Spending time @ home

I haven't been staying home for a whole day to bake, do some tidying up of my room, etc. Today is the day. Dad and Mom have just gone out to Chinatown for lunch and do some toiletry shopping @ Chinatown Complex. Dad has asked me to join them but I have decided I should bake a beer bread and if there's time, almond yogurt cake. It's also good to have time to myself sometimes at home - not that I will do any deep thinking but it's nice to have the house to myself with Angel and Bob and do things I like.

Tidying up my room and ironing clothes are not my favorite activities but I feel good seeing nice crisp office clothes ready to be worn the next few weeks and my room (which just needs a bit of cleaning since Mom does help me) has less Bob fur lying around, cat litter and dust. Luckily Mom and I are quite clean freaks so my room actually smells clean and Bob smells of the clean laundry or my hair/skin care products.

I like to think that Angel and Bob like someone at home too. Mom always claims that Angel looks sad whenever we are going out. Bob will be crying in my room when we are home. I shall see if there is opportunity to let Bob out for a few hours if Angel settles down in parents' or sis' room. If not, I just pop in and out of my room to check on him and play with him or hug him. He has been meowing quite loudly at night if no one is with him in my room. Sometimes I need to do some work or do some surfing at the PC before sleeping, and shushing him does help to quiet him down at times. There are some things that I can do in my room and keep Bob company. For example, for my Jap homework, I will put all my Jap notes in a bag and bring into my room. Bob doesn't like me to be focused on other things beside him sometimes if he is still very alert and not sleepy. So I will try to play with him a little. Recently, when I bring my office laptop home, I will watch some anime in my room late at night while Bob rests/sleeps on my pillow. He's totally not interested in the moving scenes on laptop screen.

During the recent working trip to Thailand, I put Bob up at my friend's place. She was also taking care somebody's 6 pet cats and she has a pet cat. Bob seems to remember my friend's place, having stayed there almost a week in May and he wasn't afraid. When I arrived to pick him up a week later when I returned from Thailand, he actually went hiding into a carrier with 2 other cats in the kitchen but when he realised it was me, he came out of hiding. When Dad came a while later, he hid behind my friend's legs instead of mine. Mom and I think that perhaps Bob can get along well with other cats who are comfortable with other cats. For the case of Angel, he is so used to us that he sees other cats and humans as threats.

Mom and I have been thinking whether to try putting Bob up for adoption again. He will definitely be happier with someone who can let him move around the house freely and if the person has other friendly cats, I'm sure Bob can get along with them too. I can only offer him my hugs and kisses, my company when I'm home and at night and I don't think it's enough. Perhaps later while baking, I can think about this and decide whether to put up an adoption ad again on Cat Welfare Society online adoption bulletin I did so a few times last year but from the few responses, nothing materialised in the end. I can always try again and see this time, someone can give him a good home.

For the past several months this year, Boss has also asked me to help to prepare some meeting materials for weekly morning meetings on Mon. It requires me to get updates from the other divisions the week before and consolidate them before emailing to all the members of the meetings. Usually, I will check office emails on weekends and email the final version of the document to the members and their secretaries. The amount of work is not heavy but it kind of dampens the weekend mood knowing that I have to do office work. Anyway, I'm just glad that I have time to spend quality time with family, cats, myself and also catch up with friends.

Okie, it's time for baking therapy! :)