Boots and Cats

My favourite video
For your amusement :)

This Cat Is Ruining My Life

It's not exactly the cat, but the cat's owner.  I'm subletting my room from a girl for the summer.  Let's call her Pat.  I am looking after her cat as well.  It was all going well, cat was content, things were good.

So Pat sends me an email all of a sudden saying that one of my roommates (let's call her Deb ... Deb is actually away for the summer and having her friend pick up her mail) said that her friend said that the cat had pooped all over the house and was starving.  This friend even said to take the cat to the animal shelter.  So Pat gets mad.  I get why she would get upset, hearing this about her cat.  Except it's all BS.

So I explain that this was not true.  I don't know where this "friend" came up with "poop all over the house".  I have yet to find poop at all in the house (besides the litter box ... which I scoop out multiple times a day).  And the cat had food.  It wasn't like completely full but I'm only supposed to fill it two thirds of the way full every day.  So, at the end of the day, it is getting empty.  Then I just fill it up the next day.

Finally she does some investigating and realizes that this friend is an idiot and knows nothing about cats.  She freaked out over nothing.  No kidding!  I still have yet to figure out why this "friend" made this up.

Then Pat sends me another email saying Deb said I didn't clean the litter box.  Deb and I were living in the house together for a few weeks, maybe a month?  Anyway, Deb had a cat and would leave the cat alone for days.  Her cat would eat Pat's cat's food which is not allowed.  Probably because her cat was starving.  And I would have to clean its litter box.  And then Deb said I left the litter box dirty?

There's actually a third person that lives in this house.  Let's call her Ashley.  Ashley is only here a couple days a week.  I'm actually alone most of the time here.  Pat just told Ashley to make sure I was rationing out the cat's food properly!  So Ashley is supposed to check on me!

Oh yeah, and I'm not allowed to leave the house for more than 24 hours at a time.  Which will not happen.  I need to leave for more than 24 hours at a time!  I need to get out.  I need to do things.  I need to visit my family and boyfriend and friends!

I've looked after plenty of cats before.  I have had other pets too, but small animals, like hamsters and fish.  I move too often to have a cat and most places don't allow cats.  But I have always done just fine.  For this cat, he threw up a few times so I informed Pat as soon as possible and asked if he needed to be taken to the vet.  She told me not to worry about it.  I give him treats, I play with him.  He always seems to want to go outside so I will hold him outside (he is an indoor cat) so he can enjoy the outdoor weather.  I do just fine.

I'm so annoyed about all this.  I'm going to just keep doing what I've been doing before the terms were set.  Feed him daily.  If I'm going away, feed him more.  And if she wants to find someone else to look after him, that's fine with me.  Less stress for me to worry about!

Anyway, she is six hours ahead of my time I believe, so she won't be replying tonight.  Probably tomorrow morning.  I can't wait to see what she says to my last email about getting her to find someone else to look after the cat.

So annoying ... oh well ... I will see tomorrow!

House Hunting

I've been "house hunting" for some time now.  If you don't know what I mean by house hunting, I'm just looking for a room in a house/apartment to stay in for the summer.  I've been trying to get a summer sublet so that it is less expensive for me.  House hunting is just so frustrating though!  I visit so many houses and none of them are what I want.

Of course, I have a lot of criteria such as

• 400 - 550/month
• utilities included
• enough washrooms (one washroom for four people is just not enough)
• close to a bus stop
• has a full kitchen (stove, fridge, microwave, etc.)
• unfurnished
• nice location (I do not need to live in a sketchy part of town)

So I have found a decent place.  It comes furnished which really isn't that big of a deal.  One of the things I can do without.  The other criteria it doesn't meet is that it's more expensive.  It is 580/month which is more than my limits.  It does come all inclusive though (including Internet).  It is in a pretty decent place of town.  Not the best part, but certainly not the worst.  It doesn't have a living room either.  There are some good things though!  It has a balcony, which is pretty awesome.  It substitutes for a living room (almost) in the summer anyway.  It also has one room for the shower and another for the toilet which I think is pretty cool.  Oh, and it comes with a cat!  I get to look after the cat.  I got a rent reduction (from 630 to 580 per month) because I'm looking after a cat.  The awesome thing is that I was thinking about getting a cat anyway.  Now I get to look after a cat and not have to pay for food, littler, etc.  Bonus!!  And it's downtown which is pretty convenient.

It was the first place I visited.  When I first got there, the outside looked pretty sketchy.  But the inside is nice.  And the room is very large, especially for a place downtown.  The kitchen isn't too big but there are only three of us and it has counter space and whatnot so it should be fine.  And the balcony looked fun.

I am planning to sign this lease.  I was going to spend another weekend looking at houses but it's just gotten to be too much for me!  I mean, I'm at school full time and I work and going house hunting on weekends is not what I want to do.  I saw a number of other houses that were all a lot worse.  (Well, one was a bit nicer but he needed me to move in now instead of at the beginning of May, which didn't work out.)

I'm pretty happy with my choice.  I think it will be a really great place to stay over the summer.  Okay, now I'm just excited!!