Kat’s Corner

He’s checking it twice

He’s gonna find out that she’s touching his chest now

He takes off her dress now

The point is! She’s a year old today! I got to see her go from being a tiny feral kitten that could literally fit in my hand to being, uh, a tiny cat. But she no longer fits in my hand and she’s no longer feral, at least.

Happy birthday, Cari Bear, I love you!! 💙

Graysie was the first cat I adopted from the feral colony I help with. She followed me in off the street after I’d been feeding her and gaining her trust for two years, walked up four flights of stairs and into my apartment like she owned the place, slept on my bed every night from that first night.

She was my best friend, the Pantalaimon to my Lyra, the Teekl to my Klarion, my sidekick, my perfect kiddo, reason number nine that I would’ve been burned at the stake as a witch 400 years ago.

She was so fucking smart. She’d pat me gently (claws in) when she wanted attention and she learned to say “dinner” when she wanted dinner and “now!!!” when she wanted treats. She’d prance around the apartment meowing proudly with her catnip mouse in her mouth when we played fetch.

She was so fucking adorable, and sweet, and well-behaved. And pretty. She had the loveliest green eyes, I’ve never seen another cat with eyes like that.

She had the loudest purr and she purred so often. I have like, a hundred videos on my phone of her purring.

She was so funny, too. The way she liked to sit, the way she’d go absolutely crazy when given catnip… Multiple times, I laughed to the point of almost throwing up at random stuff she’d do.

And she was brave. She followed me indoors to a completely new life of her own volition, came on multiple road trips with me and enjoyed them, used to wander on to my DDR pad and just plop down while I was working out. I used to joke that I should’ve named her Hallie instead because she obviously could overcome great fear.

The bravest thing she had to do was go through three surgeries and three months of chemo. And the cancer came back anyway, and at that point she obviously wasn’t enjoying life anymore so I helped her move on. I still have a lock of her fur.

Graysie would have been seven years old today. It’s her second birthday since she moved on to the next of her nine lives or kitty Valhalla or out among the stars.

I love you so, so much, princess. Thank you for making my life better and making me a better person. I know we’ll meet again someday.

Just opened my eyes. It’s almost 5pm.

Starting off with this year, technically I made this last week but who’s counting? It’s a pumpkin pi(e) brownie. Some of the brownie poked through so I got a little carried away doodling on it with an icing pen. (Yeah, I have a PhD and the best I could come up with was “HELL YEAH PI”, what??)

Last year! (There are gonna be a lot of these pumpkin pi(…e) brownies haha. Not to brag but I know I do these well, so. Yep.) I also added some cinnamon, instant coffee, and like a teaspoon of flour to some of the leftover brownie batter and made that little cookie you see there.

2022. Hey, guess what I made! Haha. At least this time the pi cookie is a vanilla and cinnamon shortbread. I’m nothing if not predictable.

Oh shit actual pie alert!!! 2021’s effort. (May actually be more of a tart? It was very tiny.) Pie crust is a pain in the ass to make from scratch, if you’ve never done so. I also made the filling from scratch. Now you see why I tend to opt for the pumpkin pie brownies haha.

This was a blackberry pie with chocolate crust. I also made some white chocolate flowers and drizzled little chocolate vines on there.

Aaaaand lastly but not leastly, the first time I attempted a Pi Day dessert. Itty bitty raspberry pi(…e) (yes, like the computer, turbo nerd here, remember??) in a chocolate crust, everything is scratch-made as per usual, was delicious but also has traumatic memories attached because…2020. ‘Nuff said.