Undercover Cat

As I went to put my freshly-laundered sheets on my bed, I found Luna sleeping in the middle of the bare mattress. So I put the fitted sheet on right over him, thinking he would run away.


He didn't. He's still there, happy as a furry clam. I can't decide whether to finish making the bed. I think with the extra layers heaped on top, he'd be even more warm and comfy, and he might stay for hours.


"Put that sheet back down, silly human. You're letting all the heat out."

Trading Spaces: Feline Edition

At every meal, morning or evening, Murphy walks around my ankles in the kitchen, while Luna waits beneath the table in the other room. I put the first bowl of food down for Murphy, then while he eats, I go to the other room to fetch Luna. Luna won't come to the kitchen of his own accord. He waits for me to pick him up and carry him to his food.

Except for tonight.

I prepared the two bowls of cat food and set one down, and the cat that had been worming around my ankles dove into it. My eyes fell upon the entrance to the kitchen, where Murphy watched in horror.

Yes, it was Luna who had been in the kitchen, rubbing my ankles, and who claimed the first bowl of food, which was in Murphy's spot.

Murphy then ran away and hid under the bed. While I was fumbling in the darkness under the bed looking for him, he slipped away. I found him under the table in the other room, in Luna's spot, waiting. So I picked him up and carried him to the kitchen, and set him down with the second bowl of food in Luna's normal spot.

Crazy kitties, messing with my head.

Lotus Focus: Cat and Moth

This morning I unlocked a new balance game in Wii Fit: Lotus Focus. This is an exercise in sitting perfectly still. The screen is dark except for a single candle burning in the middle. If you move, the candle goes out. The game tries to distract you with various sound effects, which are easy to ignore, and then by having a moth come and flutter around the flame.

It wasn't the moth that got me, but my cat Luna. As soon as that moth fluttered across the screen, he ran up to the TV, absolutely rapt. I've never seen him interested in anything on the TV screen before. He tracked the moth back and forth, pacing as he tried to figure out how to get through the "window" that separated him from his prey. I broke my stillness trying to repress my laugh.

Anyway, I plan to keep at Wii Fit every day. I make myself endure all the yoga exercises, then allow myself to have some fun with the balance and aerobic games. The balance games are all very fun (except for Lotus Focus, which really seems more like yoga). Even though I'm terrible at them, they're cute and they make me laugh, so I enjoy them even as I fail. Under aerobics, I really enjoy the step games. However, I'm apparently incapable of doing the hula hoop ones. I just can't get the movement right, so I've never actually last more than a few seconds. I'm trying to psych myself up to revisit the strength exercises, which are as un-fun as the yoga ones, and twice as painful.

And if you have Wii Fit and you think the strength exercises are all easy and you're wondering what my problem is, have you ever seen Kung-Fu Panda? On his first day of training, he does so poorly that his master declares, "There is now a Level Zero." That's where I am. Level Zero.

But overall, I'm thinking the Wii Fit was a worthwhile acquisition. I haven't noticed any improvement in my fitness yet, but it's only the fifth day.

Luna and the Monsters

In response to my last post, S said, "Poor Luna looks like she's in hell!!"

The thing is, Luna wouldn't leave the couch! No matter what I did, he was bound and determined to outlast me! I put the plushies around him, and he sat still for a couple of minutes, then moved to the other end of the couch. So I moved the plushies to where he was. And he moved again. Three feet to the left, three feet to the right, three feet to the left again. This game went on for fifteen or twenty minutes. With the picture I used in the last post, I loved the "okay, I'm starting to get annoyed" expression on his face, especially the faintly red glowing eyes.

But just to prove that he didn't really mind all this plushie nonsense too much, here's a picture of him looking reasonably content, even with the chimera perched on top of him.

Monsters!

While most of my tax refund will go toward replacing my glasses and, most likely, more dental work, I did allow myself to buy some frivolous things with part of my state refund. Namely, monster plushies!


(My long-suffering cat Luna is shown with them for scale.)

I have loved griffins ever since I was a little girl. They've always been one of my favorite mythological beasts. With my love of birds and cats, a half-eagle, half-lion monster was just the coolest thing on wheels. I have wanted a stuffed griffin for nearly my entire life, and I had never before seen one, until I discovered the Here Be Monsters toy line.

What caught my eye first (before I saw they had a griffin) was the chimera. How often do you see a stuffed chimera? Seriously!

So I treated myself to the griffin and the chimera. And they are so adorable! They're goofy and cheesy, which makes them somehow even more lovable.

I think when I get my tax rebate, I will allow myself another plushie or two. I'm thinking the hydra is a must-have. All those cute little heads! The beholder ("eye tyrant," as they call it) is also pretty darn special. But the gargoyle and the transformable werewolf are rather tempting, too. And that four-foot long Chinese dragon! That would look pretty awesome stretched across the back of the couch.

Oh, it takes so little to make me happy sometimes.

More Cat Pictures

Here's Murphy again. He loves tomatoes. When I bite or cut into a tomato, he can smell it from any room in the apartment, and he comes running. I sat down on the couch after work today with a tomato, and he was all over me trying to steal it. I kept twisting around, moving the tomato away from him, but he was quite persistent. Finally I just let him have a few licks in exchange for a photo op.


And here's Luna, the 16 pound cat, sitting in the tiny box lid from my NIV Study Bible, with that faraway "I am pondering significant things" look on his face. (Don't you believe it!) I love how the map of the Czech Republic is like a halo behind his head. (By the way, the map is on the wall straight. It's just the camera angle that makes it look crooked.)