Kittens in the Kitchen

The Boy and I have a pretty good arrangement for presents: I tell him exactly what I want and where to get it, and he goes and buys it. Since we both work downtown and I shop downtown, that’s where his purchases usually happen. On Friday, we met for beer and dinner – but he needed to put “something” in my trunk in the parking garage.

After dinner, we went home and Kitten Thunder opened my birthday present for me.

A bag AND a box? Boy, you shouldn’t have.

The Girl’s birthday is happy for everyone.

 

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Box-a-Palooza!

The Boy is very picky about his work shoes – they have to look nice with slacks but stand up to walking through construction sites. He found a pair that he liked last week, but not in the color he needed, so he had to have them shipped to him.

They came in a box. That was in a box.

And the kittens rejoiced.

Then, today, I came home and finally noticed Obi sitting on a NEW box.

I made him get off the box so I could cut it open. I took two steps away to put the scissors on the coffee table. When I turned back around, Oliver was already looking at me – disappointed – because there was stuff in the box.

So I emptied it for him.

Oliver told Obi, “it fits just right.”

Poor Obi, he got my attention…his brother got the box.

But! Inside the box, was a box.

I emptied it quickly and urged Obi to claim it.

Poor Obi…his brother wanted that box, too.

Wait…maybe NOT “poor Obi.”

Seems like he got what he wanted all along.

So what was in the box inside the box? It is the new blending system that my parents gave me for my upcoming birthday (Saturday). Oliver closely inspected all the contents. Then he must have seen the directions.

He washed thoroughly before using.

And Obi got the second box as well.

How to Wrap Presents

Step 1. Open The Boy’s closet and encourage the kittens to take a nap inside.

Step 2. Casually walk downstairs like you’re not going to do anything interesting.

Step 3. Go ahead and turn on the camera – you know steps 1 and 2 are fruitless, right?

Step 4. Consult the brown kitten as you choose a paper.

Step 5. Ask the grey kitten about the paper when he runs the brown kitten off.

Step 6. Lay out paper to judge size according to the package being wrapped.

Step 7. Move the grey kitten off the paper, onto the shelf under the window.

 Step 8. Watch, helplessly, as the grey kitten tries to step back on the table but puts his foot on paper that does not have table underneath it. Watch him fall, slamming his chin on the table edge on his way down.

Step 9. Drop everything and scoop the grey kitten into your arms. Check for injury. Walk around the house with him in your arms for 20 minutes while his world stops spinning.

Step 10. Decide to blow of wrapping for a while.

Step 11. Return, after dinner, to wrapping.

Step 12. Allow the brown kitten to “curl” some ribbon.

***

Oliver is fine. We finished wrapping presents and snuggled up on the couch. Purr therapy works both ways.

 

Haters Gonna Hate

I’m done with my Christmas shopping. My final order went in about an hour ago.

Mwa ha!

***

On Saturday, Obi helped me wrap a birthday present for a little boy.

“There’s a dog on this book. I thought it was a present. Who would want a dog?”

I’ve told you this before. I also told you that we didn’t attend the birthday party full of happy five year olds because I had a headache. So the present has remained in our living room.

I set it up against the leg of the coffee table, sufficiently in the way that I will remember to take it with me on Wednesday when we see the little boy’s mother. Every morning the package is laying down in the middle of the floor. I set it back against the leg.

This evening, The Boy and I were eating dinner in the living room. Obi came in and knocked the present down. He stretched over the top of it. Then he kicked at the corner. “Obers,” The Boy said. “Stop. That’s not yours.”

Obi’s ears went flat. He stared pointedly at The Boy. He glanced at me.

Teeeeeeaaaaar.

Obi started to unwrap the present.

The Boy intervened. The present is now in his office on the bookshelf.

Where it will undoubtedly be forgotten on Wednesday.

***

We made a sale on our Zazzle store! We’re so excited. It inspired a whole bunch of new products, uploaded today. Check it out.

A weekend with Obi

“There’s a dog on this book. I thought it was a present. Who would want a dog?”

On Saturday, we had a party to go to for a little boy. It turned out I had a headache and the idea of going to the Party Pony with a bunch of happy, screaming five year olds was intolerable. But I didn’t know that when Obi and I wrapped the present.

“This is MY box. Be gone!”

This morning, Obi and I were downstairs working out. He found an empty box balanced on another box. There was much cuteness. Then the box tipped and he struggled to find some way to lay comfortably.

Eventually, I stepped in and leveled the box. All was well with the world.

“If you’re going to stay, would you at least go get us some cheese?”

And then we did a little Photoshop.

B is for Boy. And Birthday.

The Boy’s birthday was on Saturday and came none too soon. For one thing, I found out during our trip to California that he hates the toaster oven I got him last year for his birthday. So I needed his birthday to hurry and get here so I’d remember to get him a different toaster oven for his birthday this year.

