Trust me when I say that I really didn’t need anything else to take care of at this exact moment in my life. The end of summer is always insane. I’m trying to keep up with new responsibilities at my job, I have a summer friend who is coming home soon and no doubt expecting to find a girlfriend who will be able to spend time with him, Miss L and birthday festivities, book club, yoga class, a family wedding and charter fishing trip, and the usual trying to keep a house clean / yard trimmed (“Not the Best Lawn On the Block but Not the Worst”), and two cats. Also trying to carve out self care time. So when L and I rocked up to PetSmart last weekend, it was intended to be a quick pit stop to grab some kitty litter before heading to Home Depot to buy a replacement furnace filter as I realized at some point that the existing filter had likely not been changed since my ex-husband moved out.

The best laid plans.

I wrote on Facebook that sometimes true love happens at the most inconvenient and unexpected times and this was true for Miss L. The minute she laid eyes on the tiny striped ball of fluff in the cage in the adoption room, she lost her heart irretrievably and that was that. I am a pushover and I love animals too and two hours (yes it really did take that long to fill out paperwork with some bighearted but organizationally and administratively challenged rescue ladies) later we walked out with Josephine.

My cats are two big boys and they are not particularly nice even to each other sometimes. So we are taking the introduction period very slowly. We’re also relying on Jackson Galaxy to provide instruction. Josie has taken up residence in a spare bedroom that has morphed over the years from unused business room to unused playroom (and is really just a receptacle for stuff I don’t know what to do with). L and I did a psycho cleaning session to get it kitten-ready. She is an intrepid little thing and hates being locked away from the rest of us so we try to scent-swap,and let her explore rooms when the boys are elsewhere. We do feeding sessions together with the boys on one side of a pet gate and Josie on the other (the pet gate is not entirely effective unless she’s preoccupied with a bowl of kitten slop, though – she can squeeze through one slat that is just a teeeeeeny bit wider than the others). And we’ve done some play sessions, and the boys have generally been very good. There have been some hisses and growls, but not nearly what I expected – and when it happens, it’s sort of understandable as Josie is quick and tends to charge at the boys (tiny tail straight up) and try to rub against them and Sarge will have NONE OF THIS. I think it’s mostly just them figuring out their hierarchy and she has to learn manners and learn the pecking order, so I’m encouraged and pleased by their progress.

I know that school starting isn’t necessarily going to put an end to the feeling of being overwhelmed and I certainly did myself no favors by getting a THIRD CAT but sometimes you just have to roll with it and realize that life doesn’t always go according to plan. Wish me luck as I navigate the next few weeks and try to keep all the plates spinning.

xo friends and happy weekend.