Unique Ingredients; FOUR LIKE ME; Drooling Cats

The instructions for the frozen pizza I made last night included: “Due to the unique ingredients, toppings may have shifted.” The unique ingredients: pepperoni, cheese, sauce, crust. Well! I can see how those UNIQUE INGREDIENTS result in SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES! Normal pizza toppings don’t have to take physics into account! OUR pizza toppings DO!

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Henry and I went to the library yesterday. A little girl came into the children’s room and said to me, “Hi, I’m Paige, I’m four!” I said, “Really? So’s he!” She said to him, “You’re FOUR, like ME!!??”—totally astonished. And Henry said accusingly, “If you’re FOUR, how come I didn’t see you at PRESCHOOL today?” It was very cute, and they had a great time playing together (they had a tea party!), and I had a great time reading the paper instead of having to drink pretend lemonade.

Then she said to me, “I have head lice!”

Inner Swistle: “NOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!!!!! AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! *brushing off everyone’s head!!* *grabbing Henry’s hand and running away!!* *dousing our heads in rubbing alcohol!!*

Outer Swistle: “Really? Does it itch?”

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I was complaining to Paul that ONCE AGAIN I have managed to acquire cats who DROOL when petted/happy, and HOW do I manage to keep doing that? If I’d wanted DOGS, I would have CHOSEN dogs. And Paul said our cats DIDN’T drool. That they drool ON ME, but do not otherwise drool. Is this…something that could be possible? Could the cats be drooling ONLY ON ME? (Note: Benchley also drools on Rob. But could there be something about a particular person that inspires a cat to drool?)

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Assorted links:

It’s a little odd to link to a guest post, but I’m going to anyway: Things I’ve Learned From Reading Women’s Blogs.

Did you know that Temerity Jane is having a get-together at her house? I am partway through my usual “fret and agitate about maybe going—and then, if past experience is to be relied on, NOT go” right now.

Paul told me about Written Kitten, and at first I misunderstood and thought you’d get a REAL kitten for every 100 words you wrote—which seemed like a difficult and not entirely practical idea. But it’s better than I thought: you get a PICTURE of a kitten with every 100 words you write. It seems perfect for doing NaNoWriMo, though I thought my friend Firegirl might prefer a puppy version.

On Milk and Cookies, one of the many gift-idea posts I’ll be writing at this time of year: Gifts for 11-year-olds. (There’s also a girlier list for a similar age range: Gift ideas for a 10-year-old girl.)

Review blog: new post about small ways to save energy.

28 thoughts on “Unique Ingredients; FOUR LIKE ME; Drooling Cats

  1. Clarabella

    My cat (that has lived with my parents for nearly a decade) drools like a maniac. No, like we hold a hankie or a small towel when we pet her. It’s gross. The vet said years ago it was due to an overbite. We opted out of feline orthodontics. But perhaps yours DO only drool on you. Who knows?

    P.S. I hoped you doused your heads in alcohol AFTER you politely parted with the little girl & fled the library.

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth

    Maybe you could go like, put your in feet in the water at PJ’s at TJ’s and then you could come to tbe Blathering next year because by then you’d be an old pro at blogging get togethers and you’d have known people already established to make it less terrifying!
    Yes, that is an excellent plan I have come up with there.

    Reply
  3. Shalini

    I went to written kitten and wrote 100 words of drivel just to see the kitten picture. And then I got a puppy AND a kitten. My 100 words were not quite so stellar and worthy of puppies and kittens. (They involved a lot of, “did you know that 100 words is a lot more than you think it is and OMG how is this not 100 yet?” and so on.)

    Reply
  4. Slim

    I don’t know what feline PR you’ve been reading, but not all dogs drool. Although maybe they would drool on you, too.

    Blame yourself first! It’s the key to mental health.

    Reply
  5. Bunnyslippers

    My cat drools on me exclusively, too. I think it is because I’m her favourite person. She also sleeps on me exclusively and has been know to find me where I’m working and howl until I take a break and cuddle her/mop up her slobber. (And, you know, if the cat thinks you need a break you must comply.)

