Sibling Rivalry of the Feline Kind

My house has become a war zone. There is an icy tension that will not go away. My husband uses the word “frosty” to describe it. But let me back up a bit and give you the story behind why.

First, however, let me just say that animals are strange.  

 How many birds do you see in this picture? At first glimpse it’s your average forest bird staring at an oddly shaped smiley face object. Oh, but eyes can deceive. That is not just any smiley face, it is actually the male bird wooing his lass and trying to convince her to let him be the father of her chicks. Seriously?! He poofs up like a smiley face? Really, it’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen.

I was a dog person for most of my life. I loved the fact that they are loyal, friendly, and generally enjoy being around people. I was adamantly against cats and thought anyone who owned a cat was nuts. Why would you want something so stuck up, prissy, and unamiable? This probably has something to do with the fact that I was slashed across the arm by one when I was 7 years old. Really, all I was trying to do was rigorously rub his tummy, animals like it when you do that… we had a misunderstanding. My side lasted about 13 years. However, when I graduated college almost all of my friends got cats. I went to my friend Jill’s apartment and was greeted at the door by an adorable little kitty that was cuddly and loving. Then I met our now closest friends in Syracuse who had two door kitties (the kind that greet you at the door and require love to make up for the fact that you left them). Slowly, the feline species started growing on me. After much time spent with various friendly kitties, I realized I had become *gasp* a cat person!

This resulted in Duncan. Our little dude. The apple of our eye. The center of our ((domesticated animal)) world. The reason Matt and I would say “kitty” like the little girl from Monsters Inc. every time we’d pull into our townhouse complex. And he knew it. He would grump when we left him for too long and then yuk up all the love he could when we got home. He knew that our home life revolved around him.

Then this happened:

Meet Isaac. The new member of our family. He is our adorably cuddly little ball of fur. Barely 3 months old, Isaac loves to nuzzle noses, sit in laps, and groundhog on his hind legs while playing with string. I fell in love immediately. Duncan did not.

You know, dogs are great in the fact that they will love anything that sniffs their butt and doesn’t bite their face off. You put two dogs in a room together who’ve never known each other before and chances are you’ll either get immediate butt sniffs and love or loud barking and gnashing of teeth. In a matter of 5 minutes, you know whether these two canines are going to love each other or hate each other. Basically, the way men work.

Cats are a completely different ball game. They need to establish a hierarchy, and until that hierarchy is established and boundaries are made extremely clear, they stalk and hiss and make ungodly noises. It amazes me how long it can take a cat to accept the presence of another cat. Duncan and Isaac are no exception. Which brings me back to the first paragraph. My house is a war zone.

Yesterday we let the two felines hang out downstairs together for awhile. This resulted in Isaac playing with all of Duncan’s toys, Duncan stalking the kitten with his ears back  and occasionally running up and hissing , which would cause Isaac to poof up (absolutely adorable when a kitten does it) and slowly back away. But Isaac is very brave and would then turn around and begin playing with something else leaving Duncan very unnerved that his hissing didn’t really have an effect on the newbie. Duncan is not used to being dominant, I feel that he was probably the submissive one at the shelter and in his old home. But this is his home and these are his toys. So he really wants to be dominant. A few times he’d work up his courage (he’s terrified of the thing) and bop the kitten with his paw (as is petrifyingly normal for cats…. I’m not a fan of this…..) and Isaac would submit and run away. But we can see where this relationship is going. Once Duncan womped the thing a few times, he got very satisfied with himself and calmed down a bit. But he’s very annoyed, much like a teenage boy would be with his 2-year-old brother who’s rummaging through his drawers and playing with his $800 guitar. This is good because we know that Duncan does not feel overly hostile towards the kitten, as in he doesn’t have the intention to attack and kill immediately; he just wants to establish some boundaries and let it be known that he is very unhappy with his presence and rules the roost.

