There are a few things in my life I am certain that will never happen.
Win the lottery. Sky dive. Own a cat.
The funny thing about life though is that sometimes you get tossed a card that you have to turn over and face.
That card we were so lucky to be tossed? MICE. Yep – read it and cringe all at once folks. We had a few mice in our basement when we moved in – obviously our house was in bad shape when we purchased it, so while the mice were an unpleasant find, it was not shocking by any means.
Traps were placed, a few (aka – 16) were caught, and we were feeling pretty good about defeating the mice mafia in our basement.
Last saturday I woke up to do my usual routine of getting breakfast ready and wipe down the kitchen. What looked like to be a few burnt toast crumbs on my clorox wipe became a quick realization that they were mouse turds. Lord help me. I wanted to cry — I am a clean freak – so the fact that they managed to get onto our countertops made me want to run for the hills.
We flipped our house upside down that morning – discovering a few more mouse presents along the way. It wasn’t even a an hour later until Dan and I locked eyes and mentioned adopting a cat.
Having a woodsy backyard, and living in an “older” home – we are sure that more will come down the road. Having a feline friend in the house will at least hopefully get them at bay.
Cat people we are not. Let’s make that clear.
With Owen’s dog allergy – a pup will not be an option for a very long time. We were 100% okay with being pet-less people for a while. We chatted all morning/afternoon weighing the pro’s and con’s of bringing a cat into our family. What if it is really skitty? Hates people? Hisses or claws at the kids? Marks the house + smells the previous owners cats?
For some odd reason all of these negative thoughts melted away and we hopped into the car with the boys to take a look at some kittens to see if one would be the right fit.
First sweetie pie we saw was this girl —
Her name was Clementine.
She was in her foster’s arms and purring like a race car. I hesitated to hold her. Not wanting to get attached to the first cat I held – but within ten minutes she was in my arms and completely in my heart. Her disposition was so sweet – calming infact. She loved the boys – even with their wild energy circling her seemed to enjoy the activity. She has the most gorgeous coloring. Mainly white with swirls of orange and black.
It was not long before we knew she was the perfect fit for our family. We did not need to look at any other kittens – she was the first and only one we wanted.
We adopted her within an hour later and the boys were over the moon about their new family member. Never in a million years did I envision our family with a fifth member being a cat – but we are extremely happy with our addition. Since we have brought her home not a mouse turd in sight (wahoo!) and her personality keeps getting better and better. She loves to cuddle, play and sleep. She has been a sweet surprise.
Now I am a bit fearful I will turn into some crazy cat loving lady – with cat knitted sweaters, six liter boxes and that stinky couch in the febreeze commercial. But, for now I will still maintain my OCD ways of cleaning the house – all while enjoying this little girls company.
The best part? Her new name — Meet Olive Oil.