    Reply
  6. Lara

    I love it when little kids say things like that. They’re just so matter of fact. I said hello to a little girl once and she replied “I wet my bed last night”. I was all “Oh! Did you?” HA. So cute.

    You know how I feel about the PJ’s at TJ’s thing (please come please come please come please come please come please come).

    Reply
  7. Lippy

    My old cat (former cat? cat who is dead? not sure on the wording) use to drool on me all the time. He would snuggle his head into my hair and drool down my neck. He use to hump the dog,stuffed animals, and the bed so I just assumed he had issues and was the only drooling cat. Good to know other cats drool too. I totally relate to the inner you with lice.

    Reply
  8. Mouse

    One of my cats drools too. It makes me giggle and feel like I must be a good cat mom to make her that happy when she does it, but I’m weird like that.

    How long do you have to wait before you learn if the lice jumped to your kid’s head? Scratch scratch.

    Reply
  9. phancymama

    I used to love a lice outbreak, because that meant I got an awesome head massage thing as my mom searched through my hair for the things. Too weird?

    My cat drools sometimes. Rarely, but sometimes. I have no further help.

    Reply
  10. Jenny

    Kitties drool when they’re happy. Like kneading, it goes back to their nursing days. So while it’s kind of grody, it means they really, really love you.

    Reply
  11. Christina

    OMG OMG OMG I just did a crazy-spider-on-me-dance in my computer chair. Lice!? WTF is the mom doing bringing her to a public library!! Gah!! So did not see that coming. I love outer swistle’s response. I would have done inner swistle’s.

    My mom is a piano teacher and used to have a black and white cat named Willy (just died a few months ago). She has about 60 students and Willy was a drooler, but only for a handful of piano students and some family members. I think it has to do with how excited and comfortable they get with the pets. My cat is a purr-er, but for some people he’s just like meh-purr-meh. Other people you’re like ok, is there an 18 wheeler idling in our kitchen? I swear there’s got to be!

    Reply
  12. Swistle

    Christina- My FERVENT HOPE is that it’s something like she USED to have head lice, but is still going around telling everyone. I can picture Henry doing something like that and embarrassing the heck out of me! And she said she’d been to preschool that day, and surely…SURELY…surely? But I’m still worried.

    Reply
  13. Saly

    I’d like to think that the mom wasn’t jerky enough to bring her licey kid to the library. Let’s hope she HAD lice, and is a bit confused. Like when Bud had H1N1 and once recovered was at a weekend school event and was all “Hey! I have SWINE FLU!!!” This was when the freakout period was at its peak, so this was not a good thing to shout.

    Reply
  14. Christine

    My cat is a happy drooler, all the damned time. He was rubbing his drooly jaw all over a friend, who was all, “He’s licking me!” I had to burst her bubble and say, nah he just drools. Sometimes he shakes his head like a damned mastiff. It’s a good think he’s so cute, because it’s pretty gross.

    Reply
  15. goingloopy

    Haha, I had a drooly head-shaker. I miss her a lot. One of my current ones drools sometimes, but only for me. She mostly only purrs for me, too…even when she snuggles with other people, she doesn’t purr.

    The commenter above who said that the cat drooled because of dental issues — hmm. Now that you say that, my little drooler did end up having 3 out of 4 fangs pulled.

    Reply
  16. Josefina

    Your head lice story: funny to me, but OH, THE HORROR all at once.

    I think the get-together at TJ’s sounds really tempting. I bet it’ll be really fun. Those sorts of things aren’t in the cards for me at the moment, but if they were, THAT would be the one to go to, I think.

    Reply
  17. Jen

    The head lice thing? I applaud your restraint. I think I would have FREAKED out. I can’t handle bugs on people or in houses. They are fine outside, where they belong.

    And the drool thing? I think it just means the cats love you the best. Our cat only drools when she is insanely happy, on me, the only one in the house allergic to cat saliva. Fail. But, uh, try to take it as a compliment.

    Reply

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