Tuxedo the Spoiled Cat - Part 7

My cat woke me up at 3:00 am this morning to have me play with her. I thought I was in a deep slumber when I heard her loud meows. I think when you get a cat it becomes the same as if you have a baby. You hear every noise they make. So, of course I thought something was wrong. Was the house on fire? Was someone knocking at the door? No, it was Tuxedo, yelling for me to wake up to play.

I wanted to pinch her, but that wouldn’t have been nice. I just stared at her hoping I would hypnotize her into going back to sleep. Didn’t work. She then shoved her favorite toy mouse at me, right in my face. That same, ratty, chewed up mouse I thought I had hidden from her. I knew I should have thrown it away.

She kept pushing it in my face until I played fetch with her. I threw the mouse off the bed, she went after it, and then brought it back to me. Then after about fifteen minutes, she had her fill of playing. She was ready for me to cuddle her in my arms. She also kept lifting her head for me to kiss her. She loves it when I kiss her on her head while I hold her in my arms.

Once she was satisfied with her time with me, she got out of my arms and went to bed. She is so spoiled, but I love her. I can’t help myself.

New Blog Name - The Tuxedo Chronicles

I have posted several blogs about my cat called the Twinkie Chronicles. Today I found another blog by the same name. So, I have changed my blog name to the Tuxedo Chronicles, which is my cat’s real name. I know that Tuxedo could be considered a male name. I will probably explain her name in a later post

I originally wanted Tuxedo to be somewhat anonymous. But the fates have deemed that unacceptable in the blog world. So moving forward you will be hearing about Tuxedo the Cat and our adventures together.

This is a picture of her taking a nap.

Twinkie Spreads Her Wings - Part 6

Because Twinkie is an “only cat”, I sometimes try to indulge her curiosity when it appears that she is bored with the same daily routines. Playing with toy mice can be repetitive. Cats get bored like people, you know?

When Twinkie is bored, she walks around the house aimlessly for a while. Then she starts to investigate every room. This usually entails jumping on things, which is not cool. I have to try to catch her in the act to discipline her. I say try, because I know full well that when I am not home, she jumps on things.

So, last weekend’s weather was really nice. The sun was out and the air was lukewarm, much better than it has been for April. I was having writers block, and I started wandering around the house. The two of us, walking around the house, bored to tears together.

I thought it would be good if Twinkie and I went out to my second floor porch. I opened the door and Twinkie zoomed out. She wandered around the floor sniffing and exploring the parameters. We enjoyed the sun, listened to birds, and relaxed for a little while.

Rejuvenated, I left and let Twinkie stay on the porch. I left the doors open so she could come and go as she pleased. Like a toddler just learning to spread her wings, she first followed me inside, then walked back to the porch. This would happen several times over the course of the next hour. She would run out to the porch. Then periodically she’d come back for a few minutes to make sure I was still in the house.

We’ve done this a few times since, weather permitting. It’s a good break for both of us. We enjoy each other’s company, and it gives us some time to reflect and unwind in the sun.

Twinkie Gives Me Balance - Part 5

I know that cats sleep an average of twenty hours a day. They are nocturnal, which means they sleep all day and raise hell all night.

I do a lot of my writing at night. So while I am trying to write, she is ready to play. She shoves her toy mouse in front of me. If I ignore it, she sits on my laptop. I try so hard not to be angry, but it’s my fault. Who else is going to play with her?

What I should do is keep her up during the day so she’ll sleep at night. But since I do my marketing work during the day, I can’t keep her awake. That would mean I would have to play with her and her mouse. So I’m in a catch 22 situation. Whatever what time of day or night, I burn my candle on both ends. I seem to be too busy to play.

This is where Twinkie comes in. she forces me to stop and smell the flowers. I really enjoy playing with her. I’ll throw her mouse up in the air, and she flies high to catch it. Then she’ll bring it back to me in her mouth so I can throw it again. Just like a dog playing fetch.

When I am getting ready to go to bed, she’ll sneak her mouse under my back. I wake up wondering why I feel a big lump. When Twinkie sees me reaching to my back, she will immediately go there and retrieve her mouse. She’ll get off the bed and play with it for a while. Then again, brings it back to me, putting it right in front of my face. Play time again and I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.

Twinkie is a good companion. She has added balance to my life. She likes to sleep purring in my arms. She loves me, wants to play with me, and follows me from room to room. She lies down while I cook. She listens to me when I talk to her. She is a good cat.

What Twinkie Taught Me Today - Part 4

Old paper, balled up paper, shredded or new, can be fun or sad. It depends upon your perspective, and whether or not you’re human or an animal.

I had two boxes of paper in my room under a window. I had long forgotten what was inside. I had the boxes stacked up neatly. They were there for me to review for my de-cluttering project. Twinkie apparently thought there was something fascinating in those boxes of paper. She played in and on the boxes. She sat on them, chewed the edge of the boxes, and jumped from one box to another, flicking her tail with glee.  

Twinkie did this every evening as I watched television. One night I got tired of seeing her play with my stuff. I made the commitment to go through those boxes and see what was so fascinating about those stacks of paper. Besides, that was the reason they were there, for me to go through them and get rid of useless clutter in my house.

