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Sunday 31 January 2016

How I became the Crazy Cat lady




Oryx you can tell she is a minx!
I don't really know when I became the Crazy Cat lady but it definitely happened gradually so that I didn't notice until I was a fully fledged member! I always thought I was more of a dog person (whilst secretly being a bit scared of them!) until that is we got Oryx. Me and ma had been talking about getting a cat for some time (all very hypothetical as the house wasn't really cat proof) and then one day I was in Jacksons (when it was a Jacksons and not now a Sainsburys) and I saw a notice for a cat for £20 with box and accessories! Well I had to call the number and go to see what I thought, how could I not! She was a teeny tiny bundle of black and white fuzz who was skidding around on the lino like a loon! (Well I just loved her right away!) I had really got her for ma as obviously I still thought I wasn't a cat person (how deluded can you get!) but ma let me name her. 

Image result for Oryx and Crake

She came with her own name of course! They had named her smudge which although it was a cute name it was very unassuming and was not at all like the little feisty fuzz ball I had grown to adore! She was very demanding with her big tail and huge ears that made her look very minx-like! So I named her Oryx from Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. If you haven't read it I would suggest that you give it a go as it is an interesting book that really gets you thinking and like all of Margaret Atwood's books it leaves you feeling a little uncomfortable in places!



Anyway at this point I wasn't quite the Crazy Cat lady you see before you now I was still fairly normal and loved my little bundle of teeth, claws and fuzz but not necessarily all cats everywhere! I didn't exactly greet every cat with a cat 'hello' by doing a slow blink and grinning inanely oh no I was still a human person then not a cat person just yet! So as life moves on I move out and got a new place all of my own and although I really wanted to take little pottage (her nickname which is one of many!) with me we all agreed that she was a family cat and it would be unfair to steal her away and that I should learn to look after myself first then she could come to live with me! Now, during this period I missed my little one very much but it made sense I think as I wasn't really ready to look after her and me! So I was now cat-less and had a distinct lack of bite and claw marks on my arms and legs! 


Athena my watercolour kitten!
I had been talking to ma about getting a new cat for me and I had just been weighing up the pro's and cons as you do because it is not a light thing to enter into. They are for life are pets not just for Christmas and I was trying to decide if it was the right decision or not. Ma had been talking to some of her neighbors about cats etc and they said that they had a cat that they were going to be getting rid of if I wanted it and then handed her over. Just like that. Little Lola she was called. Suddenly I was no longer cat-less but had a bundle of love and she was just for me! She was different to Oryx in that she was a scared-y cat and hid under the bed when I got her so I had to give her lots of time and space. It took me a while to come up with a suitable name for her as it took a bit of time for her to come out of her shell. When she did though she was a right little noisy girl. I decided to name her Athena after the goddess of wisdom! My little watercolour kitten is so lovely and massively demanding. If I sit down she is sat with me! If I am not sat down she is screaming at me to sit down!

Paul Scholes looking very small considering he is so huge!


My brother the Budman had a friend who was 
wanting to find a new home for a little ginger boy cat called Garfield and ma ended up adopting him! Apparently he liked to run up and down and around the walls clinging onto the blown vinyl that his friends Grandma had up and it was just a little too much for her. I learnt then that this little one was going to be a handful! As is the way when you adopt a new cat Garfield was given a new more suitable name. My brothers being into football named him Paul Scholes and the name suits him perfectly! Mum used to tell me about how lovely and gentlemanly Paul was and I could never quite match it up with his madness (he used to like eating through whole loafs of bread, whilst they were frozen, with the plastic still on!). However I then met him and I think the moment  that I knew I loved him was when I had gone to stay at ma's and was laid on a mattress on the floor trying to sleep and the ginger ninja came and laid asleep in my arms all night! He cuddles you back does Paul. He is such a lovely cat, ma calls him her 'marmalade cat with honey coloured eyes'! Think it suits him too!

I wasn't quite a Crazy Cat lady yet. I had my own little watercolour kitten and I loved my two family cats however my love of cats had stretched a little but not yet to encompass all cats! Ma lost her house and came to live with me and obviously brought the two rascals with her! I think that this was when it started! I now have my own glaring of cats Oryx, Athena and Paul and it is now hard to remember that not everyone likes cats and that I should really not wear the jumper that one of them has been laid on and spread their fuzz all over (well not in public anyway!) That is how I know I'm a Crazy Cat lady, I no longer care that I have fuzz all over me, or that my arms are cut to ribbons, or that every pair of trousers I own has cat claw marks in them, or that my sofa looks like a wild animal has attacked it! I have the love of three adorable moogles and if I only had the space and a bigger knee I would have many many more!

Here is my glaring of moggies sunbathing!