Romance, we has it.

I found the perfect toaster oven and hatched a plan to have it waiting for him to make something toasty on Saturday morning. This meant opening the box, unwrapping everything and setting it up…then putting it back inside the box until Friday night when The Boy went to bed.

Let me help you guess where I’m going with this: I opened a box. I closed the box. I covered the box, in my office for ease of access, with Obi’s blanket.

Obi was going absolutely nuts over this. He spent all day Friday digging at the box. On the box on top of the blanket. By the box. On the box. Under the blanket on the box – and that time I swear he actually got IN the box.

Then, Friday night, I changed my mind about how to give it to him. So I didn’t put it out.

Saturday morning I decided that would have been a fine idea. Luckily, The Boy doesn’t toast things for breakfast so much as he toasts things for lunch, so I set up the toaster oven before he came back from the Saturday train meeting. I couldn’t find any bows so I put a classy yellow post-it on the front that said “a toast for your birthday.”

Then I gave Obi the box.

Oliver came to check it out for a while as well.

 

Then The Boy came home and made Obi into a box monster.

Box monsters do not like the flash. They attack the box in retribution.

 

The Boy likes his new toaster oven – complete with a higher ceiling and a timer. Also, it matches the microwave in both style and size so it has moved out to the breakfast nook. This frees up valuable counter space and we’re both excited about that.

Happy Boy’s birthday to the whole Thunder household, I guess.

 

 

Oh, woe is the Thunder

Obi was helping me put away the pile of laundry that tends to grow on the guest bed between visitors. When I opened the door to my sweater closet he followed me in. I looked down at him, sniffing at the shoes on the floor, and wondered if  he remembered that the ceiling to this closet is open.

Surely, by now, he has forgotten how to climb the wall to get to the opening between the main floor and the basement ceiling. Surely I can go get more sweaters before he gets up there.

You would think I’d stop believing any of my thoughts that begin with “surely.”

I arrived back at the closet just as Obi reached the top of the rungs to the ceiling. The only reason I caught him in time is that he climbed the wrong side of the closet.

His punishment? Kisses on the head and a hug.

***

The Boy will be out of town on his birthday so we celebrated his unbirthday yesterday. The Boy got a new toaster oven – I am nothing if not romantic. Kitten Thunder got a big bag and some bright blue tissue paper.

I fully intended to clip the handles on the bag before I left the room. But surely they would be okay while we were sitting right there.

Have I mentioned the luck I have with “surely”?

In a sudden flurry of flying fur and paper, the evil gift bag chased Obi out of the living room. He escaped in the hallway.

The bag’s punishment? It is torn almost in half and its handles are clipped. Obi has forgiven it.

***

This morning, while I was upstairs brushing my teeth, I noticed Oliver giving laser beam eyes of hatred to…The Boy’s duffle bag. How dare it be out? How dare it be packed?!?

The duffle’s punishment? None. It escaped just in time.

***

It’s Thunder Thursday! Today we introduce the fuzzies of Alice, The Boy’s sister. She has had the adorable Oliver, handsome dog, for a while. And Oliver’s new associate is Eliot. Alice says he likes the nip…but it looks a lot like he’s a beer man.

Happy Birthday, Kitten Thunder

Happy birthday to you,
You’re eight; and you’re two
Happy birthday, Kitten Thunder
Happy birthday toooooo yooooooou!

That’s right, Oli and Obi have the same birthday. And it’s tomorrow. I didn’t even plan it that way. In fact, I didn’t notice until I took Obi in for his one-year appointment back in April. But how convenient is that?

I’m not really the type to get all celebratory about my pets’ birthdays. Heck, we barely get celebratory when The Boy or I has a birthday. So Kitten Thunder might get a can of tuna in the middle of the day. That’s about it.

And, since I was in the store and have been planning to get one anyway…

"We'll call this new program on OutTV...Thunder Cafe."

The new bird feeder is a big hit. We’ve had sparrows and wrens galore at an already wonderful window. Two windows, actually, because you can see the feeder from the breakfast nook and the dining room. It also hangs low enough that doves can sit on the fence and eat from it.

It might be low enough for squirrels to sit on the fence and eat from it. Which may be why there is a LOT of birdseed on the ground.

"Thunder Cafe is a big success! In one day, the customers have almost cleaned out the inventory!"

Hopefully the birds take better care of their things than the squirrels do.

"The easiest route is a straight line - right through the lid of the box."

There is a new squirrel in the neighborhood and boy is he ever stupid. He chewed this giant hole in the box in one day. While sitting on it. The bright side is that when the peanut level is low he has to climb all the way into the box. So we get little squirrel legs kicking in the air as he goes in. Very cute. And we get squirrel face peeking out once he gets a nut. Very very cute.

But I still hope we don’t have any stupid sparrows.