Stone Cold Cat Snugglin’

I really hate waking up earlier than necessary – to a ridiculous degree. If I plan to get up at 9, I get ten kinds of grumpy if I’m awake (or awoken) at 8:45. It’s the principle of the thing. The problem, in our household, is that Sky likes to listen to the radio as he gets ready and has his breakfast. Usually this isn’t an issue because I can sleep with a train rumbling through my front yard (true story – we once lived in a house not 10 feet from a train track). But sometimes the news is interesting enough, or has the word “library” in it, that it knocks me out of my blissful sleep. I refuse to wake up all the way, though, because it’s not 9 yet. So instead I lie there, trying to fall back asleep, and remaining very still, because if I look close to being awake, Sky will talk to me, and I’ll be grumpy at him. This morning I wasn’t still enough and Sky started asking me about how to use electronic books and I got all “I don’t start work until 11:30, Buster!” and he got all “But I thought you were my personal librarian” and I got all “Well that’s when I’m not trying to SLEEP and have DREAMS” and then I got out of bed and it was over – I was 100% awake about 14 hours before I wanted to be awake.

So now I’m sitting AWAKE on the couch with two snoring cats. Something about sleeping cats just make me want to stay home, reading on the couch so bad. Like really, really, really bad. Like I’m 10 years old and I WANT IT BAD, BAD. I’m contemplating a kittynap between now and work time.

I spent last weekend with my parents in Oregon. It was a mellow time and I enjoyed seeing them. My dad showed me how he can pop wheelies on his new wheelchair, which was more impressive than it sounds. We watched Murderball and now my dad wants a customized armored wheelchair machine.

Book reading view: my parents have a boathouse, but no boat, so it's just a prosaic place for bats to live

My mom and I did what we do when we see each other for an overnight stay – we sat down and read a stack of books together. It’s our way of bonding. I get to hear her reading a book (much like me, she makes sounds while reading – gasps, laughs, clicks her tongue), imagine what must be happening in the plot, and then relive those moments myself when she’s done. We read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Animals Make Us Human, and Still Alice. I haven’t finished Still Alice yet, but I’m working on it. I’m glad to get this time to read with her, as well as expand my repertoire of Mom-Approved Books.