Better Living Through Literature
Words + Projects + Stuff I Like
It was a great long weekend–my brother did a bang-up job with Thanksgiving, we were all there to celebrate, I made a huge dent in some top-secret projects, my friends sent flowers, and the mountains got some snow.
There’s a lot that’s wrong in the world but there’s a lot that’s good, too.
Toby says, “What? You’re not going to be home with me today putting out blankets for me to sit on? I don’t think I like that, Mom. I’d better stick my tongue out.”
Sure, going into the mountains is nice, but so is staying home when the wind is cold the sun is angling in and your cat is smiling:
(Photo by Doc, who could really have a career in pet portraiture.)
Doc sent me this picture of Toby enjoying the sun on the couch during the week, and I immediately thought of these books, and this one in particular:
I don’t know if Toby is the smiling Mousekin or the smiling jack-o-lantern, but he’s definitely a happy kitty.
Claim your spot in it the way Toby claims the sunny couch this time of year.
Approach it with the same enthusiasm Toby shows for rolling on any sewing project he can:
Things may not be great but Toby is here to quiver his whiskers at you and tell you it’ll be OK.
Be sure to clasp the hand of your loved one and gaze at them sweetly.
(Especially if they left you ALONE for FOUR DAYS last weekend, then you’d better not let them out of your sight and maybe you need to sleep on their pillow for good measure.)
Give it the crazy eye and roll on it:
Sunday morning I got up early and started to sew. Despite having two cat beds and a blanket on the floor, Toby only wanted to be up on the ironing board. Thus began the great Sunday Morning Ironing Board Battle.
Here he is after the initial attack, deploying his reserves of cute so I don’t notice that he’s 1.) getting cat hair all over my project and 2.) stopped all progress. 
Here he is about 30 minutes later, having unwillingly ceded the project fabric to a kitty blanket rescued from the floor. He’s not happy; I still can’t iron. A low point of the battle.
And here’s the happy ending: In a sneak attack, I slid him and the kitty blanket to the other end of the ironing board, giving him my ironing hams to use as a “pillow.” After the initial shock and awe, he decided that was acceptable and proceeded to roll around and get more cat hair everywhere. I was able to iron on the other end and we all lived to fight another day.
