One of the other exciting things about seeing Sam last weekend was that she had an extra special present for the cats.

You may or may not know, Sam manages a pet store. A couple days before our scheduled visit, an order of cat trees came into the store. But one of them was damaged – a big hole punched through the side of the box, and into the little hut. It was enough damage that they couldn’t sell it, but the tree was still usable, with some minor repairs. So she asked me if I’d like it.

I’ve been in the market for a cat tree since forever. I bought a small cheap one when we first moved here. But it was small and cheap, and well, it didn’t last very long.

The better ones are quite spendy, and while I love to spoil my babies, it just wasn’t in the budget (plus I blew all my money on dresses, candles and fabric…)

Anyway,  I of course, said YES!!!! Even though I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to put it. The ideal place, the back door, is taken up by my plants at the moment… and they have to be there because there just aren’t many places in this house with enough light. But I knew I’d figure something out

We loaded the box in my truck when I left, and there is stayed until Tuesday, when Dave headed off to work. This was for two reasons:

1) Dave and I don’t work well together when it comes to assembling furniture and the like. We both want to be the boss.

2) I knew Dave wasn’t going to be thrilled with where I finally decided to put it…

The bedroom! But there’s a few reasons for this placement:

1) The only windows on the front of our house are the front door, a teeny tiny high window in the powder room, and our bedroom windows. Burton NEVER gets to look out front, and he loves it. If I’m standing by the bedroom window, he’ll climb my leg until I pick him up and hold him at the window.

2) The dining room window (back of the house) is a no-go… it’s too close to the fish tank, which Burton already has too much interest in. (Plus I have a plant stand there)

3) There zero room in my studio (back of the house) because it’s office/sewing room/craft storage/library. It’s the smallest room in the house stuff with the most stuff)

4) Dave’s studio (back of the house) is absolutely off limits. The door is shut at all times and the cats are not allowed in there at all.

So like any smart wife, I waited until he was gone, and lugged the huge box in the house by myself.

Burton was intrigued from the first moment, and of course, had to snoopervise the assembly.

It didn’t take too long to put together, and there were minimal swear words. But soon enough…

There’s just sooooooooooooo many new squirrels out front!!!