A Day in the Life

I have been observing my cat, Tommy, this week on my quest for contentment. You see, he, like many other animals I have observed, seems to find happiness in the simple things. As humans, it seems to take a lot to make us feel content. We need to go for a walk on a mild, sunny day with a gentle breeze; our dinners need to be comforting yet healthy with a little variety thrown in for good measure; and hold the phone if our piece of fruit has a blemish!

Tommy, on the other hand, goes tearing through the house whenever he feels like it. He would have Tuna Marinade for dinner every night regardless of how good it is for him. And as for his fruits and vegetables, he’ll pretty much give anything a go once, even a piece of fluff.

After fifteen months observing his behaviour I thought I would try it his way. Maybe the things I think are important, are in fact not. Perhaps cats have the right of it and I have just unlocked the key to eternal happiness!

I had an a-ha moment … a different a-ha moment. (Image from http://www.mtv.com)

So, I decided to live a life in the day of Tommy. A day where his rules rule. So here goes…

Kitty Rulz 1: Sleep. In fact, sleep pretty much anywhere you can, as often as you can. The more awkward the position, the better.

Kitty Rulz 2: Eat small meals often. Food tastes best from the ground. Again, fluff is worth a try.

Kitty Rulz 3: Bend the rules from time to time…but not the Kitty Rulz.

Image from catladyland.net

Kitty Rulz 4: Exercise regularly. Running is good. The more random the better. It keeps everyone on their toes.

Kitty Rulz 5: Keep clean.

Kitty Rulz 6: Take every opportunity to play. It’s fun.

Kitty Rulz 7: The simplest things can be entertaining. Don’t mind the expensive toys, everyday things will do. Straws, bottle tops, fluff…

Image from ilovefunnypics.com

Kitty Rulz 8: Seek sun.

Kitty Rulz 9: Appreciate your surroundings. Show your surroundings they are appreciated by rubbing your face along them or licking them.

Kitty Rulz 10: Look after number one first and foremost. And second…and third…

Image from tickld.com

It was an interesting day and I have to say I haven’t felt this relaxed in a while. I followed most of his rules, with a few exceptions. I slept in this morning and showered (good start). I spent quite a bit of time listening to music and grooving around the house just because I could and it was fun. I deliberately sat in a sunny spot in my house and enjoyed it. Although I should have cleaned my house, I didn’t. What a rebel.  I snacked like a champion and had a great nap in the afternoon (and now have a crick in my neck due to the awkwardness of my position – nice tip Tommy). I also showed my appreciation for our comfy couch by drooling all over it.

The funny thing is, when you break down the Kitty Logic, it is basically the same things that human professionals advise us to do: eat well, get plenty of sleep and Vitamin D, live in the moment, exercise, enjoy life’s simple pleasures, and look after yourself. So, in effect, it is not so much Kitty Logic as Kitman Logic. Or Hutty Logic. Call it what you will, but the point is, our pets are onto something.

Unfortunately, due to breaking the rules (no cleaning) I couldn’t bring myself to eat off the floor. There was just far too much fluff!

Soup for the Soul

Image from allaboutpumpkins.com

It’s getting cold. We are nearing the end of Autumn and my eternally icy hands and feet are fearing the colder days to come. I’m not sure what I’m complaining about because, in truth, the winters are fairly mild where I come from. Much to my disappointment, but to the delight of my extremities, we don’t have the opportunity to make snow angels or snowmen. I’m pretty sure if we did I’d be one of those people who would have to put the carrot somewhere other than the snowman’s face…

In truth, it’s just a tad chilly here and I spend most nights with my feet stuffed into giant socks and the covers up around my forehead. We tend to have a nightly debate about how far the covers should come up the bed to avoid giant ice caverns created by my other half. It’s a debate I generally lose, but unbeknown to him I win as I am a master of stealth, i.e. I pull the covers up when he’s out of the room. Sneaky huh?

As a lover of all things food, and particularly anything that can be cooked long and slow, this is a very exciting time of year for me. Soup season! There is nothing quite so soothing and satisfying as a pot of soup bubbling away on the stove. I think half of the satisfaction comes from knowing how many vegetables have been packed into each serving. I guess the other half comes from pulverising the whole thing with my stick mixer, although there is a soup and a place for doing this.

In light of my quest for contentment, I have decided that cooking is something that I will be doing more often, so I have decided to soup up my saucepan. And no, that doesn’t mean affixing a spoiler or go-faster-stripes to the side.

There is something very therapeutic about making soup, or any slow cooked meals for that matter. The act of preparing, stirring, simmering, and of course eating, is difficult to beat. So today I whipped up (literally, with my stick mixer of course) a batch of the old faithful pumpkin soup. I add a little twist to mine with some spices which gives a healthy zing to the taste buds. The end result was a glorious, golden pot of deliciousness which I have to say tasted marvelous, in fact if I was still ten years old I would have been saying “yum, yum, pigs bum”. The best part was not only did my soul get a big, soupy cuddle, my hands got to forget, albeit only for a moment, that winter is on its way.