Kittehs everywhere!!

Happy Monday, Lurkdom!! Surprise! This is Miranda and I'm taking over some 'Pie' duties while Alicia has life happen. Last week, I had life happen. So, I apologize for missing "Zombie Thursday." My week was so all over the place, I honestly didn't even have my days straight. But don't worry... you don't have to put up with a week full of horror writing. As I've mentioned in the past, I actually do have "normal" hobbies and interests and I'd like to take at least today and tomorrow to talk about some of them.

Animals! I've been a vegetarian for about thirteen years now. While I do love the taste of meat (I just haven't had any in many years), I love fluffy (and non-fluffy) animals more. Four years ago, I had a psycho little dog come into my life-- Mia. She isn't technically a "rescue" puppy, but I think of her that way. I don't think the family we got her from treated her very well. She had an intense fear and distrust of all men for a long time, destructive behavior when left alone, and extremely bad separation anxiety. But she's a wonderful, loving dog and my very best friend. Mia recently turned five on July 2! To celebrate, I took her to Chicago Comics, an awesome shop here in the city that loves dogs and invites them into the store for shopping and treats.

I have "liked" many pages on the Facebooks, and one of them is Chicago Comics. I was at a friend's wedding last weekend and decided to take some photos and upload them immediately to her wall. In the process, I checked some of my newsfeed. And there on my phone was a photo of the cutest kitten posted by Chicago Comics. They had found a litter of stray feral cats behind the shop and were looking for homes to adopt them to!

I recently had a pet pass away in April, my guinea pig Hoggle. The loss was very difficult for me, but I had gotten to the point where I was ready to find a new friend. While I was looking into rats, rabbits, and even budgies, my mom suggested I get a cat. While I've had many interactions with cats and love them, my dad never wanted to get a cat while I was growing up, so I had this lingering idea that cats weren't for me. But seeing that little kitty on my phone, I just knew it was right and that I could give one of them an amazing, loving home.

The very next day, Mia and I went over to the shop and met the two little kitties that were left. There was a shy, quiet little girl. Mia took to her right away and so a decision was made. We took home little Zatanna (named for a comic book character... it seemed appropriate!) who turned out to be not so shy or quiet. Within twenty-four hours, she was running around, climbing curtains, and pouncing on Mia. They're great friends, and I'm pretty sure Zatanna thinks Mia is her new mommy, and Mia seems to be treating Zatanna as if she were a little puppy. In fact, as I type this, Zatanna just crawled over to "nurse" on Mia... join me in saying, "awwww!"

So, those are my fuzzy babies! Join me tomorrow where I will talk about another "normal" hobby I have taken up-- Flying Trapeze!! The kitty demands that you return to read...