Fire-Belly Toad Fiasco

Without my knowledge Atley answered an ad from a lady who needed someone to take her two fire-belly toads. He wrote something like, "My two sons would love to have your toads. Love, Melisa"  Several hours later I received a call that I could pick up the toads as soon as possible, of course I was clueless about what the lady was talking about.  Long story short, last Monday the boys became the proud papas of 2 Fire-Belly Toads and a carton of live crickets. They named their toads Bob McDonnell and Paul Ryan.

Our cat Lucy was not thrilled with the new addition and spent many hours swatting at the aquarium and the cricket keeper.

So, I suppose it should not have been a surprise when I returned from running errands, less than 24 hours after the toads arrival, that Lucy had some how managed to knock the aquarium off of the counter and the toxic toads were missing, along with 10 live crickets.  The boys were at school at the time and we frantically searched for the missing creatures, finally finding one toad hiding under the hutch and covered in cat fur.  Atley was devestated to discover that the toad was missing, especially when Nash convinced him that said toad was most certainly Atley's (aka Paul Ryan) and not his own.  As if they could actually tell the two politicians apart. Two days passed and still no sign of the missing toad.  Scott and I had to go to the pet store to buy some more crickets to feed to the one remaining toad.  As luck would have it, the Fire-Belly Toads were on sale and we decided to attempt the old-switch-a-roo.  We bought a replacement toad. The plan was to lie to the children, which totally worked by the way and I highly recommend it. When we returned home Lucy had once again attacked the aquarium, but this time as I bent down to take a picture of the wreckage as documentation for the boys, I noticed 2 little toad legs sticking out of the dishwasher.

We captured him before he could escape. We once again have 2 toads that have already lost their excitement to the boys and the cat and are now completely my responsibility.  

A Tale of Two Kitties

I promise not to become the crazy cat lady who blogs about her pet, but please forgive me for doing it just this once. It has been several months since we brought home the kitty that hid in a vent for two days before  making her presence known.  She has truly become a part of our family.  Proof in point, Atley needed a family picture for some school project he is working on.  Before school I handed him the picture to put in his backpack.  "This won't work!" he said totally agitated with me.  My reply, "Why? It's a great picture."  He said, "Well, maybe but Lucy is not in it."  Exasperated I said, "Well, Atley we don't have time to take a family picture with our cat this morning."  He burst into tears screaming about how cruel I was and how I didn't love our cat. DRAMA KING!! (By the way I have caught both him and Nash crying during those Sara McLaughlin commercials) Fine, I'll compromise.We snapped a quick picture of the cat and printed it off before rushing out the door.  All I could think about was how I hope this cat is immortal because when it dies my children will be inconsolable and probably in counseling for a decade. But, for a cat she is pretty darn lovable.

  Here a few reasons why we are so attached:

1. She is fat. Fat cats make everyone happy.

2. She is lazy. Lazy is awesome.

3. When Scott snores at night, which he does always. She jumps on our bed and puts her paw over his mouth. I love this because on particularly exhausting nights I have fantasized about putting a pillow over his face, especially when he wakes up the next morning complaining that he hardly slept at all the previous night. Really, because I was there next to you.  Were you just making those noises for fun?

I love you honey and I promise I will never actually murder you.

4. She drinks out of the toilet. So, we don't even have to give her water.

5.  She can turn on the faucet in the bathroom just in case the toilet water isn't too her liking.  

6. She greets us every morning with a meow/purr that actually sounds like "Hello!" in Dutch.

7. She has seen me naked and didn't laugh or turn away in disgust.

8. Nash keeps his drawer open for her to sleep in at night. She loves it there. Granted Nash's shirts have to be de-furred before school every morning, but who doesn't like a kid that comes to class smelling like a feline.

I Love Lucy

A couple of weeks ago we got a cat. She is a year old and goes by the name of Lucy. Not that she really requires a name, it isn't like she answers when we call.  We brought her home and she disappeared for at least 36 hours. We couldn't find her anywhere until she was finally discovered in a vent in our basement. Boy, was I relieved I was convinced she had curled up in a ball somewhere, killed over, and our house was going to start stinking.

She doesn't let us pet her, seldom lets the children get anywhere near her, and we only see her for about 10 minutes a day. She uses her litter box and eats what we feed her but other than that she is essentially a ghost lurking around the house and hiding from us. The only person she ever wants to be around is Scott and he claims he is allergic to her, go figure. I gotta say, she is a little creepy. I feel like she is always watching me even though I have no idea where she is.  She is definitely low maintenance and either the best pet ever or the absolute worst.  Here are some rare pictures of Harley & Lucy. I think she only came out because she was so impressed with Harley's fantastic outfit choice. Despite her anti-social behavior and how totally unimportant she makes us all feel, we love Lucy and are definitely glad she is part of the family.