My Furry Supervisor

The cat tree and everything else arrived several days before their initial estimate!!! I wasn’t expecting the packages until Monday and Tuesday, but they arrived yesterday. I did what I could with assembling the cat tree before work Thursday. Really wanted to just stay home and finish it, but obviously, I wasn’t going to call in for THAT.

Gave it another go when I got home from work. At one point yesterday, after work, I think, I had to pause and rub Icy Hot into my lower back, and take some Ibuprofen. Part of it REALLY stumped me late last night, so I gave up, and figured I’d get back to it today.

Worked again today, but we closed early. Ventured to the parental abode for a cookout. Arrived at least a half an hour or so before anyone expected me, partly because it didn’t take much time to shut ‘er down tonight, and also because I may have taken a slightly quicker route than usual.

My mom had asked my cousin’s wife to bring snacks, thinking they could munch on those while waiting for me to arrive. BUT I actually beat them to the house. So my dad insisted on starting the burgers immediately, then got kind of huffy about the snacks and said we didn’t need them.

I suggested to my cousin’s wife that we at least set some of them out on the table, and we could have them with our meal. I, for one, used the Backyard Barbeque dip, the pepper jack cheese, and some of the jalapeno slices on my burger.

She seemed pretty pleased with this compromise, and I wasn’t the only one who took some cheese and whatnot off the tray. That dip was REALLY good on the burger, too!

There was a LOT of conversation about family history.

Although, that’s somewhat of a staple at our family events. When my aunts and uncles were alive, especially toward the end, when it was just my one aunt left, there were several stories that would be repeated at almost every function. There was one I vaguely recall, about a comedy of errors that occured, trying to clean the windows. I guess the panes had to be removed to be cleaned?

I like to think that love of story and history come from the Irish in us.

As they were leaving, my cousin’s wife conspiratorially whispered that she and I will have to go out sometime. So, there may be an adventure in my future, there. We’ll see. My general impression was that she wanted to let her hair down, and figured I’d be good company for that. I mean… I don’t drink anymore, but I can still be fun, even with nothing but diet soda.

Speaking of which… I am OFF tomorrow, so I am sippin’ on some soda now. Didn’t get anything caffeine free, but that’s okay. BUT hey…. I had a point here, which I have somehow meandered away from.

THE CAT TREE!

Somehow, tonight, as I was continuing to struggle with one of the sort of “kitty condo” parts (there are two of those, a smaller one, and a bigger one that also has a window), something clicked.

Last night, no matter what I did, no matter what technique I tried to match up the holes, the screws kept falling out. I thought I didn’t have the parts aligned properly, because you have to sort of feel around, and can’t fully see what’s going on. But I had tried using the Allen wrench to poke through from the bottom, since it was longer than the screws for this particular part of the tower, and I would have a clearer idea if it had gone all the way through both holes.

Also, the screw wasn’t supposed to reach all the way through the carpeted board, so you couldn’t watch to see what it looked like from on top, even if you could see the inside of the kitty hideaway clearly.

I am going into ridiculous detail. I suppose in the long run, none of this is interesting to anyone other than me. At least not the minutiae. Anyway, I tried the Allen wrench method again. Boom, holes were lined up just fine. Then, it occurred to me, what if I tried screwing counterclockwise?

That was it.

The threading on that part of the tower was made to be screwed counterclockwise.

And the rest of it wasn’t.

I could SWEAR this had maybe occurred to me last night, as I was in a hazy fugue state of fatigue, trying to force myself to finish it before sleep. There was a point where I was so tired, I forgot the proper meaning of “lefty loosey, righty tighty,” since either way, you’re turning in a circle. I got all caught up on how could a direction be left or right when ultimately the screw turns all the way around.

So there was probably a point where I tried screwing in OTHER parts the WRONG way.

Sadly, that didn’t happen with the bigger kitty apartment.

BUT as I said, I figured it out, tonight. Just needed some sleep, a break, solid meals, etc.

From there, the rest of it wasn’t bad.

Assembling both of the kitty hiding spots was tricky, getting the carpeted posts to screw into the corners, while unable to see anything that was happening inside. But I would say that counterclockwise thing is what really threw me.

ALSO, I SWEAR I followed the directions like they’d been handed down by God. And my handiwork is stable AF. But somehow, I ended up with two extra screws?! The directions didn’t have a part to tell you how many of each item you would have in total, but even if it had, I don’t think I would know at this point which types of screws or bolts had been used in which part of the structure. Extra parts in case you lose some? Gosh, I hope so.

There was a really funny cartoon at the beginning of the instructions, that reminded me of all the times I’d helped my dad or he’d helped me, in constructing furniture, and the like. Bookcases, entertainment centers. That sort of thing.

You know, I was going to describe it, but I think I’ll just show you.

I hope y’all find it entertaining, too. Almost the entire booklet was pictorial. Very little wording.

I love the “devil may care” expression on the first person’s face as they chuck the directions in the garbage. It made me recall the many, many times my dad insisted he didn’t need them. Inevitably, we’d have to backtrack and take pieces apart again, and start over, with the directions. But retrospect has made the memories fond, rather than stressful. We can all laugh about it now.

Ooooh Scooter’s “The Sound Above My Hair!”

Listening to Disco Lemonade again.

I ran into “Groove is in the Heart” heading home and sang my ASS off. MAN is that ever a fun tune.

