It continues to be extremely difficult to get anything done with a kitten around. Saturday, my husband went upstairs with the kitten to wake up our child. When no one appeared after a reasonable amount of time, I went up to investigate. And then the three of us both ended up lying on our stomachs, crosswise across Carla’s bed, staring at the kitten for some undetermined amount of time. I don’t even know what the kitten was doing; being cute, obviously. That’s just how things seem to go these days.
Or, as with this morning, I woke up nice and early to spend some time writing before I needed to wake my child for camp. But Lenny was so full of purrs and gratitude when I released him from his room (he is still sleeping in an enclosed room for… now) that I was forced against my will to cuddle him, and then he refused to allow me to type on my computer, so I ended up sitting with him on my lap, purring, while I petted him and told him how handsome he is.
I did also download a free trial of a decibel meter app to see just how loud his purr is. At one point, it briefly tipped into the 70 decibel range (similar to the sound of light traffic, according to the app), but mainly his purr stayed around 50 to 60 decibels.
We are enduring, I assume, all the typical challenges of Kitten Parenthood. Carla and I purposely bathed Lenny last weekend because we want to get him used to being bathed. He did not love it, although no one required stitches or even a Band-Aid. But then he got into Carla’s shower while it was running but before she was in it, drenching himself in the process… two nights in a row. This means I had to blow-dry him three times last week. (I use the lowest setting of heat and air strength.) I think he likes being blow-dried; he tolerates it well and started purring the third time we did it. Then, this past weekend, there were two incidents that required partial bathing. Only one required blow-drying, though.
I think I also mentioned that we bought entirely new living room furniture at about the same time we brought Lenny home. He seems to love nothing more than scrambling up on top of the brand new chenille armchairs and scratching and biting them. I am not mad at him; he’s just being a cat. I am also not crazy about the idea of sacrificing our first ever set of grown up furniture to his hunting instincts. We already have three scratching posts, plus the scratching elements of the cat tower; I calmly remove him from the chairs and place him on a scratching post, and give him a treat anytime he scratches the scratching post. We’ve tried spraying the chairs with Feliway. We’ve tried covering the chair he prefers to abuse in a large blanket; he simply climbs under the blanket and scratches it anyway. So we are looking into double sided sticky tape and vinyl furniture covers. It’s about to get very Marie Barone up in here.
The kitten: exceedingly challenging; nonetheless adorable.
Kitten aside, we continue to require sustenance! Whatever shall we eat this week?
Dinners for the Week of June 15-22
- Chili-Honey Chicken and Sweet Potatoes: I have everything I need to make this already, so this is on the menu for tonight. That way I can postpone going to the grocery store one more day. I’ll serve it with some steamed broccoli. The only thing I’m dreading is turning on the oven. If only I’d ordered the magical air fryer Jen recommended after my post last week. Some day, magical air fryer, you will be mine.
- Pasta with Goat Cheese and Chicken: I’m not entirely sure if a glorified mac and cheese coordinates well with the heat we’re expecting, but I’m going to roll with it.
- Fish Tacos: It’s been ages since we’ve had fish tacos, and fish tacos always seem so summery and fresh to me.
- Green Goddess Salad with Shrimp: Nearly two decades ago, my first Real Job required me to travel to the home office every quarter. One of the restaurants nearby made an absolutely perfect salad with grilled shrimp and a gorgeous green goddess dressing. I’m going to try to recreate that this week.
- Golden Coconut Chicken Curry: A curry is always a good addition to the menu. I may throw in some chickpeas and a bunch of bell peppers.
What’s distracting you these days? Anything on your meal plan you’re especially looking forward to?
Double-sided tape worked well for our cat, but mostly because she has super floofy pads on her feet and the tape would get stuck to her little feet. It was…sort of mean, to be honest. But it worked? So you decide if that’s the right choice for Lenny. Zelda was undeterred by citrus smells or aluminum foil. Cats are so weird.
I didn’t even consider the amount of time that I spend each day just watching the dog. No wonder I felt like I had hours upon hours of extra time in the day in the gap between Stepdog and Doggo.
Doggo finally slowed down to the point where it made sense to put her toys away between uses, so she now has toy baskets in both our living room and family room. It’s always fun to see her unload the baskets and to see which toy she wants to play with.
Glorified mac and cheese is a dish that is right for every season!
These baby animals are a lot of work—but you’re doing great. One day at a time. 😘
What’s distracting me? Ella’s summer school. She’s got full-blown senioritis. It’s been… fun. 😅
I did not know that bathing a cat was thing! We had an outdoor cat when I lived at home so bathing did not make sense, and Phil’s family never gave the cat a bath. I think we would have lost an eyeball if we tried to give Oscar a bath. She is and has always been FEISTY!!
Camping is on my brain this week and our packing list just keeps growing and growing! But hopefully all goes well and the kids have fun and sleep well.
