The furry, the orange, the jealous 'sibling'

My sister gave birth to her 2nd child this Tuesday - a beautiful little girl named Kate. Ellie already loves her very much. Despite the fights and disagreements sisters have with one another, I believe they will be best of friends.

As for the Maidy household, a different story......Newt came to a conclusion this week. Jack was here to stay - he's not going away. It only took the dumb cat just under 8 weeks to come to this conclusion (sigh, shaking of head, sigh). Newt had been very good....aloof actually, about the whole business of Jack being around. Well, the honeymoon is over.

During the middle of the night, I heard rustling. Being a typical cat owner (or anyone who has a pet for that matter) I blamed the noise on Newt and his night crazies and fell back to sleep.

I woke up to horror the next morning....

I'd been eating pretzels the night before and left a bag of pretzel crumbs sitting on the couch. In the light of morning, I saw the bag had been dragged all the way to the kitchen near Newt's food dish. Also, Jack's rubber ducky which had been carefully nestled on Jack's play mat had also been moved. The duck had been abducted. It now also lay near Newt's food dish.

But the worst sight of all was still waiting for me inside the kitchen - on the kitchen counter. I'd brought my money tree plant home from the office. It was already in poor shape and I'd left it on the kitchen counter near the window in hopes it would get better by the time I had to go back to work in January. Newt had dug through the soil, leaving dirt and money tree leaf all over the kitchen counter. This alone would not have been so bad had the plant not been sitting right next to Jack's bottles and bottle accessories.

I wanted to drop kick this cat like Charlie Brown's football, right out our front door! I seriously contemplated telling Alex that Newt had 'accidentally' run out the front door while I was checking the mail. Of course Alex would never have believed me. I never check the mail unless I'm waiting for something from J.Crew. It was all I could do to keep from losing it completely.

For anyone who knows me, I have a slight neurosis. I clean. It relieves angst from my life and gives me a sense of order and security. So one can only imagine the horror Newt caused me that morning.

Well, the rubber ducky will be thoroughly washed and hidden from Newt's view. We are buying a drying rack for Jack's bottles and bottle accessories (whatever it is to keep it Newt proof). And the money tree plant will be finding a new home at ADP, on Alex's desk at his work after being repotted over the weekend with fresh, nutrient filled potting soil. As for the pretzels, unless being consumed or watched by a careful eye, no pretzel or pretzel bag shall be left out in the open.

Oh, and Newt's still living with us...for now.