Presenting-- Grizabella!

We brought home Grizabella today. She is so sweet! She and Blackie do fairly well together. They just have to give each other some space. That's why I put Grizabella's box in my room, while Blackie's crate is in the den.

We had a few minor difficulties with the box. We made the perfect box for having kittens in-- big enough to be comfortable, towel lined, et cetera. It's location was the problem. We had stuck it in a corner of the room that doesn't get that much traffic. But Grizabella wanted it under the bed, where That Pest (i.e., Blackie) couldn't get at it. Oh all right.

I found out another interesting thing about Grizabella. She likes pretzels! I was getting myself a snack and I dropped a pretzel. Before you could say "cat", she had gobbled it down.

We feed her on dry food. We also use litter for multiple cats, because one of those bins goes a long way.

My birthday is coming up soon. March 8th, to be exact. I won't care if I get don't get anything. Having a cat is great. I think I'll go practice handsprings. :-)

Grizabella

We picked out the cat today! Mom and Dad had some special requests. 1: It must be a friendly cat (duh), 2: It must be a short-haired cat. All right. So today we went to the pound to pick out the cat. I found the perfect cat. She's white with faint light gray stripes. She has blue eyes. She's very nice. When I petted her, I think I heard a little bit of a purr. I think I'll name her Grizabella. We got her stuff today. We did not, however, put the litter in the litter box yet, as Blackie might think it is for her. I think it will be fun to have a cat even if it didn't have kittens, and this one is going to have kittens.

Gymnastics

One day to cat. Actually more, since we're picking out the cat on Saturday and bringing it home on Sunday. But that's not what I wanted to tell about today.

At school we're doing a 3-4 week session on gymnastics. Well if you've been reading my blog for a little while, you'll know that I'm pretty good at gymnastics. Well, at school the gym teachers want all of us fifth-graders to be able to do the following by the end of the session: do a cartwheel, stand on our head, do a bridge, and jump pretty high on the springboard (this is by far the most popular activity), and do a little jumpy thing on the balance beam. I can already do all those things. The gym teachers are nice about it. They let me and this other girl, Amy, practice harder stuff. We practice other types of tumbling, do cartwheels on the beam, and do squat-ons on a pile of mats. We also do harder stretches and practice handstands. Sophie does best on cartwheels and springboard. She has a lot of strength and is fearless (she can push off for a cartwheel hard enough for five cartwheels). Allie does her best on headstands and beam. She does ballet (she has toe shoes-- wow!), and has an extraordinary sense of balance.

Here at home, I got out my old gymnastics mat. I rolled it out in the basement. I'm trying to learn how to do a handspring. You have to kick up very hard. I think I'll go and practice some more.

Yes!

Yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!!!!! I am getting a cat! Well, I suppose it is possible I wouldn't. Because I have to take care of my current pets with no reminders or complaining for a week, and have Mom and Dad both approve of the pet I want. I also have to keep up in school, and not have Mom or Dad think I'm being overworked. I'll be able to handle all that.

Clean to get a Cat

Today I did a lot. Mom and Dad don't seem totally against the idea of getting a cat, but they still haven't said yes. Today, to show them that I can handle another pet, I took extra care to make my pets happy. I fed them all on time, and I also cleaned up after them super well. Today being Saturday, I had to clean my room. To impress my mom, I did a great job. I am messy, but I don't have too much stuff, so I have a place for everything. I just don't put my stuff away. Today, instead of tossing my covers over my bed, I made it neat and smooth. I didn't just throw the stuff on the floor in my ottoman, I actually put it away. When Mom came in, everything was immaculate. I felt proud. I think I can handle a cat.

Love a Pet

Because it's almost Valentine's day, the animal shelter came to our school to give a special assembly on pet care. We learned about poor dogs that get abandoned when their owner moves. We learned about how no one wants an adult cat, just kittens, and how they wished they had nice homes for pregnant females. We learned that absolutely no one wants a adult male cat, because if he is neutered as an adult, he will still spray, yowl, and prowl. We all took the pet care pledge. It goes like this:

I, ______________, to take care of my pet(s) __________ __________________. I will get them spayed or neutered, and I will give them fresh food and water in a clean dish every day. I promise to never abandon them.

This pledge was slightly problematic for me. I didn't know how I could fit the words goat, geese, dog, fish, and turtle in the space allowed, much less Mary, Lacy, Marshmallow, Blackie, Forty-Niner, and Shimmer. Also, I didn't know if you even could spay or neuter a fish or a turtle. I don't even know wether Shimmer or Forty-Niner is a boy or a girl. There is no reason whatsoever for me to spay my geese, and it is just plain stupid to think I am going to spay Mary-- I want her to have a kid so I can milk her. In fact, Blackie is the only one of my pets that is spayed. I would really like to adopt a pregnant cat so she wouldn't have to have her kittens in the animal shelter. It would be fun.

My New Trick

Welcome to Gymnast Joan's Daring Dog Act! I have taught Blackie to run back and forth in this certain place. I have taught myself how to do gymnastics over her. This is what my daring dog act is: I do a one-handed cartwheel over Blackie as she runs across. I go into a handstand, and as Blackie runs in front of me, I flip over. Now comes the most daring act of all: I do a back- walkover over Blackie. Yes, I can do all that. Back in Los Angeles, I was in a small gymnastics club. I never was in a competition, though. As for the Blackie part, I had a number of dramatic flops, most of them resulting in bruises. But I can do it now. And that's all that matters.

My Dream

I had a really weird dream last night. I dreamed I was standing on top of the monkeybars with Zoe. She was hurling cans of frozen orange juice at me. Then Mary was flying with Blackie on her back. Blackie jumped off and landed on the monkeybars. She spun around and a frozen pizza appeared in her mouth. She tossed the pizza onto my head like a hat, then in a perfect imitation of Dug (see the movie UP)said "Hi there!"to me, grabbed Zoe's ankle and said "Please oh please be my prisoner! Please oh please oh please!" Then I woke up.

My Report Card

Last friday I got my report card. Ugh. I got the "needs improvement" box checked on math. The teacher said this--

"Joan has a basic understanding of most math concepts but has trouble with fractions and multiplication."

Because of this, I now get extra multiplication and fraction homework. As if I didn't have enough to do already. I did fine on the rest, except reading, which I got an "outstanding" on. That's what you get for reading the non-abridged version of "The Swiss Family Robinson" during the summer. I guess I had better get started on those 578 pages of homework.