What I found in those boxes was a past life of a person still reflecting on a career she no longer had. Years of “I’ll get to this later” was staring at me. And for each old piece of paper I set aside to be thrown out, Twinkie sat on it, flicking her tail. She was having fun, and kept jumping on and around my discarded papers until I threw them in the trash bag.

How long would it have been if Twinkie hadn’t started to play with all the paper in my bedroom?

So now spring cleaning has become significant. Spring cleaning is now a personal cleaning of my closets and the embracement of a new life. Who I am today is a full time writer, author, poet, property management consultant and organized happy person.

You can’t hold on to old things. They take up so much room. There isn’t any space left for new ideas, new people, and new self-creativity. Twinkie was right to play in the boxes. It was just old, useless, and no longer relevant clutter in my life.

Twinkie Hates My Office - Part 3

I work at home, and when it’s time for me to do some writing, Twinkie the cat follows me into my office. Twinkie is not my first pet, so I know she wants to be with me while I make a living. So I put a blanket on the floor next to my desk. I open a window so she can sit and look outside. Still, somehow she has a big problem when I go into my office.

The minute I sit down, she immediately goes berserk. She starts screaming and running around the room. She tries to jump in my lap. She pokes her head between my legs while I’m trying to type and meows at the top of her lungs. She runs across the computer keyboard. She picks up pencils and my wooden ruler and chews them. She walks through my papers, making sure to knock them off my desk and side table. Then she rolls around in the piles she has made. She fights me when I try to pick up her acts of vandalism. 

No matter how many times I work in my office, Twinkie acts like she just entered a foreign country. She runs around like she’s in a haunted house. Frustrated, I once tried to put her out, and closed the office door. She cried horribly on the other side. I could see her little paws under the door frantically trying to get the door open. It’s awful trying to work while your cat is screaming and crying to get into your office. Eventually it gets to me, and once she’s back in the office, the running around rampage begins again.

I have to figure out what is wrong with my office that makes her act so crazy. I spend more time picking up behind her than actually getting any work done. I think that maybe it’s something about all the attention I give to my work and not her.

If anyone has experienced this behavior and has some ideas on what I can do to calm her down, send me suggestions.

Twinkie's Affection - Part 2

Twinkie, my cat that I’ve had for four months, has turned me into her buddy. She’s grown on me, slowly, casually, and methodically, as she increased my participation as her closest friend. I’m not allowed to go anywhere around the house without her.

She follows me from room to room. Now I know cats do that. But it makes me feel the same way I do when I go shopping for clothes at the mall. She’s like the security guard who sticks with you everywhere, pretending he’s just walking around near you for no good reason until you leave the store. If I run into another room to get away from her, she runs like a gazelle to keep up with me.

If I go to the bathroom, she’s right there with me. As I brush my teeth, she jumps on the sink, sits, and watches me. She likes to lie on the floor while I take a shower. Most of the time Twinkie likes to lie down and spread her full length across the threshold door. I can’t get out the room unless she gets up. Sometimes I have to pick her up; she fights me all the way.

She loves to sit in my bedroom window and look outside. If I make any move, she jumps down and runs in front of me. My favorite thing is to make her think I’m going to one room, then run into another one. Watching her try to keep up with me is hilarious. I consider it part of her exercise as an indoor cat.

She makes me hold her in my arms and cuddle her at least four times a day. Sometimes she will change position so I can cuddle her and kiss her head at the same time. Twinkie loves to have her head kissed over and over. It’s so cute! No matter what I am doing, I allow that interruption. I’ll take a work break, and spend quality time with my cat.

“Twinkie” is her pen name.

Twinkie the Cat – Part 1

My cat has just brought me a mouse – her toy mouse. She does this every morning the moment I open my eyes. She wants me to play ‘fetch’, so she pushes the mouse closer and closer to my face until I give in. She doesn’t care that I have to get ready for work. Her persistence though, achieves the result she bullied me into doing. I throw the mouse off the bed so she can fetch it and bring it back to me. I know, only dogs know how to play fetch. Twinkie is different.

They say that cats are aloof, but I haven’t found this to be true of Twinkie  (not her real name to protect her identity!).  She is very affectionate and likes me to hold her in my arms while she sleeps. She especially likes me to kiss her head while I cuddle her. I believe she sees me as a surrogate mother.

She has more than 7 toys and mice around the apartment. Guess which one is her favorite? The one she has chewed and ripped almost to death. I had to tie up the shreds of material on the core to keep it functional. I don’t what I will do when she’s chewed and ripped it apart and beyond what I can fix. Hopefully she’ll move on to another mouse.

Twinkie has some typical cat mannerisms. She likes to put her foot in her water bowl to make waves before she drinks from it. She religiously follows me from room to room. Once I settle down in a room say, the kitchen to cook, she will lie down and watch me.

No matter what I am doing, especially if I am on my computer, she will demand her “Twinkie Time”. She wants me to play with her when I am busy. I kind of think she’s jealous of the attention and focus I have on my computer. So, she just walks across my computer keyboard. Sometimes she’ll sit on it. I always get angry until I realize that she only wants about 15 minutes of my time until she gets bored or wants to take a nap elsewhere in the house. I love her – so what else can I do?