The Anatomy of a Nap

Melly is a restless sleeper. She twitches, changes positions constantly, and frequently wakes up for a spontaneous bath. She also alternately grumbles, squeaks, and smacks her lips every time she moves. Scarlett, who is a quiet and still sleeper, finds it all quite peculiar and can often be found watching Melly sleep while wearing an expression of, "Seriously?" (It's the same face she makes when Melly does... anything, actually. And it's understandable. Melly, while certainly the cutest cat ever, is not exactly a shining example of normalcy.)

These pictures were taken over the course of about five minutes. When I got the camera out, Melly was sound asleep; when I put it away, she was out cold again.

As I'm typing this, Melly is asleep on the couch, flat on her back with all four paws in the air, making a sort of squeaky chirping noise. If you'll excuse me, I do believe belly snorgles are in order.

Observing

"And here we have the vicious Mellybeast. Crikey, this one is fluffy. Watch out - it may strike with deadly cuteness at any moment."

Thanks for the warning, Scarlett.

Melly Usurps

While Melly is usually very respectful of Scarlett's throne, she occasionally hops up there for a quick nap. I was going to document the sleeping adorableness, but Melly woke up, saw the camera, and started shamelessly striking pose after pose.

These ones didn't turn out quite as well, but I thought they were funny anyway:

Scarlett's Throne

Scarlett likes to sit up high and keep an eye on things, especially now that she has the extra [self-assigned] duty of keeping tabs on Melly. My dresser has long been a favorite spot of Scarlett's as it is in the corner and allows her to see the whole bedroom. Recently, I put my extra comforter on the dresser so Scarlett can be extra comfy while surveying her domain.

She loves it. Last weekend, I think she left the dresser only to eat and use the litterbox. Seriously.

Scarlett has also discovered that the cushy blanket makes an excellent place for naps.

She sleeps very peacefully under the watchful eyes of Jimmy and Donna.

Melly and the Curtains

Thank you for sharing all your stories in the comments on yesterday's post! They were so fun to read, and really made me laugh. I was also pleased to discover that Scarlett's behavior, while certainly weird, falls well within the acceptable range of feline peculiarity.

On the subject of Scarlett: her acne has come back. It's probably because I slacked a little with the Hibiclens for a while (bad cat owner, bad), but so far this outbreak hasn't gotten too scary looking, and I think a round of Duoxo will clear it right up. I was excited to discover that Amazon has containers of Duoxo pads for $10 (regularly ~$40).

Anyway, today's post is about the curtains that hang in the doorway between the living room and the entryway. Both cats love these curtains. They run through them at full tilt and pounce on toys (and each other) through them.

I'm not sure what Melly was playing with here, but its appeal was certainly magnified by the curtains.

That cardboard box in the background is Melly's. She has so much fun playing in it that I haven't had the heart to get rid of it, so it's been in the corner of my living room for months. Sigh.

Happy weekend!

Socks

A few nights ago, Geoff and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie when I heard Scarlett meowing. It was a throaty merower sound, the one she usually makes when something is wrong. The last time she made it was when she had spectacularly vomited her entire breakfast on the kitchen floor, so I went to investigate.

This is what I found:

Scarlett had taken one of the two white ankle socks I'd left out to wear to bed and deposited it in the middle of the hallway. Nothing was wrong and she didn't look upset, so I tossed the sock back into the bedroom and rejoined Geoff on the couch. About an hour later, Scarlett meowed again. She had brought the other sock into the hallway and was sitting next to it, looking up at me.

As an experiment, I've been leaving the socks out in the bedroom, and Scarlett has brought them, one at a time, into the hallway three nights in a row now, and while I was at work yesterday, Geoff texted me to report that she'd done it again!

Before I had a laundry basket with a lid, Scarlett used to pull my socks out of the laundry and leave them around the apartment, which I interpreted as a sign of discontent (she'd stop doing it if I got her a new toy or something). Perhaps that's what this is. Or maybe she's just playing. Either way, it's very peculiar.

Squeeing

I was squeeing over the adorableness of Melly's paws...

...when she caught me and gave me a sleepy little glare.

Unfortunately for Melly, I can always find other things to squee about.

Teeny black nosie!!

At night, when Melly isn't eating my PJ pants draw string while I sleep (yes, that happened), she likes to lay facing me with her head on my pillow. The first few times she did it, it was a little disorienting to wake up and find her little black nose millimeters away from mine and my entire field of vision filled with black floof and wild white whiskers, but now I think it's pretty darn cute.

In other news, someone (identity as yet undiscovered) has been feeling pukey lately and leaving little puddles of vomit around the apartment. I dosed Melly with some petramalt in case she has a hairball; I'll be doing the same with Scarlett as soon as I can catch her. Scarlett always knows when Bad Things are about to happen - claw clipping, flea medicating, acne cleaning - and hides under the bed, so getting any of that sort of thing done is always an exercise in both patience and speed.

Thanks for the caption ideas on yesterday's post - they were great!

"All right, Mr. DeMille..."

