to when we had the money. One of these things was a very large cat tree for our very athletic, adventurous, young cats.

This was one of those ‘if the plumbing job doesn’t cost too much and we have money left over’ purchases. Well, thank god, the recommendation was good, and our guy only charged us $65 and the problem is FIXED. If you’re in Nashville, and you need any kind of work done around the home, let me know. As they say in Chicago; I got a guy. (<— must be said with full on Blues Brothers accent.)

We bought the cat tree. It came in a very sturdy box and we had to put it together. Unlike furniture from Ikea, the directions were clear, all of the hardware was present, and we were able to do it in under an hour. The kittens were curious and started playing with some of the pieces before we even had everything together, which tickled me.

One of my worries had been that our place is pretty small and where the hell would we put it? Fortunately, I lucked upon a piece that matched our decor, which is always nice, and Dean suggested putting it up against one of the windows in a spot that I hadn’t considered. It fits great and it looks great. Score two points right there.

The best part though, was that the kittens were more interested in their new cat tree than they were in the box that it came in. Score five big points.

We have bought several toys and things for the kittens since they’ve come to be with us and almost always it’s the box that has the most thrall. It’s so gratifying when that’s not the case though.

The covering is soft and velvety, which I know Cloud loves. There is a little bed perch that lines up with the window, that they both really enjoy. Sometimes they’ll squash in there together, or they’ll take turns. The other bed perch is higher. There’s a little tiny palace on there that they also like. They take turns in there when they’re not at the window perch. There’s even a hammock. So far Aang has only gone into the hammock area to play with the rope that hangs above it, but Cloud has curled up inside of it for a nap. I’ve even moved their bed to the bottom level of it because it matches and then all of their things can be in one spot.

In conclusion; sometimes life is a struggle. Buy your cats a cat tree. Smile every time you walk into the living room. It’s something. And it’s enough.