day eight – before and after.

I like to refer to this moment as “cat got your tree”. Yes, we have a 6 month-old kitten who loves to destroy anything and everything I work hard to make look nice in our home. She means well, but she’s destructive. At first she did great with our Christmas tree. She didn’t touch it for the first week. All of a sudden I come home from work one day and I find our tree just like you see in the right photo. Star hanging by a thread, ornaments all over the place, branches spread apart, tree skirt on the floor, and the one gift I had under the tree knock over. Really, cat? Let’s just say she had one heyday on our tree. Nonetheless, I guess it made for the perfect before and after picture for my blog photo challenge. Here is day eight…

It’s hard to stay mad at her, because she’s so darn cute. I’m just hoping this isn’t a sign of every Christmas to come.

cat lovers anonymous.

I realize that this post is probably going to weaken my argument that I’m not a crazy cat lady. But I swear…I’m not a crazy cat lady. I just think my kitten is hilarious. I was looking through my camera on my phone last night and I noticed I had a ton of humorous pictures of pepe le pew . The photos range from her curiosity to her playfulness to her sleeping positions. Hopefully you’ll get as much a kick out of her as my husband and I do.

Roll that beautiful bean footage…

just enjoying the Word of God.

i kid you not, this is how she slept on me one evening.

clean laundry = cat bed. apparently.

she’s too good for a normal water bowl.

at least she’s giving herself a bath in the correct room of the house. she’s smart.

i guess this is the best hiding spot she could think of.

she likes to go at an all-out sprint and run through the box so her head sticks out. talented.

This is just a glimpse into the personality of our hyper-active, curious, crazy kitten. She’s a hoot.

diy hidden litter box.

When you live in a small apartment like me and my husband, you don’t have a lot of space for extra things like… say a litter box. I researched hidden litter boxes on various department store websites and there were few pieces under $50, some even more than that. Come on, I love this cat, but I wasn’t about to pay 50 bucks just so Pepé le Pew could poop in style. I decided it would be easy enough to make myself.

So, the hunt began for the perfect furniture piece to turn in to our little feline’s potty. I looked at yard sales, thrift stores, flea markets and just couldn’t seem to find what I was looking for. Everything was either too wide, too long, too much open space, or too down right ugly.

But thanks to a friend who came through for us in the end, we found our piece! We got a call asking if we wanted some furniture from his apartment that he was moving out of and was no longer in need of. I mean really, when do the Leachman’s ever turn down free stuff? So, we graciously accepted. The small, white cabinet was a little different from what I originally had in mind, but I told myself to stop being so stuck up about it and make it work. So I did.

My husband used some manly tools to measure and cut a hole in the side of the piece. And there you have it. That’s it. Easy as pie and it took about 10 minutes, cost practically nothing and looks great!

In the end, it turned out better than I expected. Once she gets bigger, we might have to upgrade to a bigger furniture piece and container, but for now it works great. Here are a few more shots of the litter box. This first one just shows the cabinet with the mat  next to it, that catches the extra litter on her paws.

We bought a plastic container at Wal-Mart for $2 and filled it with kitty litter. We cut the front of it so it would be short enough for her to get into. It works perfect for her and she has done really well with it.

And this is a view of it with one of the cabinet doors opened. We left it open the first couple of days to make sure she remembered where it was. She’s very smart and has gone to it every time.

I’m glad it worked out. It will be nice to have the litter box hidden, being such an unattractive feature of owning a cat and all.

She gets really feisty sometimes, but she’s a kitten so I know she just wants to play. I get frustrated when she claws at my toes and fingers and tries to bite them, but how can you stay mad when she does this?

BFFs.

introducing: pepé le pew.

Yesterday we brought home our seven week old kitten, Pepé. She is the sweetest thing ever. Yes, I said she. I know Pepé le pew was a boy skunk, but we had already picked out the name, thinking we were getting a boy, but then ended up with a girl. She was much cuter and cuddled more than her brothers and her sister was all black (i know that’s mean, but the name wouldn’t have worked with an all black cat). So she was the lucky winner…

the cutest kitten ever.

She is the comic relief of the household thus far. Earlier, she was playing with a little toy that has catnip in it and she flipped off the couch. She has been running around chasing and pouncing on nothing for the past hour. It’s hilarious. She is very energetic and it’s entertaining. Who needs a TV with Pepé around?

She cuddles with me a lot and falls asleep on my lap almost instantly when I pet her. Last night I was petting her as she sat on her back legs and her eyes started to slowly close causing her to fall sideways. My laughter scared her and woke her up, but it was too funny not to laugh.  She sleeps a lot (i know, get out of town, right?). But she’s so cute when she sleeps, that I love it when she does.

I can’t get over how tiny she is. It’s hard to tell in pictures, but she is about the size of my two hands cupped together. I just hope she doesn’t grow up too quickly. I want her to stay little forever (i can only imagine what moms feel like, haha). We love her already and are so thankful to have her. We just pray that she adapts well to our apartment and doesn’t get too lonely/scared while we are at work. Also, that my allergic-to-everything husband isn’t affected by her. So far so good (crossing fingers!).

Welcome home, Pepé! I hope you’re ready to be spoiled rotten.