However, for now it’s still quite frosty between the two. And we are still unsure of what Duncan is capable of if he gets annoyed enough. Last night, after the two had been separated for awhile, the kitten came downstairs and startled Duncan, causing Duncan to massively poof, Isaac sensed the danger and dashed back up the stairs, Duncan then tore up after him chasing him underneath the bed. It must’ve sounded like an earthquake to our neighboring tenants because Matt and I went scrambling up the stairs after the two, unsure of what Duncan was going to do. Luckily, all that happened is Duncan chased the poor kitten under the bed, only to stop and hiss at it! No attack, no womping, just a hiss. There possibly would’ve been a womp had the kitten not darted out and back into the middle of the room. But Matt pointed out that there were no claws, no grabbing and kicking, and no biting. This is especially good because Duncan could’ve very well done it if he wanted seeing as he’d cornered it under the bed and is twice Isaac’s size.

Which again baffles me why Duncan’s afraid of it. It’s TINY and has shown no hostility towards him whatsoever. It’s amazing how territorial cats can be. At the end of the night we put the kitten back into his room to eat and play by himself with no stress of the larger, stalking cat. Duncan then did this:

Duncan is not a lap kitty. He’s never initiated lap or cuddling time. He gets satisfaction just from following us around the house and inspecting our chores to make sure we are doing them to his satisfaction. It is quite apparent that Duncan is not only feeling threatened over the ownership of his home, toys, and food but also his people. Aww Duncan. He sat there for quite awhile purring and nuzzling Matt before moving on happily and comfortably the way he would any other normal, kitten-less night.

Right now, Isaac is in his room for the day, batting around his jingly toys and sleeping. And hopefully Duncan is not stalking his door as has become his favorite perch since we acquired our lovely little furball.

Someday, oh maybe someday, this whole thing will blow over and I’ll be posting a blog about how cute they are when snuggled up together. Looks to be far from now but one can hope! 😉

The 5 Wonders of Christmas

Okay, so the title may be a bit cheesy… but really I wanted to blog today about my favorite parts of the Christmas season. Mainly so I can remind myself as I shovel out of 18 feet of snow twice a day, that it’s not all in vain. It’s almost Christmas! Snow is miniscule compared to Christmas. Even 18 feet of it. So here follows my 5 favorite things about Christmas.

1. Lights! A room looks so much more cozy when Christmas lights are the only thing lighting the room. During Christmas-time it is actually acceptable to put a large piece of foliage in your living room and cover it with Christmas lights (or buy one with the lights already installed, see previous post 😉 ). It is also acceptable to string lit foliage around your house at random and in mass quantities! The first thing I do when I come home at the end of the day is turn on the various lit garlands around our house and the Christmas tree. I then proceed to bask in the lovely glow that is created. While it makes dinner a bit difficult to cook since the kitchen is void of lights at this point, it’s quite worth it. Plus my kitty loves the glow as well. He parks himself right in the middle of it.

Aww Duncan.

2. Christmas songs! I really love Christmastime because of the Christmas music. But to be honest, I’m a bit sick of the regular Christmas music you hear on the radio like All I Want For Christmas Is You and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. We listen to Christmas music in the clinic and these songs probably waft throughout the rooms about 3-4 times a day. I’m talking about new songs, parodies, and comedies. Some examples: My favorite band is Coldplay. I have listened to their most recent album to the point where it’s completely memorized. I even used one of the songs in my wedding. So you can imagine my delight when I heard that they had released a new song. And not only a new song but a new Christmas song. I pulled up YouTube on my handy-dandy droid and watched the music video. They did not disappoint. While the song is quite depressing for being a Christmas song, their melodies, harmonies, and instrumentation are just as beautiful as I expect from Coldplay. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1rYmzQ8C9Q

And, as I was sitting writing the first two paragraphs I noticed a beautiful noise coming from the clinic speakers. I know I’m on a Christmas radio station but I hear Owl City’s melodic voice ringing in my ears… can it be?! Yes it can!! Owl City has also made a Christmas song! This is wonderful! It’s name is Peppermint Winter. Oh Owl City you make me so happy.

