It has been another banner week for CootieGirl.
This week we made an offer and are in the process of purchasing the car in the featured image above on this post. It is a Toyota Yaris and we went for a test drive in the vehicle last weekend. CG really liked how much room there was in the car, as well as how it handled during her test drive. She really wanted something similar to my car, and this is perfect for her. Once she confirmed she wanted it, I ran the CarFax report on the VIN number to make sure there were no issues, and upon receiving a clean report, I emailed the owners and they accepted my offer. We’ll be picking up the car on Friday night and CG is VERY excited. The car is immaculate both inside and out. It truly looks like a brand new car even though it has 96K miles on it. The owners drove it for a few years after purchasing it, but then when the husband got a company car, the Yaris sat in the garage only rarely used until they finally decided to sell it.
On Saturday I’ll run to the tax office to pay the property taxes on it, and then sometime next week I’ll go to the DMV to get the car registered and get the new license plates for it. Once the new plates are on, she’ll be good to go! She won’t be allowed to drive to school because she needs to complete our state’s “Alive at 25” class before the school will give her permission to drive and park on campus. We’ll get that done this summer and then starting in August she can drive herself and CootieBoy to/from school every day. No more bus!
The other big CG news is that she adopted a new kitty named Cocoa. It has been six weeks since we made the tough decision to put down Jacob the Cat due to a severe chronic UTI. We specifically waited for her initial grief to pass (CootieBoy was also adamant we not adopt another cat after the loss of Jacob), as well as CG’s big vacation. A few days ago she asked if we could go check out the kitties at our local shelter, so we headed over there and spent almost an hour looking at a few dozen cats and kittens. In the end, she found a tuxedo cat just like Jacob. The shelter workers described her as being a bit skittish and she was an owner surrender because they could no longer care for the cat. After a few minutes petting Cocoa, the cat was very comfortable with her (not comfortable enough to be held, but she did seek out the ear scratches and belly rubs). CG knew Cocoa was the one.
We filled out an application and asked them to do a dog check to make sure Cocoa would not be aggressive with a dog. Skittish is fine, just not aggressive. While I know Dobby the Dog will welcome the kitty into the house, I do not want him to be scared like he was with Jacob (the dog was PETRIFIED of Jacob and, I think, a bit sad they were not friends). When we didn’t hear from the shelter the next day, CG got anxious and on Monday asked me to call for an update. It was during that call that the shelter confirmed we could pick up Cocoa that night!
The entire family met up at the shelter where I completed the paperwork and paid the adoption fee. We then gathered up Cocoa into our carrier and drove her home. CG took her straight up to her room and for the rest of the evening spent her time with Cocoa. Initially the cat didn’t come out of the carrier, but we eventually coaxed her out with some kitty nibble. She then begged for ear scratches and pets from her new mama for a few hours. At some point I asked CG if the cat saw the kitty litter pan in the corner, and CG said no. CG tried to pick her up to take her over to see it, but Cocoa squirmed out of her arms and jumped back on the bed. CG then gave me permission to pick her up, and once I put her down in front of the kitty litter she saw that the entire underside of the bed was open and ducked under the bed and into the very back corner.
“Thanks, Mom,” CG groaned sarcastically. “Way to go.”
Oops.
The cat stayed there most of the night, but as of this morning she had used the litter box AND she came out from under the bed searching for her food and water just as I was leaving for work, so there’s that. Cocoa will stay in CG’s room at least through tomorrow night, at which point we’ll do a meet/greet between Dog and Cat. We’ll do that again on Friday night and then on Saturday morning we’ll let the cat out to explore the entire house and begin her life as a primary feline resident at the CootieHouse. I think she and CG will get along great even if Cocoa is initially skittish. Once Cocoa feels comfortable and understands that she’s with us now, I think she’ll love it.
