(no subject)

Thanksgiving went really well. Mum brought some spinach-artichoke dip, and made her famous cheesy mashed potatoes. Eric made spicy cranberry salsa, grilled turkey, chipolte gravy, stuffing patties, sweet potato casserole (Bob insisted- it was a frozen dinner thing), dark cherry cobbler, and pumpkin cookies. Oh, and those pre-made dinner rolls. All in all I'd say it was one of the tastiest and most creative Thanksgiving dinners I've ever had, even if it was late. But I did get the house nice and clean, which is always fun.

I finally got a cat from SR (Siamese Rescue), after a lot of hassle. At first, the lady I had talked to was convinced that I was going to adopt, until I pointed out that I was fostering, and she then looked at my application that says 'Foster App' all over it. Then local foster lady called and offered me a 10 yo cat, and seemed quite pissed when I asked if there was anyone younger. I explained to her that I needed to see if I could do this, and if my cats would allow it, before I took on what amounted to an almost unadoptable cat. I promised her if the kitten went well, and after it was adopted out I'd take the older kitty. I really don't want to be fostering more than one cat at a time, at least not at first. The foster lady was really pretty unpleasant about it, too.

I don't know if I could afford it either- we're responsible for all vet bills, as well as feeding and such, and there is not really any reimbursement. Also, the way kittens get adopted, aside from off of the website, is through adoption days which apparently are always south since 'all the foster parents live south.' When I pointed out that I didn't, she suggested I arrange an adoption day. I have absolutely no idea how to do that, and if I'm the only one who lives north, what would be the point anyway? I am not going to back out on this, because I really want to help. But I am getting a lot less support that I had thought I would get. Blargh.

(no subject)

So we have this new kitty. She was listed as being a lynx-point siamese. Points in siamese cats are the dark extremities- ears, face, arms, legs, and tail. Lynx point means the cat's extremities are striped like a tabby in dark-grey, and the body is silver or cream colored. This one (who is called Caitlin) has a striped face and tail, but her legs are white. She does have dark grey footy pads, though, and blue eyes. Her fur is short but very thick, like a mink almost. She stayed behind the futon all the first day- the foster lady told me that she needed some help 'socializing' so I went in several times to talk to her. Eric did too, and yesterday he said she had not moved toward him, but was sitting where Eric could reach her and did not move away while he tried to pet her. She started purring right away! I spent the day shopping for birfday and Yule prezzies with Kirby (that was fun- we went to the so-called 'Victorian Christmas' fair on 6th Street with all these vendors, most of which were nothing remotely resembling Victorian- but I picked up a couple of neat things) so decided to play catch-up with Caitlin.

Eric and I went in and sure enough, she was agreeable to being stroked. She purred very loudly, and after getting her hooked we would pull back and slowly draw her out from underneath the futon. She sniffed around a little and mostly kept to the walls, but did emerge into the light. Bowie had been camped out by the door of the office, and when we were coaxing her I could see his paw sticking under the door, as if to say "I'm here! Let me in!" When Caitlin seemed pretty confident, we let Bowie into the room. He went right up to Caitlin and started sniffing her ass. She put up with it a bit, but when she tried to back off, it was of his nose was attached to her ass. She finally swatted at him, so he went and peed in her litter box. We booted him out so she could have some peace, and spent a little more time petting her.

This morning before I went to work, I went in again, and she was out from under the futon. Her head whipped around with this "Oh, shit!" look, but when she saw it was me, she crept up for some affection. I wanted to stay longer, because what is better, petting cats or going to work? But petting cats doesn't earn the kibble, so I went. :( Eric said he visited with her, and let Bowie in again, and even let her wander into the living room a bit.

I wonder if tomorrow, when we're both at work, if it would be better to leave her in the office, or give her the rest of the house to explore. Boredom, or insecurity? Safety, or exploration? An age-old question. Maybe we'll give her one more day of boredom/safety.