A Few Introductions

Folks, I've had this blog almost a year now, and I have never properly introduced my family! I'm remedying this problem immediately.

Note: Everyone is of course protected by clever aliases, because ALIASES ARE COOL.

I'll begin with the human...

Captain Nemo

Like a ninja, Captain Nemo is hard to photograph.

Favorite Human Food: Chicken
Theme Song: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Characteristic Moment: Sleeptalking while insisting he's awake (the trick is to ask a question that requires an answer other than yes or no. If he replies "because I've lost all my teeth" or some other nonsense in an irritated, DUH tone of voice, you know he's sleeping).
Comments: Captain Nemo is very cheerful when awake, and a grumpy grizzly when asleep. Unfortunately, he spends much time sleeping during my most wakeful hours, 10 PM-2 AM.
Further Comments: In addition to looking handsome, bringing home the bacon, and pwning noobs online, Captain Nemo formats my ebooks and keeps me supplied with ice cream cake. He's a good man.

The Gray Lady

One of her favorite places.

Favorite Human Food: Bread
Theme Song: Eye of the Tiger

Sink kitty!

Characteristic Moment: Sitting in the sink, falling into the bathtub (she has a water obsession), catching nasty roaches and proudly bringing them to the bedroom.
Favorite Thing: Being brushed. 
Comments: I don't know if you can see how fat she is in this picture, but she's a TUBBY little girl.
Further Comments: The Gray Lady is Captain Nemo's favorite.
Even Further Comments: The Momma does not have favorites, because she is a good parent.

Foxcat

Stealing the limelight from his sister-cat.

Favorite Human Food: Milk, Chicken, Fish, Steak, Pasta, Yogurt, etc (All food, really. Anything he can get his greedy little paws on...)
Theme Song: Shake Your Tail Feather
Characteristic Moment: Incessant begging for food. Being put in the garage so everyone else can have some peace and quiet while they eat. Also, sleeping.
Least Favorite Thing: Being brushed.
Comments: Captain Nemo has a love/hate relationship with Foxcat,* who is mostly a Momma's boy. Personally, I don't know how anybody could hate such a beautiful little kitten. But I will admit I'm slightly biased.
Further Comments: Foxcat is only about 9 months old, and he already towers over his full-grown sister-cat. Such a big, fluffy boy :-)

*I suspect this is due to the fact that Foxcat tends to puke on his shirts.

Shake your tail feather

Well, that's my family! As you can see, I like taking pictures of the baby kitties. :-) :-)

Doing A Hard Thing Is Hard

Hello readers!

I have been gone a long time. I realize this. I have been on vacation, and eating turkey and pie, and ...

... the husband and I adopted a second kitty.

This last thing has not gone over well in our household.

To explain briefly, our first kitty Sansa is a little spoiled princess. She has been the sole recipient of love, affection, compliments, and attention since we brought her home. She has been praised and petted and snuggled. But now there is Gizmo, a tiny shelter rescue with a coat the color of a sunset and a purr that sounds like something from a mashup of a wombat, a tribble, and a video game.

Gizmo

Right now Sansa hates Gizmo's guts. So we're keeping him in a spare bedroom for a few days so he can acclimate and adjust without having to fight for his life.

We've followed all the recommendations--we have rubbed him with a towel that we then put under her food dish in order to associate his scent with food/pleasure, we've let them sniff each other out with him safely in the cat carrier, and we distracted them with toys when the growling started (well, Gizmo was distracted. Sansa just watched him like he was the literal embodiment of the destruction of all her hopes and dreams).

We have let them interact a little, but we watch carefully because Sansa is on the warpath.

Yeah, this is Sansa right now...

In short, it's been a stressful few days.

Stress is not my friend.

 
At least nobody has done any marking of territory, especially not in our bed (read about that one online...)

Doing hard things is, well, hard. Adjusting to this new cat is hard. Writing a book is hard. Lots of things are hard.

But we're going to get through this one day at a time. Which is the way I get through novels, which are probably equally stressful for me. In fact, I'm procrastinating starting on my rewrite for that very reason. But I'm going to handle that like I'm handling these silly kitties.

1. Have goals.
2. Patiently work toward the goals.
3. If something isn't working, try something else. Allow extra time and expect set-backs.
4. Take it one day at a time so you don't become too stressed.

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving (or if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, hope you have a good weekend anyway :-D)