The second thing I mentioned was parodies. I enjoy Christmas parodies. My favorite being one that was played on my radio station growing up, Fly 92. This song is called the 12 Pains of Christmas. This song makes me giggle every time I listen to it. They add to a favorite Christmas classic the most annoying things about Christmas. It highlights christmas shopping and the parking that’s required of that, rigging up christmas lights, and paying those christmas gift bills. I’d highly recommend a listen.

Lastly, comedies. Or rather, comedians. Jim Gaffigan being the person I speak of right now. I can’t even explain it. You’ll just have to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJAxRVeKnTE

3. Christmas parties! I really enjoy a good Christmas party. Especially ones that involve musical improv. Last week Matt and I trekked an hour and a half out to Rochester to enjoy a Christmas party with my college friends. This was probably the best Christmas party I have been to. There were singalongs, mudslides with peppermint schnapps, and countless games of Catch-phrase. At one point during the evening a piano materialized from a different part of the house, two djembes were brought out, as well as two guitars. Megan played us a song she wrote for her musical therapy students and then chords to typical Christmas songs like O Holy Night and Angels We Have Heard On High were displayed up on the large screen tv above the fireplace. We played songs in every style imaginable. From an operatic version of O Holy Night to a spanish version of O Come O Come Emmanuel, carols were sung in ways that only a room full of music majors and enthusiasts can sing them. After some of the energy fizzled, one of our friends decided it was time for some musical improv. A scene and setting were picked and two of my friends were up in front of the room acting out a Black Friday shopping scene… operaticly. They were allowed to talk only until the music started and then they had to sing along with the style of music Daniel played on the piano. This then turned into the most bizarre musical about two people stuck on top of a ski resort and a dog bringing them down the mountain Grinch-style. It was one-of-a-kind.

Janet, Scott, and Megan performing The Lost Ski

4. Amazon.com. I almost feel like I don’t need to write anything else. Matt and I scheduled last Saturday as our Christmas shopping day. The day went like this: Matt came home from work around 12. I finished getting ready for the day since the former Christmas party was happening in the evening. Once ready we both went into our office, booted up the computer, and commenced said Christmas shopping. No parking, no lines, no screaming babies, just us and the office. Happiness, really.

5. Gift Cards. This one is almost on-par with number 4 but you can’t really go wrong with gift cards! I know they can be a bit boring, but half of Matt and my family asked for them for Christmas so I’m not going to say, “no! that’s boring!” I’m going to rejoice in the fact that Matt and I can go to Wegmans tonight and pick up 6 gift cards and our Christmas shopping is complete! Amazon.com gifts are all ordered and on their way (as known because every other minute my phone buzzes because it received an email from Amazon telling me the next step my gifts are at…) and gift cards will be all set. Next, we have some serious creative work to do in wrapping these gift cards so they aren’t quite AS boring… o:) heh… this could be a lot of fun.

I really wish I could be someone with a sixth wonder and put the dreaded “S” word that I’ve seen so many people blog about in happy ways. But I really can’t bring myself to do that. I will live vicariously through everyone else’s lovely snow stories but the following picture is not my idea of a fun time. Note Matt’s warrior-ness as he gets ready to tackle my car. It was like this yesterday AND today and will be like this more than likely tomorrow. Seriously, how much snow can fall?

In the mean-time, however, I will listen to as many funny Christmas parodies as I can, put the Coldplay and now Owl City Christmas songs on repeat, snuggle under my heating blanket with my kitty and Christmas lights and ignore the fluffy white stuff outside. There are plenty of people out there who enjoy it enough to enjoy it for me 😉

Merry Christmas season!

Deathly Pine. Or a pinely death.

Today was one of those days where I really didn’t want to get out of bed.  I awoke to the sound of the rain pouring hard on the window, the cat gnawing on Matt’s feet (the movement of Matt kicking him is what really woke me up), my stomach and head angry at me, and the feeling that another half hour of sleep would make me feel that much more  rested. Seeing as Wednesdays are a day where I can get that extra half hour, I rolled over and sunk back into my pillow top mattress and fell back to sleep. It was quite, quite  needed today.

