Aunty Tia

Earlier this week I had my nephew Clay staying with me for a couple of days. I'll confess that I'm not the most prepared Aunty host. I have a spare room, but no spare bed. I have an old house that doesn't have air conditioning. I have crazy neighbours who have a dog that barks constantly. And as a cat owner, collecting cat hair on your clothes is a given at my house. But I hope he came away from the stay with an appreciation that I'm a unique aunt.

One of the first things I did was introduce him to Extra gum. I gave him a piece to chew, and about an hour later when he went to throw it out he said, "that gum lasts a long time!" Dear sister, your son may start asking you to buy him Extra.

I strategically fed him. A kid's appetite can be hard to keep up with. So one night at about 5:30, we went for a Blizzard first, and then I cooked him a burger about 20 minutes later. The theory was he'd get full from the ice cream and not need to eat as much supper AND it would mean his sugar rush would hopefully be over by the time his 8pm bed time came around. Sure enough, he was full after just half his burger. I also told him not to tell his mom about this little adventure.

He may have a new appreciation for lint brushes. The first night I introduced him to my handy little roller that soon had him as cat hair-free as was possible. He thought it was the neatest thing and even asked me the next day about cost comparisons between lint rollers and duct tape. It was a great conversation.

I also taught him about the value of money. On the first day, I told him I was going to keep all the receipts from his stay and send him home with a bill to give to his mom. I was joking of course which I don't think he caught onto. At the end of his stay he asked, "do you have that bill for mom?"

The moral of the story is: if you want your kid to come home a little tainted, feel free to send him to stay with me. It'll be fun!

Tia

I Can't Make This Up

A true story a friend told me the other day! Her uncle went into retirement, however, must have soon gotten bored and decided to start up a new business. His business? Cleaning cat litters for people. I'm not sure (even as the crazy cat lady) what would possess a person to take that up as a profession, but he did.

Recently he was hospitalized with a bronchial infection that resulted in pneumonia. When they did some tests they discovered something a little alarming. His bronchial parts were coated with a cement like material that they determined was a result of cat litter dust, as he never wore a mask. It is treatable, and he'll be fine.

The kicker of the story, and again, I'm not making this up...his previous occupation that he retired from, that you'd think he'd know better - a respiratory therapist. Maybe he wasn't a very good one?

Moral of the story, if your respiratory therapist tells you not to worry about wearing a mask while cleaning cat litter boxes, don't believe them. Just do it!

Tia