One Month of Ruthie!

You guys, remember when I got a cat?

It was actually sort of random.  I honestly was just looking through PetFinder, like I tend to do, and saw this one cat named Faith that had an extra toe so her paws looked like mittens and I thought, "WHY THE HELL NOT?"  Well, she was in foster care already is why the hell not.  So they offered me another cat and told me to take a look on the site and they'd set me up with another one.  I looked online and I fell in love with this "Starlet."  She was so cute and squinty and the description said she was full of love.  So I said "Yes!" and two days later, she was confused in our bathroom.

The woman who brought her fosters a bunch of animals and she was strange.  She said she had dozens of animals and was also allergic.  She had a special fondness for Starlet (which made me nervous.)  She said nobody ever wanted to keep her and she was afraid we wouldn't either because she didn't know what breed she was and she had an eye infection that made her blind in one eye until one day, she miraculously wasn't blind anymore.  I didn't care, I'd still take the freak cat!

The lady gave us two weeks and said after that, if "Starlet" was a good fit, we'd fill out the paperwork and adopt her.  So, three weeks later (I was in Boston two weeks after we got her), I called and one of the woman's dogs was in surgery AT THAT MOMENT.  She told me to send the money ($125) immediately to the vet.  Weird.  Then she told me she was going to waive the fee because she liked me but now couldn't.  I got so freaked out by her... WHY EVEN TELL ME THAT?  I was kind of hurting money-wise that day, too, so... ugh.  But whatever!  I officially adopted this cat a couple of weeks ago and now we've had her for a full month (and some change.)

She's totally warmed up to us.  She owns the apartment.  Her favorite sleeping spots are a pile of blankets in the living room, one specific kitchen chair and underneath the bed.  She loves patches of sun, trying to claw through screens and plays with only two of her many toys.  She attacks feet and toes like crazy and bites in a loving way.  She doesn't give kisses, she lets you hold her for as long as you want, she hates being locked out of the bathroom (if we're in there, she'll wait at the door and meow).  She's not very vocal otherwise and she only purrs when you scratch behind her ears.  Her best move is the "plop" which she always does as soon as we come through the door and any time she gets lazy and wants to lie down / get her belly rubbed.  She answers to her name!  And she wakes me up every morning at 6:30 by trying to get under the covers, biting my feet or trying to jump up to the windowsill off my head.

I love her so much.  Month one has been pretty fucking great!

Wearing Lipstick for No Reason

You know what’s funny about free time?  We spend all week yearning for and dreaming of it and when we finally get it, we have no god damn clue what to do with it.   I spent all last week imagining all the great things I’d do with my time off during the long weekend and then of course just spent most hours pretty bored.   I’d read a book here, watch TV there, try to get into a movie… but nothing worked. 

That’s OK.  I’ll take bored.

But, I kept wishing I had the money to go out somewhere.  It’d be nice to go exploring, but I kind of used all that up last weekend and didn’t have the money or company this weekend.  For whatever reason, I just felt like taking a shower, getting dressed up and looking pretty.  I used to spend every weekend doing my hair all nice and putting lipstick on and I missed having a reason to wear lipstick! 

Lipstick is pretty impractical.  It’s hard to eat with, drink with, kiss with, maintain, etc.  But during shows it was great, because I didn’t do any of those things and all I had to worry about was looking nice (while being funny and/or getting my lines right.)  And while you don't need lipstick to be pretty (in fact, I wear very little make-up because I'm lazy) but there's something about it that just makes you feel pretty. 

So, since I wasn’t doing anything at all, I put on lipstick.  A dark red lipstick.  For no reason whatsoever and for nobody at all, except that I wanted to feel a little bit prettier that afternoon! And it made me feel a lot more glamorous and classy while reading a book on my iPad on my patio while drinking root beer and vodka in the middle of the afternoon.  As if that needs anything to make it classier!  

By the way, I’m reading Nora Ephron’s “Crazy Salad and Scribble, Scribble” which is a series of essays about women and the media during the early 70’s and it’s super interesting to hear her point of view on the women’s rights movement while it was actually happening.  It’s also interesting because a lot of the issues still exist!  For instance, there’s an essay about vaginal odor spray and how it’s crazy and women don’t need it but they’re sold this product and made to feel insecure about it simply because the product exists!  A few hours after reading it, I watched Sarah Silverman’s HBO special and she had a joke that mentioned the exact same thing!  And then, after turning that off, I saw that crazy commercial for Summer’s Eve body wash which is “gentle on a woman’s V” and when the man heard he had used the product MADE FOR WOMEN AND THEIR V’S, he immediately ran off to do a bunch of manly things.  It made me laugh and feel crazy.  Ladies, you don’t need special body wash for your V.  Also, hey, can we not call it a V?  

So, in closing – don’t use special body wash (what's wrong with a good ol' bar of Dove?) and don’t feel the need to wear lipstick for any person or reason, you can just wear lipstick for yourself!  And for your cat, since she’s around anyway and doesn’t understand what’s going on.  And she also can’t call you out for looking too fancy on the face when your body is still wearing pajamas.  Because that's what happened.  

I Got A Cat

On Saturday morning, a beautiful little six month old kitten was dropped off at my apartment and I fell in love!  I've lived with a pet for my entire life - basically since I was eleven - so the past three months have been lonely without a cute face to pet.  When the opportunity to rescue a cat presented itself (meaning, when I looked online and found a cat to adopt) - I just jumped right in!

When the woman dropped her off, we brought her in the bathroom and hung out in there so she could get acclimated. She told us that Starlet (the name she arrived with) had an eye infection when she was young and was blind in one eye for a long time and then one day, she just wasn't.  And when we told her that we still wanted her, she was SO taken back by it.  Apparently, everyone in L.A. wants the perfect cat with documents stating its breed and whatever.  Starlet had been turned down several times.  But she's FULL of personality, she's a little cuddle bug, she's super active... I love her.  I love my little trash cat!

But she's not named Starlet anymore, of course.  As soon as I found out that she miraculously woke up one day and wasn't blind anymore, I thought "EDITH PIAF!" which is crazy because my other cat (kinda my cat, in Boston) is named Edith!  Kiley (Edith's actual owner) suggested Simone, because that was Edith Piaf's sister and our cats are sisters!  But, we went with Ruthie.  Because I think it's cute and it fits her face.  That's the thing about a name, it's got to fit your face.

She's been a little destructive (and yesterday she got CAUGHT behind the FRIDGE and we couldn't save her!)  But, she's really adorable and I already want another cat so she'll have a friend.  But, well, I have to take it all one step at a time I suppose.  Although everyone says two cats are not harder to handle than one!

Anyways, I'm in love.  And I can't wait to get home and pet her!