Funny thing that happened when I went to pick her up.  We pulled out the cat carrier (an adorable leather carrier with nice mesh), we opened it up and sat it in one of the chairs in the living room.  Well, within five minutes Phyllis had already climbed into the carrier and had setup shop!  She was likely in there for at least 10 minutes before she decided she was bored with that.  Anyway, I thought it was so cute and SUCH a good sign.  Nice that she’s not scared of the carrier.

Well, we made the one hour drive north from Tacoma to Shoreline, poor Phyllis whining most of the way.  But we arrived at the condo, I sat the carrier down on my bed, opened up the end of the carrier, layed out her favorite bath robe/bed (my old bathrobe was her favorite bed in Tacoma)… and she stayed in the carrier.  She stayed in there for at least an hour!  Didn’t want to come out.  NOT interested.     Finally I did gentle pull her out of the carrier to show her where her litter box is and her food/water dishes.  She wasn’t very interested in those either.  So, I just left her locked in my bedroom for a while so she wasn’t completely overwhelmed with exploration.

Here’s a picture of her hold-up in the kitty transport (taken with my BlackBerry):

Phyillis Hold-up in Kitty Transport

Next funny thing is, because I post all my updates so often on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegalAdmin) some of my friends love to leave comments.  Well, one friend (facebook friends, we’ve never met, he lives in Ontario) went above and beyond and wrote this ADORABLE letter with instructions on how I should read it to Phyllis in my best attempt at a “kitty voice” whiles reading it (I have since requested that he actually record himself reading the letter in HIS kitty voice so I can post on here, I’ll keep you updated!)

Hi Richard – Please pass this on to Phyllis, I can’t find her facebook… Please read it in a funny kitty voice for her.
B

Dear Phyllis,

How is your new home? I know it’s very hard moving into a new place, a new home and finding new things to do, leaving all your friends behind and moving into a new place, but I just wanted to tell you to keep your chin up. I wanted to let you know, from an outside perspective that you shouldn’t feel abandoned and that whatever happened with your Daddies isn’t your fault. Richard is very, very excited to have you in his house, and really missed having you around – he talked about you all the time while you were gone, and couldn’t wait for you to move back in with him. You really help him out, and make his house a home. You have a big job ahead of you, keeping purring, keeping the house dustbunny and treat-free, and making sure you are always acting supercute, but I am confident in your abilities, and I know you will be a big girl and persevere. Make sure you tell your Daddy how you are feeling, talk about what’s going on and how he can help your transition go better, make sure he gives you lots of attention, playtime and treats and enough tummy scratches… I promise it will help you out a lot. Remember that no matter how bad you feel, nothing helps like a laser pointer, sunbeam or cardboard box to snuggle in. Also, don’t forget to pose with your best face for all the pictures I’m sure daddy will take of you. Try not to go too crazy with all the pictures he takes… He’s just showing you how much he loves you.

Love,
Bri

Thank you Brian.  You’re so sweet for sharing your sentiments and advice with Phyllis.  She appreciates your support and love. 

“So, Richard, what’s your new addiction? Is it burning illegal software? Is it drinking even MORE than you ever did? Please tell us it’s a fun drug!” Well, I heard your questions and I’m hear to say… it’s Twitter, or “Micro-Blogging” as some refer to it. I’m astounded by it. I’m entranced by it. It follows me around and I love it. It’s there when I get up, it’s there when I go to bed…. it’s just great!

As with most addictions you quickly realize what’s going on, yet it’s too fun or enticing to stop or even publicly acknowledge you have a problem (don’t ask me why I’d know that or where I learned it). And like most addictions you KNOW there are draw backs, but there are SO many positives to keep you going!

Let’s compare to something I know most of you experience, alcohol addiction (if you read a lot about kittens… and you do… then you likely drink lots of wine in the evenings by yourself or while your husband is locked up in the garage on some stupid project). So, with your alcohol addiction perhaps you always seem to end up at your favorite bar because all your “friends” are there (none of whom you know the last name of).