I’ve given up on our furniture. I’ve tried everything to stop the stinker from clawing, but to no avail. I’m going to let him have the chair and couch so he won’t scratch all the wood work near the door( which he ignored until recently). Aluminum foil works on him so far. The problem developed because our previous cat was front declawed ( she came that way) and we sort of forgot most cats do have claws until too late.
My cats don’t claw the chair that has a corduroy type of upholstery- that will guide my future furniture choices.
he is so sweet. Enjoy!
I’m sorry to tell you that I’ve not found anything to deter the cat from scratching. (although I haven’t tried the sticky tape and am not sure how it works) I tried a couple sprays but (to me) they smelled vile and I couldn’t stand it. Mari does use her scratching post but unfortunately, also likes to have a go at certain pieces of furniture. I do close her up at night in her Cat “Condo” which she considers a prison.
What a cutie pie! We’ve found a few textures that our cats like to scratch and try to avoid having those in the house. It’s not perfect, but they don’t scratch much any more. Woven materials (like baskets) seem to be a favorite. I had to ditch some baskets that went with our tv stand because they got torn up. One spot on a basement post was a favorite and has some clawmarks (sigh). We hung a little vertical scratching pad on it and they seem to use it instead. One cat seems to do a little claw at the rug on the stairs – I think to get my attention for pets. Add those house imperfections to way the that the dog ruins the paint on the window sills. She goes crazy when the neighbood dogs walk by and scratches them up. I tolerate the messes ’cause they’re part of the family.
I have never had a pet. It always sounds exhausting to me! Fish tacos are my soul foodd!
I love Lenny so much. Maybe talk to his vet about capping his nails?
I think that pasta dish would be excellent served cold!
Oops, I accidentally replied to you comment instead of leaving a new one – sorry!
Pets are like children, on a much smaller scale. Your time, money, and efforts are rewarded with the love and joy they bring to your life. Also like children, they’re not for everyone.
I’ve emailed myself a copy of the recipe for the chili chicken and sweet potatoes. I am not a fan of spices food, so I wonder if it is REALLY spicy or tolerable spicy
My current distractions include having lots of people home and the cutest baby on earth- one that I babysit during the school year. curly is watching her in our house this summer. Not every day. Also I am distracted by the clutter that has accumulated in the upper hall. I refuse to tolerate that and I plowed thru most of it this am. Fingers crossed it stays clear.
Lenny in a basket!
This whole thing reminded of me when Barkley was a puppy and he ate the corner off of a baseboard. Ah pets. Pets are going to pet, whatcha going to do?
I am
Loving kitten posts as we are about to welcome a new kitten in a month time. Hahahah.
Kittens are so pointy and sharp— and seem to instinctively know what furniture you love the most, then go for it. They’re cute little punks, though.
I love this post! Your family has been completely been taken hostage by this cute little dude, and I’m so happy for you! Lenny is doing his job very well. ❤️
Hee hee… Lenny in the bathtub. SO CUTE. I hate to tell you, but my “kitten” is not 4 years old and she still loves to insinuate herself between me and my laptop, purring loudly and demanding pets. And then I’m always wiping car hair off my screen. But, it’s all worth it! Cats are so hilarious and quirky, and it’s so fun having another creature with a strong personality in the house. I love how you measured his purrs with a decibel meter. Our calico also has a very loud purr!
That should have read, “my kitten is NOW 4 years old…”
Do you bathe him because of the allergy issues?
That’s funny you measured the decibels of his purring. Once when we were at the vet with our last set of cats the vet couldn’t hear a heartbeat through the stethoscope for either of them because Matthew was hissing too loud and Xander was purring too loud.
Cuteness!!!!! A cat’s purr is the best sound in the world.
Scratching… Tape didn’t work for us… Having plentiful surfaces to scratch was important.
What is distracting me these days? .. The upcoming trip to see my dad. It’s a long haul and I am cannot sit still. I am so jittery.
That green goddess salad? YUM!
You are brilliant in getting him used to the bathing portion of his requirements now, and not later. Smart!!
Listen, if I die, I’d like to come back as your cat: Bathing, blowdrying, toys, cuddles.
Years ago, I used pieces of aluminum foil on the surfaces I didn’t want my cats or dogs on. Something about the sound, and shininess of it. It worked somewhat.
I think it’s smart to get Lenny used to baths! I wish I could bathe Lila, but she acts like I’m trying to murder her if I even get close with a brush, sigh. Eloise might handle it a little better but she doesn’t really seem to need it as much as Lila.
I have these adhesive scratching pads for my reading chair that the girls have torn up. I had to use Gorilla glue to get it to stay, though, so I wouldn’t recommend it for you. Not sure what my chair will look like when I remove it, but it’s already completely destroyed. SIGH.
Most of our cats have loved getting in the shower! Sometimes even with the people 😂 they are fun and quirky little creatures 🩷
I can’t comment, I’ve died from the cuteness. (The shower picture! The basket! Aaaahhhh…)