Cat Haven

So anyone who knows me is probably aware that I am not a huge animal lover.  I mean, I don't hate animals and I don't avoid being around them, but I don't have any desire to own or take care of one.  If there's a cute dog around I will pet it, same with a cat.  But I'm not like "ZOMG, your DOG is SO CUTE!! What kind is it?!?  What is it's name?!?  How old is it?!?" 

As a result of this general attitude towards animals, the universe has made it so that animals are naturally drawn to me.  When I go to someones house and they have a dog/cat that animal is all up on me all the time.  That's just how it goes.  I'm fine with it as long as I don't have to take it home with me. 

So we move into dream house and there is an amazing backyard.  Remember?  Which has somehow become (or maybe always was) a haven for cats. Kind of like this:

Well obviously not that bad, I tend to exaggerate.  However, pretty much every day there are at least 3 different cats that have been in our yard at one time or another.  They like to come around in the morning, lay on the bricks in the afternoon sun, or hang out when we are BBQing. 

This cat is particularly friendly:

We call her "Tootsie 2" because she started showing up right after Mr. Molly's mom's very very old cat passed away.  She likes to come right up to us and then dart away when we reach out to her.  She also likes to come right up to the screen door and meow at us if we won't let her in.  We think her real name is "Ginger" but we always call her Tootsie 2.

So it's ironic that my general dislike of animals has led to this cat infestation.  What kind of diseases do outdoor cats carry?  I don't even want to think about it.  But they are here, they obviously love the Dream House as much as we do and I can't blame them.

The backyard certainly is a haven.  I guess I didn't realize before we signed the papers that it was a Cat Haven.  I'll have to set up a massage table out there or something.

Backyard BBQ

In order to celebrate moving into Dream House and "debut" the house to my besties I decided to have a Backyard BBQ. There are 9 kids among me and my 4 besties so backyard was definitely the way to go. Plus, I figured it's pretty easy to grill and have picnic-type sides. I really did not think the BBQ was that big of a deal. I even called it a "No Judgement BBQ" to imply that my friends could not judge me for the unsettled state of the house, since the BBQ was scheduled for exactly 3 weekends after we moved in.

What I didn't count on was that of those 3 weekends, one was moving in and two were out of town. This fact caused Mr. Molly to feel very unsettled about having 8 adults and 7 kids over to look at our unpacked boxes and not hung pictures. Of course, he underestimated the power of Molly's Mom and her unpacking/decorating/overall awesomeness. In addition to that, I decided to rent a bounce house and take a day off of work to clean in the hopes that Mr. Molly would relax about it.

The BBQ was really low key and fun. The Bounce House was very key (my co-worker loaned it to me for $0.25 - SCORE!!)

Everyone brought food and the kids had a ball. My besties liked the house, though it was a lovely day/evening so we all just hung out outside. My kids enjoyed showing their friends their rooms and playroom and they all got into the dress up.

Even Mr. Molly had to admit, the No Judgement BBQ was a success and a really relaxing and fun experience. Can't WAIT to entertain a LOT more as we continue to get settled into Dream House.