This problem is very similar to one of my Twitter “symptoms”. I know “twit”, not people! Although I’m “TOTALLY SURE” I feel like I really know them! Actually, I still stick by that story! I really do feel like I’m developing real personal relationships with my followers. I interact with them. I know they listen when I need to, I trust their opinions for fun trivia (any of this sound familiar, like your bar friends???).

So, the draw backs to your alcohol… that husband in the garage? The one “working on the project in the garage” doesn’t exist any more because you spent more time with your bar friends than with him. He used to exist. But he just never understood your relationship with those bar friends. (I pray this is an inaccurate portrayal of your addiction, but if it does please forgive me)

Any idea how this could be similar to my Twitter addiction? It’s always running in the background. There’s always a conversation going on… that conversation might be going on for several days in VERY short spurts. Anyway, so these aren’t even personal conversations, these can actually be considered professional in nature!

So, anyway, you can picture how bad it can be. I’m an addict! Just admitting it won’t keep me from doing it, but it is the first step to adapting to ways of working around the perceived “bad things” and enhancing the “positives”. Help me!!!

Another entry coming VERY SOON! And it will be about kitties!

(If you’re on Twitter and/or would like to see what I discuss follow me at http://twitter.com/LegalAdmin)

Well, on top of that I’ve been a bit obsessed lately with Twitter (micro-bloggin) (follow me at http://twitter.com/LegalAdmin). By becoming involved in Twitter you end up getting invitations to “tweetups” (Twitter Meetups). Well, last Thursday I went to a tweetup hosted by Mr. Chris Pirillow (CNN.com Tech Expert) and ran into Scott Porad (Cheif Technology Officer of “i can has cheezburger“). I was so excited!

One of the ladies who was talking with Scott and me asked him, “So, do you ever get sick of LOLcat talk?” Scott’s very funny response was, “Well, I’m not a big user of ‘LOL’ unless I am actually laughing! So, I like it, but have to feel it’s sincere.”

Thanks Scott! Great meeting you!

When I told Matt about this strange finding he told me to be scared… be very scared. He suspected that at least one of the girls was now a student of voodoo! Apparently it took the culprit a few days to gather up all the supplies to build a voodoo doll in my liking. Fortunately I was able to get home in time to foil my ultimate demise, before the completion of the doll!

(We suspect Renatta is the guilty Voodoo mistress since she LOVES our sock baskets)

1) Recently someone asked if Rosalie and Phyllis are best buddies exclusively, or are many of the photos just coincidentally of the two of them playing. Rosalie (aka GiGi of recent) and Phyllis are very close friends. That’s not to say Renatta is estranged from them, but Renatta likes to do her own thing and does everything on her own schedule.

2) Regarding the introduction of Phyllis to the Aliens and why it was “so easy” for us to do. That’s a tough question. I think the first and most important piece was that we have a spare bedroom that is now the Kittens’ Room. When they first came home they stayed in there and Phyllis would sit outside the door playing footsies with them under the door. That got them someone used to each other’s smell. Another tactic (strange) was that someone suggest we rub them all down with one dryer sheet. Apparently that’s supposed to help them all have a similar smell. They were all only allowed supervised visitation for the first three days. And they weren’t allowed to play rough until about day 7 when we could trust that it really WAS actual playing and not actually trying to kill one another.

3) TO ANNE: Thank you for Phyllis’ nomination for Secretary of State. She appreciates being recognized for her international efforts.

4) Regarding someone’s excitement about introducing them to my Christmas tree: my husband states that due to the mess, he believes the we’ll have to tell the kitties we’re Jewish “and that’s why we don’t have a Christmas Tree”.

5) Leo and “the Virg” – yes, I’ve been trying to get Virgil’s mom to post more photos. She swears she has tons, but hasn’t had much time to edit and/or post them. She’s very sorry and promises to post updates soon!

6) Phyllis received a special comment/note from one of her littermates/sisters, but we would LOVE to hear more from you (I think it was Ramona)!

Hope this gives some clarity! Thank you all for following. Keep the great comments coming.