SO yeah, family cookout, then home for more cat tree. Celebrated completing it by texting kiddo the requested photo. Told her I felt like Henry Cavill would be proud of me (for some reason, working on it tonight, I thought of those reels of him assembling a computer… only he looked a whole lot buffer in the process than I did LOL). She said, “Of course he would!”

Then, I had a thick slice of jicama with tajin. Might have more momentarily. It’s a little laborious to eat though. Skinning and hacking into it. They also had coconuts, I noticed, but I was NOT up to that challenge. Is there a way to crack one without a hammer? Maybe some other time.

Work went well. I had browned some burger patties this morning. Had one for breakfast, with the onion and tomato slice and lettuce from my hamburger extras pack I bought in Produce. My yellow mustard is lost somewhere in the refrigerator, I think, but the ketchup alone worked just fine. And the sesame seed bun was good!

As I’d said, my skillets fit three of those patties, so I made up half the box today. Took a spare burger to work. Patty in one Ziploc bag, hamburger extras and bun in the other. Refrigerated all of that until a coworker literally tagged me in for a meal break (after I had asked when their Chipotle was expected and said I’d take my break once they were done, that we could tag team). Actually tapped my back and said, “Tag, you’re it,” with a delighted smile.

I did what I could to keep work fun today. Also asked them if they wanted to play “monkeys.” It’s like monkeys in a barrel, but with a bin full of clothing hangers LOL.

I had a third burger at the cookout.

All in all, a very tasty day!

And the Chipotle coworker shared their chips n queso. Very tasty queso.

AND my other coworker today, who was filling in on a day off, in spite of working a redonkulous amount of days in a row, brought DONUTS for all three of us, since I had gotten pizza for staff, the other night.

She’d gotten Pizza Hut for the two of us once, and I hadn’t had any cash on me to pay her for my slices, whereas when I had used Uber Eats to get Chinese, even though I offered to cover everyone– somewhat regretfully, but I would have done it– she insisted on giving me some cash… so I owed her for that, in my view.

I’m not even sure what kind of donut it was that I ate. It had some kind of either strawberry or cherry crumbly-streusel-y stuff on top, and I think a little glazing, and jelly filling.

“No Myth” by Michael Penn– the “Romeo in black jeans” song. Lotsa good stuff on this playlist.

So yeah, cat tree ASSEMBLED! I’m not sure if she’s a little intimidated by the size of it now that it’s all together, or if it’s not as interesting now that I’m not messing with it (she literally was playing with one of the screws, batting it around). But she’s not on it now. We’ll see. She checked it out when I put the catnip toys on it, and made kissy noises at her, for her to come over.

I also moved it into its own space, so there aren’t convenient surfaces at the height of some of its levels, to jump from. So she’ll have to do that kitty calculus and figure out the angles of her pounces. Or just kinda do kitty parkour, and climb.

What else to share?

OH I was going to add, I got a fabulous compliment from a customer today. She was the last person I checked out, too, so it really ended the night on a high note (as did getting out of there in like 15 minutes– I busted my booty to get a lot of stuff done early).

Anyway, as she walked in, she said, “WELL! Don’t you look festive!”

Since she was that enthusiastic about my look (the only customer to react that way, though both my coworkers complimented me), I also pointed out my red, white, and blue eyeshadow, somewhat masked by both the brim of my cowboy hat, and my glasses.

On her way out, I was putting something back, and then she saw the sparklies on the cuffs of my capris, and on my shoes. OH was she delighted by that. She said I looked like a firecracker going off. Made my DAY!

Eyeliner is a little asymmetrical and smudged, but I did it REAL fast, with my fingers. Was running short on time this morning, but it seemed like a fun idea. I thought of it ahead of time, but I struggled some getting my butt out of bed, then spent a fair amount of time working on the burger patties. So, not a lot of time for skincare and cosmetics.

My shoes match the sparkly beads on that necklace. The sparklies on my capris have more of a bejeweled vibe, but hey, we don’t ALWAYS have to be uber matchy-matchy.

Here’s the cat tree. The poster behind it picked up some reflection from the floor lamp in the opposite corner, but you get the idea.

I hope she gets more comfortable with it soon. At the moment, it almost seems I’m more excited about it than she is!!! But she also got the zoomies for a moment while I was putting it together, and just generally seemed livelier. Things happening. And she knew it was meant for her. Unless that’s just a cat thing, that they assume EVERYTHING in the household is for them.

The kitty perches are supposed to be cat-ear shaped.

She did investigate that little piece that looks like a scoop, dipping a paw into it to test it, but didn’t try to lay down in it. Maybe one day.

Here are the toys.

I suppose I should cut the tags off. We don’t need those. But that’s the brand. Quirky kitty.

I think I’ll do that next.

WOWZA it has gotten very late.

I’m thinking the disco lights should probably wait until after I’ve gotten some sleep.

A coworker pointed out that I’ll have to make sure the cat can’t reach them. They won’t hang low enough to touch them from the floor, but depending on how wide across the strings hang, one might be close to her kitty tree.

Well, we’ll figure that out. I suppose I could hang them so that isn’t the case.

If I can figure out counterclockwise screws, I can hang disco lights.

DISCO LIGHTS! I am super excited to see how they look in here.

Have a lovely night, or a fantastic day.