Wednesday three bordering on crazy cat lady post.

I've been catless for over two years. I have enjoyed my various local no-planning-required weekend jaunts (and that four-month-foreign-country foray) immensely. I also started Auntie Jen(n)'s Kitty Camp for friends while they are on extended vacation. Guaranteed unconditional love and no charge to parents other than the cost of food, litter and any other supplies - which they've already purchased so they just drop off along with Kitty. This summer features a newbie whose parents will be checking out Sweden in a few weeks and a camp regular (and let's be honest, a camp favorite) whose parents are getting married and going away for their honeymoon later this summer.

Anyway. I think that's the level of feline commitment I'm willing to make at this point. I considered volunteering with the Oregon Humane Society but they require 12 hours a month (and about $50) which amounts to about 20 hours a month just from figuring out how to manage 12 volunteer hours a month. Frankly, I'm just not ready to give up that much free time so if I want to pet cats without having to deal with potential adopters (aka PEOPLE), I'll just wander through my neighborhood. And donate the $50.

However, certain things still make me miss Her Maj. I have had lots of cats in my life but this gal really stuck with me. Three of these things in no particular order:

• I still wait for the yowl and leg weaving when I open a can of tuna. Still. Probably will until the day I die. It looked a lot like this.
  
• Friends are coming to visit this weekend. As I was cleaning over the last few days it occurred to me that I haven't vacuumed since the last time a friend visited... at Thanksgiving. The lint tray in the dryer is always pretty clean when I pull it out. And the bathroom (where I would normally store the litter box) just required a quick wipe-down. Anyone with a cat will grasp the significance of any of this.
  
• All this baking lately! Back in my cat lady days, when I would cook or bake for friends I would scrub counters, ensure preoccupation of the felines in other rooms, before/after run everything through the dishwasher religiously, and promptly store dishes and utensils safely away to ensure no cat hairs would encroach. Now? Eh. Wash my hands and hope for the best. Wash dishes by hand, air them dry - or not - and maybe, eventually, throw it all into the cabinet or drawer.

All that said, I miss that little cat. So to bring some good karma into the picture I bring you my favorite Her Maj posts:

• Like this one.
• And this one.
• Or perhaps this one.
  

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Also, why I don't own a house: cleaning took me about an hour. An HOUR!! I spread it out over three days just to reduce the agony. THE AGONY!! I actually spent more time cleaning my car than my apartment.

And! It's also likely that Kitty will go home with an exciting new toy that I can't resist from Pets on Broadway so really, I lose and the parents and Kitty make out on this deal. I reaaallllly need to figure out how to market this widely (and change up the model so that I can live off the income).