"...I'm ready for my closeup."

That last photo is just begging for a caption. Ideas?

Cookies!

Last week's baking project was Smitten Kitchen's chocolate toffee cookies. I picked the recipe because I wanted something that would ship well, which cookies do, and because I know my sister (the recipient) loves chocolate. And the toffee? Well, I love toffee, and there was a strong possibility that I wouldn't be able to fit the whole batch in the shipping box (heehee).

These cookies were pretty labor intensive, between all the chopping of chocolate and Heath bars and the double boiler step. It was absolutely worth it, though; the cookies were rich and chocolatey and the toffee pieces were scrumptious.

Melly hung out with me in the kitchen while I baked. I tried to take some pictures of her being her usual adorable self, but I just got a lot of this:

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing two inches apart. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

More Floof

I can't get enough of it.

The gray thing is my knee.

I love the little streak of white that connects her white belly floof to the few white hairs around her mouth.

I'm not entirely sure what body parts comprise the mountain of floof in the lower third of this picture. When she sprawls out like that, she looks like a puddle of fluff with four little paws, head, and tail.

Floof

Melly's white fur is much fluffier than her black fur, and when she lays on her stomach, her chin sometimes gets lost in all the white floof.

Have a lovely weekend, all!

Scarlett Snoozes

I love how she has her paws. So strange.

Melly and the Laptop

As you may recall, Melly has a thing for laptops. Here she is snuggling with Geoff's:

Melly was in a particularly nutty mood yesterday evening and kept jumping onto the back of the kitchen chairs, which would then tip over and scare her half to death. When she was a teeny kitten she could balance pretty easily on the top of the chairs; she doesn't seem to have realized that she is much too big now.

Oh, and also, I baked last night! It's been a while, mostly because I've been feeling uninspired. However, my sister's birthday is approaching and I wanted to send her some tasty treats. I'll post the recipe and a picture or two after she receives the package since I don't want to ruin the surprise :)

Melly Plays

This video was taken after Geoff and I finished the rest of a bottle of wine and tossed the cap on the floor for Melly. She was a bit hesitant, as if testing out the cap's potential as a toy. Apparently the cap passed, since she's been quite enthusiastic in her play with it since.

This video is a little bit long - my favorite part is at 1:30, if you want to skip the middle. Also, I added music since Geoff and I were talking loudly in the background while I was filming.

Bath Time

I love the contortions cats go through while bathing, and how methodical they are about it.

Scarlett was not pleased at being documented in her moment of indignity.

Melly's Collar

So, Melly's collar is back off. It wasn't actually a new collar; it was the same little elastic one she came with. I figured that the many tags (pet license, microchip, name & phone number) would be plenty jingly enough without a bell, but it turns out that Melly has a very smooth gait and is able to sneak about without the tags making noise. Next time I'm at the pet store, I'll find her a collar with a bell and we'll give this experiment another go.

In the meantime, Melly is very busy looking floofy and ridiculous.

The Cutest

"Why yes, I am still the cutest kitten in the universe. Was there ever any doubt?"

After reading the latest IBKC post in which Laurie mentioned that Oliver Furman will be wearing a collar with a bell so his new brothers can hear him when he stages an ambush, I realized that Scarlett might like such a warning too. And so, Melly is now wearing her collar. (Normally I only put the cats' collars on them when they're leaving the apartment.) It's been a while since she last wore it, so Melly spent about half an hour first trying to get the collar off, then trying to chase the source of the jingling. She seems to have adjusted now, and is looking quite dapper in her little red collar.

Happy weekend all!

Melly's Fort

Ever since we got Melly her very own scratching post for her isolation room, she has loved using scratching posts for naps.

April 2010

She used to snooze on her own post after it was moved to the hallway, but that post was brought over to Geoff's for the cats' visit there in July.

April 2010

In the absence of her own post (she wouldn't dare nap on Scarlett's), the bottom level of the cat tree has become Melly's spot. The couches and the upper levels of the tree block most of the light from reaching the area, making it a dark and cozy little fort.

August 2010

August 2010

Sometimes, when the apartment is suspiciously quiet and Melly is MIA, I find her in her fort, all white parts stealthily tucked in so she blends into the shadows.

August 2010

Also, looking at those kitten pictures, it's so hard to believe that Melly was ever that teeny. She's so big now!

Melly and the T-Shirt

Melly was laying on the bed and I covered her with a t-shirt. The result was predictably amusing.

Floof

Scarlett has an impressively floofy belly that she usually keeps hidden from camera-wielding humans, but I managed to catch a few seconds of footage:

A Development

After I got up from the couch and left the room for a few minutes, I found upon returning that my spot had been usurped.

I kept my camera out in case of any interesting developments, but I expected that, as in yesterday's post, Scarlett would depart fairly quickly.

These pictures were taken over the course of the next hour:

Pretty amazing, eh? They've been sparring a lot lately, so seeing them like this was thrilling. I kept thinking they couldn't possibly get cuter, and then Melly rolled belly-up. Good gracious, the adorableness.