I’m allergic to pine trees. Sad but true. Real Christmas trees make me sniff and sneeze, gag and hack, and worst of all make me feel like my throat is closing up when it’s really not. All of this results in very sore sinuses and the feeling that my head has turned into a pressurized slow cooker. Growing up, the years that we had a real Christmas tree in my house were years that I woke up with fevers on the morning of Christmas. I now wonder if those fevers were allergy induced?

My husband and I went out and bought our first Christmas tree together on Saturday. I wish I could tell you that we had that spectacular moment of finding the perfect tree, chopping it down together, and lugging it home to put in a beautiful tree stand and hang all of our individualized precious ornaments and lights on it and then bask in the awesomeness of the day we just had. Well, in all actuality, I don’t wish we had that moment because if we’d had that moment my face would be the size of a house. Our Christmas tree buying experience went as follows: Matt and I piled into his parents mini van with his parents and 12-year-old brother in tow. We drove through Syracuse snow and parked in the closest space we could find to the halfway point of the parking lot (because of course the entire front half was jam-packed with people waiting in line for parking spots…)and then entered the mega-store known as Wal-mart. I scanned the massive room for the Christmas shop and made a bee-line in its direction. I carefully examined every tree they had for sale and asked my husband millions of questions, “Is this one too scrawny?” “Do you like white or multi-colored lights?” “Is this one too tall?” “Is this one too short?” “Will the cat try to climb this one?” “Is this one full enough?” My eyes fell on a tree that was perfectly shaped, the lights were dispersed perfectly, and it wasn’t too tall, too skinny, or too short. Just right. We grabbed the box and loaded it onto the shopping cart. Step 1 complete. Next step: ornaments. How does one who doesn’t own any ornaments decorate a tree? They buy 5 dollar box sets of ornament balls!!! Wal-mart has pretty much any color and design you could possibly imagine. We grabbed two boxes – one red and one silver. Step 2 complete. Step 3: Get pine scented candles so my husband could still feel like we had a real Christmas tree since he prefers them. We weaved our way through the Christmas aisles picking up random things like light up garland, a tree skirt, and amazingly scented pine cones. In the very last aisle we found the candles. And we were in luck! They were selling a 5 pack of pine scented candles for a great price. We grabbed the box and deemed the trip complete.

That night we put the tree up, watched the cat go berserk trying to figure out what the new thing in the living room was, and decorated it. All was well and lovely. The next night, I tapped into my inner-Martha Stewart and put the garland around various doorways, put the heavenly pinecones on display, broke out my red tablecloth and green placements, put up the advent wreath, and finally lit the pine scented candles around the room.  I settled into my couch under my heating blanket and started watching some tv. Fifteen minutes went by before I noticed that my sinuses were starting to hurt a little. Then my throat started to become scratchy. Then my eyes started watering. And then the sneezing started and I went into a full-blown allergy attack. My eyes couldn’t stay open, I couldn’t breathe out of my nose, my throat hurt, and my face felt like it was going to implode. I could not figure out what in the world sparked this… and then my eyes drifted to the candle glowing on the coffee table in front of me… pine scented candles… do they have pine?! I blew out the candles and started to speculate whether 9 dollar Wal-Mart candles could have possibly be made with real pine? Nothing else could explain the allergy attack, however. Nothing else in the house had changed. So now, we have 5 pine scented candles hanging around my house for looks and not for smell. And a very frustrated me, because of all things to be allergic to, why does it have to be something that smells lovely? I love my smells… but I don’t love it when they make my face rebel against my body.

As a result of this pine attack, my allergies have been going nuts. One piece of dander flies up my nose and the troops are all called in to fight it off, thus producing a sneezing fit, itchy watery eyes, an extremely stuffed nose, or all of the above. Duncan leaves his dander all over our house so the aforementioned sequence of events has been happening quite often which has been keeping me awake at night. Until last night… last night I slept great. It was a beautiful sleep. To tie this back to the first paragraph…because sleep felt so lovely last night, it was an amazing feeling to roll back over and sleep just a little bit past my alarm.

And my new goal of the Advent/Christmas season is: avoid as many pine scented things as possible thus reducing the amount of allergy attacks… hmm… I believe this goal might set me up for failure… oh well, more Allegra please?