Thursday, July 26, 2007

Tatum's Kingdome Would Be Overrun with Mice

Tatum has a faux mouse that The Funasaurus and I lovingly refer to as Big Red. It came as part of a Christmas present, I think, and while it kind of looks like the other mice toys, it's made out of some sort of polyester blend, and not the real-feeling fur. Because of this, or perhaps because it's slightly bigger and more inconvenient to carry, I don't know, Tatum does not like this mouse. He plays with it as a last resort. Unfortunately for him, because he plays with it less, it gets less lost, as in, less far under the couch/stove/fridge and is thus easier to retrieve and thus we find it for him all the time and give it to him as his daily mouse allotment which is SO not what Tatum would like.

He would really like a new mouse every day. But we can't afford to feed his addiction, so he often gets the same mouse that he lost after about six minutes of playing, yesterday. And often, unfortunately, that mouse is Big Red.

Today was one of those days, and he turned up his snotty little nose at Big Red until The Funasaurus left for work, at which point he started wailing this pitiful, “MEW! My life is so unfair! SOB!” routine, until he realized that I was lying on the bed trying to get five extra minutes of sleep and ignoring him, and so he fetched Big Red, and dropped it on my head because if he was going to be miserable, then sohelphim, so was I. So we played a few rounds of disgruntled fetch, and then I had to get to work. (As I am now working from home, occasionally, thanks to a fabulous meeting with my boss yesterday where I was also actively Not Fired, which is also great. But I digress...)

Of course, working from home has its advantages and drawbacks. Advantage: windows. Drawback: distractions. Like, say, a pantry full of dried out strawberry cereal goodness. So after a good 15 minutes of work, I went downstairs for a bowl of cereal. I opened the pantry door, and Tatum, in his seven pounds of crazed fury, just about took me out because there was a MOUSE! in the pantry. (A faux mouse, that had apparently been batted under the closed door, perhaps yesterday.)

Suddenly, Tatum's world was looking up. He had the mouse he wanted. Big Red was lost for another day. Fetch could continue for another six glorious minutes until this one disappeared under the stove.

My day was looking up as well. I had a bowl of freeze dried strawberry goodness, and fresh milk delivered this morning. I don't have to shower until tonight, when I go to see The Little Mermaid with my dashing fiance.

Life could be worse. Just ask Tatum.

6 comments:

Christie said...

I really want a cat, but my ball and chain is allergic to them. Stupid man. Growing up, I had a cat that was totally in love with balls of paper. It didn't matter how much money we spent on appropriate toys for him, he would go balls to the wall for a scrap of paper. My dad finally gave up and bough a ream of paper and we still had it a few years later when I moved out for college.

Diane said...

any work day spent in pajamas surrounded by kitty cats ain't all bad! btw - you should see the HUGE basket of used dog toys we have at my house

Heather said...

So....I'm curious..."actively Not Fired..." did you think you would be?!? Hmmmmm

Princess in Galoshes said...

Christie- It's like kids and presents. They always like the box better than the expensive, shiny toy that comes in it!

Diane- I know, I do feel lucky. And the company is worth the pile of slobbery toys.

Ham- Kind of. I got a cryptic e-mail from my boss last week, wanting to have lunch this week. My imagination of course went for WORST POSSIBLE SCENERIO EVER and I was sure I was going to get fired. Instead I got free sushi and a, "We're so happy with everything you've been doing."

Phew.

Anonymous said...

Oh, you have to tell me how The Little Mermaid is! I so want to see that some day!

And I'm cracking up at Tatum and his snobbishness toward the polyester blend. How discerning of him!

M-M-M-Mishy said...

I don't think Tatum is picky... just, discerning.