Commuter Patterns

As my most consistent topic of online conversation lately has been cats rather than creme brulees and cacciatore, I thought I could at least explain the latest. If you're looking for love triangles, you'll have to look elsewhere because today we're talking about our commute. And by our, I mean the cat and I.

HoneyCat and I have been together for a little more than three years. She's been an indoor/outdoor (read:garden) cat for two of those years. In the winter, her primary purpose is to make getting out of bed as hard as possible for me. She burrows all the way into the blankets, creating sprawling warm spots that I must pass through to get both legs on the floor. She is sleepy and soft and I am too. I ask her if she wants to go out but I'm really just being a smartass because, lo and behold, it's -10. She looks at me bemused, demands a treat, casually mentions that she'll be working from home today and I get on my way to the office in yesterday's fleece socks, 2 scarves and the Monster jacket that I wear to look most like a black hole.

Come Spring, our commute changes. Suddenly, little miss has *ohsomuchSpringinherstep* at 4:45 in the AM. And she has a breakfast date so I better put some pants on and let her get about her business or she is going to get loud with me, sir. Now, lest you've somehow been deceived, know that I'm not terribly graceful when I'm wide awake and hydrated. At 4:45, I'm walking something like Lucy and talking something like Nell (story for another day). I started noticing she was having her boyfriends meet her downstairs and then returning to the house to have coffee with me before I left, kind've cute. At this point it was still too chilly to leave her out during the day so I bid her adieu by sidestepping her quick little gerbil tail into the fake ficus tree in the living room and sneaking out the front door.

Now that it's warm, however, we have a new pattern emerging. One that makes me look/feel crazier than any assessment you dear readers have already subjected me to personally. Now it's warm and she's single for the moment. And she wants to do everything together. She wants to wrap herself around my shins while I make coffee. Lays on top of whatever I put out to wear for the day. She squeezes into the bathroom while I shower and, frankly, my bathroom is just not big enough for both of us. She ends up sitting in the sink. Not optimal.

The major thing she wants to do together is go to work. As soon as I'm out the door, she sneaks out behind me (or she's been biding her time outside, knowing I would leave soon) and races in front of me toward the front gate. And it goes like this:

Me: Could you not? I know you're trying to beat me to the gate and you're not allowed on the train.
HC: WTF? Don't start with the attitude this early...you're the one right on my heels. You can't even handle it when I read over your shoulder and you're totally on my tail right now.
Me: Read over my shoulder? You mean when you sit on my hands WHILE I'M TYPING? I don't have time for this. Just stay here please.
HC: You're making us late.
Me: You forgot your blackberry.
HC: I fell for that yesterday, try again.

We are now outside the gate and I'm clearly trying to outpace my cat. Neighbors are watching me run away from my cat. I pause. Neighbor's nanny is taking her time buckling the kids into strollers and not-so-subtly cracking up.

Me: GO HOME
HC: I'm rolling around on sun-drench sidewalk (pictured at top). Walk around me.
Me: If I walk around you, you will find a way to be underfoot...you forgot your badge.
HC: I'm significantly more agile than you are and I have a meeting at 9:30 so you're going to need to stop harassing me...I went out of my way not to get fur in your coffee today.
Me: Yeah cause you stuck your FULLY EXTENDED PAW in my water glass last night. If it were still cold enough, I'd make a hat out of you.
HC: *Purring and writhing on sidewalk
Me: (Long overdramatic sigh) Fine.

I rub her belly, scratch her chin and put her back inside the garden. She is momentarily distracted by a bug and I am left to jog to the train before she comes out of bliss mode. Most passerbys seem to think it's charming that my cat does what many dogs do. By day four they'll be telling reporters how it was really so sad that I needed to be committed because I had a lot of fabulous hats and seemed quite friendly.

And You Can't Make Me

Spring Fever. No one seems to catch it in quite the same way.

At my house, rather than being moved to scrub the surfaces clean and start fresh with the season, my apartment looks like I paid someone to ransack it. Ransack it and use every dish in the process. And I can't be moved to put a dent in it. I actually avoided having friends over for tea in my living room due to the disaster area and it was saying that out loud that finally alerted me to needing a new approach.

New approach: A little more avoidance but with good purpose- bargain hunting for inspiration.

Two hours later I returned home having spent $65 on TWO pairs of shoes (black flat sandals not pictured) and $30 on a king's bounty from Stanley's. It was a reasonably frugal weekend already thanks to trending "at-home entertaining" and spending the budget surplus on hot red peep-toe platforms (60% off at Una's, natch) was just what the doctor ordered.

Prescription for TKTC Spring Fever:

• Put on red shoes with skinny jeans
• Turn speakers up with Oldies playlist (Come On to My House, Kokomo, Leader of the Pack, etc)
• Apply same red lipstick worn for previous evening
• Fill fridge with items worth cooking to force dish washing (least.favorite.pasttime)

I've now been bopping around my kitchen for an hour and things are headed in the right direction. At this rate I think dinner will remain an avocado (lemon juice, S&P) and some Triscuits but this week is going to see some serious loving in the cook's corner. Nothing about this post was cohesive or clever and for that I apologize. It's the fever. I think maybe I need some more lipstick.

Also, upon spellchecking, anyone know the origin for the word "Triscuit"? Pretty sure I have avenues to figure this out but the way it's spelled makes me think it's a town in Western Massachusetts.

Why Violet- You're Turning Violet!

I don't really know how to frame this. Those of you who read my Tumblr or Twitter could be aware that a blog friend turned real life friend turned occasional colleague, HeatherSpohr, lost her daughter last week. I've been thinking about the Spohrs a lot and I've been reading about it a lot as Heather is part of a very tight network of other bloggers, most of whom (present company excluded) are also parents.

Maddie was 1 1/2 and while she was cognitively smart as a whip and seriously sassy (in swimwear and otherwise), it was complications of having born 3 months early that took her very quickly last week. I'd never met Maddie and have only hung out with her mom a couple times but I surprised myself with how hard it hit.

One of the blessings of "the life online" is the ability for people removed by distance or even prior knowledge to spring up, arms open. Between last Tuesday when Maddie passed and today, more than $25K has been raised in her honor for the March of Dimes. A totally separate fund was set up for her parents, to help pay the mountain of medical bills still amassed.

People are turning their avatars purple, their blogs purple and releasing purple balloons today, the day of the memorial service.

It's no secret I love kids. At some point in the distant future I'm hoping to have a few and in the interim, you can find me at 826 Chicago or hanging out with little bits belonging to other people. This is tough stuff but I'm not going to dwell on the sad, it's not Heather's style and it's not mine, so let's think some happy thoughts today.

Like how much good can be accomplished with the money raised for March of Dimes. Wearing a lot of purple today with that in mind.